Portugal: From Porto to Lisbon

Portugal: from Porto to Lisbon

We depart from Porto (LPPR). Porto is in northern Portugal and has about 238,000 inhabitants. The city, whose name means port in English, is located on the Atlantic coast on the north bank of the Douro River, which flows into it. Together with Vila Nova de Gaia on the opposite bank of the Douro, it forms the core of the Porto metropolitan region, home to 1.76 million people, and is the economic and cultural center of northern Portugal as well as the country's second-largest agglomeration. Today, the historic center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Primarily a commercial port city since the time of Roman occupation, Porto developed into one of Europe's most important commercial metropolises during the age of European expansion. While this importance faded with the decline of the Portuguese colonial empire, Porto remains the economic and industrial center of Portugal to this day.

Porto is named for and famous for port wine, which is transported to Porto from its growing region, stored in neighboring Vila Nova de Gaia, and exported from Porto to the world. In 2001, Porto was the European Capital of Culture.

We overfly the city and the port and then follow the River Douro a couple of miles upstream. We turn back to the coast and land at the airbase Ovar (LPOV). The base hosts some exhibitions from the Portuguese Air Museum at Sintra. We follow the Atlantic coast south and land at Sao Jacinto (LPAV). From here we cross the coastal mountains westwards and reach Viseu (LPVZ), our next landing. People have lived in the Viseu area since the 2nd century BC. Today, several churches and sacred buildings, as well as parts of the old town, are considered particularly worth seeing. We head southeast and reach Seia (LPSE). The village lies at the northwest corner of the Serra de Estrela, Portugal's highest mountain range on the Portuguese mainland. The town is popular for its outdoor activities, mainly hiking, rafting and skiing. We continue southwest and land at Coja (LPAN). From here we head for Lousa (LPLZ), a small village that mainly attracts hikers.

Our next stop is Coimbra (LPCO). Before we reach the airport we overfly the city with its many points of interest. The reforms of the Marquês de Pombal in the 18th century brought new impulses to the University of Coimbra and also an economic boom to the city. The city experienced a renewed growth spurt from the middle of the 19th century. With the arrival of the railroad and the construction of new residential areas and their interconnection, construction activity and the number of inhabitants grew. When the authoritarian Estado Novo regime of former Coimbra student and professor Salazar initiated the monumental construction of many new buildings on the university campus in the 1940s, a similar effect led to another growth impulse for the city.

By concentrating on the university and hospitals, Coimbra was less able to benefit from Portugal's general upswing since the Carnation Revolution in 1974 and Portugal's accession to the EU in 1986, especially in the economic boom years of the 1990s, and fell behind its traditional third place among Portuguese cities in terms of population and economic importance. However, the city has retained its social importance to this day thanks to its history and its scientific and cultural charisma in Portugal.

We head southwest and land at Gandara Dos Olivais (LPJF). On our way to the next stop at De Pias Longas (LPOU), we overfly Fatima. Fátima is an important place of pilgrimage for the Catholic Church, which is also visited by the sick who hope for a miraculous cure for their illness. It is reported that on May 13, 1917, the Virgin Mary appeared to three shepherd children in a field. She ordered them to return to this place on the 13th of each month. The children agreed among themselves to keep quiet about this apparition, but Jacinta broke this promise, and so on June 13, some curious people came to see for themselves if the children's stories were true. However, as the number of onlookers grew in July, August and September, the apparition announced a miracle for October 13. On the day in question, tens of thousands of those present would have seen a solar miracle - they could easily look at the sun, which resembled a silver disc, while it spun like a wheel of fire. On May 13, 1930, the apparitions were declared credible by José Alves Correia da Silva (1852-1957), the bishop of Leiria, and public veneration of Our Lady of Fatima was permitted at the site. A critical account of the miracle of the sun gives a natural explanation for the phenomenon.

In 2019, some 6.3 million pilgrims came to Fatima, more than to any other pilgrimage site in Europe. Many of them came in one of the 4,384 pilgrimage groups that registered with the Pilgrimage Office, including 2,854 from abroad (from more than 80 countries) and 1,530 from Portugal.

We continue south and land at Santarem (LPSR). From here we turn west and reach Santa Cruz (LPSC) on the Atlantic coast. We fly south and overfly two buildings, the Castelo de Muoros and the Palace of Pena before we land at Tires (LPCS). From here we head southeast and reach the northern shore of the River Tejo. We follow the river east and pass over a lot of points of interest, all on the northern shore. If time permits we should overfly the city of Lisbon and then head for the Vasco da Gama Bridge before we land at today’s destination Lisbon International airport (LPPT).

Lisbon is the capital of Portugal and the most populous city in the country with a population of about 545 000  within its administrative boundaries. The Metropolitan Area of Lisbon is home to about 2 800.000 people, making it the largest and most populous metropolitan area in the country. Lisbon is the political center of Portugal, the seat of the government, and the residence of the head of state. It is also the westernmost capital of the European continent on the Atlantic coast.

Lisbon is considered a global city due to its importance in financial, commercial, media, artistic, educational, and tourism aspects. It is one of the main economic centers of the European continent, thanks to growing financial progress favored by the largest container port on the Atlantic coast of Europe and more recently by the Humberto Delgado Airport, which receives more than 20 million passengers annually. Lisbon has a network of freeways and a high-speed rail system (Alfa Pendular), which connects major Portuguese cities to the capital.

Documentation
The flight plans can be found here.

Aircraft
The flight has 310 miles and 12 landings. We shall want aircraft that can cruise at about 160kts. I use the Cessna 414 with  the D-IAMR livery

Additional Scenery

All airports are in the default simulator. There are several freeware add-ons available. In Addition, MK Studios offers Porto and Lisbon as payware, available at ORBX or Simmarket.

LPCS: https://flightsim.to/file/7868/lpcs-cascais-aerodrome

LPSC: https://flightsim.to/file/7495/lpsc-santa-cruz-improvement-pt

LPSR: https://flightsim.to/file/17667/lpsr-santarem-high-detail

Bridge: https://pt.flightsim.to/file/17666/salgueiro-maia-bridge

LPJF: https://flightsim.to/file/27247/lpjf-jose-ferrinho-leiria

LPAN: https://flightsim.to/file/15010/lpan-coja

LPVZ: https://flightsim.to/file/10895/aerodromo-de-viseu

LPBR: https://flightsim.to/file/14750/lpbr-braga

LPCH: https://flightsim.to/file/10920/aerodromo-de-chaves

LPOU: https://flightsim.to/file/10921/lpou-pias-longas

LPPR: https://flightsim.to/file/18903/lppr-porto-airport-francisco-s-carneiro-airport-default-upgrade

LPPT: https://flightsim.to/file/26134/lppt-lison-airport-humberto-delgado-airport-default-upgrade

For a limited time, the complete package is available here.

Time and Weather
For takeoff, set the simulator at 9:00 am local for April 16, 2022.
We prefer real weather.

Multiplayer Particulars
Date and time: Saturday, April 16, 2022. 1800 UTC
Where: AVSIM RTWR Teamspeak - Casual Flights Channel
Teamspeak Server Address: ts.teamavsim.com
Microsoft Flight Simulator Multiplayer: United States East server.

If you want to help others enjoy the multiplayer experience, don't forget to enter your aircraft details on the multiplayer spreadsheet (linked here). Your courtesy will save others a lot of time and effort. Thanks!