Barcelona and Home

I mentioned last time that my camera failed at the end of the Majorca stop.  I did manage to get it working again after I got home using tweezers and patience.  Nevertheless, I do not consider it reliable at this point.  I'm sure I'll get another before our next big trip.

I borrowed the images Michael took both with his Cannon camera and with his i-Phone to illustrate this blog entry.  Michael should have been in bed, nursing his cold the day we spent in Barcelona.  He really wanted to share the experience of seeing the Gaudi buildings with me and pushed himself to walk more than three miles. I suspect that this may have contributed to the bacterial infection he developed when we got home. Of course one never knows what germs one can pick up on an airplane.

I start with a few images from Majorca.  I wanted to share the picture of Michael, me and Bruce on the back of the Soller train.  We look as if we were having a great time, which we were.  There is also a shot from the Silver Wind showing a freighter carrying a couple of yachts.  A Danish man we were watching this spectacle with told us that this is how the rich move their boats from one far away location to another.  It is less expensive than hiring a crew to sail the boat and a lot safer.  Many of the yachts in the Palma de Mallorca harbor seemed to have been shrink wrapped for the winter.  The boat on the left appears to have been shrink wrapped also.  This is something I had never seen before.  Our Danish acquaintance said that the wrapping protects the vessel from the weather so the cost of painting and scraping in the spring is minimal.  What will they think of next?

The Silver Wind was scheduled to be at the port of Barcelona for two days.  We had the first day to sightsee and pack.  We scheduled a departure from the ship at 5:00 a.m. the next day to drive to the Barcelona airport and a 7:30 flight to Frankfort.  If all went well we would be home in Boulder by mid afternoon. Meanwhile we had about half a day to walk in Barcelona.

Antoni Gaudi was a Spanish Catalan architect of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and a pioneer of Catalan Modernism.  That means his buildings are weird.  His work is the basis for the English word gaudy.   Nonetheless, he was a genius in the use of ceramics, tile, concrete, wrought iron and stained glass to create some amazing buildings.

The silver Wind docked fairly close to the port entrance.  We had easy access to "The Ramblas", a long pedestrian street that runs north inland from the water and a statue of Columbus pointing inexplicably toward Africa.   We took a slow walk up the Ramblas, through a square with many fountains and statues and continued north on the Paseo de Gracia to the first Gaudi house, the Batllo house. The building has no corners.  A few blocks further north we came upon the Gaudi apartment building, the Pedrera House, It looks like a melting layer cake. Turning east, we walked most of another mile to the Sacgrada Familia church that is still unfinished after a hundred years.  There are construction cranes and activity now going on in an attempt to finish Gaudi's most famous structure more or less according to his plans. Michael took pictures both with his camera and i-Phone so I do have a record of this even though my camera wasn't working. Michael was exhausted after our three-mile ramble so we took a taxi from the church back to the port .

Michael rested while I packed.  We had an early final dinner aboard the  Silver Wind, said our goodbyes to everyone and retired early with the alarm set for 3:30 a.m.

We had a room service breakfast shortly after 4:00 a.m. and were on the pier by 4:45 for our very early departure to the airport.  I was surprised that the shore concierge was there to bid us goodbye in person.  As he helped load our bags into the taxi, I asked if we were the first to leave this morning.  He told us that another couple had left at 4:00 a.m. so we had the second earliest flight home. We were going from Barcelona to Frankfurt and from Frankfurt directly to Denver.

Barcelona was deserted and the highway to the Barcelona airport had only a few early morning commuters.  All went smoothly at the airport and we were airborne looking down on the Silver Wind shortly after 7:30 a.m.  Our flight to Frankfort went over the Alps.  The sky was crisp and clear until we reached Germany.  We had some wonderful views of the snow covered mountains and valleys.  Our flight from Frankfort to Denver was merely long and boring.  The two in-flight movies were terrible.  The view outside was mostly cloudy although I did get a glimpse of an ice-covered Hudson's Bay.

Michael and I have been home for a month now.  We had a most wonderful trip. I have greatly enjoyed writing about it.  I'm sorry it took so long for me to finish. 

Michael fully recovered from his illnesses.  We spent this past week at the Conference on World Affairs held at the University of Colorado at Boulder every year.  Attending lectures and panel discussions from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. most days makes me appreciate the retired life.  Still, I'm looking forward to next year's conference.

We have already made a deposit on another cruise for next January: 50 days from Los Angeles to Hong Kong the long way.  The itinerary includes various South Sea Islands, New Zealand, Australia, Bali, Borneo and Manila in the Philippines. Michael and I found that 39 days was not too long.  It helps that Michael passed the 500 days on Silver Sea mark and has qualified for 14 free days that we will apply to the cruise.  Thanks for following our adventures.

Majorca - or Mallorca in Catalan

My view of Palma de Mallorca as the sun rose showed a substantial modern city with a huge historic cathedral dominating the skyline. It was going to be a busy day with little time to see the city.

Michael and I had been looking forward to the Sliver Wind's stop at Palma de Mallorca.  During an earlier visit, Michael had ridden a vintage electric railway from Palma to Soller, a scenic mountain town three quarters of the way across the island.  That visit, Michael rode the train in rain and drizzle. He wanted to take it again especially as the weather was spectacular on our arrival.  I'm always up for a scenic railway ride and a friend, Bruce, who really likes trains, accompanied us on our personal adventure.

As soon as the ship cleared customs, the three of us were on our way down the pier and into town.  A short taxi ride later, we were at the Ferrocarril de Soller, the Soller Rail Station, shortly before 9:00 a.m.  The schedule Michael had printed from the Internet was predictably out of date.  Tickets for the next train were not even on sale for the next forty-five minutes.  We spent some time looking at the station and the train carriages waiting on a second track.  Then we explored the underground transportation hub (bus and commuter train stations) just across the street.  There Michael found free Wi-Fi and we checked our e-mail.  We even had time for a short stroll around a few blocks of the surrounding city.  We returned to the rail station about nine twenty and found a line already forming for the not yet open ticket window.  It was a boisterous Spanish and Italian speaking crowd.  We had to stand our ground firmly so as not to be pushed to the rear of the line.

Eventually the ticket window opened and we paid our seventeen Euros each for round trip tickets.  We were able to board the train about thirty minutes before its departure.  Shortly after we were all seated in the last car, we saw the tour group from our ship arrive en-mass and board the train several cars ahead of us.  That was the last we saw of them: they had a bus pick them up at the Soller end of the ride while we were still exploring the rail yard there. 

The Soller Railway has been operating without interruption, every day since 1912. The wooden cars dating from the early nineteen hundreds have been meticulously maintained.  The seating was basic but comfortable.  The windows opened.  I think the three of us were the only English speakers in the car yet everyone was pleasant and in a good mood.  As soon as the train passed through the city of Palma, Michael and Bruce went out onto the rear platform of the rail car to enjoy the views from the rear of the train as it passed through farmland, orange groves, almond groves and pretty little towns.

 As the train climbed into the mountains we passed through a series of bridges and tunnels. The guidebook said there were 13 tunnels. We switched back and forth in the tunnels climbing to 1000 feet. We saw spectacular views of the town of Soller from a number of perspectives as we went in and out of curved tunnels.  The train stopped at a platform high above Soller and patrons were encouraged to get off look at the views and take pictures.  The real reason for the stop was to wait on a siding for another train from Soller to Palma to pass in the other direction.  The 17-mile route is single, 3-foot gauge track.  There are three double tracked station stops.  Otherwise this mountaintop siding is the only other place for two trains to pass.

The rear platform of our rail car held only three people comfortably. It had been full with Michael, Bruce and one or another of the passengers from our car until we stopped. I finally got an opportunity to join the two of them as we came down from the heights into Soller.  I immediately understood why they had been reluctant to come inside.  The sun was shining, the temperature was mild and the views were stunning.  The train moved along at a gentle twenty miles per hour swaying gently.  As it was electric powered, there was only a humming sound from the power unit eight cars in front of us.  What a great experience for rail enthusiasts!

At Soller, we climbed down from the rail car and explored the rail yard. Some sheds housed interesting looking rail equipment. 

Michael had hoped we could take a tram, also 1912 vintage, that runs from Soller downhill to Port Soller on the north shore of the island of Majorca.  The tram stop is adjacent to the Soller train platform. We were in luck.  There was a tram departing minutes after our arrival.  We hurried aboard for the half hour, 4 Euro trip. By now it was past noon; we were thinking of having lunch at a sidewalk café in Port Soller. Unfortunately, we saw several hundred people waiting to board the three-car tram as we pulled into the final stop.  It seemed a wise idea to stay on the tram, as we needed to catch the 2 p.m. train from Soller to Palma. The trolly car rapidly filled with Italian speaking folks who all seemed to know each other.  The tram left at 12:30 rather than the scheduled 1:00. p.m. Surprisingly, no conductor appeared to collect fares.  We discovered that we were on a special non-scheduled train chartered by a senior citizen tour.  We nodded, smiled, and enjoyed the ride back up to Soller.

Michael, Bruce and I checked out the picturesque town of Soller and had lunch in a café in the square by the cathedral.  We managed to order from the menu in Spanish – that is, both read the Spanish menu and give our order in halting Spanish. As the waiter served our beer and sandwiches, a tram came through the square.  It was a unique lunch: several trams passed by a few feet from our table causing Bruce, especially, to jump up and take pictures.

We almost boarded another unscheduled special train from Soller to Palma but were waved off by the conductor.  Our Italian friends had apparently lunched in the square too and were now on their way back to Majorca's main port.  A few minutes after the senior citizen group departed, we boarded the real 2:00 train and made our way to the first car.  This car was the power unit.  It had a small front-facing cab for the driver and a tiny open air space for the conductor.  The rest of the car was divided into two sections.  Originally, half of it had been second-class space with wooden seats and the other half first class with leather couches and chairs.  The dual accommodations remained although there are no longer first or second class tickets.  We three made ourselves comfortable in the first class section.  We kept waiting to be told we were not allowed in the first class section on our standard excursion tickets but the conductor, when he appeared said nothing and merely punched our tickets.  No one else came into the compartment so we had a wonderful private luxury ride from Soller back to Palma.

My camera began to malfunction on the way back.  The cover arrangement over the lens wouldn't open or close properly.  I kept pushing it open with my finger but the results weren't satisfactory. It was a good thing that there was only one more day to our 39-day cruise.  I don't have pictures of Barcelona because of this.

The Palma to Soller train ride is one of the great tourist trains anywhere.  Michael took a picture of Bruce and me with beatific expressions on our faces.  The very scenic walk from the station through the historic section of Palma to catch the Silver Wind's shuttle bus to the pier was anticlimactic.  What a fun day!

IBIZA, Balearic Islands, Spain

 

I had never heard of Ibiza before I saw our cruise itinerary.  I discovered when I read about it in the guidebooks that it is a somewhat upscale summer resort island frequented mostly by a younger crowd from Spain and southern Europe. Ibiza is allegedly, where the "foam disco" was invented.  While we were on the island, I had an opportunity to ask what a foam disco is.  I had envisioned walls lined with foam rubber where excited young people danced and caromed off the walls. Close. The dancers are sprayed with foam from spray cans. The walls are not padded. But dancing and caroming off each other is the point of the experience.

The Silver Wind visited out of season.  It was still late winter: the resorts don't get busy until May.  While there was still some night life, Michael and I did not get to see it as we were there during the day and the clubs do not open until after 11 p.m. We were not meant to live on Spanish time.

We had no particular expectations for Ibiza and booked no tours.  After watching the ship dock at 8:00 a.m. we had a leisurely breakfast before venturing ashore around 9:00 a.m. 

The Silver Wind is small enough that the ship was able to dock right next to the street that runs along the shore-front. There were some workmen and street cleaners about.  A few shop owners were cleaning their storefronts but mostly nothing was happening, even at the market.

The Silver Wind's Shore Concierge offered a walking tour of the old walled city, called Dalt Vila, for $50 per person.  We picked up a good map from the tourist official who had come on board and decided to take our own self-guided walking tour as shown on the map.  We had just saved $100!  

We had a wonderful stroll uphill inside the old walled city along narrow cobbled streets and picturesque buildings.  The city is not a museum but has well maintained residences with small boutiques and restaurants interspersed among them.  Most buildings are whitewashed. My impression that Ibiza is an enclave of the wealthy was reinforced when we came to a five star hotel just below the cliff on which sits the cathedral.  Michael and I had a quiet and relaxing walk. The only pedestrians we saw were people from our ship.  Occasionally we saw a small car negotiating the tiny crooked streets.  The corners of the buildings had deep scratches indicating that even the small autos had trouble negotiating the tight turns.

We lingered in the high places until 10:00 when the cathedral opened.  It was historic,relatively simple but pretty and had a small museum attached.  After exploring the city walls we returned around noon to the lower city as the sidewalk café's were just beginning to open.  The patrons appeared to be having breakfast, not lunch.

The local market, not very busy in the off-season, was open.  We discovered a Wi-Fi hotspot outside a nearby café, watched the characters hanging out in the square and checked our e-mail.  It was here that I found that my bank account had been credited with the deposit of the funds from the sale of my Tennessee house!  We returned to the Silver Wind for lunch in a celebratory mood.

Later in the afternoon, we returned to the café for a couple of beers.  We felt that they deserved our business as they had provided us with free Internet service. The stop at Ibiza had turned out to be extremely pleasant.  The weather was relatively warm and sunny; temperatures in the high 60's with little wind.  We had no stress or obligation to do any particular thing but enjoy the experience.

More Alhambra Pictures

Malaga and the Alhambra

Thursday March 8 we arrived at Malaga, a resort community on Spain's Costa del Sol, and were treated to another beautiful Spanish sunrise. The port at Malaga has recently been enlarged and expanded to accommodate huge cruise ships.  Michael remembered the times when the Silversea ships used to dock at what is now the entrance to the harbor, practically at street side. The intimate personality of the port has been lost.  This time we docked a quarter mile out on a new pier with a huge passenger terminal while  luxury yachts occupied the close in spaces.  The port area nearest the actual city was filled with tourist shops and eateries.  The passengers on the big ships may never get past this area, designed to part them from their money or see the real city. The tourist area is also something of an attraction for the locals, at least until the novelty wears off.  The long distance to the city mattered more to Michael. He had the morning free to walk around Malaga before his afternoon tour of a nearby mountain village. He found it was a long walk back to the ship.

I was on my way to the Alhambra.  I had booked the all day tour and boarded my bus at 8:15 a.m.  I got only glimpses of Malaga as we made our way to the major highway just outside of the city.

The bus trip started in dry coastal conditions.  The bus guide said that there had been no rain in more than three months making the dry landscape even more parched than usual.  We passed through some rugged but low mountains. I saw another Osborne bull atop a rugged hill. The landscape got greener.  For several hours, we passed olive groves and almond farms while the guide told us more about olive oil than any of us wanted or needed to know.  We reached Grenada in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range and passed through a tunnel in a hillside to the site of the Alhambra.

The actual tour, with a trained guide supplied by Spanish tourism, was spectacular.  Again, I took many, many pictures.  At the conclusion of the tour, the guide gave each of us a map of the complex.  I was surprised that in well over two hours we had seen only about a third of the buildings. Some sections were closed for restoration work and others, less significant, appeared to have been omitted due to time constraints.  Visitors get timed tickets so we had to keep moving.  The Alhambra is such a popular tourist site and the structures so fragile that the tourism board limits the number of visitors to a thousand a day. That seems a rather large number to me. They manage the crowds well, one never feels crowded and tour groups rarely overlap.

The complex begun in 1238 A.D., extended, and embellished through the 1400's was the fortified palace and grounds of the last Moorish ruler in Spain.  Conquered by Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492, parts of it are overlaid of Christian structures: the mosque became a Catholic church, an Italianate palace was added and the Generalife or summer palace reached by bridge across a ravine had a jarringly blocky Spanish Christian style structure added atop a delicate first floor pavilion.  The  Arabic palace has a simple sandstone exterior but intricately decorated rooms and passageways in the interior. The colors have faded and most of the stained glass is gone but loving restoration has preserved a real marvel. We walked through a maze of connecting rooms, courtyards and balconies.  The intricate interior is decorated with arabesques and flourishes made of cast plaster, mosaic and once had gold and silver embellishments that have long since been removed.  Rooms opened onto balconies with stunning views or hadelaborate windows providing glimpses into peaceful courtyards..

The world heritage site is significant not only for its historic importance but as an example of the height of Islamic art in Spain.  It is something that, I think, anyone who appreciates both art and history should see if at all possible.  The Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca for all its size and embellishment doesn't compare artistically.

The tour included an elegant, lengthy lunch at the best restaurant in Grenada followed by a brief bus tour of the more or less modern city and a two-hour drive back to Malaga and the Silver Wind.  Our next stop, after a full day at sea, would be Ibiza one of the smaller Balearic Islands off the Spanish coast.