Sitting at a table on the back deck as the sunset paled into night, I watched the lights of Lisbon slowly move by as we sailed out to sea along the River Tagus. Rab had gone down to our cabin to drop off our books and to get some warmer clothes as the sea breeze and the stirring of the air from our passage chilled the warm air of the evening. I reflected, not for the first time, how fortunate we have been in our lives: fortunate to have each other after 44 years; fortunate to be able to still laugh at our corny jokes; fortunate to be still travelling the world; fortunate to have our family and friends. We are not alone in our good fortune. There is a surprising number of couples with longer marriages than ours who seem to be as comfortable with their life partners as we are. Many of them have travelled as much, or more, than we have many; laughingly say they are members of the SKI Club and are enjoying spending their kid’s inheritance. I still remember my dear old Dad, an earier skier perhaps, opening the subject with some diffidence. He explained that he and Lucy, my dear old stepmother, wanted to travel to Italy to meet up with the people who helped him when he escaped during the war. I couldn’t understand initially why he was approaching me, senior son, on the subject. He explained that it would mean cshing in some of his investments and that our inheritance would be reduced. I laughed and said I thought I could speak for all my siblings when I said we didn’t want his money and as long as there was enough for Lucy if he popped off, they should head off into the blue and enjoy themselves – and they did.
Our visit to Lisbon, or Lisboa as our guide Pedro insisted that the city should be called, was a great success. Although the brevity of the visit precluded us from examining the city, the glimpses we got as we drove around on our way to the Estoril Coast made us add it to the list of places we’d like to return to and examine in greater detail. I know that calling into ports on a cruise and making a rapid foray ashore can be regarded as unsatisfactory – how can you really get a feel for a place in such a short time; surely it would be better to spend longer in one place than to try to see six or seven. That’s true, BUT…surely it is better to taste a selection of cheeses, for example (I use that because I tasted an excellent selection this evening at dinner) and to then try to get a greater serving of the one you like best, than to never taste anything but cheddar? A cheesy example, I suppose, but we’re happy to continue sampling.
We slept in late after going to the show last night – a new act boarded the ship at Tilbury. A singer whose claim to fame is that he appeared in the West End. One of our new best friend’s is Coralee who with husband Chris is at our dinner table. She was not that impressed with the claim. “I’ve appeared in the West End, too,” she said “when I got to London.” As it turned out he wasn’t bad at all, although the volume of his accompaniment was a bit loud and his choice of songs was a bit odd. He included a couple where he encouraged the audience to sing along with him. Rab sat there not singing a bar and I asked her afterwards why she had not done so. “I was there to listen to him,” she said, “not to help him out.” She’s holding back her final judgement until his second show as he hit a few dud notes last night.
So one out of three of the entertainers is OK: the other two are abysmal failures. The crime writer’s second talk was about Jack The Ripper. If ever there is a subject that has been done to death it is our Jack. What on earth could this amateur possibly tell us that had not been covered by books, magazine articles, films and TV documentaries? Nothing, we thought, and so, apparently did the rest of the ship. Coralee said she looked in on the talk and only two people were in the theatre: one was asleep and the other was knitting. And as for the man with his Famous People talk – on Errol Flynn! Useless – he isn’t getting another chance. Don’t know who auditioned these monkeys, but they were clearly not in touch with what any normal person might find interesting or attractive. The rubbish he spouted on Errol Flynn was unbelievable – and badly presented to boot.
Anyway, back to the narrative, when we pulled back the curtains there was a magnificent sunrise on the horizon with a blue cloudless sky above. That augured well for a good day in port and so it was. We saw the first of the Lisbon fortifications at about 10.30 and thought that we might be alongside earlier than the 12.30 planned arrival, but, as was the case in Stockholm we had underestimated how far away we were from our berth. We drifted slowly along the Estoril coastline with a magnificent view of the outskirts of the city and as we entered the Tagus, many of the grand buildings of the old city and the many monuments that dot the foreshore.
I was up on deck for much of the time taking shots, although few will be successful as there was a bit of a mist about – possibly because there was no wind. I cracked my head on one of the beams in a doorway on my way out and later, when I went to open the safe in the cabin to get out some cash, it wouldn’t open and I had to wait for the security woman to come along to help me. I thought there might be a third thing to upset my day, but so far it hasn’t come along.
We gave lunch a miss as our coach was leaving at 13.00 and, as is ever the case, we got caught up in the sloth like progress of the silly old blighters who never have their security cards ready, who block the gangway waiting to be called for their tours, despite the pleas by Richard the Tour Director to stay in public areas until called. I watched an example of this foolish crowd behaviour yesterday ahead of one of the events in the Lounge. Richard came over the tannoy saying that the event would be on in half an hour but asked people to stay away from the venue for another fifteen minutes as there were rehearsals going on. Almost immediately people started heading for the lounge – and to form a queue. Geeeee….it is not as if it is Filene’s sale about to happen. There are enough seats for all who might want to attend. These same people tend to queue up outside the Waldorf ahead of meal times. Maybe they just like standing in line – surely they don’t expect the ship to run out of food?
Again our guide, Pedro, was excellent and we were soon on our way. The older part of the city, near the docks was rather scruffy – unpainted buildings and wiring everywhere on the outside of walls – a rather Third World look. I suppose many dockland areas have this look of neglect, and we wondered how ports like Sydney and Melbourne presented to visitors. Not having been in that position it is difficult to say, but it seems to us that they are less run-down than some of their European counterparts. Once we were through that part of town we entered more salubrious areas and headed up the very pleasantly shaded Avenida de la Liberdade. The trees which are profuse in the older parts of the city lend a lovely soft look to it – it is a pity that the newer suburbs do not have the same greenness. We thought the local claims that this avenue could be compared to grand avenues like the Champs-Elysees to be a little overstated however. After a photo opportunity at the grand Edward VII memorial with it’s magnificent view of the city from high on one of the seven hills (and the most phallic monument we have ever seen – surely not related to Ed as he was said to be less well endowed than most?) we headed on out to Estoril.
This was the first of the beaches we saw during our drive (that's Rab on the right with NBF Jana) – we came back to the ship along the coast road and we were very impressed by them all. 
Lovely sandy coves, lapped by good looking water – although I suspect it was pretty cold being the North Atlantic. There were quite a few bathers and sunbakers around as the temperature hit 28C. we strolled along the promenade for a while and then headed back to have a bite to eat at one of the sidewalk cafes before boarding the bus for the return trip. It took ages for the sweet young thing to make us our toasted sandwiches, but they were very tasty nd a welcome change from the food on the ship. Not that there is anything wrong with the food. On the contrary it is delicious, but a tuna sandwich on rye, toasted with a bit of Portuguese cheese doesn’t appear on their menu. A nice lazy little taste of the luxury that is Estoril – our visit rather than the sandwich. Our guide told us that many of the deposed Royal families of Europe settled in Estoril at one time.
We had one stop on the way home – at the monument to the Portuguese explorers who opened up the new world. It is a magnificent piece of work and is dedicated to Henry the Navigator, the Portuguese Prince who encouraged the adventurers. I thought it was rather a nice gesture that the design of the sculpture included a representation of Henry’s Mom – Queen Phillipa, who was an English Kenilworth and related to Edward III and IV. There are many long standing relationships and agreements between England and Portugal including the appointment of the first Bishop – an Englishman back in the twelfth century after the Poms had helped drive the Moors aka Muslims out of Portugal. Although Pedro was happy to relate this little anecdote, I wondered how happy the Portuguese were, given the power of the Church at the time. There is a lovely map of the world inlaid in marble of different colours at this site, donated by the South African Government of all people on the occasion of the first voyage of Vasco Da Gama in about 1589. I had to smile as people tried to take pictures of this mp because as the sun was heading downhill, their long shadows wer cast across the map. I suggested to a coule that if they stood on the other side of the map they’d get a better shot. And although it might seem upside down, why it could be turned around fairly easily and appear to be the right way up. They were astonished at this suggestion – and most simply ignored it, moving sideways this way and that trying to move their shadow, which kept following them.
Back on our mobile home we sat on the back deck, cooling ourselves with a beer for me and a shandy for Rab. Chris and Coralee and a couple of others drifted by and we had a good old chat before they went off to get changed for dinner. We decided to use the bistro’s services and had a pleasant snack in the gloaming. A good end to a good day – roll on Tangier tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment