Lisbon Arrival

T.R.S…
Entry to the port of Lisbon is much like the one to New Orleans. The approach is through a wide, muddy river, and the harbour proper is an inland lake, deep enough for even the largest steamers to moor at the piers. The bay side is filled with ships and sailing craft. Repairing and caulking of ships is going on all along the shore.

Driving into the city from the wharf it is easy to recognise the origin of the architecture we first saw in Brazil. A Brazilian passenger remarks that there is nothing foreign-looking about Lisbon to him - it looks just like his home city of São Paulo.

Post-War Prosperity

T.R.S…
Anyone who wishes to visit a foreign metropolis of moderate climate, with all modern conveniences and easily accessible from America, should come to Lisbon. It is a gem of beauty and culture, a monument to the toil and integrity of the Portuguese people who are the kind of people we Americans admire most - thrifty, energetic and self-reliant.

Remaining neutral during the war, Portugal was a vast supply and exchange market, and wealth flowed in here by the billion. Both her public and private improvement programme during and since the war reflect the prosperity resulting from her neutrality. Without doubt, Portugal and Switzerland are two of the best off nations of the World today, with a minimum of public debt and a maximum of wealth per capita.

Lisbon has beautiful public buildings, boulevards, parks and monuments. Her pastel-coloured apartment buildings and the number of them cannot be excelled anywhere in America. Her business and shopping district is a series of large esplanades or public squares linked together by short and not too wide streets.

The narrowness of the business streets is more than compensated for by the wide residential boulevards which have three traffic lanes separated by two parkways and each of these contains three rows of shade trees with benches beneath inviting pedestrians to sit awhile and watch the world go by.

Local Tourist Attractions

T.R.S…
Our first visit was to the Museum of Royal Coaches, where a display of some forty or more 18th and 19th century royal coaches built for the crown heads of all Europe is assembled. They look gaudy, but decadent, and it is certain that every monarch who rode in one would today be mighty glad to trade it for a jeep with a 10-horse team and harness thrown in.

Next we drove to the high point of the city and saw the red-tiled housetops, the factories, the ships, and the bay spread out in a grand panorama before us. While coal is used here for fuel and industry, there is no trace of smoke, soot or black streaks on buildings.

On over to the botanical gardens, we see where a very unique but practical idea has been put into effect. At a height of about 30 feet, the 5-acre garden is completely covered with a green slat ceiling and also has side walls of the same material.

Thus all the tropical trees, shrubs and flowers planted in artistic but natural patterns are sheltered both from excessive sunshine and cold. The semi-shade seems to intensify the colours as well as to promote more vigorous growth.

Our Final Adieu

T.R.S…
Since Lisbon is our last port of call, it must also mark the last chapter of the cruise story. Our two-day stop in London will not allow enough time to post another letter from there.

It has been a pleasure to record the events of our cruise, and the sense of duty connected with it has kept me always alert for sights and incidents that might have been interesting to the readers of the story, as well as whetting my own interest every moment.

Writing has thereby made the trip all the more memorable to me. Adios…