The Widow & the Spinster Take a Bougie WBTA Cruise That Didn't Suck! - Lookout Cay, a One and Done 3/31

[Flossbolna]

I like it better than the Chocolate Souffle too! That's why I normally order the Amaretto Souffle at Palo!

Don’t like Amaretto, tastes like marzipan. Brrrrrr… so that wouldn’t work for me.

 

[franandaj]

Good system.

Trying!

Yes. Yes, you are!

I say that with the deepest love.

 

[franandaj]

Don’t like Amaretto, tastes like marzipan. Brrrrrr… so that wouldn’t work for me.

Funny, I don't like Marzipan at all, but I love Amaretto!

 

[franandaj]

Day 8

I slept fairly decently on this night. Before we went to sleep, Jill and I agreed to get up around 7:30AM, but when I woke up at 6AM, I gave up on sleep and decided to get dressed.

Because the ship is constantly changing time zones, I was always having issues with time. Because I had the internet package, I (wrongfully) assumed that my phone would update to the correct time. I was doing stuff on my phone when it read 7:58. Jill was still sleeping and I told her she better wake up, if we were going to get off the ship at 9AM. To which she informed me that it was only 7AM. Doh!

I decided to go get my coffee at the Vista Cafe this morning, and I decided that the Americano is a better choice for me. That's what I used to get when Fran and I were cruising together. I guess that's a solid choice.

I took these snaps on the ship when no one else was awake.

We would be having some fun (and blurry) times in here on the ship!

I downloaded the photopass pictures that I had taken so far. And then I went up to Cabanas to get a little bit of breakfast. Jill was skipping any food in the morning as we had a secret food tour planned that day. I didn't want to start off the day starving. I got a bowl of oatmeal, some fruit, a slice of bacon, and a chocolate croissant to bring back to the room. Perfect amount of food to tide me over until our tour.

Jill was dressed when I got back and we were docked in Lisbon, but the dock was on the other side. The sun had not actually risen yet, and I was able to capture sunrise photos from our balcony while finishing breakfast.

Then we headed out on our adventure. There was a photopass photographer right there as we exited the ship.

The city was right there as soon as we exited the port. Our meeting spot was about a 15-20 minute walk from the port. Jill found an ATM (which was a total rip off) and got some cash and a bottle of water each for us while we waited for our guide.

The guide was identified by the orange umbrella that she carried. On the tour was a couple from Denmark, a gal from Alabama, Jill and I, and a couple from Maine. The couple from Denmark were staying locally, but all the rest of us came from the ship. All throughout the tour we were absolutely delighted by the words of wisdom from this entitled white American Guy (from Maine), who was constantly trying to impress everyone with his accomplishments and knowledge, especially about Morocco, which Jill and I kept wondering how in the heck that applied to what the guide was telling us about her city, Lisbon.

While we waited for the last person (who never showed up) she told us some history of the city. In 1755 Lisbon was struck by a huge earthquake somewhere in the magnitude between 7 to 9, possibly closer to 9. It was also known as the Great Lisbon earthquake, and hit on the morning of Saturday, 1 November, Feast of All Saints, at around 09:40AM local time.

Most people had returned from church and were at home with many candles lit in their homes to celebrate the holiday. As a result of the shaking the candles started huge fires in the wooden homes.

To make matters worse, as the people fled the fires, they ran towards the sea, only to be engulfed in the resulting Tsunami generated by the massive earthquake. According to Wikipedia, nearly one quarter of the population of Lisbon was wiped out in this tragedy. Which leads us to one major point of architecture in Lisbon. Everything had to be rebuilt following that disaster. So there are no buildings older than 1755 in Lisbon.

Our meeting place was Casa dos Bicos - José Saramago Foundation. The namesake of the Foundation was one of two Nobel Prize winners to come from Portugal. The other is the man who invented the Lobotomy, so in the words of our guide, “We don't speak of him much.”

José Saramago was a rather left wing author, and as he approached the end of his life, he was held in such esteem that persons wanted to see him interred in the mausoleum building. However, being a man of the people he didn't want to spend all of eternity next to kings and tyrants. As a result he was buried in the square where we stood, with an Olive tree from his home village planted over his grave.

She also told us an urban myth about the building where the foundation is located. You see those diamond shaped decorations on the front of the building?

Rumor has it that the guy who built this building was a wealthy diamond merchant and he placed a diamond inside each of the pointed pyramids for safe keeping. That's why now some of them are broken off. Truth or fiction? We'll never know!

We finally gave up on the person who was late and headed off into the city. We walked quite a ways, but she assured us that there was wine at the end of the walk.

We reached a little shop that sold sweets and spices. In the back they had a little tasting room and she poured us all a glass of Port.

She explained to us that in Portugal, Port is not an after dinner drink, but a welcome drink. That is why we were beginning with that.

It's the British Navy that changed its function. They liked it as an after dinner drink, and because they went everywhere in the world, and spread their customs throughout the world.

Then we moved on to our next stop via one of the city sponsored lifts or short cuts. The takeaway place was located on this square.

Bifanas do Afonso where we were served Bifana (traditional pork sandwich). In the picture you'll see squirter bottles of mustard and a chili sauce. I thought the sandwich was rather tasty and enjoyed the portion. It was one of the better food options on the tour.

We were alotted half a sandwich because there would be a lot of food on the tour. I put the mustard and chili sauce on mine. She suggested that we try a tiny bit before slathering the whole sandwich, and I didn't find It spicy at all. There was an option when purchasing the tour to upgrade your beverages for a few extra bucks. That got us 3 more beverages: a beer, a glass of wine, and a thimble of cherry liqueur.

At the beginning of the tour we told her that we didn't care for beer and she offered us something else. But the beers were poured, that's them sitting behind the sandwiches. We were able to find someone to drink them though. This is what she substituted. It's called a green wine, because it's young, nothing to do with the type of grapes or region where it's produced.

Then we walked down some tiny streets and passages. When the town was rebuilt, this section of the town actually chose to rebuild just as it had been before the disaster. Unlike the downtown area which actually created a new city laid out in the pattern of a grid.

After passing through streets where there were always many outlets so that a person in flight could escape their pursuer. I’m not sure if you can tell in this picture but at the top of the steps there are several routes one could run to get away from people in pursuit.

This walkway led to the restaurant where we spent the bulk of our time, but our guide took some time to explain about the passage. It is lined with photos of many of the elders in the village. A photo journalist spent time interviewing them and taking their pictures and telling their stories.

I particularly enjoyed this menu sign at the restaurant just outside the passage way.

Here we are entering the courtyard.

Once we arrived all Jill could focus on was the shoddy wiring job for the cable/satellite boxes!

[Continued in Next Post]

 

[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous Post]

Here we entered a restaurant, O Corvo, where we spent the bulk of our time. The table was preset with wine, the “Verde Vino” (again), pitchers of water, and a plate of food that caused Jill to say, “Oh, hell no!”

This is the Sardine w/ Escabeche Sauce.

Our guide explained to us the importance of Sardines in the Portuguese culture. That tinned Sardines are a staple in every household, and are an easy dinner, just grab a tin and some crackers and voilà. She also said that many of her guests are skeptical of the sardines, but of the guests who actually try them she has converted 99% that sardines are good food. Well I am in the 1%. I did give it the old college try. In fact I took two bites, but that was all I could muster. Honestly it was just gross.

Next they passed around plates of Portuguese Cheese and Smoked Ham. This was better, but the cheese had a weird rind on it that i didn't eat.

These Croquette were called Portuguese "petiscos" and made with a special Alheira Sausage. This sausage was made from chicken rather than pork. At one time, the Jews were trying to flee Portugal, but the ruler closed the borders and declared all citizens Christians. One sure fire way to be discovered and ratted out as a Jew in Christian territory is to show that you do not eat pork. These sausages were crafted from poultry and were therefore still kosher. The Jews could pretend they were eating pork while keeping their secret safe.

It was called a “Secret Food Tour” because of this our delicious Secret Dish - Grilled Codfish / Codfish Brás. She had to serve it deconstructed for our group. There were two people in our group who wouldn't eat seafood, and three of us who wouldn't eat olives. The dish consists of rehydrated salt cod, olive tapenade, and a mix of potatoes, onions, carrots, and some other stuff. This was the serving dish.

Here was my serving. We also got a glass of red wine as part of our upgrade.

Then we were on the move again. Luckily we mostly only went down stairs not up them!

Not sure what was going on with this upside down Tiana picture….

Those were the steps we just came down….see the building with the shoddy cable wiring up there?

We entered this busy plaza. There was some sort of market happening here, similar to the Christmas markets.

As we walked along we saw this doll hospital, with blood fountain and all!

She pointed out the castle on the top of the hill.

Here is the Column of Pedro IV, which is a monument to King Peter IV of Portugal and the Algarves, located in the centre of Rossio Square in Lisbon, Portugal. The monument was erected in 1870. And I’ll show you a trippy picture of the square itself a little later.

And we passed a shop where they sold the salt cod and tinned Sardines.

On our way to our next destination, we walked through this area full of little cafés and such. She suggested that we hold on tight to our wallets as there were a lot of pick pockets in this neighborhood. All the “barkers” for the restaurants said hello to her. Later she told us they called her their sister, their cousin, she said she had a huge family here, and no one even knew her name.

Finally we entered a shop Casa do Alentejo where we were served (Preserved) candied figs. These were absolutely delicious! But we were starting to get full. Even with not eating the Sardine toast there had been quite a bit of food overall.

As part of the beverage upgrade that Jill and I had purchased we got a taste of the Cherry Liqueur. I don’t remember the name of it, but all my friends in Europe who commented on my FB post, knew it and loved it too!

And then we arrived at our final destination, Fábrica da Nata. Here we were served Pastel de Nata (Custard Tart), our guide also offered us a specialty coffee. I wanted a Caffè Au Lait, but she told me that was giant and I certainly didn't want that much. She convinced me to get a Macchiato. I was quite disappointed by the tiny size. Those weren't all mine, that was for our end of the table.

This was my serving.

And Jill’s

After that the tour was over. We had all connected to the WiFi in the restaurant and mapped the route back to the ship. It was a 27 minute walk, and neither Jill nor I wanted to do that. I suggested we get a cab after picking up our allotment of wine. We also asked the other single gal, Shandra, if she wanted to share in the cab.

She had the same thought in mind, pick up her allotment of wine to take back on the ship. We walked all over the place and finally found the grocery store. We got our allotment plus a bottle of Port for me. I figured if they called me on it I'd just surrender it until the end of the cruise.

Then we tried to find a cab. After trying unsuccessfully to hail one, we found the spot where they lined up. I took this picture earlier in the tour, so we headed in that direction.

Remember I said I’d show you a trippy picture, to get the cabs from where we were we had to walk across this topsy turvy paved square. It made me dizzy!

It was 5 Euros to get back to the ship, and we all thought it was well worth it!

Here's our haul for the day! They didn't even ask how many bottles of wine we brought back, or if we brought any!

 

[pkondz]

Jill and I agreed to get up around 7:30AM, but when I woke up at 6AM, I gave up on sleep and decided to get dressed.

Ugh... I hate when that happens... and unfortunately, it happens far too frequently.

Being a shift worker can suck, sometimes.

Because the ship is constantly changing time zones

Oh! Of course. Trans-Atlantic... Dumb of me that I never thought of that.

I was doing stuff on my phone when it read 7:58. Jill was still sleeping and I told her she better wake up, if we were going to get off the ship at 9AM. To which she informed me that it was only 7AM. Doh!

I took these snaps on the ship when no one else was awake.

Looks almost spooky. Thank goodness there weren't a pair of twins at the end of a hallway.

We would be having some fun (and blurry) times in here on the ship!

Jill was skipping any food in the morning as we had a secret food tour planned that day.

I swear I won't tell a soul.

I was able to capture sunrise photos from our balcony while finishing breakfast.

You do love your sunrise photos.

The city was right there as soon as we exited the port.

So... not being much of a cruiser... is that not normal? Or were you just clarifying?

Jill found an ATM (which was a total rip off)

I hate that. And it shouldn't be allowed, IMHO.

All throughout the tour we were absolutely delighted by the words of wisdom from this entitled white American Guy (from Maine), who was constantly trying to impress everyone with his accomplishments and knowledge, especially about Morocco, which Jill and I kept wondering how in the heck that applied to what the guide was telling us about her city, Lisbon.

Oh, brother.

Remind me to tell you of the time... (No! Two times!) I put someone like that in their place. It was partially accidental, and he was actually a nice guy, but...

In 1755 Lisbon was struck by a huge earthquake somewhere in the magnitude between 7 to 9, possibly closer to 9.

Holy smokes!

Most people had returned from church and were at home with many candles lit in their homes to celebrate the holiday. As a result of the shaking the candles started huge fires in the wooden homes.

Oh, no....

To make matters worse, as the people fled the fires, they ran towards the sea, only to be engulfed in the resulting Tsunami generated by the massive earthquake.

Oh, geez. Even now, people don't react well to Tsunamis. I was just reading (on the anniversary of the Indonesia tsunami) how a young girl saved hundreds of people because she recognized the signs. But not many did.

So there are no buildings older than 1755 in Lisbon.

The other is the man who invented the Lobotomy, so in the words of our guide, “We don't speak of him much.”

(IYKYK)

Rumor has it that the guy who built this building was a wealthy diamond merchant and he placed a diamond inside each of the pointed pyramids for safe keeping. That's why now some of them are broken off. Truth or fiction? We'll never know!

I'm gonna go with fiction. If it was true... after the first one was broken, they'd all be broken.

We walked quite a ways, but she assured us that there was wine at the end of the walk.

Ah! The incentive.

In the back they had a little tasting room and she poured us all a glass of Port.

Considering you bought some, I'm gonna presume you liked it.

She explained to us that in Portugal, Port is not an after dinner drink, but a welcome drink. That is why we were beginning with that.

That's nice. I like that.

It's the British Navy that changed its function. They liked it as an after dinner drink, and because they went everywhere in the world, and spread their customs throughout the world.

Huh!
Lots of customs have been formed by the British Navy, I think. (Don't ask me to name any.)

Bifanas do Afonso where we were served Bifana (traditional pork sandwich). In the picture you'll see squirter bottles of mustard and a chili sauce. I thought the sandwich was rather tasty and enjoyed the portion. It was one of the better food options on the tour.

That sounds really good.

At the beginning of the tour we told her that we didn't care for beer and she offered us something else. But the beers were poured, that's them sitting behind the sandwiches. We were able to find someone to drink them though.

Funny how you can always find someone to drink your beer.

It's called a green wine, because it's young, nothing to do with the type of grapes or region where it's produced.

I had no idea!

When the town was rebuilt, this section of the town actually chose to rebuild just as it had been before the disaster

That doesn't surprise me. You miss your home.

After passing through streets where there were always many outlets so that a person in flight could escape their pursuer. I’m not sure if you can tell in this picture but at the top of the steps there are several routes one could run to get away from people in pursuit.

Pursuit? As in defensive against invaders? Or...

the passage. It is lined with photos of many of the elders in the village. A photo journalist spent time interviewing them and taking their pictures and telling their stories.

Very nice.

I particularly enjoyed this menu sign at the restaurant just outside the passage way.

Once we arrived all Jill could focus on was the shoddy wiring job for the cable/satellite boxes!

Good to know there's a job for Jill there if she wants it.

This is the Sardine w/ Escabeche Sauce.

So... I'd be all over that. Yum!

of the guests who actually try them she has converted 99% that sardines are good food

See?

Well I am in the 1%. I did give it the old college try. In fact I took two bites, but that was all I could muster. Honestly it was just gross.

Oh. Well, nevermind, then.

the cheese had a weird rind on it that i didn't eat.

Were you meant to eat it? The rind, I mean.

At one time, the Jews were trying to flee Portugal, but the ruler closed the borders and declared all citizens Christians. One sure fire way to be discovered and ratted out as a Jew in Christian territory is to show that you do not eat pork. These sausages were crafted from poultry and were therefore still kosher. The Jews could pretend they were eating pork while keeping their secret safe.

That's a cool (although a little sad, too) bit of history.

Grilled Codfish / Codfish Brás.

I didn't know codfish even needed to wear bras. Huh.

There were two people in our group who wouldn't eat seafood, and three of us who wouldn't eat olives.

So the "secret" part of the tour is nobody could eat the food.

Not sure what was going on with this upside down Tiana picture….

That's weird.

see the building with the shoddy cable wiring up there?

A travesty! Get Jill on that, stat!

As we walked along we saw this doll hospital, with blood fountain and all!

The what now?????

And we passed a shop where they sold the salt cod and tinned Sardines.

Betting you stocked up to bring some home, right?


No?

She suggested that we hold on tight to our wallets as there were a lot of pick pockets in this neighborhood.

Finally we entered a shop Casa do Alentejo where we were served (Preserved) candied figs.

I'm not even 100% sure if I remember what a fig tastes like. And I don't think I've ever had a preserved fig.

Remember I said I’d show you a trippy picture, to get the cabs from where we were we had to walk across this topsy turvy paved square. It made me dizzy!

Whoa... yeah, that looks like a fall waiting to happen.

They didn't even ask how many bottles of wine we brought back, or if we brought any!

Score!

 

[Flossbolna]

That’s one thing I loved about Lisbon! The pavement patterns! For a short while the Magic had a Brazilian themed restaurant (forgot the name, where Parot Cay used to be and now it’s Rapunzel‘s) and it had exactly this floor pattern as it is also prominent in Rio - which makes sense as it used to be a Portuguese colony.

Nice report on your tour. I would love to do something like this when our cruise stops in Lisbon, but far too fishy for us. I took note of the name of the place to get the pastel de nata though!

 

[alohamom]

Once we arrived all Jill could focus on was the shoddy wiring job for the cable/satellite boxes!

I don't blame her one bit! The architecture and decorations are so lovely, those wires are such an eyesore.

Our guide explained to us the importance of Sardines in the Portuguese culture

My husband's sister married a Portuguese guy and when we were all younger we went camping in the wilds of Algonquin Park quite far north of Toronto. I was floored to see they brought raw sardines that they cleaned and grilled at the campsite. To this day I think that was a very weird thing but you are correct in saying sardines are a huge part of many Portuguese peoples diets, even here in Canada!

 

[jedijill]

Because the ship is constantly changing time zones, I was always having issues with time. Because I had the internet package, I (wrongfully) assumed that my phone would update to the correct time. I was doing stuff on my phone when it read 7:58. Jill was still sleeping and I told her she better wake up, if we were going to get off the ship at 9AM. To which she informed me that it was only 7AM. Doh!

Neither of us never knew the time! We used the Bridge Report on the TV every morning!

We would be having some fun (and blurry) times in here on the ship!

Foreshadowing!

Jill was dressed when I got back and we were docked in Lisbon, but the dock was on the other side. The sun had not actually risen yet, and I was able to capture sunrise photos from our balcony while finishing breakfast.

See I don't sleep all day! I get up and dressed! I was feeling much better by Lisbon too....my cold was almost gone.

Then we headed out on our adventure. There was a photopass photographer right there as we exited the ship.

We got some great Photopass pics this trip.

The city was right there as soon as we exited the port. Our meeting spot was about a 15-20 minute walk from the port. Jill found an ATM (which was a total rip off) and got some cash and a bottle of water each for us while we waited for our guide.

So nice not to have to travel an hour to get to the city. I was looking for a bank ATM but there were none to be found...I got stuck using an Euronet machine which are rip offs but we needed Euros for tips...(someone, ahem, had bought all my leftover Euros off me for her Germany/Austria trip last spring).

All throughout the tour we were absolutely delighted by the words of wisdom from this entitled white American Guy (from Maine), who was constantly trying to impress everyone with his accomplishments and knowledge, especially about Morocco, which Jill and I kept wondering how in the heck that applied to what the guide was telling us about her city, Lisbon.

He was annoying AF. I swear every group has one.

We finally gave up on the person who was late and headed off into the city. We walked quite a ways, but she assured us that there was wine at the end of the walk.

Bifanas do Afonso where we were served Bifana (traditional pork sandwich). In the picture you'll see squirter bottles of mustard and a chili sauce. I thought the sandwich was rather tasty and enjoyed the portion. It was one of the better food options on the tour.

The sandwich was super tasty and the green wine was really nice as well. Entitled White Guy (EWG) was mad that he and his wife didn't get beer/wine too but the guide quickly explained that we and the Danish couple had paid for the upgrade. EWG did get our unwanted beer though even though he didn't deserve it.

Once we arrived all Jill could focus on was the shoddy wiring job for the cable/satellite boxes!

Terrible! LOL

This is the Sardine w/ Escabeche Sauce.

Next they passed around plates of Portuguese Cheese and Smoked Ham. This was better, but the cheese had a weird rind on it that i didn't eat.

This was quite delicious!

These were ok...I don't love chicken sausage and I thought they were dry.

Here was my serving. We also got a glass of red wine as part of our upgrade.

Finally we entered a shop Casa do Alentejo where we were served (Preserved) candied figs. These were absolutely delicious! But we were starting to get full. Even with not eating the Sardine toast there had been quite a bit of food overall.

These were very good and very sweet.

And then we arrived at our final destination, Fábrica da Nata. Here we were served Pastel de Nata (Custard Tart), our guide also offered us a specialty coffee. I wanted a Caffè Au Lait, but she told me that was giant and I certainly didn't want that much. She convinced me to get a Macchiato. I was quite disappointed by the tiny size. Those weren't all mine, that was for our end of the table.

And Jill’s

The Pastel de Nata was the best part of the day! They were served warm with a sprinkling of powdered sugar and cinnamon on top...I wish I could have taken a dozen back on board with me!

Overall, we really enjoyed the tour. The fishiness of the dishes is always going to be an issue with tours in port towns..that's just part of the culture but I was plenty full with what I would eat. My pickiness is my own issue.

Jill in CO

 

[pkondz]

See I don't sleep all day! I get up and dressed!

 

[franandaj]

Ugh... I hate when that happens... and unfortunately, it happens far too frequently.

Being a shift worker can suck, sometimes.

I don't think it has to do with being a shift worker, because it's happening to me all the time now. I have to try to go back to sleep, but if it's between 5-6AM I just can't go back to sleep now.

Oh! Of course. Trans-Atlantic... Dumb of me that I never thought of that.

And that's why you want to do a "West-bound" transatlantic, not an "East-bound" because you lose an extra hour each day. Not only do you never know what time it is, but you're also getting less time to sleep!

Looks almost spooky. Thank goodness there weren't a pair of twins at the end of a hallway.

I do know that reference.

I swear I won't tell a soul.

As if I didn't just tell a ton of people posting it on the interwebs.

You do love your sunrise photos.

On the ships, yes. Too difficult to capture them other places unless by chance.

So... not being much of a cruiser... is that not normal? Or were you just clarifying?

Well it just depends. Some ports drop you off right in the heart of the city. The three we visited did that. Others, not so much. Like in Ensenada there is a whole industrial port that you have to navigate through. I think there are shuttles that take you outside the port. It's been so long since I've really exited the ships in ports because Fran used to stay on the ship most of the time at the end.

I hate that. And it shouldn't be allowed, IMHO.

Tell that to the financial people.....

Oh, brother.

Remind me to tell you of the time... (No! Two times!) I put someone like that in their place. It was partially accidental, and he was actually a nice guy, but...

So, tell me about the time....

Holy smokes!
Oh, no....
Oh, geez. Even now, people don't react well to Tsunamis. I was just reading (on the anniversary of the Indonesia tsunami) how a young girl saved hundreds of people because she recognized the signs. But not many did.

Yeah, sounded pretty tragic and Tsunamis are not something most folks are used to dealing with.

(IYKYK)

This one I don't.

I'm gonna go with fiction. If it was true... after the first one was broken, they'd all be broken.

Little secret.....she asked us to spread that urban myth cause that's what her father told her as a little girl.

Considering you bought some, I'm gonna presume you liked it.

Well I bought one because it was only €6,99 at the grocery store where I got the other bottles of wine. The total for all five bottles was like €21,97 or something ridiculous like that. The two green wines I got were €1,99 each.

That's nice. I like that.

But we drank it a couple weeks ago, after dinner, with dessert.

That sounds really good.

It definitely was!

Funny how you can always find someone to drink your beer.

Well cause I certainly wasn't drinking it!

I had no idea!

We didn't either!

Pursuit? As in defensive against invaders? Or...

Sleeping with the neighbor's wife?

Good to know there's a job for Jill there if she wants it.

She would be the supervisor.....not the one doing the work.

So... I'd be all over that. Yum!

Really????

Were you meant to eat it? The rind, I mean.

Well people eat that weird white stuff on the outside of Brie....I don't. I pick it off.

So the "secret" part of the tour is nobody could eat the food.

The secret part of the tour was the stuff you thought was wearing a bra.

The what now?????

You saw pretty much what we did. We didn't go in, just looked at the crazy window display.

I'm not even 100% sure if I remember what a fig tastes like. And I don't think I've ever had a preserved fig.

I love figs! I have some Fig Chutney that I bought in London and need to make Charcuterie so I can have some.

Whoa... yeah, that looks like a fall waiting to happen.

I couldn't look down as we were walking across it, I had to keep my head up and focus on the other side of the street where the cabs were or I was certainly going to fall over!

 

[franandaj]

That’s one thing I loved about Lisbon! The pavement patterns!

And I got even more pictures of that sort of thing in the Azores! It was so neat!

For a short while the Magic had a Brazilian themed restaurant (forgot the name, where Parot Cay used to be and now it’s Rapunzel‘s) and it had exactly this floor pattern as it is also prominent in Rio - which makes sense as it used to be a Portuguese colony.

That makes sense. I never heard of that on the Magic, they must have replaced it fairly early on.

Nice report on your tour. I would love to do something like this when our cruise stops in Lisbon, but far too fishy for us. I took note of the name of the place to get the pastel de nata though!

Yeah, I thought of you two and it would have never worked for you. Jill didn't like any of the seafood either, but she said she got enough food anyways.

 

[pkondz]

I don't think it has to do with being a shift worker, because it's happening to me all the time now. I have to try to go back to sleep, but if it's between 5-6AM I just can't go back to sleep now.

You sleep less (at night... but nap more) as you get older (as I'm also finding out)... but shift work exacerbates that.

And that's why you want to do a "West-bound" transatlantic, not an "East-bound" because you lose an extra hour each day. Not only do you never know what time it is, but you're also getting less time to sleep!

Oh! Now that is a very good point!

I do know that reference.

As if I didn't just tell a ton of people posting it on the interwebs.

We'll all stay very quiet about it.

On the ships, yes. Too difficult to capture them other places unless by chance.

When my relatives from Germany came over years (decades) ago, my uncle kept marveling at the sunsets.

Well it just depends. Some ports drop you off right in the heart of the city. The three we visited did that. Others, not so much. Like in Ensenada there is a whole industrial port that you have to navigate through. I think there are shuttles that take you outside the port. It's been so long since I've really exited the ships in ports because Fran used to stay on the ship most of the time at the end.

Thanks.

So, tell me about the time....

Too much verbiage. I'll save it for a visit or email or... whatever!
Maybe I'll write a TR someday and mention it then, if the opportunity arises.

This one I don't.

That's Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.
If you've seen it, you might remember the reference. It also came up in the Nurse Ratched reboot from a few years ago.

Little secret.....she asked us to spread that urban myth cause that's what her father told her as a little girl.

Sleeping with the neighbor's wife?

That's a good reason!

She would be the supervisor.....not the one doing the work.

But of course.

Really????

I couldn't look down as we were walking across it, I had to keep my head up and focus on the other side of the street where the cabs were or I was certainly going to fall over!

Smart move.

 

[franandaj]

I don't blame her one bit! The architecture and decorations are so lovely, those wires are such an eyesore.

Well Jill works in the industry where they do installs like this, so she is particularly sensitive!

My husband's sister married a Portuguese guy and when we were all younger we went camping in the wilds of Algonquin Park quite far north of Toronto. I was floored to see they brought raw sardines that they cleaned and grilled at the campsite. To this day I think that was a very weird thing but you are correct in saying sardines are a huge part of many Portuguese peoples diets, even here in Canada!

Yeah, I just never warmed up to sardines. The cats loved them when we gave them flavors that had sardines in them, but they were just too stinky and fishy smelling for me. I guess if you grow up with it, but hard pass for me.

 

[franandaj]

Neither of us never knew the time! We used the Bridge Report on the TV every morning!

Which is why it was so bad when the TV went out! We had nothing to check for the time!

Foreshadowing!

See I don't sleep all day! I get up and dressed! I was feeling much better by Lisbon too....my cold was almost gone.

I didn't think you did! You were up all day in Spain too!

We got some great Photopass pics this trip.

Very nice ones! I even have some hanging on my wall!

So nice not to have to travel an hour to get to the city.

Yes, that is a nice feature.

I was looking for a bank ATM but there were none to be found...I got stuck using an Euronet machine which are rip offs but we needed Euros for tips...

I didn't think of that....

(someone, ahem, had bought all my leftover Euros off me for her Germany/Austria trip last spring).

I could have ordered more from the bank, if we had thought of it!

He was annoying AF. I swear every group has one.

At least we didn't have one in the Azores!

The sandwich was super tasty and the green wine was really nice as well.

Entitled White Guy (EWG) was mad that he and his wife didn't get beer/wine too but the guide quickly explained that we and the Danish couple had paid for the upgrade. EWG did get our unwanted beer though even though he didn't deserve it.

I forgot about this part!

Terrible! LOL

I'm still unclear as to what is exactly so terrible, it looks like most of the installations that I see in California.

This was quite delicious!

I'm glad they had this cause the sardine was gross.

These were ok...I don't love chicken sausage and I thought they were dry.

Yeah, I love croquettes and these were just not a flavorful as others I've had....now the Ruben Croquettes (see WDW TR!), YUM!

These were very good and very sweet.

Super Sweet. They were trying to give away the last one and no one could eat it.

The Pastel de Nata was the best part of the day! They were served warm with a sprinkling of powdered sugar and cinnamon on top...I wish I could have taken a dozen back on board with me!

I would have loved to have a second one, but I'm sure I would have been uncomfortably full.

Overall, we really enjoyed the tour. The fishiness of the dishes is always going to be an issue with tours in port towns..that's just part of the culture but I was plenty full with what I would eat. My pickiness is my own issue.

Yeah, the folks who said they didn't like seafood at the beginning she asked, "What are you doing on a food tour in a port town if you don't like seafood?"

 

[franandaj]

You sleep less (at night.

I find that I sleep about the same, the problem is when I'm so tired I can't stay up past 8PM, I'm waking up at 4AM.

but nap more

I can't nap. I've tired but it never happens.

as you get older (as I'm also finding out)... but shift work exacerbates that.

I don't if it's the older part or what, but something is exacerbating it for me.

Oh! Now that is a very good point!

Same thing on a Panama Canal Cruise.

When my relatives from Germany came over years (decades) ago, my uncle kept marveling at the sunsets.

Sunsets are a whole different ball game because you're awake when they start and you can plan your day to be in an optimum location. I find sunrises to be a challenge unless I can go out my balcony and see them. I can't see them from my house because I have a giant wall facing East.

Too much verbiage. I'll save it for a visit or email or... whatever!
Maybe I'll write a TR someday and mention it then, if the opportunity arises.

I'm questioning my possibilities for a Canadian tour this summer. Too many expenses came in last Fall, but we'll see where I'm at when I come through the expensive season. That ends in early April when the last of the property taxes come due. You never know a miracle could happen between now and then.

That's Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.
If you've seen it, you might remember the reference. It also came up in the Nurse Ratched reboot from a few years ago.

OK, I've heard of her, but never saw the movie, nor did I watch the series.

 

[franandaj]

We weren't hungry at all when we got back from our Lisbon food tour, we had eaten plenty! So we decided to do laundry. Jill had not done any laundry so far, so she had a couple loads to do. I decided with the demand for washers I should do a load as often as I could.

We went on a laundry quest, Jill found an open washer on deck 8, and I found an open washer on deck 10. We sat on our Verandah while the laundry did it's thing.

It was a warm and pleasant day. And there were a number of jellyfish swimming in the water below.

It was hot out on the verandah and we came back inside eventually. While we were doing the laundry we started the movie Solo, but we had to keep stopping it for each of us to keep running to our respective washer/dryers. On one of her trips to the laundry, Jill found this handy sign and sent me a picture. You’re welcome future Dream Cruisers!

We ended up pausing the movie halfway through to get on with our plans for the evening. It's great how with these on demand movies you can watch them and pick them up again later.

We hadn't visited any of the bars in the District so far, so we decided to kick it off at Skyline. If you're not familiar with this lounge it features the Skylines of major cities. New York, Chicago, Hong Kong, Paris, and Tokyo.

We were in Hong Kong when we sat down. Jill began to peruse the menu. Each city had three drinks tailored to the flavors of the region. Most seemed sweet to me and the bartender confirmed that most of them were. I told him my favorite drink and he made a suggestion. But then he had to run all over the ship to the other bars to get one of the ingredients.

Jill got the Martini Royale which was from Paris.

My drink was called a Vesper. It was half Belvedere, half Tanqueray, with an In and Out of Lillet on the glass. Boy was it strong!

We cycled through a few more cities before we came back to Hong Kong.

Then we made the bad decision to visit Pink, the Champagne Bar.

They served us a pair of macarons as we sat down.

I ordered a glass of Albariño. And that picture may have been how I was seeing the world after that Vesper Martini! It was definitely strong and he poured a heavy pour!

Jill ordered an ElderBubble. Absolut Raspberri, St. Germain, and Moët Imperial.

By this time it was clear we needed to get some food in me! Between that strong drink, and I hadn't eaten anything since the food tour, the alcohol was really affecting me. Our dinner tonight was at Animator's Palate which was only a short ride down the elevator.

The rest of our Chenin Blanc was ready for us at the table. Again we both had already picked out what we wanted to eat. Both of us started with the Truffle Pursettes. These are always delicious!

I ordered the Tomato Tart. I had a bite or two, but it was not what I remembered it to be and I didn't like it.

Jill got the Butternut Squash Bisque. She seemed to like it.

I just wanted the Baked Potato & Cheddar Cheese Soup. Of course our server knew better and she brought me two of them. I only ate one.

Jill went with the Ginger dusted Angus Beef Tenderloin, but she subbed the Sour Cream mashed potatoes for the Wasabi mashed potatoes. We were able to finish off what was left of our bottle from the wine package.

I didn't get any picture of Jill’s dessert, but luckily she did! It was a Lemon Icebox Pie served with Lemon Curd and Berry Cream.

There isn’t really any dessert on this menu that tickles my fancy, so I had a Mickey Bar.

Another blanket animal

And my stats for the day.

 

[pkondz]

I find that I sleep about the same, the problem is when I'm so tired I can't stay up past 8PM, I'm waking up at 4AM.

That would do it.

I can't nap. I've tired but it never happens.

I've just noticed the typo here... I usually don't mention them if I notice, but... this one is pretty accurate!
And I don't nap either.

Same thing on a Panama Canal Cruise.

Oh! I didn't think there'd be that many time zone changes there. Huh!

Sunsets are a whole different ball game because you're awake when they start and you can plan your day to be in an optimum location. I find sunrises to be a challenge unless I can go out my balcony and see them. I can't see them from my house because I have a giant wall facing East.

I couldn't comment on the sunrises as I don't remember if they saw any or not. Sun rises pretty early in summer (5:30ish.)

And speaking of tired... I'm too tired to read/comment on the last update. It'll wait until tomorrow.

 

[Flossbolna]

One of my hopes for our TA is to actually spend more time in the bars. I always want to and then we rarely go. I never made it to Pink on our one cruise on the Dream!

Skyline is so fun! Love the screens. The NY Hotel at DLP has a Marcel overlay and their bar has views of NY, but a Marvel NY, so you see Ironman flying by and such stuff.

 

[pkondz]

So we decided to do laundry.

You gals know how to party!

there were a number of jellyfish swimming in the water below.

That's so cool! Roughly how big were they? I've only seen (in the wild) jelly fish about the size of a teacup.

On one of her trips to the laundry, Jill found this handy sign and sent me a picture. You’re welcome future Dream Cruisers!

I don't know if I'll ever do a Disney cruise... but you never know.

If you're not familiar with this lounge it features the Skylines of major cities. New York, Chicago, Hong Kong, Paris, and Tokyo.

I'm not familiar with it, as in having seen it personally, but I have heard of it. I think it's a really cool concept.

I told him my favorite drink and he made a suggestion. But then he had to run all over the ship to the other bars to get one of the ingredients.

Do you know what he had to run for?
Either way, that's awfully good of him to do that.

with an In and Out of Lillet on the glass.

What does that mean???

And that picture may have been how I was seeing the world after that Vesper Martini!

Again we both had already picked out what we wanted to eat. Both of us started with the Truffle Pursettes.

My choice as well...

I just wanted the Baked Potato & Cheddar Cheese Soup.

Also my choice.

Of course our server knew better and she brought me two of them. I only ate one.

That's so weird. It even looks odd with two bowls.

Jill went with the Ginger dusted Angus Beef Tenderloin, but she subbed the Sour Cream mashed potatoes for the Wasabi mashed potatoes.

Interesting substitution. Does Jill not care for sour cream? Or just the wasabi sounded better?
I note you did not include your main? Or did you just have appys?

Another blanket animal

Rhino?