our final blog...maybe

PORTUGAL!

Finally…here is our entry for Portugal! Thanks to all of you reading for your patience.
Lisbon is the capital city of Portugal and has about 2.5 million people. It faces the Atlantic Ocean, stretches along the Tagus River estuary and is Europe’s most westerly capitol. The city is built over a number of hills and it is here that Vasco da Gama and other great discoverers set out to explore the world. Although Lisbon has a 3,000 year history, most of the city’s buildings and monuments are from the 18th century. In 1755 Lisbon was devastated by one of the worst earthquakes ever recorded The earthquake caused a tidal wave and fires. This triple disaster is estimated to have killed over 15,000 people. Today in Lisbon you can see many of the cities buildings and homes decorated with small glazed ceramic tiles. These tiles were widely used to protect buildings from going up in flames again.
We had a fabulous day in Lisbon. We hired a taxi guide, traveled the city taking in the major sites and explored the windy streets and clustered hilltop neighborhoods. Lisbon is picturesque and her people charming. There are cathedrals, open squares, statues and fountains. Buildings have a sun washed pastel color with red tile roofs. Many of the streets are cobbled and narrow. There are trolleys to help people get up and down the hills.
After exploring Lisbon we did what the residents do…we traveled out of the city to the delightful town of Sintra. Sintra was once a coveted summer retreat for royals and the wealthy. Today it is a romantic get away for people from all over the world. We thoroughly enjoyed rambling around the town and exploring the park and palace of Pena…a multi colored fantasy palace built in the early 1800’s for the queen of Portugal.
Next we traveled to the seaside town of Cascais. Cascais sits on a pretty curved bay and is a town of both fisherman and the retiring rich with camera toting visitors thrown into the mix. Elegant hotels and open fish markets line the waterfront. This was the ideal location to get a great seafood lunch and we enjoyed a mouth watering unbelievably fresh shrimp the size of lobster and white fish lunch to die for. We will be back!
To finish off the day, we had a Cunard hosted dinner in the city’s bull ring arena. The hosted dinner was for world cruisers only of which there were about 800. The arena was transformed into an elegant dinning venue, crystal candelabra, floral centerpieces, red carpet, the whole nine yards. The music was live orchestra, the dancers flamenco. We were greeted by the CEO of Cunard and decked out horses and riders at the door. It was a sight to see and a magical evening to experience. For some of our travel friends, this was our last port together since many were departing the ship in Southampton and flying home. The night was spent celebrating our shared experiences.
Next stop…Southampton and the Queen Mary 2!
ATLANTIC CROSSING
The crossing was generally uneventful except for some pretty strong gale force winds and high seas