Spain….Malaga, Alicante etc.

Hey everyone…..we are here in Barcelona having a great time. I plan to group a lot of our visits to other towns under this one entry…..why? Because I am too busy walking around town with my head on a swivel and avoiding pickpockets, Tapas Bars and kids doing way too much partying! Speaking of that, I don’t think that many parents truly know what mischief their kids can get into on these foreign exchange programs (mostly an excuse to get college credit for partying at Dad’s expense…..why didn’t I do that?). Tapas bars are analogous to sushi bars……waiters keep bringing you interesting looking food and then bring the bill….WOW!


Okay….haven’t had much history for the last few entries so strap on your helmet and get ready……page down to the pictures for those that can’t hold out…

Spain, in general, is an interesting country from the perspective of how many different influences and internal conflicts it has experienced over the years. Malaga, our first port of call in Southern Spain, has been notably influenced by the Moors which settled the area over two thousand years ago. The influences can be seen in the architecture, the language and the art. As our very knowledgeable guide pointed out, the Moors and the natives became almost completely intermixed. When the change came to convert from the Muslim religion to Catholicism, it was more one homogeneous group changing their focus as compared to a war between two different peoples.

Spain, historically, has always been made up of different regions. It depends on who you talk to but there are 5 officially recognized languages in Spain today. Spanish (what we teach in school) is Castillian and is spoken all over the country. Four other languages are spoken throughout the county….they are Catalan spoken in Catalunya ( includes Barcelona) and Valencia ( includes Alicante, Valencia city and Anadalusia), Basque in the Basque region, Aranese and Galacian. This diversity in languages simply illustrates the cultural differences (and independent nature) of the people. I speak a small amount of Spanish but find it useless in Barcelona. Catalan more closely resembles French with some words. For example, the word “Cheese” (one of my favorite food groups….please add more) is “Queso” in Spanish. In French, the word is “Frommage.” In Catalan the word is “Formatge.”

Much of Spain’s turbulent background has been driven by religious differences (Christianity or Muslim), Regional differences where the natives spoke different languages or philosophical differences concerning governance. These differences persist today. For example, we were told that Catalunya detests bullfighting (unlike Castillian Spain) yet a bullring was built here as symbol of dominance by the government. The ring had fallen into disrepair. Instead of building a new one, Barcelona opted to convert the inside into a high-tech shopping mall.

Malaga

Malaga is a busy port city of about 600,000 people on the the far south end of Spain. Moorish influences are everywhere. By all accounts, the Moors settled that area in 711. Moors originate from the Berber tribes living in what was then Roman Mauretania (today Algeria and Morocco). Our visit was a road trip to Alhambra Palace (Translated means “Red Palace”) which is in the city of Granada. Interesting point here is that Granada is also a walled city….Alhambra Palace itself is walled and is known as a city within a city. As with several palaces in the region, Alhambra Palace is being restored and had fallen into disrepair in the early 1800s. I was surprised to learn that the American author, Washington Irving is credited with saving the Palace. There is even a plaque and statue on display. According to the story told by our guide, Alhambra Palace was occupied by squatters. Mr. Irving was intrigued by these squatters and wrote narratives of many stories told to him. When he published the work, interest was piqued all over the world and restoration began. Alhambra Palace is now a World Heritage site.

Notice the Moorish detail in the figures



Restored courtyard at Alhambra



Outer Wall of Granada



More of the Moorish detail inside the Palace

Who would have thought it....


In Alicante we took a side trip to a very charming little town perched in the mountains named Guadalest. Guadalest has a population of 241……which can triple with a couple of tour busses pulling into the parking lot. It is a popular destination as it is very scenic and not too hard to get to. As you can see from the pictures, the city and the church are literally right on the edge of a cliff. Beautiful to see. We had a great lunch in the old town area and really enjoyed the local beer.

Landscape reminds us of Southern CA.

Guadalest

Bell Tower that still rings each day

The Local Favorite

Finally, as I write this, the bailout plan for Portugal seems to be in it’s final stages. Spain’s economy is not far behind. Unemployment through the country hovers at about 20%. In Catalunya it is 18% and Barcelona 17%.....all numbers far higher than just about anywhere in the US. Construction projects, both commercial and residential are completely shut down…many never to be finished. Spain is complex and diverse but friendly and a fairly good value (even on the Euro…..we are really taking a pounding! What happened to the dollar anyway?).

Very windy day....good thing I don't have much hair!

Barcelona deserves it’s own entry and I will post that one soon.

All for now.

Chris and Pat

Terra Firma at last!

We have a lot to talk about since my last posting. We landed in Funchal on the island of Madeira on Saturday. What an incredible sight. Madeira is very mountainous and every square foot of ground has been put to good use. Houses are built on the side of mountains and terraced gardens surround every house that you can see.

Sunset as we pull into Funchal

Clear to Land.....can't wait!

We took a side trip up to Cabo Girau which is the second highest cliff in the world and the tallest in Europe. The views are spectacular. We jumped back on the bus and went to a very scenic little town around the Island named Ribero Brava and had a terrific lunch. Since we now have a good internet connection, we will post more pictures.

Note the Terraced Gardens

View from Cabo Girau

My namesake.....I do get around!

Madeira is actually an archipelago with Madeira at one end of the chain. First discovered in 1190, it was settled by the Portuguese in 1414. Apparently, this is quite a popular destination for Europeans as the climate is subtropical for a good part of the year. Agriculture and tourism are the major industries here. It is also home of the famous Madeira wine (which packs a punch)…..we managed to smuggle some back on board. It’s legal to bring spirits back to the US but the cruise lines don’t like it and will confiscate whatever you buy until you disembark……keeps you running your bar tab if you know what I mean.

I am going to break this up into a few more short posts so that I can upload more pictures. Malaga and Alicante are already in the rear view mirror and we are currently in Barcelona. Yesterday was a great day for a run on the beach. Today we head for Montserrat northwest of Barcelona.

See you soon.

Pat and Chris

St. Lucia – Atlantic Crossing!

I guess we could go on and on about the West Indies and the beauty of the islands but it would get redundant. St. Lucia is no different…beautiful weather and beaches. Formerly a British and French territory that grew up on sugar cane, agriculture and fueled by imported African slaves. St. Lucia has a more checkered and confusing past as the country changed nationalities 14 times over its brief history. It was a French Territory 7 times and a British territory 7 times as well. As with tennis, France was not able to “break service” and it remains an independent but British territory. Residents are taught British in the schools but tend to speak a “Creole” dialect of French and West African at home.


Pat and I took a 4x4 jeep tour of the Island on a beautiful sunny day. St. Lucia is a bit larger than our previous stop at Antigua. St. Lucia is 268 square miles and has population of about 160,000. Port Castries is the main city and a busy port in it’s own right. During the trip we stopped over at a beautiful beach that you could not get to without a 4 wheel drive. We spent a pleasant couple of hours swimming and forgetting what weather is like in March!

Like other Caribbean Islands, sugar production from cane is pretty much over….much has been converted to Rum production and St. Lucia is no different. Interesting little factoid in these islands, sheep and goats are all over the place. Unlike the North American varieties, the only real way to tell the difference between the two is the tail! Sheep do not grow a coat of wool like the North American variety and the faces look the same. The way to tell them apart? The goat’s tail will turn up and the sheep’s tail turns down……color like this you cannot get from a book 

By the way, pictures will be sparse at this point....still suffering with a slow internet connnection and I seem to be better off trying to fax pictures in......



Atlantic Crossing……Stop the Boat….I want to get off.



Words of advice for those contemplating an Atlantic crossing by ship……DON’T DO IT! Just kidding, but there are steps to take. Halfway through the last 6 days at sea I kept thinking of Dante’s inferno and precisely what “ring of hell” I was currently in. The on- board food becomes both repetitive and derivative…..I mean, how many ways can you fix Brussels sprouts and why would you bother? As a side note, here is a great recipe for Brussels sprouts. Heat up a pan to medium heat with a couple of table spoons of oil..place the sprouts in the pan and sauté until they are done (you can tell because they start to smell…..yuck!), quickly open your trash can and pitch it right in! It’s not Cordon Bleu but it’s my favorite way of cooking Brussels Sprouts.

Anyway…..lessons learned. First, have a routine otherwise you could end up sleeping all day. Not a bad way for a day or so but not for the whole trip. Second….be active. Pat and I walked or ran a minimum of an hour a day. Great way to work off the Brussels sprouts….Third, have plenty of diversions planned. Pat and I are readers and had fully loaded up Kindles to keep us busy. Fourth, consider some of the stupid games that the entertainment staff has come up with. (that is the ninth ring of hell BTW) They end up being entertaining and you get to watch the video on the one station that does work…..over and over and over again. Make friends…..we met several interesting people along the way who are sharing the same “Bataan Death March” that we are……makes for interesting conversation 

Don’t expect much in the way of communication….the internet was intermittent and terribly slow. Television was non-existent. All in all, I will take an 8 hour flight to cross the Atlantic than 6 days at sea. During one of those periods where my mind wandered I came up with a theory that the Titanic purposely struck an iceberg just to get it “over with”….

On to more positive (and entertaining subjects)…. We have been making great time and will dock in Funchal tonight ahead of schedule. Funchal is on the Island of Madeira of the coast of Portugal. Not unlike the opening of the Bastille…..we are all getting off the ship for any purpose we can come up with.

Look for our next post where I regain my sanity, a good internet connection and eat something without Brussels Sprouts in it.



Regards,



Chris and Pat

Yet another beautiful destination.....Antigua (promounced "Antiga") :)

Antigua is our second stop on our trip to Spain. The weather has been great…..we are blessed with good fortune. Actually, Pat was blessed with good fortune. Like the book “Under the Tuscan Sun, “ Pat had a pigeon poop on her head.  Pat was as disgusted as I have ever seen her but she brightened considerably when her daughter told her the story from Ms. Mayes book As the author relates the purchase of her house in Tuscany,the owner of the house she purchased would not sell until she found out a pigeon had pooped on her head.....the owner took this to be good luck and agreed to sell Ms. Mayes the house.…..If this truly means good luck; we are in for a great trip!




Pat.....right before the Pigeons did their damage

Antigua is one, if not the most, beautiful of Caribbean Islands. Of top 10 beaches in the world, Antigua is host to either two or three of them depending on which website you read. With 365 publicly owned beaches, you can hit one a day and not repeat your visit for an entire year. Discovered by Christopher Columbus, Antigua was home to the Nelson Dockyards named after Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson. The inlet to the dockyards is hidden from the ocean….only one way in or out and it makes for a protected and strategic ship repair facility which is still in use today. Settled by the British, Antigua is part of the British Commonwealth and gained their independence in 1979. Agriculture and tourism are the major industries along with a good rum business. Sugar cane production used to be very strong but, like many islands in the region, it is no longer economically feasible to produce sugar…..most of that production has been converted to rum. The saying around here is that it is better to stay drunk….if you sober up, you will just have to get drunk again anyway.

We took a tour with other’s from our ship and visited some high points of the island which include the overlook to the Nelson Dockyards, the Dockyards themselves, the Town of St. Johns and surrounding areas. We were lucky to visit on such a clear day. We could see some of the other surrounding islands like Guadaloupe and Montserrat. Montserrat has the only active volcano in the Caribbean and we could clearly see the plume from the crater. Antigua is just 108 square miles and has a population of around 80,000. With roughly 40 miles of coastline….most of it is good, beach front property. It must have some attraction. Among other celebrities, Eric Clapton lives here.

Antigua emancipated their slaves about the time that most other Islands did in 1832. As with most British Commonwealth territories, Cricket is one of the favorite sports and Sir Vivian Richards (the “Master Blaster” to those knowledgeable about the sport) is a national hero….he even has the local cricket stadium named after him. I can’t understand cricket….it takes days to determine a winner and they throw way too many ground balls for my taste…

Our driver was a real character….he named himself “engine number 9” mostly so that we could all remember which bus we were on. He was irreverent and didn’t hesitate to make racial jokes that we would cringe at in the US. During the tour, he pointed out a Donkey and called it a Antiguan “BMW.” None of us knew what that was. He answered that it stood for “Black Man’s Wheels.” Kind of gives you an idea of our day….very funny guy. Part of our tour included rum punch with 151 proof rum…..I needed to go back to the ship and take a nap after that…..I’m not in college any more!

Antiguan BMW

It’s been 20 years since Pat and I had visited this island….we remembered it fondly and we had our memory refreshed. It’s a quaint and peaceful place with scenery and beaches (for the water sports inclined) that you can get in few other places. We plan to return and spend more time soon.

As I write this, we are on our second day of 6 crossing the Atlantic. Internet service is spotty….carrier pigeons might be more effective. Hopefully, I will be able to post a few pictures along with the text.

Best to All….we will update you on St. Lucia next time.

Pat and Chris

Buenos Dias from San Juan!!

It’s been two wonderful days at sea! I sympathize with the tough weather y’all have had around the country. For our cruise, we can’t have had better weather. It’s been sunny and 85 degrees pretty much the whole way……sorry to rub it in.  So far, the big challenge has been staying active in the midst of great food and drink that is available 18 hours a day.  I have scoped out the gym and Pat has a new playlist on the MP3, so all is well.


We are traveling on the MSC Poesia from Ft. Lauderdale to our final destination of Barcelona, Spain. MSC is a line that we have not traveled on before….mostly an Italian crew. So far so good. We plan to post a review on TripAdvisor.com (we will also do the same with the recent Princess Cruise. As we have said before, cruising seems to be a reasonably trouble-free way to see several different destinations quickly, pick out your favorites and visit for an extended time later. We are familiar with the Caribbean but have never crossed the Atlantic by ship. The route also covers the Straits of Gibraltar and a couple of southern ports of Spain that we have never seen. The trip ends in Barcelona (one of our favorite destinations)….we will spend a few days there, go to Madrid to visit the Prado Museum and then home.

San Juan is the largest city in Puerto Rico with a population of 1.8 MM. The territory of Puerto Rico covers an area 110 miles by 35 miles and has a population of 4.5MM. Puerto Rico is a US territory…..they pay taxes, support a National Guard detachment and became US Citizens with the passage of the Jones Act in 1917. Having said that, Puerto Ricans are fiercely proud of their heritage which is a three-way extraction of African, Indian and Spanish cultures. Many Puerto Ricans have lived in the US but don’t consider themselves Americans in any way.

San Juan has several areas of the city that are worth visiting but we like old town the best.

Old Town San Juan is what remains of the walled portion of the city. Named a National Historic Landmark, Castillo San Felipe del Morro is the center point of a series of fortifications built by the Spanish to defend a very strategic location in the Caribbean. Work began in 1533 and took over 250 years to complete. El Morro repelled many attacks over the years, one of the most famous being the final British attempt in 1797.

The Spanish ruled Puerto Rico until 1898 when it lost the territory to the US in the Spanish-American war (Along with Cuba, Guam and the Phillipines). Puerto Rico’s status as a commonwealth is a continuing anomaly for both the US and Puerto Rico.  I love these little nuggets of info......

Pat and I took a short tour of the City and had a great lunch at the Café La Princesa which is located near the wall on the south end of Old Town. We really recommend this place if you get here.

Finally, as I do wherever I can, I took a short run down a magnificent trail that winds it’s way around the city wall at the base. It’s about a mile walk from the harbor but well worth it.

Tomorrow, we are off to the British Isle of Antigua and the Nelson dockyards…..more history and a convenient time to sign off now before I bore you to death!!



Regards,



Chris and Pat

We did the wash, paid the bills, re-introduced ourselves to the dogs and generally just recovered! This trip, by comparison should be quite a bit easier to manage….less flying, less moving around and shorter duration. Our itinerary includes, Ft. Lauderdale, San Juan, Antigua, St. Lucia. After that, we spend six days at sea and land at Funchal, Portugal. Next, we hit the ports of Malaga, Alicante and Barcelona in Spain. We get off the ship in Barcelona and spend a few days there and a few in Madrid then head home.  Alhambra Castle, the Sagradas Familias Temple and the Prado Museum are on our "must do" list.


We will keep everyone up to date with the sights and activities.

Friends we met from our last cruise, Rob and Brenda Gordon from the UK, have relatives in Christchurch, New Zealand. As most know, that was one of our stops during the last cruise and an area that I found particularly attractive. About 10 days ago, Christchurch was struck by another strong earthquake centered in nearby Lyttleton which caused significant damage. I have included a link to a local website that showed some before and after pictures.

http://www.morefm.co.nz/Home/ChristchurchEarthquakeBeforeandAfterPhotos/tabid/2115/Default.aspx

Our prayers are with those affected by the earthquake.



Pat and Chris Glenn