Day 13, end of cruise - Monday, August 15, 2022 end in Barcelona, Spain

As I mentioned earlier, we were required to be off the ship by 9 AM.

Dianne and I do not use the transportation the cruise provides to the airport. We found it is usually 200-300% more expensive than getting our own taxi. The cruise line offered a bus to the airport for 69 Euro each (138 Euro total). We hired a taxi and it cost 39 Euro for both of us.

 

Day 12 of the cruise - Sunday, August 14, 2022 Alicante, Spain

It was pretty warm in Alicante at 92 degrees Fahrenheit (33 degrees Celsius). Dianne and I decided to take the shuttle bus to the beach which was only about a two block walk from where the bus dropped us off.

One of the things Dianne and I noticed on the beaches was there was small percentage of women, regardless of age, who would be topless. It was not a large percentage, perhaps five percent. And when I say regardless of age, it would be from small children and women from 20 years of age to women in their 70’s. And this beach was no exception.

 

The water in the Mediterranean was very comfortable. There was no shock to the system going into the water. My guess is it was about 75 degrees. After a couple of hours on the sand and going in and out of the water, we rinsed our feet and walked to a large plaza where various vendors were ending their day.

Whether it is a weekday, or a weekend, many vendors and shops close at 2 pm for a couple of hours for a siesta. The only exceptions would be café’s. This was a Sunday and Dianne found a couple of souvenirs while the vendors were packing up for the day.

The instruction from the cruise line to each passenger was to pack their suitcases, put the tags they provided on them, and leave them outside the cabin by 10 PM (22:00) the evening prior to the last day of the cruise.

That requires knowing what we will need or wear the next day, and what toiletries we will need. Everyone has to leave the ship by 9 in the morning so they can do a thorough cleaning of the staterooms. Timing wise, that works fine because we need to find transportation to the airport for our flight that leaves at 1 PM (13:00).

 

Day 11 of the cruise - Saturday, August 13, 2022 Granada and Motril, Spain

Other than the port where we docked, there is nothing special about Motril. However, this is where tourists can go to either the caves of Narja or go to the Alhambra Palace in Granada.

The main export from this area was sugar, and now that worldwide tastes have changed, they are growing mangoes and avocados. Based on a year round mild climate, with winter temperatures around 60-70 degrees Fahrenheit, they can grow vegetables for northern Europe in the winter where they are experiencing freezing temperatures.

Dianne and I purchased the tour of the caves in Narja. While we both took photos, there is no way to truly capture the grandeur, nor size, of these caves.

Discovered in 1965 by several young boys while trying to capture some bats, the caves now attract about one million visitors and has transformed the area of Narja.

On the bus trip to the caves it was also amazing to see a couple of Roman aqueducts that were built over two thousand years ago that are still standing today. What gets built today to carry water only lasts 100 years at the most before falling apart. The Romans built things that could last 100’s of centuries.

 

Day 10 of the cruise - Friday, August 12, 2022 Gibraltar, United Kingdom

I think the rock that sits on the northern straight to the Mediterranean Sea is famous to everyone. It has been the symbol of safety and security by Prudential Insurance for probably 100 years.

It was fascinating to learn about their self-governance and the number of sieges that this area had to endure over 2000 years to become what it is today. Other than World War II, the last one was from 1879 to 1973 and has remained in British hands ever since.

 It has the only Mosque that does not face Mecca, and instead of a quarter moon at the top, it has a full moon.

And it is a tiny community in size and population with only 30,000 residents. But with workers and tourists it jumps to more than 60,000. On a clear day, which this day was not, you can see Morocco on the north African continent.

 

Day 9 of the cruise - Thursday, August 11, 2022 Seville and Cadiz, Spain

From Cadiz, where we arrived today, it was a one-and-a-half-hour train or taxi ride to Seville. We did talk about going, and while it is supposed to be one of the most beautiful cities in Spain. It is also in the interior while Europe is suffering through an extreme heat wave with temperatures over 110 degrees Fahrenheit (44 Celsius), so we decided to stay in Cadiz.

 

Staying in Cadiz was a great decision. We were given free tickets to the Hop On-Hop Off bus and went around the city. Our first drop off was at a large cathedral and all around that area were charming streets lined with unique shops, restaurants and bakeries.

We found a couple of unique shops; one called Cork O Clock had many items that used cork. Dianne purchased some gifts for back home and a tote bag with the art work of Frida Kahlo.

Another shop (Herakles) had reproductions of Roman artifacts that were found in Cadiz as well as other areas that were once controlled by the Roman Empire. Dianne purchased a small charm based on an old Roman coin.

Food hint: Knowing that we would not be around for lunch, and not knowing what restaurants to choose on shore, Dianne and I while at breakfast both made sandwiches that we could have at lunch. That way we didn’t have to choose a restaurant on shore nor come back to the ship for lunch.

After getting back on the bus we saw some lovely beaches and decided that is what we wanted to do next.

Since we did not have to be back on the ship until 10:30 PM (22:30) we decided after walking the lovely streets we go back to the ship and put on our bathing suits and go to one of the beaches. The weather was beautiful at around 79 degrees Fahrenheit and we arrived around 4 PM (16:00). While some people said the water is very cold because it is on the Atlantic Ocean, we found it as warm, or warmer, than where we live near Malibu.

We stayed until 6:30 PM (18:30) and walked back to the ship.

 The food on the Oceania Nautica is excellent with a wide variety to choose from. There is the Terrace Café where you eat outdoors and choose whatever you want from a buffet style to a couple of reservation only restaurants to the main dining room where no reservations are required.

 

Day 8 of the cruise -Wednesday, August 10, 2022 Casablanca, Morocco

The city made famous by the Humphrey Bogart movie of the same name. It is the largest city in Morocco. We were, I take that back, Dianne was able to negotiate with a taxi driver/tour guide to take us to the major sites for four hours. He wanted $200 dollars and Dianne got his to accept $120. And it was a beautiful, nearly new, Mercedes.

We were able to see a huge, beautiful mosque, a gorgeous Jewish temple, and two markets; one just for tourists and the last one where the locals shop. It was on about 25 acres and designed so you could easily get lost.

Dianne had the policy of completely ignoring the shop keepers that tried to get her into stalls to see carpets, clothing, jewelry, leather goods, tea sets, and more. They would say, “Come inside, it is free to look. We charge you nothing. Just look.”

The shuttle bus was one block from the last market, and we caught it 5 minutes before it left for the ship. Otherwise, we would’ve had to wait 30 minutes for the next one.

 Day 7 of the cruise - Tuesday, August 9, 2022 Agadir, Morocco

Today we arrive in Agadir, Morocco, a major city with a population of around 924,000 as of the 2014 census growing from 346,000 in 2004. Based on the Atlantic Ocean as a beach community it boasts a great weather year round with the winter temperature average around 69 degrees Fahrenheit in December and January.

The shuttle bus took us near the city center where several taxis were available for hire. For $25 per person we could get a 3-3.5 hour tour of the city, the Kasbah atop a hill overlooking the city, camel rides, a mosque, a large market with handmade items (120 booths/stalls), a huge market (35 acres), and an old seaside town.

We had a unique tea in the first market and our tour guide/taxi driver had fair English language skills.

The taxi driver took as to a small seaside town. When we were ready to leave there was a very irate woman who demanded our taxi driver take her as a passenger. She shouted she had been waiting over an hour for a taxi and none would take her and she was there first.

Eventually a policeman had to be called to sort things out. What she didn’t understand was most of the taxi drivers she saw where carrying passengers from the ship and had been hired for hours. Until that was sorted out she stood behind our taxi and argued with our driver and the others so we could not back up and leave; fun in Morocco.

 

Day 6 of the cruise - Monday, August 8, 2022 Lanzarote, Arrecife, Spain

Today we were supposed to arrive in Lanzarote, Arrecife, Spain, the most easterly of the Canary Islands. It is only 70 miles off the coast of Africa and known as the island of 100 volcanoes. There were major eruptions in the 18th and 19^th centuries.

Unfortunately, with the weather on the Atlantic Ocean it was too rough to dock and for the safely of the ship, the guests, and the crew the captain decided not to dock and continue on to Moracco.

Just like the other islands we visited the temperature has been around 77 degrees Fahrenheit (25 degrees Celsius), just beautiful weather.

 

Day 5 of the cruise - Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain Sunday, August 7, 2022

Another of the Canary Islands with most of the shops closed on Sunday. We walked to the Africa Market, an outdoor market with flowers, food, fish and souvenirs.

We made another stop at the modern art museum, which was free to tour. My guess is on Sundays it is free. Dianne toured the art I sat and read my book on finances.

The gift store was beautiful and Dianne purchased a 4 Euro souvenir, a piece of wood to hold my cell phone upright. On it were the words: Keep Calm and Lean on Me.

On the cruise ship we have met some great people; an IT guy from Texas and we discussed the investments he had for retirement, how he wanted them repositioned, what he was earning, and how he might better deploy those assets. He was working with two money managers and gave them each the same amount to money to see who does better. And he is the funniest man my wife and I ever met.

We met a man who was the attaché to the U.S. in France for a decade. He is an American who was born in France and obviously speaks fluent French.

So many interesting people and opportunities for business; we are all similar in age and have similar goals and aspirations and can pay for the services we want.

 

Day 4 of the cruise - Santa Cruz de la Palma, Spain Saturday Aug 6, 2022

 This was a lovely town with the typical Canary Island architecture. There are beautiful black sand beaches with water that my wife said was warm. I was not prepared to go in the water, but looking back I wish I did and spent more time on the beach.

 In the town the streets were very narrow, and filled with cafes. The unique thing was after a flood and a couple of meters of mud deposited in the area, artists decided to paint the doors, all with different themes based on the style and outlook of each artist. This made it very fun to walk.

 Along the promenade by the beach the mixed use buildings, with a restaurant or store below and apartments above, had beautiful balconies with flowers and plants for all those who walked by to enjoy.

 

Day 3 of the cruise Funchal, Madeira, Portugal August 5, 2022

The first stop of the cruise ship was Funchal, Madeira, Portugal. We took a wonderful cable car up to the Monte Palace and exquisite tropical gardens. Originally a home in 18^th century for Charles Murray, the British Consul General, it was transformed into a hotel in 1897 by Alfredo Guilherme Rodrigues.

 

Day 1 of the cruise.

We boarded the Oceania Nautica today in Lisbon that will be a 12 day cruise around the Mediterranean and we depart at 8 PM.

Day 2 of the cruise. August 4, 2022

We will be out at sea all day on the way to our first destination.

It was nice to sleep in and not have to worry about catching a taxi, train or ship.

However, my dress is usually casual, jeans and a Hawaiian shirt. I decided to mix it up today and put on a pair of almost white cargo shorts and a dark blue and red checked shirt. See the photo.

While I thought it looked good, my wife said she didn’t want to be seen with me because I was also wearing dark blue Skechers casual shoes with white socks that came up to my calf.

 

Days 7 and 8 (August 2022)

Cascais, Portugal

 This was a lovely seaport town that felt like being at a resort. When booked the hotel from the photos online she had no idea how far it was from the city center.

 The first night we had a horrible room in a beautiful hotel. It was built as a fortress in 1642 and converted to a hotel.

 The room has two issues:

1.      1. It has one small window that looked out to a pile of stored patio furniture.

2.      2. The Wi-Fi was not dependable.

 The Wi-Fi was important to Dianne because she had to still work. When it was 11 PM in Portugal, it was 9 AM in Los Angeles. She needed to communicate with a loan officer, an escrow company, and a real estate agent to get a home she sold to close on time. And she could not do the work in the room. She had to sit out in the lobby in her bathrobe to use Internet that worked.

 She was prepared to leave and find a room in a hotel in the city center. The manager said a room opened up that she is sure we would like. It turns out it was a junior suite with a large bathroom, fireplace, veranda and balcony.

 It was on the corner of the hotel with one view to the south where we could watch people on the beach, others surfing, and others with sail-boards. To the north we could watch people flying on kites. The winds there were very strong. It was a fabulous room for the same rate as the horrible room because we were ready to leave.

 During our stay we walked over to a restaurant and hotel that was next door. The owner had photos of himself with political dignitaries and movie stars. His name was Tony Muchaxo and he was with famous people from ambassadors to kings and queens.

 While Dianne and I were walking around the restaurant admiring the architecture, I notice a man sitting alone at a table who looked like the man in the photos. I walked over and asked if he spoke English, which it did perfectly.

 It was Tony Muchaxo and he proceeded to have Dianne and I sit with him. He ordered wine for us and we chatted for over 30 minutes. He is 92 and comes to the restaurant every day. The man who served us has been working there for 40 years.

We came back that evening and had a lovely dinner while overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

On our last day in Cascais we took an Uber into the city center. They have a lovely small beach and we walked all around. As I passed a small bookstore I noticed used books were for sale in a stand on the sidewalk. And one book caught my eye; The Death of Kings by Rennie Airth.

I could likely finish all four books that I brought and having one more for insurance was a good idea. Here was a mystery murder with my name on the cover and it was only 5 Euro. Turns out I did read all the books I brought, and it was great that I had this one too.

After two days in Cascais we headed back to Lisbon to board the cruise ship to see the Canary Islands, Gibraltar, Morocco and Spain.

 

2022- July Porto continued (Day 4, 5 and 6)

We arrived at the beautiful InterContinental Hotel, which as right next to the major street construction. I think they were digging a subway tunnel underneath.

Anyway, the first room we were given had a view to a missing street. It was among the worst views I ever had, and this was from a very expensive hotel.

My wife, Dianne, is great about getting a better room, which we got. It overlooked a center courtyard and was quite lovely. This hotel did not provide a breakfast with the room charge, and the buffet was about 24 Euro per person. We passed on that and went to a local café.

Porto is the second largest city in Portugal with Lisbon being the largest. Not only is it next to the Douro river, but it also extends to the Atlantic Ocean.

We arrived in the evening and by the time we were ready to go to dinner it was already 9 PM. Dianne picked a restaurant by the river. It was crowded, noisy and way past my time for us to eat, and we were both getting crabby. This is the non-fun part of travel and why I would rather stay home.

As an outpost of the Roman Empire, you can guess it has many old buildings and archeological importance. While we can see these things in person, I can enjoy, and learn all that by watching a travel program.

One of the Portugal’s main exports is port wine, which you might also guess comes from the Porto region.

After Porto we head back to Lisbon on our way to Cascais.

 Day 1

2022-July Resistant Traveler blog Day 1- Lisbon

 It has been several years since I have had to travel, or TOUR, with my wife. For me the travel ban due to Covid has been a blessing. The Covid-19 pandemic started in March of 2020. And our first trip was in July of 2022. On August 1, the Oceania cruise line said negative Covid test results were no longer required to board the ship.

 Well, with the restrictions easing, and my step-daughter, her husband, and two dogs moving into our house while they remodel theirs, my wife wanted to get the heck out of Dodge. So she planned a trip to Portugal and a Mediterranean cruise to Morocco and Spain. The trip is about three weeks.

 Our first warning was Heathrow Airport requesting people avoid their airport. They are short-staffed and thousands (and I mean thousands) of suitcases are stacking up in the terminal and not getting to the intended destination.

 Well, of course we are booked through Heathrow, so we packed an emergency carry on with necessary toiletries, medicines, and a change of clothing. We lucked out and things turned out fine with our bags arriving with us in Lisbon, Portugal.

 We were easily able to get a cab at the airport and it took us directly to our hotel, the Avenida Palace. This is a beautiful hotel located in a great part of the city. It was walking distance to many restaurants, cafes, and the river with more restaurants.

 When we checked into the hotel we used our passports. All hotels and trains require passports to check in or buy travel tickets. And this hotel also provided a wonderful buffet breakfast included in the room charge.

 On the first morning at breakfast we are sitting at a table overlooking a lovely busy street when the server comes over with a makeshift cake. It had three pancakes with Nutella spread between each, and on top was free cut fruit and a single candle in the middle.

 The server said this was a birthday greeting as he looked at me. My first response was, “It’s not my birthday.” And then it hit me; yes, today is my birthday. They must have noticed the date on my passport when we checked in.

 We had a very similar experience in Paris, France about 15 years earlier. We were in the hotel, it was around dinner time, we were tired, but we were hungry. I offered to go out and bring back some food.

 There was a nearby McDonalds and I brought back some hamburgers, and that was our dinner.

 The next day as we are getting on a tour bus I noticed the date on the ticket was the date after my birthday. We realized we both completely forgot about my birth day. It only comes once every 365 days or so, so it’s easy to overlook.

 And that explains my comment to the server in Lisbon that brought the makeshift cake, “It’s not my birthday.”

 After breakfast we walked about 100 yards and purchased tickets to the Hop On, Hop Off bus. If you don’t know how those work, you purchase a ticket and it’s good for 24 hours. They have about six to ten languages that explain the city you’re visiting. There are about 15 or 20 stops where you can Hop Off and explore something in more detail, a museum, castle, palace, zoo or whatever.

 When you are done with your visit you Hop On the next bus that arrives and continue your tour of the city. The full loop, if you don’t Hop Off, is usually around two hours. You get the history of a city anywhere in the world with these bus tours.

Portugal is famous from amazing tile work, and the photo is just one of thousands of examples.

 Wi-Fi

Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, I have a lap top computer that will not connect to any unsecured, open Wi-Fi network. While that protects my computer from anyone able to easily hack into it while it is in use, it also prevents me from using it to reply to emails and file them in my customer relationship management (CRM) program.

 I am only able to reply to emails on my smart phone and need to keep them all until I return home and can save them to the correct client, tenant or customer contact records.

 After three days in Lisbon, it was off to Porto, Portugal, and that will be the next blog post.

 Day 4

2022-July Resistant Traveler blog update 2 – Porto, Portugal

 We were in Lisbon for three days and then off to Porto by train for a couple of days. Not knowing we should have purchased train tickets ahead of time, we showed up at the station ready to leave on an 11:30 AM train.

 Unfortunately, the 11:30 was fully booked, and the next train that had seats would depart at 15:30, which only military people and European people understand to be 3:30 PM. So, we had to cool our heals at the train station for four, count ‘em, four hours!

 Then when we arrive in Porto, we have no idea how to get a taxi. There are no signs, there is no train personal to suggest anything, and a crowd of people standing around, but no organized line.

 Dianne, my wife, stopped one taxi that had passengers, and the driver handed her a card and said to call that phone number if she wanted a taxi. So, we called and finally a taxi arrives, BUT it is not there for us.

 It turns out the crowd was a line and while we are putting our bags in the trunk an elderly lady tells us that people in Portugal wait their turn and don’t steal the taxi from others who are waiting. She tells the driver she will call the police, curses us, and kicks the cab as we depart.

 Welcome to Porto.

 I will write some other blogs on our experiences in Porto, the hotel, the street construction, the tour bus, the beaches, trolley and a museum. Eventually we will get to the cruise ship for a relaxing and peaceful journey.