After spending 2 days in the Azores 🔗, we got up early and walked to the airport from Hospedaria Casa d’Avo. The airport is really small and we were checked in by an agent at the Azores Airlines counter. We had 3 transit stops before our final destination, so the agent and her manager had some back and forth about the baggage tags and how to attach them to the bags. The check-in agent issued each of us a consolidated boarding pass for 4 flights, to Lisbon, Athens, Munich and finally Reykjavík. With fingers crossed that our bags with all our cold weather clothes would make it to Iceland, we headed through security check to the boarding area for flight TP1828.
We walked to the tarmac from the terminal. It was still dark outside. We boarded via stairs. 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. The entire row next to us was also empty, so we decided to stretch out. One of the flight attendants saw that and also handed out a blanket for this short hop, which was a nice touch. We parked at a remote stand on landing and were taken to the terminal by bus.
We headed to the TAP Premium Lounge at Lisbon Airport to have breakfast. Having got up very early, we decided to take it easy and lounge around for a while. After brunch, we headed out to take the Lisbon Metro to the city. We were able to recharge our existing cards with another 1 Day ticket (24h) at the counter.
Our plan today was to take the famous Tram 28E. We took Linha Vermelha from Aeroporto to Alameda and then transferred to Linha Verde from Alameda to Martim Moniz. There was a huge line but this time we were prepared to wait.
The trams arrived every 7-12 minutes and after a few turn we were able to get seats. I don’t think there were any locals on this tram at all. The tram took us up the hill in Alfama and then across Baixa and Bairro Alto heading west. We decided to go all the way to the end, making a mental note of all the stop we wanted to visit on our ride back. The ride took about an hour and it was a fun and relaxing way to see Lisbon.
We spent some time around Campo de Ourique and saw Igreja de Maria Auxiliadora and Church Santo Condestável. We then took the tram to Estrela (Basílica) to see Basílica da Estrela.
Basílica da Estrela is a Baroque style church with twin bell towers. It houses Queen Maria I’s tomb. There was an option to go up and see the view from one of the towers for a fee, Miradouro da Basílica da Estrela.
Next stop was the Assembleia da República. It was impressive to see, and looked very typical of government buildings.
We walked further down to the next tram stop. The area around it had some interesting looking buildings. We took the tram to Miradouro de Santa Luzia back across Bairro Alto and Baixa heading east.
We first headed to Miradouro das Portas do Sol. It also offered panoramic city views of traditional Alfama houses with red roofs & churches. We could see Igreja de São Vicente de Fora and Panteão Nacional from there.
Miradouro de Santa Luzia is a popular observation deck with an outdoor garden feature with a shaded walkway overlooking the Tagus River and Terminal de passageiros de Santa Apolónia with a huge cruise liner docked there. One of the walls featured a beautiful tile mural of Lisbon.
We then took the tram back down and saw the Sé de Lisboa and Igreja de Santo António de Lisboa, believed to mark the birthplace of St. Anthony. From there we took the tram to Praça do Comércio.
Praça do Comércio had a nice vibe in the evening with lots of people strolling around as the sun set. There were boats and yachts in the river and musicians playing and singing and the whole place had a pleasant atmosphere.
After spending some time there we decided to head back to the airport. We took Linha Azul from Terreiro do Paço to São Sebastião and then transfered to Linha Vermelha to Aeroporto.
Our flight was quite late so we headed to the TAP Premium Lounge at Lisbon Airport again for dinner. The lounge closed at 11:00pm and we headed out to the gate area to board our flight flight A3723 to Athens.
The boarding area was packed, it seemed small to accommodate the number of people waiting for the flight. We sat down on the floor for a while. Boarding started soon after the passengers from the inbound flight de-planed and the aircraft was readied for the return flight. The flight attendents were insistent that the overhead bins only be used for suitcases. Any backpacks or other bags had to be placed under the seat in front of you. It was almost obsessive; eventually by the time we departed there was lots of empty room in the overhead bins which could have accommodated other items. The was the first European flight in this trip where there was a complimentary snack and beverage service. The flight was comfortable and we could manage to sleep for most of the duration.
