Day 16..17 Sep …All aboard , the ship woke us at 6.30 am as it set sail for Régua to dock and depart by coach to the Matues Palace , an 18th Century palace, renowned for the picture on the bottle and name of the rose wine famous everywhere . There was no tasting as the wine is produced elsewhere m but the palace itself is amazing , and the gardens stunning . Our guide talked through the history of the family and showed the various rooms on one wing that the public can visit , as the other wing is lived in , as they have to be there 6 months of the year or it all becomes a public place . 
Following that and the garden roaming , which as luck would have it , we beat the rain and got time to photo some very cool garden designs , we headed back to the ship for lunch , then a walk to the Douro Museum, then a talk to learn the departure details for Tuesday . Dinner tonight a farewell set dinner , which consisted of a moller egg, asparagus soup, and fish . They got some folklore group to play traditional Portuguese music and songs , which of course meant we had to get up and do Congo lines and dance , they were very good .  A long day , and another tomorrow as it is our last day on the ship.  

Day 15…16 Sep … somewhat of a rest day, and probably a good plan as it rained most of the day . I went for a foot massage and then we had the opportunity late afternoon for a port tasting at Quinta da Roéda, which serves pink port . Despite the rain the quick trio from the ship by coach was worth the drive just for the scenery alone.  Once back we enjoyed a traditional Portuguese dinner. 

Day 14… 15 Sep ..  Today we were up early for our trip to Salamanca, southern part of Spain, referred to as the Golden city due to its golden sandstone buildings. After a 2 hr bus ride to get there , we had a stop at the Hotel Alameda Palace , with its mirrored toilets , something to behold ! Then on a self discovery for coffee, and the Plaza Mayor for our guided tour. Today they had the police band performing in the square celebrating 200 years of the police force , which actually is a year early , perhaps they were practising for 2024 !   Our walking tour took us around the parts of Salamanca University, church and the little tips about differences between Spanish and Portuguese and their food, history etc.  lunch was back at the Hotel, with local food of Paella and salads , and followed by the lively Flaminco dancers , who even managed to get us up to do a dance with them.  Now time to board the bus as Spain is 1 hr ahead of us , so the time to return of 2 hrs and a lot of rain along the way meant we would be back in time for dinner on the ship , which is now docked at Barca d Alva. 

Day 13 …14 Sep .. Travelling in foreign countries is a balance game , how much fluids one can consume over the day to avoid dehydration and yet not too much as to then play the rest room game , that is , how long before one is found .  So much of Europe is about that particularly in the regional trips we do day to day.   This morning we sailed along the Douro towards Vega Terrón for our next overnight stay. After my FaceTime chat with the friends back home, which was somewhat of a struggle due to the lock changes and entering gorges , we had lunch on the boat and then boarded our coaches for the trip into the Castello Rodrigo, a historical village , with medieval history and famous for its almonds. There are only about 30 people living there now, and after buying a few bags of almonds and another thimble, (yes I’ve managed to find one in every place so far) it was time to head back to the ship for dinner and the opening of vintage port.  This port has to be opened a special way and only has a life of 48 hrs  once opened so needs to be consumed , which it was of course. 

Day 12 .. 13 Sep .. River sailing is quite peaceful , and although we woke to the start of the engines gearing up at 6.15 am the cruise along the Douro was lovely and slow . We needed to get to the Carrapatelo Dam around 9.10 am for the deepest European river lock which I have to say was quite entertaining to watch as we waited for the ship to rise to the required level and the gate to drop below the river surface for us to continue sailing .  The mornings are for sailing on this cruise , the afternoons for the departure by coach . Today it was to Larmego and the Quinta da Avessada .  Well the trip to Larmego was narrow, with winding roads and turning corners in a bus can be a little nerve wracking. The township on arrival some 45 mins later was quaint with the highlight being the sanctuary of our lady , and the 600 steps down from the top . Then a little stroll around some shops and back on the bus to the Quinta da Avessada , a local winery run by Louis , who is the 6th generation of his family to run it.  After the explanation of the process , it was Loius , who known as the Portuguese Mr bean entertained us between each of the 4 course dinner with his stories of the wine, grapes and the vineyard . After a shot of grappa we headed back  to the bus for the trip back to the ship, which had docked at Pinhaó for our overnight stay . 

Day 11-…12 Sep ..  we travelled from Lisbon to Porto , the journey is about 3 hrs , but we did a 2 hr stop at Coimbra , one of the previous capitals of Portugal . This old city had many of the similar styles of buildings as Lisbon but it known as the University city as it was one of the first cities to have a University . We had a look around and discovered some pretty cute baby clothes shops, the usual souvenir and other fashion type stores and food places . After lunch it was off to Porto to board our ship and go through the schedule of the events coming for our 7 days on the Douro . We crossed 3 ships to get to ours and we were lucky to get to check in first pretty much , which was nice , then dinner on board was buffet style with traditional Portuguese fish, chicken, vegetables and salads .  

Day 10 …11 Sep …  Bom Dia! This  is our last day in Lisbon and we are ready to go on the next leg of our trip Porto . After breakfast we headed up towards the Estatua do Marqués de Pombal , the Governor of Lisbon after the 1755 earthquake. Behind this monument is the Parque Eduardo VII Alameda Edgar Cardoso ! I just hoped we would get to the top so we could go downhill on the other side.  Then photos of the parque itself down the centre and walking down past Cristian Richardos apartment building , before heading back to the hotel for my facial , which was relaxing .  After that back out to book this restaurant , the IIImpara for dinner , a gelato and a walk down around the shopping district to check out the expensive stuff !!  Before dinner we went for a cocktail , well I did and met up with a couple from San Francisco and had a chat before we all left to go to our respective dinner plans . The meal was very good - crispy shrimp dumplings, sea bream and vegetables , steak for Mark , and a lemon cheesecake and orange slice with lime sorbet , which looked nothing like what I expected but so delicious . Boa Noite Lisbon , it’s been a great week. 

Day 9 10 Sep …     Off we go today for our walking tour of the city and visit to Belém tower on the Targus river. Our bus group headed off from the hotel around 9 , after yet another amazing breakfast spread .  We were dropped off in the city centre near where we spent the first days of our stay here in Lisbon. We then walked up to the went up to city centre and the Santa Justa Lift . We had an incident with one of our tour people fell down the stairs , after a trip to hospital we heard he was ok and was heading back to the hotel . After all of that we had some time to visit the oldest operating book shop, then back to the bus for the tower. As the line was too long we opted for a visit to the monument of discoveries , along the river and then headed back to the city for lunch, Mexican complete with a downpour of rain !  Time to head back to the hotel and dry off ! 

Day 8  9 Sep .. Today was a leisure day and a mix of checking out this area for possible food places , and a trip to the hairdresser for a wash and blow wave before we head to the welcome reception for our tour . We met up with about 60 of our fellow travellers , majority were Australians , and some UK folk too. They had mostly come from the 11 day Spanish leg of the tour , and so we all got to chat and get some information for the next day or two of the Lisbon part of the tour . 

Day 7 …8 Sep .. Today was the last in the apartment in Praca dos Restauradores .  We moved 10 mins away to the Altis Grand  hotel in Rua Castilho part of Lisbon . This is where we will join our official tour on Saturday for 11 days . Today however we checked out the many hand crafted markets along the Avenida da Liberdade , the Main Street basically built to replicate the champs- élysées in Paris . Lots of Portuguese market stalls with all sorts of antiques and hand made cork and other wares. 
The other highlight of the day was the sunset cruise on the Tagus river, although the rain prevented much of a sunset , it was still a lovely 2 hr cruise around the sites at night . 

Day 6 ..7 Sep  …Our day trip to Fátima, the monastery of Batalha , Nazaré, and the Castle of Óbidos.  A day that started with a lot of people praying , ie the story of our lady of Fatima who appeared as an apparition to three children , who later died and are buried in the basilica . A very catholic story worthy of a look up and a read over breakfast . As a catholic I think I have now experienced the 3 most religious experiences on the planet . The Vatican, Lourdes and now Fátima .  The monastery next was less modern than Fátima , built in the gothic style as per the picture , this took some  200 years to build, it’s architecture and detail is nothing short of  amazing , and  the stained glass windows alone are stunning in colour and inside the sun hits them throwing colourful shadows  on the walls and floor .  Time then to head to the beach at Nazaré, where we are told waves can reach 23metres , during October to February. Luckily today the ocean was just glorious and the views from the top equally as fabulous .  This was a lunch stop where Mark and I ate mung fish seafood rice was the go, and I had yet another small wine , which seems to be not so small in my estimate of small ,that followed by ginginha do carmo ( cherry liquor in a chocolate cup) then a high castle wall walk plastered with danger signs was not quite the smart combination . A long day and time to head back to Lisbon with our wonderful guide Lily who gave us another day of tips, history and entertainment by her boyfriend the other guide . We certainly have immersed ourselves into the Portuguese culture and how cork is stripped from tress and made into things I could never imagine possible.  Very clever stuff. 

Day 5 ..6 Sep  SINTRA Day trip  with Ricardo and 6 others in a small tour . The misty mountain air and wet rain made for a very wet trek up to the Peña Palace , however was worth the trip , and definitely wished I had of decided not to leave the jacket in the mini van as it was a little chilly up there. This Place has around 800,000 people a year , 400 at a time going through in half hr time slots. How romantic yet sad that a king builds a castle for his wife only to have her die before it’s finished . 14 years to build , well technically it was already a monastery and he renovated it and added his artistic touches which were stunning in every room we went through .   After that excursion it was off to the township of Sintra for some shopping time, so went hunting for another thimble to add to the collection .  A short time later the party of 8 headed to Cabo da Roca , the western most point of Europe , which thankfully was warmer and had stunning views over the Atlantic Ocean .  Then finally to Cascais for lunch . This is a great very affluent part of Portugal and Cristiano Ronaldo has built yet another house , seems to have a lot of real estate in Portugal!! 

Day 4 … 5 Sep. Lisbon  -  Explore day - went to get coffee was distracted by pastries and found ourselves at the river/beach , many blocks away.  After breakfast it was time for the  hop on bus , not hopping off today  , it was re doing the modern line and capturing some missed photos . So much warmer than yesterday, so we sat up top . The modernised part of Lisbon is very different , wider streets , newer buildings, proper parking  and shopping malls , similar to what we have. Historical Lisbon has more of the older buildings , with lots of little shops and alleys full of food places and bars . Speaking of food, the things one goes through to have Thai for dinner !! After much research as Asian food is not easy to find generally here ,  Mark managed to find one and so navigated our path with the phone GPS via , a funicular or two, (See photos)  up several sets of steps , through back alleys and places no tourist guide would be showing you , then more steps until we found it . Discovered it was take away, so ordered it as no way were we not going to eat after all that effort , and then found an easier slightly faster route back to the abode ! 

Day 3…. 4 Sep  - Lisbon hop on hop off  bus and aquarium 

We believe today is Monday, so hop on hop off day 1 , and given we felt capable we opted for both tours : the historic older part of Lisbon and then the Modern Lisbon line.  Not for the faint hearted , there is some crazy driving talent in this place , take lots of narrow streets, throw in cars, tuk tuks, buses, trams, and Uber food delivery bikes among others and a ton of patience and the city flows like a well oiled machine . Due to the rain we stayed mainly on the bus , and took in the sights.  Our only major visit was the oceanarium , which is awesome covering all matter of sea life across the oceans , and is said to be one of the largest in the world . Even has some of our species. It’s like walking through a gigantic fish tank , then a recreated rain forest , into a freezing cold penguin habitat . Hopefully we won’t come down with some bug as there is no such thing as keeping your distance from others . More photos tap on the Portugal photos drop down. 

Day 1….. Day 2 … 2 to 3  Sep 

Flying , and more flying and no idea what day it is 

Olá all!  Well we have made it to Lisbon after what seemed like a marathon amount of time sitting on a plane of one kind or another. Turbulence was a plenty, so both shaken , not stirred for most of the legs from Sydney -Dubai-Lisbon. 
Now that we figured out where we are staying after dragging the cases for a few blocks in the wrong direction , we have settled in and started to look around the Restauradores area we are in for this week.   J