I gave Lisbon three days, which felt generous until I actually spent them there. The trams, the miradouros, the pastel de nata debates that every local seemed to have a strong opinion about, it was easy to imagine just staying put for the whole trip. But everyone I talked to keep mentioning somewhere else. Sintra. Óbidos. A wine region I'd never heard of, thirty minutes from the city. By day three I'd stopped resisting and picked up a rental car instead.
That decision ended up shaping the entire trip more than any single destination did.



















