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In June we made a quick weekend trip to Lisbon for an assembly. We arrived at Sete Rios Bus Station in Lisbon around 3pm after a 3-ish hour bus ride.
The Uber ride from the bus station in Lisbon to our hotel in the Saldanha neighborhood was 3.88€
We were absolutely famished after the bus ride when I remembered we had a few snacks left in our bag. A lovely family from Hawaii had been visiting Odemira when we happened to visit for a talk one day. They were sharing these little tastes of Hawaii with everyone we meet! Edible gifts are the best - such a fun way to share a piece of your homeland! Diamond bakery hawaiian shortbread macadamia nut guava cookies
A tasty little treat, I'm always in favor of a shortbread. :)
Mauna Loa Dry Roasted Macadamias - Maui onion and garlicThese macadamia nuts were delicious and addictive. The Maui onion & garlic flavor was sooo good - highly recommend!! We were eating these macadamia nuts when there was a knock on our hotel room door - an employee stopping by to help resolve an issue. Once everything was sorted and we had done a room tour for you, we unpacked and were ready to walk to dinner - trying to find the best pizza in Lisbon! On our walk to Forno d oro, we discovered the Lisbon Book Fair was taking place. (Feira do Livro Lisboa 2024) 
94th Feira do Livro Lisboa 2024 | Lisbon Book Fair
If you're wondering how people dress in Portugal, I'd say this family is a good example!
Cute and comfy dresses paired with trainers or other supportive footwear are popular outfits among women and girls in Lisbon. People on a whole tend to dress nicely in Portugal. 
What to wear in Lisbon
Spring time is one of the best times to visit Portugal because of mild weather, fewer tourists, better prices, and spring flowers, of course! 
Jacaranda Trees in Bloom in June | Spring in Lisbon
These beautiful lilac/blue/purplish flowering trees in this Lisbon park are called Jacaranda Mimosifolia. Aren't they lovely? 
A red tourist sight-seeing bus in Lisbon behind a row of blooming Jacaranda trees
If you look to the right hand corner of the photo above, you can see the red hop-on-hop-off bus. Perhaps you'd like to rest your feet and let someone drive you around Lisbon sights for a day or two! 
Lilac blooms of jacaranda trees line this Lisboa street in June
It's just so hard not to keep taking pictures of the jacaranda trees in bloom in Lisbon during spring time, but alas! finding the best pizza in Portugal is a mission that requires sacrifice, so onward we go on our journey to the pizzeria. 
A pomegranate tree shades the ecoponto
Portugal Travel Tip: public Recycling and Trash
As you walk around Lisbon and Portugal in general, you will notice public recycling areas (ecoponto). The bins in this photo are actually on the small side. Here are some things to know about recycling in Portugal.
The bins are color coded and when you look at the packaging you want to recycle, it will indicate which color bin you need to place it in. Green (verde) is for glass, Blue (Azul) is for paper and cardboard, Yellow (amarelo) is for metal and plastic. Lixo means trash, as in regular garbage. By the way, do you see the tree behind those recycling and garbage bins? Do you know what it is? It's a pomegranate tree! So cool that in a few months, right on the side of a Lisbon sidewalk will be fresh pomegranate fruits! 
Lisbon is a city of hills. You will get your steps in, with ease!
It's really hard to get a sense of it, but this was quite an uphill walk. When you travel to Lisbon you need to pack good walking shoes. The best travel shoes or sandals would not only be comfortable and provide anatomical support, but also have no-slip soles because the beautiful little tiled sidewalks can be quite slick! My mom just did a multi-brand side-by-side try on of the most popular comfortable footwear for women and this brand is her hands down favorite to date. Finally we made it to the popular Forno d'Oro pizza restaurant in Lisbon!! 
Outside Forno d'Oro, a popular Lisbon Pizzeria
You can read our dedicated post about our experience at this pizzeria to get our full restaurant review!
With bellies full of delicious Neapolitan pizza and tiramisu, we started the walk back to our Saldanha hotel. 
A motorbike parked in the weeds of a Lisbon sidewalk | Traveling Through Food Portugal Travel Blog
Remember earlier when I was trying to capture how steep the hill was? Maybe this picture gives you a better idea. 
Walk carefully on the calçadas, tiled sidewalks, of Lisboa
I happened to look into a store window we were passing by and see this little bear t shirt and it reminded me of my Abuelita. ❤ And have you ever seen pearl hangers like this before? 
A kitsch bear shirt hangs in the window display of a Lisbon shop
As we were enjoying the walk and the Lisboa book fair was still open, we decided to take a stroll through it. At the entrance of the book fair you can go along the right side or left side. There were sooo many publishers here. 
Entering the Lisbon Book Fair 2024 | Lisbon Travel Blog
As this is a travel blog with a food focus, I have to show you a few of the fair foods in Portugal and their respective prices. This food truck called Capricciosa sold Rolotini's (pizza rolls) for 7.5€. If you get the "Menu" it's a combo including a pizza roll and a drink for 8€. Farturas are a popular fair food in summer in Portugal and you will see little stalls pop up along the beach boardwalks as well as events like this book fair. What are farturas? Some describe farturas as a Portuguese dessert which combines everything you love about a funnel cake with a churro and as I type that out I'm wondering how it is that we still haven't tried these for ourselves?! 
Farturas, a popular Portuguese fair food | Portugal Food Blog
Growing up in an area where summer sweet corn is abundant, you don't realize how good an ear of corn is and how many people don't have access to such a simple summer time pleasure. That makes it a real novelty item. Here at corn club you can order some gourmet corn for 5€ 
Corn for sale at a Portuguese fair
Of course this classic moment came immediately to mind. There was a large seating area set up at the Lisbon book fair where you could enjoy your fair foods while looking out over Parque Eduardo VII. 
Lisboa's Parque Eduardo VII at night
As we left the book fair, I had to stop and take a picture of this incredible mural at the espaço Porto Editora | Bertrand Editora. What a detailed piece of artwork! I couldn't help but think of my talented Italian friend and illustrator Miriam who at times creates works in this style! 
An incredible mural at Lisbon Book Fair
Apparently there were various scheduled talks and discussions during the Lisbon book fair. I was surprised to stumble upon live music. We stopped and listened for a few minutes. 
Live Music at Lisbon's Book Fair
Portugal really has a lot of family friendly events like this and most of them are free or very affordable! You're never far from something interesting to see whether it's the sticker collection on the back of a street sign or beautiful tiles adding character to a building. On day two of this weekend in Lisbon we had our scheduled assembly program all day. The hotel had little chocolate umbrellas at the reception the night before and I saved mine for a hearty breakfast. ;) 
A milk chocolate umbrella candy compliments of Turim Hotels
We Uber-ed to the program and I have to remind you that while your default mode may be to pull out your phone to pass the time in the car ... YOU'RE IN LISBON! Look around! =) There are lots of interesting things to see, beautiful architecture etc. 
Intricate details in the architectural style of this Lisbon building
After a day of learning and socializing we were ready to eat! We discovered a unique restaurant in walking distance from our hotel - an Armenian Restaurant! 
Ararate Armenian Restaurant in Lisbon
At this restaurant I ate something that I consider to be a perfect food. :) Check out all the Armenian and Georgian foods we tried in our Ararate Restaurant Review. It was now day 3 and we had a 12pm hotel checkout with a 12:30pm bus scheduled. We had plenty of time so we decided to check out the popular and very cute brunch spot Hygge Kaffe. 
Hygge Kaffe - a cute and instagrammable brunch spot
If you love aesthetic food pics and trendy brunch dishes, check out our review of Hygge which my dad described as "honest and sincere". =) We nearly missed our bus, our uber drop off time was 12:28 for a bus that leaves at 12:30. So we ran as fast as we could and just barely made it on in time. We spent the bus ride catching our breath, filled with gratitude for everything that made this such a special weekend. 
Crossing Vasco da Gama Bridge in Lisbon | Bus Window View
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