Dublin--Scilly--Betanzos--Porto--Vigo--Lisbon
 

I'm posting on the Europe Forum because I received help here on all the ports.

We sailed on "Windsurf" from Dublin to Lisbon. A 600 ft. sailboat with 300 passengers and 200 crew, the experience was fantastic, the service outstanding. I can see why our cruise was 48% repeat passengers.

Dublin-----we had been to Ireland several times before but never Dublin so we booked a few days before the cruise. O'Callahan's St. Stephen's Green Hotel was in the perfect location to walk everywhere in the city.
St. Stephen's Green----beautiful oasis in a busy city. A lovely way to spend an hour or so walking among the unusual trees, flowers, & ponds, or just sitting in the sun on a bench people watching.
Temple Bar----good photo op for the quaint buildings loaded with flowers. A bar for everyone if that's your thing.
Dublin Castle----interesting architecture in the middle of the city.
Grafton Street----good street entertainment, 1 walk down is enough.
St. Stephen's Green Mall----huge with all the same stores you see in every city.
Powerscourt Center----much better shops & restaurants. We had lunch at the French Bistro balcony cafe of Farrier & Draper which was excellent. Tried to get a reservation at the inside dinner restaurant which had stunning decor but no go.
Millstone restaurant----unable to get in another place, they suggested Millstone down the street. I would recommend this place to anyone. Outstanding food & service.
Beeftro restaurant on Balfe St----exhausted after long travel day, we wanted something lite for dinner. Salad & very good hamburgers fit the bill. Friendly service. Steaks, etc. on surrounding tables looked top knotch.
Much more to see, so I guess we'll have to return.

Sailing on to Scilly Islands.............

Was checking to see whether you wrote a TR that included Lisbon and found this. How were the Scillies? Would love to visit them but accommodation is difficult.

I started this TR a month ago and there were no responses so I dropped it. Didn’t seem anyone was interested.

thurs....can,t seem to type your name without it autocorrecting.
Scilly was great. A small open boat picked us up at our sailboat and took us to Tresco Island. Not the best weather though. Not cold, but gray with a sprinkle here and there. The tour of Abbey Gardens was excellent regardless of the weather.
Our guide was knowledgeable and passionate about his work in the Gardens.
Such a variety of gorgeous plants, many still in bloom. IMO, not to be missed if you are in the area.
We did see several hotels plus self catering options available in a brochure we picked up.

One of the questions asked of our guide was if they ever get bad weather. He said yes, about every 20 years. When then asked where they were on that scale, he said about 19 years so they were wondering when it woul come......
You probably heard about the hurricane that hit that area recently. I wonder if it hit Scilly with great force. I’ll have to check on that.

Thanks TPAYT. I think a lot of people go year after year to the same place, plus I need a single. I would love to take the overnight train from London and then the ferry...

I found this on line but no damage reports:
http://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cor...ornwall-637919

I enjoy your trip reports. I was in Spain and didn't see the report. Did you get hit by that storm on the Irish sea?
Was the construction still a mess in Dublin? I love the luas so will be worth it but it has been going on for so long.

Yes I was looking forward to the Portugal portion, as we are considering that next year.

Please do continue your trip report. It sounds like such a great trip.��

We are going to Lisbon in April so I am especially interested in the Lisbon portion of your trip.
Thanks!

Now that there is some interest I’ll continue.

We were supposed to sail out of Dun Laoghaire but the seas were so high they were docked in Dublin Harbor. From Dublin we were scheduled to go to Waterford but that was cancelled so we stayed in Dublin Harbor overnight. No loss as we’ve been to Ireland twice before.

In the morning we sailed for Scilly. After Scilly we had a day at sea and what a day and night it was.....18 ft. seas, What fun actually. We were lucky to be amidships on a lower floor, very stable. Many of the people in the high end, higher up, forward and aft cabins didn’t show up for dinner or sleep so well. My husband wanted to walk the decks but I said, “Great, and I’ll end up in jail when you go overboard....the one who benefits always gets accused of pushing them off!”

Brest in Brittany was our next stop. I was looking forward to an all day tour to Pont Aven and Concarneau. Unfortunately it was a light rain all day. Both towns were lovely but would have been better with sun....gray photos.
We did have a lovely lunch in Concarneau at La Coquille just outside of the old city walls. The wine was flowing and since the weather was bad we all indulged.

I have to say that the Windsurf was fantastic. Small enough that the staff knew you within a day or 2. The food was excellent, the cabin very comfortable with lots of storage & closet space. 2 speciality restaurants for dinner but we actually preferred the main dining room. Breakfast & lunch were buffets also with a menu to order from. Eating out on the deck was preferred as we got farther south and the weather improved.

Finally sun......El Ferrol, Spain. We took a half day tour to Betanzos. Our guide for the town was exceptional. Funny, well spoken, and very knowledgeable. After the tour we had time for a coffee and shopping. I bought a few scarves, beautiful and higher priced than my usual. Also 2 pieces of pottery.

Next up. Vigo, Spain. Quite a large town. We skipped a tour today and walked around by ourselves. Very hilly, good to walk off some of those calories. Pretty views from up high.
We were in Vigo until 9pm so this was the night of our deck BBQ. Absolutely fantastic food, warm weather, and gorgeous harbor at night. They lit up the sails after dark as we sailed away while dancing on the deck.....memories are made of nights like this.

On to Oporto, Portugal and a a Tuk-Tuk tour........

Thanks for continuing. I may have to start taking cruises if I continue to travel, and Windstar sounds interesting. Except... stairs or elevators?

Both stairs & elevators.
Windstar Cruises has 3 sailboats and 3 motor yachts.
We’ve been on Windsurf (300 passengers) twice and Windspirit (125 passengers) once, next we’ll try one of their motor yachts.

TPAYT,
Where is Scilly?
Glad to hear you enjoyed the cruise. I'm not sure I could handle the 18ft waves, though.

Scilly Islands
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/england...sles-of-scilly

18 ft. Seas were quite unusual and of course as we got further south toward Spain & Portugal the seas were calm, the weather warm and beautiful.

Thanks for the info. Glad Ophelia was no worse!

We were in Dublin for the first time last week. Really underwhelmed.
It seemed so small, and dingey. Kind of sad. Wouldn’t return.

I am so glad you continued. Dancing on the deck under the stars...what a great way to end an evening.

I love Dublin but have my parts of town that are my fav and it isn't temple bar.
18ft seas. I am married to a retired submariner and he always picks the middle of the boat lower deck. We do fine.Scilly islands look nice.

The Tuk-Tuk tour in Porto was a barrel of fun. I didn’t like the way it started out, too much traffic. The 4 seater electric car sped right along though.
Once we got into the smaller, old town streets it was more fun. Some hilly streets seemed only big enough to walk or bicycle but up we went. We made several stops for photo ops. The best stop was way up high with a view over the river, several bridges, and whole city. Our guide was very entertaining and knowledgeable plus I think she knew every local in Porto. So many people were talking to her from the sides of the streets.

When we got back to the port there was a port wine tasting booth....yuk! I love my wine, mostly white and some red, but port was way too strong for my tastes.

The next morning we said goodbye to the crew and our new found friends on the cruise. All in all we had a great time and can’t say enough good things about our time on the Windsurf. But now it was time to explore Lisbon.

We stayed 4 nights at the Internacional Design Hotelright on Rossio Square. The location could not have been better and we ad a nice view of a fountain in the square from our room.

I must warn you that it was a bit hard to find. The taxi could only get close to it, pedestrian only, and point. The signage was not very good, the hotel lobby nonexistent, really just a front desk & elevator. It had started to rain and we were walking in circles. Finally a restaurant server took us right to the front door. We went back & ate lunch at his place & left him a big tip.

That said, it was a lovely, modern hotel. Each floor had a different smell. The breakfast room was large with many choices every day. The room was large, very modern, but unfortunately hardly amy storage. Two small shelves, a few hangers, & a safe in the closet. Bathroom vanity so small it was almost useless. Still, we would stay here again because of the location.

Lisbon is a beautiful city, very walkable, but very crowded. The first afternoon after it stopped raining we walked down a pedestrian street all the way to the water. Restaurants lined the street with some souvenir shops. The architecture was stunning. At the huge open plaza on the water we heard a Samba type band with an excellent singer. People were dancing and it was a lively scene.

That evening the front desk suggested a street off the other side of the square with many good restaurants. The weather was beautiful so we sat outside. A bottle of Mateus, some melon & ham, tomato & mozeralla salad, broiled cod all very good and at 66 Euros a good deal.

The next day it’s up to the castle.......

Castelo de San Jorge on a beautiful sunny day. We went to a tour kiosk on the square and bought a tram ticket for the day. The trams are such a part of Lisbon and a good way to get all those hills.

Big mistake! We ended up throwing the tickets away. Every tram stop had 40-50 people waiting in line. When the tram arrived they were packed in like sardines. This did not look like a pleasant way to see the city, especially on a very hot day.
A cab happened by and we hopped in. 6 Euros up to the castle. Much better way to go.

Waited in line maybe 15 minutes to enter the castle. Again, a lot of people around, but the grounds of the castle are so extensive that we had plenty of room to explore.
The view over the city to the water is gorgeous. The structure of the castle is fun to poke around and take lots of photos.

You definitely have to watch your footing though. It’s square, round, odd shaped, pointed, very uneven rocks. That adds to the charm but treacherous all the same.

After about 2 hrs. at the castle we headed downhill. Such picturesque streets.
A Fodorite had suggested CHAPITO for lunch. Thank you!

There is a great view from inside the restaurant but we chose to sit outside in the very inviting garden. Tasty food, friendly service, and conversation with travelers from around the globe. A very pleasant lunch indeed.

More walking down through the Alfama, stopping here and there, watching the completely crammed full trams pass us by. It seems like every block has a shoe store on it with unusual styles of tennis shoes/trainers in every color imaginable.
I can understand that as the hills and uneven tiles on the streets call for comfortable shoes. All in all we enjoyed our wanderings around Lisbon.

That evening we returned to the street of restaurants across from the Rossio train station. Lisbon streets are lined with hundreds of outside restaurants but since we had good luck here the other night we thought we’d return to another in the area.
Not a good experience (Sol Dourado) So-so food, terrible service, but we did have a good conversation with a couple from London next to us, 55 Euro. We ended the evening across the street at the good place we were at the night before (Sol dos Bacalhau) for dessert & coffee.

Next up a trip to Sintra, Cabo da Roca, and Cascais.......

Wow, sounds like Lisbon is now firmly on the tourist trail. A decade ago it was quite peaceful. I usually go more in the off season but the last time, in 2014, the trams were definitely more crowded.

TPAYT,
I am enjoying your report about Porto and Lisbon. We won't have time in April to visit Porto, so hopefully we will some other time.

In April 2018 we will spend 5 nights in Lisbon. How many nights were you in Lisbon? Did you write down names of restaurants? Would especially like restaurant recommendations.
Thanks, Karen

KarenWoo.....we were 4 nights in Lisbon. I had a list of higher end restaurants to try but we did’t go to any of them. After 8 nights of gourmet food on the ship we were done with that.

These were excellent:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaura..._Portugal.html

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaura..._Portugal.html

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaura...l_Portugal.htm

The others we tried not so good.

A lot of good coffee and dessert everywhere.
We voted Lisbon the city of fantastic pastry and.....the worst bread in Europe!
I mean everywhere. How does that happen?

Thanks for the TR, TPAYT - very interesting. This isn't the sort of trip I've never been on, but having read what you've written i can see its attractions.

<<Where is Scilly?>>

Karen - I'm glad someone else answered this. What that article doesn't really tell you is that of all those 140 odd islands, only 5 of them are inhabited - St Mary's [the main one], Tresco, Bryher, St Agnes, and St Martins. The rest are known as the "off islands" and can be visited by day boat but generally for no longer than that as most of them don't have any water. A trip out to see the seals or the sea birds is a lot of fun, and the beaches are wonderful - the closest you'll get to a tropical beach in the UK.

Thursdaysd - you used to be able to fly into Tresco [as well as St Mary's] in a helicopter and see the island as a day trip but they closed the heliport in PZ a few years ago and they are still arguing about whether to re-open is elsewhere. The flights weren't cheap but when you added in the cost of accommodation on the island they weren't a bad deal. We took my every elderly aunt there once as a surprise and she never stopped smiling all day.

You're right about the problems of accommodation on the islands; you generally need to book very well in advance which is probably something you don't feel able to do at present. The other problem I have to say is the weather - it's ok if you get one day rain out of 7, but if it's six out of seven it would seriously limit one's enjoyment I would say. But if you like wildlife and getting away from it all, they are magical.

Ann - thanks, I'm fine with the ferry. Once went round in circles outside Dover because it was too rough to enter and I was one of the few not sick. Alas, doesn't look like I'm going anywhere next spring...

I'm sorry about that thursdaysd. You're brave thinking about using the ferry - it's a bit of a tub as it has no draft so it can get into port at fairly low tide which makes it roll A LOT. [the father of a friend of mine was master of the Scillonian for years, even my friend was sick on it on occasion].

Thanks, Ann. I am actually thinking about moving back to the UK, but then I remember the winters. Plus I have no energy at present and the effort involved feels too much. I still miss the countryside and the buildings, though.

thursdaysd - I know just what you mean about the winters. The best ones I've had here are in the South East - less rain and damp then here but it does get cold. OK if you wrap up warm. Here in Cornwall it can sometimes be difficult to know whether it's summer or winter - it is cold and damp a lot of the time. Lovely when the sun shines on a warm Spring day but very chilly when the wind blows which is a lot of the time.

Sintra, Cabo da Roca, & Cascais

We booked a tour with. insidelisbon.com

A friend recommended this and it was excellent. Small vans, no more than 8 people. 65 Euros per person. Our guide picked us up at Hard Rock Cafe a few blocks from our hotel.
We were 8, 2 of us and 6 French Canadians who spoke no English. Our guide, Gonzalo, was so personable. Said everything in French & English, was very knowledgeable and quite entertaining.

First we went to Sintra. He wanted to get us into Pena Palace before the hoards of tour buses arrived. During the drive he gave us much info on the Palace and area.
After parking it was a very hilly walk up to the Palace. There was a vehicle to take you up if the walk was too much but the line was long. We all walked a pretty wooded path The Palace was definitely worth the time. Beautiful inside and out.
By the time we came out it was getting very, very crowded.

Then we had time alone in the town of Sintra. What a tourist trap. We walked the narrow hilly lanes filled with junk shops. There was a Hotel off to the side that looked like a safe haven. We stopped in a bakery and had a few of those delicious custard tarts. The streets were packed end to end, tour buses everywhere.

I would definitely recommend seeing Pena Palace but go early....or maybe late.

Off we went to Cabo da Roca, the westernmost spot in all of Europe. The weather was beautiful with sunny skies. This was sort of like the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland.
Huge cliffs into the sea with stunning views. I asked the guide if anyone ever fell in and he said all the time They try to get to the edge for a selfie and over they go. There is a beach below to catch them if they’re still alive. In other spots it’s just cliffs into the sea...better not go off there!

There were a couple of guys playing guitars & singing to add a bit of fun. As we walked the sandy, rocky path along the cliffs we heard some giggles behind us.
Here came 2 young ladies in 5 inch heels trying to navigate the walkway. Yikes!

Back in the van we headed to Cascais. What a lovely town. Sort of like the French Riviera only pocket beaches instead of a long Beach.

The town is well manicured, lots of flowers everywhere. Cute shops & restaurants, hotels, and beach clubs. We had a 2 hours to explore. We chose to have lunch at John Bull restaurant. Sitting outside in an inviting square, I had a shrimp. Mango salad and my husband had a tomato mozzarella salad & ham, mushroom omelette.
Along with cappuccino and bottle of water 41 Euros

On the drive back our guide said he would pay some music popular in Lisbon.
I couldn’t resist and said, “Please, not Despacito.” Everyone got a good laugh. I figured even the French people would know that song and I was right.

This was an 8 Hour day we’ll spent.

Enjoying this TPAYT thanks for carrying on with the report. Not happy to hear of crowds in Lisbon...I don't see when you were there? We are thinking the latter part of September next year.

Arrived in Lisbon Sept. 18, left the 22nd.

We’ve traveled to Europe in Sept. for the last 16 yrs.
Sept. was always a bit less crowded until a few years ago. It seems every year it increases with more and more crowds. Twice we went right at the end of Sept. into Oct.. The weather was lovely and the crowds less, ‘08 & ‘15.

It does seem that more & more people from all over the world are now going to Europe.

TPAYT, what a trip! We enjoyed Ireland, including Dublin, but not as a part of a sailing adventure.

We, too, are considering a visit to Portugal in the fall of '18 and are enjoying your experiences there. Thanks for posting your report.

Thanks for the restaurant recommendations!
Karen

Lisbon......our last full day. We walked, and walked, and walked.

We started at Restauradores Sq. (Next to Rossio Sq.) and walked up Avenue de Librdade all the way to the statue Marquis of Pombal. Both sides of the street are all the high end shops, Gucci, Armani, Hermès, etc.
The middle of the avenue is a wide pedestrian area with beautiful patterns in the tiles on the ground. That day there was a market for about a mile with vendors selling local things. Neptune’s Fountain is about half way up along with a couple of places to have coffee.

We came back down to the Ascensor da Gloria tram. Again a long line waiting to get on so we walked up a very steep hill admiring the creative street art along the way.
At the top was the Miradouro de San Pedro de Alcantara lookout terrace.
Lovely views across the city to the castle. We had a fantastic Lavazza Cappuccino at an outside cafe. There was. Lot of construction going on but the view was still worth the walk. Probably much better without the construction.

Then we headed down through Bario Alro to Chiado stopping at Igreja de San Roque church for a look inside. Absolutely gorgeous. If you’re anywhere close to this church, stop on in.
There is a courtyard in front of it with restaurants.....actually it seems like Lisbon is a huge courtyard of outside restaurants everywhere.

Down more hills to Rue Garrett which is a main shopping street in Chiado. Wow, was it crowded and the heat was getting to us. We were a.so tired of Nike, Zara, H&M, Etc. Stores. The same that you see in every city around the globe

I spied what looked like a nice cafe in a garden a bit in from the street. A real oasis in the madness.
Aprazivel was a real find. They have a great looking inside restaurant but we chose to sit in the lovely garden area.
Some Vino Verde, Diet Coke, tap water
2 excellent hamburgers (with bacon & a fried egg) & fries.....37 Euros
After all the gourmet food on the cruise this was a welcome menu.

The we headed down more hills checking things out on the way back to Rossio sq. and our hotel. Stopped by the Sandra Justa Elevator to view a line several blocks long. Every time we passed it the line seemed longer. Is it really worth waiting for an hour or 2 in the hot sun to go up. Not for us!

Last night in Lisbon......

A few photos from Dublin to Lisbon cruise
 

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...14c36f2b1.jpeg

Favorite photo
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...0e644d3c9.jpeg

Sailing out of Vigo, Spain harbor

I love the views from the sea. :blush:

Nice!