Oceania Cruises

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The Basque Coast of Spain is so pretty

We are still in Bilbao’s port, Getxo and this morning I went for a beautiful walk along the waterfront. David wasn’t feeling energetic so he spent the morning reading.

It is quite cool and there’s a very strong wind blowing but thankfully it is sunny. My new bubble coat has come in very handy these last couple of days.

The tourist information lady said there’s a lovely old fishing village to walk around and I thought I’d do that. When you see the steps up to it, you’ll see why I just walked along the promenade below. Life wouldn’t have been easy for the fishermen here, as it wasn’t for my ancestors in Port Isaac.

Hills surround Getxo on three sides and they are covered with lush green vegetation. The beach is wide and sandy but I didn’t venture onto it as the wind was blowing up a lot of sand.

The Marina is a lovely ship. It takes around 1200 passengers and was launched in 2011. Later this year it is going in for a refurbishment so it will be all spruced up. We love travelling on it and all of the crew are superb.

Those are the steps to the fishing village. Too much for my old knees, I reckon!

See that red and white house on the top of the cliff. I reckon that would be a great retirement home for me. Great see views! And it’s red! But look at those steps to get up to it! Oh well, never mind.

So I love the Basque Coast of Spain. San Sebastián and Getxo are both so pretty. I’m sad we missed seeing the French Basque Coast but still we are so lucky to be here.

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Bilbao, Spain – home of the Guggenheim Museum

We weren’t supposed to be here until tomorrow but the weather interfered. We can’t complain. We’ve had beautiful weather every day until now even though it was cold in Paris. We missed Biarritz but have an extra day here in Bilbao.

The port provides shuttle buses into the centre of town. It is about a thirty minute drive but it was an interesting drive and there were plenty of buses. So it was an efficient operation.

Bilbao is in the Spanish Basque Country as is San Sebastián where we spent a little over a week in 2014 at the end of our 45 day train trip around Spain. We loved wandering the old town of San Sebastián (Donostia), eating pintxos and washing them down with txakoli, the fresh new wine of the area which is poured from high above the glass.

So today we were back in Basque Country and we set out to wander the old town, eat pintxos and drink txakoli. We had a great time. There are some lovely old buildings in the old town here. David gets so excited when he sees the rows and rows of jamon hanging in the stores. Our lunch of pintxos with a glass of txakoli each cost us about A$30 and was delicious. Our only disappointment was the waiter just poured our wine in the normal way rather than from 40cms or so above the glass.

We don’t enjoy modern art. We love the impressionists and we’ve see many magnificent paintings in the last two weeks so we were not interested in going into the Guggenheim museum but everyone raves about it so we went to check out the titanium building. It’s an interesting shape but, again, not our thing. I did love the floral dog made with pansies, violas and heartsease. It was impressive.

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Difficult decisions at Red Ginger

On Oceania ships the specialty restaurants are included in the price. All you need to do is book in advance as they are very popular. My favourite is Red Ginger, the Asian themed restaurant and we have eaten at it on three different ships. Each time it has been brilliant. I love it!

We shared our table On Sunday night with two American couples, all of whom had also been to Red Ginger before. Four of us knew before we went that we would have the sea bass cooked in palm leaves because we had had it before and is so delicious. I knew too that I would have the sushi sashimi platter for my starter and I chose the steamed ginger pudding for dessert. A perfect meal.

We all had the same problem. We know the sea bass is excellent but what are we missing out on by not choosing something different? Everything looks so good. The decisions are tough.

We all thoroughly enjoyed the food and the company. Unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures but here’s one I took on Marina as we cruised the Baltic in 2016.

Tonight we are booked into Polo Grill. We’re looking forward to that too!

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Ancient city of Saint Emilion

Yesterday from Bordeaux we took a tour to Saint Emilion, a grand cru wine village about 30 minutes from Bordeaux. The population is about 500 and it is all about wine. Very very old buildings are everywhere but the lower parts of many of the buildings have been very commercialised.

If you look very closely at this picture, you might find me. I’m not much of a photographer but David is worse. He cut off the top of the lovely spire and waited until I was hidden by others. Oh well! At least it is proof that I was there.

Our guide then took us to a grand cru vineyard where we sampled their reds. The main grapes grown are Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. It was a very pretty area but a strong wind made being outside unpleasant.

We sampled three reds and I enjoyed all of them. David liked only one but we didn’t buy any.

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Cruising into Bordeaux

After our beautiful brunch on Sunday we had a very lazy day, just relaxing as we cruised right up the Garonne River to Bordeaux. It’s a very wide river and apparently only about 30 ships will make it all the way up the river this year. The bridge opened up to let us pass underneath.

We had a quick wander around Bordeaux and guess what we found:

We wondered which one the grandkids would choose if they were here but we resisted the temptation ourselves. No harm in looking though!

Bordeaux was once British and the wine trade between Bordeaux and England began in the 14th Century. Nearly one quarter of a million acres are under grape cultivation currently. The city was spared in both world wars so its beautiful old buildings still stand today.

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No potato peel pie – just Cornish Pasties!

I was really excited to visit the home of that lovely book and film about Guernsey during the Nazi occupation in WWII. We were disappointed to hear from some of the shopkeepers that the movie was actually filmed in Cornwall and even the shoreline shots were not actually Guernsey. If you haven’t read the book, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, I recommend it.

David started the day with his typical Oceania breakfast of lamb chops, bacon, tomato, hash brown followed by toast and marmalade. At home he has just toast and tomato.

We then rode the tender across and wandered through the streets of Guernsey. It was a lovely place to explore. David saw The Cornish Pasty Company shop so in we went for pasties and coffee (flat whites even with soy milk). We certainly didn’t need any lunch back on board.

I bought a lovely shirt in one of the many interesting little boutiques and they don’t have any VAT so the price was right.

The entertainer tonight was Chris Hamilton, an English piano showman and he could certainly tickle the ivories. He even played The Entertainer, my favourite piece of music.

Another great day!

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Pictorial story of our train ride from Paris to Southamptonj

Without luggage this would have been easy. With two suitcases and two carry-on bags and a handbag and a man bag, it was a bit of a tussle but we managed it surprisingly easily. Here’s the story in pictures beginning with the beautiful sunrise out the window of our Paris apartment.

We needed a beer when we arrived so I, of course, had a pint. Delicious it was too!

Today we board our ship. During our one night in England, I’ve had a pint, fish and chips and peas (although they weren’t mushy) and ridden in a London cab. So that’s a pretty good effort. (We have spent considerable time in England before but this visit is very short.)

We are ready to be spoiled. We know that the Oceania Marina crew will take very good care of us. Bring it on.