Lisbon
21st April
Unfortunately we had an emergency call into
Teneriffe en route from Cape Verde to Lisbon.
This was because there was a member of staff who was taken seriously ill
that morning. We all hope he will be OK.
On Easter Sunday the galley had made a
beautiful display of Easter Eggs, which we looked at prior to going to a formal
dinner in the Alexandria Restaurant.
Despite the delay at Teneriffe, the Captain
made up the lost time and arrived on schedule into Lisbon. Our berth was just upstream of the Lisbon
suspension bridge built by an American company and modeled on the Golden Gate
Bridge in San Francisco. Also near the
Bridge was a statue similar to the Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, but this
time not shrouded in fog.
Our tour today was entitled Lisbon by Land
and Water, where we boarded a luxury boat for a two hour trip up and down the
shore line of Lisbon on the River Tigres.
The trip included a light snack consisting of sandwiches and Geoffrey’s
favourite custard tarts, that Portugal is famous for.
After a pleasant and relaxing trip we
re-boarded the coach for a tour of the town, where we elected not to return to
the ship but to be dropped off in the centre of town to explore at our leisure.
After an hour wandering around the streets
admiring the architecture, the squares, and of course the shops, we stopped at
a roadside restaurant for a cool beer and Mozarella salad. We took the opportunity of a free wi-fi
connection to Facetime both Nicola and Andrew, although it was difficult to
hear due to the incessant noise from the various street buskers.
After spending the afternoon exploring more
of this beautiful city we stopped at a local café for a coffee and three more
of those famous custard tarts, whilst using the free wi-fi to listen to
Charlton beating Sheffield Wednesday 3-2 to secure a valuable three points.
Reluctantly we had to return to our ship to
start our final journey back to Southampton .
We arrived safely at Southampton and
struggled ashore with our 6 cases plus hand luggage and bags to be met by Tom who
drove us home (thanks Tom), where we had a reality check- despite us dreaming
the fairies had NOT finished the new kitchen whilst we were away! Oh we!l !! we have had a wonderful trip with
many happy memories.
