The temperature was 20 C with very little wind and clear
skies. To climb up the 10 flights of
stairways to the pool deck 12 is 172 stairs, then another 19 stairs to the
walking track on Deck 14. Plus if we go up to Deck 15 where the live grass lawn
is to get further back on the ship, there are another 19 stairs. After walking
two miles, we stopped for coffee and returned to the stateroom to get ready for
a quick breakfast in the dining room where we were joined by Phil and Linda
from our group. They were planning to
rent bikes today.
The English couple in the stateroom beside us is
celebrating their 50th Wedding Anniversary today. They brought some banners and their wedding
photo with them to decorate their door.
The tour bus pulled away from the terminal on schedule at
9:30 a.m.
Our guide, Miguel, mentioned
that
Málaga
is the 6th largest city in Spain with over 600,000 inhabitants. He also pointed
to the signs that read: “Parador” explaining that they were renovated old
castles, monasteries, convents or forts that are now hotels run by a government
agency and are very good accommodation.
We
were also told that Spain is number 1 in olive oil production, even higher
production that Italy or Greece.
Today’s
Málaga tour
included a brief circuit of the old city, on the same route as yesterday until
the Castillo de Gibralfaro stop for a visit inside the castle to the Interpretive
Center and the viewpoints along the restored old wall. There were three flags
flying over the main gate – the Spanish flag, the
Málaga flag and the green and white for the
Andalucía region.
Near the castle viewpoint,
Miguel pointed out a large rosemary bush, abou120 cm high and beside it was a strawberry
tree, an evergreen tree, Arbutus unedo, with a fruit that when ripe looks a bit
like a strawberry.
Then the bus drove us back to the old town for a walking
tour that was a progressive tapas sampling, with wine or beer, at three
different restaurants.
The
walk started at Plaza de la Merced, viewing the center obelisk, Torrijos Monument,
then to the corner of the plaza where the apartment building that Pablo
Picaso’s parents and family lived when he was a young boy. I had not paid enough attention yesterday as
to which Picaso Foundation office was in the family’s apartment building. Then
we walked to the opposite corner of the square to Granada Street, the oldest
street in Málaga.
We walked here
yesterday and I noted that the oldest church in
Málaga is
squeezed in here.
It was a mosque during
the Moorish times and was converted to a church before the Cathedral was
built.
Next to it was a university
building where our guide taught for five years, that was also the building in
which Picaso’s father taught art.
The
elementary school across the street was where Pablo Picaso went to the
equivalent of nursery school.
Next we walked toward
Málaga’s
cathedral passing the Roman Theatre, the Alcazaba entrance and further along
the Picaso museum.
For the progressive tapas restaurant portion, the group
stayed about 30 minutes at each restaurant. One of us had the red wine served
while the other had the white wine and we sampled both.
All three restaurant’s house wines were
good.
At the first restaurant, Los
Patios de Beatago, part of the group sat inside and the other part on the
patio.
It was 11:30 and much too early
for lunch in Spain, which is usually from 2 to 4, with dinner times being from
9 until midnight. The Los Patios de Beatago tapas were a platter, for the table
of 8, with several dozen small cubes of sheep cheese topped with half a cherry
tomato on a toothpick and another platter of thin slices of French baguette
topped with a potato omelet mixture.
We
sat with a couple from New Zealand, two women from Michigan and another two
American women.
We walked about 1 ½
streets over to the next tapas restaurant, the group climbed a wrought iron
railed staircase to the second floor to a room overlooking the street. We were
served freshly made Paella in small dishes and four fried small green peppers,
plus wine and beer.
We sat with the same
two women from Michigan and a couple from Montréal. At the final restaurant,
Strachan, the group was seated on the ground floor and sampled seafood potato
salad and cocktail size sausage, onion and French fries. Again we sat with the
two Michigan women and a couple Atlanta.
It was 1:40 when Miguel herded everyone out of the restaurant to walk
several blocks to the City Hall to get to the bus.
We decided to walk the 2 km (1.4 miles) back
to the ship through the same park as yesterday and a parrot flock was flitting
through the trees, noisily.
As we passed
the lighthouse, ten minutes into the walk back, the tour bus passed us.
The lighthouse, Farola, was completed in 1817
and at the time, was situated at the entrance to
Málaga
harbor. More piers for the cruise ships and ferries have since been added.
Farola was damaged in the 1898 earthquake and not repaired until 1913.
At the terminal, we showed our ship ID card, Seapass
card, to the first security guard and took the escalator up to the next level
of the terminal, where we passed the security checkpoint, just like in the
airports. Then, we passed the shops selling souvenirs and postcards. We stopped to buy some postcards and stamps
and found a tablecloth and placemats for our dining room table. At the far end of the level, about 300 meters
from the checkpoint, was the hospitality table with cool towels available and
cold water in cups of plain water or water flavoured with orange slices or
pineapple pieces. This is a feature of
the return to the ship at every port. We
had walked just over six miles for the day.
We walked along the balcony walkway that led to the gangway that
zigzagged about 400 meters to the
entrance onto the ship and passed two more Seapass card checks and then onto
the ship for the final security identity check, on Deck 5, which also signs
people as back on the ship. This is the common procedure for most ports,
although there can be fewer ID checks at some ports.
We stopped for a gelato at the gelato parlour on Deck 5
close to the Café al Bacio. Then to the
stateroom to drop of things and out onto the deck of Deck 5 to sit in the shade
to check emails and write the postcards.
The temperature was 26, skies were clear and the wind was about 10 km
per hour. The ship left the harbor at 5
and the sea was fairly calm.
It was the last Evening Chic, formerly the Formal dress
code, evening for the dining room. A larger
portion of people did not even try to dress up into men’s suits or cocktail
dresses for women. It was the least
dressed up of the three Evening Chic nights of the cruise. The ship’s photographers had portrait
stations, with backdrops, set up on Decks 3, 4 and 5 so people could have their
pictures taken. As usual for Evening Chic nights, the photographers also went
through the dining room, taking posing people for pictures of singles, couples
or groups. Any pictures taken, by the
ship’s photographs, can be accessed on the interactive room TV and are located
by face recognition software and posted to your room’s TV.
Dinner was as usual with wine served by the
sommelier. Our selections tonight were
Scallops Rockefeller, served in two shells.
We chose either Herb Crusted Haddock fillet with vegetables or Wild
Mushroom Risotto. The dessert choices
were Baked Alaska and New York Cheesecake with caramel sauce. There was not a procession of chefs carrying
Baked Alaska down the staircase between the two levels of the dining room as
used to happen on cruises in the early 2000s.
The production show called Topper and was very colourful. We saw the female lead singer wearing the
ornate purple flower dress that we were shown on the back stage tour. After the show the cruise director, John
Grantham, announced that he was transferring to another Celebrity ship, the
Silhouette. There was dancing in the Grand Foyer, but again the photographer
was using the staircase as a backdrop for photos and you had to watch for
people crossing the small space carrying drinks. At 9:30, the temperature was still 20 C under
a clear sky and just a gentle swell in the sea.
We stopped at the Oceanview Café for a small snack before turning for
the night.
Today we logged 8.2 miles.
