Horta Portugal tour

Stop on our Horta tour

We only did one organized tour while on our Transatlantic from Fort Lauderdale to Barcelona. It was a stop at Horta, Portugal. We were disappointed enough that we canceled the rest of our tours. I love ship shore excursions. I love the experience of getting on the bus, sitting near the front whenever possible, half tuning out the droning voice of the guide and just taking in the sights, sounds and smells. My husband hates bus tours. So we did the rest of the stops on our own. 

Horta stop

I have to admit Horta was not what I expected It is green. It is full of cows, and lots of whales come in during parts of the year. It is also windy, rainy and downright cold. We froze from the cold wind and rains when we were there end of April.

One stop was kind of cool. It was a park-like place. Not quite sure what it was. I spent most of the time on the bus, as it was just too cold to get out. But the buildings looked super old. Does anybody know where this is?

Our niece with a lady she met on our tour of Horta

Note the coat our niece was wearing. I had only a jacket and was freezing!

Lusting After Funchal, Madeira at Portugal

Funchal, Madeira at Portugal

My husband and I are finally taking the plunge and looking in to a transatlantic cruise from Barcelona. I have been lusting after a visit to the Canary Islands. My husband wants to do a transatlantic. That is one cruise I prefer not to do solo, so we have combined both ideas and come up with an itinerary that goes to the Canary Islands and then arrives in Fort Lauderdale.

Major avenue at Funchal

Market at Funchal, Madeira

In my research, I stumbled on Funchal, Madeira. It is a stop on quite a few transatlantic including Princess and Holland America. We are looking at Celebrity and they don't stop there. But there are so many other wonderful spots on their transatlantic cruises, I can do this island another time. I will put a Canary Island itinerary on my bucket list.

Beautiful avenue at Funchal

Funicular at Funchal

One of my favorite things - a funicular. If you would like more information about Funchal, please click here. Information provided by wikipedia wikitravel.

Barcelona to Dover: the Second Time Around

Pew  LaSeu Cathedral at Barcelona 

I am having such mixed feelings about doing the same itinerary from Barcelona to Dover on my next cruise. On the one hand, I know I love
Barcelona and there are always new things to discover in the south of Spain. The cruise goes to very different destinations this time, being on a much smaller ship - we are able to get in to smaller ports.

Santiago de Compostela

Being a smaller ship, the rates are steeper and the price of the cruise category I have is not going down. That is a pity! I also don't relish going into the Bay of Biscay again. Last time we went through a big storm, and I swore I wouldn't go that route again.

But on the other hand, what's not to love about Spain? The ports are interesting, the sun shines every day in April and May, and there are fabulous Cathedrals and Churches everywhere. To top it off, I speak the language, which makes it even more special.

One of my friends from Gibraltar

Alicante, Motril (to visit Granada), Palma de Mallorca in the Balearic Islands ... even a possible chance to go back to both Santiago de Compostela and Gibraltar, which I adored. I am sorry that this Barcelona to Dover cruise doesn't do any stops in Normandy or Belgium. Those were really highlights last time. I also look forward to revisiting Lisbon, which the idea of has grown on me since I was last there, and to also go to Portimao, Portugal. 

Rain on the bus window at Lisbon

I am psyching myself up and hoping the cruise price comes down. I probably won't take the better price on the cabin I have chosen, but use it as an opportunity to upgrade to a better cabin instead. Holland America, here I come!

Sintra, Portugal: Love at First Sight

Alfama District, Lisbon

I did a tour from the Holland America Eurodam called Lisbon sights, Sintra & Cascais. It was a great tour. My favorite place was Sintra.

Portal of Church before 1755 earthquake in Lisbon



This is the review I submitted to Holland America:

The Lisbon highlights were well presented by our guide. The gentleman we had the day before was not nearly as interesting or entertaining. This woman was lovely but unfortunately I forgot her name. All the women guides wore green scarves.

Guides with green scarves

Sintra is absolutely amazing, a true fairy tale place. We were dropped from the bus, given a short orientation and then allowed to roam around for a few hours. It is walkable but has very steep hills and may not be recommended for people with mobility problems. There were cute shops, museums and churches. I even took an additional train tour that rides around Sintra that is provided by the city of Sintra. The woman who drove the train spoke in three languages throughout the tour - Portuguese, Spanish and English. Very enjoyable.

Sintra fountain

Sintra rooftops

Sintra, Portugal

Walking around Sintra

I walked around and took fabulous photos, stopped in a cafe for a cup of cappuccino and a wonderful almond pastry. It is a delightful place and I could have stayed longer, but we really had enough time to see everything. It is a place I could definitely see myself going back to for a longer vacation.

Wonderful shop with pastries and coffee in Sintra

Almond pastry & cappuccino

Cascais is a typical beach town, with lots of tourist shops and restaurants. It is clean and the weather was lovely, warm but not too hot with a breeze. We enjoyed it.

Beach at Cascais, Portugal

Street Art or Graffiti in Porto, Portugal

Mr. Dheo is the name of a street artist in Porto, Portugal. I don't dare call it graffiti as the works are really works of art. But for the purpose of this blog, as it is called Gargoyles & Graffiti, maybe we can call it high graffiti or street art graffiti? It is really impressive. To see many of his works, click here.

Graffiti in Lisbon

This blog post will be about graffiti as I would like to keep it balanced. My last post in Barcelona was definitely more gargoyle. The place I saw the most graffiti on my trip from Barcelona to Dover was in Lisbon. (The three places in the world I remember the most graffiti are Mexico City, Athens and Lisbon.)

Check out this great article about the graffiti in Lisbon ....

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2011/jan/29/graffiti-street-art-lisbon-portugal

Alfama District in Lisbon

They even graffiti their boats

I can't remember the first time I saw graffiti. I've heard it said that the Indian cave paintings are a form of graffiti, so I guess it goes back a long time. Along the road leaving Estoril Beach and returning to Lisbon, we saw graffiti sprawled along the walls of the obviously super expensive homes by the beach.  Graffiti was even on some of the boats in the harbor when we reached the Alfama district where we were docked.

Along the sea from Estoril Beach to Lisbon

Drive from Estoril to Lisbon
showing
cables and wires everywhere

Now this is not pick on Portugal day or anything. For friends of mine who spent more time there, they loved it. I am talking first impressions and Lisbon and the surrounding towns take some getting used to. It is old and crumbling but I believe in the short time I was on the cruise (we did overnight, but still??) I couldn't really love it. I guess I've finally said it. I actually disliked it. It is crowded, dirty, falling down ... and I really wanted to at least like it. I really did. I have been washing the same dishes I got as a bridal shower gift from my two best friends from high school for the last 25 years, yearning to see Portugal. My dishes are called Lisboa white ... which is actually the name of Lisbon if you live there, as it is the name of Lisbon in Spanish. These beautiful, simple white dishes that I have celebrated anniversaries, birthdays, and in my divorce, we even discussed what to do with them and he got 4 sets, I got 8. I have carried these dishes from Cincinnati where I got them as a gift (where I grew up) to Florida where I lived at the time I got married to Cozumel, Mexico. I still have most of these dishes even though a maid of mine broke the top of the casserole dish and all of the bowls disappeared long ago. And sometimes I dream about moving somewhere else and I got it in my head that Portugal would be the perfect place to live ... and then I went to Lisbon ... but just when I thought that the dirt, the smog, the crowds, the wires and the graffiti were more than I could bear, I came across this, a portal to a Church ... one of the last remaining remnants from the Earthquake of 1755 and it is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life.

 The Church Portal from the 1755 Earthquake

Henry the Navigator Monument

And this .... a monument to Henry who our guide said never navigated anything to the mosaic floors showing the Portuguese voyages, detailed with decorative boats and sea creatures.

Map showing the voyages of the Portuguese

And I realized that travel, like life, never turns out exactly as we plan. Some places I have thought about so long and put up so high on the pedestal that they can never be as good as I expect them to be. Lisbon is one of those places. I can appreciate it so much more now that I am back from my trip and realize that like an exotic and unfamiliar meal, Lisbon is better as I ingest it in my mind.