. . . and well back (or forward of) from the wing.

The reason for this strong advice is that the route all transatlantic (and maybe other international flights) take into Lisbon offers some of the best arriving scenery from the air that I have ever seen. My plane, coming in from Logan airport in Boston, approached the Portuguese coast near Lisbon from the NW, coming in towards Sintra, but then swung to the right (south), and followed the coastline past Cabo da Roca (the tall granite headland that is the westernmost point of continental Europe) and Cascais, with the mouth of the Tagus estuary and the "Sea of Straw" in the distance, Below the mouth of the estuary, we turned east, then almost due north.

This meant that the passengers with good window seats on the right side of the plane should have had a pretty good view almost directly below them of the statue of Christ the Redeemer and the 25th of April suspension bridge across the Tagus -- but people in my position came in with Belem laid out below us just to the west. I picked out the Belem Tower, marooned on its mud flats just offshore, and then the massive white plinth of the Discoveries Monument further along the seafront promenade, followed second later by the Jeronimos Monastery and its adjacent cloisters and the wing containing the Maritime Museum. Beyond that there was a large soccer stadium, and then the residential tower blocks of northwest Lisbon and the massive quadrangle of the white-fronted, red-roofed Palacio de Ajuda from the early 19th century. After passing over the massive forested green park of Monsanto, bisected only by the Autostrada do Oeste heading west towards Sintra, we had superb view of the Aqueduct da Aguas Livres (1729-1748) striding across the Alcantara Valley on a series of 14 pointed arches. By this point, our plane was making its descent as we approached the airport, and our altitude may have been little more than a thousand feet.


Paralleling the Portuguese coast west of Lisbon, with the Serra da Sintra partially obscured by the reflection on the window and Cabo da Roca with its high headland in the lower left center of the photo.



Proceeding along the coast south of Cabo da Roca, with Cascais just behind the bend to the east and the Tagus Estuary and the Sea of Straw in the distance.



Passing over the Belem waterfront, showing the Belem Tower; the Monument to the Discoveries; and the Jeronimos Monastery. The large rectangular white building along the lower right edge is the Museu dos Coches (Museum of Coaches), which includes a remarkable collection of the ornate riding coaches used by the Portuguese monarchy over a period of roughly two centuries from c. 1840-1820.



The modern city of west and north Lisbon, along with the nineteenth century Palacio de Ajuda beneath the plane's wing in the lower right center.



The Aqueduct of Aguas Livres. I had regretted not getting a photo of this on my previous visit to Lisbon, but hadn't imagined that I would be able to make up this omission on my second visit from this particular perspective!

Over the course of my remaining time in Lisbon, I repeatedly saw jets flying this same path in from the south over the 25th of April Bridge and the Belem district. We also took a very similar path in the opposite direction on the way out. This time, I was seated abaft the back half of the plane's right wing, but by craning around to look out a window slightly behind my shoulder, I was able to snag the small and fuzzy image of the Belem Tower shown at the end of this group of photos. (It is currently swathed in scaffolding as the result of an ongoing reconstruction/preservation.)



P.S. If anyone can offer some guidance on how to reduce the size of photos when you post them, I would love to know how!

Thanks for the tip!

I do not know what the easiest or quickest way is to reduce the size of photos on Fodors. The method I use is to reduce the resolution in the Photos app of Windows, before uploading. For example, your first pic in this thread is 2000x1500 pixels. I prefer 1008x756. If you open a photo in the app, within the 'three dots' menu, you can select 'resize image.' Then save it as a new name. But maybe Fodors has an easier method built in? Not sure.

Thanks, shelemm! I'll give it a try.

Also, BTW, there was a typo in the caption dealing with the Belem waterfront. The dates listed for the contents of the Museum of Caches should have been 1640-1820, not 1840-1820.

About photos. On my Mac I just put the ones I want on the desktop, go to tools and "adjust size."