May 7 - Valldemossa and Deià, Mallorca

I decided to take a tour when we docked in Palma de Mallorca for the second time on this cruise.  I opted for a tour to the northern side of the island, near a place Al and I went seven years ago. It seems in some ways like only yesterday; yet my whole life was turned upside down and sideways since then.

There were just 15 of us as we set out and headed to the north coast.  Our first stop was in Valldemossa, a very picturesque village nestled in the mountains.  The slopes surrounding the village are terraced and planted with olive groves or rows of grape vines.  Valldemossa is famous for one thing, the Royal Charterhouse of Valldemossa, a monastery built in the 14th century.  Its fame derives from its later history though.  In the 1830s the Spanish government confiscated monasteries and sold them to private owners to finance a war to determine the succession to the throne.  The new owner decided to host some guests in the building and the most famous was Frédéric Chopin who came and stayed for several months with his lover George Sand (the pseudonym of the French writer Amantine-Lucile-Aurore Dupin).  At that time female writers were not readily accepted so she used a man’s name.  Apparently she also was very daring and dressed often in trousers and other men’s clothing.  Valldemossa was a little traditional Spanish village so the local people were quite scandalized by this unmarried couple that included a woman who dressed like a man.  Sand wrote an account of their time there in A Winter Account in which she praised the beauty of Mallorca but condemned the prejudice of the locals.

The bell tower of the monastery

One of the cloisters

One of the few things allowed to continue when the monks were forced out was this apothecary room in the Charterhouse.  In these cabinets were all sorts of remedies used during the centuries the monks were here.

In the Charterhouse we visited the rooms the pair stayed in while there.  The furnishings were replicas of the originals but there were some letters and drawings of the pair from their stay.

The transcript of a letter Chopin wrote during his stay in Valldemossa

This blue tapestry and blue painting of the Charterhouse were the only things that caught my eye in Chopin's rooms here

The view from Chopin's garden

Just a small piece of the garden

This bust of Chopin was near the entrance to the building

They did have a lovely garden with a view of the mountains. After walking through their rooms we were treated to a piano recital of Chopin works.  Apparently there is a piano school in the building so one of the teachers performed for us.  We had free time then to wander through the village.  There were lots of tourist trinket shops and cafés.  I stopped at one and had an almond pastry and a café con leche.  There are lots of almond trees on Mallorca so cafés sell all things almond.

This and the next are a couple of photos of the streets in Valldemossa

We reboarded our bus and continued our journey to the north coast.  We stopped at a beautiful overlook where we could see the blue Mediterranean down below and the cliffs along the island’s north shore.  Below us was one big rock which the wind and sea had eroded so it  looked like it had been pierced by a giant needle.  Once again the road was narrow and winding along the mountainside and the driver of our very large bus (for just 15 of us!) had to carefully squeeze by when we encountered oncoming traffic.  We passed by several villages and a number of villas all made of sand colored stone.  Apparently there are laws here that buildings must all be faced with the same kind of stone which makes for very pretty scenery.

Riding through the Tramunta mountains to the north coast

The north coast

The pierced rock

We arrived at our next destination, the village of Deià, a beautiful place surrounded by the Tramuntana mountains and the Mediterranean Sea.  Because of its natural beauty it has been a hotspot for artists who come for inspiration.  This place was where we had our included lunch. We were dropped off at a beautiful hotel called La Residencia.  The hotel is built around two 16th century buildings which have been restored and made the focal point of the place.  There are lovely gardens and patios overlooking both Deià and the sea.  We were shown a table on one of the shaded terraces and served an exquisite lunch.  Many times tours with included luncheons have just so-so food.  This one was delicious and paired with very nice Spanish wines and ended with a wonderful almond dessert and espressos or cappuccinos. When I was back on the bus I googled the place and found its one of the Belmond hotels which are usually super-luxurious. These next few photos are of this lovely place

I guess you can tell I fell in love with this place.  Honestly, once again this coast and this village are among the few places I've been that I can say if I had to leave the US, I would think of coming here.  It is almost idyllic.

After lunch it was time for the ride back across the mountains and a return to the ship.  I think we all dozed off a little.  After all it was siesta time here in Spain and we’d been wined and dined.  I was back in time for our daily trivia game.  We’re in the lead cumulatively, but not by much.  We’ll have to be on our toes tomorrow.  In the evening I dined at a hosted table with Sam, the singer I wrote about the other day.  She’s a lot of fun and it’s a good thing because at my end of the table were two ladies who were definitely not conversationalists.  I’m being catty, I know, but across from me was another solo traveler, a man, who has been at the same table as some of us widows a couple of times.  He speaks loudly and has told us all about his several wives.  When we widows have gotten together we’ve wondered how he managed to get any wife let alone several.  Enough cattiness.

Our entertainment at the show was a unique duo of performers, two sisters who play the violin and the piano.  What makes them unique is that their parents were both Egyptians who emigrated to Scotland.  As a result the two women (who are quite beautiful) look very middle eastern, but when they open their mouths out comes a very Scottish accent.  They are classically trained and performed a beautiful repertoire of pieces I truly enjoyed.  I went and did my after-show thing and then came back to my cabin a little earlier than the last few nights.  Tomorrow is a sea day.  Hallelujah!  I need one.

I forgot to mention that tied up practically next to us in Palma today was a MASSIVE sailboat.  It is Jeff Bezos’ nearly  400 foot long, three-masted yacht which reportedly cost more than $500 million and costs upwards of $30 million per year to maintain. That may be, but I have to honestly say it’s not a very attractive sailing ship.  Zuckerberg’s motor yacht I saw in Tahiti last year was much nicer looking, not that it matters or that anyone cares what I think.

Time to say goodnight.

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. 

May 3 - Saint Tropez

Only two days left until this leg of my cruise is over and several of my friends leave. Quelle dommage! (I’m trying to remember some of my high school French to sound very cosmopolitan,)

It’s a Saturday and not sunny at all which my British friends don’t like.   I have been here at least once before on a tour of the Côte d'Azur so I didn't book any kind of shore excursion.  I tendered ashore and encountered a delightful market selling everything under the sun.  Evidently these vendors set up here along the waterfront every Thursday and Saturday so it was our luck to be here.  The market was crowded with locals as well as tourists.  It’s not the high season here yet, but it’s a nice time of year to come because it’s not yet blazing hot.

Saint Tropez from my veranda

The fort overlooking the old town

There must have been hundreds of stalls with vendors selling everything from clothes to pottery to knives and food.  There was music playing and a general vibe of excitement.  I walked through and bought another scarf; I’m getting quite a collection.  Now I just need to become adept at tying them.  The French love their dogs and there were plenty walking along and little ones being carried.  I passed a vendor selling baked goods and as I watched a handcart came up to bring a fresh load of baguettes.  I can’t resist a crusty loaf of bread so I bought one (it was still warm!) and since the sky looked like it was about to fall I headed back to the ship with my treasures.  It wasn't until I got back and looked at my photos later that I realized I didn't take a photo of the bakery stall.  Sorry about that because they had wonderful pastries in addition to bread.  Next time.

I should tell you about the interesting character I sat next to on the tender.  He was an older Englishman who said he was traveling with his wife, her two sisters and their husbands, and his mother-in-law.  I think I mentioned meeting this family in an earlier post.  Anyway he asked my name and I told him Ann and asked his.  He told me some people call him Nigel, some call him Trevor and some call him Lord Something or Other which I didn’t catch.  I learned later after sitting with his wife and mother-in-law at the Club that he’s a little dotty and he’s a lord of nothing at all, just plain Trevor.

Back to my baguette.  Back on the ship I took my treasure to the Patio Grill and found some friends at a table.  I asked the staff at the grill if they could rustle up some ham, cheese and pâtés for us to enjoy with the fresh bread.  We tore hunks of the bread off and enjoyed a wonderful French lunch with some wine. I came back at the right time because it poured as we sat under cover.

A couple of my friends went beyond the local market into the little town.  There they found lots of designer shops and a couple of them went into Louis Vuitton and Dior.  One friend loves handbags and bought a couple at some shop.  That’s just not my thing, perhaps because I’m too lazy to move my stuff from one handbag to another.  

Later in the afternoon as we prepared to sail away the sun came out just in time for the sailaway party by the pool.  It was an ABBA sailaway which my friend Helga who passed away last year would have loved.  I joined some of my Scottish, British and Australian friends dancing by the pool as the band played.  Only one or two men got up and danced.  Why is it that we women are usually the only ones who will get up and boogie?  John, our cruise director who is a hoot, wound up jumping into the pool fully clothed at some point.  About John, I’ve sailed with him before and he is absolutely frenetic most of the time.  He’s from the north of England and I keep thinking he must have been an ADHD kid who kept his parents on their toes.  His wife and two sons were on for the first ten days and were delightful.

I should just write a little about Saint Tropez.  It’s on the Côte d’Azur, the French Riviera, and is known as a seaside resort for the rich and famous.  One of its most well-known residents is Brigitte Bardot.  Many modern artists have been inspired by the scenery here and along this coast in general.

In the evening my friend Hilary and I dined late and missed the wonderful pianist’s second show which I regret.  I so enjoyed his first one, but she’s leaving in two days so we wanted to spend some time together.  We were joined for a while with two new American friends and we laughed a lot.  They aren’t night owls like I am so eventually they said goodnight and I went down to the Club where I sat with the extended British family I wrote about and I and some of the three sisters danced until the band packed up for the night.  It was another lovely day or as the French would say magnifique!

May 2 - Ajaccio, Corsica, France

Behind again.  It’s hard with all these port days to stay up to date, not to mention too much fun I’m having.  After we left Gozo we had one of my three sea days out of 30 on this cruise.  Had we been a sailing vessel we would have been becalmed; there was absolutely no wind and the sea looked like a lake. I can’t really account for my time.  I stay up very late, closing down the Club or the Observation Bar listening to the live music and dancing.  I get up late and during the day, I chat with friends, play trivia (we are the champions! Yay!) and somehow the day is gone and it’s time for more music and dancing.

I have met some marvelous new friends.  There are two delightful ladies from Australia, a couple from eastern Washington State, and an extended family here from the UK celebrating Mum’s 94th birthday. On my trivia team we have members from Australia, Scotland and the left coast and we all get along splendidly.  I must say that the Scots are delightful company, despite the fact that I have to listen carefully to understand what they are saying.  On the other hand they probably have the same problem with me.

So where was I?  After our calm day at sea we arrived at Ajaccio, Corsica.  We were on the island just a few days ago, albeit at a different port.  This is the capital of the island and the actual city where Napoleon was born. It was a gorgeous sunny day.  After breakfast I headed ashore to the market.  I’ve written often of my love for markets so this was a must see. The market was two minutes from the ship. It wasn’t  big, but it was nice nonetheless. I walked through taking photos.  It’s so interesting seeing the different kinds of food in different places.  Also the size of some vegetables and fruits are so much larger than what we see at home.  Think of tomatoes and onions on steroids and you’ll get the picture.  Oh, as I was walking on the dock on my way to the market I passed the chef coming back from shopping there.  On this cruise he has been buying local provisions, especially fresh seafood, whenever possible and it has been wonderful.

I wonder what goodies he bought for us today.

The Marcatu d'Aiacciu

After walking through the market I kept on along the street and came to the Place Foch AKA the Place des Palmiers (palm trees).  There’s a large marble statue of Napoleon dressed as a Roman consul with four lions around the statue.  The plaza is next to the Rue Bonaparte which leads to what was Napoleon’s house in which he was born.  I walked down that street and came to the Citadel of Ajaccio. Construction of the fortress which guarded the city of Ajaccio was begun in 1492 by the Genoese since the Republic of Genoa controlled the island at that time.  (Something else happened in 1492 and was related to Genoa. Can you remember?)  Genoa maintained control of Corsica until the middle of the 18th century.  By that time the city state’s power was waning and it was tired of dealing with Corsican revolts led by Pasquale Paoli, a Corsican nationalist.  In 1768 Genoa ceded control to the French.  I think the Genoese decided they would let the French deal with the revolutionaries; they were tired of it.

The Place Foch

Napoleon with his four lion guards

The Citadel

The walls along the waterfront are part of the Citadel from the dock

Pasquale Paoli who gave the Genoese (and later the French) a hard time

I just walked around it a little and then I went back to the little streets in the old city next to it and found a bench to sit at and people watch.  I have come to realize that at my age I am much more interested in watching people and the local color than seeing the more traditional tourist sights.  If I happen to wind up seated next to a local and strike up a conversation, that’s an added bonus.  Today I didn’t find a local, but I did meet  a couple I hadn’t  yet met on the ship and we had a lovely conversation about all kinds of things.

A charming street in the old city

I had to take a close=up of this beautiful flower

After a while I started back to the cruise terminal and I thought I might find a place for lunch at a café along the way.  Most were pretty crowded and when I looked at the food on the tables nothing looked exceptional so I continued on my way back to the Ovation. Friends were sitting at the Patio by the pool and I joined them for a salad.  In the late afternoon we played Trivia and in the evening after dinner I went to the show and then dancing of course.  I know it’s not really exciting to read about but it was a lovely day.  I forgot to mention that when I was at the Citadel I looked across the harbor and in the distant mountains there was snow so I took a picture.  Somehow I just never thought about a place like this in the Mediterranean having enough snow that it would still be here in May.

If you look you can see the snow at the mountain top.

Tied up at the next dock was this beautiful sailing ship, the Sea Cloud.  She was originally Marjorie Merriweather Post's yacht Hussar V built for her in 1931.  She served as a US Coast Guard weather ship for a while and during WWII as a US navy ship.  She sails again as a cruise ship carrying a maximum of 64 passengers.

À bientôt for now.