Today we are in the country of Portugal. The capital of the country is Lisbon (our port of call), and the population is 10.8 million people that speak Portuguese. Lisbon is located up the Rio Tejo, and has a wonderful scenic sail into the port. Just like in Spain, this country is filled with Medieval castles, cobblestone villages, and golden beaches. They have more museums and Cathedrals that one can count. Portugal has a long history from the Celts, Romans, Visigoths, Moors and Christians. All have left their mark on the towns and cities. This country, which borders Spain, has 800 kilometers of coastline. Lisbon today has a reputation of having people-packed bar-lined streets. In other words, it has a thriving nightlife, which we will not see since the ship will be leaving around 8:30pm.
What do the local like to eat? Number one has to be pastries, like pastel de nata or custard tarts. Or they crave travesseira or puff pastries with almond custard. How about tinned fish such as sardines, mackerel, or tuna? They put these on crackers or bread for a quick little snack. Francesiha is a thick open face sandwich with cheese, supposedly good for a hangover. Marzipan is a sweet confection that goes with grilled chicken covered with a hot piri piri sauce. Bifana is a bread roll with fried pork. And the wine goes well with all of it, of course.
Shore excursions today included Lisbon highlights for $70 for 3 ½ hours, as well as Lisbon and Estoril for the same price and duration. Medieval Obidos was $80 for 4 ½ hours, while Lisbon on foot and funicular was $80 for 4 ½ hours. For $130 and 8 hours, you could book the Fatima and Batalha trip. Lisbon sites was $130 for 7 ½ hours and Sintra, Cascais & Queluz was $100 for 4 ½ hours. We had done this last one, but with a lunch included, the first time we visited Lisbon. It happened to be Easter Sunday, and we decided to leave town. It was a very nice tour.
Early this morning there was scenic cruising from the Crow's Nest and the promenade deck with commentary from Ian. It began at 8am and ended by 10am. Although it was very chilly on our veranda (temps in the 50's) , we did watch some of the sailing into the river and the approach to Lisbon. We did get some good photos, because we will be leaving at 8:30pm and it will be dark. Going to breakfast later than usual, but still were able to get Lisbon rolls (really Panama rolls) thanks to our waiter Danu who went and found four of them. We had just missed some excitement due to the fact when the ship had turned to enter the river, it listed dramatically at least twice, and some plates went flying off on the floor. Of course the plates broke everywhere. But it was already cleaned up when we came in late.
We were finally docked by 10am, but the ship was not cleared until closer to 10:30am. It took forever for them to line the ship up for the connecting gangway onshore. Ian had to come on the speakers and mentioned that we were running late, and the guests with tours had to chill out by a bit. . Now everyone on tour has to wait in the World Stage, and we suppose the natives were getting restless. Oddly enough, we had no TV reception in the rooms all day. This has been happening so much lately, that we don't even bother to ask why. There are a number of guests that rarely leave the ship, and enjoy watching TV in their rooms. Bet they are not happy campers.
In order to keep up with our blog, we have been staying onboard a bit later, such as noon today. We hate falling behind so this keeps us up to date, and since we were just walking the town, going off closer to lunchtime made more sense. The ship was fairly close to town, but we still had a long walk to access the big terminal, and walk back the same distance towards the downtown area. Two other ships were docked even further away. One was the Ponant L'Austral, and the other was the Semester at Sea which we saw while in Casablanca. The good thing was that the entire walk was flat and slightly uphill.
The weather was in our favor. Despite the early morning low temps, it did warm up a lot. So much so, that we still wore our shorts and short sleeve t-shirts. The last time we were here, we had no map, and had failed to listen to the port talk. So we ended up hiking uphill to a big cathedral and even higher up to another church. Thinking this was the direction to the center of town, we discovered we were lost as we were on our way to another district. Asking some locals directions was not helpful, as they did not speak any English. Nor did we speak or understand Portuguese. Finally we stopped at a newspaper kiosk, and the man understood enough to point out the street to follow that would take us to the center of town. Feeling like we had walked many miles, we did come into the correct area, Baixa where all the action was. Today we simply turned left out of the terminal and found that the main square was pretty close. However, listening to the port talk, we were led to believe it was a 5- minute walk to town. Not by a long shot, even for us, getting to the terminal then finding our way to the street outside took 15 minutes alone. Then it was easily another 15 to 20 minutes to walk to the main entrance to town and the Arco da Rua Augusta.
There were so many different types of rides available such as tuk-tuks, taxis, the Ho-Ho bus, local buses, and of course, tours either the ship ones or private ones. The best tuk-tuk had a large stuffed tiger on the roof, making it really easy to find your ride. Even though today was a Monday, it got crazy crowded after entering the main square and going under their most impressive arch. They believe in doing things big here.
Having enjoyed a nice lunch the last time we were here, we searched the same alleyway where a small café called Taberna 90 was located. Had we ventured deeper on one of the side streets where the store Zara was located, we would have found it. However, we did know there was a Hard Rock Café nearby, and by following the map from the brochure we picked up, we finally saw it behind the Theater, another impressive but imposing building. The square where the theater and other monuments are located were lined solid with restaurants, cafes, and hotels that occupied former colonial buildings.
As luck would have it, we ran right into Greg and Heo along with Ginni who were out enjoying the pastries and coffee at a small venue. They had also seen a billboard for the Hard Rock, and pointed the way there. They ended up getting a tour with one of the taxi or tuk-tuk vendors.
We were not sure if we would dine at the Hard Rock Café, but when we arrived, there was a short wait for a table for two with a high- top table and chair. We decided to stay. The place was jumping with many people of all ages enjoying the surroundings and the music video. Not sure we wanted to sit under the car that was suspended from the high ceiling though. We had a nice waiter who brought us two Sagres draft beers (really nice), and an appetizer pizza platter. You could never be bored in this café as there had to be at least four birthdays celebrated with singing from a gathering of the waiters. All of the diners joined in the clapping. We ended the light meal with another apple cobbler dessert.
On our way out, we did stop in their shop and picked up a city T-shirt. Their prices were a little lower than in Malaga, but not by much. So walking back, we went down a narrow side street, staying off of the busy and crowded avenue. Passing the tower with the elevator, we remembered the café was down an alleyway or two. And there it was, Taberna 90 with a complete Italian/Portuguese menu just like we remembered. Their pizzas were larger, and naturally far less money than the HRC. If we ever come back, we will remember this café.
We had to squeeze our way down the avenue there were so many people now. The usual vendors were not set up under the arches, like that last time we were here. There were many policemen though. It was surprising that a message had to be written on the front of today's Daily Program warning the guests of pickpockets and the like while in the city. We do recall that our waiter at Taberna 90 back in 2019 had pushed my bag under my chair, a reminder than someone could snatch it and run. Sadly, it happens all of the time, and not just here.
The hike back to the ship was nice, since the sun was out and there was a breeze. The streets had become even busier with people on those rented scooters and bikes. When we reached the terminal building, the way we had come out was closed. We had to go up another escalator where we saw a large number of passengers in a line to begin a voyage on the Ponant ship. We did not see the other door for the Zuiderdam guests to enter. Going back down, we searched for another entrance, but had no luck. Going back up, we saw the door for us and went through their xray and the long walk back to board the ship. Perhaps this information on returning should have been explained in the port talk.
The most fun was watching the massive delivery of stores for the ship. This has to be the largest delivery of food and supplies since we left Ft. Lauderdale. They were loading from 10am to well after 8pm. Hope there are some fresh berries and Greek yogurt in the mix. Bet we have no idea how close we came to running out of many staples. The recent menus pretty much reflected the absence of food.
Dinner time found only six of us, as Susie was not there. But that is their story to tell, and we all pray she will be better soon. The appetizers were good – Portuguese soup and salt fish cake. The soup was by far better and way less salty than the fish cake. Caesar salad was a good back-up. Mains for us were the pork schnitzel, which needed more lingonberry sauce which had been thinned with something else to stretch it. A trick the chefs are doing more and more for the late-seating diners we suspect. There is no doubt that the chicken noodle soup is often watered down at dinnertime. Greg had made a pass through the Portuguese Lido Event, and brought us some of the custard tarts. They were really good, especially warm. We had a long conversation with Oscar why these events are happening in the Lido, and not in the dining room. Bottom line, it saves the company more money that way. That seems to be the same excuse for many things that have been missing on this particular world cruise.
The ship left after 8:30pm, with only the lights of the city to be seen. The scenic trip out was not as good as this morning.
The last thing we all needed was the notice that the clocks had to be pushed ahead one hour tonight. That will put us back on Spain time. On the other hand, with tomorrow being a sea day, we can sleep in a little later.
Bill & Mary Ann
