Lisbon, Portugal

 We arrived in Lisbon around 8:00 am along with the 2,550-passenger MSC Orchestra.  The Cruise terminal was a madhouse as it seemed everyone was getting off at the same time.  We were very thankful to find the smiling face of Luke, the Destinations manager, in the throng.  He just laughed and said it was unbelievable, but our tour was over there.  Today we had a walking tour of Lisbon and we were grateful that it left at 9:00 am as it got very warm over the course of the morning.  We walked around for a while with Andre, our guide, showing us lots of things, most of which I'm afraid I've already forgotten.  Like in Porto, many of the houses here are covered in tiles.  In 1775 on November 1 at 9:40 am there was a terrible earthquake that devastated the city.  Many people were in churches for the All Saints Day services, which saved them.  But there was a subsequent fire and tsunami which did the most damage and around 60,000 people died.  A large part of the city had to be rebuilt of course and, as we've heard so many times on this trip, they made improvements when they did like widen roads and change building materials.  

A combination bench in the front and lounger in the back.

The Central Square

Our first stop was at a small restaurant where we had a beverage (wine, beer or water) and some bread with olive oil and sausages.  Then a bit more walking around the narrow cobblestone streets where you spend so much time watching where you're walking that it's hard to look around at the same time.  Next we stopped at a tiny bar on a very narrow alley in the old town for a taste of the Lisbon drink, which is a nice sour cherry liquer.  Then it was time to take a tram up to the top of the hill.  The trams are very small so we had to wait for the second one to come.  The 24 of us squeezed in with the locals (who were probably not amused) and off we went at a very sedate pace up the hills.  Masks were required for the first time in our travels, but the windows were all open so it wasn't too bad.  Their trams are a bit like the San Francisco cable cars, only much smaller.  It only took about 5 minutes to climb to the top of one of the seven hills where we had lovely views (along with lots of others doing the same thing).
  

From the top we could see the beautiful red tile roofs along with our Navigator on the left facing off with the Orchestra.  I think we win.

The famous Tram 28 which does a nice circuit route and people wait up to an hour to ride it.  We rode number 12.

One of the many, many apartment buildings put up after the earthquake in the 18th century.  They were all designed by one architect and so all look the same except for the faces.  They were originally 5 stories and some have added additional floors.

Lisbon Cathedral which was built in the 12th Century.

Another one to add to my collection.

We walked down the hill and Andre pointed out a couple of "secret" elevators that you have to search for that will get you to the top of the hill for free.   We also passed an escalator once.  But we were on a "walking tour", so walk we did.  Our last refreshment stop was for bread and cheeses and a glass of port at a nice outdoor restaurant.  Some stayed on for some shopping, but we'd had enough walking after 4 hours and it was getting quite warm so we returned to the ship with Andre.  

We spent a quiet afternoon and then lost at Trivia again.  The sail away was beautiful as we went under the 25th of April bridge which looks very much like the Golden Gate Bridge.  And next to it is a Christo statue also.

We had dinner at Compass Rose and I finally got a picture of the gang.

Pat and Lois Farley, Carl Alexander, Michael and me

We skipped the show again.