Lisbon

The nights cruise was quite rocky. Rocky enough that Kathy decided to go up on deck in her pajamas at 4am to see what was going on. She found a stormy sea and pouring rain, which didn't sooth her much. As we awoke the porthole darkened. No not the storm, in steerage we were below dock level and looking out onto black rock. We had arranged to breakfast in the posh side, and after filling up for the day we grabbed our thing and set foot on Portuguese soil, the first time for Ian and me. 

As we exited the port we could see long queues for dimly looking TukTuks, taxis, HOHO buses, and regular buses, but Kathy, our transport executive, had found out that the metro was only a stones throw away. She was right! It was just over the road under the train station. It cost us just over a euro each for a return ticket (although Ian did nearly buy 77 return tickets) and was practically empty. We managed to buy the tickets and get through the barriers

We were pondering where to go when a pleasant young man tried out his English to direct us, and he didn't even try to rob us! Two stops later and we were exiting in the centre of Lisbon. 

Alex and Vicky steered us down to the main square as they had visited Lisbon earlier in the year. 

It is right by the sea

They then departed for a subtrip of their own to a monastery, while we headed for a tower. 

It looked nice but the queue was long, so we decided to try to find a ruined church Vicky had mentioned.  It was up quite a steep hill but we dragged mum to the top and rewarded ourselves with a lovely coffee in an open air cafe. 

It was right by the church we were looking for, which apparently had become ruined after an earthquake and fire! 

It also contained two very creepy Peruvian child mummies. 

We toiled back down the hill and came to another nice square with a fountain

Here, Ian and Chris decided on a sidetrip up the other steep hill to the castle, leaving me, mum and Kathy to stroll past the shops back to the square, having purchased some of the famous Lisbon custard tarts on the way. We sat on the statues steps and had a feast of tart, orange and peach. 

That left us just a short stroll back to the metro station, two stations later we were back at the boat. 

We had time for some cheese

and biscuits and a (frankly chilly) sun bed book reading session, then a quick quiz on heroes and villains (10 out of 10 but we lost on the tiebreak) before (a frankly very chilly) sail away. 

Vicky and Alex were able to point out the monastery they had visited, and we went under a very low seeming bridge, then were out at sea again. 

We had a pre dinner drink in the Horizons bar, then dinner, before trying to find a seat in High Spirits for the game show. No dice, it was jammed, so some of us retired and some had a final drink in Raffles before doing the same. 

Next up, The Beach