During my time in Lisbon, I was eager to visit other areas of Portugal that I hadn't yet visited, such as Peniche and Braga. Unfortunately, covid cases were relatively high during the summer and so on several weekends travel outside of the Metropolitan Area of Lisbon was restricted. Nonetheless, the area is substantial and over the months that I was there I managed to visit a number of different areas.
Porto
Some of my relatives live in Porto, meaning that whenever I visit continental Portugal, this is often where I go. Porto is a lovely city with many things to do and see, and I'd especially recommend wine tasting in Gaia, enjoying the live music along the river, eating a 'pastel de nata' at Manetigaria, and exploring Lello bookstore (the inspiration for the library in Harry Potter). Since I'd already done all of the touristy things, on the weekend I spent in Porto we decided to go to the beach in Foz do Sousa, and in the evening my aunt kindly treated us to dinner at a restaurant which specialised in prawns and was delicious. I'd meant to revisit for a week at the end of my stay but ended up going to the Algarve instead.
Mafra & Ericeira
My cousin spent one weekend in Lisbon with me, however this was whilst the travel restrictions were in place, meaning that we weren't able to escape from the Lisbon Metropolitan Area. Luckily, one of my cousin's friends lives in the nearby Mafra and offered to take us on a couple of road trips around the area. We spent the morning in Malveira in a Go Ape-esque park, then headed to Mafra to explore the city.
Mafra is renowned for its Palace-Convent, which we managed to visit for free and was a lovely break from the heat. I loved the library the most but a lot of the rooms were interesting and it is worth visiting. We also tried a local delicacy called 'fradinhos' which weren't to my taste but offered a bit of novelty. The last place we visited in Mafra was the 'Aldeia Tipica José Franco', which is a reconstruction of a typical Portuguese town, with miniature classrooms, bakeries, and farms and is very cool and entertaining; I'd recommend trying the 'pão com chouriço' here too, which literally translates to 'bread with chorizo' and is delicious.
We spent the afternoon driving through the the seaside town Ericeira, which was reminiscent of Greece with all of the blue and white houses, as can be seen in the third picture above, before relaxing on the beach into the evening.
Setúbal
I had never visited Setúbal before, and given that it was within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area and we couldn't travel elsewhere, it was the perfect opportunity to visit. I actually really liked the city as we came on a Saturday so the market was bustling and there were many cute areas. As shown in the second picture above, the park was full of figures showing the different jobs and pastimes of the locals, which was interesting to learn about. We also tried 'choco frito' which is a local specialty and is literally 'fried cuttlefish', which had a similar texture to calamari and wasn't too bad.
After driving through the fog to different churches, convents, and viewpoints, we headed for Arrábida Natural Park. Here, we had a picnic in the mountains, which is a common pastime in Portugal, and then we spent the afternoon on one of my favourite beaches of the trip. Fortunately, the weather cleared up just in time for our afternoon on 'Praia dos Galapinhos' and I felt like I was back in Mauritius - of all of the day trips from Lisbon that I did, this is the one that I would most recommend!
Ilha da Culatra/Olhão
At the very end of my stay in Lisbon, I was invited to stay in a friend's house on an island off of the Algarve called 'Ilha da Culatra' with a group of friends. I had been intending to go back to Porto on that weekend, but after a lot of contemplation I realised that I wouldn't get this opportunity again and so I headed to the Algarve for the first time. As I had the Friday off, we decide to share a ride earlier in the day in order to explore a bit of Olhão, a town on the coast, while we waited for our friends for the boat trip to Culatra. Olhão was a cute town and the atmosphere was nice. The highlight of the weekend was definitely Culatra though; similarly to my first week in Lisbon, we spent each day tanning on the beach, having delicious group meals and barbecues, playing cards, and drinking at night. It was a lot of fun and I'm so glad that I went in the end. There were not many tourists and the pace of life was very slow so it was exactly what we wanted.
Cascais/Carcavelos/Peniche
Whilst living in Lisbon, we would frequently go to Carcavelos or Cascais to relax on the beach; while Cascais was often crowded, Carcavelos was occasionally so windy that the sand would be constantly hitting you, but most of the time these beach days were a great break from the city life. The best beaches near Lisbon are definitely on Costa da Caparica, which is where I had a surfing lesson, but it can be time-consuming (and more expensive) to cross the river from Lisbon in order to get there.
I also took a day trip to Peniche whilst my cousin was visiting me in Lisbon, which is a coastal city in Portugal renowned for surfing. It was a nice day trip, however we visited on a cloudy Monday, meaning that most tourist attractions were closed and it was too cold for a beach day. We made the most of the day and even swam in the sea later in the afternoon when the sun made an appearance, but I don't think I will revisit in the near future.
Sintra
Sintra has a lot to offer, from hiking trails and parks to monasteries and palaces. My top two recommendations are the National Palace of Pena, which is my favourite monument in Portugal and can be seen in the video below, and Quinta da Regaleira, which contains an open spiral staircase, which is shown in the second picture above. Sintra is only a train ride away from Lisbon and is a must-see on any Portuguese itinerary. Usually it is extremely crowded with tourists, however due to covid it was emptier than I'd ever seen it, which was perfect.
The Algarve
Although I didn't specifically take a weekend trip from Lisbon to visit the Algarve, after spending the weekend in Ilha da Culatra, I spent an extra day in the Algarve, driving from Sagres at the extreme western tip eastwards via Benagil and Tavira en route to Spain for a road trip. Sagres was slightly underwhelming as there wasn't much to see and Benagil was stunning but extremely packed and the famed Benagil caves could only be accessed by boat as they'd blocked off access to swimmers, which was slightly annoying. Nonetheless, Tavira is charming and offers both the beach and the city and so has something for everyone and is worth visiting.
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