Heading South to Lisbon

by | Oct 27, 2024 | Uncategorized

You know, after we were here last December, I tried to never type Lisbon again and go with the local Portuguese version, Lisboa. But since the s makes a sh sound in Portuguese, and Fatima (the worst guide in history) kept saying it again and again…so often that I can still hear her in my head…we are back to using Lisbon.

But that said, our last day on the Viking Torgil came all too quickly, and we wished her amazing crew goodbye and headed south to Lisbon. Mike has arranged a driver and guide who would take us south and give us a tour, all at the same time, which we thought was an awesome idea. The only problem was that the guide Mike arranged it with got diverticulitis and wound up in the hospital two days before they were supposed to pick us up. But the guide let Mike know that the driver would pick us up and take us to the two places we had planned on going to and get us to our hotel in Lisbon.

Our driver, Samir, met us at EXACTLY 8:30 a.m. just outside the ship, and we loaded up our bags and headed out to Batalha, the site of a massive battle in 1385 that was a major force in Portuguese independence. So after the war, in a tiny little village next to the battlefield, they built a vast cathedral. It’s really a big one. Since Mike had never met a cathedral he didn’t love, we had to see it. I have to say that I was genuinely impressed. Especially considering the size of the town it is in. And it is very well preserved. Here are the pics to prove it. Oh, one more thing. There was a group of kids (probably 8-10 years old) waiting for a tour at the front door of the cathedral. My first thought was, “How boring is that going to be for a kid that age.” Then, out stepped a docent/actor in medieval dress who started the tour. Once inside, it was picked up by another actor wearing a costume from the 1700s. Both of them kept those kids enthralled. Their faces were so wonderful that I had to keep shooting them, so I apologize in advance for so many photos of them. Don’t forget; if you click the first shot, you can scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping. And PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…

After we visited Batalha, we returned to the van and headed to Nazaré. This charming little beach town is the site of those monster waves you may have seen in YouTube videos. Click the link to see a 100-foot wave recorded there a few years ago. It is truly amazing. You can search for others. Just know they are huge. But don’t get the impression that we saw one of those. They are only around in storm season (later in the year) and we were there on a beautiful, sunny day. But we did get to stop in the original village and then headed down to the seaside resort for a delicious lunch. Here are photos I took while in both places. Don’t forget; if you click the first shot, you can scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping.

After our lunch in Nazaré, it only took Samir about two hours to have us just outside our hotel (Hotel Portugal) in downtown Lisbon. We stayed there last December and have fond memories. Great breakfasts, comfortable rooms, etc. More about the changes at the hotel will be discussed in tomorrow’s post. In the meantime, after we grabbed something in the bar to snack on, Kathleen (whose cold was getting worse) went up to bed, and I went off to take sunset photos. Here are a few of the best I took. Enjoy…

That pretty much covers our day, which started in Porto and ended in Lisbon. It was a great but very long day of travel for us older folks. I hope you enjoyed it. I’ll be back tomorrow with more from Lisbon.

I like to dream about Portugal, and it’s less easy when you are there.  —Maria de Medeiros

A Little More of Porto to Ponder

by | Oct 26, 2024 | Uncategorized

The following day, we were up and ready to tour Porto. When we first arrived (six days ago), there was no time to tour the city. It was pretty much getting on the boat, having dinner, going to bed after a long day of touring to get to the boat. So today was our day to tour Porto.

We had a choice of two tours. One was a walking tour of Porto (which we skipped to make Kathleen’s knee happy) and an overview tour on the “luxury motor coach.” We opted for that one. It included more geography but fewer stops and time on the ground. Which for us worked well. Our two scheduled stops were at the Cathedral of Porto (what else?) and at the spot where the Douro River meets the Atlantic Ocean. Both were very scenic. And, of course, I got a lot of photos. It wasn’t a long tour, about three hours total, but we felt we got what we paid for (it was included ?). Here are the photos I took while out and about on the tour. Don’t forget; if you click the first shot, you can scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping. And PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…

After our tour, we returned to the Torgil, where we had a very delicious last lunch. I realize I have not had much to say about the food, the crew, or the boat, but I will get to it in my summary, which I will try to write on our flight or after we get home. So, if that is what you are waiting for, you must hold on a little longer.

After lunch, Kathleen started packing as we would be getting off the boat early the following day. I decided to walk back across the river (on a bridge—I haven’t mastered the whole walking on water thing ?) and hike around Porto before it started raining. This is where I was totally disappointed by both Google Maps and Apple Maps. For me to walk across the river on a bridge, both of them had me crossing from one side to the other on the small foot ferry. I didn’t want to cross the Douro on a boat. I had already been up and down the river so many times on a boat I wanted to walk and get the view from a bridge. But they would NOT give me directions to Porto (while walking) to cross on a bridge. I tried putting in driving, but there are so many one-way streets that it would have taken me an hour to get to the bridge. So I went down to reception on the boat and asked Marianna (our guide for the entire week) if she knew the easiest way to get to the bridge so I could walk across. She has lived in Porto for years and said, “Of course. Just get off the boat, turn left, walk straight down the wharf to the bridge and cross it. OMG, Apple and Google—you couldn’t figure that out???

I had no problems once I got across the bridge and walked up to the top of the stairs leading into the city. I took a bunch of photos, and here they are.  (HEY! I saw you looking at those on your phone—cut that out! ?)

That about covered our day. I went back on board the boat and packed up everything I could. Then, it was time for the goodbye from the crew cocktail party and our last dinner on board. After that, it was bedtime with an early wake-up as we had to get off the ship to meet our driver/guide, who would take us to Lisbon by 8:30 am the next day.

PS: Sorry for two posts today. Chalk it up to over-tourism. We are in Lisbon today, and I went out to take a walk and scout for things to do. The city is packed like the cans of sardines that Portugal is famous for. I walked up to get a shot of views from the castle, and there was a one-hour and forty-five-minute wait to get tickets—so many people. When I walked down to another viewpoint I had shot from in December, I found hundreds of people and the reason why the place was so crowded. Out in the harbor are two huge cruise ships, each with 4,000+ passengers.  More about that in a couple of days. And yes, I realize I am a kind of a hypocrite for complaining about tourism when I am a tourist  ??.

Touring is hard on the body.  —Eminem

Last Days on the Douro

by | Oct 25, 2024 | Uncategorized

After visiting Favios for bread and muscatel, we decided that was it for us with excursions. The only one left before our return to Porto was to see another church with a long bus ride involved, so we decided to relax with a day on the river when I could work on photos. Instead of a sea day, call it a river day.

As a side note about river days, Kathleen and I have decided that this river cruise is one we could do again (with the same ship, stateroom, and crew). But the next time, we would just sail up and down the river—no excursions. There is so much to see from the deck of the ship. It would be seven glorious days of rest.

Our day on the river would give me lots of chances for more photography of houses,  abandoned villas, other boats passing by, churches and castles at the top of hills and the amazing locks. See what I mean by perusing these photos from that day. Don’t forget; if you click the first shot, you can scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping. And PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…

The following two hours or so would be spent sailing up and down on the Douro between Porto and Gaia, where we dock. The problem was that there were five other boats tied up at the wharf, but they needed to be in the right order. For us to be able to raft with them (tie up and have to walk through them to get on and off the ship), every boat needed to be in order, with the boat leaving first on the outside and then each one inside of it leaving later than the one moored to the dock. Since our boat would be there for two nights, we needed to be up against the pier with two boats rafted out from us, one leaving the following day. One would be leaving the morning after, while Torgil (our boat) would not sail again until we were off, and another group of passengers was on board and ready to sail in three days. It’s very complicated. But it meant we had to kill time waiting for the other two boats to get ready to move. In the meantime, we sailed almost out to the Atlantic Ocean and back again. This meant I could get a ton of photos of both cities in a really great light that I could share with you. And here they are…you know the rules.

That was it for our river day. We finally got docked, did cocktail hour, listened to the port talk for the next day and had dinner. I will be back tomorrow with our final day in Porto…or maybe this afternoon. We are back in Lisbon today and don’t have much planned until tonight.

You can’t be unhappy in the middle of a big, beautiful river.   —Jim Harrison

Like Europe Used to Be—Salamanca, Spain!

by | Oct 23, 2024 | Uncategorized

Kathleen and I started coming to Europe in 2002 when we went to Italy for the first time. Since then, we have been back at least 20 times. We genuinely love this continent. But I am sure you have seen the protests due to over-tourism. That’s a problem many tourist destination cities are having, with too many people showing up and using up all the local resources and overcrowding cities, especially cruise ports. But our visit to Salamanca, Spain, was like going back in time—a European city before tourism discovered it. Don’t get me wrong, there were still souvenir shops and tourist cafes, but it just reminded us of the first time we were in places like Venice, Florence, Barcelona or Palermo.

Our day (like most days when you cruise the Douro River) started with a long ride on a “luxury motor coach” from our mooring spot on the river up the canyons and then a long drive on the plateau above the river. This one was our longest ride but with the biggest reward. It was also (at nine hours) the longest we would be away from the Torgil. Again, I can’t stress enough how great the “luxury motor coaches” Viking uses here on the Douro are. They are truly luxurious. It helps so much to face a 3+ hour drive (round trip) on a bus when it has so much legroom, decent WiFi and an excellent guide who tells you what you want to know and lets you look out the window (on the way there) or sleep (on the way back).

After a “comfort stop” about halfway there, we arrived in Salamanca around 10:00 a.m. with no expectations. Our first stop was the local Mercado (market). It’s not a big market—about one-tenth the size of La Bocadilla in Barcelona or about one-quarter the size of Pike Place Market in Seattle. Viking had arranged a cheese, sausage and wine tasting. And as our guide, Marianna, said, “It’s 5:00 p.m. somewhere.” The tiny bites (billed as tapas—which they weren’t) were just right for that time of the day. I skipped the wine. It has become my experience that if they give you red wine in the morning at a stand-up spot in a market, it’s not going to be the best wine ever. Here are some shots I took in the market and on the river that morning. No reminder is needed for my regular readers.

After the “tapas,” we were broken up into smaller groups, and each group got a local guide who let us explore the city further. We got fortunate with our guide, Maria Carmen (she said to call her Mamen). She was one of the best we had on the whole cruise. She knew her city and had a wonderful sense of humor. Sadly, she was not with us all day, but just enough that we truly got the flavor of her city. Her part of the tour started in the Plaza Mayor (I think every Spanish city has one of these) and took us through the University to the old and new cathedrals. They were genuinely unusual cathedrals as they were attached to each other, and you could move freely between them. Mamen got us right up to the steps of the new cathedral before she let us go off on our own—one note here about how great Viking was on this tour. Once we were no longer touring with Mamen, they had made arrangements in advance that if we just showed our Viking lanyard (attached to our Quiet Vox listening devices—see the one on Mamen’s neck above), we could get into many attractions and Viking paid the entrance fee. That’s classy. I think the best way for me to show you what we saw later in the tour is to post the photos with some short and sweet captions. Don’t forget; if you click the first shot, you can scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping. And PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…

Now that Mamen had let us go, I decided to tour the cathedral quickly before heading back to Plaza Mayor, where Kathleen awaited. I am truly glad I did. I don’t usually take a lot of photos of the insides of churches. I leave that to my buddy Mike. In fact, Bob (my best Canadian friend) and I like to make fun of Mike for all the cathedral photos he takes. Don’t believe me? Wait until Mike posts his review of this trip, and I will link it so you can see 10x the photos I took in this church…and all the other churches in the world ?.

But this cathedral was so beautiful, I just kept taking photo after photo. See for yourself. Pretend the usual warning about phones is here, OK?

One last thing before we leave Salamanca. While waiting with Kathleen, I took did street photography and want to share them. It’s the best thing a photographer can do to capture the heart of a city.

After our excursion, I met Kathleen, and we grabbed a snack (a pizza and two glasses of wine for less than 12 euros—what a deal), met the rest of the gang, had a gelato (so we could have a place to sit), met up with the big group and then went to an old casino (now used as a convention/banquet space) where Viking had snacks for us. We skipped them (pretty dry sandwiches), but we were returning to the ship in less than 20 minutes, which was GREAT! We had a fantastic time in Salamanca, which to me is what Europe used to be like. Sadly, I am sure if I came back in five years, it would be overrun as well.

Overtourism is like planning a dinner party for 12 and 12,000 showing up.   —Elizabeth Becker, noted tourism expert

Day Two on the Duoro

by | Oct 22, 2024 | Uncategorized

One of the most challenging things for me when posting while on a trip is finding time to process photos and write. It is twice as difficult on a river cruise because there are no sea days. This means that all my photo processing and writing must be done first thing in the morning (like it is right now when it is 4:30 am in Portugal or between activities). Day two was a good example. We cruised the river on our first truly beautiful morning day. Then, we had lunch and went off to the Castelo Rodrigo. We didn’t return until about 15 minutes before the port talk for the next day and dinner. By then, I would just be too exhausted to write or process photos. And guess what? I have a cold. Yes, the deadly travel cold has caught up with me again. And that sucks. Last night (Monday), I slept on the couch in our suite’s living room. It was not fun, but I had to do it because I coughed most of the night, and Kathleen needed her sleep after yesterday’s full-day trip to Salamanca, Spain. More about that tomorrow.

But that means I was up early and can start this post. Not that I will finish it today because we are off on another shore excursion at 8:15 this morning, and we are not back on the ship until 3:45. Then it’s a short time to work, attend the port talk for tomorrow, have dinner and go to bed. It’s crazy busy, and if it weren’t for the cold, I would love it.

But back to day two. Here are my photos of our float up the river. I think I went overboard because the blue sky and sun were so incredible to see three days of nothing but rain. Don’t forget; if you click the first shot, you can scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping. And PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…

Castelo Rodrigo

This castle/fort was first built by the Romans, then rebuilt by the Portuguese and then rebuilt again and again by whoever was in charge at the time. Different kings made different additions. Today, it is a hilltop town and a UNESCO World Heritage site where somewhere in the neighborhood of 70 people still live. The castle itself is in ruins, and the village reminds me a lot of Ez, the French hilltop town near Nice. We have toured there twice and loved it. One of the significant differences is that the people who used to live there got tired of going all the way up the hill, so they started a village at the bottom of the hill. So now the people who still live there are very old, and as they pass, no one moves in to take their place.

Luckily for me, a place that old combined with a gorgeous blue sky makes for perfect photography conditions. So here are some photos of the castle and the village around it. As well as one of the valley below. I will try and impart some additional info in the captions.

There are no rules of architecture for a castle in the clouds.  — Gilbert K. Chesterton