Lisbon, Portugal

Sunday, July 22

Spread across steep, dramatic hillsides that are peppered with charming stone houses, and overlooking the Rio Trejo, the capital of Portugal offers a cornucopia of delights.  There's everything you'd expect from a European city... impressive cathedrals, Gothic monasteries, markets, cafes,museums, cobbled streets, castles and a beautiful coastline.

Founded: possibly as early as 1200BC

Region: The capital city of Portugal, is the largest westernmost city in Europe.  It lies on the western Iberian Peninsular on the Atlantic Ocean and the beautiful Tagus River.

Population: 550,000 (2013)

Climate: A warm climate with mild winters and warm to hot summers.

Language: Portuguese 

Currency: Euro (EUR)

We had a very picturesque sail into Lisbon as our arrival time was midday this meant that everyone was up and about.  Being out on deck gave you a false sense of coolness as the breeze caused by the ship was quite cold.  This was very quickly realised when walking from the pier into the main square. It was hot.... over 30degrees hot!!

I had organised a walking tour with Sylvia, a local guide.  This was scheduled to start at 4pm when it was hopefully a bit cooler and was for 3 hours.

The plan was to meet Sylvia at Miradouro Sai Pedro de Alacantara which is at the top of the cable car (Elevador de Gloria) for the best view over the city.

We then walked down the hill through the Baird Alto, the party neighbourhood of Lisbon with a short stop at the Church San Roque.  This church has a very plain exterior but a highly decorated interior with lots of gold.

After walking through the Carmo Convent and Square we arrived at the Santa Justa elevator for another close up view over the City.

Walking on through the cobbled streets of the city we came to a little old bar to taste Gingi which is a traditional liquor made with cherries.

More walking to get to the Alfama Quarter which is the oldest part of Lisbon and survived the devastating earthquake of 1755 and was very close to the ship.

This is where our tour ended and where we planned to have dinner before reboarding the ship.  Our guide, Sylvia recommended a good local restaurant and made a booking for the four of us.  We had about 45 minutes until our booking time so we headed for a local bar to rest our feet and rehydrate our weary bodies.

Dinner was great.... for me lobster and shrimp risotto....

After dinner we met up with other friends for coffee before heading back to the ship for our 10.30 curfew.

Another beautiful day in Lisbon.... such a pretty place and another perfect summer's day.

Tomorrow is a much needed Sea day and then another sea day before we get to Southampton where roughly 600 are disembarking and we are catching up with family.

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