Walking Tour of Lisbon and Date Night in Alfama

For Field Trip Friday this week we did a free walking tour of Lisbon. I can’t remember where I first heard about this tour, but it got great reviews. The company runs solely on tips, which I thought was interesting. Over the weekend the kids and I made a trip back to the flea market, Dave and I enjoyed a date night in Alfama, and we all took a long walk along the Tagus river.

Chillout Lisbon Free Walking Tour

We had intended to do this tour the first couple days we were in Lisbon. Our thoughts were that the tour would help orient us to the city and give us ideas of all the things we wanted to see. Our plans got derailed with getting sick, so the tour took us past a few things we’d already seen. It was still very informative and enjoyable. This was the first time we have done a free walking tour of a city, so we didn’t know what to expect. There were about 15 other people on the tour, mostly from Canada.

The tour was really heavy on the history of Lisbon, which was interesting to learn. Our guide shared a lot of her own knowledge of the area as well. She gave her honest opinions on certain tourist destinations she felt were not worth the money, which I appreciated. The tour company advertises that they will share “the real Lisbon”. Although our guide talked about the main tourist attractions, true to their word we didn’t stop at them.

My favorite part was wandering the streets of Alfama and learning about the lives of the local people in this neighborhood. Our guide lives in this neighborhood and would stop and greet locals as we passed their open windows. She talked about how numerous people occupy one small apartment and we saw the cutest cat poking his head out to say hello.

The tour ended at a beautiful lookout in our neighborhood. If you go to Lisbon, I would highly recommend this tour. We plan to look for these types of tours on our future travels.

Date Night and Ginja Tasting

Last night Dave and I enjoyed a night out in the Alfama neighborhood and did several tastings of the traditional Portuguese liqueur called Ginja. Ginja is made from sour cherries which are steeped in aguardente (a Portuguese brandy). It’s a big part of Lisbon culture. There are tiny hole-in-the-wall shops that sell basically nothing else. There are also local women selling it from their door front, which is what we wanted to try. They are served in a small shot glass or an edible chocolate cup. We tried them from three different places and they all tasted slightly different. It’s really good, but super sweet!

We had dinner at one of the many small restaurants that line the streets and alleyways. There was live Fado music playing at the place behind us, which is Portugal’s traditional music. It is often described as Portuguese “soul music.” The music is deeply emotional, often about loss, love, the sea, or longing for home. It’s a single vocalist accompanied by a Portuguese guitar and a classical guitar. We ordered a variety of appetizers to share and it was all delicious.

A Walk Along the Tagus

We rounded out our weekend with a long walk along the Tagus river this morning. The kids enjoyed watching the seagulls, and I found my Portugal earrings at a small stand of shops along the water. There’s a spot along the river where people have made carins and painted them into various things. This one made us think of home!