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Lisbon, Portugal
Weather: Sunny
I was awake bright and early this morning. Lisbon was our penultimate stop and we needed to pass under the suspension bridge. Callum had been worrying about this for a couple of days. Would the ship fit under the bridge? Would the balls (the satellites on board) get knocked off? Would the bridge need to lift up?? In spite Jon trying to reassure him by saying the Captain had his tape measure out and it would be fine, he was still worried.
The sun was rising just as we sailed down the River Tegus. The view of the bridge was pretty stunning with the sun rising behind the bridge and Jeronimos Monestry. We were on the “right” side of the ship for the view too as we were passing under the bridge to the left.
Breakfast back in the Restaurant and yet again met more people from Sunderland at the table. Half the ship seem to be from the North East or Liverpool!
We caught the shuttle bus into the city centre and it looked as though it would be a really interesting city. Lots of murals made up from tiles and buildings decorated with patterned tiles. We were dropped off in Restauradoes and decided just to have a wander around. The weather had brightened up and the sun was now out. Callum was impressed to see the police rode Segways and there were trams.
One thing that really shocked us is how much begging and peddling there was (and it really took the edge of the visit). Whilst we were sat having a coffee and pastry, we must have been approached by 6 different guys selling sunglasses, the obligatory accordion player and a young girl begging who was pretty smartly dressed.
Whilst Callum bought some postcards, we turned around and saw one of the Elevadores – the unique lifts that take you up the hillside. Very impressive (but not as impressive as the trams in Callum’s opinion!).
We made our way to the sea front and caught a glimpse of Azura in the distance, then slowly headed back up to the shuttle pick-up point so we could be back on board for lunch.
The queue for the shuttle was pretty lengthy so it was nearly an hour before we were back on board. Callum wanted to go back to Sindhu for lunch and Jon and I didn’t object! The menu had changed so Callum chose the Chicken, Beef and Cauliflower, I chose the Chicken, Beef and Samosa’s and Jon the Chicken, Beef and Calamari (can you tell what our favourite was!).
Callum went to Frontiers for an hour or so until sailaway … we decided to head up to Deck 19 for Sailaway. It’s above the Planet Bar (and kids club) at the back of the ship and the highest passenger deck on the ship (and the satellite domes were probably the highest point on the ship).
After the usual messages for missing passengers, we pushed away, swung through 180 degrees and headed towards the Bridge. The distance between the ship and the bridge wasn’t massive but we made it, much to Callum’s relief. The clouds were coming in and it looked as though it was going to rain so we headed down to Kids Tea and back to the cabin.
Callum headed to Kids Club a little later in the evening and Jon and I ate in the Main Dining Room. Our waiter this evening was Chrisley – he was our waiter on the Aurora 3 nighter we went on with Margaret, Ray, Nic and Aly. He was still entertaining the passengers with magic tricks as well as serving!
Back up to Kids Club to collect Callum and back to the cabin for the evening.
