Lisbon

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So here we are on board the Duomo Queen on the river Duomo, Porto, Portugal at dusk. We are sitting on our little deck looking up and watching all the lights come on lighting up the cathedrals and buildings in the old city. It is very beautiful. There is a mist coming down after a 28 degree day. We arrived here by bus at 4 o’clock this afternoon and unpacked in time for welcome drink and dinner. The staff are lovely and can’t do enough for us. Dinner was 6 courses and beautifully presented. There are still sightseeing trips every day so we will be doing some walking but it won’t be enough to work off the three multi course meals.
Haven’t blogged since we got to Lisbon as by the time we arrived two hours late my cold had turned into the flu. Grant had to go out and find a pharmacy for cough medicine. We didn’t want to miss the tour of the city in the morning so dragged myself onto the bus for a tour of the old city and Monastery etc. Beautiful Cloisters but got caught up in a military parade which was interesting. We spent Saturday afternoon and night in bed trying to recuperate. By the next day Grant’s had a runny nose and sneezing but it doesn’t seem to have developed any further. Our only 5 star hotel on the trip was used for rest and recuperation. Just as well we were sick there I guess.
Got up and went out to the local mall on Sunday for awhile and then walked downtown. Quite an experience as we got caught up in a political demonstration with 200,000 people. It was a communist demonstration to the government regarding their 36% unemployment, increasing taxes, and corrupt government (only been in power for 5 months). Anyway, it was a great experience for us. It was very orderly, noisy and carnival like with everybody in good humor. We sat in a café and had a martini watching the crowds then wandered the shops. There are lots of very old and rundown apartment buildings in Lisbon and a lot of them empty. The reason is that people 40-50 years ago got to sign life leases at the same rent (eg E30/mth), so the landlords don’t have the money for repairs and just are waiting for the last one to die off. So we liked Lisbon but didn’t get to see as much of it as we would have like.
Coming up to Port (yes the place where port comes from) on the bus today the country side is very much like NZ in fact sometimes you can’t tell the difference.

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