Lisbon and Porto

On the second day in Lisbon, TSH and Diva took the metro into the centre of the old town and spent a pleasant couple of hours walking around.

It was not just guests disembarking at the end of their cruise – there were also many crew changes. So there is a new butler to train, as well as a new cleaner. And a new captain. They all did well on their first night, remembering all the special requests and steering the Silver Wind safely to Porto.

Porto, where TSH and Diva have visited before, was a really good port. They walked around areas they were not familiar with and took a pre-booked (by themselves, from home) trip to the Palacio da Bolsa. This is the home of the local Chamber of Commerce. The building is airy because of the central courtyard with glass roof. It contains an area with emblems of the countries Portugal traded with when the building was built. The woman from Iran was disappointed that there was no emblem for her country but the most disgusted were those from Canada and Australia who were told that they were included with Britain at that time. The most spectacular room is the Arab room, which is decorated in elaborate fashion from floor to ceiling.    

Today’s walking target was achieved but should have been more than doubled because many of the steps involved steep hills.

To TSH’s delight, the Cruise Port near Porto has a 19^th Century steam train on show.

Port in Lisbon and little Portugese custards in Porto.

It is Captain’s Welcome night, but the invitation to dine with Martin was refused.

JK Rowling is just like Robin Hood

The local guide informed the group early in the tour of Porto that ‘The river is narrow here so you can cross on foot’!! The tour confirmed TSH and Diva’s impressions from an earlier visit that the city, which has some beautiful old buildings, needs a serious clean-up and restoration.

One of the sights pointed out was a bookshop where JKR completed ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’, and whose curving staircase inspired some of the descriptions of Hogwarts. She seems to be like Robin Hood and Bonnie Prince Charlie in that everywhere wants to claim a connection.

The tour finished with a visit to the Calem port house, and compulsory consumption of two glasses of port before returning to the Torvil for lunch.

The afternoon was spent on board, sailing to Bitetos. Dinner was taken at the Alpendurada     monastery, which has been converted to a hotel. A bit like a poussada, but a lot more investment needed to bring it properly up to standard. Because he knew the venue and views would be spectacular, TSH took his camera but unfortunately forgot to take an SD card, so no photographic record exists. Another good dinner, followed by Lisbon-style Fado, which is more dramatic.

Bats and termites

On the bus transfer to Porto, the lunch stop included a tour of Coimbra, Portugal’s oldest University town. The library (a beautiful old one and not the one students use today) is cleaned in a novel manner. All the wood carving is covered with plastic sheeting, a whistle is blown and then bats go about their work of eating the termites which are trying to eat the paper of the precious books. The guide claimed that this happens every morning, raising several questions. Where are the bats during the day? How do they find the time for all the covering and cleaning up? What is the whistle for?

The students in Coimbra appear to wear gowns more often than most students, but there is a suspicion that this is just for the tourists. Lunch included a Coimbra-style Fado performance.

On arrival at the boat, the Viking Torvil, there was very little time for unpacking and changing before the safety drill (very short), the daily briefing, the drinks reception and then dinner. Wine with meals is included in the package and the service is very generous, including a glass of port at the end of every dinner. Dinner was excellent.

After the meal, the captain took the boat for a short tour through Porto, to the Atlantic Ocean and back to the mooring space, giving everyone an opportunity to see the illuminated city and its many bridges of various vintages.

The boat is the newest in the fleet and everything is well designed and probably the result of much market research. Plenty of storage in the cabin, including a large wardrobe space. But the shower room is tiny and Diva (who really wants a bath) is struggling. The other issue is the complex light system. No light has a simple on/off switch and dimming processes are involved. The same sequence of switches does not appear always to give the same result. The lights were on all night because neither could work out how to switch them off. Over-engineered.