Lovely Lisbon, Portugal

As a winter escape from London I booked in a long weekend to Lisbon where thankfully it was a good 10 degrees warmer than the UK.  We caught a cab into town (approx 25 euros) and were surprised while lining up that so many drivers were women. We caught an airport bus on the way back which only cost 3.75 euros.

Lisbon has 5 of the top 10 hostels in the world so we were intrigued to check out why they had received such a good wrap.  We booked into the Living Lounge Hostel which was well located to the main train station, a metro stop and some fab restaurants and nightlife.  On the first morning we woke to the smell of fresh hot pancakes and I started to understand why this hostel had received such a good wrap (mmmmm chocolate crepes - my guilty travel favourite!). 

We joined a free walking tour that the hostel hosted and these photos show some of the highlights including the neogothic elevador and cute petit yellow trams.

View from the elevador

Santa Justa Elevador 

The oddspot of rain played havoc with me and cobblestones, perhaps partly due to some good vinho. I recommend heading to Bairro Alto for dinner and some good cheap cocktails.  This area was very busy even in November (temp approx 15 degrees) and would go off in Summer! There are lots of bars and restaurants to choose from and some fairly good graffiti too.

Lisbon is a lovely sized city to explore and enjoy the local food - lots of cod fish dishes and definitely try the tasty Portuguese custard tarts. You can buy the custards tarts in a box (6 for 5.10 euros) so quite a good present to take back to work if you don't have to travel too many hours home.

Sao Nicolau, Cafetaria, Rua Augusta No.110, Lisboa

I would recommend Lisbon in winter and would love to go back in summer when the streets would be even busier with locals and tourists. Compared to London and other European cities I've visited Lisbon is very well priced when it comes to food, drink and transport.