Day 1ish and 2: Made it to Cascais and a Lisbon Food Tour

We made it to Cascais! Even though we were exhausted, we all got a second wind when we saw this gorgeous view. This picture is off the balcony of our apartment. We couldn’t believe this would be our view for the next 4 days. 

My parents and Jeri arrived a day ahead of us. First order of business was a balcony happy hour.


We were so happy to be here and start exploring. MO was hoping to witness another fish market fist fight, like in Santa Margherita, Italy. 

On our first full day, we booked a Lisbon food tour. It was a great way for us to see a little bit of Lisbon and try some Portuguese food. 

Our wonderful tour guide, Diogo, started us off with a view of the city. He spent some time pointing out the different neighborhoods and what to find in each.


Lisbon has a little bit of a San Francisco feel to it. It’s super hilly and trolleys that can take you up and down. This is one of the oldest in the city.


We missed taking pictures at the first stop on the tour. We rated 4 different Portuguese dishes there: octopus salad, cod potato bake, sausage, and sardines.

We learned that they have an over abundance of cod in the area. Diogo told us that they ate so much cod that people started getting sick of it and needed to find ways to change it up. The bake we had was similar to potato casserole, just cod instead of the Simmons addition of green chiles.  

The sausage had an interesting story too. Before we tasted it, Diogo asked us to guess what meat it was. That struck some fear in some of our heads. Is it going to be something crazy? We all tasted it and agreed we thought it was pork. But no, it was chicken. Diogo explained at one point one of the kings declared a single religion in Portugal. The church would check if people were lying about converting by showing up at meal times. The chicken sausage would help to make it look like they weren’t worried about kosher eating. 

The sardines… hmm that’s a lot of work for not much reward. We’re glad we tried it, but now we’re all good on Sardines. 

The next stop was a favorite for most of the group. A beer and pork sandwich with mustard, peri peri hot sauce and the most delicious fresh bread. We ate and drank on the steps of monument.




The stop we had been hoping for… Pasteis del moro. We had heard a lot about these little delights. A pastry crust and a custard inside. This little shop was Diogo’s favorite and he said made thousands daily. We spent a little time watching the process and savoring the treat. 


We didn’t try coffee here, but we were transported back in time when we entered. This was the oldest coffee shop in Lisbon, opened in the early 1900s. He said before that no one drank coffee, except people of ill repute. It was a drug after all. 


Other than a stop to try some cherry liquor, we spent most of the rest of the time walking through town getting some history of the area. The Portuguese people seem really proud of their country and their history. Kelly said they remind her of Montanans. 

Our last tasting was at a place that served southern Portuguese food. Diogo said this is one of the poorer areas of Portugal. The restaurant owner sends a portion of the proceeds to the southern area to help. We walked through a Moroccan style courtyard and into another courtyard for our tasting. 

We all were pretty stuffed at this point, but we had some marinated pork with a polenta type side and some aged sheep cheese. Didn’t get pictures

We were all stuffed and could barely move, so we quickly grabbed a taxi back to our gorgeous views. The first napping photo of MO

Happy to be back and relaxing




The best dinner spot around!


Justin, Christina, Brielle and Brantley arrived later that night. They were tired, but all in good spirits and excited to kick off the fun. Tomorrow, we will explore the town!