November 28 - Post-Thanksgiving ramblings from Soggy Bermuda.

Written over a couple of days and I don’t feel like revising it.

It’s Thanksgiving; it’s calm and the sun is out.  I’m on a beautiful ship where I’m being taken care of royally. But today I’m in what I call a “blue funk.” I’ve been asking myself “how can this be” and I’ve yet to figure it out.   I’m doing some introspection and if you don’t want to read that, stop now.  

The demographics on this cruise are different from any I’ve been on and perhaps that’s part of it.  I’m not xenophobic but we have large groups from a couple of countries which aren’t English speaking.  When I’ve met and spoken with some of them individually they are very nice.  In a group they take over the bar, the dance floor and anywhere else they are. Last night when I went to the Club one tromped on my foot on the dance floor and another pair doing a wild jive without paying attention to anybody else, bumped into me without even a tacit apology.  I didn’t fall, but that made me mad.

Yesterday (Thanksgiving Eve) I had dinner with some folks I’d met a few days ago and we planned to dine together.  They are all American like me, but during the course of dinner they told me they are embarrassed to be Americans.  One lady said we’re all lazy and obnoxious. She cited as proof of this that other people learn lots of languages and we don't and we're loud.  I asked her how many languages she speaks and she told me one – English.  I wondered if she dislikes herself.  It was a depressing meal.  I know we have rude Americans, but most of the ones I know are not and I think we are the most generous country in the world which has on the whole done lots of good.  Dining with people who felt the way these three did was a definite downer.

I had Thanksgiving dinner with a zany couple of transplanted Aussies who wanted to experience a traditional American Thanksgiving.  They raised my spirits with the fun we had at the table.  We played a game which is too complicated to explain here, but it involved cards, presents and stealing the latter from each other. We did an awful lot of laughing in between eating a really good turkey dinner.  I was happy that the day ended on that note.

Two views of our fun Thanksgiving group

We docked at midday today in Bermuda.  We were supposed to dock in downtown Hamilton, but the winds were too strong to maneuver the narrow channel so here we are at the Royal Dockyard at the tip of the island.  It has been raining off and on, and ashore there’s not much but “trash and trinket” stores as Al used to call them.  So I made an executive decision to stay on the ship.  I don’t want to be drenched looking at magnets and postcards.

Not very sunny Bermuda

We’re here overnight and sail tomorrow at one in the afternoon.  It’s a shame for the crew because on overnight stays many of them are able to go ashore late in the evening after they’ve finished their work. I talked to one of the young ladies who works in Guest Services and she told me she and her friends have found there’s a nearby pub called The Frog and the Onion and they are going to try going there, but they aren’t sure it will be open late.  I wished them luck.

I’ve had a couple of interesting conversations in the last couple of days with people who tried to convince me that the first Thanksgiving was held in Plymouth in 1621.  I’m sticking to my guns though and I’ve told them they are positively wrong – every good Virginian knows the first English Thanksgiving was held on December 4, 1619 (two years before!!!) at Berkeley Plantation. Fortunately that has not been a trivia question because despite the rule that the man with the microphone running the game is always right, I would have to dispute it if credit was given to the Pilgrims.

I guess I’ve rambled enough to let it be known I’m still alive and well.  I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving.  No Black Friday shopping here.  Bye for now.

November 26 - Somewhere at Sea

It’s our sixth full day at sea since leaving Lisbon and we have two more days after this one before we reach Bermuda.  Aside from water, water everywhere the only thing I’ve seen was a passing freighter headed toward Europe around lunchtime a couple of days ago. Since there aren’t sights for me to write about so I remember them, I thought I’d write about some of the fascinating people I’ve met.

I’ve written before about how I strike up conversations with everybody I meet. To be honest the most wonderful thing about cruising at this point in my life is meeting new people.  Yesterday at dinner I sat next to an 80-something German lady who came on the cruise alone because at the last minute her equally old husband didn’t feel up to coming. Christina’s English is limited but she could carry on a conversation if we worked at it. As an aside the lady on her other side is the kind of person I hope I never am - she spoke loudly to Christina as if being louder would help her understand the English words better.  Anyway, I learned the lady has been a teacher all her life and she spent 4 years teaching in Afghanistan before the Russians invaded in 1980. I’ve never met a woman who spent that much time there and her stories of her encounters and experiences were spellbinding.

At lunch today I met a retired physicist who worked for the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission before he got a position at the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency headquartered in Vienna, Austria. This man was one of the people who went into Iraq to find weapons of mass destruction (they didn’t find any;  perhaps they had been removed to Syria or someplace else) after we got rid of Saddam Hussein.  His agency was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for its work.  He later was involved in attempting to inspect Iran’s nuclear program which was problematic because Iran put up so many barriers.

Tonight I sat next to a really interesting older gentleman from Birmingham, Alabama.  A couple of nights before I had sat at the bar (no I’m not a wino but if you’re a solo woman and want to meet people you have to sit at the bar) next to his wife.  She is a very nice 80 something lady who must have been a kindergarten teacher because that’s how she talks to everyone, as if we are 5 years old. She had told me that her husband is hard of hearing, so he never said much.  Well, tonight I sat next to him and he had my full attention.  He was an Army doctor who served in an infantry battalion in Vietnam and saw heavy fighting in the field.  He told me some harrowing stories about medevacking wounded  out of the jungle.  He’s written a book and is going to send me a copy when he gets home.

The husband of one of my friends and trivia teammates is married to a retired officer of the Grenadier Guards, the most senior regiment of the British Army. They are the ones who wear those big  black bear fur caps.  They guard the monarch, but they have also fought in both world wars and in Afghanistan and Iraq.  He suffered a stroke and had to retire, but when he walks I can imagine him in his red uniform and big black cap.

Sea days settle into a routine.  Since I stay up late I sleep late and I rarely make it to breakfast.  Believe me, that’s okay because there’s never a shortage of food here.  There’s usually a lecture (they call them conversations now) about something around 10 AM.  Truthfully I don’t usually make it to those because I get up just a little before then.  My excuse is that I can watch them later on the TV in my cabin, and I have done that some afternoons.  We play trivia every day at 11:15.  On this leg the room is packed with 16 teams of 10 people on each.  It’s noisy and chaotic but a lot of fun.  It’s cumulative and I think we’re in the lead or very close to it. There are dance classes and bridge classes.  So far we haven’t had an art instructor on board but perhaps we’ll get one in Miami.  They are fun even for those of us with little talent.

A couple of nights ago, in fact the night I sat next to Christina the German lady I wrote about above, it was formal night and when I sat down at the table hosted by the Cruise Director, one of the ladies was wearing a diamond tiara and I thought “Holy cow, I’m in Downtown Abbey!”  Turns out the lady’s great-grandmother was a Prussian countess and according to my tablemates she gets to use the title so her place card said Countess Blahdy-Blah (I can’t remember what it was). She may be a member of some nobility, but I was told by reliable sources that the first night she got on the ship, she got so smashed she had to be carried to her cabin.  A title and tiara obviously don’t make a lady.

Yesterday at lunch we had what has always been one of my favorite things, the Gally Market Lunch. The galley staff go to great lengths preparing a spectacular buffet with lots of choices and we walk through the galley making our selections.  I usually walk through once taking pictures because the crew has worked so hard. Then I go back through to make my selections. That helps to prevent filling up your plate with a little of this and a little of that and before you know it you’ve got a massive amount of food.

These are scenes from the Galley Market and some of the special people who take care of us and work so hard.

After lunch and getting a manicure in the salon, I went back to my cabin and as I looked outside I saw a rainbow appear.  I had to struggle to get the veranda door open because the wind was blowing so hard, but I did manage to get some of it before it disappeared.  It's always a nice thing to see.

Tonight I needed some “me time,” so I declined the invitations I’d received and dined by myself in the sushi restaurant.  The food was good and very light and just what I needed for a change of pace.  I tried to go dancing afterwards, but we’ve been doing a lot of rocking, rolling and corkscrewing all day and dancing becomes difficult unless you’re a pole dancer. Maybe tomorrow it will calm down a little.  I hope so for the sake of others on the ship.  The motion doesn’t bother me, but there are some people who look a little green around the gills. 

I guess that’s all for now. Happy Thanksgiving Eve! 

November 20 – Lisbon, the beautiful city on the Tagus River

We docked this morning in one of my favorite cities, Lisbon, capital of Portugal.  I’ve been here a number of times and I’m always charmed by it.  To reach the cruise port the ship sails under the impressive 25th of April Bridge, a large suspension bridge which reminds me of the Golden Gate Bridge. On the left bank lies Lisbon and on the hilltop to the right is the Christ the King monument which is reminiscent of the Christ the Redeemer Statue in Rio.  

The terminal is right in downtown Lisbon so it’s pretty accessible.  Immediately visible is the dome of the National Pantheon which towers over the old district of the Alfama. Also in the distance you can see the Castle of São George.  Many of the buildings are decorated with colorful ceramic tiles which Portugal is famous for producing.  On a visit years ago Al and I went to the national tile museum here and it was fascinating.  Today I had a specific mission in mind.  I wanted to go to the Jerónimos Monastery in the Belém District to take some photos and to go to the one of the most wonderful pastry cafés I know of, the Pastéis de Belém café.

The National Pantheon

Lisbon cityscape

I got off the ship and got myself a taxi to take me to Belém.  The driver didn’t really speak English but he could understand enough of my Spanglish that he understood where I wanted to go but we couldn’t really have a conversation. He must have thought I was okay because as we waited for a traffic light to change he gave me a caramel candy to eat and told me it was “Very good.”  When I arrived at the park across from the monastery it was very crowded.  There was a long line of buses parked and lots of tourists milling about.  I took a walk through the park down toward the waterfront to take a picture of the Monument of the Discoveries. It’s a beautiful monument celebrating the Portuguese Age of Discovery.  I think we often forget that before Columbus there were intrepid Portuguese who discovered the archipelagos of Madeira and Azores and not long after Columbus in 1498 Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama established a sea route around Africa to India.  In fact if I remember correctly at one time the Pope divided the world  between Spain and Portugal, leaving out every other country at the time.  From my vantage point across a very busy street I didn’t get a good picture of the monument but when I looked back at photos from prior visits I found a good one so I’m including it here.  I also realized I was too far away to get to the Belém Tower, a beautiful fortification which was the point of embarkation of Portuguese explorers and serves as the official gateway to Lisbon. The picture here is also one I took as we sailed in one day.

Main square downtown

Monument to the Discoverers

Jerónimos Monastery

Jerónimos Monastery

elé

Belém Tower

After my walk in the park I walked back to the street by the Monastery which is a beautiful building in a Portuguese Gothic style.  Today it includes a church in which Vasco da Gama is buried in an impressive tomb and the former monastery which is now the Maritime Museum and the National Museum of Archaeology.  I’ve been in there twice so I didn’t want to go in again, just take photos.  Then I walked a block or two to my main objective,  the café to get the pastéis de belém.  

Street where the café is

Decorated with typical tiles

It tastes absolutely wonderful!

Just one of the many rooms

I think I’ve written about this place before but here it is again.  This café was established in 1837 and it makes between 20,000 and 40,000 of these wonderful custard tarts each day! You can stand in line for takeout, but the best way to get some is to get a table and order a coffee and a tart to eat there and some to go.  That’s what I did.  The place looks small from the street but it stretches back and back through a rabbit warren of rooms. I had a cup of very strong espresso and a tart (maybe two) and ordered a dozen to go.  When they came they were warm and the puff pastry around the custard was deliciously light and crisp.  They were heavenly! When I finished I took my extras and caught a cab back to the ship.  The pastéis were all gone within an hour.  I shared some with friends, but most of them went to some of my favorite staff members who probably didn’t have any time off to go ashore.

A christmas tree under construction in the main square

Christ the king lit up at night as we sailed past

Sailing west into the sunset! Next stop Bermuda!

I went to a solo travelers cocktail party, dined with some of them and then spent the rest of the evening chatting with friends and listening to some of the live music around the ship.  I went to the Club with the intention of dancing a little, but after I’d danced one time a pair of really plastered passengers (someone told me they were eastern Europeans (?) got out on the dance floor and were flinging themselves around, jumping on chairs and basically oblivious to whether there was anyone else around. I decided the best thing for me to do was avoid them if possible.  It was a nice day and now we have seven sea days ahead of us before our next stop Bermuda. 

November 19 - At sea off the Portuguese coast

Another segment of my cruise is winding down.  Many of my new friends who boarded with me in Athens are leaving tomorrow when we arrive in Lisbon and I’ll be sorry to see them go.

Since last I wrote we stopped in Ceuta, Spanish Morocco.  The city, with a population of about 85,000, lies on a narrow isthmus at the northernmost tip of Africa roughly ten miles from Gibraltar across the Strait of Gibraltar.  Like almost every place here in the Mediterranean it has been inhabited by many civilizations including Phoenician, Carthaginian, Roman, Ottoman and now Spain.  It became a possession of Spain in 1415 when King John I of Portugal captured the city because of its strategic position and importance in trade. In 1580 after the Portuguese king died without a successor Portugal and Spain united and Ceuta became part of Spain.  Eighty years later when Portugal regained its independence under King Alonso VI, Ceuta opted to stay under Spanish rule and so it has continued until today.  There is a certain irony and perhaps a little hypocrisy about Spanish ownership of this land which is surrounded by the Kingdom of Morocco.  The Spanish have for nearly 200 years been arguing that the United Kingdom should give up Gibraltar, yet Spain refuses to cede Ceuta or a few other Spanish enclaves in North Africa to Morocco.  Ceuta, just like Gibraltar right across the water, has a strategic location since until the building of the Suez Canal it was the only marine access to the Mediterranean for trade or any other purpose.  The city has a much more European flavor than other cities in the rest of Morocco.  It’s also heavily fortified because over the centuries it has been attacked frequently.

Now I have to confess that I was lazy the day we were in Ceuta.  I had planned to go on an eight hour to the city of Tetouan across the border in Morocco.  That city sounded like an interesting place because when the Moors and Sephardic Jews were expelled, at different times, from Spain many of the wealthy families of both settled in Tetouan. Unfortunately I was up most of the night before and I just couldn’t get up while it was still dark to go.  I’ll just have to come back here some time.  I heard it was beautiful. I also heard that the tour came back two hours late because to come back to Ceuta the bus had to go through border checks at the Spanish Moroccan border.  A friend told me the line of vehicles waiting to cross was miles long and each was being thoroughly inspected. Apparently that crossing has been a favorite entry point for migrants attempting to get into the EU of which Spain is a member, and there is an effort to crackdown.

This is Ceuta

As we sailed after sunset I tried to get a shot of Gibraltar 10 miles away.  This was the best of the bunch which I thought wasn't bad for an iPhone.

Today we’re in the Atlantic on our way to Lisbon where about half my fellow passengers will disembark and we’ll get a new contingent.  As usual on sea days there was a full schedule of things to do.  My team won the cumulative trivia game.  The main restaurant was open for lunch (it isn’t on port days) and I had lunch with three team members and Barry and Merle, the wonderful duo who play in the Observation Bar every evening.  This evening I’m having a farewell dinner with two new friends Dennis and Chuck who will be leaving. 

I realize when writing this that it probably sounds pretty dull, but I promise I’ve been having a blast.  Here on the ship we forget about what’s going on in the rest of the world for the most part and our differences in opinions don’t seem very important.  We just laugh a lot and enjoy one another’s company and that’s what makes cruising so special.  For now, goodnight. 

November 17 - Elysium Lécrin (Motril, Spain)

This morning we arrived in Motril, a not particularly pretty port in the south of Spain.  Many of my shipmates took tours to Granada, one of the most beautiful places in the world IMHO, but I’ve been there several times both as a teenager and with Al, so I availed myself of another unique experience the ship offered.

I have to “set the table” for you first.  For several years while I’ve cruised on Seabourn there was a corporate Executive Chef who would come onboard to check on and tweek menus. His name is Michael Sandoval.  I had the pleasure of meeting him – in fact I danced with him a couple of times.  Now he and his wife Jasmin, who also worked for Seabourn, have opened a restaurant called Elysium Lécrin in the little village of Melegis in the Lécrin Valley about 25 minutes from Granada.  The tour that I and 11 of my fellow passengers took was the first offered for a tasting menu lunch at this new and very lovely restaurant.

Michael and Jasmin spent five years fixing up an old, dilapidated house built in the 1890’s.  When they bought it there were birds flying around and roosting in the attic and none of the windows had glass in them.  They completely redid the place retaining the old stone elements  and the character, but they added modern facilities and their own personal touches.  Now it has become a boutique hotel with five luxurious suites and a marvelous restaurant which I have no doubt will receive a Michelin star in short order.

They named their place Elysium Lécrin.  Elysium is a state of mind and body, a sensation into which you are immersed. For the Greeks and Romans, it was also a sacred place where the shades of virtuous men and heroic warriors led a blissful and happy existence amidst green and flowery landscapes.  They have achieved the desired result.

We took a short ride through the Sierra Nevada mountains which stretch down to the coast in this part of Spain.  Along the way we could see the first signs of snow in the distant peaks.  We went part of the way on the highway, but then we had to get off onto a twisting mountain road with lots of hairpin turns.  Our guide Maria told us we had to leave the main highway because the new bridge on that road which cost millions of euros is falling apart. We arrived at the venue and were greeted by name by Michael and his lovely wife.

These are a few shots of the Sierra 

We began our experience with a delicious glass of Cava, a Spanish sparkling wine, and an hors d’oeuvres of a tiny puff pastry filled with cream and caviar.  Then we were escorted down to the vaulted cellar where we sat at tables from which we could see the open kitchen and enjoy the 9-course feast.  I won’t bore you with descriptions of everything but I will include photos because I want to remember how good this was. I will say that I ate a few things I didn’t think I’d like at all, like eel and octopus, and Michael’s take on them was absolutely exquisite.  Each course was accompanied by a wonderful Spanish wine. 

This was an appetizer including a Pho broth

A second appetizer with some eel

That curved thing is octopus skinned and cooked in a pressure cooker until it lost all its rubbery texture and tasted delectable

A raviolo stuffed with oxtail

Squab with a black truffle gravy and some dried pumpkin

A pre-dessert dish with foir gras, an orange marmalade, and a crumble made of walnuts and diced celery

Dessert of mango, rice and cream

We were supposed to get back to the ship by 3:30 PM; we made it back around 4:45 instead.  It poured rain for most of the ride back through the mountain roads and Sergio, our driver,  did a splendid job. It was a marvelous day!  This evening I was invited to dine at the Captain’s table.  Two of my new friends who are Australians who live in England were at the table too.  They are great fun and I look forward to spending more time with them in the days to come.  I finished the evening with a Monica Vitte, my favorite after-dinner drink, in the Solis Bar and then a quick listen to some music up in the Observation Bar from my favorite duo Barry and Merle.  I’ve known them  for three cruises now and I’m always so happy they are aboard.  Besides being great musicians they are also really nice people.

That was my day.  It was lovely!