Last Days in Lisbon

November 25^th-27^th, 2025 

Our ninety-minute flight from Madeira to Lisbon left at 10 am and it was a pleasant one. 

 

Pre-sunrise near the airport.  That little bit of white by the horison on the left is a cruise ship coming to Funchal.

Ready to board our TAP Air flight to Lisbon.

Ready to takeoff.

This is the east coast peninsula on Madeira where the hike we didn't do is located (due to parking issues we didn't bother).

Bye Madeira...it's been great!

This is nearby Porto Santo Island, which has an airport but only a population of 5000 compared to Madeira's 250,000.

Arriving back to continental Europe.

Ola Lisbon.

Check out the remnants of the huge aqueduct.

Naomi had made a reservation at a different hotel, Hotel da Baixa, which wasn’t too far from the previous one we had stayed at, but it proved to be a nicer place all round.  After settling in, we headed out for lunch and then planned to go to a museum.

Our awesome room at Hotel da Baixa.

We could even see the water from our tiny balcony (it's the Tagus River, not quite the Atlantic Ocean).

We shared some fish and chips for a late lunch at the George Pub (yes, very Portuguese).  It wasn't cheap, 22 Euros, but what blew us away was that ketchup was not included.  The waitress asked how many we would like and Naomi responded "Two".  We received two shot glasses filled with ketchup and were charged an extra 5 Euros for that! ($8 CAD)  So 27 Euros ($44 CAD) to share a portion of fish and chips...that's nuts!  I had to write a bad review on Google for them...

Let's get artsy and check out the Banksy Museum.  If you can believe it, it was my idea.

They weren't originals, but reproductions of his work, with descriptions about the piece.

When I first saw this one years ago, I just thought it was a good use of a brick wall, but it's supposed to be a metaphor of how Western society ignores or hides its problems...um, okay.

Naomi liked this one as she's a David Bowie fan...it's a combo of Queen Elizabeth II with Ziggy Stardust.

This one, quite obviously, amplifies the contrast between innocence and dystopia.  Mmm, okay.

This one was found in Ukraine on the wall of a partially destroyed building.  That's black belt Putin (he does actually have his black belt) being pummelled by the little guy, aka Ukraine.

This is probably one of his most famous pieces.

This one I did understand...how the motivation of war is often to promote peace...a bit of a contradiction.

This one's a nice anti-war/anti-violence idea.

I liked this metro entrance, it was unlike the others.  Kind of reminded me of the ones in Paris.

And there was a cool building right beside it.

The following day, Naomi's second last in Lisbon, she went to visit the synagogue.  Due to security reasons, she had to send a copy of her passport to them the day before.  I stayed back at the hotel.

Inside the synagogue.

After she was finished at the synagogue, we met in the metro, rode one station and then got off at one of Lisbon’s train stations.  Our plan was to head out to the neighbourhood of Belem, which is further west along the riverfront from where we have been.  There are a few famous buildings and sites to see in that area.

In the Belem neighbourhood.

All types of transportation modes were available.

A couple of guards guarding something...they looked bored.

Jerónimos Monastery, which opened in 1495.  We didn't have time to enter it, not that it's my cup of tea, as it was closing in half an hour.  It was nice to see the outside in the late afternoon sun.

It looks like Naomi's poking my butt!

This is "The Monument of Discoveries", celebrating the Portuguese explorers like Vasco da Gama from the 15th and 16th centuries.

That's the 25 de April Bridge in the background with just over a 1 kilometer span and it was opened in 1966 (the 25th of April in 1974 was when Portugal became a democracy...so the bridge was renamed to celebrate the event).  It's the 48th longest suspension bridge in the world.

It almost looks like Naomi has a bright idea!

A nice last sunset for our trip together.

We were not lucky with the metro...or more likely, we just didn't understand it.  These yellow metro cards are supposed to be reusable, you just have to reload them in the machines.  One card should last you for a year...but look how many I have!  Before we went to Madeira, the first time we bought one, which was supposed to be for the whole day (we spent 15 Euros for both of us), the tickets didn't work on Tram 28.  This time, we didn't seem to be able to recharge them, so kept buying new ones for only 50 cents.  They are supposed to work for the metro, the trams, the buses and the trains.  Of course on our last time on public transportation, coming back on the train from Belem, my ticket wouldn't let me out of the station so Naomi had to buy another ticket and pass it to me so that I could exit.  We were Lisbon Metro Losers...

We found some lovely buildings lit up for Christmas.

The Christmas tree in the main commerce square (Praça do Comércio).

The Arco da Rua Augusta that we had seen in the daytime before heading to Madeira.

The decorated streets were lovely.

And now back at the arch the following day, Naomi's last day in Lisbon.

Another tram 28 passing by.

Some buskers playing some nice music on a sun drenched terrace.

It was a nice spot to stop for a bit and soak up the views and the atmosphere.

This was quite an exquisite tilework depicting some battle from hundreds of years ago.

It was quite detailed and intricate.

This seen looked like the centre of Lisbon around the 1600s.

Not sure who this dude was...but I liked the statue.

We didn't see too many works of art like this, where the tiles were cut to shape.

Even the sidewalk became artwork.

Our last tram sighting.

Naomi’s flight to Israel was around 7 pm but she wanted to be there 3 hours earlier so in the mid afternoon she grabbed a Bolt (like Uber) to the airport while I hopped on a train to head to Sintra, to go to the place where my campervan Octi has been sitting for the last 2 weeks.

 

We covered a lot in the three weeks that Naomi and I shared in Portugal and as usual, it was super fun to explore a new country with her.  Until next time Naomi!

 

Now I might have a bit of down time as one of the wheel bearings on the campervan needs to be replaced and the place where I’m staying called 4WD Solitaire might be able to do the repairs for me…we shall see.