Lisbon

Lisbon, Portugal

Known as the "city of the explorers", Lisbon launched many adventurers to discover new lands but there is plenty here to explore too.

Lisbon is another new port for us. As we have a long day here... all aboard 10.30pm.... we have decided to venture out into the countryside. We have a private tour booked with Louis who is essentially a taxi driver but does tours. Louis was there to meet us with his comfortable air conditioned taxi van at 9am. There were 6 of us on this tour which made the seating quite comfortable as the van could have seated 8 people. Our tour was for 8 hours and the basic itinerary was to visit Sintra and Cascais.

There were taxis at the port offering tours of Lisbon and the countryside for reasonable prices... friends booked one of these taxi tours for 150 euros (between 3 people) for around an 8 hour tour. Most ports we have been to have had taxis offering tours at reasonable prices.

Our first stop was to visit a view over the city at Edward VII park. The view was not as good as it could have been as it was early in the day and there was fog still blanketing the city. We then travelled onto the National Palace of Queluz. This was the royal residence, located around 15 minutes from Lisbon and is a landmark of both Portuguese architecture and landscape design. Its significant collection reflects the taste of the 18th and 19th century courts and includes baroque, rococo and neo-classical pieces. We had about an hour and a half to explore this delightful palace. One of the main gardens was under reconstruction which was a shame but our visit was very enjoyable and interesting.

We then drove onto the heritage listed town of Sintra where we stopped for coffee. The town was a buzz with tourists and the coffee was good.... very good! We could have spent more time exploring this beautiful little town.

Onwards then to the Park and Palace of Pena situated in the Sintra region. The Park and Palace of Pena are the finest examples of 19th century Portuguese Romanticism and the integration of natural and built heritage and constitute the most important part of the Cultural Landscape of Sintra's World Heritage site. So different to the first Palace we went to but well worth a visit. We were very lucky that we purchased a combined entrance ticket at the first Palace as there were long queues here and lots more people.

We then headed for the beachside town of Cascais where we planned to have a break for lunch. On the way we stopped off at Cabo da Roca which is the western most point of Europe for the usual photo.

Cascais is a lovely beachside area full of tourists... a bit like the Gold Coast. As our time was limited we walked along the seafront then headed for a cafe for our lunch. Lunch choices were once again not ideal but the break was welcomed as I seem to be coming down with a head cold or am allergic to something!

Our tour time now was almost over so we headed back to Lisbon where we elected to be dropped into the main part of the city to walk around and eventually have dinner before getting a taxi back to the ship. Interestingly the taxi cost us 10 euro between 4 of us and Princess were charging $19.95 per person for a rerun trip... rip off I would say!!

I did not let my impending cold get the better of me and filled my wine glass and headed to the back of the ship for sailaway with a somewhat smaller group as it was now 11pm!!

A couple of nighttime Codrals and bed was good!!

Two sea days to recover before our next port of call... Cobh in Cork.

Quick facts:

Founded: by the Phoenicians as early as 1200BC

Region: Lisbon is the capital of Portugal and is the largest western most city in Europe and lies on the Iberian Peninsula on the Atlantic Ocean and the Tagus River.

Population: 550,000

Climate: warm with mild winters and mild to hot summers

Language: Portuguese

Currency: Euro