Well, well, well........It was finally time to reap the rewards of our (Me and Jacob) little trip last August to Atlantic City, and take our free cruise #1.
This was our 25th cruise, so we had to "go big or go home" as a famous person (Don Anderson) always says. We picked MSC 10 day cruise to (mostly) Spain on the MSC Orchestra. Jacob and Aubrie came with us, as well as Shelley's sister/husband - Shauna and Don Anderson.
First off, a European cruise is very different than a Caribbean cruise. Caribbean is mostly relaxing, beach, taking it easy and chill. European cruises however, are pretty busy - you didn't go all that way to chill. There are things to see and places to go! And this trip was no different.
We flew to Lisbon, Portugal, (11 hour flight) where the cruise started.
We took the train to Salt Lake City airport, then flew to Los Angeles
Flew to Madrid, then Lisbon
From Madrid to Lisbon, was a small plane
We stayed (for free of course), at the Lisbon Hyatt Regency, which was a beautiful hotel!
We were upgraded to a deluxe balcony room
Jacob and Aubrie had 2 pieces of luggage lost, so Jacob spent the afternoon on the phone trying to find it
The room even had a combo washer/dryer!
Obligatory Video of room:
Fun fact: During the 60's, Portugal was under a dictatorship and the dictator one day saw the Golden Gate Bridge and said he wanted one just like it, so a very similar bridge was built in Lisbon
We ventured out to go find some dinner
Better pic of the bridge, along with the Christ the Redeemer statue in the background
This is our hotel
The next day, we took a day trip to Sintra. This ancient viaduct carried water from the mountains to Lisbon back in Roman times and still stands today
See the colorful castle on the mountain? That's where we are headed. The colorful castle is actually a palace - Pena Palace
I love this photo - the colors are so bright and yes, this is how it really looks!
Our first stop in Sintra, was the Regaleira Palace
Looks like something you'd see in Harry Potter. It was owned by a multi-millionaire and was built in a Gothic style along with huge gardens, grottos and waterfalls and lakes, hidden tunnels and two spiral wells (which were not used for water) , one of which, you can walk down into - it's huge.
This is the "initial well" which is an inverted 9 story tower. The entire estate was built with a heavy influence of Masonic Rituals, symbols and traditions. One of those rituals, was going down this "well", performing masonic rituals on the 4-pointed star, the Templar Cross, at the bottom, then walking along a stone path suspended in water and coming out "anew and fresh" The walk down the spiral stairs started out in daylight, but by the time you got to the bottom, it was pretty dark! At the bottom there were three tunnels that led to different places where the ceremonies were performed. This "initial well" was where candidates of the Knights Templar would be initiated into the brotherhood. They were blindfolded and walked down the stairs, and then had to find their way out of the labyrinth of tunnels at the bottom. If they made their way out, they were then initiated into the organization
This is from the bottom looking up. Walking into and down into this inverted tower, was amazing!
The stone path had to be traversed blindfolded as well. They don't let public walk on them anymore as too many people fell off into the water!
We found a tunnel to go explore
It soon got very very dark!!!
And exited out by this grotto
After exploring Regaleira, we then visited Pena Palace, which is the colorful castle you see in all the photos of Sintra.
You really can't get a good photo of Pena Palace, as it's perched on top of a huge rockface at the top of the mountain, so you can't see all of it at once.
Here are some photos of it that I found online:
Yes, it really is that colorful!
You will never see it like this, as this place is very busy with tourists. It's Portugal's most visited tourist spot!
Ok, back to my normal photos now.
Pena Palace, like Regaleira, are both UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Pena Palace is still used (occasionally) by the President of Portugal. The castle was started in the middle ages as a monastery and eventually acquired in the early 1800's by the King of Portugal and used as a palace.
View of Lisbon from the Palace
There are acres and acres of gardens, trails and fountains and small lakes
Back in Lisbon, time to go find some dinner, with Don and Shauna leading the way
If the rest of the trip is like today, we are in for some good adventures!
