A Day in Lisbon
Traveling from Porto to Lisbon, Portugal | Exploring Lisbon by Foot | June 2026
To wrap up our time in Portugal, we would be staying two nights in Lisbon before flying back to the states. We had made the decision to fly out of Lisbon the night we booked tickets to Portugal, 5 days before leaving, without having done much research. We just thought it sounded like a good idea to visit the capitol city and see a little more of the country after hiking the Camino and before leaving. However, as our trip went on, we started to regret this decision a little bit. We enjoyed being in Porto so much, it had become comfortable to us, and we realized how much bigger Lisbon was and it felt so intimidating. We struggled to find a good deal on a hotel in a decent location, which is ultimately why we only ended up spending our last 2 nights here instead of coming right after our Camino and spending a week here. We also had heard some negative things about the airport and worried that our flight itinerary back to the states was destined to fail. But since we had bought the cheapest tickets possible, there was no chance of changing our flights, so we had to stick with the impulsive decisions we had made almost a month prior.
After our last breakfast in Porto, we checked out of our hotel and made our way to the train station. As we waited for our train to Lisbon, we met another couple from the states who had completed the Camino de Santiago (the more popular route across Northern Spain) and we enjoyed exchanging stories about our pilgrimages and getting advice in case we ever decide to do that one. When the train arrived, we boarded and settled in for our nearly 3 hour ride South to Lisbon.
Our time in Porto had provided a respite from the heat wave now taking over Western Europe, but it found us once again when we arrived in Lisbon. As soon as we got off the train, we were hit by the feeling both of sweltering heat and overwhelmed by how large this city really was. Thankfully our hotel was just across the street from the train station — we had chosen it specifically for its location to the train and metro station, and its closer proximity to the airport. We walked over and got checked in, then cooled off in the AC and made a plan for our afternoon. I already knew just looking at the map of things I had starred here that there was no way we’d be able to see it all, so we decided to stick with what we’re best at in these scenarios: just take public transit to a park closer to the heart of the city, and start walking from there.
We walked back to the train/metro station and bought transit cards that were supposed to include unlimited train, metro, and bus rides for 24 hours. Then we hopped on the metro and made our way to the Eduardo VII Park. There was nothing we could do to put aside our feelings of overwhelm, so we just started by walking through a park, taking in the views, and Curtis searched for a letterbox. We drank lots of water and sat down in the shade whenever we needed to. Not only is Lisbon a large city, it’s also a very hilly city, and from the lookout at this park I could make out different attractions all spread out, with the hills dividing them.
At one point, Curtis went in search of a letterbox, and I sat down to rest. I gazed up at this giant Portuguese flag rippling in the slight breeze, and the thought crossed my mind, I wonder when Portugal is playing in the World Cup? I had been seeing updates pop up online about the games that had just started in the States, but hadn’t really been paying attention. I did a quick search online and realized that Portugal’s first game was actually happening TODAY, in just a matter of hours! I can’t say I especially care about sports in general, but I was excited to get to see how the city would be reacting to the game going on.
We continued our walk through the park, then hopped on a metro to get a little further South, and found our way to an Aldi — the 4th country in which we’ve visited Aldi! We picked up a light dinner and smoothies, and even found a Portugal themed reusable bag as a ‘souvenir’ that featured the iconic Pastel de Nata pastry. We ate on a bench in another park before continuing to make our way South towards the coast.
Before venturing all the way down to sea level, we decided to walk uphill again to reach another lookout, which was inside another small park that we hoped would be a quiet corner to enjoy the city views. As we slowly made our way up the steep slope of the street, we could hear the same broadcast being played from TVs in every single home we passed — and then anthems. The game was about to begin! We finally made it up the hill, turned towards the park…and found it completely taken over by a large public watch party! The entire space was covered with food trucks, vendors, seating, and a giant TV screen showing the game that had just begun. This wasn’t at all what we had been expecting from our day wandering around Lisbon, but we decided to embrace it — there was too much excitement in the air to not! We may not be sports people, but we can appreciate when something big like this brings everyone together, and sometimes it’s just fun to be a part of something, even when you’re a stranger to the country and don’t understand what people are saying.
After enjoying the view and the excitement, we continued our way heading to the riverfront. We continued to hear snippets from the game from every home we passed. Whenever we passed by restaurants, they would either have the games playing from TVs inside and out, with waiters trying to usher us inside in a hurry saying “Quick! The game is on and we have beer!” Or at the nicer establishments without TVs, we would see the waiter or hostess sitting outside completely distracted by their phone which was undoubtedly also playing the game. We finally made it to the North shore of the Tagus, and here we took in the views of the river, marveling at how much bigger it seemed than the Duoro in Porto. We enjoyed the bridge views and their version of the Christ the Redeemer statue on the other side.
From here, we started walking East towards the Praça do Comércio, a large plaza with the iconic arch, the Arco da Rua Augusta. I guess with all we had seen so far with the excitement around the World Cup, we shouldn’t have been surprised by what we saw. But it came with a whole new sense of overwhelm when we finally came into view of the plaza and saw a massive crowd of people gathered there watching the largest screen we had seen yet, all set up right at the front of the plaza. Instead of really taking in the arch or statue, all we could do was gaze out over the crowds and marvel at the amount of people here. I think this experience was more exciting than going to the game itself would have been.
As exciting as it all was, we really didn’t want to be out and trying to use public transportation when the game ended and everyone else was trying to get home, so we wrapped up our long walking tour by making our way back up a hill, stopping to see a cathedral, and finding our way to a metro station. We made it safely back to our hotel for the night. We may have been feeling apprehensive initially about going to Lisbon, and our experience here may have been a pretty unique one, but I know for sure that this was all a once in a lifetime experience. We’ll never forget about the time we found ourselves among the crowds of Portuguese people cheering on their country in the World Cup!
