Lisbon easily ranks high in the list of places I have traveled. We arrived five days before our Norwegian Cruise was to depart to give us time to explore, so glad we did. When Tricia (Travels Through My Lens) and I were first together 35 years ago we talked about places we would like to visit, Portugal was at the top of the list. It only took us 35 years to get there, but it was worth the wait.
We stayed at a hotel in the Chiado district, which is an old part of town that is quite popular for shopping and eating – we had a view of a castle in the distance, and rooftops nearby.
We visited São Jorge Castle on our first day. It sits high on a hill with ramparts offering 360 degree views, but of course it was ancient trees and stones that captured my attention.
Friends and family all told us that when in Lisbon we must take a day trip to Sintra, so on Tricia’s birthday that is just what we did. Though it is famous for the multiple chateaus clustered together, we spent our time at the Quinta da Regaleria Garden, which Tricia described as being in a fairytale. You should check out her blog to see some photos of this stunning place.
Our cruise left Lisbon and headed for Madeira and the Canary Islands, then to Morocco, Gibraltar, and Spain. Often the ship must dock in the more industrial part of town which allows for a different landscape than the brochure photos of ancient buildings.
This lady had quite a sparkly jacket on for the evening. Mornings I would have my coffee at the Spinnaker Lounge which was deserted at that hour.
We had never been to the famous Costa del Sol of Spain so we were quite happy with stopping at Malaga. The food was great, the esplanade beautiful, but the meilleure was Alcazar, a castle built by the Moors.
The best part of the trip was Portugal though we did have a few memorable moments on the cruise in spite of once again being sick – not COVID – for most of the trip.
As I have written before, our cruise journey went from anti-cruise, to giving it a try not once but twice, now back to a feeling that we are not likely to do another, but of course time will tell.
I hope wherever your journeys take you, near or far, you are making the most of them and even sketching along the way.
theTravelsketcher 
Your sketches of the places you visited in Lisbon and surroundings look wonderful 🎨👌
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Thank you so much, sketching is how I remember places. Do you sketch?
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Lovely post. It was a great trip, except for getting sick.
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I agree, that did put a damper on it a bit.
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Thank you for what was literally a trip to Portugal this morning. All of your sketches were, as always, a pleasure to scroll through. My favorite was the first; the one f your hotel. What wonderful things you’ve both seen and what wonderful experiences you’ve had and what wonderful memories you’ve brought home with you–(even Portuguese colds….!)
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It was a beautiful place, it reminded us a bit of your hotel Isle. Old building, lots of stairs, big room and amazing breakfast brought to the room.
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Lovely work Terry. I feel this is a special way to document and reflect on a trip. My favourites are sparkly jacket lady (the contrast between her and the rest of the scene really works) and the two figures walking past the tree at Jorge Castle.
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Thank you. Looking at old sketches give a visual, but they always allow me to recall the feeling of the time I did it. Yes the lady and the jacket was fun, she was decked out for the evening. For a long time I never added figures to sketches, but discovered that they make the scene much more alive, even just a simple outline.
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Ah the complimentary illness package! I do hope you can throw it off quickly.
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Tricia got some meds and is doing better, I found that a pair of shoes which I thought were great for feet, ECCO brand, was actually exacerbating my pain – they are not getting worn any longer that is for sure.
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Ha, I have a pair of those…good for looks not walks.
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I thought because they had pretty good arch support it would help, but the left one dug in at the back of my heel, I should not have ignored it. My wife has tried ECCO and they did not work for her either, they are supposed to be so great, mais pas pour moi.
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C’est la vie. 😉
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You were able to see/sketch Alcazar from the Spinnaker Lounge? Oh, wow. Magic. (I think Norwegian has a Spinnaker Lounge on all their ships. My ship in the North Sea had one, and it was the best place to be. Even when it was not officially open, as you discovered. Maybe ESPECIALLY when it was not officially open. Then it was wonderfully empty. Just the spot for the Travelsketcher, when overlooking Alcazar.) A wonderful sketch.
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It was quite a way off in the distance, but it was a nice time as we were waiting to depart.
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Here I can see that you have a talent that I myself lack, although to be honest I have never tried sketching.
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Before I moved to France I did workshops for people who said they were not artistic, all were able to sketch a bit, I bet you could too.
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Lisbon is for sure one of my favourite places in Portugal (and Porto). We enjoyed the views from São Jorge Castle … and I’m so glad to see this in your sketches!
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One thing about Lisbon is that views are just a couple steep hills away, lots of going up and down.
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Yes, I agree about trees. A simple black sketch works well. Similar to what I was trying
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