I always wanted to visit Portugal and last week I finally managed to get myself there haha.

Originally, we were going to Lisbon for a conference, but since I love planning trips, I casually decided to extend the 2-day conference trip, to 7 days. Ups….

Sintra – the Fairytale town

I had heard from many people that there is a “Must go” town near Lisbon, and of course I wanted to go and check it out. The place is called Sintra, and if you ever visit Lisbon, make sure you also take at least a 1-day trip to Sintra (we stayed for 2 days), it´s hard to describe the place with words, but I would use “Fairy tale”, “Magical”, “Mysterious” kind of words to describe it. It is a small town, surrounded by a lot of historical castles, palaces, buildings and other random things. Here you can check out the places that we visited and my truly honest opinion about them.

Pena Palace

The most famous is Pena Palace, in the pictures you can recognize it from the colorful architecture. To be honest, it was the place I actually liked the least, it might have been because I shared the views with 1000 Chinese people, or maybe because the interior of the palace did not live up to the expectations after seeing it from the outside. It is though, obviously, worth a visit. Aaaand, you can give credits to Jammu for the awesome picture of me with the Palace.

The Moorish Castle

Next to Pena Palace, around 15 min walking, there is The Moorish Castle, which I for some reason enjoyed more than Pena Palace. Although it was freeeeeezing cold with the wind up in the mountains. From here you can also get cool views of the Pena Palace.

The Quinta da Regaleira

Another very famous point of interest is The Quinta da Regaleira, which is actually a gothic mansion. The place as such is not famous for the mansion though, but for the initiation well (inverted tower) that is placed in the surrounding gardens. Here as well, very worth the visit, but be prepared to use your elbows when the Chinese tourists enters. Might sound like a joke, but it´s the truth. The photo where I am all alone was exactly 10 seconds before a big tourist group entered, and yes, I used quite a lot my elbows to be able to get out of there. If you have claustrophobia, this is not a place for you.

The Monserrate Palace

My favorite in Sintra was The Monserrate Palace, which is not that popular, due to that you have to travel a bit further to get there (it took us around 25 min from the center). You have to walk through a beautiful path in the natural park to get there, it was raining a bit the day we went but that kind of made it even more cozy and “magical”.

Lisbon

After freezing and visiting fairytale-like castles for 2 days in Sintra, we headed to Lisbon. We stayed in Bairro Alto, which is a central area near a lot of bars, discotheques and restaurants (weird right…..). We had 2 days extra before the conference and 2 days extra after the conference to explore Lisbon, which I think was a perfect amount of days. Strolling around the streets in different areas and eating good food is basically what we did during these days, and for me, I would say that was the best way of experiencing Lisbon.

Visit a rooftop bar, or why not several?

Some must go places, is that you visit a rooftop bar / restaurant at least once, there is plenty, and especially in the sunset, Lisbon is very beautiful from “above”.

Go on a Tuk Tuk tour

Another must do, is of course to take a Tuk Tuk ride, the price is a bit more than a normal taxi, but in a hot summer day, it was perfect!

Eat some delicious food in Time out Market

Also, if you like good food, like me, you need to visit the Time out market, and also my favorite restaurant from all the trip: A Cevicheria, delicious!!

Last but not least, we actually travelled to Lisbon for a conference! I did not take any pictures from the actual conference, but they caught us partying one day (also very weird). So, to end this slightly long blogpost, here is a photo from one of the official parties in the conference. Photo is “borrowed” from iGaming Business Affilate Events Facebook page.