It was my last night in Barcelona, so I strode out for one last look & enjoy the restaurant night life and a great pasta meal in Placa de Reial. Eventually I returned to my Hotel Espana to repack my bags for my later flight to Lisbon Portugal set at 12.35pm. This later timing gave me the chance to be first at brekky (7.30am) & then walk the 12mins up to Placa Catalunya where I was able to step straight onto the Aerobus for Airport Terminal 1 (€4.30 – one way = 20min trip). The bus let us off at the end of the terminal building & as I walked through the doors the enormous indicator board had my bag drop off at the counter #1 & there wasn’t much of a line up either. What a win!! Some passengers even got to the counter & didn’t even have their passports ready. Really? The joys of travelling.

With being 2.5hrs early (3hrs required) my flight has some 30 before it, so no gate set as yet. With 30mins before boarding time the board & my notified email says the plane is running 40mins late. It seemed longer but finally Gate B40 comes up (long way down to that gate) but we can’t board yet again. An Airbus A320 arrives & it has to go through a clean & sanitize plus services delivery of food, refueling & baggage storage, etc before we can board. Going to Lisbon gains us an hour, so nothing to get upset about. We are split into 3 zones as per our passes. When I get my seat there is confusion all around with carry on hand baggage storage & then so many people were found to be in the wrong seats. How simple can it be, not just seats wrong, but rows? Arghh!!! Finally, taxiing starts at 1.22pm (1 hour late).

A beautiful landing in Lisbon (2hr flight) so understandably no inflight refreshments provided. With the ultimate stop at the terminal there was a rush to stand & retrieve their carry ons. Why? There’s always an accepted timeframe for departing the aircraft. I’m sitting still in my seat watching the frustrations of passengers & trying to not blurt out in laughter. It seemed an eternity till there was positive movement to the exit. One of the worst delays I’ve ever experienced. Strolling through the airport looking for the Baggage Claim signs that were minimal to say the least, but I kept walking with the stream of passengers & eventually Baggage & Exit appeared & we are on carousel 5 & my bag was one of the first to come out. Another win!!

One of the things that has helped me over some years of my travelling is to plan sufficient time to peruse the airport terminal you arrived in to see the set out, signage, etc & in this case Terminal 1 where I will be using in a few days. As you can see in the photo the Lisbon airport entrance is fantastic with a huge indicator board in your first viewing then clearly Terminal 1 & 2 are identified. This ensures confidence when returning to catch your next flight without the confusion anxiety attacks.

Now for the bus or train to the Historical Quarter … With much confusion I found the bus stop for the 722 buses so that will do. However, the driver & the machine won’t accept my VISA Debit Card. The driver wanted to depart immediately & stated cash but said fix him up later & drove quickly. I kept an eye on Google Maps when I could to see if I’m on the right track. After 20mins, the bus pulls up, apparently end of trip (terminates) … I went to pay but driver said, “now free”. “Gracious” with me now speaking Spanish .. LOL!!! Another win! I found out later the train involved 2 stops, so the bus was the right guess. Looking at my phone, the bus stop was on the opposite side of the road to my hotel, Inn-Chiado Restauradores. Now comes the fun part in finding the entrance. After checking a few times (confusing), it kept me at this souvenir shop (photo). Ultimately, I walked into this ultra-tiny souvenir shop & the owner sees my suitcase & points to a large door at the rear of the shop (Welcome Door). Here I press a button & the door unlocks. There is a staircase immediately in front of me. Yikes! With my 19.6klg bag & now 6.5kg day pack.

A deep breath & up we go to a door with the hotel name on it on the 2^nd level with a doorbell. A welcoming young man opens & happily shows me to my room #2, facing the street. I sign the small form, get keys & WiFi & then that’s it. Bonus! My ‘hotel’ is basically an apartment & the bedroom is my unit. Go figure!! I quickly dropped my bags, locked my room & headed out for the remaining sunshine & to see what’s around in the vicinity of my ‘hotel’ in this historical quarter. With this main street of Av. da Liberdade (my hotel street) there were lots of people & many sights to see, plus it was obvious to wander down to the ocean via the street R. Aurea to Placa do Comercio (plaza with an 18th century notable arch & statue called Arco da Rua Augusta), seeing great landmarks, some quite unique to a clear ocean (bay – like) & painted stone castles & people enjoying the serenity. In the centre of this plaza is a very large equestrian statue of King Jose’ l which is quite impressive & in detail. I enjoyed seeing the cute trams & some restructured engineering structures converted to elite restaurants up high (Elevador de Santa Justa) as per the photo below. The Arco da Rua Augusta was built to commemorate the great 1755 Lisbon earthquake. I then returned for a large beer & later a great chicken thigh meal with bean rice & flat chips (Nacho-like) in a small street near my hotel. Yummo.

Returning back to my room I noticed 2 separate underground train stations, one on each side of my street Av. da Liberdade (Restauradores & Rossio) plus an underground walkway linking them. These I will need to check out to see if my return to the airport might suit in a few days. Eventually, back into my room to unwind & get things ready for my full day bus tour along the coast with Odyssey Tours (Lisbon board to Sintra, Pena, Regaleira, Cabo Roca Coast & Cascais plus the additional Full Pena Palace and Regaleira sights included), so should be a great full-on day. The meeting point is just 50m away from my hotel .. another win!! Something doesn’t feel right .. too many wins … LOL!!

I’ll end my Blog #17 here. Many thanks for reading my blogs. My next blog will be my full day bus tour of regions outside of Lisbon with lots of amazing locations & photos as mentioned above with lots of photos. Please stay safe, happy & healthy. Cheers.