Bits and Bobs

As Winter continued we fell into a pattern of doing small but vital jobs on the boat and picking places to visit. We also enjoyed our small part of the river at Parque de Nacoes.We enjoy walking along the river towards the vasco de Gama bridge, there are often interesting boats berthed along the wall outside the Marina. This is the three masted schooner Santa Maria Manuella. which started life supporting long line fishermen on the Grand Banks. She now sails with charter crew to Maderia and back.

The photo below shows the Vasco de gama bridge, and the modernistic architecture of the Expo site.

While wandering around the old town in the city we came across this shop.

It sells only Sardines......

But in a sort of Willie Wonka way....

Isnt it fabulous?

One of the jobs we had to get done was to have our liferaft serviced, this was done very efficiently by a local firm we were told about by our OCC port officer. Good for another three years.

We were blessed with a lot of nice weather in January and we made the most of it by re exploring places we had previously visited but missed a bit.

One of these was the Parque Eduardo VII in central Lisbon, that's the English Edward the 7th by the way.

Hidden away to the right of this picture is the Estufa Fria or Greenhouse, this is a little hidden gem and is built on the site of an old quarry.

The term "greenhouse" is possibly misleading as it actually covers several acres, almost invisible from the park it is full of exotic flora in different environments, desert, jungle etc.

Also a touch of Jurrasic Park (Black Edge Beanie again )

As you walk around it is possible to walk out to see the duckpond. The small building opposite holds an exhibition of dinosaurs.

Its possible to get lost in the many grottos within the gardens.

The entrance fee includes entrance to the dinosaur exhibition, it is also possible to have an event staged within the greenhouse as a large venue is available, when we were there it was being prepared for a wedding...

The exhibition is small but interesting.

We hope never to meet one of these in the flesh!

Life in the Marina was coldish until the sun was up then it was really very pleasant.

I installed more 12 volt charging points for our increasing number of phones, tablets, and other tech which needs USB charging. I also replaced all the interior lights for LED ones which are far brighter and more efficient.
We arranged to be hauled out so we could antifoul the boat for the coming season. We agreed with Alex at the small yard here to come out for a week on the 8th March. Meanwhile we bought some good antifouling paint locally, even with a 10% discount 7.5 litres cost us an eyewatering 360 euros.

We did get some free stirring sticks though!