We had a fairly uneventful trip until we got to the Lisbon airport, where we had to stand in the immigration line for 3 1/2 hours. This is no exaggeration. The driver that picked us up checked on our progress twice. Nobody could believe it. And nobody knows why it was so slow.

The first days of our trip are in Lisbon. We had spectacular weather for our first day of touring. Our first major stop was a summer palace. It looks a lot like other palaces. Here’s a shot of the main entrance.

The garden includes a fake river. They dug a dry canal and filled it with water from a diverted stream. For entertainment, royals rode back and forth on little boats. Really! You can see the tile walls from a distance.

Palaces have rooms. Rooms have chandeliers and cabinets. These were interesting enough to be worth a quick pic. You can’t see the cabinet very well, but it has lots of doors of various sizes. Rich or poor, it’s nice to have money.

Lots of streets and sidewalks are paved with stone and sand. Sometimes it’s just white stone. Sometimes white and black stones are used to create a pattern. If you ever visit Lisbon, you are unlikely to forget this pattern. It’s a flat sidewalk, guaranteed to make you feel a touch of vertigo.

Some machines are cool. Old machines still in use are usually cool. This elevator is an old machine that is so cool that some tourists pay over $5 to take the ride. This was built a little after the Eiffel Tower.

This monument is an apology for a massacre of many jews that happened in this plaza on April 19, 1506 — 500 years ago.

A major earthquake, plus a tsunami, plus fire destroyed Lisbon in 1755. They did a total rebuild using modern ideas. The old section of Lisbon is quite attractive.