Windstar Cruise: Portugal

Our Next Stop after Cadiz in Spain was Portimao in Portugal:

Portimao: Is the largest town in the southernmost "gold coast" region of Portugal: the Algarve.  The south coast of Portugal has been a favorite vacation spot for English and other northern Europeans since the 60s, so it is now highly (over)developed with high rise condos.  But the beaches are wide, with soft sand and warm water.  We had no time to explore the more remote areas:



Portomao is also a fishing port famous for sardines, one of the most typical Portuguese foods.
We headed for a beach restaurant (with the curved front below) where they served delicious fresh grilled sardines by the half dozen.

We had only a half day at Portimao.  The ship had to leave at 2PM to make the long journey to Lisbon by the following morning.










Lisbon:
The Windstar sailed into the Port of Lisbon at sunrise.  At the mouth of its large protected harbor is a suspension bridge of very similar design to the Golden Gate bridge.   We watched anxiously as the mast of the ship seemed to barely scrape under the bridge.

We had only a day and a half in Lisbon and since the main tourist sites in Lisbon are fairly far apart,  we took a morning bus tour to get the overview.  I made this custom map as a planning tool.
Highlights of the tour are below:

• Alfama:  This is the old arab moorish quarter of central Lisbon with very narrow, steep and winding streets.  The arabs were, as our guide explained it, "expelled" in 1147.  I asked her if that meant they were told to leave.  No, she admitted, it means that they were forced to convert to Christianity or they had to flee for their lives.

• Belem Parish: The Portuguese are fiercely proud of their long faded world empire and voyages of discovery.  That translated into a new style of architectural ornament emphasizing nautical motifs (eg: twisted ropes and canon carved in stone).  To the west of Lisbon are a number of gothic structures in this "Manueline style" (after King Manuel I who reigned 1495-1521) including the Tower of Belem (a defensive Fort which was originally surrounded by water) and the Jeronimos Monastery (the monks were expelled expelled after 4 centuries for being too rich and powerful).  Click here for more info and pictures and here for a more modern tribute to the glorious but faded past.

The bus dropped us off at our hotel in time for lunch:  We stayed at the Real Palacio hotel to be close to the Gulbenkian Museum.  It was very nice but more modern and larger than I expected.  If you stay there, ask for the Older Section with was full when we were there.  From there it was a short walk to the Gulbenkian Museum.

• Gulbenkian Museum:  I had never heard of this museum until I read the

Top 10 Lisbon (EYEWITNESS TOP 10 TRAVEL GUIDE).

Calouste Galbenkin (1869-1965) was an Armenian educated in London who became a central figure representing middle Eastern countries in dealing with Western Oil companies.  Because he negotiated that he would receive a percentage of profits, he amassed a huge fortune and an art collection housed in his mansion in Paris.

At the Nazi occupation of Paris he moved to a hotel in neutral Lisbon where he lived until he died.

The Museum was built after he died and is not large by the standard of great international museums. But the quality and breadth of the collection is higher than any I have visited.  Click on the Heading of this section for more details.

• The Lalique room alone is worth a visit to Lisbon.  Gulbenkian befriended Rene Lalique and bought many pieces directly from his workshop.  I had thought that Lalique was only a maker of glass.  Instead he made his early name in stunning one of a kind pieces of Jewelry, such as this corsage ornament:
• 
  
  
  Robin bought this book: 
  

  Rene Lalique at the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum

  There was nothing else worth seeing after that, so we flew home the next day.

Windstar Cruise: Spain

We left Barcelona on Sunday evening on the Windstar Cruise Ship.  This post covers the ports we visited in Spain:  Here's a map of the cruise:


View Spain and Portugal Cruise in a larger map

Sunday: At Sea
Monday: Cartagena
Tuesday: Almeria
Wednesday: Malaga with side trip to Granada.  Then sail through the Straight of Gibralter.
Thursday: Cadiz

Except for Sunday, all sailing was done in the evenings and overnight.  We would usually be awake in time to watch the boat sail into the port of the day.

The overwhelming highlight of this part of the trip was our visit to Granada to see the Alhambra as you will see below.  (There's no point in my reporting on basic information about all these cities and sights:  for that, click on the linked names above and below.  This will open a window to the relevant wikipedia page.  If, for example, you don't know what the Alhambra is  (we dined with 2 couples aboard ship who didn't know and were not going to see it anyway!) then go to wikipedia.  I'll confine my posts to describing our particular comments and observations.)

Cartagena

Catagena is a ship building port and home of the Spanish submarine fleet.  (I think they have three.)  But the most interesting aspect of Cartagena is it's ancient history.  It was founded as a colony of Carthage in 228 BC: the name means "New Carthage".  The Carthaginians (who were member of an ethnic group called "punics") built some defensive walls around the town, but were nevertheless defeated by the Romans only 20 years later. The archaeological sites are closed to the public on Mondays, but we took a guided tour which had arranged special access.  (People from our ship who decided to walk around on their own could not get in!)

• Punic Ramparts:  the remains of the Punic rampart and mausoleum (built in 227 BC with the foundation of the city) are now enclosed in a glass and steel visitors building.

• Roman Theater: Built between 5 and 1 BC this theater was discovered by accident and excavated about 30 years ago.

• Walking the streets Cartagena:  There are many interesting narrow streets, full of buildings in Neoclassical, Baroque and Art Nouveau Styles.  My favorite story was about this ornate building below on the right.  It is still home to an exclusive club.  When they refused membership to a nouveau riche silver prospector he built his even larger white house next door.

Almeria

Almeria was founded by Moors in 955 AD. 

• Alcazaba

 

Its Moorish fortress castle, Alcazaba, is built high on the hill overlooking the town and harbor.  It is the second largest among the Muslim fortresses of Andalusia, after the Alhambra in Granada.  Parts of the inside are restored with the kinds of water courses and pools similar to what we would see the next day at the Alhambra.

 Malaga is a center of beach resort tourism in southern Spain.  But we skipped all that and took the bus tour to  Granada to see the famous Alhambra.  

Alhambra:   This world famous and sprawling mountaintop castle, fortress and extensive garden development was by far the major highlight of cruise.  With its fascinating history, romantic locale, intricately decorated rooms, and numerous courtyards and fountains, this endlessly alluring palace-city has captivated visitors since the 13th century.  

I'll add only a few particular personal comments:

• There is much more to see here than can be seen during a 2.5 hour guided tour.  You need at least 6-8 hours.
• Dissappointingly (new word), some important areas were under renovation. Especially the Court of the Lions (pictured above). Ouch!
• It was visited by American Washington Irving in 1828.   The governor of Granada preferred the convenience of living and working down in Granada.  He invited Irving to stay in a suite of rooms in the Alhambra which he did for several months. Irving was inspired by his experience to write Tales of the Alhambra.  The book was instrumental in reintroducing the Alhambra to Western audiences.  A plaque now marks the rooms in which Irving stayed while writing some of his book. Before going I recommend that you read this book as I did.  Only 99 cents on Kindle; free at gutenberg.org.
• While there I bought the book "The Alhambra and Generalife in Focus" a wonderful and comprehensive guidebook with detailed diagrams, plans, isometrics and photographs explaining everything from the geometry of Moorish decoration to the structural methods used.  (The best guidebook I have ever seen on any building.)  I recommend you read this also before you go.  If I had, I would have stayed for a minimum of 2 days to see all I would have wanted to see.
• "Generalife" is the name of the extensive garden annex to the Alhambra.  No, that doesn't mean it's sponsored by an Insurance company.   It's a Spanish corruption of the arabic "Jennat al Arif" or "Garden of the architect" and pronounced "heneraleefay".
• To me, the main attractions of the Alhambra are First: The overall siting and sequences of indoor/ outdoor spaces and water features (all powered by gravity flow via aqueducts from the Sierra Nevada).  While each space is strongly symmetrical about a main axis, the overall arrangement is randomly organic over uneven terrain and developed over time.  Secondly, the decorative elements.  I was surprised to learn than the geometic and scriptural wall decorations and ceilings are not carved stone but cast plaster!

Back to the Ship:

Gibralter: After returning to the ship we set sail to head through the Straight of Gibralter.  We passed by and into the Atlantic at about 11:00 PM.  They do have floodlights aimed at the main Gibralter (Prudential?) cliff so that it can be seen at night.  A few little known facts about Gibralter:

• Gibralter is a British outpost situated on a skinny peninsula in the south of Spain. It has very little tourism.
• It is not the southernmost point in the Iberian peninsula nor the closest point to Africa.  But it does have the highest point of land: useful in spotting approaching ships and firing canon at them.  Look at this map.
• The famous cliff actually faces away from the straight to the north east.  The Prudential logo shows the rock as it is viewed from the north in Spain.  Make sure the map is in satellite view and notice the shadows cast, or go to Earth view and rotate to view the rock from the north.

 Cadiz

Our next port was Cadiz, the main Atlantic port of Spain and base for all Spanish voyages of discovery and for the famous "armada".  While there are a few interesting sights in Cadiz, we decided to take a bus excursion outside the city.  We wanted to take the long bus tour to see Seville (and probably should have) but we were tired from the long bus tour from Malaga to Granada the previous day.  So instead we opted for the shorter trip to Jerez, the home of Sherry. ("Sherry" is an English corruption of "Jerez".)

• As we were driving through Cadiz on the way to Jerez, out tour guide pointed out a large statue of Simon Bolivar astride his horse.  Simon Bolivar liberated South America from Spanish colonial rule.  I pointed out to her that there was no statue of George Washington in London(?)  She could not explain except to say that the Spanish are a forgiving people.

Jerez

Jerez is the home of several producers of Sherry.  The largest is the Gonzalez Byass (an Anglo-Spanish company) which produces Tio Pepe sherry, the world's best seller.  We took a tour of their impressive facility including a tasting of their dry and sweet ("cream") sherries.

We toured several enormous warehouses full of large barrels of aging sherry.  The iron structure above was design by Gustave Eiffel.  Each barrel here is labeled with the flag of one of the 200 odd countries there serve.

Next:  I cover the Portugal Section of the trip in my next post.

Barcelona

We returned a week ago from our cruise to Spain and Portugal.  My computer died while we were away so this report is much later than intended.  For those of you who may follow in our footsteps (or in our wake) I offer the following:

We took our favorite sailing ship (meaning with sails!): the Windstar. Only 120 passengers, 100  crew.  The map of the itinerary is shown on this map. Click on list of icons on the left to locate each city.

Overall the 3 must see highlights of the trip were:

• The INTERIOR of Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia (“Sacred Family”) Cathedral in Barcelona.
• The sprawling Moorish castle “Alhambra” in Grenada. (A world heritage site.)
• The Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon.

     

I’ll cover the latter two and other sights from the cruise in future posts.  This one focuses on Barcelona.

Barcelona:

To get in the Barcelona mood, before the trip I read worldwide bestseller "The Shadow of the Wind" by Zafon.  (Thanks for the recommendation Steve.) 


Because Robin had a conference in Chicago before we left, we only had a day and a half in Barcelona before embarkation.  (You need at least 3 days to scratch the surface of Barcelona.)

The best Flights to Europe are overnight red eyes.  Iberia was the only airline that offered a reasonable price for an itinerary where you return from a different city than the one you fly to.  (Delta actually quoted a higher price for one way to Barcelona that a Barcelona return ticket???) There is a 6 hour time difference between NYC and Barcelona.  The outbound flight was actually an American Airlines codeshare.  The food was as good as any I’ve ever had on a plane.  But if you want to charge your phone, you need a DC car charger.  Our flight was delayed 3 hours at JFK for a plane switch, so we didn’t get to our hotel in Barcelona until 11:00 AM.

Because my hip was still gimpy from surgery 2 months before, I found online a pedicab service in Barcelona that would pick up and return to our hotel.  Also the main sights are many blocks apart so this is quicker than walking but more fun than navigating subways or buses.  These are nothing like the pedicabs you see in New York.    They have electric assist propulsion and a sun roof to keep out the rain: we did have a little drizzle in Barcelona (the rest of the trip was sunny.  Temperatures were generally in the 60s all week: trust me, you don’t want to do a lot of sightseeing in Spain in the 90’s of summer.)  We did 3 hours on Saturday and 2 on Sunday: about $30/hour. 

If you are in Barcelona for a short stay it is absolutely imperative that you do this.

I had factored the possibility of a flight delay, and knew a room in the hotel would not be ready when we arrived, so I reserved the pedicab for 11:00AM.  It was there waiting when we arrived.  Amazingly our “driver” (pedaler?) was an unemployed architect steeped in local knowledge and culture: perfect!  His name is  Santiago (Santi) Torrent: santi.torrent@gmail.com

The main sights in order of importance are:

1. Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia (“Sacred Family”) Cathedral.

 
Seeing the INTERIOR of this building was for me a stunning experience.  I was speechless.  And I don’t mean that in some metaphorical sense.  I could not speak because I felt that if I tried to form a word I knew I would burst into tears.  The grandeur, the column and other structural shapes, and unexpected bright whiteness of the building induce awe.  I had seen pictures of the exterior and was fascinated by Gaudi’s unusual structural system, but have to say I didn’t expect to personally love the building.  On the outside it’s dark and gothic and encrusted with religious imagery and gargoyles, with 4 facades in different styles (only 3 are finished).  But the interior overshadows all that. 

1. We went on Saturday morning so there were long lines to buy tickets, but Santi knew that you can buy tickets for a small premium at most banks for specific times.  So we were able to go right in.

2. Gaudi’s La Pedrera (quarry) apartment house. 

Also known as Casa Mila (owner’s name).  I learned that its stone façade was mounted in rough cut form and chiseled in place to an amazing smoothness notwithstanding substantial texture to achieve the sinuous curves unique to each level.  We took a tour which was very valuable to see the roof decks (fabulous cast and tiled chimneys and stairwells), and that the balconies (all different) are made from scrap metal.  Attic level (built as a series of centenary arches housing an interesting Gaudi Museum), a 3000 SF apartment with original kitchen, bath and furnishing from 1910, The first story exhibition space which was a full floor owners apartment (but we had no time to see this), and Interior court yards and details.

3. Palau de la Música Catalana designed by Montaner. 

 We attended a classical jazz concert here as part of the Barcelona Jazz festival. They serve tapas in the lobby before the performances.  (This is Spain; main meal is at 3:30 and dinner doesn’t start till 10:30 or so.) But they do offer tours in the afternoons.  A world heritage site.  You can buy tickets at http://www.palaumusica.org/ or http://www.telentrada.com/Telentrada/en/Compra+on-line

Steve and Jan will be there 16 Apr 2012 Monday 21:00.  Concert is: DA CAMERA
LORENZO GATTO, violí, ROBERTGO GIARDANO, piano
Beethoven: Sonata primavera. Beethoven: Sonata Kreutzer  

4. Gaudi’s Casa Batllo.  Regrettably, we didn’t have time for the interior tour. 

Other sights and locations are shown on my custom Google Barcelona map.

Click on icons on the left to see where each site is on the map.  Then zoom in and switch to satellite view or street view to see more. 

Barcelona is a beautiful city for strolling on boulevards and shopping areas, produce markets or sitting in cafes or tapas bars.  It has more art nouveau buildings than any other city in the world.  You need at least 4 or 5 days to scratch the surface.

Hotel: We stayed at a small classic old but fully renovated hotel centrally located: Hotel Praktik Rambla  Ask for a “double superior” room to get a balcony on the street.  Here’s Robin on the Balcony.

I’m 80% done with getting my new computer fully operational.  I’ll follow up with info about the rest of our trip later in the week.

Barry Milliken

PS: I thought I knew all about the matters below, but there are always new surprises:

(Electrical Appendix:  The only electrical devices worth taking with you are those with internal batteries that need charging (Smart phones, laptops, shavers) with the exception of some older shavers that have a 110 vs. 220 volt switch.  Charging will work on either voltage without having a big transformer, but you will need to have the correct prong adapter.   Rental cars and some older planes in business class need a car charger like the one you put in the cigarette lighter.  The business class in the newer plane we had coming home had 110 AC with standard American 2 flat prongs, but if your charger plug has a right angled configuration like we do for our droid phones, the seat interfered with plugging it in.  Robin’s kindle charger wire comes straight out the back of the plug so it would fit and it being microUSB meant we could charge our phones with it.  The point of using the phone on the plane was for music and book reading on my Kindle app.  Some cruise ships are 110 AC with 2 flat prongs, others plus all hotels are 220 with 2 cylindrical prongs.  So you need an adapter for the later.  I saw no outlets in hotels with  a third (ground) slot like you would need for a laptop so you also need the three to two prong adapter for that.)

(Smartphone Appendix: our droid phones don’t work on the European cellular system but we could connect to free wifi in hotels and on streets near internet cafes.  Our ship offered pay for time satellite wifi, but it only worked via browsers not android apps using protocols other than http such as pop/smtp for email apps or any other app that didn’t use a browser for login and logout.  I explained that there are about half a billion smartphones extant.)