SETÚBAL: A DAY TRIP FROM LISBON FILLED WITH HISTORY, SEA CULTURE AND INCREDIBLE CUISINE

When you travel to Portugal you’ll naturally find that at our capital city you have a very good representation of the distinct regional cuisines from across Portugal. Indeed, during our Original Lisbon & Wine Food Tour we explore the typical bites from Lisbon, but also iconic foods from across the nation, washing it all down with selected wines from Portugal’s distinct wine regions.

No matter how wonderful the food and drink offerings are around Lisbon, we would always encourage you to step away from the capital, even if it is for a day trip. This will give you the chance to experience local life away from touristic areas and, above all, to get a sense of the cultural and gastronomic nuances of different parts of Portugal.

Setúbal is just 30Km (19 miles) away from Lisbon and it is one of our favorite destinations as a day trip from the city. When we talk about Setúbal, we are referring to the city in itself but also the district of Setúbal, which encompasses several municipalities with their own particular feel, which we will also get to explore in brief below.

The city’s location is stunning, just by the estuary of the Sado river and neighboring the wilderness of Arrábida Natural Park, which awakens our most adventurous side. This city is also where one of Portugal’s busiest fresh food markets is located, showcasing the intrinsic relationship that setubalenses have always had with the sea and with fishing as a way of making a living.

If Setúbal is not yet a part of your Portuguese trip itinerary, we would like to contribute towards reconsidering that…

View from Arrábida

How to get to Setúbal from Lisbon

It is so easy to get to Setúbal from Lisbon’s city center! If you are planning to explore the district including ​​Setúbal itself, perhaps checking out the beaches and even some of the surrounding towns, we would definitely recommend renting a car, as it will help you get around and save time, thus making the most of your day.

Setúbal city and the ferry to Troia

But if you are using public transportation, fear not, as the trip from Lisbon to Setúbal is very doable and rather quick! You can take a train by the company Fertagus (check the timings and plan your trip here), which has several departure points in Lisbon’s city center, namely the railway stations of Roma–Areeiro, Entrecampos, Sete Rios and Campolide. Depending on the date and time, trains to Setúbal run either every half an hour or every hour, and the journey takes around 50 minutes. This is a comfortable trip in which you also get to experience crossing the iconic 25 de Abril bridge under the car lane, with eye-catching vistas to the Tagus river.

Another alternative way of getting to Setúbal would be to cross to the south bank of the Tagus river by boat (TTSL company), from Terreiro do Paço to Barreiro. From Barreiro you could hop on the CP train that leaves from right nearby the boat station itself. Depending on the day and connections, the total trip time shouldnt vary all that much but, in this case, you would have to switch transportation methods.

Whether you start your train trip in Lisbon or already on the south bank of the river, the train takes you right to Setúbal’s city center, a perfect starting point for you to explore not only the city’s historical center (where as we will see next there are plenty of worthwhile food stops), but also the waterfront. From here, you could also take further transportation to other destinations, namely the beaches and several spots which belong to Arrábida’s natural protected area.

Setúbal and the sea

Setúbal in Roman times: preserving fish with salt and garum fermented sauce making

The team during the process of making garum, in Troia (© Maria Motta Veiga)

We see that, even as early as around 2000 years ago, during the time when Portugal was a part of the Roman Empire which extended pretty much all over what is Europe today, Setúbal’s relationship with the sea was already pretty intense.

It was in Troia, by the banks of the Sado river, where today lies a recuperated archaeological site, where one of the biggest artisanal plants for fish preservation those days was operating. Eating around Portugal today you’ll easily recognize that we have a fondness for curing fish with salt, something that is mostly done with bacalhau, that is, codfish, one of the most beloved ingredients in Portugal – note the name of our company, Oh! My Cod! Even though cod only became a part of the Portuguese diet after the Age of Explorations started in the 1500s, preserving fish with salt had been a part of the local culinary traditions for more than a millenia prior to that.

Salt has historically been a very relevant product for the Portuguese economy, and one that we do have abundance of. During Roman times, sal was used to make garum, a preserved fish sauce that was to Romans a prized condiment, not only because it packed a ton of flavor, but because it was also a way of preserving and developing flavors using small fish and fish scraps that would otherwise easily go to waste.

Garum has a fascinating history, which we explore during our Umami and Garum Lisbon Food Tour, where you get to try, amongst other fish delicacies, the umami bomb that is garum.

Troia ruins (© Setúbal Municipality)

Even though it rose to fame as the most relevant condiment during Roman days, garum was already being produced by the Greeks prior to that. If around two millennia ago it gained great popularity across the continent, it was precisely here in Troia, near Setúbal, where the biggest production of his ultra savory fermented fish sauce was being done.

While the art of garum making was lost over the centuries, it was in recent times recuperated thanks to the Selo do Mar project, which aims to investigate more about fish preservation methods, not only from a theoretical standpoint, but to actually recover techniques and use tradition as a base point from where to innovate further. The project Selo do Mar also wants to encourage the increased consumption of fish species which are usually considered to be less premium by consumers and the market as a whole, while promoting the full use of the fish, avoiding waste. They do what is called in the world of meat head to tail, an approach which is historically very common with protein such as pork, but not as much with fish. This is how you end up with creative and ridiculously delicious fish products such as fish terrine, tuna muxama (which is to tuna fish what cured ham is to pork), bottarga, pastrami or foie gras, which can be prepared with the the liver of  different species, but excels particularly with monkfish. Selo do Mar project is doing a great deal not only to document ancient ways of preserving and eating fish in Portugal but, what is even more relevant, paving the path for how we can keep consuming fish in the country, acknowledging that is is a limited resource and we can and should make the best use of it sustainably, without compromising nutrition and flavor!

Aerial view of Tróia ruins (© Setúbal Municipality)

If you’d like to see the original outdoor tanks where garum was made back in the day, you can visit the ​​Roman Ruins of Troia, just a few minutes from the peninsula of Troia’s central area, which is in its turn easily accessible from Setúbal by a ferry boat, which runs every half hour during high season.