Day 50 Lisbon

Day 50 – Lisbon – Wednesday 4/7/12

Weather – Fine and Sunny 18C - 24C

Sunrise – 6.17am

Sunset – 9.04pm

Time difference - minus 9 hours ex Sydney ( back one hour last night)

At 11am this morning we approached the Belem Pilot station and our jockey to hopped on. We then proceeded under the “Ponte 25 de Abril” (25th April bridge) , which looks quite similar to the Golden Gate bridge. it was completed in 1966 by the American Bridge Company, who also built the San Francisco – Oakland Bay bridge. Our berth was just next to the bridge. Atop a mountain above the bridge is a statue of Crist Rei (Christ the King) which is similar to, but smaller, than the statue in Rio de Janeiro.

We had not planned anything for Lisbon, and had intended to just wander off and explore the city, but, we had put ourselves on a waitlist for a sold out Princess tour that went up into the mountains, and skirted back down along the picturesque Estoril Coast. Fortunately we got a call from the tour office a couple of hours before we arrived in port to say that we had spots on the tour.

The bus snaked it's way out of the city and jumped on a motorway for a bit, before exiting and winding up through the hills before arriving at a lovely little town, Sintra. We had a bit of time here for exploring and shopping through the steep little quaint laneways. We resisted the urge to partake in the wonderful range of pastries and cakes..oh the looked so good.

The bus then wound its way down through the hills to the coastal town of Cascais, which is a more contemporary resort town, and fishing port. We took the opportunity to use some wi-fi to load a few blog photos, and again soaked up a bit of Portuguese culture.

Then it was a lovely drive along the Estoril Coast, apparently this is where Ian Fleming hit on the idea for Casino Royale. The area is also called the Portuguese Riviera, and it is here that we find Europe's biggest casino. The colourful bay of Cascais was a nice view on the way back to Lisbon.

We were given a short city tour, and we had a photo stop at the Discoveries Monument. This was built on the north bank of the Tagus River in 1960 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the death of Prince Henry the Navigator. This is a really impressive monument that depicts a three sailed ship with sculptures of important Portuguese historical figures such as Vasco da Gama, King Manuel 1, Magellan, Cabral etc.

We decided that we wanted to walk the remainder of the way back to the ship, so we got our gear and hiked along the river bank, past some nice little marinas and parklands. It was only a 2-3km walk, in beautiful warm sunshine. We are very lucky people :)

About 8pm, we left Lisbon, and once clear of the channel we altered course to the north. We continued on northerly courses throughout the evening following the Montanha De Camoes traffic separation scheme.