The day started with a sail-in to Lisbon. We could see a lot as we sailed under the April 25 Bridge (named after a bloodless revolution in1974 which saw the overthrow of the dictator Salazar): the baroque Jeronimos Monastery, the 16th-century Belém Tower, the Monument to the Discoveries, and more. It looks somewhat Mediterranean with so many whitewashed buldings with terra cotta roofs. Many buildings have a facade covered with beautiful tiles.
Lisbon may have been founded by Phoencians as early as 1200 BCE. Lisbon was later occupied by Romans, and from the 8th to 12th centuried it was occupied by the Moors.
Upon arriving at the dock we met our tour guide, boarded our 20-passenger van, and met our driver, Sergio. Our tour started with a drive-by of some of Lisbons' busy squares. Eighty percent of Lisbon was destroyed by an earthquake in 1775. As a result, a lot of the city was rebuilt in the years after the earthquake, giving the city a fairly uniform look - far different from the hodge-podge that is London. Many of the older buildings which survived the earthquake were built in the baroque Manueline style.
aguas furtadas?
Some of the newer buildings in the business district gave the city a very modern and prosperous look. However, in other areas we saw pleasant balconied buildings whose facades were covered with beautiful hand-made tiles. We also passed through areas where the buildings were in disrepair, mildew was evident, and there graffiti marred almost every structure.
Leaving Lisbon, we headed for Sintra, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Sintra is one of those charming hill towns with narrow winding roads, cobblestone streets, and lots of nooks and crannies to explore. But first, we drove up a wooded mountain to the absolutely stunning Pena Palace, itself a UNESCO World heritage site. To me the palacewas definitely the highlight of the tour.
At 1400 meters, the Palace offers a commanding view of the countryside. Part castle, part Moorish fortress, part Baroque, part Potuguese Romantic, part Manueline - the Pena Palace is an eclectic mixture of styles enhanced with artifacts from all over the Portuguese empire. The original structure was a 12th-century chapel, a 16th-century convent, and an 18th-century monastery. In 1838 King Fernando II purchased it and began an ambitious remodeling project. The palace continued to be occupied by members of the royal family, as a summer home, until 1910, when Portugal became a republic.
The palace is painted yellow and red with white trim. The red portions were the private quarters of the royal family; the yellow portions were guest quarters and public areas. There lots of domes and turrets. There were numerous embellishments which echoed a nautical theme, and there were also numerous details which reflected the Moorish history of Portugal.
The palace is surrounded by a huge wooded park containing trees imported from all over the world. Apparently the surrounding mountain had been treeless, and the king planted thousands of trees to turn the hillsides into a forest.
We saw perhaps 20 rooms inside the palace. They all told a story. Some were tiled with Portuguese-Arabic tiles.
Some were painted with trompe-l'oeil designs. Some reflected the height of Baroque interior design. The bathrooms were state-of-the-art for that time, as was the early-model telephone.
Afterwards, we descended the mountain to the town of Sintra where we were scheduled for some free time. Madalena recommended a bakery where we should try a pastry called travesseira. We went to the small crowded bakery and ordered one tuna crepe, one chicken crepe and two travesseiras. The crepes were excellent. The pastries were good, but not as good as the build-up. We wandered around past cork shops and port wine shops and bought a few small souvenirs.
We proceeded down narrow, winding roads toward the coast. We stopped at a lighthouse at _____, the westernmost point of continental Europe. We continued to follow the coast back to Lisbon, passing through Cascais and Estoril.
We drove by the Beautiful Tower of Belem and the Institute for Unknown Things. It's not a UFO museum, but a place where scientists search for cures for diseases and other scientific unknowns.
Our final stop was the Monument to the Discoveries. This is a large Art Deco memorial to Henry the Navigator, Henry's mother (the only woman) and 31 other men who played important roles during the Age of Portuguese Expansion. The Portuguese are very proud of the leading role played by Portugal in the "discovery" (from the European point of view) of more than half the world.
Upon returning to the ship we had to stay on our bus until Madalena could take a selfie with the 18 of us and the bus driver. Then she hugged each of us goodbye as we left the bus.
After dinner we went to hear Derek Floyd, the piano bar entertainer. Tonight he was doing "Beatles Night". He started out with a Beatles Name That Tune. Ken and I teamed up with DIck and Pat and we won! For our prize we got to pick among various Princess tchotkes - a keychain, a carabiner, a magnet clip. We chose the magnet clip.
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