March 18 + 19 – Portimao and Lisbon

gMarch 18, 2019 – Portimao to Lisbon
After our last breakfast on board the Corinthian, we said goodbye and disembarked. Our buses headed to a winery 1/2 hour outside of Portimao.
At the winery we tasted 3 young wines and then got to make our own blend using the three varieties. We had a light lunch and toured the winery. The winery has beautiful sculptures throughout the property. At the end of the tour we each received a bottle of our personal blend to take home.
It was a three hour trip to our hotel in Lisbon. We passed many cork trees on the way.
At 6pm we had a short walk to familiarize us with the neighborhood around our hotel. Many of us went to a local fish restaurant for dinner that our group leader recommended.
March 19, 2019 – Lisbon, Portugal
There are 4 OAT groups staying at our hotel. Breakfast was very crowded this morning.
Our first stop this morning was the Tile Museum. Many older buildings have their facades covered In tile. This museum has tiles from the 17th century to the present. We had a workshop and were able to paint a tile.
Next we toured the Mouraria district. This is known as the immigrants district . A Romanian woman was our local guide here. The tour was very interesting and the smells of different food cooking was a delight to my senses.
We had lunch downtown by the river. After lunch we had our choice of bus to hotel, easy walk to hotel, or uphill walk of the Alfama District. I chose the last option. Francisco led about 40 of us through the narrow streets. This is where Fado music was born. We could here some being played as we walked by a restaurant. After an hour, we got to the Cathedral. We finally started headed downhill to get back to the city center. We had one more stop. We each got a glass of Ginja. This is a cherry liqueur served in a plastic shot glass. We then walked back to the hotel.
We had our farewell dinner. Since many who are leaving on Thursday have early morning flights, they had it a day early. It was a very nice meal with lots bnb of good food and wine.
There are 22 of us staying on until Sunday for the first post trip. Francisco will become our tour leader.