Barcelona Parc Guell

As we have two days in Barcelona we were able to see more sights today (after we recovered from our wine overload of yesterday). Today we followed Rick Steves' directions for taking the metro and the bus to Gaudi's Parc Guell. However, it's Sunday and it's a beautiful sunny day, and everyone and his brother had the same idea. We negotiated the metro just fine, but the bus already had twice as many people as I am sure they are legally allowed to carry, so we had to do the "tiring, uphill 20 minute walk". We got our directions from a local man with 5 minutes of detailed instruction, in Catalan, with hand gestures. So, of course, we ended up at the top of Le Montaigne above the park, which is already up the mountain! Nice views though.



Gaudi had envisioned the park as a gated community but he was about 100 years early and it never took off. He lived here for about 20 years in this house.



Here are some classically Gaudi features in the park.

















You can just see the Sagrada Familia (his unfinished cathedral in the background).




Tomorrow is a day at sea--we need it!

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Location:Spain

Barcelona (or how much wine can you drink in one day)

OK, but just a little. My words to Felix, the owner of FelixMassana winery, as he was offering me a taste of his new test Merlot right from the fermenting vat. I was limiting this glass because it was following at least 6 prior glasses which had been consumed (not tasted) since we started our tour that morning.



There were 8 of us on the tour, plus our tour guide Charles--who hailed 14 years ago from Oregon. He came from OSU to do graduate work and never went home! Our van consisted of us, Sandy & Betty from the cabin next to us, and a Norwegian family of 4. We started by examining the soil, the 75 year old root stock, the grafting of new stock, and the packets of sex pheromones they use to confuse the flies so they won't lay eggs on the plants--apparently it leads to very frustrated flies. There is no irrigation allowed in this region and they use age-old techniques, including harvesting at night, to achieve some delicious results.



Our first stop, Eudald Massana Noya is run by the 9th generation of the family. Their wines are completely organic, or here they call it "Agricultura ecologica". Locals come to pick up their week's supply of wine and they use whatever containers are handy-- the wine is about 1 euro per liter.



Our tasting started with the Sauvingnon Blanc, moved on to the Rose, and finished up with the Cabernet--as demonstrated here by Betty, Fritz and Sandy!



From there we drove 5 minutes to Felix's where he showed us his hand bottling process before sitting us down for a delicious lunch prepared by his wife Cristina and his mother.




We had a tortilla (what we call a frittata), freshly made bread rubbed with olive oil and tomatoes, 5 kinds of salami and Proscuitto, local cheese made with cow's milk and goat's milk and lots more wine. Again, we started with the white and progressed through the Rose to the Reds, then we topped it off with the specialty of the house-- the Cava (champagne). I have 2 bottles of the Cava and 2 of the Cabernet in the cabin. It might make it home for a special occasion, but we do have a lot of days at sea coming up so we'll see. After the Cava we moved on to local hazelnuts and almonds plus some delicious biscotti which was washed down with some Muscat. Here Felix demonstrates the appropriate pouring of the Muscat.



Mine ended up in my eye, down my chin, and in my lap---obviously I need more practice.

You might think that we had consumed plenty of wine for 10 days, let alone one, and you would be right, but we followed up this tour by going to dinner in Barcelona. Charles had strongly recommended El Salon, which is down a little alley in the Gothic Quarter, so the 4 of us went and had a wonderful meal with more local wine! As we were strolling back to the ship along the waterfront (the remains of our restaurant wine corked and carried) the locals we just coming out--it was 11pm.


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Location:Spain

Azamara Club Cruises

OK so we're not in Nice, France today as previously anticipated. This is because the high seas prevented us from entering the harbor, and would have made tendering too exciting for even the more adventurous among us. So, instead we are having a leisurely day at sea while we cruise to Barcelona.



As this is our first Azamara cruise I thought I would give our initial reactions---we're sold!

On this ship (they only have 2 and they are sister ships) there are about 700 passengers and 404 crew. The Captain is from Guildford, England and the crew is genuinely friendly--not paid to be friendly. Plus, with the ratio of crew to passengers you can actually engage someone in conversation and not feel like you are keeping them from doing their job.



The food is excellent! Dinner is open seating between 6 & 9:30--no reservations, just come when you want. We've met some really nice people at dinner and Fritz likes that there are no formal nights. The complimentary wine has been very good, each night featuring a different country. We've had Italian, U.S. and Australian so far and they just keep pouring. Add to that the free champagne when boarding in Rome, the free drinks at the Captain's party, the open bar at the frequent cruisers party and we're on our way to needing a 12 step program! We'll start that as soon as we have finished our 2:30 wine tasting and tomorrow's winery tour of Barcelona.

Some of the other things we've particularly liked so far are:

The Gelato Bar
The excellent lattes served with little biscotti dipped in dark chocolate
No bingo, no art sales, no constant photo snapping-- in fact we don't feel like every minute is a sales opportunity
Things are that bit more refined--the buffet is manageable with no shoving and they use real plates, not plastic ones
The front desk said "let me follow up on that for you and I will call and let you know"--and they did!




So far, the only thing we would change is the size of the cabins. They are pretty small and the balconies barely have room for a couple of chairs under a small dining table. Four people for wine would have to be pretty good friends!





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Location:Not Nice, France

Monte Carlo, Principality of Monaco

Remember that song from Cabaret---Money makes the world go around! Waking up in Monte Carlo this morning certainly brought it to mind--and it ran through my head all day as we visited the sights.

Captain Jason (yes we are on a first name basis) informed us at his champagne Welcome Aboard party last night that, unlike the "big" ships, we will be joining the luxury yachts in the inner harbor and wouldn't have to tender ashore. Sure enough, these luxury yachts were our neighbors as we had coffee on our balcony.



Leaving the ship we strolled along the promenade to the Oceanographic Museum and Aquarium.



This phenomenal building is built right into the cliffs and houses an impressive array of marine life. I have a few hundred photos if you'd like to see them.



As this is where Jacques Cousteau did his work it also has lots of interesting historical artifacts. And, curiously, it had a big display of monstrous sized photos of the recent Royal Wedding of Prince Albert.



We had some crepes at a little cafe just down a tiny cobbled passageway from the Palace. My high school French failed me when I asked about the stainless racks a guy was pushing. His answer was a long, convoluted explanation, and they were either coat racks or something used for roasting lamb!

Walking from the Palace to the Grand Casino we picked our cars--Fritz liked the Ferrari with the glass hood showing off the engine.



I was partial to the convertible Rolls Royce with the yacht motif.



For boats Fritz liked the Lady Moura--reportedly the most expensive personal yacht in the world.



I'm going for the wooden sailing sloop (it goes with my Rolls)!




Coming back to the ship on the Bateau (boat) Bus we ran into our new best friends Larry & Tim from Dallas. We first met them at the airport in Rome while waiting for our very slow luggage. Larry suggested that they could really speed up luggage delivery in Italy if they imported a bunch of Mexican baggage handlers from DFW! Last night they told us that they had been upgraded from their cabin to the "owner's suite"! Apparently this suite has 1200 square feet-- 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a cabin attendant and a butler. They haven't any idea why they got this honor (although they did already have a suite), but---get this--THIS IS THEIR FIRST CRUISE EVER!



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Location:Monaco

Livorno, Italy

Thanks to the efficient folks at Lufthansa we and our luggage arrived in Rome at the same time yesterday--23 hours after we left Seattle. At Sea-Tac Brunhilda, the trainee flight attendant, insisted we remove items from our carry on because it exceeded the 8 kg allowance. She also tried to insist that the lady sitting next to me was over weight as well. I had to explain to her, politely of course, that my neighbor was flying Asiana airlines to Ho Chi Minh city-- not really any of Lufthansa's business.

After a fabulous dinner on board and a restorative nights sleep we had a beautiful breakfast overlooking the harbor.





As we have been to Florence and Pisa we decided to spend the day in Livorno. As with many of the places we visit I immediately dubbed it a favorite and put it on our list to come back to for much longer. It is a wonderfully walkable city, with canals and classically Italian crumbling buildings. We especially loved the central market, built in 1893, with it's wide variety of fish mongers, cheese sellers, pastry shops (we did give in), delis with freshly made pesto, a guy selling only tripe, salami shops and on and on! In the outside market were all of the clothing and wares.





I did my best to find some covered buttons for Molly's wedding dress. Either the shop owner's English was not as good as he thinks, or I was being a bad communicator because the closest we came was glue on strips of bling!





Walking along the canals we passed schools where you could hear the students reciting, and violins and songs being practiced. We sat outside at a cafe and had gelato while watching workmen hoist one wheelbarrow at a time up to the roof of the Chesi di Greci Uniti.





It was so much more satisfying than watching a pump truck! My gelato was either cherries soaked in brandy or the prune special. Since this isn't a tourist hot spot there was no English translation. In fact it was nice that no one really paid any attention to the tourists. Even the Nigerian "Prada" salesmen were decidedly low key and didn't say anything as you went past.

Add to that---blue skies and 26 (82) degrees and this trip is off to a great start!

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Location:Livorno, Italy

Cartagena, Funchal & La Palma

Cartagena, Spain

Cartagena is one of those quintessentially Spanish coastal towns. Cobbled windy streets, wrought iron balconies and hidden little plazas. The ship docks right in town and we walked below the old castle walls to the ornate town hall which led straight to the main shopping street. The atmosphere here is much more casual than Rome or Paris, but sitting in an outside café having a beer and pizza and watching the people go by is just as delightful.

Funchal, Madeira, Portugal

Madeira is a volcanic island that rises immediately and insistently from the ocean. The tiny roads were built well before the population was the current 250,000 and before the introduction of huge tour buses. Riding around this island in a tour bus makes the Amalfi coast seem like child’s play. We rode up to a town call Monte to go tobogganing. This activity, which is now a major tourist attraction, was invented by an English family as a way to get from their high village down to Funchal at sea level.

To go tobogganing Madeira style, you sit on a thin quilted cushion on a bench in a large wicker basket on metal runners. Your “drivers” are two guys, some young, some old,  wearing white pants and shirts and jaunty little straw boaters. They have on special shoes—which just means that their shoes have tire treads to the bottom of them. They start you off by pulling on a couple of ratty pieces of rope attached to the front corners of the basket. You then build momentum and go flying down the regular traffic roads---snaking your way for 10 minutes from the top of the hill (about 500 hundred meters above sea level) to the bottom.

Let me just tell you that much of our ride was done sideways, and some of it partially off the road over the drainage ditches (they get a lot of rain and have big floods). It was the wildest ride ever and sooo much fun. We had to stop part way down because the couple in the basket behind us (Bellinghamsters from our dinner table) were crashed into by a motor scooter who ran a stop sign. Luckily Lynn was only bruised on the shoulder, and the scooter driver was hauled to his feet and placed back on his scooter and went on his way.

The rest of our tour of Madeira consisted of driving up to a lookout at 1,000 meters above the town. We traveled up one lane roads, some of which went along ridges so it was straight down both sides. These one lane roads were used simultaneously by two tour buses going opposite directions. It meant that we had to back up around curves and do all kinds of dare devil moves. I can’t tell you much about them as I had my eyes shut for most of it, but there was lots of oohing and aahing and clapping from the other passengers.

Santa Cruz, La Palma, Canary Islands

This is our last port of call before crossing the Atlantic. We have just arrived at the dock, but I am writing this before we do our visit today.  I have to find an internet café to post this today or none of these posts will happen until we get back to the US.

I am reading in our port guide that the island of La Palma  “rises dramatically from the sea and has the greatest altitude to surface ratio on the entire planet”. After yesterday I will be staying at sea level!

It is supposed to be 73 degrees today and Fritz says that there are people swimming in the ocean just a short distance from the ship—so, perhaps we will make it to the beach.

Buenos Dias from Santa Cruz

Florence, Nice & Toulon

Florence, Italy

Not having time to deal with trains in this port we took the ship’s bus to town—about an hour and a half, and then we had the day to explore on our own. Having been to Florence before, we sought out our old haunts. The market--where we touched the boar’s nose for good luck. The plaza, where there was some sort of military gathering going on and lots of official looking guys in a variety of very snazzy uniforms. We sashayed through the produce market and negotiated a few purchases from the myriad of vendors selling everything from leather to silk to jewelry. Lunch was delicious bruschetta and pasta with truffle oil at a trattoria just off the Ponte De Vecchio. A quick stroll past the Duomo and half a dozen lesser churches—waved hello to the replica of David, and back on the bus. All in all a very successful day.

Villefranche, France

We tendered into the beautiful little fishing port of Villefranche and took the bus into Nice, three miles away.  As the sun was warm and bright we walked down to the Promenade de Anglais rather than taking their snazzy new ultra-modern tram system. As one would do on a promenade, we promenaded with the best of them, and then wandered through the pedestrian shopping mall and into the flower market, where we stopped for lunch.

As it was the last time we were in Nice in 2004, there was a Presidential visit going on, which caused all of the security forces to be on the scene. This time it was the President of China and there were police vans and roadblocks and motorcycle police galore. Most of whom were guzzling beer at the next table to us in the market—we felt so secure!

 At least we got back to Villefranche on the bus before they blocked all of the roads—some of the tour buses got caught in the middle of it all and had to drive into town and turn around and go back to the ship.

Toulon, France

This town is the base of the French Navy and we were going to go to the Naval Museum, but it was closed because today was a strike day in France. In fact, while the ship all-aboard wasn’t until 4:00 we had to take the bus back to the ship no later than 1:30 because the bus drivers were going to join the protests in the afternoon and wouldn’t work any later. I guess we should be grateful for small mercies—that they drove that day at all.

Toulon was a more middle-class community than any that we’ve visited (apart from Naples) and we were there on a Saturday, so the large street market was very busy. The town also had a large Muslim community, so there were lots of ladies in headscarves and we noticed a lot of cafes with groups of men smoking and drinking their espressos.

As this was our last port of call in France, we made sure to have a farewell crepe—and a Magnum ice cream because you never know…

On board after Toulon came the highlight of the trip for me. Royal Caribbean supports the Make a Wish Foundation and earlier in the cruise I had won at auction the right to blow the ship’s horn as we left Toulon. So, just as we were leaving the harbor Fritz and I were escorted to the Bridge. We got to stand just behind the control panels as the Captain and the Pilot maneuvered the ship out of the harbor. Then, after we’d cleared some boats that he didn’t want to startle, I got to sound three long blasts on the horn---and three shorts (as we were turning to Starboard). Then I got to do whatever I wanted so it was da, da, da, daaaaa. Plus, as the Captain was in a generous mood, Fritz got to do three blasts too. How much fun was that!!!