Gibraltar, Lisbon and the Viva!

Hello!

The last stop on the cruise was Gibraltar.  A little history/geography lesson - Gibraltar is a British territory located on the Iberian Peninsula where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean.  Formerly part of Spain, it was ceded to Britain in 1713 at the end of the Spanish War.

It was first settled as an outpost in 1160 and continues to be important strategically, 50% of the world's seaborne trade passing thru the Strait of Gibraltar .

The city is dominated by the "Rock" - 

We had a two hour tour that took us up the Rock to visit the Caves of St. Michael and the ape families that live there.

These apes are not as aggressive as those we encountered in Bali. No need to fear for your glasses or phones.  Our guide did tell us that one of the older females has worked out how to open a car door and look in the glove box for chocolate or peanuts!

Naturally there is a lighthouse at Europa Point.

The ship departed around noon Thursday for the long sail to Lisbon. 

Normally I would not spend much time talking about the cruise ship but this was Norwegian's newest ship the Viva and we really liked it!

Most of these pictures are on Ocean Blvd on the 8th floor.  There were many little seating areas of various types. Very nice! 

The slides you see in this picture (and below) are dry (i.e., not water park variety) and bring you from the 18th floor down to eight.  When I went up to ride the slide the guy behind me said he needed a drink and figured this was a quick way to get down to the bar.  LOL

An infinity edge pool on each side of the ship with nice loungers.

We attended many trivia sessions (winning three times), illusionists, acrobatic performers, comedians, live music and Beetlejuice (the musical).

The food was pretty good overall and outstanding in the "specialty" dining rooms.

The sister ship "Prima" will be sailing out of Galveston starting late 2025. I recommend giving her a try.

Once off the ship, at the ungodly hour of 7:00 am, we made our way to the city center of Lisbon.  We stashed our luggage at a Luggage Storage place and joined a free walking tour.

Jose, our guide ran us all over Lisbon, up hill and down giving us too much information to take in.  It was wonderfully tiring and hot.

Lisbon is one of the oldest cities in the world and the second-oldest European capital city (after Athens), predating other modern European capitals by centuries. 

Settled by pre-Celtic tribes and later founded and civilized by the Phoenicians (138 BCE). After the fall of the Roman Empire, it was ruled by a series of Germanic tribes from the 5th century, most notably the Visigoths. Later it was captured by the Moors in the 8th century. In 1147 the city was once again conquered and in 1255 it became Portugal's capital.

WAKE UP! The next story is more interesting - I promise!

In 1755 on "All Saint's Sunday", at 9:40 a.m., there was a terrible earthquake which devistated the city.  An average earthquake lasts about 15 seconds, this 1755 quake, estimated at 7.7-9 on the Richter scale, shook the city for over 3 minutes.

The story told was that many Christians had lit candles to honor their dead in their homes before going to worship.  When the earth shook the roof/buildings collapsed, injuring and killing many people.  As candles toppled in their unattended homes the city began to burn.  Many people fled to the open space near the coast to escape harm.  The tsunami that flooded the city brought a wave of 30 meters (100 feet) killing those seeking safety.  While exact numbers are unknown it is estimated that 80% of Lisbon was destroyed and 60% of the people were killed.

The people of Lisbon were very religious and believed that when bad things happen it means that God is displeased.  After the destruction of the earthquake they were left bereft - the people that died were largely Christians.  The non-Christians did not die - probably because they did not have candles burning and were not in large churches at worship at the time of the disaster.  

The timing of this quake coincides with the beginning of the Enlightenment in Europe when people began to turn to Science to explain the world.  The people began to question everything.

Anyway, you can see that we were given quite the history lesson.

How about some pictures?

The month of June is one long party celebrating St. Antony.

This statue is of the guy who was King at the time of the earthquake.  He is understood to have been the richest man in the world at the time.

His response to the earthquake was to leave town.  He apparently suffered from claustrophobia after the quake and lived in a tent afterward.  Perhaps he was the inventer of "glamping".

The palace was rebuilt bigger (even though the King never resided there - he liked his tent!).

This is one of the churches that collapsed in the earthquake.  The architect that rebuilt the city looked at the structure, noting that while the roof collapsed, the arches remained.  The city was rebuilt with better engineering for future seismic events.

 

Lots of tile everywhere - this building is supposedly owned by Masons.

The plaza where the tour began.

This is the famous streetcar that goes all around the city.

I'm sounding like a broken record but this is another city that deserves a week of my attention.

A late flight out of Lisbon to Hamburg got us into Meckelfeld (Carsten's hometown) around midnight.  Ulf & Heike had a light snack for the weary travelers.  Today we will do laundry before seeing a concert tonight.

Plenty of friends and family to visit before the next adventure.

Stay cool,

Sheri & Carsten