After leaving Dover we had had two full days at sea before arriving in Lisbon.
Day 4 Monday 19th August 2024: Lisbon
We had an early start in Lisbon as I managed to capture images of the celebration of Vasco da Gama and of course “25th April bridge”as we passed under it. Overhead, we could see planes coming into land almost every two minutes.
Here’s Commercial Square in the streets that lead up into the city itself.
There was an MSC ship already moored at the cruise terminal as we approached.
Into Lisbon
After breakfast, we walked along the quay to the cruise terminal. Then outside we walked passed the car park and we crossed to follow the road into the city. At pedestrianised street we and with the crowds. The cafés were just opening and setting up their tables in the middle of the pavements.
We turned right rather than carrying on through the squares towards Hard Rock and the Gloria tram. THen right down R. da Madalena.
Escadinhas de São Cristóvão
Elevador Castelo
Further down we we could see signs for a lift and for a supermarket. The lift doors were scratched and covered in graffiti or just words. There were seven floors as well as the ground floor and we pressed seven. The lift definitely looked and felt dodgy. We were joined by a couple. The woman exploded with laughter at the newspaper she had picked up. In a very American voice she explained that it was in English. They left the lift with all their shopping on level three.
The lift stopped and to our left we could see a restaurant and a wide open viewing area. The front of us we could see a busy street and we joined the stream of fellow tourists. Looking back down the steep street we were grateful for having used the lift to get us up to the top of hill.
We followed the crowds up the hill to the castle. When we reached the side street that had signs pointing into the castle we decided to stop. This street looked even steeper than the one we had just walked up!
Pastelaria Santo António
Nearby we could see a café on the corner. Inside the ground floor a baker was preparing “Pastéis de Nata”; trays upon trays of them.
Upstairs, we started the table and enjoyed our letters and cakes. Despite the floor to ceiling windows being open, the café was very hot as the sun was beating down through the open windows. After our rest we started our walk back towards the lift.
An American couple were posing by graffiti on the wall. Definitely not very welcoming once I realised what the graffiti said!
Mirador Elevador Castelo
The views from the viewing platform by the lift across Lisbon were spectacular. We could see the promenade way across the city where the Gloria tram stops and below the Belém Tower.
After leaving the lift we made our way back to the River Tagus.
Museum of beer
In Commercial Square we sat at a table the outside of the museum of beer. We were now in the shade and relaxed while we drank our “expensive “ beers.
On the ship
Walking back to the ship we kept to the backstreets away from the river. Then a few hundred yards we were again hot and tried to keep to the shadows. The streets we were on were below where we had been up the lift. Going through the security checked was easy and after the long walk back along the quay to the ship, we could finally get into air-conditioned shade!
We were too late for any of the lunch venues and instead we had a couple of open sandwiches in the Living Room. Then it was time to relax in the cabin and sit on our balcony, the ship left Lisbon at around 5 pm.
Leaving Lisbon
On our way out into the Atlantic the ship was passing what look like the flags for lobster pots. As we were on the port side we had views of The reef and the lighthouse that sat there.
Evening
We shared a table with another couple. This kept up our streak of having interesting dinner companions. Then we headed up to the Britannia lounge for the evening’s entertainment.
The act who performed as the sounds of Simon I promised a set of folk songs from Paul Simon‘s catalogue. The lounge was very busy but we did manage to find seats that gave us side views of the performers.
The two of them told jokes and gave lots of information about Paul Simon in between songs. Their last number was “The Boxer” but this time including the omitted verses from the version on the Graduate album. We did manage a couple of dances before calling it a night.
The next day was a Newport for us, Leixões and the city of Porto.