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.