From Praia Grande to Pastéis: Our Portugal Week

We flew to Portugal from Boston in about six hours, and I was stoked that Justin had officially made it over to Europe without having to endure one of those painfully long, leg-cramping international flights so many of us have experienced.

Our journey started in Columbus, with a connection in Boston before the overnight flight to Lisbon. Neither of us slept on the red-eye, so by the time we landed in Portugal, we were running on fumes.

From Lisbon Airport, we booked an Uber out to the coast. Wow, was that an exciting, twisty drive. Our driver must have had some racing experience because he handled those curves like he’d driven them a thousand times. About an hour later, we arrived at Praia Grande in Sintra.

The staff at Arribas Sintra Hotel welcomed two exhausted travelers long before normal check-in time. They showed us to some cozy seating facing the mesmerizing waves of the Atlantic where we could rest while we waited for our room to be refreshed.

By mid-afternoon, we were escorted into a surprisingly roomy hotel room with a balcony overlooking the pool and beachfront. We had a queen bed, TV, espresso machine, and even a small dining table for two. After the overnight flight and winding drive from Lisbon, seeing and hearing the Atlantic from our balcony was exactly what we needed.

We spent the weekend taking walks along the beach and listening to the constant crash of the ocean. And I mean CONSTANT. I have never seen waves like this in my life. It was like having ocean soundscapes on repeat no buffering and it broke my brain but I really needed the reset.

Praia Grande faces the open Atlantic and is known for its consistent surf. The beach attracts surf schools and beginners during calmer summer conditions, while larger winter swells make the water much more challenging for experienced surfers. Neither of us surfs, so we were perfectly content enjoying the ocean from dry land. The waves, cool breezes, and slower pace made this such a delightful weekend to unplug from everyday business, meetings, and schedules.

Beach Life vs. City Life

Once the workweek arrived, we moved into the city and checked into 138 Liberdade Hotel. Justin would have preferred to stay at the beach while working remotely all week. However I wanted to explore during the mornings before his work shift without spending part of every day commuting back and forth from Praia Grande. The compromise? A room with a balcony.

138 Liberdade Hotel fit the bill perfectly. We were within walking distance of the main shopping areas, Christmas market, and waterfront, while Justin had outdoor space where he could relax or work. The hotel was modern, with tasteful artwork throughout, and our deluxe room felt quite roomy by European hotel standards. There was plenty of space to work, lounge, and settle in for a full week without constantly working around our luggage. The balcony was massive. You could have thrown a small get-together out there. The bed was another story. Firm. Very firm. As in, my ribcage hurt firm (side sleeper here).

The hotel offered a continental-style breakfast for €25. If you know you’re going to eat there every morning, I’d prepay for breakfast with the room rate and it will be discounted a little.

Otherwise, if you’re able to muster the energy to walk a few blocks before coffee, there are several bakeries and cafés nearby serving excellent coffee and pastéis de nata. There doesn’t seem to be a huge breakfast culture here, at least compared with what we’re accustomed to at home, so coffee and pastries became an easy way to start the day before finding something more substantial later. Also, buy extra pasties for later because they are soooooo delicious.

There was also an Aldi about a block from the hotel to the right, plus a small food court nearby, which made grabbing drinks and snacks for the room easy enough. There is also a several small mom-pop convenience stores that carry snacks and toiletries and souvenirs to include a replacement computer mouse should yours crap out like Justins did.

We found out dinner operates on a much later schedule than we’re used to. One weeknight, we walked into an Italian restaurant near the Christmas market at 10 p.m., and nobody seemed to think twice about it.

We also learned to pay attention to afternoon hours. Many smaller shops and neighborhood eateries close for a few hours during the middle of the day, often somewhere around 1:00 to 3:30 p.m., while larger stores in the central shopping areas tend to stay open.

There was one feature of our hotel Justin wasn’t expecting: church bells.
A local church sits just behind the building, and its bells ring throughout the day. This was definitely a new experience for Justin. I grew up with church bells serving as an unofficial alarm clock during my grade-school years, so I slept right through them.

Churches, convents, monasteries, museums, religious artwork, and statues of saints seem to appear everywhere you wander. History feels woven into everyday life here.

We haven’t ventured onto the famous trams or funiculars. Justin’s aversion to heights makes those a tough sell, although they’re charming to watch rumble through the streets. A recent accident involving one of the historic funiculars didn’t exactly help my case.

Thankfully, there are plenty of other ways to get around. The Metro seems efficient, and between buses, trains, taxis, rideshares, and walking, we never lacked options.

Exploring on foot also gave me time to notice the details. The hills are lined with colorful older buildings, many with updated interiors. Renovation seems to be happening everywhere. Cobblestone streets, stairways, patterned tile sidewalks, decorative façades, and bright buildings give the city its character.

People have been friendly and laid-back, and after spending time here, I understand the appeal for remote workers and digital nomads.

One of my favorite parts of our week was the Christmas market. We enjoyed it enough to visit twice. If you’re here during the holiday season, I’d definitely make time for it. The lights, vendor stalls, food, and holiday atmosphere made it an easy place to wander around for an evening.

And then there was the hot chocolate. Justin is a bona fide chocoholic, and Portuguese hot chocolate might have forever changed him. Thick, rich, and much closer to drinking melted chocolate than the hot cocoa we’re used to at home. I’m not sure ordinary hot chocolate will ever satisfy him again.

One final lesson: don’t expect your postcards to beat you home. I dropped three postcards at the hotel front desk with international postage and assumed they’d make their way to the U.S. within a few weeks. Nope. All three eventually arrived, but it took FIVE MONTHS. By then, our trip was a distant memory and the postcards were practically historical documents. I’ve since read stories from other travelers about international mail from Portugal taking an unusually long time to reach the U.S., but five months for a postcard was definitely a first for us. So if you’re mailing postcards home, send them for the nostalgia, not for timely trip updates. Your recipients might get a surprise reminder of your vacation several months later.

TL;DR:
Splitting our time between Praia Grande and the city ended up working perfectly for us. We got a quiet weekend beside the Atlantic to recover from our flights and unplug. Then we spent the week balancing Justin’s remote work with my early-morning exploring. He got his balcony. I got the city outside the front door. And somewhere along the way, Justin found hot chocolate that might have permanently ruined all other hot chocolate for him. I’d call that a successful compromise.Read more