Oceania Marina

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La Rambla overrun with tourists

I can see why the people of Barcelona are protesting about the number of tourists taking over their city. This morning about 8am we went to La Boqueria, the market thinking we’d have breakfast there. We noticed some locals obviously having their Saturday morning breakfast before they did their shopping but honestly we could hardly move for tourists. We gave up and went back out to the street to find a cafe.

I’m glad we came here in 2014 for a week and thoroughly enjoyed the city. Now I feel that we are just adding to the problem by being two more tourists. There is an interesting article in The Australian this weekend about the plight of places that can’t cope with the number of visitors; especially those that come for a day and don’t spend any money – as those of us on cruise ships are won’t to do. Five percent of the world’s jobs are in tourism though, so it’s a bit of a dilemma. Tourism creates jobs but tourists create problems. Venice is certainly a case in point.

Anyway, after breakfast we hopped on the Hop-on Hop-off bus and did a two hour tour of the city. We were surprised to see that the Marina is still in port. It’s sunny today but quite cool and we needed our coats. The Sagrada Familia is still not finished. Barcelona has five kilometres of lovely sandy beaches, all easily accessible by tram and bus. The people were out early today soaking up the sunshine.

Here’s a view of the city from up high at the Jardins del Doctor Pia:

I was on the wrong side of the bus to get a good photo of the people on the beaches. This is the best I could do:

And here is the Sagrada Familia: It’s much to elaborate for my tastes but I can appreciate the amount of work in it.

When we were in Lima, Peru in 2010 we were amazed at the enclosed wooden balconies which many buildings have. They can do this because the climate there is so dry and the timber doesn’t rot. The average annual rainfall is 16mm per year – that’s right 1.6cm.

Today we saw a balcony which reminded us of Lima. Barcelona’s average rainfall is 64cm.

Tonight we are on a quest to find a restaurant where the locals eat. Wish us luck!

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Our life on the Oceania Marina is over! So sad!

This morning we had to leave our beautiful Marina. We had a great cruise – loved every minute of it. I don’t think I’ve ever slept so well. The king size beds are the most comfortable beds I have ever slept on and I slept like a baby most nights. They have the most amazing pillows. You can actually buy the bed, mattress, pillows and bedding and have it delivered to your home anywhere in the world. I’d love to but there’d be no room for anything else in our bedroom so I have to give it a miss.

The food on Oceania is outstanding. I think their claim to have “The finest cuisine at sea” is justifiable. Red Ginger is still my favourite restaurant on board but all the food we had was delicious. David loved his breakfasts and for a man who has coffee and tomato on toast most mornings at home, he did very well.

Can you see his plate? Lamb chops, crispy bacon, eggs, tomato to be followed by two pieces of toast and marmalade and he’d already had a plate of berries and an orange juice! Incredible!

We enjoyed the evening entertainment and I think we went for twelve out of the fourteen nights. The entertainment crew put on six singing and dancing evenings and we thoroughly enjoyed them all. We had a British comedian on two nights and he was very funny. David laughed a lot. A very clever pianist entertained us,again for two nights. He could play anything. Last night we had the crew’s salute and the end of the show and we couldn’t believe how many chefs there were.

I was concerned about how long it would take for us to get off the ship, go through border patrol, get a taxi and get to our hotel. I needn’t have worried. It was a very efficient operation. (Not like it was in Copenhagen in 2016 where we were in the taxi queue for two hours. No exaggeration!) Our time to disembark was 9am and by 9:30 we were stowing our luggage at our hotel and heading off to La Boqueria, the famous Barcelona market. We are very familiar with it as it was where we bought our food to take back to our apartment when we were here in 2014.

It’s amazing eh? I forgot to take a photo of the fruit. There’s so much and it all looks so fresh. We will be returning to the market shortly to buy our food for dinner.

We have a lovely hotel room at Citadines Ramblas right on Las Ramblas, the Main Street of Barcelona. We have tea making facilities, a microwave and cutlery, crockery etc so we will be able to buy fresh food at the market and eat in if we wish.

The weather has turned against us today – it’s raining and only 15* but we are not complaining because every other day has been fine and sunny. We decided to visit El Cortes Ingles, the large department store to get out of the rain while we waited to check in. It sells everything you could possibly want. When we were here before, there was no plug in the apartment and we went to a few shops trying to find one. Eventually we went to this store and managed, through some mime, to find the right area of the shop and bought a plug. So we affectionately call El Cortes Ingres The Plug Shop. David was going to buy a plug again as a souvenir but instead he bought two shirts.

We found a pleasant cafe to have lunch – seafood paella and a glass of sangria. Very nice? And they had soy milk so I could have a very good cappuccino. Yes!

A. Great start to our short stay in Barcelona!

Leave a comment Posted on by dapperdaveanddinkydi Books I’ve enjoyed this month, Cruising

Holiday reading

Whilst cruising on the lovely Marina, I’ve managed to find the time to read a couple of books out of the ship’s library

The first was The Paris Vendetta by Steve Barry. I thought this was a fitting choice as I had just enjoyed that lovely week in Paris and I knew exactly where the characters were as they moved through Paris in the story. The book reminded me of The DaVinci Affair by Dan Brown as there were ancient mysteries to be solved, clues to be followed and places to visit. I learnt about the life of Napoléon and his battles through Europe. I wondered if he did really leave a secret legacy and followed the characters as they tried to prevent The Paris Club from triggering a global financial meltdown. It was a little difficult to grasp all the different characters at the beginning but once I did, I really enjoyed this novel. It was full of suspense and twists and turns and it got me in.

The second was The Girl in the Spider’s Web, a Lisbeth Salander novel by David Lagercrantz and continuing Stieglitz Larsson’s Millenium Series. I loved the series by Larsson and was very sad to hear he had died. Lagercrantz has done a great job of continuing these exciting stories and I really enjoyed spending more time with Lisbeth Salander, genius hacker and uncompromising misfit, and the journalist, Mikael Blomkvist. The characterisation fits with that in the original novels and the battle between right and wrong, between Lisbeth and her twin sister, was absorbing. I loved it. Didn’t want to put it down!

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Did we see The Rock?

Last night we cruised through the Straits of Gibraltar and the cruise director made an announcement that we would be able to see it between 7 and 8. So we went on deck to catch a glimpse of the famous Rock of Gibraltar. Only trouble was, no one seemed to know which side was the rock and there was no further announcement from the bridge.

So either this is The Rock

Or this is:

The first photo looks more like a Rock. The second one is prettier. One of them includes The Rock but which one? Your guess is as good as mine.

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Could easily spend a week in Málaga

It’s a lovely city – beaches, beautiful squares, elegant buildings and such a lot of greenery.

This is our last port on our wonderful cruise on Oceania Marina. Next stop Will be Barcelona on Friday and we will have to disembark.

Today we had a late start, banana pancakes for breakfast, did some washing and headed off to the Hop-On Hop-Off bus. The tour here was really well managed and the information was comprehensive and easy to understand so we really enjoyed it.

The Jacarandas were in flower so that reminded us of home as did the colourful bougainvilleas. We even saw a very thirsty, sad-looking gum tree.

We had hoped to visit the botanical gardens but when I looked it up on the web it said that it could be closed because of the May Day holiday. I asked the tourist info people and they looked it up on the web and told me what I already knew. So we figured it wasn’t worth €100 in taxi fares to get there and find it closed. We enjoyed our visit to Málaga nevertheless.

Here’s a few pictures to show why we enjoyed it so.

After our tour we found a little café to have lunch. David wasn’t adventurous and had a burger and chips but I enjoyed pescaîto frito – fried seafood. It was a huge serve and was too much for me. It included anchovies, squid, fish, mussels etc.

A week here in a little apartment near the beach would be very pleasant!

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A mix of the old and the new

Today in Tangier Morocco, we boarded the Hop-on Hop-Off bus for a tour of the city.

Our view from beside the ship.

The port shuttle took us to the car park of the Intercontinental Hotel from where we could cross the road and catch the red bus. The juxtaposition of the old wall and the flash hotel was typical of what we saw here.

We were impressed with the skill of our driver who manoeuvred the bus through some extremely narrow streets and around tight corners.

We drove by a long, narrow cemetery which was filled with grasses and flowers.

We weren’t sure where to hop off and we chose the city centre which turned out to be a mistake. It was a large new shopping centre with no customers, bored shop assistants and only American chain restaurants such as Burger King and Pizza Hut. By this stage, we were ready for coffee but we wanted a legitimate Moroccan coffee so we left here and caught a taxi back to the Souq that the bus had taken us through.

As well as fresh fruit and vegetables the souq contained many long narrow aisles filled with fake handbags, shoes, t-shirts etc. There must have been thousands of bags! Who would buy them all?

We wandered around for a while, still searching for our hit of caffeine and then walked down the steep hill to the waterfront where we found many cafés and were able to get our coffee. It was very strong, delicious and cost €1 each. The currency here is the dirham which is worth US$0.10.

We then wandered back to the shuttle and back to the ship for lunch and our afternoon rest.

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Cadiz, an ancient port

Last night we had a delicious dinner in Jacques, the French restaurant on Marina. Onion soup and Dover sole for me and escargot and fillets of John Dory for David. He managed to fit dessert in as well – an amazing Mille feuille. I pinched a couple of mouthful.

The sommelier convinced David that we should have a Premier Cru Chablis from Burgundy and it was most enjoyable. They put your cabin number on it and bring it to you at the next restaurant you dine at. It will probably take the rest of the cruise for us to finish it. We don’t drink much at all these days.

Today we arrived at Cadiz a little late as we had to turn back to Lisbon last night to put off a person having a medical emergency. I felt for them. I know what it is like to leave a cruise ship on a stretcher and miss the rest of your cruise.

Today we took it easy in Cadiz. You can walk into town from the ship and we just wandered down the main shopping street for a little retail therapy.

As in all Spanish towns, we found some lovely green squares.

I don’t know why there is a padlock in the middle of this roundabout? Very peculiar!

We could have visited Gibraltar from here but we decided that a restful day was preferable. It was most pleasant.

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The amazing blues and greens of Lisbon

We’ve really enjoyed our few hours in Lisbon which began with a full circuit on the Hop-On Hop-Off bus. It is a beautiful sunny warm day and the northern hemisphere people are complaining that it’s too hot at 26*C but for me, it is just becoming warm enough. Perfect!

My memories of Lisbon will be all about the blues and the greens. We drove along many avenues lined with trees and past many parks filled with people enjoying the weather; many of them locals as it is Sunday. What really grabbed me was the beautiful sky white-washed with wispy clouds. I loved the blend of the blues and the greens.

The blues are also found in the tiles on the buildings illustrating The Moorish influence from times past.

As you drive around Lisbon you can’t help but notice the proliferation of statues. Of course, I can’t remember who they all are but I think this could be the mayor who rebuilt the city after the massive earthquake in 1755. But then, it could be someone else entirely!

Many people take tours in these Tuk-Tuks. A bit scary for me in the traffic!

There seemed to be hundreds of eateries gathered in eat streets and we found one where we could enjoy seafood paella and a Portuguese custard tart.

Junky souvenir shops were everywhere and we avoided them but I did buy myself a very nice shirt to remember Lisbon by.

So, a very pleasant day all round but undoubtedly it was the amazing colours of the sky that I will remember most.

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Beautiful beaches at Porto & Matosinhos

We are now in Portugal for the first time. We docked here at the industrial port near Matosinhos this morning and caught the shuttle bus into Porto proper, about a thirty minute drive along the beautiful coastline and beaches. This was my favourite part of the day.

The surfers were out on this lovely sunny day but the breeze by the water was cool still.

Once we passed the mouth of the Douro River, there were many fishermen and small boats with outboard motors. It reminded me of the years of my childhood that I spent at Donnybrook on Pumicestone Passage just north of Brisbane. There my parents had a multifaceted small business: a corner store, boats for hire, an unofficial post office and, as well, we sold petrol (with an old hand operated petrol pump). At the same time, Dad was a professional fishermen and crabber. Of course, our boats were inboards as there were no outboard motors at that stage.

I found the town of Porto itself to be quaint and so steep. Not good for the knees. We had a frustrating time here as we had booked tickets on the yellow vintage hop on hop off bus. We waited 50 minutes for it to come and then the driver’s reader wouldn’t read my e ticket which had assured me that I didn’t need a printed ticket. So he wouldn’t let us on. Very frustrating. Then we climbed some very steep steps to the market which wasn’t open and didn’t open until midday. More frustration! We did find a coffee and two excellent Portuguese custard tarts. We enjoyed them. Two coffees and two tarts for a total of €4. Amazing!

I do love to use a nice pen that feels good in my hand and there is a great pen shop here that we lingered in. They also stocked beautiful sets of coloured pencils for serious artwork. I have a lovely set of pencils that I haven’t touched in a few years. I think I’m getting the urge to get them out again. All very tempting but I resisted. The other shop which severely tempted me was quite a large hat shop. I very nearly bought a stylish black and white hat but David convinced me that I wouldn’t get it home in immaculate condition and I should buy one at home. So I will.

The streets are very interesting, so steep and narrow and the buildings are several stories high. Shops occupy the ground floor of many.

We wandered around until our knees were done (mine anyway) and then went to catch the shuttle back to the ship. Another 45 minute wait!

Now I’m waiting for a turn in the laundry. At least David brought me a lovely coffee!

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Imagine a two thousand year old lighthouse!

Today we visited La Coruña after a really rough night cruising across the Bay of Biscay from Bilbao. We were all weary as not many had a good night’s sleep. Even the crew were complaining!

La Coruña is on the north western tip of Spain and is quite a busy port and has been so for a long, long time. We caught the shuttle bus into town and then took a taxi to the old lighthouse, the Roman Tower of Hercules which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is still in operation today but it has been quite extensively restored as you can see below.

The scenery around the lighthouse is spectacular but it was quite chilly.

The taxi dropped us back to the old town but before we explored we needed to warm up. What’s the best way to do that? Churros con Chocolate

David salivated over this next shop with all the delicious jamon.

And then visited the barber of La Coruña.

There are many churches in the city but we thought the Town Hall was pretty imposing.

So a pleasant morning in town and then this afternoon we relaxed with some therapy at the Marina’s spa.