The general strike is here. 500 flights affected. No Metro. No trains. The city is walking today. It's Wednesday, 3 June. Twenty-three degrees. Here's what you need to know.
🌬️ AIR QUALITY: 22 (Good).
🗞️ TOP STORY
THE GENERAL STRIKE IS HERE. 500 FLIGHTS. NO METRO. NO TRAINS. HERE'S WHAT'S ACTUALLY HAPPENING.
Portugal will be waking up this morning to the most disrupted day in public services in years. The CGTP general strike is underway, and the scale is broader than many expected.
Flights. Up to 500 flights are affected today, including roughly 300 operated by TAP. Air Europa cancelled all flights between Madrid and Lisbon and Porto for the entire day. Etihad cancelled its Abu Dhabi to Lisbon route. SNPVAC cabin crew at TAP, Ryanair, and easyJet are striking. One piece of relief: the pilots' union has not joined, which means some flights will still operate. TAP is running minimum services. Check your airline directly for the latest on your specific flight.
Trains. CP rail unions confirmed participation. Suburban lines (Sintra, Cascais, Azambuja, Sado) and intercity/Alfa Pendular services are severely disrupted. If you commute by train, assume it isn't running and plan accordingly.
Metro. Lisbon Metro anticipated service disruption from 11pm last night through today. FECTRANS, the transport federation, confirmed participation. Expect limited or no service across the network.
Buses, trams, and ferries. Carris buses and trams disrupted. Transtejo/Soflusa ferries (Tagus crossings from Cacilhas, Barreiro, Seixal) disrupted. Fertagus suburban rail disrupted. If it moves on a fixed route, assume it is affected.
Getting to the airport. This is the detail that catches people off guard. Even if your flight is operating, getting to Humberto Delgado is a challenge today. No Metro, no buses, no suburban trains to Oriente. Taxis and Uber/Bolt are your options. Surge pricing is expected: €40-70 to the airport versus the normal €15-20. Book immediately or schedule a pickup at least three hours before your flight. If you're driving, allow 90 minutes for parking, check-in, and security.
Medical services. Health worker unions have also joined the strike. Hospitals are operating on minimum services. Non-urgent appointments may be cancelled. Emergency departments remain open.
AIMA. Already on strike since Monday. Closed today, closed Friday (Thursday is Corpus Christi, a public holiday). Effectively closed for nine days, through Sunday June 7.
The strike was called by the CGTP in opposition to the Trabalho XXI labour reform bill, which extends fixed-term contracts, loosens outsourcing rules, and weakens reinstatement rights after unfair dismissal. The bill is in parliament. President Seguro has pledged to veto it without union support.
Bottom line: Stay home if you can. Work remotely if possible. If you must travel, give yourself triple the usual time and budget for surge pricing. The city is walking today.
⚡ QUICK HITS
The manjerico plants are arriving at the flower stalls. Santos Populares is 10 days away. The little basil pots with paper flowers and love poems are appearing in markets and on street corners across the city. The sardine grills are being assembled. The streamers are going up in Alfama and Madragoa. June in Lisbon has officially begun.
Europe's first large-scale elephant sanctuary has opened in the Alentejo. The first residents are arriving. The Pangea Trust has spent ten years converting a former cattle ranch between Vila Viçosa and Alandroal into a 1,000-acre sanctuary for retired circus and zoo elephants. The first two residents are Julie, Portugal's last circus elephant (retired from Circo Víctor Hugo Cardinali in 2024 when the wild animal ban took effect), and Kariba, a female African elephant who has been living alone in a Belgian zoo since her companion died in 2022. Both are expected to arrive in the coming weeks. Across Europe, 600 elephants remain in captivity, 36 of them in solitary confinement. The Alentejo, where straight-tusked elephants roamed 40,000 years ago, is now where some of them get to retire.
The government sent 360 police graduates to the airports. The first 48 arrived in Lisbon last week. Of the 570 new PSP officers who graduated on May 28, more than half went straight to border control: 150 to Lisbon, 90 to Porto, 70 to Faro, 30 to the Azores, 20 to Madeira. A four-week border course starts immediately, with the full contingent on the booths by early July. The government formally refused to suspend the EES. This is their answer instead. If you're flying this summer, download your airline app and arrive earlier than usual while the new recruits learn the ropes.
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🍽️ SPOT OF THE DAY
The Metro is out. The buses aren't running. The trams are parked. But you still need to eat, and if you can walk to Chiado, Portugal's oldest beer hall has been open since 1836 and it isn't closing for a strike.
The building at Rua Nova da Trindade 20 has been standing since 1294, when it was the refectory of the Convent of the Holy Trinity. The convent burned in 1704, was rebuilt, survived the great earthquake of 1755, and burned again in 1756. In 1834, when Portugal dissolved its religious orders, a Galician industrialist named Manuel Moreira Garcia bought the ruins and did something audacious: he turned a convent's dining hall into a beer hall. It opened in 1836 and has been pouring ever since. 190 years. Through revolutions, republics, a dictatorship, and now a general strike.
The azulejo tiles are the reason to walk in. In 1863, Garcia commissioned Luís Ferreira of the Viúva Lamego ceramics factory to cover the walls in painted tile panels representing the Four Elements and the Four Seasons. They are enormous, elaborate, and unlike anything you will see in any other restaurant in the city. Freemason symbolism runs through the designs, a reflection of Garcia's own affiliations. The vaulted ceilings from the monastery era remain overhead. The effect is drinking beer inside a cathedral that happens to serve codfish.
The menu is classic cervejaria: bife à Trindade (the house steak), fresh seafood, shellfish platters, codfish fillet, and cataplana stew. The beer is cold. The portions are generous. The atmosphere on a busy evening is the kind of convivial noise that only happens in a place with 700 years of history and 190 years of customers.
→ 190 years old. Survived an earthquake, two fires, and a dictatorship. Open today. Find them here ←
Chiado, on Rua Nova da Trindade.
Insider tip: On a strike day, walk from wherever you are. The route through Chiado to Rua Nova da Trindade is flat and pleasant. Sit in the main hall (Sala dos Azulejos), not the modern extensions. Order the bife à Trindade and a cold Sagres from the tap. Look at the tiles.
📅 WHAT'S ON
CGTP General Strike (today, Wed 3 Jun) You're living it.
Corpus Christi (tomorrow, Thu 4 Jun) Public holiday.
AIMA Strike (continues Fri 5 Jun) Effectively closed through Sunday June 7.
Voces Caelestes (Fri 5 Jun, àCapela, 9:30pm) Brazilian folk songs and American spirituals under guest conductor Mariana Farah. Tickets via Ticketline.
Jason Miles: 100 Years of Miles Davis (Sat 6 Jun, Cascais Jazz Club, 9pm) Largo Cidade de Vitória 36, Cascais.
Dia de Camões (Wed 10 Jun) Portuguese National Day. Public holiday.
Nos Primavera Sound (Thu 11 to Sun 14 Jun, Porto) The XX, Gorillaz, Massive Attack, IDLES, Big Thief. Four days.
Festas de Lisboa (throughout June) Santo António Parade (Fri 12 Jun). Peak street parties (Sat 13 Jun).
Arraial Pride (Sat 13 to Sun 21 Jun) Lisbon's LGBTQ+ pride festivities.
Festival de Sintra (Fri 12 to Mon 22 Jun, Queluz National Palace) Classical music and opera.
Rock in Rio Lisboa (Sat 20-Sun 21 and Sat 27-Sun 28 Jun, Parque Tejo) Linkin Park, Katy Perry, Rod Stewart.
Lisbon Book Fair (ongoing to Sun 14 Jun, Parque Eduardo VII) Free entry.
Out Jazz (Sundays, May through September, various parks) Free.
Todd Webb in Portugal (ongoing, Gulbenkian, through 27 Jul)
From Plate to Print (ongoing, Museu do Oriente, through 9 Aug)
See you tomorrow morning.