Unlike our Iceland, Greenland, Canada cruise (Note 5 through Note 25), where I blogged almost every day, I’m writing about our Portugal trip after our return. It will probably be a few days between posts as I process all of our pictures.

We substituted this trip for our cancelled trip to Israel and used the airline credits from American Airlines (AA) for that trip on this one. The most efficient use of these credits found us booking from Houston to Philadelphia to Lisbon in Flagship Business class going over in hopes of sleeping and Premium Economy (or whatever AA calls it) on the return. We’ve not flown AA in years as we live in Houston and generally fly United or an associated Star Alliance airline. We found the business class pods with lay-flat seats fairly comfortable and all of the AA employees we interacted with were friendly and helpful. The premium economy seats on the return were also comfortable and roomy. They had adjustable footrests which my short legs appreciated! The flight from Houston to Philadelphia is about 3.5 hours and Philadelphia to Lisbon is 6.5-7 hours. Unfortunately, by the time they feed you dinner and then wake you for breakfast, you only have about 4 hours to sleep. We figured between the turbulence and an occasional crying baby (yes, in business class), we got at most 2.5 hours of sleep.

We must have been one of the early flights into Lisbon and quickly cleared customs and immigration without any lines. Even though our bags were marked “priority”, they were some of the last to arrive at the baggage carousel, otherwise we’d have been out of the airport even faster. We were going to catch the subway from the airport to the Oriente train station, but opted for a taxi instead as we were too tired to contemplate the ticket machines. Oriente was only a few minutes away from the airport, the traffic wasn’t bad, and it was still a couple of hours before our train to Porto.

We had already booked our train tickets to Porto for the 12:09 express train with assigned seats in first class together with Keith and Paula. They met us at the train station as they had arrived in Lisbon the day before. We were all ready on the platform to load the train when it arrived only to discover that the train car order was the opposite of what we (and almost everyone else waiting) expected. By the time we got to our designated car, the baggage compartment was full. Somehow Dave and Keith managed to get all our luggage stowed in the overheads near our seats, which was probably better as we could keep an eye on it.

The train really gives you a chance to see some of the countryside and towns as you pass through. We caught up on our plans for the week and heard about the tuk-tuk tour that Keith and Paula did the day before in Lisbon. I thought I might doze off on the train, but the excitement of finally being there and seeing our friends again kept me awake.

For our arrival in Porto, I’d booked a private service through Welcome Pickups, recommended by the company that we rented our apartment from. They operate in over 200 destinations worldwide. The driver was waiting for us at the exit holding a sign with my name on it, but he had also sent an update via the app for Welcome Pickups and on WhatsApp. Similar to other ride share apps, it also confirms the driver’s name, picture, and vehicle. I chose this option over taxi and Uber/Bolt because of the four of us with luggage to make sure we had a large enough vehicle. It didn’t cost much more than those other options either and was paid in advance, so we didn’t need to worry about that. We ended up booking with them in Lisbon also for our return to the airport from our lodging there.  

Our first real adventure of the trip though was actually finding the apartment once the driver let us off on the street as close as he could get. We already knew we’d have about a half block or so to walk and some stairs to manage, but we couldn’t find the route and believe it or not, Google didn’t help. So, I called the company, told them we knew we were really close, but couldn’t find it. They sent a link with a video showing the route and as soon as I watched it, I knew how to get there as I’d looked at the street view in the area on Google Maps so much that I recognized it. In the meantime, the company contacted the greeter waiting for us and he found us about the same time as we discovered the “secret passageway” to our apartment for the next four nights. Luckily, he was young and strong and helped us get all our luggage up the stairs. I should also mention that when I later checked my most recent email confirmation from them with check-in instructions, the video link was included, but I’d missed it!

We booked this apartment because 1) it had two bedrooms both with King-size beds, 2) two bathrooms (however, both were the size you’d find in the smallest cabin on a cruise ship), and 3) location, location, location. It also had a washer and a dryer, which we utilized. Given that indoor plumbing didn’t exist when this building was built, the updates were functional!

Here are the views out the windows.

As Dave and I were so exhausted and jetlagged, we then headed out in search of an early dinner nearby along the Ribeira as it caters to tourists and would be serving at 5pm as opposed to the locals’ dinner time of 9pm! Afterwards, we walked a little further along the Douro River before returning to our apartment and our beds to hopefully get a good night’s sleep before our walking tour the next morning.

Here’s a few pictures from our early evening walk. Note the beautiful blue skies – we wouldn’t see them again for awhile!