Lagos, Portugal: Savoring Local Flavors and Stunning Ocean Views

Lagos, Portugal: Algarve Caves Boat Tour, Ocean Firsts & a Food Tour Feast

Brittany and Josh recap their Lagos stay in Portugal’s Algarve, including a train journey from Coimbra with delayed connections where trains waited, leading them to buy unneeded bus tickets and end up with a FlixBus voucher. They loved their spacious, walkable apartment with indoor/outdoor pools and ate at standout spots like Almas Tapas, Alex, Dumpling House, Bahia (plus a beach wedding nearby), Azimut, the Forbidden Door speakeasy, London Tiger Coffee, All Things Dough, The Studio, Black & White roastery, and the Green Room. Highlights include a speedboat cave tour (cold but beautiful), Brittany’s first time in the ocean, beach drinks at Linda the Beach Bar, and a Lagos food tour featuring the fish market, bifana and razor clams at Cervejaria Ferradura, street art about saudade, clay-roasted sausage, and local sweets.

00:00 Welcome to Lagos

01:10 Train Trouble Southbound

03:54 Apartment With a Pool

05:16 Tapas and Port Night

09:03 Brunch at Alex

10:40 Speedboat Cave Tour

15:05 Dumplings Then Beach Time

19:42 Beach Bar and Seaside Dinner

22:37 So Much Walking

24:31 London Tiger Coffee Stop

26:24 Markets and Food Tour Meetup

27:41 Bifana and Razor Clams

31:11 Saudade Mural Street Art

32:07 Fire Sausage and Petiscos

33:41 Sweets and Tour Wrap

35:15 Stormy Ocean Dip

36:17 Azimut Dinner and Desserts

38:18 Forbidden Door Speakeasy

39:37 Coffee Crawl and Black White

43:27 Pool Day and Green Room

45:32 Lagos Reflections and Farewell

@WSMHtravels

Transcript

brit 0:11

Hello, and welcome to the We Should Move Here Travels podcast. My name is Brittany.

josh 0:16

I'm Josh.

brit 0:17

And we are your hosts Today we are gonna be talking about Lagos. Oh my God, we had so much fun here. You jumped in the ocean for the first time, but we'll get there.

josh 0:31

Mm-hmm.

brit 0:31

It was so much fun, though. I, I just love firsts.

josh 0:35

Me too. It's the goal of every trip we go on, is to have a first.

brit 0:41

It is, yeah. New experiences.

josh 0:44

Mm-hmm.

brit 0:44

Yeah, that's kinda the goal of life, right? I- Continue having new experiences to expand your mind, expand your palate.

josh 0:54

Oh my gosh. Just

brit 0:55

everything.

josh 0:56

Very philosophical for this food podcast.

brit 0:59

Yeah, we're starting in hot.

josh 1:02

What? Changing lives. Okay.

brit 1:05

I, I don't know about that.

josh 1:10

So coming from Coimbra, which was our last episode, to Lagos, we took a train, like we did for this entire trip, but this train gave us some trouble, man.

brit 1:23

Yeah. It definitely did. we had two changes, and the first, train from Coimbra was actually running late. Yeah. So it was about a half an hour late. Yeah,

josh 1:37

definitely.

brit 1:37

we had only had, like, 10 minutes in between to change trains anyways. Mm-hmm. So we were like, "Uh, maybe the train will make up the time." and it ended up working out completely fine. It must be a really popular route because the trains waited for us. Yeah. I mean, not just us, but all of the passengers that were taking the same route.

josh 2:01

Mm-hmm.

brit 2:02

Um, but, uh, then every single train was a half an hour late.

josh 2:07

It was really interesting, something that we haven't experienced before, 'cause we've taken trains in plenty of other countries. Never has it been the case where a train just waited.

brit 2:20

No, never.

josh 2:21

Yeah.

brit 2:22

So we were like, "Oh, shit, what should we do?" And we ended up buying bus tickets- Mm-hmm from Lisbon, uh, while we were on one of the trains, and we didn't need it.

josh 2:32

Yeah. It was wild. We got off the train and we were heading for the steps and then looked to our left like, "Oh, wait." That's our train. It's still here. Even though the, the app had said this train had left the station or it was on schedule, whatever it had said, so.

brit 2:52

Nope, it was still sitting right there. It was right next to the train that we just were on.

josh 2:58

Yeah. And then because that one waited, so it was a half hour behind, and we had the next change down, close to Lagos, and that train waited as well. Cause then on that whole train ride we were thinking, "Oh, do we need to somehow figure out how to get from there to our hotel? What do we do?" And then we got there and-

brit 3:20

Nope, that one was waiting.

josh 3:22

It was wild.

brit 3:23

It was so wild, yeah. It, it must be a popular route.

josh 3:27

Mm-hmm.

brit 3:27

Cause I can't envision, you know, trains just waiting for a couple passengers.

josh 3:33

Yeah.

brit 3:33

Like, and that last train, it was a whole bunch of people.

josh 3:37

Oh yeah, it was full. There was standing

brit 3:40

room. Mm-hmm.

josh 3:40

but yeah, so now we got a $40 voucher for FlixBus- that we gotta use in the next year, so we gotta go on another trip and take a bus at some point.

brit 3:51

Yeah.

josh 3:51

Tell

brit 3:52

us where we should go.

josh 3:53

Yeah. But, uh, so that was our train ride, and we went ahead and got checked into our apartment right away, which did have a pool.

brit 4:04

And an elevator.

josh 4:05

And an elevator.

brit 4:07

Mm-hmm.

josh 4:07

If you haven't listened to o- other, our other episodes, we were staying in apartments on third and fourth floors with no elevators.

brit 4:15

Yeah. But this one was really great. I think this was my favorite stay of the entire trip.

josh 4:22

Mm.

brit 4:22

This was a fantastic price.

josh 4:25

Yeah.

brit 4:25

It had everything you could possibly need. Mm-hmm. It was pretty big. It was huge. Especially compared to the other places that we were renting. Uh. and also, like, everything is so extremely walkable. Like, nearby it's in a great location.

josh 4:43

Right.

brit 4:43

I really loved this place, and it had a pool.

josh 4:46

And it had a pool. Indoor and outdoor pool. Yeah. It was, it was a good time, good to have the pool there, but, uh, again, we did have the ocean, which was the, the highlight of it. But again, we'll, we'll get to that in a second. We'll just kinda run through our day by day here.

brit 5:03

Yeah.

josh 5:03

So we checked into the apartment, got it, like you said, huge. It had a full kitchen, full living room, big bathroom, big bedroom. Massive place.

brit 5:14

It is. It was huge.

josh 5:16

uh, it was a little later in the day, so then we went and got dinner right away at, uh, Almas Tapas.

brit 5:23

Oh my gosh, I loved this place. We got a bottle of wine. Mm-hmm. That was great. Loved it.

josh 5:32

I think I've mentioned it a few times. You get to some of these places, these wine regions that are known for their wine, and you look at the wine list and it's $6 a glass or 18, 20 euro a bottle. You're like, "Just-"

brit 5:47

Just get a bottle. Just get a bottle. That's four glasses. this was a really great place. Mm-hmm. We did start out with A toast with cheese, honey, pear, and walnut. Mm-hmm. I was not a huge fan of the cheese. It had too much funk for me. So wasn't a fan of it. Um, it kinda tasted like goat cheese to me, and I do not fuck with goat cheese at all. Yeah.

josh 6:13

It... I thought it was really good. This was, uh, alma lusa, this kind of pairing with cheese and the honey and kind of, like, blended pear or fruit is very popular.

brit 6:26

It is, yeah.

josh 6:27

and I really enjoyed it, and we had something very similar on, uh, one of our tours, very good. I liked it. And then we also had, fried prawns with, garlic, whiskey, and, chili with bread, And that was delicious.

brit 6:40

It was. It was really great.

josh 6:42

Mm-hmm.

brit 6:43

We also had, for our mains, we had salmon with veggie and an orange velvet. That orange velvet, I didn't know what it was gonna be like, but it was great. Loved it. Mm-hmm. we also got a chicken salad. And for dessert we got a brownie and tangerine ice cream. Great duo. I didn't know if I was gonna like that either, but it was great. I loved it.

josh 7:11

Fantastic. There is something about Portugal. They have a lot of chocolate and, like, citrus combinations.

brit 7:20

Mm-hmm.

josh 7:21

And it's really lovely. It's dark chocolate savoriness with the lightness and the citrusy of whatever kind of fruit they pair it with. It's great.

brit 7:30

It is, yeah. Mm-hmm. There was a lot of, like, chocolate and orange or ch- chocolate and tangerine.

josh 7:35

Yeah. I really enjoyed it.

brit 7:37

To pair with our brownie and tangerine ice cream, we had to of course get a port wine.

josh 7:43

Mm-hmm.

brit 7:43

So we got a port wine, after drinking a full bottle of wine. Yeah. And then he actually came back and poured us some more.

josh 7:53

He did. The... I think it was an owner-manager 'cause he was the only one working at this point with the kitchen, 'cause we were there early on. And he poured initially, and there was only a little bit left in the bottle, and so he just dumped the rest in, so. The port wine glasses are your kinda typical, dessert wine glasses. Yeah. They're much smaller. And so those were almost full each. And then like you said, he came back and gave us a little more. And we were-

brit 8:24

To be fair-

josh 8:25

Oh

brit 8:26

we're in Portugal. People are drinking every day here. It's like a lifestyle.

josh 8:31

Mm-hmm.

brit 8:31

And we're just, uh, taking in the culture, okay?

josh 8:35

Yeah. Oh, goodness. It was really fun. That was a really good place. Excellent food. Uh, the location was right by the apartment we were staying in. Yeah. So I think if we were a little further out, maybe I wouldn't have, uh, splurged for a whole bottle, 'cause I knew the walk back would've been a little rough.

brit 8:56

No, we were right next- like, right next door.

josh 8:59

Yeah, within 100 yards.

brit 9:00

Yeah. Yeah. Very close.

josh 9:02

Mm-hmm.

brit 9:03

that next morning you had wanted to go to a place called Alex, and it was great. Oh. we got a Sunshine Bowl, which was granola, mango, and chia seed pudding or yogurt.

josh 9:19

The mango was like a, a puree and like small, like, dollops of it.

brit 9:23

Oh, it was lovely. I-

josh 9:25

Mm-hmm.

brit 9:26

I enjoyed every bite of that. And then we, uh, had also got avocado toast with an egg on top.

josh 9:32

Mm-hmm.

brit 9:33

And we shared a chocolate chip cookie with hazelnut filling. Mm-hmm.

josh 9:38

And

brit 9:38

the coffee here was incredible.

josh 9:40

Yes. Yeah. The food at this place was excellent. We had so many good, like, brunch breakfasts throughout this trip. We did. If you haven't listened to the previous episodes, go listen to those, 'cause we talk about some of the acai bowls we had, avocado toast. It's just such a popular thing throughout Portugal, and it's excellent way to start your day.

brit 10:05

It really is. I mean, a bunch of fruit and fiber. The only thing is the protein that's missing with your fiber, so.

josh 10:13

Mm-hmm. True. True.

brit 10:15

Gotta get that in-

josh 10:16

Yeah

brit 10:16

somehow, but maybe there was protein in the cookie.

josh 10:19

I was just thinking, I'm like, "Man, is this a health podcast?" But we just came off of drinking a full bottle of wine and...

brit 10:27

And we're also talking about how we shared for breakfast a cookie with hazelnut filling. Hey,

josh 10:32

hey, hey. You gotta have balance in life.

brit 10:35

We do, yeah. Definitely not a health podcast. this was the day that we did the boat tour.

josh 10:44

Yes.

brit 10:44

Oh my gosh, it was so much fun. They took us out to see the caves.

josh 10:50

Mm-hmm.

brit 10:51

These caves were incredible. You can actually hike out there, which if we ever go back, I would like to do that.

josh 10:58

Yeah, we will definitely go to the eastern part of the Algarve coast for sure.

brit 11:05

Mm-hmm. And hike that. Absolutely.

josh 11:09

Yeah, and stay in one of those towns, 'cause there are some stunning little towns along the coast,

brit 11:15

I would love to spend some time on some of those beaches.

josh 11:18

Me too, for sure, and I'm not a beach person at all.

brit 11:22

We say that, but we were kinda beach people

josh 11:26

We, we were beach people, But anyways, the tour was great. Again, we lucked out on weather so much on this trip.

brit 11:34

Yeah, we did.

josh 11:34

Cause if it was any windier, if it was any colder, if it was rainy, this tour would've been miserable, 'cause you're sitting in this open top boat just back to back with people on these kinda cold seats.

brit 11:51

Very uncomfy seats, I will say.

josh 11:53

Yeah.

brit 11:53

But it is a speedboat, and it was fun.

josh 11:56

Yeah. and we had talked about potentially doing a kayak tour of caves and of these caves.

brit 12:06

I would've loved that.

josh 12:07

I think would've been cool, but also this was in low season, not a ton of tourists, but still the amount of boats-

brit 12:15

Mm-hmm

josh 12:16

that were going around and in between, like kayakers and paddle boards and stuff, Insane. I, I think I would've, I would've been freaking out. It would've been... It would've felt dangerous to me. 'Cause even us in our boat, which wasn't that big, we got really close to kayakers- We did and paddle boarders. Yeah. And I can only imagine you, if one got close to you- and, and like a motor being back there, you being like, "Oh, my God. Oh, my God."

brit 12:44

I'd freak out on them.

josh 12:46

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. So I don't know, maybe it's not that bad, but I, I was glad in that moment that we decided to do a boat tour.

brit 12:56

I think, though, it would be fun to do some kayaking out in the ocean, 'cause I've done a lot of kayaking in lakes and stuff- Uh-huh but never in the ocean. And I think just going out a little ways, not like crazy deep- Yeah you know? Yeah. But just a little ways off the shore. Yeah. M- maybe not to the caves or where everybody is going on the boats- Mm-hmm um, but somewhere, sometime, I would like to do some kayaking in the ocean. But I see what you, you mean about the boats and- Mm-hmm how freaked out we might get.

josh 13:30

But this, in the boat, was great. Beautiful caves, really cool to see. Uh, pictures online and the pictures that we'll have and videos we'll have in this don't do any of it justice. It's really cool, all the sounds of the caves. I loved it.

brit 13:48

Yeah.

josh 13:48

I'm glad you pushed us to do it, so.

brit 13:50

I am too. I- Mm-hmm yeah, I really loved it as well. I think it was so much fun. I would recommend people to do this, 'cause the caves are really cool.

josh 14:00

If you don't have the ability to get out to the eastern coast of Algarve and hike and kinda go to the caves that way, then doing a boat tour from Lagos would be something I'd recommend. But also I'd recommend maybe, like, a rain jacket, cause there were some people who just had shorts and a tank. Yeah. And going fast out in the ocean-

brit 14:24

It was cold, yeah.

josh 14:25

It was cold. Again, we were early May, so maybe it's different in, like, July and August time. But it was a little cold even with a rain jacket.

brit 14:34

Yeah, yeah. Same. There were a couple people that were just wearing tank tops, and I was like, "Oh my gosh."

josh 14:40

Yeah, they had goosebumps all over the

brit 14:41

place.

josh 14:42

I'd be freezing. Yeah. Even crammed in like sardines on this boat, it was...

brit 14:47

Yeah. Yeah. No, but it was great. Yeah. I had so much fun on this tour.

josh 14:52

Yeah.

brit 14:52

And you got some really beautiful pictures of the caves.

josh 14:55

Thank you.

brit 14:56

Yeah.

josh 14:57

I, I did what I could, so...

brit 14:59

Y- they're beautiful.

josh 15:00

Mm-hmm.

brit 15:01

They'll be in this section in the video recorded version.

josh 15:04

Yeah.

brit 15:05

But after that, we walked around a little bit and we found dumplings-

josh 15:10

Yep

brit 15:10

at Dumpling House. Mm-hmm. We got veggie soup dumplings and prawn dumplings with sweet chili. Uh, the veggie soup dumplings, I thought they were gonna be like soup dumplings, but it's soup-

josh 15:24

They

brit 15:24

were dumplings

josh 15:25

in soup.

brit 15:26

Yeah. Dumplings in soup. Yeah.

josh 15:28

So,

brit 15:29

um, it was still great. Yeah. But just maybe different and... I don't know.

josh 15:35

Yeah.

brit 15:36

Yeah. Wasn't what I expected, but it was still very good.

josh 15:40

Very good.

brit 15:42

Yeah. and then we went back to the place for a little bit, um, and we changed. And then we walked to the ocean.

josh 15:55

The ocean.

brit 15:57

The

josh 15:57

beach. The beach.

brit 15:59

Yeah.

josh 15:59

And being the time of year it was and the temperature it was, 'cause it was in the mid-60s, mid to high 60s I think-

brit 16:08

Yeah

josh 16:10

there was no one out there, or barely anyone out there. It was very sparsely-

brit 16:15

Yeah

josh 16:15

spotted with people on the beach. And definitely one or two other people in the water.

brit 16:21

Mm-hmm. Not many. It was pretty cold. It was like a, a polar plunge a little bit. Yeah. But it was good.

josh 16:30

The... Oh my gosh. The beach is lovely. Very soft sand. Great to walk on. my first time getting in ocean water, I was like, "Oh, I'm just gonna run and jump in." And I kinda walked in and it was cold, so I walked in further and then jumped in, mouthful of ocean water. And I didn't realize how salty ocean water is.

brit 16:56

Yeah. Like,

josh 16:57

oh, which is

brit 16:59

crazy. It is salty

josh 16:59

as fuck. Yeah. Yeah. But it was so cool. It was crystal clear. It was beautiful. We saw little fish, like swimming around. Mm. Oh, it was so fun, and it was exhilarating, especially in such cold water temps.

brit 17:15

Mm-hmm.

josh 17:15

Um, but it was really cool. And what I was gonna say before about being beach people, I liked having not many people on the beach.

brit 17:25

Yeah. I would agree with that. I think if there were a lot more people, we wouldn't have enjoyed our time as much.

josh 17:31

No.

brit 17:32

but I think there's tons of beaches where, that you can find that don't have a ton of people.

josh 17:38

Any high-season beach that has a crap ton of people I don't wanna be there. One, it's hot. I am not a hot weather person. I love it when it's cold. So this cold water, I was like, "This is great. I'll stay."

brit 17:56

It was great. And I forgot what the ocean tasted like as well. I hadn't been in the ocean for quite some time-

josh 18:02

Yeah

brit 18:03

as well. it kind of brought back some memories of the first time that I went in the ocean too. Yeah. And I was like, "Oh my gosh," like, "I'm so proud of you- Mm and so happy that you got to do it." Um, are you as afraid of the ocean as you were before?

josh 18:19

I mean, the ocean is still terrifying.

brit 18:21

Well, yeah. Like- But, like, swimming in the ocean, are you still as scared?

josh 18:25

No, I mean, as long as I'm staying in that kinda, like, swimming area.

brit 18:31

So, like, kayaking out in the ocean, how would you feel?

josh 18:35

Like, if we stay within, like, couple feet of the... A

brit 18:41

couple feet. Just- It drops- paddling around the swimming area.

josh 18:45

It drops off so quick. It got so deep.

brit 18:48

It did. Yeah.

josh 18:49

Oh. Scary. No. No, no, no. I mean, it still scares me 'cause I think the ocean... I've watched enough ocean documentaries about how little we know about what's in the ocean. Terrifies me.

brit 19:04

But- Don't mean to but you would swim in the ocean again?

josh 19:07

Yeah

brit 19:07

so that was your first experience in the ocean, and we had so much fun. We were out there, like, just playing in the sand, collecting seashells- Yeah kind of going back and forth in the water and laying down on the beach and-

josh 19:23

Like, again, it was a beautiful day. It was afternoon. Sun was going down on the opposite side, so not, like, over the ocean, but opposite side, and it looked really pretty. Ocean air is just amazing as well.

brit 19:37

Yeah.

josh 19:37

Oh.

brit 19:38

It really is, yeah. Mm-hmm. Hits you a little different.

josh 19:42

And then we just, walked to a beach bar called, uh, Linda the Beach Bar, and we had a few drinks there and reminisced about the ocean and-

brit 19:51

It was so fun.

josh 19:52

Yep, yep. Had some Super Bock and, um, whatever other-

brit 19:57

Red wine

josh 19:58

red wine.

brit 19:59

Yeah.

josh 19:59

Just hung out there, and then we changed in their, like, changing bathrooms, and we went and had dinner at the other place on the beach called Bahia?

brit 20:08

There was a wedding reception going on- Yeah which was super fun to watch. It was, like, right next to us.

josh 20:14

Yeah.

brit 20:15

and since we're getting married next year, it obviously sparked, like, conversation about our wedding- Yeah and, like, we just got really excited about ours and also, like, really excited about theirs too. It was fun to watch. but this place was great.

josh 20:30

Oh.

brit 20:31

Fantastic. Uh, at this point we had wanted just some, like, some of our comfort food. Uh-huh. So none of this is Portuguese. But we got mozzarella sticks- Mm which were great. A salami and black olive flatbread pizza, which- In Europe, a salami pizza, oh- Mm a spicy salami pizza just hits me. I love it so much.

josh 21:00

Yep.

brit 21:00

And then we also got a real Caesar salad with anchovies.

josh 21:04

Yep.

brit 21:05

Those are salty as fuck.

josh 21:06

Super salty.

brit 21:09

and for dessert we got port wine paired with a banoffee, which was a crumbled biscuit with bananas, cream, and toffee. That was incredible. I remember raving about it on the way back. Yeah. Like, we were walking home and we were like, "How do we, like, make this or recreate this?"

josh 21:30

Could, could have been the one of the top desserts of the trip.

brit 21:34

Could have been,

josh 21:35

yeah. It was fantastic, especially with the scenery of the ocean that we could see from this restaurant, the ruby port wine, which was delicious, and just everything. It was a great dinner. Like you said, the flatbread pizza with that spicy salami just hits. Pizza's my favorite food. I don't care where, where I go- what I do, what I eat, I will always come back to a pizza and be like, "This is the greatest thing I've ever had in my life." And all it was was a flatbread with salami and black olives and sauce. I

brit 22:11

was like, "Oh." Yeah. It was great, though.

josh 22:14

Yeah.

brit 22:16

I think the dessert, though, is a testament to how much you need to listen to your waiter's advice.

josh 22:24

Yeah.

brit 22:24

Because the waiter had recommended that- Yeah and we were like, "Yeah, okay. Whatever you say." Basically. Hit,

josh 22:31

hit us up. Yeah. No, that

brit 22:34

was really great.

josh 22:36

Yeah.

brit 22:37

We also had a lot of early nights here. We had early nights throughout the entire trip, 'cause we went back after this and just crashed.

josh 22:45

Well, it was another place where we did a ton of walking, and- We did,

brit 22:49

yeah

josh 22:50

there were some hills. It wasn't as hilly, though. But like you said, we were so close to everything with our place, but so close was like a 15 to 20-minute walk.

brit 23:02

Yeah.

josh 23:02

So we were a 15, 20-minute walk to that place from the apartment, and then, oh, we're 15, 20 minutes from the beach, and we go to the beach. And then we had a tour, and that's 15 to 20 minutes over here. And then by the time we're done, we're a half-hour from the place, and we walk back to the place, and all of a sudden we've walked 25,000 steps for the day without even thinking about it.

brit 23:24

Yeah.

josh 23:26

So we had that. At this point it's almost been a three-week-long trip for you.

brit 23:31

Mm-hmm.

josh 23:31

It's, uh, the end of a two-week-long trip for me. We are in the sun a ton 'cause it's been beautiful s- blue skies the whole time

brit 23:40

I think that all of the walking, I underestimated all of the walking and how tired it would make me.

josh 23:47

Mm.

brit 23:47

just like I did for Ireland too.

josh 23:49

Yeah.

brit 23:50

Cause we had early nights in Ireland too because we were so fricking tired. We were walking so much in Ireland too.

josh 23:57

Also, we drank constantly. We were so dehydrated this whole damn trip.

brit 24:06

This trip?

josh 24:07

Yes.

brit 24:08

Yeah. Yeah, at least in Ireland we drank a shit ton of water.

josh 24:14

We did, but we drank a shit ton in Ireland too.

brit 24:17

Yeah, we drank a shit ton of Guinness.

josh 24:18

Yeah. Oh man, I'm missing Guinness now.

brit 24:24

Me too. No, that's why we, we really don't drink at home. I mean, balance.

josh 24:33

Balance. Even though I almost grabbed the little glass of something for this recording. Oh my

brit 24:42

God. But you didn't.

josh 24:43

But, but I didn't. Balance.

brit 24:45

in the morning we got breakfret. Mreh,

josh 24:50

mreh,

brit 24:51

mreh. We got breakfast- Mm-hmm at the cutest fricking spot. It had pride flags all over. The coffee I got was amazing. We also got a smoothie that was like a ginger smoothie, and then we got a tropical breeze smoothie as well.

josh 25:08

Mm-hmm.

brit 25:09

And a tuna sandwich. So fricking good. This place is called London Tiger Coffee.

josh 25:15

We actually came to this because we walked by Black and White, which is a roastery and like a breakfast brunch spot, and the line was-

brit 25:29

Yeah

josh 25:29

down the block. Around the place, down the block.

brit 25:32

It must have gone viral or something because it was, m- the line was very long, and it stayed long pretty consistently throughout the weekend-

josh 25:42

Yeah

brit 25:42

that we were there.

josh 25:44

London Tiger, really cute spot. They had like a open garage door sort of walk-in.

brit 25:52

Mm-hmm.

josh 25:52

Um, indoor/outdoor seating, dog-friendly, so there were little dogs all over the place that were super cute.

brit 25:59

Cutest freaking dogs.

josh 26:00

The employees were super fun, very helpful with suggestions. They suggested, uh, the Ginger Zinga smoothie, which was fantastic, and the Tropical Breeze. Gave us suggestions, talked to us a little bit. It was very cozy and friendly vibes.

brit 26:20

It was. I, I could have gone there every day.

josh 26:23

Mm-hmm.

brit 26:24

I loved it there. but after that, we kinda walked around and we went to... There's, by the water, there's all of these, like, small tent shops-

josh 26:34

Yeah

brit 26:34

that are set up. Yeah. So we walked around there. We didn't really get anything 'cause none of it is really made in Portugal. Um, but we just kinda looked around, thinking- Yeah that it might be like a farmers market type thing. Um, and then we, across the street is a fish market.

josh 26:50

Mm.

brit 26:50

So we kinda roamed around in there, and then in front of the fish market we met for our food tour- Yes that day.

josh 26:59

Yeah. And this food tour was great. our guide, she was fantastic, and we went to a lot of great places.

brit 27:07

We did. Mm-hmm. We actually did end up going into the fish market. uh, our tour guide had talked about the fish i- on the first floor- Mm-hmm and then on the second floor had talked about all of the local products that they were selling. Yep. We ended up getting some marmalade- and some tinned fish, And some olive oil. I got a small thing of olive oil for my mom.

josh 27:30

the tour guide was really great, talking us through all the different kinds of fish, what kind of season they were in as far as harvesting the fish, where they come from, uh, stuff like that. And then we proceeded to this traditional Portuguese bar.

brit 27:47

this place actually had the best of the pork sandwiches that we had the entire trip, I think. This place was my favorite that we had.

josh 27:58

It was delicious. And these pork sandwiches, we keep on calling 'em pork sandwiches. Finally remembered or figured out the name. It's bifana or bifana.

brit 28:09

Mm.

josh 28:10

And what are the sauces that they gave us to put on it?

brit 28:14

So piri piri is- Uh-huh like a Portuguese hot sauce.

josh 28:17

Uh-huh.

brit 28:18

And then a mustard.

josh 28:19

Mustard.

brit 28:20

And it's like a sweeter mustard. Mm-hmm. It's not, it's not like a really, um, vinegary- Right mustard. It's more sweet. It's so good. Put it, put both of them on the bifana and It is so, so delicious.

josh 28:35

And this is such a simple sandwich. It's just pork. It's on this bun. The seasoning they must do with it is the magic because it's fantastic.

brit 28:47

Yeah. They got 'em marinated in something or-

josh 28:49

Right

brit 28:50

yeah, some oils or-

josh 28:52

Mm-hmm

brit 28:52

I don't know. But the piri piri here as well was also homemade, and it was great. I put a lot on.

josh 28:59

Yeah.

brit 28:59

And it was spicy. Just how I like it.

josh 29:02

And then we, we paired it with a, I think a Super Bock I think we had on tap, or lager.

brit 29:07

Yeah.

josh 29:08

Uh-huh. I

brit 29:08

think they gave us, like a lager.

josh 29:09

Yep. But we also had razor clams.

brit 29:13

Oh, that was my first time having razor clams. Was it yours?

josh 29:16

Definitely my first time I was r- having razor clams, yeah.

brit 29:20

They were great.

josh 29:21

Uh, they were fantastic. I was so surprised.

brit 29:24

I was as well.

josh 29:26

And the, the kinda like juices and sauce, we had little bits of bread to soak it up and eat as well.

brit 29:32

Yeah, I think it was like a white wine-based sauce.

josh 29:35

Yeah. Yeah, I think so. Or

brit 29:36

something-

josh 29:37

Yeah

brit 29:37

like that. It was a lighter kind of sauce. It was great.

josh 29:40

It was. It was really good, really savory, little salty. It... I'm trying to describe the meat that... I'm trying to remember, but it, it tasted just like meaty. It was good.

brit 29:56

Yeah, like a regular clam, I would say, but with-

josh 30:00

It was more kinda like muscly, like stronger. Like a clam is kind of like slippery and-

brit 30:06

Yeah

josh 30:07

you just, you just kinda get through the... This is like you, a little bit of chew to it.

brit 30:12

Yeah.

josh 30:12

Yeah.

brit 30:13

It did.

josh 30:13

It was really nice.

brit 30:15

It was good.

josh 30:16

Yeah.

brit 30:16

Yeah, and then, um, so that was probably my favorite stop on the entire tour. So I would definitely recommend going to this place. Cervejaria Ferradura is what it's called.

josh 30:30

Yes.

brit 30:30

Don't know if we said that correctly, but if you get to this place, order the bifana and razor clams, and you will not be disappointed.

josh 30:40

You won't. We also had a clear, like liquor shot here. I forget what it was,

brit 30:45

but- Oh, we did

josh 30:45

it was strong. Oh, that burned. No, it

brit 30:50

was the same thing as what we had in Austria. Um- Oh,

josh 30:55

yeah

brit 30:57

it was like a, some sort of schnapps or something. It was very strong.

josh 31:02

Yeah, loved that place, and it was such like a cute little like hole in the wall. They had like more seating- Mm-hmm and a bigger area around and behind it, but the, the bar was really cute. So after this place, the tour guide took us on a walk by this really beautiful mural done by the artist Ad Fuel. the mural in it has the word saudade in it, and it's nostalgic and longing and melancholy. in the mural, it's a tear in the traditional Portuguese tiles, and it's really beautiful. We have pictures and a video of it going in the video record version. there's just a bunch of great street art throughout Portugal that we saw.

brit 31:49

There really was, yeah. I, I appreciate the Portuguese art scene- Mm-hmm especially the Portuguese art scene that is, like, street art.

josh 31:59

Yeah.

brit 31:59

It's really cool.

josh 32:01

Mm-hmm.

brit 32:01

And there are some very talented people in Portugal.

josh 32:04

Very much so. Yeah, and this was a cool part of our tour.

brit 32:07

It was, The next place we went to was called Taberna da mó And here we had a firefighter sausage on a traditional clay roaster- Mm-hmm where they put the sausage, and lit it on fire basically in this clay pot. our tour guide had said that people take that to the beach. Mm-hmm. That, like, it's super easy to cook these sausages- Yeah in this clay pot, and everybody has one. And I'm like, "Hmm."

josh 32:37

And they just do it with alcohol. They just pour a little alcohol- Yeah on the base of this. Basically it looks like a little boat, and then they just light that on fire.

brit 32:46

Yeah. It was really good, too. It was like chorizo. I think that was my favorite thing at this place, We also got the tuna

josh 32:54

Mm-hmm

brit 32:55

which was delicious And a meat kind of stew type thing

josh 33:00

Yeah, a meat kind of stew. It's translated to meat of wine and garlic. It was very good. As well as we had this kind of, uh, cod or fish dip.

brit 33:13

No, it was swordfish.

josh 33:14

Oh, swordfish. That's right.

brit 33:16

Yeah. Yeah It was swordfish 'cause I was like, "I don't think I've had this- Yeah swordfish before," But everything here was really delicious as well. It also was kind of like a upscale place compared to, you know, the places that we went- Mm-hmm before this. Yeah. So it was cool that we got, um, kind of both sides of the spectrum. And it was also very comfortable here. Cool vibe. And then we ended the tour at, like, a small shop that had some, like, tinned fish and some sweets, some pastries and stuff. So, uh, we ended up trying The Balora, the Dom Rodrigo, and the Figo Secos, all of which was delicious. the orange cake was my favorite. And then there was, like, the date, um, kind of cake almost. It was like dates and nuts- packed together And then there was a fig that was stuffed with nuts, I believe, as well. Mm. And then there was, like, a chocolate cookie, which the chocolate cookie was, like, hard.

josh 34:27

yeah. It was a dense, hard cookie.

brit 34:29

Still good. Yes. Delicious.

josh 34:32

They also gave us a couple sips of, like, dessert alcohol here.

brit 34:37

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, there was, like, a orange liqueur.

josh 34:41

Yeah, I think so.

brit 34:42

That was pretty good.

josh 34:43

Mm-hmm.

brit 34:44

Um, so that was basically the whole tour. I really enjoyed this tour. I would recommend it. I think it was a lot of fun.

josh 34:53

Yeah.

brit 34:54

I think the tour guide took us to some really great places. Mm.

josh 34:59

Yeah, showed us to a lot of parts of Lagos that we hadn't been by before, gave us some recommendations, gave us some history, showed us that street art, really did everything that you would like in a tour. Took us to a market that was cool.

brit 35:16

then we went back to the ocean after the tour, and there was a storm rolling in, you had jumped in the ocean during the storm rolling in, and the waves had got a little intense, and I was like, Are you sure you wanna do this?" And you're like, "Yeah." I'm like, "I'm not going in."

josh 35:35

I mean, I wanted to get in the ocean one last time, so

brit 35:38

Yeah You loved the ocean.

josh 35:41

It was really cool. It was nice. Like I said, it was a big perk that there was basically no one else there. definitely became a little bit of a beach and ocean person with- within reason, so.

brit 35:53

I think I did too.

josh 35:55

We'll, we'll have to continue to experiment with beaches and oceans and other countries and other places.

brit 36:02

Yeah.

josh 36:02

Because I really enjoyed it when we were in Massachusetts and we were on the ocean as well, and the beach.

brit 36:07

I did too.

josh 36:08

Even though we didn't go in the ocean.

brit 36:10

Yeah.

josh 36:11

But we walked along and it was nice.

brit 36:13

It was nice. There's something about the ocean, man.

josh 36:16

Yeah.

brit 36:16

Yeah. Um, and then for dinner this night, we went to Azimut, and this was recommended by the tour guide. Great recommendation. I think there was some poor ordering. So there was a special where there was cod, egg, and potato- Uh-huh in kind of like a scramble.

josh 36:43

Yeah.

brit 36:43

And you had ordered that. I was like, Oof, uh, that's an order."

josh 36:49

Yep. It was the chef's special. I was like, "Well, I'll get the chef's special."

brit 36:55

And then I got a vegetable soup,

josh 36:58

Your vegetable soup was very good though, and you also got potatoes with it, which is, was delicious. There was a, I think appetizer we got. I believe it was called giardiniera. It was kind of like a tomato-y sauce with bread.

brit 37:18

Yeah, that was really good. for dessert, we got the chocolate mousse and the crème brûlée.

josh 37:26

Yeah. I had said, they asked me how I liked the cod and egg and potato special because I didn't eat too much of it. I did the best I could, and they're like, "Oh, something wrong with it?" I was like, "Ah, it wasn't my favorite." And so then we ordered the crème brûlée, and they also brought the chocolate mousse out as well. They're like, "Oh, sorry you didn't like that." And I felt bad. But the chocolate mousse was good, and the crème brûlée was good as well.

brit 37:50

It was great. Yeah. And that's some good service too, I think, so.

josh 37:54

Great service. Would recommend the place. It's a really cute place.

brit 37:58

Yeah.

josh 37:58

Traditional. That's what we asked the tour guide for, was like, "What's a place to get kind of like traditional Portuguese food from?"

brit 38:06

Yeah. And maybe that's just like on us for, you know, ordering that special without truly knowing what it is.

josh 38:14

Absolutely.

brit 38:15

So I think that's on us.

josh 38:17

Could be.

brit 38:18

Yeah. Um, But then after this, we went... I think the same owners own both of these places.

josh 38:26

They do.

brit 38:26

but we went to a speakeasy called The Forbidden Door.

josh 38:30

Uh-huh.

brit 38:31

And you have to make a reservation. we just made it online. And there's this super cool speakeasy with, like, such a 1920s kind of vibe inside. there's a newspaper with all of the drinks.

josh 38:47

The, the décor is very speakeasy, very low lighting, uh, kinda like jazz music going in the background. Very clean, comfortable. The cocktails were delicious.

brit 39:03

Incredible.

josh 39:04

Very well done. The mixologists there really know what they're doing. Pour a very good drink.

brit 39:11

Yeah. Yeah. For sure. It was such a cool vibe in there. I would recommend c- going here, but I will say that the cocktails were not cheap.

josh 39:20

No.

brit 39:20

So-

josh 39:21

Definitely not, compared to everything else throughout

brit 39:24

Portugal. Maybe for one.

josh 39:26

Yeah.

brit 39:27

Or if you wanna splurge for two. Yep. it was a fun vibe, though. I think, I think part of what you're paying for is being in that kind of vibe as well, so.

josh 39:36

For sure.

brit 39:37

The next morning we went to All Things Dough, and we got this delicious strawberry danish. It was great. And then the first coffee of the day.

josh 39:50

Yep. This place is really cool, 'cause I believe they are 100% vegan or vegetarian. So a very good place, really good coffee. think even, with a latte, their standard is oat milk.

brit 40:09

Mm-hmm.

josh 40:09

So you don't have to ask for oat milk, 'cause I love oat milk in my lattes, so. I

brit 40:13

do too. Yeah. We're oat milk girlies in this house. and then we went to The Studio for coffee, coffee number two of the day. This is a real coffee-heavy day and food-heavy day, I think, for us.

josh 40:30

we were circling, trying to get to Black White again, the roastery.

brit 40:33

We were.

josh 40:34

Because it has such great reviews. All these people are there. There's no way peop- this many people are going there and it's bad. And so we're like, "We're gonna get there." And we walked by, and it was still, like, a l- around the block align.

brit 40:49

It was, yeah. So then we went to The Studio, and we got a couple coffees, and we had also got a brownie that we shared there. Fantastic.

josh 41:00

Who doesn't like a good gooey brownie?

brit 41:02

Yeah.

josh 41:03

Yeah.

brit 41:05

I think this was a stop too that we made because I really had to pee, and I was like, "Okay, we gotta go somewhere." And it was right around the corner, so. but then we circled back to Black White, and the line was less long. Yep. So we waited for a good maybe 10, 15 minutes, and then we got in. Totally worth it. I loved this place. The breakfast burrito here, I could've eaten 10 of them. They were so... It was so good.

josh 41:38

the perfect combination of egg and, uh, pe-

brit 41:43

Hash brown and greens hash brown and

josh 41:45

greens.

brit 41:46

And then there was a hot, like, hot sauce on the side.

josh 41:50

Yep.

brit 41:51

Oh, it was a hot ketchup, a spicy ketchup on the side. Oh my God, it was so good. we also got a breakfast sandwich, a green juice, and we got a couple of coffees as well.

josh 42:07

Yep.

brit 42:08

Delicious.

josh 42:09

The breakfast bun, the sandwich that had the patty, kimchi, and egg- I loved that. I sometimes get on a kick with kimchi where I'm just vibing with it. Maybe it's just the kimchi 'cause there are so many different kinds of kimchi. But this was really good, very savory. Still, because it has, like, enough vegetables, that was light, didn't fill you up too much, especially with also splitting the breakfast burrito with you.

brit 42:39

Yeah.

josh 42:40

But enough to just make you feel good. And then the green smoothie, we love a green smoothie.

brit 42:46

It was great. and then we had also gotten a, a acai smoothie to go and another coffee to go, because we were leaving in the morning and that was gonna be my morning coffee. I just set it in the fridge and then I drank it in the morning- and it was fantastic. this meal was incredible. Probably my favorite breakfast that we had on the entire trip.

josh 43:09

It was, it was definitely good, one of my favorites as well. Being a Roastery, they had great coffee.

brit 43:15

Mm-hmm.

josh 43:15

so they had very minimalist black and white aesthetics inside, clean. Glad that we were able to get in.

brit 43:21

Me too. I'm so glad that we ate that. Ugh, I'm gonna be dreaming about it. But anyway, so, um, after that, we went to the pool, get some pool time in. we would've gone back to the ocean, but I think it was kind of crappier weather out, so.

josh 43:39

This was the only day where it was threatening rain- Yeah like the whole time. Yeah.

brit 43:43

Yeah, aside from that one storm-

josh 43:45

Yeah

brit 43:47

the night prior. but then we had, so a long pool time, and then we had dinner at the Green Room, where we got fish tacos, a veggie burrito, and we shared orange cake. All so delicious.

josh 44:04

We had an early dinner 'cause we had to be up at, like, 5:00 AM the next morning to get to our 6:00 AM train.

brit 44:12

Yeah.

josh 44:13

Don't know who decided that was a good idea, but-

brit 44:16

I think it was me

josh 44:18

Might've been a joint decision.

brit 44:23

Yeah, so we had a very early bedtime. but it, this was a great last meal in Lagos. really loved the fish tacos.

josh 44:31

Great fish tacos.

brit 44:32

Ugh.

josh 44:33

I'm not always a fish taco fan 'cause sometimes that's just super messy and the fish is, like, extra fishy.

brit 44:40

Yeah.

josh 44:41

But this was a good combination of the sauce and, like, the mixings, like the vegetable mixings in it. Really good.

brit 44:48

Yeah, it was very fresh. And then the burrito was also really delicious. And they also had homemade ginger ale where they cut up little ginger slices and put it in there. That was so good. I love a good crispy ginger ale, and this was great. the orange cake was also recommended by the waiter. Ask your waiters what they recommend because, they don't steer you wrong. They just don't. They don't. then we had our train early in the morning. And we had stopped this night at, like, a store and picked up some yogurt and stuff for the next day- Yeah um, just for breakfast. And yeah, that was about it in Lagos.

josh 45:36

I ended up really enjoying it. When we were planning the whole trip, picking places to go, Lagos was definitely one that I was skeptical about because it's such a, big, beach vacation place for so many people. there were some places l- along the eastern part of the Algarve coast that I was thinking about, but I'm really glad that for our first time we chose Lagos. It was a nice place.

brit 46:06

Yeah, I am too, I think we will go back to the coast, mainly because we loved it so much that we want to explore more of that area. And who knows? Maybe there's a place on the coast that would be perfect for us. I think we have to go back and explore more. I don't know that I would live here in Lagos.

josh 46:27

Yeah, I don't think so either. For me, I don't think living on a beach town is in my DNA.

brit 46:38

I mean, I could see us in a beach town or, like, very near a beach town, It had a lot of really cool things to do, lots of great restaurants, good vibes. I mean, it wasn't that touristy, but I could see it getting very packed very quickly, so.

josh 46:54

I can imagine in the heat of July and August that it is just slammed

brit 46:59

Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

josh 47:01

It is very walkable, though. Get around really easy. You don't have to go up a bunch of hills if you don't want to. there are some spots that you have to go up hills, but it's very accessible to most people.

brit 47:15

Yeah, I would agree. Would you live there?

josh 47:18

No. I would definitely visit there. You know, if moving to Portugal was something that we did in the future, I would be like, "Oh, let's go to Lagos for the weekend," or, "Let's go, like, stay a week in Lagos for, like, a vacation." Definitely.

brit 47:33

Yeah, I mean, I would go back, for sure. I don't think I would live there. But I could see us maybe on the coast somewhere. I really could. I could envision that a little bit more now that we have gone there.

josh 47:46

Yeah, that's true. I, I think it has to be the right combination of things.

brit 47:51

It does. I agree.

josh 47:53

Yeah. For- This was, I think the main thing was it was just gonna be a busy beach town.

brit 47:57

Yeah, for sure.

josh 47:58

What was your favorite part about Lagos?

brit 48:01

I really loved watching you jump in the ocean. That, like, sparked something in my soul that I just, I love watching you specifically have firsts.

josh 48:13

Yeah.

brit 48:14

Like, first experiences. It makes me feel so happy for you. Aw,

josh 48:18

thanks.

brit 48:18

Yeah. What was your favorite part?

josh 48:21

Oh, man. Yeah, I think being on the beach with you was really cool. Like, we stayed there for a little bit, kinda hung out in the sand, looked for seashells, and then we had those drinks for that dinner there.

brit 48:33

Yeah.

josh 48:33

That was really great. I really enjoyed that night.

brit 48:36

It was so fun. Yeah. I wish we could relive that night over and over again. It was so fun. The, but it also makes me feel like we need to go to more beach places. We have to check 'em out-

josh 48:51

Yeah

brit 48:51

because we had, had so much fun here.

josh 48:54

Yeah. I think part of that's on me, 'cause I often write them off because I'm just not, like, a warm weather, like, beach person. I just don't... It's just not my vibe. If we go to the beach and it's, like, a little cooler and- Yeah less busy, 100% for it now. I'm, I'm all for it now.

brit 49:14

Yeah. I mean, it's, it's usually not my vibe either, but I think Lagos reminded me of how beautiful the beach and the ocean can be and how much fun you can have there. Yeah. So I think we can't write 'em off anymore.

josh 49:30

No.

brit 49:31

Yeah. Gotta go to all the beach towns now.

josh 49:33

Gotta go to the beach towns.

brit 49:37

Okay. Well, that pretty much sums up Lagos. next episode we will be talking about our time spent in Lisbon. It was only, what? A day and a half, two days?

josh 49:51

Yeah, two days basically.

brit 49:53

we had a lot of fun in that short time that we were there, and we did explore a lot. So we'll talk about that Don't forget to like, subscribe and follow on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube at wsmhtravels. Do

josh 50:06

You can listen to our podcast on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube. YouTube is where we have our video record version, including pictures and videos from our trip. Please continue to leave your comments and send us messages on what you liked from our trips and suggestions for our future trips. We really appreciate it.

brit 50:24

Thank you so much for listening. Until next time