The mark of successful travel—for me—is only superficially the reluctance to return home. In a more melancholic sense, it is the inventory of what I could have done, should have done, and plan to do should the opportunity every arise. Not that there weren’t pleasures in abundance.
Improve Research Before Booking
Santa Justa Lift aka Eiffel’s Tower is closed
It could have derailed my plans: the most significant art and cultural institutions in Lisbon are closed for repairs, upgrades and expansions from 2025 through 2026. Both state and private art museums, and historic sites. Oh, and the funicular isn’t running for the time being, either.
street lamp and my window
Then there is the matter of choosing a hotel. I am included to frugality and directionally challenged, so assessing location is a huge challenge in an unfamiliar place. Word to the wise: it’s a bad idea to guarantee the room on Booking.com (otherwise quite a useful site) to get a discount. Just don’t. There are a hundred and one reasons why plans might change and the investment is a total loss.
On a related topic, read every confirmation email carefully, top to bottom: for airfare, taxis, and hotels. You never know when there will be a vital bit of information—such as a six-digit security-pad number that must be followed by the pound sign in order to get into the building. Just sayin.’
Improve Research before Day Trips
Pena Castle from below
Day trips require every bit as much investigation as the primary focus of the vacation. Just find the right train and get on it, right? Maybe not.
a room for the public at Sintra
The pages for Sintra in the DK Lisbon guide referred to “parks,” “quiet walks,” and “buses.” Those things exist, but the terrain outside of the town center could intimidate experienced trekkers. The buses are on-and-off jitneys and they only transport to palaces and historic houses other than a car. Then there is the problem of timed entries.
Beware of personal limitations. Forgoing the tour, I barely made it up the hill to Pena Castle see that gaudy exterior; downhill wasn’t much easier. Fortunately, I could explore Sintra at a snail’s pace. Not a chance I could have added the Moorish Castle to that itinerary.
I did, however, exceed 12,000 steps that day.
Do More Hanging in the Hood
Not every location invites sitting and strolling but Baixa does. Kids and older folk. Gangs of young people. People with their dogs.
Arco da Rua Augusta and Praça do Comércio
Baixa, rebuilt on a modern grid after the earthquake of 1755, occupies a narrow plain on the bank of the River Tagus, The area is a sort of valley between the hills of Chiado and the northwest, and the precipitous slopes of Alfamas to the east. These days, it’s also unfortunately prone to floods. But to amble beneath the Arco da Rua Augusta into the Praça do Comércio and the bank of the Tagus—especially in the gray and silent mist in the early morning or the golden light and bustling activity of the afternoon? Sigh.
Bubbles
My local was Imprensa, an oyster bar at the eastern end of Rua de São Nicolau. The bartender chose a lovely Portuguese white—Golpe Douro Meda—to go with my fresh local oysters; I came back for a glass of tawny port on my last night in town. She selected that one, too.
I found ice cream, too! The pedestrian precincts of São Nicolau are home to La Romana dal 1947. As frozen dairy in any form is an essential food group, I was there most every evening. If the website is to be believed, there are 91 stores spread across Europe and the Near East. Three in Abu Dhabi and nine in Bucharest. Astonishing, impressive, and slightly weird.
Take Public Transportation
Nothing improves travel and protects the pocketbook like excellence in public transportation. Lisbon’s is as good as any I have ever used.
The Navigante card is rather like the Charlie Card back in Boston and gets you considerably farther. “Zap” that bit of yellow pasteboard with a few euros and head wherever you want by Metro, bus, tram, a few railways, and the ferry. “Swipe in and swipe out.”
Breaking with the News
I’m a news junkie. I jones for politics. Travel can imposed sobriety. My room had a “television” that was essentially a wall-mounted monitor on which—if I knew how—I could log into my streaming services. It stayed off. Nor did I see a news stand anywhere I might buy an International New York Times, known prior to 2013 as the International Herald Tribune.
Once home, I plunged back into the muck and mire. Breaking news: nothing significant had changed and the president is unfortunately still alive and creating chaos.
In the Future
pasteis de nata and cappuccino
I’d like to go back to Lisbon, perhaps, though, not until 2027 when I am confident most museums will be open. Maybe a trip in slightly warmer weather would be better—September-October or April-May rather than January. At least five full days instead of four.
Next time I vow not to leave hand-luggage behind at the baggage carousel. Next time I will know how to get into Sapateiros 44 and I will bask in the glow of familiarity. And eat more pastéis de nata.