2004 Europe

Diana & Rod at Queluz Palace, Portugal 



April 29 – It’s Diana’s birthday today and we are in Lisbon, Portugal.  We were about an hour and a half late getting into port.  Heavy seas and strong winds forced us to run slowly over the night.  I woke up once about 3AM and the ship was pitching quite a bit but not violently, very smoothly.  It rocked me back to sleep in no time.  About 400 of the 1,000 people on the ship for the last cruise are staying on to go to Rome and since more people boarded than disembarked I’m told the ship is full.  As they are getting people off the ship they are sending those of us ‘in transit’ on tours.



We booked a tour to Estoril, Cascais, Sintra and Queluz.  Estoril and Cascais are cities on the Atlantic coast north of Lisbon.  They are small towns and very picturesque.  We didn’t stop in them, just drove through sightseeing.



Sintra is inland a way and in a hilly area north of Lisbon.  It used to be the place to go in the summer and the King has his summer palace, Palacio da Vila, there.  It is a very old building with an unclear history.  Some people claim Arab chiefs lived there during the Moorish occupation.  The current building (pic attached) has Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque and Romantic buildings as well as a Gothic chapel.  Those two odd shaped things sticking up at the back are chimneys.  It is still in use by the royal family.  The town itself has very narrow streets and is built on the side of a hill.  There are the ever-present cafés and shops selling lace, textiles and ceramics.  The region has a specialty pastry that is rectangular in shape, about 5” by 2” and 1” thick.  It’s filled with an almond confection that just melts in your mouth.  With a cup of Café Latte it was great!



After Sintra we went to Queluz to visit the royal palace there.  It is much newer, having been completed in 1786 and it is built in the Baroque style with neo-classical influences.  I’ll attach a pic.  The rooms are opulently decorated in very much the same French style that influenced the designers in St. Petersburg, Russia.  Lots of silk wall coverings and gilded wall decorations.  Beautifully inlaid wood furniture and Asian ceramics.  A toned down version of the Hermitage. 



After this it was back to the ship.  This evening we had two new couples at our table.  One is very a very conservative and quiet couple from Iowa and the other is a heavy drinking woman with a Hungarian husband from Florida.  I’m not sure exactly how this mix will develop but it’s going to be interesting.



The evening’s entertainment was the same ‘welcome on board’ show we had in Tampa with the addition of Sam Veale a ‘physical comedian’, read juggler.  He was entertaining but how many ways can you toss balls in the air?  The highlight for me was the repertory cast doing their two welcome numbers.  Go Casey!!



We lose another hour sleep as we move forward to Paris time.  Tomorrow Morocco and we don’t get there until Noon.  Yea!

(c) 2004 Rod Longenberger