Disney Cruise 2025: Caves In Portugal And Crossing Borders

I had never been to Portugal before and so I was very excited for these next two days of travelling. Sam wanted to book Port Adventures, and in consultation with my parents, we signed up for three. The first day we stopped in port was in Lisbon, and Sam chose a cave experience.

 

Lisbon looked so pretty from the ship! But we ventured to about the middle of Portugal to visit the Mira Aire Caves. They were first discovered in 1947. And they were incredible! Overall we had to walk down over 600 stairs so I was a little worried about my dad but he did absolutely fine. Thankfully there was an elevator to take us up. We walked through the caves for almost an hour.

I couldn't stop taking pictures. Everything was so unique.

At one point they had been planning on building a bar inside the caves but they discovered that the air quality wouldn't be good for employees working long shifts. So they gave up on that idea. But the bar was ready to go! I really wish I had gotten a picture of my dad behind the bar, but he had already left this area and I didn't want to call him back. Even though they didn't go ahead with their bar idea, there are parts of the cave where they actually store wine to age as it's the perfect temperature for that! 

The caves were so cool to visit! I took a lot of pictures :)

This was overlooking the valley the caves are near. We actually had a fancy lunch, with wine, at the restaurant where the caves were located. I don't have any pictures from that but I felt very elegant sipping wine and looking over a valley in Portugal :)

Here's a picture of Rachel to show we made it to Lisbon (sort of!), and our ship in port. Our time in Portugal was way too short and I would love to get back for a trip just to explore that country. We got a very small taste and it left me wanting more!

We enjoyed views of Lisbon as we sailed away. That evening was pirate night but I was feeling tired and not excited about the menu. I decided to skip dinner (as did both kids) and I did some laundry and grabbed some pizza. The ship was showing the UEFA Women's EURO 2025 final between England and Spain so it was fun to watch with people from those countries. Sam even joined me for a bite to eat and to watch the action. England won and the British people on board were happy!

The next morning we had another port adventure -- we were on the northern border between Spain and Portugal and we travelled to Tui, one of the ancient capitals of the Kingdom of Galicia (pronounced "Ga-leeth-i-a"). We had a tour of Tui, and then we walked down to the river which is the border.

I actually told my dad to not come down to the river on the very steep, narrow street, and it was probably good that he didn't attempt it.

Oma and her grand kids on the Spanish side of the river. Portugal is on the other side.

We drove into Valenca, Portugal, and I fell immediately in love with all the tiled buildings.

We had the option to walk around the town and shop or to stop for a snack. We chose the snack option and I had the most amazing sangria! Yum!!! Although, we did later buy some mugs :)

While Mom, Dad, and Rachel stayed at the restaurant, Sam, Dave, and I walked for a few minutes to the river so we could look across into Spain.

And I captured some other views as well.

This port was Vigo, Spain, so we drove back to the city and stopped at O Castro Mountain in the city. It was a park with amazing views.

Can you see the ship in port behind us?

The views sailing out of Vigo were just as incredible.

This was a really fun two days of exploring a part of the world I'd spent very little time in. As I said above, it just made me want to get back to experience some more!