Live posting from 2206 Las Palmas to Barcelona

[jpalbny]

If it is Thursday it must be Malaga and Ronda...

 

From there we went to the lookout point. Ronda is built on an outcrop of rock in a basin surrounded by mountain ranges. There is a gorge which separates the old part of the town with the 'new' part and the city has its origins in pre-history. As our guide said, you don't go to school to learn history here, you simply walk around and breathe it in!

 

 

The views were simply stunning every place we walked.

 

 

The gorge is crossed by two bridges. The New bridge dates from the end of the 18th century and is 120 m high. The Old or Arab bridge was built in the 16th century but there are signs that a bridge was in that spot dating back to the 11th century. There is a Roman bridge farther down the valley...

 

Ronda is one of the most beautiful places we have visited! We spent a week in Marbella a few years back and drove to Ronda for a day trip. We still talk about another visit... Thanks for your description, which brought it all back!

[uncletanus]

Kate,

 

Thank you very much for your detailed report about the Wind. I am looking forward to meeting her in person next month.

[CanadianKate]

Uncletanus: I envy you getting to be on the Wind again so soon. I got rather teary yesterday as we were leaving. I'm missing several of the crew very much right now, not because of what they did for me, but because I'll miss my daily conversations with them.

 

In my opinion, the Wind, at this point, is by far the best of the Silversea ships for crew. From top to bottom, we found everyone cheerful, helpful, friendly, and superb at their jobs. The entertainment group are just a joy to be around (they go out on tours, visit with passengers by the pool and at tea as well as perform), much more so than the group we had last year on the Spirit (that group was fine, but this group is extraordinary.)

[CanadianKate]

Here are the last two port reports from the cruise:

 

Sunday, was in Mallorca.

 

 

Famous for its cultured pearls (which were cheap compared to what I bought from Macy's years ago but I have no idea how to determine quality) and wonderful climate, it was a lovely stop.

 

 

Being a Sunday, almost everything was closed, but that was OK. We took the shuttle bus into town and the driver, apologizing for his poor English, did his best to give us a commentary. He was delightful and obviously proud of his island. He told us how much to expect to pay for a beer, apologized that shops would be closed, and suggested enjoying one of their many restaurants. He told us there was a wide variety of cuisine to choose from, including a recently opened Vietnamese restaurant (but the prices are not from Vietnam!) He also warned us about gypsies.

 

 

We were dropped by the cathedral where we could hop on the the Hop On/Hop Off tour bus and so we took the tour. In the islands, these have been good value, just 15 – 16 Euros and the tours last an hour but then you can use the bus to head back to spots you want to explore further. The quality of the recorded English tour is very good (there are 8 languages in total, you plug headphones in) and the ability to be on an open, double-decker bus gives you an excellent view and no glass so photo taking is easier.

 

 

Ken had been told by the tourism representative on board that there was no nude beach in the area, so he spent the day with me and we walked quite a distance. Palma de Mallora is a delightful small city, great for wandering around. We stopped into a McDonald's for a snack, wifi, and washrooms and hopped on the tour bus again to go back to an area where Ken had spotted two parrots. I decided we should just sit still in the park, under a tree, and wait. Sure enough, after about 5 minutes we heard a squawk above us and a parrot was in full view. We watched him for a while and when he and his mate moved up into the higher branches, there is no way we would have spotted them without knowing they were there. So I'm glad he revealed himself to us.

 

We then walked back to the ship, a 3km walk along the waterfront which was an amazing marina. It was interesting to look at all the yachts and boats. There was a brokerage firm along the way with for sale ads in the window. You'll be pleased to know that a 29' 2001 Sea Ray is only $80K. If you want something larger, like a 78' yacht, then you'll have to come up with almost $4 million. We didn't see any yachts with a helicopter on top, yet, The Economist commented that serious yachts actually have two!

 

 

We were back to the ship in time for afternoon tea and then the final trivia game. Then it was the church service for me, and to quickly dress for the last formal evening. We took the time to attend the comedian's second performance and fully enjoyed it once more. I was sitting with one of my trivia team members, an 87 year old from Hong Kong, and she was laughing away, so this comedian did a fabulous job bridging ages and backgrounds. One of my favourite lines was that he called Colin the crises director instead of the cruise director. How accurate!

[CanadianKate]

Our final day on board had us waking up in Barcelona.

 

 

Ken has been here before but I hadn't so we headed out by 9:45 after having done a little bit of packing.

 

 

We were going to take the hop on/off bus but the cruise director warned us that he had heard disappointing reviews from former passengers, and we noted it was not by the same firm as we had used in the other ports, so we bought a multipass ticket for the metro/bus system and headed up to Sagrada Familia, the famous Gaudi Cathedral that is still under construction (it was started in the 1800s.) We were meeting one of our industry friends for lunch so decided not to go inside (it now has a roof, or so we heard) and will save that for another time in Barcelona.

 

 

Gaudi was an amazing architect and I want to spend a few days (and a few hundred dollars) touring his works around Barcelona but I didn't want to do a rushed tour this time. So we sat in the park outside the cathedral, taking pictures and trying on our own to pick out the bible stories told in the building's exterior artwork. It was Gaudi's goal to depict the bible in the building's stonework so this was a bit of a challenge.

 

 

We walked back to the Placa Catalunya so I could show Ken the giant El Corte Ingles there. It has 9 merchandise floors but we went up to the restaurant on the top to admire the views of the plaza below (and to use the washroom!)

 

 

We had a rest in the plaza, watching toddlers run around chasing the pigeons (and thinking of our son covered in pigeons in Trafalgar Square) and then tried to contact our friend to meet up for lunch.

 

 

We had a wonderful tapas lunch and walked over to another Gaudi building but decided not to tour it because of time. I did spend 45 minutes going through the museum shop in the building. It was full of interesting books on design and architecture and interesting ways to live. I noted many titles to look up when I get back to Canada. There were also interesting items inspired by Gaudi's work. Everything was expensive so it was easy to buy nothing, but everything was also very tempting.

 

 

We started to walk back towards the ship but I was tired (I had been standing/walking for 3.25 hours in the morning) despite the long lunch break so we took a bus back towards the ship, getting a chance to see other parts of Barcelona. We got off that bus at the end of its line and immediately hopped another to Baceloneta, an older and picturesque area on the water front. The afternoon shadows were the longest we've seen since Capetown, a reminder that we are now quite far north. We walked along the beach for a bit, I got to see the narrow alleys with apartments that had intrigued Ken so much on his first visit to Barcelona, and then we took a bus back towards the ship.

 

 

On the way we got off by the Christopher Columbus statue (with him pointing the wrong way) and then walked the few blocks to the ship. It was very convenient having the ship docked right in the centre of town.

 

 

Our suitcases, freshly cleaned by our butler were laid out on the luggage racks, a not-so-gentle hint that it was time for us to start packing for real. Actually, I had spent time on Saturday packing and put away all the formal wear after Sunday's formal night, so one case was already packed.

 

 

I cashed in my 35 cruise points (earned during trivia) for a fridge magnet memo holder and then we went for an early dinner, just the two of us this time so that we could eat quickly and get back to packing.

[CanadianKate]

We are home at last, having taken our time driving back from Toronto. The car needed an oil change so we did it at a dealer 10 minutes from the highway rather than have to drive 30 minutes to our dealer when we got home. Then we took a 100 mile detour to visit with friends for lunch.

 

The mail is piled high on the kitchen table. We have an hourly watch on the water systems in the basement (something leaked, not sure if it is the water heater, the pressure tank, one of the water treatment systems or a line to any of the above.) I've drawn a chalk line around the wet spot and we'll see if the wet spot grows now that the water is turned back on to the house (we have a water furnace so that's been running while we've been away but the water to the rest of the house is shut off when we are gone.)

 

I see Duct Tape is posting so am hoping they've arrived home safely as well. I can't imagine how hard it will be for them to reintegrate into normal life. I'm having a hard time and was only away for 35 days.

[Delilah21]

Thank you so much Kate for your fabulous reports, I am really going to miss them, they have really whetted my appetite for our first trip on Wind starting on 27th of this month.

[duct tape]

CanadianKate, it was a pleasure sailing with you and thanx for all the posted info. BTW...this IS my real life...;-) !

[CanadianKate]

BTW...this IS my real life...;-) !

 

LOL! Sorry, I forgot!

[blackpool uk]

Canadian Kate

Have so enjoyed 'being with you' over you 35 days on the Wind such interesting commentaries and such an 'appetite wetter' for us as we join the ship 3 weeks today in Athens for the Easter cruise. I think probably she is our favourite Silversea ship although we always enjoy the one we are on !

Am sure you have many wonderful memories of places vsited and new friends found.

 

Chris and Sheila