Allthegobro

Our next port of call was Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. We were surprised at its size, 406,000 people. It is one of Spains largest cities and was founded in 1478 during the Spanish colonisation period.

I have had an interesting question about how the islands got the name ‘Canary’. Luckily, on our tour of part of the island of Grand Canaria the guide explained the background to the name. It is derived from the Latin word ‘Canariae Insulae’ which means ‘Islands of the Dogs’, attributed to Romans visiting the islands in the early first half of the first century. Now, the tricky thing here is that they were referring to ‘Sea Dogs’, what we call seals. So it is odd that the Coat of Arms of the Canaries has dogs on it rather than seals.

Dogs didn’t appear on the Canaries it seems until after the Spanish conquest at the end of the 15th century. There is a dispute about this of course as to who is right. It seems the better view is that the Romans were referring to seals not dogs, as we know them. But the Coat of Arms still has dogs! There are also a few less accepted ideas about this but what does it matter to us? The main issue is that the Islands are not named after the endemic bird species of the islands. The canary species on the islands is named after the islands not the other way round!

Ok, enough of this stuff. The tour took us on a cultural experience in the countryside. No volcanoes!

We had a walk around the streets of Aguimes a traditional village in the hills overlooking the Las Palmas port. Here are some pics from this colourful town.

Moving on from the town we headed up country along some pretty tight roads, not for the faint hearted.

We were going to Guayadeque. This is an area on the Island that is a throw back to traditional lifestyles from times before the Spanish conquests.

The indigenous people of the Canaries are thought to have arrived from North Africa up to one to two thousand year BC. They occupied the islands in the up country area of ravines running down to the coast from the interior high country. They were cave dwellers and this lifestyle continued into the 1970s before modernisation overtook them.

Their lifestyle has been well documented from archaeological work. One interesting practice was the mummification of the dead. Unlike the Egyptians the dead’s internal organs were not removed, the bodies were left to ‘dry out’ in the burial caves. Many examples of this have been found in the hill sides.

People still live in caves today but they are a little fancier than back in the 70s, light and power for instance! Satellite dishes too for the internet and TV!

We had the opportunity of looking through a cave house. An old lady watched us as we looked around. She had lived in the house for 64 years, with a bit of updating from time to time.

After our look see we had some traditional tapas for lunch. Two pieces stood out, some battered fish pieces (with a sauce) and ‘wrinkled’ potatoes also with a sauce. Both were excellent! Allthego has the recipes to inflict on visitors.

The lunch marked the end of the tour and we returned to the ship for a feet up afternoon. The next port of call was Tenerife. But Allthego and Homealone are returning to Australia in the morning. The adventure will continue then with a chronicle of the last few days of the cruise.

After leaving Morocco we headed west across the Atlantic for our first port of call in the Canaries at Arrecife on Lanzarote. The Canaries are comprised of eight main islands and are about 100km off the African coast on 28 to 30 latitude, just north of the Tropic of Cancer. There is a population of 2.3m scattered across the group, Tenerife and Gran Canaria each having about 40% of the total. The islands are all volcanic in origin and comparatively young in geological time. All bear evidence of recent volcanic activity.

The islands came under Spanish control in the late 1400s. They were strategically placed on the early trade routes to the Americas, India and the East Indies. The First Fleet provisioned here on its way to Australia in the 1770s. Enough history.

Arriving at Arrecife we set off on a tour of the Timanfaya NP an area of transformative volcanic activity in the period 1730 -1736, but also in 1824. Volcanic activity continues today with temperatures of 100-600 celsius at a depth of 40 m in the core.

We had some interesting experiences with the hot rocks at the lookout, about 500m above sea level.

We then went on a short drive through the park past the main features. There is little vegetation, mostly lichen starting to colonise the lava fields. It was quite a spectacular introduction to the Canaries.

On the way back to the ship we stopped by a local vineyard planted on the black volcanic soils. Nothing like traditional trellised vineyards. The rocks are a windbreak for the ground hugging vines. There is no irrigation. The wine we tasted was not to our liking, seemed very flinty and short on fruit flavour. But obviously popular with some.

We returned to the ship and ventured into town for lunch at a restaurant beside the central lagoon. An enjoyable spot in the bright sunshine to share some garlic prawns and a chicken/chorizo paella. Very nice and no shortage of food!

Next stop was Las Palmas on Gran Canaria.

Our time in Madrid ended the morning after the bull fight experience. No bad dreams during the night of being gored by a bull. We made our way by taxi down to the Madrid regional rail station to catch the 10.35am to Malaga. Malaga is almost due south of Madrid on the Mediterranean coast, about 420km by train. It took a little under three hours on the fast train, stopping several times. We hit speeds of in excess of 220kmh on sections of the track, not super fast but quick enough.

The Watts also left us on their Globus bus trip loop around the eastern side of Spain and will return to Madrid for their flight back to Australia.

We had a night in Malaga ahead of our Oceania cruise to the Canary Islands, with a stop in Morocco on the way down the African coast.

We took the opportunity in Malaga to see a traditional Flamenco show, never been to one before. It was held in a small restaurant all set up for the occasion, a partially lit club like atmosphere prevailed with onlookers seated around a small stage.

There was a chap plucking a guitar of some sort, lots of strings. He seemed to be pretty good at it and convinced us to buy his CD after the show.

There was then another chap who sang along with the guitar, the songs didn’t seem to be all in Spanish, maybe there was some North African in there somewhere.

Anyway, he wasn’t too bad. Then there were two girls, perhaps better described as young mature women who did the dancing to the music and singing. Sometimes together and at other times by themselves.

One of them had a pained expression on her face for most of the time, the other smiled and grinned a bit during her performances. Homealone thought that the different facial expressions might be due to the nature of the story being portrayed in the dance routines. It was an interesting performance and something new for us. It was then off for a late snack at a nearby restaurant and then bed.

The following day we had a bit of a lie in and recuperation from all the activity before heading to the dock to board the Nautica, a relatively small ship with 684 guests and 400 crew. The ship sailed away at 7pm on schedule bound for Agadir on the Atlantic coast in Morocco.

That evening we had dinner in the Pollo Grill, a first night celebration. Homealone had the very tasty veal chop.

The next day was spent at sea, the weather was overcast but pleasantly warm. Seas were calm. Day of rest ahead of arriving in Agadir in the morning.

When ashore in Agadir we were whisked away by an energetic guide who kept telling us to return to Agadir, ‘we need you tourists’. He was a bit of a comedian. Occasionally funny.

First stop was at an entertainment type establishment for a Fantasia show. A ‘Fantasia’ show is a bit like a circus and is a collection of folk acts displaying local culture. There were some musicians and dancers.

The odd animal is involved as well. So we had some threatening men, in traditional garb, on horseback charging us with rifles and lances.

An acrobat troupe then joined in the action, rather good.

The coup de gras though was the snake charmer who came on at the end with his box of tricks that concealed various snakes, including a cobra. He suitably controlled the snakes showing them around the audience.

The cobra though was a bit stubborn and wouldn’t fully rise up to the flute like instrument he was playing, despite also being prodded with a tambourine.

After the Fantasia it was back in the bus for a visit to the city’s big Souk El Had. Souks are interesting places to wander through. The only downside being the constant harassment to buy.

We ended up in the haberdashery, homewares, shoes and electrics area none of which we wanted. I think the vendors sensed this and basically left us alone to wander into the spot where there were baskets full of biscuits and dates.

Slobro just loves dates. This was more interesting with the great presentations on display.

We left the Souk empty handed apart from a postcard and got back on the bus destined for the Kasbah, a 16th century historic fort, high on a hill overlooking the city and harbour.

It was largely destroyed in a big earthquake in 1960, like most of Agadir, but has since been rebuilt/restored.

The great views from up here were restricted by sea cloud that had rolled in, but the spot is still impressive.

We now set sail for the Canary Islands and are going to have a busy few days with five port stops over the next five days.

Allthego and Tony went off to see a bull fight in the Madrid Bull Ring, Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas. It was built in 1931 and has a capacity of 23,800 spectators. It is the second largest operating bull ring in the world, behind one in Venezuela. The ladies declined the opportunity to watch this cultural spectacle.

The event started at 6 pm. It seems that, just like at a football match,the crowd gathers slowly outside the Ring in cafes and bars ahead of the game. We thought it was a full house and guessed something like 30-35,000 were there when things got underway. Allthego later researched the capacity at 23,800, so we were a little out.

The crowd was of all age groups from young to old, male and female. They all appeared keen.

Above is a typical night. There are three matadors and six bulls to be fought, two bulls for each matador. Each contest is of 20-25 minutes duration. The objective is to kill the bull in accordance with strict protocols of process, the bull doesn’t have any protocols and seems to just want to gore the matador.

There is a parade of all the participants around the ring before the first contest. Not the bull of course!

At the start, the bull is enticed to various parts of the ring by banderilleros, to tire the bull a bit but also so that the matador can assess the bulls strengths and weaknesses. The picadors, on horseback then join the action and spear the bull in the neck area a few times. The bull tries to gore the horse. They leave the action after a few minutes of work on the bull.

The banderilleros then rejoin the action and attempt to insert up to six to eight barbed darts in the bulls neck area.

The matador then takes over and engages with the bull in passes of the cape. Again wearing the bleeding bull down and positioning it for the final thrust of the sword the matador displays his skill in mastering the bull, it is quite theatrical at times. The bull continues to attempt to gore the matador.

We were quite surprised when in one of the contests we watched a bull did actually gore one of the matadors, appeared to be in the thigh. He got carried off to cheers from the crowd, one of the other matadors took over.

Well, what can I say about it all. Interesting to go and see what it is all about. Wouldn’t go again. The theatre of it all brought back memories of scenes from those Roman Empire movies of action in the Colosseum, gladiators and wild animals with the crowds cheering and crying out for more blood!

Looking forward to something more sedate!

We were in Madrid for four nights, arriving late in the afternoon from Salamanca. The next day had a scheduled city tour in the morning with an add on tour afterwards through the Royal Palace. Before bed we slipped around behind the hotel with the Watts for a light dinner. And yes we found Gildas on the menu! That famous Spanish tapas. Just had to try one! Olives with rather salty anchovies and some pickled green chilli peppers all on a stick.

Allthego wouldn’t rave about them, not unpleasant and probably an acquired taste. Wouldn’t queue up for them either. But served on a nice plate!

The hotel where we are staying is towards the northern end of Madrid’s central wide avenue that twists its way a few kilometres south down to the big regional railway station. In between there are numerous statues, squares and classic buildings to try to take in. Unfortunately, Allthego got on the wrong side of the bus and missed a few shots of these impressive landmarks. Among them was a square dedicated to Christopher Columbus and the American discoveries. We didn’t have the time (or perhaps enthusiasm) to go back another day and redo the excursion at a slower pace on foot. We alighted from the bus near the city’s main square and street walked to the Royal Palace.

These plaques are on the footpath outside shops that have been there for a hundred plus years. This one has been polished up, many need a good scrub. It is for the pharmacy above that has been in this spot since 1578. No doubt dispenses different meds today!

The streets (Calle) in Madrid all have these sort of plaques attached to them. This chap was a famous poet and dramatist from the 17th century. He was the equivalent of England’s Shakespeare.

The Royal Palace was built over the period 1738 to 1755. It replaced a much older set of buildings that were destroyed by fire. It has been added to and modified over the ensuing years. It is considered to be the largest functioning royal palace in Europe.

The Cathedral is at the other end of the plaza from the Royal Palace. It is of relatively recent origin having been completed in 1993 after 110 years of construction (yes it was started in 1883). It was built in a style sympathetic to that of the Palace.

The Spanish Royal family no longer live in the Palace but state functions, ceremonial events and duties are performed in its rooms. They also do not own the Palace or for that matter other castles or royal trappings which are now owned by the State.

Speaking of monuments. The statue below is a technological structural breakthrough. It is the first cast metal statue of a horse standing only on its hind legs. Previous efforts fell over. How was it done? The back of the horse is solid whereas the front and head of the horse is hollow. All the weight is at the back! Not sure which genius thought of that solution.

The following day we had a wander around the ‘old town’ area of Madrid on a ‘culinary tour’. A far bit of walking required to get to three restaurants for our tastings. The courses are below. Eating all the Jamon (dried ham) was challenging, the mushrooms were great. Still don’t understand why you put some nice calamari in a dry bread roll!

But it was all a good experience with the bonus of some guiding around the old town area.

Our last task for the day was to find the Real Madrid genuine shop for a look see. And we did! Interesting look around all the merchandise. Also on display was their genuine Europeans Champion Trophy. Was not for sale.

Found our way back to the hotel on the bus back up the grand avenue. One day left in Madrid and we will see what that brings!

This is an update of our map, it shows the end of the cruise at Vega de Terron. Then the scrappy red lines I have drawn south a short distance to Salamanca and across to Madrid is the route we followed. Allthego must work out how to do this properly in the future.

After disembarking from the Estrela we boarded our coach and took off for Madrid. We had a stop after two hours at Salamanca. This is the famous old University town. The college of learning was granted university status in 1254 and is believed to be one of the oldest universities in Europe.

It had taken us two hours to get to Salamanca, including one of those endless bathroom stops some seem to need and enjoy. Anyway we had two hours at Salamanca that included a speedy walking tour of the main sites.

After the walking tour we had to get lunch for ourselves, so Allthego had a particular interest in looking in food vendor windows.

In early times the University was focussed on canon as well as civil law, but later expanded into the sciences, geography, astronomy etc. Christopher Columbus lectured here on his travels to the Americas.

In medieval times there were no printed books and hand written ones were scarce. So each day there were book readings to the assembled students in this room.

After the University we moved onto having a look at the enormous ‘New’ cathedral. It is built alongside the old cathedral. The two are linked by a passage way. The ‘New’ cathedral was built between 1533 and 1733 and was meant to replace the old cathedral which was considered too small. The old cathedral still functions, so it is all quite a large combined complex.

Next stop was the Shell House. A former family mansion built from 1493-1517. It is now a public library.

The facade of the building is covered with casts of scallop shells, arranged so that as the sun sets diagonal shadows are thrown across the wall. The ‘shell’ is a symbol of the Catholic ‘Order of Santiago’ and also of pilgrims who do the ‘walk of St James’, or the Camino de Santiago. There are some legends about the shells. One being that there is a gold coin under each shell.

The Roman bridge crossing the River Tormes was built from around 27CE. This section, which leads away from the city, is original whereas further along there has been restoration work. Up until the early 1970s it was used as a roadway, now a pedestrian pathway.

Our wandering off down to the river to see the Roman Bridge put a bit of pressure on the two hours we had. We got a little disorientated getting back to the big Square despite following the scallop shells on the footpaths. Made it eventually and gobbled down a Jamon (thin dried ham) and cheese croissant for lunch while we waited to rejoin the coach for Madrid.

On the way out of the city we passed a park in which a matador was displaying his style. Perhaps training for the next bull fight?

It took us another three uneventful hours to reach Madrid where we settled into our hotel around 4pm.

It is not all just river, grapes and wine on this trip. The towns along the way have their own treasures from history to showcase the river cruiser. They have stories to tell about past struggles and glories.

Many of these treasures are old churches that are generally the dominant building in the town. There is a rich Roman Catholic tradition in Spain. All the churches we have seen have been highly decorated. Some of the interiors have seen better days, upkeep and maintenance of these mostly gothic structures is becoming a problem.

We went off on a side trip from Regua to the town of Lamego to see this famous old church and shrine. It is known as ‘our Lady of Remedies’

The fountain is on a platform below the church. The fountain is believed to have healing powers for those who drink of it, maybe a splash is ok these days. Allthego tried a quick gulp and splash. Didn’t seem to cure his ills. Then again it is sometimes said that it is faith that is important for it to work and that it takes time, not simply that the water or whatever has mysterious powers.

We later stopped for two nights in the town of Pinhao, this town is apparently in one of the Douro’s sweet spots for grapes and wines.

Pinhao is famous for its old railway station. The railway came along the Douro Valley in the late 1800s, reaching Pinhao in 1880, when this station was built. Around the walls of the station are blue tiled murals of life from those late 1800s through the first half of the twentieth century before the damming of the river.

Our last excursion away from the river was to Castelo Rodrigo, a hill top medieval village. There are great views over the plains and into Spain from the remnants of the palace atop the hill.

The old medieval church is a mixture of architectural styles over several hundred years. Quite a history of occupation.

Back on the river we had our last night aboard moored at Vega de Terron. In the morning we left on coaches for Madrid, with a lunch stop over at Salamanca. It has been a great trip so far!

The Douro is the third longest river on the Iberian Peninsula. It rises in the mountains in the north east of Spain and flows 897 km through Spain and Portugal to the Atlantic. 200km of the river is in Portugal, this being the navigable section of the river. It took us five days of river boating aboard the ‘MS Estrela’ to get from Porto to the border town of Vega de Terron. River traffic can only sail during the day light hours, so we were moored up at night in towns along the way.

MS Estrela sailed away in light cloudy skies. There was cloudy o weather during the first two days of the journey, and some very light rain. We were affected by ex cyclone Gabriel which had crossed the coast as a rain depression.

We sailed under the Luis 1 bridge, built in 1881. At that time the longest single span suspension bridge in the world.

The Douro was a wild river until the mid 1970-80 when the construction of five dams and locks along the Portuguese section of the river changed its character and geography. The dams also provided hydro power.

Prior to this it was a perilous trip up and down the river with cargo, particularly for the famous wines and ports, in the traditional ‘barcos rabelos’ boats.

After the damming of the river it has become a series of ribbon lakes at a much higher water level.

The major feature of this trip has been the riverside with its steep terraced hill sides. Grapes and olives abound. Further inland almonds were also common. Grapes have been grown commercially in the Douro valley for at least the last 380 years.

We visited the cellars of the oldest vineyards towards the end of the trip but along the way called into others for tastings and wanders through their gardens (more emphasis sometimes on the gardens than the wine!).

‘Quinta’ is like the word ‘Estate’ in English, referring to a wine brand or locale. Like Taylors or Tyrells in Australia. Perhaps ‘The house of ….’ is better. Anyway they are all over the hillsides!

Vintage ports and tawnies are what this region is famous for, plenty of red and white wine as well. Allthego and Slobro have participated well in the tastings. Like most vineyard tastings we were not presented with the cellar classics, sometimes the wine was fairly average quaffable stuff.

We tasted some nice wines after a vineyard tour of the Quinta Sao Luis estate, which makes the Kopke label that dates back to 1638. We had a very nice ruby port, the style that you need to drink the whole bottle of in no more than a couple of days (just like a red wine). It only improves in the bottle over a couple of years, unlike their vintage ports that go on in the bottle for decades and cost a motza!

It seems that most of the grapes are harvested by hand, there is simply no room on the steep hillsides for machinery. We were also told that in recent years the harvest is starting earlier compared to say 100 years ago. Global warming in evidence again it seems.

Well so much for vineyards and wines! Next time some experiences in the towns away from the vines!

We have joined the cruise in Porto, settled in and survived the first night aboard!

Will we survive the coming day’s excursion and activities? Allthego has always liked to try to improve his cooking expertise. Homealone says it needs improvement. So we are off to participate in a Portuguese cooking experience. What we cook is what we will eat for lunch. Will the mushrooms be ok? Will we need dinner?It was to take most of the day.

There was a short walking excursion of the old port area prior to the meal prep and ‘cook off’ starting circa 11am, finishing 3 pm after eating it.

A fairly extensive menu was planned. Of course to help us along there is a bit of cheese and wine to drive the creative juices. The chef goes through the ingredients and defines the objectives and techniques required.

Our group is divided into a number of ‘teams’ to assemble the meal. All the ingredients are laid out before us ready to be prepared. Mushrooms and other vegetables to be peeled, sliced and chopped. There is to be a blended vegetable soup.

Prawns to be peeled, deveined and the heads retained for later squeezing during the sauce stage.

The free range chicken to be skinned and deboned ready for a chicken and vegetable pot stew. Skin and bones headed into a stock pot.

Allthego was part of the chicken team expertly skinning numerous pieces, managed to also deal with some onions and a couple of capsicums utilising newly learned techniques.

Another team is dedicated to the production of Portuguese Tarts. Homealone brings her pastry skills to this group and manages to secure the recipe.

All this seamlessly progresses amid banter from the chef and his assistant George. There are no temperamental Masterchef episodes or walkouts.

It was a great success. Some great spicy mushroom and prawn nibbles, a smooth velvety vegetable soup and a robust chicken and veg pot stew. And of course some Portuguese tarts to finish off the meal. Some white and red wine helped.

We returned to the boat for a rest. No strange mushroom effects. Dinner was not required!

Later that evening we headed out for a musical performance to what is known as the Stock Exchange Palace, built from the mid 1800s. The building is really the very fancy premises of the local Chamber of Commerce. We had a look around the rooms and furnishings. The foyer was a large room with the ceiling surrounds depicting the national shields of all the countries that Porto traded with, around the early 1900s.

We ended up in the elaborate Arab Room for the musical performance. This room was built especially to impress Arab business visitors, with whom Porto did not trade at the time. Most impressive.

The musical performance was a little ‘ho hum’, three local guitars and singer, probably excellent performers but it was all in Portuguese. Others enjoyed it, depends on one’s taste I suppose.

A rather long day ended back at the boat. We next head off up the river for what promises to be a relaxing few days on the twisting river among the vines.

It was more or less a full day’s coach ride to Porto, in the north, from Lisbon. Along the way we passed through rural landscapes; cork trees, closely planted olive trees and vineyards. There was also some paddocks with a mix of black bulls and horses.

The bulls are destined for Portuguese bull fights. Bull fighting is not as popular as it is in Spain. Our guide suggesting it may well die out given time, he had been to fights in his youth (with his father and grandfather) but his 33 year old son had not set foot in a ring. It seems Bull fighting is a little different to that in Spain. Bulls are not killed in the ring but are ‘dealt with out the back’ if necessary, otherwise they are retired to pasture. They are also wrestled by 8 men one of whom twists the tail vigorously to subdue the animal. Bulls are very sensitive in the tail, as we all are…..

About half way along we stopped for lunch and a short look around the old university town of Coimbra. Coimbra was a former capital of Portugal. The old historical area is very geared to the tourist. Plenty of eateries and souvenir shops to tempt the traveller.

We arrived in Porto around 4pm and wound our way around the streets down to the marina near the mouth of the estuary into the Atlantic Ocean.

Porto is the largest city in Portugal after Lisbon, and was for a short time a former capital of the country.

We settled into our comfortable cabin and after dinner the boat, it is more a boat than a ship, sailed up into the brightly lit old city centre with its numerous bridges.

We are here for a couple of nights before starting the journey up the Duoro Ruver.

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Humans seem to have a fascination for old rocks that have been turned to stones. So when we go off touring around various places we just love standing in queues for a while to look at old buildings. Why is this so?

Is it a fascination for seeing how well to do people lived a long time ago? Or those not so well to do who just existed, perhaps to serve the well to do? There is a tendency to focus on seeing the finery of life, expressed in architecture, enjoyed by kings, queen’s, lords, ladies and the clergy. Not the ‘blood and guts’ of everyday life, just how did the toilets work in those days? Who was in charge of rat control?

Anyway, Allthego and Homealone have queued up again to see one or two of the old buildings of Lisbon. Of coarse there are not many because of the big earthquake. But some of the grand ones survived, perhaps they survived because they were grand and so well built.

We lined up for a tour of the cloisters of the 16th century Jeronimos Monastery and Church. The Monastery is beside the Tagus River in the Belem quarter, downstream from central Lisbon.

After touring the Monastery we returned to the city centre for a short walk in the historical district. Another Portuguese staple was tried at a cafe, cod fish cakes. A mix of cod flakes, potato and egg, with bread crumbs. Just like our tinned salmon patties! We later had some for a light lunch, some Mateus Rose was needed to wash them down.

Also on our list was Pena Palace sitting high on a hill at Sintra, a few kilometres out of Lisbon near the Atlantic coast.

Jerónimos Monastery and Pena Palace are both UNESCO world heritage sites. UNESCO world heritage sites seem to breed endlessly, popping up all the time fuelling tourism as much as preserving the sites! Allthego shouldn’t be so suspicious. The cloisters and palace were very impressive, certainly deserving places on the list.

The Pena Palace has its origins as a middle ages monastery that was in part destroyed by the 1755 earthquake and lay in ruins until the mid 1800s. At that time King Ferdinand set about restoring the monastery and expanding the complex. The yellow buildings are the old monastery and the red ones the expanded complex. The rooms in the new areas are bigger and have much higher ceilings. The palace became a summer residence for the Kings and Queens of Portugal until the 1910 republican revolution.

On the way back to Lisbon we detoured to Cascais for a look around the coastal resort town. Before getting there we passed by Cape Roca, the most westerly point in Europe. The beaches in these parts looked pretty good with the Atlantic breaking onto white sand.

At Cascais Russell and Tony tackled another local specialty. Grilled Sardines, fresh ones not from a tin! It was good to give them a go, but me thinks they are an acquired taste. Salty and fishy; bones, scales and the rest.

Not a big lunch so back in Lisbon we had a farewell snack for dinner at a pizza place. Pretty good! We next head off to Porto to join the ship on the Douro River.

We are now based at the Four Seasons Ritz which is not far from a huge statue of the Marquis de Pombal and the start of the long wide Avenida da Liberdade (‘liberty avenue’),which runs down to the old town area not far back from the riverfront.

The Marquis was Prime Minister and a powerful autocrat during the period 1750 to 1777. He was responsible for, among other things, the rebuilding of Lisbon after the powerful earthquake of 1755. The earthquake, 8.8 on the scale, subsequent fires and a huge Tsunami killed a large proportion of Lisbon’s population and destroyed much of its urban landscape. The rebuild was monumental and explains why buildings are comparatively modern, early 19th century style.

Above the statue is the Eduardo VII park that ends on the top of the hill with a large Portuguese flag flapping in the breeze. Looking down the Avenue of Liberty the Tagus River comes into view.

We met up with the Watts who had got here the day before us and were staying in the Intercontinental Hotel, next door to the Ritz.

The tour people had recommended Dote as a lunch spot. It is a micro brewery. Had an introduction to some local foods.

Our stay in Lisbon has been somewhat sedate. One might say there has been an unhealthy focus on food. But hey, when in Lisbon do what the Lisbonians do ……. eat local food. And this has been our focus, as well as seeing some significant sites around the place.

Dinner that night was in the restaurant at the Intercontinental where we enjoyed a couple of local classics. A piece of grilled cod with an almond topping and some grilled chicken with some sort of ‘red’ rubbing. Both rather tasty.

One of the icons in Lisbon is Tram 28 that connects many of the historic neighbourhoods as it goes up and down the hills across the city along narrow streets.

We took a taxi to the starting point about 20 minutes from the hotel with the intention of visiting St Georges Castle (sits high on a prominent hill overlooking the city) at the other end of the tram line. A very crowded ride for us standing all the way. Saw a couple of very animated ladies nattering away in the corner of the tram.

We didn’t make it to the castle but we did make it to lunch. A rather quaint traditional food establishment named Sant’avo meaning something like a ‘ saintly/loving grandmothers kitchen’.

It was full of old world stuff, books as placements, a variety of plates and utensils on the tables etc. 60s music in the background.

Tony and I tried the goat stew, Leanne the chicken stew and Rosemary a chick pea and sweet potato balls creation. We all enjoyed the food and setting, the goat stew maybe a ‘one-off’ experience!

Some deserts afterwards and green wine (more about that some other time) meant we were very well satisfied.

Not far from Sant’avo is a big old church complex. The residential part of the complex is long abandoned and in great disrepair. The Church though is ok but needs extensive roof repairs.

Hopped on a Tuk Tuk to get back to the hotel in time for a tour group Welcome Reception, where we learnt what happens next. Dinner was not needed!

It was an uneventful, smooth and on time fourteen hour Emirates flight to Dubai. The stopover on the way to Lisboa. Lisbon is spelt Lisboa in Portuguese it seems. From here on we are going to stick to Lisbon. Slobro was a little upset at spending the time locked up in a bag in the overhead lockers, came up for air while waiting four hours in Dubai for the connecting flight to Lisbon.

One thing about Emirates is the food in economy is pretty good as far as airline food goes, the soggy potato pieces with Allthego’s scrambled egg for breakfast notwithstanding. Homealone enjoyed the pancakes option.

The eight hour flight onwards from Dubai was also smooth going all the way and we landed in Lisbon on time at 7.15pm, just as the sun was going down.

Both fairly tired! No need for dinner though as there had been a rather ‘late’ lunch on the plane.

Rather tasty chicken meatballs in a herb cream sauce, Homealone had the excellent beef stroganoff option, with a few bits and pieces of other stuff to fill a hole.

After a lengthy but smooth immigration experience we strolled unchallenged down the ‘nothing to declare’ line and then out of the airport down to the hotel, about 500 metres away.

Interesting etchings on the mirror in the hallway outside our room. One of the famous Bellem Towers that sit beside the Tagus River, former guardian posts on the river for the old city.

Crashed for the night! In the morning breakfast called, included a fluffy beetroot roll with some Edam cheese, never had a beetroot roll.

Very colourful with the creamy yellow Edam atop!

After breakfast we caught the hotel’s shuttle bus back to the airport to pick up the APT transfer to the hotel where the Duoro River tour begins in a couple of days.

We are going off to Portugal and Spain for another adventure. Apart from a day in Lisbon on a cruise we haven’t been to Portugal. Have had brief stops in Spain’s Barcelona and Malaga.

It’s going to be an interesting time on the Douro River in Portugal and later around the Canary Islands off the coast of Morocco.

The family farewelled us over some takeaway. Departure is an early morning flight at 2 am to Dubai and then on to Lisbon.

It has been a long day for Homealone getting all those last minute jobs done. Must always get late night or early morning flights in the future!

Slobro is joining us again on this journey. He looks quite pleased waiting for our call to board. He is looking forward to a Gildas!