April 18 - April 19 2025
Steps 6,800
Book an Uber for (22:20 10:20) 6:50 PM we were at the airport in 20 minutes, it is Good Friday.
We were checked in at KLM, through security (priority lane) and in the KLM lounge in another 20 minutes! The KLM Crown Lounge at Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) is located in Terminal 3, opposite Gate C32.
We had drinks and munchies, the chicken piri piri wraps were delicious, in the lounge before our flight was called.
Date 18 Apr 2025 Good Friday
Airline KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
Flight/Class KL696 Z Business Class
Origin Toronto, Lester B. Pearson International
Destination Amsterdam, Schiphol
Departing 2210
Arriving 1125 / 19 Apr 2025
Departure Terminal Terminal 3
Estimated Time 7 Hrs 15 Mins
Stops Non-stop
Seat 7D, 7G Confirmed
Once settled we were served a glass of sparkling wine before takeoff. The flight was seamless except the noise level made it impossible to talk to each other. We're not sure if it was just our location, against a wall, or the plane.
Flight/Class KL696 Z Business Class
Origin Toronto, Lester B. Pearson International
Destination Amsterdam, Schiphol
Departing 2210
Arriving 1125 / 19 Apr 2025
Departure Terminal Terminal 3
Estimated Time 7 Hrs 15 Mins
Stops Non-stop
Seat 7D, 7G Confirmed
Once settled we were served a glass of sparkling wine before takeoff. The flight was seamless except the noise level made it impossible to talk to each other. We're not sure if it was just our location, against a wall, or the plane.
Dinner was finally served after 11 PM but we had already eaten in the lounge.
We were in row 7 and they had already run out of chicken?? I only had the lobster salad and chocolate strawberries, John had the meatless meatballs (awful) while we both watched the Bob Dylan movie A Complete Unknown.
The crew were great. We settled down for sleep, which isn't quite a sleep but better than nothing. In no time it was breakfast. I only had juice, we had just eaten at midnight!
And we were given our little houses with gin.
KLM "houses" are miniature replicas of Dutch buildings, particularly those along Amsterdam's canals, that KLM has given to Business Class passengers on intercontinental flights since the 1950s. These Delft Blue miniature houses, filled with Dutch gin, are coveted collector's items.
.jpg)
Saturday 19 Apr 25
Airline KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
Flight/Class KL1583 J Business Class
Origin Amsterdam, Schiphol
Destination Lisbon, Portela
Departing 1235
Arriving 1435
Arrival Terminal Terminal 1
Estimated Time 3 Hrs
Stops Non-stop
Seat 3A, 3C Confirmed
Since we are flying KLM we have a stopover in Amsterdam. There is a 6 hour time difference to Toronto and 1 hour time difference to Lisbon.
Your baggage is usually automatically transferred to your connecting flight.
As soon as you land and the cabin crew announce that you can turn on your phone, we went online and checked the latest information for our next flight. There’s also a Schiphol app where it’s possible to save your flight and get an alert when there’s updates. If you don’t have access to the internet, no worries. We have free Wi-Fi at the airport and you’ll find many monitors displaying flight information. We deplaned at D3 and our next flight was at C61.
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS) has one main terminal building, which is divided into three departure halls. The terminal is split into Schengen and non-Schengen areas.
As soon as you land and the cabin crew announce that you can turn on your phone, we went online and checked the latest information for our next flight. There’s also a Schiphol app where it’s possible to save your flight and get an alert when there’s updates. If you don’t have access to the internet, no worries. We have free Wi-Fi at the airport and you’ll find many monitors displaying flight information. We deplaned at D3 and our next flight was at C61.
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS) has one main terminal building, which is divided into three departure halls. The terminal is split into Schengen and non-Schengen areas.
When arriving from Canada at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS) and connecting to Lisbon, we did not need to go through security again.
We had our boarding passes and only had to do Passport Control before reaching our gate.
We had our boarding passes and only had to do Passport Control before reaching our gate.
It is a 2:45 flight time. Another good flight, it was packed they were asking for volunteers to give up their seats for compensation. It is Easter Week in Europe, much like spring break at home.
So many kids coughing and sneezing!!!
We were in business class, and as per Europe that means the middle seat is empty. Another great crew.
Lunch was provided.
The 25 de Abril Bridge is a suspension bridge connecting the city of Lisbon, capital of Portugal, to the municipality of Almada on the left bank of the Tagus River. It has a main span length of 1,013 metres, making it the 48th longest suspension bridge in the world.
Humberto Delgado Airport, informally Lisbon Airport and previously Portela Airport, is an international airport located 7 kilometres northeast of the historical city centre of Lisbon.
Lisbon is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131 as of 2023. Lisbon is mainland Europe's westernmost capital city (second overall after Reykjavik) and the only one along the Atlantic coast, the others (Reykjavik and Dublin) being on islands. The city lies in the western portion of the Iberian Peninsula, on the northern shore of the River Tagus. The western portion of its metro area, the Portuguese Riviera, hosts the westernmost point of Continental Europe, culminating at Cabo da Roca.
Lisbon is one of the oldest cities in the world and the second-oldest European capital city (after Athens), predating other modern European capitals by centuries.
Day 1: Lisbon (Portugal)-April 19 2025 (italics tour description)
Arrival at the airport ( approx 3 PM). You will be greeted by our local representatives after exiting the customs and transferred to your hotel.
4 nights in Lisbon at the Turim Av Liberdade 4* hotel Marques in a standard room
The rest of the day is free for you to start your exploration of Portugal's capital city.
Another flight on time and we picked up our luggage, both minus our Canada luggage tags, luckily the $ store ones. Our new Canada ones we had put on our carryon. Another time we had had great tags, one which said, Hands Off and had those taken also.
We headed out to a sea of agents with signs. We spotted ours and he took my suitcase as we headed to the parking garage.
He got us checked in at the hotel and gave us our schedule for the week.
It turned out that most of our tour group were staying around the corner at de Pombal.
Our hotel is close to the Marquês de Pombal, with its main entrance to one of the most famous avenues in Europe.
I forgot to take photos before we plonked our stuff down!
The room is compact but we can manage. We have enough plugs and converters to meet our needs.
We get settled into our room around 3 PM and the plan was to stay up as long as we can before jet lag sets in.
However we got comfortable and decided to have a nap and got up at 7:30! We thought about eating at the hotel, but there was a bus tour. We walked out and decided to pick up wine and cheeses and chips in a grocery store, Continente Bom Dia.
"admire the art nouveau stained glass windows commissioned in 1907, from the painter and master stained glass artist Cláudio Martins, and which adorned, on the 2nd floor, the reading hall and the management office of the old automobile cathedral, in Lisbon. MC also recovered the stained glass windows, which feature a car theme, framed by a tangle of floral motifs."
.jpg)
.jpg)
I can't believe we didn't pack a corkscrew and both places we tried were out of them. We are so used to screwtops! No worries, we found a somewhat decent boxed wine.
We did the self checkout (in Portuguese) and then had to scan our receipt to exit the store.
We settled in to our room for dinner, we are a little jetlagged and it will be easier to get our bearings in the morning.
