Lisbon

Lisbon is the capital of Portugal and is also the largest city in the country. It was also our temporary home for the weekend to celebrate our friend's 30th.

Once I had landed, I grabbed an uber to get to our Airbnb to meet my sister and our friends. We headed out to LXFactory soon after.

We had a relaxed evening whilst everyone else arrived, ordered some pizzas for dinner and enjoyed the rest of our evening catching up and having fun.

Saturday morning had arrived and we made our way to brunch at Zenith.

The açai bowl was amazing but I can't say the same for my veggie bagel. The ingredients separately were great but together made the bagel itself soggy. The rest of the menu looked incredible so don't let that put you off, just don't get the veggie bagel.

We had eaten so much that we needed to walk it off so we decided to explore some of the city.

Our first landmark visit in Lisbon was Praça do Comércio situated near the Tagus river and in the Square of Commerce. The symmetrical buildings are filled with government bureaux regulating customs and port activities used to indicate its new function in the economy of Lisbon. The centre piece of the square is an equestrian bronze statue of King José I, sculpted by Machado de Castro, which is the first monumental statue dedicated to a king in Lisbon.

There were far too many pigeons near it for me to go anywhere near the sculpture so guess you're going to have to go to Lisbon to see it for yourself.

Next stop, the Castelo de São Jorge. It was the location of fortifications occupied successively by Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans and Moors before its conquest in 1147 by the Portuguese during the Siege of Lisbon. The castle itself has served as military barracks, a royal palace and a home to archives. It is now a national monument.

After we had explored every nook and cranny of the grounds (featuring peacocks), we made our way through the exit and made a beeline for sustenance, Pastéis de Bacalhau.

After some more gandering, we chilled out at Topo.

The view was pretty great despite the change in weather.

A quick nap and a change of clothes later, we were ready to begin our night of gluttony at Bairro do Avillez.

The most delicious food was followed by the most scrumptious slice of birthday cake, inevitably nudging us into a food coma. You'd think that would end the night but it didn't. It fuelled it. We were soon on our way to K Urban Beach to end our night with lots of dancing (basically cue classic uncle moves).

Time Out Market greeted us at our first location on Sunday for a spot of lunch and I obviously gravitated to the gelato stand soon after.

We then made our way to Belém, 1 of the 24 districts in Lisbon. It is home to historic landmarks and is famous for its seafood restaurants and houses decorated in colourful tiles, as well as Pastéis de Belém patisserie.