Lisbon Cruise

Lisbon, the next destination for an MSC Mediterranean Cruise! Don't be surprised if the bright sunlight and the blue colour of the azulejos dominate everything, the decorative tiles that cover monuments, convents, palaces, stations, cafeterias, fountains... this is Portugal!

Two different realities for your MSC Cruise: Lisbon, the "white city" described by the director Wim Wenders, in “Lisbon Story”, is a set of many different cities, where ages and styles, culture and art overlap; Cascais is, on the other hand, a quiet, elegant place, 30 km from the capital. The first is a trendy city and the second, an iconic tourist centre.

An MSC Excursion will take you to discover one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, once the capital of a rich and powerful colonial empire, today a "fashionable" destination, with its 7 hills, its 5 most famous districts – Baixa, Chiado and Barrio Alto, La Alfama, Belém, Parco de Nações –, the Tagus River, the characteristic trams (not to be missed the number 28, made of wood), the old elevadores (funiculars / lifts) and its impressive bridges, one above all: Bridge 25 de Abril, 113 metres high.

For those who wish to discover more about Lisbon's glorious past, one of the MSC Excursions will take you to the Monastery of Jerónimos, a building that represents the golden age of Portuguese explorations, built to celebrate the return of the explorer Vasco da Gama from India. His tomb is located just beyond the entrance of the church, which will appear impressive and adorned with naturalistic and marine elements typical of Manueline architecture. Equally imposing is the neighbouring monastery, built around the cloisters finely decorated with nautical symbols worked in honey-colour limestone.

If you want to admire an impressive building, another MSC Excursion will make you live the thrill, through a small footbridge, of climbing on the terrace of the "sentinel of the Tagus", witness of the departure of Vasco da Gama on the expedition to India. The richly decorated Belém Tower, a UNESCO World Heritage site, has long been a fortress, light-house and control tower all in one building.