Lisbon layover from a Lisbon crew member: the hills, the tram, the pastel de nata rule
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#1 TAP, Lisbon, six years, and Raoul wrote Paris and Hiroshi wrote Tokyo and Marisol wrote Madrid from the local crew's side. Lisbon is on half the European long haul rosters and the visiting crews do the tourist Lisbon. Here is the TAP crew's Lisbon for them.
The crew hotel districts
Most visiting crews are in the centre (the Avenida, the Marquês, the Saldanha), some in Parque das Nações (near the airport, the new district, the river), some in Belém. The centre is the one: the metro and the hills and the walk. Parque das Nações is nowhere unless the river is enough. Belém is the pastel de nata district and a tram ride from everything.
The pastel de nata rule
The Portuguese version of Raoul's bakery rule: every crew in Lisbon eats a pastel de nata within an hour of arriving, warm, with the cinnamon, from a pastelaria with locals in it, not from the famous one with the queue (the famous one is good and the queue is an hour and the locals do not queue). Every neighbourhood has one. The crew who leave Lisbon without three have wasted the layover.
The neighbourhoods that are not the tourist ones
Graça and the miradouros (the viewpoints) above Alfama for the evening and the view without the Alfama crowds. Campo de Ourique for the market and the neighbourhood lunch. Príncipe Real for the walk and the gardens and the dinner. Alcântara under the bridge for the LX Factory and the river. Mouraria for the real old Lisbon and the fado that is not the tourist fado. The Baixa and the Chiado for the walk through, not the stay. Belém for the pastel de nata and the monastery and the river at sunset.
The tram
The 28 is the tourist tram and the queue is the tourist queue; the 24 and the 12 do the hills with the locals. The crew who take the 28 at 2pm have not been to Lisbon. The crew who take the 24 at 9am have.
The food
The tasca (the small neighbourhood restaurant with the daily dish on a board, the grilled fish, the wine in a jug) for lunch at 1pm with the locals. The bifana (the pork sandwich) standing at a counter. The ginjinha (the cherry liqueur) in a shot glass at the Rossio window, once. The seafood at Cais do Sodré in the market, the Time Out one for the variety or the fish restaurants in the streets behind it for the quiet. The dinner at 9, as in Madrid.
The hills
Lisbon is seven hills and the crew who walk them in the uniform shoes regret it. The layover shoes are the walking shoes. The elevators (the Santa Justa with the queue, the Bica funicular without) are the crew's friends.
The 24 hour version
Land, the hotel, the pastel de nata within the hour, the short nap, out by 3pm: the 24 tram to Graça, the miradouro at sunset, the walk down through Mouraria, a tasca dinner at 8:30, the Chiado walk back, the hotel by 11. Morning: Campo de Ourique market for the breakfast and the second pastel, the Belém tram for the third and the river, the hotel, the crew bus. Three pastéis, one miradouro, one tasca, no 28.
For the TAP crews reading
Add your neighbourhood. The visiting crews have the Avenida hotel and the 28 queue and the rest is ours to give them, as Raoul said for Paris.
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#2 TAP, and Victor's Lisbon is the TAP crew's Lisbon and the pastel de nata rule should be on the hotel key card as Raoul's bakery rule should be in Paris. The 24 tram at 9am. The miradouro at Graça. The tasca at 1pm. The visiting crews who do this come back different.
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#3 TAP, and I would add the Estrela garden for the afternoon the body needs to be slow and the Jardim da Estrela café for the fourth pastel. Campo de Ourique is my neighbourhood and Victor has given it to the visiting crews, which I forgive.
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#4 Air France CDG, Lisbon monthly, and the pastel de nata rule is the bakery rule's Portuguese cousin and the Air France crews have been doing the 28 at 2pm for years. The 24 at 9am. The tasca. Victor has corrected a decade of French crew Lisbon.
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#5 LATAM São Paulo, Lisbon every month, and the Brazilian crews at the Lisbon hotel know the tascas and the Mouraria fado and the ginjinha window, because the Portuguese is ours. Victor's Lisbon is the one the LATAM crews have and the other visiting crews should. The 24 tram, yes.
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#6 Virgin Manchester, and Virgin does not go to Lisbon and I am filing this with the Paris one for the staff travel weekends. The three pastéis and the miradouro and no 28. The local crew Lisbon threads are the forum's best travel guide.
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#7 Brazilian at TAP, and the Lisbon I learned from the Portuguese crew is the one Victor has written and the Brazilian visiting crews find it fastest for the language. The tasca with the board is the Lisbon lunch. The hills are the Lisbon shoes.