We flew from Barcelona to Porto. Porto is a small, tight town in Portugal, known for its Port wine. We loved the charm of this quaint city, which was filled with incredible tile work.
The food and shops were GOOD – and the sites, even better.
For food, we love Time Out Market; it’s a lively dining hall that has options for everyone. We also had a quick and easy dinner at Cult of Pita, which hit the spot. As always, we made many a coffee stop, coming across one that also offered yoga classes, called Manna. If you’re looking for some snacks to pack for your travels or to take back to your hotel room, I’d suggest Mercado do Bolhão for their delicious assortment.
Alex and I just loved the shopping in Portugal. There were so many more, high-quality mens’ options. Alex picked out some super soft tops at Portuguese Flannel Store – and we both loved Lighthouse, which we stumbled upon while visiting Banco de Materiais (which is an incredible tile library).
To continue your tour of amazing tile, be sure to visit Igreja do Carmo, Chapel of Souls and Sao Bento Station. We had come to Porto with those three stops in mind, but wound up stumbling upon Museu do Centro Hospitalar do Porto, which is an incredibly cool (small) medical museum that is certainly worth checking out.
For more shopping in Porto, I’d recommend checking out Wild At Heart, Coração Alecrim, Livraria Lello and Mon Père Vintage.
From Porto, we took the train to Lisbon. Lisbon was the city I was most excited to visit – and it lived up to its reputation.
For food, we wound up deviating from our list and stopping into whatever restaurants looked good. Pizzaiollo Avenida is A MUST for their yummy fireside pizza. Graça 77was a hidden surprise that we found after we both became a little hangry – great tapas! Break has an incredible menu and we wished we could order one of everything. Those would be my top three food recommendations, followed by: Maison Luce Avenida, Memetti Gelato, Local Avenida, Mila, JNcQUOI and Rocco in no particular order.
The shopping in Lisbon was superb! Be sure to stop by Minimall, Symbols, +351, Cerâmica Factory, EsteOeste, House Of Curated (LOVED!), Next Memory Atelier, A Vida Portuguesa, Cerâmicas na Linha and Feira da Ladra. Some of these shops are at LX Factory which is a market FILLED with incredible shopping and food – both indoors and out. Highly recommend.
By far, my favorite stop of the whole trip was Queluz National Palace. Just a twenty minute taxi ride outside of the city, the palace was bursting with color and pattern inspiration.
For more museum-like experiences, be sure to visit Museu Nacional do Azulejo for some awe-inspiring displays of tile.
Needless to say, our trip with pretty epic. We hit 4 cities in 2 weeks, which was a lot but worth it. We truly had the time of our lives and cannot possibly recommend visiting Spain and Portugal more. It was magical! In case you missed it, get the full travel itinerary by reading our Spain Trip Guide!
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We typically send these fun little nuggets of info out once per month. We love sharing design tips, travel ideas and our favorite local spots!
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