by Jim Bellomo | Oct 30, 2024 | Uncategorized
Yesterday (our last day in Portugal), we (everyone except Kathleen, who was still battling her cold) woke up early and were met by our guide, Alex, from Top Ten Tours.
We tried to tour with Alex when we were here in December, according to Mike’s recommendation, but he was booked. Since Mike was with us this time, he set it up, and we were so glad we got to tour with Alex on this return trip. He met us right on time and drove us to the Pena Palace in Sintra. He had everything prearranged, and we were in the first group through the palace. His knowledge of his subject was outstanding, and his delivery was fun but informative.
Sintra was the summer home (even though it is less than an hour from Lisbon) of the Portuguese Royal Family (when they had one), and it is at a higher and more humid elevation, so it was cooler in the summer. The palace is incredibly colorful. I will say that the further away you are, the more beautiful it looks. That’s because it really needs a paint job. Two hundred-year-old buildings have gutters that really leach out onto the paint. You will have to see my photos to see what I mean. No matter if they are dirty, the Palace is magnificent, and I hope you like the images. BTW: I was amazed when I started processing them because of the blue sky and the incredible light; these are right out of the camera. 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…
Heading into the Pena Palace..
The colors just do it.
Triton is holding everything up.
See what I mean about the sky.
Looking back towards Lisbon.
And back at parts of the Palace.
With Lisbon in the distance.
It truly is a cool place.
Lots of yellow and red and some blue.
As well as typical Portuguese tiles.
Looking out to sea.
And back in the Palace.
The roof to the chapel.
A small sundial.
The clock tower.
It is truly an original place.
Back to Trident.
This is a close up of what he had around him.
And a close up of some of the tiles.
The tower.
The courtyard of the Palace.
You know how I love gargoyles. This guy seemed nice.
The red tower again.
Looking through a window at the castle below.
Another view to Lisbon and the Taugus River.
And back at the Pena.
Can’t get enough of this clock tower.
Inside, I liked this wood carved statue.
And this wood carving of a great battle.
This is a close up of the wood carvings.
More towers.
More gargoyles. This one is a gutter spout.
Catholics of the time believe only God could make something perfect so there is one tile here that isn’t.
Can you find it?
This is in the village of Sintra, below the Pena Palace.
A very cute little village that has gone touristy.
We were here in December and almost by ourselves.
I shot this builiding in December but the light was better yesterday.
Looking UP at the castle in silhouette.
And another view of the village.
And my attempt to capture the village building and the castle above it.
We spent almost two and a half hours at the palace, and then he dropped us in the village for some shopping and photo time before picking us up again to take us to lunch in Cascais at a local restaurant that served basically the best chicken I have ever eaten and french fries. What more could you want? We were obviously the only non-locals there, and Alex made us promise not to name the place. He said if you’re going to find it, you will have to tour with him. Suffice it to say that we would all do this tour again just for that lunch. Here are a few photos I took in Cascais.
The wavy tiles in front of the municipal building.
An enormous tile painting.
This inlet is part of the Atlantic and there is a bridge across it.
Who knew there was a bridge across the Atlantic? This is what was on the other side.
After lunch, we were off to The End of the World (where Europeans originally thought the world ended or you fell off the edge), a beautiful place. See the pics. 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 End of the World.
The lighthouse at the End of the World.
The rocks below the lighthouse at the End of the World.
The abbey above the rocks, that are above the lighthouse that is at the End of the World.
That about sums up our tour with Alex. He was an excellent guide, and he knows where to find the best chicken I had ever eaten and could never replicate.
Back at the hotel, Kathleen was awake and feeling better, so we all went out for one last farewell meal together at the rooftop bar of the hotel next door to ours. The two hotels are under the same ownership, so we got a discount for dinner, but it still wasn’t worth it. I forgot the old adage that if you get a view, the service and food probably aren’t that great…that was the case here. But I did get a few great photos of Lisbon at night to close out the trip.
The castle was all lit up.
Along with the city below it.
But it is clearly the star.
And so is the year-round Christmas Market in the square about a block from our hotel.
And that concludes our 21-day journey all over the Iberian Peninsula. We had an awesome time, and I will be back tomorrow with a breakdown of our flight home, our night in London and all the fun stuff that happened in between. Then, I promise by the weekend, you will get a full report on the cruise and the trip, highlighting the best parts.
An Editor’s Note: If you like reading about traditional ocean cruising, please check out my British buddy Wansbrough’s cruise blog, which you can find by clicking here. He and his lovely bride (who is a vegan, so you get a new perspective on cruise food) are currently doing a circumnavigation of Australia, and I am loving reading about it. He blogs every day, and you will like it if you are into traditional ocean cruising.
There’s a great tradition in storytelling that’s thousands of years old, telling stories about kings and their palaces, and that’s really what I wanted to do. —Aaron Sorkin
by Jim Bellomo | Oct 28, 2024 | Uncategorized
After the cruise (besides the day it took to drive down), we planned to spend three extra days in Lisbon. Each day had one major planned event or tour, and the rest of the day was spent either seeing sights or nursing a cold. I have decided that since we were in Lisbon before (if you missed it, just search Lisbon) last December, I didn’t need to take as many photos. With daylight savings time here in Portugal still in effect until Sunday morning, taking an “early morning, pre-dawn photo walk meant missing breakfast and being late for a tour.
Before I get into what we did, I want to say a couple of things about the hotel we are staying in: the Hotel Portugal. We stayed here last December and really loved it. I can honestly say that after four nights here this time, I don’t think I would come back. The first time we were here, we had their basic room, and it was on the first floor (the lobby is on floor zero, as in most European countries). This time, we are on the third floor but at the very end of the hotel. This is an upgraded room. A little bigger and nicer. The only problem is that this hotel sits on top of the subway. So, about every 15 minutes, a train runs under it. In the first-floor room, we were in the center of the hotel, and we barely felt the train. In this room, at the end of the hotel, even in a third-floor room, we are truly feeling it. You would think a 737 was taking off next door every time a subway train runs by. They have also changed their superb (and included) breakfast from a table service to a buffet. I liked the old way better. I can still recommend this hotel, but they should have a warning on the rooms at the end that the noise would be much louder. By the third night, we had gotten used to it, but it was still a pain. Right now (I am writing this at 5:00 a.m.) no cars. They don’t start until around 6:00.
Day one—Lunch at TimeOut Market and a Fado Show
Our only plans for our first full day in Lisbon were to have a late lunch at the TimeOut Market and to attend a Fado show that night. In case you weren’t around for our first Lisbon trip, Fado is the national music of Portugal. Think of it as historical blues performed by two guitars and a singer. When we were here in December, we did a show that did not turn out well because of circumstances we weren’t prepared for. This time, we thought if everyone else wanted to try a show, we knew how to work it this time.
First, you have a big and late lunch. Because a Fado show is a dinner show, you will not even get in until 8:00 p.m., and by the time they take your order, get you wine and bring the appetizers, it will be close to 9:00. In December, we had done lunch at noon, and by the time the food came we were starving. Also, we didn’t plan well on our previous trip because we had done it our last night in Lisbon when we were flying out early the next morning, so we spent the entire show looking at our watches and finally cut out early as we had to be up to go to the airport a few hours later. This time, we went on a night when we didn’t have anything to do the next morning until our food tour at 11:00 a.m. (more about that later) so we could sleep in. We tried a different Fado Show at a place called A Severa. It was better than the other place but not by much. The service was better, but you are really paying for the show (which is free, but you must buy at least $45 of food and drink per person). The performances were good. You got your appetizers; they sang four songs. You got your entrées, they sang four songs. You got your dessert, and they sang four more. We made it through the entrée group before we had to bail because two of our party had those nasty colds and needed rest and to stop coughing. But it was just fine. It’s the kind of thing you need to experience once when you are here. So if you come, I can recommend this place.
But I forgot to tell you about lunch. We decided to go for a 2:00 p.m. lunch at the TimeOut Market. Think of this market as a HUGE mall food court. Restaurant booths with all kinds of food are all around a gigantic room with tables in the middle. Sounds great, right? Well, not so much at 2:00 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon. After Ubering over in two cars, we walked all the way around the perimeter of the room and found not a single place to sit for anyone, let alone six people together. The entire place was packed. You could barely move. We bailed. Crowds are no longer our thing. No food was worth fighting that. But the lunch gods were with us. I looked on Google Maps for a restaurant nearby, and it showed me a Lebanese restaurant called Mankooche. We all love Lebanese food, so I said I would go and scout it out while the others waited.
The only problem was I couldn’t find the restaurant. I walked back and forth on the street where it should have been, and Google Maps kept telling me, “You have arrived,” but I hadn’t. I could not find it. Finally, I walked a whole block past where Google Maps said it was, and when I returned to meet up with the group, I saw a small signboard with an arrow that said, “Secret Lebanese restaurant through this door.” Really. So we went in, and the food, service and ambiance were perfect. Just incredible. One of our best lunches of the trip. So, if you come to Lisbon and get knocked out of the TimeOut Market due to the crowds, this is the place you want. Hard to find but amazing. Here are some pics I took during that day. Captions will explain. No phones, please.
I did take a bit of a walk in the morning.
Found some cool streets.
Lisbon is a very walkable city…
…if you don’t mind the uphill.
Went back to couple of places I had shot from in December.
Then I had been alone.
Now the place is swamped.
Two big cruise ships meant a lot of people but I managed to get some shots with no one in them.
And the world’s largest bougainvillea.
And of course the #28, Lisbon’s most famous tram.
The TimeOut Market.
A solid mass of humanity.
Coming up to the Pink Street.
Found four people with umbrellas that matched the street.
Dancing around in the rain.
This is the party street at night.
Looked like Pepto Bismol to me.
But in the distance I saw a political march.
According to my translation of the signs…
…some of the people were in support of the police…
…while others were calling them crooks.
Who knows? It was interesting.
Day 2—A food tour with Fred
The one thing we couldn’t wait to do when we came back to Lisbon was to do another food tour with Fred from Eating Europe. We had done a different tour with Fred last December (he is a little scruffier now), and we had LOVED IT! So, we wanted to take the rest of our group on a tour to have a chance to experience Fred. His real name is Frederico, and by day, he is a humble food tour guide who has a vast knowledge of Lisbon and true culinary expertise. However, his real secret is that at night, he works as a stand-up comic. This means that besides great food and great info, you get hilarious laughs. I could tell you a lot more, but why bother? This is a MUST-DO if you come to Lisbon. Contact Eating Europe, choose any of their tours and specify that you HAVE TO TOUR WITH FRED! You will not regret it. That’s all I need to say. The food was great and included five stops for some of the best food we have had on the trip. Most voted at the end for the grilled chorizo at the first place we visited as their favorite food, not counting the pastries we had as dessert to finish the tour. But forget the food—this tour is about the amazing Fred, who loves food and his city.
That covers our first and second days in Lisbon (except I forgot to mention that Kathleen missed Fred because her cold was so bad ?). Our third and last day will be in the next post because we visited the amazing Pena Palace in Sintra, and I have a BUNCH of photos. Stay tuned. We are off to London for the first leg of our trip home and I will probably get that one done tonight.
Comedy has to be based on truth. You take the truth and you put a little curlicue at the end. —Sid Caesar
by Jim Bellomo | 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.
Early morning on the Douro.
It is such a peaceful river.
And the natural beauty is everywhere.
Now in Salamanca, the first building we saw.
Where this man was relaxing but had been there far too long.
Outside the market was a woman cutting something.
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…
Our starting spot in Plaza Mayor.
One corner of the plaza.
Now out of the plaza and moving through the city.
Down narrow streets.
To a nice church we couldn’t go into.
But had a great tower.
Now further along to another old church that is now a library.
With a statue and fountain outside.
And next to it the library with a beautiful façade.
Lots of steps.
This wall with seashells. Mamen said to come back later when the sun was on the wall for diagonal lines.
Mamen explains the sculptures on the walls.
Like this one.
And this one…
And this one…
And this one…
And this one…
And this one that had a very creepy legend about if you could spot it you had good luck with the ladies but then ended up dying and going to hell.
The blue skies and great buildings kept calling my lens.
Just beautiful.
After our first day of rain…
…these skies have been our constant companion.
From in the courtyard of the library.
Looking out.
Reminded me of the shots I got in the Belém monastery.
And now the cathedral.
In front of this cathedral was another church.
Looking up at the new cathedral façade.
And above the doors another set of characters.
Including a spaceman added a long time after the building of the cathedral.
And another shot before I went inside.
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?
This spot was awe-inspiring.
As was this one.
The doors were very traditional but some of the art was very “interesting.”
Like this piece which was as big as a garage door.
Which was right across from this very traditional chapel.
And that was right next to this more modern piece which was as high as a three-story building.
Which was across from this very traditional altar piece.
All of these were in this wing of the new cathedral.
Including this huge door.. It was the size of two garage doors, side by side with five more doors on top of them.
I couldn’t get into the middle of the cathedral so this seems off-center.
Sorry.
One of the side chapels.
The pulpit.
Looking to back of the cathedral from the center of the choir area.
The stalls in the choir area. Intereting carving.
The back side of the organ.
The knave leading to the old cathedra.
Looking towards the altar of the old cathedral.
The up close view of the altar of the old cathedral.
Looking up at the dome of the old cathedral.
Maybe, the founders of the old cathedral are buried here.
The last room in the old cathedral.
Once outside two photos of the cathedral looking back.
This is number 2.
They do nice manhole covers.
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.
I love the look of European school kids.
And old men in bright jackets on the phone.
And people trying to figure out where the hell they are.
Locals looking in disgust at tourists.
People with dogs…
And college professors coming out of tobacco shops fully dressed for success.
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
by Jim Bellomo | Oct 20, 2024 | Uncategorized
We are on board and sailing. Sorry about the lack of posts yesterday, but it was a very busy day, and I am still not sure I will get this one out today. There are lots of things to take pictures of, lots of food to eat and lots of other stuff going on. So away we go.
After our long bus ride from Lisbon to Porto, we boarded the Viking Torgil. And I took the photo at the top of this page from our verandah on the ship. We are in Suite (yes, we got a suite) 320. It’s an actual suite with a living room and a separate bedroom. It’s really nice. And it has a balcony and a verandah. I will take some pics later and let you see it.
One thing that is totally different about this river cruise from our Danube Christmas Market cruise last December is that the ship sailed down (or was it up?) the Danube in the middle of the night. We would go to bed in one place and wake up in another. This does not happen on the Douro. The authority that makes the river’s navigation rules will not allow ships to sail in the dark. There seems to be some discussion of when dark really is (the ships go by what is called Nautical Twilight—about an hour before actual dawn), but they can’t start moving until then. So that means we get to see a lot more of the river…which is beautiful. We left Porto early in the morning (around 6:00 am) when it was still almost dark. I was up and shooting when we pulled out and here’s my first set of photos of Porto in the dark. A bunch of bridges and some great churches and hotels are lit up. It was just beautiful. So, take a look at my first batch, and I will be back with the narrative in a few minutes. 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 city as we left.
This beautiful hotel is totally lit up at night.
It just draws your eye and my lens.
This church did the same thing.
Here’s the hotel again.
And the general harbor area.
As we sailed on, it got lighter (that is how the earth works…I think ?), and we got to see much more of the river. When you sail the Duoro, you soon discover that about half the buildings you see are very old and, in many cases, abandoned. But they are great subjects for photography. The other subject that grabs the eye is the terraced vineyards. You will see them throughout my photos on this trip. Here are a few more from later in the morning (I had to stop to eat breakfast ?.) By now, you know how to see them.
See what I mean about buildings…
they just keep coming.
But sometimes you get a rower.
Or a whole bunch of them.
In differeent skulls.
And more buildings.
And more.
And more
And terraced landscapes.
A palatial estate.
A statue in a town we floated through.
Another villa.
Passing another cruise ship going west.
These are the boats that dredge the river.
Lots of green everywhere.
I liked the orange on this house.
I find this photo very restful.
Mour houses
These guys were fishing and one of the crew says they throw the fish that are too small back down the tubes.
Saw a heron/crane/bird.
This is the ultimate calming photo. Totally serene.
Terraces again.
Houses again.
Birds again.
Another ship coming…
…and going.
Houses again
See
A different kind of fisherman.
A cool winery.
A close-up of their tile.
More terraces and a building
Another calm spot on the river.
And a beautiful rock formation.
One of the great things about being on a boat this small is that you get to know every person on the crew. I have made friends with a sailor who works with the captain (who is only in his 30s—YIKES! I have kids a lot older than that), and he asked the captain if Mike, Steve and I could join them in the wheelhouse. That was cool. Watching him navigate the river and the locks is something. The Douro is a twisty river with some very narrow spots and five large locks we have to go through. The depth also varies from 100 meters to as little as three meters. That’s almost scary, but our captain does a great job. And it was nice of him to let us tour his work area.
Our captain may have been young, but you should see him pilot this boat. He had to transition five locks on the Douro, including the Carrapatelo Lock, Europe’s highest lock. If you have been through the Panama Canal, imagine a smaller lock that is 35 meters high. That’s just over 114 feet high. Sailing into that lock is scary. And what made it worse was that it started to pour just as we arrived. My photos of our transitioning this lock don’t do the experience justice, but here they are.
Sailing into the lock.
The walls are VERY close on both sides.
Looking up 114 feet.
It really makes you feel small.
Especially once they close the gates behind you.
We are finally there.
And sailing out.
This was most of our morning and early afternoon. Around 2:00 pm, we docked at a tiny port town called Lamego. I need to note that there really aren’t any places to tour directly on the river. To tour, you must get into a “luxury motor coach” and drive. Sometimes, it is a short distance (in the case of the tour I am about to tell you about to the Mateus Palace) or sometimes long (as in the case of where we are going today—Salamanca, Spain). Either way, it means some time on a bus. But again, these are the nicest buses we have ever had for our tours. Lots of space, about two-thirds full and genuinely a nice bus. They even have WiFi.
As I mentioned, our visit on this day (Saturday) was to the Mateus Palace (if you are in our age bracket, you probably remember the Mateus rosé ads on TV as a kid) and then on to Quinta do Seixo. The palace itself was a bust. Or maybe I am just worn out from visiting palaces, libraries and monasteries. After the ones we saw while visiting Madrid, this one seemed shabby. It was dark and dreary, but the guide was fun. If you are a Parks and Rec fan, imagine your tour guide was April Ludgate. She even looked a little like her. Here’s my pics of the Palace. They did have nice grounds and we had plenty of time to walk around them. So much so that I even resorted to flower photos, which I never do. But some came out, so I thought I would show them to you anyway. 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…
Entering the gates of the Mateus Palace.
They say the palace is Baroque. I say if it’s baroque, fix it.
Sorry, I had to say that previous caption.
In the reflecting pool is statue of a sleeping woman.
The chapel next to the Palace.
inside the chapel.
A rose.
Looking into the garden via a long, dark tunnel.
The gardens.
A zen garden.
Some cool arches.
Some pretty flowers.
Another rose. Smelled as sweet.
This is my best rose. Really different.
The Arnold Palmer tree.
A diorama in the palace. All done in miniature.
The library in panoramic.
After the Palace, it was back on the “luxury motor coach,” and we headed off to the Sandeman Winery for a tour and a port tasting. This is where we ran into the best guide of the entire cruise (so far), Manuela. This woman was funny and knowledgeable, with a breadth of experience that made her great at her job. She seemed to have done just about every job in the winery, from being a tour guide to crushing grapes (yes, they really do crush grapes by stomping on them just like “I Love Lucy), and you could tell she loved all of it.
One other thing about this winery. It sits on top of a hill. A very high hill. With a one-lane road (not one lane both ways, just ONE LANE) and, our “luxury motor coach” went up this hill. Looking out the side away from the hill was not for the faint of heart. Here are the photos from the visit. You know the drill.
On our way to the winery, we passed our boat heading to meet us up the river.
The Sandeman Winery logo. We were repeatedly told, “He’s no Zorro.”
Looking down from the winery to the road we came up on.
Manuela, our awesome guide.
She knew EVERYTHING!
And was a superb model for the perfect light I had in the darkened hallway.
A whole lot of bottles of port.
In barrels as well.
Inside the winery, these are the vats where they crush the grapes.
Looking down to the village where we would meet the boat.
Thought I would frame the shot with olive trees. Kind of artsy.
Looking down on the village again.
And our boat is now arriving.
After we safely drove down the hill (how do those drivers do that?), we were back on board for dinner and bed. It had been a very long day, and I hope you enjoyed traveling along. I have to go now. It’s time for Salamanca, Spain.
All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full. —King Solomon
by Jim Bellomo | Oct 18, 2024 | Uncategorized
Allow me to explain the headline. The photos you see above are pictures of our tour guide both yesterday and, sadly, today. This is Fatima. She is living proof that the Viking guides with talking problems are not limited to the Mediterranean. Long-time readers of this blog know that back in 2022, we did a 21-night cruise with Viking Ocean from Athens to Barcelona. During that cruise, I often complained that it seemed like our guides were being paid by the number of words they spoke.
But last Christmas, we did our first Viking River cruise and did not experience the same problem. All our guides were excellent, and they knew they didn’t have to keep up a constant monologue throughout our entire tour. Our guides on that cruise were some of our best ever. The same was true about our Viking guides on our Norway cruise in June. They were awesome.
Fatima, on this tour, never stopped talking. Those of you who know me personally know that I can be quite a talker. In comparison to Fatima, I am a lousy amateur. And her voice is shrill. Imagine having your tour led by Minnie Mouse with a slightly deeper voice and much more volume than Minnie would ever use. And that person was in your earbud talking to you. No matter how much you turned down the volume…it was shrill.
Right now, I am writing this on a bus that is taking us from Lisbon north to Porto, where we will meet our river boat. Fatima is on board and has not stopped talking since the bus started moving. She is on a microphone, so you can’t avoid her even with headphones in your ears. Not only has she not stopped talking, but she hasn’t even taken a breath, and we have been driving for 20 minutes. If this is my last post of the trip, it’s because I have been talked to death.
But back to yesterday (Thursday—on this trip, it’s hard to remember what day it is). We awoke to some rain, but by the time we had breakfast and boarded our “luxury motor coach” for our tour, the sun was out, and it was a beautiful day for the rest of the day (except for in my ears).
I do need to say something about the “luxury motor coach.” I often make fun of the buses we ride on because they never call them buses; they are always “luxury motor coaches.” But this one really is a LUXURY MOTOR COACH. It is built to hold 51 seats but has only 38. I can actually sit in a regular seat on this bus and cross my legs. It’s amazing. There is WiFi, power, and so much more. The seats are very comfortable, and they recline without killing the person behind you. And because there are only 120 people on a Duoro River cruise (small locks make for small boats), we have four buses taking us north with only 120 people between them. That’s why I can write this while we are moving. I have half a row to myself. And there is room for me to hold a laptop and type comfortably. Amazing!
Another great thing is that these are actual Viking buses, not charters, and they will be with us all week. As we float up and back down the river, they will drive the roads along the river to meet us at our next stop and take us on shore tours. That’s impressive.
Our day yesterday started in the village of Belém. It is the home of the pasteis de Belém (the amazing Portuguese custard tart) and our destination, the Jerónimos Monastery. We arrived at the monastery before it opened and got into a long line of groups who would tour ahead of us. We waited about 45 minutes until the monastery opened, and our group was the fifth one in the group, so that wasn’t too bad. What was kind of a disappointment was the monastery itself. When you go in, you can really only see a big courtyard. Yes, this courtyard has two levels, and you can go up to the second level. As we walked around the courtyard, Fatima kept up a running patter about everything we saw, from the walls to the ceiling to the doors. She did her best to ensure we knew everything we were viewing. I know she did her best because she repeated most of what she told us two or three times.
Once we had circled the courtyard and been in both small rooms on either side, that was it. We were back out on the sidewalk. As a public service, I wanted to walk up the line of the people who were waiting up to two hours to get in and paying almost 20 euros, saying, “IT ISN’T WORTH IT!” but Kathleen wouldn’t let me.
So we were back on the bus and headed to our next stop, the Belém Tower. I had been to see the Tower (which is truly impressive—see the photos) during our December visit. The Tower itself had not changed—it’s been the same since 1515. What had changed was the number of people swarming around it. Fatima told us that October is still the high season in Portugal, which accounts for the massive number of travelers everywhere we look. When I came to take photos in December, I was almost by myself. Yesterday, there were hundreds, if not more. Days like this make me understand why there is such an anti-tourism movement in so many parts of Europe. We totally get it, and this is our last planned trip to Europe for now.
I did get some great photos of the Tower, but I had to work hard (at least Adobe’s AI engine did) to remove most of them from my photos ?. Let’s take a break and take a look. 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…
Some different views of the outside of the monastery.
Really a pretty building.
If regular readers are experiencing déjà vu, you may have seen this building on my posts in December.
It is a beautiful building…
…especially from the outside.
Some great statuary.
And cool towers.
The blue sky helps improve any white tower.
Even the gargoyles stand out.
Here’s the front door.
Inside the front door they already had their Halloween decorations up.
A view of the courtyard of the Monastery.
Inside the courtyard.
These small doors go into the confessionals for the monks.
More inside the courtyard, this time from the second level.
That blue sky kept calling me.
To take more and more photos.
See what I mean.
The other end of the monastery is a maritime museum.
Here’s the very long line of people waiting to go in that I wanted to warn not to bother.
The Belém Tower
Close up.
Look at all these people around the tower. A BUNCH!
But Photoshop helped me get rid of all of them.
The Changing of the Guard at the Military Museum.
The front of the Military Museum. A cool piece of architecture.
By the way, it is now 20 minutes later, and she is still talking. She did take a rest for a few minutes, but that was it. Another thing that she needs to consider is that she says some things that people might find offensive. I don’t care what anyone says, but she has used the word “Christ” a few times as an expletive. That’s offensive to some people. And she spent much time yesterday complaining about people who have driven the prices of housing up in Lisbon, going on and on about “rich people,” not thinking about the fact that, in all likelihood, if a person is on a Viking cruise, they would easily fit into her definition of “rich people.” She spent time decrying people who could afford to live in “million-dollar homes” when most of us already do.
Getting back to yesterday, after we visited the Tower, we drove around the city for about half an hour before heading back to the hotel, where we got lunch in one of their three restaurants. This time, we tried Soul Garden. According to their website, it is the home of “Asian-Mexican” cuisine. I’m not sure I have ever heard that combo before, but we loved the outdoor seating area and thought the menu looked interesting. it worked out well as lunch was so good, so we came back and had a bunch of appetizers for dinner.
Most of our party took naps during the afternoon, but I decided I owed it to my loyal followers to go out and walk to take pictures. And here’s what I got. Enjoy! Don’t forget; if you click the first shot, you can scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping. And you know how I feel about people that look at my photography on a phone.
Looking back at our hotel…the Corinthia
And this really cool hotel next door. I like its hat.
On my afternoon walk I passed the Roman aqueduct.
Me being artsy with a window shot.
No plaque marked who this guy is. He was just standing there in all his goldness.
Passed by a residence of someone special in the government.
And a tower.
And a lake where you could get coffee. Look to the right side of the coffee area…
…you will see this group coming. Not sure if they were demonstrating or they were Harry Potter fans.
Back up above this beautiful park looking down towards the harbor.
Looking down on Marquis of Pombal statue.
And a little bit closer to the Marquis of Pombal statue.
It’s him….the Marquis of Pombal
And on the way back to the hotel, a beautiful church.
With some amazing tile.
And a nearby fountain.
We were right in the glide path of the Lisbon airport.
Fatima update: We stopped for a “comfort break,” Now she is talking about Spain and Belgium. WTH does that have to do with Portugal? I am sitting on the aisle at the very back of the bus, and she is facing forward, talking to the windshield with her arms going a mile a minute as she speaks. Did I say speaks? I meant as she yells. We are now getting a lesson in romance languages. We are now getting a lesson on the sounds you only hear in Portugal. It sounds exactly like I do when trying to clear my throat…when I have a nasty cold. Half an hour later, she is still talking. OMG. Everything is how the people in Portugal are the best people in the world, and everything in Portugal is the best in the world. I guess the rest of us are chopped liver.
Right now, she is explaining why parents in Portugal are better than their counterparts around the rest of the world because they don’t put crisps in their schoolchildren’s lunches. Seriously. She is having a conversation with the people directly behind her in full voice on an open microphone, so we all have to listen to her. This is literally torture. It’s sad that the one thing most of us will remember the most from our bus ride to Porto is this woman yelling at us.
I thought I was done with my Victor Mildrew act (hello to my Brit friends), but we just had another patented Viking “fun time.” This is where, in the pouring rain, Viking stops in the middle of a town, tells you that you HAVE to exit the bus, drops you there for an hour or so, and tells you this is “free time.” So there we are, walking around in the rain, getting soaked, all so we don’t get to the University (where we will see a special library) at the same time as any of our other buses. I understand, but why did we have to get out of the bus and walk around in the pouring rain? When I asked Fatima what we were supposed to do for 75 minutes in the pouring rain when Kathleen needed to sit down sometime during that time, she said, “I don’t know. That’s not my problem.”
After our 75-minute walk in the rain (we bought a coffee to have a place to sit), we returned and headed to the Biblioteca Joanina at the University of Coimbra. This is truly a beautiful library, but for me, it was spoiled when our excellent (sarcasm-intended) guide insulted me by calling me out for taking photos in an area designated “no photography.” The problem was that I wasn’t taking pictures, and she called me out on it while speaking to the entire group on our audio devices. So I looked like one of those asshat Americans you hear about. I had my BIG camera at my waist (not holding it up to my face); she looked at me and said, in a very loud voice and on the audio system, “No pictures! You can’t do that!” I turned to her and asked her how dare she speak to me that way. I was in no way taking photos. My camera was pointed down. From that point on, I was the bad guy.
I believe she had a chip on her shoulder about me because I asked her what we could do for an hour in the rain. She was condescending to Kathleen when we told her that Kathleen would not be able to walk up or down the set of stairs to enter the library. All she needed to say was that there was a handicapped entrance (where a local guide helped her in and to sit down while we climbed up and down stairs), but she knew how much I did not appreciate her and had to take it out on my bride.
OK, there were some really good things we liked on the ride north. We stopped for a nice lunch in Coimbra, which was very good for a banquet-style lunch. They included an excellent Fado (the traditional music of Portugal) performance. It’s much better than the one Kathleen and I had seen in Lisbon last December. We are now back on the bus and on our way to the ship. Thankfully, our dear Fatima will be returning to Lisbon and is not a guide we must put up with for the rest of the cruise. And here are the photos I took today. Look at ’em any way you want. Phone, computer, tablet, I don’t care. That’s how ticked off I am right now.
The downtown in Coinbra.
An incredible bakery in downtown Coimbra.
With the world’s largest fruitcake.
And lots of rain and umbrelllas.
And a really cool street.
And a great street leading up to it.
And a cool wall mural
And some great statuary.
Not so much this guy who lost his nose.
But the chapel was pretty.
With a heck of an altarpiece.
And lots of other incredible decoration and art.
Including an organ…
…that we got to hear being played.
Outside there was a view of a cool bridge.
And a very nice square.
Help! She’s talking, and she won’t shut up. —Me, about our Viking guide Fatima in both Lisbon and all the way to Porto
