I spent eight weeks working remotely from Lisbon in June-July of 2022. My maternal family is originally from the Azores, a nine-island Portuguese archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean. Staying in Lisbon, while still far from my family on the island, gave me the opportunity to immerse myself in a homeland culture while also enjoying the benefits of a big city.
Lisbon is a city full of color. The warm sun reflecting off the rainbows of buildings and the ornate azuleju tiles makes this old city sparkle anew. It's easy to lose one's self in the labyrinthian streets and hills, and as such, to stumble upon surprise parks, monuments, shops, and other hidden gems, as I did countless times.
The people are friendly and kind, the pastries delightful, the panoramas breathtaking. Water is always close - whether it be the river Tagus at the foot of the city, or just several miles west to the Atlantic. There's an impression of the city folding in upon itself and becoming smaller, so strong is the sense of community. In Lisbon, the people know how to live.
Eight weeks is a lot to condense into a single blog post. I've broken my experience down a bit below to highlight some of the memories that most stand out to me.
Festa do Santo Antonio
As soon as I arrived, Lisbon's annual month-long festival was just beginning. There were free, open-air parties open to all in multiple spots around the city. And this year was really in full swing, because Lisboetas had gone two years without due to the pandemic. There are corny pop bands playing fun music (accordions are often involved), the smell of sardines on the grill (strict fishing laws surround sardines, so this is the only time to get them!), and a general conviviality amongst everyone there. I went to at least five different neighborhood festas during June.
Enjoying the festa with cousins
Nadien and Mario visiting from Gilroy
Pork sandwich
Sardines in the street
It's no wonder how I got COVID
The complete mosh pit of people in the Alfama neighborhood has got to be how I got COVID. Even though I was on my own, my Airbnb hosts brought me groceries and I was blessed with cooler weather that week. It gave me a moment to slow down coming off my six weeks in Amsterdam, and towards the end of my quarantine I was still able to explore some beautiful outdoor spots.
Like the botanical garden near my apartment!
Vibrant art
Lisbon is a city full of art - from the melancholy fado music pouring out of restaurants, to the calçada, the intricately designed (and I must say, slippery!) mosaic pavements.
One day on the way to my co-working space, I stumbled upon the Amália Rodrigues museum, which preserves and showcases her original home. A couple favorite details from my tour: one, she never knew her birthday, but her grandmother remembered it was during cherry season, enabling them to pinpoint her birthday to July and inspiring her to decorate parts of her house with cherry themes, and two, Amália always had a parrot, and that parrot (even the replacements) was always named Chico, and there is still a Chico in residence today, who has outlived Amália.
I returned to her house for a concert celebrating the 102nd anniversary of Amália Rodrigues, in the back garden. It was one of the top moments of my Lisbon stay: all dressed up on a warm summer's evening, in such a historic setting, letting the music of saudade pour over me. Chico even made an appearance and often "sang" along with the fadistas. Interested in listening to some fado music?
Here's a great place to start.
At the concert
And of course, art is all around in the ornate building designs, the azulejos, and the mosaic pavement tiles.
My mother's family name
My favorite façade azulejos I found in Lisbon,
located just around the corner from my apartment
I made my own sardinhas mosaics with a local artist
through an Airbnb experience
And of course, a city full of art means a city full of artists!
Me in Largo do Carmo square,
enjoying a coke and reading my book,
captured by a local watercolorist who
makes people look way cooler than they are
Hidden Treasures of the City
Here are a few of my favorite field trips around the city.
Carmo Convent
Fronteira Palace
A true Portuguese motif at Fronteira Palace
Fronteira water feature
Aqueduct/Resevoir Mãe d'Água das Amoreiras
On the Up and Up
I took so many furniculars while I was in Lisbon, including the Elevador do Lavra, Elevador da Glória, and Elevador da Bica. They're fun and save you a couple steep hills on a hot day!
The Elevador da Glória take you up to...
...the Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara in the
Príncipe Real neighborhood where I was staying
The Bica elevator has a super tiny car!
Bica route during the festas
At the top of the Lavra funicular was what felt like
a real hidden gem: Miradouro do Jardim do Torel
Did I mention Lisbon is a city of hills?
This street straight up has an escalator,
and no it's not leading to a mall.
Rooftops and Lookouts
It's almost hard not to stumble upon a miradouro, or vista point, around Lisbon. The absolute crème de la crème is Senhora do Monte, which is the highest lookout in the city, and justifiably the best.
With my colleague Sam, who just happened to be
visiting with her family, at Miradouro da Graça
during a tuk tuk tour of the city together
View from the rooptop pool at the Memmo Alfama hotel
Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara, again
Mama Shelter rooftop with some friends made through
an impromptu bar crawl, the main one being Eliza
to the right of me, and almost all of them Brazilian!
During a tour of
Parque Natural da Arrábida
Balancing Work and Play
How was I able to live in Lisbon for two months? I was working remotely! While in Amsterdam I primarily worked from my riverfront apartment, in Lisbon I decided to join a coworking office so I could meet more people (and get daytime AC). I selected Resvés Cowork Space, which was just a 15 minute walk from my apartment. I often would take calls from the patio, where coworkers could see a beautiful old church, trees swaying in the breeze, and children playing in the background.
It was a fun mix of locals, transplants, and digital nomads!
I also got to meet up with some coworkers, old and new! Serendipitously there was another Zendeskian working at Resvés, for one. Two, I had lunch a couple times with Raquel, who is based in Ireland but was home in Lisbon for the summer. And three, I got to see an old Box friend, Petra, a few times and meet her sweet toddler, Nate.
With Raquel at Campo Pequeno
At the park with Petra and Nate
I did a handful of Airbnb Experiences, which I highly recommend checking out anywhere you go. They are small group activities and excursions organized and led by locals.
Beach at Parque Natural da Arrábida that I never
would've found without the local guide
Captaining a sailboat on the Tagus at sunset
The mysterious Initiation Well at
Quinta da Regaleira in Sintra
Lookout point at Quinta da Regaleira
And for a sweet end to my stay, I made pastel de nata from scratch on my last day in Lisbon. It was the best one I've ever eaten, and the most time-consuming baking I've ever done. For the first half of the process, I was really trying to memorize the technique so I could recreate this delicacy for my family at home. But by the second half I had resolved this would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I'll leave this to the professionals!
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