Day 11 : Disembarkation @ Porto & Fatima enroute to Lisbon
After breakfast we disembared from our ship, and boarded buses which were going to take us to Fatima, a town famous for its shrine dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Fatima is a world renown Marian Shrine and pilgrimage site for Catholics. The Blessed Virgin Mary appeared here before three children in the early 20th century and made a three predictions which had been kept secrets of the Church. The bus ride from Porto to Fatima was about 2 hours.
We had free time at Fatima. This was a quiet and peaceful place as the pilgrims normally arrive on the 13th of each month when they have processions. The alter is built on the site of the apparition chapel. We were glad to be able to attend a mid-day mass albeit in Portugese at the open church. After mass, we lighted candles at the shrine.
The Marian Pilgrimage Site of Fatima
Lunch was on our own. We had a quick lunch at one of the cafes behind the church. I love the simple hotdog that I had. It was topped with crispy potato sticks! Yummy! After lunch, we boarded our bus again and it took another 2 hours before we arrived in Lisbon in the late afternoon.
My simple lunch @ Fatima
We checked into the Tiara Park Atlantic Hotel (recently became the Intercontinental Hotel, Lisbon) where we were staying for our 3 nights post-cruise extension.
The room was pleasant. Location of hotel though claim to be central is quite a walk from the main shopping and tourist areas. We took taxis to go to the shopping area or to Alfama and it was relatively inexpensive, about €6 each trip. Breakfast was served at a corner at the lobby. A pretty crammed area. Choice of buffet is comparable to other European hotels.
Our room @ the Tiara Park Atlantic Hotel
This hotel seemed to be frequented by tour groups. During our stayed I noticed that besides our group which was arranged by Amawaterways, Insight Vacation uses this hotel too. As with all hotels frequented by tour groups, reception’s service was poor with long queues. We had a separate check in desk and they took our passport at check-in agreeing to return them to us in half an hour to an hour after they had captured all the info. After a short rest in our room, we decided to go shopping but was unable to get our passports back as they were busy. I needed my passport as I wanted to claim tax refund for my shopping and need to bring my passport with me. The lady at the reception was terribly unhelpful and refused to return my passport even when I assured them that I’ll pass it back to them after I am back from my shopping. Finally the concierge helped and gave me back my passport.
Anyway, I got my passport and we headed out shopping. We took a cab to Avenida da Liberdade where many of the designer shops were. Hard Rock Café was also on this street, so we went there to get souvenir Tshirts for our kids.
We had dinner at a nice little restaurant in a side street behind Hard Rock Café, called Solar dos Presuntos. This restaurant serves high end Portuguese food, focusing mainly on seafood. We did not make any reservations and so had to wait at the bar for about half an hour for a table. This restaurant serves food family style. DH and I shared a squid ink seafood paella, some prawns and soup. The food was good but I felt was a little too salty for me.
Seafood dinner @ Solar dos Presuntos