Portimao and Lisbon

Portimao is a small town with beach resort attached. Neither are particularly attractive but in both cases there was a good sea-side walk for TSH and Diva. Storks were nesting on the top of the tall chimneys of the sardine factories.

It was Captain’s Farewell night, so it was formal dress and there was an invitation to dine with the Silver Wind HR manager. She is a charming young woman from South Wales but unfortunately she had merged her table with that of the Cruise Consultant, Martin. Diva has not taken to Martin because he was very unsympathetic about the cancelled cruises due to charters. His line was that it did not happen, there was only one website and if it did happen most guests don’t mind and the cruise consultant loses commission. ‘Poor Martin’. So Diva had to sit next to Martin at dinner and she is not good at hiding dislike. It was not a great dinner. He is condescending and arrogant as well as not very bright.

The day in Lisbon was excellent. TSH and Diva were on deck early for the sail-in past the Belem tower and the Jeronimos monastery.  took the metro out to Parque das Nocoes, the site of Expo 1998. This is a very modern part of town with interesting architecture and artworks views and excellent river views. Small frogs in the water garden were making a tremendous racket.

The return journey was made by train, which was much more direct but much more complicated to navigate. Diva can organise Metros in most languages but the over-ground system defeated her. Fortunately, TSH has an instinct for rail travel and he was also able to take some pictures of the trains.

Lunch was the traditional and excellent burger on deck.

Regent Voyager disembarked today – Silver Wind disembarks tomorrow, as this tiny terminal can only cope with one tiny cruise ship at one time.

Malaga and Cadiz

Both cities were explored on foot without benefit of a guide. Malaga has a lot of interesting-looking museums which would be useful on a re-visit. TSH forget to put an SD card in his camera so the earliest Malaga photos had to be retaken using his emergency spare. Cadiz has a very enjoyable sea front walk. The market in Cadiz was extremely impressive. Four long aisles of fish and shellfish which would put anywhere in current Britain to shame. It is difficult to believe that one city eats so much fish. The market also had several kinds of snail and one place selling live insects.  In both cases, the weather was pleasant without being too hot but in Cadiz TSH and Diva were very lucky to return to the ship just before the torrential downpour.

In Malaga, Silversea held an evening reception for the 50 or so guests who are staying on until London (rather than disembarking at Lisbon). Diva met another writer – a self-published writer of children’s books from Chester.

Diva’s smartphone has set her a target (without any consultation with her at all) of how many steps she should walk in a day. Every day on this holiday has reached the target and in Cadiz twice the target was achieved.

In Cadiz, there were also present the Regent Voyager and the Costa Magico

Referendum notes: The most recent lecture was: ‘Portugal from empire to EU’. At the reception, a guest was heard stating that the UK is the only place in Europe which follows the rules properly.

Photoblog

Modern architecture in Valencia

Diva’s Sea Dragon

Thanks from Silversea

Cartagena

Although many people think that TSH and Diva’s 250ish days with Silversea is an impressive total, most of their recent voyages have included people who have done well over 1000 days. But they discovered at Venetian (loyalty club) night they were in the top half dozen cruisers on this voyage. Dinner was at the Hotel Director’s table. Unfortunately, he had been ill during the day and was far too free (in Diva’s estimation) with graphic description. People said after he left that they were afraid of catching something and wished he had not attended.

Towards the end of the dinner, Diva had a wine refill and knew it tasted horrible – it had been very pleasant thus far. The maitre was called and the whole table’s glasses were take away and new ones supplied with fresh wine. Afterwards she received a grovelling apology from a pale sommelier.

This was the 10^th anniversary of TSH and Diva’s first cruise. When they returned to their suite, there were balloons and candles, a card from the captain and a chocolate cake on a plate with a greeting. It would have been very rude not to eat it.

In Cartagena, there was a tour whose highlight was the Roman theatre and its very well displayed museum.

Misc: It is very good to see Dyson hand dryers in use across France and Spain. TSH saw a goods train but not near enough for a photo. Just a diesel. And he is not happy because all the fuss about the 2017 cruise caused him to label all this year’s pics so far as 2017. He hates re-work.

The holiday is proving as restful as hoped.

Valencia vindicated

The previous time TSH and Diva were in Valencia was not a happy time. Silversea had lost their luggage in transit and this situation lasted for about 4 days. So they had spent a lot of time hunting for mascara and contact lens care and had missed out on part of the planned sightseeing. This time more than made up for it. They took a taxi to the modern City of Arts and Sciences. This is a park area with water and trees and very futuristic buildings. They already had tickets for the aquarium, which claims to be Europe’s largest.  The aquarium itself is new and extremely well laid out, partly indoors and partly outdoors. There are southern sealions, walruses, beluga whales (like the ones seen in the wild in Greenland) and a very ugly octopus (which became very graceful and aerodynamic when it started to swim). Diva was much taken with the Sea Dragons, which were very graceful and looked as if they were made from twigs and seaweed.  TSH saw a wild lizard in the bushes.

Back at the port, a ferry for Algeria was moored next to the Silver Wind. Most of the cars waiting to board had many parcels strapped on top. One had a ladder and there were lots of bicycles. The guess was that Algerians working in Spain were taking goods not readily available in North Africa back to their families.

The day surpassed expectation.

Barcelona

The overnight sail was calm in spite of the captain threatening an uncomfortable night with Force 6 winds. Diva was glad about the calm but had been ready for much worse with her brand new life jacket. She rejected the original one at the drill because the light wasn’t fixed on properly and there was no cord for switching it on.  Regular readers will know she takes the drill very seriously and always checks the equipment.

Dinner last night was with two sisters from North Yorkshire and a woman from London. The group was hosted by Erich, the Shore Concierge from Austria (living in Sweden).

Morning in Barcelona started with a walk along the water-front, viewing the marina as well as the imposing neo-classical 19^th century buildings.  Very narrow streets led to the old cathedral (not the Gaudi one), which is well guarded by a flock of geese in the cloisters. Then through the old Jewish quarter and the antique shops to La Rambla, the main walk back to the port. A call into the traditional market showed that the best Iberian ham sells for up to 190 euros per kilo.  This was all a new perspective on the city for TSH and Diva, who have visited here a few times before. Well-earned pizzas for lunch.

Good discovery: There is a generous allowance of free wifi on this cruise.

Marseille

This city surpassed expectation in that it has many beautiful buildings and interesting museums. TSH and Diva would definitely like to visit again. The morning was spent on a city tour, driving around the narrow streets and avenues and photographing the Palais Longchamp. At the end of the tour, they skipped the shopping trip and walked through the old port back to the ship, giving TSH many photo ops. They were back on the ship ahead of the main lunch queues.  In the afternoon, they went to a Picasso exhibition and a museum about Mediterranean civilisations. Diva really really wanted one of the Picasso silver plates.

Diva was called sporty for the first (and probably last) time in her life. Well, perhaps not her directly but she was included in the description. The guide suggested that some guests might not want to climb the 200 steps to the Notre Dame cathedral but that ‘the sporty ones’ could go up. Diva went all the way with no ill effects on lungs or legs. And was back early.

First afternoon tea in over 40 days on board. Sandwiches, scones, cheesecake and a blackberry tart. All at the peak of freshness. This somewhat made TSH feel better about what happened the previous evening. The waiter muddled up the starters and Diva ate most of TSH’s before they realised. And his was WAY WAY better.

Referendum notes: Heard from a New Zealander – ‘You did not want us 40 years ago when you chose Europe. So if you leave Europe, we do not want you back’.

Monte Carlo to St Tropez

Monte Carlo was covered in barriers and sound systems for the forthcoming F1, so perhaps not the best time to visit, as it was difficult to pick a way through them.

MC Novotel very comfortable and the Salade Nicoise is to be recommended.

Silver Wind is as splendid as ever and several crew remembered TSH and Diva. Especially the wine waiters and sommelier. TSH had his first Silversea Danish of the year, which did not disappoint. This was followed in the afternoon by his first beer.

St Tropez was less glamorous and more quaint than either expected but walking round its narrow streets and along the harbour was very pleasant. Many SUPERyachts.

TSH saw a quite large octopus moving along the harbour floor which he thought was a good sighting – Diva was less impressed as it had disappeared before she got a chance to see it.

Referendum notes: The Nice taxi driver thought we should stay in with our semi-detached advantages (Euro, Schengen etc). But he also wanted Nice to get independence from France. Two people from USA thought we were in the Euro, which made travel very convenient. 

Silversea

3 reasons to be furious with them:

      1    They cancelled the 2017 cruise from HK to Vancouver because the ship has been exclusively chartered for part of it. This also happened with the 2016 cruise.
2.       Silversea have two websites. One to sell ‘normal’ cruises to ‘normal’ people.  The other to sell charters. They are selling the same ships and the second always takes priority over the first. They are not the only cruise company doing this.
3.       The compensation offer was insulting. 40% off a rebook for 2016 but only 20% off for a 2017 rebook, the year of the actual cancelled booking.   

      TSH went into negotiating mode and they eventually offered 40% off a 2017 cruise. So TSH and Diva decided to use the biggest discount they are ever likely to get on the longest cruise they are ever likely to take. So its 63 days right round South America starting in January 2017. Panama Canal. Falklands. Rio for Carnivale. At less than 40%, with all the other discounts as well.

Still furious.

Easyjet

Easyjet is an efficient, safe method of making short journeys around Western Europe.

They have a special course in their school for pilots, where they do a lot of training on sharp turns and steep banking (the part of flying that Diva hates most). They all become very good at this and are awarded special Certificates of Expertise. So when they start flying real planes with real people they are anxious not to waste all the extra work.

This is what Diva thinks, anyway. TSH thought the banking was for his benefit as it gave him good views of the French coast. Earlier he had been able to have good views of the snow on the alps.

On alert

Diva and TSH arrived at John Lennon airport with plenty of time to spare. Time for a breakfast to supplement the fruit they had at home. TSH had a bowl of porridge (saving himself for the cruise).  The airport is small, so hardly any queueing for check-in or security. Almost time to go to the gate. And then. ‘Will all passengers go immediately to Gate 1. This is a security incident’.  So people (except the ones who sat around drinking coffee ignoring it all) gathered in a small area inside the terminal with no officialdom in sight. If there was a ‘device’ around this did not seem good.  The next move was about ten minutes crammed into a small corridor. No place of work would carry out an evacuation like this. There were no announcements and many people were uneasy about being cooped up in a small space with an unknown threat present. And then to the departures hall and through security again. The automatic gates which scan the boarding cards would not let people back in so everybody had to be rechecked manually by – at first – one person. No proper queue, just a scrum. And then they started calling particular flights and those people had to push through.

TSH spoke to a policeman and was told that the airport had discovered that a scanner (or scanners?) was not working so everybody had to go back through security.

JL airport did the right thing in a very clumsy way.  And they are supposed to verify scanners regularly.

Eventual take-off was about an hour late.