May 30, Portimao Portugal
Today the ship had to anchor outside in the bay at Portimao, Portugal. That meant we had to take the Tenters (Lifeboats use to ferry us to the dock as well as being available for lifeboats in case of emergency) into the dock to catch our bus and tour guide. We didn’t see much of that town other than driving out and in. We drove for about an hour. To Cape St Vincent. It had amazing cliffs and water views and is the Southern most point in Continental Europe. It was amazing but also very very windy.
Next we drove to Sagres and the bus parked and we walked down to see the rock formations next to the cliffs. They had just put up boardwalks to save the plant life that was getting trampled by all the people. There were several boardwalks that went out each peak so people could look down on the water and the rock formations. A large boat was there that had lots of kayakers going through the arches and paddling around, a very popular thing to do. There was a steep set of stairs for people to go down to get to a small beach. We could see a large beach off in the distance full of sunbathers and a few swimmers. While it was vey hot at noon, worth the walk to see it. Great to see it on the bus but it would been nice to go at our own pace and enjoy spending more time looking at it all. That is the good and bad of a tour, you are on their schedule and you don’t know what is coming next so you can’t ask for more time.
We then went to the town of Lagos on the river. I saw lots of tourist boats going to the ocean, probably to see the rocks we had just seen??? We ate a great lunch at a riverside restaurant set up for our tour and other tours as well. They gave us olives and rolls with butter to start and 2 bottles of wine for the 6 of us. It was so hot that we asked for the water bottles to be refilled as our table was more interested in water than the wine. Good cream soup and then a chicken lunch with a very fancy desert. Several commented that it was the best excursion lunch they had ever had and we agreed.
The tour guide gave a tour of the area but we sat by the water and then got David some ice cream and I tried a smoothie at an outdoor cafe. David loved the ice cream and I didn’t think much of their smoothie but that is part of travel. The group said the town tour was just looking at some shops and the neighborhood streets and building, glad I didn’t miss much. Back on the bus to drive back to get into a long line for the tenders. The tenders went quickly but every tour arrived back with us and all of the people sightseeing in town arrived then to get back before the ship left. I knew that would happen so we were prepared for that hour line. It is a part of traveling by ship.
Glad to be mostly packed so we cooled down and then went for our nice last dinner in the dinning room. We had stopped swimming and using the hot tub a few days before as we figured they don’t heat the pool and the hot tubs were getting cooler…. At first the pool was cool and ok but then it just was too cold. Sad for me but most just sunbath anyway.
Tomorrow we arrive in Lisbon and know we will have several very busy days before we catch our next ship cruise ship on Tuesday and head across the Atlantic Ocean for Miami. Excited to finally see Lisbon and more of Portugal.
