Tuesday May 7, 2024 – Lisbon, Portugal
We rose at 6AM and with coffee in hand, we were out on the balcony as we entered the River Tagus and our final approach to the City of Lisbon under the 25th of April Bridge (previously named for the dictator Salazar) with it’s Christ the Redeemer statue, similar to that at the entrance to the harbor of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and berthing, Port to dock at the passenger terminal of Lisbon. We were glad to be back in this, one of the oldest Capitals of the world and the Westernmost of Europe on the Atlantic Ocean. It pre-dates Rome, London, Paris and others by several hundred years. During the Roman occupation, Julius Caesar named it the Municipality of Felicitad Julia Obispo. It was ruled by a series of German tribes from the 5th Century, then Captured by the Moors in the 8th Century and in 1147 the Crusaders under Alfonso Henríquez reconquered the city and since then it has been a major Portuguese City. It is known as the City of (yellow) Trams and “Tuk-Tuk’s that resemble Ford Model T’s”, as that is a major form of transportation throughout the hilly city.
Today, we decided to do a different type of tour and 11 of us met outside the terminal and walked 1/2 mile along the river waterfront, to the embarkation point of our RIB aquatic transportation!!! A RIB, for those not familiar with the term is a “Rubber or Rigid Inflatable Boat” and is essentially a rubber dingy with a strong outboard motor and two columns of seats comprising some 5-7 rows. We put on our life jackets and took our seats, one behind the other (Anne and I were in the second row) and were given brief instructions by Faustino, the guide and sometime comedian and entertainer. First, when we get to the middle of the river everyone stand up and jump overboard in front of the oncoming ferry!!! I say “sometime jester”!!! Anyway, we soon took off and bounced over the wakes of other boats in the busy harbor, stopping first in front of the town and near our ship. This gave us the opportunity to see our ship from the water, which was great as well as to have him point out some buildings.
We then crossed the river to the southern side to see an old frigate that was built as a warship and travelled the equivalent of 5 times around the world, but never saw action. From there we continued along the southern coast and stopped in front of the statue of Christ. Near there one could see an external elevator that took people up and down the steep escarpment to the beach, from the residential area on top of the hills. We then passed under the 25th April bridge going out towards the Atlantic Ocean, topping in front of a fascinating building that looked like an eye lid with a central eye, just peaking out of the ground. It is the Museum of Modern Art and Architecture. Next to that is a building resembling a ship that is the center of research for cancer and other diseases. Other stops included the fort / prison of the Belem Tower, the Museum of Electricity, the Monument to Discovery, with the statues of the famous Portuguese explorers along what appears to be the bow of a concrete ship setting out to sea. The final stop was opposite the main square – a very impressive 3 sided (the 4th is open to the River) set of identical white and yellow buildings, outside cafe’s, a central pillar and statue and a gate leading to the old part of the city. This was all reconstructed after the big earthquake that destroyed this part of town. We returned to the embarkation place, for the end of the tour. The 2 people in the front seats followed by Anne got off the vessel with no problem, but I made a true spectacle of myself not quite balanced, landing belly first on the quay, with legs thrashing around over the water and resembled a beached whale!!!! An amusing adventure for all who observed it, and other than a bit of embarrassment, I was soon on my feet and off to the rest of the adventures for the day.
It was a gorgeous sunny warm day, so we wandered over to the main square, where last time we had eaten in one of the sidewalk cafe’s and continued on to the left of the square (back to the river) and up the hills, meandering through the streets, stopping when we felt like it and ultimately found a nice little park with spectacular Jacaranda trees in full bloom, where we decided to sit at a table in the shade of the trees and enjoy a nice local brew. We continued our wandering, with a vague goal of looking for the Wine / Port tasting restaurant that Anne and her sisters had found during their “Sister’s trip” many years ago. It is called “The Old Pharmacy” as in its prior incarnation it was indeed a pharmacy, but now the shelves of medication were filled with a more enjoyable elixir!! After some asking, pointing and many left and right turns, we found the place on Rua do Diário de Noticias. Unfortunately it was closed, but we did look through the windows and Anne was able to reminisce of the fun times they had there. By this time it was 1:30PM and time to find a place for lunch. As we started down the steep hill, we were thankful it was not raining as we are sure it would be very slippery, we came upon a small plaza with an outside restaurant called “Sagres”. We ordered and soon were tucking into local Beer and two meat dishes which we shared each accompanied by salad, rice and fried potatoes. One was a Shish-Kebab on a skewer which was suspended vertically over a metal plate (for the drippings) by an arm on top of a post. We enjoyed the beef, sausage, and veggie mix. The other meat dish consisted of a raw piece of beef that was on top of a red-hot black stone and lots of garlic on top. You could cook the meat to your liking, so we turned it over, searing it together with the garlic and then butterflied it and cooked the inside. A fascinating and delicious meal. While eating we realized that we had inadvertently left a shopping bag of local trinkets at the beer stop at the top of the hill. Anne volunteered to go to the top of the hill to retrieve it while I wandered around “Municipal Square” that was on our way back to the ship. Anne was able to retrieve the bag and once reunited, we wandered back to the ship. However, since we had “been deprived” of a desert and knowing of an excellent Gelateria on the main square we indulged ourselves not only with mint, pistacho and mango ice cream, we also had mango and passion fruit smoothies. A superb way to end the visit to this fabulous city. We were glad that we had walked some 11 1/2 Kilometers, to at least partially defray the caloric indulgence.
Back on the ship, we rested, Anne did laundry and eventually had a small bite to eat and drank lots of water, watching the sail-away (with no fanfare) before enjoying the show by the Overtures – a British group of 4 people that sound and played a lot of the 1960’s music which was enjoyed by all the audience as most of us grew up in that decade and were familiar with all the myriad of songs they performed. A fun way to end the perfect day in Lisbon.
Roger & Anne Travels 