Spring Break pt2

Getting from London to Lisbon was a mess. Mistakes made by us, the airline and just plain bad luck. Its travel and it happens. Its part of the reason I believe in traveling with young kids, if you can have patience and problem solve being stuck in airports and long waits in lines then you can definitely do it in day to day life.

We arrived at our airbnb a little after midnight and thanks to some VERY kind and understanding people (our van driver and airbnb host) we got settled in quickly and all knocked out for the night.

When we woke up and saw our view all of the night before's troubles were gone and we were so grateful to be where we were.

We got up and dressed and headed out and got breakfast. The streets are so beautiful, we stayed in Alfama which is the most historic part of the city and clearly built pre car. The streets are so narrow and winding up and down hills and past buildings decorated with peoples laundry hanging out to dry and the most beautiful tile work. There are orange trees growing all around and the fresh orange juice was a perfect way to start the kids day.

 Because we did so much on the go sight seeing in London we kept the itinerary light and flexible. I had a small list of places to see and eat but mainly we wandered the streets.

 The city is dotted with plazas that always had pigeons for the kids to feed and chase and we worked up an appetite climbing up and down the hills.

 We stopped for lunch or snacks when we got hungry. Pop into stores that looked interesting and loved watching the people and how they lived their day to day lives.

The next couples of days we visited a monastery that was so beautiful and right down the street is said to be the birth place of the pastel de nata, the Portuguese custard tart. I waited in line and can confirm it was the best I had all trip.

 Afterwards we found a little local place for lunch, I had the fried mackerel and Tony had the best watermelon of his life. We found a playground to hang out at and enjoyed the beautiful sunshine.

We headed back into town and had a glass of wine to celebrate Tony's birthday :) We wandered around more and rode the famous yellow #28 tram. This wasnt on my list because I heard over and over that its cram packed with tourists most of the time and not worth the hassle. But we happened to catch it fairly empty and our engine loving boy was fascinated with the gears and levels and how it all worked. We rode it up to one of the look outs for sunset then had dinner and explored the city some more.

It was the perfect place to end our trip and balance out the big city of London. I would go back in a heart beat and the kids still talk about it regularly.

Now off to plan spring break 2020:)

xoxo
Ashlea