Last of the Iberian Peninsula

14 June

Lisbon, Portugal

Our day started early today.  I awoke early in morning to answer some emails from back home.  Sadly, the internet shut down at around 7:30 am and did not get started again for quite some time.  This happens at the start of each leg of the trip.  One would think there would be a way to NOT stop the internet for the ATW passengers.  I suppose it is just easier to stop all passengers internet connections than for just those disembarking. 

We chose to take an excursion today that would take us on a walk around Lisbon followed by some tastings of a variety of drinks.  Looking out the window we once again saw rain. Oh joy.  My favorite activity; walking around a city in the rain.  At least there are no churches involved.  

By the time we went outside around 9:45 the rain had stopped and it looked like it might be a nice day.  We met pier side and started our walk.  I was surprised to be honest.  I thought Lisbon an older town than it is.  I can’t tell you why, but I just did. Most of the buildings were built in the late 1700’s after the earthquake of 1755. Apparently it destroyed much of the city.  Between wars and earthquakes, it’s a wonder that more of Europe isn’t newer buildings.  

Digression.  Sorry.  Our tour took us to the central square and the administrative buildings.  There was also an interesting statue here dedicated to King Joseph I who rebuilt the city using what we would today call prefab buildings.  He widened the streets and made all of the buildings 5 stories high of the same brick and floor plan.  This is really very clever as it allows for a quick rebuild. In actual fact, the king didn’t do the heavy work. Turns out he became claustrophobic because of the earthquake and lived in tents outside of the city.  In actual fact, the king gave power to Sebastiao Jose de Carvalho e Melo (the Marquis of Pombal) to rebuild the city. He got rid of the narrow winding streets.  Now it is a great area to wander in.

Along out walk we saw a public elevator.  Amazing!  Just an elevator to take people up to a higher level. The guide told us you can use the local public transport card for it. 

First stop was for a glass of red wine and a bite to eat. We had bread with olive oil, chorizo and olives.

Delicious! It was so good, I dove right in and forgot to take a photo. Our next stop was Rossio square. We wandered around looking at buildings and matching fountains. 

On to a stop for some cherry brandy.  It was delicious but the cherries were not.  They were sour as can be. 

From here we jumped on a tram and took it to the top of the hill where we had a lovely look out over the city. 

On the way back down, we stopped at a local pub of sorts and had some Iberia ham, cheese, and port. What a great way to end the excursion.

George and I opted to leave the tour here and we headed back to get a custard tart.  These are not the Macanese Portuguese egg tarts I was expecting but good all the same.  My craving and curiosity have been satisfied.  

As we left, I was surprised to see Christ the Redeemer as we passed under the Golden Gate Bridge. (Thanks for the photos Mark)

15 June

Oporto Portugal

Today we chose not to go on an excursion, but rather to have lunch with a friend.  We spent the morning wandering around the city.  I had a few churches I wanted to see and a book store as well.  Porto is NOT a flat town.  Our first stop was the church of San Francisco.  MY GOD!  This place is over the top. To say it is gaudy is an understatement. The baroque church is said to be covered in over 400 kilos of gold.  Wow is all I have to say.  If you get a chance to see it, do go.  You will never want to see another again.  I think this place has more gold than the Vatican.  There is another church in town that is said to be the same way and came recommended, but to be honest, I looked at George after this one and said it was a hard pass.  The catacombs were cool though.  I did enjoy those.  The room that held liters with the saints was like something out of Disney.  There was religious music being piped in so I felt like I was about to go on a ride.  

From here we walked along the waterfront to the Louis I bridge.  Next to it was a funicula that we were going to take to the top.  Closed for repairs! Our luck.  We had no choice but to climb the 210 steps to the top.  When we got there, we came across the second church I wanted to see, but having to pay yet again to go into a church put me off.  I understand the need to make repairs, but it seems to me that this is more of a tourist location than a religious one.  And don’t get me started on the churches that are closed.  

We went into the main train station to use the restrooms and take a few photos.  What a place.

From here we walked past the cathedral where we saw some of our shipmates who told us it was closed for a wedding.  Less walking for us. Time to head to the park to meet our friend.  

As we arrived a bit early, I went into a grocery store to see if they had any milk, and to purchase an .80 cent bottle of OJ.  Guess what?  I had no coins.  The look on the guys face when I paid with a credit card was priceless. 

We met our friend Diogo at around 2 and had a wonderful chat. He and George talked design and I played with a few puzzles that he had brought along.  He’s a great kid with a fantastic future ahead.  Many years ago we had taken images of the faces of our friends in the hopes of one day making a puzzle out of them. The company that sold the software went belly up and we were left with unusable images.  Diogo took his and made the puzzle that we were hoping to do ourselves.  Not too bad for what he had to work with.  I’m hoping I can convince him to make ours one day.

After a wonderful lunch of some amazing sardines and tomato rice (I forget what they had but I sure enjoyed mine!) we walked back to the bus stop and said our goodbyes. 

I was going to get some cash to purchase a puzzles, but completely forgot so I’m hoping he still has them available when we next meet at Dutch Cube Day this fall.  

(Speaking of, if any of my readers know the date of this, I would be very pleased to know so I can book a hotel for the time.) 

We returned to the ship and I searched the web for a few puzzle shops in La Caruña which we would be visiting tomorrow.  I have to say, of the two cities I liked Porto more.  They both have the tiled buildings, and are relatively free of rubbish, but Porto had a bit more charm to it for me.  It just felt nicer.

16 June

La Coruña Spain

We docked early in the morning and were getting ready to take the scooters into town to a puzzle shop that was about 2km away.  I happened to get onto the Mechanical Puzzles discord in the morning and saw the name of another puzzle shop 5km away.  I got on their webpage and we decided to take a taxi over instead of scooting.  Boy am I glad we did!  We left there with 4 bags full of puzzles.  Jugos Besa is a great place to purchase puzzles. I wish I had taken a photo of the shelves as we walked in, but what you get instead is the shelves after we left. 

There was one more puzzle shop, Dr. Panush,  that we went to on the way back to ship. At this place I of course bought a few more.

All in all, it was a great day for puzzle hunting.  

After we dropped everything on the ship we went into town to find some lunch.  We ran into some shipmates and joined them in our quest.  Again, it was a lovely meal and even better company.  The waiter gave me my own wine tasting. i hate to admit it, but I tried 4 different ones during lunch. 

On the way back to the ship I had a bit of fun with a statue. I’m surprised this guy still has his patina.  

The rest of the afternoon we slept and had room service for dinner.  We deserved the break as we had been on the run for the past 3 days.  

Tomorrow is a sea day.  The Iberian peninsula is now behind us.  I suspect we will return at some point in the future, but for now it’s been fun but we are looking more forward to the next few days.   We have opted to take our time on the rest of the trip off the ship. No more tours for us.  Just spending time with friends.  

Until next time Happy Puzzling and Smooth Seas