=j(oe) + (l)izz + travel
and as a follow-up to the asia accomodation recap, here is our recap from our european airbnb and hotels: barcelona: cost/night/person (in cad): $45 the thing that rocked: nothing. we couldn’t wait to get out of there. the thing that sucked: i’m not sure what sucked more, the dripping water pressure with a hot water […]
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by this point in our trip (15 days in portugal; albufeira, porto as well as lisbon), we were already smitten by all of portugal’s offerings. the people, the food, the architecture, the graffiti, the desserts and the beaches. we heard from nadius that the town and beaches were beautiful so off we went… cascais is […]
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previously an area that was used for manufacturing, lx factory on the southwest side of lisbon is home to some really shops, cafeterias and artistic studios ranging from design to marketing to actual studios. the area spans less than a city block and is a good place to catch a break from the busy streets […]
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what to do in lisbon as a tourist? well the majority of the guides will tell you that timeout market is a top draw in terms of food. taking the trams/elevadors would be another. at the top of almost every guide we’ve read was to take the 28 tram which services the longest route in […]
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Since our sampling of the most famous Portuguese tarts in Macau, we of course had to try them in their native land. They are known as pastel de nata and we ate a lot of them all for the sake of research of course. The stand out ones are listed below. Our first one we […]
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we took a day off of stairclimbing the streets of lisbon and headed south to squeeze in a beach day. our original plan was to head to cascais but since we woke up late (something that’s been happening more regularly), we made plans to head to a closer beach on the south shores of the […]
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if you’re arriving in lisbon through the airport, the first thing you’ll notice outside its taxi stand is the giant mural of dozens of eyes of the world. i can’t even count how many we passed and i was unfortunately not prepared enough to have time to make a full round to see how many […]
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One of my favourite dishes to make at home is red cooked pork belly. Once in a while I would make a trip to T&T to get all the ingredients and spend a Sunday afternoon making the dish. It’s my comfort food and it’s been a long time since I’ve made it. We managed to […]
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our last night in porto brought us back to the hood of the cleric’s tower to a small restaurant called casa dos santo antonio. they specialize in portuguese tapas which are called petiscos. what intrigued us the most was how the food is ordered. it actually ‘isn’t’. you basically sit and await the next dish […]
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our travel budget has seen a lot of ups and downs over the last four months, most notably when we arrived in hong kong as the number of flights and train rides have gone up drastically. we’ve been trying hard to stay on budget so the majority of our meals will be casual (99.9% of […]
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port wine is a portuguese speciality produced only in the duoro valley north of the city of porto. the city itself is quite small and a lot of ground can be covered quickly in terms of sightseeing so we spent an afternoon walking around the vila nova de gaia area of the city which is […]
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after seeing virtually no art in albufeira and many large murals on the way from the airport to the train station in lisbon, i wasn’t sure what to expect in porto. from a relatively small and historically important city, i expected the streets to be ‘cleansed’ of any unwanted art, similar to what granada is […]
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what to eat in porto? like all other cities i’ve visited on this european leg thus far, the answer has been ‘seafood’ with octopus and cod as some specific meals. well, i’m out of luck when it comes to shellfish (octopus and squid included) and i’ve had bacalhau already which is something along the lines […]
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so we found ourselves in porto, another european city rich with history and as we were planning out our daily itineraries, both of us let out a collective sigh as it came time to decide which sights to see. i’m trying not to be jaded but it feels like we’ve seen so much in such […]
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we arrived in porto after a nearly 8 hour travel day from albufeira (2.5 hour drive + 3 hour bus ride with some cab rides in between) and while we had just spent the better portion of a week sitting on beaches, are completely zonked for energy. with the exception of two really good bbq […]
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I think the most picturesque beach we’ve been to so far is the Praia da Falesia. The red cliffs looming over the beach are so dramatic. Almost every shot is Instagram worthy. Here’s some of my favourite shots.
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our first stop in portugal was to albufeira, a beach/resort town on the southern tip of portugal in a region called the algarve. the algarve is best known for their beaches and as such, sees a huge number of travellers from all over europe during the summer months. both haha and i really didn’t do […]
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q. current home/addy where i stayed (neighbourhood) and how long a. lisbon (airbnb, baixa, 7 nights) q. favourite meal a. maybe the toughest week to recap for food. our lisbon stay involved: i) home cooked chinese meals for almost all dinners and most breakfast/lunches. white rice. saucy noodles. dumplings. KOBE! ii) a constant (but reasonable) […]
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