Today is Liberty Day. Here's what it actually means to live here for it.

Good morning, Lisbon. It's Saturday, 25 April. Twenty-three degrees, no rain, and the best day of the long weekend. Happy Liberty Day.

🌬️ AIR QUALITY: 20 (Good).

🗞️ TOP STORY

TODAY IS APRIL 25. HERE IS WHAT HAPPENED, AND WHY IT STILL MATTERS.

At 22:55 on the evening of 24 April 1974, a song came on the radio. It was E Depois do Adeus, Portugal's entry in that year's Eurovision Song Contest, broadcast on Emissores Associados de Lisboa. To most listeners it was just a song. To a network of military officers spread across the country, it was the first signal. Move into position.

At 00:20 on the morning of 25 April, a second song came on. Rádio Renascença broadcast Grândola Vila Morena, a folk song by Zeca Afonso about the fraternity of people in a small Alentejo town. The regime had banned many of Afonso's songs. This one had slipped through, its politics hidden in plain sight. When it played, the officers waiting by their radios knew: begin.

Within hours, units of the Armed Forces Movement had taken control of strategic points across the country. The Estado Novo, the authoritarian regime that had governed Portugal since 1933, first under Salazar and then under Marcelo Caetano, collapsed in under 24 hours. There was almost no bloodshed. What happened instead was that civilians came into the streets, and when they encountered soldiers, they put flowers in their gun barrels. Red and white carnations, which a restaurant worker named Celeste Caeiro had been carrying and began handing to the troops. The name stuck. The Carnation Revolution.

The regime that ended that morning had been in place for 48 years. It ran a secret police force, the PIDE, that monitored, detained and tortured political opponents. It censored newspapers, books and songs. It maintained overseas colonial wars in Angola, Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau that had cost thousands of lives and drained the country for over a decade. Portugal in 1974 was the poorest country in Western Europe.

People alive today remember it. Not as history. As their own lives.

The first democratic legislative elections followed on 25 April 1976, which is why today is also the 50th anniversary of Portugal's first free parliamentary vote. The date carries both things at once: the end of dictatorship and the beginning of democracy. That is why April 25 is not just a public holiday in Portugal. It is the public holiday.

For those of us who moved here from somewhere else, the day can take time to understand. The Carnation Revolution does not have the same resonance in the English-speaking world that it has here. The carnations pinned to jackets on the street today are not decorative. The parade this afternoon on Avenida da Liberdade is not a tourist event. The chant you will probably hear, Abril 25 sempre, fascismo nunca mais, translates as "25 April forever, fascism never again." People mean it.

Go outside today. Take a carnation if someone offers you one.

Bottom line: The parade starts at 3pm on Avenida da Liberdade. If you want to understand it before you get there, Museu do Aljube on Rua de Augusto Rosa in Alfama is free today and celebrating its 10th anniversary. It is built inside the former political prison where opponents of the regime were interrogated. It is a 15-minute walk from the parade route.

⚡ QUICK HITS

Lula's communiqué said little on immigration. The joint statement from Tuesday's meetings between Lula, Montenegro and Seguro was published yesterday. The focus was economic: Lula positioned Portugal as the primary commercial gateway for Brazilian business into Europe, ahead of the Mercosur-EU agreement entering provisional force on 1 May. Montenegro confirmed Portugal as a strategic partner and acknowledged there had been incidents involving Brazilians in Portugal, describing them as isolated cases. Immigration, which Lula raised publicly throughout the visit, did not produce specific commitments in the published text. For the 485,000 Brazilians living in Portugal, the political weight of the visit was real. The communiqué reflects a different set of priorities.

High pollen alert through the weekend. The Portuguese Society of Allergology and Clinical Immunology has issued a high pollen warning across the mainland, excluding the Azores and Madeira, running from yesterday through the end of the month. In Lisbon, the main culprits are pine, olive, oak and grass pollen. If you are a hay fever sufferer and the parade route feels worse than usual this afternoon, that may be why. Antihistamines before you head out.

Premier League is on this afternoon. Liverpool host Crystal Palace at 3pm and Arsenal host Newcastle at 5:30pm. Both available on Portuguese cable. For anyone not attending the parade, that is a reasonable Liberty Day afternoon.

🍽️ SPOT OF THE DAY

DAMAS (GRAÇA)

If you are looking for somewhere to end up after the parade, Graça is the neighbourhood. It sits above the city, mostly skipped by the tourist trail that has consumed the lower parts of Alfama, and on a day like today it will be full of people who actually live here.

Damas, on Rua da Voz do Operário, is a restaurant, bar and occasional live music space that opened in a former grocery and kept most of the original fittings. The food is honest, the wine list is short and well chosen, the room fills with a mix of local artists, neighbours and people who found it by word of mouth. Petiscos and daily specials. Around €20 to €30 a head depending on how long you stay.

It does not take itself too seriously, which on Liberty Day is exactly the right register.

→ Find it on the map ←

Insider tip: The terrace at the back fills quickly on sunny afternoons. Get there before the parade ends if you want a seat outside. Open from 12:30pm. Rua da Voz do Operário 60, Graça.

📅 WHAT'S ON

See you tomorrow morning.