RachelG

October 6,2023–Alicante, Spain We had a late sleep as the ship was not to arrive in Alicante until 10 am. Seas were calm, and the weather forecast was again for warm and sunny. I would have brought more summer clothes for this trip. I didn’t bring a single pair of shorts or sundress, and I have been missing both. Alicante is a beach/resort town with a lot of Moorish and Spanish history. Our tour for the day was a walking tour of Alicante and Novelda, another nearby town then wine tasting. We were in port with a huge MSC ship, so it was quite crowded. To one side, there was a long white sand beach filled with sunbathers as well as two huge rocks with old forts on top. On the left was a large sailboat marina, and behind the old town, with tiny streets, old buildings and an undulating tile promenade. We walked through, hard to do as we were tempted on all sides by the tapas places. We then boarded a bus to Novelda which is an inland town that produces marble. The area is very dry with mostly olive and almond groves and vineyard. Above Novelda is another big rock hill and on top of that an old moorish fortress, a triangular tower, and a beautiful church designed by a student of Gaudi. We were able to climb to the top of the tower then go inside the church. Inside, there is an organ made totally of marble,including the pipes. It isn’t totally finished yet, as the guy who was carving it had covid really badly apparently, but it is enough finished that it can be played. We listened to Canon in D major, and as my husband said, he i ordered hopes heaven is this good. It was transcendent. We then rode to a big very nice vineyard nearby, and tasted some really good wine as well as olives that they grow. Again much better than any of the ship’s wine tastings in France. We drove back to town. There was the option to stay in town. We came back for trivia and came in 2nd. We decided to go to the observation lounge pre dinner. Tonight was cruise capers as well. Then dinner in Prime 7. My filet was perfect. George had the surf and turf and the lobster was over cooked, they brought him a new one which was good. But why not just cook it perfectly the first time. The entertainer was the illusionist and I decided to give him a second try. Much better. I could actually follow the show.

Lunch

Lovely Spanish winery

Cat of the day—very friendly and wanted me to pick up and pet

Village church

Cave in the garden

Nazari gardens

We did our first Tahiti cruise back when PG was a Regent ship. Wonderful. Son and daughter-in-law had their honeymoon on it later after it was no longer regent. Still great. that said, we are going back to Tahiti on Navigator in January and the ports are the same as when we did it on PG. looking forward to the trip.

Wow, sounds like you are doing way better with weather than we did when we did this itinerary last year. We missed a bunch of ports and had to avoid hurricanes. Hope the good luck holds out.

October 5, 2023–Motril, Spain We slept well with totally smooth seas. It was still pitch dark when the alarm awoke me at 6:30, and I would have been happy to sleep another hour, but our excursion was set for 8:15 am. Two departures, and of course, ours was the early one. Forecast for the day said it was to be sunny with a high of 77, which was perfect. We set off as the sun was rising. We were in a medium sized industrial port with a pier built out for cruise ships, and we were the only ship there. Our excursion for the day was to visit Nazari Gardens and a winery. We set off though a town of low white and beige stucco buildings and were soon out in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada of Spain. George and I along with our sons had done a 10 day hiking trip in this region about 20 years ago, and it really had not changed much. Semi-Arid mountains with villages with very narrow streets and vineyards in the valleys and on the lower terraced slopes. We arrived at a small village where the Nazari Gardens are located. These are Moorish Gardens, sort of like Alhambra but much smaller. There is a lot of potential there but they needed some attention. The best part was a really cool cave. We drove to a beautiful very modern winery. This place was way nicer and better than any of the vineyards we visited in France, and the wine was miles better. We bought some to carry home. Back to the ship, we took the shuttle into town where we had a long lunch with local cheeses and produce. It was so good—very fresh and well prepared. We walked around a bit. It was siesta time, so the shops were closed, but there was a very nice park in the middle of town. We again did not do well at trivia. Too many questions where we just didn’t even have a good guess. We were in the Meridian Lounge when the announcement came that the crew no longer have to wear masks. There were cheers all around. Another delicious dinner in Pacific Rim. I ate probably the hugest shrimp in the world. Then I went to the flamenco/violinist show which was better than the first and actually quite enjoyable.

Downtown Gibraltar

Monkeys!

Gibraltar pics

October 4, 2023–Gibraltar, Gibraltar We had a rather rocky, bumpy sail through the night as warned by the captain, nothing that required lashing oneself to the bed, but enough that it woke me up a few times. We also lost an hour as we are going to move east again. Looking out the windows in the morning, it was pretty overcast, and there were whitecaps on the water. It also was much cooler, with the high only expected to be 73. We had a morning at sea, playing cards and going to morning trivia, but soon we could see the big rock ahead. We sailed into a busy port with all sorts of ships and boats around us, both huge and small. We had a quick lunch outside then were off on our excursion to the upper rock. We loaded into a small van with a great guide. He was entertaining and full of information. We went up to the cable car station and boarded the car that would take us up the mountain to the top of the rock. He warned us to be very careful around the monkeys—no touching them, no food, etc. Once we got to the top, it was a little cold and very windy with a dark cloud overhead. Very common here apparently due to the confluence of air currents. We had great views and photo ops all around then took off to see the monkeys. They were all around. We witnessed a lady getting her purse stolen by one. Another tried to attack a small girl who had an ice cream cone. The child’s dad drove off the monkey, but why did the girl have an ice cream cone in the first place? The babies were very cute, but you really hate to be alert as they were pretty aggressive at times. We then went into a big cave which had been hollowed out and used as a hospital in WWII. It was very impressive. There is a huge city inside the rock. After that, we went into the siege tunnels built in the 1700’s, again very impressive. Then back to town where we walked all around. We got plenty of steps. Dinner in Compass Rose was good, reliably so. I like a lot of stuff on the always available menu and had escargot, which is a once per cruise treat, tomato soup then monkfish and pea risotto. George had lobster and scallops. The entertainment was an illusionist. I couldn’t really follow what he was doing and left half way through.

Lisbon sailout

Obidos pics

She reports that the noise is significantly less, but still there. They are able to sleep better, but I guess eventually sheer exhaustion would take over in that regard. I would personally try to change cabins if I could.

October 3, 2023–Lisbon, Portugal The forecast was again for hot and sunny. Our excursion was to Obidos which is a medieval city. The description warned that it is very steep and hilly with lots of walking. The same description as yesterday’s tour, but that didn’t deter several who were clearly unfit to do any significant walking, then spent all the time on the bus complaining about it. My friend on another tour said the same thing happened with hers. This seems to be an ongoing theme. The descriptions are very clear, but people either don’t read them or chose to ignore them. Ok, rant over. I will say there was a couple on the tour today with mobility issues, and they just told the guide not to worry about them, that they would just do their own thing because they knew they were slow and didn’t want to hold up the group. And they didn’t complain either. Kudos to them. We drove what was supposed to be an hour, but ended up being an hour and a half due to heavy traffic in Lisbon. After we were out of the city, we drove through eucalyptus forest then past vineyards and fruit groves to Obidos which is a village with the original castle and walls in good repair. It is possible to climb up to the top of the walls and hike around them which is of course what George wanted to do, particularly since our guide said not to do this as it was too dangerous. So we split off from the group and set off. It was definitely steep and rough in places, very narrow with no barriers, not for anyone with balance issues or a fear of heights. But the views were great, and George was happy. Then after we had completed the circumnavigation, we went into the village for a little shopping and bought olive oil, ginja, and ginja cherries. All in all a successful morning. Back to the ship, we ate lunch in La Veranda as sailaway was at 2 pm, so not enough time to eat on shore. It was an Indian theme and pretty good. Sailaway was very scenic, passing by the big statue of Christ and under the bridge over the Tagus River. The captain announced it would be very windy later this evening and tonight. Trivia was a bust. George went for a massage again, as the spa manager was trying to make up for his poor one. And they did great. Best massage ever according to George. Dinner in CR was excellent as well. The perch which I ordered was delicious as well as the soups and salads. George thought his soup could have been hotter, but it tasted good. The show was Divos and Divas and was a completely reworked show from the previous versions I have seen. It was really great.

Sorry to hear about your excursion, forgap. Are they going to refund the money for it? They should.

Finally, lunch

Sintra

Totally agree!

Fountains and statues

Interior furnishings

Beautiful chandeliers