We finished up our time in Lisbon out of the city center. Sintra is a town about 45 minutes away (by train) that people refer to as the fairy tale town. There are castles, an old monastery on a hill, and palaces. We took a guided walking tour through the city. It was nice to have someone explain what we were seeing, but the tour ended up being a little too long for our taste. Thankfully, we were able to see some of the major sites before heading back to Lisbon.

We got off the train and began the walk up to the main part of the city. The fountain below is fed from springs and has original mosaic tiles all around it. We even saw a dog get a drink while we were standing near here!

Lisbon is the capital of Portugal and was our next destination after our time in the Algarve. It took about 3 hours on a train to get there. We arrived at the train station in Lisbon and took an Uber to our hotel. Instantly, I noticed that Lisbon is very hilly and has lots of buildings tucked together with tile on the outside. It made me want to explore and walk around. So, we dropped our bags off and headed to the Time Out Market to get dinner. 

One thing Brennan and I have found we really love while traveling is to eat at food halls. There tend to be lots of different options, good food, and the social expectations of how to order are clearer than a lot of restaurants. We enjoyed looking around and exploring the neighborhood around the market (Barrio Alto) as we walked back toward the hotel.

We only visited 2 new countries (Spain and Portugal) on this leg of our trip, but we fell in love with both of them! Portugal is beautiful and the Algarve region and beaches are so unique. 

The Algarve is not talked about much in the US, but it is the southern most part of Portugal. It is right on the Atlantic Ocean, but in a protected area between the north of Africa and the southern Iberian peninsula.

We flew from Barcelona through Madrid, to Faro. Our flights were easy and smooth. We had a quick layover in Madrid, just enough time to walk from gate to gate before boarding again!