Four Days in Portugal With Kids

“Go someplace on a hunch. Off the beaten path. Someplace you don’t know a ton about. And if you’re really lucky, you might end up in Lisbon.” Phil Rosenthal of Somebody Feed Phil couldn’t have put it any better.

If I was dreaming, I’d dream of Portugal–of the cobblestone artwork streets and yellow trolleys, perhaps those delicious pastries around every corner. Lisbon could not have been a more wonderful experience. Except maybe if we had had even longer there. Haha! Talk about spontaneity. This trip was not planned but had been on our hearts for awhile, we bought our airfare 6 days before the flight took off. It’s hard to book international travel sometimes when life is so darn busy and uncertain, throw a pregnancy in the mix and forget about planning. As we inched closer to Labor Day weekend, my hubby and I we’re deciding between two trips: one we deemed “safe” and “inexpensive,” just a weekend jaunt up to New Hampshire to hike and explore or an international “adventure”. Clearly neither is an actual vacation when you’ve got sweet kiddos in tow.

Then the doctor called with the results from my genetic screening from around 12 weeks pregnant. Everything looked great BUT my PAPP-A protein was low. I’d never heard of this protein. Well I made the mistake of googling it and got all kinds of freaked out. Low levels of this protein created by the placenta are associated with preterm labor, late miscarriage, preeclampsia, and still birth. The list goes on. It’s not a direct association, rather an increased possibility. That sealed the deal. Adventure it was. With no looking back. Because, well life. Life is hard, life is tricky, life throws you unlovely whenever it can and it’s up to you to toss some lovely back, to spot it, search for it and uncover it in life’s wreckage. Portugal it was.

My hubby took 4 days off work, this was the last week of summer before preschool started for both boys so timing-wise, it was perfect. We left on a Monday night and flew home on Saturday. Only 4 full days to adventure. Knowing we couldn’t do the wild and crazy adventures from our pre-kid days, we rented an apartment from HomeAway in the heart of Lisbon. We wanted to be in the hub of it all knowing we’d be retreating early at night for bedtimes. We were purposeful to get an apartment overlooking a trolley line so those little guys could watch the trolley all day long.

Our first day in Portugal we arrived late in the afternoon to our apartment. We we’re all tired but we walked over to the farmers market to grab ingredients for dinner. We let the little boys help us pick foods.

We had a hard time getting Kai to eat dinner as he fell fast asleep on Matt’s shoulder and did not want to wake up. This made for a hard next morning. He woke up throwing up and we surmised it was probably due to such a long time not eating and the time change. Poor kid. Matt went to a local pharmacy and the lady gave him drops to add to his water. It was like magic. Worked immediately and we took a trolley ride in the afternoon.

Day 3 was our best. We were all feeling great, we got out of the apartment earlier and got to explore later. We started by trying to do the Elevator de Santa Justa which was just a quick 2 minute walk from our apartment. There was already an 1+ hr long line. We waited in line for a few minutes and heard the couple in front of us talking (in english) about how you can skip the elevator up and just walk over to the platform view point from the bridge. Sure enough as we analyzed the elevator there’s a bridge from the hill above that goes over to the elevator structure. If you walk around the corner, up the street and then up another steep street to the top of the hill, you skip the line entirely. We jumped out of line, took a brief 8 min walk and were at the top of the elevator structure with no line. You still have to pay admission to go up the windy staircase to the very top but totally worth it because lines and kids do not go well.

From the elevator we walked down to the main street and caught the 28 Tram, also called the tourist tram. It’s the most scenic and takes you throughout the Alfama district. We took this trolley in it’s entirety the day before to get an overview of all the major sites in Lisbon but then used it to hop on and get to the top of the hill to the Monastery of Sao Vicente de Fora.

We went first into the cathedral and listened to some beautiful organ music. The little boys were just in awe and I got to sit and take in their wonder. The European cathedrals just evoke a deep sense of reverence and you could literally see it in their eyes. Then we walked next door to the monastery.

The Monastery of Sao Vicente de Fora was my absolute favorite sight in Lisbon. I really wanted to see the famous Portuguese tile called azulejos and googled sites the night before. This was about all the “trip planning” we did, haha, and this one caught my eye. It was quiet and beautiful, a true haven in the city which was unexpected. And there was no one here. It was the prettiest place we went in all of Lisbon and we only saw a handful of people the entire time. The Baroque-style blue and white tiles line the walls of the entire monastery in an unbroken tile pattern. There are literally 100,000 tiles, making it the world’s largest collection of Baroque tile. You can climb the bell towers of the church and the view from the top will take your breath away. Literally. Once again, no one was up there so it felt like our own little eden, an unexpected gift.

From the monastery we walked up the windy streets of the Baixa district to the castle. The castle was crazy busy and fun but not life changing like the monastery. We were all hungry so we quickly walked around and then took a tuk tuk to the Time Out market. We planned all our meals based off the show Somebody Feed Phil, one of our favorites on Netflix.

I think I could have eaten at Time Out market for literally every meal. It’s like the most delicious food court of all time except it’s all the greatest chefs and recipes in Lisbon all in one spot. We had a traditional Portuguese steak sandwich and their famous cod cakes. The boys loved them. We then stopped at Manteigaria for delicious Portuguese egg custard tarts. Holy moly. They looked good when Phil ate them but they were 10x better in person.

From Time Out market we walked across the street and caught the boat taxi across the river to the other side. We really wanted to see the Jesus statue in person and eat at Ponte Final, also from Somebody Feed Phil. Plus what 2 and 4 year old don’t love taking a boat taxi.

Our last day in Portugal we took an early morning train to Sintra. It’s about 30 minutes outside of Lisbon but you ride on a commuter train which stops every minute or two which made it about a 45 minute trek. The boys were super excited to ride on a Portuguese train. Sintra is filled with palaces and castles and beautiful gardens. We waited in a long line to board the tourist bus which takes you between the major sites very cheaply. Our plan was to ride it to the end and do Pena Palace first to hopefully avoid some lines as it can be a very busy place. The problem was everyone had exactly the same idea. The nice thing about traveling with little kids is that there were multiple instances we were standing in line and some person came and got us and walked us to the front. They are a very family-friendly country. I had old ladies on buses giving up their seat so I could sit down with Kai. It was remarkable.

The lines to get into the Pena Palace were horrible. It wasn’t even the peak of summer, I can’t imagine what that must be like. Once you get into the palace you’re standing in line like a cow throughout the entire thing. They weave you around the rooms via roped off sections and there was just too many people to accommodate a 2 and 4 year old. When the line looped around we snuck under a rope and quickly left without seeing most of the interior of the palace. You win some you lose some. They really shouldn’t let that many people in at one time. It’s kinda how I feel about Disneyland.

But the gardens were absolutely beautiful. Cobblestone paths meandering through an ivy clad forest. We chose the highest peak which had a cross at the top and started walking. It was really just a gently steady uphill. The cobblestones were tricky for both boys and Kai had scrapped knees by the end.

We walked down through the gardens and headed to the Moorish Castle. This is one legit castle. It even looks like a castle! It was perched at the top of another hill, although slightly lower than Pena Palace. To get to the top turret there were SO many steps. We were so immensely proud of Cade. We did not carry him or help him, he tackled all those stairs to the top by himself, passing up grown adults with normal legs who had stopped to rest. Cade’s bilateral prosthetics make cobblestones and steps a bit trickier since he can’t feel the ground. He was visibly proud when we reached the top and I had to hide my momma tears. Oh moms out there. If I could have glimpsed that moment when I was pregnant with him and the doctors told me something was wrong with his legs, oh what a reassurance it would have been. Your little ones will absolutely amaze you with what they are able to do. Nothing stops Cade, not even a medieval castle clinging to a mountainside.

We ended our time in Sintra at Casa Piriquita for the travesseiros – a dessert made of puff pastry with a filling of almond cream. I think if I was picking between these or the egg custard deliciousness in Lisbon, I’d pick Lisbon. But both are so good.

Our flight home from Lisbon to Boston was direct on TAP airways, a lovely airline and totally uneventful. Portugal was a beautiful time, filled with new family memories and proud momma moments of watching two little boys learn adventure and exploring and “going with the flow.” And given the uncertainty of life, I’m happy we got to do this before we get very much further into pregnancy and preterm labor is a concern. We never know where life will take us but we can be absolute certain there is lovely there.