We got up early and walked to the airport from our hotel, ibis budget Nice Aéroport. It took a while to find the check-in counters for TAP Air Portugal. We’re not used to seeing no lines. The check-in agent issued each of us a consolidated boarding pass for both our flights: to Lisbon and then to Terceira. I asked about our bags, and they said that the system showed them the bags from Lufthansa and then made a call to someone about something. It was all in French, so I didn’t understand a thing. But I was hoping that things behind the scenes would have been sorted out and our bags would make it to Terceira. I asked if there was a Star Alliance Gold lounge we could access and was told to go to the Library Lounge after the security check. There was no crowd, and after clearing security, we headed to the Library Lounge for breakfast.

The lounge agent checked our boarding passes and wanted to know the airline; I said TAP Air Portugal. Then he went back to his system to check something. After exchanging some confused looks, I offered to show him my United Premier Gold card, and that’s when it all came together. He wanted to know the airline I had status on, not the airline I was flying.

With that sorted, we got in. The lounge was nice and roomy, and there was hardly anyone there, probably because it was 5:30 AM. There were options of cereals, fruits, pastries, cold cuts, and juices—more than adequate for breakfast.

After spending some time there we headed to the gate for boarding our flight to Lisbon. The weather today had cleared and seemed much better than yesterday, but that was no use to us now. Our flight TP 481 from Nice to Lisbon was with Portugália Airlines, operated by Bulgaria Air. Take-off was a little behind schedule, but not by too long. Everything was buy-on-board, even water. This has drastically changed since my first two flights with TAP Air Portugal three years ago. We had great views of the Tagus River, the Padrão dos Descobrimentos, and the Belém Tower on approach to Lisbon Airport.

We went to the TAP Premium Lounge at Lisbon Airport to check if they had luggage storage facilities, but they didn’t. So we quickly got something to eat and then headed out to take the Lisbon Metro to the city.

The vending machines take notes only up to €20. We didn’t have change, so we had to stand in line at the ticket desk and purchased a 1-day ticket (24h) for each of us.

Our initial plan was to take the famous Tram 28 and enjoy the ride seeing some of Lisbon’s most popular landmarks. We took Linha Vermelha from Aeroporto to Alameda and then transferred to Linha Verde from Alameda to Martim Moniz. As we stepped outside to find the stop for Tram 28E, we saw a huge line of tourists like us waiting to board the tram. I didn’t want to just wait around standing in line, so some quick research showed that we could take Tram 25E from Praça Luís de Camões to Campo de Ourique, which was the last stop for Tram 28E, and ride it in the opposite direction. We took Linha Verde from Martim Moniz to Baixa-Chiado and then walked to Praça Luís de Camões, and in haste, boarded Tram 24E instead of 25E. It was a nice ride, but after a while, we realized that we were not heading where we wanted to go. So we got down at Amoreiras and took Tram 24E back in the opposite direction.

We stopped at the Elevador Da Glória stop and saw the Ascensor da Glória and spent some time walking around and enjoying the views from Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara and saw the Busto de Afonso de Albuquerque.

We then took Tram 24E back to Praça Luís de Camões and walked to see the Basilica of Our Lady of the Martyrs.

From there we walked to the Elevador de Santa Justa but there was a long line there as well. So we marched on past Joalharia Ferreira Marques to Praça da Figueira to see the Church of St. Dominic close by.

We then started our trek towards Alfama. Quick stop at Mural Graffiti Fado Vadio and then onwards to enjoy the views from Miradouro do Chão do Loureiro.

We walked back down and next took Tram 15E from Pç. Figueira to Mosteiro Jerónimos. It was a great example of the Portuguese Gothic Manueline style of architecture.

From there we took Tram 15E again to Largo Da Princesa and walked across Passadiço do Bom Sucesso - Belém to see the Belém Tower.

We walked around Jardim da Torre de Belém and enjoyed beautiful views of the Tagus river and the Ponte 25 de Abril.

We then took Tram 15E back to Pç. Figueira and then took the Metro from Rossio to Aeroporto via Alameda. After reaching the airport we cleared the security check and headed back to the TAP Premium Lounge.

The lounge had a good variety of food and snacks with a couple of hot dishes and of course the Portugese speciality, Pastel de nata.

There was also a bar where the bartenders were serving up drinks made to order. We asked for my favorite, a Margarita and a Gin and Tonic for my wife, which was prepared in an elaborate way and looked very exotic.

It was nice to sit back, relax, and enjoy our drinks and dinner after a long day of walking around in Lisbon. When it was time, we headed to our gate to board our flight TP 1823 from Lisbon to Terceira. It looked like this flight was fully booked from the crowd waiting at the gate area. We got priority boarding and had exit row seats. Luckily the middle seat remained empty and we had 3 seats between the 2 of us.

After landing, we headed inside the terminal to the baggage claim area. This was the moment of truth! The belt started moving with crew bags appearing first. We waited for a while, in suspense, and then both our bags appeared on the belt. Our luggage had made it, in spite of two almost missed connections in Delhi and Munich, an overnight layover in Nice, and a day-long layover in Lisbon. I was happy that Lufthansa and TAP Air Portugal were able to bring it all together.

We had booked a rental car from OnTravel Azores for the next 2 days. They had sent us the voucher details for Autatlantis. We completed the paperwork at the office at the airport and walked to the parking lot to locate our car. It was Calvi Blue CITROËN C1 with manual transmission. I had experience driving in the USA, on the opposite side of what I was used to at home in India; but it was always cars with automatic transmission. But once we started off, it didn’t take any time to get used to shifting gears with the other hand. We drove about 10 minutes and reached our Airbnb accommodation, Moradia da Graça.

We stayed here for 2 nights. It was not too far to drive from the airport with a rental car and there is ample parking right outside the main gate. The room was spacious and tidy. The shared bathroom was right next to the room and was kept clean and had spare towels. It was a nice place to stay and explore Terceira. I would recommend getting a rental car. We reached around midnight and the host had made arrangements for us to get the keys to get in.

🍽️ Library Lounge - Nice Airport
🍽️ TAP Premium Lounge - Lisbon Airport
🚆 1 Day ticket (24h)
🚘 OnTravel Azores
🛏️ Airbnb - Moradia da Graça