Gettin back to my roots...portugese style

So, I apologize if I have gotten really behind on my blogging. My stomach wasn’t feeling well for a few days and both of us have just been relaxing and enjoying the scenery on the cruise so much. I have dedicated the next few hours to updating. So here we go.

Today we are in my grandfather’s native land of Portugal, Lisbon to be exact. Nothing planned today, just to go to shore and play it by ear. Our shuttle dropped us off in the middle of town. From there, we hopped on a hop on & off open bus tour that took us all over Lisbon. We drove around the historical sites, the Oceanside, and the riches of Lisbon.

After the tour ended, we decided to walk around town where all the shops and streeet vendors were. Nice little alleyways that have a very Mexico-esque feel to it. After being offered hashish about a dozen times, Jeff and I finally settled into a nice little Italian café in the middle of the market. (I know, right. We got to Portugal and get Italian food. None of the other looked appealing and we were getting hungry. Don’t judge.) We ordered beer and our waiter spoke very little English so he asked if we wanted a half or a full. I ordered a “half” of beer and Jeff, assuming a half was small, ordered the full. Our first clue should have been when the waitered made a sort of frat boy giggle and walked away. Five minutes later he returns with my half liter and Jeff’s full liter. He sets the beer down, giggles again, and walks away. This beer was huge. It looked like a whole keg. He managed to finish it quicker than I finished my half, though. The lunch turned out to be okay. We split a pizza that turned out to be really salty because of the pound of Canadian bacon they put on it. Lucky we had a liter and a half of beer to wash it down. Halfway through lunch this group from Alabama pulled some tables together right next to us. We got to chatting with them for a while. Really nice people. Very funny. Very southern. They found out we were newlyweds on our honeymoon and forced us to let them buy our lunch, which was extremely nice of them. We parted ways and made our way back down the market.

There were a couple of guys painting in the alleyway and selling their painting. We thought one might be a nice addition to our new apartment so we bought a small one that outlines the coast of Portugal in blue. Very pretty. May or may not be authentic because we walked a block further and found 5 other vendors with very similar paintings, but that’s beside the point. After walking back through the market, we made our way back to the ship for some R & R. Upon sailing out we made our way to the upper decks. There is this bridge that we sail under when we dock and leave port that, when you look at it, you think, “There is absolutely no way we are going to fit under.” So we stood on the upper decks and up until the last minute when we pass under, you honestly think you’re going to run into the bridge. The cruise director said we clear it by only like a couple of feet. Crazy.

Not much for the rest of the night. Some dinner, some moonlight strolls, and then off to bed.

Still no Rodney…

This beer is bigger than his head. Going...

Gone...
This is the market avenue that we walked down. I love this shot. In between the arch is this beautiful old statue.
See. It doesn't look like we'll fit. But we did.
This is the arch above from the outside of the marketplace. This is where we got dropped off. 
Nice shot of the city of Lisbon, Portugal. 
A cathedral that we passed by while on the bus.
Ha! This was a kid in the marketplace playing his accordion. He managed to train his chihuahua to hold the basket for money in his mouth. So cute.
This is how the policia roll. Pretty awesome.