An arty adventure in the Atlantic on Celebrity Apex, Celebrity Cruises' Southampton-based ship

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’Better to be lost here somewhere than on my way to nowhere,’ reads the rather poetic translation of the words on an enormous mural by Lisbon-born street artist Mário Belém, which we’d paused for a moment to contemplate.

Painted during the height of the pandemic, it depicts a woman sitting amid an oversized plant pot while leaves and flowers spring to life around her, staring up at the word ‘saudade’ – which means ‘yearning’ – capturing everything we felt just a few years ago about longing to get out and experience the world (pictured, overleaf).

Apt, then, that it’s one of the highlights of a tuk-tuk tour of Lisbon led by engaging guide Andre Mendes, who whizzed us around the city’s key sights with an insightful commentary along the way.

Having missed out on a planned girls’ weekend to the Portuguese capital back in 2020, I’d finally made it here on a mother-daughter trip that had turned into a journey of discovery. For me, it was a chance to tick off some of the destinations on my travel wish list, while for my mum – a reluctant flyer – it was a way to test the waters of a cruise holiday, with Celebrity Apex sailing out of Southampton for the sunnier climes of Portugal and the Canary Islands.

Andre pointed out more striking murals, from a macabre image of a skeleton smoking a cigarette marking the 150th anniversary of Portugal’s abolition of the death penalty in 1867, to a joyous celebration of traditional fado music (pictured, left) and a futuristic vision of urban life made from 53,000 hand-painted tiles. By which point, I was glad the tiny tuk-tuk engine was doing the work of getting up and down these steep hills, so I could focus on the art.