7 Day Tracing the Roots of an Imperial Cuisine Culinary Holiday in Lisbon

Portugal Culinary Holiday

On this culinary adventure, you'll learn about the voyages and trade routes that stocked the city’s pantry with spices and sample the contemporary fare that inflects traditional dishes with Goan influences. Enjoy iconic egg-custard pastries baked in the shadow of historic convents and venture far past the city center to get an insider perspective on fresh-from-the-water seafood at the city’s bustling ports. At far-flung farms and vineyards, get your fill of the region’s famous salt-cured ham and local wines. This journey will be a feast for your eyes and your stomach!

Highlights

Engage your senses and enjoy exclusive visits
Shop magnificent markets and sample the finest seafood
Experience one of the world’s intriguing cities through its food
Be with hungry group travelers excited to explore all that Oaxaca has to offer
All meals and drinks are included
6 nights accommodation

6 days with instruction in English

The organizer also speaks: Portuguese

Group size: 6-12 participants

Program

Day 1: Welcome to Lisbon!

As travelers arrive, gather at the hotel for a welcome drink and begin getting to know your guides. Afterward, take to the water: you will view the city on a chartered cruise to understand the geography and program for the week in front of you and will then ferry you to a delicious al fresco dinner with a panoramic view of the city.

Day 2: A culinary crossroads explored

Sstart the day by awakening your senses at a classic pastry shop beside the 18th-century Estrela Basilica. As you munch, be transported back in time to the era when Lisbon was at the epicenter of the spice trade. From there, journey off the beaten path and to the present day in the Campo de Ourique neighborhood, a “city within a city.”

Here, learn about some of Lisbon’s hidden history such as plots to subvert the Salazar dictatorship that dominated the country in the 20th century.

On your way to one of Lisbon’s finest traditional markets, you'll also enjoy a belly-warming shot of ginjinha, a local liqueur made from alcohol-soaked sour cherries. Once you arrive, visit fishmongers, butchers, greengrocers, and bakers. Descend into a bookseller’s secret basement which stocked contraband literature during the dictatorship.

At lunchtime, nibble your way around the neighborhood. First, try a few traditional seasonal specialties and then move along to a hidden gem that has been upholding a family’s culinary traditions for generations. At a private association with a subversive past, dig into vindalho, a curry dish with ancestral roots in both Goa and Portugal. After your glutinous day of eating and walking, we will head to the underground ancient Roman aqueducts. You will escape the city through the tunnels exiting into a wine bar where will be hosted for a private wine tasting.

Day 3: Sweet and sacred delights

You will take the morning free to do a bit of sightseeing, shopping or just resting. You will meet after lunch to journey to Lisbon’s last active convent. Hiding behind the whitewashed walls in the city center, it withstood the devastating 1755 earthquake and remains awash in original details.

After lunch in a neighborhood eatery, you'll tour the convent’s art collection and try your hands at making pastel de nata, the locally beloved egg-yolk tart. After sampling the custard delicacies, you'll continue to explore the city while arriving at a refined fish restaurant for a multi-course meal and other surprises.

Day 4: Setubal and ancient fish sauce

After breakfast, you'll drive south along the coast to the small city of Setubal, situated on the Sado estuary, for a deep look at the city’s fish industry, rooted in ancient times. You'll start by visiting Portugal’s largest and best wholesale fish and seafood market for a better understanding of the country’s aquatic bounty.

You'll have a snack at a lunch counter favored by our favorite fishmongers before boarding the ferry across the river for an afternoon on the Troia Peninsula. Here, you will visit the Roman-era ruin of a factory town that produced garum, a fermented fish sauce considered a delicacy in Roman times. While in Troia, you'll have a late afternoon meal, sampling some of the local specialties, before heading back to Lisbon for an evening free.

Day 5: Post-Colonial Lisbon

On this full-day tour of central Lisbon, we’ll study the cuisines, history, and diversity of Portugal’s former colonies. You'll taste Cape Verdean cachupa, Brazilian pastries with freshly squeezed cane juice, Goan crab curry, Guinean baobab popsicles, bitter kola nuts, and more. Along the way, you'll meet the people in the kitchen keeping the traditions of these communities alive. In the evening, you'll have a cocktail at a newly opened cocktail bar run by the next generation of the Cape Verdean community.

Day 6: Song of Sea

You will travel north along the Atlantic to the westernmost part of Europe where we will descend to a wild beach and enjoy a lunch at a classic waterfront seafood restaurant with views over the rolling surf. You'll take a short hike on the coastal cliffs and visit a unique vineyard, then, to the family-run winery to taste their wines that, remarkably, survived phylloxera, the 19th-century plague of the vines that nearly wiped out the European wine industry. Finally, you will be treated to an exclusive visit to one of the UNESCO heritage Sintra Palaces with a cocktail at sunset.

Day 7: Farewell

Today, catch flights home or to your next destination, or if you’d like, spend more time exploring Lisbon. Culinary Backstreets will be happy to provide additional recommendations.

Notes on itinerary

Itineraries and daily schedules are subject to change. Culinary Backstreets expects to do everything listed in the itinerary, though the order may be rearranged based on weather or other local conditions.

Activity level

Travelers should be reasonably fit and feel comfortable walking two to four miles each day and remain on their feet for long periods of time. Keep in mind that Lisbon can be hilly and is filled with cobblestones!

Included excursions

Engage your senses

On visits to producers and the city’s local restaurants, you’ll get an insider’s view of Lisbon’s distinctive food scene.

Shop magnificent markets

You’ll eat your way across Lisbon’s traditional market, meeting butchers, bakers, and greengrocers, and sampling the city’s delicacies, learning the backstories of their trades.

Sample the finest seafood

At a traditional waterfront taverna or at one of the hottest restaurants in town, sample the pride of Portugal, the daily catch.

Experience one of the world’s intriguing cities through its food

You’ll get a chance to eat and drink the very best Lisbon has to offer while sharing a table with chefs, farmers, and producers.

Enjoy exclusive visits

Partake in several exclusive visits to historic sites, culinary demonstrations, wine producers, and even musical concerts.

Location

Lisbon is one of the world’s greatest food cities and on this multi-day culinary trip, you’ll experience the very best of it. Visit markets and farms, meet fishermen and bakers, learn to make Portuguese specialties, and eat and drink glorious delicacies, all while getting the chance to explore one of Europe’s most beautiful cities. But you’ll also dig deeper, exploring beyond the city’s tiled buildings and narrow streets to discover the long legacy and vibrant presence of culinary inventiveness in Lisbon.

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Food

Culinary Backstreets encourages an adventurous palate! They try their best to accommodate dietary restrictions, though in most cases, ingredients can’t be substituted or omitted from particular dishes. Please note that the food experiences on this trip are unfortunately not very amenable to vegan, vegetarian, and kosher diets. If you have a particular food allergy or intolerance, please send an inquiry to find out if this is the right trip for you.

The following meals are included:

Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Snacks

The following dietary requirement(s) are served and/or catered for:

Regular (typically includes meat and fish)

If you have special dietary requirements it's a good idea to communicate it to the organiser when making a reservation

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