We’re off on page two of our Portuguese adventure, Lisbon Portugal 2025. The previous page in this series, linked here, relates our decision making and flight to Portugal from YYZ (Pearson International) in Toronto.
Although we are heading to the Algarve for an extended stay away from the snow, we travelled to Lisbon first because we really like this city too. Click the trolley photo just below if you wish to see a 20 second video about Chiado Square in the Chiado District of Lisbon taken late in January 2025, a 15C (58F) day, no snow, and lightly overcast. A far cry from the snow squall we left behind in Toronto last night.
Our lodging in Lisbon
Last year we stayed at Dream Chiado apartments which we booked through Expedia.ca. This year we opted to stay at the same place for the simple reason that it is so well located for exploring old Lisbon that there didn’t seem to be any need to change locale. We’re glad we didn’t change spots as, when we arrived at Humberto Delgado airport the pick up we had arranged through Chiado Dreams was waiting for us, a welcome sight as we dragged our weary behinds from the luggage collection area to the airport exit. Upon arrival at the apartment we were welcomed as old friends, shown our apartment right away (10:30 a.m. local time) and were able to grab a 90 minute nap right away! That’s service.
We booked through Expedia.ca because we booked far in advance of our trip and wanted the option of cancelling if any plans went awry. Next time I expect we’ll book directly through their site as the rates shown in Jan/Feb are very competitive. Their site offers discounts for early booking. Their site link is below.
Dream Chiado website and information.
There are lots of places to stay in old Lisbon. Dream Chiado is just one, but our familiarity and how we were treated this year upon arrival makes this spot our choice when we visit Lisbon. They have an elevator, we were welcomed with a complimentary bottle of very good wine and a couple of coffee pods in the reasonably equipped kitchen for our coffee next morning. 🙂
Around Lisbon 2025
In 2024 we opted for a two-day tour of Lisbon via the hop on – hop off bus tour, of which there are a number available. We hit most of the highlights by bus, so this year we walked.
And walked, and walked.
We topped 17,000 steps when we strolled from our Dream Chiado apartment along the waterfront on the Tagus River, to the Belem Tower.
In Rio de Janeiro there is a statue that’s world famous. It’s Christ the Redeemer, is monstrously huge, and sits atop the Corcovado Mountain overlooking Rio.
Lisbon, too, has a similar statue. It’s across the Tagus River. I don’t know if it’s as large as the one in Rio, but it’s plenty big.
The 25 de Abril Bridge in Lisbon is the longest suspension bridge in Europe at 2,777 metres long. When built it was named the Salazar Bridge after the dictator. When he was overthrown the bridge, built in 1966, was renamed in 1977. The bridge may look familiar to folks from North America, bearing a resemblance to the Golden Gate bridge. This one was built by the same company, and that’s likely why they are similar. (Source: en.wikipedia.org)
On our walk to Belem Tower we also passed another famous Lisbon landmark, the Discoveries Monument. Originally built in 1940 to honour Prince Henry the Navigator, the monument was rebuilt in 1960 as a reminder of the Age of Discovery.
It was a gorgeous, almost hot Lisbon afternoon near the end of January /25 when we visited this 56 metres tall homage to discovery. A bit of the 25th April Bridge can be seen as well. Inside the monument is an auditorium showing an AV presentation about the meaning of the monument but is currently undergoing upgrade for the busy summer. Purportedly this monument and the Belem Tower is where the Portuguese ships departed on their way to conquer the world back in the 1400’s with Vasco da Gama and Ferdinand Magellan just two of the many. The monument has 39 figures on it. Only one of them is a woman and that one represents Queen Filipa de Lencastre, Prince Henry’s mother. (Source: lisbonportugaltourism.com)
Well we walked some more and loved it. Ate some fine Portuguese food including a pile of Pastel de Natas, and managed to even take in something we wanted to last year but ran out of time. A Fado show. The image below is a link to a very short video of the show we saw.
Everywhere one walks are square after squares in Old Lisbon. We visited some from last year, and in our exploring this year, found many more. Here’s just one.
Like last year in Lisbon we took many more photos than we can show on this site. There is much to see and it’s best viewed by your own eyes. Come to Lisbon. It’s wonderful.
After a few days we’d had good sleeps, good meals, lots of excellent (and low cost) wine, and we’ve arrived on the day we depart and head to the part of Portugal we love, the Algarve. Here’s the page about that. (Not built yet. Please check back.)