Hiking the Atlantic Way, Portugal

I am going to take a one-post break from writing about our Valencia trip, because, while the weather was nice over the weekend, my friend and I took a hike along the Caminho do Atlântico (GR11) near Lisbon. It was absolutely gorgeous, I thought I would write it down in case anyone is interested in doing this in the future.

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Kanazawa -Best Sushi in Lisbon

I have finally found the best sushi in Lisbon!

Kanazawa is an eight-seater restaurant helmed by Portuguese chef Paulo Morais, who has just been recognised by the Embassy of Japan in Portugal as the gastronomic ambassador of Japanese cuisine.

The restaurant is usually booked weeks ahead. On a rare occasion (and partially due to Covid), I was able to nab a seat for lunch a day ahead midweek. Although Omakase is not offered at lunch time, the chef was kind to accommodate.

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Dinner at Cura*, Lisbon

So…my friend and I were supposed to be at Lyle’s in London last week to celebrate our birthdays together.

Then…Omicron happened and London was out of the picture.

It so happened that several days ago MICHELIN Guide Spain and Portugal announced, in the auditorium of the beautiful Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia, the 2022 Michelin restaurants in the Iberian Pennisula. Among the five newly awarded one-star restaurants in Portugal, there’s one in Lisbon. Its name is Cura, helmed by the 30 year old Pedro Pena Bastos, whose resume includes some of the best restaurants in the world, such as Geranium, Copenhagen; The Ledbury, London; and Belcanto, Lisbon.

I made a reservation and below was my experience.

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Algarve, Portugal

You know you are with the right travel companions when after a trip, no only you still talk to one another, your friendship strengthens.

To be honest our week-long trip to the Algarve and Alentejo wasn’t entirely incident free – First, on the day of the departure, our Airbnb host cancelled our accommondation; Then we smoked the clutch on our manual rental car at one of the longest bridges in Europe; Thirdly we encountered a wildfire outburst, as soon as we reached the Algarve, near Monchique, it burned all night long, even spread to Portimão; Finally, just as we thought it wouldn’t get any worse, we scratched the side of our car making a tight turn in the medieval street of Estremoz Castle – Thank you American Express Platnium card!

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Lisbon Legends

Last week we went for an “immersive experience” called Lisbon Legendsa 360º multimedia show that takes us through the legends and historical episodes of Lisbon’s 7 hills – inside the ruins of the Carmo Convent, a 14th century Gothic style convent destroyed by the 1755 earthquake.

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