River of Gold Viking River Cruise
Day 3: Sunday, November 10, 2024 - Lisbon, Portugal
The day's statistics:
- Weather: low 60s
- Steps: 9,999 Linda; 11,528 Steve
- Miles traveled (approximately): 59
The restaurant was significantly more crowded today than yesterday.
After we left breakfast, we made our way to the elevator lobby.
The hotel has this nifty photo-op display. While we were attempting to do our "typical selfie", an employee of the
hotel insisted on taking our picture for us. So we let him.
And then we took our typical selfie anyway...
We have experienced a number of different configurations with hotel lighting - mutliple switches, switches controlling
different lights, some switches turning on lights / outlets we can't see or don't know about, even a room with a switch
for a bathroom nightlight.
Here was an example. There was a switch to turn off ALL the lights in the room ('geral off', or 'general off'), and one
to turn on certain room lighting - but not all of it. As typiucal - same as on the ship - the guest has to insert something -
be it a room key or whatever - into a box to even make the light work at all.
While it seems obvious now, we were a little perplexed by one of these switches that was also by the door.
I mean, why would people in a hotel room not want to be distur-oooooooooooh.
Seriously though, our room did not have a make-up room. Is that what they call the bathroom over here? Turning the switch
on didn't light the bathroom either - there were switches in the bathroom for the bathroom. But we eventually realized it
was a switch to light a light outside the room so housekeeping would know to take care of the room (and no, we did NOT
notice the little housekeeping icon on the switch - until I was typing this).
And then over by the bed, to emphasis how many different combos of switches there are, was this bank of switches.
Back in the room, before heading out for the day, I got this shot out the window.
A couple items of note in this shot was the sitting area under the palm trees, and the bank of solar panels on the room
to the left - I couldn't see far enough down to see where they ended, but I could see about 12 from this spot.
We returned to the lobby and gathered by the Viking desk by 9:20 for a 9:30 departure for the Portugal's Coastal
Treasures excursion.
Before we headed out, we were greeted by Tamara, our program director for our time on the ship.
We boarded the bus. Our guide was Lourdes, though she said Mary Lou would suffice, and our driver was Marcus.
Our first stop was at the Palácio Nacional de Queluz, or the National Palace of Queluz.
On the way to the palace we saw a view of the city, a mural, and a sculpture.
We neared the palace and saw an entry gate, one of the royal buildings, and a church across the street.
We went inside the palace and began our walking tour, admiring the artwork, old furniture, lighting / chandeliers,
and architeccture.
The curtain / swag / draping "on" the painting is not real, rather it is actually painted on the wall.
And we continued on.
After we left the large ballroom, a couple entered behind us and appeared that the woman was either an influencer, or
just a dancer that took advantage of the environment.
These columns aren't marble, they are painted wood.
We were told this is called the "Big Butt Chair"...
After passing through the main rooms, there was one room with displays of china.
We eventually entered a patio like area. I guess sort of a breezeway. It had a number of tiled motifs.
Continuing on.
One of the rooms was a royal reception room.
And there was more.
The palace was rather sizeable, and there were some interesting artifacts and architectural highlights.
But it was time to head outside to the statuary, gardens (though there wasn't too much in bloom this time of year), and
retaining ponds and fountains. The first three photos were taken during the inside tour - and should be evident which
ones those are - while the rest were from within the garden.
We were outside for only about fifteen minutes. We had to head back inside to get to the
entrance / exit to leave. We had a few minutes to peruse the gift shop on the way too.
And, of course, we stopped to use the facilities. Someone - not me (seriously) - did this, though it was rather slightly
humerous.
And on the way out.
Then we were outside, getting ready to board the coach, looking at the nearby scenery.
The bus headed out to our next destination - Sintra, a quiet town in the mountains. There were quite a few sights
along the way. We started off passing behing the palace, then drove through the city - seeing a lot of people hanging
laundry out, some countryside, towns, and churches.
There were a few sights I was going to get on the way back - except we didn't go back the same way. So those were
opportunites lost.
The sign reads "Sintra wishes you happy holidays".
Further in town.
We came down a decline with a 180° turn at the end where the bus pulled over to the right, and we got off.
We had a brief tour of the town, ending at the National Palace of Sintra.
We were let free with the instruction to meet at the bus at 1:30.
We did a little sightseeing starting at the palace. I climbed some stairs for a few pictures from a little higher up.
They were setting up their eco-friendly Christmas tree.
To the left of the palace was a restaurant with outdoor seating. We took a look at their menu too.
But we weren't feeling this restaurant for some reason, so we went elsewhere.
We turned around, now facing the palace and walked to the right of it a bit, heading in the general direction of
where the bus would be, and passed by a horse drawn carriage (for tour rides).
Straight in front of us were a couple restaurants. The one to the left - Café da Villa - was a little less crowded -
at least the outside left side seating area was.
We were given menus and reviewed.
Linda decided on the Fettucine Carbonara, and I had the Grilled Veal Cutlet.
While the meal was decent, we had two complaints about this restaurant:
1) They require CASH ONLY. This was NOT obvious to us when we sat, and had the meal been served quicker, we might not
have noticed the little sign next to the table with the credit card and a line through it. We were OBVIOUSLY tourists
as I had a camera around my neck and we only spoke English with the exception of "Olá" (hello).
We fortuantely had enough cash though we don't usually walk around with that much because, well, credit cards.
2) The building showed "€8 Menu" (see the picture above) and the menu on the pestial in the plaza implied
the meals were €10. But ours were more than that. The pricing wasn't very clear in more ways than one.
Our meal was about an hour from sitting to leaving, and we had a little less than 20 minutes to get to the bus which
was not that far away, so no problem.
As we returned, we did a little shopping and sightseeing.
We boarded the bus and headed to our next destination.
Along the roadside were a number of sculptures and, at least closer to town, vendors.
Most of the statues were a little out of focus while on the moving bus because, well, cell phone (don't remember why
the camera was away as I usually travel on the bus with it ready to go).
Our journey was westwardly - and we had our first view of the ocean (not including from the plane).
We had a Porsche Carrera Cabriolet following us whose driver must have really been itching to open her up.
We might have been slow, but we were ahead of the Porsche...
We kept getting closer to the ocean.
Our journey terminated at Cabo da Roca - the western-most point on continental Europe.
There is a marker - with a vast amount of tourists taking pictures and selfies - indicating the spot, though, technically,
it is a few meters from the western-most spot because there were a few meters between the marker and the railing looking
over the cliff to the ocean. But that's OK. The four-corners marker in the US isn't where it supposed to be either...
And I took six - SIX - pictures of the marker and every one chops the very top of it off for some reason. Gah!
Of course we were sure to take a selfie here too.
It was REALLY windy at this spot. So windy that blowing sand stung a little when it hit our hands.
We were here for merely a few minutes - there wasn't much else to do for us, but there were two restaurants
and a bar so some - probably locals - could make a day of a visit to this spot if they wanted.
There was a vendor selling pineapples... pineapples?!!?
Our visit was brief, and we headed to our third stop: Cascais, about a half-hour away.
We passed through Azóia and, we were told, they were having a sardine and chestnut festival.
We passed one large estate, in a valley, surrounded by a fence, that was owned by a wealthy family.
After some towns and ruins, the route took us to a road that ran along the oceanfront.
Some of the waves breaking and four or five of the pictures above.
We had driven to an area with a good amount of wealth.
I recognize most of the exotics by make, but not so much on the models. Such as this Ferrari.
I know it's a Ferrari, I just don't know what model.
We eventually arrived in Cascais.
The bus dropped us off on the outer edge of town, and we walked a dozen or so blocks into town,
passing a park along the way.
After hearing about the town a little, we were set free until 4:00 wherein we had to be back on the bus -
so our time had to include the five or so minute walk to the drop off / pick-up spot.
Continuing on what turned out to be south-southeast, we eventaully came upon a beach. The beach in this spot,
even though it was on the south side of the land, was still on the Atlantic Ocean because this large section
of land jutted out from the coastline.
When we used to visit my parents in Lewes, DE, we used to stop by Rehoboth Beach and I would stick my foot in the
water, at least once a year. So it wasn't a stretch for me to do that here on the other side of the pond.
I should have taken BOTH shoes off, not just the one on the foot intended to be put into the ocean. Of course the
wave was big enough to hit the other foot. I was trying to keep clean as this was impromptu since we had NO idea
we were going to be at the beach!
We walked back to the sidewalk - which was up a concrete ranp - though there were also stairs. At the top, I did my
best to dry my foot, as well as taking off the other shoe to dry that foot's sock.
Nearby was a beach volleyball game. However, this one was unique as the female players wore skimpy little bikinis.
I mean, the players didn't use their hands to hit the ball. Yea, quite the spectacle. Here are two shots of some of
the play in progress - though I probably should have taken a couple minutes of video instead. (I added the purple-ish
circle around the ball to help make it a little easier to spot.)
We started to, slowly, make our way back to the bus as we had 45 minutes to kill.
Running along the front of the beach was Passeio de Dom Luís I, which turned into Alameda Combatentes
da Grande Guerra. This was the place to be seen, it seemed. We saw a Rolls-Royce Corniche convertible followed
by a Mercedes GT, and a lesser Porsche something or other.
We stepped by a shop to get a couple souveniers. Then we continued in the direction of the bus. We decided we wanted to
get some coffee and there happened to be a Starbuck® a couple blocks up as well. So we stopped and got a cup, drank
a few sips on a bench in front, and then continued on our way to the bus.
We boarded, and continued our way back to Lisbon.
The less-than-an-hour ride took us along the coast, with some more nicely appointed properties.
We also passed a number of beaches that were, due to the warmth, were unusually crowded.
The lighthouse marks the merger of the river and the ocean.
Traaaaaafiiiiiiic!
At 6:00, we joined the other passengers for a reception that included light - very light - snacks and some wine.
We were formally introduced Tamara - though we met her briefly on the bus the previous day - and a couple of the
Viking staff. We were getting a preview of what the next few days will be like, including our departure routine
from the hotel. It was a little longer than a half hour.
There was still some cheese in the fridge from a couple days prior, but we needed everything else to go with it.
So we made the brief walk back to Lidl in the lower floor of the train station and acquired more wine, salad, bread,
and chocolate. Everything was going splendidly until we got to the register. We were on one of the three lines.
And then... the cashier started yelling instructions to everyone. But we didn't speak Portugese, so we really had
no idea what the hubbub was. But we THINK that some people were on the wrong line of 'cash only' versus 'card only'.
A few people switched lines - we didn't - and before long, we were through and on the way back to the hotel.
In the room we had our meal which was essentially the same as two nights ago.
Linda discovered that one of our room amenities were a robe and slippers. She was delighted.
The one bottle of wine we had had a cork. We only had a church key to open it. But for the life of me I could not
budge the cork - yes, I know, I'm getting older. I ran to the bar in one of the restaurants and asked them to open
it for me. And they did.