<P> Leaving the island of Santa Maria in the Azores on 23 February, Columbus headed for Castilian Spain, but another storm forced him into Portugal's Lisbon . He anchored next to the King's harbor patrol ship on March 4, 1493, where he was told a fleet of 100 caravels had been lost in the storm . Astoundingly, both the Niña and the Pinta had been spared . Not finding King John II in Lisbon, Columbus wrote a letter to him and waited for the king's reply . The king requested that Columbus go to Vale do Paraíso north of Lisbon to meet him . </P> <P> Relations between Portugal and Castile were poor at the time . Columbus went to meet with the king at Vale do Paraíso . Hearing of Columbus's discoveries, the Portuguese king informed him that he believed the voyage to be in violation of the 1479 Treaty of Alcáçovas . After spending more than a week in Portugal, he set sail for Spain . Word of his finding new lands rapidly spread throughout Europe . He reached Barcelona on 15 March, and the Monument a Colom commemorates his arrival . </P> <P> Columbus and his remaining crew came home to a hero's welcome when they returned to Spain . He showed off what he had brought back from his voyage to the monarchs, including a few small samples of gold, pearls, gold jewelry stolen from natives, a few natives he had kidnapped, flowers, and a hammock . He gave the monarchs a few of the gold nuggets, gold jewelry, and pearls, as well as the previously unknown tobacco plant, the pineapple fruit, the turkey, and the hammock . The monarchs invited Columbus to dine with them . A taster even tasted the food from each of his dishes before he ate to "make sure it was not poisoned ." He was given his own footmen to open doors for him and to serve him at the table . Columbus was even rewarded with his own coat of arms . He did not bring any of the coveted East Indies spices, such as the exceedingly expensive black pepper, ginger or cloves . In his log, he wrote "there is also plenty of' ají', which is their pepper, which is more valuable than black pepper, and all the people eat nothing else, it being very wholesome". The word "ají" is still used in South American Spanish for chili peppers . </P> <P> Columbus's letter on the first voyage to the royal court in Madrid was extravagant . He insisted he had reached Asia (it was Cuba) and an island off the coast of China (Hispaniola). His descriptions were part fact, part fiction: "Hispaniola is a miracle . Mountains and hills, plains and pastures, are both fertile and beautiful...the harbors are unbelievably good and there are many wide rivers of which the majority contain gold...There are many spices, and great mines of gold and other metals ..." </P>

Which of the following adventures never reached the american continent