I know that some of you recently returned from the Monte Carlo to Dover cruise, which we are basically doing in reverse next month, and others might have been previously. I had a few questions about port of call. First, in Lisbon, we will be there on a Catholic holiday and I imagine much will be closed, so we thought we would just tour the city on our own, even if we cannot we cannot enter certain buildings. How easy is it to get from the port to the areas of the city we might want to tour, and how easy is it to get around the city in general? Are taxis the way to go? In Sevilla, we are debating doing the independent touring or going on the excursion with Regent that tours the Cathedral and Reales Alcazares, since I belive those are the two main sites to make sure we see. We are leaning toward the indempendent touring, since we do fine on our own, but wanted to confirm that things are within walking distance. Lastly, we are also planning on doing Barcelona on our own, and once again wondering how easy is it to get from the port to the areas of the city we might want to tour, and how easy is it to get around the city in general. Sorry for the long post, but any insight would be appreciated.

We had several different ports on MC to Dover - than you will have. We did Malaga and we did not go to Barcelona. In Lisbon, they have a shuttle bus running into the center of town and I know they did that too for Barcelona on other cruises. There were taxi's lined up in the port for flat fee to do a tour. In Lisbon, we went to Sintra and the Estoril Coast, which was a vert enjoyable day.

CLOU,

We are probably going to do the Seville and Independent Exploration

Duration: 8½ Hours.
Hiking.
$95 per person

It appears that this excursion still includes the tour to Reales Alcazares and the Cathedral in the morning then you are on your own for the afternoon which we like.

The other tour (the one for $175 per person) has the 2 morning tours, along with lunch and more sites in the afternoon. I think everyone will be together for the morning tours then the independant people will split around lunch.

We are also considering doing it on our own in Barcelona & Lisbon. I didn't think about the holiday in Lisbon. Hopefully it won't be too much of an inconvenience.

Clou, Lisbon was closed up tight the day we were there too. The ship was quite far out, but there was a shuttle bus into town, to the Placa Commercial, which is central to the main shopping district (Baixa), but by the water. We just walked up into the city, and rode up in the really strange but cool elevator which dates from the late nineteenth century I think--worth it for the view, and the contraption itself. I would have liked to see the old town (Alfama), but it was too far to walk. Remember, Lisbon is hilly. If you wanted to pick an area, you could get a cab straight from the port, or from the drop-off point. There's also a tourist tram, which tours around the city, and I maybe a hop-on bus as well (not sure about this latter.)

There was a shopping center open somewhere, we never found it, but the bus lady will give you directions to shopping, if you are intent on purchases. As the afternoon progressed, there were cafes and bakeries open, and a few shops, on the main drag, a pedestrian precint straight north from the drop-off plaza.

I can only address Barcelona. This spring on Voyager, RSSC ran a shuttle bus from the port to the foot of La Rambla. From there you can easily catch the hop-on/hop-off buses or get on the easy to use Metro. You can easily do Barcelona on your own. Good luck.
Debbie

Thanks for all the help. I did not realize that the independent tour of Seville does go to the Cathedral and palace, so I think we will do that too. It also sounds like we will be able to get into the center of Lisbon on a shuttle, and hopefully Barcelona. John, apparently the day we will be there is a major holiday, so I am expecting virtually everything to be closed. Only a few more weeks!!!

We're excited. When are you flying to London? If you're in town early, maybe we can get a small group together for a pub lunch or a London Walk on Tuesday.

We fly from Dulles on Sunday evening, so we get a couple days to adjust before setting sail.

If not, maybe we'll run into you on board for a little DC get together.

Clou,
When in Lisbon you may want to take the shuttle into town, go up the fanicular that Wandra talked about. When you get off go off to the right and visit the Port Wine Institute for a sampling of port and a light meal in a very pleasant surrounding. Then walk back to the central area.

On the other hand, a day trip to Estoril and Sintra would be great too. It would be difficult to decide.

Enjoy Portugal! My favorite of favorites!

John, unfortunately for us, we are flying in on Tuesday night and taking the Regent transport to Dover on Wednesday. We did not want to take any additional time off from work because, as usual, we have several other trips this year. We will have to have a DC area get together on board.

As for the advice about the Port insitute, that is something we definitely want to do, if it is open on the holiday. How is the funicular? My husband is not fond of heights.

It's really an elevator. It's called "Elevador de Santa Justa", and it's on the left-hand said of the main street up through the Baixa. You can spot it easily, or ask for directions. It's a big iron tower, with an elevator inside.

If your husband doesn't like heights, he can just get off at the top, and wander unto solid ground. But there are spiral iron stairs that go up further, so he might want to avoid them.

At the top are the ruins of the Convento de Carma, and the archaeological museum, and a very pretty square. You can follow cobbled streets back down to one of the big square on Baixa, somewhere to the left of the museum entrance.

I'm disappointed about Lisbon. I was really looking forward to this port. It looks like the Feast of Assumption is a major holiday there with most shops and other businesses closed. I've been googling (is that a word??) for info and I've found different descriptions of the holiday. Some describe it as a solemn day of remembrances and some describe it as a festive day. I'm hoping it's the latter. Maybe there will be some festivals going on.

This may be a day we'll just have to play by ear.

If you're going to Cadiz, I would definitely do the Seville tour with RSSC. It's a long day, but it's a not to be missed tour. We did it in early Nov, but it may be a bit hot in Seville this time of year. We enjoyed that trip much more than the trip to Granada from Malaga. Had a fantasic guide. In Lisbon I would highly recommend making arrangements ahead of time with www.toursforyou.pt for a private all day tour to Estoril, Sintra and Lisbon. They have really nice air conditioned vans and great guides. For 6 people I think it was around $90/couple, including the tip. You can set it up online and pay when you get there. Just tell them which RSSC ship you'll be on and when you'll be in. They'll meet you right at the terminal. Really nice people to deal with. They even sent us photos from the trip when we got home. In Barcelona I would just do a walking tour. Don't miss the mimes on Las Ramblas!

We too googled the Feast of Assumption with similar results. I agree that this may be a day to play by ear. I really hope that the Port Wine Institute is open, but I have my doubts. At least we can veiw things fromthe outside.

I am getting quite anxious. Three more weeks

Doug,

Tours for you forgot us in Lisbon last month....

You mean they never picked you up? What did you do?

I know Kathy and her group had a bad experience with Tours For You, however they come highly recommended from others on this board.

I went ahead and emailed them regarding August 15th and this is how they responded (good news):

Regarding your question, we do work on the 15th of August. We definitely advice you the Lisbon, Sintra & Estoril Coast Private Tour (program details here: http://www.toursforyou.pt/Eng/LisboaSintraEng.htm
Although the 15th of August is a holiday most monuments are opened. The ones that we are supposed to visit on this tour do not close.


I'm not sure if we will book them. It's definately a "buyer beware" situation after they stood up Kathy and her group. At least it offers some peace of mind that the monuments are open.

We also had great success with "Tours For You" last fall during our WINE cruise. They picked us up promptly and gave us ( my parents, husband and myself) a wonderful tour of the city. They even included a stop at a delicious pastry shop! We had Josue and I would ask for him....he was great.
Cheers, Pam

Clou and John - are you aware that there is a Washington DC LCT get together on Sept 30? Denise and Alan are going to be here and there are several of us (John you may already be in the group) getting together at Old Ebbitt Grill on the 30th. Go to the "off topic" thread and find the "Washington DC Get together" thread and all the info is there.

Also CLOU - were you the Cindy on the Monte Carlo - Rome last year on Sept 10 from Vienna? We tried to get together, but never managed to find you. We live in Oakton and I just noticed you are in Vienna. You may not be the person from last year, but in any case, you'd be welcome to join the Sept 30 affair.

CLOU,
You may want to visit the site for the Port Wine Institue at
www.ivp.pt. They have an english version. Perhaps you can email them and find out if they are open on your port day.
It is truly relaxing and fun to taste different kinds of port. They have over 200 and you order by the glass. There is one other institute in Porto. It is a most lovely setting overlooking the river. Difficult to get but a beautiful setting.

After we visit for a couple of hours we exit to the right and go downhill to the next small plaza. There in the plaza on a right hand corner across the plaza is a wonderful but small cerarmic shop. If you are into Portugeuse ceramics you could select and they will mail. I ordered two handpainted lamps and a soup tureen which arrived in super condition. Hope it is open for you.

When I lived in Madrid for three years, at least twice a year we would make our "Portuguese Run" to Evora, Estremoz, Buccaco, Lisbon, Porto and the Duro Valley many wonderful places.

Enjoy!

First, to Joanne, I am the Cindi from Vienna. We looked for you on that Monte carlo to Rome cruise at what I thought was the meeting time and place, but there was a private party going on. Since I did not remember your last name, we had no way of finding you after that.

As to the Port Wine Institute, I already found their website and sent them an e-amil to find out if they are open. I will keep my fingers crossed.

I'm no expert, but I have lived in Portuguese neighbourhoods for 25 years, and just came back from Portugal, having survived both the aftermath of St. Anthony's (was that it, Kathy?) in Lisbon, and St. John the Baptist's day in the north.

If your feast-day is a two-day event, find out which day it is you will be there--we were in Lisbon for the second day of the festival, and it was dead quiet, but there were sufficient people skulking around the cafes looking hung-over, and sufficient litter, to assume that the night before was very "festive". Same with St. John's--two day festival. The nights tend to be *very* festive, the days very solemn. We saw both sides of this one. So the best you can do if you're just in Lisbon for a few hours is to catch some of the "solemn" part. Googling is good, see what you can find out--I could not see Assumption day listed as a major holiday in my Lonely Planet guide, so maybe it's just a religious holiday, i.e., the "solemn" part.

Cindy - we had the same problem, there was a private party going on, so we went to the Voyager lounge and there was one there too, so ended up in the Horizon Bar. I didn't know your last name either or cabin number, Oh well, hopefully another time. I hope you enjoy this upcoming cruise, we loved it.

In Barcelona, the ship runs a shuttle to the main part of town and from there you can walk a lot. In Lisbon, same thing, as mentioned above and that is what we would do next time. Its a very hilly city, a lot like San Francisco. Hope you have a great time.