At Sea: Barcelona, Cartagena, Malaga, & Santa Cruz de Tenerife

Last minute news flash:  today we had a late lunch on board and met Peter, a pilot born in Shanghai who now lives in Spain.  He is 90 years old and looks 75.  He flew in the RAF and was pilot for the queen.  Then he became a commercial pilot and was the pilot on the World Airlines DC-10 that ran off the ice-slicked runway at Logan in Boston in 1982.  Remember that, Boston people?  I do.  I think only two lives were lost.

Well, shipboard internet truly sucks, especially when not in port.  While in Malaga, I managed to upload some photos at an Internet Cafe, but I never got a chance to post them.  Now it is Wednesday, and we are approaching Santa Cruz de Tenerife.  We should dock at 9:00 AM and leave at 6:00 PM.  While ashore I will try to find another internet café and make this post.  So here’s the update:

SATURDAY

Saturday in Barcelona was sunny and bright.  We had time to kill before boarding Riviera at noon, so we did a walkabout.  Theses pictures were taken on that walk:

At noon we checked out of our hotel and took a cab to the designated cruise terminal (there are three in Barcelona).  No Oceania ship there!  So another cab was required to get us to the right terminal.  Boarding was a breeze and after two drinks at the pool bar, our stateroom suite was ready.  We left Barcelona at 5:00 PM, passing by other cruise ships docked in town and also saw the sailing ship Windsong under sail as it left Barcelona at the same time we did.

SUNDAY

On Sunday morning we docked in Cartagena at 9:00 AM with sunny skies and warm temperatures.  Cartagena is a delightful seaside town famous now for its Roman Theater and Roman Forum.  We saw them both in our walk through the downtown area.  Some of these archaeological finds have been made as recently as in the last ten years.  We took an outside elevator to the castle above the town where we saw peacocks roaming about and beautiful views of the town.  After about four hours of walking we went back to the ship for BBQ burgers on deck for lunch.

Sunday night was our splurge night for dinner on Riviera.  There are four specialty restaurants that have no extra charge; we are booked into those later in the trip.  The ship also has La Reserve which offers a single-seating seven-course meal with different premier wines accompanying each course.  There are three tables of eight people at this feast.  We made good friends with Scottie and Mickey, a lovely couple from Los Angeles.  We will probably share a table with them again.  Dinner was fantastic.  I won’t list the seven different wines, but here are the courses:

Lobster and Mascarone Pancake with Baby Carrot Emulsion and Rock Chive Cress

Cream of Porcini with Sauteed Duck Foie Gras Bites and Croutons

Pumpkin Ravioli with Crushed Amaretto Biscotti

Bay Scallops and Jamon Iberico “Pata Negra” Ham over Tarbais Bean Cream

72-Hour Slow Braised Short Rib with “Gnocchi au Jus”

A.O.C Brie de Meaux on Toast with Raisin-Onion Compote and Quince Jelly

Raspberry Caramelized Mille Feuille with Madagascan Vanilla Cream

MONDAY

We sailed overnight and docked in Malaga, Spain at 8:00 AM on Monday.  When I first got on board on Saturday I discovered in unpacking that my dress pants for shipboard dining were not in my suitcase.  Blah! What’s a trip without a crisis?  I got by with casual black semi-jeans for two nights, but I needed some good pants.  So our first stop in Malaga was a large department store, El Corte Ingles.  Sizes are totally different over here, but with the gracious help of a wonderful clerk in the store and Elaine, I found a perfect pair of Hugo Boss gray slacks (which are now easily the most expensive pair of pants that I have ever owned).  Pack better next time!!

Then we boarded the HOHO (hop on, hop off) bus for a tour of Malaga.  We got off at the huge Gibralfaro Castle for a long walk on the castle walls and then again at the magnificent Malaga Cathedral.  For lunch we had authentic seafood paella with shellfish accompanied by delicious Spanish sangria at a nice seaside restaurant.  We sat outside under beautiful 70+ degrees sunny skies.  We worked off our lunch by walking back to the ship (25 minutes or so).

 

TUESDAY

Tuesday was a sea day.  We lounged about the ship and attended a lecture on Pirates of the Mediterranean.  We napped.  We read.  We sat in the sun.  We drank (of course) – the Pina Coladas are excellent.  We shared a table for dinner in the Main Dining Room with a woman from Toronto traveling alone and an older couple from Los Angeles.

WEDNESDAY

We are docking in Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands on schedule at 9:00 AM.  The Canary Islands are part of Spain but located just off the coast of Africa.  It looks like our spectacular run of good vacation weather that began in late July might be over.  The good spell held from our arrival in London in late July and was steady through all of September throughout England, Northern Ireland, Ireland, and Wales.  And we had perfect weather this trip in London, Paris, Barcelona, and on the first four days of the cruise.  Alas, it is raining as we dock and the rain is predicted to be an all day thing.  So we will probably have a brief wet look at Santa Cruz and hopefully find a comfortable Internet Café to get this posting done.

Info and pictures from Santa Cruz de Tenerife will be in my next post.  That will likely not happen until we reach Bermuda next Tuesday, so patience will be required <smiley face>.  Our next five days will be at sea.  Hhhmm, the Bermuda Triangle?  I’ll try to do a text-only update before then, but the internet on board being what it is, it’s unlikely.

Ciao for now!

UPDATE

We spent the morning walking around in Santa Cruz.  We saw Bill Murphy’s relative Jose (see pictures), the San Francsico  church, the Fine Arts Museum, the Tenerife National Museum, and various other sites.  We had a few drops of rain but nothing serious.  Here are some pictures. Be back again next Tuesday from Bermuda!