Arriving in Lisbon — An Elegant Sufficiency

The first hint that we were “nearly there” was whilst we were having breakfast, when a couple of people jumped up and went outside with their cameras. Unable to resist taking a look for myself, I joined them to see what's what. We weren't due to arrive until 11am so we'd been fairly relaxed about keeping our eyes on the view.

But here we were, a little fort had been spotted out there on what appeared to be shallow waters, maybe even an island at low tide? We were at the entrance to the Tagus River.

!It was strange to see waves in the middle of the sea.

It wasn't long after that we began to see some familiar landmarks, including the Belem Tower, which I recalled had the best Pasteis de Nata shop right opposite.

Shortly after that, we spied the Monument of the Discoveries another landmark there on the shore. We had no idea where our berth was going to be in the city, but surely, we couldn't have much further to go.

Oh but we still needed to sail beneath the 25 April bridge, which was shrouded in mist this morning.

As we came closer, the mist seemed to be lifting and the noise levels increasing.

That was because the deck of the bridge is a metal grid and the traffic driving over it was creating a racket!

We couldn't help but notice the design around the piers too.

Having made our transit beneath the bridge, I turned around to look at the “other side” - the side opposite the city, where lo and behold the sun was shining.