Live from MS Europa, Lisbon-Nice, 9/8/16-9/21/16

[Catlover54]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Catlover54]

We toured the bullfighting museum

 

 

 

Rubber tree

 

 

 

 

 

Lunch in main dining room again

 

 

 

 

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[English Voyager]

Catlover54,

 

From your description, the concert ashore sounds like a fantastic evening.

 

Juan Manuel Canizares is a flamenco guitarist, so he has branched out in playing a work from the classical repertoire.

 

Here he is playing flamenco:

 

 

 

 

I realise that it is early days, but do you think that the Europa is superior to the Europa 2?

[Catlover54]

The library

 

 

 

My salad at dinner, white celery, chicory, orange, pancetta, pecorino, beef

 

 

 

Homemade noodles with truffles ( tasted better than it looked)

 

 

Heavenly dessert my waiter David talked me into though I was stuffed, iced Kaiserschmarrn with roasted plums

 

 

 

 

 

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[liptastic]

Enjoying your thread and lovely photographs very much. Food looks superb. Thanks, Jean.

[Catlover54]

Catlover54,

 

 

 

From your description, the concert ashore sounds like a fantastic evening.

 

 

 

Juan Manuel Canizares is a flamenco guitarist, so he has branched out in playing a work from the classical repertoire.

 

 

 

Here he is playing flamenco:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I realise that it is early days, but do you think that the Europa is superior to the Europa 2?

 

 

 

EV, so far I like Europa's MDR and overall dining service better than on the E2 but because this cruise is not full and the E2 xmas cruise was full it may not be a fair comparison. All my luxury cruises have been jam packed except this one which is only at around 80 per cent give or take and a full cruise is the real test of service.

 

Food is outstanding on both.

 

For future bookings: This is also not officially a bilingual cruise so definitely DH would not like the German only announcements and entertainment moderation, but he would like the totally hassle- free service . There is also the issue of needing a jacket here at dinner for men which DH would dislike, all venues, except Lido.

Older crowd here, which is ok with me

 

 

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Edited September 12, 2016 by Catlover54

[vistaman]

i am interferring once again ;)

comparing ms Europa vs ms Europa 2

 

is like Dom Perignon vs Krug

 

both "expensive" luxury champagne but also very different in taste :cool:

 

i am glad you did like the pasta with truffes

[English Voyager]

 

Homemade noodles with truffles ( tasted better than it looked)

 

 

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No stinting on the truffle!

[Floridiana]

With all this gorgeous food, I better start dieting now. ;)

[Catlover54]

No stinting on the truffle!

 

 

 

They would have kept cutting more if I had asked but I knew it would be rich enough as it was

 

 

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[Catlover54]

A lot of activities today as we pulled into the windy port of Almeria (fortunately tenders were not required), and it only got windier as the day went on. The ship is now rocking and rolling quite a bit as she sails towards Cartagena with speed, as we left late. She is rocking so much that to be safe I let myself get escorted with serious arm support back to my suite after the day’s last event (it was unusual for me to need this, as usually railings are enough when it gets rocky). I had some modest heels on and did not want to risk falling and fracturing a hip (that would not only spoil the rest of the cruise, but would also make a mess of things if DH met me at the airport and found me in a wheelchair.)

 

SHERRY TASTING: The ship offered a gratis sherry tasting late in the morning which was interesting, moderated by Juergen Deibel, International Independent Spirits Consultant. Until today I knew very little about sherry other than that Queen Victoria liked it and Brits drink it a lot, as it is usually tastes odd to me, but I think I could get into some of the offerings today (I took notes). We tasted (in order more or less of increasing sweetness):

 

Tio Pepe Fino Sherry, from Gonzales Byass

 

Lustau

Amontillado Los Arcos

 

Osborne

10RF Oloroso

 

Bodegas Tradición

VORS (Very Old Rare Sherry) 30 year Oloroso

 

Bodegas Tradición

VOS 20 year PX

 

WINE TASTING: After another calm MDR lunch, where I noted the waiters are starting to remember me and routinely bring me the back cushion I like, I joined a bus excursion to a nearby winery which unfortunately turned out to be not up to what I, as a spoiled wine-drinking California resident, expect from a winery visit, especially one designed for luxury-oriented passengers. The Bodega Alboloduy, about 45 minutes drive across a barren landscape referred to as “Europe’s only desert” . The area on the way looked a lot like Arizona, complete with a fake western town where they used to film spaghetti westerns. It was close to 100 degrees when we arrived, and no one really felt like standing around and listening to the bored-looking winery manager in what was a big hot shed or barn with some wine vats mumble things in Spanish to the group’s not very good or perceptive guide, who then struggled to work on a semblance of a translation and mumble them back in a mix of German and English and Spanish to the passengers with about a tenth of the verbiage used by the winery manager. There were no vineyards anywhere to be seen which made everything even more confusing. Eventually some blood sausages (described as “one with and one without blood”) and cheese triangles were tossed on the table by someone who by her expression could have been the manager’s mom, as were 3 different wine bottles, without any introduction or descriptive adjectives. There were also not enough seats for the mostly elderly guests to sit down during the 45 or so minutes we were there. Everyone just poured themselves some wine in a free for all, grabbed a sausage slice or too after shooing away some hungry flies,and looked like they just wanted to get things over with but were too polite to say so. I swigged and munched away, as all the wines were actually very drinkable, especially at 16 Euro a bottle, and even more so with the sausages (I preferred the one with the blood), but unfortunately they were not worth shipping back to the US or trying to haul through airports in a suitcase.

 

CELLO CONCERTO: We got back to the ship just in time to clean up for the early evening classical concert, which tonight was the Dutch-born cello virtuoso Harriet Krijgh doing amazing things to a cello and her body as she played, first pieces by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Max Bruch with religious themes, and then the Cesar Franck Sonate for Violoncello and Piano in A major, accompanied by the Russian-born piano virtuoso Magda Amara. Once again I had a seat just 8-10 feet away from the musicians and it was a beautiful concert. The audience was also very respectful. Indeed, it was so quiet as these gorgeous and talented ladies played (with no audience members moving, rustling, or coughing, much less talking, not even in the pauses between the movements) that I became terrified that although I had made sure my cell phone was turned off, somehow Siri would spring to life as she sometimes does when I move my purse and start chirping at me in her bossy style that she did not understand my last instruction, or tell me to "turn left to get on the 280 on-ramp south", or something else on her mind, thereby breaking the precious silence.

 

DINNER I chose in the MDR again was venison with cranberries, dumplings, potato, and tiramisu for dessert (DH, a big tiramisu fan, would approve), pictures of these to follow when I am able to tapa talk access again.

 

Final event was Istacion, the Spanish dance group in the late evening doing their number “Let’s Dance!”, essentially an ode to the tango. Among other things, the tango was described as “poetry of the feet”. I had seen this group on the Europa 2 last Christmas with DH and they are terrific dancers, as well as easy on the eyes even when they are not in costume, and am glad they are on board. Fortunately their tangoing was over by the time the ship started rocking.

[Catlover54]

My venison entree last night and the tiramisu

 

 

 

Sailing into Cartagena this morning

 

 

 

 

 

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[Catlover54]

The seas calmed during the night as we sailed into Cartagena. I dragged myself out of my soft bed to drink my room service coffee while it was still dark to prepare for an 8:30 departure, an excursion to the city of Murcia outside Cartagena to see its famous cathedral. But first we stopped at the hillside 17th century convent and sanctuary of La Fuensanta, where the patron virgin of the city resides and who was visited earlier this week in a huge procession from town up the hill. The guide said 500,000 determined people had made their way on foot, several miles. The convent has undergone multiple restorations, the latest of which is commemorated in this depiction which states in Spanish it was ‘constructed in time of peace’ — albeit it was under the Franco dictatorship. There is a very nice view of the valley from the top.

 

 

Murcia itself has a nice Old Town which contains its own spectacular ancient cathedral with a 90 meter tower, and was constructed in mixed Baroque, Gothic and Renaissance styles. Photos shown belowdo not do any of this justice. Of note is there were some beggars (who actually looked pretty well-fed) hovering at most of the entrances with cups. The guide pointed out that in the old days, if you were found urinating on the side of the cathedral, there was a strict penalty — ex-communication. But that was probably better than the penalties placed on the Moors in 1492, who were banished from the area after the Christians took control, or they were forced to convert. Those who converted, called “Mooriskos” were at first allowed to stay, but then they were also banished around 1700 due to concern that they were secretly practicing Islam at home preparing to take over again. Apparently the Christians of that time did not want to take any chances that the Muslims would regain power. Just in case, they also placed the cathedral at the site of a prior mosque.

 

The guide also directed our attention to a sculpture dedicated to dentists, in the shape of a giant tooth made out of metal, and to a sculpture of a sardine in the river. There is a bridge called “The Dangerous Bridge” which used to be wood and sometimes would collapse, so to this day some people still cross themselves after they traverse it, even though it has been replaced with steel.

 

 

Another interesting place we saw in Murcia is the so-called “Casino” which is not really a casino now, but an old gentlemen’s club (it still has a private section, though women are also allowed in now), which contains gold, ivory, and marble artifacts and assorted art pieces and other displays of opulence. Someone commented that rich people spent money on all kinds of unnecessary things back in the day, and I had to think about the fact that we were told the Europa loaded up with 33 kg of caviar for this journey.

[English Voyager]

CELLO CONCERTO: We got back to the ship just in time to clean up for the early evening classical concert, which tonight was the Dutch-born cello virtuoso Harriet Krijgh doing amazing things to a cello and her body as she played, first pieces by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Max Bruch with religious themes, and then the Cesar Franck Sonate for Violoncello and Piano in A major, accompanied by the Russian-born piano virtuoso Magda Amara.

 

In the following video they talk about their collaboration on a Brahms recording.

 

Harriet Krijgh comes across as thoroughly charming.

 

[Catlover54]

 

 

Made in time of " peace"

 

 

 

 

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[Catlover54]

River sardine sculpture

 

 

 

 

Casino opulence

 

 

 

 

Local girl

 

 

 

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[English Voyager]

Catlover54,

 

There is so much to see in Cartagena I hope you had time to go into the city-- if only to see the Roman Theatre and Museum,

 

 

 

and the beautiful Art Deco buildings.

 

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=art+deco+buildings+cartagena+spain&hl=en-GB&rlz=1T4NDKB_enGB543GB543&tbm=isch&imgil=lWMzUFf49gsGwM%253A%253BTwZU5Qw5dnZgrM%253Bhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.pinterest.com%25252Fpin%25252F571464640192669726%25252F&source=iu&pf=m&fir=lWMzUFf49gsGwM%253A%252CTwZU5Qw5dnZgrM%252C_&usg=__hZEHBULvvlvkUT_iAhisdW7TjBc%3D&biw=1324&bih=616&ved=0ahUKEwiAseHfmI_PAhULC8AKHbVuDM4QyjcILQ&ei=ZG_ZV4DvIouWgAa13bHwDA#imgrc=lWMzUFf49gsGwM%3A

[Catlover54]

EV, unfortunately I had no energy to do Cartagena after just having finished Murcia, so thank you for enhancing the Cartagena area with your links!

 

Julia Mazurova performed again early evening, photos below, outstanding as before and again it was nice to sit so close and comfortably

 

 

 

 

 

 

After that I roamed the ship at and beyond sunset and landed in the Lido for an outdoor dinner of German grilled sausages, as the weather was nice. Had not made a reservation but it was not full

 

 

 

 

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[Catlover54]

Empty pool at night, swimmer still contemplating

 

 

 

What to drink at Gatsby's where six musicians played to six people? Most were off listening to a caberet political comic or already asleep at 10 PM

 

 

Sunrise in Valencia port

 

 

Today I am off to visit a nature park, then paella eating

 

 

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Edited September 15, 2016 by Catlover54

[English Voyager]

 

Today I am off to visit a nature park, then paella eating

 

 

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My first cruise on the Europa 2 was in 2014 visiting Portugal, and Spain.

 

I cannot remember the city in Spain, but the all day tour included lunch in allegedly the best restaurant in the city.

 

The majority of the Germans in the tour group picked at the tapas starter, and left most of it uneaten.

 

Similarly with the really excellent paella.

 

I could see that the waiter was both puzzled, and upset that so much food was being returned, that I felt obliged to ask him to tell the chef that there was absolutely nothing wrong with the food which was in fact extremely delicious.

[Catlover54]

Must have been an odd group as the Germans with me today had no trouble at all scarfing down ham and tuna roll appetizers, red pepper onion appetizer, salad , chicken paella with seconds, flan type dessert, and wine and sangria and then rolling themselves onto the bus to prepare for a full multicourse dinner later on

 

But several of them were from Bavaria so maybe that was the difference :)

 

Approaching the paella site

 

 

 

 

 

Will there be enough for me?

 

 

 

 

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[Catlover54]

Valencia has some interesting architecture, opera house, culture house, then they ran out of money and have 50 percent youth unemployment

 

also used to run Formula One races here on the street then Bernie Eckelstein decided no more, bad airline connections

 

A bat is on the regional coat of arms allegedly because way back almost a thousand years ago a bat helped the Christians recapture old Valencia from the Muslims, by giving the leader signal where to

go

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Edited September 15, 2016 by Catlover54

[Catlover54]

Entering Barcelona port early this morning

 

 

 

 

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Edited September 16, 2016 by Catlover54

[Catlover54]

 

 

 

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[Catlover54]

Lunch was on board in the small restaurant Venetia. When I was there there were 8 pax eating and four Italian born waiters, three of them hovering, so service was flawless. Dishware very pretty

 

My appetizer was panzanella with calamari, asiago cheese, basil, anchovy, who would have thought that old bread could be absolutely delicious!

 

 

 

Dessert was panna cotta with mandarin and pistachio gelato

 

 

Not shown is my entree, pasta carbonara, fantastic

 

 

 

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