They told us that the sail in to Lisbon is going to be spectacular and it is so true Their 25th of April Bridge, christ the king statue, palace Square, and monument of discoveries…All Icons of Lisbon on display right when we sailed by
Before we enter the Mediterranean, we need to visit the sea Port of Portugal, Lisbon.. Again, we had been here more than two decades before so instead of focusing on the city of Lisbon we are going out of the city to the popular hilly town of Sinatra and beach town of Cascais both establish since the 19th century
Sinatra is a very scenic spot, since it’s Sunday… It’s packed with cars and tourists…. Kind of scarry to see our big tour bus winding down and up the narrow streets
Between two pastry stops.. I got myself a new hat!!… That famous Portugal pastry pastel de nata (葡氏蛋塔) is to die for!!
Caicais is another touristy spot by the sea, 45 minutes away from downtown Lisbon …
Back to downtown Lisbon, vibrant town packed with shop, cafes, restaurants and bakeries
Palace Square where we sailed by earlier Trams are very special in Lisbon and they are everywhere Tut tuts are very popular here… None exists when we were last here more than two decades agoGrilled Sardines and octopus, cod fish (Bacalhau) and Ginja wine… All local delicacies
We combed the narrow cobbled stone streets of Lisbon for hours, finally gave up….. There’s never enough time or energy…. Persistence is key… Looking forward to tomorrow’s sea day to rest
P will follow up some other day with his random photos of our stop in Lisbon that do more justice to the place… There are so many textures and flavors and colors that’s hard to capture all…. Hopefully by now we all kind of have an understanding that this blog is just a rudimentary summary of travel events that happened😉
After 3 consecutive port days, this sea day is much welcomed and needed to regain our bearings…back to zumba, painting, destination port talk… etc…
After giving us 64 days of good energy and beauty, our orchid finally took a bow… We are so grateful already….
Last night’s Theatre performance was an interesting one where the performer played with innovative instrument (xylophone like synthesizer), laserbeams with sounds and led light dance
Oh, forgot to show a selfie with the new captain Paul Slight from Wales…. There’s a change of captain of the ship at Mauritius
A port city of Morocco… We were in Tangier almost 30 years ago so we kind of knew what to expect…..but we had never done a camel ride before… So it’s two hours of camel caravan slow ride from land to river, passed by military base, royal palace, sheeps chewing vegetations, Bee hive farms, river beds, other caravans….. Camels are such wonderful docile animal….. Mine is called bogoreu, P’s is called Atlas and our wonderful guide’s name is Mohamad. P doesn’t like to make animals work but R just wants to experience it, at least once…. So here it is….
Two hour camel ride from land to riverMounting a camalP kept patting my camel…
The sceneries on the way to the river is serene… Camels linked in a caravan moved slowly and sturdily… Rocking up and down I imagined Lawrence of Arabia crossing the dessert…
Next stop is Souk El Had one of the biggest market place in Morocco
The vendor sat in a hole in the middle of the dry goods Newer and older Moroccan architecture
Beautiful beach scenery
Writing on the mountain reads “God. Country, KingFound a great seaside restaurant with super vibe… This dish is a traditional morrocan dish called tagine, it can have chicken beef or seafood cooked with potatoes and carrotsThanks for the unique experience Agadir! Cheers!! Saying goodbye to the African continent… Mediterranean here we come!!
Lanzarote is the eastern most island of the Canary Islands with unique volcanic landscapes that looks like Mars .. Ship is docking at the capital Arrecife…. we choose to be on our own yesterday with Tenerife because Tenerife is very walkable, not the same scenario for today, originally we were going to join the full day ship excursion but it was canceled due to delayed arrival into port… So we hired a taxi for 5 hours and covered 5 spots that we want to visit
Arrived 3 hours late at 10 am because of a propulsion problem of the ship last nightNotice almost all the buildings are white? We have arrived at the land of Cesare Manrique, the great architect that shapes this islands unique character… who’s many works we are going to see today
Cesar Manrique foundation…. Really eye opening…. He combines nature with architecture and art…. This foundation was his old home build amongst volcanic chambers… Colorful mid century style modern furnitures combine with nature’s volcanic rocks, trees and water…… They said it looks like a James bond super villains cavehome
Jardin de cactus(Cactus Garden) Cesar Manriques final master piece, crafted on a quarry of volcanic ash extraction… A surreal garden amongst Mars like landscape with 10000 types of cactus
Mirador Del Rio, Cesar Manrique choose this spot perched on a volcanic cliff to build a restaurant with glass windows set in volcanic rocks overlooking spectacular view…. It was raining while we were there, second rain we experienced in 63 days of travel
Los Jameos del aqua, a water park also designed by Manrique with swimming pool and lagoon build underground amongst lava tunnels
Cueva de los Verdes, 4 mile long Volcanic tunnel right by the sea… The guided tour takes us through around 1/2 mile
There’s a 600 seat auditorium inside one of the big open space of the tunnel
Lanzarote is such a surprise for us, never heard of this island, never heard of this artist Cesare Manrique until now… And now we are fans of both…the taxi ride costs, 40 euro per hour, the driver John is wonderful, speaks little English, so P gets to practice Spanish with him…
From Wiki: Tenerife is the largest of the Canary Islands . British, Nordic and German tourists come in there tens of thousands every year to visit its spectacular beaches and lively nightlife. It is also very popular among holidaymakers from the Spanish peninsula, especially during Easter time.
When we arrived at dawn, another cruise ship much bigger than ours with a capacity of 5000 passengers mainly from Germany have already arrived
Vibrant port scene with a blue line that leads us straight to downtown
First stop is Tenerife’s opera house, looks a little like Sydney’s, a beautiful architecture in its own right… Gorgeous from every angle
Enjoying espresso at the opera Cafe and soak in the vibe
Next we checked out the carnival museum: (carnival is Huge here!! Second only to Rio’s ) la casa del carnaval… There are so many contents, we can only show a few of them… We had experienced Rio’s Carnival parade 5 years ago from sambadrome, super fun… But this is the first time we get to study the costumes up close… Amazing
They even had the special exhibition where Every year the fashion designer Frank Romero does a Barbie replica from the Tenerife Carnival Queen. It’s an amazing work.
Mercado Ntra. Senora de Africa… A historical market place with fresh flowers, produce, spices meat and seafood… The seafood selections were eye opening…. Never seen Alaska king crab legs that big 😮
Found a great tapas restaurant based on excellent Google review….
Wonderful restaurant with great amicable service……
We were told that Sangria is a must here… So we ordered it with lunch and it became the highlight of today: ….. It’s delicious, huge, with fresh orange, papaya and banana and it’s only 5 euro (about 5.50 Usd… Impossible to get this quality at the price in Los Angeles)
Papayas and bananas in a Sangria? How fancy!!
And then it’s shopping time…. Although they are using euro, but price all around is very reasonable… Last time we were in Europe (long time ago 😅) , 1 euro is almost 2 usd, now it’s 1.08, almost the same now…
Haven’t seen a Benetton store for agesA city with a good balance of culture and commerce
The ship also invited a group of locals to come onboard and do folkloric dance and features the traditional clothing and culture of Tenerife… What a treat!!
Santa Cruz de Tenerife is a great stop!! It feels like Europe with a bit of island vibe… Very walkable city with plenty to do and see..we did not get to visit the nature side of Tenerife due to limited time… Hopefully we will be back next time to check out the mountains and beaches…
After today, we are going to have 3 consecutive ports… Two in the Canary islands and one in Morocco….
P starts attending arts and crafts classes on the ship and found his tribe…. Class is unhosted, they provide water color materials… Painting comes very naturally to P and here are what he had painted so far
Today’s also the 3rd captain’s circle party of this world cruise (for every section of the cruise, there’s a party, this is the third section, there are total of 5) we get to have a selfie with Andi, our most favorite cruise director of all time… So happy
Tonight’s production show called Encore where they performed Broadway / IL Divo songs was spectacular!!
As mentioned before, on this day 60 of 111 day world cruise, while we are chugging along, we are shocked to find out a lot of our friends onboard already sign up for the next world cruise…. Part of the reason is Princess offered lots of incentives as compensation for the route change at the red sea on this cruise…. We are not biting as we don’t know if the situation at the red sea is going to improve…
Meanwhile a friend who disembarked in South Africa, returned home to Florida, after getting some rest and precious time with her dog, decided to join the cruise again in Rome… Apparently this is a hop on and hop off cruise ship…. Exciting to see her again!!
Remember the lake like sea we experienced about 1 week ago when we were near the Equater… Back then it’s hot and humid and windless…. Now we are sailing closer and closer towards the Mediterranean it get colder with strong wind and strong waves….
Mauritius was an unexpected stop on this journey. Before arriving here, we’ve never heard of this country. When leaving them, we were deeply moved by the beauty of their beaches. The sun seems to have two dials on that day. On the beach, it’s soft and bright. In the city, it was relentless and piercing.
And we were double-surprised to find Taiwan’s flags were flying proudly there, and Mauritius is almost the antipodes of where we live. The world is really connected in magical ways.
Perth is a big metro. It’s becoming a little bit like Downtown LA, where social and unsocial lifestyles coexist. We didn’t spend much time there as their shops are like in any other big name shopping malls around the world.
Fremantle is an artist colony right at the Cruise port. The petite city packs a huge amount of charm. The lifestyle here also embraces a good amount of “Op stores”, the previous-loved stores. We had a marvelous time strolling around streets and alleys. We love it here!
We spent most of the time in downtown Melbourne. Therefore, we have strong affinity to the city, scenery, foods, museums, the local people, and their bustling lives.
Their Chinatown gives a nostalgia vibe with vintage posters and brand logos. We think it’s cool to feel transported back to various decades in an instance.
