Portugal and the Atlantic Crossing, 2024
3 stories, in order from the beginning of the trip.
1November 25, 2024
Dateline November 25, 2024, Portugal and Transatlantic Cruising
Off on another adventure, this time with Kieran, John's daughter, who booked the whole thing on a week's notice. Three days in Lisbon before a sixteen-day crossing to Puerto Rico. The Alfama, the walk down to Praça do Comércio, the Time Out Market, and Pink Street.
2November 27, 2024
Dateline November 27, 2024, Sintra, Roca and Cascais Portugal
A day trip out of Lisbon with a tour guide and a vanful of strangers: the fairy-tale Pena Palace and the old Moorish Castle above Sintra, the guide's harrowing account of the 1755 earthquake, the windswept cliffs of Cabo da Roca at the western edge of Europe, the best fish dinner of our lives in Cascais, and the lights of Lisbon at Christmas.
3November 28, 2024
Dateline November 28, 2024, Tour Lisbon By Tuk Tuk
Our last day in Lisbon, spent in a three-wheeled Tuk-Tuk with Salvador, a guide pulled straight from central casting. The Alfama's long history, the Cherry Liquor Queen and her homemade ginjinha, the old Jewish Quarter and its hard story, the highest viewpoint in the city with its love-locks, and a farewell at a tiny local restaurant before the ship home.