Lisbon the Beautiful

After Dublin, we set sail for Lisbon, Portugal and spent the next three days on the ship for classes and activities.  As usual one of the delights of the time at sea was the sunrise.  I never get enough. Time on ship is really a delight after some hectic long days in port, and it gives a semblance of normality to our lives.

Arrival in Lisbon was a little different because it was a port designated for visits by parents who wanted to wanted to visit their students. They met the ship as we arrived, and there were more students on deck than usual. There was a lot of yelling and waving going on.

After breakfast and the announcement that the ship was cleared, we took off to explore.  Nancy and I had very few plans for this port, but we wanted to get off the beaten path just a little. Good public transportation was available, but we chose to walk as usual, and the direction from the ship was right or up.  We chose up and started by sticking our head into a nearby neighborhood cathedral. It was beautiful, of course.

Then we continued our strategy of heading "up".  We figured once we got to the top of the city, it would all be downhill from there.

One feature of this city was the use of tilework  in many of its buildings. These beautiful tiles would draw our attention everywhere we looked.

Once we got to the top street, we were in a little neighborhood and stopped at a little cafe with outside seating.  We figured out how to order from a Portuguese menu and got the best coffee and fresh pastries in the entire city for local prices.  I'm sure we would have gone back another day if it hadn't been 15 blocks straight up hill.  We walked a few blocks and pulled out the map to try to get our bearings, and a little lady came out of the dry cleaners to ask if we needed help.  Nancy was able to communicate with her in halting French, and she sent us off to visit the Basilica da Estrela. We saw it come into view when we were several blocks away, so we made our way there  to see this church, completed in 1790.

At this point, I was "cathedraled out", so we headed across a busy street to a nice park to sit for a while and watch people.  This park had some pretty impressive plants.