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. Yup that is a submarine in the foregroundThere 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!

Author: BeckyB

It had been a good life walking, cooking, photographing, volunteering, blogging, and best of all spending time with MrB, family, & friends. Sadly it is no longer what it was, as suddenly and unexpectedly I became a widow.

21 thoughts

  1. Aw, I wish I saw this when you published it – we went to Lisbon for a week in the beginning of August and would have enjoyed doing this. Although we’ve been to Greenwich, Chatham and Portsmouth loads of time, you can’t have too much of frigates and submarines. 🙂

    What I can’t believe is that our Lisbon guidebook didn’t even mention this – but then our guidebook was so bad I ended to write several posts about Lisbon (and I’m not even a travel blogger!) just to warn people not to take a word of it seriously!!!

    1. oh that is a shame but what a great excuse to return!!

      I’m finding guidebooks dreadful these days, those that once were ahead of the game sharing the hidden places are now just average, and everyone seems to share exactly the same info. Thank goodness for bloggers!

      1. I agree you can get better info on a given place from bloggers who’ve been or who live there – the difficulty of course is to encounter the blogs in the first place because google doesn’t do small blogs any favours!

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  3. Good to see you back but as have been travelling back and forth to U.K. Have also not blogged much. We crossed the Tagus or Tejo about a week ago while on our annual car MOT journey. It’s still quite wide and there’s the Via de Plata motorway bridge so you can’t stop and enjoy this amazing river, still quite a way from its source! Thanks for all your posts on Lisbon as we haven’t made it there this year. Mr T would like to retire there. Obviously doesn’t believe we’re retired here! Enjoy and blog when you can!

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  6. I love the juxtaposition of modern submarine and 17th-century ship. And I also understand those feelings of almost guilt when the blog gets neglected a bit because of other things in life. I tell myself the blog is for enjoyment, so don’t stress about it. I write when I have the time, and catch up on everyone else’s blogs then as well.

    1. Thank you so much for both your lovely comments on the photographs and your wisdom. Didn’t realise how much I needed to hear this until I just read your comments – so thank you

  8. Ah, you’re forgiven! I know how hard you’re working at present, and you’re right- I do love a boat or 3. 🙂 🙂 We did do a there and back ferry crossing one day, but from a choice of 2 ferries we chose the wrong one and didn’t get to see Christ the Redeemer as planned. A lingering memory of Lisbon is how far away you could see it from as you drove away (or towards it, of course 🙂 ) Thanks for thinking of me, darlin!

    1. Thank you for forgiving me but oh no about your ferry trip – am sure it looks better from a distance than close up! We did get tbe right ferry but spent too long eating lunch 😉

  9. Fab post. We visited Lisbon for first time last month for 5 days. Wonderful city . Can’t wait to return. 😊 Really enjoyed seeing your photographs.

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