Chill Out Free Walking Tour in Lisbon

Rick Steve’s recommended this walking tour company called “Chill Out”. Despite our tiredness, we decided to take a 4:30 walking tour with this group. After our late breakfast/lunch, we shopped around a bit. I finally made it back to a store MSK where I love their bags and bought a new backpack. About time because my current one doesn’t always zip up anymore.

The walking tour was just over three hours. Our tour guide, Jose, was awesome. Chill Out is recommended by Rick Steve’s because the tour guides are all native and this one in particular takes you to places that are a bit less touristy and more authentic. It was very clear how Jose loved Portugal and his city of Lisbon.

There were churches and excellent views and we were navigated down the small winding streets of the Alfama area. Lots of tiny colorful doors and cobblestone roads and hills. At the end, an amazing view and a great recommendation for dinner, a nearby place called O Satellite.

As you can tell from the photo, this was a pretty authentic (not touristy) restaurant. We met two couples from Zurich on the tour and we all sat down for dinner together. The menu was in Portuguese only (another good sign) and the waiter was SO nice. He helped us through the menu for probably 10 minutes.

Side note: I think I’ve noticed the sub par service and hospitality more this time than I have before. I am so used to the American way that it can be frustrating to not have water refilled and no free bread to start and one menu for two people and having to flag someone down to take your order. All that to say, this place really stood out with amazing service.

But also amazing food. Maybe one of the beat meals we had. Corrine ordered the octopus and I ordered Pernil. It was a huge amount of food and so damn good! Big portions, some little bites to start which I think were free, multiple beers for Cor and a half liter of wine for me. We ended with flan and port. All for 25 euros each. About $30 for an awesome meal with great service.

Plus we met fun friends and had a great time chatting. It was a perfect first night in Lisbon.