Welcome to travels with Todd

Beginning with my winter 2025-2026 trip I decided to write very little about my time in Lisbon – the city I consider my second home. However, Lisbon is still new to me and as I walk through it – exploring and learning about the city – I will take photos of new sights that catch my eye or even familiar ones that I see in a new light. For this stay, rather than sending you off to a captioned Google Photos album, I’m going to drop them here with more complete explanations. In the descriptions, I’ve highlighted Portuguese expressions and place names in lavender.

I took this first photo in the men’s room at the KLM Lounge at Schiphol Airport because I was surprised that people with the resources to be in the lounge needed this sort of reminder.

Regular readers know my preferred jetlag avoidance strategy is powering through to a regular bedtime. So, when I arrived on Wednesday, I set out for an evening walk toward o rio Tejo e Praça do Comercio about 500 meters from my apartment. It happened that England was playing Argentina in a semifinal game of the Mundial and this was the scene when I arrived.

Here’s the square Thursday afternoon.

I took the next few pictures of o rio Tejo, a Ponte de 25 Abril, e o Cristo Rei because this is the first time I’ve been here in the summer and seen this scene in this light.

This shop might have popped up from my winter trip. It had recently opened on rua Áurea and, of course, I like the name.

Saturday afternoon, I walked up to o jardim do Principe Real to spend a little time with this Mexican Cypress –  a minha árvore preferida em Lisboa – my favorite tree in Lisbon. I also snapped a picture of one of the banyan fig trees there – again because of it being my first summertime visit. 

Walking home on rua da Escola Politécnica, I passed another eatery – this one selling Argentine style empanadas called muns. If you can look inside the door, you’ll see it echoes a pun you’ve seen previously in this post.

I ended that Saturday with a home cooked dinner that some friends told me other than having a bit more fish than one might usually see here, looked quite Portuguese. (This is the only reason I’m including it.) 

When I was here this past winter I found a new favorite place for my more than occasional gelado. It’s called Gelateria la Verde. I like their gelado because it’s noticeably sweeter than most others. (It’s also considerably closer than Santini – an aspect that’s both good and bad.) This trip I noticed they offered something they called a “Burger Gelato” that’s gelado served between a warmed brioche. It was too intriguing to pass up. Sadly, the description exceeded the execution that had, at least for me, too much brioche and not enough gelado. Nevertheless, here’s what it looked like.

Wednesday afternoon I was walking through Praça do Restaurdores and as I approached the Monumento ao Calceteiro (Monument to the Paver) – a monument I’ve long admired – it was adorned in a way I’d never seen. This made a photo a necessity.

Sunday evening, my friends D & M invited me to join them and J & G (to whom they’d introduced me in the winter) to watch the final of the Mundial. During our conversation, J mentioned that she and G had a friend visiting and were planning to take a sunset river cruise that featured unlimited wine. She invited me to join them. The two photos below are from that cruise and the guide on the boat (with whom I conversed mostly in bad {on my part} Portuguese) told me that the wreath at the Monumento ao Calceteiro was, indeed, unusual.

The Teatro Nacional D Maria II is, according to Wikipedia, “one of the most prestigious Portuguese venues.” It stands elegantly on the north side of Praça Dom Pedro IV and because of construction and renovation, I saw it for the first time, on this, my sixth visit to Lisboa. 

Friday afternoon I met another American, J, who’d been introduced to me by my sister. He lived in the same condominium building in Atlanta before relocating here. J lives in the Saldanha neighborhood and, since he’s a working person, I suggested a restaurant at the Mercado 31 de Janeiro not far from where he lives. I walked to the market using a route that was new to me and spotted a new bit of wall art. Regular readers know I have a particular affinity for these urban displays.

Sometimes, something strikes me as being almost too absurd to be real. This was the case with this new KFC sandwich that, with some other items has a marketing tie to The Simpsons. What you’ll see in the photo is called the Rosquiburger and the ads for it were all over town – especially at tram stops and in the Metro. It’s an 816 calorie “delight” that’s KFC fried chicken, bacon, cheese, Kentucky Gold sauce, and two doughnuts in place of a traditional bun. (The bottom doughnut doesn’t have the pink icing and sprinkles.)

There are things in our lives that we see regularly and that pass by us without much thought. Then, one day, seriously or humorously, we see it quite differently. This happened on my winter visit here when I walked by this fountain in Praça Dom Pedro IV – one I’d walked by scores of times. On that occasion I noticed the figures in a way I hadn’t before. Those of you who saw it in this Google Photos folder likely saw my comment that read, in part, “she’s got to be thinking, ‘Hey, buddy! My face is up here!'”

I had a similar reaction standing opposite the bus in the picture below. I’ve seen this bus more times than I’d consider counting and it wasn’t until Sunday night when I wondered if I’d really want to board a bus with this as its final destination. (If you can’t quite read it, the destination is Cemitério da Ajuda – a Lisboa cemetery I haven’t visited.)

The apartment I’m renting started its life as a serviced apartment (think Air BnB or VRBO) and, if or when I move out, will almost certainly return to that model. It’s furnished and has some art that’s pleasant enough but certainly reflective of the owner’s taste and vision. Since this is now my place until at least July 2027, I plan to add some art of my own. This is the first painting in that project.

Thursday I went on an unsuccessful shopping trip to one of Lisbon’s outer neighborhoods. Actually it was two because I was halfway between Telheiras and Carnide. My walk took me past the Praça Sāo Francisco de Assis where I took two views of the sculpture called Cidade Imaginária. According to at least one description, it symbolically represents passages between past and future, human memory, and the connection between urban spaces and human emotion.

Here’s a random cityscape from close to the Carnide Metro station.

And this is the entrance to the station itself.

Friday night I was walking through Chiado when I turned onto a side street called rua Anchieta and walked by this restaurant called Taberna Carolina. I found their little advertising gimmick amusing.

Here’s a closeup of the tires.

The Portuguese reads, “Este restaurante ten dois pneus Michelin.” This translates to, “This restaurant has two Michelin tires.”

Saturday morning I met my friend D and we boarded the 736 bus from Restauradores to our day’s first stop at the Campo Pequeno farmer’s market where D snapped this picture of me looking at a tempting table of tomatoes.

I took the next photo after our visit to the market and a stop for lunch at the food court in the arena’s mall. we walked through the Campo Pequeno / Saldanha neighborhood. I thought the sculptures in this park were interesting.

I take a nightly walk after supper. In winter it tends to be brisk and relatively short. In summer, with long hours of daylight, clear skies, and pleasant temperatures, these ambulations (they are for my health, at least in part) are generally longer. It had been awhile since I’d walked to the river so I crossed Praça do Comercio and strolled down to the water’s edge. Nothing special was happening there but more than a few people had decided to enjoy the setting.

Sunday as I walked along Av Almirante Reis, this restaurant sign (that’s probably been there for years) drew my attention because I couldn’t help but wonder exactly what it was describing. (Please feel free to share your thoughts.)

There’s more to come in the next post.