Lisbon (Lisboa)--Delightful Surprise

---

A new country but we're up to the same tricks. We didn't book a shore excursion so we decided to try it on our own again. After our ordeal in Casablanca, you would have thought we had learned our lesson. NOT!! This time we were somewhat more fortunate. Linda G negotiated us a limo with an English speaking driver. His name was Colada--like in Pina Colada and he had good command of the English language and knew his way around the city. I forget how much he charged us, but unlike our tour in Gilbraltar, we had to buy our admissions to all of the attractions he suggested. This added to the overall cost of the tour. Oh, well, we got to see quite a bit.
One of the frustrating things about Colada is that he would point out all sorts of points of interest but did not stop so that we could take photos. Steven and I were just holding our cameras out the window of the limo and snapping. A few were ok, but mostly we missed some interesting things.
We saw the Castle of St George, a Church and Monastery, the Carriage Museum and the Pier with a tribute to the explorers from Portugal. A huge, wonderful mosaic in the park by the pier.
Colada wanted us to book a further tour to another town and charge us much more. We were a little concerned about the amount of time it would take to travel for a hour or so to another area. We decided to just return to the ship so he was not too happy with us. He cut our tour short by about 45 minutes. Just some lessons that are learned when you travel abroad. I guess the same thing could happen in the US but, at least, here you know the language. Live and learn.
We did walk to a nice shopping area close to the ship and have a beer before embarking on the ship again. We did the push off thing and trivia before getting ready for dinner. Always busy. Tomorrow we head to Vigo, Spain. See what awaits us in another Spanish port.

---

Photos

Let's Party
A huge sphere advertising my favorite.

25th of April Bridge
Named for the 1974 bloodless revolution that restored democracy by overthrowing the regime of Antonia Salazar. Erected in 1966 by Salazar employing the same engineering principles as the Golden Gate Bridge.

A Tribute
To the emmigrants and pilgrams

Narrow Lisbon Street
Taken from the window of the limo.

Festival time
This street was decorated for an upcoming festival.

Castelo de Sao Jorge
A poster of the castle we visited overlooking the city of Lisboa.

Beautiful City View
From the hill with the castle.

St George's Castle
The castle walls.

Castle Field Trip
Children visiting the castle getting instructions from their guide.

All in a Row
The pretty sailboats all in a row.

The Carriage Museum
We visited a fabulous museum with amazingly adorned carriages. You could not use flashes so I only got this photo of a child's carriage. Maybe someone else got better images of some of the ornateness.

An Ornate Carriage
It may be low light but you can see the spendidness.

Shining Glory
Linda beside an elaborate carriage in the Carriage Museum.

Another Church Museum
Great architecture but not much of anything new.

Marble Mosaics Walkways
Wonderful marble--looks too nice to walk on but you have to get from here to there.

Huge Mosaic
This is a map of the world with all of the routes of the Portuguese explorers marked on it.

The West Wind?
The corner of the map. Is the the wind blowing toward the west or blowing from the west??

Aahhhh
A great way to end the tour of a great city.

Comments

[Madalyn]

Great pix, as usual!
I'm thinking now that we've gotten the "ugly American" tag because others of us, confronted with deceitful, ripoff behavior at foreign ports, haven't been as nice about it as your party seems to have been. Are we just "marks" to foreign guides, I wonder? Maybe our rep isn't all about complaining of dirty accommodations, primitive toilets, absence of washrags, etc, as I used to believe. Anyway, you got some lovely photos and great memories! Kudos.

[peter42y]

I live in Lisbon. It is sad you got ripped off .Maybe the lesson you should learn is that you should go on a organized tour , not on your own. Portuguese are arabs..., and many arabs do not loose the ocasion to rip off tourists. ( Besides with the increase of the crude price things are getting more expensive in portugal.., so tourist guides must rip off tourists even more ). That is sad. Portugal main industry is tourism and those guides should do their best to please customers ( tourists ). It looks it was not the case.

[Otavio]

Nice pics and text!
Very nice pictures. I am Brazilian of portuguese descent and yould love to meet portugal. The sidewalks are similar to the ones we have on the sidewalk shores in Rio. Very nice. Sad that you got exploited by some "smart ass" guide. Thanx for sharing it! Btw i wonder where peter42y got the idea that the portuguse are arabs!! :? They are not arabs at all they are EUROPEAN CHRISTIANS.

[Rodrigo]

Very nice text about my beloved portugal. Sorry about that mugger guide who ripped you off. At least i hope you enjoyed the rest of your trip. Peter42y you damn flat smartass! Who are you calling arabs dullboy?? Maybe your mother is an arab!!