Lisbon, Portugal

We spent the morning and early afternoon in Sintra and Cascais. We only toured Lisbon on our way in and out of the city and on the way to our World Cruise Dinner in the evening. We will definitely return to Lisbon and the surrounding area.

We took a ship tour and our guide named Rita was excellent. It was an overcast day and rained on and off. Sintra is set in the mountains and has been hailed by poets for centuries. One of Portugal's oldest cities, Sintra is dotted with the manor houses and castles of feudal lords and monarchs. From the central square, we could gaze up at the 8th-century Moorish fortress on top of the hill near the city. We wandered through the shops surrounding the 15th-century square and explored the tiny streets.We came out of the mountains and drove along the coast to Cascais. It was a beautiful day to see the wild sea. They do a lot of surfing in this area.

Cascais is a small fishing village that has grown into a popular resort. Set on the Bay of Cascais, the town boasts an interesting mixture of early 20th-century homes and modern buildings. There was a lot of sailing activity. This may be a location that was discussed for the America's Cup that was later sailed in Valencia, but we aren't positive. Strolling the streets, browsing the shops and simply taking in the relaxing ocean views was great. Stopping for a cappuccino and one of their famous tarts that are filled with a custard type filling was a must. We are already talking about coming back to rent a place here for a very extended stay. Wonderful! I must check out VRBO! J
We drove back along the water and through Lisbon. Loved the architecture! It was still a pretty rainy day so we decided to stay at the ship and prepare for our World Cruise party that night.

Barcelona

Barcelona, Spain
Eastern Time plus 6 hours

This was our fourth time in Barcelona. The last time we were here we were with Ellen, Liz and Tim for 2 weeks so we feel we know the city pretty well. We also did not feel as if we needed to tour this time as we have seen all the major points of interest at least once. We had the luxury of having a day to stroll around the city and revisit some favorite sites.

The port city of Barcelona is beautiful and has wonderful architecture.

We love to wander the little narrow streets and walkways and see what we can discover. We saw these kids out for noon recess. Notice the smocks they have as uniforms. They were playing in this tiny little plaza outside these big doors we think led to the school. I also found a really neat little soap shop near there on a small back street.

Jeff loves to go to this Irish Pub. The first time we went there we laughed because we were Americans in a very Irish, Irish Pub talking to people from Scotland and suddenly we heard the song Louie, Louie over the sound system. It is a small world and it has really been evident to us on this trip. The bad news was that it wasn't opening until 6 and we would be gone by then. Rick and Bonnie happened by while we were trying to figure out if it was open.

Our favorite tapas place (found by Liz and Tim) is right down the street so we had a great lunch there.

Our next stop was the beautiful market. This is really my very favorite thing to do in Barcelona. The last time we were there we rented an apartment and so we really did do some food shopping there, but it is also a great place to just walk and look at the riot of color and great products on display. The girls and I also went there as part of a cooking class they had given me for my birthday. It was great to go with our teacher who really showed us all of the really special parts of the market as we shopped for the ingredients for our class.

The great main walking street is La Rambla. Bonnie calls it the State Street of Barcelona, if you are familiar with Madison, Wisconsin. It is a wide boulevard with old Spanish men sitting and talking, street performers, flowers, newsstands, restaurants, tables with drink service etc. Jeff is always on the hunt for newspapers in English, especially the Financial Times. There are lots of pickpockets too if the rumors are true. It was a beautiful day to walk. The picture where the street looks empty is early in the day, but it is really packed until very late at night.Our last stop was the Barri Gótic (Gothic Quarter) and the Catedral de Barcelona. We love this old cathedral. It really was a contrast to the Rome Churches. We were there with the girls on Christmas Eve 2006.We were glad we had been there before because this stop seemed quite short for all there is to do in Barcelona. We had to be back on board by 4:30 and once again enjoyed sail away with our friends.