Going to Lisbon is only a five-hour flight from Boston to get there.  That time is less than flying to some parts of the United States.  The one positive thing is going out of an airport equipped with cold weather equipment; your chances of getting out are pretty good.  The weather was pretty hard on parts of the country, from the East Coast to the Mid parts of the United States, experiencing colder-than-average temperatures from a cold front.  The only downfall of flying out of the US is that you usually arrive in the Country you are flying to in the morning. If you don’t already have a status or relationship with the place you are staying, you may not be able to check-in.  Book your accommodations for the day after or before your departure. In a lot of cases, you fly to places that are ahead of your time here in the States, and thinking about it, some areas are actually behind you.  

With my flight, I landed at about 06:20 the following day.  The flight left Boston at 19:45 Boston time; Lisbon is 5 hrs ahead of Boston.  So that is why you are flying into another day now, coming back to the States; you are leaving Lisbon the same day that you arrive back to the States.  For this flight back, I was on a flight to JFK, and it was a 7-hour flight, which was not truly bad because my sleeping pattern was off due to me staying awake all night to watch NFL playoff games and my body adjusting to the time change.  Now, let’s get to the Nitty Gritty of Lisbon, Portugal. 

Lisbon is the capital of Portugal, and it has a rich amount of history, architecture, and a around homely feel.  Portugal is located on the westernmost part of the Continent of Europe called the Iberian Peninsula, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and Spain. Portugal is one the oldest European countries, dating as far back as 868.  Yes, that is the year 868. 

With me, I stayed in what was considered the central area of the town.  I chose to stay at the Jupiter Hotel on Avenue da Republica, only 6 kilometers from the airport, which was about 7.30 euros. ($1US to .92Euro). When I first got to the hotel, I was not able to check in due to it being 07:30 at that time.  They stated that the regular check-in time was noon. In Portugal, they utilize what we in the United States call military time.   The bellman was highly aware of the things and the area to be able to take a map and instruct me on places that were open at the time and various landmarks that are usually gone to by tourists.  The first thing he pointed to was the Bull Fighting arena, Praca de Touros do Campo. The Portuguese bullfighting season lasts from Easter until late summer, but there are no fights every week. On weeks when there are events, they are always on Thursday nights and start at 20:00. This venue has a mall located underneath, along with a movie theater.  During the day, there are various what we consider pop-up restaurants situated around the entire arena.  The stores and restaurants were closed at this time, and I am not sure if they opened at 08:00 or 10:00. When the mall is open, there is an escalator and stairs that allow you to the floor of the bullfighting area. Something came over me, not sure if it was the size of the arena or if it was just the empathy of knowing the animals that have been in the area.

So I went back to the hotel and then went to the restaurant within and ate breakfast at the hotel for 16 euros. Sat in the lobby and waited for my room to be ready. She had to get a good nap in due to the time change.  So I woke up and walked around a bit, which the city is very much a walking city. They have everything within the mid-rise and high-rise building; there were gas stations and car dealerships.  It was wild to see a gas pump sitting in an area with restaurants and apartments around it.

One thing I have learned is that if you get one of those Double-decker buses that allows you to do sightseeing buses this way you get to see the city you are in and get an idea of where the landmarks are and what areas are not wrong to be at.  It is called Hop On and Hop Off tours. And the pass is usually for 24 hrs.  So you can use the bus to transport you around the town, and you can be in areas with high 

traffic as well.  At this point, I learned that the Christian influence is heavy within the country. You got to see a lot of the significant landmarks and where many of the pictures that you see in advertisements are given.  They have many places built years ago and are still standing.  I rode on the red line, took a 2-hour city tour, and showed you landmarks like the Elevador da Gloria, the Castelo S Jorge, and Rua S. Bento – Parlamento.  The Red Line had 20 different stops, along with audio for all the various languages. 

Overall the experience there was a very good one.  My only downfall was that it was raining most of my days there.  But I would suggest wearing some good walking shoes; that way your feet will be comfortable on the cobble stone sidewalks.  I have found that people overseas are more keen to not being as friendly as the individuals in Southern United States.  They don’t mind crowding you and not saying things like excuse me and or allowing you personal space. But I don’t think it is a rudeness.  It is a more of a mind their own, and going to do or places that they are trying to get to. 

If you want to get a bit of Portugal and you are in the US.  Head on 

over to San Fransisco and check out the Golden Gate Bridge.  The 25 de Abril Bridge is a suspension bridge connecting the city of Lisbon, to the municipality of Almada on the left bank of the Tagus River.

The airport experience was a pretty quick way to manipulate.  You have various places that you will have to pass through that are controlled by technology.  I recall it was about three different times that had to go through security areas.  That is a bit different from other airports.  Even at the gates you are not allowed into the gate area until you are verified through the system and are allowed to go to the gate.  They even had actual Policia standing there at least at my gate for this trip.  As stated I flew back into JFK, but could not fly into Texas due to the weather, and my flight to Minnesota was cancelled.  There were flights out of Legardia, but I did not want to take the chance of going across town on the airport shuttle to shuttle to leave from the other airport and get to Minnesota. The reason for choosing to go to Minnesota was due to the airports in Minnesota are able to handle cold weather, and the streets and areas was frozen and travel was harder.  

This is my second blog and I appreciate all the love and support so far from all that are reading and being able to gain knowledge from my journeys I am able to enjoy.  Thank you again