World Tour Part VI

Tuesday 3rd June 2008 - Lisbon, Portugal

Today we arrived into the beautiful Portuguese city of Lisbon. Here is another place I visited 30 odd years ago so it was really interesting to see the change. Noticeably, was the way the men dress as years ago you would be hard pressed to find a man that wasn't dressed in a kaftan. The males today dress in very chic, sporty modern clothes (including the more mature men)!!!

Lisbon is a large port at the mouth of the Tagus River. It is also the capital of Portugal.

Our first site is the beautiful "25th April Bridge" which is named for the date in 1974 when a bloodless revolution restored democracy by overthrowing the regime of Antonio Salazar. It was Salazar himself who constructed the bridge in 1966, employing the same engineering principals used to build the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

After breakfast Nick and I decide we will go into the square and do the 'hop on hop off' bus tour of the city. This form of transport is fantastic as it gives you a real insite into the wonderful sights ie parks, monuments, cathedrals, churches, avenues, cafes and the beautiful fashion houses of the area. The 16th Century Jeronimos Monastery to commemorate the Great Portuguese explorers who opened the east to European traders was mammoth and having English speaking commentary makes it easier to understand.

The Marina is by the river with many harbourside cafes so we get off the bus and make our way to one of them for lunch. A traditional Portuguese fish lunch was lovely before heading back to meet the bus for our return journey.

We drove to Alfama the city's medieval Moorish district which is a maze of narrow streets and the facade of many of the houses is decorated with superb Italian tile work. Tiles we would pay a fortune for in Australia!!!!

From here it was to the Belem District which is famous for Portuguese Tarts. A must if you have never tried one. It was here in the 18th century that the sisters from the Monastery first made pasteis de Belem', the forerunner to the Portuguese Custard Tarts. In 1837, the Monastery sold the secret recipe to a local family. Today, that family still runs the evocative Antiga Confeitaria de Belem' a popular cafe and pastry shop that sells 10,000 tarts each day.

After buying a couple of these beautiful delicacies before long we were on our way back to "the square" and what is known as the "old town". We love walking these cobbled stone areas of each city that is known as the 'old town' as there is so much history, tiny narrow streets, and some lovely markets and shops where you can usually pick up a good bargain. So refreshing to buy things that are not 'made in China'!!!

We arrived back to the ship in plenty of time and enjoyed sailing out of this beautiful harbour.

Wednesday 4th June 2008 - Vigo, Spain.

We decided we wouldn't go too far ashore here in Vigo so had a sleep in and late breakfast. Curiosity got the better of me so I said to Nick, 'let's just go into town for a short time, grab a coffee, buy a postcard, maybe lunch then back to the ship. What a surprise we got.

It seemed like such a short distance from the wharf but we walked across a pedestrian bridge a few hundred yards to the 'old town square'. It was gorgeous and so quaint. I parked Nick at an outside cafe, where he was happy to watch the passing parade and read his book. I found 'the shops'! A lovely little shop which had some of the most beautiful designs from Italy I had seen. Well, it wasn't long before I was trying on this and trying on that and after about an hour i left there with quite a few bags and some lovely original pieces. I couldn't wait to show Nick when we got back to the ship (and no, he didn't ask how much it all cost thank goodness, I think he must have thought better of it) and was just happy to share my enjoyment.

We decided to have some lunch and found a lovely little cafe who again served beautiful tapas plates. This is a lovely way of eating as you get to try lots of tiny sample size morsels and the Sangria was fantastic!!

We arrived back on the ship after our very pleasant (but expensive) day in Vigo.

At dinner that evening we caught up with Jan and Barrie and another couple we have met from the United States and enjoyed a lovely dinner together.

Thursday 5th June - 2008 At Sea

We were spending today at sea on our way from Spain to France. The seas were a little rough as we were sailing past the Bay of Biscay but it was nice to feel the cool sea breeze, slight rock of the waves and just enjoy the sailing.

It is times like this you enjoy having a private deck off your cabin where you can read, relax and enjoy the sound of the waves in the privacy on your own. It makes you very spoilt if ever wanting to travel this way again.

I decided it was hight time I needed a hair colour and cut so i had previously booked a time at the ships hair salon. My appointment was for 8am so that put an end to any sleep in. Anyway, It was nice to have some time to be able to do this and after 1 hour (trim, colour and blow dry) I came out feeling, as many of you girls will know the feeling, 'a new woman'! We spent the rest of the day reading and watching movies.

Friday 6th June 2008 - Le Havre, Normandy - France

Today we had organised to meet Jan and Barrie at 10am and we made our way off the ship and to a nearby taxi. We negotiated and agreed on a price with the driver to take us out for 5 hours to see some of the sights of the countryside villages of this area.

He had a comfortable 6 seater air conditioned car so each having a seat to ourselves and a window it made it all the more enjoyable.

Today is the anniversary (6th June) the invasion of Normandy and so many of the American passengers were keen to go to the beaches where the landings took place. It was really interesting that many of the Americans we spoke to had no idea that there were quite a few Australians who assisted the British at the time of the invasion.

We found this so common in many things that have happened in Australia and to us Australians. I wonder if it is that Australia is so far away from the United States they are really not that interested.

We have been following the CNN American/World News Channel and we are so hard pressed trying to get any information or news from home. We did hear many weeks ago that there was a boating accident on Sydney harbour however that was all it said. No reporting of casualties or details etc which is very frustrating. However, we get all the interviews and updates on the Clinton vs Obama Election challenge. At least we are getting the tennis live and it is great to see the Aussia Jankovic (I think that's how you spell it making it to the quarter finals). Hopefully we will be able to see some good tennins when we get to Wimbledon later this month.

However, on our journey today we drive through the most beautiful little French villages. We stop at a really quaint village Port-l-'Eveq^ue, where I take some photos and buy a couple of postcards before continuing on further past French Chateaux's and farmhouses. It is just like in the travel documentaries. We drive through the pretty little towns of Villerville, Circeville. We stop at the beautiful holiday resort village of Deauville and walk the beautiful streets, witnessing a typical, small, casual French wedding while passing the expensive shops and restaurants along the way. We find a lovely little cafe 'Brasserie de la Marie' where we enjoy a coffee before meeting Patrick our driver to continue our journey.

We drive past the very expensive holiday homes here overlooking the beach and are astounded that these houses are only occupied during the summer and occasional weekends by the owners who reside in Paris and closer to the city. These homes cost in the vicinity of over a million euros (just under 2,000,000 A$) so there is much money in this part of the world.

We drive through Vasouy and Rappel then arrive into the beautiful seaside village of Hornfleur. Our driver says he will pick us up in 2 1/2 hours which will give us time to explore and have (a small French lunch) as compared to the normal 4 hours for the French to have a 'long lunch'.

We spend about 40 minutes and walk around the cobble stoned narrow streets wandering in and out of the galleries and shops along the way.

We end up down in the bay where there are many many casual waterfront cafes and restaurants. We find one and the waitress shows us to a table. It takes some time to read the menu as it is all in French but we manage to choose. Jan and I have the tiny (compared to Australian) mussels in white wine, Nick has the tuna and Barrie has a crepe. We are offered the local brandy flavoured with apple - Calvados) quite potent for the middle of the day but delicious nevertheless. We say, 'what the heck none of us are driving'!!!! Thankgoodness as it is 4% alcohol. Jan's reaction was, It's lovely, burnt all the way down,! She decided to have a cappuccino chaser with the biggest dollop of cream on top that we had ever seen. She said this helped and eased the pain immensely!

After lunch we strolled back to where Patrick was meeting us (where has that 2 1/1 hours gone). Jan and I took many photos of the gorgeous historic buildings, gardens, alleyways and shopfronts. This is definitely a place you could come back to and rent an apartment for a week or two and have a wonderful time wandering the streets, alleyways and enjoying the food of these beautiful open air waterfront cafes. Just fantastic.

It took about 1/2 an hour to drive back to the ship to which I spent the rest of the day catching up on emails and Nick reading (sleeping) on our deck. We arrive into Southampton tomorrow and will stay on the ship for the next 12 days visiting cities in the British Isles.