I was on deck to watch the sail up the River Tagus to Lisbon. It was another beautiful morning with a stunning dawn.
We were a little late arriving and it took a while to moor. We were at a berth new to me – at the bottom of the Alfamo area, rather than close to the 25 April Bridge, which is where I had always been before. I took a tour to Cascais, Guincho and Sintra. The first town was an attractive, popular seaside town, with interesting buildings, lovely fishing harbour and good shops.
We then had a photo stop at Guincho to see the wild Atlantic rollers hitting the rocky shore between two lighthouses.
Then onto Sintra. This was not quite how I had imagined it but pretty nevertheless. I took lots of photos, wandered into the few souvenir shops open and bought a delicious local bread roll, cooked with hams inside for 1.45 Euros. Having driven there via the Estoril coast road, we returned via a different route so saw a variety of countryside.
Now the bad news – we had heard rumours of poor weather for our return. Sitting on deck for sailaway, stewards were collecting all the steamer chair cushions and taking them indoors, while roping the chairs to the rails. On the sun deck the sports’ nets had been dismantled and lashed flat, so the rumours were true. Commodore Burgoine then came over the tannoy as we left, to warn us the next two days could be bad. Luckily I had heeded the rumours and got my cases out beforehand and started to pack as I know from experience, trying to pack in rough seas is exhausting. Even now, just out from Lisbon, there is a very noticeable movement already. So the next couple of days could be interesting.
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