DH and I went on a cruise (still never thought I’d say these words) along with 200 other travellers to Portugal, Spain, Morocco, and France.
This is where we went and what we did, selfishly so I can read it and remember. This includes shore excursions:
Itinerary
Lisbon City Drive Oct 11 4.0 Hrs 7:45 AM
Vejer de la Frontera & Cape Trafalgar Oct 12 4.5 Hrs 9:00 AM
Best of Tangier Oct 13 5.5 Hrs 8:45 AM
Málaga Overview & Walking Tour Oct 14 3.0 Hrs 9:15 AM
Ancient Roman City of Cartagena Oct 15 3.3 Hrs 9:00 AM
A Snapshot of Tarragona Oct 17 3.5 Hrs 11:30 AM
Étang de Thau Lagoon by Boat Oct 19 4.0 Hrs 8:45 AM *this was cancelled due to downpours. Hubby was happy to be refunded 800 dollars for this cancellation. I wasn’t disappointed. Slept in on a rocky ship.
Scenic Marseille Oct 20 3.5 Hrs 8:30 AM The rain in Spain goes to Marseille. Rain seems to be following up. It’s rained almost 3 inches and caused rocky seas. I don’t mind so much, but there was a line for sea-sickness drugs at the on-board clinic.
Panoramic Côte d’Azur Oct 21 3.8 Hrs 9:30 AM
Carrara Marble Quarry & Mining Town Oct 22 5.0 Hrs 8:30 AM. I was disapointed this was cancelled due to “not enough interest.” I was very interested, since Carrara Marble was used to carve “The David” and most other Italian and European statues and pieces of art. DH promised a trip to Colorado’s Marble (both a city and a quarry) next Fall.
10/6-7 Denver – Lisbon (beginning of trip)
Took a ride through Lisbon to get to the hotel. Many roundabouts slowed things down. small streets from the old days.
Managed to get in about eight hours of sleep between 830 and 630 on the plane (if you can call whatever that was “sleep”).
10/8 – Lisbon
Sardine festival
Marco Rubio here. Street protests we could hear from room. Felt lightly ashamed to be American, but people were very nice.
Bought a Portuguese uke for DH. Ate chicken pineapple pizza.
Drank a nice wine on private patio.
Ate ramen w Sapporo beer. Club sandwich had a fried egg in it. Many entrées that we see at food court have fried eggs on them. Must be a standard in Lisbon in Portugal
Slept lightly.
10/9 was jet lag day – 10/10Tomorrow cruise
UBER guy got obsessed with map and left us 1/2 mile from ship
We are mostly eating at the International buffet (very very large). That way we can eat when we want instead of getting a res for the restaurant with serves later in the evening. Seafood dinner -King Crab and Shrimp, a large buffet of American and European foods. I seem obsessed with the fire-grilled pizza. Maybe I have the pallette of a kid for food. DH ate mostly seafood.
Lisbon drive 4hrs our guide droned on 1:20 min of sights shopping . Found Lisbon flea market. Bought some things.
10/12 Sailed to Seville, home of Don Juan.
Bus ride to Vejer. Steep climb to walled city. Visited gates of city.
Drove to site of battle of Trafalgar. Brits beat French/Spaniard navy. Napoleon lost.
Tangier 10/13
Bus ride to where Atlantic meets Mediterranean.
Saw camels. Waited for others to have their picture on a camel. We remembered that in Egypt, the camel ride is free, but you pay to get off the camel at the end of the ride. Didn’t ride a camel.
Went to cave of Hercules. Bought camel coffee cup.
Had tea and cookies at a hotel. Beautiful hotel. One woman fell on the unmarked surprise stair. Note: Europe is not handicapped friendly in most places.
Rocked the Casbah! Walked through the former fortified portion of the city through colorful shops full of goods, people (and sellers begging you to buy their goods). High-light of the trip, if a bit stressful. Beautiful spice stores (bought some), fabrics. Food, not so much; very disturbing in part because of the meat etc. Definition of Casbah: A kasbah (also spelled qasbah or casbah) is a traditional North African fortified citadel, castle, or fortified residential quarter.
Gave up and ate at a charming cafe while others explored yet another market. No time to shop. There are many cats and dogs there, but they have a new program that rounds them up, spays or neuters them, clips their ear a little and bring them back home. We were warned there is an 80 dollar fine to feed them, but they all looked well-fed. One was begging at an outdoor butcher shop and the butcher threw him a meaty bone. We had one cat and dog at our table, obviously knowing that we were “animal-lovers.” I fed them both. Didn’t get fined.
10/14 Malaga
10,021steps yesterday my calves feel it.
Took bus to town.
Don’t remember much.
10/15 Cartagena
Drove a hour to lighthouse
Drove back. One think we don’t love is riding on a bus to an excursion. Another is an excursion that leads you to someone’s shop where you feel obligated to buy. But, we did.
Walked to ship from about a mile away. Didn’t get lost as the ship is so large we could see it.
We ate sad cheeseburgers and hot dogs at the pool grill. I think it reflected on what the mostly “middle-eastern chefs” think about American food. I think it was Oscar Meyer.
10/16 Barcelona
Miro museum – DH got a Miro coffee cup
Textile pieces were interesting.
Statues, oils, pencil sketches
Combo pieces normal landscape with Miro overlay
Dali Picasso influences
Tarragon 10/17
Is this what the spice is names after?
Morning discharging some of the passengers Viking wasted two days we could have spent in Barcelona.
Today rain. May not go out.
Met Mike and Gayla from SW Mississippi, retired. They grow trees on family acreage.
Had Irish Coffes in the Explorer Deck.
10/19 Sete Fr
Captain cancelled port stop due to high winds expected at departure. Yeah! Didn’t want to go out in 4.5” of rain. Went to sea on the way to Marseille, France. I am able to sleep well despite the rocking of the ship.
DH, who was “under the weather,” is feeling better.
10/20 Marseille France (The rain in Spain–goes to France)
Overnight in Marseille. Rain expected.
Thunderstorms from 4-8am. Never have seen so much rain, especially coming from drought-stricken Colorado.
Skipped the tour. Too rainy. Napped and read my Kindle; jay read his books.
Walked out on the pier. Got soaked just walking to the pier Duty Free shop. Found some items to buy.
10/21 Monte Carlo
So, this is where the ultra-wealthy live (one place anyway.) Lots of sports cars and well-dressed people. Monte Carlo is only 1 square mile but there is still a small mountain where people are building “up.” No income tax in Monaco, but there is a price to “buy-in” and probably stay-in. Most of their revenue comes from the casino.
Sunny – yeah! Regatta in the harbor. Young kids learning to sail and to prepare them for their future as yacht owners. Lots of huge yachts. Don’t want one. Reminds me of some guy who said, “The happiest day in my life was the day I bought my yacht; the second happiest was the day I sold it.”
Coach tour- interesting–more sports cars.
No interest in going to the casino. We didn’t bring the “fancy” clothing for it, and we’re not huge gamblers.
Small town shopping
10/22 Livorno It
Went to Pisa again (we went a few years ago in summer when it was very very hot). Good idea to get over my negative experience of almost passing out from the heat the last time.
Ate at same little cafe where we recovered last time.
Rained all the way back to the bus. Rain suit came in handy. A couple of people fell in the cobble-stones and slippery rain. We’ve seen our share of casts on limbs, bandaged faces etc. on this trip. Are we Americans getting too “soft?” Can we not function in the “wild” anymore without hurting ourselves?
Tomorrow pack for Florence.
Private car to Florence 3pm. Trip took about an hour and a half.
10/23 Florence
Rainy trip to Florence.
Stayed at the Hermatage Hotel (same place we stayed 20 years ago. Surprise from DH).
Ate a very cheesy pizza below the hotel.
Had drinks at bar and slept 12 hours.
Walked across Ponte Vecchio–that beautiful iconic bridge.
Ate fabulous pasta at a trattoria. This might have been the best pasta I’ve ever had. Rigatoni ala Vodka Sauce. Jay had mushroom and spinich stuffed pasta.
Tried a bar for wine. Got two big sandwiches for dinner. Ate in room.
Time change fell back one hour.
Protests cancelled our nightcap. Not positive what the protest was and nobody explained. At least, Marco Rubio wasn’t there as he was in Portugal.
Italians seem to be trying to help us eat less. Smaller pizza, not large. One sandwich not two. One breakfast not two.
Prices are surprisingly inexpensive. Shows me what the tariffs in the U.S. have done to us.
10/25 Florence
Walked and shopped to Duomo. Cuba libres and sandwich nap.
Ate at bar downstairs. Italian pasta. Can’t beat it.
10/26 Florence
Walked to Medici chapel.
Europe is always a reminder of what a young country The U.S. is. People nice and gracious for the most part. I had thoughts that “we” are ruining the world. Hope not. Hoping for good election year. Gas is very very expensive : equivalent of 8 dollars a gallon.
Ate pizza in the piazza. President of italy at Piti palace. He must be well-liked as no protests and light security.
Ate delicious chicken on Hermitage Hotel rooftop restaurant- Osteria delle tres panche. I’ll remember this one.
10/27
Slept ok, not great.
Taxi early (4:30am) , plane on time
Scrambled eggs, meat, croissants and coffee in VIP lounge. *Now, I’m a VIP? I’ll take it; thanks United Airlines.
Taxied to end of runway, did a U-turn , revved engines, released the brakes and took off. Small airport.
HOME SWEET HOME AFTER 14 HOURS.
I really have to go on a “no pasta diet”
Highlight of trip–probably seeing Morocco. Also, Florence and DH surprise stay at the Hermitage again.
Leave a Reply