Lisbon Day 3 - Europe 2023
The main event for today was a boat tour. We were a little behind getting to the dock, but only the five of us were on the tour so it worked out perfectly. Z had made the reservation, so he ran ahead to make sure the two gents who were crewing the boat knew we were on the way. (Yessa had run ahead at an earlier point to see if we were at the right dock… we weren’t.)
It was perfect weather; slightly overcast, but not too cold. We had the whole boat to ourselves, and we all agreed the best part was when the five of us, plus Bob, climbed to the front to laugh and chat and relax. (You’ll get a full introduction to Bob in a later post, but he is the new camera Buddie bought for this trip. He’s a 360° camera and Captain Louis suggested “Bob”and it stuck. Bob has definitely become the sixth member of our party.)
This is Padrão dos Descobrimentos, a famous monument, and seeing it from the water was fantastic. It’s the explorers on the side pictured above and the “support crew” of scholars and financial supporters, etc. on the other. When I searched online to learn more about it, Google translate changed the explorers to “browsers.” 🤣
There’s only one woman on the whole thing. She largely financed much of the exploration, but is listed as “Mother of…”
Belem is another popular tourist spot and I loved seeing it from the water. Belem was the last defense for the Port of Lisbon and the square openings at the water level were for the cannons. Captain Louis told us the cannonballs were made of marble to better skip across the water and rupture the enemy hull. That gave us much fodder for discussion.
25 DE ABRIL – Look familiar?
We sailed out and under the 25th of April Bridge (The date of the Carnation Revolution) and well up river.
We learned the crane drivers who load the big ships have 1 minute and 40 seconds to load each container. 🤯 That goes by quickly.
Bob came through with some fantastic photos.
Our group of three took a meandering path to the LX Factory, an open air market -type space with restaurants and crafty shops.
It was a lovely walk. And a lovely lunch.
And salads. 😁
Then a bus ride home to check in with our compatriots.
Buds and I headed out after that for laundry time and a few groceries.
And then that night, the adults walked down to browse the oldest bookstore in the world.
It was small, but had English books and postcards and bookmarks, so we all found something of interest. They even stamp the inside of the book in English and/or Portuguese to show you bought it there.
With that, the day drew to a close.
