I’m still writing newsletters but there’s not much left in them now, just the last shore excursion and the farewell get-together. The evening’s schedule was rearranged because of that iconic world cruise event, The Crew Show. I didn’t want to miss it and neither did Liz. So we went to see the comedian, John Evans, at 6:30pm and had dinner in Britannia afterwards. The Crew Show was at 10:15pm and it was packed, but we had timed it well and had excellent seats. It was good. There’s some real talent on the ship but it was all single acts. I missed the Indonesian Monkey Dance and the Tinikling Filipino Bamboo Dance that you always have on Holland America. There were some very good acts, though, and a bartender juggling bottles and cocktail shakers who endeared himself with the number of them that hit the floor. It was so bad, it was good.
Our tour in Lisbon, Portugal on April 25, had a couple of start-up glitches, but nothing that a cell phone couldn’t solve. I forget what we did without them. It was an hour and a quarter to Obidos, during which time Isabel filled us in on Portugal’s very long history and we decided on a date, for our farewell get-together.
Portugal was originally settled by the Phoenicians in the 12th century BC, so it really is old and has been through a lot of regimes. The current democracy dates back to April 25, 1974, fifty years ago, today. Before that was the dictatorship of Salazar, who died in 1970. I got this and more at: Portugal’s Dictatorship: Salazar’s Estado Novo – Portugal.com “Every year, the people of Portugal run to the streets to celebrate the 25 of April or Freedom Day! From older people who lived during the Estado Novo, to younger people, this day is a yearly reminder of the value of democracy, the fight against fascism, and the end of Portuguese colonialism. All over the country, people go out to sing, dance, eat, and march the streets with carnations in their hands. It’s common that florists will give out carnations for free.”
While the people of Lisbon were doing all that, we were in Obidos. A nice romantic medieval town, with narrow streets and cobblestones.
Joyce’s chair took the cobblestones like a champion. When the rest of the people were worrying about how she was keeping up, she was usually ahead of us, up and down hills and all. I so wish she had come on tour in Singapore.
Only about 50 people live here now. The old houses are filled with restaurants and shops, one street of each, it seemed. For me, it was a food fest. Once the guide had taken us along the shopping street, and through the church, I went looking for a bakery. I bought their last three Pasteis de Nata, which I know as Natas Tarts. While I was at it I bought a bag of donut holes and a bag of little meringues. The bakery needed to fire up more of those yummy custard tarts and I was sure they would, but it would take another 25 minutes. I ate my three right on the street, taking inquiries as to where I had found them, as the bakery on the other end of the street was out, too. I then bought a gelato cone and directed six of my people into the gelato shop. I still didn’t have any Natas tarts to take back to the ship, so I walked the restaurant street and bought six more from a restaurant, that was displaying them in its window. They were 20 cents each more expensive, but I really didn’t care. Even so, I asked if I got a better price if I bought six and was told “no, but you get a better box”. That part was true.
We had voted to cut the stop short by a half-hour, in favor of time to take a TukTuk tour of Lisbon itself, before we had to board at 4:30PM. For the six of us who did it, it was really magic.
Our driver was Tania and her company is “nicifeel Lisboa”. You can google that. She was fabulous. She read our needs and took us to just the right places, avoiding the Carnation Day festivities and getting us in where tour buses could not go. She took some pretty good pictures, too:
It was a really good day. Liz and I went to sailaway. Then she went back to her cabin to gorge on the Portuguese delicacies she had bought in Obidos, like the bread with the sausage baked into it, that she remembered from her youth. I had spaghetti at the Chef’s Table, two more Natas tarts, and a few meringues. I had thought the donut holes and meringues would go on the bus, but people just had one each, which still left a lot of them.
Liz and I met up again for the show, the New Amen Corner, who were okey but not spectacular.
The next day, April 26, I woke up full of remorse over the sugar excesses of the day before, took the tarts out of the fridge, added the donut holes and meringues, wrote a note, and left the lot for my cabin steward to share with his mates. That was far better than adding them to my waistline. I wrote a short newsletter to change the date of the Farewell get-together, and had it printed before I was due at the desk.
I spent the afternoon packing and filling a bag of presents, and things I couldn’t take home, for Wanda Arti, whom I would see in Bournemouth, when the ship stopped in Southampton. I was pretty sure I could get everything into my one piece of luggage to take home now.
Liz and I had dinner in Britannia and enjoyed Lee Mead, a West End soloist.
April 27, was the last day of the World cruise, Southampton to Southampton. Desk hour was mostly taken up with saying “Goodbye” to new cruise buddies. Debbie and Polly came to wave to Chew Jetty, and I had forgotten him on the balcony, where I had put him out to charge. I had to do the waving myself. Chris came for a hug and to exchange emails. If we could have a date in Colombo, Sri Lanka, we can surely have one in Sydney or Montreal. Andy came by too and we planned a get together for our little gang later in the day.
Following the advice in the Daily Programme about booking a taxi because there would be four ships in port, I tried to book one on the Internet. It was a fruitless task, as all I could find were rides for more than twice what they were worth. I decided to wrap my ankle well and leave early enough to walk to the train station. It was only about a mile. I took photographs of google maps and directions on my computer screen. I didn’t want to depend on cellular data, which has failed me a few times, and wasn’t going to have us miss our train.
Amanda and Liz and I met our Welsh friends, Ceri and Andy, for a drink at six, to bid our fond farewells. We’ll keep in touch and hope to meet again. Liz and I had dinner in Britannia again and skipped the production show because we’d seen it.
Docked in Southampton, England, on April 28, I got up at 7am to make a 10am train a mile away. I met Liz around 8:40am and we got off the ship as quickly as we could. The taxi rank was flowing freely and we soon had our butts in a cab heading for Southampton Central Train Station. We were there a couple of minutes after nine and there was a train to Bournemouth at 9:30am. I presented our tickets to the clerk and asked if we could change them for the earlier train. He was happy to tell me we could but at a cost of 28 pound. We only paid 11 pound for them in the first place. I couldn’t believe it and I wouldn’t pay it either. So we waited for the 10:03. As it turned out, we could have got on the 9:30 because no one came to check our tickets on board.
Wanda was waiting for us at the station and had a great plan for our short time. It started at her house where she has the most beautiful garden:
Too bad it was too cold to sit in it, but she had some nice Madeira and appies for us, so we were very happy. Then she took us out in the car. Like most of the world, retail shops are boarded up and look depressing, victims of Amazon et al. It’s worldwide. Bournemouth keeps going on tourism and the local university, which is good. Wanda took us to the Royal Park and Pier. It was lovely. They had some beautiful birds in a very quaint aviary. Nowadays, they are rescue parrots, pheasants and budgerigars. I hope they are happy there. They are certainly pretty to look at.
Most of the Victorian hotels, where the rich and famous took the waters, are faded Grand Dames now. The Miramar isn’t, though, and that’s where we went for lunch. It was Sunday, so it was very traditional: Roast Beef and Yorkshire pud, with bread and butter pudding for dessert. It was wonderful and so was its view:
Too soon, it was time to catch the 2:50pm train. Wanda delivered us on time and waited with us to be sure we got gone. There were taxis waiting at the station in Southampton. All was well. By 4pm we were back on to the ship and on to the next adventure.
Old friends, Danièle and Jean Schére had boarded, so, after a nap, I had dinner with them. What fun. I had compliments galore from people who had benefited by their restaurant recommendations in Saigon, Singapore, Las Palmas, etc., and questions from Brits about where to eat in Southampton, when they come to board. Sure enough, I got some of those, too.