Lisbon

Lisbon

21^st 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.