April 29, 2012
Never before have I been so happy to see land! After six days at sea crossing the Atlantic, and not a very ‘kind’ six days, we finally arrived today in Lisbon, Portugal. The storm that we had encountered leaving NY Harbor seemed to follow us in one form or another during our entire crossing. Yesterday as we awoke we did see the coastline of the Azores slip by, but it was not a stopping point for this journey. However, today we made port, and Lisbon, Portugal became my new favorite destination.
I met my manager, Tim, for coffee in the morning and we agreed that we would definitely make time to go ashore. Karen, the lead server at Café al Bacio where we have our morning coffee, and more importantly a good friend, would also accompany us on this first shore excursion in Europe for the 2012 season. We agreed to meet at 12:30pm at the gangway and we would then wander where the winds and fortunes would take us. By 11:30am I was itching to leave the ship but somehow we kept our heads down and on our work until the clock struck noon. Seconds later, I popped my head into Tim’s office to ask if he was ready to venture forth. He was almost as anxious as I was and we quickly closed up our offices and headed up to our cabins to change. With great alacrity we completed the transformation and headed down to the gangway to meet Karen. Of course, she was delayed. In our impatience we tried to call her cabin but there was no answer. Despite our irrational impatience she arrived only a few minutes later.
Karen arrived with another crew member in tow. I recognized her as one of the other al Bacio servers, Paola from Columbia. She would complete our happy quartet as we descended upon the shores of Lisbon. The only bad thing about this first shore excursion is that it was raining. But being the proper gentlemen that we are both Tim and I had umbrellas in hand. We gallantly escorted the ladies along the dock and off to wherever the fates would lead that day. I will admit I was at first caught by surprise by Paola grabbing my arm and nestling close under the umbrella. Americans can be easily flustered by physical proximity of strangers, but Paola was certainly not going to let my discomfort result in her getting wet, and it allowed a quick introduction and chance to form instant friendship. We truly had no idea where we were going but the promenade along the shore was a welcome respite to our almost weeklong isolation on the ship.
We knew we wanted to grab lunch but we didn’t want to limit our options by choosing too quickly. We passed the initial restaurant offerings pausing only briefly to admire the amazing display of freshly caught fish (seemingly far more interesting to Paola and me than to our British friends), and laughing at the iconic look of the young Portuguese men already gathered and arguing loudly in the shorefront restaurants. We continued to walk looking for a particularly authentic Portuguese place to eat. We found one restaurant that looked promising but it was so packed with locals that we decided that we would not happily endure the half an hour wait. So, we journeyed on.
We paused for pictures by the ancient battlement on the harbor but quickly realized that our blood sugar was crashing faster than new places to dine were presenting themselves. By this point we were beginning to border on grumpy. We reversed our course and returned to our previous choices. We narrowed our field to two. Either we could wait in line for the more authentic fare, or take advantage of an Italian eatery that had a much more modest wait. Paola and I were more inclined to wait for a truly Portuguese meal but Tim’s blood sugar had bottomed out and he easily convinced our empty stomachs to enter the Italian eatery. After a very brief wait we were seated and were not disappointed. Although Italian in theme it still had the benefit of being in Lisbon. Paola and I both ordered the seafood lasagna which at that point tasted like the finest meal we had ever consumed. Tim and Karen were equally enamored of their choices. The addition of a local wine certainly added to the meal’s zest.
Happily fed we enjoyed a much more lively walk along the shore back toward the ship. On the way we discovered a park with exercise stations positioned along its length. We decided to burn off our midday calories by playing on that equipment which resulted in great fun and pictures worth framing. As we continued along the promenade I realized how much Lisbon reminded me of San Francisco with its bay side location and its eclectic offerings of food and diversion. Lisbon may have upped the ante, though, with its replica of both the Golden Gate Bridge and the Christos from Sao Paola! We arrived back at the ship full of great food, stronger friendships, and amazing memories.
And this was only the first day in Europe!
And the adventure continues . . .
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