LisbonJet's Logbook
by TriStar500.net Site
AVIATION & TRAVEL BLOG

07 February 2025

Boston, Salem and Charles River

So this was my second time this year in Boston. I don't mind the cold weather at all. I'm now used to it and with the years I learned how to properly dress in cold weather. This was an unusually long layover but since I already know Boston very well (I started flying to Boston in 2016) there is not much left to do in the city. Even my shopping list abroad was empty. I ended up buying a pair of sweatpants and I came up with the idea of buying an AirTag which would have been helpful with some situations I had to deal in the past with my suitcase - fortunately I never lost anything other than temporarily.

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Common


Again the Common Park is something you can't avoid. The lights at night at the Frog Pond are nice to see but guys... aren't we in February already?!

On the second day I joined a collegue visiting Salem, a coastal city and residential area on the North Shore of Greater Boston. Catching a train (Amtrak) in the North Station, the trip takes about thirty minutes and the ticket has a cost of 8$ each way.

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Salem

Salem is also a tourist area well known because of the Witch Trials in 1692. And of course we visited the Salem Witch Museum to know a little bit more about its history.


Other than witchcraft tales, Salem is a really small town full of wooden houses.

Back to Boston, I went to James Hook & Co for lunch, which was establised 100 years ago! The lobster roll was amazing!

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Boston & Cambridge

On my way to the Apple Store in the CambridgeSite shopping mall to buy the AirTag, I took this photo in the Beacon Hill neighborhood.

The sun was setting really fast while I was crossing the Charles River towards Cambridge.

The Museum of Science is the one thing that I am missing to do in Boston. But as the museum is currently undergoing major renovations, I prefer to wait until they finish it all.

Lechmere Canal Park
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Longellow Bridge

On my way back to Boston I chose Longfellow Bridge instead of the Dam Bridge. And I got to shoot some beautiful pics.

And finally one last photo of the Massachusetts State House:

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Return Flight

The return flight to Lisbon benefited of strong tail winds taking just 5h40 to cross the Atlantic.

02 February 2025

São Miguel Island, January 2025

It's just unbelievable the last time I was here was twenty five years ago!

When I started my L-1011 website which went online in the year of 2000, I included a gallery of my high school trip to São Miguel. That was the last time I was in São Miguel! It seems like it was yesterday.

I'm a volcano geek and Azores have a special place in my heart since I first visited São Miguel Island in 1990. I needed to fully explore this island again, even though I didn't visit any new place this time.

Of course a car was needed and the chosen rent-a-car was Azores Easy Rent. And like they have it in their name, everything ran easy and smooth with them. They even share a Google Maps' list with spots of interest in the island.

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Sete Cidades

If you're visiting São Miguel for the first time, this is the place you really can't miss.


Lagoa de Santiago


In Sete Cidades village, it was time for a short stop and drink some tea with a delicious queijada at tea house "O Poejo".

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Mosteiros

After Sete Cidades, our next stop was Miradouro Pico de Mafra to get a view of Mosteiros village.

Lagoa do Fogo was our next destination. Unfortunately the weather on this other side of the island was pretty much foggy, windy and rainy which didn't help taking good photos.

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Lagoa do Fogo

Even though Lagoa das Sete Cidades is the main postcard of São Miguel, this one is my favorite lagoon with a more wild look. I remember going down there the last time I visited it in 2000.


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Chá Gorreana

Gorreana is the oldest tea plantation in Europe. Also a must for visitors and especially for tea lovers. We went there to buy some local tea.


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Lagoa das Furnas


Going to Lagoa das Furnas and see/smell its famous fumarolas was the part of trip I was more anxious about. As I said, I love everything about volcanoes and secondary manifestations of volcanism. Seeing the boiling water heated by the interior of the planet and the smell of sulfur makes me wonder if I wasted an opportunity of a career as a volcanologist. Fumarolas don't make the best photos, I was truly excited trying to capture this phenomena.




Lagoa das Furnas

Non azorean residents pay a fee of 3 EUR to visit Parque Grená.

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Ribeira dos Caldeirões

This is one of my favorite spots in the island. The natural park of Ribeira dos Caldeirões and its beautiful waterfall is a place where you can feel peace and full communion with nature.


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Vila Franca do Campo

Miradouro da Nossa Senhora da Paz and its Ermida was the last sightseeing spot of this tour around the island. From there we have a nice of Vila Franca do Campo which I had the opportunity to explore the last time I was here.



Before returning our car and going back to the hotel, time for some limpets in Cais 20 restaurant. And how yummy they were!


I love the Azores it's all I can say!

28 January 2025

Luzern & Zürich, July 2024

Fifteen years after being in Luzern for the first time, a visit that was included on a tour to Mount Pilatus, I thought it was a good idea to explore this city in more detail. A train would take us there from Zürich's Central Station.

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Luzern

In Luzern it's almost inevitable to start with the Chapel Bridge which caught fire in 1993 destroying  some of its famous triangular paintings.



The city of Luzern is built around the Reuss river.




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Museggmauer

Once part of the old town's historic fortifications, the Museggmauer is a 800 meters long wall with nine towers and you can visit the interior and top of some of them. The wall and its towers give wonderful view over the city of Luzern.





And back to the ground level city stroll...



One last view of the Chapel Bridge...

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Zürich

Before heading back to the hotel we decided to stop in Zürich. The weather was not that great despite being summer and we even had to face some drizzle.