Lisbon Portugal day 8

DAY 8: Lisbon Portugal
We sailed up the Tygus river and under the Ponte 25 de Abril Bridge and directly into the port of Lisbon. The ship was greeted by a giant statue of Jesus erected in thanks when Portugal was spared from entering WWII. We were then quickly shuttled to the city center via bus.
830 AM. Not a soul on the square other than our bus load of people. No shops, no info, nada. We were traveling with our friends Pat and Paul. So we wondered around the main square and the Baxia area. We viewed the famous elevador de Santa Justa. We then headed up the back way to castelo sao Jorge. I don’t know how many hundreds of steps we had to climb to get to the hill top neighborhood but we made it. Legs burning and huffing all the way.
We explored the castle and its spectacular views. We then headed down to the oldest part of Lisbon called the Alfama area. It was one of the few areas to survive the 1725 earthquake. We walked very narrow winding streets dodging cars and street cars. We stopped and visited the Cathedral of St Vincent. It is from the early 1700’s. He is the patron saint of Portugal. More walking and we ended up back at the spot we started at. Not by choice.
It was a good thing because now the square was filled with people and tourist info. We bought a ticket for the hop on hop of bus. We took the blue line tour which took us through a large potion of Lisbon, and hit most of the highlights. One thing that really stood out was the amazing tile work on the buildings. We passed the Torre de Belem: which is a defensive tower built in 1520. The Mosteiro dos Jeronimos (16th century) and many of the main monuments.
One thing we could not find is a Hat store and a place to buy sun screen. I am burned to a crisp and in pain. I will have to see if the ship has some outrageously priced sun screen or a goofy hat.
We took the shuttle bus back to the pier. We strolled the boardwalk and found a restaurant called Don Pomodoro. We were given a plate of thinly sliced parma ham and bead. We indulged in the Portugues tradition of port wine. We had past with shrimp and pasta with muscles. It was amazing. Later when we returned to the ship we saw that the place was certified by the Accademia Italian Della Cucina, and represents authentic and the finest Italian food.
It is now about 6pm and we have just left the river for the open sea. Chris is at the spa but I can not bear the thought of anything hot on my skin.
At 730 we meet friends in the star bar for cocktails. Tanquery is becoming my friend. Later 4 of us went to dinner in the Grand Pacific dining room. We had escargots, seafood combo, seafood with thai noodles (chris had ribs too) and some strange dessert. We decided to no go to the show, but go to bed early. Well that did no happen. Chris wanted more ice cream so we went up to the buffet.
We ran into some other friends and chatted for about an hour.
Now it is 1110 and we need to change the clock ahead for the final time. As of now we have sailed 33185 miles from NY. Our Crossing is officially over.