Best Of

Lisbon (pre-tour and days one and two)

We spent two extra days in Lisbon at the beginning of the tour. We had been to Lisbon twice before and chose to visit places we had not seen. One day we went to the Tile Museum. The museum is in a building that had originally been a convent that included a church which had some really nice tiles.

Afterwards we went to the Praca do Comercio and were surprised to see a small sandy beach with people swimming in the Tagus. There was a beautiful breeze off the river that was in contrast with the heat only a few hundred years inland. There were people making sand sculptures which was totally unexpected.

We also followed the Rick Steves walking tour of the Alfama area. It includes some beautiful churches and view points among the steep and windy streets.

The Tauck portion began with a reception and dinner at the Queluz Palace. The location is just outside of Lisbon with beautifully planned gardens.

The Tauck tour gives three options for tours. We chose the Discovering Lisbon tour which included a ride to Belem with visits to the Maritime Museum and the Discoveries Monument and the Belem Tower. We had a very good guide who set the scene for the Portuguese explorers that we learned about in school - daGama, Magellan, Diaz..... We also learned that there was discussion regarding which areas could be claimed for Spain and which for Portugal. The Pope stepped in and set a line in the Atlantic where everything to the west went to Spain and everything to the east to Portugal. Portugal lobbied to get the line set far enough West so that they would get Brazil. This is also the home of Pasteis de Belem which are far superior to the pasteis da nata that you get in the hotels.

On the free night in Lisbon we had dinner at a restaurant called Pateo 51. While it was hard to find, down a small alley, we would recommend it highly. My sister-in-law and I shared a dish called Cataplana. It is a seafood stew cooked in a copper pot with a lid consisting of monkfish, shrimp, sweet potatoes, peppers and onions in a very tasty broth. Another in our party had shrimp "a bras" which also comes in a codfish version.

Nice review. For comparison purposes the Douro is probably the most relaxing river cruise Tauck does. Others have busier itineraries with a wider range of activities. Also the no sailing at night means quieter sleeping. Most cruises do a fair amount of dinner time and overnight cruising. its not a bad cruise, just different.

We recently returned from this tour (7/24 - 8/4). After 17 land tours this was our first river cruise. I'd like to share overall opinions and then include specific on a day by day basis in subsequent posts.

The Andorinha is a very comfortable ship with a highly attentive staff and great food. The cabin was very nice. The ship is only three years old, so everything was new. For people with limited mobility, this may not be the tour for you. The elevator did not go to the upper deck and it was not easy to get on and off the ship. In some instances you needed to go through other ships that were docked next to us. In one instance we needed to climb to the upper deck to get to the adjacent ship. Depending upon the tide the gangways often were very steep.

We thought the pork loin the final night on the boat was the best food of the trip surpassing that at DOC. Each night we had cream soups that were wonderful. We had two very enthusiastic tour guides along with a cruise director. There was also a hotel manger on the ship who took care of everyone's needs.

Due to the narrowness of the river and the number of locks that need to be traversed, the ship travels during the day and docks at night. As a result, when it docks you are not in a place that can be explored before or after dinner. You can do some small walks along the riverbank but do not see much.

The best docking was in Porto where the ship was in a marina in Vila de Gaia downriver from Porto. You can walk along the estuary to the Atlantic and see the beaches (or even put your toes in the water). The coast line has a combination of sandy beaches and rocky coastline. While not as rocky as in Maine, it is more like Maine than other parts of the Atlantic.

The trip goes through a number of locks (one as high as 45 meters) followed by going under bridges which require a number of structures to be lowered and the umbrellas on the upper deck to be lowered. The ship was designed specifically for these locks which fit one ship with only feet to spare on either side.

We were glad that we chose this itinerary which included cities at both ends of the tours.

Would we go on another river cruise? We're not sure.

If you are considering this tour, I would recommend not going in July or August. It was VERY HOT (over 100F many of the days) making some of the activities very uncomfortable. I think it would be much more enjoyable in the fall or the spring.