Lisbon Portugal by Land & River

This was our second visit to Lisbon and we opted for an overview bus tour and an hour and half boat ride to see the city from the Tagus River.

We had to be reminded that Portugal became a Republic as recently as the 1970s.

The old town is still the center of activity expecially for tourists.



Because the Queen Victoria was not leaving the port until midnight, we took advantage of the opportunity to have a fine meal at one of their many seafood restaurants not far from our ship.

First Time in Barcelona

The Familia Cathedral in Barcelona has to be one of Europe's most photographed sites and was the first place we visited. It has been under construction since 1882 and and was the work architect Antonio Gaudi devoted most of his life to. It is expected to be finished by 2026. It is owned by a private foundation that easily funds construction from admission fees and private donations.

Barcelona is definitely a city we would like to visit again. It is clean with wide boulevards and pedestrian walkways similar in some respects to Paris.

If the British Empire dominated the middle and far east, then the Romans dominated Mediterranean countries and cities and Barcelona is one of them.

Architect Gaudi's influence and work is seen everywhere, well beyond the Familia Cathedral. His implementation of nature and curves and angles can be seen in this downtown building. Of course he was praised and ridiculed at the same time.

Barcelona is famous for the zillion balconies on their city apartments dating back many centuries and residents make use of them, like this girl getting her morning fix from a drag on her cigarette. Little did she know someone in the passing bus found her to be a worthy photo topic!

BUT...the best of all we didn't capture on our camera. As the bus toured the downtown city streets and our guide talked, we were looking left, right and up and down when suddenly I yelled to Phyllis (sitting next to me) "He's naked" and fortunately she caught a glimpse of this hairy macho Spaniard standing in his 2nd story window breathing in the Barcelona morning air and posing for all to see!! That's a first.

One of the highlights of our tour of Barcelona was a stop at 3 tapas restaurants to sample a few tapas and wine. You can see them being made in the photo. Bigger than hors d'ouvres, smaller than sandwiches.

The Italian Countryside

The highlight of our tour of the Italian countryside was a visit to an olive farm (that's an ancient olive tree we are posing in front of) that of course harvests and makes olive oil to die for..extra virgin, cold press and within 24 hours or less of being harvested. They served a great buffet of small snacks including bruschetta.

We have had the good fortune of being in Rome a few times and opted not to take a tour into the Eternal City. The Civitivecchia port is 40 miles from Rome so we took advantage of being close to the Tuscanny countryside and took a peaceful tour to Tuscannia an ancient medieval town that you see in these pictures.