First of all….Happy Easter to everyone, as well as Happy Passover!!
Ready or not, we are in Lisbon, Portugal today. The country of Portugal, with a population of about 11 million, can be described as a slow-paced, siesta-fueled, place that relaxes in the Iberian sun. There are palm tree lined plazas, brightly painted houses, ivory white domes, making for a very beautiful country. The capital, Lisbon, can be described the same way, but we can add that we discovered a city of tangled cobblestone streets trimmed with stylish boutiques, edgy bars, and loads of dining hideouts.
Lisbon is older than London, Paris, and Rome with history dating back to 1200 BC. However, many of the historical buildings were destroyed in a massive earthquake and tsunami in 1755 that killed around 30,000 people. So what we are seeing in the way of cathedrals, museums, and monuments may not be original. One area, Alfama, is still intact. The most familiar sites associated with Lisbon, happens to be The Belem Tower, Jeronimos Monastery, and the Monument to the Discoveries. A good way to see most of the high lights would be to take the ho-ho bus, which cost $24 USD if bought on the ship.
Outside the major cities, you’ll find medieval castles, white-washed villages, wine estates, and groves of cork trees. Also in the countryside, you’ll see granite mountain peaks, lush river valleys, and virgin forests. There is a passion here among the locals for family, food, and music. As for dining, they love their seafood stew or seafood and rice. The most favorite drinks are the various table wines, and the best port wine ever from the Douro Valley.
Trademarks include Fado (music), football, salted cod, cork, and wine, specifically port.
We were not alone today since the MSC Meravigilia followed us from Cadiz. One Costa ship was in port, the Favolosa at 114,500 gross tons launched in 2011. She holds from 3100 to 3800 passengers. It is described as an upbeat Italian-decorated ship for family cruising. Be prepared for a series of announcements made in six languages. They are Italian, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish. Last but not least….English. A Ponant vessel, Le Champlain, is possibly 11 thousand gross ton, a baby by comparison, and may hold 260 passengers. Berlitz says it exudes French ambience.
The Amsterdam arrived to the port early with a scenic sailing into the River Tagus. We had not realized that Lisbon rolls were being served on some decks, along with orange juice and coffee. The ship was docked by 9am more or less. As always, the guests had lined up to be first off, and the gangway clogged with folks getting off for organized tours. Hamish announced for people to wait, but when we attempted to come down the stairwell to access our room, the stairs were full of a few impatient people, who would not move. Thinking we were cutting the line, they deliberately blocked our way. Sometimes this happens towards the end of a very long cruise….a few folks begin to get cranky. Sure would not want to be on an excursion bus with those people. Been there, done that. No thanks.
Then we heard an unusual request by Hamish, our cruise director. He announced that unless you were able to go down the gangway without the assistance of a wheelchair or electric scooter, you could not leave the ship. Hamish put the blame on the local port authorities. Funny thing was they had just escorted one lady who was not able to walk on her own, but had to be helped down the gangway with a lot of help. Not sure how people that had booked tours, then were told they could not debark, would take that information kindly? Expect World War III.
Sleeping in a little later than usual, we were about the only ones in the dining room for breakfast this morning. Our breakfast meal is a simple one, not taking a lot of time to prepare, so we did not hold anyone up. We were reminded it was Easter Sunday when we saw the beautiful flower arrangements in the dining room entry, along with some large chocolate Easter bunny treats on the reception counter. Reminded us of the old days, when Easter meant the Grand Buffet with the tables full of delicious food and decorated with dozens of chocolate Easter bunnies. We saw the last of those buffets a couple of years ago, and all we have now are the photos that it really happened. During the morning, the Easter bunny had delivered two boxes of Seattle’s Best candy bars along with an Easter greeting card to everyone.
We waited before we left the ship to avoid the back-up. Although we have been to Lisbon once in 2008, we had taken an eight hour tour to Sintra and Cacais with a lunch and a stop at a seaside resort on the way back. We never saw the city of Lisbon. So today, we planned to follow the ship’s port guide to navigate our way to the main sights. Well, It was a good thing that we picked up a tourist map in the terminal, because the ship’s map was nearly useless. This was a day of how to get lost in Lisbon. If we had the time to watch Ian’s talk on what to do and see here, it may have helped. But every time we turned to the channel to watch it, something else was on.
Heading straight uphill on the cobbled winding alleyways, brought us to the imposing Church of Santa Engracia, a 17th century church that has been converted into the National Pantheon. It was closed, but we still got good photos of the structure from the outside. From here, we continued working our way up the narrow cobbled streets, steeper than those in San Francisco. We discovered that once we were traveling the narrow streets, it was difficult to get our bearings. The river was not visible, nor any of the major structures were out of sight. Going through the arch at Campo Santa Clara, we ended up at the Se Cathedral, the oldest city church built in 1150. It was locked up tightly, even though today was Easter Sunday.
Our best bet was to follow either the numerous tuk-tuks, or continue in the direction of the tram tracks. By the way, most of the tuk-tuks had seating that would not have cooperated with stiff knees, so we nixed the idea of hiring one. As for taking one of the trams, that was not the best idea, because people were jammed like sardines in those trains too. What an opportunity for pickpockets. We did come across the historical Opera House, then found the nice square across from a firehouse to sit and study the real map. Realizing that the map had street names, but it reality, not one of these streets were labeled, as were none of the buildings or houses. So we ended up heading in the wrong direction, like sort of lost.
What we had been looking for Avenida da Liberdade where a Hard Rock Café was located. Not to eat lunch, but we wanted to buy a city tee shirt. We found out later that it was closed for Easter Sunday anyway.(Reminder: check this out online before searching.) So we asked a young mom for directions, who was waiting for a bus with her child. She spoke not one word of English, and since we do not understand Portuguese, we could only rely on hand signals. Laughing the whole time, she indicated for us to go downhill on a cross street. In this area, we did see locals out and about in small cafes, doing daily shopping. Also, it was interesting to see how many buildings used tile on the front instead of painted concrete. The older the buildings, the most tile was used.
By the time we navigated all the way downhill, we found out where we were by stopping at a map stall with the hop-on, hop-off bus maps. The young Indian girl spoke perfect English and indicated where we were on the map. And by going downhill, we would end up at the major hub in the Baixa District, full of shopping and dining opportunities.
This area was full of locals and tourists, and just the place to look for a suitable lunch venue. With all of the ships in port today, most all of the eateries were full to capacity. However, there were a few tables empty in one of the alleyways, and the food looked really good. So a waiter handed us menus, complete with photos of their food, and we took two seats in their center patio. The name of the café was Taberna 90, and within minutes, we had two large Caneca draft beers, one chorizo pizza, followed with a slice of moist chocolate brigadeiro cake. Relaxing for over an hour was most welcomed. One thing we took note of immediately, was the fact that the waiter pulled our handbag way under our table, and not next to the walkway. They know how quickly the purse could have been swiped. Sad, but always a factor in a big city worldwide. On our way here, we had passed by an incredibly long line of folks waiting to use the elevator by the name of Santa Justa Lift that took them to the higher streets. If we had the time to wait, we could have toured the famous castle, Castelo de Sao Jorge at 360 feet high. But our time was limited.
Continuing our walk, we checked out all of the old shopping area with souvenir shops, European clothing, and listening to the street artists. One fellow was playing a saw…..a real saw, creating a weird out-of-this-world melody. Many souvenir tables were located here, and we purchased a novelty necklace with blue and pink stones. Then we passed through the Arco da Rua Augusta, a massive arch that is a symbol of triumph for Lisbon, that was reborn from the ashes of the 1755 earthquake and tsunami that killed over 30,000 people. This impressive structure took 100 years to complete. This led to the Praco do Comercio, the gigantic public square overlooking the River Tagus. In the center was a statue of King Jose I posing on his horse. Had we known it would have been easy to access this site a mile from the ship, we could have begun here earlier in the morning. Oh well, now we know.
Walking the waterfront brought us back to the ship in time for the sail away after 6pm. Going to the Seaview Pool, we got some great shots as we left the river, seeing the major monuments and the suspension bridge, Ponte Salazar Bridge built in 1966. It resembles the San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge in color only. It was designed by the same person that created the Bay Bridge, also in San Francisco. Once we entered the Atlantic Ocean, we turned north for our next port for tomorrow in Leixoes, Portugal.
All of us were present for dinner tonight, enjoying the Easter decorations and the waiters dressed in pastel-colored vests and ties. We found it odd that the chocolate Easter bunnies in the entrance were still wrapped in cellophane. No one will eat these, so why not display them without the coverings? Greg and Heo had purchased two boxes of nata pastries while in town today, and shared them with us for dessert. Since we had not seen these on the menu in town, we were pleasantly surprised to taste this little pastry that is famous here. They were similar to mini custard cups in a flaky pastry shell. On our way out, the chocolate bunnies were missing, so maybe somebody will be eating them.
The show tonight was Dance, performed by the dancers and singers of the Amsterdam. These kids are very talented and fill the lounge every performance.
Bill & Mary Ann
Tuesday, April 23, 2019
Report #93 Lisbon, Portugal April 21, 2019 Sunday Partly sunny & 64 degrees
