Live from Nieuw Stat sailing from A to A!

[Mike B Landlubber]

 

In Seville, I took an excursion called “white villages and countryside. “ I interpreted the description rather naïvely. I visualized capturing scenes of old-fashioned, beautiful white Spanish villages. In fact, we went to two tourist oriented small towns and had relatively short times in each (an hour or less). In the first town, the Guide mentioned shopping although we did actually see an old church and part of the old city wall. The guide gave a short tour which went further, but I was feeling pessimistic and explored on my own. In the second town, the Guide mentioned dining or shopping. It was mid afternoon and the tour had left before lunch properly got started on ship, so I looked for a light late lunch. One Restaurant the Guide pointed out did actually appear to be serving Spanish fare, but it had a colossal line and I knew I wouldn’t get served in the time we had. Ironically, I went next-door to a burger place which the Guide said had good hamburgers. I ordered a hotdog and a strawberry shake. Both were actually quite good! But not the authentic Spanish food I would’ve hoped for… We also saw Spanish windmills, quite different from the ones I saw in the Netherlands early this year.

 

The tour delivered what was offered in the description, but I never felt engaged or excited, and I don’t really recommend the tour. Someone excited by a chance to shop away from a big port might feel quite differently.

[Mike B Landlubber]

I had a very good excursion from Barcelona to a monastery today, will catch up on excursions later. But I was glad to be on an HAL excursion. The lines for busses into Barcelona were impressive at 10 AM. Might have been better in the afternoon. There were two Dam ships in port today, Oosterdam was tied up ahead of NS. I also saw an MSC ship. Supposedly there was a Windstar ship also, but I didn’t see it. 
 

Oosterdam ahead of Nieuw Statendam.

 

I would say this was about 1/3 of the total line waiting on busses. I saw no movement while I was getting onto my excursion.

Edited 9 hours ago by Mike B Landlubber

[Mike B Landlubber]

From Cartagena I took an excursion called “Spanish Horse Ranch and Show”. Unsurprisingly, the Focus was visiting a ranch that raised horses. After a chance to view horses in pasture and a presentation on some of their work, we saw a nice show involving a human dancer and a horse with rider “dancing. “ When I can post video I will show some video from it. They also served us some excellent snacks! Very good excursion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 4 hours ago by Mike B Landlubber

[Mike B Landlubber]

Regarding the wait for buses in Barcelona that I mentioned a couple of posts ago, I have talked to a couple of riders. They say that the wait wasn’t really bad. I hear times of 10 to 30 minutes. A couple of people said they could take taxis.

Edited 4 hours ago by Mike B Landlubber

[cccole]

1 minute ago, Mike B Landlubber said:

Regarding the weight for buses in Barcelona that I mentioned a couple of posts ago, I have talked to a couple of riders. They say that the wait wasn’t really bad. I hear times of 10 to 30 minutes. A couple of people said they could take taxis.

You gave me a good laugh when I read "weight for buses" and it turned out to be "wait."  I was afraid they were weighing everyone before they could board the bus.  Thank you for your posts and beautiful photos.  Cherie 

[Mike B Landlubber]

1 minute ago, cccole said:

You gave me a good laugh when I read "weight for buses" and it turned out to be "wait."  I was afraid they were weighing everyone before they could board the bus.  Thank you for your posts and beautiful photos.  Cherie 

Using Speech to text doesn’t always pay off. Fortunately I reviewed carefully and caught this blooper while I could still edit…