April 22, 2010

April 22, 2010


Well, a lot has happened the last couple of days! I am still on the ship, getting now of in Monaco. Barry, who lives in Portugal talked to his son, and according to him is was very difficult to make any telephone calls, to send emails and that Europe was in total chaos! Since the purser's office could tell me only that Lisbon and Amsterdam were "open", but no info if flights were arriving/leaving, I decided to stay on the ship, instead of perhaps having to spend one or more days at the airport.

According to the info, all hotels were fully booked, there was a train strike planned in France, car rentals run up to a 1000,= € per week, whatelse could I do, but staying on the ship! The crewchange was also cancelled, therefore the Captain and several crewmembers had to stay on the ship as well! Luckily enough I could stay in the same cabin, so after I made my decision, Muslim took out my suitcases.

I got up at five in the morning to witness the arrival into Lisbon harbour. Especially going under the bridge of April 25 was

amazing. It was just high enough for the third mast to pass. Then my adventure started.

Leaving the ship to do some shopping for the crew, I was told the trainstation was in front of the harbouroffice. A very nice, and very helpful Portugese man helped me with buying a ticket. He finally managed to get me a 24 hour ticket for € 4.10! Amazingly cheap. So I took the train to the center of the town. I had a map and could follow all the stations we were passing. Then the train stopped, I asked a young woman if she could tell me where I had to get of to get to the town center. Her English was not that good and I was afraid to miss my train. We were standing outside the train. So I got on again, and to my astonishment the train went back to were I came from! I then decided to first go to Belem, but again I was not clever enough to get out when the Belem station was there. I wanted to go to the monument of Hendrik, which was still quite some distance away, but did I know I had to walk! So instead, I stayed on and got off at the next station. There I had to wait till a train came who would be stopping at Belem, and finally, I arrived! Phhhhhhh.... I visited the monument and crossed the street to the Museum of Archeology, but it was very, very busy, so I decided to take a bus to the center of town.

When I entered the bus, you had to keep you ticket in front of a card reader. It gave me a red light, but since I do not speak or read Portuguese, I did not know what to do. At one point I saw a big Papperia, so I got of, since I had to buy ten telephone cards for the crew, living in India and Jamaica. They only had local cards. Then I hopped on the tram, same thing happened when entering the bus, but still could not read of speak Portugese (have no idea how you spell this, sorry), I pretended it was ok. I finally got off in the center of town, only two hours after I left the ship ........ and tried to find some phone cards. No such luck, till I noticed an Indian guy, having a small stall in the middle of town! My guess, the guy would speak English, proved to be right and he sold me some very good cards, but did not have ten. He got out of his stall, asking me to take care of his business (!), and left, leaving the door open. I must have a face people trust, otherwise who would do such a thing. Amazing. So there I stood in front of the stall, instead inside it, taking care of his business, luckily for me no other customer came. Just before he left, a man asked and got 4 caramel toffees. The only time I have seen people buying sweets per piece, was in Jamaica! I then went on to do some other shopping and heard that I could take the metro back to the harbour.

Arriving in the metro station I asked if my card was good for the metro as well! It appeard my card could only be used on the train system!!!!!! Lucky me, I had not been caught. I thought that the harbour were the ship was docked was at the end of the harbour, so I bought a ticket to that station.

Coming out, nowhere there was a ship inside! I then started to walk, but after more than an hour later, I returned to the spot, where I took the metro originally! Not so bright, I must say. I asked in the ferry station where I could find a train station, and again I was very bright. By just looking over my shoulder I should have seen the train station! But, again a black out later, I had no idea at what station I got on the train originally. Luckily the girl knew this, after I told her it was across the harbour. If you run, you can catch this connection, and yes, it will stop at the right station! So I ran. But having bought a lot of toblerone dark chocolate for the crew, a big, big bag of toffee sweets, plus a small painting, some water etc. etc. my bag was quite havy! Luckily the train waited for me and I managed to get on, but more importantly, get off at the right station!!!

When I reached the ship, inspectors were checking the tenders, so I could not get on the ship, since the gangway was underneath. I must say, I thought it was very nice of the inspector to apologize to me, and that it would take not very long before I could join the ship. At that time I was near collapsing. It was a very sunny day in Lisbon, temperatures were up to 22! and coming from a very, very cold crossing, was not such a good experience. I am now suffering from a runny nose, have a cold and am still searching for a woollen hat to put on in the evening, when leaving the harbour.

When I was back on the ship, everybody was in full preparation for the new guests. About 20 have not made it. The latest number is, we have only 63 passengers and some are getting on in the other stops. It was a beautiful sight when we left Lisbon, but it again was very cold. At half past eleven I went to bed, first taking a very hot shower to get warm again, before going to sleep.

Today we arrived in Cadiz (!) according to our cruise director, but to my knowledge we are in Portimao, Portugal. Cadiz will be our next stop. Some passengers left for an excursion, but Ruth and I are off to do some internet work. I have to find a ticket from Monaco to Amsterdam, have to catch up some emails and download my blog stories, so everybody can read them.

Sorry for the big delay, but missing the Azores and being shattered after my shopping trip in Lisbon, I decided not to get off again, and try today in Portimao. Hopefully the Captain is right by telling me it only will be a fifteen minute walk to the Casa Englaca (?) where they seam to offer wifi. I am also planning on downloading some photo's, so you can have a look where I have been up to till today!

Thanks again for reading my blog, please leave your comments if possible. I really appreciate it.

Take care and write to you in another couple of days.

Ineke