[Lisbon, Portugal, May 5, 2025]

I had already planned all my travel for 2025 when, in November 2024, my friend Maria suggested we go to the Portuguese island of Madeira. Our other friend, Teddy, who lives in San Francisco, was on board. What else could I do besides say yes?

We eventually figured out an itinerary. It was slightly different for everyone but included Lisbon, Porto, the Douro Valley and Madeira. Somehow, I was the one spending the most time in Portugal – 13 days including travel. Teddy overlapped with me except she planned to leave 2 days early to go to a wedding in Bulgaria. Maria was in for Porto and Maderia. Teddy’s friend Vessi, who lives in Lisbon, offered to host us for 2 days and would also come to Porto. Finally, another old friend of theirs would come to Porto from Brussels, where she lives. The schedule was complicated, but I was excited to have a girls trip! It’s been way too long since I’ve done one of those.

I left on Sunday morning with a connecting flight through JFK. The new Escape lounge at PDX had just opened and this was my first opportunity to use it (I have access through my Chase Sapphire Reserve card). I loved that they carried the PDX airport timber roof theme into the lounge.

I was so lucky that my flight connected through JFK and not Newark, which was a week into experiencing huge delays and cancellations due to technical and staffing issues. Teddy flew through there and she ended up getting to Lisbon a whole day later than I did.

I arrived in Lisbon on Monday morning and passed through passport control fairly quickly. My first order of business was to grab a Lisboa card from the tourist info booth just past customs. I am a big fan of city cards and get them in every city I visit. I bought the 24-hour version, which I planned to use the next day because most attractions it’s valid for are closed on Mondays. But I still got some discounts to the attractions I ended up seeing on Monday.

A quick Uber ride later I was at Vessi’s apartment. She lives on the 13th floor of a really nice building in the Parque das Nações (Park of the Nations) neighborhood of Lisboa. The neighborhood hosted the 1998 Lisbon World Fair, which earned it the nickname the Expo. The contemporary architecture of Parque das Nações and its social spaces have injected new vitality into this part of Lisbon, which was an industrial area before the Expo.

I planned to work from Lisbon those first 2 days. Nevertheless, I still had a few hours to explore each day before I had to log in around 4 pm Lisboa time. On this first day, I set out to see the neighborhood sights I had spotted from the balcony.

Less than a 10-minute walk later, I was at the site of the 1998 World Expo. I didn’t know it at the time but the ground was covered with Lisboa’s signature pavers, which are typically only seen in the old, central part of Lisbon. A row of flags lined the promenade, and I had to take a picture of the Bulgarian flag.

The giant cat statue was impressive. Iberian Lynx by the street artist Bordalo II is made from colorful plastic waste. It aims to raise awareness about over-consumption and the destruction of species by waste. Bordallo II created it for the World Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth in 2019 and the Youth Forum Lisboa+21.

I passed the cable car, which was inaugurated for the Expo. I planned to ride it later, but I headed to the Vasco Da Gama Tower first.

At almost 500 ft, the tower is the tallest skyscraper in Portugal. It was also designed for the 1998 Expo and housed the European Community Pavillion. It bears the name of Vasco da Gama, the first explorer to reach India by sail in 1498. The architects took inspiration from the shape of a caravel and its sail. 50 seconds, a Michelin-starred restaurant, sits on the 23rd floor of the tower. The name denotes how many seconds it takes for the elevator to reach the restaurant.

The glass dome at the top is an observation deck. It provides 360-degree views of the city and features a beautiful hanging garden. I really enjoyed the views from up there. The bridge in the photos is also named after Vasco da Gama.

I then took the cable car, which travels for about 10 minutes down the Tagus river to the Lisboa Oceanarium.

I haven’t been to an aquarium in a long time, and the Lisboa Oceanarium did not disappoint. I first viewed the Forests Underwater exhibit by Japanese aquarist Takashi Amano. It opened as a temporary exhibit in 2015 but it’s still there! It is the world’s largest nature aquarium and it’s 40 m (130 ft) long.

The rest of the aquarium is on 2 levels. There is a main tank in the center and 4 aquariums on the side representing the habitats of the Antarctic, temperate Pacific, tropical Indian and Atlantic oceans. I loved seeing many different species of sharks and manta rays in the central aquarium.

I met Vessi for lunch near the aquarium. Honest Greens was a nice surprise. It had a big menu, healthy options and great outdoor seating! The only thing I didn’t like were the pigeons, which would descend on a table as soon as its occupants left and before the staff had had a chance to clear the table.

I didn’t know what to expect from my first day in Lisbon and I mostly winged it, but it turned out great! I really lucked out that Vessi’s apartment was in such a great area.