Lisbon, Portugal
September 24–25, 2026
We met at the airport in Boston and flew on the same plane to Lisbon. We purposely sat apart so that we wouldn't wind up talking, and could get a bit of sleep during the short night on the plane. That worked for me, but Mary Jane sat next to a lady who wanted to chat the night away. Before we left I got an email from the hotel chain that for some technical reason, they were upgrading the reservation to another hotel near my original choice. It was excellent and an even better location. Originally we were staying near Rosio, the main square. The new hotel is shown below in the block just behind the person in red. It faces Praça da Figueira (Fig Tree Square) with a statue of King João I and an excellent view of the castle high on the hill. There was even an elevator down to the Rosio metro station.
Lisbon and Porto are both quite hilly, so we took public transportation a lot. After we got a bit settled at the hotel, we went to the metro station and bought transit passes. Then we caught a bus at our square and went up to the castle. We chose not to do the tour. Rick Steves says that the rocks inside look pretty much like they do on the outside, and we were not so enegetic after a night on the plane and a five-hour time change. So instead I took a picture of this gate, and we ate some great gelato. Along with what we had already seen on the ride in from the airport, we got introduced to different areas on the bus ride back down.
Over the weekend there were tents set up on the park with all sorts of souvenir shops. Tiles are distinctive on many buildings in Portugal, so I bought this coaster as an example. I should have bought a set of four, since that would have cost just 10€.
This famous elevator was not running, and we were told that all but one of the funiculars were out of service. A cable had broke on one, and there were fatalities, so they suspended operations until they could be more thoroughly inspected. I like riding funiculars, and they would have been good for dealing with the hills.
Rosio, the main square was nearby. You can see the national theater at the end and one of the quirky patterns of tiles they use on their plazas.
Earlier in the day we had seen this arch from the other side where there are shops and many restaurants.
There was line of people waiting to make pictures of their family members with this sign, so there was no time to take a picture of the letters. So I took two pictures and back home with Photoshop I just combined them, and the people disappeared.
Of course the waterfront area has entertainers. I am surprised by how well the bubbles show up in the picture.
Tram 15E stopped near our hotel, so it was easy to ride out to the district of Belém. It was the launching point for the famous Portuguese explorers. They could pray for safe travels at the Monastery of St. Jerónimos.
We did not tour the monastery. I had not booked timed tickets, and the line was a ridiculously long wait out in the hot sun.
Down near the water is the Monument to the Discoveries.
Prince Henry the Navigator leads the way.
The impressive 25 de Abril Bridge was originally named for the dictator during the time of construction, but after the revolution, it was renamed to honor his overthrow.
We spent much of Saturday exploring different parts of town while we rode buses. I didn't take any pictures. When we got too far afield, we got off the bus near a metro station and rode back to our home station. On Sunday we headed to the train station to catch a fast train to Porto.
