Se apaixona por Portugal | "Falling in love with Portugal"

Se apaixona por Portugal or falling in love with Portugal would be an understatement. I just returned back to Prague from my Spring holidays traveling throughout Portugal and when the time came to go, it was a very hard to say goodbye. There are only incredible things to say about Portugal, along with everything and everyone in it. 

Arriving late in the evening, I was able to see Lisbon at night. Lively, sexy, dimly lit beautiful alleys and cobblestone for as far as the eye could see. I could only imagine how beautiful this city was with the sun shining. Waking up the next morning, I walked out on to the terrace at our hostel and was greeted with the most breath-taking view. Bright orange rooftops crammed next to one another and a beautiful cloudless blue sky. 

As with most of my travels, I tend to not have any solid plans that I need to abide by or fulfill. Most often I love to get an early start and simply wander throughout town, the streets and enjoy getting lost. In Lisbon, this was the perfect place to wander. Around each corner were the most beautifully tiled and decorated houses, streets and buildings. The embellishments on the exteriors of the buildings changed constantly and kept your eyes staring at the beautiful patterns. It is a photographers dream. I'm pretty sure I stopped to take pictures every other building I walked by. In addition to the beautiful tiles that Portugal is known for, the street art in Lisbon is incredible as well. It filled the alleys and stairways and was amazing to see how much detail and effort is put into this. 

Markets

 

 

Markets: Time Out: 

If you consider yourself a "foodie," or simply just love good food, eating and socializing, Time Out market is one of the best places to go in all of Lisbon. Opened in 2014, Time Out market has a concept of a market feel, while having high-end restaurants and shops within it. 24 restaurants to choose from all with various cuisines and incredible chefs, 8 bars and a farmers market. Also, absolutely do not miss getting an "egg tart" from the incredible Manteigaria in the market.

Market: LX Factory

Another incredible area to check out when in Lisbon is the LX Factory. With over 200 business ranging from Cafes, restaurants, design houses, show rooms, clothing stores, bars, it has everything to offer. LX Factory offers amazing culture and design to look at. While there, make sure you stop at Mez Cais LX. This quirky, yet incredibly lively restaurant is the place to get amazing margaritas, listen to good music and eat good food (do not miss out on the avocado mousse)! It has a great vibe and both times I went there (yes I went twice in 7 days), every table was full.  

Porto

After spending our first days in Lisbon, my friend and I took the train to the city of Porto. As being the birthplace of Port wine, I knew I was going to be in heaven. Give me all the red and white port wine, please! Porto was a lovely, very walkable city. Small and incredibly charming. Incredibly friendly and warm people. I can't say enough amazing things about this town. Since we visited during the winter season, it was raining most of the time we were there. I would highly recommend visiting in Spring/Summer. 

First things first, we checked into our adorable Airbnb and scoped out the best places to brunch, grab wine and to eat good food. We walked around town and stopped by the infamous library, Livraria Lello. Although being overly congested with people, the library itself was charming. It felt like stepping into a Harry Potter novel, with the beautiful hanging staircase and old, worn wooden shelves. There is an entrance fee of around $11-12. 

We then braved the wind and rain and wandered throughout the streets, looking at the architecture and made sure to stop and do a port wine tasting. Also, make sure you try the local and famous dish of Porto, Franceschini. This sandwich is filled with various meat, and covered with melted cheese in a hot tomato and beer sauce.  Yum, right? It was actually incredible.

After exploring both Porto and Lisbon, I can truly say that Portugal has been one of my favorite places I've been to. If you are planning a trip there, see all of my recommendations for places to eat and cafes to stop by below. 

Places to be obsessed with: Lisbon

Cafe: Organic Cafe Estoril - Rua da Misericórdia 139
Cafe: Bowl Lisboa
Cafe: Royal Cafe (incredible veggie burger) 
Restaurant: A Cevicheria** (has 1 michelin star) - absolutely do not miss going to this place. It doesn't take reservations, but has the best fresh ceviche I've ever tried and the vibe is incredible. 
Restaurant: Costa Do Castelo
Drinks/Food: Mez Cais or Mez Cais LX (Mez Cais LX is located in an incredibly cool and trendy area call the LX Factory). 
Drinks: Fox Trot
Drinks: Park Bar or Topo

Places to be obsessed with: Porto
Drinks: Candelabro 
Restaurant: Cruel
Cafe: Zenith cafe (great vibe and amazing food) 
Cafe: Progresso

Hope you've enjoyed this post! If so, share it with others and make sure to follow my adventures @tripleoblog on Instagram. Cheers! 

Ciao Italia | Travel Umbria, Italy

Ciao everyone! 

I've recently returned from a long weekend  in Italy. While on holiday from teaching, I reunited with a few friends, Tanira and Loris, who I met while in the Grand Caymans, who are temporarily staying in a town located in the Umbria region of Italy, called Terni. Terni is located just about two hours north of Rome and is nestled within and surrounded by large hills and mountains. Its a beautiful, quaint town where the people tend to grow up and remain most of their lives. Its incredibly and quintessentially Italian and just what I needed, a real, authentic Italian experience. While in Terni, I stayed at my friend Loris's Nonna's (grandmother) house. I was greeted with such  warm welcome and by the end of my time there, she invited me to stay forever, "if I'd like." 

The best part about staying in the Umbria region is there are endless amounts of small villages you can pass through and meander throughout. We didn't manage to see them all, but made quite the dent. I fell in love with Italy this time around. Even though I had previously visited Italy years back, I couldn't help but fall more in love with the perfect blue skies shining down on the rows of olive trees covering the hillsides, the dilapidated and worn down towns once used for movie sets to film the infamous Pinocchio, flowers adorning every windowsill,  persimmon trees as far as the eye could see and The Dolomite mountains peaking out from a distance. It was a dream. The best vino I've had in ages where the tasting just so happen to be free! How could it get any better, you're asking? Well it did. I was staying with an Italian family and chef, who would make fresh bruschetta every morning and evening on their log fireplace, be served homemade espresso boiled from the kettle on the stove and pick oranges from the tree outback. It was a slower and much more simple way of living and I absolutely enjoyed every minute of it. 

Civita De Bagno | Italy

The first town we visited was called Civita De Bagno or "the dying city" as Loris likes to call it. This town's buildings cling to the edge of the cliff that has been slowing eroding away over the years. Be prepared to walk, because there's no transportation to visit this village, but once you arrive, it's breathtaking. Beautiful architecture, flowers, unending views and cats strolling along the streets everywhere. It was definitely a perfect way to start the trip. 

Orvieto | Italy

We arrived in the town of Orvieto, and were starving from all of our walking thus far. So we grabbed lunch and of course, what do you get when staying in the Umbria region...besides wine, anything with truffle, or a sandwich from a porchetta shop! So we ended up getting a truffle cheese panini from a porchetta shop. Perfecto! The umbria region is known to have incredible truffle mushrooms which are special to the region. Since I am obsessed with anything truffle, of course I bought a jar of whole truffles, along with truffle oil.  

Spoleto | Italy

Spoleto, spoleto, spoleto...a town with such stunning architecture and alleyways, that one (aka: me) nearly couldn't make it through the town without stopping every 5 minutes to take a picture. Each building carefully detailed and painted with a different color, made me realize how much beauty there is around us. We walked through the town square which was getting decorated for the upcoming holidays, grabbed lunch at another trattoria where we ate more meat and cheese on the most beautiful charcuterie board I had ever seen. It was so big, it spanned the entire table.  

Papigno | Italy

Pinocchio, the movie that put this town on the map. This movie was filmed in the town of Papigno. Papigno is one of the most magical villages I've ever been to. Small, but perfect. Old, but historic. I couldn't seem to understand how one small village could exude and hold so much beauty. Surrounded by mountains, next to olive tree fields and nearby the Marmore Falls, Papigno is a perfect place to getaway and enjoy the beauty in life. We walked around the town, weaving in a out of alleys, up and down stairs and greeting locals who wanted nothing but to provide us with advice on where to go and what to check out. This town, although your visit may be quick, is one not to miss. 

Peidei Lugo | Italy

Only spending a few short hours here, wandering along the lakeside, feeling the chilly winter air, the town of Peidei Lugo was breathtaking. Known for being more of a summer town with beach and water  activities on the lake, it still had a wonderful feeling to it, where you could take in the views of the Dolomites from a distance and grab a espresso from a local cafe. Umbria was nothing but incredible. 

Cheers to Italy, friends and more travels to come! 

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