We Finish Our Cruise Visiting Portugal, Spain, France, and Italy

Heading NNE, and after an all-night sail plus another sea day (and another damned formal night!) we arrived at our next port, Lisbon Portugal. Portugal’s capital and largest city at 506,000 (2.8 million metropolitan area), it is Europe’s western-most capital and the only one that lies on the Atlantic coast.

National Palace and Gardens

For this stop, we had purchased a shore excursion that provided us with a short sightseeing tour of Lisbon, and drives to the towns of Quelez and Sintra.

Our first stop was Quelez where we viewed the National Palace and Gardens. This 18th -century palace is one of the last great Rococo buildings to be designed in Europe. ^th century to serve in the defense of Lisbon. Tired from the day’s activities, we were glad to get back onboard the ship and rest up. Still feeling a little under the weather from a recent bout with a cold, we decided to just stay in the cabin and rest up.

The gardens are extensive

Our guide described the various rooms and provided us with the family history that accompanied the palace’s use by the Portuguese royal family. While not as sumptuous as the Baroque palaces of Versailles, the palace represents the lifestyle of the Portuguese royal family at the time it was constructed.

A room in the palace

After touring the interior, we viewed the extensive gardens and grounds, before Jane found the gift store. Back aboard the bus, we headed for our next stop—the nearby town and UNESCO World Heritage site (you just knew there would be at least ONE!) of Sintra. We were deposited in Sintra’s city center and given about 45 minutes to shop and explore.

Narrow street in Sintra

The hilly, narrow streets were lined with an eclectic assortment of shops and cafes that begged exploration. Jane tried to answer the call, but soon found that 45 minutes is not a long time. She was able to procure some souvenirs before we had to board the bus. Our driver drove us to a restaurant where we would have our lunch. We had some second thoughts when we saw the restaurant’s name, Curral Dos Caprinos, or The Two Goats Corral when it was translated.

Two Goats Corral

Jane had a look of sheer terror, but Capt. Larry figured meat is meat. It turns we had a delightful meal. We dined on creamed spinach, early potatoes, veal shank, and saffron rice, followed by a delicious bread pudding and espresso coffee. And the wine flowed freely all during the meal. It was a great experience.

Jerónimos Church

Back on the bus, we headed back to tour Lisbon some more. We stopped at the iconic Jerónimos Church. Located near the Tagus River, the church is a former monastery of the Order of Saint Jerome, the patron saint of Lisbon. The monastery is one of the most prominent examples of the Portuguese Late Gothic Manueline style of architecture in Lisbon. It is classified a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Belém Tower

The church contains the tomb of Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama. We left the church and swung by another UNESCO World Heritage Site, Portugal’s Belém Tower.

Cathedral of the Incarnation

Sitting at the mouth of the Tagus River and serving as a ceremonial gateway to Lisbon, the tower was built in the early 16

One thing that we had greatly anticipated on this trip was sailing through the Strait of Gibraltar. We were disappointed to learn that we would be transiting the strait between midnight and 0200 on our way to our next port, Málaga, Spain. This lively coastal city lies about 80 miles southeast of Seville, and is the gateway to Spain’s popular Costa del Sol holiday resort region.

Inside the cathedral

The city is also the birthplace of Pablo Picasso and has several galleries featuring his work. Like most Andalusian cities, Málaga has Moorish roots which we experienced when we entered the old historic center to visit the Cathedral of the Incarnation. Constructed between 1528 and 1782, the cathedral lies within the limits defined by a now missing portion of the medieval Moorish walls. Just as we left the cathedral, it began to rain.

Rainy streets of Málaga

We scurried about looking for a café where we could get out of the rain for awhile, and finally found one that served us coffee and Spanish pastries. When the rain finally eased, we walked to the shopping district looking for bargains, before returning to the ship. Málaga is definitely a place we would like to visit again

Valencia, Spain was our next port of call, but we don’t have much to blog about. Capt. Larry’s head cold was turning into bronchitis despite his creative dosing of antibiotics.

Málaga meat shop

Jane wasn’t feeling all that great either, but she decided to join Keith and Sheila to tour the city. Situated on Spain’s east coast, Valencia is Spain’s third largest city and the biggest port on the Mediterranean Sea. Located on Spain’s southeastern coast, where the Turia River meets the Mediterranean Sea, it’s known as the City of Arts and Sciences with futuristic structures including a planetarium, an oceanarium and an interactive museum.

Serranos Towers

But of all of Valencia’s noted structures, Jane brought back only one photo—the Towers of Serranos, one of the twelve gates that guarded the Christian city walls of Valencia. Built between 1392 and 1398 in the Valencian Gothic style, this gate was used by kings to enter the city.

Square in Arles

Apparently most of her time was spent shopping with Sheila instead of sightseeing.

Merry-go-round in the square

Leaving Valencia, we sailed overnight to the port city of Marseille, France. Marseille is the second-largest city in France after Paris, and the center of the third-largest metropolitan area in France after Paris and Lyon.

Old Arles Hospital

We decided to take a shore excursion to the ancient Rhone River port of Arles, France, but Keith and Sheila decided to head out on their own, having been to Marseille before.

A van Gogh painting scene

Arles amphitheater

Boarding the bus, we learned that our group was a mix of English and German-speaking sightseers. It was going to be interesting to hear our guide do the entire tour in two languages. The advantage for us was that the English version was presented first which allowed us to move on to explore nearby surroundings while the German version was presented. Originally established as a Roman colony in 123 BC, Arles served as an important river port throughout the ages. The Dutch post-Impressionist painter, Vincent van Gogh, lived in Arles from 1888 to 1889 and produced over 300 paintings and drawings during his time there. He was also admitted to the Old Arles Hospital after the famed ear-severing incident in December 1888. Some of van Gogh’s most famous paintings were painted in Arles and the locations of the painted scenes are marked for the tourists. We toured the hospital grounds and then viewed the
Arles Amphitheater. This two-tiered Roman amphitheatre is probably the most prominent tourist attraction in the city.

Docking in Genoa

Built in 90 AD, the amphitheater was capable of seating over 20,000 spectators, and was built to provide entertainment in the form of chariot races and bloody hand-to-hand battles. We made our way back to the square where our bus was waiting. We had a scenic ride back to the ship and met Keith and Sheila for dinner.

An overnight sail landed us at our last port, Genoa, Italy. We enjoyed a farewell breakfast with Keith and Sheila who were meeting another Aussie couple for a three-week land tour of Northern Italy.

Genoa street scene

Disembarking, we found our ride to a hotel where we would spend the night. International travel schedules require that we leave Europe early in the morning, and we didn’t have time to clear the ship and make it to the airport. Naturally, our hotel room wouldn’t be ready this early unless we had paid for a room the previous night.

The inside of the church

So we checked our luggage and headed out to explore the sights of Genoa. We hadn’t wandered very far from the hotel when we came upon a beautiful church that we entered to view. On the way back to the hotel, we searched for a restaurant that looked interesting for our dinner.

The church was HUGE!

After checking in, we relaxed and freshened up before heading out for a dinner of Genoese pasta and wine. We were up early the next morning to catch our ride to the airport for the grueling, but wecome, flight back to the states.

Islands in the Atlantic- We Visit the Azores and Tenerife

We awoke the next morning to calm cruising seas, but an inexplicable situation.

The old fort, Ponta Delgada

Getting the morning cruise info update on the television, Capt. Larry noticed that the ship’s course was 282° or WNW. Our next port, Bermuda, would be in a southeasterly direction. Thinking that the ship’s info wasn’t updated or was incorrectly displayed for some reason, he ignored this anomaly until he glanced out the window and realized that the sun was rising on the ship’s aft (in the east).

At the harbor

Conclusion: we were headed west away from Bermuda. We talked about this at breakfast, but Jane had a not-totally-convinced look on her face, until the captain came on and announced that we had a medical emergency and were returning to the Delaware Bay area to rendezvous with a Coast Guard helicopter for a medical evacuation.

The city gate and main square

Then, about an hour after the evacuation, the captain announces that we are changing our itinerary. A storm was brewing over the Bermuda area with winds forecast to reach over 50 knots! No one needs to be in tropical storm force winds on a cruise ship, so the new plan was to press on to the Azores for our planned two-day stop, then head to the Canary Islands with a stop on Tenerife, before getting back on schedule in Lisbon.

Carlos Muchado Museum

The only problem is that this would mean we had 5 sea-days facing us (break out the bingo cards)!

Between reading, working on the blog, and eating, we passed the time rather easily.

Sete Cidades twin crater lakes

Jane and Sheila spent their time with spa treatments, cheesy-ship shopping, and some craft classes, and we celebrated Keith’s birthday on the first day of spring. But, five days of being cooped up onboard a ship is a really long time. It was too cold and windy for us to walk out on the decks, and exercising with the ‘fitness buffs’ in the gym did not appeal.

São Miguel countryside

So even though it was a ‘formal night,’ we were certainly glad when our last sea day arrived. The Azores would be a new destination for us. This Portuguese collection of 9 islands form an archipelago with a population of approximately 235,000 inhabitants of which 135,000 live on the largest island of São Miguel—the island we would be visiting.

That's a really BIG Norfolk Pine

The captain announced that we would be docked at the Ponta Delgada docks at 0800.

After docking the next morning, we waited until the shore excursion passengers and the early birds had disembarked before making our way to the exit.

A big mess of roots!

A shuttle bus drove us a short way to an old fort where we were deposited just as the sun was really starting to break out. It looked like it was going to be a great day. From the fort, we walked to the triple-arched Portas da Cidade, the old main gate that led to the town square and was anchored by the Gothic-style Church of St. Sebastian. With a current population of 69,000, Ponta Delgada is the largest city and capital of the Azores archipelago.

Greenhouse for pineapples

The city is a gateway to the crater lakes of Sete Cidades, to the northwest. After viewing the church’s interior, we walked through the beautiful brown and white town square, and stopped at a sidewalk café for coffee and a sampling of some local pastries. Moving on, we came to a square with a horse-drawn carriage that was apparently for hire. The public library and a small park were adjacent to the square, and we stopped for a brief respite.

A Azorean greenhouse pineapple

We passed the Carlos Machado Museum which offers diverse artifacts of Azorean culture and a glimpse into the customs and traditions of island life. We ventured into the museum, but did not stay long as it was time to get something to eat (something we surely didn’t want to miss!). Walking back to the waterfront, we found an outdoor café where we feasted on boiled shrimp, steamed mussels, and beer.

Santa Cruz de Tenerife

It was probably the best meal we had eaten since we left Miami. Back onboard, we had a low-keyed evening to rest up and recharge.

The next morning we were up early for our booked excursion to the Sete Cidades Crater Lakes.

Santa Cruz's auditorium

We met Keith and Sheila after breakfast and boarded our bus that would take us on our excursion. After seeing some important landmarks in Ponta Delgada, we entered the verdant, rolling hills of the countryside. What first struck us was the number of cows we saw grazing in small pastures demarcated by neat lava-rock fences. Our guide told us that milk was the number one Azorean export and that 70% of Portugal’s milk comes from the Azores.

Las Teresitas Beach

The dairy pastures produced a very idyllic view. Our first stop was the Sete Cidades Crater Lakes. The two lakes are located in the center of a massive volcanic crater three miles across; each formed by separate, and juxtaposed volcanic craters that are connected at the very top. Reflecting the color of the sky, one lake is blue and the other is green due to the vegetation it contains. The volcano last erupted around 500 A.D., but is now dormant.

The Anaga Mountains

The lakes and surrounding countryside were absolutely beautiful. Our guide informed us that there were 9 crater lakes on the island, but these were the largest. We continued to ride through the countryside with a couple of more stops for photos. Back in Ponta Delgado, we saw more landmarks before stopping at the António Borges Botanical Gardens. The gardens featured mostly trees and shrubs and few flowers, but we did see the biggest Norfolk pine we had ever seen.

Steep Anaga peaks

The tree was huge and Jane and Sheila together could only stretch about one-half of its circumference. We came across another tree similar to one we’ve seen in Key West with a massive root system. Our last stop was to the Arruda pineapple plantation. Introduced in the mid-1800’s to replace blight-stricken orange trees, Azorean pineapples are cultivated entirely differently than anyplace else in the world.

Church in La Laguna

These pineapples are grown in greenhouses under carefully maintained conditions right up to harvest. We saw the greenhouses with different growing phases in each before Jane and Sheila led us to the plantation’s gift store (naturally). While the growing process was interesting, Keith and Capt. Larry wondered just how profitable greenhouse growing would be, but the gift store prices provided a definite clue!

Really old Dragon Tree

Back onboard we had lunch while the ship got underway for our next port, before retiring for an afternoon siesta. We had a good time in the Azores.

Sailing all night and another sea day put us at our port of call, Santa Cruz de Tenerife on Tenerife Island in Spain’s Canary Islands. With 904,000 inhabitants, the island is the most populous of the 7 Canary Islands and also Spain’s most populated. With approximately 5 million tourist visits each year, Tenerife is one of Spain’s most important tourist destinations. Born of volcanic activity, the rugged terrain of present-day Tenerife was formed by the fusion of three islands from volcanic activity from Mt. Teide, Spain’s highest peak (12,198 ft.), about 3 million years ago.

Church in La Laguna

Up early, we arrived at the Tenerife docks while we were having breakfast, and met Keith and Sheila in the auditorium at 0800 for our morning shore excursion. Boarding our bus, we headed out for our first stop, Las Teresitas beach. Our guide told us this was a popular beach because of its proximity to Santa Cruz. She bragged about the ‘white’ sand (which was brown) and noted that it had been hauled in from the Sahara Desert. So now we can say that we have touched sand from the Sahara! Our tour focused on the southwestern portion of the island. This area is very arid and receives very little moisture compared to the northwestern areas. This moisture is due to condensation of humidity carried by the trade winds which approach the island from the north, northeast. But the Anaga Mountains we would be driving through were fantastic.

Monastery in La Laguna

Volcanic in origin, these mountains are very steep, rugged, and young, and the mountain road through them was narrow, filled with hairpins, and barely accommodated our bus, let alone any oncoming traffic. When we met oncoming traffic, both vehicles stopped and negotiated the pass. We had some spectacular view of the peak and valleys as we wound our way to the top. As we ascended to higher elevations, the vegetation changed from desert-like cacti and sparse shrubs to grasses and flowering plants as more moisture was present.

La Laguna street scene

Near the top, there was enough moisture to support densely populated laurel forests with a widely diverse variety of species and abundant undergrowth. We stopped near the top for a break and a scenic view, but the mist prevented any scenic views. Descending out of the mountains, we came to the valley municipality of San Cristóbal de La Laguna, the first capital of Tenerife under Spanish rule. This quaint university town was a real pleasure to see. Our guide took us to some of the local landmarks, and then turned us loose for some free time. We stopped at some shops, before heading back to board the bus. Our tour finished with a ride through La Laguna and parts of Santa Cruz. We departed Tenerife soon after we were back onboard. We hope to visit this beautiful island again.

Cruising with Friends to Genoa, Italy

So we’re enjoying our winter stay down in the Florida Keys, when we get an e-mail from our Australian friends, Keith and Sheila.

Reunited at the condo!

We had cruised with them four years ago when we did our Australia/New Zealand cruise, and they picked us up when the ship docked in Brisbane and took us to their home for a delightful day. They wanted to know if we were going to be anywhere near Miami the first part of March so that we could meet up when they flew into Miami for a repositioning cruise to Genoa, Italy. Our Key’s rental was only through the end of February, but having missed other opportunities to travel again with them, we checked out the itinerary and decided there were some new places worth visiting, and suggested that we cruise with them.

Waiting for the sunset in Mallory Square

They loved the idea, so we jumped in.

Planning to arrive 3 days prior to the cruise, we wanted to show them the Florida Keys, and particularly the some of the attractions in Key West. We rented an ideally-located, two-bedroom condo on Key West’s waterfront, picked them up at the airport, and drove them to Key West where we luxuriated in this tropical setting until it was time to board the ship.

Keith's next building project!

While we spent most of our time relaxing and catching up with each other’s lives, we did get to learn about treasure diving at the Mel Fisher Museum (highly recommended), and made the obligatory trek to Mallory Square for what would be a clouded sunset, before returning to the condo where everyone dined on Capt. Larry’s Alfredo chicken pasta.Visits to the Butterfly Museum, the Southernmost Point, and Ernest Hemingway’s house consumed most of day two, but Sheila and Jane still managed to find time for shopping the tourist traps, and we all enjoyed an authentic Cuban lunch (something that’s not Australian, even though kangaroo might be a good substitute for Cuban pork!). That night, Keith commanded the “barbie” to produce an absolutely delicious steak dinner. On embarkation day, we had a beautiful drive up through the Key and another Cuban lunch, before we boarded for our cruise.

At the Butterfly House

Leaving Miami, we spent the next two days at sea cruising to our first port of call, New York City, exploring the ship, and reintroducing ourselves to our arch nemesis—the cruise line buffet. The cruise was warm and smooth until we got into the North Atlantic where the winds picked up, the seas got choppy, and the temperature plummeted.

The Southernmost Point

Nearing New York, the captain announced that we would pick up our pilot around 0500 and pass by the Statue of Liberty around 0700, just as morning twilight would be appearing. We invited Keith and Sheila to our room to view our entrance into New York Harbor.

At Hemingway's House

They arrived shortly before we passed under the Verazzano Bridge, and we got to pass under this bridge for a second time—the first being on our Great Loop boat trip in 2011. Once again we passed “Lady Liberty” and Ellis Island, and could have seen the Brooklyn Bridge and lower Manhattan had we gone to the other side of the ship. 

Passing under the Verazanno Bridge

We docked at Pier 90 which put us at 50^th street and a 20-minute walk from Times Square and Broadway. It could not have worked out better!

After a late breakfast, we struck out for Times Square.

Passing 'Lady Liberty'

It was Sunday and St. Patrick’s Day, but the parade, which NYC is famous for, ran the day before, so we had a St. Paddy’s crowd without the headaches. On our way to the square, we found the theater where we had tickets to an afternoon matinee.

The Ambassador Theater

We absorbed the visual LED displays in the square before going through the M&M’s store, and then had some lunch at a local pizzeria. Arriving at the Ambassador Theater, an older, smaller theater, we settled in for our show while Jane looked for some boater friends’ children who were also supposed to be at this performance, but to no avail.

The sights of Times Square

We all immensely enjoyed the show and recapped the performance on our walk back to the ship, before finishing our evening with a great dinner.

The next day was our last in the city and we faced an 1800 departure sailing. So that Keith and Sheila could see most of the highlights the city offered, we decided to do a hop-on, hop-off bus tour. 

NYC skyline

Leaving the ship after breakfast, we bought our tickets and boarded our bus. We had our choice and time to do two loops, and decided to start with the uptown loop. This loop took us past Central Park, the Guggenheim Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, South Central Park, and Columbus Circle.

Trump Tower

Switching to the downtown loop, we saw the Empire State Building, Greenwich Village, the World Trade Center, NoHo, SoHo and Little Italy, Chinatown, and Grand Central Terminal. Together we toured NYC for about 5 hours, and the Aussies thought they had ‘seen it all.’ Back onboard, we were leaving the dock when we glanced up the river and recognized the 79^th Street Marina we had stayed in for 5 days when we did the loop.
We were at the ship’s nighttime show as we passed under the Verazzano Bridge for our third time!