Remote Work: a Week in Lisbon

Every time I am about to visit a city I’ve never been to before, I tend to picture it to myself in details. I imagine it’s streets scenery, people characters, terrace views, sunsets, and overall feeling. Lisbon was not an exception and I had a perfectly drawn image of it in mind when I got on a plane there a few weeks ago ready to go on a work trip.

We got there on Sunday, March 5th. It was nice and warm but rainy. The city was half asleep so as was I after a 6.5-hour overnight flight from New York City. The taxi ride was smooth and gone by fast while I was chatting with my co-workers whom I haven’t seen for several months since our last company trip.

What can I say, The House where we were staying was fantastic. Located by Estrela Basilica, it had an amazing terrace on its roof overlooking Lisbon and Tagus River:

We waited for the rest of the crew to get here, snapped few more pics from the terrace and head to look for a place to eat. Walking downhill, we wondered around narrow old town streets full of bright colored buildings and cute little balconies with flower planters hangin over them. I couldnt resist stopping and taking few pics:

I fell in love with Lisbon at that very moment. There is nothing else I like more than touring around old city streets and looking for the little details to capture. The little details that will tell you a story of the people who live here now and who have been living here generations before. Lisbon has plenty of them to offer and one can spend hours exploring it.

We found a small local restaurant with seafood and were happy catching up on each other’s lives while enjoying a delicious meal. I thought that this goody was amazing and worth mentioning here:

It is a lemon squeezer in the shape of a bird. I know, I love it too! You can buy one here – it is the coolest find I had in a while.

We got back to The House, spent few more hours on the terrace, had dinner and went to bed. The work week was ahead of us:

Mornings at the The House were especially pleasant. Most of the rooms had balconies and it was nice to wake up in he morning and enjoy the view:

Breakfast was cooked at The House for us and was yummy:

After breakfast we would usually head up to the roof to work there:

We would spend the day working from about 9:00 am till 6:00 pm at The House. The lunch was catered to us by Aurore Catering Lisboa so that we could focus on work and acomplish as much as possible before the end of the week while we were in Lisbon together as a team.

We haven’t had anything planned for the evenings and ended up looking for restaurants nearby for a dinner. It was also a great way to explore the city a bit more as we were walking towards the place to eat:

Tuesday and Thursday morning we used to run with some of my co-workers. We would leave The House by 6:30 am, walk towards the river and start running from there:

We used to run 5k along the river and then walk back to The House:

I never got tired of taking pictures from the terrace and every time had a feeling that the picture that I took before was not as good as the one I am about to take so I ended up with a thousand of them on my phone:

Occasionally we played some fun board and card games after work while the sun was setting:

One of the nights we had a dinner at a very cool place called Le Moustache Smokery (Eat like a Sir). Definetely recoomend it for large groups of people. The place is famouse for it’s deliciouse tapas, meat entrees and Gina cocktail. It also has a unique interior, warm atmosphere and friendly staff:

On our way back to The House we would often find some cool street art:

On Thursday afternoon we took a stroll to another team’s place which was about 30 min away walking from our house:

We spent couples hours there working together:

We took a subway while in Lisbon few times. It was a cool experience:

From all the wine we’ve tried in the city, Mateus was one of my favourite. It is a very light and a bit sweet rose that goes well with any fish or chicken dish. I recommend trying it out if you are ever in Lisbon:

Something else that fascinated me in Lisbon is a tile work on the buildings. It looks so pretty and gives the city a very unique and interesting look:

Few more shots while wondering around:

On Friday night we had a very interesting work-related discussion on the rooftop of our house:

We have acomplished a lot and were happy with the result of our team work during the week. It was time to rest and do some activities.

We had one more day left in Lisbon and dedicated it to exploring the city. We all took a bike tour on Saturday morning and strolled around downtown Lisbon all the way to Belem Tower:

Bike Tour is a great way to see the entire city. While you don’t get a chance to stop and explore the sites in details, it gives you a really good chance to get a sence of it and decide where do you want to come back for more later on.

The tour lasted for 4 hours and we were super hungry after it. Took few more pics while looking for a place to have lunch:

After very well deserved lunch, we kept on exploring the city while fighting food coma:

We finished our trip by the sunset boat tour on the Tagus River:

It was a very productive and fun week in Lisbon. I definetely recommend everyone to visit this beautiful city full of colors, character, cute little old streets, tiled facades, good wine and friendly people.

Obrigado Lisbon, see you soon!