Friday, July 25th, 2025
We left Columbus’ John Glenn airport around 4:30 PM on Air Canada and arrived in Toronto, Canada a little more than a hour later.
Our second flight with Air Canada departed around 11:30 PM EST and landed in Lisbon on Saturday around 11:00 AM their time. The flight was pretty smooth but sleep was very difficult for us on overnight flights.
Saturday, July 26th, 2025
The big jets have to land out on the tarmac because they are too big for the gates. So we walked down steps and rode a bus that wound around the airport. It was very full and warm! We then entered the airport and went up a flight of stairs or used an escalator and walked to the LONG line for customs. By the time we got our passport stamped and made our way to baggage claim (which also was a hike), our luggage was already on the carousel. We made our way through the long exit line and found our Amawaterways transfer person.
Kay sat up by the driver because she was the last to get in the van that would take us to the airport. The driver pointed out sites as he drove to our hotel, the Intercontinental Lisboa hotel.
We met Andre, our cruise manager, at the hotel and he gave us much needed water. We waited about an hour for our room to be ready. It was wonderful to take a shower and put on fresh clothes. Even though we were exhausted we went for a walk up the street from our hotel and saw the Central Lisbon prison. It was built in 1875 and closed as a prison in 2020. It had a capacity of 887 inmates per cell when it was opened but many times those 9 square meters cells held 2-3 inmates. The prison was in disrepair and also had problems with mistreatment by the guards.
In the middle of a block of buildings was a single pump gas station. One would pull over and a person from the mini gas station would pump your gas! It was an interesting sight to see!
Lisbon was the capital city with a hilly terrain along the Tagus River. It was founded about 1200 BCE as a trading station and it makes it one of the oldest cities in Europe.
When we arrived back at the hotel after our walk we stopped in the lounge for some wine and a small charcuterie board to share with Roseanna who also traveled with us on this adventure. After our “happy hour” we went to the welcome meeting with our cruise manager and other travelers.
We walked to a recommended restaurant that wasn’t far from the hotel. Of course we walked up and down hills to get there. La Trattoria, an authentic Italian restaurant. Our meals were delicious.
We walked back to our hotel and it wasn’t long before we crashed and got some much needed sleep. Tomorrow’s tour would begin at 8:45 AM.
