12 Hours in Lisbon

We originally planned on spending 48 hours in Lisbon, Portugal but that quickly became 12 hours when our outbound flight from Los Angeles to Philadelphia was delayed, causing us to miss the connecting flight to Lisbon. As a result, we had to spend the first 24 hours of our vacation in Philadelphia, which didn't turn out too bad as we took advantage of the situation and went to Morimoto and Reading Terminal. While trying to figure out alternate plans with the gate agent, we were able to score a couple of first class seats 24 hours later, with full access to the Envoy VIP lounge. So missing flights isn't ALWAYS bad, but we did lose out on quite a bit of time to roam Portugal with our two friends.



We arrived in Lisbon bright and early Sunday morning, 24 hours later than anticipated. Luckily, the hotel was nice enough to allow us to cancel our reservations despite the fact that we were passed the alloted 24-hour cancellation period. We originally planned on taking a 1-hour train to the nearby city of Sintra but with only half a day left, our group opted to roam Lisbon instead.

Highlights
Lisbon Cathedral - Founded in 1150, this site was home to a mosque that was later converted to a cathedral after the city was conquered by the Crusaders in 1147 (led by Portugal's first king, Alfonso Henríques). It is the oldest church in the city and survived multiple large earthquakes. As a result, the church is a mixture of Romanesque, Gothic and Medieval architectural styles.



As we made our way from the Lisbon Cathedral to the Castle of São Jorge, there were alot of beautiful photo opportunities, including one with this view overlooking the port of Portugal. We arrived at the castle only to find some sort of ceremony or procession occuring at the entrance. The line to go inside was also 100+ deep. Sadly, we had to skip out on the castle and make our way to the airport for our flight to San Sebastian.



Trip details
Airfare: US Airways (Los Angeles to Lisbon)

Intended Hotel: VIP Eden Lisboa

Transportation: Aerobus to and from the hotel, bus to Pasteis de Belem and Lisbon cathedral.

Food: There are a few Michelin-starred restaurants in Portugal along with a number of highly-recommended local places I found on Chowhound. Unfortunately, our time was so restricted that we missed both our reservations (100 Maneiras and Solar dos Presuntos). Hopefully, we will be able to visit Portugal again some day - 12 hours wasn't enough to even begin to get a feel for the rich culture and history that this country has to offer.

We did manage to squeeze in a trip to the ever-so-popular Pasteis de Belém for their famous pastel de nata or Portuguese egg tart. We also grabbed lunch next door at Restaurante Cervejaria os Jeronimos, a recommendation in the Rick Steve's Portugal guidebook.