8^th July 2015 – Lisbon, Portugal

‘Draped across seven hills, Lisbon was once the center of a vast maritime empire that

stretched from the west coast of Africa to the Spice Islands of the East Indies.

Then, on November 1, 1755, a violent earthquake destroyed two-thirds of the city in the space of

10 minutes.

Only the Alfama, the old Moorish quarter, survived. Today, Lisbon is a stately city of Neoclassical buildings and wide plazas.

Eternally linked to the sea, Lisbon's magnificent harbor is spanned by the longest suspension bridge in Europe.’

Coming from the south you basically steam past Lisbon then double back entering into an extremely wide river system the Tagus and steam upstream several kilometres passing the sprawling city of Lisbon on the port side. On our way up river to our berth we passed several old forts and monuments all relating to Lisbon’s historical connection with the maritime world. Up river a few kilometres we passed under a huge San Francisco look alike Golden Gate suspension bridge only this one is called April 25^th Bridge or in Portuguese ‘Ponte 25 De Abril’ as a matter of interest the bridge was designed by an American company that designed the Golden Gate bridge and is actually several metres longer. Further upstream we eventually docked at the old tobacco wharves at about 1300 and once ashore walked the one and a half kilometres to a major square that seemed to be the starting point for most tourists and where after passing through a colossal ornate arch you entered into a long wide mall of shops, restaurants and buskers.

We had been told about a tram ride you could take that snaked it’s way around town like a big figure of eight, this sounded like a great way to see the place and after purchasing transport passes at the post office we climbed aboard one of these little trams that are less than half the size of an old Melbourne tram and probably twice as old. The ride took best part of the afternoon and was the best €6.50 we’ve spent so far. Rattling along with clanging warning bells these things followed tram tracks through the narrowest of streets winding up and down hills that you would be flat out walking up or down, having to stop periodically while other vehicles either reversed out of the way or somehow jammed themselves into unimaginable spaces while we scraped by. This wasn’t a tourist tram ride it is just part of the public transport system that services the old sector. Roads and footpaths were all cobblestones and a lot of the buildings had ornate ceramic tiling all over them albeit tired looking and grubby.

When we alighted the tram we really had no idea where we were and just started heading down hill through all the back streets some of them so narrow you couldn’t possibly get even a small car down them. It was an interesting journey as we were in the old sector with little narrow cobblestoned lanes running off in all directions, little bars here and there and small local shops, seeing it away from the tourist strip.

Eventually back at the Mall we window shopped, did some people watching, had tapas and the biggest mug of beer I have ever seen, I asked for a large beer and was flat out lifting the big glass tankard that came out. We got back to the ship about 1930 with half an hour to spare before sailing.