Iberian Peninsula Western Seaports

1: A Coruña

Tue, 26 Apr 2016 22:19:59 -0700

1: A Coruña

It was marvelous, clear, weather when our ship docked close to the old city. The temperature hovered around 60-62ºF, rising to 65ºF later in the day. A Coruña, the official name of the town, is a friendly small place. The name is in Galician; the Spanish call it La Coruña, the official name only until 1998. The port is located on a promontory in the entrance of an estuary in a large gulf of the Atlantic Ocean. The old city is small. You can walk around the city in a few hours, covering some 8 miles in the process. Or you can take the local bus; all three bus lines stop close to the cruise ship terminal.

top: partial map of A Coruña.

The cruise terminal is on the bottom right, indicated by a pink sign. The historical district is actually quite small, shown in red-brown above.

it is also known as the city of Crystal, because of the white windows on many of the large buildings in the city facing the sea. These are canvas sunshades of the covered window balconies, called gallerias, against the sun, which can be merciless hot in the summer. Originally, these glazed windows balconies were actually designed for rainy days. With a population of around 250,000 it is still the 2nd largest town in Galicia Province.

left: The City of Crystal with the white window balconies, or galerias.

An interesting fact is that the city is an antipode of Christchurch in New Zealand, i.e., they are located at exactly on the other sides of the world. The line connecting these two cities would go through the center of the earth.

As we disembarked our ship and walked into the city, there was a local tour company, aptly named Hercules Tours, offering a 2-hour tour of the city for € 15/pp. There was a recommendation from TripAdvisor prominently displayed, and the price was definitely much less than the ship-organized tours.

2: The Torre de Hércules.

This lighthouse, the symbol of the city, dates back to possibly the 2nd century AD and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. On the map above it is located just outside the left boundary.

right: The Tower of Hércules.

The building is 55 meters tall and overlooks the North Atlantic coast of Spain. For a presumably 1900 year old building, the structure looks pretty new and modern, but that was because it was given a neoclassical renovation in 1791. It is still the oldest Roman lighthouse in use today.

The name of the structure is derived from the time when Hercules slew the giant Geryon after three days and three nights of continuous battle. The victor then buried the head of Geryon and his weapons on that spot and chivalrously decreed that a city be built on that site in memory of the vanquished. The skull and crossbones representing the head of the slain giant can still be seen in the coat-of-arms of the city.

The tour bus stopped for 20 minutes for the tourists to get out and take a picture, but it was still a stiff 10 minute uphill walk to get to the base of the tower.

From the Tower of Hercules, the tour bus went south, following the dotted points on the map, to drive by the two beautiful main beaches, the Playa del Orzán and the Playa de Riazor, on the bottom of the map shown above. We drove further south and stopped at the parking lot at the bottom of the funicular to the top of Monte de San Pedro, also where this octopus was located.

The large sculpture of the octopus attests to the large influence it has in the commercial development of the city. It is also the main recommended dish in the city’s eating places.

left: The octopus is an important source of wealth and is an emblem often used in the city. In the distance on the promontory in the middle of the picture you can see the Tower of Hercules.

right: The funicular to the top of the San Pedro Mountain.

The globe in the picture on the right is actually the futuristically designed passenger cabin, which goes up and down the funicular.

When we were back at the cruise terminal we walked into the historical district. It was small, as shown on the map above, and very hilly with lots of steps to get up and down. There was the Collegiate Santa Maria del Campo Church, with its origins dating back to the 13-14th century. It has been modified somewhat in the 19th century. One nice thing about this district is the street with quite a number of eating places. It was deserted when we were there at around 3 p.m., but I am sure the place would be busy in the evenings.

The newer part of old town, shows as orange-yellow on the map above is nicer and dominated by the large main square, the Plaza Maria Pita, named after a Galician-Spanish heroine in the defense of A Coruña in 1589 against the English Armada.

below: The Plaza Maria Pita, the center of town.

3: The Castle of San Antón.

On the map above, the Castle is just a few minutes walk north from the Cruise Ship terminal. At around 1588, Felipe II had the San Antón Castle built on a small rocky island as a fortress to defend the port. It was later used as a quarantine for people coming in by sea afflicted by the “the fire of San Antón” until the middle of the 20th century. The chapel on the grounds is dedicated to this saint. From the end of the 17th century to the middle of the 20th century it was also used as a prison for both common criminals as well as political prisoners. In 1776 the Governor’s house was constructed; a neoclassical building that now houses the Archeological and History Museum, inaugurated in 1968.

The museum houses ceramics, metal remains, beads from the Iron Age, approximately 3rd century BC to 4th century AD. There are bronze axes, lances, and a golden helmet from the Bronze and the Chalcolithic age. From the Neolithic times there are ceramics, and there is also a small collection of quartz tools from the Mesolithic and Palaeolithic periods. There was also stuff from more recent times, such as coins and stuff from the Cape Cee shipwreck from around 1600. Entrance was only 1 euro, and there was nobody in either of the two buildings to keep an eye on the collection. It was actually amazing, because some of the stuff are still quite valuable.

right: Part of the old walls and a very rusty canon of the fort San Antón. In the background is the port of A Coruna with the mv “Rotterdam” berthed on the right.

below: A collection of old pistols on display in the museum.

2: Guimarães

Mon, 25 Apr 2016 21:16:49 -0700

The mv “Rotterdam” berthed in Leixoes, which is actually the port of Porto, the second largest city in Portugal. Instead of just going in Porto, we made the mistake of purchasing an expensive tour from the ship to visit Guimarães, dubbed the “cradle of the nation”. It was an old city, originally established by the Crusaders.

1: Cruise port terminal.

This was a modern terminal and the architect used a clean, partially rolled-out toilet tissue as his inspiration for the shape of the building. You can see this in the picture above. I suppose this creates attention.

The ship was in port only from 7:00 a.m. to 13:00, and the drive to Guimarães was about one hour. The driver entertained us with stories about Portugal in general and the area where we were in.

Granite is everywhere. The uprights for the trellises for the vineyards, e.g., are often made of granite. Portugal is big in beer and bacalão, the dried codfish from Iceland. The Portuguese consume 22 kg of codfish per person per year, keeping Iceland’s economy well afloat. There are a lot of eucalyptus trees imported from Australia. They are worldwide the ninth largest producer of beer and the tenth largest producer of wine.

So there was really not that much time to explore the city. Guimarães has an eminent history, because Portugal’s first king, Afonso Henriques, chose this former Roman city in 1128 to be the capital of his kingdom. It has a well-preserved royal castle, a ducal palace, and an interesting medieval quarter.

2: Castelo de Guimarães

The tour started at the very solid-looking King’s Castle, which was not open to the public when we were there. This castle is in the shape of a shield and building started in the 10th century to protect the town from invaders. It was further expanded in the 12th century by the addition of an arsenal and a palace for the king.

left: The castle looks dark and foreboding from the outside, as befitting a 12th century castle of King Afonso Henriques.

3: The Ducal Palace.

We did walk through the Palace of the Dukes of Bragança. The architecture has obviously been influenced by Northern Europe. It was originally constructed in the 15th century by the first Duke of Bragança. The impressive manor house was restored during the Salazar dictatorship in the middle of the 20th century. It is now a national monument and used as official residence of the Portuguese president. It is also a museum and an art gallery. Of interest are the chimneys concentrated in one area of the palace, apparently where the living quarters are.

In some of the major halls there are benches in front of the windows, where one can sit and look outside. The story was that the unattached maidens could sit here and look outside at their eligible suitors actively busy in the gardens without being seen herself. This arrangement should cut down on the risk of unwanted pregnancies, but apparently some of these maidens did get pregnant after all.

right: Part of the exterior of the Palace of the Duke of Bragança, showing a concentration of chimneys in a small area of the building.

above: Painting of Catherine de Bragança.

The painting above was in one of the bedrooms of the Palace. Catherine de Bragança, who used to live here, was married in a politically-based union to the English king John II, brother of Richard the Lion-Heart, taking with her many counties as dowry. She was much more refined than the English nobility at that time; she is attributed of introducing tea to the English, as well as marmalade and the fork. But she had several miscarriages, and unfortunately no living children.

above: A large Flemish gobelin tapestry on the wall of one of the state rooms..

left: The chapel in the Palace.

4: The medieval Quarter

The inviting old town is a maze of narrow, winding streets and charming houses, most of them restored and renovated. It is for pedestrians only, which is very nice.

right: Alarm system anno 1883 on the wall of the fire station at that time.

On the right is the town central alarm system, probably located at the local fire station. You open the hinged metal door and there is a rope connected to a large bell up high. The rope goes through the tube above the box. The bell is rung when there is a fire to call the firemen to duty. To tell where the fire is, the bell tolls the number of times listed on the door.

So, for a fire in Misericordia, you ring the bell 8 times; for Santa Cruz you ring 14 times. I suppose you keep repeating the sequence to allow you to count. I don’t think it has been used of late.

below: Flowers and plants on the outside walls of the buildings

right: houses inside the medieval quarter.

left: Tourists and other visitors in the large town square, Largo da Oliveira.

This picture was taken at around 10 a.m., so it was not busy yet. By noon the place was hopping with visitors. There were actually many tour groups coming into town when we were there, many of them with German tourists..

right: A cupola with a cross, located in front of the Cathedral of the city.

left: A small pastry shop in the middle of town prominently displaying a TripAdvisor recommendation on the top of their glass standing vitrine.

Their pastry is indeed very good and the saleslady spoke perfect English.

left: And this picture was taken at the outside boundary of the medieval city, where the buses can pick up their tourists.

3: Cadiz

Sun, 24 Apr 2016 18:28:56 -0700

1: Exploring the city.

The city of Cadiz is situated on a peninsula, which juts out into a bay; the city is almost entirely surrounded by water. The town is quite small and is easily explored on foot. Whatever you do, don’t take the Hop-on hop-off bus in this particular town. You can’t make good pictures from a bus. The sound system does not always work. The tour takes nominally one hour. With the initial wait and the time lost at the stops when you go off and then on again, you will have spent over two hours for a so-so experience. This is a fairly expensive tour, compared HOHO tours in other cities, if you consider what this tour covers. There were other cities where we had better experience with the hop-off hop-on tours, but definitely not here.

There is a much better alternative, as several of our fellow passengers found out. Take a taxi. There are many of them around at the terminal. The same one-hour tour costs €40 per taxi, which is €20 for each of the two of you. The HO-HO bus would have cost you €17/person. If you want, it is easy to ask passengers coming out whether they want to share a taxi with you. With two additional, preferable thin passengers, the price drops down to only €10 per person. The taxi will stop where you want to stop and go to places the bus does not go to, such as the Castillo de San Sebastian, which is shown on the map below as the island jutting out on the right. You can get out for a few minutes to take pictures, enjoy specific sights, and you do not lose time standing and waiting to board the bus at the beginning and other stops of interest. You’ll see more. But if you or your fellow passengers do not speak Spanish, it is good to talk with the taxi driver first to find out whether he speaks English. Some do.

An even better alternative is to do the city on foot. Old Cadiz is small and compact and the tourist office just outside the cruise terminal gate will give you a free map with four suggested routes through the city. These are indicated by lines on the maps and also marked on the streets in the city, so you will not get lost. Walk any of the suggested route(s) and enjoy this friendly city. Stop for an ice cream cone, a delectable fruit tart, listen to the street musicians (the violinist is superb), go into the main cathedral and pay the € 4 entrance fee (it is really worth it), sit outside a café to drink a bottle of beer with a tapa or two, and watch the people walk by. You can also order a sangria, but for that they’ll charge you €8 for the two of you.
You will learn more about the soul of the city than you ever will from the top of a bus.

below: Map of the old city (Casco Antiguo) of Cadiz.
As you can see from the map, Cadiz is situated on a peninsula. Much like San Francisco, California, the city is built to full capacity and cannot expand anymore. The soil around the city is sandy, so it is difficult to reclaim land from the sea, because of stability concerns of the buildings on this reclaimed land. The buildings to the north of the old city are modern, with wide boulevards and parks.

On the left you see the cruise harbor, where several cruise ships can dock at the same time. If your ship is the one in the middle, then it is just a short walk away to get into the Tourist Information office at the end of the orange line. The colored lines (purple, orange, blue, and green) describe the 4 suggested itineraries depending on your particular interest. And these lines are actually also painted on the surface of the narrow cobbled streets so you know where you are going.

2: Plaza de España

left: Plaza de Espana

This is the square close to the port and right behind the Tourist Information building

3: The Cathedral

right: The Cathedral of Cadiz.

The most famous landmark of Cádiz is arguably its cathedral. It was built on the site of an older cathedral, which was completed in 1260, but which burned down in 1596. The new construction, which was not started until 1776, was to be a Baroque-style cathedral, which was then built over a period of 116 years. Though the cathedral was originally intended to be built in this style, there were many rococo elements completed in the neoclassical style. In the chapels are many paintings and relics from the old cathedral and monasteries from throughout Spain.

4: The Torre Tavira

In the 18th century, Cádiz had more than 160 towers from which local merchants could look out to sea for arriving ships carrying merchandise. These towers often formed part of the merchants' houses. The Torre Tavira, named for its original owner, stands as the tallest remaining watchtower.

left: Artist’s sketch of how the Torre Tavira looked like.

The top floor is 45 m above sea level; there is no elevator and you have to climb a zillion steps (well, actually 173) to get up there. But from there, you will enjoy nice panoramic views of the city.

One level down is the Camera Obscura room, where a panoramic image of the Old City, using a convex lens mounted on a mirror is projected on a 2 meter diameter concave disc. The images are very sharp and you can see the people walking on the streets. The lens can be rotated 360º to cover views of the whole city from that vantage point. They do charge a lot for entry and the show, €10 per person.

If you just drop in, you have to wait until they have a dozen people or so for the language chosen before going to the Camera Obscura room. We wanted an English speaking tour, and they said the estimated wait time was one hour. So we joined the next group going up, with a German speaking guide (actually it was the same multilingual guide) starting the tour 5 minutes after our arrival. It is useful to be able to understand several languages.

below: This is a view of the city with the Cathedral visible in the left foreground as seen from the top floor of the Torre Tavira.

5: The Plazza de las Flores.

This is one of the many little plazas in town, and this one has many flower shops. It is nice to just sit down and watch the people go by.

right: sitting in front of a cafe in the Plaza de las Flores.

6: miscellaneous:

left: A nice sculpture above the entrance to the Iglesia de la Conversión de San Pablo.

right: There are many pastry shops in the city where you can drop in and get something tasty for not much money.

left: This guy was a surprisingly good violinist. I even bought a CD of his performances.

below: More tarts for the sweet tooth. They are very good.
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4: Malaga

Sat, 23 Apr 2016 23:18:17 -0700

1: Malaga.

When I hear the word Malaga, my association is more often with Malaga wine, a nice and sweet fortified wine originating in this city made from Pedro Ximénez and Moscatel grapes. Malaga, with a population of around 570,000, is the second most populous city in Andalucia. It is located on the Costa del Sol of Spain on the northern side of the Mediterranean Sea.

The cruise terminal is located about a 20-30 minute walk from the City Center, but I always have serious doubts when somebody tells me it is a “short” walk. But there is a shuttle service, which charges €5 for a roundtrip ticket. The shopping section between disembarkation point and the outside of the cruise terminal was huge. They want to be sure you have enough choices to spend your money.

However, when we exited the terminal building, we agreed to rent a taxi with two other, slim, Vietnamese fellow passengers to go to Miljas, followed by a tour of the city of Malaga. The apparently standard rate for this arrangement is € 150 for a 5 hour rental, and € 20 for each hour afterwards. It is up to you where you want to go and how long you want to stay in one place. So the arrangement was three hours for Miljas, including driving there and back, and two hours in Malaga city.

2: Miljas.

Miljas is a “white town” in the mountains on the Mediterranean coast, which is also a cute little town geared towards tourists and tourism. It is a small, picturesque village about 25 miles west of Malaga. Pepe, our driver, found a parking place right in the middle of town.

right: View of the non-tourist town. You can see it is a “white” town.

Close to the central parking square is another mode of transportation

left: burros for the tourists.

Some enterprising guy decided it would be a good idea to provide burro rides to the hordes of tourists coming here. So here he was, with his stable of burros; € 10 per person on a burro, or € 15 for two in a burro cart. All this for a 10 minute grand tour of the village.

right: Two in a burro cart.

The handler walks next to the burro up the hill to the town and back, so it is really not fast transportation. It is actually a major rip-off, but well, you might as well enjoy something different.

left: nice bouquets of flowers in a tourist shop.

right: A chapel in the rocks.

left: One of the small tourist street flanked by shops.

right: more shops.

left: the town square.

There is actually a bull-fighting ring just behind the building at the far end of this picture.

3: The Thai Buddhist Temple.

On our way back, we stopped at an interesting Thai Buddhist Temple adjacent to a Mirador with a wonderful view of the coast.

right: A Thai Buddhist Temple on the coast between Malaga and Miljas.

below: View of the Mediterranean Coastline

4: The Picasso Museum.

Pablo Picasso was bon in this town, so some bigwigs decided that there should be a museum of his works here. The museum is located downtown, so it was not easy to get there by car and then find a parking place. It is actually a fairly small museum, with 12-13 rooms, located in the Palacio de Buenavista. You can go through the collection in about an hour. The entry price for seniors was a reasonable € 5/per person, and for that price you also get a portable recorder as guide, available in maybe a dozen languages.

right: The interior courtyard of the Picasso Museum in Malaga. The building was originally built in the first half of the 16th century.

What you see is the base collection of some 285 works donated by members of the Picasso family. There are also pieces on long-term loan from other sources. The collection ranges from early academic studies to his cubism period and then to his reworkings of the Old Masters. You can also see some works by Jackson Pollock. Since most of the stuff came from the family, the current name of the museum is a full mouthful: “Fundación Museo Picasso Màlaga. Legado Paul, Christine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso”

5: The Alcazaba Fortress.

Alcazaba is an arabic word meaning “citadel”. The fortress was built by the members of the Hammudid dynasty in the early 11th century. The was the time when Spain was still in Moorish hands. The troops of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella captured Málaga from the Moors after the siege of Málaga in 1487, one of the longest sieges in the Reconquista.

The fortress is built on a hill in the center of the city, overlooking the port, and comprises of two walled enclosures. It was formerly connected to the city ramparts, which formed a third defensive wall.

left: A view from the fort. The harbor can be seen in the background.

right: More views of the harbor from the ramparts

left: View of the city from the ramparts.

5: Gibraltar

Fri, 22 Apr 2016 00:06:54 -0700

1: Gibraltar

Gibraltar has the status of a British Overseas Territory. It is located on the south coast of Spain and is especially known for the Rock of Gibraltar, a 426 m high limestone ridge at its center. Gibraltar, with an area of 7 sq. km, is on a peninsula bordered to the north by the region of Andalusia, Spain. First settled by Moors in the Middle Ages and later ruled by Spain, the outpost was joined to Britain in 1713 and it has always under British rule since then. Gibraltarians overwhelmingly rejected proposals for Spanish sovereignty in a 1967 referendum and again in 2002. And in 2016 they voted overwhelmingly against Brexit.

The only serious threat to the British hegemony was during the Great Siege of 1779 - 1783, a 3 year and seven month conflict, when France and Spain tried unsuccessfully to capture the Rock. They still talk there about the Grand Assault on September 13, 1782, when 5,190 fighting men and 30,000 sailors and marines, attacked. They were supported by numerous land guns and 35,000 Spanish and French troops on land intended to assault the fortifications once they had been demolished. An 'army' of over 80,000 spectators thronged the adjacent hills over the Spanish border, among them the highest families in the land, assembled to see the fortress beaten to powder. The 138 guns of the attackers opened fire from floating batteries in the Bay as well as the 86 guns on the land side, directed on the fortifications. But the garrison replied with red-hot shot to set fire to and sink the attacker's floating batteries and warships in the Bay. The British destroyed three of the floating batteries, which blew up as the 'red-hot shot' did its job. The other seven batteries were scuttled by the Spanish because they were too heavily damaged to continue the fight. The attack failed and the attackers had to withdraw.

We were planning to just walk to the lower station of the tram and go to the top of the rock. From there we would just walk back down. But as we exited the cruise terminal, there were 9-passenger vans waiting there, offering a 1 1/2 hour tour of the island for € 30/pp, including entry fees. That sounded less tiring and more comprehensive, so we took that tour. That tour is there only for the first hour(s) after a cruise ship disembarks, so if you don’t go at that time, they will not be there later in the day. I believe that was a good choice, because we did see, albeit rather fleetingly in some places, almost all the noteworthy sites of Gibraltar.

As can be expected, roads are narrow on the peak, and private vehicles are therefore prohibited there. There is enough traffic already because of the many 9-passenger taxi vans carrying the tourists around. Tourism is an important source of income in Gibraltar nowadays. Last year some 12 million visitors came to Gibraltar, which includes the passengers in some 200 cruise ships, making Gibraltar one of the highest ratio of visitors to residents in the world.

2: The Pillars of Hercules.

This was a marker, where the Pillars of Hercules stood, signifying the end of the civilized world.

left: A marker showing the location of the “Pillars of Hercules”

According to Greek mythology, Hercules had to perform twelve labors, one of them (the tenth) was to fetch the Cattle of Geryon from the far West and bring them to Eurystheus. This point marked the most westward extent of his travels.

This may actually not be quite correct, because in the account described in the Bibliotheca of Pseudo-Apollodorus, Hercules had to go to the island of Erytheia in the far west, which could have been the island which now forms the city of Cadiz. This location is further to the West than the Pillars of Hercules.

There was nothing else in that place except the public toilets, which are always welcome in a trip like this.

3: St. Michael Cave

This is a surprisingly large and beautiful cave. It is not as large as the other caves, but big enough to surprise you because of the location. We have been to many caves all over the world, and this is one of the best. You can imagine being in the middle of a huge cathedral where the ceiling is high up and where the stalactites and stalagmites are the intricate sculptures, now silent in their eternal beauty and splendor, formed by a race of long-gone artists. The size of this cave feels huge and imposing. This cave also feels differently than the other caves we have seen; here the big natural sculptures consist mostly of stalactites, in many places looking like small curtains. Or maybe because many of the stalagmites have been removed to make access easier.

right: This is what you first see when you enter the cave. The seats are for visitors to performances in the cave.

left: Another view of the interior of the Cave. The color is because of the lighting used.

right: The cave in purple.

Illumination is provided by a number of light sources changing color every few seconds, which invariably seems to elicit mostly negative comments from many spectators, but actually does a nice job of making things more dramatic looking. There are some stairs, but it is not hard to walk in the main area and a small adjacent area going down a bit. You can see the whole area in 15-30 minutes. You cannot stay much longer than this, because there is a dearth of parking and the tour buses, including yours, have to keep moving.

4: The Barbary Macaques monkeys.

There is a prophecy stating that Britain will lose control of Gibraltar if these monkeys disappear from this place. The monkeys are mostly on the top of the peak, which was covered in dense fog when we were there. They are now protected and well-fed. The females are injected with birth-control hormones to keep the population level at around 200. The oldest monkey is now about 31 years old and diabetic.

left: These monkeys are well-fed.

below: This is young Aristotle and Cleo, estimated to be about 25 years old. In the back is a plaque commemorating Michael, the longest living Macaques monkey.

5: The Gun Emplacement Tunnels.

The main reason why Gibraltar was able to fend off so many attacks are the tunnels in the hard rock, where the gun emplacements are placed. There are regular tours given of these tunnels lasting about 40 minutes.

left: One of the guns used in the defense of Gibraltar. In the background are mannequins of an officer and a soldier with bagpipes. These chambers were hewn out of the solid rock connected to the tunnel and with a window on the other side where the barrel of the gun protruded.

right: In 1782, the third year of the siege, all of the French and Spanish forces besieging Gibraltar were placed under command of Jean Louis des Balbes de Berton de Crillon, or just the Duke of Crillon for short. He is shown on the right.

At the end of the siege, he was invited to visit the tunnels which he had failed to conquer. He is reported to have said:” These works are worthy of the Romans”

6: The Angry Friar

At the end of the tour we were dropped off in the center of the city, and we had lunch in “The Angry Friar”, a real English pub, located on Main Street.

left: “The Angry Friar”, an English pub

The interior was dark and felt really like an English pub. Even the food was English, which means it was mediocre at best. Also, there were a few cats having a run of the place. If you are allergic to cats, you better stay away.

After lunch we walked along Main Street back to the ship. As a bobby said: “It is just a 15 minute walk”. Well, it took us almost an hour to get back to our vessel. There is actually not much to see on Main Street; regular small town shops, some cafes, commercial buildings, banks, and just a few garish tourist shops.

right: You can always pick up a plush monkey for your kids.

6: Lisbon

Thu, 21 Apr 2016 00:15:44 -0700

1: Lisbon.

Lisbon is the capital and also the largest city of Portugal, with a population of around 550,000. In the Lisbon Metropolitan area the population is around 2.7 million, which is about 27 % of the country’s population. Downtown Lisbon is a bit unusual, because there are no old medieval buildings or quarters you usually see in the other towns in Europe.

Because on 1 November 1755, the city was destroyed by a devastating earthquake, which killed an estimated 30,000 - 40,000 Lisbon residents of a population estimated at between 200,000 - 275,000. The earthquake also destroyed some 85 percent of the city's structures. In coastal areas, such as Peniche, situated about 80 km (50 mi) north of Lisbon, many people were killed by the resulting tsunami.

By 1755, Lisbon was one of the largest cities in Europe; the catastrophic event shocked the whole of Europe. After the earthquake, the city was rebuilt largely according to the plans of Prime Minister Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, the 1st Marquess of Pombal.
Instead of rebuilding the medieval town, Pombal decided to demolish what remained after the earthquake and rebuild the city center in accordance with principles of modern urban design. It was reconstructed in an open rectangular plan with two great squares: the Praça do Rossio and the Praça do Comércio. The first, the central commercial district, is the traditional gathering place of the city and the location of the older cafés, theaters and restaurants; the second became the city's main access to the River Tagus and point of departure and arrival for seagoing vessels, adorned by a triumphal arch (1873) and monument to King Joseph I.
Even though the roads are not as narrow as it would have been in a medieval city, modern traffic has made travel aboveground onerous and time consuming. The savvy inhabitants just take the Metro to get rapidly from one point to another. The poor tourist, wishing to see the city, takes the double-decker Hop-on Hop-off CitySightseeing buses to get an idea how the city looks like. And spends countless hours in the slow traffic to get around.
But this hop-on hop-off bus is actually quite good for the first-time visitor. For the price of € 20 you get a ticket good for 24 hrs, valid on two routes covering a good overview of the city. The red line covers the center and the west side of the city; the purple line cover the center and the east side of the city. You can transfer between the two lines at several places in their itineraries.

left: The Marquês de Pombal circle in the middle of town; the Praça do Rossio is just around the corner.

above: This is the Praça do Comércio on the banks of the River Tagus. You can see the triumphal arch a bit on the right side of the picture. You can also see the vessels at the wharf in the middle of the picture.

Going a few miles to the East, the right of this picture, is the Terminal de Cruzeiros de Santa Apolónia, the cruise ship terminal, where our cruise ship was moored.

above: And this is how Lisbon looks from our ship.

right: Going a few miles to the West along the banks of the Tagus River, you run into the red bridge over the River, which was apparently modeled after the Bay Bridge in the San Francisco Bay. Most of the people here don’t know that the Bay Bridge is being demolished and replaced by a newer bridge out of earthquake safety concerns.

left: A few miles going further west along the north bank of the Tagus river is this monument; the Padrão dos Descobrimentos.

Also known as the Discoveries Monument, it was built on the north bank of the Tagus River in 1960 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the death of Prince Henry the Navigator.

It represents a three-sailed ship ready to depart, with sculptures of important historical figures such as King Manuel I carrying an armillary sphere, the poet Camões holding verses from The Lusiads, Vasco da Gama, Magellan, Cabral, and several other notable Portuguese explorers.

Prince Henry the Navigator is at the prow holding a small vessel. The only female is queen Philippa of Lancaster, mother of Henry the navigator.

right: The Tower of Belem.

And another few miles further, you will see the Tower of Belem, an architectural jewel, built by Manual I between 1514 and 1520 as part of the defense of the Tagus estuary. You can see the medieval keep tower, and below it the two levels for the artillery.

The higher floor is for long-distance cannon; the lower level is for ricochet shots over the water. Note the square cannon holes just a few feet above the river level. Since the projectiles skim over the water, they will keep bouncing on the water surface for some time until they hit their target. This approach covers more distance that what a regular shot would accomplish. In 1983, UNESCO classified the building as a “Cultural Heritage of Humanity”.

Driving a bit further out of the city proper into the suburbs, you will see that many of the modern buildings, even the private condominiums, are beautifully architecturally designed. Some of them I was not even able to fathom what they are; like the one here below.

left: Something modern, I am not sure what.

right: Idem.

2: Sintra.

We were planning to get all-day pass on the metro, because one of their stops is just at the cruise terminal in the Santa Apolónia building. But at the last moment we elected to join Victoria and Roscoe Hsu, who wanted to go to Sintra with a taxi. We found another couple, this one from Australia, to join us. The fare is the same as in Malaga; € 150 for 5 hours, and € 20 for each additional hour. This was a very reasonable proposition, since the fare would be divided by 6 and because all day bus tours to Sintra would otherwise cost around € 60/per person. If we had more time, there are even more less expensive alternatives to get there.

Sintra, set amidst the pine covered hills of the Serra de Sintra, is a picturesque Portuguese town which is a top rated tourist destination and the destination of one of the most popular day trips from Lisbon. This climate in Sintra is slightly cooler in comparison to Lisbon, and this has enticed the nobility and elite of Portugal to construct exquisite palaces, extravagant residences and decorative gardens. Within Sintra there are some 10 national monuments, which include ornate palaces, ancient ruins, and decorative houses.

a: Historic Center

Sintra is about 30 kms and 30 minutes away by taxi from Lisbon. Our first stop was the historic center with steep, narrow, cobblestoned streets lined with traditional shops, cafes, etc., all located around the National Palace, which was built in the Gothic style.

left: The National Palace in Sintra with tour groups assembling in the foreground.

Because of time constraints we were unable to tour the building. Another reason to revisit Cintra in the future.

right: View of the part of the town from the National Palace.

left: This is a tile I purchased in Sintra for only € 3.

right: Close by were also a number of street vendors hawking a variety of mostly handmade stuff. I took this picture because he looked so pleasant and would be a great actor for the role of Jesus.

b: Castelo dos Mouros.

The taxi climbed up the hill and soon stopped for us to get out to buy tickets for the following:

1: Castelo dos Mouros
2: Palacio de la Pena
3: Shuttle bus ticket for between the parking lot and the entrance to the Palacio.

This was the nice thing about a taxi, because we could park very close by; otherwise it is difficult and far away to find a parking place on the narrow roads going up. There was good discount for seniors, but even than it was still € 20 per person.

The “Castle of the Moors” is a hilltop medieval castle built by the Moors in the 8th and 9th century. It was an important and strategically situated redoubt, especially during the fights during the Reconquista. It was taken by the Christian forces after the fall of Lisbon in 1147.

right: Ramparts of the castle

From the ticket office, which is also the entrance to the park where the castle is located, to the walls of the castle is still a good 20 minute walk. You really need time if you wish to explore both the Castello dos Mouros and the Palacio de la Pena.

left: idem

2: The Palacio de la Pena.

The taxi still had to drive several minutes before dropping us of at the gate to the Palace. There was no parking to be seen around, so it was nice to have the taxi saving us the foot slogging from the parking place, wherever is was to this gate.

From the main gate it is still a distance to walk up a hill to get to the palace and the shuttle bus was hence very convenient and time-saving. Good thing we had tickets for the shuttle bus. When you first see the castle, your jaw drops from amazement; this is the ultimate Disneyland Castle. The castle, built in the Romantic style, stands on the top of a hill above the town of Sintra, and on a clear day it can be easily seen from Lisbon and much of its metropolitan area. It is a national monument and of course a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is even listed as one of the Seven Wonders of Portugal. It is also used for state occasions by the President of Portugal and other government officials.

right: The first view of the Palace walking up the driveway.

below: more pictures of the palace.

In 1889 the Palace was purchased by the Portuguese State, and after the Revolution in 1910, when Portugal became a republic, it was classified as a national monument and transformed into a museum The last queen of Portugal, Queen Amélia, spent her last night at the palace before leaving the country in exile.

7: Vigo - Santiago de Compostela

Wed, 20 Apr 2016 00:16:00 -0700

1: Vigo.

Our ship berthed in Vigo for the day, and we took this opportunity to visit Santiago de Compostela, about 95 km and 80 minutes by car. Just to be sure we would be back in time, we took an expensive bus tour from the ship. The ship will presumably not depart before this bus returns. According to our tour guide, we are now in the Northwest corner of Spain and instead of the Flamenco, here they play the bagpipes. Vigo is the world’s second largest producer os mussels, which they grow in the many clean estuaries and bays in the area. Some 10 % of the population of Vigo make their living from fisheries. There is also a small assembly plant of Citroen nearby, producing some 1000 cars annually. The bus was very comfortable; they even had Wi-Fi in the bus.

2: Santiago de Compostela.

Thousand of pilgrims annually walk hundreds of miles (some even more than a thousand miles) to come to the Catedral de Santiago in Campostela to attend mass in this historic edifice, make their confessions, ponder on the meaning of their life and pay their respects to the remains of the apostle St James, reportedly buried in the crypt of the building. In addition, many more just come for the day to maybe go through the same ritual, but mostly just as a tourist-of-the-day. All of them go into the Catedral.

We parked in a commercial garage some three blocks away from the main square in front of the Cathedral, the Praza de Obradoiro. This was the beginning of the high season, and there were not very many pilgrims and tourists yet. It was a nice, sunny day and we had 3 hours to look around.

left: This the Praza de Obradoiro, the main square in front of the cathedral.

Obradoiro means “the workshop” (in Galician) of stonemasons who worked on the square during the construction of the cathedral. The picture was taken from the third floor balcony of the church. The church is on the right. The building in the middle is the 5-star parador of Santiago de Campostela, very difficult to get a reservation, just like the one in the Alhambra. The building on the left is the Pazo de Raxoi, which is the City Hall. It also houses the local police station.

The front of the cathedral is being renovated/repaired and it seems they have been doing this for the last few years. You cannot even enter the edifice from the front, but have to go through one of the side entrances.

For € 6/pp, we took the one hour elephant tour of the town. You see these tours all over Europe, and the first one we took many years ago was in Ubeda and it was only € 3/pp. Inflation. Outside the area around the cathedral and the medieval section, there was nothing especially interesting; it looked just like any older town in Spain or in Portugal.

We passed the Rúa de San Pedro, where the pilgrims enter the city on their way to the Cathedral. The route goes to the Rúa das Casas Reals, Rúa das Animas, Praza de Cervantes, Acibecheria, Praza Inmaculada, where they can then enter the Cathedral from the right side. Once you have completed this pilgrimage, you are entitled to wear a scallop shell, the emblem of St. James, to show what you have achieved. The emblem is suspiciously similar to the commercial emblem for Shell gasoline. But since you can now buy these tokens at any tourist shop, I am sure that most people wearing this insignia have not gone through the rigors of a pilgrimage. We also passed through the University complex.

3: The Cathedral

right: This is the side entrance to the cathedral on the Praza das Praterias.

right: The interior of the cathedral close to the front showing the pulpit and the golden altar.

left: Another view of the interior of the cathedral from the back.

Considering how famous this cathedral is, it is actually not very large. Some 7 million visitors visit here each year, and in high season there is very little space to walk and there will be a lot of jostling as visitors come here to attend mass.

In the aisle between the two rows of pews the very heavy censer is swung on a long cable attached to the ceiling of the church. I estimate the censer to weigh at least 30 pounds. It will cause a major catastrophe if the cable breaks.

left: And this is the crypt of St James in the basement under the altar.

You can get a “hug’ from him at the back of the altar, and there is usually a line of people waiting for their turn to get a “hug.”

4: The Museum of the Cathedral.

Not many go and visit the museum, which is located to the right (if you are facing the church) to the main entrance of the church. When we there, I estimate there were probably some 20-30 visitors to the cathedral for each visitor to the museum. Which is unfortunate, because the museum is a superb receptacle of a large collection of beautiful ancient art, church treasures, archeological artifacts from different periods from the area, and nice views of the surroundings and the cathedral from inside. It is certainly worth the €6 admission fee (seniors get in for €4). The ticket also gives you entrance to the Bishop’s or the Gelmirez Palace to the left of the main entrance to the Cathedral. When we were there, this place had displays of the archeological diggings around the building in progress.

The ground floor in the museum proper has some superb sculptures by Maestro Mateo, a stone cloister, and drawings showing the original cathedral and the construction of the Roman cathedral.

right: The classic stone cloister in the first floor of the museum.

There are three additional floors above the ground floor, and if you are not familiar with the layout, it is easy to miss the small staircases going to the higher floors by assuming them to be private staircases not open to the public. The floor above this (in Europe they call this the First Floor) has exhibits of art in the Cathedral from the 13-15th century in room 05, from the 16th – 18th century in room 06.

The second floor has more artwork; there are a number of small chapels with lots of gold and gold-covered crosses, chalices, chalices, ciboriums, monstrances, etc. I am actually amazed that with so much gold around, security was quite minimal.

On this floor is also the huge inner courtyard and the imposing Renaissance cloister.

left: The imposing Renaissance cloister.

Luminaries are buried in crypts under the main walk (we saw one less than one year old). From the open-air square, you can see parts of the upper structure of the cathedral. The clean rest-rooms are also on this floor.

right: This is taken on the square on the second floor. You can see a gallery of the cloister in the back of the picture.

Going up another flight of stairs brings you to the third floor, where many of the rooms are covered by huge gobelins. Many of these tapestries had been created by ancient masters, such as Rubens, Teniers, José del Castillo, and Goya. Here is also the Library, with lots of old leather-bound tomes in the glass-covered bookcases against the walls. There was also a copy of the huge censer used in the cathedral at mass. It looked like it weighed at least 30 lbs and it is used to swing from a line attached from the top of the cathedral. The decorations on the ceiling are marvelous.

left: The amazing decorations on a ceiling.

And parallel to these rooms is the balcony, looking out on the huge Praza do Obradoiro, the main square in front of the cathedral.

right: the balcony on the third floor

below: City hall as seen from the third floor balcony of the cathedral museum.