First trip: Lisbon wasn’t our favorite destination. It felt more complicated than necessary, with transportation consistently frustrating (the city streets were under a lot of construction). Ditch the car as soon as you arrive, this is not a good driving city. I hoped for more of a view, but it’s not the most attractive city.

Trip 2: I stayed out of the tourist area, and liked the city much more. Take the time to get up, away from the water, appreciate the lovely views, and then descend into the center. The city is a warren of interesting finds, more restaurants than you could try in a lifetime, and packed with excellent shopping.

My general impression is that Lisbon is like Naples – and also completely different. A very old, layered city packed with life, history, charming attractive people, but maintained in a very different style. I wouldn’t call Lisbon pristine, but any means, but it has more of a “polish, reduce” mentality versus Naples’ “add on.” Think about this as a winter trip – the weather is pleasant and the crowds would be less intense.

Hotels

• We stayed on our first trip at the **International Design Hotel: a perfectly fine option, actually better than expected. Central, clean, large room, with parking (though getting to the parking wasn’t easy). 
• My second trip was at **Epic Sana Lisboa Hotel, convenient to my work destination. It’s very nice, a big corporate property, with huge rooms, two pools, really very affordable pricing – no complaints, I liked it. Breakfast was excellent.

Sites

• **Aqueduto das Águas Livres (Water Museum) was one of my more random stops. There are multiple entry points – I did the walking tour over the aquaduct itself. There’s a lot of history here and fro architecture fans, I’d recommend spending some time on the website and selecting the most appealing sites.
• Both the **Mosteiro dos Jeronimos and **Torre de Belem, though worth a stop, are underwhelming and crawling with tourists. The Mosteiro library was closed for renovations (a multi-year process). We did enjoy the bus ride to Belem however – a good way to see the waterfront.
• Near to both, the **Monument to the Discoveries is very cool, and overlooks the (fake, unimpressive) Golden Gate Bridge. The shade of red is wrong and the proportions are all odd.
• **Museu Banksy – Lisbon is both odd and charming. I think the space is an old mall (?), created into a museum with a very low budget, and the art is recreated. That said, I loved seeing his work in one place – impressive and thought provoking.
• The ***National Carriage Museum stands out, we had low expectations and loved it.
• The funicular to the higher parts of town was entertaining
• The Aflama isn’t particularly picturesque (especially after Porto).
• Skip the *Castelo de Sao Jorge – it’s expensive, and the view isn’t great.

Food

• *Bica do Sapato is a very high end waterfront restaurant. The food was great, the experience trying too hard and not quite succeeding – probably not helped by being almost empty on our visit. I enjoyed it, wouldn’t go back.
• **Carnal was a nice pick, fancy Mexican with a Portuguese twist. I ate at the bar, the service was charming.
• I had a drink at tiny *Vila Bica. Not remarkable, just in the right place at the right time.