Sandy's Travels 2014/2015: Lisbon and Porto, Portugal

I have made three postings for my trip to Europe from July 12 - August 24, 2015 Please read all three.

Amsterdam and British Isles Cruise

Germany

Lisbon and Porto, Portugal

August 8, 2015 - Dusseldorf to Madrid to Lisbon

I'm off to Lisbon while Eric returns to the U S of A. Right now I'm in the Iberia lounge in Madrid drinking champagne. Eric is on his flight to Chicago probably doing the same thing. I recall that at age 16 I took my first flight ever from Idlewild to Madrid. That was before it was called JFK. It was a 12 hour flight in a prop. On the way home we had to refuel in Gander, Newfoundland.

August 9-14, 2015 - Estoril, Portugal

I'm staying in an apartment, about a mile from the beach. At least I’ll get my daily exercise. I ate in town the first night and had this wonderful fresh fish, that I picked from the cart. I have no idea what it was.

On Monday I took the train into Lisbon. This was my third time in Lisbon, so I walked and revisited many sights. I bought two cute cycling t-shirts.

Estoril Train Station

Cute trolley in Lisbon

Arches by port in Lisbon

Main square near the port in Lisbon

I love the wavy sidewalks throughout Portugal and Brazil

Bright flowers matching the building in Lisbon

On Tuesday I took the train to Cascais, another beach and port town. The beaches were crowded with summer tourists.

Beach in Cascais

More waves

On Wednesday I had had enough of the Estoril apartment. It was in the middle of nowhere, the closest restaurant over a mile away. This is the last time I let someone else choose a place to stay. I moved to the new, modern section in Lisbon.

I think this was made in Australia

A beautiful hotel in the new section of Lisbon

A modern train station by European standards

A cute poster

There were so many fantastic worldwide restaurants near my hotel. I had Italian, Peruvian, Japanese and finished with an excellent steakhouse. I also had my fill of sangria and local wine. The walk along the Tejo River was a great place to do my exercise. The huge shopping mall offered the same stores and products as anywhere else in the world.

August 15, 2015 – Lisbon to Porto, Portugal

I took the train from the modern station in Lisbon (see photo above). It was a four hour train ride to Porto. The train was comfortable, but definitely not up to ICE trains in Germany.

August 16, 2015 - Porto, Portugal - Boarding the Queen Isabel River Boat

I was one of the first passengers to arrive at the pier in Porto. The majority of the other passengers spent three days in Lisbon and were taking a coach from there to Porto. So I had the ship to myself all day.

Porto is the second largest city in Portugal, but in my opinion, it was not really a pretty city.

Boarding the Queen Isabel

That evening we sailed from Porto to Escamarao, where we docked for the night. I later found out that ships cannot sail on the Douro River at night.

August 17, 2015 - Regua, Portugal

During the morning sail we went through the tallest lock in Europe, rising 115 feet to meet the Douro River again. In total we went through five locks, once up the river and again down the river.

In Regua we visited the Museu do Douro for a lecture on "The Magical Douro Valley". We learned all about the history of port wine.

Here I am holding the bridge up as we proceeded through the lock

One of the beautiful bridges across the Douro River

In the afternoon we took an excursion to the Mateus Palace and gardens. The estate was made famous from its image of Mateus Wine, which we all drank in the 70s. I will have to buy a bottle for old times sake.

The Mateus Palace

Grapes ready for the picking

Me at the Mateus Palace

That evening we took another excursion to the wine estate, Quinta da Avessada, where we had a typical dinner. The owner was quite entertaining.

A wine shaped pool at the Quinta da Avessada wine estate

August 18, 2015 - Vega de Terron, Portugal

We had a morning of sailing to get to Vega de Terron. We passed another lock, this time only 109 feet, the second deepest one in Europe.

There was a large group of passengers who all play pickleball, which I had never heard of. It is a combination of ping pong and tennis, played on a small court. We used the helicopter pad on the top deck to play the game. You can see me playing below, with the ship's captain.

Playing pickleball for the first time

Even though we lost, I had my picture taken with my partner, the captain

One of the thousand vineyards we passed while sailing the Douro River

In the afternoon we docked at Vega de Terron and had an excursion to the medieval village of Castelo Rodrigo. It was high on a mountain top. As in most of Europe at the time, there was a Jewish section. The synagogue was no longer standing but the street sign was still there.

Synagogue Street

Castelo Rodrigo

Back at the ship, I took my afternoon walk up a hill and across the river. We were docked in Spain, but the bridge took me back to Portugal.

Picture taken from Portugal of Queen Isabel docked in Spain

August 19, 2015 - Salamanca, Spain

This was the primary reason I picked this cruise. I went to summer school in Salamanca, Spain 50 years ago. As soon as we arrived and I visited the Plaza Mayor, I remembered the great time I had that summer. We cut classes many days and sat in the plaza sipping Cuba Libres and having cheese sandwiches. I also found the dorm that I stayed in.

Me back in the Plaza Major in Salamanca

I remember taking a similar picture 50 years ago

Donde esta la biblioteca?

An astronaut on the 500 year old cathedral (added recently)

Me in front of my dorm, Fray Luis de Leon

Me with the cathedral in the background

While we were in Salamanca, the ship re-positioned to Barca D'Alva, a short distance from Vega de Terron. You could walk from one to the other, crossing the bridge from Spain to Portugal.

The bridge at day

The bridge at night

August 20, 2015 - Pinhoa, Portugal

Again we had the morning to relax as we sailed down the river, this time dropping as we passed through the locks.

Today's excursion was visiting another port wine estate. I opted for a walk instead.

We passed inches below this bridge

Getting in position to drop over 100 feet in the lock

The narrowest part of the Douro River

The Queen Isabel in Pinhoa, from across the river

August 21, 2015 - Porto, Portugal

The ship returned to Porto today, but we had two more days to tour the city. The first afternoon I took the mostly walking city tour.

City Hall - Porto

Tiled train station in Porto

One of the seven bridges crossing the Douro River in Porto

Traffic uses the lower span, while pedestrian and trams use the top

August 22, 2015 - Guimaraes and Porto, Portugal

In the morning we took our final tour - to Guimaraes, Portugal. Guimaraes is the birthplace of the Portuguese nationality. We started at the castle and worked our way to the main church seen below.