First port-of-call = LISBON!

After just a few days at sea, plus nearly 2 IPAD days, we stepped off the ship at our first port-of-call – LISBON! I was very excited to visit Lisbon and the city did not disappoint. Here are a few of the sights that I visited and recommendations for future travelers:

--Mosteiro Dos Jerónimos or St. Jeronimos Monastery: My visit to the monastery could be considered two-part: first, I visited the cathedral which is Manueline in style, which to me looks like a Portuguese version of Gothic. Nice cathedral but the second part of the visit, the monastery cloisters, was ten times better and incredibly beautiful. The stone carving is so detailed and intricate; I can’t imagine how long it took to complete!

St. Jeronimos Monastery is located in Belém, an area of Lisbon that also features the Torre de Belém (Belém Tower) and the Padráo dos Descobrimentos, which is a monument to Portuguese discoverers like Vasco da Gama.

--Alfama: Alfama is a historic region of Lisbon featuring hilly, winding cobblestone roads lined with buildings covered in ornate tile. Very picturesque. In Alfama, I visited Castelo St. Jorge or St. George’s Castle. The castle itself isn’t much to write home about and was actually built in the 1960s as a replica of the castle which stood on the grounds centuries ago. However, the view is fantastic. St. George’s is located on top of a large hill and you can see all of Lisbon from the castle grounds.

--Sample the local cuisine: The Portuguese food was great and my favorite was the pastel de nata, a custard-y egg tart. I took a good sample of the pastel de nata and deemed them all good!

Pastel de nata - Yum!

My next adventure waits in Bilbao, Spain, our second port-of-call. More coming soon.

View of Alfama, in Lisbon. 

Cloisters in St. Jeronimos Monastery.

St. Jeronimos Monastery.

St. Jeronimos Monastery.

St. Jeronimos Monastery.

Monument to Portuguese explorers.

Tower of Belem.

Tile work around Lisbon.

View of Lisbon from St. George's Castle.

View of Lisbon from St. George's Castle.

IPAD 1.5

The summer voyage has a unique aspect called IPAD days which greatly affect the voyage calendar. Although you may know an “IPAD” to be an Apple device, on the summer voyage IPAD stands for In-Port Academic Day.

Semester at Sea conducts classes when we are sailing between ports-of-call and often times, there is a greater need for class time than the amount of time it actually takes to get from one port to the next. Therefore, the ship ends up doing donuts in the ocean to ensure there are enough sea days and time for classes.

Instead of doing donuts in the ocean this summer, Semester at Sea has decided it is more economical to spend the days in port and just stay on the ship (fuel prices are greater than the port fees evidently). Therefore, there will be about 8 in-port class days during the summer voyage where the ship will be docked in-port but shipboard community will not be allowed to disembark because it’s a class day.

Our arrival in Lisbon demonstrates the IPAD concept. We arrived in Lisbon around 14:00 on Thursday but were not allowed to disembark the ship until Saturday morning. We had 1.5 IPAD days upon arrival in Portugal. At first, I thought being stuck on the ship would really stink but I actually didn't mind it. It’s nice to have dinner with the view of Lisbon right at our fingertips! Maybe I’ll change my mind by the eighth IPAD day of the voyage but for right now, it’s been wonderful!

More on my time in Lisbon in the next blog. Hint – this is a beautiful city!

Sunset over Lisbon as seen from the Garden Lounge dining room. Great view, right?!

Coming into port in Lisbon, Portugal.

Lisbon, here I come!

We've arrived in Lisbon!