Valentine's Day Weekend in Lisbon

As I lift my hand to look at the time on my phone, something wet splats onto it. I don’t have to look to know what it is, peacock poop. I just got pooped on by a peacock. When I planned my trip to Lisbon, this was not something I expected, but I’ll welcome any weird experiences I can pull out later in life without context. "I was once pooped on by a peacock in Portugal." I love it. 

Luckily, the rest of my adventure to Lisbon went as expected, avoiding any other animal excrement. If you plan on going to Lisbon, consider some of the things I did during my weekend. When I arrived, I took an Uber to the Good Company bookstore. I suggest taking an Uber. I called an Uber after getting flustered by a taxi driver, insistently trying to lead me to his taxi when I exited the airport looking lost. I was happy to find out my Uber ride was only four euros while the taxi would have been around 25. 

I arrived at the bookstore around 20 minutes later. The bookstore had books wrapped up for Valentine's Day with descriptions like, "If you're looking for a man in finance and love some hot gossip" as well as the price on the package. Because I flew with luggage restrictions, I didn’t buy any books but I did take pictures of at least 5 books to buy when I get the chance. The books were all in English. I got a delicious cinnamon roll and coffee, then I wandered downstairs where I found a decent-sized study space. It had little single-person booths as well as two large tables. I enjoyed this space as I worked on my blog. 

After checking into my Airbnb, which was cozy with a lovely balcony view, I headed over to Sentido da Cor. This cute little jewelry shop sells cheap stainless steel jewelry, most of which cost less than five euros each. It was super busy and always is, but I was able to get a little tub and collect what I wanted. I got two rings, three pairs of earrings, and four necklaces for under 40 euros. I have been wearing the jewelry even in the shower for the past 3 weeks and they haven’t tarnished or caused any irritation. 

After wandering around the area of my Airbnb, I decided to call it a day and get dinner. Because it was Valentine’s Day, I decided not to go out but rather order food to go and eat on the cute balcony. It was a lovely night. The next morning I found another cafe and bookstore! This one called Livraria & Cafe. It's right next to the metro and it’s huge! Most of the books are in Portuguese, but they do have a section with Spanish and English. They also have postcards and souvenirs. There I ate a breakfast of pastel de nata. Finally I went to meet up with another girl from the program who was also in Lisbon for the weekend. 

We met at the São Jorge castle. We paid around 8 euros for entry. The castle has a museum exhibit, a place to eat, and multiple places you can climb up and see amazing views of the city as well as of the peacocks in the trees and roaming around the surrounding buildings. Unless you also want to be able to say you were pooped on by a peacock, my advice would be to make sure you are not standing directly under them. 

On Saturdays and Tuesdays, there's a flea market in the Alfama area called Feira da Ladra. Since I happened to be there on a Saturday, I had to check it out. It didn’t disappoint. The market had just about anything you could imagine, and it kept going as I wandered down the street. There was a ton of cheap jewelry, clothing, and bags. I bought some earrings for my friends back home and a beautiful scarf, all for under ten euros. 

Next, we headed to the Tower of Belem. I didn't end up going in because by this time I was tired and hungry, but I did wander around taking photos. Across the street there is the Mosteiro de Santa Maria which is also beautiful. It's a great place to wander around because of the beautiful views, and you can also get a bite to eat from the food trucks. 

After returning to the city, I walked towards my Airbnb because I needed a break. On my walk I met some other people foreign to Portugal. They were Australian, Nigerian and American. I took their information to meet up later. We had an amazing night just wandering around since we had tried to go to bars in the Alfama area but they were all closing early. I highly recommend visiting Lisbon, especially if you speak Spanish or English because it was fairly easy to communicate with both.