Portugal River Cruise May 2022: Friday April 29 Lisbon

After a nice buffet style breakfast at the hotel, we boarded our Coach and enjoyed a half day tour of the city of Lisbon, with a very knowledgeable English speaking guide. The weather today is spectacular!!

Our first stop was the Parque de Eduardo VII with an expansive view down over the city to the Targus River.

Then driving through the city to the Belem Tower and the unbelievable “Monument of the Discoveries”, featuring Portugese explorers. Amazing carvings in this huge monument resembling the prow of a ship.

Then, basically across the street, even though the coach had to go way around, we visited the Jeronimos Monestery and Cathedral. Most impressive!

We enjoyed sitting in the sun for a light lunch of Greek Salad at the cafeteria adjacent to the Maritime Museum.

We returned to the hotel by about 2:00, with free time for rest of the day. We started by getting an Uber ride for the short trip up the hill to a tropical garden, which was OK but wouldn't be on the itinerary for the next time! Then we took another Uber back down the hill to what they call the “Center City”, at the end of the Avenida da Liberdade. Lots of people, traffic, shops and sounds. It's wonderful! We stopped for Gelato at a hole in the wall, walked up some pedestrian only streets with a variety of shops. On the way back up the hill to the hotel, we stopped at the Banana Cafe for a snack.

We had arranged to meet a couple of ladies from our group for dinner (Jayne and Cynthia from Kansas) at an exclusive Japanese restaurant (Yakuza) attached to the hotel. This was so exclusive that it was “reservation only”, there was no visible sign of the place outside and you had to ring the doorbell to get in!! But we had a wonderful meal of sushi and some great conversation!

There's a lot more to see in Lisbon! Tomorrow we head out early on our motor coach for trip north to Porto where we will meet our river boat. Some interesting stops a long the way are planned.