Last Days on the High Seas

Had a very nice day in Lisbon, though it was rather cold. It wasn’t the 14C that was the killer, it was the continuous cold winds that blew all day. We spent three hours on the Hop On Hop Off bus that drives around the city. The two great things about the bus is it gives you an excellent overview of the city which suits us well as we are coming back there in a couple of weeks for three days. The other cool thing was the free WiFi on the bus. I know that officially makes me one of “those” people, but it was nice to be able to check on email and post the blog without paying through the nose to do it on the Ship.

Lisbon itself is a beautiful old city. The mixture of old and new make it wonderful for sight seeing.

One thing that struck us right away is the 25th of April Bridge that spans the Tejo River. It has a suspended section of something like 2.2 km and looks just like the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. This would be because it was designed by the same company. The neat thing for me was to see it on the trip celebrating our 25th Anniversary, and we spent our honeymoon in San Francisco.

Sunday at noon we arrived in Gibraltar. It started out as a lovely day, but in the late afternoon started to rain. As we set out from the Ship our goal was to conquer the “Rock”. As a kid I read a ton on World War II history. And seeing the actual Rock of Gibraltar is quite an experience. Walking across Gibraltar simply brings history to life. Both the times of the Moors to World War II, it is all right there in front of you, and you don’t need to be a strategic genius to see why its’ location makes it so significant.

The walk around the Rock and up the Mediterranean Steps is nothing short of awesome.

Both in views

and a workout.

You go from sea level to about 1400 feet. We were certainly feeling it in the calves and glutes the next day.

Once we got to the top we got a chance to get a close up view of the Barbary Apes of Gibraltar. I am not a huge monkey fan, but I have to admit they are rather entertaining.

Monday was a day at sea on our way to our last Port of Call in Barcelona. A beautiful day with no wind. The temperature on got to around 18C, but it was awesome. A day on deck suntanning.