20060425 - Lisbon, Portugal

On April 25th we arrived in Lisbon, Portugal. Lisbon is located on the Tagus river. The ship traveled up the river past several of Lisbons points of interest including the 25th April Bridge, which looks like the Golden Gate bridge, the Monument to the Discoveries, the Christ the King monument, and the Praca do Comercio. Because we had traveled to Lisbon in February 2000 and had really toured the town at that time, we decided to walk a bit around Lisbon but to really spend our time on a bus tour to Sintra and Cascaise. April 25 is a national holiday. The holiday made Lisbon pretty much closed down except for the cruise ships. We walked to Lisbon’s Praca do Comercio and then returned to the ship for lunch and our bus tour. Sintra and Cascaise were very busy since they are both holiday places. Sintra, which lies in the mountains, is the location of the Sintra and the Pena Palaces. Sintra Palace was the summer home of Portuguese kings for 6 centuries. It also has a very beautiful park. The park was full of people taking advantage of the beautiful day off. Cascaise is a beach resort town and was also full of people enjoying the day. Because of the holiday the traffic returning to the ship was terrible and we were late getting back to the ship. We were not late as in missing the boat, just late as in late to dinner on a formal night.