Lisbon

5.08.2007 Lisbon, Portugal

Yesterday morning we left The Atlantic and sailed up the Tagus River past 3 of Lisbon’s favorite landmarks: the Monument to the Discoveries, the Tower of Belem and the Statue of Christ on the west side of the river from it’s hilltop location high above Europe’s longest suspension bridge. The Monument of Discoveries is a beautiful sculpture commemorating the 500^th Anniversary of the death of Prince Henry, the mastermind navigator behind Portugal’s voyages of discoveries, including Brazil, and subsequent fantastic wealth. Belem Tower marks the spot where the famous Portugese navigator and sailor departed in 1797 on a two year trip that rounded southern Africa and found a sea route to India and the riches of the Orient. As we sailed up the river, Fernando, our Cruise Director and from a prominent Portuguese family, told us what we were seeing. The weather was ideal, bight and crisp.

Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, is a city open to the sea and carefully planned with 18^th century elegance. Lisboa, as the city is called in Portuguese, has a long history was a period of great prosperity and was inhabited by the Romans, Visigoths and the Moors. Much of the 16^th century was a period of great prosperity and overseas expansion for Portugal.

Tragedy struck in 1755 with a devastating earthquake that killed about 40,000 people.

The destruction of Lisbon shocked the continent. As a result, the lower city was

reconstructed in less than a decade with a carefully planned layout, a neo-classical grid,

that has survived and remains as the heart of the city .This is our 4^th visit to Lisbon and

we think it is a great place to begin or end a cruise and spend some time. The city has

some great attractions including the Royal Coach Museum, the Gulbenkian Museum, a

great Naval Museum, Aquarium and lots more. Portugal fought with the Allies in WWI

and Spain with Germany. In WWII both countries remained neutral but Portugal was

clearly partial and helpful to the Allies.

After lunch I went on a tour of the National Tile Museum. Portugal is known for their

beautiful tiles and you see them everywhere around the city used for murals and

geometrical designs covering everything. They are colorful and it was interesting to see

and learn the history of tole making in Portugal and how is was heavily influence by the

occupation of the Arabs and valuable goods imported from their worldwide sailings to

India, China and Egypt. The highlight of the exhibit is a blue and white composition

of 1300 tiles (75 feet in length), of Lisbon’s cityscape made in 1738, prior to the Great

Earthquake and representing the country’s longest tile piece. By a miracle it was located

on the wall of a hospital and was the only thing that survived the earthquake. Since all

the city’s achieves were lost, this tile representation is the only thing left today showing

what the old waterfront of Lisbon looked like.

The National Tile Museum is housed in a 16^th century Convent of Madre de Deus.

Afterwards we toured the Madre de Deus Church. It was renovated after the Great

Earthquake and it’s interior was turned into one of the most magnificent churches in the

city. Huge panels of white and blue tiles line the nave, and the walls and ceiling are

encrusted with paintings in gorgeous gilt frames. In this beautiful setting we were

entertained by a choral group of young people who are studying music nearby. They were

good and we let them know how much we enjoyed their beautiful music.

Last night a small group was invited to a 50^th Wedding Anniversary reception given by

Straton, Stewart and Sarah –the three children of Stewart and Mike Moore of Amelia

Island, FL. This anniversary was to have been celebrated on Dec. 29^th while the entire

family was on a ski trip to Vail, CO. but Mike , the one I mentioned earlier, had a heart

attack and a 4 way

emergency by pass operation. He left the hospital 5 days later and boarded the ship

towing an oxygen bottle in Ft. Lauderdale 12 days later. Amazingly he has recuperated

beautifully on the ship with better care than he could have gotten anywhere. Having their

three children on board for this last 11 day segment was very special and it was obvious

from the remarks of the children last night that this is a very special family- like ours and

yours.

Today after a workout and breakfast we went to Lisbon’s famous Oceanario with Joanne

and Donny. Built on the right bank of the Tagus within the former grounds of Expo ’98,

this is the largest aquarium in Europe and the second largest in the world. It is incredible

and fortunately designed by an American. Joanne, Sallie and I had visited here in 2001

and Joanne wanted Don to see it and so did we want to again.

Joanne and Donny wanted to get back to the ship for lunch in time to take an afternnon

tour to beautiful Sintra, we were there last May, and the taxi dropped Sallie and me off at

a beautiful spot, Placa Do Comercio. We walked around along Rua da Ouro, a lovely

pedestrian promenade. Suddenly we were stopped by someone who asked me if I was

Bill Wallace. It was John and Kathleen Neal from Alexandria and Bethany Beach. We

haven’t seen each other in years and we are delighted that they just came aboard today for

the trip to New York.

Sallie and I then took a taxi to the Ritz Four Seasons Hotel for lunch. We have stayed

there on two prior trips and for old times sake thought it would be fun and it was.

Tonight we are looking forward to having dinner with Fernanda and Roberto (Bobby)

Woodward Sanchez from Mexico City. We got to know them and became friends during

our four day tour in India. We sail at 6PM back to Gibraltar where we will be from 2-7

PM tomorrow. Today the Captain informed us that we have sailed 30,454 nautical miles since leaving Ft. Lauderdale on Jan. 15th.