The Cruise 2011 Day 12

Last night's game show was good fun, involving the audience being divided into teams with two captains each and being requested to produce various items as fast as possible or perform tasks. It was better if you were there!


So today was Lisbon, the last stop we had planned to go ashore. There was a shuttle bus to two locations, the first being the town centre followed by one at a monestary. The town was hard work and other than a couple of impressive statues was just shops and crumbling mosaic pavements on hilly streets. Other than the main pedestrianised section through the shops, it isn't wheelchair friendly. Cobbled streets with tramways, dropped kerbs that are still 3 inches high and obstructions on the narrow pavements don't make for a relaxing visit. But I can say I have been to Lisbon even if it was not enough to see it at its best.

The second stop was much better. The monestary and surrounding gardens, fountains and monuments were fairly accessible and the whole area was much more tranquil. The monestary itself had a beautiful outdoor quadrant within the incredible stone carved walls. The boys hadn't been terribly interested so far but enjoyed going to the top of the final point of interest; a 50 metre high sculpture overlooking the bay dominated by the impressive suspension bridge.

We returned to the ship and went up to watch our departure, worth seeing to witness the couple of feet clearance as we passed underneath out of the port. The evening's show was a group called Graffiti Classics, three violinists and a double bassist who did a humerous take on well known pieces. At most shows there are always a number of people who leave during the final 5 minutes, presumably to avoid the queues at there dinner seating but it is bloody rude. So when the double bassist, (who had been comically scathing of audience participation during the show) ran up the isle to physically drag people back to their seats, it resulted in a huge cheer from everyone. We finished the evening watching the band who were doing live karaoke.