2014 Emerald Cruise: Wednesday Oct 29 in Lisbon, Spain

Up early this morning and we went up to Sabatini’s for breakfast. Found out they open until 7:30 AM and this was too late for us to eat and make our tour, so we ate in the cafeteria. We gathered with the rest of the people going on tours in Club Fusion. Judi and I wore our Royals T-shirts and hats. We had many people come up to us and ask how the Royals were doing. World Series news has been very almost impossible to find on the ship. The Kansas City Royals have caught the imagination of the people from many regions of the United States.

We started our tour today with a bus ride around the city of Lisbon. We drove up a hill to the Alto do Parque Belvedere Park, which is located at the top of the hill. This provided us with a great panoramic view of Lisbon and the harbor. From there we drove to the Jeronimos Monastery. After touring this facility, we walked to the Maritime Museum, which is located in a building at the Monastery. From there we drove to the Belem Tower and the Monument to the Discoveries. We then visited and walked through the Alfama Quarter. From here we returned to the ship.

It was a beautiful clear warm day in Lisbon and we decided to take advantage of it. We ordered lunch from room service and ate out on our deck while enjoying a great view of the city. In the evening, we stayed in and watched a movie and then off to bed. Tomorrow is a sea day with several activities we hope to participate in.

The Jeronimous was built by one of the richest Kings in Portugal in the 16^th century. He wanted a mausoleum, but was afraid that no one would look after it when he was gone, so he came up with another idea. He decided to build a monastery, give it to an Order of Monks and leave money to help fund it. He and the Queen are buried there and the monks took good care of the monastery. Other Kings wanted to be remembered also, so they changed part of the design of the church inside the monastery. The main alter is Italian Renaissance design while the rest of the church is Gothic.

The Martine museum is in part of the monastery that was rebuilt after the great earthquake of 1625. Several thousand people were killed at the time and a lot of Lisbon was destroyed. The church survived, but some parts of the monastery did not. The Museum was very interesting and the tale told by our guide was quite informative. For a small country, about the size of Indiana, it discovered a lot of territories. They went south to Africa and then around the cape to India. They discovered that they had to go to South America where they discovered Brazil, to get the winds to return to Portugal. They were the first Europeans to visit China and probably were the first on American soil.

The Museum had several motels of the ships they sailed in the 16^th and 17^th centuries. In a separate building they had several Royal Barges, which were very well preserved and beautifully built. There also was the airplane that two Portuguese airman flew the first non-stop flight to South America.

The Knight Templars were survived in Portugal after the night they were ordered to be destroyed by the Pope. When you look at the church and other important structures in Portugal, you will find three elements displayed. One is rope, representing the ships. Two is the Knights Cross, which you see on all there sailing ships, and three a Lion. Belem Tower is the remains of a fort of the Knight’s Templar, the name which has been shorten from Bethlehem. There is a part of Lisbon called Bethlehem, which comes from the Knights going to Bethlehem and returning here. There is a lot more to the story, but you will have to Google it.

The Monument to the Discoveries is shaped like the prow of a ship and celebrates all the discoveries that the Portuguese’s have made. It is quite an impressive Monument.

The Streets of Alfama are very narrow, you can stand in the middle and just about touch the walls on both sides. You look in a door and there may be a grocery shop, or meat market or coffee shop. This is where in the 16^th century, the fishermen of Lisbon lived. The area has been preserved and is now as it was in the 16^th century. It is a very poor area and those living in some of the building have to use a public toilet, shower and hand washing their clothes. Many of the apartments have generations living in them. Hope you get along with your mother in-law.