Iona, cruising around Spain and Portugal, including a half day in Gibraltar

 25th November, and we board the Iona for a 14 day cruise around Spain and Portugal, before continuing for a further seven nights on a Christmas Market cruise. 

Cool afternoon whilst waiting for everyone to arrive on board. The sun is setting and winter is definitely here.

This will be the only time the jacuzzi will be empty on this cruise. It’s full of families and groups intent on starting the Christmas in the right mood.

We’d 29th November Vigo

Instead of walking around the city or climbing up to the Fort, we decided to jump on the local ferry and cross to the quieter town of Gangas, or Cangas as the local call it.

Beautiful old buildings just up from the busy street market. Very quiet, mainly due to the weather and the fact that people were congregating in the market. The weekly event for everyone to meet up for the ritual weekly gossip.. 

As per usual the centre is dominated by the Catholic Church. Dressed with enough gold to pay off the third world debt.

As per usual our eyes sort out traditional foods and wines. This local shop seemed very popular with the locals, always a good sign. Found some vacuum packed Iberico cured ham and chorizo. So they went straight into the basket, to return home for our Christmas celebrations at home. Just a pity we couldn’t take one of the full legs of cured ham. They looked amazing. I believe it would have been illegal to take into Britain these days. That’s if we had been able to get it past security on the boat in the first place. 

Walked along the broad walk that had seen better days. Perhaps it will get a facelift before the place opens up for the summer season.

Small boats were busy fishing in the bay. Not sure what for. Looked as if they were scraping the bottom for some form of mollusc, or prawns even. As we walked round the fishing harbour up near the old whaling station we watched a diver bring in his daily catch of razor clams. A real haul. Must have been fourty or fifty kilos worth.

As the sun steps and darkness surrounds us, the ship departs from Vigo, heading for the next destination. Gibraltar.

Thursday 30 

And we are in Gibraltar. Sprint into the centre fairly early to miss the rush and crush. Inevitable when you consider that there are 6500 passengers trying to shop in the postage stamp sized town. Everyone looking for that elusive deal. Watching the shopkeepers rubbing their hands with glee, you realise that the prices are perhaps not as excellent as you may imagine. As long as both parties are happy, there isn’t a problem. We continued passed the shops into the old docks before having to retrace our steps in order to get back before the ship sailed at two. The reason being that they were expecting another two ships to arrive later in the day. Must be good for the local economy.

In the end, we arrived back to find a queue over a mile long. By the time they had cleared the backlog, the ship was well overdue. Must have cost them a fortune. In Southampton it’s £10,000 for every hour extended.

Queues trying to get back onboard the ship.

Friday December 1st - Alicante.

Once again, having been here a few times decided to catch a train to Elch - The town of Palms, a UNESCO heritage site. Isn’t everywhere these days?

Had a few difficulties obtaining the rail ticket. The machine was only in Spanish and the counter service was a free for all, even though they had a numbered ticket system, similar to those used at the butchers counter or doctors surgery back home. Unfortunately it had a tendency to miss numbers, so there was a lot of queue jumping.

Nevertheless, after a quick sprint for the train we managed to get a seat. The train was rather dilapidated, a rattling old bone shaker would be an apt description. Definitely not a patch on the modern streamlined machines found in Sicily. But it eventually reached our destination, and we exited up numerous escalates that seemed to be out of operation. Not so good for the elderly and infirm.

Interesting place, not a bit like l expected, yet once again steeped in history. A mixture of Roman and Islamic.

Nearly missed the train back to Alicante. We were directed along with some other passengers to the wrong platform. It was only a cleaner who eventually put us right. Had to race up three flights of steps, cross a bridge and descend  more step to get to the right platform. It was a race against the clock, but everyone managed with a few seconds to spare.

Back in Alicante, we popped into a small bar and treated ourselves to some beautiful ham and bread. With an appropriate liquid to guide it down. It was so good we ordered a repeat. Truly delicious, with a great atmosphere, all operated by the owner/chef and his girlfriend/server. Only had a small counter and two tables inside and a further two outside. So very bijou.

Refreshed, we then headed up through the old town to the base of the hilltop castle.

Didn’t have enough time to climb up to the castle. But then again we did that last time. There are amazing views from the top, and the walk down into the old time is amazing. If you look closely you can see the meandering path as it he as a down into the town.

A giant nativity scene was being erected as we past. As you can see, still a few bits missing. But it’s going to be quite stunning once finished,

The ship was delayed due to high winds according to the Captain. But sources say a couple of crew jumped ship, so the authorities carried out an investigation onboard. It wasn’t until after 9pm that we set sail to Barcelona. Sod’s law, had organised to meet with my son and his family first thing. So quickly had to advise him we were delayed. Ultimately met up at 10.45 instead of 8.30.

Steff, my grand daughter  ordering our starters of cure meats and little delectables. Although the waiter seems exasperated at the time it takes for us to decide.

Niki, grandson with his girlfriend, next to me, with Stef, Mili and Justin across from us

My son, Justin and wife Mili. So great to catch up with them after such a long time

Sunday 3 Dec Cartagena 

Cartagena, port city, in Murcia, and full of history. Four hills, topped with fortifications look down onto the deep water port.

Originally an ancient Iberian  port, was taken over by Hasdrubal from Carthage.  and named Cartagena, derived from the Phoenician Kart-hadasht (“New Town”).

Important to both Carthage (modern Tunisia) and Rome, because of its proximity to rich silver mines. 

We were fortunate to be able to walk some of the old town wall that was still intact.

But the town is full of Iberian, Greek and Roman pieces of architecture, and it seems that more is being found all the time, especially when they start to excavate to start rebuilding.

The reason perhaps why there are so many open building plots awaiting completion.

The bull ring in the centre of the city, not far away from the harbour 

Amazing how they are retaining all the original facias when they rebuild. Although there are masses that require masses of work. Looks as if they had lots of good intentions, but soon ran out of money.

Fairly dubious wiring. Fortunately the fire station is positioned just across the road.

Mean looking beast

Roman buildings being discovered all over the place

Walking through the centre you find some Art deco treasures on the most surprising places. Often just on front of another Roman or even earlier pice of architecture.

Coliseum, in all its glory

Seems to be a lot of work in progress. The old bull ring built to mimic the Roman coliseum.

Tues 5 Dec Cadiz

Our primary intention was to visit Seville, but that was snookered once we checked out the timetable, only to find that all the seats were already taken.

Undeterred we headed for the station, only to have confirmed that the trains we needed to get us there and more importantly back on time were fully booked.

So, obtained the timetable and details for the future. Sure that we will be back in the not too distant future.

Then headed into the modern part of Cádiz, an area we hadn’t ventured previously. 

Popped into shops and supermarkets, shopping for all the Spanish Iberian delicacies we love, just for Christmas treats.

We then headed to the promenade. We walked back into the old town, past the theatre, more of a village hall, where the classical flamingo is performed. 

Just up from the railway station you could see a section of the massive fortifications, housing one of the massive gates that lead into town.

Came back to the ship loaded to the gunnels with wine, hams, pate, bee pollen. In fact a never ending list of goodies. Just hope we have enough room in the cases.

Cádiz 

Another first. This time we purchased an Al day ticket to use the underground, trams and buses. 

Had a great day exploring along the coast. Unfortunately the old trams on this section were redundant due to sea defences being built all along the river.

Did deter us from enjoying ourselves. After all, we were out in the sun.

Wed 6 Dec Lisbon 

Another change of plans, initially we were going to walk into the centre and get the old tram to the UNESCO Site at Belan. 

 But then Judith discovered that you can buy a travel pass for trams, underground and busses from the underground station. 

Which we did, but the process wasnt simple. The machine was in Portugese - And we just couldut manage to decipher it. Eventually found a guard who pointed to two small images at the bottom left of the enormous Screen. One being a Spanish flag, the other supposedly the Union Jack.🇬🇧 

Any way managed to get our daily pass for under 8€. Then caught the tube to the centre square for the N°15 tram. 

After about 20 minutes realised that due to all the work on the flood defences this had been cancelled. All the tram lines had been ripped up. The tram had been replaced by a 15E bus. Did the same route, although it picked up from a different location.  

This revelation came to everyone at the same time. In fact, one person found a notice in Portuguese and related the news to all of us in Spanish. These being a group of Spanish tourists. We just followed on mass and climbed aboard. 

Just a pity. Wanted to ride on the old tram along the river.

Arrived at this fantastic monastery. It was huge, highly decorated, a true statement. -

Queues lined along the massive structure heading towards the entrance. A never ending thronging source of noise. Amazing how groups of people produce such a racket. A mix of excitement and anticipation bubbling over. 

We hadn’t tickets, so we visited The museum of Art, overlooking the gardens and views of the castle overlooking the river and a large Statue with all the leading Portuguese explorers cut into it.

Just a pity they had positioned a long row of mobile toilets in front of it. 

Heading out from Lisbon, homeward bound. Well Southampton. Then staying on for the Christmas Markets.

We have been buying too many goodies whilst away. So an extra bag was required. Fortunately TKMax in Southampton came good

The man himself was aboard. Marco Pierre White. Proved to be exceedingly interesting. Great revelation.—-

Superb meal in restaurant. Must be trying to shine in front of the man who designed the menus

Rotterdam 

A wondrous place. Thoroughly enjoyed our two days walking around, using the water bus service to get us out and about.

Magnificent. Would definitely come again.

Rotterdam 

Our ship manoeuvres itself into the centre of the city, after navigating its way through the broad canals with fully laden barges swiftly shooting along side, whisking their cargoes through the waterway from every conceivable direction. 

As light breaks you can see how busy the waterway is. Water busses and taxis shoot along and across from one bank to another, manoeuvring around all manner of craft. A giant floating crane passes before our eyes and then waits for the massive bridge to come to life.

Trams, cars, busses, pedestrians and what seems like hundreds of cyclists wait behind the barriers as the steel bridge creeks and judders open.  The crane is pushed and pulled by tugs through what seems a gap not large enough to accept the mass. Yet slowly it creeps on through to the other side. Within minutes the bells sound and everything is once again on the move. Amazing piece of engineering.

We cross the bridge and head for our mode of transport. A water bus heading up the canal system . The female ticket collector assures us in impeccable English that we can walk back to the windmills from the drop off point at Alblasserdam.  Great suggestion, saves us hanging around for another 30 minutes in the cold for our intended bus.

Brilliant sightseeing ride at a relaxing pace along the waterway system. Pass boat yards, yacht basins, industrial areas, wetlands and marshes. Even a giant replica of the Ark with a giraffe on its bow.

Alblasserdam, was quite a find. Positioned amongst many canals and marshes the architecture of the homes took me by  complete surprise. Always thought that the Dutch lacked imagination and were rather boring. If these homes are anything to go by, they definitely weren’t.  Houses had their own individuality, little quirks, unusual shapes. Windows were dressed, not with drapes, but plants, greenery or statement pieces of china or glass. Some had ancient timber and lead windows propped on display within their own windows. Very chic.

Even the gardens had been designed to frame the house. Many being pollarded and linked together in a uniform way.

We weave up and down and around the various avenues. Unrepentant voyeur’s in the true sense. Hungry for more glimpses of unusual and inspiring designs.

Ultimately we extradite ourselves from the domestic area and find ourselves in the local market. Not any market, an expensive sophisticated emporium of exclusive products. Independent retailers specialising in individual products. Whether it be huge round blocks of cheese of various styles and age. Sophisticated wine shop with hundreds of quality wines, predominantly from France. Cured meats and hams, another selling coffee beans from around the world. It was sumptuous to take in by eye and smell. 

As was our cup of coffee with accompanying jigger of clotted cream laced with a some sweet liqueur of unknown origins.

Outside a colourful stand was selling freshly cooked beignets. Similar to sugared doughnuts. Crowds huddled together buying them by the bucket load. Of course we tasted a couple. Delicious. Such an unexpected treat.

With some reluctance we pushed on towards the guided route which would lead us out of the town, along the waterway and into the picture book setting as seen in all the old masters paintings. That of the rows and rows of Windmills.

We were not disappointed.

Day two

Today we walk to the oldest part of Rotterdam that wasn’t destroyed by the bombing during the Second World War. Delfshaven. 

Once again over the bridge and then follow the river down and around yacht basins, pass parks with unusual sculptures. Along with glazed domes that are in fact private entry points into underground stairwells to offices and workplaces. Very odd, yet very secure.

Then we come across a giant floating Chinese hotel, restaurant and supermarket. Looked very tired. Definitely wouldn’t stay or eat there. Yet the supermarket was truly outstanding. Managed to buy lots of things that had previously been elusive up in Scotland.

Continue heading further into the city. At one point thinking we had totally missed the area, we nearly turned back, defeated.

But two streets and two bridges further on we arrived. 

Not surprised we nearly missed it. From what we had read it seemed far bigger than it actually was. But it was still worth the walk. 

The atmosphere was amazing. It gripped you, transforming you back in time. The hairs stood up on the back of my neck when the musical chimes within the highly decorated church rung out a tune. Seemed quite delicate for an area that had  such a masculine feel about it. 

As quickly as we entered we exited the eerie peace and tranquillity back out into a thronging ethnic dominated shopping street. Full of cafes, bars and an assortment of oriental food shops in their typical colourful glory. The pavements were overflowing with a melange of various nations going about their daily business. 

The prominent red M sign of Macdonalds stood out of place on one corner. For me a respite. A comfort stop. 

So pop in for a coffee and snack. Only to be confronted by a paid turnstile to get onto the toilets. Have encountered a similar system in Athens’ but there you use a code from your receipt to obtain entry.  In Rotterdam, or at least in this location, it’s credit card payment access.

After a snack and relief we head into the heart of the area. A huge open market is at the centre of tenement buildings that wrap around the square. Definitely social housing, confirmed by the amount of graffiti on the walls, the groups of dubious individuals hanging around in the shadows and the discarded remnants from a flat. Mattress, broken chairs and other detritus just dumped in the road. It’s what’s called natural local colour. So we make a swift exit and retrace our steps back into the high street.

From here, it’s a delight. The street becomes a wide road, the main shopping artery that leads directly back into the heart of the modern city. Independent shops selling all manner of goodies line either side. Window displays that draw you in, many selling unusual and interesting products. 

Makes a change from the high street megaliths that we find in the UK.

On turning a corner we  encounter the same Brands, TKMax, and their own m&s and Waitrose. Similar format and  products, different name. Not surprising really. 

Eventually stumble upon a massive and highly decorative food hall. Stuffed to the gunnels with Artisan food outlets and popup restaurants. Truly amazing. Definitely the hip place to be seen in Rotterdam. All the young and middle aged trendies were to be found, eating and drinking or buying specialist produce for home consumption. The noise of happy people enjoying food and drink. Infectious. We came out with four different cured sausages. Pungent spicy creatures that couldn’t wait to be eaten. Yet they will have to be stored until we reach our highland home at Christmas. But the temptation is so great, one is demolished on our return to the ship. Very naughty.

Time disappears, and it’s soon necessary to head back. Yet not before skirting around the open air maritime museum. You could spend hours trawling through what was on display. Can see another visit on the books.