APRIL 16, 2008 – LISBON, PORTUGAL

Lisbon sits at the mouth of a river and the ship traveled up the river and under the double decker bridge to get to the pier. Along the way we had many views of the Christ the King statue on a hill on the opposite bank of the river.
This is Princess’ inaugural cruise to Lisbon so we were met with tug boats spraying water into the air and competing with their horns. It was so cute; you know how I love tug boats.
LISBON BY TRAM AND COACH: We had several photo stops from the bus for places such as the Belem Tower, a Morrish style of fortress on the water side to protect the area during medieval times. It has also served as a prison. The monument to the Discoveries is a modern monument on the banks of the Tagus river and commemorates Portugal’s seamen. It is shaped like the prow of a caravel, a very swift boat with sails that can be repositioned. We also stopped at the Alto do Parque Belvedere which offers a wonderful view of the city and includes a really ugly sculpture that looks like concrete rubble and doesn’t work properly. The citizens of Lisbon are not happy about it.
TRAM ADVENTURE: Then we all boarded the old tram which is a cross between the cable cars of San Francisco and the streetcars in New Orleans. We had such a ball on this ride. The tram makes a leisurely circuit across the 7 hills of Lisbon. Along the way we passed the Parliament Bldg, the Cathedral: a lovely 12th century church in the heart of the Alfama District, and Black Horse Square. We also had different views of the Christ the King monument on a hill over looking the city, much like the Corcovada in Rio. The 25th of April double decker bridge dominates the sea view. We stopped at a huge monastery with an extraordinary ancient church.
Our hostess was a Portugese girl who spoke unaccented English and who served us port wine and the local pastry, pasties de Nata de Belem, along the way. And you could have as much wine as you wished. The wine glasses were very small, holding only about 2-3 ounces at most, but she would refill it as much as you wished. I stopped after 4 refills and it was r e a l l y good port wine. Along the way our tour guide told us about the various areas and sites we were seeing, including a description of the history of port wine and how it’s made. I don’t think you could have this experience on this tram without special arrangements. We had to wait in some places for other trams to pass or trucks as the streets are too narrow. In two instances, we had to honk for someone to move their car off the tracks.
We were returned to the ship about 2 pm and we took the shuttle back to the Plaza of Commerce with USC Bill and Diana. The tour guide had recommended a restaurant near this place and we walked around until we located it, but they weren’t serving lunch anymore. They recommended one next door where we sat down to a scrumptious lunch that included two huge platters of various seafood, salads, a delicious bottle of wine, water, great cheese samples, etc. I had port with salad and French fries. I won’t tell you how much it all cost; I almost fainted when I heard. We had to hurry back to be sure we made the last shuttle bus back to the ship.
While waiting for the bus, we saw a few of the staff from the ship. They found Lisbon very disinteresting. Too bad as we loved it and can’t wait to come back.
The weather was chilly with breezes here and there. A few sprinkles marked our day but nothing that dampen our fun. It was dark and overcast as we sailed away.
DINNER: Well this was rather anticlimactic after our lunch but we joined our table for dessert, which we didn’t have due to a lack of time. Only Twyla and Dave were there. We had seen Hank on our tour and they had seen Erna sometime today as she did a different tour than Hank.
ENTERTAINMENT: This will be a violinist and pianist we missed when they appeared the first time. We heard they were terrific so we’ll go to see them this evening.
SEAT BELT ALERT: After telling us that we were waiting for an ambulance to come for one of the passengers (no I have no details but the head waiter suggested lurking around the laundry room for details) after which we’d set sail, the Captain also told us that the next two days will be very bumpy and rocky going. Mauritzio said we’d have 12 foot seas. We’ve veterans, we can do this. He also requested that passengers not go out on the promenade deck; deck 9 is OK as it is enclosed from the wind except for the top.
Tomorrow’s forecast is overcast with heavy rain. We are, after all, getting close to England and Ireland, with temps in the 50s and winds of 25-30 knots.
TWO DAYS AT SEA for us now, lots of packing and oh yes, the l a u n d r y. Then we’ll be in Cork and we have booked a “best of Ireland” tour. And yes, we’ll be at the Blarney Stone, not that either of us needs the help of the Blarney stone to enhance our conversation.
CNN: We have it this afternoon but who knows when it will unexpectedly disappear and the note “poor quality signal” on a black screen will greet us.
ANOTHER LAUNDRY ROOM STORY: Twyla was telling me that a woman told her a story from another ship. A man had some laundry going and a woman took his clothing out of the washer and put her own in to wash. They had a set to over this and the man took her clothes and pitched them over the side of the ship. The woman called security who arrested him and he was thrown off the boat (I presume at the next port). When last seen, the woman was buying new clothes (Ok, I wasn’t told this but don’t you think it’s a logical conclusion?)

APRIL 15, 2008 – GIBRALTAR

Are your income taxes paid?
We awoke to the sound of the bow thrusters putting the ship into position near the pier. It was before 7 am and it was pitch black outside. The weather was cool, windy, chilly, and overcast most of the day. Rain was a possibility so we carried our umbrellas.
WALKING TOUR OF THE ROCK: A shuttle bus took us to the cable car for the ride to the top station located on the site of a WWII gun placement, for view of Africa, Spain, and the Mediterranean. At some point, we saw all of them. The strait isn’t very wide and one can appreciate the importance of this small outlet into the Atlantic. There is a wonderful pier here, a huge bay, and room for many ships. For centuries there has been a ship repair facility here.
Gibraltar is actually an island! They have filled in the land between here and Spain over the centuries and on this isthmus is a world class airport. Gibraltar is a British protectorate of 6 square miles. They are expanding via much reclaimed land from the sea and building numerous apartment complexes. There are many incentives for elders and young people to take up these apartments.
ST. MICHAEL’S CAVE: There are over 200 caves around here and this one has a huge amphitheatre in it where concerts, weddings, and such are held.
BARBARY APES: These tailless monkeys are actually macques, not apes. They are originally from the Barbary Coast of Africa and now have several packs here which are protected (long political story here). They have their own vet, a hospital just for them in the botanical garden, and two feeding stations. They are very pampered. Still we were constantly warned not to have food, or plastic bags – which they associate with food, on our persons. They are known for their aggressiveness but though we were among many of them most of the day, no one was attacked or jumped on. There is a $1K USD fine for feeding them though we heard about some idiot woman who brought bananas to feed them. We saw a couple of babies along the way.
FLORA: Our guide pointed out a wide variety of flowers and other greenery that grow wild on this limestone rock. Some we knew but there was plenty that was totally new.
UPPER GALLERIES: Tunnels were dug through these rocks over the centuries to assure it’s security. Because of the location of Gibraltar and it’s importance to transit from the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic, it is always on high alert with armed personnel and placements all over here. The 5 terrorists of 9/11 all spent time in the area of Spain directly adjacent to Gibraltar so they are very aware of the potential for terrorist activities here.
We walked up and down through tunnels that had served as hospitals and military barracks. Gen. Eisenhower lived in one for some time during WWII. A banquet was held in his honor in one of the large rooms created in these tunnels. Hitler wanted Italy to join with him to take over Gibraltar and secure this area for the Nazis. Italy was passive aggressive about this and Gibraltar was never taken.
We certainly got our work out today. I lost track of the stairs up and down as the guide would tell us how many as we got to each location.
GIBRALTAR ITSELF: There’s actually a lot to see and do here. We didn’t get to the downtown area but many other passengers did and all raved about it, so it looks like this is a definite “return to” place.
The ship left this area at 1 pm so this was a short day on shore.
LUNCH: USC and his wife, Bill and Lea, Gwen, Ed and I had a wonderful discussion about Gibraltar sites.
THE OCEAN: It’s amazing but as soon as you pass into the Atlantic, even though we continue to “coast hug” our way to Lisbon, you immediately know you’re in a great ocean. The character of the ocean changes. I still find that remarkable.
BEHIND THE CAMERA: This was actually painful to watch and we understand the speaker is to be the final judge of the photo contest. I’ll spare you the name of this well known cinematographer (he worked with Rita Moreno on one project and she was in the audience to draw him out). He had slides of photos of a movie (of 40 yrs ago) that he worked on to describe to us what he does. We weren’t very clear even then and Rita tried to draw him out with her questions. He was forgetful, looked at the floor most of the time, and his much-younger wife as clearly the sotto voce from the side of the stage. I had to leave for an appt. to get my bangs cut (I simply couldn’t stand it anymore!), and when I returned he was just winding up. It was a sad thing to see and I can’t believe Princess knew this when they scheduled him.
EVENTS LEADING TO THE MURDER OF CAPTAIN COOK: This was a continuation of a previous series of talks. The content is very well done and illustrated with slides. However, we are all almost sleeping through it not because we aren’t interested, but because they turn down the house lights very low and the speaker then reads from his script in an excellent and very precise, but soporific voice. Capt. Cook was actually very bright and contributed a lot to naval knowledge. Just as it was getting to the meat of the talk, I had to go for trivia.
YOU MUST READ THIS ENTRY ABOUT TRIVIA: Ok Jason did come to help us out but we were still only 5 members, one short. The questions weren’t all that easy. In one case there was a question about which actor did some dance in a movie I never heard of. Jason right away knew it was Christopher Walken so we put that down. Then Gisela, the staff member reading out the questions today, asked if folks wanted her to do it as a multiple choice. I just about came out of my chair. The tradition is, if even one group objects, it won’t be converted to a multiple choice. I think our group was the only one who got that answer correct. There were several questions that none of us knew the answer to so that equalized the groups in some ways.
So, our paper was corrected and we got 11, but so did the group (The Nice People) whose paper we graded. So we knew we had at least tied with them but we didn’t know the other groups’ scores. So Gisela begins the count down: All of the groups present had the same score: 11! It was either 5 or 6 groups this afternoon, we don’t know which. So then there was a tie breaker question: How many pounds of yak hair was used in the Broadway show CATS from 199? To some other date. I gave some number that had no meaning as did 2 others, but Ed said 3000 and Jason said 2000, so we decided to split the difference and put down 2500. Gisela took all the guesses and her reactions were funny but unreadable. It seems that one group had 300 something, another some other number equally as small and so on, but we had 2,500 and the group next to us had 2,700. So she tantalized us and finally gave the correct answer of 2,486 pounds so we won! This was a fun cliff hanger for all of us. The prizes this time were 2 bottles of champagne and luggage straps (we’ve not gotten these so far). There was an extra since we were only 5 and there are 6 prizes, so we sent the extra with Sid to Elizabeth and she now has to come one afternoon to help us out. And by the way, one other group only had 5 members this afternoon too.
Eventually we all decided to have the head waiter switch us 2 bottles of champagne already chilled; and these bottles were to be shared among all of us trivia players in our group and their respective tables. So we all had champagne at our table this evening.
CAPTAIN’S COCKTAIL PARTY: We got to officially meet the new captain who is personable enough. We visited with some other folks and then 4 names were drawn from the invitations for a bottle of champagne. Then we went to supper.
DINNER: It’s a miracle: we all showed up. The champagne was fun and led to several rounds of toasts where we all shared how much we had enjoyed each other. Dave has asked Ed to give his version of the OJ trial so that was part of the table discussion. Lea talked a little about the novel she’s writing which is now up to 200 pages. We discussed jewelry and stones purchased on this journey. And Ed talked about some of his cases.
CNN: Now and then we get this but often not a very good signal. Still no BBC.
YULANA: This was a quick change artist and all I can say is, she was amazing.
THREE TENORS AND A DIVA: We had seen this group on the Prinsendam last year. One of the tenors is new to the group. We are all gravitating toward the one named Thadd from Philadelphia. He is remarkable. So many people were singing along and smiling and they received several standing ovations. And the auditorium was almost totally full.
ONE HOUR BACK: For reasons no one can explain, Lisbon is one hour back from Gibraltar. However, we have to give it back later on.
LISBON TOMORROW, then 2 sea days.