I want to play with all of the things I love most and bottle them up into storytelling. I love traveling, it is one of my life’s biggest passions. I learned so much about the history of Portugal through eating their food and living like a local as much as possible for my ten days there. Here are my top tips for visiting this friendly and warm country.
Eat
Frango de churrasco - We loved the Angolan and Mozambique tradition of having chicken piri piri at the churrasquiera.
bifana - Portuguese steak sammy: very simple buttery bread and garlic with thinly sliced fried steak inside. To die for!
salty seafood, salted shrimp and goose barnacles - I met a French woman while traveling who described the barnacles “witches’ fingers” but apparently in Portuguese they are called “percebes”. We watched many people climbing down the cliffs of Portugal’s beaches to harvest these little guys and it was an athletic art form. They were a lot tastier than they look! Salted shrimp was our favorite snack.
bacalhau - cod cod cod! We had lots of traditional cod dishes in Portugal. Bacalhau à Brás was really yummy (cod with shredded onions, eggs and straw potato) and we also had some cod fritters at the market that were heavenly.
ginjinha - a cherry liqueur that you can drink out of chocolate cups. We snuck to a gorgeous mini-bar in Lisbon after dinner and it felt really romantic to pop in for a dessert shot.
Visit and Stay
Lisbon - We really enjoyed “Time Out Market” - we got lots of little bites of different things. Ramiros felt like an institution, and I can see why it was an Anthony Bourdain stop: I felt the soul of Portugal in that restaurant. I also recommend the tile museum, LX Factory, and the exterior of the MAAT museum was really beautiful. I bought some beautiful Portuguese slippers and a Portuguese blanket in Lisbon - the textile industry in Portugal is the highest quality in Europe.
Alzenhas do Mar - relax and walk the cliffs to the beach. We stayed in a little beach bungalow on a cliff looking over the ocean (West Coast Design & Surf). You can walk down to the ocean to a gorgeous restaurant perched over the sea. It felt like we had the village to ourselves and I felt so much calm and peace. We walked past this home one day, holy cannoli! Looks gorgeous.
Sintra - Day trip from Azenhas. Castles and palaces where former royalty in Portugal escaped for the summer. Lots of Moorish influence (similar to Seville in Spain). Lush greenery, rolling hills. People warned us about the parking but I didn’t understand how crazy the roads are. We took the public bus, but there are also little tuk tuks that can take you wherever you want to go!
Porto - Stay in Bonjardim 560. I loved the design, it was gorgeous, and the staff were amazing. We also loved this restaurant Cave do Bon Vivant, found on this awesome natural wine app (Raisin). Porto was really beautiful, and I met a local who said, “nothing ever happened or happens in Porto” - but he meant that Porto escaped earthquakes and tsunamis that devastated Lisbon, wars that affected the rest of Portugal, etc. It is a beautiful and well designed city.
Duoro Valley - day trip from Porto, you can get a tour van, take a boat down the river and take the train back. This is for sitting back and wine tasting all day. The vines are so old and organized by stone walls.
Portugal felt like a little step back in time. I hope you’ll consider visiting this beautiful country.