My husband and I have recently returned from another Viking River Cruise, this time along the Douro River in Portugal. I’d never been to Portugal before and had heard that it was beautiful, but I’d had no idea of exactly how beautiful it is! We enjoyed lovely warm weather and scenic cruises, along with fun companions we met onboard. The next few posts will give you some of the highlights of our trip. 🙂
We arrived a couple of days early in order to have extra time to explore Lisbon, staying at the beautiful Tivoli Hotel. This hotel is very conveniently located to the things we wanted to see — all within walking distance. On the right is a photo of the main lobby.
Right outside the hotel was a gorgeous, shaded walkway that ran between the traffic lanes of a main road. The walkway was paved with mosaic rocks and had several small outdoor cafés where we could get a quick snack or a cool drink. This photo was taken by a group of girls who’d been trying to take a selfie without good success. I’d offered to help them out, so they returned the favor for my husband and me!
As we poked around Lisbon on our own, we found streets completely lined with tiny restaurants, all with waiters offering us the very best in local fare. Naturally, we had to take advantage of this! 😉 They serve a lot of fish and seafood, and they’re especially good with cod — recipes for cod number in the hundreds!
We walked and walked, of course. Some of the streets have been restricted to pedestrians, including this one. At the end, you can see the arch that welcomed dignitaries as they landed (on the other side) from the ocean and the river.
You may already know that Portugal is famous for its tile. One of our included tours took us to Queluz, not far from Lisbon, where we saw a palace that had been used in the summers as an escape. The view on the right is of the front of the palace.
In the gardens, though, there is an amazing tile-encrusted man-made stream, in which children used to play and boat. Just look at that gorgeous tile work!
