I spent three days wandering Lisbon, Portugal, with EF Ultimate Break.

If you’re new here, and stumbled upon this blog through the mythical powers of the Internet, welcome! I know a lot of visitors to my website are people who randomly come upon this website through search engines like Google, but I also do have a lot of visitors who come back. Regardless: my name is Ashley, and I started this blog in order to keep track of everything I’m coming across in the world.

Ever since I studied abroad in South Korea in the summer of 2024, I’ve been trying to write blog posts for the little things I do, even if it’s going across town for a fun little day. When I was studying abroad in Busan my Korean teacher would show us these Naver (a Korean search engine) blogs random people would make documenting visiting parks or bakeries, and I loved that energy.

I think the Internet is a cluttered place, so even if no one reads this at the end of the day, it’s a cute little time capsule for as long as we have electricity—or my credit card stops paying for this domain. I recently started a job, at the time of typing this, and I’m finding one of the ways that I’ve continued to stay sane is by going on little side quests here and there.

Today’s blog post continues as a part of my Portugal journey. I previously went to Porto and the surrounding region for a few days, then, for the second leg of my journey, I spent the final half of my trip wandering around Lisbon and some areas nearby.

I didn’t know what to expect coming into this Portugal trip, and since I was on a tour I honestly did not plan it at all. And after coming to Lisbon, I think you could truly just vibe and exist in this city, with little to no plans, and still have a good time.

Let’s get into how I spent my three days in Lisbon!

Day One: Nazare and a Bad Bunny concert for night two of Lisbon!

Since I was heading from Porto on the bus, we made a few hour stop in Nazare, which is about the halfway point between Porto and Lisbon. Nazare is famous for having some of the highest waves in the world, which my guide informed us tends to happen around December and in the middle of the winter.

We arrived in Nazare in the blazing heat, so I stepped out onto the beach with some of the others from my group to enjoy the breeze by the water. Even if the tide looks like it’s low, be weary about how fast those waves come in. I got my pants soaked because I underestimated it.

After enjoying the ocean views, we grabbed acai bowls at the Oakberry on the strip of shops. There are a bunch of shops and places to eat on the water. I noticed some of the clothes were from Italy, but they felt like low quality. The pants I tried on ripped immediately, which was really unfortunate.

Anyways, I bought pants, a pair of shorts, and a beautiful necklace from the shops on the water. We didn’t have a ton of time, so that’s all we could do before heading back onto the bus. Then we checked into room00 hostel in Lisbon, which I seriously could never recommend—the people staying there were awful, someone I know had their cash stolen from the room, and I was napping when the cleaning lady came in and started stripping the sheets.

After a brief bed rot moment, I got dressed again and grabbed dinner at the Honest Greens around the corner. Then I met up with my group who was going to the Bad Bunny concert.

It wasn’t my first time going to a concert in another country, and I thought it was such a good experience. Benito was fantastic, as expected, but the Lisbon crowd was dancing and chanting away to all of the songs. I had a blast and thought it was worth it, although the way getting home was a bit confusing.

Day Two: Walking tour of Lisbon, Livraria Bertrand, views of the city from the water, shopping for souvenirs.

I woke up bright and early on day two, despite being dead inside from the Bad Bunny concert, and grabbed breakfast at the hostel breakfast bar before getting ready for the day. Day two was our first full day in Lisbon, and we spent three hours trekking up the hills to some fantastic viewpoints, sampling pastel de natas, and trying to beat the heat.

After getting some rest at a cafe, at one of Lisbon’s many viewpoints, we trekked back down the hills to the main area by the water. We wanted to go to Livraria Bertrand, which is the oldest running bookstore, and I ended up buying two Mieko Kawakami books there and the optional three euro tote bag.

I also sampled the pastel de nata at Castro across the street, but it wasn’t my favorite of the trip. We headed to Pink Street to see some views of the bars and umbrellas there, then headed back to the hostel to get some rest. I was sweating really hard at that point, so I welcomed the chance to rest my feet.

I had signed up for a sunset catamaran through my guide, which ended up being a party boat. I do suggest seeing Lisbon from the water though—something I learned in both Venice and Istanbul was to see the cities from the water, and I think Lisbon is another place where you can get a good view.

Once the boat ride was over, I got a local dinner with some friends. It was my second time having picanha, which is Brazilian steak, and I thought it was so good. I passed out after that.

Day Three: A side quest to Pena Palace and Cascais for beach time.

Our last full day in Lisbon I had booked an excursion to Sintra, Pena Palace, and Cascais. Unfortunately, we got stuck in a really nasty accident and a 40 minute bus ride turned into three hours. We had to skip the town of Sintra and went straight to Pena Palace.

We did not have tickets to go inside, which I was thankful for as the line for that wrapped all the way around. It was still very chaotic with tourists, and I felt like that going inside would have made it more worth it.

We then got onto the bus again and headed to Cascais. We stopped at the most Western part of Europe on the way, then had a few hours to explore the town. I bought some jewelry at a local market that was happening in the park, then we got piri piri chicken for lunch.

This was another town for the beach, although the one I saw was tiny and crowded. I don’t know if I would have enjoyed it. There were also a ton of tourists around and shops geared towards them, which made sense, but it was not my favorite.

Once we got back to Lisbon we headed to dinner at Noobai, which is a rooftop restaurant. It was very cute—I would recommend it if you get the chance to go. It was perfect for a sunset meal. We said our goodbyes that night, and the next morning I woke up early, bought some eight euro wines at Aldi, packed them into my suitcase, and eventually ended up on a very delayed Air Portugal flight back to IAD.

And that’s a wrap on my trip! It was such a good time, although I wouldn’t say Portugal is my favorite place I’ve been to.

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