Sunday 8th January - Lisbon

The Statue of Christ the King, on the South bank of river Tagus and watching over Lisbon on the North bank

OK. what I should have mentioned in my last two posts, but I didn't. is that the sea's been flat!  I mean! We've crossed the Bay of Biscay and I haven't been seasick.  First time ever and I've loved it.  And this morning, as the ship approached Lisbon, the sea remained calm and we woke to glorious sunny day.  We weren't due to dock until 10 am but everyone was out on deck, loving the sunny warmth.

Peter and I were tour escorting later, Lisbon Highlights and Estoril, so we decided that we since we had an hour or so this morning, we'd pop up and see the Church of Santa Engracia, also known as the National Pantheon, where the important and famous of Portugal are buried.  It's only a few minutes up the hill from the cruise terminal, and we'd really enjoyed our previous visit.

The National Pantheon, or Church of Santa Engracia

I'm beginning to think we have a good luck fairy sitting on our shoulder at the moment.  The decent cabin (apparently the port holes have been battened down on the bottom deck where we usually stay), the flat sea, the good weather, and it now turns out that although the Pantheon is free to visit on the first Sunday in every month, they made an exception this month because of New Years Day, so we got in for nowt.

One of the things we love about the place is the fact that you can take the stairs up to the walkway at the top of the building inside the dome, and to the terrace just outside.


<<< Looking down from inside the upper dome.

View from the terrace of the National Parthenon

The building itself is pretty wonderful, but we'd spent so much time messing about upstairs that we didn't have time to have a good luck around the lower floors.  Maybe next time.

So, after a quick lunch, we went back out again to escort the tours.  They were pretty uneventful, but we got to see a few of the sights.

The view down to Lisbon from the top of King Edward VII park

The beach in Estoril.  We spent a happy hour in a cafe here, completely chilled enjoying the sunshine. 

We've arrived back in the cabin starving, and plan to go for dinner as soon as it could be deemed respectable.  Our neighbours arrived back shortly after us and have had us in stitches as he always seems to be behind the curve, and she constantly corrects him. Quite bluntly usually.

Anyway, nearly time for dinner, so I'll finish this and get changed.  Tomorrow is another sea day and the day after we'll be in Madeira.  Awesome.