River of Gold Viking River Cruise
Day 5: Tuesday, November 12, 2024 - Lisbon, Portugal
The day's statistics:
- Weather: low 60s
- Steps: 8,710 Linda; 11,927 Steve
- Miles traveled (approximately): 12
Today was the day we transferred to the ship. But at the end of the day, after our excursion.
But in order to accommodate that, we had to have our luggage out at 6:45 so it could be picked up and
put on the bus while we were at breakfast - which we had to be done with to depart at 7:45.
No problem.
We awoke a little earlier - 6:00 - than usual - 7:00.
We showered and had our luggage out on time. Then headed downstairs even though the dining room didn't
open until 7:00 - because what else were we going to do?
We headed down and, lo and behold, the dining room was open a little early this day - I guess maybe
Viking made an arrangement with the hotel on days like this?!!?
The dining room was once again very busy - supposedly there were FOUR ships worth of passengers at this
hotel ALL AT THE SAME TIME.
While I was collecting some food for breakfast, someone approached me and said "Aren't you Steve?"
"Yes, I am. I'm sorry, do I know you?"
"Yes, we met on a Viking cruise before."
"I'm sorry, I just don't remember."
While Mike and I talked, we were walking back to his table. There were three other former passengers
sitting there as well: Maureen, Joe, and Mary Sue. As soon as Joe said his son had an organ repair
business, I remembered of them and waved Linda over as she was just two tables away.
We spoke briefly and determined that we met them the previous fall on our
Elegent Elbe cruise.
We gave them our metro tickets as we each still had one trip on them because we took the shuttle back
to the hotel and not the metro.
Today's excursion was an all-day outing called Batalha & Fátima.
Our driver was Antonio, and our guide was Orianna.
We gathered and boarded. But we didn't head out right away. It turns out that one of our fellow travelers had
temporarily misplaced the couples passports. They were in their safe, but then the next thing was they were in
the lobby without them - remembering that they DID take them out of their room safe. The gentleman went back to
the room to make sure they weren't still there somewhere. After a fifteen or so minute delay, the gentleman
returned and the bus departed. They couldn't check the luggage as it was buried in the storage of the bus.
While first underway, the couple dug through the bags they had with them to no avail.
We eventually learned, the nxt day, that the passports unexpectedly somehow made their way into their luggage.
Near the hotel were some bridge supports that had some artwork or some tile work on them - though we drove by
a little too fast to get a good shot of any of them.
While continuing on to Batalha - pronounced ba-tal-ya - we some not-so-interesting sights such as rush-hour traffic,
as well as some interesting sights that included old windmills, wind turbines - one farm that was on top of the
highest "peak" in Portugal, green houses, quaint towns, vineyards wind turbines, and some other points of interest.
The region was very hilly, rather than mountainous.
It took about an hour and a half to arrive in Batalha.
Our visit was going to be at the Mosteiro de Santa Maria da Vitoria, or the Monastery of Saint Maria of Victory.
As we approached, the roundabout had some camels and wise men, as if they were prepping for the holidays.
In the parking lot was an old Daimler Sovereign 4-2 (not an exotic, but an old[er] car in excellend condition).
After our technical break, we made our way toward the monastary.
After entering the monastary, we proceeded to the right where there were a number of tombs, including the
tomb of the King João I and Queen Filipa de Lencastre, who were holding hands.
Along the wall were the tombs of the King and Queen's sons. In order: they are Prince Fernando, the Saint Prince;
Prince João and his wife, Isabel; Prince Henrique, the Navigator (we saw a statue of him at the Maritime
Museum yesterday); and Prince Pedro and his wife,
Isabel de Urgel.
There were a number of stained glass windows that also provided some interesting lighting effects in the room.
The last thing we saw in the room was a collection of artwork.
We returned to the nave, we came across the tomb of Mateus Fernandes, the Archtect of the monastary.
We started at the back of the church, and headed toward the altar.
At the altar, in addition to a crucifix, there were statues of Saint Francisco, Saint Domingos, and Santa Joana Princesa.
There was a large courtyard too - though we didn't walk into it.
There was a large basin in the corner.
Before we left the facility, and near the basin, we took a quick selfie.
The tour inside was over, and we eparted on the right side (as looking at the church).
There was a patio-like area on the side, that included a tree that was over 100 years old.
There was an addition that was being worked on, that wasn't completed because the money ran out - so it was an open-air area.
We exited the monastary, headed further along the right side (as looking at the monastary from the front),
and headed toward the edge of town in order to make our way to the bus.
We boarded the bus and headed to our next stop which was about a half-hour away, Fátima.
For the uninitiated, Fátima is the site where three young children had an apparition of the Blessed Mother Mary, the Mother of God.
This is a heavily religious sight. And there is a little commericialization of the site as well.
The bus dropped us off and we walked down a small path to a palatial gathering space that had a shrine to Mary at one end,
and a modern-day church at the other - though this church had the most unusual crucifix we had ever seen.
There was also a long path where the devoted could crawl on their knees. We think we (later) saw a woman that did the
crawl as her pants had no fabric on the knees.
Off to the side. where the apparition occurred, was a service taking place where they recited the rosary.
We were on site when the 12:00 bells chimes, and it also chimed "Jesus Lord at Thy Birth". I took a video but since we were
on a walking tour - and still walking - and it was windy, the quality was horrible.
We walked up the left side on the approach to the shrine.
Then we made our way inside and saw the altar, pipe organ, and a few other artifacts.
The tombs of the two boys were together (on one side of the shrine) while the girl's tomb was separate (on the other side
of the church). Above the two boys was a work of art showing the girl in a meadow.
The stations of the cross - though I missed two in the middle and I can only think that I wasn't aware that these were
the stations when I was taking the photos and only got the stained glass on those two.
We were told to meet at the Santa Harris Hotel for lunch at 1:10 - so we had about 45 minutes.
We completed our tour inside, and exited. We went to the left - the opposite side of how we got to the shrine -
made our way back to the large gathering area, crossed it, and went to the large church on the far side called
Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity.
There was a monument to Pope John Paul.
We weren't exactly sure how to get into the building, so we made our way to the left side - looking at the church -
and found a door to go in.
I think this is what they call a modern-architecture church - not a fan...
We weren't in the church long.
The doors are very tall - probably three meters (a bit over twelve feet), at least.
The main entrance was certainly different - the shrine is off in the distance.
We started up the ramp, then turned around to read the inscription on the ground ("Igreja da santiss matrin", or
"Church of the Holy Trinity"), and to see the plaques on the walls (there was writing as well, but undeciferable to us).
We had - only had? - fifteen minutes to get to lunch. On time. We could always be late, I guess...
We left shrine area and headed toward the hotel. We knew that we were leaving right after lunch so we HAD to get
anything we were going to get before lunch as there would be no time afterward.
So we stopped by a couple of the smaller booths near where the bus dropped us off, and didn't get anything because
of the ... vibe. It just wasn't cutting it for us. So we continued on an looked in a couple of the "more established"
[looking] stores. We found one that had a nice collection of different items and picked up what we wanted.
We then continued to the end of the block where the hotel was.
The restaurant in the hotel was all the way in the back - because of course it was - and by the time we sat, they
were already bringing out the first course. Also, because we were a couple minutes late, we were stuck sitting at the
opposite ends of a dinner table. That sat 8. So we pretty much just waved at each other. Some asked if we wanted them
to move so we could sit adjacent, but we said no as one meal separate would kill us (and it didn't as there are more
selfies with both of us later in the trip to follow).
We had a beverage of choice - we both chose red wine (I could see Linda's glass) - and a fixed menu of a cream based
soup (didn't get the name), roasted chicken and potatoes, salad, and baked apple and ice cream.
The meal lasted for a bit more than an hour.
On the way out we saw this statue of Mary.
The bus picked us up just outside the hotel, and we headed to our next destination: the ship.
Another Porsche Carerra, this one at a toll plaza ten or so lanes away.
The bus entered the region of Vila Nova de Gaia.
The roads were narrow. Really narrow. I mean, really, really narrow. A picture really couldn't and wouldn't do
it justice. It was a one lane and the bus barely fit.
The bus finally arrived.
We got off the bus, and found ourselves boarding on the top / sun deck.
This was the first river ship we were on that had a pool.
This ship, the Helgrim, while three decks, was shorter because of the locks it would enter. There were
only 106 passengers aboard (only the Elegant Elbe ships have fewer passengers at 98).
We were on the Duoro River, in the town of Vila Nova de Gaia.
Before going to our room - we had to wait for our luggage anyway - I took a couple more shots of the surrounding area.
We went to the second floor as that is where our cabin was.
Our stateroom was essentially exactly like the room from the Holland & Belgium cruise a couple weeks prior, but, contrary to
what a fellow traveler though, this cabin (at 150 sq ft) was was actually a tiny bi6 larger than that one (135 sq ft). It is
only 10% larger - sorry, the other is 10% smaller - but it is still larger. And essentially laid out the same way.
The electronic keep improving. Here, USB ports are provided. But more important, the appliance socket was different and it
accommodated a number of different formats in one socket, including the US 110V standard.
We headed to the lounge for our welcome talk.
The Kvasir had two coffee stations - one on either side of the ship - while this ship only had one.
But with nearly half the passengers, it made sense to have nearly half the coffee supply.
We were a couple fo the first to arrive in the lounge.
It got significantly more crowded.
What was a little interesting is that rather than the projector lowering from the ceiling, a reflective panel lowered
and the projector stayed in place.
We met the managers of the various departments, as well as the captain - that is the only serving female captain on the Duoro.
Eventually it was time to head downstairs to the dining room for dinner.
On the Helgrim, there was a menu opened on a pedistal on display outside the dining room. This ship had that too, but
theirs was digital.
We sat with Judy and Gary from Canada.
Linda had the Caldo verde à minhota, cataplana, and torta de laranja.
I had the crispy shrimp cake, cataplana, and New York cheesecake.
As always - on Viking ships - the red wine flowed while we ate.
After doing the luggage thing in our room, I headed up to the sundeck to get a few night shots of the surrounding city.
When docked, there were three - THREE - ships docked side by side by side (not end-on-end, but next to each other).
We were back in the room, trying to get to sleep. Something was interfering with that. There was an exhaust fume
oder permeating our cabin (tomorrow we learned we weren't the only one's to experience this).
I went to the Passenger Services desk to inquire about this. The gentleman came to our our room and confirmed that he
too smelled the smell. He opened the door a little and suggested turning up the heat to provide some air circulation.
Those were brief remedies.
He eventually returned with a couple sprays to help too. They did help enough, along with the increased airflow, to
disipate the smell enough for us to sleep.