Lisbon, Portugal
June 2016
Hello from Lisbon airport! I am exactly 2 weeks into my trip and it has been busy and amazing! It seems as though I have been gone much longer than I have and I suppose that is because I’ve already seen so much. It’s crazy how different a place so far away is and yet so similar at the same time. I had a friend tell me this before I left and I wasn’t sure I understood it. I can probably explain it best with two examples. The first is that I’m lucky to be doing my travels during the Euro Football Cup, specifically in Portugal, where they loveeee their ‘football’ as much as the New Englanders love their Patriots. When the games were on, all around the town there were huge projectors hung from buildings and everyone was with their families packing the streets to watch. One night in Porto during the Portugal vs. Croatia game for the Knockout rounds I was watching with a couple locals I’d made friends with, and I was talking about how the whole game could go on and nobody would score - where was the excitement in that? Well, the 90 minutes are over, they’re now in the second tie breaker round before the shoot-out and boy, was it EXCITING. I’m in a totally different country, I have no idea what words they’re screaming at the screen, though I’m sure they are swear words, and yet I feel like I am back in Vermont at RJs watching the Bills games with my rowdy buffalo friends.
The second example is that I was at the beach yesterday in Cascais, a beach town outside of Lisbon, and I had happened to put my towel next to a large group of maybe 14-16 year olds. Right off the bat this is a culture shock, these girls are so young and wearing full on thongs. That just isn’t what you want to see. But then I ended up noticing that there was the one girl that was trying to impress the boys and stealing their hats, while all of her friends were off to the side taking selfies together, and the boys were tackling each other to the ground. Classic teenagers, no? It doesn’t matter if you're in Portugal and they’re wearing different clothes, or if the language sounds different, ultimately they could just as easily be speaking english and wearing j crew.
Of course though - there are differences, so here’s a long list of things I think would be helpful to know, about Portugal mainly, but some other travel hacks in there too.
In the places I went in Portugal at least, cash rules all. Doesn’t matter if it’s a “pricey” dinner, they only accept cash.
There is no such thing as a pricey dinner in Portugal. Cheap!
Every restaurant in Portugal is a seafood restaurant. And don’t worry, they bring the heads!
Lisbon airport is extremely confusing, know your terminal before, but once you get into the gate there are a ton of shops and food places, including starbucks :) !
The subway system in Lisbon was made for a 4 year old to understand. The subway system in Porto was not made for anyone to understand.
If you’re going to plan a trip to Sintra to see the Pena Palace, know that there are about 20 other beautiful palaces and gardens worth seeing and you’re going to want/need 2 days.
Ask questions!!!!! And if they don’t speak english, keep asking people until somebody does! Finding help is easy if you ask and there’s no point in struggling through it.
At the supermarkets (in Portugal theirs is called “Jumbo”), for all of the produce you have to weigh and tag them on a computer. Each produce item has a Loc number placed above the item and once you weigh the item you type in the Loc number and a sticker comes out.
The jumbo market has everything from food to your best buy.
You can’t find avocado’s in fresh markets, you have to go to Jumbo. A bit random, but one girl I came across was really stressing about this.
All of the meat in Portugal is cured with corn syrup - if you know me you understand why that’s a problem!
This may be a no brainer, but on a day where you’re so exhausted and you can’t think, you’re going to wish someone had told you this before…if the stove looks like it’s weird and something shouldn’t be there - like glass on top of it…then it probably shouldn’t.
Before you cook - know where the fire extinguisher and fire blankets are. Yes, there is a story here.
To use the stove you have to turn the gas knob on, and to use hot water you have to turn the hot water knob on.
If you’re going to do laundry, there are no dryers here, only drying racks, so do your laundry way before the date of your departure or you’ll have lovely wet clothes to pack!
One thing that most people know, but that I had a hard time with, there are no food places open between 3pm and 6pm/7, so stock up if you’re someone that gets hungry every hour.
Lisbon is like California, Porto is like New York City set in Spain.
If you’ve never stayed in a hostel, I recommend booking a really good one for your first one because it completely takes the nerves away.
“Yes! Hostel” in Lisbon or Porto is the best hostel around- frequent backpackers can attest to that.
Before you get into a taxi going to a not well known place, make sure they speak english…otherwise….no bueno…no bueno, and it makes it much easier for them to rip you off getting “lost”. If it happens, just get out and find a new one. Chances are you’ve been on the street you were supposed to be on the entire time before the driver took you 20 minutes out and then back again.
This is a no brainer too, but many people will offer you (mostly guys) drugs, and they are totally legal in Portugal unless you have a certain amount that makes you a dealer…but don’t take them. It’s like a guy offering you drugs in central park.
People can smoke in every public place in portugal - bars, clubs, restaurants, etc.
Fellow guy backpackers will tell you you have to go to Morocco. Girls, don’t go to Morocco, not even with a program. Horror stories.
Whatever you’ve packed, remove half of it. You need one pair of walking shoes, one pair of going out or beach shoes, a simple white top, simple black top, a sweater (you do need one), jeans, shorts, a bathing suit, and a day dress that can be dressed up. Also probably the best things I brought were a jean romper and a scarf.
Sleep is your very best friend. Intuitive, but bad things happen when you haven’t slept.
When you get a text update telling you that your flight is delayed, make sure that it’s the right flight!!
Florence in Italy is very small. We went out with our childhood friends and everyone knew everyone. There are 2 clubs, next to each other, which are referred to as “upstairs” and “downstairs” - the names speak for themselves.
I’m not sure about the rest of Europe, but in Portugal, going to bars means mingling in the middle of the street.
In Italy and Portugal and probably many other places in europe (though not England), you can have beer in the street (not wine though unless its in a cup).
“Super Bock” is like the Budweiser of Portugal.
It is absolutely worth going to the Fiesta de Sao Jao in Porto, Portugal on June 24th. And it does not remotely compare to the same festival in Lisbon a few days earlier. It’s pronounced “Shouw Jouw” and there are amazing fireworks and hundreds of lanterns that they let up into the sky. But when they tell you that the party actually lasts the entire night, they really are not kidding. If you wanted to find parties in the street at 8am, you could.
Cascais, Portugal is pronounced “Kass Kyshe”. or Kass Kise if you can’t get the portuguese ‘sh’ sound down. It’s a wealthy town and it’s a beach town, so there’s not a whole lot going on outside the beach.
Know how to convert kilos to pounds. You don’t want to order half a kilo of prosciutto haha.
You have to pay to use all of the public restrooms in Portugal ~1 euro
You can’t order tap water at restaurants, it comes in bottles that you pay for, but in Portugal at least, you can drink the tap water.
Factor in an extra hour to whatever travel plans you have.
In Portugal you cannot buy tickets on the train if you’re running late and don’t have time to get one. For the local trains, you can use the machines, though not in english. If you’re traveling from Lisbon to Porto or another city then the only way you can buy a ticket is online or at the ticket desk.
If you are someone that just likes seeing the buildings and not going inside then group tours are perfect for you. If you want to go inside every place, it’s best to be your own tour guide.
The only words I’ve learned are “saida”, which is exit, and “regatta”, which is thank you.
Ear plugs are a life saver! And so is bug spray.
I was surprised by this, but a lot of people that were in my hostel during the festival had no idea the festival was going to be happening when they were around and so they all checked out the morning of it. I recommend seeing what events are going on around the time of your visit to make sure you’re not leaving the day it’s going on. They are a great way to see the culture and feel a part of the city.
However many days you plan on being somewhere, make sure you have a day to just lay in bed included. Also don’t rush your visits, it’s really nice to just wander around different streets and see where you end up.
If you’re in Porto I highly recommend going to Matisonhos (sp?), they have a great beach.
In Cascais, I recommend going to Guincho beach where the national surf comps used to be held. I went on a very windy day and saw some of the best kitesurfing and windsurfing i’ve ever seen. If you go close to the water where the wet sand is then you won’t get slapped in the face by the dry sand.
The water in portugal is FREEZING, it’s the atlantic ocean, but since portugal is very hot, it can be just what you need.
31 degrees celsius and above is what they consider very uncomfortable heat.