Review of Iberia flight from Madrid to Lisbon in Business

Background:
This series covers a two week vacation to Europe that will feature stops in SOF, BEG, TIV, LIS, ARN, and ATH. For background and planning, please refer back to Part 1. As a reminder, the routing for this series is:
Part 1 – IAH-IAD [UA 373, Boeing B767-300ER, Economy] – Here
Part 2 – IAD-MUC [UA 106, Boeing B767-400ER, Economy] – Here
Part 3 – MUC-SOF [LH 1702, Airbus A321, Economy] – Here
Part 4 – SOF-BEG [JU 123, Aérospatiale/Alenia ATR 72-200, Economy] – Here
Part 5 – BEG-TIV [YM 201, Fokker F100, Economy] – Here
Part 6 – TIV-BEG [YM 202, Fokker F100, Economy] – Here
Part 7 – BEG-LHR [JU 380, Airbus A319, Business] – Here
Part 8 – LHR-MAD [IB 3167, Airbus A330-300, Business] – Here
Part 9 – MAD-LIS [IB 3118, Airbus A321, Business] – You are here
Part 10 – LIS-LHR [BA 499, Airbus A320, Business] – Here
Part 11 – LHR-ARN [BA 780, Boeing B767-300ER, Business] – Here
Part 12 – ARN-BEG [JU 411, Airbus A319, Business] – Here
Part 13 – BEG-ATH [JU 512, Airbus A319, Business] – Here
Part 14 – ATH-IST [TK 1850, Boeing B737-900ER, Economy] – Here
Part 15 – IST-ATH [TK 1843, Boeing B737-800, Economy] – Here
Part 16 – ATH-FRA [A3 830, Airbus A321, Economy] – Here
Part 17 – FRA-IAH [UA 47, Boeing B787-900, EconomyPlus] – Here
Tourist Bonuses:
Sofia – Part 4
Kotor – Part 6
Belgrade – Part 7
Lisbon – Part 9
Sintra – Part 10
Stockholm – Part 12
Athens – Part 16
This report will cover the trans-Iberian flight from MAD to LIS on IB. Since there was a short connection in MAD and a nighttime flight, this will be a short and sweet report.
Pre-flight:
Since I had a 55-minute layover in MAD, there was no time to doddle. I left off the last series as I rushed to immigration and cleared security. After taking the elevator up to the main concourse, I still had a ~7 minute walk to my gate. MAD is a ghost town at this hour.

The awesome ceiling in MAD T4.

By the time I finally reach my gate, boarding is well under way. I decide to just wait and board last.

I just grab a seat by my gate and admire the terminal while I take a breather.

My boarding pass for this flight.

My plane waiting outside, it will be in the new livery.

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Iberia, IB 3118
Equipment: Airbus A321 [EC-JDR “Sierra Cebollera”, delivered June 2006]
Departure: 22:50 (ATD: 22:59)
Arrival: 23:05 (ATA: 22:53)
Flight time: 0:54
When last call is made, I join the queue and head down the jetbridge.

Traffic jam.

Fuselage shot.

Finally entering the galley, the male FA greets me in Spanish, followed by English (after seeing my blank stare). The male FA working the F cabin was actually British and had been working with IB for over 5 years now. A picture of the bulkhead row and my seat.

Seat pitch is generous in the bulkhead for European J standards.

Our next door neighbor is a BA ERJ-190.

The bulkhead has a “You are here” sign.

The bulkhead pocket in dated grey leather.

Safety card for this A321.

The FA then came through and offered me an English newspaper.

He also offered a pillow.

We fired up on time and were quickly leaving MAD on this quiet night.

The J cabin was only 2 rows on this flight and the load was 3/8. The 2nd row remained empty. The only other passengers were seated in 1A and 1C. The FA asked if one of them wanted to move back to Row 2, but they both declined and talked to each other the entire flight over whiskey.

As soon as signaled, the FA immediately was up and taking drink/dinner orders. There was no option for main. The tray as delivered.

I asked for water and Irish cream. He returned with my water glass, he set up the tray table next to me for my drinks, and poured the Irish cream in front of me. This seems to be a service protocol on IB, where they show the bottle and pour the liquor in front of you.

The salad was the same as on the last flight.

The main was better than the tasteless pasta served LHR-MAD, but the green beans were very dry. The chicken was stuffed with some sort of olive and apricot filling?

Two pieces of cheese and ONE grape comprised the cheese plate.

The dessert. I didn’t even try and open this up to see what it was, I didn’t want to touch it.

Bread was offered from a basket.

Instead of the separate coffee/tea service, the coffee cup and chocolate was pre-placed on the tray and filled immediately.

I didn’t finish the meal by the time we started our final descent. Before I knew it, we were dropping into LIS on a clear night.

We touched down on time and had a short taxi to our gate.

We pulled into the last gate, to our right was some TP A320s at remote stands.

Deplaning into the neon LIS terminal.

Following the signage to the baggage claim.

After collecting my bag, I went straight to the subway station where I bought and charged an IC card and took the subway to my hotel. The Lisbon metro is very clean, convenient, and cheap.

I’ll leave off this series here as I begin my 3-night stay in LIS. I’ll pick up this series as I begin the BA portion of the itinerary up to ARN.
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Lisboa Tourist Bonus:
Padrão dos Descobrimentos

Mosteiro dos Jerónimos

Raccoon Graffiti

Torre de Belém

Marina.

Bright colored houses near Belém

Estádio do Restelo, the home of C.F. Os Belenenses

Jardim Afonso de Albuquerque and the Palácio de Belém

Câmara Municipal de Lisboa

Praça do Comércio and the Arco da Rua Augusta

Streets in downtown Lisboa.

Sé de Lisboa

Azulejos de Lisboa

Castelo de São Jorge

Peacock

Views of Lisboa from Castelo de São Jorge

Igreja de São Vicente de Fora

Sunset from Igreja e Convento da Graça

Estátua de D. Pedro IV

Estátua de Dom João I