We
plan a trip during April every year, to celebrate our anniversary. For 2019 we decided
to do a river cruise, wine tasting on the Douro River through Spain &
Portugal. Doesn’t that sound like fun? We had no idea what to expect since
neither of us had been to those countries before. The brochure looked slick,
albeit pricy, and after some discussion we decided to go for it. One problem
though… You have to get over to Europe to board the river boat. And it’s a long
ol’ trip from here to there. In order to avoid absolute torture, and instead
just endure moderate torture, we figured business class air was a must. Huh. It
cost about as much as the entire cruise. Plan B: Cruise over on a repositioning
cruise on a budget friendly line. It didn’t take much effort to find the
perfect ride at a great price, plus we got to take in an additional city;
Barcelona turned out to be our favorite of all the places we visited.
We
know from experience that April is a pretty good time to make the transatlantic
cruise, and indeed it was smooth sailing for our entire 15 days. We have around
40 cruises under our belt after cruising since 1977, so we’re pretty familiar
with the routine at sea. But dork that I am, I never cease to be amused by the
towel animals. This ship was a bit large for our taste, and pretty ugly, but it
served the purpose of getting us across the pond. An uneventful trip on
Southwest, for a reasonable price, got us to Orlando, for our Port Canaveral
departure. We solved the discomfort factor by purchasing an extra seat,
allowable for “passengers of size.”
Smooth Sailing
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Our animals were quite literate! |
I was quite pleased with the itinerary I set up, and in
hindsight,
I wouldn’t change a thing!
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The big ugly ship, Norwegian Epic |
The Epic’s itinerary was
interesting, but we found that arriving in a town and getting off this ship
with 4,000 other passengers is a bit of a pain. And we weren't the only ship in port. A relatively small town, with tourists
everywhere clogging the streets and cafes, really isn’t a lot of fun. It’s
generally better to book a small tour independently from the cruise lines to experience
a place in comfort. You also need to speak to local people, soak up the
culture, and don’t be an ugly American. We try our best, and often get
unexpected surprises. We chatted with a shop owner in the Azores, admired his
work, but didn’t purchase, and went on our way. We stopped at a nearby café for
a beer, and the shopkeeper we had just met walked in for a break. He asked if
he could sit at our table, as it was very crowded. Of course! Then he bought
our drinks!
On Madeira, we independently booked a jeep
tour, and had a great time. We saw beautiful wildflowers driving on a dirt road
through the forest on top of the mountain. We learned about “poncha,” the local go-to beverage of choice. Made with
lots of local fire water from cane sugar, mixed with OJ and honey, oh my. It
packs a wallop!
.
In the lower levels they grow
tons of bananas. Who knew? The other stops along the coast of Spain were
pretty similar to each other – Cadiz, Malaga, Cartagena, and Majorca. Of course
we had to check out the tapas in every place.
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| Narrow streets, simple dining in Cadiz |
Cruising does leave one with some wonderful images to
remember.
Sunset leaving
Cartagena, Spain
Barcelona!!!
OK, so now we know for sure we’ve been missing a wonderful
destination all this time. We arrived with 6 days to fill before having to be
in Madrid for our river cruise. We could easily have stayed another week since
there was so much to see and do. Of course the budget would never allow that.
As it was, our hotel was a bit spendy, but we figured that this was a
once-in-a-lifetime experience, so bust out the credit card and worry about it
later. Yeah, spending our kids’ inheritance J One thing I’ve discovered through our travels
is how little we really know about other parts of the world. I also learned
that I speak Spanish with a Cuban accent! Wha? I guess I sound like I’m fluent
when I use the vocabulary I know, but have a tough time figuring out what they’re
saying back to me. Solamente hablo un poquito de español! I was ordering
pizza from a little place across from the hotel, and the owner didn’t speak
English, so I had to do my best in Spanish. He didn’t believe me when I told
him I really don’t speak Spanish. Then he told me I have a Cuban accent. Well,
it seems that my junior high Spanish teacher was from Cuba, and it stuck with
me! Thanks, Señor De la Rosa. In turn I taught Bill everything he needs
to know in Spanish; “Cerveza fría por favor” (Cold beer please), “la quenta”
(the bill), and “Dónde está el bano?” (Where’s the bathroom?)
I
often explain all that to our server in Spanish, and it always cracks them up.
The OD Barcelona has a pool on the roof!
All around Barcelona on our own was
amazing. It’s a walking town for sure, and a 2-day Hop on/Hop off bus tour gave
us the lay of the land enough to give us confidence that we had things under
control. The Gaudi architecture, Picasso museum, Las Ramblas, La Familia
Sagrada, and all the other tourist stuff kept us busy, and we were fortunate
enough to run into the “pre-trip” tour group from our upcoming river cruise,
and joined them for a wonderful trip up to Montserrat, the remote monastery in
the mountains. As luck would have it, we both then read a paperback novel we happened to pick up along the
way, Origin by Dan Brown. The story takes place exactly where we were
visiting, starting with Montserrat. It’s also way better than his earlier
novels.
How could we go wrong with a place called Billy Brunch?
Then there were tapas... lots of them!
For the record, our very favorite restaurant of the entire
trip was Vinitus in Barcelona, home of the incredible bread pudding (for me),
suckling pig and cod (for him).
The market was awesome, and the preschool tour too cute
.
The train is definitely the way to get around Europe
We visited the bullfighting arena in Madrid, a place where the guide told us the only people who actually attend bullfights now are old men with cigars, and tourists who leave in tears after the first bull is killed.
Our Hotel, with its decor we labeled "Early
Bordello" – Threadbare carpets and all!
I was soooo sick of following around the guy with the flag,
and having to park side-by-side due to the number of boats on the Douro. But
there were beautiful vineyards to see, and interesting locks.
The REAL reason I wanted to visit Portugal - the custard
tarts! Breakfast of champions.
Lots of food and wine on our trip through the Douro Valley
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| Almond tasting |
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| Someone should tell that guy to put on his sunglasses! Hills near Castelo Rodrigo |
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| Beautiful gardens at Mateus |
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| I love the Gaia sign on the wall. |
I was so surprised to find out the town across the river
from Porto is Gaia, which happens to be my grandma name! I spell it Gaiya, but
still, what a lovely discovery. I had to buy a magnet. Oh, and the port there…
had to try a bunch. All good! The history of how the port cellars ended up
across the river from Porto is interesting. Google it if you’re interested! We
visited the Taylor cellars and Bill indulged in some 40-year-old port. Tasty!
The rest of us stuck with the free stuff – 12-year-old, almost just as good.
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| Trying the good stuff! |
We did a lot of walking in Porto and Gaia
Bill says I was trying to kill him! |
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| I still don’t get modern art. But we gave it a shot, visiting the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Madrid |
When you gotta go in Lisbon, just look for this sign J
We had a
fabulous local cruise director, Carmen, who had lived both in Spain and
Portugal. She was with us from Barcelona all the way through to the end in
Lisbon. She understood what I liked best…
PORTUGUESE CUSTARD TARTS!!!
THEY’RE CALLED NATAS THERE, BUT
WHATEVER, YUM!
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| Carmen, handing out the best custard tarts in Lisbon. |
And did I mention…
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