THE VOLCANIC ISLAND OF SANTA CRUZ, TENERIFE-CANARY ISLANDS

I was awake at 6am this morning.  I didn’t have to meet my tour at the Stardust Theatre till 9.30am.  So I decided to get some underwear washing done.  There had been a washing bag left on my bed last night that you could get done for 25USD.  It’s actually not too bad a price, but I only had a few shirts, a skirt and undies to wash and didn’t seem worth that.  So I washed my undies and I’ll save my washing for when I get to Kenya.  I can’t remember the last time I actually hand washed any clothes; I have always paid to get them done as the pricing hasn’t been too bad.  Sorry to my steward Linda when she walks into my bathroom this morning……  I am still sleeping with a light on in the cabin as I am afraid if I turn the light off I will just sleep through and miss the next day all together.  It really is pitch black in an inside cabin at any time of the day-black-the darkest of darkness and perfect sleeping conditions with the hum of the ships engine and a roll of the ocean to rock you to sle……….snore….snore….snore… Yeah I think I will keep that light on-I certainly didn’t want to sleep in today.  I had a full day tour booked of the island of Santa Cruz. 

The great thing of a later tour is that sunrise was at 8am and I was at breakfast at 8.30am, so I got to see the beginning of a new day.  Tenerife looked bigger than what I had imagined and as I ate my breakfast on the back deck of the ship I got a bird’s eye view of us coming into port, following another ship and the new days light hitting the very green slopes of the island as the city comes to life.  There were 3 other ships in port, there were 2 from the German company Aida and a ship called the Saga Sapphire which I have never heard of.  Plus us made 4.  It was going to be a busy day on the island.  I wonder where Costa has cruised to? 

The buffet breakfast is starting to take its toll on me and not food wise, even though that is getting to me but people just don’t watch where they are going.  They just pull out without checking, people bang into you as they try and pass without saying excuse me and not to mention old people that take 10 hours to put some fruit on their plate.  In my head everyone is Pops and Grandma and I have been very patient for the whole cruise, but today just seemed more pronounced than any other day.  Maybe they are getting cabin fever-hell maybe I am getting cabin fever?  I do suck it all up and smile as I know that one day that will be me.  I did discover something awesome at breakfast today and that is fresh pancakes which I hear you say no big deal, but I also found the fresh blackberry jam that goes with them and for the piece de resistance- the FRESH cream…. Oh yes-no pancake is complete without fresh cream on a fresh pancake.  It couldn’t have come at a better time when I was getting sick of the bacon and scrambled eggs that I have had every morning so far.       

Welcome to Tenerife-Santa Cruz-Canary Islands

Tenerife is an island created volcanically, building up from the ocean floor 20–50 million years ago.   

We arrived on time after yesterday’s 1 hour late arrival and we were just as swiftly deployed from the theatre to our waiting coaches for our day tour.  We had a few early hick-ups before we even left the port.  The air-conditioning was working, so we spent a few minutes waiting as the driver fixed that and then the microphone wasn’t working but a few more minutes and this was also sorted.  The coach looks brand new actually-it still smells like a brand new car and was a lap of luxury with full leather seats and clean windows.  I did the right thing again and took the back seat and again I was rewarded with being the only person to sit there and with the seats in front of me also spare.  It was a perfect photo taking position from the coach.  Our guide must have been 65+ and I had to really concentrate on his English but he knew what he was talking about as he had lived on the island his whole life.  He said we were lucky with the weather as it had been raining all week and was due to rain again tomorrow.      

Santa Cruz de Tenerife is the capital (jointly with Las Palmas) of the Canary Islands located about 210 kilometres off the north western coast of Africa within the Atlantic Ocean.  Between the 1833 territorial division of Spain and 1927 Santa Cruz de Tenerife was the sole capital of the Canary Islands, until 1927 when a decree ordered that the capital of the Canary Islands be shared, as it remains at present.  The port is of great importance and is the communications hub between Europe, Africa and Americas, with cruise ships arriving from many nations.  Its harbour is one of Spain's busiest; it comprises three sectors. It is important for commercial and passenger traffic, as well as for being a major stopover for cruisers en route from Europe to the Caribbean. The city also has one of the world's largest carnivals. The Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife now aspires to become a World Heritage Site, and is the most important of Spain and the second largest in the world.

The area on which now stands the city and the municipality of Santa Cruz de Tenerife has been the subject of human occupation since the time of the Guanches, approximately 2000 years ago, as attested by the archaeological sites found. The area was known to the Guanches, the first inhabitants of the island, as Añazo. Later, it became one of the most important ports of the Atlantic and the Canary Islands, a status it retains to this day. This former fishermen's village rose to prominence after a Volcano destroyed the port of Garachico in the 18th century.  Santa Cruz became the major port on the Island. It first won its independence from La Laguna and, in the 19th century, was awarded the status of Capital of the Canary Islands province by King Ferdinand VII.  Between 1833 and 1927 Santa Cruz de Tenerife was the sole capital of the Canary Islands. In 1927 a Royal decree ordered that the status of capital city of the Canary Islands would be shared with Las Palmas in Gran Canaria. This arrangement remains in place today.  The Santa Cruz de Tenerife-La Laguna Metropolitan Area forms the second largest city and metropolitan area of the European Union outside Europe.

The first thing we notice when we pull away from the port is the Opera House.  It is an interesting building that resembles slightly of the Sydney Opera House in its unusual shape.  It is an emblematic building of Spanish architecture. The building has an organic and famous structure in the shape of 'sails' with white blue rollers and has become a symbol of the city, island and archipelago. Designed by Santiago Calatrava, the Auditorium of Tenerife was constructed in 2003.  It is one of the main attractions of Tenerife and the Canary Islands.  From here we started our ascent up to the centre of the island and what was going to be the highlight of the day Teide National Park.  But first we had to pass through a part of the island, The Esperanza Forest.  Not only were there hundreds of massive green pines, but the views and the landscape we followed along the mountain ridge that runs through the north east of the island was INCREDIBLE.  Not only pine trees but you could also see cypresses, eucalyptus trees and a lot of other interesting plants. Apparently is often foggy in the forest because it is located in the zone where the clouds of the trade wind stick which in turn makes the forest so green-but we had a glorious day and even Carlos our guide, said that it was unusual to have such a clear day this time of year.  I couldn’t stop taking photos and I know I will have a lot to delete when I get home tonight.  We also got our first glimpse of Mt Teide which is not only the highest mountain on the island but also of Spain.  It was a magical view and Carlos stopped the coach twice for us to get off and be able to get some photos and then he also stopped a few times for us to take photos from the coach.  What a good man.  The forests of Canary Island Pine occur from 1000–2100 m, covering the middle slopes of the volcano. 

We stopped for a coffee break and blue loo as Carlos like to call it.  He said that you don’t need to pay for toilets on the island.  The Canarians see it as a human right to go to the toilet and don’t believe in charging you for it.  Nice sentiment I guess.  The restaurant we stopped at was busy.  There were another 3 coaches in plus motorbike riders and day trippers.  It was after all a Saturday and there were hikers and walkers also out and about.  There was one smart business woman selling chocolate coated almonds which don’t sound that amazing-until you ate one and they were just delicious.  Her try before you buy theory worked on me and before I knew it I had paid 11EUR for 2 small bags gift boxed.  I mean there weren’t even cashews which are always more expensive than almonds and I am just grateful that she didn’t have them as they would have been more expensive to buy.  I justified the cost as I haven’t really spent anything on this section, which is a GREAT thing but one little splurge, well 2, I also bought a beautiful small ceramic plate that I will be able to use for my jewellery or for nuts or something.  It hit me that I can really buy up if I want because my next stop is Kenya-Home.  I just have to carry the stuff, but what are a few souvenirs when I have 60kg of luggage already?  Pfffff a walk in the park.  For the record the plate only cost 10EUR-my almonds were more expensive than that!  But they were good and locally produced, so I was giving back to the community! 

After a 30 minute stop here it was time to head into the park.  Teide National Park is centred around 3718 m Mount Teide, the highest mountain of Spain and the islands of the Atlantic (it is the third largest volcano in the world from its base). It was declared a national park on 22 January 1954, making it one of the oldest national parks in Spain. It is also the largest national park in Spain and an important part of the Canary Islands. Another volcano located in the park (next to the Teide) is the Pico Viejo. It is the second largest volcano in the Canary Islands with its 3,135 m peak.  The park has an area of 18,990 hectares and was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO on June 29, 2007.  Since the end of 2007, it has also been one of the 12 Treasures of Spain. Midway up the mountain are the telescopes of the Observatorio del Teide. Territorially, it belongs to the municipality of La Orotava.  Teide is the most visited national park in Spain, with a total of 2.8 million visitors.  The Teide in 2010 became the most visited national park in Europe.  The Teide is the most famous natural icon not only of Tenerife but also of all the Canary Islands.  The Teide National Park has a large historical value. This place had an important spiritual significance to aboriginal Guanches in the park where important archaeological sites have been discovered. For the Guanches the Teide was a place of worship, thought it was the gate of hell.  The Teide National Park contains a huge range of invertebrate fauna, over 40% of which are endemic species, with 70 species only being found in the National Park. The invertebrate fauna include spiders, beetles, dipterans, hemipterans, and hymenopterae.  In contrast, Teide National Park has only a limited variety of vertebrate fauna.  Ten species of bird nest in the park. Three endemic reptile species are also found in the park.  The only mammals native to the park are bats and other mammals such as the mouflon, the rabbit, the house mouse, the black rat, the feral cat, and the Algerian Hedgehog have all been introduced to the park.

The minute we entered the park you could see the trees disappear and what Carlos like to call the ‘lunar’ escarpments started and he was right.  There wasn’t really a tree in sight the further into the park we drove.  There seemed to be a lot of green tumble weed looking plants and a lot of rock formations left from millions of years ago and old eruptions.  With just the one road in and out and at times tight on the side of small mountains traffic was a little congested at times-nothing to disrupt the tour, but someone would have to back up to let the coaches through and we also had week-end traffic that was on the road.  On the straights of the roads and cars behind us with the starkness of the landscape you did feel like you were on another planet.  Which seems to prove a little realistic apparently.  The similarity between environmental conditions and geological that Teide National Park and the planet Mars have turned this spot volcanic reference point for studies related to the red planet.  The analogies between the red planet and parts of Tenerife make the island the ideal place for testing instruments that will travel to Mars and reveal past or present life on Mars. In 2010 a research team tested at Las Cañadas del Teide, the Raman instrument to be sent in the next expedition to Mars, ESA-NASA ExoMars from 2016-2018.  In 2011 a team of United Kingdom researchers visited the National Park in June to test a method for finding life on Mars and finding places to try in 2012, new robotic vehicles. 

My question was when had the volcanos last erupted?  Well Tenerife is a rugged and volcanic island sculpted by successive eruptions throughout its history. There are four historically recorded volcanic eruptions, none of which has led to casualties. The first occurred in 1704, when the Arafo, Fasnia and Siete Fuentes volcanoes erupted simultaneously. Two years later, in 1706, the greatest eruption occurred at Trevejo. This volcano produced great quantities of lava which buried the city and port of Garachico. The last eruption of the 18th century happened in 1798 at Cañadas de Teide, in Chahorra. Finally, and most recently, in 1909 that formed the Chinyero cinder cone, in the municipality of Santiago del Teide, erupted.  About 800,000 years ago, two gravitational landslides occurred, giving rise to the present-day valleys of La Orotava and Güímar.  Finally, around 200,000 years ago, eruptions started that raised the Pico Viejo-Teide area in the centre of the island, over the Las Cañadas caldera.  Carlos was saying they are due for an eruption!  Hopefully not today.   

The lava plains were surrounding is and it was a surreal feeling.  The Teide–Pico Viejo complex and the Las Cañadas areas are the most prominent. It comprises a semi-caldera of about 130 km² in area, originated by several geological processes.  There was view point in the park where every man and his dog go to can see the crater, get to climb some stairs to get a higher view of the surrounds and it is also the start of hiking trails as well.  There were some clusters of volcanic lava ‘statues’ made millions of years ago that made for some great photography.  Considering how many people were here, surprisingly you get photos without too much fuss.  I climbed the stairs as far as they went before you had to walk on the rock face and then I was out.  No need killing myself for a photo of a view I had already taken 20m below.  We were given 30 minutes here and even though we were at an altitude of 2100m above sea level with the sun high in the sky it made for a great day of 20C, quite pleasant if nothing a little hot but I could see how it could get cold up here and known for snow in the winter months which is definitely hard to picture.    

We now had to make the 1.5 hour journey back to sea level.  I had my IPod so it was wonderful to just kick back, listen to some tunes and watch this amazing scenery pass me by.  Both Madeira and Santa Cruz have surprised me-I’m not sure what I expected but they are both stunningly gorgeous islands and I am looking forward to seeing what Lanzarote has to offer tomorrow.  We were now heading to the seaside town of Puerto de la Cruz which located on the north coast of Tenerife Island, in the Orotava Valley.  The coasts of Tenerife are typically rugged and steep and we saw this as we came back down the valley.  It really was stunning scenery-MAGNIFICENT.  We arrived into Puerto de la Cruz at 2pm for a late lunch and a look around this beachside resort.  Prior to the development of hotels and buildings, much of the area consisted of agricultural land. Considerable fiscal pressure led to land development, which saw the character shift from rural/agricultural to urban/tourism-based. Valle de La Orotava and Puerto de la Cruz were the first holiday resorts on the Canary Islands.  Puerto de la Cruz occupies a prominent place in the history of tourism of the islands.  Before mass tourism existed in Puerto de la Cruz, minority tourism catered for privileged elites who were interested in climatology, botany and the tranquillity of the location. The proximity of the Canary Islands to Europe meant that travel for health reasons was a primary driver for launching modern tourism here.  At the beginning of the 19th century, the environment of Puerto de la Cruz meant that it attracted many researchers and exclusive high-class groups from Europe. At this stage Puerto de la Cruz was a leading cultural centre accommodating many travellers and writers, including William Wilde and Alexander von Humboldt.  Puerto de la Cruz therefore gained an illustrious reputation in Europe, and when it came to the subsequent advent of modern tourism, the city was at an advantage compared with other tourist sites.  Tourism began to have an important role in the local economy in the late 19th century. It was in those years that the Grand Hotel Taoro was built and that old family houses began to be remodelled, for example as Marquesa or Monopol, transforming them into the first hotels in the city centre. Finally, the real tourism boom came in the 1950s, when the city began its transformation into the tourist reference point of the island and of the archipelago. 

I have to admit that I was hungry and after nearly a week of buffet food I wanted something ‘normal’ and I had McDonalds and it was delicious.  I would have loved to have done a little Tapa’s but we were only given 1 hour and 15 minutes here, so I decided to hoe into lunch, use the free Wi-Fi (welcome back) and then hit the streets to have a look around.  It was quite and I don’t mean people wise, there were people everywhere and I would hate to imagine what this place looks like in summer.  I am not sure I would want to be here in summer but I would expect music to be playing from somewhere.  There was one guy on a guitar and people peddling bags and necklaces and the restaurants were busy, but it was quite.  The main part of the promenade overlooks the Parque Marítimo César Manrique which is basically an entertainment complex, designed by architect César Manrique.  It contains a set of pools (with water drawn from the sea), hot springs jacuzzi, children's play areas and a sports facility.  There were deck chairs all around the 3 pools and a lot of sunburned looking British people sunning themselves. 

I walked the length of the promenade as far as time would permit and then turned around to walk the other side which was also the beach side of the area.  The island has 67.14 kilometres of beaches.  There are many black sand pebble beaches on the northern coast, while on the south and south-west coast of the island, the beaches have typically much finer and clearer sand with lighter tones.  I was standing on a black beach with the white of the waves breaking on the sand it made for a great photo.  There was a guy there selling rocks that he painted faces on and I instantly saw one that made me smile and after asking him how much they were I paid my 4EUR-I know you may think I got ripped off paying that for a rick I could pick up myself, but the face was well painted and it made me smile.  4 EUR well spent I say.  He signed the rock, dated it and put the place on the reverse side of it and I was now the happy owner of a pet rock.  Wait till you see the photos-you’ll see.  It was also a great opportunity to see the steep mastiffs of the coast-aka the steep cliff faces.     

It was time for me to high tail it back to the coach for our last stop of the day at a small village called La Orotava located within the Orotava Valley. It is only 5 km E of Puerto de la Cruz and about 33 km from the island's capital, Santa Cruz de Tenerife.  La Orotava has a rich land for cultivation and its economy was based on agriculture for centuries, with products such as wine, tomatoes, bananas and others that were exported mainly to Europe and the UK.  It was not until beginning of century XIX when the tourism industry began. The environment of La Orotava meant that it attracted many researchers and exclusive high-class groups from Europe. At this stage La Orotava was a leading cultural centre accommodating many travellers and writers, among others William Wilde and Alexander von Humboldt.  Currently, La Orotava is frequented all year by Northern Europeans, especially during the winter months, due to its mild climate.  This section was a walking tour and t was nice to get off and stretch the legs.  The architecture has been looked after here and the buildings reflected that.  Main points of interest included Casa Molina, Plaza de San Francisco La Casa de los Balcones and a few of the majestic homes still in the centre of town.

We left Orotava at 5pm to head back to the ship.  It took just under 45 minutes and with an all aboard call at 6.30pm we had made perfect timing the whole day.  High five to Carlos and our driver Roger to sticking to the plan and all the oldies that had also kept up all day and what a great day it had been.. One of the benefits of being on a lower deck is that the gangway is always from deck 4 or 5-so no waiting for lifts when I get back from tours.  I only had an hour till I had to get ready for my show at 7pm (7.30pm show-but need to get my seat) so I switched on the TV and started watching Hunger Games.  I pretty much mossed all the hype when this movie came out but I was really getting into it when I had to leave for the show.  Even then I was 5 minutes late and my German couple were already in place.  Since the second night the 3 of us have sat in the same seats.  He reads his book, she has her IPad and I am on my IPod playing solitaire till the show starts.  I am in row 6 and the 6^th seat in.  There is no particular reason for me, it just happens to be a good seat.  I didn’t bother to go on deck when we left at 7pm as it was totally dark and you wouldn’t have been able to see anything anyway.  Tonight’s show as was Broadway with the Norwegian Dancers.  They had picked 6 big shows and then did around 5-10 minutes from each one.  It was pretty good.  There was some cheesy dancing but overall I enjoyed the show.  The costumes were pretty impressive, so I guess that is a plus.  You could after the show, go and meet the dancers and get a photo taken if you wanted to, but they all seem pretty stuck up and don’t talk to the passengers when you see them around the ship.  No thanks.

A great day and looking forward to tomorrow.           

MAGNIFICENT MOUNTAINOUS MADEIRA

I woke at 6.45am this morning.  I had a day tour to catch and I was looking forward to getting off the ship.  The rocking and rolling was getting to me.  We were supposed to arrive into Funchal (Fun-chal) at 8am and we didn’t dock till 8.45am.  Doesn’t really look good for our first port of call on the itinerary and we were late.  The weather didn’t seem bad last night, so not really sure of the reason as to why, but the good thing is that sunrise was at 8.12am and we got to see an amazing sunrise over the water as the ball of red popped out from what looked like behind the ocean.  There aren’t many places where you can see a sun rise over water and this was a magic one, and really I don’t think there can be a disappointing sunrise in this whole world-the hope of a new day is born and another grateful day for me to be on this planet.

Costa was also in dock-our nemesis had also arrived.  I think there is always some unspoken rivalry when you see other ships on a similar itinerary.  I remember being in the Caribbean and there were 4 other ships in port, but we were on the Oasis of the Seas-so we trumped them all anyway, but as we pulled out of the Bahamas our tour director told us all to go out on deck and we would give them all a cheery wave goodbye and with the sound of the very loud ships horn we all screamed and waved as we pulled out.  It was so COOL.  I’ll never forget that and all the smiles of everyone around me.  What a thrill.  One of the ships tried to reply, I think it may have been a Carnival ship replying, but they had nothing on us with a ship of 6500 people versus 2000.  I must say that once we dock, it doesn’t take the staff long to get us all manoeuvred.  My tour was leaving from the Stardust Theatre and once our staff member got the okay on the radio, they start calling the tours by tour code and name and then the groups peel left and right of the theatre to the exits, for our tickets to be checked and a sticker given to us to tell us what coach we would be on for the day.  From there we walk along the promenade to the middle set of stairs and we descend 2 flights to the gangway, to have our ships card scanned that we were exiting the ship and then there were more staff to direct you to the right coach.  Considering the move approximately 500-1000 people using this method, from leaving the theatre to driving away on the coach was around 20 minutes.  Not bad at all.  There was the usual photo opportunity as you come off the ship, and a lot of people were saying no and I felt sorry for the staff and the photographer, so I stopped for a pose with no intention of buying the photo-really I did it just to help out the guys-and I will just go and check it later tonight to see how it turned out-really, just for a look……….. really……

Madeira is a Portuguese archipelago that lies just under 400 km north of Tenerife, Canary Islands, in the north Atlantic Ocean and an outermost region of the European Union.  Madeira was discovered by Portuguese sailors in the service of Henry the Navigator in 1419, and settled after 1420. The archipelago is considered to be the first territorial discovery of the exploratory period of the Portuguese Age of Discovery.  Today, it is a popular year-round resort, being visited every year by about one million tourists, noted for its Madeira wine, flowers, landscapes and embroidery artisans, as well as for its annual New Year celebrations that feature the largest fireworks show in the world, as officially recognised by the Guinness World Records, in 2006.  The main harbour in Funchal is the leading Portuguese port in cruise liner dockings, being an important stopover for commercial and trans-Atlantic passenger cruises between Europe, the Caribbean and North America. 

The first settlers began colonizing the islands around 1420 or 1425; the three Captains-major had led the first settlement, along with their respective families, a small group of minor nobility, people of modest conditions and some prisoners, who could be trusted to work the lands. To gain the minimum conditions for the development of agriculture, they had to rough-hew a part of the dense forest of laurisilva and to construct a large number of canals (levadas), since in some parts of the island there was excess water, while in others water was scarce. During this period, fish constituted about half of the settlers' diet, together with vegetables and fruits cultivated from small cleared parcels of land. Initially, these colonists produced wheat for their own subsistence, but later the quantity cultivated was sufficient to begin exporting wheat to continental Portugal.  In 23 September 1433, the name Madeira Island, or literally island of wood, began to appear in the first documents and maps. The name given to the islands corresponded to the large dense forests of native laurisilva trees that populated the island during the settlement.  However, when grain production began to fall, the ensuing crisis forced Henry the Navigator, as principal benefactor of the islands, to plant other commercial crops. The planting of sugarcane, and later Sicilian sugar beet, allowed the introduction of the "sweet salt" (as sugar was known) into Europe, where it was a rare and popular spice. These specialised plants, and their associated industrial technology, created one of the major revolutions on the islands and fuelled Portuguese industry. The expansion of sugar plantations in Madeira began in 1455, using advisers from Sicily and financed by Genoese capital (it would become an integral part of the island economy until the 17th century). The accessibility of Madeira attracted Genoese and Flemish traders who were keen to bypass Venetian monopolies.  By 1480 Antwerp had some seventy ships engaged in the Madeira sugar trade, with the refining and distribution concentrated in Antwerp. By the 1490s Madeira had overtaken Cyprus as a producer of sugar.

After the 17th century, as sugar production shifted to Brazil, São Tomé and Príncipe and elsewhere, Madeira's most important product became its wine. The British occupied Madeira as a result of the Napoleonic Wars, a consented occupation starting in 1807 and concluding in 1814 when the island was returned to Portugal.  Nevertheless, the island was a British Crown Colony for four months, and Britain had intentions of keeping it after the Napoleonic Wars, owing to its strategic position, but plans for its permanent annexation were abandoned shortly after the start of the occupation.  On 1 July 1976, following the democratic revolution of 1974, Portugal granted political autonomy to Madeira, celebrated on Madeira Day. The region now has its own government and legislative assembly.

The archipelago of Madeira is located 520 km from the African coast and 1,000 km from the European continent (approximately a one-and-a-half hour flight from the Portuguese capital of Lisbon).  The archipelago itself is a series of oceanic volcanic islands that date back to the Miocene (about 20 million years ago), and constructed from a hotspot in the Earth's crust of the African Tectonic Plate. Madeira, and the smaller Desertas Islands, are the youngest of these islands (dating from 4.6 to 0.7 million years), while Porto Santo, the smaller of the main islands, and is the oldest (approximately 14 million years).  The island of Madeira is at the top of a massive shield volcano that rises about 6 km from the floor of the Atlantic Ocean, on the Tore underwater mountain range.  Madeira Island represents 93% of the archipelago's area, with 90% of the landmass above 500 m. It is the largest island of the group with an area of 741 km² and a length of 57 km while approximately 22 km at its widest point with a coastline of 150 km. The island of Madeira is wet in the northwest but dry in the southeast. In the 16th century the Portuguese started building levadas or aqueducts to carry water to the agricultural regions in the south. The most recent were built in the 1940s. Madeira is very mountainous, and building the levadas was difficult and often sentenced criminals or slaves were used. Many are cut into the sides of mountains, and it was also necessary to dig 40 km of tunnels, some of which are still accessible.  Today the levadas not only supply water to the southern parts of the island but provide hydro-electric power. There are over 2,170 km of levadas and they provide a remarkable network of walking paths. Some provide easy and relaxing walks through beautiful countryside, but others are narrow, crumbling ledges where a slip could result in serious injury or death. 

For such a small island it has a lot amazing history and the second we left the port and started to ascend the mountains it was also a beautiful island.  I had no perceptions on what to expect, no idea so to see the stunning views as we wound our way through small villages, literally wound-the roads are so windy and at points not wide enough for a bus to pass a car on a bend without one of us stopping to let one through I started to get a feel for the island.  It really is hilly; the road we were travelling on was basically on the side of a mountain.  I wonder how many accidents they have where the cars verge off the cliffs of these roads.  I couldn’t imagine driving them at night time.  Scary.  All the villages are set up on the side of mountains and they all have terraces where they grow bananas, grapes and other agriculture depending on the altitude.  Everywhere you looked was mountains, homes located on them and terraces.  I dong think I would like to live here as everything looked like it was going to be an uphill walk.  Everywhere is uphill.  UPHILL.  Besides that the island has a nice feel, a country, clean and modest feel about it.

Our first view of the tour was Câmara de Lobos.  The location of the modern town is believed to be the original landing point for the Portuguese discoverer João Gonçalves Zarco, who is credited with the discovery of the Madeira Islands. When the explorer disembarked in this area (1419), he observed a thin cliff that extended into the ocean, and another cliff face that formed an amphitheatre-like harbour that could shelter ships from Atlantic storms. There Zarco and his men also found a large colony of marine animals that would become the reason for naming this area Câmara de Lobos.  The name, lobos, is a Portuguese derivation for sea-lions, which were the animals discovered by Zarco and his men in the sheltered bay. Because of the large colony of these animals, the area was baptised câmara dos lobos.  The town is also known for Winston Churchill paintings as it is apparently where he got inspiration for his paintings after a visit here in the 1950’s. 

We stopped at 9.45an for a view point photo at Pico da Torre.  This had an amazing view over 30% of the island and also a bird’s eye view of Camara de Lobos.  A well-known stop as there were also 10 other coaches, taxis and rental cars all atop the lookout but it didn’t deter from the view and it was magic.  At 10.20am we stopped again for the highest view we would have of the day and which also happened to be at a small restaurant.  They had a tray ready of the local, traditional drink called Poncha for us to sample and if we liked it we could buy bottles of the stuff.   Poncha is a traditional alcoholic drink from the island of Madeira, made with distilled alcohol made from sugar cane juice, honey, sugar, lemon rind and with different fruit juices according to the version of Poncha, but traditionally lemon juice is used.  It is mixed together with a mixing tool created in Madeira officially called a mexelote but more commonly known as a Caralhinho (little cock), it is in fact a type of muddler created in Madeira. Caipirinha is based on Poncha but tastes nothing like it let me tell you.  I had a single sip and the stuff was vile.  It tasted like tequila to me and I really had to make an effort to drink the last remaining but, as all the glasses were going back to the try empty.  Surely I am not the ONLY one who doesn’t like it-am I?  It is said in Madeira that Poncha cures the common cold and people are encouraged to drink it if they have cold like symptoms and I can understand why.  That stuff would kill anything in its way-ughhhhh.  I have to rate that up there with the Araki that I had in Ethiopia-actually to be fair, Araki was so much more vile-just thinking about it now turns my stomach.  The drink may be based on an Indian drink called Pãnch/Panch, in Hindi Panch which means five and the drink was originally made with five ingredients: alcohol, sugar, lemon, water, and tea or spices. This is also where the English drink Punch has originated from.

There were also bottles of Madeira for sale, of the wine variety, but no samples unfortunately.  The island is also known for its own unique wine that is produced locally.  Madeira is a fortified wine produced in a variety of styles ranging from dry wines which can be consumed on their own as an aperitif, to sweet wines more usually consumed with dessert. Cheaper versions are often flavoured with salt and pepper for use in cooking.  The islands of Madeira have a long wine making history, dating back to the Age of Exploration when Madeira was a standard port of call for ships heading to the New World or East Indies. To prevent the wine from spoiling, neutral grape spirits were added. On the long sea voyages, the wines would be exposed to excessive heat and movement which transformed the flavour of the wine. This was discovered by the wine producers of Madeira when an unsold shipment of wine returned to the islands after a round trip. Today, Madeira is noted for its unique winemaking process which involves heating the wine up to temperatures as high as 60 °C for an extended period of time and deliberately exposing the wine to some levels of oxidation. Because of this unique process, Madeira is a very robust wine that can be quite long lived even after being opened-our guide said even up to 10 years after a bottle has been opened it would still be good to drink and would even taste better. 

From here we were only a 2 minute drive to Cabo Girão which is a lofty sea cliff located along the southern coast of the island.  Cabo Girão is a popular lookout point, and starting point for hikers. It is a diamond-shaped sea-cliff escarpment from 560 metres to 589 metres above sea level.  Cabo Girão lies between two river-valleys that flow into the Atlantic Ocean. The escarpment/cliffs extend approximately one kilometre in length of the cliff and reaches from approximately three kilometres between the urban sprawl of Câmara de Lobos and the river-valley of Quinta Grande.  Although brochures explain that it is the second highest cliff in Europe, at least five European cliffs Hornelen at 860 metres, Cape Enniberg at 750 metres, Vixía Herbeira at 613 metres, Preikestolenat 604 metres and Slieve League at 601 metres are higher. Hmmm funny how our guide didn’t mention that small fact.  Her spiel was it is the highest in Europe and the second highest in the world after Taiwan where their cliff is 720m above sea level.  There has to be some misinterpretation on some-ones behalf somewhere.  You only had to walk about 5 minutes to get to the cliff face and there was a glass floor that extended over the cliff-it was pretty cool and with such a clear day we had a magnificent view, not only of the drop and the terraced fields below us but also up the coastline as far as the eye could see.  MAGNIFICENT.  The terraced fields located below the sheer cliffs were at one time only accessible by boat. In August 2003, a cable car was installed on the slope of the cliff so farmers could reach these low-lying fields.  It was busy here as well, with other coaches all doing the same thing as us, but not so much so that I could get all the photos I wanted without too much hassle and I have to say that was the highlight of the day by far. 

It was only a half day tour, so we had one more stop before heading back to the ship and that was at a sleepy fishing village of Ribeira Brava.  It is located along the southern coast approximately in the centre.  In 2001 its population was about 12500 inhabitants.   The Ribeira Brava ravine and river valley extends 10-12m from the slopes of the west-central mountains of Madeira. Its waters provide the primary sources of drinking-water (a small reservoir collect surface run-off) to the area and electricity to the island of Madeira. Approximately ten tributaries feed this river, whose course ends in the Serra de Água, and much later empties into the Atlantic along the village's coast.  We were the only coach here at this small village and we were given an hour to look around, have a coffee and visit the church.  The primary industry for the village, besides fishing is handicraft and there were some beautiful handmade lace products ranging from table clothes, napkins, bags, hankies, doilies and pretty much anything that could be stitched and laced they had it.  If my mum was alive she would have LOVED this place, it was right up her alley.  It’s not really my thing, but I did find what I think maybe the purchase of the cruise and that is a woven purse.  I had bought an exact replica when I was in Lisbon last year in June and it was big enough I could fit my camera, phone and passport in and I loved it to death, literally loved it to death.  It lasted till I got to Buenos Aries in February and after nursing a rip in the purse that I had persisted with for around 5 weeks-it was time to let it go.  It was that good, I couldn’t toss it and I sent it home.  Sad I know, but I have found an exact same one here today-but instead of having Portugal hand stitched on it, it has Madeira.  What a score and I am so happy.  Sad again I know.  After my AWESOME buy and a look in the church I did manage to stumble on the post office!  Now this was also great as I was able to get my Globetrotters Book stamped with my Madeira stamp.  I had to buy a stamp to go in the book and then he was happy to ink stamp it with the date and place.  You little beauty.  There is a sense of accomplishment when I get that book stamped and I would really, be really sad if anything happened to it.  After an ice-cram in a café that looked directly onto the Atlantic Ocean we were back in the coach for the 20 minutes back to the ship.  We bypassed the small windy roads and took the major highway that runs from the north to the south of the island.  We must have passed through 9 tunnels getting is back and the views were just as good the whole way.  Every time we popped out of a tunnel we were witness to some amazing view, whether it be hundreds of banana trees, terraces, villages on the side of mountains, it really is an incredible island.

We were dropped back at 2pm to the ship.  The Costa ship does look good.  It think it maybe one of the new ships, the Deliziosa.  I was still loyal to my Norwegian Spirit and after asking for permission to walk to the end of the dock and get a picture of ‘our’ girl I was back on the ship and heading to lunch, I was famished.  I went back to my cabin to relax for a few hours and then I was back on deck at 5pm for our departure.  I love this time of day when the ships pull out.  It is generally just before sunset and you can get some incredible photos of the ship, the port and also the sun on the water and today was no different.  There was a nip to the air but nothing too uncomfortable and we actually left a few minutes early AND before Costa.  I guess if we are all on board ready to go, why not.  Try and avoid a late arrival tomorrow into Santa Cruz aka Tenerife and our first of 2 stops in the Canary Islands.  I enjoyed my hour on deck listening to tunes till Madeira was a speck and the sun had lost all its’ glory’. 

As a creature of habit, I think we all are in some way-I was at the Theatre at 7pm to get to ‘my’ seat which is now officially 6 rows from the front and smack bang in the middle.  Besides getting there early to get ‘my’ seat it also avoids the debacle when people sit on the ends and there are seats still in the middle and people have to ask them to stand, for them to shimmy past them to get to the middle seats.  In people’s defence there are some older folks that this would be an issue for, but people who are more mobile should be moving in.  It was like on the coach today.  I like sitting at the back anyway, but I should be taking these seats as I am young and can shuffle my way to the back.  It’s great actually as I had the whole back seat to myself and no-one sat in front of me either.  A perfect way to enjoy a day tour.  The show tonight was a magician called Cripton and his wife Renata.  He had a few big titles to his name including winner of the first prize for Great Illusions and the Grand Prix of the Italian Magical Club, 1° Prize "Magic Act and Great Illusions", 3° Prize "The Magic Hands" and last year he won Magician of the Year 2012 which is up there with David Copperfield, Roy and Siegfried and Chriss Angel.  It was performance that is for sure.  He did a lot of hand waving and flourishes, the spotlights helped I think with some tricks and the crescendo of the music all added to the act.  He was very much a showman always asking for the claps but I do have to say there were a few tricks there that I just could not work out and he pulled them off effortlessly.  There were 2 that really struck me over his hour long show and they were: one he got 2 people from the audience and it was using balls and he started with the ball in the hand and then it was gone oldie but as the trick went on the balls were ending up in the volunteers hands.  That’s impressive.  How does he do that?  The other one was he got an older gentleman from the audience that had on a jacket.  Cripton then had his hands tied behind his back, Renata tied the knots and then the volunteer tied some as well and then there was a larger rope that was tied around his neck and then his arms with the help of Renata and said volunteer again.  Then old man was blindfolded and they both went behind a curtain and a minute later Cripton was wearing the old guy’s jacket under all the ties.  Now how does he do that?  It was a show of great illusions and as much as I hate over the top acting I was astonished and I enjoyed his show of escapology and mentalism.  He is doing 2 more shows on the ship, different from tonight, so I will make sure I go and see them. 

That was my day in Madeira and what a great day I had.  I’m looking forward to Tenerife tomorrow. 

I think I may have found my sailing mojo again. 

ROLLING DAY AT SEA-DAY 2

I woke this morning at 2am to the sound of the wardrobe doors sliding open and close in sequence with the roll of the waves.  I guess we have exited out of the calm of the Strait of Gibraltar and we are now in the open ocean.  I fell back to sleep with the roll of the waves till 8am not thinking too much of it.  When I woke at 8am the ship really was rolling and as I headed to breakfast you really had to make sure you had a good foot on the ground and a hand out for a rail.  It was like walking 2 steps forward and one to the side.  I am used to saying that I don’t get sea sick/motion sickness but I have found I have had my moments on the odyssey.  The two that come to mind was the ferry crossing from Stornoway to the Isle of Skye, that was a shocking crossing and one of the roughest water crossings I have EVER done and I got sick.  And the other was when Em drove home to London from Inverawe on the windy roads I was feeling dodgy, but no sickness.  Is motion sickness something you can get later in life?  I finished breakfast and as I had done the previous day, I made my way to the front of the ship, found my little nook that over hangs the ship and set up my computer to get some blogging done.  I was joined by the Dutch guy that sat with me yesterday, so after a few pleasantries he turned to his crossword and I listened to some tunes and typed my little heart out.

So what was on the daily programme today?  NOTHING at that interested me.

Stretch and relax

Sudoku challenge

Acupuncture for arthritis

Latin Fitness

Eat more to weigh less

Behind the scenes bingo tour

Basketball tournament

Spa seminar-wrinkle remedy

Informal Cards and bridge game

Napkin folding class

Art Auction

Belly dancing class

Relieving back pain

Indoor cycling

So nothing really appealed.  So again I was happy to just be typing with a magnificent view.  I do have to say that sitting at the front of the ship when it is a little rough probably wasn’t the best move for me and after 2 hours, at 11am, I had to pack up all my things, say goodbye to my Dutch friend and head to my room.  I really was feeling quite green.  It wasn’t so much that it was rough weather, but the open-ocean and just the natural roll of the waves in a 75,338 ton ship was too much for me.  There was one thing I did miss on the daily programme was there was a shore excursion talk at 11am.  I turned on the TV when I got back to my room and they have a ship channel and they told me about it at 11.20am for an 11am start.  I have to admit I didn’t look online at any of the tours or what is a ‘must’ to see before the cruise, so I am a little torn on which tours to do, but I HAVE to do it today as we arrive into Madeira tomorrow-so I will look at it over lunch and drop them off at the shore excursion desk in the afternoon.  But man I would have loved to have gone to the talk.  My boo boo.         

For some reason at the buffet all the seats are always busy inside, but if you head outside there are always free tables.  It was a little windy yesterday, but it was a glorious day today and the free air was going to do me good, so I was armed with all my blogging tools and after a light lunch of salad I read my book till 4pm.  I could see the Costa cruise was still to our right, so in am assuming they will be in port tomorrow and I will be able to see what ship it is.  I wonder where and when that cruise started as I could only find the NCL cruise, but to be honest I still would have chosen NCL as they are an American Ship where-as Costa is Italian and I know it doesn’t sound like a big deal but it can be.  Costa’s announcements are made in the language that has the most nationalities on board for that cruise and being an Italian line, they get a lot of Italians.  Then all the game shows, shows, shore excursion explanations are all in Italian.  It gets a bit much after a week and I will always pick an American ship I think based on that.  It depends what you are looking for in a cruise I guess.  I was surprised with Norwegian Spirit that everything on board was in USD and staff spoke English as I was just expecting Spanish for some reason and it really did make a pleasant surprise, especially with everything in USD-nice to give the GBP and the EUR a kick in the arse for a while.    

I have done a lot of cruising across a lot of companies and I have to say they all pretty much have the same formula.  From on board spa’s and specials, the sale of chains by the meter, the selling of jewellery-particular stones for particular countries, watches, the portrait photos, drinks packages, Bingo and the seminars, they all pretty much mirror image each other.  It obviously works and certain ships would discern to a particular age group.  For example there are lot more older people on this cruise so the seminars are more age appropriate, skin care, weight loss, memory etc…. where the cruise I did in the Caribbean was more geared to the younger generation and families to pub crawls, pool games, more music and ‘how to’ seminars.  It is an interesting field cruising, and people either love it or hate it.  I do still think that you need to travel with people you know, but in saying that I am still enjoying my time on board-its day 3 and I am looking at getting off the ship tomorrow.    

I made my way back to my cabin at 4pm for a nana rest.  This cruising gig takes the wind out of you.  Walking back to my cabin you can see remanent of the previous ship, Superstar Leo.  There is a lot of Asian influence in the specialty restaurants, there is a plaque in the main atrium, some of the art pieces are Asian, there is Chinese writings on some things and my inside cabin painted window is a shot from the Superstar Leo facing a tropical island.  I cruised on the Superstar Virgo with my mum 6 years ago-the Leo and Virgo are sister ships, but nothing looks familiar to me on this one.  It is strange that NCL’s catch call is Cruise like a Norwegian-but it is an America ship-so I am not sure where the Norwegian theme comes in except obviously from the name.  NCL are introducing 2 new ships into their fleet-one this year called the Breakaway and one next year, but I am not sure what they are calling that one.  Amazing to think that any company is still building new ships.   

So what goes into feeding 2000 passengers for a nine night cruise?

Here is a grocery shopping list for the Norwegian Spirit: 

907kg of cereal

1,125kg of butter

675kg of pasta

1,170 Cheese

9,900kg Fresh fruit

907kg of sugar

48,000 fresh eggs

2,925kg of fish

450kg of veal

450kg of lobster

5,400kg of poultry

5,400kg of beef

2,250L of ice cream

1,170kg of seafood

4,500 cups of yogurt

405kg of coffee

9,900kg of vegetables

7,200L of milk

2,250kg of rice

3,600kg of potatoes

3,150kg of flour

150 different types of wine

As promised I was going to go to all the shows this week and tonight was FourEver.  I wasn’t even sure what to expect, but at 6pm I got ready and at 7pm I made my way to the Stardust Theatre.  I like getting there early, getting my seat and then I play solitaire till the lights go down at 7.30pm and then 4 men in black suits appeared on stage and sung their opening song Sea of Love in Spanish.  It was AMAZING and the next 50 minutes were just like a paid concert for me.  They were like the Ten Tenors, but only 4 of them as their name suggests, and they had a hint of Human Nature with some swanky little moves during their songs and they even had a very deep baritone guy, just like Toby Allen, that was just phenomenal to hear, it was so deep.  If I wasn’t so tired I would have gone back to their 9.30pm show to see them again.  Now that is what I call a show!  From the show to buffet dinner and I have to say I still wasn’t feeling so great.  It will be good to get off the ship tomorrow to just get off a moving vessel.  I always thought it would be cool to do a transatlantic crossing from New York to London, which I believe is 6 days at sea, but after today, I am not sure if I will have the stomach for it.    

So that goes down as another day at sea.  It’s hard to believe we are on day 3 of the cruise already and I still haven’t unpacked yet-my room steward must think I am a lazy arse!!!!!!  I have high FIVED myself that my blog entries are nearly there.  To all the people who are sending me messages, I am only online to load the blogs and then pretty much off again.  At 40c a minute I can’t be online for too long as the clock is literally ticking using satellite internet.  It is killing me to not to be able to load any of my pictures, but at least I know I have a good internet connection at the hotel in Barcelona and 3 days to do it all before I have a clean slate heading into Kenya and also the start of a new blog.

www.berniesafricanodyssey.blogspot.com

FIRST DAY AT SEA-IBIZA CHANNEL AND THE STRAIT OF GIBRALTAR

So I have 2 days at sea before we get to the first port of call which is Funchal (pronounced Fun-chal)-Madeira which is a territory of Portugal.  I LOVE cruises that have days at sea.  Firstly it gives you a chance to explore the ship without urgency, you get to sleep in and it just feels so much more relaxed.  In fact out of the 9 nights we are on the ship there are only 4 stops and 5 days at sea.  PERFECT.  Especially for me as this is a time filler for me till I could arrive into Africa and more days at sea means less money spent and more down time.  Maybe I am getting too old for this travel gig?  The sunrise in this part of the world was at 8.18am this morning.  Hmmmm maybe I will be able to see a sunrise here before I leave?  I told you it rises late here but according to the programme it is due to set at 6.17pm, which is a little later to what I am used to but then we are winding our clocks back an hour tonight.  I wonder how many oldies will get confused with that?

So Day 2 at sea and what’s on the entertainment programme?

Balls of Fury-ping pong tournament

Salsa dance class

Awesome Abs

Body sculpt boot camp

Acupuncture for back pain

General trivia

Look 10 years younger seminar

Detox for health and weight loss

Who am I competition

Dodgeball tournament-love to see oldies play that

Crazy golf challenge

70’s line dance class

Informal cards and bridge game

Non-surgical facelift seminar

Walking in comfort presentation

Pathway to yoga

The art of art collecting

2-for-1 HAPPY HOUR-okay now we are talking-but not fun on your own

There were probably a few seminar/presentations I should go to, but do any of them appeal-not really and you know what? I am glad.  It meant I could find a corner of the ship, or the bow as it worked out, and catch up on my blogging with a marvellous sunny sky shining through the floor to ceiling glass windows without guilt that I was missing out on doing something fun.  Guilt free blogging-love it and where I am sitting is a fantastic view.  It is an enclave that juts out over the side of the ship and is full glass.  I got a marvellous view of the entire length of the ship and I could also see the proceedings in the Galaxy of the Stars lounge.  I watched the salsa dance class and the bingo in the morning.  There was no one here when I got here at 9am and then at 11am there was a mad rush for all the seats-it pays to be early but we got asked to leave at 12.15pm as there was a private function in the lounge at 1pm.  It was probably a blessing in disguise as I had written and loaded 4 blogs and was working on another and I think I needed a break. 

So after having breakfast at 8.30am it was time for lunch at 12.30pm.  I am really watching what I am eating, as it would be so easy to put on so much weight on a cruise.  I’m lucky, looking at the food it all doesn’t appeal to me, not saying there is anything wrong with it, it just isn’t my style, so it makes it easier for me to keep to my plan.  Trying to fill my plate more with salads than anything else…yeah well we will see how that goes over the next 8 days.  I saw my Danish friends again at they are always so nice to me-lovely actually and they are a breath of fresh air every time I see them.

The weather has been colder than what I expected.  The sun is out and shining, there is just a small nip in the air, especially at night and in the windy parts of the ship.  I was on deck this afternoon and wind was blowing at 48mph-it was WINDY!!!!!  Looking at the weather forecasts they have displayed on TV around the ship, it looks like it is going to warm up the further west we move, so that is great news as I didn’t bring a lot of warm clothes with me, I left them in the hotel in Barcelona!  After lunch I took a walk around the ship and I noticed that we were following a Costa Cruise ship.  I tried to use my camera to read which one it was and my immediate thoughts were of the poor people that were on the Costa Concordia, which is the ship that capsized and 20 people died.  I asked myself how could people die in a ship that just turned on its side.  But after now being in an inside cabin where there is no window and when you switch the lights off you can’t see a thing.  To imagine people in there with no lights, no idea on what is happening and disorientated I can easily see how confusing it would be and scary.  Touchwood that we have no trouble on this cruise and it wasn’t until yesterday when I Google’d this ship that I saw what an accident prone history this ship has had that I am glad I asked myself the question about Costa as I am now on a ship with a bad track record.  

Points of interest for today included passing through the Ibizia Channel at 4.50am at 2.30pm we passed Cabo de Gata TSS which is the Traffic Separation Scheme and at 9.30pm we will enter the Strait of Gibraltar where Spain will be on our right and Morocco will be on our left and at 11pm we will pass the Europe Point and Gibraltar Rock.  Another interesting fact is that I have decided to not buy the ship photos like I ALWAYS do when I do a cruise.  I am one of those people that buy the welcome photo, the port photos and if I’m with people we will do pose photos.  Ideally I would love to just get them saved to a USB stick, I don’t need a hard copy, but ships just won’t do it and at 20 USD a pop, I don’t need them and I should be saving my money and not wasting on cruise photos-right?  This is a BIG deal for me and people who know me know that it is.  I looked at my arrival photo this afternoon and I looked and then walked away-yes I walked away…..  High five me!!!!!

I was back to my room at 3pm where I had some down time, read my book, watched a little TV and then continued my blogging.  Tonight was ‘Dress Up or Not Night’ and you could have your photo taken with the Captain and all those cheesy photo stations were up around the ship to get your portrait pictures taken.  I decided to don the make-up and wear one of the dresses I bought with me, but not the wedding one, as I wasn’t going to be eating in the fancy restaurant, but I also didn’t want to look like a dag and it was a happy medium as there were about 50-50 that got dressed to the 9’s and those who didn’t.  I would have felt super uncomfortable if I had of worn the dress I wore to the wedding.  As promised I got ready for the show tonight.  I got to the Stardust Theatre at 7pm and they had just opened the doors, so I was early as the show didn’t start till 7.30pm but I wanted to get a seat and not look like a loser coming in on my own and looking for a single seat.  An old couple from the UK sat next to me and we got chatting till the show started and they were really nice, so I am glad that I did make the effort to get out.  The show was Soul Rockin’ Nights with major rock songs sung over the ages it was good.  It wasn’t an amazing show, but it was entertaining and I found it funny that one of the staff I had seen strutting his stuff around the ship, like he was King Pin, was actually one of the dancers and he wasn’t that great.  Dufus.

After the show I headed to the buffet, ate my dinner and then I was on my way back to my cabin at 9.30pm.  I had my blog to complete getting me to Barcelona and I am now officially only 2 days behind.  I will have this all up to date by the time we get to our first port and then I can write each day as we go.  Yee ha……..   

  

MY NEW HOME FOR THE NEXT 9 NIGHTS-WELCOME ABOARD THE NORWEGIAN SPIRIT

I woke at 6.45am this morning-again before my alarm, and man was I sore.  It felt like I had done a gym work out my muscles were so sore!  Seriously-and the bruise on my upper arm was turning a lovely black shade.  I guess you can’t expect to carry 60kg for 20 minutes in the morning and then for 45 minutes in the afternoon and not have some part of your body feel the effect the next day.  Especially when I am so fit-NOT……….

I had time to think about the last time I was here and it was in the July of 2010 on my 2 week Contiki Spanish Spree.  What a great tour that was.  I made some great friends on that tour including my 2 Contiki Husbands, whom I have seen since the tour-and my Contiki Greek posse of which there were 6 of us from Spain continuing onto Contiki Greece.  To think of those trips now and just how much alcohol I drank, it is amazing that I am still alive.  Barcelona was a MASSIVE night for us as we were here during the Football Final, don’t ask me which one as I don’t know, but Barcelona were playing Manchester United I think and we knew either way if they lost the city would burn or if they won they would party till the wee hours.  We started in a small ‘off’ street bar and from memory it was called The Black Sheep’ where you could order a 5L tower of sangria, and we did, and then we moved down onto the waterfront and found this great bar that was serving 1EUR spirits, 1EUR beers and 3EUR jagerboms and we just danced and drank the night away.  Needless to say it was massive and I woke in the morning to a knock at my door and Marc standing there telling me I had 15 minutes till the coach leaves and I had clothes everywhere and vomit in my hair from the kebab I had eaten on the way home.  Oh yeah-good times and great memories……..  So here is a fabulous shout out to my awesome Contiki Spanish crew and I will make sure I have a glass of sangria in our honour upon my return back to Barcelona.  Who can believe that has been nearly 2 years this July?  2 YEARS!!!!

I’m on my last section of my travel.  I know I have said it all before, but all going to plan I will at least be in one place for at least 3 months, when I have that ticket booked back to London in May.  I picked May as I can only stay in Kenya or Ethiopia on a tourist visa for 3 months, so I need to get out of the country around then anyway and by that time I will know if there are things that I will need, I can buy them in London and bring them back with me.  I do have to make a trip to Ethiopia at some stage as I left a bag of clothes, books and a camera with Zeme that I want to collect.  Whether I see him or not is still to be decided as I can get Minalu to get them for me and I can do a weekend run to Addis to get it.  The flights are only 145USD return so it is all do-able and I want my stuff, assuming that he still has it all. 

But today I am off on a 9 night cruise of the Canary Islands.  I have always had this on a travel list somewhere, but it hasn’t been high, well as high as other places anyway.  But timing, dates and price all worked in, so I know find myself in Barcelona and about to start the cruise.  I always swore that I would NEVER do another cruise on my own after the cruise I did of the Caribbean 4 or 5 years ago now on a Royal Caribbean ship called Oasis of the Seas.  At the time she was the biggest ship in the world and I had booked with a friend to do a 7 night cruise of the Caribbean.  Well things went a little pear shaped and 6 weeks out my friend told me she couldn’t go.  Well it wasn’t from lack of trying, but I couldn’t find anyone to travel with and I had a choice to make I lose the money I had paid if I cancelled, or I still go and I pay double as I was now a single in the cabin.  With all things weighed up I still decided to go, as I was doing a week in Las Vegas beforehand thinking I would make friends at dinner and I would have some company.  Well how wrong I was.  Oasis of the Seas was the largest cruise ship only to be surpassed by her sister ship 12 months later by 5cm and they both hold 6500 guests.  Yes that is a lot of people, but it certainly didn’t feel like it on the ship, she was massive, so much so that of I did meet people on day tours and say we’ll catch up on board, you would never see them again.  There were 24 eating outlets on the ship and after the 3^rd night of NO-ONE turning up at my table at the al-a-carte restaurant, I decided to eat the last 4 nights in the buffet with my book.  It was a lonely cruise and I was lucky to see the same person twice for the whole cruise.  It was depressing.  She was a great ship, beautiful, different from any other cruise I had done-but a ship that should be done with people you know.  So after that I swore I would not do a cruise on my own again.

Well I think I am now in a different place to where I was 5 years ago.  I am much more grateful for….well everything and I do know that this will be my last lap of luxury for a while.  Even if I do decided to keep travelling if things go south with my plans, my backup plan is to travel West Africa and I know there certainly won’t be any luxury on that trip of 3 months.  Oh yes, one always needs to have a trip up their sleeve, even if I don’t do it for another 12 months, that is the trip I would want to do next.  So how did I end up doing a cruise again…on my own?  Initially I was heading to Ethiopia and Minalu wasn’t able to help me till early February as he had 2 trips in January, and with my wedding in London in December, I was in Europe, and had to find somewhere cheap (in Europe) where I could kill 3 weeks.  Cheap being the operative word.  I was lucky I was able to extend my stay in London without it costing me a cent due to Paps and Em and I started looking at packages to the Canary Islands, staying for a week or 2.  The prices didn’t seem too bad, but it was low season and then I thought of a cruise, Google’d it, found the NCL cruise, the cost was cheap and I decided to just book it.  This was going to be me time anyway.  I was prepared this time and if I meet people then that would be a bonus.  I knew I would have blogs to catch up on and the great thing with this cruise was it was 9 nights and there are only 4 ports of call.  I love days at sea, so this was a perfect time filler for me and I went ahead and booked it. 

The cruise leaves at 7pm tonight and you could start boarding from 12 noon, last check-in was at 6pm.  As I have 3 nights back in Barcelona after my cruise and having been there 3 times previously I didn’t feel the need to race out and see the city, I can do that when I come back-so I had a leisurely morning at the hotel, breakfast was included and at 11.30am decided I would start to get my bags into storage at the hotel and make my way to the ship.  With my 2 bags in hand, I went to the first floor as directed yesterday and you need a key to get into the storage room, so I headed to reception, go a key and made my way back to the first floor.  Once I got in I found out that the storage is actually the self-store lockers where you pay money, like at airports.  Well I didn’t have my purse with me did I and I had to make sure I had enough change as it was 2EUR per day.  I was gone 9 days so needed 18EUR in coins.  So I left the bags in the unlocked locker, headed back to my room to get my purse, found I only had 10EUR in coin, went back to reception to get change and he could only give me 5EUR in coin, so I had to go 4 doors down to Subway to purchase a water to get my last 3EUR I needed and then headed back to the hotel and the first floor.  There was another couple in there and after speaking to them they were on the same cruise as me and they told me that the lockers weren’t working.  GREAT.  But there were 2 coins slots, so with a wave from them and a see you on the ship-I tried my luck with the other set of lockers.  Well mine worked just fine for 1 coin and which gave me a time of 24 hours.  There was no other way I could slot in more coins to give me more days in sequence.  One coin = 24 hours, that’s all you could have.  It’s one of things if you keep putting in money, you don’t want to lose it so I left my stuff there not comfortable with the fact that this time tomorrow my door was going to pop open and not be locked for the next 8 days.  Not happy, as I was leaving some valuable things behind.  The alternative was taking it all with me and this thought just broke me into a cold sweat.  There had to be another way.

I headed back to my room and collected the monster and my wheelie bag and made my way down to reception.  They have to have somewhere in the hotel they could keep my things surely.  So I told the reception guy that it only lets you store stuff for 24 hours and were they able to store it for me somewhere, I said I was happy to pay and his suggestion was to go to the train station as they have lockers there. Hmmm I thought about that and told him I didn’t have time to run around the city and the key that unlocked it all was I told him I was coming back to the hotel for 3 nights after the cruise.  Well this seemed to change everything and he made a phone call and then told me he could take my bags and there would be no charge!  How nice and totally unexpected.  It’s all in the attitude, everyone is just trying to do their jobs and there is always a way.  I went back to the first floor, retrieved my bags and then handed them over to reception and with a wave and a wish for a good cruise I was out on the Ramblas.  A taxi came past straight away, he stopped for me and I showed him the address of the port and I was on my way.  Lucky I had snafu time to sort all that out.  I’m telling you these bags will be the death of me seriously. 

The port was only a 10 minute drive away and I arrived at 12.15pm.  There is a form of excitement when you see your ship from afar for the first time.  It is a little like the A380 when you wonder how that thing can take off, I feel the same way about ships-how do they manage to move to effortlessly and like a floating city-just …well float?  Today was no exception and no matter what grievances I had about solo cruising I was till excited.  When we arrived the taxi meter said 6.65EUR but the charge was 11EUR-so not sure what the extra charge was for but I paid leaving a 2EUR tip and as soon as I got out of the car there was a baggage man with a cart waiting to take my bag.  He tagged it with my cabin number-I was keeping the wheelie bag with me and I headed into the cruise building.  There was a security scanner to be cleared and of course I set the alarms off with all my bangles, so sent back, I disrobed all my bangles and I was through.  There seemed to be a lot of check-in people around and the queues didn’t seem too long.  I was handed a health form that I had to fill in and sign and then I was next up at the counter.  After showing my e-ticket, my passport and giving my credit card for a 300USD hold, given a map of the ship and my ship card I was then able to board the ship.  The whole process from me arriving to getting foot on the ship was 25 minutes.  AWESOME.  NCL had a lot of staff standing around but none of them offered to point me in the right direction, so I decided to turn left and get to some signs and then I could work out where I was.  There was a staff member at the next section which had lifts and stairs and he was very helpful and I was told to head down 2 levels and make my way forward and I would find my cabin.  I sued the stairs and within 3 minutes I was inside my cabin.  It couldn’t have been an easier.

The cabin was ok.  I had paid for the cheapest inside, so I guess I couldn’t expect much, but it looked tired.  I was in what could be used as a triple room with 2 single beds and a folded away bunk bed.  I sleep better in a double bed-but I never use the whole thing-but I enjoy twin beds as it gives me room to throw my crap, so I didn’t even bother to ask if the room converts and I will stick with the twin bedding.  It wasn’t crappy-but it wasn’t fantastic.  It would be fine for my stay.  I had my own bathroom and a TV and being inside I had a fabulous painted view of a tropical island from a ship with SuperStar Leo painted on it.  NCL Spirit has not always been in the fleet.  Norwegian Spirit (built for Star Cruises as SuperStar Leo) is a cruise ship currently operated by Norwegian Cruise Line.  The vessel was constructed in Germany. Named SuperStar Leo in 1998, the vessel was the first of Star Cruises' Leo-class. She was then home ported in Singapore in 1998 and operated 2-5 Night Cruises to Malaysia and Thailand. One year later, SuperStar Virgo arrived in Singapore.  She was then based in Hong Kong in September 10, 1999 and offered 1-5 Night Cruises to China, Hainan, Vietnam and South China Sea Cruises.  I knew the ship had been Superstar Leo but she has had a few ‘accidents’ in her time including: 

In 2003, SuperStar Leo was transferred to Australia due to SARS in Asia and she returned back to Hong Kong afterwards.  In 2004, Norwegian Cruise Line was planning to launch Pride of America. However, just prior to completion, the vessel partially sank when a storm hit the Lloyd Werft shipyards. To meet the already booked cruises for Pride of America, SuperStar Leo was transferred to the NCL fleet, and after only two weeks of refits, emerged as Norwegian Spirit. 

In 2005 Norwegian Spirit hit a pier in Juneau, causing minor damage.

In 2007, Norwegian Spirit again struck a pier, this time in New York Harbor. In both cases, repairs were made to the ship.

On 25 May 2008 at approximately 9:00 am the Spirit contacted Pier 90 in New York City at the end of an eight day cruise to the Eastern Caribbean. She damaged the parking garage support columns and the bow of the ship.

In January 2006, Norwegian Spirit encountered a rogue wave off the coast of Tortola.

In March 2011 the Norwegian Spirit was over 12 hours late due to a death on the ship and a collision into the pier in Mexico.

Quite an exciting history.  I am glad I have found all this out now that I am on the ship!!!  Not that I wouldn’t have booked the cruise, I would have-but that is a lot of accidents for a single ship.

So I dumped all my things and decided to spend some time looking around my new home.  I got rid of all my bags and pulled out my eco-friendly bag I bought in Boracay, popped in my IPod, my book, my camera and my ship card and that was all I was going to need for the whole duration.  No purse (except when on shore) and no heavy bags-it was bliss already!  I saw the hotel couple who are from Denmark in the main atrium and I have to say she is always so happy to see me.  They are an older couple and so nice.  I must get their names.  I spent the next 2 hours walking around and taking photos and then I found the buffet so I had a late lunch keeping in mind my food portions as this is the ‘downside’ to cruising, the amount of food available to you pretty much 24 hours a day.  I did tell Shelly I had plans of using the gym while I was on board, but I am wondering how that is going to go…not far I am thinking!

There were packages galore being sold on the first day.  The drinks packages seemed to be the most popular and there were a few on offer.  They did have pretty much an all you can drink package that included premium spirits and most cocktails for 49USD per day.  As tempting as that sounds, drinking on your own is just no fun at all, so I decided to go with the ‘soda’ package which was 6.95USD per day for all you can drink soft drink.  There were wine packages, spa packages and internet packages which was my next thing on my list.  There were 2 packages you could choose from 50USD got you 100 minutes and 100USD got you 250 minutes and then if purchased today you got an additional 20 minutes for free.  It sounds expensive but of you bought the packages it worked out to be 40c a minute and I only really need it for loading my blogs and a little bit of Facebook, and as I wasn’t going to be drinking-this was my vice I was happy to pay.

So after all my exploring I was back to my cabin at 2pm.  There was the mandatory lifeboat drill at 4.30pm.  It is a compulsory US Coast Guard lifeboat drill that all guests have to attend.  The good thing with this one was that life jackets were not required and at 4.30pm the seven short blasts followed by one long blast indicated our participation.  I found my safety station on deck 7, 2 above from where my cabin was and we all have to wait for everyone else to arrive and I got talking to a young couple from the UK.  They has travelled to Australia and done a few months of travelling so they understood where I was at and Shelly would have been proud that I found that ‘map’ over, finding something that you have in common with a new person you meet and it just helps the conversation flow.  Lee and Adele were really nice and when the drill finished they said that we should hook up for a drink sometime and I said I would really like that.   So I have met my Danish couple and now Lee and Adele, this cruise was shaping up to be okay so far and we hadn’t even left port yet-so it has trumped my Oasis of the Sea experience already.  I guess what they say of you have lower expectations anything great that happens is a bonus.  That, and I am also doing this trip with a whole different attitude as well. 

The demographic of the ship is older.  I would have to say 60+.  There are a few younger couples, a few young families but I would say 85% are the old folks.  I guess I didn’t really think about the demographics of the ship and it really doesn’t matter to me.  I find them all quite friendly and I have had people stop and say hello, ask what I am reading or just say hello as you walk past them or in the lift.  It is actually quite refreshing and I think the younger generation could take a leaf out of the older generation’s books.  I look at people and wonder how their life was.  What did they do for jobs?  Is there anything they would change?  And to think that most of them have probably been married for longer than I have been alive is really sweet and I can’t help walking around smiling at them as they head into their ‘twilight’ years.  Good for them.  Here I am at 38 and I have no idea on what I will be doing next year.  I used to worry about getting old, not 40 old or 50 old but 60+ old and looking at these people, they have friends, (there groups here together) they are all talking to each other (strangers making new friends) and it hit me then as long as I also have that then I am okay at getting old-but I guess young also have to have your health, but all that-you can be happy being that ‘old’ and I hope that that will be me in 20 years’ time.......     

I got 2 blogs done in the afternoon and I feel like I am finally getting back on top.  The ship was to set sail at 7pm, so I headed up to deck at 6.45 with my IPod and ran back into Lee and Adele again.  So after a quick natter we went our own ways, and now I know that they are on their honeymoon, I figured they are not going to want a third wheel and I will make sure I don’t invite myself along to things.  It’s a fine line when there is a couple and a single and I don’t mean that in any other way than the way it is intended.  It was dark as we left Barcelona and it is amazing to me how those tiny little tug boats can move a large vessel like this-another one of those engineering marvels and with the pilot boat guiding is after the tugboat had done his job we were turned around in the port and made our way out past the shipping yards and petrol containers and 45 minutes after leaving, the city lights started to fade and we were on our way!!!!  While I was out I went back to the buffet restaurant for dinner where I can blend in and not look like a total loser eating on my own.  That is one thing I will not do here and that is the al-a-carte meal.  Fancy dining on your own is just not a fun experience, and I don’t need the fancy food and I am okay with that.     

There was a show on tonight in the Stardust Theatre.  It was a juggling comedian.  It didn’t really appeal to me and I was actually quite tired so I decided to give the 9pm show a miss but I will make a deal that I will go to all the other shows each night.  They have a 7.30pm performance and then a 9.30pm performance, so I am sure I can make the earlier one each night.  So that was my first day on the ship and I think I am going to enjoy my time here.  It is special for me in so many ways.  My last stop before Africa.  My last ‘live it up’ section for a while.  My last taste of ‘western’ mod cons and although it makes me a little sad at the thought I am looking forward to it all and can’t wait to land in Kenya, as scary as it is, all at the same time. 

Welcome aboard the Norwegian Spirit.