Cadiz and Seville (with photos)

 Saturday, November 18, 2023

Oh my goodness!  I managed to send a photo to Ginger's computer!
This is Maria de Padilla's bathroom in the Royal Alcázar!

Ugh!  We’re supposed to meet our tour guide at 7:00!  We are so organized that we have time to stop by the Garden Cafe (the buffet) and have a little breakfast before disembarking!  As usual we are a little early to our rendezvous, along with a lot of other people;  but we don’t see our tour guide.  Eventually she shows up and says she was at the other gate.  Hmmm!  It doesn’t matter.  We get checked in and go to Bus Number 1.  Our buddy, Christine, is on Bus Number 2.  Too bad.

Sunrise through the bus window!  No one should be on a bus at this hour!

We're in Spain, so Z is for Zorro!

Nice knives for a convenience store!

Must make plumbing easier if you don't have to worry about length and angles!

Can't have a city without a football stadium!

I guess I haven't traveled as far as I thought!

She's a sweetie!

It’s at least an hour and a half drive from Cadiz to Seville, and Pilar, our guide, gives us a lot of information about Cadiz as we’re driving.  We learn that Cadiz is the oldest city in Europe, having been founded by the Phoenicians three thousand years ago, and there are many Roman ruins buried underneath the city.  There are three hundred days of sunshine and as a result, everyone spends a lot of time outside.  One of the most famous Carnivals is in Cadiz but rather than being so elegant as the Brazilian one, it has much more funny elements with many political and satirical songs.  The first constitution in Spain was signed in Cadiz and the Constitution Bridge was named for that occasion.  It is the longest bridge in Spain and the second highest.

This region is renowned for sherry wine and there is a famous drink called Tinto de Verano that is made with sherry and any bubbly soda. There are wonderful beaches and two natural parks with a protected pine tree and only grows here.

Spain has seventeen regions and each region has its own provinces. Cadiz is very close to Morocco and is the southern most part of Europe.  Because the Moors were here for a long time, there is a heavy Arabic influence in the architecture and the local dialect.  Motorbikes are very popular and the world motorbike competition was held here.

We were told a lot more;  but that’s all I remember!!  We have some quiet time and then a rest stop that runs a lot longer than Pilar anticipated, I’m sure.  Ginger is the first woman to use the handicapped bathroom and by the time I come out of the ladies room, the handicapped line is longer than the women’s!

As we drive through Seville we see all the beautiful houses that were built by each country that was participating in the American Exposition which sought to reaffirm the relationships among the various countries and their colonies.  We arrive at our destination, near the Spanish Building and are divided into three groups.  Our guide is Maria and she passes out the audio devices.  Have I mentioned how much I love being able to hear!? 

This gorgeous building represents open arms enfolding all the people.  The tile work is magnificent and it’s hard to quit taking pictures.  

You'd never guess from the outside what wonders await inside!

Some even have maps!

We walk through a lovely park and the old Jewish part of town and can see the old wall which used to divide the city into old and new sections. 

Statue to Columbus (they feel differently about him than we do!)

The ever-present orange trees (remember they are sour oranges!  They are just for aroma and beauty!)

Finally we can see The Royal Alcázar of Seville.  What a magnificent edifice!!  It is actually three different palaces, in different styles.  The one I find most impressive was designed by a Moorish architect and we can see if in all the curves and arches and decorations.  Some of those decorations actually turn out to be Islamic prayers;  but no one realized it until recently!  Of course the Catholic king would not have been pleased if he knew!!

Columbus's symbol

Royal petitions were heard here.

This huge dome was raised when the newly-married prince 
added a second story to the palace.

Maria tells us all kinds of stories about the various royals who have lived here.  One was killed by his brother who then ascended to the throne.  He tried to sleep in his murdered brother’s bed and finally had to move out because he said it was haunted!  

We visited the part of the palace in which Columbus was given permission to explore the new world and saw a painting of King Ferdinand, who is now considered the saint of engineers.  When his body was exhumed after several years it was discovered that he had mummified!

After the official tour is over we have time to wander around the palace on our own and to explore the surrounding neighborhood. As we’re leaving the palace, we are given a sweet treat and it’s delicious!  Wish we could bring some of these home! We had seen a little shop earlier, and briefly, because one of the ladies needed the restroom and Ginger and I saw a few things we wanted to buy, so we go exploring. We’d also like some tapas!  In and out of shops and we finally find one that has what we’re looking for. Ginger and I shop while Nick goes across the street and orders lunch for us! 

We have a marvelous salad with fresh, fresh greens, shrimp, avocado, cherry tomatoes, and creamy goat cheese, then three- tapas sized dishes - stuffed pepper with meat and cheese, pork sirloin with whiskey sauce, and pork checks in Sevillian sauce.  So amazingly good!!  And Ginger and I have that wine spritzer Pilar told us about!  We get back to our meeting point and board the bus for home.

In Cadiz once more we leave the bus with the port in sight and have nearly two hours to explore Cathedral Square. Our objective is those cookie wonders from the Alcázar.  It takes a lot of searching but we find a store that has them, but not in the flavor we had enjoyed so much.  Even so, we buy two different kinds and wind up buying a bit more so that we can get the free Toblerone!!

The bridge is famous and the people are outraged by the modern tower that is
not in keeping with the rest of the city's beautiful architecture!

Christmas decorations are up all over!

Such enticing windows!

Cathedral Square is the heart of Cadiz

On the way back we revisit one of the first shops we tried and realize that they actually do have our flavor in the far back of the display.  Nick buys one for each of us and we scurry back to the shuttle for the boat.  We are home in plenty of time for our 4:30 boarding time and breeze through the port and onto the ship.

We’re supposed to meet Christine at 6:00 at Spice, and Nick and Ginger go on ahead.  I know that if I don’t type this now I’ll have way too much typing to do in the wee hours of the morning.  The good news is that we cross a time zone tonight and we gain an hour!  Love these twenty-five hour days!  Looking forward to sleeping in.  We have an 8:45 tour of Lisbon tomorrow and a boarding time of 3:30!!

Okay…I’m caught up and going upstairs for a drink!

I’m only a few minutes late, but, oh look at that!  It’s sunset!  I have to go up to the next level and get some shots.  There’s nothing in the foreground for interest and not even any clouds, so I go wandering and find some wires and such;  maybe I can do something with that.  There are three gentlemen there who ask if I want to come where they are.  I say I’ just looking for something to be more than a red ball dropping into the ocean.  One asks if I went to Burning Man.  I said I hadn’t but I know I look like I should have been there!  We chat for a while and they like my final composition.  Now I go looking for the gang at Spice at the opposite end of the ship.  There is no one at the bar and I ask our bartender if he’s seen my crazy crew.  He knows exactly who I mean but hasn’t seen them. I get a G&T and I start to head…I don’t know where, when I spot Nick and Ginger on the other side and go sit with them.  Eventually Christine comes up, too.  Soon we head down to the bar that has Caesars and order drinks there while we wait for our beeper to go off.

Christine has a 9:30 dinner reservation with a single lady who didn’t want to dine alone.  But she sits with us until she has to go.  I order the carrot and ginger bisque soup for my appetizer and grilled tilapia with yellow beets parsley potatoes and orange Hollandaise sauce.  Both are really good!  Ginger says she doesn’t want dessert, but I left most of my potato and even some of my yummy fish.  I’m having dessert! I choose warm black cherry strudel with vanilla sauce and toasted almonds.  It is grand!

Ginger is ready to call it a night and I can be up for that.  All this short night stuff combined with the walking and extra calories really takes its toll.  We’re almost back to the room when Ginger remembers that she left her phone in the bathroom downstairs.  We go back and it’s right where she left it!  Yay!

Now she’s in the bath, Nick’s playing a video game, I’m finishing this and will be in bed in less than ten minutes.  I’ve already set back my phone’s clock and am yawning to beat the band!  Tomorrow we’ll conquer Lisbon!!

A Day at Sea! Yay and Yay!! (with photos)

 Friday, November 17, 2023

Oh!  It’s a sea day!  Who thought that would be such a welcome thing!  We can sleep in and have brunch instead of breakfast!  Of course I wake up at four anyway, but I don’t have to get up!  When I do I write all of yesterday’s blog and upload it before anyone else needs the internet.  Sure wish I could upload photos of the Segrada Familia!  

We go down to the buffet for brunch after loading up our one free laundry bag.  The breakfast is okay but no one is thrilled.  Ginger and I go back to the room and grab entertainment so we can go sit outside until it’s time to cheer on Nick’s trivia team.  It’s quiet and out of the wind on our deck and for a moment I can airdrop photos to Ginger’s computer!!  I’m ecstatic but later we can’t replicate the experiment.

Nick’s team includes Christine and a lady from Tarpon Springs!!  And a lady from Georgia!!  What a small world.  The contest has twenty general knowledge questions.  I know most of them and am not pleased that I know John Waterman invited the fountain pen!  Most of the others were either easy or beyond me. 

After the contest the three of us go back to our outdoor venue.  Nick is on his phone, Ginger is putting the finishing touches on her Guatemala book and I’m editing photos.  After a while we order drinks.  Ginger and I get rusty nails because they don’t have Caesars and Nick gets the drink of the day.  It’s pretty awful and he leaves it on the table and goes inside because it’s a little brisk out here now.

Dinner will be at five wherever we can get because we have tickets for “Burning the Floor” at 7:30.  Reservations don’t include assigned seats so we want to be early!

Ginger and I go back to the room to leave our things and head to Shanghai, our first choice for dinner at five.  We arrive to find that Nick has just joined the line (it’s 4:45) and we slip right in with him.  The line grows like a weed on fertilizer and we’re awfully glad we came early!  The girl behind us is from Romania and has been doing all the art museums.  She wants to be an art critic and live in the US, if she can find love.  If not there are always other options!  This afternoon she did the ropes course on the ship!

Just before five they begin seating people at long, tall tables and we sit across from each other.  The man across from Ginger is Korean and is on the cruise with his wife, mother-in-law, who is 93, his friend from high school and the friend’s wife. He is very friendly and a good dinner partner.  His wife never says a word.  We choose our dinner components by filling a box next to each choice with the number of servings.  I choose to start with one order of steamed vegetable dumplings with spicy plum sauce and follow that with combination fried rice with shrimp, beef, roast pork, egg, Chinese cabbage, bean sprouts and scallions.

Ginger orders all three of the dim sum, the dumplings, spring rolls with sweet chili sauce, and fried pots tickers with ginger-soy dipping sauce.  Good choice!  She graciously shares a spring roll with me before the entrees arrive.  She ordered the Peking Style Chicken with lo mein noodles, chicken, straw mushrooms and red peppers. We each half of our entrees and then swap.  Both are good but the lo mein is better.  I’d get that again in a heart beat!  Shouldn’t have ordered dessert, we’re so stuffed!  The Koreans all are smarter and have left but we wait to see what it is. It’s Five Spice Chocolate cake with sweet ginger sauce.  It’s pretty as a picture and very rich.  None of us can do more than put a dent in it.  Lesson learned here!

Every few moments another cast member is featured on this sign outside the theater.

Waiting for the curtain, which rises right on time for the first of two shows this evening.

The show’s curtain is at 7:30 and the doors open at 7:00.  You need reservations but the seating is general admission, so we decide to go to the room and rest for just a few minutes and be at the Breakaway Theater by 6:30.  Others also had that idea but when the do open the doors the seats we had talked about are available and Nick leads the charge - center, center, fifth row.  The seats are staggered so the view isn’t obstructed by the person directly in front of you and even if they weren’t a tiny Chinese lady sits in front of me.  I lean over to thank her and at first she thinks I’m being sarcastic!  When I assure her that I am truly grateful, we both have a good laugh.

There are old black and white movies showing on the two screens along side the stage, featuring ballroom numbers from back in the day, and promptly at 7:30 the show begins.  If you ever have the chance to see it - do not miss the opportunity!!  I’ve forgiven the ship for all its shortcomings because it brought me this hour of spectacular dancing and singing and staging and choreography and lighting and pure joy!  Three singers, two guys and a powerful and beautiful black woman, a four piece band - piano, drums (she’s spectacular) bass and rhythm guitars, and twelve amazing dancers!  There is barely enough break between numbers for the applause, so the show is nonstop. Yes, it’s ballroom, but not like you’ve seen in any ballroom!! See it!!

We take our stunned psyches to Howl at the Moon for an hour or two and head for bed around 10:30.  We have to be off the ship by 6:45, in Cadiz, to meet our tour group at 7:00.  This time, though, everyone in the group is from the Breakaway, so we don’t have to worry if the ship is late again.  It must be a huge group because there are two buses!  We’re heading to Seville which is about two hours away, and we have to be back by 4:30, so it will be a whirlwind!  I hear that we break up into smaller groups once we arrive, so it should be fine.

Ginger has her embroidery with her and it tempted to go join her!

There are several screens around the venue in case you can't see from your seat.

Anyway, I go straight to bed while Ginger and Nick are still up.  They only need half an hour in the morning! I’ve sent my jammies offf in our one free bag of laundry, but it the clean clothes haven’t come back yet, so Ginger loans me a night shirt.  We all like it cold for sleeping, so naked to bed isn’t an option (well, for any number of reasons!) and I drift off while they are still up.  I got up at 4:30 so I could write and post this while everyone else is off line.  It works out quite well and is now our regular routine.