7 Days in Lisbon, 8 Hours in London: Qantas A380 Y, Heathrow Lounges, TAP to Lisbon

[yflyer]

I headed past the Elevador de Santa Justa, a 19th century (!) lift, that allowed passengers to reach Largo do Carmo, a town square with ruins of a Gothic church nearby, without having to climb the steep hills...



At Praca do Comercio, I caught my first glimpse of the old trams that still ran through parts of the city...





It was a busy evening along the banks of the Tagus River, with many locals and visitors out and about. The P&O cruise ship, MV Ventura, was also docked, and was scheduled to depart that very afternoon.



I headed southwest along the foot and cycling path along riverbank...



Along the way I passed a convoy of open top VW Beetles touring the city...





A riverside cafe was packed with patrons enjoying the fine weather and river views...







It was a great day to be outside...

[yflyer]

If there was any city with an iron-clad business case for an e-scooter sharing scheme, it would be Lisbon: If you didn't fancy running or walking the length of the pathway along the riverbank, there were e-scooter rentals that would enable you to whiz all the way from Baixa to Belem...



I continued along the riverbank towards Ponte 25 de Abril and Docas...



Eventually I reached Docas, the end point of my previous run...



But rather than stop there, I continued along the path under the bridge...





...and was pleasantly surprised to find that the footpath/cycling track continued all the way to Belem Tower, 4 km away...





Along the way, I headed up to the roof of MAAT, Lisbon's Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology...



...for a look back towards Ponte 25 de Abril...





I continued along the riverside pedestrian promenade and cycling track to the Padrão dos Descobrimentos, a monument which celebrated the Portuguese Age of Discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries...

[yflyer]

Finally, I could see Belem Tower in the distance...



I ended my run at the Tower, originally a defensive fortification guarding the mouth of the Tagus River...



If I had time, I would have backtracked another 1km to Pasteis de Belem to sample their Portugese Egg Tarts, but I was out of time, and had to head back to the hotel to meet my colleagues for dinner...

A very satisfying 14+km run, and a great route whether you were walking, cycling or on an e-scooter...

[yflyer]

On my last day in Lisbon, my business meetings ended just before 5pm. My plan for the remainder of the day was to head to Castelo de Sao Jorge, a castle dating back hundreds of years to Moorish times, located on a hilltop dominating the city.



According to Google Maps, the castle was less than 6 km away from the hotel. This was comparatively close by, and on a regular day it would not have been a particularly challenging run.

However after a quick Google search, I found, to my dismay, that Google gave the closing time of this major tourist attraction as 6pm. That was just over an hour from now...not a lot of time to get there before closing time!

I changed into PT Kit as quickly as I could, and decided to let Google Maps decide the quickest route...this was a die-die-must-see attraction, and I was determined to make it up to the hilltop castle before it closed...

I headed out of the hotel and began my run at 5pm sharp, relying totally on Google Maps to tell me where to go...

The running route Google Maps selected was wholly unfamiliar to me...

As I started out, I had great views of the Aqueduto das Águas Livres, an 18th century Aquaduct...



The route took me up and down hills, and down narrow streets I had not encountered on my previous runs. This might have been the shortest route by distance, but it was certainly not the flattest!



This might as well have been a trail run given the gradients encountered, and left me gasping for breath on many occasions. And the clock was ticking...

I did indicate a few intermediate stops in my Google Maps route...this was a sightseeing run after all.



The route took me past a few historic tram routes still operated by the old trams, which slowly wound their way up narrow hill roads...

[yflyer]

At 5.26pm, I found myself at Miradouro de Sao Pedro de Alcantara, a beautiful hill top garden with a panoramic view over the city, at the 4.2km mark of the run.



On another hill far away in the distance, there was Castelo de Sao Jorge...

This was scenic spot to be sure, and I would have loved to hang around for a bit and catch my breath while enjoying the view, but I had to get from the hilltop where I was, down to the old town at the bottom of the hill, and then up another hill to the castle 2 km away. And I had to get there before six!



I dashed past the Elevador da Glória, a popular tourist attraction and photo opportunity. This was a tram that ran up the 17% incline from Avenida da Liberdade down below up to the Rua de São Pedro de Alcântara, where the gardens were.



I stepped carefully down the stairs along the winding Calcada do Duque, a famous street lined with eateries...



...many of which had tables set along the sidewalk itself...



It was now 5.31pm...

I was making progress, but the Castle still seemed so far away...



I headed down Calcada do Carmo...



...towards Praca dom Pedro IV, Lisbon's main square...



I jogged slowly past the National Theater, Teatro Nacional D. Maria II...



From here it would be all uphill, first navigating the crowded tourist shopping alley of Rua Barros Queiros...

[yflyer]

At 5.36pm, I found myself heading up the iconic stairs at Escadinha da Saúde, where I used the newly installed escalator to save a few precious minutes...



It was now all a steep uphill climb to the Castelo...

At that point, I also learned that Google Maps might give you the shortest and most viable route, but by no means was it the main visitor's route up...the uphill path took me through incredibly narrow streets which only the locals would use (As well as hapless runners using Google Maps...)...



It was now 5.38pm...



A couple of burly men standing by an alley turned to stare at the perspiring jogger tearing past at a furious pace...

A brown and white dog dashed out from a doorway, barked madly and began chasing me up the hill...

I continued upwards — at that point my singular focus was huffing and puffing up the hill to the Castle before closing time, dog or no dog nipping at my heels...

Not the first time I had been chased by dogs while on a run...

Eventually the growling dog gave up the chase and headed back down the alley, its territory safe after seeing off this sweat-soaked intruder...

My lungs were bursting as the gradient up the hill got ever steeper...

[yflyer]

I ended up at what appeared to be a service driveway at the back the Castle grounds.

I asked the security guard there where the entrance was...he smiled and pointed up the road...

"That way..." he said.

I continued in the direction indicated and eventually found my way to the entrance to the complex, where many visitors were streaming out...



It was now 5.45pm and I was finally at the entrance of Castelo de Sao Jorge.



What? There was a ticket office, and I needed to queue for tickets? Thankfully, there was almost no line at the ticketing office and I had my ticket in seconds.

Heart still pounding, I was through the turnstiles to the Castelo at 5.46pm...



I entered the sprawling grounds of Castelo de Sao Jorge...



The grounds were still thronging with visitors...

"What time do you close today?", I asked one of the staff.

"9pm" was the answer. Brilliant! Apparently for part of the year, rather than close at 6pm, the Castelo closed later, at 9pm.

I would have lots of time to wander around Castelo de Sao Jorge, and cool down after that frantic 6+ km run!

[yflyer]

The views from the castle were stunning...



There were great views of the city and the river...



I wandererd around the old fortifications...



There were peacocks roaming the grounds...



I entered the castle...



You could go right up into the parapets and towers...

\

I headed up a narrow stone staircase...



And wandered around the fortifications...

[yflyer]

There were spectacular views from the castle...





Over the parapets, I could just make out, in the far distance, the Vasco de Gama bridge, a 12km long road bridge over the Tagus River, one of the longest bridges in Europe.



There was also a small museum that exhibited artifacts recovered from the castle over the years...



This was a great place to spend the evening. There was F&B available, with outdoor seating...



There was a small van, "Wine with a View" offering wine by the glass (or bottle)...what a great concept...





I ordered a glass of Quinta da Bacalhoa...



This was a great spot to grab a glass of wine and admire the sunset...





Wine in hand, I headed to the castle wall and watched as the sun, by now a flaming orange orb, set slowly over the city far down below...



It would be hard to imagine a more romantic spot in Lisbon than Castelo de Sao Jorge at dusk...

[yflyer]

Early the next morning, I found myself back at Lisbon Airport for my flight to London.



This was an airport in the midst of an upgrading project, with older, more congested areas...



...and newer, more spacious areas...



The international check-in hall...



Self service check-in for TAP customers...





TAP had a separate check-in area for premium passengers and frequent flyers...



No queue for Star Gold and Business Class passengers...



Boarding pass in hand, I headed to the gates...



...and security, which thankfully was not busy that morning...

[yflyer]

There was very good shopping in the airside area (Just remember to budget time for passport checks later, as these were done separately from the security checks).

Lots of shopping and F&B in the airside areas...



Portuguese cheeses and fine food and wine...



Tinned sardines were a local speciality...



Airside food court...

[yflyer]

I made a brief visit to the TAP Lounge...



TAP was part of Star Alliance, and this was a designated Star Alliance Gold Lounge.



This was a fairly new lounge, with high ceilings and tarmac views...





Lounge seating...



A full manned bar...



...and a sit-down dining area with a hot and cold buffet selection, which was serving breakfast at the time...



Some of the breakfast selections...





Wine dispenser...



Portugese egg tarts!



I had an egg tart with coffee...the tart was delicious!



A pretty good lounge offering...

[yflyer]

I headed to the gate, where TAP Airbus A320 rego CS-TNG, named Mouzinho da Silveira, was being prepped for departure.



This was a 20 year old plane, first delivered in 1998. Although this was not a new plane, the interiors looked brand new, having undergone a refit to install new slimline seating.

TAP also had some very new Airbuses in her fleet, including this A321neo, instantly recognizable on account of the large new CFM LEAP-1A engines...



On this aircraft, the first few rows were premium seating (with red trim and headrests)...



The main economy class seating comprised non-reclining slimline seats with no headrests...





The seats had small fold-out tray tables...



There were individual air vents...



Last row seating...no need to worry about recline in the last row since none of the Y seats could recline...

[yflyer]

Passengers on the right of the aircraft could catch a glimpse of Ponte Vasco de Gama as we took off...



A clear and sunny day, great for flying...



A snack box was served...



It contained a sandwich and a chocolate snack, called a chocolate "salami"...





As for beverages, now that I knew that TAP served specially curated Portugese wines on their flights, I asked the friendly cabin crew member if I could have half a cup of red wine, and half a cup of white wine to taste, and he kindly obliged...





It was quite cool to be able to taste different wines on this Y sector, with some of the wines on offer featured in the inflight magazine...

[yflyer]

The onboard bathrooms had mottled grey counter tops...



I love the Portuguese word for "Flush"...



Very good cabin ambience on this A320 -- by narrowbody standards, at least!



Overall, a very pleasant 2+ hour flight...



We landed in Heathrow on time, just after 11am, on Saturday, the 23rd of March.