Portugal - Kookospalmun alla

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Home exchange in Lisbon last September was a long-waited return to Portugal for me. For a long time, we had thought about leaving Cape Verde for Europe for a while, so that my husband could get to know my background more and my friends and family. Island life in Cape Verde is relaxed and sunny, but change is always good and my longing to return to Portugal kept on growing.

In September 2023 we put our dogs in the care of our relatives, packed our bags, jumped on a plane and finally traveled from Cape Verde to Lisbon. The feeling of happiness when we saw the already familiar orange-roofed houses of Lisbon approaching from the window of the plane!

As accommodation we had a Home exchange home in the Campo de Ourique area. We carried all six of our overstuffed suitcases to the cozy first floor home, where we were greeted by a friend of the owner of the apartment. He introduced us to the place and gave us the keys. We settled into this traditionally cozy Lisbon holiday base well. Here we would spend the next 10 days.

ALWAYS CHARMING LISBON

Lisbon offered us everything we hoped for. It was wonderful to return to my old home city, where I loved to live. For my husband, this was the first time in Portugal and in all Europe, so I could act as a tour guide and at the same time enjoy his happy and surprised expressions while visiting amazing places.

We toured the center of Lisbon, admired the views of the Tejo River in the sunshine at Praca do Comercio square, got to know the old town of Alfama and the colorful Bairro Alto, where I have spent several fun evenings while living in the city. We spent time with our friends who live in Lisbon and went for a walk in my old neighborhood in Saldanha. We also went to spend a day in Sintra, because my husband had to see the famous Palacio da Pena during his first visit to Portugal. My husband is a big football fan and Benfica in particular is one of his favorites, so I had to take him to see the Benfica Stadium.

Lisbon is a great destination for a long or a short city break and offers culture, history, sights and lots of different things to do. There are also wonderful beaches near Lisbon, so the city is an excellent choice for combining a beach holiday with an urban adventure.

CHECK OUT THE BEST TOURS AND ACTIVITIES IN LISBON:

HOME EXCHANGE – FREE ACCOMMODATION FOR YOUR TRIP

Home exchange is a great way to get free accommodation for your trip, but above all it’s a great way to travel differently and experience life from a local perspective. At the same time, you get the chance to meet new people from all over the world, and sometimes with good luck, these acquaintances even grow into proper friendships. Homes are ordinary people’s homes, so you shouldn’t expect any hotel experiences, and homes often show their residents in one way or another in the form of goods, interior design and personality. Those who are fond of home swapping know that these aspects are the reason why home exchange is the so amazing.

Home Exchange in Lisbon is not our first home exchange. We have experiences already from many places and home exchange has enabled amazing travel experiences in different parts of the world, such as in San Francisco, Valencia and the Canary Islands.

If you are interested in HomeExchange and the free accommodation it enables when traveling, check out this link to the HomeExchange website and explore wonderful homes around the world! When you join, you will also receive a gift of 250 Guest Points, which you can use in your future home changes.

HomeExchange.com is a popular and very reliable site, which is also familiar to many from the movie The Holiday. In the movie, Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet swap homes with each other and get to know each other’s lives and homes in different parts of the world using this website, which we also use to swap homes.

Home exchange can be done by swapping houses at the same time with another person/family, where you travel to someone’s house to stay and they come to yours. This is the most traditional form and the essence of home exchange. It is also possible to make an exchange at different times, where, for example, you travel to someone else’s home and he goes somewhere else, but comes to your home for a home exchange some other time, and then you go somewhere else.

The third option is exchanging with using Home exchange points, the principle of which is pretty much the same as, for example, renting an apartment, but instead of money, renting is done with home exchange points, i.e. Guest Points. Staying with points also means that no one will come to your home, but you will give your points as compensation. We ourselves have tried each of these forms, always depending a little on the situation and needs of the trip. Each of these has worked admirably and I can recommend each of them very warmly as a form of Home exchange. 🙂 Grab 250 home exchange points here and join!

BAIRRO RIBEIRA

Ribeira is the historic center of the city and it stretches all the way to the banks of the Douro River. This old quarter, full of winding and interesting alleys, is definitely my favorite part of Porto. Colorful, beautiful and jagged buildings, interesting details, wonderful river views and the cheerful atmosphere of the area immediately convinced us that we had chosen our accommodation Porto River Aparthotel* in exactly the right place. What would have been nicer than waking up in the morning to enjoy morning coffee while looking at the river views from the window with the sun rising in the background?

CHECK OUT THE BEST ACCOMMODATION AND HOTEL DEALS IN RIBEIRA AND PORTO AT BOOKING.COM!

Ribeira is also included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites and contains beautiful architecture and brilliant colors, as well as historical attractions ranging from baroque churches to various museums and amazing restaurant culture. The most popular sights are definitely the Torre dos Clérigos, the 76 meter high bell tower of the Clérigos Church, and the old railway station of Sao Bento.

Many people also take a relaxing cruise along the Douro river as a nice activity and also walk across the impressive gray Ponte Luis I bridge, which is created by the French Gustave Eiffel in 1886, to the other side of the river to Vila Nova De Gaia to admire the view from the opposite bank and to get to know, for example, the old port wine cellars. Here we also hopped on the cable car to look at the scenery from a little higher up!

PORTO CATHEDRAL AND CHURCHES

Porto Cathedral Sé is one of the city’s most famous sights, although in my opinion perhaps not the most beautiful from the outside. However, the cathedral built in the 12th century is a popular destination and should not be missed during your visit. In addition to the cathedral, other things worth seeing are the city’s many different baroque-style churches, some of which are beautifully decorated with blue-and-white tiles, called azulejos. The most famous of these is certainly the Igreja Do Carmo and the Carmelitas right next to it, where you can also find the most popular blue and white azulejo wall that is visited by many people every day to take “the” Instagram picture.

In addition to Igreja Do Carmo, blue and white tiles can also be admired in, for example, the Chapel of Souls and the facade of Igreja De Santo Ildefonso baroque church, as well as on the exterior walls of Igreja de Santa Clara, to name a few. We didn’t go inside the churches, because I’m not terribly interested in them myself and nowadays I even experience a kind of church overload, but from the outside, we did see several of them. If you’re interested in churches, there are plenty of them in Porto and each one is certainly worth seeing from the inside, so I can’t help but recommend them nevertheless!

MIRADOURO DA VITÓRIA

An excellent way to get a complete picture of the city is to climb one on of its good view points, perhaps the most popular of which is the Miradouro da Vitória viewing platform. From here you have a great view over the city towards the Douro river and the Dom Luis I bridge, and from here it’s good to look around at different places and buildings.

LIVRARIA LELLO

I’m not a bookworm, but I’ve read the Harry Potter series and many times I can admit. As a big fan of the book series, this weekend in Porto was also very meaningful because, in addition to its other wonders, Porto also has many places that inspired the author and creator of the wizarding world of Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling. Livraria Lello is one of Portugal’s oldest bookstores and also a popular destination both among tourists in general and among Harry Potter fans in particular.

There is a 5 euro entrance fee to the bookstore in the form of a voucher, but this amount will be refunded to you when you shop with at least that amount in the bookstore. I personally bought the book Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows in the English version, but I would have also paid the voucher price anyway, because the inside of the bookstore is really lovely and its winding red staircase was fun to walk up and down. This particular staircase also served as the inspiration for the Hogwarts Wizarding School‘s transforming staircase in the book series.

CHECK OUT THE GUIDED TOURS IN PORTO ALSO INCLUDING THE ENTRANCE TO LIVRARIA LELLO!

Livraria Lello Official Website

OTHER THINGS TO SEE AND DO

There is a lot to experience and see in Porto and here were only my favorites, in other words the icing on the cake. After the historical sights, churches and museums, the best thing to do is just relax with good food and drink and get to know the city’s delicious restaurants and enjoy the wonderful sunset from the Dom Luis I bridge in peace.

There are several good and interesting guided walking tours available in Porto, from which you can get information about the neighborhoods and the history of the city, as well as some tips about Harry Potter and the places that inspired the book series. It’s also worth stopping by for a hot cup of whatever you prefer and a Pasteis de Nata at the Majestic Café, where J.K Rowling is also said to have spent a lot of time writing the first part of the HP book series.

CHECK OUT THE GUIDED TOURS AND ACTIVITIES IN PORTO!

LOOKING FOR ACCOMMODATION IN PORTO? SEE WHAT BOOKING.COM HAS TO OFFER!

Our weekend in Porto was very successful and full of walking around the city, seeing the sights, enjoying good food and browsing the boutiques. Although Porto in all its splendor is very pleasant, I still wouldn’t trade Lisbon for it. Porto just doesn’t have “that something” for me personally, which Lisbon does. I could still definitely travel to Porto any time again to spend the weekend and there remains still more to explore of course!

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<3: Tiina Johanna

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HOME EXCHANGE IN LISBON – BACK TO PORTUGAL

ALWAYS CHARMING LISBON

CHECK OUT THE BEST TOURS AND ACTIVITIES IN LISBON:

HOME EXCHANGE – FREE ACCOMMODATION FOR YOUR TRIP

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