Portugal and Cadiz, Spain

Written October 27, 2014

As promised, I'm backtracking to share my experiences in Portugal and Spain. Rome will be next, as I reminisce while crossing the Atlantic to Brazil. Today probably marks the last time we will see land for 10 days. We are stopped off the coast of Gran Canaria island for refuelling, a very important task!

We did not have much time in Lisbon, unless one chose to dash madly across Portugal and Spain while the ship sailed between Lisbon and Cadiz. I chose the more relaxing route, spending the night in the lovely beach town of Cascais and returning to the ship for the trip to Spain. It was a nice respite and my birthday gift to myself. Also, it was a sweet connection with my daughter Sally, who discovered the PerfectSpotLisbon hostel/ bed & breakfast last year. I really enjoyed talking with Rita and Jon, the owners, who remember Sally well and fondly. As a bonus, I found strong enough WiFi and a good time slot to talk with Sally too.

Perfect Spot in Cascais

The sidewalks in Cascais were not conducive to gaining land legs.

Boca Del Diablo, Cascais

Cadiz (accent on the first syllable) is another lovely coastal city, but with beautiful historical architecture and a little more bustle than Cascais. I walked along the coast through parks filled with tropical plants and parrots (and one children's park with a dinosaur pond and waterfall). Some of us climbed the tower to see the whole city, whose all-white buildings gleam in the sun like sand castles. There was also a camera oscura where the guide played with the pedestrians we could see, and showed us our own dear barco in the harbor. As I posted to Facebook at the time:
"Dear Duke: I'm afraid I may miss the ship leaving from Cadiz, Spain. Don't worry about me, though. Just send my retirement funds and I can buy a condo for 85,000 euros."

From Cadiz we went to Casablanca, Morocco (see my post about 20,000 camels) then to the port nearest Rome (post TBA) before heading to our second port substituted for West Africa -- Barcelona -- which deserves its own post, coming up next.