Wednesday, November 8, 2017 – Funchal, Madeira – Mostly Cloudy – 68 – 72F

Distance from Gibraltar to Madeira: 615 Nautical Miles

I am so old.

Funchal from Quest

We got room service (pancakes and eggs and oatmeal) because we have an early excursion – “Emblematic Madeira”- that departs the port at 9:45 AM.  Ellen is the escort on this tour and I am a passenger.  When I walked down the gangway to go to the bus, the Captain and Tony were sending all the passengers on their way.  Tony wished me a “Happy Birthday”.  How nice is that and how did know?

The bus is comfortable and Susannah, the guide, is personable and informative.  The tour takes us up the many mountains

so we can see the acclaimed terraced farming of Madeira (a UNESCO World Heritage Site). 

Our first stop is the Pico de Torre viewpoint. 

At the Pico Torre Viewpoint

The viewpoint does afford great views of the Madeira countryside, including the coastline, and a scenic village.

We drove by the town that Winston Churchill visited (and painted).  We stopped by a nice restaurant to try the local drink, Poncha, a concoction of sugar cane run, honey, and lemon juice.  Sweet but good – I had two of them.  The views from the restaurant were fantastic.

Poncha Break

From there, the bus took us up the narrow roads to the highest sea cliff in Europe – Cabo Girao – more than 1900 feet above the ocean surface.  The old wooden railing (very scary) has been replaced by a glass and metal mesh platform (scary in a different way).  Now you can stand on a see through glass floor and look down from a height equal to two Empire State Buildings.  Pretty awesome.

Cabo Girao

Our last stop is the seaside town of Ribeiro Brava, one of the first parishes on the island. 

This is essentially a shopping stop as the main street is a line of small shops selling items made of cork.  To get to the sea, you can go through a crude tunnel carved into the mountain.  The sand is black and volcanic and not all that inviting.  You can get a great view of the coast line from this spot.

The Tunnel

Ribeira Brava Coastline and Beach

We went back to the ship for lunch.  But I got a great surprise – the room had been decorated with “Happy Birthday” banners and goodies.

I also found out that the Captain had announced my birthday during his noon announcement.  Azamara knows how to make its passengers feel special – even the speakers.

After lunch, we took the ship supplied shuttle bus to downtown Funchal.  The bus, which ran every 30 minutes, saved us a 30 minute plus walk.  Our goal was to find a nice Madeiran spa, where we could neutralize some of the rock and roll experience at sea.  We were able to locate a few, with some help from locals, but everyone was booked for the day.  We will know for next time to get out early and book.  Instead of spending the time in a spa, we walked the town.  We went beyond the Park Area into some of the non-tourist areas.  The streets were teeming with residents and the drivers were very polite to pedestrians.  It was still pretty warm but it looked like it might rain and it was getting colder.  We took the bus back to the ship (door to door service).

It was a very nice day in Maderia – tour and walking.

I had a salad and Ravioli in Tomato Sauce for dinner.  I must have been hungry because all of the ravioli was gone.  I also had three full glasses of iced tea. 

We stayed for dessert and what showed up – a “Birthday” Cake.  We split it (it was like a flat Napoleon) and it was good. 

The cap on a nice day.

We spent the rest of the evening reading – passing on the Folkloric Show and “Danzera”.

It was warm enough on the deck to take a nice picture of Funchal at night.

Captain Jose said that the ship would be staying beyond the 9 PM departure to allow some of the weather to pass through.  The ship actually departed at 4 AM – the bow thrusters were not used at full power so people wouldn’t be awakened.  The seas ahead are still rocky.

 

Tuesday, November 7, 2017 – At Sea – Atlantic Ocean – Cloudy – 60s

Pretty much the whole day for hanging out.  It was just warm enough to spend time on the sunny side of the open deck (minor nap and reading).

I had the ahi tuna spinach wrap for lunch – took a little negotiating to get the tuna well done but it was good.  Also had the required pretzel and Ranch Dressing – I should also mention that the Blue Cheese Dressing on board is also very good.

I had my special order veggie Onion Soup again along with the Halibut in the Dining Room with a baked potato (turns out the sour cream on the potato is also a bit odd).  I had the gnocchi as a side dish – very good also. The Halibut was good.

Showtime tonight featured Mel Mellers (comedy magic) – he is a very funny Brit who interacts well with the audience but is also easy to understand. This is the first time we have run into him in all our cruises.

The seas are beginning to get rough and our room is beginning to creak a little but so far the movement is minor.

Monday, November 6, 2017 – Gibraltar, UK – Partly Cloudy – 68F

Distance from Barcelona to Gibraltar: 530 Nautical Miles

It's a beautiful day in Gibraltar.  We arrived pretty early at the port - minutes from Sunrise.

Gibraltar Arrival

From the deck, you can get a perfect view of Gibraltar even though the Rock is not at the iconic angle.  From this vantage point, the Rock looks like someone lying on their side, napping.

Gibraltar from the Quest

We were unable to get a tour today, so we are going to walk into town (found out that it was only a 15 minute walk) and explore the old city.  The last time we were in Gibraltar, we spent the time at the Rock and outskirts of the city.  This would be a real test of my ability to walk long distances.  We would also save the 12 Euros by not taking a taxi into town.

After my standard breakfast of a waffle and cottage cheese, we set off – through the terminal building and along the dock area.  The dock area did have some shops although it was mostly industrial.  Quite a few people from the ship were taking the same route as us.  We even ran into Simon, the guitarist, who gave us some directions how to get to the main part of the old city.  One very interesting site was a traffic circle statue depicting the evacuation of locals during WWII and beyond. Gibraltarians were evacuated to Casablanca to make room for additional British Troops during the war.  The last of the evacuees did not return to the Rock until 1951.

"Evacuation of the Gibraltarians"

We made a couple of turns and crossings along the way until we spotted the entrance and went through the city gate and into the old city.

Once through the gate, we entered a large open square with a good view of the Rock.

Main Square - Old City

The Rock

Me Shooting the Rock

From there, a single main street (uphill) ran for several blocks.  Shops and restaurants on both sides and lots of people. 

Pedestrian Walkway

This was a pedestrians only street (too narrow for cars anyway).  The only issue was how to avoid all of the smokers.  Although Gibraltar is a British Protectorate, it didn’t give me a Brit vibe.  It felt more Spanish – in fact, it reminded me of Rhodes Town.

We found a mini-Jewish area during our wanderings, complete with a Kosher Deli Express.  We did check it out.  There were some customers inside so people do shop there.

We also came across a sign pointing out the location of the Synagogue, so we went looking for the building.

It is the Line Wall Synagogue (it was built on Line Wall Road) but it's history is much deeper.  It was actually the Nefusot Yehuda Synagogue (The Flemish Synagogue).  The building dates back to the 18th Century and the interior was patterned after the Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam - the interior was destroyed by fire in 1913 but it remains an active synagogue today.  We did knock on the door but no one answered.

We watched the sail away from the open deck - not as windy as the last time, when we all had to take cover.  Nice and calm this time around.

Gibraltar Sail Away

We had a nice dinner in the Discoveries Dining Room.  Anna continues to give us a nice table.

Vegetarian Onion Soup was indeed waiting for me at dinner along with Fish and Chips - all good except for the mushy peas.

Amanda Poulson, one of the Cabaret Singers, was the headliner tonight.  She was absolutely terrific – from her pitch perfect vocals to the transition banter to the multi-media backing her up.  She sang songs from Frozen, Wicked, Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Nella Fantasia, Time to Say Goodbye.  All wonderful.  She was the best vocalist we have ever seen on a cruise or anywhere.  Her parents were in the audience (she is from Wisconsin) and the audience loved her.

We ran into Tony after the show and he told me that there was a change in the schedule and that my talk was postponed.  He moved the Cooking Demo to my slot because there was some rough weather predicted a few days ahead and the demo would be difficult to do with chop.  So a day off tomorrow.

Sunday, November 5, 2017 - At Sea – Mediterranean Sea – Mostly Sunny – Cool – 60s

Slept OK – the room is very quiet – not even sure if we have neighbors on our forward side.  We are two cabins from the crew area.

Breakfast was up in the Windows Café – the search for sour cream on cruise ships continues.  What they call sour cream is actually yoghurt and what they call yoghurt is something close to liquid fermented milk.  I don’t think there will be any real sour cream anywhere but in the dining room on the baked potatoes.  Still, the waffle with cottage cheese and some scrambled eggs were good.

My first talk was “Forensics and Television” at 11:00 AM.  It’s a semi-new lecture combining the old CSI Phenomenon lecture with new slides of Forensic Show from the 70s to the present.  The audience, which was basically a full house, loved it.  There are about 10 or 11 people who have sailed with me before and one couple said they scheduled this cruise because of me (a major compliment).  On line, the seating capacity of the Cabaret Lounge is 360 but I used 300 in my estimates (a difference of about 50 attendees).

Forensics on Television

Ellen and I had lunch in Discoveries – the Sunday Brunch.  I had some pasta pesto and assorted pastries. After the brunch, I spoke to our old friend, the Maitre D’, and asked him about getting a veggie version of the onion soup.  He said he would make sure that the soup would be available starting tomorrow.  OK.

The afternoon was spent out on the deck (it was cool but OK).

We had dinner in the Discoveries Dining Room.  Another version of salmon, which was OK.

The entertainment tonight is Joe West, singer, dancer, multi-instrumentalist and ex-husband of Laura Carter.  Joe lives in Spain just across the Gibraltar border so he will be getting off the ship when we dock there.  We saw both of them last time we were on this itinerary.  Joe put on a good show – he did make some changes to his show and improved his banter (even though I couldn’t understand much of what he was saying).

I am reading “The Genesis Secret” by Tom Knox.  The hook was a biblical connection.  The book has started to get confusing and has a lot of disturbing detail about human sacrifices.  I would have given up on this book a while ago but now I need to find out the “secret”.

Seas are smooth.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday – November 3-5, Barcelona, Spain

Crazy, jet lagged fueled sleep.  The room seems to have been quiet.

It's a beautiful day in the capitol of Catalonia.  Maybe 70s with very few clouds.  Perfect walking weather.

The hotel offered breakfast at the nearby Farggi’s Café (just a few steps from the hotel).  The chit we were given included a breakfast sandwich, a muffin, a juice, and coffee.  The place was very popular teeming with young folks.  We, or course, had no idea what any of the sandwiches were (I knew some of the Spanish words but there were other "unknown" things on some of the sandwiches).  We asked the girl behind the counter to point out the veggie items – there were a couple of cheese sandwiches and one cheese and veggie combo.  We both opted for same cheese sandwich – some kind of soft cheese along with a red material that might have been a red pepper spread – plus a chocolate muffin.  Freshly squeezed orange juice (yummy) and coffee / tea.  The sandwich was OK and the muffin a bit too chocolaty but, protein is protein.  At least, there were options and everything tasted OK considering.  Not going to find waffles and cottage cheese in Barcelona.

Our plan today was to walk off our jet lag by heading in the general direction of the beach. There were lots of shops and restaurants along the way.  One very unusual item at one of the restaurants was the empanadas stamped with their contents.  Hope they didn't use magic marker.

Empanada Labelling

This route eventually took us to the Parc de Ciutadella. 

Parc Entrance

Government Building in the Parc

The Parc is home to a zoo, a lake, a children’s area and the Catalonia Parliament (where all the recent political stuff must have been happening). It was built as part of the 1888 Universal Barcelona Exposition. 

We were hungry and had checked out a lot of restaurants along the way but nothing that we would have liked. 

Across the street from the Parc we found a Greek Restaurant, Dionisos, that had some lunch specials.  Ellen had the falafel and I had the veggie plate (dolma, falafel balls, Greek salad, pita, some olives) with a Mythos beer. All in all, lots of food and pretty good.  We also ate on the outside tables right across the street from the Parc.  Lunch with a view.  Nothing like a Greek restaurant in Spain.

Mythos Beer

After lunch, we went to the Parc – we didn’t go too far into the ground (saving my steps) but got a good sense of the size of the grounds.

Another structure built for the Exposition was the Arc de Triomf, which is connected to the Parc by a long promenade (perhaps at one time grass but now dirt).  I couldn't even see the Arc as I gazed down the promenade.

The Promenade

We walked to the Arc, which is an impressive structure.  From the picture above, it looked like the walkway was deserted - as you got closer, though, there were lots of pedestrians and a lot of kids.  Some vendors were selling their wares.

The structure was in great shape so I am thinking that it has been maintained through the years.

We noticed that the Arc is located at the crossroad of several streets once of which is Ronda St. Pere, the street where our hotel is located.

The Intersection of our Street

It looks like we did a full circle route on this walk (that never made it to the beach).  While walking back to the hotel, we came across an upscale Asian spa, which offered all sorts of beauty treatments including massages at 30 Euros.  We took advantage of this even though no one in the place spoke any English.  The massages were great and just what we needed to neutralize the soreness from the plane ride (I could actually feel the sore spots in my back).

The hotel was just a few blocks from there and soon we were back in the room resting up for dinner.  It was a big walk and my back and legs seemed up to the task - at least today.

Tonight, we are having dinner at Bonatappa, (I had both the name wrong, which confused Google, and the location, which confused me).  It turned out that the restaurant is just a few blocks down from the entrance to La Rambla.  Last time we ate here, we over ordered.  Tonight, it was Gazpacho and Margherita Pizza (with mushrooms).  They were both very good as was the Sangria.  We stayed in the restaurant for a while (you can stay as long as you want in a lot of European restaurants until you ask for the bill – no one is in a hurry to move you out).  I should mention that La Rambla and all of the restaurants along the street were teeming with people.  This night, there was minimal police presence although one guy was being patted down by the Policia at the entrance to La Rambla.

Still pooped from the trip so back to the hotel to watch awful Spanish TV and read.  This time we stayed up a little longer.

 

Embarkation Day

Another strange night of tossing sleep.  

We were a little more knowledgable about the food at Farggi’s Café this time.  We both had the Veggie plus cheese sandwich (cheese – maybe provolone) plus lettuce, tomato, and lettuce.  The bread was really good.  This time out, I had a blueberry muffin and a Café Americano instead of a latte – much better.  The juice again was the best part.

The hotel called a cab for us to get to the port – last time the ride was negotiated at 5 Euros – this time is was metered and it came to 16 Euros.  It took our driver a while to find the Azamara Quest (he even said he checked and it wasn't here - Oy) – I spotted it from the bridge leading to the port.  There were seven ships here today but five of them were big ones (docked at the large terminal) and only two were small - berthed where you can walk off into the city.

We checked in pretty quickly and had lunch up in the Windows Café – salad, veggie burger (not so hot), very spicy Pad Thai.  As I recall, this is our usual welcome aboard lunch. 

I dropped off my computer in the room – Cabin 4005 – this is a good location - near the forward end of the deck (away from the main lobby).

We spent some time up on Deck 5 – it was a warm day in Barcelona with light winds.  Beautiful.

Mont Juif

After the drill, I met with Activities Manager, Matt Belsey, and ran through a tech check with George (the AV Manager), we had dinner in Discoveries Dining Room.  Anna, the hostess from Poland, was there and a lot of ship staff recognized us – it was nice to be back.  I had a Cesar Salad and the salmon on croute special.

Jose Vilarinho (from Portugal) is the Captain and Tony Markey is the Cruise Director (Russ must be on vacation).  Christine Milburn, Tony's wife, is on board for this journey.

There was no Welcome Aboard Show – instead, the ship put on its full Production Show – “Who Wrote the Songs”.  Except for returning Daniel, the singers and dancers were new to us (Kevin, Amanda, Abbey, and the Eastern European Dance Duo, Alex and Alina).  The show was still entertaining even though we have see it many times.  Amanda does have a great voice.

Still tired, we are back in the room ready for our Westward Trek across the Pond.  Because of the recent Hurricanes in the Caribbean, we cannot stop there as we near Miami.  Instead, we are spending several days docked at Hamilton, Bermuda.  We'll have to see how that works out.

Itinerary

The room is quiet - that's the good thing about staying with some of the other guest entertainers - they tend to be quiet with rare exception.

Azamara Quest - Transatlantic - Barcelona to Miami, FL - November 1-20, 2017

Wednesday, November 1, 2017 – Travel Day

This year we are again doing the westbound Transatlantic voyage from Barcelona, Spain to Miami, Florida.  This time it will be on the Azamara Quest.

We are taking a different route to Barcelona today.  I found a flight combination that takes us to Miami and then onto Barcelona:

AA334 ORD to MIA – 737-800 – 14C and 14D (Exit Rows) 11:55 AM – 4:00PM

AA112 MIA to BCN – 777-200 – 38J and 38L Last seats on the outside (two across) – 6:05 PM – 7:55 AM

The connection is good (less than two hours) and the whole itinerary for both of us was 60,000 AAdvantage Miles (a bargain).

Our cab was scheduled for 9:30 AM and the American Taxi “Special” Van (a no-charge bonus) arrived right on time.  No traffic and we were at the airport before 10:00 AM.  We checked in at one of the self-serve kiosks and took our bags to the counter.  I wasn’t sure about the tags (did we put all the bar codes in the right place) but the agent said the bags were good and checked all the way through to Barcelona.

AA334 Loading to Go

We walked over to H17 for our first flight.  I had purchased exit rows because I wasn’t sure how my newly injured back would do in an airline seat.  The flight took off on time – overall, the flight was OK with just a bit of medium intensity chop.  We landed on time at Miami and our next gate, D17, was fairly close. We had priority boarding – American does it differently these day – Groups 1-4 are priority (no more platinum, gold, etc) and Groups 5-9 are regular boarding – in fact Group 9 is Coach “Minus” with no amenities at all – crummy seats and maybe no free cokes. 

We boarded on time – the 777-200 looked brand new – seats and interior.  I had chosen two seats (the last two in the rear) that were in the two section (the 777 is generally 3X4X3).  The seats had enough width but the legroom was for hobbits.  The entertainment system was excellent and we were just around the corner (but not next to) the washrooms.  We would find out later that people did not gather at the washrooms on this flight so we were not disturbed all night long.

The plane took off on time and flew near the east coast for a while – once over the Atlantic, the plane passed close to Bermuda, then over a long stretch of ocean, followed by a flyover of the Azores, over Northern Spain and into Barcelona.  Our special meals were good but they still contained the horrid stuff they called "cabbage salad".  No one can eat that stuff.  The meal was chicken and potatoes in some kind of decent sauce...it was good.  

We had stretches of chop – in the back of the plane, the chop feels different – more sway and yaw and less shudder.  It was a longer than usual flight because we were not flying along the geodesic so it took just about eight hours to get there.  What made it seem longer was the tightness of the seats.  I watched “Wonder Woman” again and also saw “Baby Driver”.  I tried and gave up on some of the other new releases.  I guess I must have been hypnotized by the route map because I recall the half way point, then the two hours out point, then initial approach.

My initial concern that my back would not be able to take being cramped in my tiny seat for hours proved not to be an issue.  I also did get up frequently to avoid an issues.

I did manage to get a nice picture of the early sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean

A smooth and scenic approach to Barcelona despite hazy conditions.

Final Approach over the Port Area

We made it across the pond again.  Didn't get much sleep (at least that I can remember).

Thursday, November 2, 2017 – Barcelona, Spain

Because of our early arrival time, there were very few people in line for Passport Control.  This time, the agent spent a little time examining our passport before stamping them (the last time we were here, the agent was on his phone and never even looked at us).

Our baggage carousel was number 16 and the bags were coming out slowly.  Most people got their bags but we were still waiting for ours.  We did notice that the other passengers who got on in Chicago were still waiting for bags.  Our bags finally came out – pretty close to being the last ones – and I noticed that, unlike the other bags, there was no barcode on the bag itself.  No matter, the bags were here.  We will know for next time.

The Aerobus boarding area is one level down from baggage claim – these busses come every five minutes and make the 35 minute trip to Placa de Catalunya (with several tops along the way).  The one-way price is 5.90 Euros per person.

We got off at the Placa and walked the half block to our hotel - Hotel Izaila Placa Catalunya (Ronda St. Pere).  The hotel is on the third floor of a business building – there are eight rooms on that level – a clerk is at the desk during regular hours and there are codes to get in at other times.  The elevator is pure vintage – wrought iron with double doors. The room is typical Euro Cool – small sink and toilet and an unusually large (but slippery) shower (good pressure and hot).

Vintage Lift

A very nice young woman - who spoke perfect English - checked us in right away and she knew who we were (I had emailed our arrival time).  We paid our bill in dollars (next time, we will go with Euros because we lost a bit on the exchange).

 

Room 8 

We took a two hour nap (which did and didn’t help).  After that, we wandered down La Rambla almost to the end. 

La Rambla

We were looking for a restaurant we had gone to a couple of years ago (Bon Tapa -maybe) but couldn’t find it.  We were also looking for any sign of civil unrest related to the secession issue swirling around Barcelona and Madrid.  No sign of either but that night, there was a noticeable police presence.  It was warm – around 70F – and a great day to see the sights and sounds of the pedestrian walkway.  I was monitoring my steps to make sure my aching leg was up to the task.  After about two hours, we made our way back to the hotel for some more rest until dinner. 

We decided that since the weather was go good, we needed to eat outside at one of the La Rambla tapas eateries. We did a lot of comparison shopping and finally settled on a place that said their “portions were larger”.  That not only didn’t turn out to be the case but I was pretty unimpressed with the food – we had two tapas, potatoes and the omelet, along with a Margherita Pizza (10.95 Euros).  No sangria with this meal.  The tapas were disappointing and the pizza was passable.  We finished the dinner off with a McDonalds cone (1.25 Euros).

We spent a few minute at the Placa de Catalunya - lots of people out.  The latest thing seemed to be glowing parachutes that were shot into the air and slowly floated down.  Very interesting against the sky.  Lots of vendors selling these.  You can see the streaks of these projectiles in the first photo below.

 

We managed to stay up until about 9:45 PM before running out of gas.