Lisbon and Boarding Day

After two long, but uneventful flights, we arrived in Lisbon early Monday afternoon. Lisbon is about as far south and west of Munich (where we landed from Toronto) as Ft. Lauderdale is from Toronto, which probably explains why so many Germans go to Spain/Portugal for the winter! A short taxi ride delivered us to the Sofitel Liberdade, located, oddly enough, on Avenida Liberdade (literally Liberty Avenue) not far from the centre of Lisbon. Our room, a Junior Suite on the 6th floor was quite comfortable, with a separate sitting area. Being as neither of us got more than maybe three hours of sleep, the rest of the afternoon was passed in high impact aerobic napping!!

Monica had checked out the menu for the restaurant in the hotel, AdLib, and thought it unimpressive, but since neither of us was in the mood to wander far, we decided to check out the lobby bar, and then the restaurant. We were seated at a very nice table on the patio (AKA - the street in front of the hotel) and had what turned out to be a very nice dinner from their tasting menu. Started with a marinated octopus salad, followed by a soup, then two entrees, sea bream and veal tenderloin, and then dessert. Sounds like a lot, but the portions were small, and very tasty. Sometimes the info on the internet can be deceiving!

For Tuesday afternoon we had booked a private car tour of Lisbon, so after breakfast in the hotel, we set out to explore some of downtown Lisbon. We knew the historic district in the centre of town included the castle, and that it was on a hill, so we set out to find it. We discovered we were only about a ten minute walk from"downtown", and we also discovered the castle sits on a REALLY HIGH hill! Sort of like Hamilton Mountain! Always up for a challenge, we decided to try and walk up. And got lost! Well, not really lost, we had a map, but we couldn't seem to find any road that went up the hill. Stopping at a nearby tourist kiosk we found out it was just as well, as that area is known for pickpockets, and we were directed to the two elevators that take one quickly, and with much less sweat, to the top of the hill. Along the way, we bumped into a couple and his Mom, travelling from Sydney, Australia (!) who are also on the ship, though we have not seen them on board yet.

The Castle Saint George was originally built in the 11th Century and served as the home of the various and sundry Kings of Portugal. It sits atop the highest of what, we found out later, are the seven hills that make up Lisbon, and as you can see from the pictures, the views are quite impressive. We walked all around the castle grounds, and up onto the castle parapet as well, which had Monica's vertigo kicking in just a bit! Most of what was the Royal Residence has disappeared over the years, and what little interior there is  was given over to shops and restaurants, so there wasn't much else to see.

After about an hour, we had seen what there was to see, and given that our tour was set for a 2:00 pickup at the hotel, we decided to head back, retracing our steps without even getting lost. Along the way we decided lunch was in order. Av Liberdade is a very wide main street, but on either side are access roads (for want of a better word) to get to the actual shops, hotels, etc. These streets are separated by wide boulevards on each side of the main street, and the whole thing is arched over with enormous mature trees! It is a very impressive sight, and makes for a comfortable walk. Dotted along the boulevard are little outdoor cafes, small kiosks with tables and table service and we stopped at one near the hotel. No pictures, but the sandwiches we had were both very large and very good! And the beer/wine that accompanied lunch wasn't bad either!

In the afternoon our driver, Fernando, arrived a little early, and off we went. There is a usual route for the half-day city tour that includes The Monastery that started out as a small fisherman's chapel, the monument to the Explorers, and a visit to the Belem Tower. We had already seen these when we were here two years ago, on our way out to the town of Sintra, so we asked Fernando if we could substitute a trip across the river to see the Christ the King statue that overlooks Lisbon. He had no problem with that, saying that it actually gets a little boring doing the same trip every time, so it would be an interesting change for him, too. Not only did we go to the statue, but since we were on the other side of the river, Fernando also took us to see the beach area where the entire city goes on nice summer days. Fortunately there wasn't much traffic on the 25. April Bridge (which looks just like the Golden Gate and was named to commemorate Portugal's independence day), so we got there very quickly and spent some time at the overlook.

The story of the statue is that the prime minister of Portugal, having visited Rio de Janeiro and seen the statue of Christ the Redeemer on Corcovado, promised the people that, if they remained neutral and did not enter World War II, with donations from them he would have their own Christ statue built. They did stay neutral, and he kept his promise. The statue was dedicated in 1966 after 10 years of work. The interesting point here is that, although this statue itself is much smaller than the one in Rio, the total height of the statue and the pedestal is exactly the same as just the statue standing on Corcovado! That one is huge - we saw it in 2000, but at the time it was covered in wooden scaffolding, so we didn't get the full effect.

One can even take an elevator up to the statue and
walk out on the tops of the arms. Fernando said he
would pay for us to go, but it seemed a long
way up, on top of a long way above the river.

The chapel inside the base - can also be
used to pray for courage to walk out on
the arms if needed!

Stained glass opposite the chapel altar

After our quick visit to the beach, which is also very impressive, as the boardwalk and small restaurants and shop buildings stretch literally for miles and miles, we headed back into Lisbon and did some of the usual things; visiting churches and taking a look at the various parts of the city, each with its own particular ambience. As an interesting and humourous side note, each time we left the car and returned, Fernando had to wave a card over the satellite system so the office would know where he was. At one point during the afternoon, being WAY off the normal route, his boss called to ask him if he had decided to go to the beach for the afternoon! He told his boss he had been kidnapped by a "big guy from Canada" who wanted to go to the beach instead! We all had a good laugh over that one!

Fernando then took us back across the bridge and showed us some of the neighbourhoods of Lisbon. The streets are very narrow so it is hard to take a photo that shows anything, but we made a couple of stops at churches and parks before he took us back to the hotel.

 Having had a bigger taste of Lisbon, we were ready to board Oceania Riviera on Tuesday.