Today is a transition point in our journey.  The 114 passengers that were on board just for the 12 day ports of call part of the cruise left today, and so we had to say good bye to new found friends –

Joan from Canada (a charming and hilarious lady who kept us entertained through many meals), Ian (our own Geico gecko from Australia who also had a wonderful sense of humor and a unique outlook on life)

, and Jens and Christiana (a lovely German couple and our partners from Team International) among others. We’ll miss them and wish them “fair winds and following seas”.

L & L, Tom, and I spent the day touring Lisbon by taking the Hop On – Hop Off city tour buses.

They are double decker buses with passes that allow you to hop on and hop off as many times and wherever you want. We were given headsets that we plugged into outlets on the seats in front of us and tuned to our language to hear the history and explanations of the sites we were passing – a new way to tour.  It was a fun and interesting way to see the city which is very hilly and beautiful with parts of the old city blended with with the new – large modern buildings  

and lovely parks. 

After the bus tour we ended up stopping by a restaurant (mostly because we really needed a rest room) that housed the Museum of Beer. We ended up feeling obligated to tour the museum which ended up being fun and interesting and they gave free samples of the local beer – who could pass that up?

 

We arrived back at the boat in time for the embarkation of 173 new passengers… heavy sigh … a whole new group to break in.  Actually, out of the 196 passengers who are taking this trip, 144 of them are repeat Star Clipper customers and they already know the ropes. Not a bad record for Star Clipper.

Tomorrow is a sea day, YEA!!!!

Bon voyage,

Charli

Bo voyage,

Charli