So our very first 24 hours consisted mostly of traveling. We did a total of 11+ hours of flying to Madrid and then was supposed to be followed by a 1hr flight to Lisbon. Our flight was pretty smooth. Only about 1/3 of the plane was full so people definitely moved around to sleep.
Our plane dinner was actually pretty good! Well at least the entree was! The salad had eggplant, bell peppers and zucchini on it but no salad dressing?! That made it plain! The pasta was actually pretty good! It tasted like adult Mac n cheese with the added red bell peppers in it. It was really cheesy and saucy, which I loved! The dessert was a dense brown cake topped with chocolate.
Breakfast before we landed was actually pretty disappointing. It was in a cute box labeled savory and sweet breakfast, which got me so excited. Instead, it was a dry hand and tomato baguette and a muffin. Even the ham and cheese sandwich they passed out in the middle of the flight tasted better because it had mayonnaise in it.
When we landed in a Madrid, we had 4 hours until our flight to Lisbon. Thanks to my priority pass, we went into VIP Lounge Puerta Alcala in terminal 2. We enjoyed a variety of complimentary wine, glass bottled beverages, coffee, breakfast and sandwiches.
This potato omelette was the only hot breakfast item served in the lounge. It was surprisingly very good, savory and light. It kind of reminded me of quiche texture with potato bits in it. They also served cereal, yogurt, fruit, and pastries.
We had a little hiccup with boarding our next flight to Lisbon. Long and angry story short, we took the first flight out to Lisbon the following morning instead.
When we arrived at our hotel called Tempo FLH Hotel, we were greeted by a very nice host who invited us to complimentary breakfast by the hotel. Each table was set so neatly and cute.
There was hot coffee, tea, hot chocolate, milk, soy milk, orange juice, etc. Each table gets their own cloth bag of fresh bread. Croissant was my favorite! So flaky and light.
They even served boiled eggs and scrambled eggs (not in the picture). The scrambled eggs were cooked perfectly and bright go fly orange. I think egg yolks are different here in Lisbon?
After breakfast, we went downstairs where we met up with our first tour guide, Thomas, who was going to drive us around Sintra, Lisbon and the beaches. We booked the stour Secrets of Sintra/Cascais Natural Park – A Fairytale tour. He was very friendly and insanely informative. He knows so much detail about the places origin, history and culture. He even memorized dates! He also took us into Quinta da Regaleira, where I was able to snag a picture of us in the spiraling rock structure. There is actually a lot of history in regards to the tests to Hell and the three masons… I don’t want to get into that here..
During our tour, we did split up to enjoy a little lunch break of our own. It was hard to decide where to eat lunch while trying to be mindful of avoiding tourist traps. We finally decided on this outdoor seating area called Paco Real where we ordered a cod dish.
We shared a plate of Codfish cakes with tomato rice. The codfish cakes were done very well! It was freshly hot, crispy on the outside and hot and moist on the inside. Very flaky too! The tomato rice was like a little soup that complimented the cod well.
Our tour guide recommended that if we were to try something unique to Sintra, it held be this dessert called travesseiro. All other savory and sweet foods are the same as Lisbon.
Thomas recommended this as the number one place for these pastries. You pull a paper that had a number like at the asian meat department in groceries. There was a short line.
I was told by the pastry chef there that the most common and classic tracesseiro is the almond flavor so that was what I chose. The outside is very flaky and golden ly crispy. There is an almond filling on the inside that is mildly sweet. It was also lightly topped with sugar.
After the tour, we started to walk around the streets near our hotel to window shop. We eventually got hungry and decided to try another restaurant that Thomas recommended, this time called Cafe Nicola.
I must say Cafe Nicola has very bad service. Our waiter was rude and tried to trick us into paying for more items by just filling up our table without asking! Items such as bread, butter, etc.
I saw Vinho verde (green wine) on the menu and decided to try it. Vince got the house red wine. The wine was disappointing because it wasn’t green at all!
The Grilled sea bass was done very well! Yes, I admit, the presentation is very bad and plain, but the grilled fish itself was seasoned nicely and grilled perfectly with crispy skin.
Lastly, Vince and I discovered a very hip and cute bar called Toca da Raposa just a few blocks from our hotel. The menu had cute cartoon drawings of each drink animal by an 11 year old girl.
Unicorn. Mezcal, Lucia Lime, Vinho de banana, Melancia. This drink tasted good but I personally don’t like the banana flavor in my cocktails.
Gorilla. Rum, Geranio de Rosa, Meloa, gengibre. This was my cocktail and I must say I loved it! I can hardly taste the alcohol and even though there was a nice strong lunch of ginger, it just worked. This drink I was able to sip on slowly.
Veado tufado. Whiskey, batata doce. This was a weird cocktail that had sweet potato in it.. Vince liked it and I didn’t..
Lastly on our way back, I saw the bakery next door to our hotel that still had some Portuguese egg tarts. I ordered two for Vince and I to try. He also got a glass of dessert red wine.
The egg tarts were very good! The crust is very flaky, crunchy and baked til golden brown. The custard in the middle was soft and mildly sweet. I would get more before I leave Portugal! These are much better than the ones in the Asian markets back in 626 of course.
Can’t wait for our own day of exploring tomorrow!
