Lisbon to Barcelona

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Hello again to those folks that are anxiously awaiting brilliant and incisive information about Lisbon and all the other places that I'm probably going to write about over the next week or so. Well, keep waiting, or go to Andrew Harper or Lonely Planet or Fodors. They're pros. I'm just an amateur not terribly interested in whether you gain any real knowledge by reading this. On the other hand, I'm not trying to sell books or hotel rooms.

But as long as you're here, I'll bet you give me a minute or two and that's all I'm going to take. For those of you surprised to see this popping up on your screen, Fran and I are about to embark on our first cruise, a National Geographic trip from Lisbon to Barcelona with a bunch of stops along the way. We're a little anxious because, 1) I'm not that friendly and being on a cruise sort of requires me to talk to and sometimes eat with people I don't know, people who I probably will instantly dislike and who certainly will dislike me immediately or shortly thereafter, 2) Fran gets seasick easily, 3) It's a small boat with only 100 passengers setting it up for rocking and rolling - not great for folks prone to sea sickness; 4) I have a lot experience in boating and I most enjoy driving the boat, something I'm told is highly unlikely in this case; 5) we're not really up for hanging out with old people; and 6) Fran gets shpilkes really easily. All of that said, we're really excited and semi-optimistic.

First stop, Lisbon. After an uneventful overnight flight from Newark with my only complaint being a Cold - A B (figure it out folks) as a flight attendant, we arrived on time together with our luggage. We arrived at the Ritz Carlton Four Seasons hotel in Lisbon. Four Seasons hotels are great. Ritz Carlton hotels are great. This combined hotel is great great. We got a Four Seasons room upgrade and a Ritz Carlton room upgrade and we are now staying on damn near a full floor room with a full court basketball court and swimming pool. Kidding, not that big but pretty spectacular. After breakfast, showere and a morning NAP, mmmmmm good, we met Diego for a tour of Sintra and Cascais. That's right, we left town. Who planned this thing? Diego was very nice. His English is great, but he insists on telling us things several times, like we didn't get it the first time. I kept thinking my friends Dan, Ezra, Richard and Brian would have had a field day with him. We were patient and tired. Sintra has a castle, a lot of tourist shops, a lot of tourists, and great popcorn from a little stand in the square, . We munched the corn, pitched the old maids, skimmed the shops and the castle then headed toward Cabo de Roca, the most western point in Europe, if you don't count Madeira or the Azores as Europe. That could be a long conversation but I promised to be brief. Anyway the drive was beautiful and the coastline was spectacular. Ever been to Carmel California? Looks a lot like that. We stopped at Cabo de Roca and I took some pictures. One of my pictures, if not both is not very interesting. Then we drove on to Cascais, on the coast road back toward Lisbon. Cascais is an affluent suburb of Lisbon and it's pretty darn nice. For those of you who go, the ice cream at Santini's is very special. Mr. Santiini apparently used to be Italian but now he's Portuguese. I took a picture in the mirror but you'll figure that out.

Back in Lisbon, more napping and then, the highlight of the first day, a day that was clouded by jet lag but still interesting and very positive. The highlight was going to Aqui Ha Peixe, a seafood restaurant recommended by my sister, Linda, who was in Lisbon last month. Actually, she didn't go there, her friends did. She was back at the Four Seasons Ritz Carlton puking her guts out but she heard it was good. She heard right. This is a really good restaurant, run by Mafalda and her husband the chef. Mafalda recommended we try King Prawns, huge things that look like but it would be an oxymoron to call, shrimp. They gave us bibs and we needed them as we ripped them to shreds to get to the sweet and tender white innards. They were cooked in olive oil and garlic. OMG. We followed that with Turbot for two. Turbot is a Mediterranean flounder that tastes sort of like US flounder but a hell of a lot better. There was a sauce of butter, butter, butter, salt and some sprinkles of green, probably parsley and of course, garlic. Another OMG. Seafood doesn't get any better than this.

Well, that's all for tonight. Have a great Passover. I feel a little guilty.

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Photos

Mandatory Couple Shot
At the farthest west point in Europe

Rotary Everywhere
Couldn't help it. It was either taking this picture or a picture of tourists taking selfies

Ready for Dinner in Lisbon
She's really short

King Prawn
And shrimp too

Comments

[Tom Drum]

Thanks for Tuning Us In
Hi David & Fran, I was hoping you would write about your trip. Most likely I will never visit some/most of the places that you travel to, so for me it is like having a history trip written just for me, and I learn at least 1 thing new each blog. Enjoy your trip, and I look forward to Page 2 in my lesson. With Love & Respect, Tom & Carolyn