Portugal - Day 7
September 14, 2025: First full day in Lisbon. Our first agenda item was laundry. When traveling for 6 weeks, you have to strategically plan your laundry days. We did not have a washing machine at our Airbnb in Porto and we are traveling with just carry-ons, so we had quite a bit of laundry to do so we were set for our time here in Lisbon. So while we had our coffee and breakfast we took care of that chore. Then it was off to take a walk down by the waterfront. Jimm came across a blue blubber jellyfish that washed up on the shore. It was bustling down by the water and we noticed two cruise ships in the harbor, so we knew it was going to be a busy day here in the city with passengers coming ashore for shopping and excursions.
Our official first stop of the day was Time Out Market. We first heard about Time Out Market while watching the Lisbon Somebody Feed Phil episode which was filmed in 2018. He had tried food from a couple different stalls there and so we though we would retrace his steps. Unfortunately, a lot has changed in the seven years since he visited. It is much more commercialized and less of a market and more of a food hall. Also, the canned sardine shop we wanted to visit is no longer there. It moved to a different location. We still enjoyed our time there, we each found a vendor for some lunch. Jimm had a tuna steak sandwich and I had a margherita pizza. Taylor’s Port, a port wine maker we were going to stop at in Porto, had a counter there so we shared a tasting of their port wine. We also shared a delicious lemon meringue tart. Even though it wasn’t what we expected, we would still recommend a stop here as there are many options of different food you can try in one location and it is located close to the boardwalk.
Next up we went in search of the sardine shop. On the way, we ran into O’Gilins, the first Irish Pub in Lisbon established in 1995. Jimm was able to get a Guinness and we had nostalgia as we sat there thinking about our time in Ireland. Jimm wants to count it as pub #51, but it is still up for debate. Then we were on the road again looking for the sardine shop, Conserveira de Lisboa. We went round and round trying to find where it was based on Google maps, and finally realized it was closed on Sundays and has very small signage. We will have to go back and check it out another day.
We headed back to our apartment and did another load of laundry before getting ready for an apertif at a rooftop bar and nice dinner at Trindade. The rooftop bar we planned to go to was full so we were looking for another one when we came across
The Trindade Beer Hall is considered the oldest and most beautiful brewery in Portugal. It was built in 1836 as a convent, survived an earthquake, recovered from two fires, and has withstood the test of time. Today, it is a brewery, seafood restaurant, snack bar, and museum. It is beautiful inside. We both tried the cod brás or Bacalhau à Brás. It is a Portuguese dish made from shreds of salted cod (bacalhau), onions and thinly chopped (matchstick-sized) fried potatoes, all bound with eggs and topped with olives. It is definitely a comfort food, very filling and hearty. I wondered where they got their cod from and it turns out that the majority of Portugal’s cod come from Norway! Portugal has consistently been Norway’s largest market for cod. I think I remember hearing about that when I visited Lofoten in northern Norway on one of my visits.
Finally, we took a leisurely walk back to our apartment and stopped for a gelato on the way. Tonight it was raspberry & lemon for me and coffee & tiramisu for Jimm. Great ending to our first full day!