Arrived in soupy Toulon port… Suffering from wind and rain from Africa today… According to the guide, it’s rare
They told us there wasnt much to see at the Navel Port town of Toulon, so we booked an excursion. Tour starts at 7am…. The excursion goes to Aix En Provence (will call it Aix from here onwards).. It’s a Former capital of Provence. A small university town. Famous painter Cezanne was born here, love hiking near the mountains of Aix
It’s an hour away from Toulon…. Wonderful to enjoy some Provence scenery on the way….
The guide said to imagine this view with blue sky since we had rare bad soupy weather todayAix En Provence
First stop Cathedral saint sauveur
A church getting ready for Easter sundayFlower market here is thriving… Guess they are the flowers that inspired Cezanne Mouth watering food at the open marketSaturday fresh produce marketLots of cute little cars in FranceThe whole area is Great for people and dog watching Cezanne overseeing his charming town full of narrow alleys and walkways, pretty things that captured your attention at every turn. Little Cafe stop… Actually tried to find refuge from the rain and wind..also enjoy farmers market scenery outsideLight meal stop at a packed restaurant on the famous Cours Mirabeau street… Enjoy people watching with the pigeonsAix En Provence is a fun relaxing stop and the town has lots of characters, we spent almost 4 hours there on our own checking out stores and shopsWill consider coming back during the lavender season… Cheers and a bientot Aix!!
Marseille, 2nd largest city of France and a very important Hub for commerce… Also a city that is busy prepping for this year’s Olympic where the sailing events will happen here
Bonjour Marseille!!…. They have their own “Hollywood” sign on the hill 😎
La Major Cathedral
Mucem (Museum of Civilizations of Europe and the Mediterranean) … The museum highlights the culture of Mediterranean….great building design and it link up with the neighboring Tour du Fanal castle and makes a perfect old and new pairing
Walk from Mucem to old port
We saw many stick their museum sticker on one of the column so we do the same
Lunch by the vieux (old) port. I ordered the famous Marseille bouillabaisse (fresh fish soup with cod sourced from local fish market) P ordered the grilled Limande (sole 龍利）…he loved his dish so much but mine is a little too fishy
The waiter present 5 fishes for P to choose from… Love the apperitiv olive tapenade (olive spread with toasted bread)
Capucine food market
The French are really into fresh produce
Cour Julian… Street famous for graffiti that were deemed artsy
Graffiti street lined with little shops and Cafe
Random street scene during our after lunch stroll
The team of father sons musician plays fast pace music with Arabic, gypsy like rhythm… They are so into their music and so goodWe made two stops for crepe…P’s crepe Nutella was very good… My crepe with sugar and butter wasn’t done right….. Guess I don’t have luck with French food today😆
Marseille is very Metropolitan and very multi cultural … A port town whose vibe reminds us of Kaoshiung in Taiwan
Cheers and au revoir Marseille!!
Btw… We saw a lot of Carrefour (家樂福）stores in Barcelona and in Marceille….all this time I thought they are a Taiwan chain…. Now I know Carrefour was founded in France and based in France
When we were here 20 something years ago (honestly we can’t remember the year, but it’s before Euro) on our first cruise of the Mediterranean from Gibraltar to Barcelona, Barcelona being the last stop…we were absolutely stunned by her beauty, all those curvaceous lines and colors and uncompromising glamour is unlike any city we had ever experienced… Like seeing a beautiful flamenco dancer in her full regalia…. So we are happy to be back
La Sagrada Familia
Gaudi’s master piece, when we were here last time this side does not exist… Still a WIP…. Guess we need to come back again to see the completed one
Pg. De Gràcia
Casa miro
Famous apartment and street lamp by gaudi… We already toured the inside last time……. Glad we did as this time, the line is super long
Casa Batlló
We did not get to go inside because of the super long lines and complicated ticket system(all Gaudi’s work commands high ticket price and Disney land like line) . So just enjoyed a coffee and snack outside for only about usd $4 and move on…
Placa de catalunya
Great square for shopping, packed with people and double decker hop on and hop off bus… This is a big transit hub for locals as well with underground metro
Arc de Triomf
Barcelona’s version of Arc de Triumph Random street scene on way to lunch
Hotpot lunch
Found this very authentic schezuan hotpot place and fixed our hot pot addiction More random buildings on way to next stop
La Palau de la musica…. My pictures did not do the place justice… You can Google the place if it piques your interest….it’s not Gaudi’s modernist style so the ticket is not as expensive but to our opinion, we love this one better, it has a good balance between modernist and art noveau style
This is the creme de la creme of this visit to Barcelona… So excuse the abundant pics The inverted done stained glass ceiling allows natural sunlight in during day time.. Ran out of adjective to describe its beauty…. The whole inside is like a musical jewel box
Boqueria market
We finally tried the Jamon iberico…. Quite tasty.. This market is huge, the best in Barcelona
La Rambla, the busiest street in Barcelona also the most dangerous where lots of pick pockets traverse
We survived la Rambla unscathed
The effect of over tourism is everywhere in this city… We survived the rush and made it back to the ship…..
Cheers Barcelona…. Next time we will try to spend days not hours with you 😘
So we are savoring this single sea day as the next 8 days is going to be super busy with stops: Barcelona, Marseille, Toulon, Genoa, Florence, Rome, Naples and Sicily.. We remind ourselves to take it easy since half of them we already been and it’s never possible to see everything, so just chill and soaked in the vibe
Today they are having an art exhibition of students work during sea day classes, and P attended 3 classes, thus 3 water color paintings….
Love how P was able to capture the spirits of the animals…. That camel is a pregnant camel that we saw in Morocco
This seaside town is charming and glamorous with a lot of Roman remains and relics
The busy buzzling street lined with buildings with glorious ornate facades
The Roman Theatre of Carthago Nova
From the 1st century BC… Nicely preserved
The Roman forum museum
Lots of Roman relics and footprints in this Spanish town Jamon iberico…cured leg of pork A very important delicacy in Spain Our lunch is Ramen(really missed soup noodles) and our happy hour is fried sardines, squids and mussels… And of course sangria
Once again we were overwhelmed with lots of beauty and details… Its going to get worst as the next stop is Barcelona….. The downside of cruise travel is we only stop for average 8 hours and some cities needs at least a week…. Now we can understand why a lot of the cruisers onboard do the world cruise multiple times… Each time check out different places….
Before we go, cheers again to a town that we almost never visit if not for the weather conditions and cheers to our captain for successfully dodging a storm at sea… And cheers to our friends who understands that we will always find any kind of reason and excuses to raise a glass 😁Cartagena sounded loud cannon salutes right at the time we are ready for sailing off… They said it’s part of a local religious procession but we like to thank them for the wonderful send off!!
The captain announced the change of sea Port from Cardiz to Cartagena due to weather conditions so we are actually trying to outrun a storm….
Crossing the Gibraltar strait today…many cargo ships in sight…. Not sure if this is busier than usual volume due to red dea/ Suez canal crisis.. It’s interesting to sail in the middle of the strait and view the land of morroco on the right and Gibraltar on the left.
Morrocan side of the strait.. Again the words read ” God, country, King”….. A different mountain from 3 days ago, but same words Gibraltar side of the strait… Every one is taking pictures of the famous “rock” which is the blurry block on the left The rock! See you in 3 weeks!! In the midst of the busy traffic at the strait of Gibraltar, there’s also dolphin activities… What a treat
Some specialty meals on the ship is not free and requires an up charge… Today For lunch we tried the seafood bucket lunch for $40 per person and it’s great value… The bucket is packed with lots of goodies such as lobster tails and claws, crabs and shrimps, mussels and clams…and this feast also comes with hush puppies, seafood chowder and desserts
Princess invited a person name Pete Best who is the original drummer of Beatles to give us a talk about how they first started and one of the interesting little thing he mentioned about Beatles is in the beginning they wore leather clothing like rock bands, it’s when they have a new manager later who suggested that they wore suits, an idea they first resist but later became their signature
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…
