I’d been waiting to come to Lisbon for quite some time. I’d heard nothing but good things about the city, and everyone who’d ever visited just loved it. It’s hard to complain about a city perched on the ocean, with plenty of coffee shops, amazing shopping, the freshest of seafood, and pastel da natas.

But my favorite part of Lisbon was a very tiny park up north. I’d been geeking out over the Portugese azulejos for weeks, happy about every sighting of the gorgeous tiles. I’d done quite a bit of research to find the best azulejos in town, and not a single article I read mentioned this park, I just happened to be on my map one day and found the name Jardim da Quinta dos Azulejos. The garden is in the courtyard of a small school, and a bit hard to find. We had to go through several doors before we found the entrance! Finally in possession of a visitors pass, we got to wander through this garden completely alone. It was quiet, beautiful, and overall just INCREDIBLE.