Crossing the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula

I have been really worrying over the past few weeks about my lack of input on this blog due to family stuff and my voluntary work with Heritage Open Day but then I came across a rather lovely Portuguese proverb ‘Antes de mil anos todos seremos brancos”. It reminded me that trivial problems or mistakes of the present moment have no lasting significance or effect, so there is no point in worrying about them. So I am going to stop worrying about the lack of posts this month, and will try not to fret about the fact I am probably not going to manage a #PastmeetsPresent in time for 1st . Instead I am going to look forward to the latter part of next month when I should hopefully have a little bit more time. So for now I hope you will forgive as I share a very short post on a rather fun ferry crossing we took in Lisbon earlier this year.

I had been keen for ages to enjoy Lisbon from the river but had not been too worried about where we went or going on a long river trip. So we decided to use the one day travel option on the Viva Viagem and after a morning buying azulejos in São Vicente we caught the ferry to Cacilhas.

And Cacilhas proved to be a great find – not only are there wonderful views of Lisbon but there is lots to watch on this stretch of the Tagus what with the ferry boats, sightseeing boats, yachts and big ships. You do though need binoculars and/or a rather good camera to really enjoy the Lisbon waterfront from Calcilhas as the Rio Tejo (Tagus) is about 2km wide at this point.

After an enjoyable time just watching the boats and ships pass by we decided it was time for lunch. And we didn’t need to go far to find a fabulous lunch, as right behind us hidden behind the buses was the sailing club. Their lunch was so good I totally forgot to take a single shot of what we ate! After our long lunch we thought we better stroll a bit, but we had only taken a few steps before discovered some rather unexpected Portuguese maritime history. There was a 20th century submarine right beside us along with a 17th century frigate. Not the usual maritime pairings but somehow it works. The submarine is called Barracuda and was one of four diesel-electric submarines that began their Portuguese service in the 1960s. She wasn’t decommissioned until the 21st century which is an incredibly long active life for a submarine. I am not sure when the Barracuda is open for visits but the frigate – D. Fernando II e Glória – is open on Monday afternoons and all day the rest of the week. As with many other museums in Portugal visits are free on the first Sunday of the month, and the best bit of course is that you get to travel back on the ferry afterwards!

We did explore the main street a little bit further but as you’ve probably gathered we didn’t really walk very far on this trip. I am hoping though Jo will forgive me for attempting to include it in her Monday walks as there are lots of boats for her!