Optional tours are available from most ports for an additional charge.
Itinerary
Day Lisbon, PortugalDeparts 05:00 PM "Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, is a wealth of sights, tastes and sounds. An ensemble of neighborhoods both old and new, it's a city full of history, culture and tradition. After the devastating earthquake that struck in 1755, reconstruction began and the rebuilt Baixa area quickly became one of the city's busiest districts. From there, you can glance up at São Jorge Castle on one hill while in another direction you'll find Chiado, one of the trendiest and most elegant neighborhoods.
The spirit of Lisbon can be encapsulated by the soulful musical genre, fado, which can best be enjoyed in the Alfama, the city's oldest neighborhood. Enter one of the area's old-school taverns and listen to passionate renditions of Fado Vadio, sung by amateurs, often after a round of aguardiente, an anise-flavored liquor."
Day At Sea
Day Gijon, SpainArrives 08:00 AM Departs 06:00 PM This ancient port city on the green Atlantic coast of Spain has a history of some 3,000 years. From its humble beginnings the city has grown to become an important port city in Spain. Its old historic fishing village Cimadevilla with its picturesque cobble stoned streets and old-world architecture remains today its main tourist attraction.
Day Bilbao, SpainArrives 08:00 AM Departs 11:00 PM The industrial port of Bilbao is surrounded by lovely green mountains, fertile landscapes with lush forests, steep coasts and the Bay of Biscay. Famed for the curvy, titanium-covered Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim Museum, other sites of Bilbao include the Euskalduna Conference and Music Centre, Norman Foster's Underground, towers designed by architects Arata Isozaki and Cesar Pelli, and an airport designed by Calatrava.
Day Hendaye (Biarritz), FranceArrives 08:00 AM Departs 05:00 PM Smaller than its neighbors St-Jean-de-Luz or Biarritz, Hendaye forms the political border between France and Spain on the Cote Basque, where the Pyrenees come down to meet the Atlantic. Politics aside, the whole area is culturally Basque, and the Basque language and flag are frequently heard and seen. Biarritz benefitted from the presence of the Empress Eugenie of France, who built a palace on the beach there in 1854 that survives as the Hotel du Palais. That attracted Europe's crowned heads and secured its reputation as a seaside resort.
Day Torquay (Torbay), England, United KingdomArrives 08:00 AM Departs 05:00 PM Blessed by a mild climate and bucolic surroundings, Torquay on the southern Devon coast proclaims itself the English Riviera. Its palm-lined waterfront warrants the name, and it is indeed one of England's most popular resorts. Agatha Christie was born and lived here, and you can follow the plaques and pathways of the Agatha Christie Mile to learn about her life and work. The Kent's Cave Prehistoric Site unveils 40,000 years of human habitation, while the nearby Dartmoor parks preserve unspoiled natural tors and moors that are older still. Stroll the tranquil lanes of Cockington Village, lined with traditional thatched houses, local arts and crafts galleries and friendly pubs. The magnificent Torquay Pavilion celebrates the opulent Victorian age of Devonshire tourism.
Day Zeebrugge (Brussels), BelgiumArrives 10:00 AM Departs 07:00 PM "With its picturesque canals, cobblestone streets and fairy-tale gabled houses, Bruges might have been custom built just to charm visitors. But this small and pleasingly quiet capital of West Flanders, 11 kilometers from the North Sea port of Zeebrugge, was actually once a mercantile center that dominated all of Western Europe under the powerful Dukes of Burgundyâwhich explains the profusion of priceless art and medieval architecture tightly packed within the city's moatlike ring of waterways.
Easily managed in a day, Bruges is a city for strolling: A walk in any direction from the handsome Market Square leads to immaculately preserved 13th-century churches and turreted merchants' houses. Former hostels for the sick and poor were long ago converted into museums containing works by local Old Masters like Jan Van Eyck.
Bruges is famous for its sweet tooth, with numerous chocolate shops and sidewalk vendors selling hot-off-the-iron waffles topped with whipped cream. Its pubs serve Belgium's famously quaffable beers in an atmosphere of warmth and coziness that the Flemish call gezellig. You'll be charmed.
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Day Greenwich (London), England, United KingdomArrives 08:00 AM A clever floating mooring near the Greenwich Naval Observatory provides your Seabourn ship its proximity to London. One of the world's premier cities.
Day Greenwich (London), England, United Kingdom / Scenic Cruising the Thames RiverDeparts 02:00 PM / Cruising A clever floating mooring near the Greenwich Naval Observatory provides your Seabourn ship its proximity to London. One of the world's premier cities.
Scenic Cruising the Thames River
The Thames is the longest river that is entirely in England, running 217 miles to the sea. Its Tideway estuary has a rise and fall of 23 feet. Your Seabourn ship can navigate to just above Greenwich, near London proper.
Day Rotterdam, The NetherlandsArrives 08:00 AM Departs 06:00 PM The Netherlandsââ¬â¢ second-largest city and Europeââ¬â¢s busiest port is home to some of the 20th and 21st centuries' most important architectural feats, which is particularly impressive when you consider that nearly all of Rotterdam was razed to the ground during World War II. Sometimes referred to as ââ¬ÅManhattan-on-the-Maas,ââ¬Â the city lives up to its reputation as a forward-looking metropolis with fascinating design and some of the Netherlands' finest museums and most trendy shops.
Marvel at buildings by starchitects Rem Koolhaas and Norman Foster or get lost in the maze of gabled homes in historic Delfshaven, the point from which the Pilgrims set sail for the New World aboard the Speedwell in 1620. In the postwar years, Rotterdam has also become one of the most diverse cities on the continent as waves of migrants from elsewhere in Europe, North Africa and Turkey have come to work in the shipping industry, concentrated here thanks to the cityââ¬â¢s location on the deltas of the Rhine and Maas rivers. With its sweeping harbor and massive Europoort, the city has quickly grown to become the largest port in all of Europe.