Day 1 - September 30 Marietta to Lisbon, Portugal
Hussy Trip, minus our beloved T (due to medical reasons) - destinations Lisbon and Porto, Portugal. We've been traveling together since 2002. T has always been our leader and chief navigator, and without her, we were concerned.
Anthony, my wonderful driver, picked me up, then drove over to get Judy and Joan. We had an easy drive to the ATL airport, so with plenty of time to spare, we went to the Delta Sky Lounge using my vouchers. We recharged our devices, had a nice lunch, and in no time, it was time to board the plane for JFK. Since our vouchers were good for 24 hours, we enjoyed dinner at the JFK Delta Sky Lounge. Finally, we boarded our flight to Lisbon. I had a very sweet seat mate, although I would have much preferred it to be T! Didn't sleep much, but I was ready to go!!
Day 2 - October 1, 2026 - Lisbon
We navigated the airport, purchased a Navegante (yellow card) for two days unlimited public transportation for 15 Euro. We did experience an issue finding our B&B - AL Penao Praca da Figueira which was very close to the Rossio Metro Station. We dropped off our luggage (used a 5 Euro per person to have our luggage taken up the three flights of stairs) and found the nearest place for coffee/pastry. We then began to explore by taking Bus 727 to Castelo da Jorge.
As we were walking down from the castle when we heard singing from a balcony. He was quite entertaining.
We then took Tram 28 down Alfama's narrow streets. We were starting to drag, so we went back to the B&B to wait in the lobby for our rooms to be ready. Actually, we all fell asleep because we were just exhausted. Finally, we got our room at 1:30 where we took a proper nap.
Refreshed, we took Bus 15E to Belem Tower where we took pictures.
We were riding on Train 15 E towards home, when Judy suggested spontaneously that we hop off and have dinner. It was a delightful place, which we later learned is a great place for dinner. We looked a round just a bit, when we selected O Sole Mia, where we enjoyed a fabulous dinner, complete with gelato!
We hopped back on 15E for the remainder of our trip home. Everyone crashed into bed, ready for a good night's Sinsleep.
Day 3 - October 3, 2026 - Lisbon
0830 hours - our breakfast reservation - wonderful selection! Fortified with food, we began our walk to the train station for the Sintra Train, which our transportation card did not cover, but the new ticket was under 6 Euro for a round trip, so we were set for the 10:41, which was crowded, but we found three seats. After a 45-minute trip, we arrived in beautiful Sintra.
The first bus was packed, so we waited for the next one to the palace. Once there, we purchased tickets, walked to the Transer, didn't have a ticket for "that", walked about 50 yards, decided it would be too difficult, so we walked back to the ticket office and purchased 4.60 Euro to ride the Transer. It too, was packed like sardines, but it better than walking 500 vertical meters. We took a few photos
While riding the "sardine packed" bus back to the train station, we hopped off at Vila Sintra for a fabulous salad/pizza lunch, shopped a bit, then enjoyed a "Pillow of Sintra" pastry! Yum!
Took the train back to the Rossio station, and as we were walking back to the B&B, we did a little shoe shopping. We dumped our purchases at the B&B, and strolled down the back Avenue before selecting Il Mulino. Our server, Jasbir Singh was probably one of the most attentive, funny server I've ever had. I enjoyed an amazing ravioli, salad, and "green wine" - a crisp, citrus tasting white wine.
We shopped some more, showered and crashed.
