October 15 - Lisbon

Lisbon's position along the River Tagus in Portugal has been sought after by different civilizations through the ages. It is even thought to have been founded by that great wanderer Ulysses. We took an open top bus tour around the city....

.... and spent some time at the Tower of Belem. It was once known as the Castle of St Vincent, Lisbon's official patron saint. It was built in the 16th century to guard the approach to the city by water and at one time stood nearly in midstream so that prisoners in the dungeons could enjoy a neck-high bath at high tide! We thought it looked like a spectacular sand castle!

We then embarked on our adventure of the day. We thought we would take a relaxing tram ride through the Alfama which is the oldest and most picturesque quarter of the city. It is a tangled maze of narrow cobbled alleyways and overhanging houses. The trams operate on rails and resemble the cable cars in San Francisco. The first one we tried to get on had a very cranky operator who wouldn't let anyone get on. After quite a wait another one showed up. By this time there was a very long line of people wanting to get on so some pushing and shoving ensued. We adhere to the "when in Rome" philosophy, so did a little "manuevering" ourselves and managed to not only get on the tram but to even get a seat! Okay!! Ready to go!! But, oops....not so fast. The tram ahead of us will not budge. Our driver gets off and has a heated "discussion" with the other driver. While this is happening, some of the people on our tram get into an argument and some of them leave. Our driver gets back on and makes an irritated announcement and then proceeds to go to the back of the car where he is now going to drive the tram backwards. We, of course, have NO idea what anyone is saying or what is happening. It's like watching TV with the audio off! We back all the way around the square, as does the empty tram, and when the driver switches back to driving forward again, the empty tram is still in front of us. So....on and off....a few more arguments, and finally we are riding the twisting and turning alleyways of the old quarter. In places where the trams can pass each other, there is only a hair's width between them!! (Sticking your head out the open window to see where you are??.... not a good plan...) We finally get to a steep hill with a blind curve and barely room for one tram to pass.... and a tram is coming the other way! So we are all at an impasse!! The drivers all get out and once again start yelling at each other. There's a lot of backing up, and they even get out some tools and do something to the rails. Suffice it to say, we spent about an hour on the tram, maybe ten minutes of it actually moving, and had to run like crazy to get back to the ship on time. And we have absolutely no idea what was happening! These cultural experiences are great!!