This post concludes our two days in the Portuguese capital city of Lisbon on our 2024 Iberian cruise aboard P&O Ventura.
We’d had a lovely visit to the National Pantheon (once we’d got inside) and now decided we’d like to get something to drink before the late afternoon departure from the city, and we actually had a target in mind for this. First off we needed to get down from the hilly part of Lisbon’s Alfama district and that meant braving those terrifying tiled pavements again. In fact, thanks to there being very little traffic around we found it far safer to walk down the road instead.
There were plenty of examples of lovely Lisbon architecture to enjoy on our walk along the shoreline to where we were heading and we also passed the military museum – which we might visit on some future return to Lisbon – as well as more tiled art by O Gringo (see Morning Walk in Lisbon for more of their art).
Our destination was the Praça do Comércio, on the corner of which was the Beer Museum which very well may be a museum but we weren’t there for any education purposes.
We were there for the beer, and we had several pints. They were very nice. And we also had codfish cake because sometimes we can be sensible. It’s apparently a traditional Portuguese thing. And very nice it was too.
As we headed back to our ship we saw MSC Orchestra leaving.
I took the opportunity to pop into the ferry terminal as it looked fairly interesting architecturally, and setting up just next to it was the Red Bull Flugtag due to take part the following day. It’s a shame our ship wouldn’t be there as it would have been a lot of fun to see people flinging themselves off into the water in their various homemade contraptions.
That brought our day ashore in Lisbon to an end but there was still some time to hang around the area, albeit now aboard Ventura, and enjoy the evening’s progress as our ship eventually departed and sailed down the Tagus, under the 25 de Abril Bridge, and towards the setting sun.
The Belém Tower is high on our list of things to do when we next visit Lisbon. Mind you, it was high on our list for this cruise too and we all know how that worked out. Those of us who’ve read the earlier travelogues, of course.
The evening aboard Ventura as we headed northwards was much like any other, involving food and drink and musical entertainment. The dinner we had in the main dining room that evening is below for fans of photos of plates of food.
P&O Cruises were sponsoring the BAFTA Film Awards and as part of the promotion around this event they were showcasing a special cocktail for the evening. I decided to splash out and try one and… it was okay. The cocktail ingredients were helpfully provided should you wish to try to make one yourself and see what you think of it.
In the next post in this cruise travelogue series we’ll arrive at Leixões, the port for the city of Porto. This would be our first visit to this port but we’d not be spending any time there or in the nearby city either, instead heading off on an excursion that would start with a look around the lovely city of Amarante.