July 20, 2018

 

After Bunny and the family left this morning, we finished our packing and tidied up before Terry, our puppysitter came at 1:30, and then we left for Savannah. There were thunderstorms all around and we were very worried about our flight being on time, although we had 2 1/2 hours layover in New York. Our inbound flight landed but then a big storm came up and they closed all the ramps down! The storm passed, however, and we boarded and left right on time. Our flight out of JFK was about an hour late but by 11:30PM we were Lisbon bound! We arrived around 10:45AM Lisbon time, picked up our luggage, cleared customs and met our representative from AMA Waterways. They gathered up quite a group of us and off we went to the Intercontinental Hotel. Our rooms weren't ready so we sat in the lobby and had a drink. We met our cruise manager, Cesario Santos, and he went to the front desk and asked them nicely to get us all checked in, so we were in our room by about 1PM. We found out that Joe and Rose and Paul and Sharon had missed their connecting flight and no one knew exactly where they were! We attended a welcome reception and meeting and then set out for a walk with Cesario just to get our bearings. After a couple of blocks, we decided to turn back and just as we reached the hotel, a van pulled up and Joe and Rose got out! They said that Paul and Sharon would be on a later flight, and that their luggage did not arrive, so we all had dinner in the restaurant at the hotel. We were all exhausted so it was off to bed!

Lisbon from our room.

Sunday, July 22, 2018

We had a really good breakfast before we set off for a tour of Lisbon. Paul and Sharon had arrived about 11 last night, also with no luggage! We set off for the first of many trips on the "green" bus! Lisbon is called the "City of the Seven Hills" (just like Port Washington!). It is the capital of Portugal with a population, in the greater Lisbon area, of about 2.1 million people. It lies on the north bank of the Tagus River. Because of their location, their 15th and 16th century explorers sailed the ocean and discovered many places.Until recently, almost everyone depended upon farming or fishing for a living, but now only about 10% work the land and far fewer, the sea. Now light industry, commerce and tourism make up the economy. 

Portugal has been inhabited by many different people. The Phoenicians were first, followed by the Carthaginians, the Celts, then the Romans. In AD 330 Christianity became the official state religion. The Visigoths arrived in the 6th century and all was well for 200 years. In 711 an invasion fleet of of Moors crossed the straits from North Africa to Gibraltar and then to the Iberian Peninsula. Most of Portugal remained in Moorish hands for the next 5 centuries. King Alfonso I eventually captured Portugal back in 1250. England is Portugal's oldest ally, dating back to the Treaty of Windsor in 1386.

Early in the morning of All Saints' Day, November 1, 1755, a major earthquake struck and killed thousands. Candles which had been lit for All Saints' Day set the churches on fire. The Marquis de Pombal was in charge of reconstruction, and also reformed the government, commerce and education, but in the process made enemies of the Jesuits. He responded by throwing them out of the country!

Portugal remained a constitutional monarchy until 1974. In 1986 Portugal was admitted to the EU and many projects began, including infrastructure improvements. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa is the current President.

Our tour took us through many of the districts of Lisbon and it was very beautiful. We visited the Monastery of St. Jeronimo and saw the tomb of famous explorer Vasco da Gama. We also saw the Belem Tower, which was a riverside fortress. We were treated to "pasteis de Belem" a wonderful sweet custard like tart that has been made from the same recipe for over 160 years!

After returning to our hotel, we had drinks and rested a bit before going out to dinner at Sabora d Artes, a very traditional Portuguese restaurant.

This is the tomb of Vasco da Gama

 

Portugal is known for it's beautiful tiles. Oliver matched the tiles in the Monastery!

 

The beautiful fountain in front of the Jeronimo Monastery

 

The Belem Tower

The Monument of the Discoveries

This was a huge map on the concrete of all the many discoveries that the Portuguese made.

This is a model of the world as the Portuguese and Spanish saw it. Portugal controlled half and Spain the other half!

 

Oliver loved the octopus he had for dinner!

 

Monday, July 23, 2018

After another good breakfast, we got back on the green bus and headed for the lovely little town of Sintra, about 30 minutes outside of Lisbon. Sintra was the summer home of the Moorish rulers and the Portuguese Kings. We visited the famous Castelo da Pena, a wonderful fairy tale castle built in the 19th century on the ruins of an old monastery. It's a crazy combination of Moorish and Gothic architecture. The rooms are packed with "Victorian" bric a brac. We visited the National Palace, begun in the 14th century and continually extended. We then went back down into the town of Sintra and shopped a bit before heading back to our hotel.

Castelo da Pena

Tuesday, July 24, 2018

After breakfast, we loaded up on the bus and headed for the Santa Apolonia train station. There we boarded our high speed train for Porto and our ship, the AmaVida. By the way, AMA means love so the AmaVida is Loving Life, which we were!! We boarded the ship and were taken to our small but comfortable stateroom. The ship was actually docked across the river from Porto in Vila Nova de Guia. We had our safety briefing where we were introduced to our Captain and other officers, a welcome cocktail reception and the first of many delicious dinners. Then the Captain took the ship out for a beautiful nighttime cruise of Porto.

 

There are so many ships and so few towns on the Douro that we were often rafted. Here is a Viking ship coming to raft off us.

 

Wednesday, July 25, 2018

We had a great breakfast this morning. Not often you can have a 4 course breakfast, including dessert! Then we boarded our trusty green bus for a tour of the beautiful Porto area. Porto is second in size to Lisbon but, as the locals like to say, first in every other way! This is the town where our cruise manager Cesario lives. There are 6 bridges which link Porto and Guaia-the most well known is the Ponte de Dom Luis I. It is a two level bridge, with cars traveling the lower level and pedestrians crossing the top level which affords a breathtaking view of both Porto and Guia. We visited the beautiful Se Cathedral and the amazing Sao Bento train station, to see all the exquisite tile work, before taking a cable car back down to Guia to Offley's winery for a tour and a tasting.The wine cellars and traditional storehouses are used to store port wine. Boats called barcos rabelos used to carry the port downriver in barrels-now the wine moves by road tanker but the rabelos are still around as tourist boats. We had lunch and then Paul and Sharon and Oliver and I took a bus back to Porto. We shopped a bit and then found a nice little cafe at the end of the bridge and sat for a few drinks before walking back to the ship. We enjoyed the Captains' Welcome Dinner and then were treated to an awesome show by a men's group called Tuna. They have been together for over 23 years and started as students although many now are much older and have careers. They were fantastic and everybody loved them.

We saw this awesome rabbit in Porto.

The beautiful cathedral

Coming down on the cable car and seeing the sheds where the port is stored.

A view of the bridges in Porto

Porto riverfront

Our ship from the Luis I bridge

Walking across the bridge

At Offley's Winery

The wonderful Tuna show

Thursday, July 26, 2018

Another 4 course breakfast. Our waiter, Vitor, knows us now and saves our table for us every day. Back on the green bus for a trip to Guimares. In the 10th century, the Countess of Mumdona built a convent here, for both friars and nuns. She then built the castle, which played an instrumental part in founding an independent Portugal. It is considered the birthplace of Portugal.  By the end of the 11th century, Count Henry of Burgundy married Teresa of Leon and Guimares was the dowry. Their son, Afonso Henriques, eventually took the side of the archbishop of Braga against his own mother and fought for control of Portugal. He won an important battle which took place around the castle and Portugal declared independence from Spain. Guimares was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2001.

We returned to the AmaVida and had lunch as we began our cruise on the Douro River. We had a beautiful afternoon and locked through the first of our five locks. The locks were built in the 1970s and 80s, and allowed for navigation of the river by ships with a maximum length of 272 ft and a maximum width of 37 ft. The highest lock is the Carrapatelo, with a lift of 115 feet! In the evening, we boarded our bus for a trip to the Alpendura Monastery, which sits high above the Douro. The monastery is from the 13th century and was in the possession of Benedictine monks until 1834.

The Guimares Castle

The plaque on this church illustrates the fire alarm system. Each building was numbered and if a building caught fire, they would ring the bells that number of times so that people would know where to go to help fight the fire.

The square in Guimares

Beautiful gardens in Guimares

Here we are approaching the Crestuma Lock

Inside the lock.

There was a VERY low bridge after the lock. We all had to duck!

On our way to Entre-os-Rios

From our stateroom balcony

 

At the Alpendura Monastery

 

A monk's room.

 

Friday, July 27, 2018

After another great breakfast, including cappuccinos made specially by Vitor, we sat up on deck and watched the beautiful scenery of the Douro River as we sailed to Regua. Our first stop was the Carrapatelo Dam which is the highest lock on the river, at 115 feet. As we were having lunch, we arrived in Regua and were soon headed for the Mateus Palace. Most people will recognize this palace as the picture on bottles of Mateus Rose, although the wine was never actually made at the Palace. The Palace was built in the 18th century for the Count of Vila Real and is regarded as one of the finest private houses of Europe. Although it became a private foundation in 1971 and part of it is open to tours, the family still lives in the other part. The gardens are just magnificent, including topiaries, flowers, grape vines and a cedar tunnel that is 100 feet long. There are only 3 gardeners and they trim everything by hand! 

We returned to the ship and had cocktails in the lounge followed by a wonderful dinner and a Portuguese music show.

We start every day with a special cup of cappuccino made by Vitor!

Beautiful scenery on the way to Regua

The famous picture of Mateus Palace. Notice the sculpture of what appears to be a dead woman in the pond.

The gardens are just amazing and 3 guys take care of the whole thing by hand!

Our entertainment, all local, has been great.

 

Saturday, July 28, 2018

Our morning tour took us to the ancient town of Lamego, one of the major points of pilgrimage in Portugal, the Shrine of Our Lady of Remedies. There have been tales of miraculous cures here. There are 686 step up to the church! We rode the bus up but walked down!!  The church was just finished in 1905 and it took over a century just to build the stairs! Some of the faithful climb the stairs on their knees!

We arrived back at the AmaVida for lunch and then set sail for Pinhao. When you say the word Pinhao, it sounds like PinYOW. Double vowels are common and have unusual pronunciation. Also, many times the letter s is pronounced "esh".

Tonight was the cocktail party for those who have sailed before with AmaWaterways and nearly half of the passengers fit that category! After dinner, we met in the lounge to play a fun music trivia game. Another couple joined the 6 of us to form the team The Portugeezers! We tied for first place with another team but won the tiebreaker and a fine bottle of port was our prize! The 8 of us finished it off before bedtime!

The Shrine of Our Lady of Remedies

Low bridge on the way to Pinhao

Docked in Pinhao. 

Our prize for the music contest!!!

Sunday, July 29, 2018

After breakfast, we watched pastry chef Lilian teach us how to make the famous Pasteis de Nata. They are yummy little custard pastries and, while she made it look very easy, I'm not sure I will be trying this any time soon! We then headed to our home away form home - the green bus - to go to Quinta de Avessada, a winery in Favaios. It was quite a drive up the mountain-steep, winding road with no guardrails, and our driver had to move WAAY over when cars came by! I was not a fan and in fact skipped the afternoon bus ride to the Sandeman Winery because it was up another mountain! Moscatel wine is produced in Favaios. We had a wonderful presentation on wine making by the hilarious owner and then a delicious lunch before making our way back down the scary mountain to the ship. Sharon and Paul went on the Sandeman tour and said the road was even scarier-good thing I skipped it!

There was a farewell cocktail party in the lounge followed by a special gala dinner.

No guardrails!!

Learning how to make wine

Entertainment 

Huge barrels for storing the wine

Beautiful scenery on the drive back

Monday, July 30, 2018

We set sail before breakfast for Barca d' Alva, arriving while we were eating lunch. The scenery on this part of the river, the Douro Superior, was just amazing! Our afternoon tour took us to the unique town of Castelo Rodrigo. Legend has it that St. Francis of Assisi spent the night her, on his pilgrimage to the tomb of St. James. The Portuguese version of "George Washington slept here"! Castelo Rodrigo is one of the twelve historic villages of Portugal and has narrow streets, the Rocamadour Church and an old Jewish Quarter. In the past, it was a place where Jews, Muslims and Christians lived in peace and harmony. We had a tasting of wine, cheese and almonds and did some shopping. Many of the women bought more cork products.

A word about cork...2780 square miles of land in Portugal is dedicated to the cultivation of cork oak tress, making Portugal the premier producer of cork in the world, accounting for 50% of the world's total cork production. 16% of Portugal's foreign income comes from the cork exported to Germany, the UK and the US. It's uses are almost limitless...in the building trade, automobile, military and space industries;footwear and leather goods; and most importantly, as cork stoppers in wine bottles! Many of us bought purses made form cork. The bark of the cork oak tree is harvested only every 9 years, the first time when the tree is about 25 years old.  Once cork is removed from a tree, it begins to grow again. It is extracted only from May to August. Cork oak trees are preserved and cutting them down is illegal.

While we were in Castelo Rodrigo, our ship moved to the opposite side of the river. That meant when we left the ship, we were in Portugal, and when we came back, we were in Spain and had to move our watches ahead an hour!!

Dinner tonight was a Portuguese barbecue on the sundeck followed by some flamenco dancing in the lounge.

Cruising the amazing Douro Superior

Approaching our last lock

Some of the Douro Superior looks like another planet!

We had to pull over and rest on this dolphin to allow another ship to pass on this narrow part of the Douro

In the 1990s, it looked like this paleolithic rock art was going to be submerged and lost forever because of a proposed dam project. At the last minute the government stepped in and scrapped the project. This rare concentration of rock etchings represents some of the world's earliest evidence of human occupation. A total of 214 panels have been found in 22 separate groups, representing horses, deer, fox, fish and one apparent human caricature.

 

The Rocamadour Church in Castelo Rodrigo

Paul and Sharon in Castelo Rodrigo

Sitting under an olive tree

Feeding the donkey

Portuguese barbecue on the sundeck

Tuesday, July 31, 2018

We had a very early morning as our luggage had to be picked up at 7AM. We did manage to eat breakfast though before boarding-you guessed it-the GREEN bus to head to Madrid. We drove for a while and then made a pit stop at a place with great souvenirs. Lots of shopping was done in 15 minutes! Our next stop was Salamanca. It's called the Golden City because of the sandstone used in building the city. When the Christians retook the city from the Moors in 1055, it was in ruins. Reconstruction began in 1085. The main sites are the Cathedral of Salamanca which is actually 2 adjoining cathedrals, as the original was thought not to be grand enough. The University of Salamanca is the oldest in Spain, founded in 1218. The Casa de las Conchas is the House of Shells, which is amazing when the sun hits it just so. The Plaza Mayor is considered to be the most magnificent main square in Spain. After our tour, we had lunch at the Alameda Palace Hotel before getting back on the bus. When we finally arrived in Madrid, we checked in to the beautiful and historic Hotel Westin Palace. We took a little orientation walk around with Cesario before having dinner at a small tapas restaurant.

There wasn't a lot to see as we drove across Spain

This is the main square in Salamanca

The Cathedral

Part of the University

The Shell House

Wednesday, August 1, 2018

We had breakfast in the hotel, another 4 course meal. Then we boarded our bus for a city tour of Madrid. We saw some of the most famous sites, such as the Alcala Gate and the Cibeles fountain. We saw the soccer stadium and the main bull fighting arena, as well as the business district, before taking a walking tour past the Royal Palace, and Old Town to Mayor's Square, where we dropped out of the tour to have drinks and lunch! We returned to the hotel for a short rest and then found an excellent restaurant for dinner.

We had several interesting discussions about bullfighting with our guides. Of course, we find it to be extremely inhumane and about 50% of the Spaniards do too, primarily the younger ones. But the economy is so tied to this sport that to just ban it would have a very negative effect on individuals as well as the population as a whole. Raising the bulls is big business and the fields that we saw on our way are maintained by the farmers raising the bulls. If the sport were banned, that land would go uncared for and would eventually be an eyesore. The farmers of course would lose their income as would the matadors and everyone involved with the sport. It would be as if we banned the NFL over night. Our guides are sure that eventually the sport will die out, probably gradually. There are already many stadiums where the bull is not killed at the end of the fight.

The Royal Palace

The cathedral

Interesting buildings in the business district

The bullfighting stadium

The box office schedule

Statues of famous matadors

Interesting statue of a matador with Dr. William Fleming, who invented penicillin. Before that, most matadors who were gored, died of their wounds because he bull's horns were so dirty.

If a matador fights a particularly great fight, the crowd will raise him up on their shoulders and carry him out the main gate. In Spain, if you do something exceptionally well, you might say "I went out the main gate".

A hamburger in Madrid

Thursday, August 2, 2018

After breakfast, we left for the tour of Toledo. It turned out to be one of the most interesting places we visited. The city of Toledo is a medieval city that was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986 for its extensive cultural and monumental heritage and historical co-existence of Christina, Muslim and Jewish cultures. It is known as the "Imperial City" and the "City of the Three Cultures". Oliver bought me some earrings made in the damascene style. This is a decoration in which threads of gold are incrusted into a more common metal and has been practiced since ancient times. Toledo is currently the main production point of damascene in the world! We had to park outside the city and walk through the city from one end to the other, stopping at several important places. The most important was the 15th century Cathedral de Santa Maria. We have seen MANY cathedrals in our travels but none come even close to this magnificent building. It has a marvelous choir loft, 750 stained glass windows and the sacristy is decorated with works by many famous painters such as Van Dyke, Caravaggio, Goya and 15 paintings by El Greco. After our tour and my earrings were purchased, we found a lovely outside restaurant and had sangria. When we returned to the ship, we rested a bit and then headed out to a flamenco show. Flamenco's roots are from Andalusia, in Southern Spain, but the current artistic revival began in Madrid in 1980s. We went to Corral de la Moreria which has been offering flamenco shows since 1956 and is listed in the book "1000 Places to See Before You Die". It fuses song (cante), dance (Baile), and musicianship (toque). Cante is sung by men or women with no backup singers. It is very emotional. Baile is a dance of passion, courtship, and a wide range of emotions. The technique is complex, depending upon whether the dancer is a male, with heavier use of the feet, or female, with gentler, more sensual movements. We saw both, and at times their feet moved so fast you could hardly see them! Toque is generally guitar playing but there is also castanets, hand clapping and foot stomping. It was a VERY entertaining evening with excellent food.

The beautiful city of Toledo

The main altar in the cathedral

 

The back altar

The choir sits here

The Bishop sits here

The organist has to climb spiral stairs set into the pillar to the right to get to this organ

These are private tombs, the thinking being that you had a better chance of making it to heaven if you were buried here.

The Sacristy, with the amazing El Greco painting

Close up of the El Greco

The Monstrance in the Cathedral. It has over 12,000 screws and actually is taken apart into two pieces, placed on a cart, and paraded through the streets once a year!

Typical streets in Toledo

Oliver and his friend

Friday, August 3, 2018

We had an early wake-up call but managed to have breakfast before heading to the airport. Our flight to Atlanta actually arrived 45 minutes early so we had an easy time catching our connection to Savannah. When we got to Savannah, we saw that the weather was exactly as when we left-thunderstorms everywhere and canceled flights! We were blessed that we had no issues. We were happy to be home and find that Skipper had done so well with our wonderful puppy sitters. Our trip was wonderful and, except for Oliver's cold, went without a hitch. We can't wait for our next adventure!!