BLOG # 8:  FROM HOLLAND TO HUNGARY

After a final magnificent meal on Friday night in Barcelona we got up early on Saturday to catch our short flight to Amsterdam.  Despite the taxi getting us to the airport 3 hours before our flight, we only made the flight with 10 minutes to spare (flying is such fun).

We chose a Marriott airport hotel (although not that close to the airport) because we could stay on points.  This choice allowed us to finally have our first dreadful meal in four weeks.  There was only one restaurant within walking distance (and it was closed) so we were forced to eat at the hotel.  The very, very expensive buffet looked very unappetizing, so we opted for pizzas.  The crust could easily have been made into long-wearing boots, the tomato was missing, the cheese insipid, and the topping of chorizo was so far removed from meat that it could have been safely eaten by a vegan.  We ordered two large glasses of wine, and although the glasses themselves were large, the amount of wine could just as easily been served in thimbles.  On our second night we ate at a nearby bowling alley.

There was even more flying fun on Monday.  We got up at 4:15 a.m. to catch our flight to Budapest via Munich.  We navigated the airport in Amsterdam relatively easily and got to the gate with time to spare.  Because of Betty’s mobility we were then taken out across the runway by a forklift-type vehicle.  There we were hoisted to a half-size door on the side of the tiny plane.  Once onboard we were informed that some “a—h---” had checked in his luggage and then not boarded.  An hour and one-half search of the luggage compartment caused us to miss our connection in Munich.  Eventually Lufthansa got us a flight on Air Dolomiti.  After being forklifted again we had several moments of panic when we discovered that our boarding passes indicated that we had seats in row 33 of a 32-row airplane.   We were seated in row 32, nonetheless, and the guy who was supposed to sit there got shuffled elsewhere on a full plane.

Earlier Betty had called an emergency Viking number and they arranged to send a driver to collect us at the airport, many hours after we were supposed to join up with other Viking guests.  After a long drive we got to our beautiful hotel right on the Danube in Pest.  The first pictures below show night and morning views taken from our room window.  They show some of the Buda side of the river.

After most others had finished their meals we stumbled into the hotel restaurant and ordered some random food.  Betty fell asleep over her chicken and was sent to bed, while I tried to a finished a bottle of cheap Hungarian wine.

Budapest is a quite spectacular city with lovely 19^th century buildings, none allowed to be higher than the parliament buildings.  The river is crossed by many bridges rebuilt after WWII.

Although Betty has a cold we hope our second night in Budapest will be more pleasant.  At least the start will good as I shall be pouring what a wine merchant told me was his best bottle of Egri Bikaver (“bulls’ blood”).

 TRIVIA:  One of the most popular names for a man in Hungary is Attila.

                    BLOG # 7:  FOUR DAYS IN BARCELONA

We repeated our stay, from a few years ago, at the Hotel Continental, directly overlooking La Rambla, Barcelona.   Not only did we have a balcony overlooking the street, we had a 24-hour free beer tap in the lobby.  Ice cream is also free.

La Rambla is a great people watching area, which for us could be done either from our balcony or by sitting in one of the chairs conveniently provided right on the street.

Two pictures of Betty our first day in Barcelona (one showing her with her first glass of the evening and the other showing her with her last) indicate from the second picture grin that she cheered from her disembarkation downer.

Because we had been in Barcelona a couple of times before, and with Betty’s mobility issues, we stuck fairly close to the Gothic Quarter.  On our second night we attended a guitar concert at the Basilica del Pi.  Betty asked Google for directions and Mr. Google commented that it was a 6-minute walk or a 22-minute car drive.  It took Betty considerably more than 6 minutes, but she did beat the cars’ time.

After 21 days of rich food on the ship we basically ate tapas while here.  Although prices of tapas have increased since our last visit, they no longer bother to charge for wine (usually a Rioja Crianza).  Before the concert we had an excellent tapas meal outside the Basilica.  Two large plates of tapas, excellent Crèma Catalan for dessert, two bottles of sparkling water and four large glasses of wine came to $ 40. Canadian.  That included a service charge and a supplemental fee for eating outside.  In Antigonish that would have gotten us no food and a bottle of very rough wine. 

On the other hand, if one wants to eat at Canadian prices, within a 3-wood distance of our hotel are a McDonalds, a Burger King, a Subway, and a Five Guys.  Perhaps American tourists need places where they feel comfortable.

On Thursday we bought tickets for two routes on the hop-on-hop-off bus.  On the first route we saw lots of nice sites, including some gaudy, Gaudi sites, but seemed to spent most of our time sitting at stop lights.  We skipped the second route.

Barcelona has a very good underground, but surface travel is quite slow, even with the 10,000 plus registered taxis, and the city only allowing low-emission cars.  I think to live here one would need a place close to a subway entrance.

On Saturday we will try and catch a Vueling (unheard of discount airline) flight to Amsterdam (fingers crossed), and two days later we will fly to Budapest.  After that Viking River Cruises will look after us for the last two weeks our trip.

 

BLOG # 6:  FROM CADIZ TO BARCELONA

 

We had two sunny, warm days in the beautiful city of Cadiz (from where Columbus sailed to the new world on voyages 2, 3, and 4).  Upon arrival we took a taxi tour of the city (much cheaper than a ship’s bus tour) and got oriented.   The city is very walkable (at least for Ron) and a great place to window shop.  At least half the streets in the old city are pedestrian only.  Our two favorite places so far have been Bruges and Cadiz.

On Saturday we awoke in Casablanca (White City) in Morocco.  I had been excited to visit this city made so famous by Humphrey and Ingrid.  I am not certain what I expected, other than for the city to have a little more charm and romance than what we found.  Casablanca has about 7 million people and mostly it is miles and miles of white block low rises.  We did pass Rick’s Café, which is obviously a fake as Rick’s Café only existed as part of a Hollywood set.  In fact, the entire movie was shot in Hollywood.  I suppose we could have had a drink in Martini’s before dinner and asked Oleg to “Play it.”  A bit of trivia:  Humphrey said “Play it Sam” not “Play it again Sam."

In the evening show a comedian made fun of the age of the ship’s passengers.  At one point he asked who had been married for 50 years.  Lots of people had.  He then commented that “for this crowd it must be like a first date.”

Our Sunday stop in Gibraltar was most pleasant and the scenery is quite spectacular.  One of the interesting things we did was drive across the main runway of Gibraltar’s airport.  Space is at such a premium that one of the main streets crosses the runway (there are stoplights, of course, in case a plane is landing).

In good British tradition we had a stop at a hotel for high tea, complete with scones, jam and clotted cream.  The ship also has high tea each afternoon but Betty and I rarely attend; after all they don’t serve clotted cream.

On Monday, which was our last full cruise day on the Marina, we had a sunny morning in the beautiful city of Cartagena.  You can see from the first picture that the City Hall is a bit more interesting than the Town Hall in Antigonish, and the buskers are certainly better.  Betty spent the morning in the Spa but I went shopping for a small gift in an attempt to cheer Betty.  Despite the fact that we have 3 more weeks in Europe we had to leave the Marina early Tuesday morning.  Betty has been known to burst into tears when being forced to disembark.

 

In our last evening on the ship we were invited to a cocktail party hosted by the Captain.  At least some of the guests are younger than the comedian implied.  Certainly this guest made me feel distinctly underdressed.

                                           BLOG # 5:   FROM SPAIN TO PORTUGAL

On Sunday we docked at Vilagarcia.  We took a small rubber-tire train into the town center.  The town looked quite nice but everything was closed on Sunday, so he had a coffee and returned to the ship.

When going to the Grand Dining Room for dinner we are first asked if we would like a romantic table or a sharing table.  Being old fashioned I think romance is best kept in private after dinner.  Twice we shared a table with a quite elderly couple from Bavaria.  He is in a wheelchair and she walks with two arm crutches.  He told us that he had spent the previous four days getting needles from the ship’s doctor for bronchitis.  Despite all of these problems they ordered four-course meals and then drank us under the table both nights.

On Monday (October 10) we docked in Oporto, Portugal. 

 

We had spent 9 nights in Oporto in April, but all of that time was spent in covid quarantine.  Oporto is the 2^nd city of Portugal, after Lisbon, but the two cities are quite different.  Lisbon was destroyed by an earthquake in 1755 and thus all of the architecture is basically from the 1800’s.  Oporto has buildings dating back to the 1200’s.  Despite it being the first rainy day in Oporto in 8 months we enjoyed a tour of the city.  Where else would you find an operatic soprano busker?

VEGAN ALERT:  Perhaps skip this next section.

One of the featured menu items in Polo Grill is the prime rib roast beef.  It is only served medium rare and comes in a boneless King cut (32 oz) or Queen cut (16 oz).  Either is too much beef for octogenarians, but we learned on an earlier cruise that one can ask for a Princess cut (1/4 the king cut).  The picture is Ron beginning to eat his Princess cut. 

 

The wine is a fine Bordeaux that the Sommelier insisted on substituting for my last bottle of pre-ordered discount wine.  Clearly, he knows more about wine that I do.

Tuesday the ship docked in Lisbon.  This was the end of our 14-day cruise and the beginning of our 7-day cruise.  Because we are doing “back-to-back” we were invited to a special lunch.  In the afternoon I walked and shopped on interesting streets.  Unfortunately, the cobblestones are much too rough for Betty’s cane-supported knees and she lounged on our deck.

One should never leave Portugal without eating sardines at least once.  Unfortunately, none of the ship’s menus include sardines.  My last chance, therefore, came on Wednesday when we anchored off Portimao, our last stop in Portugal.   Getting ashore was a bit of challenge as a medical emergency (the fourth this cruise) tied up the tender boat for a period of time.  By the time I ended my long, hot walk into the town’s center it was lunchtime.  I sat at the first checkered tablecloth that I happened upon.  To my surprise sardines were not listed on the menu.  As I was about to leave I asked the waiter: “Do you have sardines?”.  He looked at me like I must be an idiot for asking such a stupid question.  Finally, his reply was “What would you like with your sardines?"

Here is the before and after:

 

BLOG # 4:  FROM FRANCE TO SPAIN

On Wednesday morning we sailed up the Gironde River to Bordeaux.  Large cruise vessels must dock a 2-hour drive from Bordeaux, medium vessels 30-minutes away, but small vessels can dock right in the center of the city.  With only 1150 passengers and 800 crew, and being just under 800 ft long, the Marina meets the small ship criterion.

The weather was sunny and warm.  However, Betty’s leg was bothering her (too much recent walking) so she stayed on the ship (mostly on the balcony)

and I walked into the city to do some shopping on Rue Ste. Catherine, which claims to be the longest pedestrian street in Europe.

In the evening I unfortunately slept through part of a very nice classical concert by a Ukrainian pianist.  As it turned out I needed the sleep as the next morning Betty sent me on an impossible quest to find a particular French table cloth.  After almost two hours of walking and looking I purchased a cloth of the correct dimensions.  However, I missed some of the other instructions, and apparently have a lovely covering for my workbench.

On Friday we were scheduled to anchor off Saint-Jean-de-Luz in France.  Because of high seas the Captain decided that the tender boats would not be safe to board so we by-passed.  From Saint-Jean-de-Luz one can access the Guggenheim Museum.  We had visited it a few years ago so we were not overly disappointed in docking instead at Santander in Spain.

Santander is a lovely city on a beautiful coastline.   It Is known for a terrible fire in 1941 that destroyed the medieval center of the city.  The airport In Santander is named for my very favorite Spaniard, Seve Ballesteros.  Seve was born, and tragically died too young, in a tiny village 11 miles from Santander.

In addition to taking the hop-on-hop-off bus I did a little wine shopping and purchased a bottle of Cantabrian Tinto (the local wine of Santander) for 1.99 Euros ($ 2.67 in Canadian dollars).   I may drink it with a few Tums.

In the evening we attended a private cocktail party hosted by the Captain and the General Manager.  As special guests we were formally presented our platinum pins. 

Over the past 12 years we have spent a lot of money taking Oceania cruises.  This has earned us “platinum status” which means we are now on a free cruise, we had a number of small gifts send to our stateroom, and we were honored at the cocktail party.  The party was fun and after the presentation lots of guests approached us to ask how they could earn platinum.  After several glasses of Champagne and a bottle of Chianti at Toscano’s later in the evening, the return to our cabin was something I did not want videoed.

On Saturday morning we docked in Gijon, Spain.  Gijon is an industrial city and my bus ride to the center did not reveal a lot to interest me.  This is the first time this trip where I was left wondering “why did we stop here?”

 

 

 

                                            BLOG # 3:  FROM DUBLIN TO CORK

 

In a rapidly changing world it is sometimes re-assuring to come across traditional customs, even if they are slightly sexist.  When seated in Toscana on Saturday night I was allowed to take from the table a large, off-white linen napkin and spread it across my black pants.  Betty’s napkin, however, was quickly whisked away and replaced with a very dark napkin that would more co-ordinate with her black pants.

Shortly, someone brought a plate of 9 or 10 different breads for our table and then the olive-oil steward quickly appeared and offered Betty a selection of 8 different oils and 6 balsamic vinegars in which to dip her breads.  Only after she had made her selection was I allowed to choose which oil to slop on my napkin.

The sommelier next appeared, and ignoring Betty, asked me (the male at the table) what wine(s) we would like to have with our meal.  Betty, of course, was first to be asked by our server if she were ready to order.  Only when the Maitre d’ came to our table did the question: “Is everything o.k.?” seem aimed at us equally.

Since Brexit cargo ships heading from the U.S. enter Europe via Ireland rather than the U.K.  Consequently. the port of Dublin has become very crowded.  To help alleviate traffic cruise ships have been banned.  So on Sunday we anchored well off-shore of Dun Laoghaire and took a 20-minute tender ride to the pier.  Our bus into the city took us past the well-maintained Georgian squares, as well as several beautiful churches (many of which are surprisingly non-Catholic, including St. Patrick’s Cathedral).  During the afternoon we had a pleasant stop at a pub for an Irish coffee.

In the evening we had our first visit of this trip to Polo Grill.   We were met by the Maitre d’, our “old friend” Dorian, who sat us at a very nice table.  We were then surprised by our waiter who said “I remember you from the Riviera in 2018.”  However, the highlight was the sommelier, who after a lengthy discussion with Betty about what she wanted to pair with her steak, returned with a bottle of Kunde Private Reserve.  He noted that this was the last bottle of this magnificent wine in the ship’s cellar and he thought we would like to have it rather than one of the wines I had pre-purchased.  I doubt we’ll drink anything as good the rest of the voyage.

On Monday we docked in Cobh and joined two other couples for an all-day tour.  We travelled through the countryside, had a stop in the fishing village of Kinsdale,

a tour of the city of Cork,

and then spent time at Blarney Castle (no we did not climb the dangerous stairs to kiss the Blarney Stone). 

 Betty and I were tense most of the day, but finger-crossing seemed to have worked, because when we entered our stateroom there was our luggage at the foot of the bed.  Today one of the people we met on the ship said to me “I see you must have received your luggage as you have changed your sweater."