MSC Sinfonia – Day 5 – Lisbon

23 Nov 07
MSC Sinfonia – Day 5 – Lisbon

Lisbon Map

Pulling in close to mid-day – we had from 1200 to 2200 on shore.

However, Sandi and I had this small problem which needed attention. When we had done the research for the trip and checked for visas, it did not appear that we needed any. Most major countries now have all of this information on line. According to the guy in charge of passports on the ship – Brazil requires a visa.

We were not the only ones who tried explaining to him that according to the website, we didn’t need one. Try arguing with a wall – you would get a better response. My crabbiness just extended to the question of why he didn’t tell us this while we were docked in Barcelona….

Escaping the ship at 1200 we headed straight to the Brazilian embassy to find that they processed visas only between 0900 to 1200. There was this nice young man at the window just finishing up with an older couple. He was willing to answer a question for me – yes, we needed visas – and handed us the forms and an address where we could get pictures taken.

End result of going there, and going back twice was that we had visas in hand by 1600. 1230 for all the paperwork (and money, let us not forget the money) and then waiting for the head of mission to sign them off.

Travel

Walking the hills and heading up to the top of the Tower – Lisbon is a city of red roof tiles.

red roofs

Mosaic cobblestone areas all representative of the sea and sailing –
Waves on the sidewalk

Castles on hills and plazas through out the city

Castles on hillsTower view
Plaza

We grabbed the 15E tram just to ride around, and found that we had lucked into the one that went along the shore in the direction of our ship. After wandering around in a couple of neighbourhood, we stopped for a few minutes at a hole in the wall of at internet café where I was able to upload the last few days from a computer in this dark den. Most of the other inhabitants seemed to be teen age boys deep into on line gaming.

Navigating by watching for the overhead bridges, we made it back to the ship in plenty of time.

Knitting

The only time I did any knitting was while waiting at the Embassy – a bit more on the peapod.

Audio Books

Unbidden Truth by Kate Wilhelm.

Arches

Entitled Waves, this modern sculpture graces the Plaza at the entrance to the Quay in Barcelona.

Barcelona Dock Sculpture Barcelona Dock Sculpture

-Holly

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About Holly

fiber person - knitter, spinner, weaver who spent 33 years being a military officer to fund the above. And home. And family. Sewing and quilting projects are also in the stash. After living again in Heidelberg after retiring (finally) from the U.S. Army May 2011, we moved to the US ~ Dec 2015. Something about being over 65 and access to health care. It also might have had to do with finding a buyer for our house. Allegedly this will provide me a home base in the same country as our four adult children, all of whom I adore, so that I can drive them totally insane. Considerations of time to knit down the stash…(right, and if you believe that…) and spin and .... There is now actually enough time to do a bit of consulting, editing. Even more amazing - we have only one household again. As long as everyone understands that I still, 40 years into our marriage, don't do kitchens or bathrooms. For that matter, not being a golden retriever, I don't do slippers or newspapers either. I don’t miss either the military or full-time clinical practice. Limiting my public health/travel med/consulting and lecturing to “when I feel like it” has let me happily spend my pension cruising, stash enhancing (oops), arguing with the DH about where we are going to travel next and book buying. Life is good!
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