September 30, 2016

The temperature was 19 C with clear skies and a light wind when we climbed the ten flights of stairs for our morning two ½ mile walk as the ship entered Málaga harbor before sunrise and docked. After breakfast, we collected our tour number and our tour members were on the bus and on our way before 9 a.m.

From Deck 14 in the early sunlight, a giant ferris wheel was visible not far from the dock, as well as La Farolas, a light house at the marina,  the nearby old city with the Alcazaba, the 11th century former Muslim palace, attached by a walled passage known as the Coracha, to the 9th century Castillo de Gibralfaro fortress.

The painter, Pablo Picasso, who co-created with Georges Braque in the early 20th century, the painting technique of Cubism, was born and spent his early school years in Málaga.

The excursion started with a bus tour around the old town and through some of the wider streets where vehicles are allowed, before starting the walking tour.  There was a distant haze at the horizon, so the coast of Africa could not be seen. Our guide told us that Malaga was founded by Christians about 450 years ago. But Romans and Arab Muslims had previously lived nearby.

The first stop was Castillo (Castle) de Gibralfaro fortress, where from a viewpoint, the city near the harbor lay beneath the castle hill.  Alcazaba, the 11th century former Muslim palace could be seen just down the hill; the ship was easily seen in the harbor as were the ferries; the La Malagueta bullring, used only a few times a year now was on the other side; plus the city hall and the Cathedral of Malaga were easy to pick out.  The various neighbourhoods of the city showed their red tile roofs.

To start the walking tour we walked to Plaza de la Merced, where a neo-classical obelisk, Torrijos Monument, stands in its center commemorating General Torrijos and 48 men who tried to revolt against Spanish King Ferdinand VII in 1831. Their names are inscribed on the sides of the obelisk.   On one side of the plaza is the Picasso Foundation Birthplace Museum, on the ground floor of the house where Pablo Picasso was born in 1881.

We saw the daily mail delivery person with her small pull along cart, a bit bigger than a large carry-on bag, making her rounds, just like in other Spanish and Portuguese cities. We passed parks and gardens and saw the orange trees with crops of still green oranges. Next we walked toward Málaga’s cathedral, known as La Manquita, which was built starting in the 16th century, taking nearly 180 years to complete, on the site of a former mosque.  We passed the building, where, annually, the Easter parade of floats emerges, with its impressive 10 meter high wooden doors.  We saw the excavated Roman Theater right beside the Alcazaba entrance. The amphitheatre itself has not been used since 3rd century and the Moors used some of the stones to build their Alcazaba fortification.  We passed the Picasso Museum and its ancient tower.  We wandered through the narrow stone paved streets surrounding the Cathedral before our 30 minute tour inside the structure. The Cathedral of Malaga has 18 chapels and lots of stained glass windows although there is one section with only plain glass.  In the choir section, the rich dark wood was carefully carved by monks into 103 panels and matching seats. Then it was time to return to the bus, walking through the cobbled streets past shops, cafés and the City Hall and its gardens.  The ship was about a mile away through the port at the end of a long pier.  

After a quick lunch, we were off the ship to walk up to the Castillo de Gibralfaro.  It took about an hour to get to the gate.  We walked up the hill, zigzagging our way along paths, stairways and sometimes steep ramps.  The views of the sea and city were beautiful.  We could see the gardens of the City Hall, the fountain and gardens of the nearby traffic roundabout, the harbor, beaches, well as the bullring.  We climbed over 175 stairs and about 850 meters of ramps of varying degrees of steepness. Our daily climb of 10 flights of stairs, for our morning walks, made the climb a breeze.  We bought a ticket for entrance to both the castle and the Alcazaba palace.

Castillo de Gibralfaro was built in the early 10th century on the site of an ancient Phoenician lighthouse.  It was enlarged in the 14th century, also adding the double wall pathway over the Coracha ridge to connect to the Alcazaba below.   The castle was surrendered, due to starvation, after a three month siege by the King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella’s army. (These are the same monarchs who sponsored Christopher Columbus’s expedition to the West Indies in 1492.)  This event was the first time that both sides fought with gun powder.  After walking around the encircling walls, we walked down the hill along paths and finally streets to find the entrance to Alcazaba near the Roman Theater ruins.

The Alcazaba palace fortress was built for defense, in the late 700s, then, rebuilt by the Sultan of Granada in the 11th century, also becoming his winter home, away from colder Granada. It included part of the city walls. Rock and stones from the nearby Roman ruins were used in its construction. There were many renovations over the past 1,000 years. There is a lot of Moorish architecture still visible.  Some ceilings were intricately carved plaster, stone or wood.  There were small shallow pools at different levels in gardens or patios that used gravity for the water to flow down to the next level.  After the defeat of the Moors, the palace was neglected but restoration work, than began in 1933, continues to the present.  When we left the site, we could not see an exit sign except for the elevators.  We travelled down several levels in the elevator and exited into a tunnel that ran under a street with the exit across from the City Hall.  We walked to the Cathedral, just a few streets away, and stopped at the Le Jardin bar for a local San Miguel beer and glass of Sangria, before walking back the ship.

From the City Hall it was about two km, or less than a 25 minute walk back to the ship. We crossed the street to walk in the park with its orange trees, hibiscus trees, purple flowered jacaranda trees, like we had seen in San Diego in May, different kinds of palm trees, bird of paradise flowers and ponds.  There was a large flock of parrots making quite a noise as they flew around the trees.

When we arrived at the ship, we had walked in total over 11 miles so far.  At dinner we chose the same Reisling wine as Pat and Frank had been enjoying this cruise.  Our appetizers were Waldorf Chicken Salad and Seafood Brik – an assortment of Mussels, shrimp and scallops – and Wild Mushroom Vol-a-Vent.  The entrées chosen were Pork Cutlet with German Potato Salad and Roast Chicken with grits and steamed vegetables.  The desserts were an éclair filled with a cheesecake cream and Crème Brulé.  We were tried so we went to our stateroom and worked on the blog and read the list of shore excursions for Georgetown, Grand Cayman; Manta, Ecuador; Lima and Pisco, Peru and Valparaiso, Chile for next year.

We checked the theater to hear the vocalist Dan Jupp, sing songs from the 50s and 60s then went to the Oceanview Café for a late evening dessert.

Today we logged 12.7 miles.

September 29, 2016

We were up before the 8:19 a.m. sunrise to walk a little over two miles as the ship sailed into Cadiz harbor to dock. The temperature was 20 C, the sky had a little bit of cloud and the breeze was light. We decided to have muffins and café mochas at the Café al Bacio for today’s breakfast, before going to the theater to check in for today’s city tour.

Cadiz is an ancient city on the Atlantic coast. It was part of the old Moorish territory of Andalusia.  Before the Romans, the area was inhabited by the Phoenicians back to 1100 BC and claims to be the oldest continuously inhabited European city.  The old city is located on a peninsula and is the flamenco (traditional dance) capital of Spain.  The Cadiz Cathedral is the final resting place of Christopher Columbus. Cadiz harbour has been the home of the Spanish navy for almost 3oo years.  Some of the 18th century city walls still stand and, in some sections, hug the seashore.  In the old town the streets are narrow and some traffic is restricted.  In some plazas the stones used to pave the roads were ballast from ships when they returned from the Americas.  Spain’s first liberal constitution (La Pepa) was signed here in 1812 after Napoleon Bonaparte’s defeat. A recent discovery of a Roman amphitheatre in Cadiz was an important find.  Many ships sailed from the Cadiz port during Portugal’s Age of Discovery starting in the early 1300s with knowledge of the Atlantic Ocean’s Canary Islands and Azores then continuing along the west African coast to avoid the Saharan Moorish traders and progressing around the world into the 16th century. Cadiz thrived during this time, becoming wealthy and attracting explorers, merchants, businessmen, boat builders, entrepreneurs and their families. Grand houses were built with tall towers so that the owners could spy on activities in the harbour.  The English sailor Francis Drake, known as the “Dragon” by Spaniards, destroyed 30 Spanish ships in 1587 when his fleet attacked Cadiz harbor.  In 1805, the famous Battle of Trafalgar between the British fleet and the combined navies of France and Spain was fought in the ocean near Cadiz. After the French under Napoleon Bonaparte and his brother retreated from the Iberian Peninsula in 1812, the new Spanish constitution was proclaimed in Cadiz.

Some passengers took trips to Seville which took over eight hours, at least 4 ½ hours on the roads to and from Cadiz.

Our tour started by bus, for a panoramic drive around the main Cadiz area, through the old city and into the new part to see the beaches on the Atlantic side of the peninsula.  The guide was difficult to understand for the people at the back of the bus even when she increased the speaker’s volume.  The guide pointed out landmarks and some Cadiz’s statues, before we were dropped off for the walking tour portion of the morning.  Due to complaints to the Shore Excursions desk, of not being able to hear the bus commentary, all passengers on bus 20 received a $20 US credit on their ship account.  Cadiz’s old train station design was influenced by the students of the architect of Paris’ Eiffel Tower.  We paused for photos of Santa Maria beach on the Atlantic Ocean side of Cadiz and saw the small harbor used by the Phoenicians over 3000 years ago.  Cadiz had the largest US navy base in Europe.  The walking tour started at San Juan de Dias Square and wound through the old city cobbled stone streets.  We passed City Hall built in 1799. Next the “new” cathedral with a golden dome and tall towers originally designed in Baroque/neo-Classical style. It took over 120 years to complete.  We were guided through the church, its high alter and its crypt and had a few minutes to explore on our own.  One of the chapels held a silver “float” by Enrique de Arfe, carried through the streets in religious parades. The silver came from Mexico on Spanish galleons. A pipe organ is located on two of the walls of the choir stall.  The limestone used to complete the church, since it was cheaper than marble is not as resistant to salty air and pieces crumble from the high ceilings, justifying the netting strung about 8 or 9 meters above the cathedral floor.  We saw St James Church one of many locating in Cadiz to be the base for sending missionaries to the Americas to convert the people there to Catholicism.  The monk who founded some of the California missions (that we visited in May) was sent from a Cadiz based church.  Our last stop was Flowers Square, where the flower market is located, before walking to Flamenco place, La Cava, for a 45 minute Flamenco dancing show, Sangria wine and sampling tapas – either Spanish omelet, ham or cheeses.  The show was the crown of the tour.  The tour ended in Plaza Espana for those people who wanted to stay in the old city rather than take the 3 minute bus ride to the ship. Here there is a huge statue “Las Cortes” erected in 1912 commemorating the centenary of La Pepa, the new Spanish constitution.  We walked back to the ship in less than five minutes. There was a bit of cloud, the wind was stronger and the temperature was a pleasant 26 C.

After lunch in the Oceanview Café, we went back to the old town of Cadiz, we walked along the old city walls and when we diverted a narrow street, discovered the San Antonio Parish Church originally built in 1669 and renovated several times over the centuries included the current baroque style from 1858.  We had logged more than six miles so we returned to the ship for a stop at the ice cream counter.  Then we found a lounger in the shade on Deck 15 to enjoy the warm weather and read.  The ship got underway about 30 minutes late, due to two buses returning from Seville being late.

We joined Pat and Frank for dinner.  Two evenings ago, they had been moved to another stateroom and couldn’t make dinner in the dining room.  Tonight we chose Greek Salad and Seafood Bisque soup as appetizers.  For entrées we selected Lamb Shank with root vegetables and coucous or Grilled Chicken Breast with beans, carrots and mashed potatoes. The desserts were Bittersweet Chocolate Fondant and Banana Napoleon cake.

 Entertainment tonight was violinist Inna Tolstova.  She played a mixture of electronic and classical music, including music that she had composed.

About 10 p.m. the ship was near the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar. The outside decks were off limits to passengers due to high winds.

Miles logged today 8.7.

Tomorrow we arrive in Malaga for two days.  It is on the Costa del Sol, a tourist destination.

September 28, 2016

Today was a Sea Day en route to Cadiz, Spain, where we are docked tomorrow. Overnight, the clocks returned to Spanish time, one hour forward, as the ship sailed south along Portugal’s west coast.

We were up on deck 14 before the 8:15 a.m. sunrise for our morning walk on the walking track. The temperature was 18 C with some wind and a clear sky. There was a bit of roll to the ocean.  The ship turned toward the Mediterranean Sea as the ship passed Cape St. Mary in Portugal’s Faro municipality.  After walking two and half miles, we stopped for cappuccinos, then returned to the stateroom to get ready for breakfast in the dining room before it closed at 9:30. We had a lot of events in the morning.  Starting at 10 was a Back Stage Tour Party specifically for passengers that have accumulated more than 75 days of cruising with Celebrity Cruises. About 40 passengers took in the tour. The theater cast started rehearsals in mid June and joined the ship at the beginning of August for performances until January 20th. The stage has elevated areas that can drop three metres and rise about two metres. The stage height reaches from deck 3 to deck 6 to accommodate tall scenery and aerial acts.  The 18 person crew consists of dancers, singers, production manager, costume caretaker and technical personnel.  The process of costume changes during the production shows was intriguing.  We saw the just off stage area, where the quick costume changes are done, as well as dressing rooms, the costume room and the area where costumes are repaired and cleaned.  Next at 11, the chief sommelier hosted a private wine tasting in the Silhouette  dining room, which had an attendance close to 100.  The Silhouette dining room features a glass enclosed wine cellar which is two decks high. Each level contains 663 bottles.  For every two week cruise, almost 30,000 wine bottles are loaded on to the ship.

After lunch there was a Captain’s Club Event with free drinks and canapés.  A duo provided music for the hour long event.  The ocean swells were a bit deeper this afternoon, about two meters, but the ship did not rock very much.  By mid afternoon the temperature was 24, but the wind was strong and felt cool.  Later in the afternoon, there was a presentation about Malaga’s history. The ship spends two days there, after we leave Cadiz.  From 5:30 to 6:30 there was a Ballroom Dancing hour in the Grand Foyer.  The dance floor, about 12 square meters, is squeezed between the Grand Staircase and the elevators.  Tonight a photographer was taking photos of people, sometimes in groups of 20, posing on the staircase, while others carrying drinks were cutting across the dance floor, making dancing quite difficult.

This evening was the specialty dining room event, in the Tuscan Grill, for the Carlson Wagonlit group of 22. There were two tables one of eight the other with 14.  We sat with Linda, Phil, Jarrod, Christine Bonnie and David.

 The menu was extensive.  Our group opted to sample a bit of all the appetizers and the side dishes. There were bread to be dipped in olive oil and fresh basil with balsamic vinegar added later, cheeses and Italian cold cuts, olives, plus four different kinds of pasta, mashed potatoes, steamed spinach and cooked eggplant.  Most people ordered the filet mignon, although rib eye steak and fish were also ordered.  The dessert menu included Tiramisu, spumoni donuts and Fig gelito.  Finishing with cappuccino or hot specialty coffees like Irish Coffee.  Dinner finished in time to hurry to the other end of the ship to see the production show tonight called Elysium.  It was a musical about nature showing all four seasons.  We had seen the elaborate costumes in the costume room.  The lead female singer wore a flowery dress with fabric flowers sewn on which weighs about 6 kg.  We could image the logistics of the costume changes that had been explained in the morning tour as we watched the show. We stopped at Café al Bacio for frappes after the show and were joined by Ursula and Reiner.

Today we logged 6.6 miles.

September 27, 2016

We explored Lisbon on our own today. The sky was clear and the 8 a.m. temperature was 18 C with about a 20 km/hr wind. The information from the ship said 11 knots.  After breakfast in the Oceanview Café Buffet, we were off the ship by 9, forgoing our deck walk to sleep in. We took a Lisbon map with us, which did not have all the street names, but about 80% and headed for the closest domed church.  We took streets that progressed uphill making 40 degree turns with traffic trying to go both ways and cars parked on the side walk. We managed to get to the church, but it was still closed. It is called the Church of Santa Engracia, originally built in the 17th century, but collapsed during a thunderstorm several years later. Reconstruction, like so many churches in Europe, ran into funding problems then in 1916, still without a roof, it became the National Pantheon, where Portugal’s national heroes, politicians, writers and other cultural figures alike, are enshrined.  The Portuguese Baroque style church was finally completed in 1966.

Our next stop was a two towered church further up the hill and over several streets. Outside its walls, a large flea market was being set up with jewelry, clothes, shoes, scarves, leather goods, a large table of small cameras and much more.  I don’t know how official the ownership was of some items.

As we walked around to the front of the São Vicente de Fora church, we passed under an archway.  St. Vincent is the patron saint of Lisbon. São Vicente de Fora church was originally part of an Augustinian monastery, first constructed after the 1147 defeat of the Moors in Lisbon, outside of the city walls.  Then when Portugal united with Spain, Spanish King Philip 2, in 1582 decided that the monastery should be rebuilt, but wasn’t completed until the 1700s, however, the church was completed first in 1629. The church was open and had a 25 meter barrel like stone nave ceiling with a beautiful Baroque altarpiece, commissioned in the early eighteenth century by King John V. The dome and main roof collapsed onto worshippers in the 1755 earthquake. 18th century blue ceramic tiles decorate the cloisters with panels showing historical stories.  This church has a pantheon corridor where the Portuguese monarchs are buried.

We had decided that we had no idea where we were since it was hard to find street names and then some were not on the map.  We saw the Castelo de São Jorge way up on top of Lisbon’s highest hill and set it as our next destination, but most of the streets were going straight down and we wanted to head over and up.  We finally found a street where there was a sign pointing to the route to the castle.  The skies were still clear and the temperature was around 25 C at 10:30 a.m.  There were clear signs for the ticket office.  We entered the Moorish Castle that Christian Portuguese King Afonso Henriques captured in 1147, during the second crusades with the assistance of northern European crusaders.  It had been a significant place even in Roman times. In the early 1500s monarchs built a more comfortable palace within the walls of the castle. With severe damage by the 1755 earthquake, renovations were made over the centuries until in the 1930s it was restored to its medieval state. It has 11 towers, at different heights where you can walk all around the ramparts.  There are no buildings within it, but there a medieval garden with peacocks strolling the grounds.  We even saw a partly white peacock.  The views of Lisbon from the castle are panoramic.  We could just make out the funnels of our ship almost out of sight, around a hill.  Inside the central tower now is a camera obscura, an optical device invented by Leonardo da Vinci that projects live images from around the city onto the tower walls. There is a museum of archaeological finds from the castle site as well as a café and gift shop.  Next we wanted to find Rua Augusta, which is a main shopping pedestrian friendly street linking Rossio Square and Commerce Square.

We knew the general direction we wished to go, but the winding streets lead us on a longer walk than we had anticipated.  We found two glass elevators that went from a seven storey high restaurant down to a grocery store and the street below.  We got our bearings at the top and found ourselves in Rossio Square.  It shows the post 1755 architecture by Marquês do Pombal’s designed reconstruction in the buildings surrounding it. Marquês do Pombal was to Lisbon’s reconstruction as was Christopher Wren after London’s 1666 Great Fire reconstruction. At the center of the square is a statue of Dom Pedro IV as well as a fountain. On our way toward the river, one kilometer away, we looked down Rua Santa Justa to see a 45 metre tall metal tower, the Santa Justa Lift connecting the neighbourhoods of Baixa to Bairro Alto with two elevators helping the people negotiate the steep hill separating the neighbourhoods.  It opened in 1902 and was built by Raoul Mesnier de Ponsard, a follower of the French architect, Eiffel.  Curiosity satisfied, we continued to walk along Rua Augusta, passing through the 19th-century triumphal arch leading into Commerce Square, also known as Palace Square, since the 16th century Ribeira Palace once stood here.  It was once the main maritime entrance to Lisbon, which has the old marble steps leading up from the River Tagus. A palace stood here before the 1755 earthquake.   The arch is decorated with statues of historical personalities, like Vasco da Gama and Marquês do Pombal. In Commerce Square stands the equestrian statue of King José 1.  In 1908 reigning ‘King Carlos and his son, Prince Luis Filipe were assassinated here. Throngs of people, in 1974, assembled on the square during the revolution that overthrew Portugal’s dictatorial regime.

Then it was after noon and we had been on our feet for over three hours.  It was just a 25 minute walk back to the ship along the waterfront.  We saw excellent examples of Portuguese ceramic tile covering the exterior of buildings. We logged 6.8 miles

When we returned from our wander, the phone was blinking and an invitation was sent to us, and all the other passengers who were staying on board for the next voyage which goes to Greece.  We met almost 100 other passengers, on the helicopter pad for the sail away from Lisbon.  Ship’s officers and the cruise director, John Grantham, were there to welcome people with a glass of champagne or a mimosa.

Our table companions, Pat and Frank, were not at dinner tonight nor were they at the sailaway. 

Tonight dinner started with appetizers Chickory Apple Pear Salad, Wild Mushroom Barley soup and Shrimp Ceviche.  The entrées were Grilled Snapper Fillet with roasted red pepper and chickpeas and Coq au Vin.  We shared two desserts – Blueberry Pavlova and Ricotta cheesecake.  After dinner we went to the early theater show featuring English pianist, Chris Hamilton and enjoyed his playing.

We finished the day with a frappe.

Today we logged 8.3 miles.