Pole to Pole with Silversea - Lisbon to London

 5/19

Lisbon, Portugal. Esron and I walked the city this afternoon after a morning tour to Sintra.  Only 23 of us are staying on and somewhere around 230 got on today.  I heard all cabins are full.

Views from the ship this morning and bus to Sintra this morning.

Sintra is a lovely mountain town.  It used to be a summer retreat for Portuguese nobility and royalty and is another UNESCO site.  We visited the Quinta da Regaleira, a neo-gothic mansion and the gorgeous grounds.  

Common wood-pigeon

Eurasian blackbird

Common Chaffinch

Castelo dos Mouros - ruins of a Moorish castle.

Outside and inside of mansion

Walking through Sintra

When we got back to the ship Esron and I headed off in search of Pasteis de nata, an egg custard tart.  Scott, an expedition team member that left today gave us what he thinks is the best in Lisbon.  He was not wrong.

  

Walking through the little of Lisbon we did was beautiful.  I could see spending more time here.

This group was from Cape Verde.

More gorgeous views as we headed out of Lisbon.

5/20

We docked in Leixoes, Portugal this morning.  It was about 40 minutes into Oporto/Porto.  I did a walking tour and then stayed in Porto for a bit and used the ship shuttle to get back.  We began by just walking a bit around the lovely street and buildings.  

We stopped at the train station that has tiles depicting stories of the area.

We walked and saw some more gorgeous areas.  The yellow building is where all port wine needs to be checked. The wine has to sit 3 years at least before being sold.

We then went to Palacio da Bolsa.  Gorgeous!  It is the Stock Exchange Palace in a square that is another UNESCO site.  There is a courtroom, other rooms, and one room that the pictures do not do it justice, the Arab Hall!  

This desk was used by Gustava Eiffel.  

Next door we went to St. Francis Church.  We could not take photos inside, but I got one off the internet.  It is no longer a church, just a museum.

We walked to a restaurant on the Douro River under one of the cities 7 bridges.  We had some port wine and a Pasteis de nata and it was not nearly as good as the one yesterday.

I then walked around a bit.  Had lunch, a local Francesinha sandwich, which was way too much.  A ham and this one had beef sandwich, slathered in cheese, egg and sauce.

Super creative shoe story window display!

I bought a ticket to go to a bookstore.  Yep!  Livraria Lello is a bookstore that J.K. Rowling visited while working on the first Harry Potter book. It's a theory that the bookstore interior inspired the interiors for Hogwarts and Flourish and Botts.  Because of the crowd it was difficult to get good photos.

Walking back to meet the shuttle I ran into Salome getting off the shuttle.  She is one of our lovely bar team from Georgia, the country.

I have very much enjoyed my two days in Portugal.

5/21

What a glorious day in the Vigo, Spain area!  I chose the Cies Islands hike today and it was spectacular!  It was peaceful, the landscape was fabulous, the water was crystal clear.  

First a couple of views on our way on the catamaran and then of Vigo when  got back.

  

We passed where they farm mussels, which was another tour.  On the catamaran on the way back we had mussels.

Cies is an archipelago at the mouth of the Ria de Vigo.  No one lives there.  There is camping an nature activities. 

We took the trail to the lighthouse.  An insect hotel.

It was low tide and could see the crabs and fish.  We saw an large eel, but no photo.  A large slug crossing the path.

Gorgeous views and flora!  The lichen was incredible.

  

  

  

Lichen

A juvenile yellow-legged gull and adults. They breed on the island.

Dunnock

Great tit

European robin

Eurasian wren

European stonechat

Eurasian blackbird

And there were 2 bunnies.

We had our Captain's Welcome tonight.  There are 257 passengers on board, the most my whole trip.  For the first time the US does not have the most passengers.  US has 69 and UK has 80.  We are going under the Tower Bridge, which is a very big deal for the Brits.  It should be a fun morning.  I then had dinner with the Captain and two couples. One from Nottingham in England and one from near Girvan, Scotland where we will be stopping.  There were dolphins jumping outside the window at dinner.

Captain Sasha Kolosov, from the Ukraine and from a family of many that sail the seas.  His wife and daughters are in Bulgaria now. 

Tomorrow is a sea day. 

5/22

Dolphins and Northern Gannets and maybe a Herring gull

5/23

Lack of sleep and oysters got me tonight.  Just a few of my favorite from Belle Isle, France.  More info and photos to come.

Eurasian Magpie

Ring-necked pheasant

Looks like a painting, Sauzon

My photo, Monet's painting.  The Needles of Port-Coton.

5/24

I realized my favorite photo of Sauzon is the photo on the front of the Chronicles for yesterday. A painting by Monet.

I began the day on a bird walk with a few other guests and Dayo.  These are more besides what I posted yesterday.  Of course we saw others that we couldn't get a photo of.

Eurasian blackbird

Common wood pigeon

Eurasian collared dove

Butterflies

Views of Le Palais.

Besides petting cats I also met a lot of dogs.  This time the dogs were on leashes with their owners.

After the bird walk I decided to not go back to the ship and just spent time walking around and had lunch.  Tunnels to walk through and some to drive through.

After lunch I walked up the hills for some nice views and stopped into the church.

I then had a bus tour to Sauzon and the Needles (rocks)

The pink house is where Monet had a room and did his painting.

The beautiful rocks.

We then went to the Castel Clara hotel for wine and oysters.  Beautiful but turned out to be my downfall and others.  At least 5 passengers on quarantine for 24 hours from last symptoms and 7 crew.  Lin and Grant are part of the Pole to Pole 14 and he is fine, but she is also quarantined.  The group had a lovely cocktail party last evening hosted by the Captain on the bridge.  Unfortunately, I had to leave early.  

I missed this city today.  I was supposed to do a bird walk and a coastal walk.  Hoping I am well enough for Roscoff tomorrow.

5/25

Success.  Out of isolation.  I did get to tour Roscoff today and go to the Jardin Exotique gardens that has over 3,000 exotic plants.  Roscoff is in the Brittany area of France.

Dumas, the author of The Three Musketeers stayed in this house in 1869.

Towers and chimneys were a sign of wealth

We could not enter Notre-Dame-de Croas-Batz because of a funeral.

The gardens

5/26

Only one more month of my trip.  I get off the ship June 26th.  In some ways it seems like I've been on here forever and in some ways it seems like I just got on.

Today we are in Jersey. It is the largest of the 7 Channel Islands.  It is known for it's cider and makes something called Black Butter with it.  From 1940 to 1945 it was occupied by Germany until liberated on May 9, 1945.

I took a bird walk this morning and then just walked around town.  We heard more birds than we saw.

European starling

Carrion Crow

A different Rock pigeon

Herring gull

Views of Elizabeth Castle.  It is on a tidal island.  Sometimes you can walk to it.  It was started in 1595 and was used in the Battle of Jersey, Third English and Civil War.

Liberation Square

  

Walk around town.  It was early, a Sunday and a bank holiday so it was quiet.

I did have dessert before lunch.  Love ice cream. Love cows. So ice cream from Jersey cows was a treat.

RNLI is the Royal National Lifeboat Institution of Jersey.  It is the team on call to save lives at sea.

I got back to my cabin and had presents on my bed from Zaid, the Entertainment Host, one of the 3 kind-hearted, young men from Columbia.  He is getting off in London and there is a new Entertainment Host and she seems great, but I have totally loved every activity with Zaid and hope to sail with him again in the future.  He's FaceTimed with my grandchildren, hence the adorable gifts.  

5/27

Last night Mila did an excellent recap on knitting in Jersey.  Jersey is where Jersey knits started.  Knitting was so popular it got banned in 1606 for people over 15 during harvesting season because people may get distracted.  In 2023 they made stamps to commemorate knitting in it's history.  

 

We are back in France this morning.  So two nights ago we set our clocks back an hour and last night moved it ahead an hour.  💤

Beautiful views of Saint Malo this morning and this afternoon, also in Brittany.

I took a tour to Mont Saint Michel today.  A short drive and in Normandy.  I had seen photos of it and was very excited to go see it in person.  

Sheep on the drive and cows walking back to the bus. 🤣 

The legend of Mont Saint Michel began in 708 after the archangel Michael appeared to the bishop Aubert 3 times in a dream and St. Michael asked him to build a sanctuary to honor him.  It was built over a period of 1300 years and is on a tidal basin.  At one point it was a prison. 

I did not walk the over 300 steps up into the Abby.  I am still not 100% after the oysters.  I stayed in the lower part and went into the church.  There are only 25 brothers and sisters living there today.

Another Silversea group had an excursion to walk around during low tide.  These students were doing a walk.  It is a pilgrimage site.  On my walk back I did take photos for a couple of girls.  One had ridden her bike from Paris. The friend was supposed to ride but injured her knee so she drove.  It's about 250 miles and she took 7 days. 

While waiting for the tender back to the ship we saw baby gulls.

5/28

Today is our last port in France.  We are in Le Havre.  Much of the city had been destroyed in WW II.  I took a tour to Etretat, but did drive through Le Havre which is located on the Siene.

The building on the right is a theater.

A bit bigger ship next to us today!!!  Our max passengers is 300, the Aidaprima is 3,400!

On the ride we passed fields of beautiful green flax.  The horse and man depict picking pebbles from the beach, which you are no longer allowed to do.  

Etretat is an area with cliffs that were painted by Monet.  We did a walk through town and near the cliffs.  It was a rainy day.

5/30

This morning we arrived in London.  It was a very special time down the Thames and under Tower Bridge, which is a very big deal because not many cruise lines get to dock here.  It was pretty moving, even for me an American.  I channeled all my English ancestry.  I appreciated being surrounded by passengers from the UK that told me what everything was as we passed.

These are barriers if the tide is too high coming in the barriers will raise out of the river to stop London from being flooded. 

Views along the way.  IFS Cloud Cablecars.  Uber boat, which we actually use to get to shore, the O2 stadium and Canary Wharf.

We passed Greenwich where the Viking Saturn was docked.

Approaching the Tower Bridge, traffic was stopped and the bridge opened for us.

My butler Ruth was out to watch us go under.  The wind coming down the Thames was strong. 

We are next to the HMS Belfast and walk through the outside part to get to the Uber boat to go to the other side of the river.

I went to a private tour at the Royal Geographical Society.  The Society was founded in 1830 to advance geographical science.  They have a large collection of artifacts, maps and photos.  The artwork on the Silver Wind is on loan from them.  

This is an original drawing by Livingstone of Victoria Falls and the hats worn by Livingstone and Stanley at their meeting.  

William Edward Parry exploration

Special medals given by the Royal Geographic Society to Shackleton's team.

Alex in historic heaven!

Tonight I am attending the Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London.  No photos will be allowed.  I believe we may also have an after hours tour in the Tower of London.  

This is from the website about the ceremony. 

Since 1826, at exactly seven minutes to ten at night, the Chief Yeoman Warder of the Tower emerges from the Byward Tower, wearing the traditional red Watch Coat and Tudor Bonnet. In one hand, he carries a lantern, still lit to this day with a single candle. In the other he carries a set of keys – the King’s Keys.

He proceeds at a dignified pace to the archway of the Bloody Tower, where an escort is formed in readiness. This escort is made up of soldiers from the military garrison at the Tower. It comprises two sentries, a sergeant and another guard who represents the role of drummer (but who actually plays a bugle).

The Chief Yeoman Warder then hands the lantern to the drummer and they all march to the outer gates of the Tower.  

The Chief, assisted by the Tower’s Watchman, closes, locks and secures the outer gates, while the escort stand guard. The same process takes place at the inner gates.

The Chief Yeoman Warder moves two paces forward, raises his Tudor bonnet high in the air and says: ‘God preserve King Charles’.

The guard answers ‘Amen’, exactly as the clock chimes ten, the soldier representing the drummer sounds 'The Last Post' on a bugle.

The Chief Yeoman Warder takes the keys back to the King's House, to hand them back to the King’s representative at the Tower, The Resident Governor, and the Guard is dismissed.

Tomorrow begins a new leg of the trip so a new page.