SOMEWHERE TO PUERTO RICO

CAPTAIN'S DECISION:  We were a little disappointed when the Captain decided to sail past the Canary Islands.  We had a tour booked in Santa Crus de Tenerife and had hoped to shop in Santa Crus de La Palmas.

News reports now indicate that the storm that hit the Canaries was the biggest in 40 years.  Forty-foot waves knocked balconies off beach-front hotels and washed cars out to sea.  That made our two days of roughish seas seem pretty mild.  After that we sailed on calm seas and the temperatures were perfect.

CURING A COLD:  Betty and I both developed mild colds.  However, the cure that seemed to work was spending a couple of days lying and sleeping in the sun on our extended balcony.  Most balconies on this ship are just big enough for two chairs and a small table.  However, there are 8 staterooms at the front of the ship with large balconies and lounge chairs, in addition to the table and regular chairs.  We only discovered these rooms last year and now try to book one of the 8 rooms.

PARTY:  On Tuesday the Captain hosted a cocktail party for Oceania clubs members (which includes most of the guests on the ship).  However, as we had just achieved "gold status" we were publicly honored with the presentation of our pins.

GUESTS:  As a general rule, the longer the cruise, the older the guests.  While we are only doing 14 days (Barcelona to Miami), most of the passengers embarked in Venice.  Thus, I am seeing lots of cane, walkers and even wheelchairs.  I think a good name for the ship would be the RK Riviera (Antigonish joke).

We always enjoy meeting new people and always ask to share a table at dinner.  On Friday night there were two women at our table who introduced themselves as farmers from Ontario.  One woman told us that her 9 farms had two combines and seven tractors so I guess it's not a small-time operation.  The farms are operated by just her and her husband, but most of the work (milking, for example) is done by robots.   Apparently the milking is done 24 hours per day and no human needs to be in the barn.   I asked what their husbands did for pleasure while the women were cruising.  "Oh", one lady said:  "they just buy more big toys."

Occasionally we dine with someone a little less pleasant.  A couple of nights ago a woman did not order anything for the soup course.  However, when the waiter brought the soups he mistakenly put one in front of her, although it was supposed to go to the man across the table.  She insisted, however, that she keep it (forcing the waiter to scurry away for another bowl).  She proceeded to eat the soup and then said she was allergic to shellfish (she hadn't asked what kind of soup it was or told anyone she supposedly had allergies).  Her husband raised a terrible fuss involving head waiters, supervisors, etc.  I did see her at the buffet the next day so I guess the shellfish soup didn't do her in.

SAN JUAN:  Our first stop on this side of the Atlantic was Puerto Rico.  After a long wait for U.S. customs we decided to take the free trolley/bus through the old part of the city.  After a long wait at the bus stop we lined up to enter the bus.  When we got to the head of the line the driver said there were three more places.  He didn't say that those places were standing.  A man gave Betty her seat but I lurched around in a non-air-conditioned bus.  I guess we got what we paid for.  Eventually we got back to the cruise port and there hired an air-conditioned taxi for a very nice tour of the city.

TRIP COMING TO AN END:  Tomorrow (Monday) is our last day of the cruise and then we fly back home from Miami.  For any of you who have followed these ramblings I hope to start-up again on our next trip scheduled for March.  You should think about joining us.

                                               BARCELONA TO SOMEWHERE

ALICANTE:  Our first port of call after boarding in Barcelona was the lovely city of Alicante, where we met our guide for a day of wine-tasting.  Alicante is primarily a tourist city, but the economy is boosted by the marble industry, as well as by many shoe factories.  This was our last wine-tasting of this trip and we visited two beautiful wineries.  Monastrell is the main wine of this region, and we tasted both blends and the single varietal.  By the way, if you haven't heard of this wine, the French call it Mouverdre.  It is a flavorful wine that is heavier than the usual Tempranillo which makes up most Spanish reds.

MALAGA:  Our second stop was in the major city of the Costa del Sol.  However, it was light rain rather than sun for us.  Betty had hoped to do some shopping but soon discovered that she was unable to navigate the wet and slippery sidewalks, most of which were made of a marble-like material.  After unsuccessful attempts to walk around we broke down and took a horse-drawn carriage on a tour of Centro.  Political correctness should dictate not doing this, as it is unclear how well the horses are treated.  So apologies to our healthy-looking at least horse.

CHANGE OF PLANS:  After the first day of sailing the Captain informed us that we would not be making scheduled stops in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Santa Cruz de La Palmas.  Apparently there is a huge storm somewhere out in the Atlantic with 55 foot waves.  The Captain wished to run ahead of the storm.  Consequently we sailed down the east coast of Africa and will only turned westward once we were below the worst of the storm.

ON BOARD CREDITS:  When you sail with Oceania (and perhaps other cruise-lines) you are given "on-board credits", which you can spend on anything except the casino.  The more times you sail the more credits you are given.  Since we have now reached Gold status we find that we have trouble spending all our credits (which expire at the end of the cruise if unused).  This is especially a problem as we now get "free" unlimited wine and beer with our meals.

On Friday we decided to use up some of our credits by eating at a special restaurant called La Reserve (the only restaurant on board that has a surcharge).  Friday night's menu was all French with excellent wines matched with each of the courses (eight of them).  There were only 10 of us eating in the restaurant and we were attended to by three chefs; two supervisory chefs; a maitre d'; three wait persons; and two other supervisors.  At the end of the meal we collapsed into bed and decided that we would skip breakfast and perhaps skip lunch.

HIGH SEAS:  The first sign that our ship had not quite unrun the storm was the appearance of barf bags in all the public areas.  We were told to except two days of high seas with 21=23 ft. waves/swells.  We hit the swells Sat. night around 9:00 and there was lots of motion to rock us to sleep.  Otherwise the weather is warm and the skies are partly cloudy.  Unfortunately it is too windy to sit for long outside.  By Sunday afternoon the seas were less rough and we could make use of our balcony to sleep or read.

Walking around during the heaviest seas was a struggle for Betty.  However, most of the time a member of the staff would spot her, grab her arm and walk her to whatever was her destiny.

During our extended time at sea we have been enjoying the rest.  There are two lecturers on board, each giving a daily lecture.  One is a forensic scientist and the other a naval historian.  We attended one Captain's party and have been invited to two more.  At one of those functions we will be presented with our Gold status pins.

                                                        LAGUARDIA TO BARCELONA

WINE CELLAR TOUR:  Laguardia is a beautiful walled hilltop town with a population of about 1500.  No vehicles, including delivery vans, are allowed inside the walls.  Under each house is a wine cellar.  The cellars were originally dug for defence purposes.  The people could retreat to their cellars during a seige and the cellars were inter-connected.  By 1800 the cellars were no longer needed for defence and they were then used to store wine, with walls being built between the individual caves.
On the advice of a woman at the tourist information center we took a tour of one of the cellars, which now houses a winery.

As there are not a lot of English-speaking tourists here in November, we had a private tour conducted by the winery's owner.  The winery is tiny, producing only 50k bottles per year.  They own 7 small plots of land outside the city walls and the vines are fermented in the cellar which was originally dug in 1400.  We tasted the best of Carlos San Pedro's wines, including a signature wine and a gran reserva.  However, the most interesting wine was still in the cement vat (about to be soon bottled and aged).  Carlos climbed a ladder and with a "wine thief" , which looks like a long test tube, extracted two glasses of still rough, but potentially great wine.

The cellar is perfect for wine storage as the temperature stays at a constant 14 degrees, the humidity at a constanct 86 % and because there are no vehicles allowed in the village there is no vibration.  At the end of the tour we left feeling very happy although my back is struggling to lift our now exceptionally heavy suitcases.

LEAVING RIOJA:  On Saturday we were forced to pack the car and leave Laguardia and our wonderful hotel.  We stopped at a Dolmin (stone marker for pre-historic burial sights) before driving to the city of Tudela, a stopping point on our way back to Barcelona.

BARCELONA:   We breathed a big sigh of relief when we returned out rental car after 1942 kms without a major incident.  We took a cab to our hotel which gives us a balcony overlooking Las Ramblas (the major pedestrian walking area in Barcelona.)  We spent most of the afternoon sipping wine while we watched a political demonstration, several incidents involving police, and at least one person collapsing on the street.

ARE THERE POOR WINES IN SPAIN?  We have been drinking good and very good wines for the past 10 days.  However, today we thought we might get something undrinkable, but in fact didn't.  Our hotel has wine (no charge) on tap 24 hours per day.  You just go to the lobby and pour yourself however much you can drink.  While the wine was not up to the standards of what we have been drinking it is definitely quaffable.  There is also free beer for those so inclined.

SETTING SAIL:  On our last night ashore we met up with and shared dinner with our very good Barcelona friends Teresa and Josep.  It was great to catch up.  In the morning we crammed our suitcases with bottles of wine and 12 days of dirty laundry.  A quick taxi drive got us to the ship and the all important laundry room down the hall from our stateroom.

CHANGE OF PLANS:  We just returned to the ship after a pleasant day in Alicante.  The Captain made an annoucement that there is a massive storm heading to the Canary Islands and thus after tomorrow we would be changing out route, heading south (through rough seas) in an effort to avoid the storm.  Could be interesting.

                                              FROM GETARIA TO LAGUARDIA, RIOJA

I shall begin this blog by showing the proper way to serve Traxoli:

GUGGNEHEIM:  On Tuesday we drove from Getaria to the large city of Bilbao in order to visit the Guggenheim Museum.  This world famous museum was opened in the early 1990's, after the Canadian architect Frank Gehrey was commisioned by the Bilbao city officials to design a museum that would rival the Sydney Opera House in terms of style and beauty.  After seeing both it is my opinion that Gehrey failed in that quest.  Although the inside is very impressive I find that the outside reminds me of a structure a child would build with sheets of tinfoil.

The art inside is primarily abstract and also not to my taste.  Thus, I was quite happy to escape to a wonderful little pintxos bar for another great Basque lunch.  In fact, I think the Basque pintxos are even better than the tapas that we liked so much in Barcelona.

GUERNICA:  On the way back to Getaria we drove through the city of Guernica.  This city was flattened in 1937 by Hitler's and Mussolini's planes after Gen. Franco offered up the citizens for German target practice.   Hitler wanted to try out his new technique of saturation bombing.  At the time Franco was particularly unhappy with the Basques who were opposing him in the cival war.  The city was rebuilt after WWII and is interesting architectually as the buildings are all of the same era.

EATING IN ASADORS:  For our first five nights in northern Spain I had fish for dinner.  The last three were in Basque Asadors (grills).  When I think of a grill I think of steak or hamburg.  However, in this area an asador is a grill for cooking fish.  The menu in each restaurant offers a wide varity of fish (but not much shellfish) and one only token meat item.  As the fish is cooked whole most of the items offered are for two persons.  The fish is grilled over wood coals and then served smothered in olive oil and thin slices of garlic.  The turbot we had last night and the bass the night before were quite amazing.  Finally, we learned to ask for something to accompany the fish and on our fifth night we managed to get a bowl of lettuce and onions.

RIOJA:  On Wednesday we drove to Rioja Alavesa for three days of wine tasting.  We arrived at our beautiful hotel which is set in a vineyard just outside the walled city of Laguardia.  The hotel turns out to be perhaps the nicest hotel in which we have ever stayed.  Although it is expensive by Spanish standards the price is still less than an ordinary hotel in downtown Halifax.

Upon arrival we were invited to join an English-speaking tour of the vineyards cellars.  For that tour we were joined by an Amerian couple and a young couple from Hong Kong.  The winery has 2 kilometers of man-dug tunnels/caves going under the hotel and area.  The caves hold not only the wines from the winery but those from most of the local restuarants, as well as wines belonging to private persons who live as far away as China.  The walk was made easier as the young man from Hong Kong insisted on holding Betty's arm and assisting her over all the stone steps.

At the end of the tour we tasted wines and discussed politics.  The American woman had been up all night watching elections returns and she is very stressed over her sense of what is happening to her country.

Although there are many restaurants in nearby Laguardia, one has to park outside the walls.  To save Betty's knee we chose to eat at the hotel.  After a glass of rose in what is called the "living room" we went into the dining room for a superbly prepared 5-course dinner.  Interestingly there was no choice of any of the courses.  Also there was no charge for the wine, but we did have to pay for any accompaning bottle of water.

At the breakfast buffet wine was again on offer.  However, my liver insisted that I should stick to coffee.  After breakfast we headed out for a day of touring Bodegas and tasting wines.  The area is quite lovely with the leaves on the vines having turned colors to reds and yellows.  In a way it is almost like the colors of fall in Nova Scotia.  Tonight we have decided that we don't want to drive and are looking forward to five surprise courses in the hotel restaurant.

                                              CARINENA TO GETARIA

Before we left Carinena on Sunday morning we had our second breakfast in the hotel bar.  At one point I counted 19 men lined up at the bar to get their first drink of the week.  I don't know if any of them were then heading off to Mass, but if they were I suspect the smell would be of more than communion wine.

WHERE IS OUR HOTEL?   After a very smooth drive across the plains from Carinena we drove through the  mountains to the seaside town of Getaria.  However, for the first time in years a GPS failed us and took us to the worng address  (apparently there are two Prudentzia regions in Getaria).  We drove around for a long time asking the occasional English-speaking  person for directions, but nobody seemed to have heard of this tiny inn.   We might have given up and found another hotel but we had pre-paid for three nights.   Eventually we came across a sign and found a one-lane road up the mountain.  In the end it was worth it as our room has a spectacular view of the Bay of Biscay.

Before dinner we drove along the coast and were surprised to see scores of people standing on the cliffside staring at the water.  Below the cliffs  there was huge surf and many surfers somehow managing not to drown or to be hurled against the rocks.

Getaria is famous for its fish and we went to a dockside restaurant for our third night in a row of fresh seafood.  I had forgotten that Spanish menus are to be taken literally and that if you order a fish you get a fish (no rice, no potatoes, no vegetables).  For the past two nights I have eaten fish soup, whole fish and bread.  Despite my reputation as a vegetable hater I am becoming a bit nostalgic for a bean or a carrot.

We did get a chance last night to try Txakoli, the semi-sparkling wine produced only in Basque.  Athough it was fine we are not ready to give up Cava or Prosecco.  After drinking the Txakoli and eating the delicious fish we thoroughly enjoyed a cheese plate along with a bottle of Rioja.

SAN SEBASTIAN:  Despite a day of light rain we drove to the most famous of Basque cities and to our surprise found street parking near the old city.  This is a walking city and Betty made a valiant effort. 

San Sebastian is known for its pintxos bars.  Pintxos are the Basque equivalent of tapas.  We had a great lunch including the best optopus I have ever had.  Our impression of Txakoli improved from the night before, perhaps because our glasses were filled from great heights (meaning the bottle is held high in the air when the wine is poured) which supposedly adds effervesence.

                                                    ANTIGONISH TO CARINENA

CARINENA, ARAGON::  We decided to start our holidays (when you no longer work, do you still have holidays?) in the Town/Village of Carinena.  We came here because of the wine (see below).  However, from Antigonish to Carinena took us 28 hours and included the airports of Halifax, Montreal, Frankfurt and Barcelona.

Betty's mobility issues have increased in the past couple of months so navigating through airports presents a challenge.  German efficiency, however, made Frankfurt extremely easy.  As soon as Betty had hobbled off the plane she was stopped by a woman in some sort of uniform who directed her to the special care station.  Here arrangements were made for us to be picked up in a golf cart and driven to passport control.  Once there we were assured that there would be another cart waiting on the other side.  Sure enough a cart reserved for Mrs. Johnson awaited to whisk us to security.  Once that was cleared a third cart took us on the long drive to our gate.   My advice to anyone planning on flying is to buy a cane and practice your limping.

At Barcelona we eventually found the Avis counter.  There we were told that we were being upgraded to an Audi 4, which the clerk asssured us would get us to Carinena in less than four hours.  I didn't start the clock until we had found our way out of Barcelona (which only took a couple of heated exchanges between the driver and the navigator).  However, even driving at 130-140 the trip took longer than four hours.  I expect, nonetheless, that all the other cars on the road took considerably less time.

Upon arrival we checked in to our modest hotel, which for 45 Euros gave us a balcony with a great view of the parking lot.  As we were exhausted, starving, and very thirsty we couldn't wait for 8:30 opening time of the restaurant, so we decided to hang out in the bar.  The bar was packed and most of the customers appeared to have best before dates, as our mine and Betty's, of well past three score and ten.
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After considerable hand gestures, our young barmaid heated us plates of pork belly, sausages and ham croquets.  It took two glasses each of local wine to wash down the tasty food.  When we left for the restaurant I had rung up a tab of 8.5 Euros (about $ 13. Canadian)

As we had forgotten our Spanish dictionary ordering in the restaurant was somewhat of a random affair.  We ended up starting with potato salad and more croquets, then Betty had a steak and I had trout.  Spanish flans made a great dessert.  We washed all this down with two bottles of water, two double espressos and, of course, a bottle of local wine.  The total came to 28 Euros (equivalent to a bottle of one of Gabrieau's cheaper wines).  Fortunately, I didn't have to drive to get back to our room, but I did manage to operate the elevator.

In the morning we went back to the bar for breakfast.  It was again packed, largely with tractor drivers in from the olive groves eating bacon and eggs and washing their meals down with red wine.

WINES OF CARINENA:  Carinena is a wine varietal and that was first grown a couple of thousand years ago in the town that now bears the name of the grape.  This grape is now grown in other places (France, California and Chile-where it is called Carnigan).  Unfortunately, it is not sold in Nova Scotia so we were keen to come here and taste.  The wine is medium bodied, fruity,  high in acidity, and low in tannins.   To me it tastes much like Zinfandel.