On June 5, 1878, Jules Verne arrived in Lisbon aboard his yacht Saint-Michel III, coming from Vigo. He was accompanied by his brother Paul Verne, by Jules Hetzel son (connected to his publisher) and by former French deputy Raoul Duval. Verne had two days to discover the Portuguese capital and dedicated them to an intense visit of the city.
On the morning of the first day, accompanied by banker Jorge O'Neill, he visited the French Consulate and the Church of São Roque. After lunch he met David Corazzi, his Portuguese publisher, on Rua da Atalaia, and met the O'Neill family. At the end of the day, he dined at the Grand Hotel Central, on Praça Duque da Terceira, next to Cais do Sodré, one of the most famous establishments of nineteenth-century Lisbon. Just before midnight he attended the zarzuela La Gallina Ciega at the Recreios Whittoyne and returned to his yacht.
The next morning, his companions left for Sintra but Verne remained in Lisbon. He received aboard Captain João de Carvalho Ribeiro Viana, former director of the Navy Arsenal, with whom he spoke about ships and about the new Portuguese cruiser Vasco da Gama. In the afternoon he visited the monumental area of Belém, the Tower of Belém and the Jerónimos Monastery.
In the late afternoon of the second day, at the Grand Hotel Central he reunited with writer and journalist Manuel Pinheiro Chagas, accompanied by Ramalho Ortigão and Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro. Verne revealed that he was then working on A Captain of Fifteen Years and stated that in France Portugal was already recognized as a nation with strong individuality. After dinner he visited Fernando Palha, in Dafundo, to see his collection of books and antiquities. At six in the morning of June 7, the Saint-Michel III left the Tagus bound for Cádiz.
