Our 3rd and last full day in Lisbon, I was thinking of going to Mafra National Palace since we didn’t get a chance to visit it the last time and the admission is included with the Lisboa Card, but I found out it was closed on Tuesdays! Instead, we went to Queluz National Palace, it was the same train to Sintra (also included with the Lisboa Card). We got off at the Queluz train station and walked to the palace, around 15 minutes. We arrived when it opened at 9 AM, surprisingly, no line at all; I was expecting bus-tours like at the Jerónimos Monastery. With the Lisboa Card, we got 15% off the full admission price €13. With less than a handful of other tourists, we had the rooms all to ourselves!!! It was much like when we were there 9 years ago, barely any tourists. My daughter enjoyed being a princess for the day!
It was rare that they both were so good for photos hahaha!
We took our time to admire every room and every detail.
For this trip, I brought the Sony Alpha A6700 with the Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 lens to try it out as the Canon is too bulky and heavy. I need a compact and lightweight camera for traveling with kids. It worked out great except for when I need a wider angle to capture art in the ceiling like this! The auto-focus/face tracking was excellent even in low-light settings.
Unlike the Ajuda National Palace where most of the rooms were dark, the rooms in Queluz enjoyed lots of natural light from the windows.
Each room’s chandelier is different and very well coordinated with the decor/theme of each room.
I remembered this checkerboard-floored room!
Also, we remembered this Murano-glass chandelier!
The kids did not like the heat, so we only took a few quick photos and went back inside. The water fountain along with the palace were postcard backdrop for family photos 🙂
My son was losing his patience!
After the palace, we ordered cars on Bolt to get us to Cascais, the seaside resort town. This wall with red flowers looked so pretty.
Cascais’s old town center:
Their old town center was small, with a few souvenir shops and mostly restaurants.
We walked around but since it was so hot, we took a break at the park where the kids got to ride in a carousel for like 5 times!
Our family members waited there while Jason and I walked to the post office to check if they had any collectible stamps. They don’t but the staff said they have it at the branch at Restauradores (in Lisbon center). On our walk back to the park, we saw this street lined with purple flowering trees:
It was lunchtime, and I found 88 Cantonese Cuisine nearby. The restaurant looked upscale, and so as their prices. The owner speaks Cantonese and we had a chat with him to find out that he was from the same hometown as Jason – Shunde. Shunde is well-known for its chefs of Cantonese cuisine. He recommended the winter melon soup with salty eggs (not on the menu) and said he grew the winter melon in his backyard and made the salty eggs. We never have that combo before and it was pretty good. We also ordered the scallion pancake (my daughter’s favorite) but it came only four small pieces…very expensive for the price!
We ordered the stir-fried string beans, we can tasted it was cooked by a Chinese chef, unlike Nono HK!
We ordered ginger beef in a claypot, it was tasty but the beef quality wasn’t great, too “old” for the elderly.
The eggplants with grounded pork were good too.
This one was a classic dish that Jason makes at home all the time – AA veggy with canned black bean fish.
The lunch was good but their portion was on the small side and it was the most expensive meal of this trip: $225.35. After lunch, as we walked toward the Cascais train station, we saw a Chinese store that sells home goods. We went in to check it out and my mom found her finger massage tools, she was so happy to buy a bunch of them LOL!!!
The train back to Lisbon – Cais do Sodre station took around 30 minutes and then we switched to the metro to Baixa-Chiado station to get back to our apartment. While the rest of the family took a break, Jason and I headed out to the post office at Restauradores to check it out. They have some collectible stamps, although not many choices. Jason bought some to add to his collection! Portugal checked!!!
For dinner, I made a reservation in advance and “save the best for last” at UMA at 6 PM. This is our favorite restaurant and seafood rice in Lisbon where it was ran by grandmas and grandpas back then in the small restaurant with only a few tables. UMA today has expanded to three branches!!! We went to the original restaurant and the waitress showed us to the bigger restaurant two buildings up on the same street. This branch has two floors and our “room” was on the 2nd floor. The menu only has one main course – the arroz de marisco. The waiter said one pot for 3 and one pot for 4 people and will take half an hour. We waited patiently and the pots of seafood rice were finally here! The taste brought back memories, it was rich in seafood flavor, so yummy!!!
Overall, Queluz National Palace remains as a hidden gem with no crowds at all! If you want to escape the crowds, Ajuda and Queluz palaces are the ones to go! I was surprised on how come people haven’t find those two out yet? If there’s one restaurant that I can recommend in Lisbon, it is Uma! For the best Pastéis de Nata, go to Pastéis de Belém!!!
