May 6 - Mahón, Menorca

Since I last wrote, we stopped in Palamós, Spain and Barcelona and we celebrated my birthday.  When I say we I truly mean that because the ship outdid itself feting me. We docked in Palamós on a pretty gray day.  I was here ten years ago with Al and we had walked around for a while that day but there wasn’t a great deal to see.  There was a little fishing museum but I didn’t think it was worth going again.  The ship’s tours were all to places I’d been a few times before, so I decided to stay on board.  Most of my friends are leaving tomorrow so we spent time saying our farewells.

My birthday celebration began at breakfast.  I had mentioned that I love BLT’s for breakfast and what appeared but a delicious BLT.  Before that came though several staff came with a plate of star-shaped pancakes with a candle in the middle.  I didn’t have the presence of mind to take a picture so you’ll just have to take my word for how pretty the plate looked with berries and whipped cream.  I was stuffed needless to say. 

I skipped lunch and actually took a little nap because the night before I’d partied pretty hard.  In the afternoon we played our final trivia game of this leg of the cruise.  Before we began the staff came out with cupcakes for all of my team with a candle in mine and all of the trivia players sang happy birthday.  Our team was far enough ahead that I think we could have missed every question and still won, but we got a perfect score.  I won another Seabourn ballcap to give away.

For my birthday dinner I dined in Solis, the alternate restaurant, with my friend Hilary, two new friends Braxton and Carly, and John, the cruise director, and Lala, the Entertainment Manager.  We had a rollicking good time.  I’ve written about John before.   It’s impossible to be around him and not laugh a lot.  Once again at the end of dinner the staff came out with a birthday cake with a candle and I heard happy birthday for the third time. After dinner we all went to the show which featured one of my favorite guest performers, Sam Bailey.  She’s a winner of the British show The X Factor (it must be like American Idol) and she has a phenomenal voice.  Even better than that is her personality.  I’ve dined with her a couple of times and she’s a great dinner companion and a genuinely nice person. Of course I went to bed late after dancing a little.

A drink with friends before my birthday dinner

Yesterday we docked in Barcelona and as I wrote earlier most of my friends got off.  We picked up 450+ new passengers.  When I boarded in Barcelona we were tied up at the World Trade Center right downtown.  Had we done that I might have gone out for a while, but instead we were off in the port which is half commercial and half for the big behemoth ships.  It also was rainy off and on so that made my decision for me.  It also cooled down a lot.  I guess my weather luck ran out.  A sailaway party was planned but just before it was to start it began raining and John postponed it until another day.

This morning we docked in Mahón, Menorca.  I was here not quite three weeks ago at the beginning of my cruise and today it started rainy and cold and since I took a tour of the island then, I wasn’t going to get off at all. After the rain stopped I figured I might as well walk a little.  I’m glad I did because it is a picturesque place. The town is perched atop a cliff overlooking the  cruise terminal and dock. You can walk up a lot of steps to get there or take the free glass elevator.  That was a no-brainer for me.  I walked into the old town, most of which is pedestrian only.  The streets are lined with lots of cafés and stores mainly selling beach wear clothing.  Menorca is evidently a popular place for tourists who fly in and go to the beaches there.  Since it’s before the high season I suspect budget-minded tourists come because the cost is lower and they figure the temperatures will be warm enough to enjoy the beach.  They may have been fooled this time because it was windy and cool.  

These first two are Mahón atop the cliff

The glass elevator which saved my knees

Instead of the elevator I could have gone up these and another similar bunch beyond the trees

In a plaza next to what looked like a former church now repurposed as museum of agriculture there were a couple of large sculptures, one a very colorful mermaid and the other three very modern horses.  I thought it was an odd pairing of subjects.  The buildings along the streets were very typically Spanish with wrought iron balconies on the second floor and shutters on many windows. I walked carefully because the pavement was all either cobblestone or very slick slabs of smooth stone which can be very slippery.  Fortunately most of the morning rain had dried off or else I don’t think I would have walked very far; falling and breaking something isn’t on my to-do list.  After I’d walked a couple of miles and taken lots of pictures I headed back to the elevator and to my ship.

The colorful mermaid

The three strange looking horses

Here are some more street scenes of Mahón.

There was another ship docked next to us, the Ilma (strange name) which is a Ritz Carlton cruise ship. It’s a little smaller than the Ovation and carries about 450 passengers.  As I was walking down the corridor after reboarding I ran into the Staff Captain and he told me that the Ilma had just made its transatlantic crossing from the Caribbean to begin its summer in the Mediterranean. On the crossing it only had 19 passengers onboard! It must have been like a ghost ship.

Anyway, it was a nice day despite the early morning rain and the cool wind.  After dinner and the show I went to the Club and danced a couple of dances and then came back to my cabin.  I’m going on a tour tomorrow so I have to get up pretty early.  More mañana.  Buenas Noches.