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[*Miss G*]

11 hours ago, kazu said:

 

Actually  the sauce did not overwhelm the oysters.  It was quite good and I do like my oysters 😉 

 

Here they are:

 

 

LOL on your husband’s shoes.

 

 

 

Those look really good.

 

Look how high up you are in Gibraltar!!  Hope your transition across the Bay of Biscay is uneventful!

[kazu]

14 hours ago, *Miss G* said:

 

Those look really good.

 

Look how high up you are in Gibraltar!!  Hope your transition across the Bay of Biscay is uneventful!

 

Mine were delicious.

 

The Bay of Biscay let us know we were on it last night and I guess we will be back on it at midnight again as we cross to get to Bordeaux.  Definitely we’ll make sure we are in bed by midnight then 😉 

 

We did get to the highest point that is allowed on the Rock.  We were 400 metres up.l. Gibralter is actually 426 metres high but the last 26 metres is a military site and closed.

 

Gibraltar is 3 miles long & 1/2 mile wide.

 

It has 34 miles of tunnels.  The first was built in 1782.  The rock is like Swiss cheese 😉 

 

the tunnel that changed the history of Gibraltar was the Great Siege Tunnel.  It allowed the British to fire cannon hidden in the rock.  It made the Rock impossible to take in regular war times.

 

 

 

Because of this tunnel, the Treaty of Versailles was signed.  Gibraltar was so important to the British that they gave up Florida and another area to the French in the treaty to keep Gibraltar.

 

 

 

It’s quite dark in the tunnel as you can see, but it was very interesting.

 

 

 

 

 

[kazu]

Lovely views from the site of the Great Siege Tunnels:

 

 

You can see the runway in this picture and a couple of others.

 

 

 

 

Not much room to go the other way on these roads.  

 

 

Part of the protective walls for the Rock.  

 

there can be some rock falls but they are normally caused by rain, seagulls and you guessed it....monkeys!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking over we discovered baby seagulls.  They were nearly invisible at first (1/2 under the wall)

 

 

But the seagulls were certainly telling us to get lost 😉 

 

There were 3 of them complaining so we suspect there was really more than one next but we only saw the two babies.  Probably more under the wall, we think.

 

Too funny.  This was in the ladies washroom in each washroom.

 

 

[kazu]

this is the first tunnel that was built on Gibraltar:

 

 

Looks like a waterfall, right?

 

It’s not a natural one.  It’s from the desalination of the sea water.  Mostly salt.

                                                                                                                                                 

 

Driving to the south side of Gibraltar:

 

 

And we were at the Europa Point.

 

This is where it was thought the world ended in Ancient Times.

 

Go any further and you would drop off and be in Hades.

 

 

 

 

This is beautiful Catalan Bay.,  It is named for the Catalunyans who helped the British fight agains the Spanish.

 

 

 

 

 

We were about to approach the runway at the airport.

 

Yes, Gibraltar is the only airport that has a road that crosses the airplane runway!

 

 

When an airplane is ready to taxi, all cars and pedestrians have to wait until it has taken off.  Our guide had it timed perfectly as a plane was about to take off.

 

Not sure why the picture is small, but I hope you can expand it.  The plane is right in front of us.

 

 

Just a couple of seconds later and bang, it took off a couple of minutes later.

Amazing.  Now I get why visiting the runway is such a big deal on the tour.

 

 

Recognize this rock?  This is the rock that Prudential uses in their advertising.

 

Prudential was actually a UK company that did better in the US than the UK.  Their old slogan was “solid as a rock”.  They changed it since Gibraltar is anything but solid.  With it’s 49 tunnels, it’s like Swiss cheese.

‘

 

Sadly we had to leave Gibraltar all too soon as it is a very short stop here.

[kazu]

The next day we were in Lisbon.

 

We hit the Time Out Market early in the morning and since this time it wasn’t crowded, I got some pics.

 

 

 

 

 

[kazu]

 

I picked up the Sinatra pastries here.

 

 

Our lovely coffees and the Sinatra pastries still wrapped up.

 

 

So we had the natels

 

 

Trying to display both pastries but it didn’t work well.  Let’s just say they were good. 🙂. I like the Sinatra pastries better but food is SO subjective 😉 

 

[kazu]

We went walking and enjoying a bit of Lisbon.

 

Having spent a number of days here we just enjoyed and savoured some flavour

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for the pictures.

You say that Gibraltar is the only airport with a road that crosses a runway, but I think there is a road that crosses a runway at a Shetland Island airport.  At least,  it was that way a few years ago when we were there.

But I imagine the road and airport in Gibraltar are bigger than the ones in Lerwick.

[kazu]

Sail a way from Lisbon is very pretty.  On embarkation day, it was too late at night but this day it was early enough to attempt it.

 

The wind was blowing really hard on the top deck so bear with my pics, please.

 

The Mein Schimpf can be seen here.  It’s followed us to 3 ports.  Thankfully we will be rid of it the next day 😉 

 

 

The statue similar to the one in Rio de Janeiro as you approach the bridge.

 

 

 

Approaching the bridge

 

 

 

As we sailed under her, it seemed like the bridge was moving but of course it was an optical illusion.  We were the ones moving - not the bridge.

 

 

 

 

After we passed under, it looked like the P’dam was taller than the bridge!

 

 

 

 

 

Farewell Lisbon!

 

[kazu]

13 minutes ago, puppycanducruise said:

Thanks for the pictures.

You say that Gibraltar is the only airport with a road that crosses a runway, but I think there is a road that crosses a runway at a Shetland Island airport.  At least,  it was that way a few years ago when we were there.

But I imagine the road and airport in Gibraltar are bigger than the ones in Lerwick.

 

Our guide might have lied to us 😉. He did say International airport.  I have no idea if that makes a difference or not 😉 

[kazu]

Oops, I nearly forgot to post our When and Where for today in Leixoes (Porto).  And what a day we had 😄 

 

Here you go:

 

 

 

 

[kazu]

And here is tonight’s dinner menu.

 

We won’t be there.  We’ll be at Sel de Mer tonight and I sense fruits de Mer on in our future 😉 

 

Looks like we chose a good night to go to Sel de Mer 😄 

 

 

 

[puppycanducruise]

18 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

Our guide might have lied to us 😉. He did say International airport.  I have no idea if that makes a difference or not 😉 

Maybe he 'embellished', not lied.😉

But it doesn't matter, it's exciting to be that close to a runway.

 

This thread is wonderful.  It's almost like being there.  Thanks again.

[kazu]

Dinner in the dining room last night was so good that I took pics.  OMG.

 

DH and I both had the exact same things.

 

The Greek salad was beautifully arranged and very good.  The tomatoes were fresh and local as they wanted a particular type for it.

 

 

And the filet beef Wellington was so tender.  Wonderful.

 

[shrimpboat123]

37 minutes ago, kazu said:

The Mein Schimpf can be seen here.  It’s followed us to 3 ports.  Thankfully we will be rid of it the next day 😉 

 

I didn't know I had a ship named after me! 😊

[kazu]

So today, we were in Leixoes but wanted (NEEDED) to get to Porto.  

 

I knew it was a bit of a distance so I had booked a transfer from the port to Porto for 7 of us.

 

Transfer was set for 8:15 as we were supposed to be in port at 8 am and I figured we had our leeway.

 

Wouldn’t you know it?  A freighter was in our spot, had to be moved so we could move in.  By the time we got off the ship it was nearly 8:30 and I was worried (my credit card secured the transfer).  What? Kazu, worry?  Why?  There he was waiting for us in a nice Mercedes van and we were off to Porto.

 

We had him drop us at the Se (Major Cathedral/fortress where the statue was where we were to meet our guide).

 

We wandered around while we were waiting and couldn’t resist a few photos.

 

Part of the Se

 

 

The statue where we were to meet our guide:

 

 

 

Look at how pretty the city is even though there was some early morning fog.

 

We were enchanted as we drove through.  

 

 

 

I stuck through the pillars to get the pics of these mosaics on the outside of the church.  The tiles are truly lovely.

 

 

 

[kazu]

13 minutes ago, shrimpboat123 said:

 

I didn't know I had a ship named after me! 😊

 

LOL - I might have a typo in that thanks to auto correct that I missed.

 

I think it was really Schiff.  I’ve had to correct auto correct twice to get it to do that name.  Sheesh.

[Dietemann]

37 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

LOL - I might have a typo in that thanks to auto correct that I missed.

 

I think it was really Schiff.  I’ve had to correct auto correct twice to get it to do that name.  Sheesh.

Schiff is correct, means Ship. Schimpf is scolding, we don't do that with someone who gives us such wonderful reports about cruising.

[shrimpboat123]

1 hour ago, Dietemann said:

Schiff is correct, means Ship. Schimpf is scolding, we don't do that with someone who gives us such wonderful reports about cruising.

Jacqui and I are neighbours and I couldn't resist the opportunity to make a joke since that is my last name. I constantly remind people what my name means as I shake my finger at them. 😁

[Himself]

2 hours ago, kazu said:

 

LOL - I might have a typo in that thanks to auto correct that I missed.

 

I think it was really Schiff.  I’ve had to correct auto correct twice to get it to do that name.  Sheesh.

Jacqui:  I really enjoyed the pictures

[kazu]

1 hour ago, shrimpboat123 said:

Jacqui and I are neighbours and I couldn't resist the opportunity to make a joke since that is my last name. I constantly remind people what my name means as I shake my finger at them. 😁

 

No worries at all Glen.  Thanks to you, i got the ship name corrected.  I HATE autocorrect.

I took it off my IPad and it came back on and you know how challenged I am to remove this stuff 🙂. 

 

Hugs to you and Jane 🙂 

 

We’ll be home soon UNLESS we decide to stay on 😉. 

[kazu]

I have so many pics of Porto it is nearly ridiculous and what is more silly is that I am going to punish you all with most of them.

 

these are before our walking tour.  

 

Just snapping pics.  When we get to the walking tour, I’ll give you the history.

 

 

This is the Se - the word here for the main cathedral.  Believe it or not there are 50 churches in a 6 kilometre area but this is the one that was built long ago and is considered the main one.  It’s a cathedral but they don’t call it that here as it’s the main one.  It’s the Se.

 

 

this fountain is very old.  It’s in a little side street right off the Se.

 

 

 

 

 

Just another angle of the fountain.  I tend to get enchanted with some of this stuff 😄 

 

 

A close up of the facade of the Se

 

 

It was still dim and foggy this morning but the sun did come out for us later.  Some of what we could see up high.  The Se is at the top overlooking all.

 

 

This was the bishop’s palace - 42 rooms just for him back in the day.

[kazu]

Our guide was there ahead of time and we were off on our walking tour

 

The Se that I had posted pics of is older than Notre Dame.  It was built in the 12th century when the government thought it wise to let the Catholics handle the town.

 

I am sorry it was a bit foggy but I think I have a better close up later, but if you look to the last bridge with the iron work, it was designed by the same architect that built the Eiffel Tower before he built the Eiffel Tower.

 

 

 

 

We were on the Duomo River Bridge.  This side is the Porto (Oporto) side and the other is the Gaia side.  The Gaia side is modern.

 

the Porto side is the original old city and had the medieval walls to protect it.  The walls were built in the 13th century and some remain.  You may be able to see some here in this picture and the others.  Note the tunnel for driving through the wall.

 

 

The tower - part of the wall, still remains.

 

 

 

 

This is the other side of the Douro River - Gaia.  You can see how much more modern it is and how much more spread out.  The houses in Porto were contained within the walls originally and it grew that way.

 

 

 

Pretty, pretty Porto - here you can definitely make out the medieval walls

 

 

[*Miss G*]

That non-waterfall is crazy!  The tunnels look haunted.  👻  Gibraltar is beautiful!

 

I brought back a bottle of 10 year old port from Madeira and we drank it all at Easter.  Now I have to go back to get some more.  🤪

[*Miss G*]

I love the foggy pictures!