“This is a beautiful city and I’m sure you are going to fall in love with it,” said our Viking Program Director Ileana as we boarded the buses to tour Lisbon. It was day two of the pre-cruise trip on “Portugal’s River of Gold,” courtesy of Viking River Cruises.* My lucky boyfriend L (always remind him how lucky he is) and I were assigned to Bus B for the morning and all future tours during the cruise.
Touring Historical Belém
We started our guided tour of Lisbon in Belém, located in the southwestern tip of the city along the Tagus River, one of the longest rivers in the Iberian Pennisula bordering between Portugal and Spain. Our guide Maria told us all about the ravishing earthquake, tsunami and fires that destroyed much of Lisbon in 1755. “Portugal’s royal family moved to Belem because it wasn’t destroyed by the earthquake,” said Maria.
Belem is home to many of Portugal’s historical landmarks and we visited several: Continue reading