Celebrity Infinity - Lisbon - Strait of Gibraltar

Sea Day

The captain got on the PA system this morning and announced that due to a Harbor Pilot in Porto we are skipping that port and making only one stop in Portugal. Tomorrow we will be in Lisbon for the day.

I'm a bit disappointed because I was looking forward to seeing more of Portugal. Guess I'll have to come back :)

We had a quiet day sailing today. The waters have been super calm, and we are traveling at a slow 12 knots. Very pleasant.

We had dinner at the Luminae restaurant. This is the Retreats exclusive restaurant and we have been here only one time in the first four days. They literally called our room twice inviting us to come.

Well, they are treating us so well, and it's made it super enjoyable. They know our names and are giving us such excellent service that we keep coming back. Of course we also don't want them tracking us down again haha.

Gerbe, one of the waiters, is a great photographer. I took the Leica Q3 to dinner tonight and he immediately noticed it and appreciated it.

So I invited him to play around with it and he took some great pictures. He was so excited, it was fun to see his appreciation of the camera and his enthusiasm.

Mitzi just loved the chocolate ball being lit on fire and melting before our eyes. Fun!

Our room was being cleaned when we came back from dinner, so we headed back down the main levels and walked around so I could do some 'ship photography'.

The camera crew noticed the Leica and we stopped and talked for a few minutes.

Lisbon - Portugal

Let's start today with the street photography. These large cities have a plethora of interesting people.

Here's the view when we opened our drapes this morning.

As we left the ship we had to laugh at the token red carpet for Retreat passengers. Which we are, but there is no value having the red carpet here where there will never be a line!

We found Lisbon to be an engaging city. It was fun to speak portuguese, although I was shy for a while and it took some time for me to get warmed up and comfortable.

Had to try the Pasteis de Nata! This picture is for my lifelong friend Doug Folsom, who recommended I try it.

I just about got hit by this trolley, the sidewalk is so narrow here and people were coming the other way. Not much room!

We like the way they use tiles on the outsides of buildings.

We found another cow. And a batman. And a superman. Benson will be a happy grandchild :)

This man was inviting people on the street over to his restaurant. Mitzi asked him where we could find batteries. He was super helpful and walked us over to a store close by and showed us where they were.

When we finished our purchase we of course were going to his restaurant for what he did for us. And are glad we did. We had a traditional Portuguese meal and it was great.

After the meal we headed back to the ship.

Four miles of walking today.

As we got back to the ship I just had to walk on the red carpet. Like I said, there was no way this was going to function as a perk, no line would ever form here haha.

Mitzi's new quilt is coming along, she finished another section today.

As the sun set the ship next to us set sail under this beautiful cloud structure. So peaceful and beautiful.

Strait of Gibraltar

We woke up this morning with this view out the window. One of the most perfect sea days. Beautiful weather as we sailed through the Strait of Gibraltar around 4p in the afternoon.

One the port side, the Rock of Gibraltar.

On the starboard side, the northern tip of Africa.

We had dinner at the Luminae. Scallops, lobster, baked Alaska. What's not to like? I also had a rack of lamb but alas, forgot to take a picture.

We sat on the front row for pianist Harrison Treble. He performs with intensity! By the end of the show his shirt was completely drenched. Super fun show.