From Ontario to Portugal

Hi guys. This is a new page on this site. We’ve just embarked on our first trip to Portugal and hoped you might like reading about it.

I’m sitting and typing this on my laptop in our small kitchen in our short-term rental apartment in Lisbon. It’s in Hotel Chiado Dream Apartments. But more on our digs here and our stay in Lisbon a little farther along. First, why Portugal?

Why Portugal? We had used up Florida.

We have been visiting Florida every winter for about 15 years. At first we were only able to visit for two weeks, then three, then four. As the years went by retirement came knocking, then we were able to extend our Florida stay for up to four-and-one-half months each year,  effectively eliminating most of winter from our lives. Those who know me well understand, winter and I have a tenuous relationship at  best.

We loved the Florida Keys… but!

We have, over the years, enjoyed extended stays in the Florida Keys. This is an option that is no longer achievable for folks like us as we do not, alas, unlimited means. The significant cost to stay in even an RV park anywhere in that desirable part of Florida is priced way beyond our reach.

We spent a few years staying in rentals in and  around Davenport FL, close to where their highway 27 crosses I-4. Every year or so a change in ownership of the previous years rental meant that the rentals we had enjoyed were no longer available and we were spending too much time looking for a rental next year during that present year.

Was it time to buy in Florida?

That convinced us to move from renting to acquiring a property in Florida. After a long and meticulous study we opted to buy a mobile home in a land-rental park near Sebring FL.

That brought us seven years of wintertime bliss and also gave us the impetus to change our lifestyle back in Canada. But that last bit is a whole other story.

Time for a change from Florida.

All things end, and after a wonderful fifteen years we decided to change from our annual foray to the warmest winter-time state in the union (in my opinion) and look for alternates.

The following just one of the many photos taken today, January 26/24 in Lisbon Portugal. It was sweater weather first thing in the morning and tee shirt weather a couple of hours later.

I began searching our world for a new winter-time destination for us. I won’t bore you with all  the details but after a long search we decided that we would give Portugal a try. And now, here we are.

Travelling to Lisbon from eastern Ontario.

We live in eastern Ontario. It’s January. We don’t want to drive through the big stink (We used to live there so are quite comfortable calling Toronto by that name) knowing that the traffic is horrendous at best, and if we throw in a winter storm that will maximize the stress even as as it lowers the highway speed to a crawl.

The train is an option.

We looked at the train. With our military discount and factoring in the cost of the feeder train from Toronto Union Station to Pearson airport it was still an economical option.

Since we  we’re bringing a bunch of luggage and yours truly doesn’t want to handle it over and over again.

We took the Megabus.

So we opted instead for the  Megabus running out of Belleville. The local Megabus terminal a short taxi ride from our home.

Plus, the Megabus service takes us right from the Belleville bus terminal to Pearson International, with stops at Terminal 3 or Terminal 1.

No driving for us, no parking woes for leaving a car for an extended stay near an airport, virtually no travel worries for us.

We were fortunate. On the way to the airport the roads were so horrid from a snow storm we were  grateful we weren’t driving through yet another Ontario winter storm.

Lisbon treats, some of which we acquired today.

What airline did we use?

For flying to Lisbon from Toronto be booked via TAP airlines. Even with their upcharge for buying the seat selection option (yours truly is 6′ 3″ and north of 230 lbs. and a standard seat just won’t fit) we found their rates to be better value than the other big airlines, and I had looked at them all. Plus, we were booking six months ahead of our trip which promised very good rates.

Update: We booked our airline tickets 6 months before our trip with the understanding that the farther out you book the better your airfare. It seems this is false. We’ve got friends arriving in Portugal from Toronto today that booked their airline tickets 10 days ago. At that time the higher fares of competing airlines had changed dramatically, and in fact, TAP was no longer the best option for flying cost. I can’t advise you to wait until 10 days before departure to book. I can tell you that if we’re blessed with visiting Portugal in 2025, we sure won’t be booking flights six months ahead. Cheers.

TAP is Portugal’s equivalent to Canada’s Air Canada in that it’s their country’s national airline. Aside from a 35 minute wait for boarding – the incoming flight was a bit late – we loaded and embarked quickly.

It was a good experience flying with them, even though any trans-Atlantic flights feel really, really long. All in all a decent trip with the small caveat that the on-board lavatory required that I enter and exit sideways it was so small. I kid you not!

Six hours after takeoff we landed in bright sunshine in Lisbon. We were able to get our checked luggage right away (priority luggage handling was part of our ticket upgrade, and it worked) so we were out the door about 30 minutes or so after landing at Humberto Delgado in Lisbon. We were very happy to see our driver was waiting waving a sign with our name on it. He loaded up the car and we were off to our aparthotel in old Lisbon which we had booked months ago via Expedia.ca.

Update: We have booked using Expedia.ca a number of times for various hotels in Canada and in the U.S. After multiple experiences it seems to us that if using Expedia to book, the hotel automatically places Expedia clients in the worst rooms that hotel has. Since Expedia take a “bite” out of the hotel rate for placing that hotel in their on-line library, the hotel seems to reciprocate by putting Expedia clients in less than desirable locations in their facility. Fact? Not sure, but it does seem that way for the many times we’ve had to negotiate or demand a better room after booking into a hotel using Expedia.

What’s an aparthotel?

Take a bunch of old apartments, upgrade them, put in an electronic access system (no need for a full time desk person) and an elevator if it’s multi-story, and start renting the rooms out on Expedia. That’s where we found this place, we’re glad we did. Most hotels won’t let you check in until after 3pm. We got to our hotel in downtown old Lisbon around 12:30 or so and within 10 minutes were sleeping having been up for more than 24 hours by our Lisbon arrival time. We were exhausted.

Update: It seems that aparthotels are ubiquitous throughout Portugal, and some locations, including south Portugal, have hundreds of them, some of recent vintage, many owned by non-residents of Portugal and rented to visitors in their ‘off season’.

Our Lisbon aparthotel room.

What did we find in our digs in Lisbon? A safe, clean room including a well stocked kitchen (espresso coffee maker, some pots, dishes, glasses etc – and a wine bottle cork remover, along with daily cleaning.

What more could you want?

Oh yes, wow access to old Lisbon. See the red dot in the map below? That’s the location of our rental. So very convenient.

We walk out the front door – after pushing a button to unlock it – walk south about 400 meters (450 yards) and we’re at the main  square in old Lisbon (of which there are many squares, this being a major one) . It’s right on the River Tejo, ( pronounced Tay Go according to some locals) that flows into the Atlantic Ocean a few kilometers from the Tower of Belem which is a major shore-line attraction a few kilometers west along that river from Lisbon.

What phone did we use in Lisbon?

Just up the hill – oh yes, there’s a whole lot of ‘up the hills’ in Lisbon – was a small shopping centre in which we found the Vodaphone booth.  In 10 minutes had one of our phones set up to use a local SIM card with a Portuguese number which included lots of data for use while here in Portugal. We found the local Vodaphone SIM option to be a better value than any of the roaming plans of our at home carrier. The relatively low cost included data with which we can connect with everyone at home via phone or using other services only available on line while we wander around foreign lands. We’re here for a couple of months and will be moving around a bunch.

Drinking water in Lisbon!

We are loving our stay so far.

Before I provide a bunch more info about that, even though Lisbon tap water is absolutely safe you’ll have to love the the taste of chlorinated swimming pool to drink it as far as I’m concerned. For now we are buying drinking water from the local supermarket to make our chlorine free morning espresso and to take with us to drink as we wander about.

On to Lisbon:

The old part of Lisbon, razed in a major earthquake 300 years ago, was almost completely rebuilt then. Many of the roads are cobblestone, and  almost all of the sidewalks are a work of stone-mosaic art. These photos show some of the sidewalk seen in the 800 or so miles we walked today (OK, an exaggeration, but let me tell you, these old dogs are hurting tonight) The sidewalk artwork is incredible.

Like many modern municipalities world wide, the maintenance  the sidewalk infrastructure is a lower priority than it might be. The result, watch where you are walking, folks. Some sidewalks are crumbling in spots and unexpected depressions where the stone tiles have either slumped into the ground or are just gone appear periodically and with some frequency!

Nevertheless, they are beautiful. Even if they are 300 years old they sure seem to outperform modern sidewalks at home, as far as I’m concerned. Here’s another photo of another of old Lisbon’s sidewalks:

One more thing about the amazing art of Lisbon’s sidewalks and plazas. Depending on the type of sole on a walker’s shoes, they are extremely slippery when wet. Fortunately, we haven’t had to be concerned about that so far, but it is still winter, and wet days may be ahead.

Getting around while in Lisbon.

Walking is a good way, but my, it is hard what with the many hills to tackle.

The local bus line is an option, but for short stays of a few days, trying to figure it out may use up all your visiting time, so that wasn’t an option for us.

Bolt, Uber and taxis abound. All useful if you know where you are going.

The Tuk Tuk option.

We considered taking a Tuk Tuk. Not so much just for the drive around but also for the one-on-one of a local explaining the various sites visited. That sure appealed. A 90 minute tour was $100 Euros. To see all the sites we wanted it would necessitate booking a Tuk Tuk for quite a few hours more than 90 minutes and the expense went up proportionally. We opted not to use a Tuk Tuk this trip.

Update February 2024: Friends just arrived from Canada via Lisboa. They opted for a taxi from Humberto Delgado to Oriente Station to catch the Flixbus to Albufeira. The taxi did not have a meter, the driver didn’t know Lisboa and dropped them at the wrong location (they didn’t know, not being familiar with Lisboa) and then wanted 80 EURO for the trip to the wrong place, about four times the fare. If you take a taxi, be sure it’s a legitimate one, or consider using a rideshare service where you will know the charge up front.

New sidewalk photos taken today!

Not glad to see my feet showing up in this next photo, but amazing stone work, yes? 🙂

How about the Hop On / Hop Off or Trolley/Tram tour in Lisbon?

Quite often when we visit a new city our first option is to take a tour bus to get an overview of what must be seen in detail. That’s where we’ll spend our time over the next few days.

In Lisbon we found a “package” that included a tram ride up and down the many hills of old Lisbon and after that, a hop on hop off tour for areas that we didn’t see during the tram tour.

Here’s our tram arriving to get us first thing a.m. on a gorgeous, Lisbon, January day in 2024.

After an eye opening and sometimes exciting tram tour – through very narrow streets, close shaves with cabs, tuk tuks and trucks, manoeuvring  through some of the narrowest roads in old Lisbon,  we came to a stop. The driver existed the trolley, having to change the  overhead wire connection methods because the roads were so narrow the regular one would neatly remove anything hanging off balconies including flower pots and clothes drying in the Lisbon sun.  a nice ride during which we enjoyed what could be considered an overload of info about Lisbon.

Who knew they had a significant silk trade in days gone by, for example?

Next we took the hop on/off bus, shown arriving to pick us up in the photo below. This is the Belem bus stop, the location where visitors can purchase the delightful Pastel del Nata from what is purported to the be the original site with the original recipe.

This beautiful day underscored our thinking that coming to Portugal to avoid some of Canada’s winter was a good one. We sat high on top of the Hop On Hop Off bus to get a bird’s eye view of Lisbon and for better photo taking during our tour.

The bus took us to some of the older parts of Lisbon though the bulk was around the newer part of Lisbon and then on west to Belem, home of the Tower of Belem and…

Pastel del Nata.

Belem is purportedly the original source of the Pasta del Nata treat. These are SO good!

The pasteleria here in Belem sells more than 10,000 Pasta del Nata’s each day! Having seen the line up there today (January 27/24), we’re not surprised. No, we didn’t acquire another of the Pastel de Nata at this original source, we weren’t going to wait in line that long! Which doesn’t mean there won’t be a lot more of them in our future as they are sold in every pasteleria in Portugal that we’ve been in.

Supper tonight was partaken in our room. We enjoyed the local version of Bacalhau which is salt cod, potatoes and mild, soft-sheep cheese all  deep fried in a batter. Pretty darn good.

Too much dessert?

Have you ever sat down to a multi-course dinner, stuffed yourself absolutely silly, then when leaning back to enjoy your last dribble of wine, the host rolls out a tray with every dessert you’d ever loved on it, and you realize you can’t eat another bite?

That’s what we are feeling about Lisbon this evening, back in our room at only 8:30 pm, and absolutely done. Too much dessert in two days.

We’ve hundreds of photos taken during these two day. Far too many to post here. You’re not seeing much of  those taken of the incredibly beautiful tilework seen on the side of many of the buildings or balconies, the many beautiful parks we’ve seen, no photos or videos of some amazing street performers, so many photos that we haven’t added. You’ll have to come see for yourself.

If you want to enjoy what Lisbon has to offer to the fullest, give yourself a whole lot more than two days. Allow yourself at least a week to explore the local nooks and crannies that, in our truncated time line we had to hurry by, surely missing some of the deep enjoyment that Lisbon has to offer visitors.

First thing tomorrow we’re off to Albufeira, our home for the next couple of months. It’s in the farthest south part of Portugal. We’re leaving Lisbon  behind for now but hope to spend more time here before we begin our homeward journey or, if the creeks don’t rise, on future visits to Portugal.

Upon our arrival in Albufeira, I’ll update this page with a link to the new one that will provide information about our stay in Albufeira. (The link is near the bottom of the page.)

Meantime, here’s a bit more eye candy for you.

And the last, we’re in the main square of Lisbon at sunset watching a craft wend it’s way down the Tejo River, perhaps going to the sea, as well as listening to live music from one of the many wonderful buskers we’ve enjoyed during these two very full days in Lisbon, Portugal.

Thanks so much for following along. Here’s the link to page two!

Cheers, Sue and Bill