Living it up in Lisbon

A year ago today I was dragging my suitcase up the escalators at Lisbon's Oriente train station, ready for the second part of my year abroad - the start of a four month Erasmus placement in Coimbra, a university city 130 miles north of Lisbon.

So I've decided to write about my experience in Lisbon. I started my year abroad earlier than expected as I was offered an opportunity to study at ULisboa in an intensive month-long summer course in Portuguese. So at the end of July, I left Belfast for Lisbon, unsure of what to expect as I had never been to Portugal before.

Lisbon from the air

My first impression of Lisbon was that it was huge. There are so many different areas of the city. Our airbnb which my family and I stayed in was in Arroios and my new apartment was in Saldanha. However, we found it easy to get around the city with the metro, which is pretty cheap and very reliable.

Artwork on an abandoned building

After a few days of getting to know the city, it was time for me to move into my apartment. It was extremely difficult to find an apartment in Lisbon as I didn't have any previous knowledge of where best to live. My Portuguese lecturer had given me suggestions of the safest areas as well as areas to avoid! Prices in areas like Avenida and Marques de Pombal were sky-high as they were near down-town Lisbon. I chose Saldanha because it was a safe area and the rent was quite low (270 euros with bills included) as it wasn't in the centre, being halfway between the ULisboa campus and down-town. In Saldanha, there's also a big shopping centre with a food court and a McDonalds on the main street, where I could go if I got sick of the Portuguese gastronomy!The apartment was one floor of a six floor storey building - and there were no lifts so it was a struggle lifting my 25kg case up the many wooden flights of stairs. My room was small and the common room was the kitchen so it was quite crowded as everyone would congregate there in the evenings for dinner. However, I didn't adjust my meal times to the Portuguese timetable so the kitchen was free when I made myself food at 5 or 6. One benefit was that my apartment was off the main road in Saldanha so there wasn't much noise and I had my own balcony where I could sit to sun-bathe. All my flatmates were pretty friendly - they were a mix of students and workers from Portugal, Italy, Brazil and Belgium. As well as that, there was a resident cat called Poncha (named after a drink from Madeira), who become my BFF and followed me around the apartment constantly.

A stroll down Avenida da Liberdade

As far as living costs go, Lisbon is a very affordable place to live. I had a budget of 200 euros as I wasn't able to open a bank account in Lisbon and therefore couldn't go too crazy with my spending or I would get charges by my bank for using my account in Portugal. I found I was able to make my money last. There's lots of chinese shops which sell everything under the sun for dirt cheap. Supermarkets like Pingo Doce and Dia are also cheap and I made most of my dinners instead of going out. When I did eat out, restaurants and cafés are good value and you can get a lovely meal in Baixa-Chiado for as little as 10 euro. Time Out Market is a great place to go with friends - it's basically a giant food court where you can get all kinds of food - mexican, portuguese, indian, chinese etc. My favourite café was A Padaria Portuguesa - there are several of these all over the city and they sell delicious pastries. I usually got a Pao de Deus Croissant or a Pain de Chocolate when I went there. Seriously, try the Pao de Deus, it's amazing. In Baixa-Chiado, there is a gourmet burger restaurant near Praça de Camões which is also a good shout if you like burgers. Also there's a café on every street corner no matter where you are in Lisbon - the Portuguese love their food and coffee! Avenida and Restauradores have plenty of nice restaurants, with all kinds of food available.

Pao de Deus in A Padaria Portuguesa

Lisbon has also got you sorted if you're a shopaholic. There's many clothing stores in Baixa-Chiado and a shopping complex there too with a Sephora and Kiko. It was seriously a challenge trying not to buy everything and I usually resorted to window-shopping to stop myself blowing through my budget!

There was a heatwave during the month of August I was there so it was often very hot in Lisbon. I remember after a night out, the heat actually made my hangover last a full two days which wasn't a fun experience! One of my Portuguese flatmates was kind enough to lend me his fan which I don't think I could have survived without. There was even a fight over the fan because one of the new guys wanted it! However, I have to admit that on days when the sun wasn't too harsh, it was lovely to go walking around the streets in shorts and a t-shirt or sit by Praça do Comércio and get a sun-tan, instead of walking around rainy Belfast.

Lisbon is a pretty busy city but at night, it comes alive. There's lots of atmosphere in Bairro Alto, where you can find Erasmus corner - a lot of students hang out there to drink the night away. It's also a really pretty area at night, with narrow cobbled streets and decorations hanging between buildings. The bars around here are pretty cheap. You can get a pint for 2 euro, or a cup of red or white sangria for 1 euro. There's also a bar in Bairro Alto where you can order cheap shots in glasses made of ice which is pretty cool. Head to Pink Street for more bars and live music. You can find Pensao Amor there - it's a trendy bohemian bar with velvet decor, glitter balls and stags heads hanging from the wall. Order a caipirinha at Pink Street before getting a taxi to Urban Beach - one of Lisbon's nightclubs. It's expensive but I had a fantastic night out there and the decor is amazing.
Bairro Alto is also home to plenty of Fado bars - Portugal's traditional music which you can often hear throughout the streets. Amália Rodrigues is the most famous fadista. My favourite fado song of hers is Uma Casa Portuguesa - it teaches you about Portugal's culture and their idea of family and also describes the typical Portuguese house. Click here to have a listen!

Lisboa é Linda

In terms of sightseeing, there's the obvious landmarks - Praça do Comercio and the Rua Augusta Arch (I was lucky enough to see a video-mapping show on the walls of the Praça one of the nights I was there, which was cool). If you fancy a walk up a hill, there's the Sé de Lisboa (the city's cathedral) and further up, the Castelo de São Jorge is worth a visit for a walk around the castle grounds and an insane view of Lisbon, including Alfama - the city's older district which is littered with pretty pastel coloured buildings.

View from Castelo de São Jorge

In Baixa-Chiado, you can also find the Santa Justa lift if you want a panoramic view of Lisbon and not far from here, there is the Carmo Convent, a former Catholic convent which was left in ruins by the great Lisbon earthquake in 1755. The building was left standing as a reminder of the earthquake which was pretty extreme with a magnitude of 8-9 and killed 10,000 - 100,000 citizens. Rossio Square is the main square in Lisbon and surrounding it are many cafés and the museum of sardines, where you can find sardine cans from different decades.

Elevador de Santa Justa

Carmo Convent from Rossio Square

Rossio when I visited in December

As for places to hang out, one of my favourite places in Lisbon was the Jardim de Gulbenkian, a walled garden near Saldanha. Once you step inside, you're no longer in the city and it feels as if you are in the middle of the jungle. I used to spend hours walking around the streams and gardens and watching the ducks in the pond every weekend. It's such a nice place to relax and sunbathe.
Praça do Comercio was another favourite spot. I used to walk down by the river and sit on the steps, listening to buskers playing music. Avenida da Liberdade, with its pretty building façades and designer shops, is another great spot and you can admire the statue at Marques de Pombal at the top of this road.

Gulbenkian Garden

For those wanting a break from the city, catch a tram to Belém which boasts beautiful architecture - the Jeronimos monastery and the Discovery Monument. It's also the birthplace of Portugal's most famous pastry - the pastéis de nata. You can get an authentic pastel de nata with some cinnamon sugar there and eat it on the way to the Torre de Belém, another beautiful building in Lisbon. For dinner in Belém, go to Honorato's Artesanal Burgers for a mouth-watering meal. Walk down to the river and you'll find a great view of the 1974 Bridge and the Cristo Rei statue across the river in Almada. The bridge was built by the same people who constructed the famous San Francisco bridge. It's also pretty cool going across the bridge - I used to get a bus over to Costa Caparica beach on the other side and it was a tad scary driving over such a wide expanse of water.

Sao Jeronimo Monastery

Torre de Belém

The University is also great if you're doing a Erasmus placement or in my case, a summer course. There was lots of help for international students and the uni also offered cultural activities outside of the course, for example, film screenings. They also organised a trip to the medieval town of Óbidos, where we were able to spend a few hours walking around the castle. Óbidos may be small but it is definitely worth the visit to see an authentic bit of rural Portugal. It is filled with flowers and tiled streets selling Portuguese dishes, ice cream and Ginginha - a cherry licor drink.

A vila de Óbidos

Although I spent four weeks in Lisbon, I was never able to see all of it and so I would love to return. It was my first home away from home and has become one of my favourite cities. There's just so much to do and so much to see. Lisbon will always have a piece of my coração! I can't wait to return, hopefully in the near future.

Eu Amo Lisboa!