Wednesday, November 29, 2023
Malaga balcony day
No bare feet but nice to sit here enjoying my wine. What a beautiful city this is! Picturesque and clean with lovely people.
A nice French Canadian lady took our pictures in the city and we took hers in return. Interesting conversations as she spoke no English and our French is sketchy. We managed!
The Picasso museum was interesting but I liked very little if his work. He broke boundaries for sure. Interestingly enough none of the work was signed. That usually means they were only studies. I liked the etchings and prints best.
Tomorrow we travel to Seville from Cadiz. Busy day!!
Tuesday, November 28, 2023
Alicante Port Day
We cruised into port this morning for a cool day ashore in this lovely Spanish city. It has a wide sandy beach and a large marina filled with racing sail boats. A large race is held here each year and there is a museum centered on sailing.
We had a fairly leisurely breakfast and then went ashore with the idea to visit the Castillo de Santa Barbera. It sits high above the city on a rocky promontory. As we started out we ran into our table mates from last night's dinner. Jackie and Doug from Vancouver. I admired his unique shirt design of paint samples and discovered he was an artist too. We joined them for dinner and had a great conversation about art and baking bread. They went off to find the old town area.
Fortunately there was a lift to the top and we were the first ones down the tunnel and entrance. We climbed many ramps and terraces for a fantastic view of the city and ocean beyond. A stop at the cafe for chocolate milk( no mocha coffee available) and a pain de chocolate fortified us for the long downhill walk into the city.
We found a store for a few needed items and wandered around a bit looking at old buildings and churches. Never really found a concentrated area and eventually got tired of walking so returned to the ship.
Lunch in the lido with a glass of wine was just right and a nap after even better!! Now we will watch a comedian tonight after dinner and hopefully get a good nights sleep. Tomorrow is another port, Malaga where there is of course another castle fort and a Picasso museum which we have tickets to see. Hopefully we'll find the old town and market in this city!!
The weather is cool but we did sit on the balcony with coffee this afternoon. No pool deck for now. This ship does have a cover that they can close over the center pool which is great for this trip. Its a feature that the Princess ships don't have any more but is great for some iteneraries.
Michele Barron Buelow
239-209-1434
kzooartist@sbcglobal.net
michele.buelow@gmail.com
Monday, November 27, 2023
Sea day...
Whew...finally got the pc to connect to the internet on the ship. I almost had a meltdown when having so much trouble, It is important this trip as I am collecting data for the Big Arts show and monitoring invoices from the architect.
Our first sea day has been very relaxed....... At least after this morning's internet issues, we settled down to a routine. George went to pickleball and I went to art classes and the cruise critic mingle. The class was a bust for the most part but I enjoyed playing with paint. Guess the pickleball was good as G is napping now.
This ship is really nice and they have made improvements to it recently while in drydock. We are the first sailing since and it's nice to have it all shiny again.
It's been fun talking to new people and learning about them. Today I met an author who has her first book at a publisher and has been asked to write a second one already. I'll have to watch for the books!!
Tomorrow we will be in Alicante, Spain where we will just do our own thing. It is supposed to be a lovely beach town with a marina & cafes..should be nice.
Sunday, November 26, 2023
Lunch aboard the New Statendam
We grabbed a quick meal at the Dutch Cafe to taste their pea soup. It was good but I Iike my split pea better.
After boarding and lunch we were able to unpack and try to find room for everything. Not easy!!
We watched the sail away from the Crows Nest in the bow on deck 12. It's a great space Not much of a sunset, though tonight, but those on the open sea are usually beautiful.
We had a nice dinner .. mine was trout and Caesar salad with strawberries Romanoff to finish. G had French onion soup and lasagna with cheesecake. We are stuffed!! Now for a bit of music then to bed. G has fallen asleep just now as we came back for his pill. Geez.
Saturday, November 25, 2023
Fwd: Made it to Civitavecchia!!
Now we are enjoying some wine in our pjs ready for a good night's sleep.
The first leg of a trip to Europe is always a very long one and tiring despite all the sitting done. We are happy that it went off smoothly, meeting timetables and reservations. The hotel here is pretty basic but our host is friendly and we have all that we need. Simone is a print artist and someone has hand painted on the walls too.
After a short nap we walked toward the water to a little area filled with cafes, hungry from skipping lunch. Not much was open as dinner is 7:30 so a good margarita pizza and a Stella was enough. Grabbing some wine and chocolate we headed toward our home for the night.
Bueno sera!
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