Monday 14 October 2019
For this week Patricia and I had planned a short trip to Lisbon, mainly because the cruise ship P&O Azura was docking on the 15th and Patricia's daughter was on board. She works for them as a masseuse, and because of her work she could invite visitors.
The plan was to visit Sintra on the second day and Lisbon on the third, before we would return home again.
Tuesday 15 October 2019
We leave on the early train from Vila Nova da Baronia to Sete Rios where we catch the metro to the cruise port Santa Apolónia. Although we are quite used by now to use public transport everywhere, we are still surprised every time that we have arrived safe and well at the correct destination! :-)
We walk to the cruise ship and go through the workings of immigration, not unlike that of an international airport. Dianne is then contacted and she arrives to welcome us on board. First off we have coffee together, or rather, you could call it an early lunch. It's a very lovely buffet lunch at that. Next we get the tour of the ship, and I mean, the grand tour, because the crew quarters as well as the bridge are included (upon special request by Dianne).
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The Ponte 25 de Abril of Lisbon, looks so very
much like the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco |
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| Beautiful view over Lisbon |
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| Behind me a flag for every port |
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It's a pity the photograph doesn't show the tiniest
of joysticks. It steers the whole ship! |
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| Marion in the captain's chair |
The photographs on the bridge were taken by an officer. I suspect that we were not allowed to take photos, so that was a kind gesture.
After a brief visit of Alfama, the part of Lisbon where the ships dock, we return to the ship for afternoon tea, which again was lovely. While enjoying the good food and a bit of banter Patricia asked me what I thought of the ship and a possible cruise. My reply was: "I think I could get used to this...", upon which Patricia immediately said: "I wish I had recorded that for Kevin!"
Now, you need to know that I have never been one for going on a cruise. It's just not my thing. However, Kevin has been on various cruises and has asked me a while back if I would join him on one. I have promised to do so, and will go with an open mind. Of course, Patricia knew about this and that's why she asked me the question. In the end we set up this little thing of recording my response to her question, so she could show it to Kevin. :-) Patricia put it up on facebook for all the world, and Kevin of course, to see. How mean can friends get..... ;-) Hahaha
Between early lunch and afternoon tea we had enough time to explore a bit of Lisbon. We walked first to the nearest geocache, of course, as the three of us are all geocachers, and after that walked through Alfama.
#2125 - Welcome to Lisbon (cache)
On our walk we pass some kind of market stalls, mainly aimed at tourists of course, where we try the local ginja for which Portugal is famous. You'll find the description below, but we did not get it served with a piece of fruit in the bottom of the cup. We're only tourists at a street market.... :-)
"Ginjinha or simply Ginja, is a Portuguese liqueur made by infusing ginja berries (sour cherry, Prunus cerasus austera, the Morello cherry) in alcohol (aguardente is used) and adding sugar together with other ingredients. Ginjinha is served in a shot form with a piece of the fruit in the bottom of the cup."
After having tried this we need to have a go at an espresso (for me, coffee for the others) with a pastel de nata. Again a short explanation below:
"Pastel de nata, also known as Portuguese custard tart, is a Portuguese egg tart pastry dusted with cinnamon."
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| Many house have tiled fronts |
Near the above church we found another cache.
#2126 - The Colors of the Lisbon Cathedral (earth cache)
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| View over the lower part of Lisbon |
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| A short trip in a Tuk Tuk |
After our afternoon tea on the ship we said goodbye to Dianne, collected our passports from immigration and walked to the metro station to travel to our place for the night, an airbnb room near the Sete Rios railway station.
I didn't remember to take pictures. It was basic, but clean and the people were friendly enough. The price was probably right for the centre of Lisbon, but without breakfast I thought it could have been less. Anyway, a bed for the night and a roof over our heads. We shouldn't complain.
Wednesday 16 October
A very laid-back day, spent mostly on the train and bus(ses). We took the train to Sintra, after a simple, but nice breakfast at a local bakery. At Sintra we felt like a cup of coffee while contemplating the day and thinking about which tour we were going to go on. We decided on a hop-on-hop-off bus which would take us to the places we wanted to see and more.
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| Quinta da Regaleira |
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| Castelo dos Mouros at the top |
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| The view from up top |
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I climbed and walked along those walls, but not with great ease.
Heights are not my thing, but I was determined to see the sights. |
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| And they were worth it! |
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| Patricia preferred to wait down at the bottom |
As we were tired of all the walking, and we would have to do a lot more, we gave the Pena Castle a miss. It would become quite expensive to pay for entry to the castle, the gardens and an optional bus to bring us to the top. We went back to Sintra and, after another cuppa took the bus to Cascais in the south. Took only a few pictures on the way, because we did not get off the bus until back at Sintra.
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| Lighthouse on the way to Cascais |
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| Beaches |
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| Great views |
At
Sintra we had an early dinner at the little restaurant where we had been for lunch and coffee earlier. They did a great meal of hot chips and some kind of pizza sub. That would have to make do for the evening, as we were going back to our B&B.
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| Inside the Sintra railway station |
Thursday 17 October 2019
This was to be our last day in Lisbon and after breakfast at our local bakery we hoped to get on the Lisbon hop-on-hop-off bus. This seemed very easy, but wasn't...
The first bus left us standing at the bus stop. At the second Patricia wanted to use her credit card, but these buses of course don't except cards, so off we went in search of an ATM. We found one at the big shopping centre, where I took the opportunity to go to the toilet and promptly lost my umbrella. Got it back at 'lost and found', luckily. Patricia got her money, so back to the bus stop. It had stopped raining, which was a good thing. The first stop of interest, when we finally got on a bus, was the Tower of Belem.
There were scores of people selling cork handbags, dirt cheap, and they all disappeared when the police came to investigate. :-)
We missed the bus stop for the monument Padrão dos Descobrimentos, so we decide to walk to the monument and pick up the bus from there. On the way we pass a few market stalls and feel like having lunch, so we buy a serving of french fries.
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No points for guessing which is the Dutch and
which is the Aussie portion. ;-) |
It's quite a walk to the monument, but we finally get there, take some pictures and cross underneath the highway to the other side to catch the bus.
After that we don't really have a lot of time to get off at the various stops, because we want to catch the train home at 5pm, so that I don't have to drive home in the dark.
We check with the driver and work out what we can do. We change from the 'red line' to the 'blue line' and stay on the bus all the way to Sete Rios, where we have a cup of coffee and another of those nice pastries and catch the 5 o'clock train home.
The day could still have ended in a disaster as, against my normal routine, I don't check the stations after we change trains in Casa Branca. I am solving puzzles and leave the rest to Patricia, who, all of a sudden says: "I think we're there, but I am not sure. Can't see the name of the station!" I hurriedly pack up my things and we run to the door. We find out that we are indeed at our destination! So close to disaster. It doesn't bear thinking about.
Anyway, we made it and drive home where we have an early night after all the walking and taking in the myriad of impressions.
The rest of the week is not very interesting. On Friday we really need a rest and on Saturday it's raining, so all we do is the necessary shopping
Sunday 20 October 2019
The weather cleared sufficiently on Sunday to get in the car and drive to Beja, where we went for a bit of sightseeing. It's a smaller town than Evora, but still a pleasure to walk through the narrow streets and find things of delight. It's an old town, partially walled in and protected in the past by a fortress.
We spoke to a friendly staff member of the tourist office who, upon hearing that we were from Australia, gave us a little present.
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A miniature hoe which will nicely
fit in my dollshouse shed ;-) |
As we had just arrived we were ready for a cup of coffee and I tried one of the local biscuits, which tasted real good.
Fortified we go and explore the 'castle' which really is more like a fortress.
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| A view from the walls (not the tower!) |
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| Inside the tower |
We also walk into a little gift shop and with the help of the translator on my phone we have a chat with the lady who owns the shop. She tells us all about the nativity scenes that she sells and how they are made and by whom. So very kind. I decided that I had to buy a little souvenir for someone at home..... I would have bought a lot more, but my weight allowance is more restricted than usual this time.
Well, that was the end of our third week. I took a different road home than the one we had come on, so we saw a bit more of the countryside.
We finished the day with some beautiful cloud formations.
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