We had decided to just wander around Lisbon on foot so we set off. As we exited the ship we saw a man holding a sign that said he spoke fluent English and would give us a guided tour. After Caroline asked to check it out, we went back and chatted with him. He seemed trustworthy and spoke good English, and the price was not outrageous so we said OK. This is a bit out of character for us. But, as you will see, it turned out quite well. On the way to our first destination, Sintra, Filip our driver gave us summary of Portugese history. Among other interesting tidbits was how Portugal has managed to stay independent from Spain through the centuries. The Kinghts Templar were the protectors of Portugal, and even though Spain tried many times to conquer Portugal, the strength and technology of the Knights Templar kept them at bay.
Sintra is a town on on of the hills outside Lisbon. Sintra was where Portugese royalty went to escape the summer heat and the city. We had heard in an earlier lecture on ship that it was the center of much of the espionage activity in portugal during WWII.
It is a beautiful little village that is still a place to go to escape the heat of Lisbon. It was at least 10 degrees cooler in Sintra than in Lisbon. We spent a few minutes wandering around the narrow streets and doing some shopping. I (Chuck) figured if you are in Portugal, you had to at least try port wine so I tasted some and bought a smal bottle to bring home. Caroline bought some Portugese porcelain.
At the top of the hill that Sintra is built on sits a royal palace that was also a fortress in earlier times. One of the good things about having a driver in a car is that he could drive us up (large busses can not make the drive) and as a taxi driver he was able to buy tickets so we didn't have to stand in line.
The palace was used by the king and queen of Portugal in the 1800s and was beautifully restored. You can see the influence of the Moors who ruled this part of the world for 7 centuries until the late 1300s.
It was a beautiful place to visit and marvel at the craftsmanship and and artistry that created the spaces inside and outside.
Our next stop was a resort town called Caiscais. It is pronounced coshcosh (rhymes with gosh gosh). it could easily have been a beach town in the US like South Beach in Miami. Lots of hotels, people baking on the beach, and a trillion restaurants and food stands (or close to a trillion anyway). This one seemed to take the idea of advertising to a new level. Mister pig got the shaft I suppose.
After a few minutes in Caiscais, we drove to the Geronimo cathedral and cloisters in Lisbon itself. The architecture is a curious mix of moorish influences and the typical gothic cathedral. It was a beautiful structure, both inside and out. There was a very long line, but our driver told us the line was to buy tickets to the cloisters which we didn't have time to visit and pointed us to the entrance door to the cathedral which was free.
There were many horses and carriages available for hire and Caroline got a great picture of a horse being fed sharing his food with the pigeons.
After this, Filip dropped us off in Lisbon where we could walk back to our ship and enjoy a bit of Lisbon. The cost of having him as our tour guide was not dramatically different that paying for 2 excursion tickets that had fewer stops and certainly would have been less personalized. For example we found out that he learned English in school and then married and Irish wife so he speaks English at home with his family. He is clearly gifted in languages because he told us he speaks Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian, German, English, and Arabic and maybe others).
We stopped for lunch at one of the plethora of sidewalk cafes and both had fish. Caroline's was a whole sole; Chuck's was a piece of cod. It was good to sit and watch the world walk by a Lisbon street.
The show was entitled "Moonlight Bay Supper Club." Garrison told stories about Lake Woebegone and the supper club people went to enjoy a nice meal. And, the various musicians performed supper club like music. It was a nice show. After dinner we went to hear the DiGiallonardo Sisters. They are incredibly good singers and have lots of fun performing. They started singing TV theme songs and we were astounded how well they could make them sound without ever having practiced them. In this short snippet, the third sister is playing the piano and singing.
We were greeted with an elephant upon arriving back at our cabin.