Lisbon, a city on seven hills, is a beautiful sight from the river Tagus. When we arrived we cruised under a suspension bridge that looks a lot like the Golden Gate Bridge. We docked in an area of the city called the Alcantara. We went on two discover forays into the city noting the three funiculars that carry one from the foot of the hill to the top, the multicolored houses, and pedestrian streets especially in the Alfama district. This morning we visited the Maritime Museum, Jeronimo’s Monastery and the Belem Tower.

It is difficulty to communicate the beauty of Lisbon in words and it is a beautiful city. The population in the city is 600,000, down from 1,000,000 just a few years ago. The population including the surrounding suburbs is an additional 1,000,000 making the population for the area 1.6 million.

We departed the city about 5:30 p.m. and sailed out to the Atlantic to head towards Portimao, Portugal. We will dock there at 8:00 a.m.

We will arrive at the Lisbon docks tomorrow about noon. We anticipate the beauty of Lisbon and with some degree of excitement are looking forward to our first sight of Lisbon.

The cruise continues to be excellent. I think we have enjoyed every bit of the journey. We continue to be grateful for the calm seas knowing that the Atlantic can at times be unruly. Our trip has seemed like it was long but it does not compare with those old seafaring ships that traveled at best 8 knots per hour and took many weeks to cross from Europe to the U.S.

Tomorrow Lisbon.

I read about Vasco da Gama in school
His explorations and wandering
Fanned a flame of travel in my soul
Tomorrow we will arrive and dock on the Tagus
Lisbon will be our home for two days

We’ve come by ship
A much easier trek than the Phoenicians had
The Atlantic has been very kind to us
The sea was moderate
We enjoyed every meal

A city of medieval facades and art-nouveau buildings
Scattered across seven hills
Mosaic sidewalks, museums and modern shops
Lisbon’s low skyline gives it a manageable feel
Shortly we will walk the city and know it for real

Crossing the Atlantic by ship is a unique experience. It isn’t something I would want to do often but it has been enjoyable. One of the great blessings of this journey has been calm seas. I am grateful for that. The people on the Prinsendam have all been nice to travel with. The food of course is outstanding.

We joined our tour group for sightseeing on Ponta Delgada at 12:30 p.m. today. We visited a pineapple plantation, Ribeira Grande and Fire Lake. Relaxing and fun.

They are cranking up the ship and we are already on our way. Short stop. Lisbon on Saturday.

I read Jason’s blog on Jimmy’s visit to see Retia at West Jeff. The pictures brought tears of joy to our eyes. We are praying for Retia’s continued recovery.

Our trip across the Atlantic has been a relaxing experience. Watching the Ocean from our room is calming. So far the weather has been outstanding. The sea has been moderate most of the way.

We will reach the Azores tomorrow and will spend the afternoon there then late in the day up anchor and sail towards Lisbon.

We have quietly eaten our way across the Atlantic. It seems we have a meal very often. I have worked very hard at not eating too much.

The Lord is good and we are grateful for this opportunity to travel.

No man’s land in the middle of the sea
Mountain ranges five thousand feet below
Extending downward fifteen thousand feet
At the midpoint in the Atlantic
Newfoundland is closer than Europe

No man’s land in the middle of the sea
You can listen to the silence
It seems to be nothing but is vaster than any desert
The sea it is filled with activity
Just because I don’t know what it is doesn’t mean it isn’t important

No man’s land in the middle of the sea
Controlled by God
A part of His creation
That has a direct affect on mankind’s existence
It operates without our approval and is out of our control

Man’s land is where we live
Thinking that what we see and do is exclusive
The truth is it isn’t because we are human
Humanity has a way of excluding everything including God
Which has exactly no impact on God-its impact is on the man

am discovering that when you are crossing the Atlantic time quickly slips away. We began four days ago and it seemed we had all the time in the world. Today I suddenly realized that our time was passing me bye.

We will be at Ponte Delgada (Azores) on Thursday, the third day from now. I had so many things that I was going to do and I’ve done only a few of them. It is easier to relax than I thought. Our ship is in constant activity mode. It is just like being in a small town, except that it is constantly moving.

The biggest obstacle is the fact that we seem to be eating every few hours. It is extremely difficult to maintain one’s discipline when food is chasing you all day long.

The cruise continues to be excellent. Blessings to you and yours. Please keep us in your prayers.
Clay

Sunday all day. Carol and I had a devotional time in our room. We also rested more today than the previous two if that is possible. The ocean for the most part today has been smooth with very little wave action. We are cruising toward the halfway point at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow.

The meals are extremely well planned by Holland America and we have enjoyed each one. One of the good things we discovered before on an Alaska cruise is that the portions are not huge and you don’t wind up getting stuffed.

Today was the second day in a row that we have pushed our clocks ahead at noon. That takes a little out of the day but again it seems to have been planned that way to cause the least amount of interruption with our body’s clock.

The wind is kicking up. It’s 11:30 p.m. here and we are having a bit of a squall. High winds and waves. The good thing is that it is bed time.

Thank you for you prayers.

We are settling in to a relaxing itinerary. Even though the time is passing quickly I’m getting a lot of things done. Just completed going through my Israel poems. I’m reviewing and editing them for an e-book on the Internet. That was the major project I had in mind for our sabbatical.

The seas are moderate and the wind is quite brisk. Beautiful sun so far. Our first stop will be the Azores on May 7. That is 5 more days.

I looked on the Atlantic map of shipping activity. There isn’t a lot of activity in the area that we are in.

Another good day. So far no sea sickness. Thank you for your prayers.

You can follow our progress at

http://www.sailwx.info/shiptrack/shipposition.phtml?call=PBGH

Everything is working well. We are a long way from shore but only 1 day into 7 sea days. The wind is high, the sun is out and the ocean is beautiful. There is something about the movement of a ship at night. Our sleep was excellent.

This first day at sea has passed entirely too quick.