Lisbon, Portugal

May 7^th, 2024

There used to be a restaurant in Beira, Mozambique, called Johnny’s where you could get the most delicious peri peri prawns. Brian and I have searched the world for prawns as good as those, but nowhere has come close. Even my attempts at making them at home have failed to live up to those amazing flavors.

A couple of years ago when we were in Lisbon we had tasted prawns that came close, so we decided to go and find out if we could find that same restaurant again.

There was a shuttle bus from the terminal into town, but it is a lovely walk along the waterfront to the Arco da Rua Augusta in the Praca do Comercio.

The Rua Augusta is a pedestrian mall with several restaurants, which all seem very touristy, many specializing in hamburgers, but finally we found one that had sea food. It was still very touristy, but the prawns were delicious. Not up to Beira standards, but still very tasty.

You can’t visit Portugal without indulging in pasteis de nata, and fortunately there was a pastiserie  close to the restaurant so I could indulge in those delicious custard tarts. Brian had wanted to take a photo of my tart, but somehow it got eaten before he got his camera out. They are really, really good.

After lunch we walked up the street past some flower vendors

to Praca Dom Pedro IV plaza with its blooming jacaranda trees and the Donna Maria ll National Theater at one end of the plaza.

In the center is a column topped by the statue of Dom Pedro himself. Legend has it that in fact the statue is of Emperor Maximillian of Mexico. Maximillian was assassinated just as the statue was completed and the unwanted statue was sold to Lisbon at a fraction of its cost as both Maximillian and Dom Pedro had similar appearances.

There is also a rather lovely fountain in the plaza

The wave pattern stone paving is a bit disconcerting in broad daylight, and must be quite a challenge to walk on in the evening if you have had a few drinks.

The weather was perfect and strolling around the surrounding streets was a real pleasure.

I love the tile facing on the buildings.

Lisbon really is a very beautiful city.

Back at the cruise terminal we got take get a good look at Queen Anne close up.

Her mooring ropes are gleaming white. They won’t be that way for long, but it was a lovely contrast against her dark hull.

It was sunny and warm, and the Grills deck was the perfect spot to lie in the shade and read

And soak in the hot tub, with a great view of Lisbon and the funnel.

Aft of the grills deck is the Cabana bar

Which overlooks the Panorama Pool.

Sail away was a much more subdued affair than our sail away from La Coruna. No fire boats or huge crowds lining the waterfront. That may have been because our departure was delayed for over an hour.

Still there were several tour boats checking us out.

There is so much open deck space on the ship even though it seemed that everyone was out on deck to watch us sail, there were still many places from where you could watch us slowly turn around and head toward the 25^th of April bridge.

It is lovely sailing up the river to the bridge.

We fitted very easily under the bridge,

And I watched us sail as far as the Monument of the Discoveries.

Then it was time to get ready for another great night of food, bubbly and good friends. We had had a great day in Lisbon, one of my favorite cities.