Thursday, May 8, 2025

Tuk Tuk No No

 

May 8

After a mix up in communication and a very courteous driver we finally started our Tuk Tuk tour an hour or so late.  The instructions we received was that our  driver would come to the front of the cruise terminal holding a sign with our  name on it.  He was told to meet us across a very wide four lane street in front of a red kiosk.  After we decided he wasn’t coming we went for a walk and came into wifi range.  There was a message from him and we walked back the way we came until we had a signal and called him.  He was 3 minutes away and came to the red kiosk.  It was a fun tour.  Some roads  were VERY bumpy, but he was knowledgeable and we enjoyed the tour, stopping at several viewing points and going into one small chapel. 

Some pictures:

Your favorite cruisers from the highest point in Lisbon

The other pictures are at the end of the blog because that's where this crazy machine put them, not where I wanted them.  Oh well.

Tomorrow the aquarium.

Back on board, Astri and Fushawn were holding our table for us and we had appetizers, ice cream and in between excellent chicken parmasean with marinara sauce.  After dinner, we finished the 4th game of rummy and Bonnie tied the score at 2 all.

I’m sure Mom’s version is going to be much more exciting, so I’ll move over and let her hit the ASDF space JKL; space

TTFN

Well, we were up at 7. We did our stuff in the bathroom. Today they were not having breakfast in the dining room but from 8 to 12 they were having brunch. So about 9 we went to deck 3 dining room and had brunch. Well, since it was a brunch and I didn’t really want eggs and such I ordered a fruit plate, a chicken sandwich, tomato juice and chocolate milk. Well the kiwi was not ripe, the pineapple was not sweet but the cantaloupe and grapes were good. The sandwich came with FF. The FF were great. The sandwich was not chickfila! The chicken was some kind of very thin processed chicken and tough as shoe leather. I ate half of the bun, the lettuce and slice of tomato.

Well, we were docked and cleared just before 12. We had a bridge and ramps connected to the ship to get off. We didn’t need to get off to around 2. There was a large crowd around the door on deck 4 to get off anyway. There were tons of tours heading off and everybody else. We finally decided to get off just before 2. The way was a little clearer. We walked and walked and walked till we finally found our way out of the terminal. Outside the doors there were MANY tuktuks and  drivers touting their wares. But we said we had already ordered a driver.

We waited, and waited and waited….. and finally gave up and started walking to the one church we could see above the buildings. It looked a lot closer than it really was. Much traffic, much construction. They have had flooding issues down in the dock area and they are doing construction to try and alleviate the flooding. Well, after we had walked and had not gotten to the church he decided to stop in a pharmacia, because most pharmacist can speak English, and see if we were on the right way to the church. Well, he noticed he had a What’s app and it was from the tuktuk driver. After some conversation we headed back to the port to see if we could meet up with him. Dad lost his signal but when we got back outside the port he was able to talk with him and he picked us up at the red kiosk on the corner.

My advice to you if you are riding in the old parts on Lisbon, DON’T USE A TUKTUK! It was very hard to get into and you wore cross body seat belts; thank God you did. The roads are about as wide as two of my sparks, there are cars parked on both sides of the very narrow streets which go up and up and are very curvy. The roads are very uneven, bumpy and full of pot holes. He hit one and I thought my butt was broke! The views from the top of the city are outstanding and beautiful! The driver was very knowledgeable and told us a lot of history. We had the opportunity to visit one small chapel and it was amazing inside for such a small place. I lit 2 candles. I would have liked to light more but I only had one euro coin. After we had seen the highlights of the old parts of Lisbon he was going to take us into the more modern parts but my back could not stand anymore. So he brought us back to the dock area. I must tell you how I was able to get out of the tuktuk each time we stopped to look at something. I slid off the seat put my butt on the floor and feet pointing out of the door, and then I dangled my feet and reached for the ground and got out. There was no other way. Not a pretty site to see!

We arrived back to the terminal and proceeded inside. Going through Portugal security, beep beep of course. Retrieved our stuff from the bins. Dad had to take off his belt and was losing his pants so first order of business was to put on the belt. We proceeded upstairs where  they have the typical tourist stuff we bought  pringles, nachos and a drink. Then headed back to the ramps to get on. But wait we and everybody in front of us and behind us were stopped just as we got to the last 2 ramps up to the ship. The tide had come in and they had to move the ramps. It took about 15 minutes and the line grew longer as we waited. Finally we were able to move and get on.

By the time we got on the ship it was about 5:45. Dad said we are going to the dining room. So we did. Hats and canes and stuff. Our table was waiting and the dining room was very empty. We ordered our supper and ate. It was 7 before we left. We went to the room, unloaded our  stuff and picked up my drink cup and headed for deck 5 to find a drink and a table sit at and play. We had started a game before we left in the morning and I was in the lead and I stayed in the lead and won. On the last hand I only needed 5 points to win.

We are in our room and I am crocheting and soon we will be in bed. He is tired. We don’t have to be up early and our tickets for the aquarium aren’t till 12:30. Weather is breezy but beautiful. Cloudy but no rain. Love you all. Mom, Granny and Bonnie

 

A church which is now a museum and mausoleum 





A church that is a church, and the part in the foreground used to be a monastery -- it will now be a hotel.
Above a beautiful nativity scene (which I can't get to move). The whole thing is behind a wire barricade.





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