malaga

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3 March 2010
We left port in Las Palmas, the captain came on the PA and announced that it would be a rough night, stating that we would be going into a norwester ,,,,, isn’t that the infamous storms that sailors dread. Once we got outside port, the training wheels were definitely off for Gerrie, swells were 12 ft + . It was worse than a roller coaster, and I haven’t even been on one. Noel faired way better than me, go figure. These winds are associated to another one of the many multiple storms pounding Europe.
We have arrived at Funchal, Portugal (most westerly port in our travels) and conditions were kind of mixed, sun, cloud, windy, doesn’t know what it wants to do. The Port at Funchal is rather plain, nowhere in comparison to Los Palmas, we have signed up for an off shore excursion. Upon arriving in Funchal, Gerrie needed a few drinks after the harrowing experience at the mercy of the Atlantic Ocean, so we headed to the first bar we found. After a number of morning appetizers, we drove through Funchal and observed the damage caused by storm that occurred about a week ago. Apparently they received 8” of rain in about an hour, no way their systems could handle that amount of rain. Even one of their fountains was full of muddy waters, however they have been working nonstop to remedy the situation, that is bringing in tourists. We made our way to the gondola for the ride up the mountain to see one of the oldest churches in Funchal. View was breathtaking and you got a better idea of the damage done by the storm, some houses were washed away. Once we were finished with viewing the church, both Noel and I started acting like a basket cases, don’t know if it was the air up there, (lightheaded and all) they conveniently had a basket ride which we took down the mountain, it went for 2 kms through the streets of Funchal and from time to time we crossed through intersecting roads which have vehicle traffic. That was interesting. This basket ride started hundreds of years ago. It is believed that some of the men who would travel down the mountain were looking for an easier way to do this and came up with a basket they could ride in and carry all their supplies at the same time. The basket or sled carries two person. it is kinda like a dog sled but is shorter and wider, it has two rails and two drivers stand one each rail to control the basket. As you approach intersections (when the basket is going too fast) one of the drivers will turn the basket almost 90 degrees to slow it down. (we have a video)
Once we left there we made our way to the Nuns Valley, this is where supposedly some nuns were born, raised and died in the valley, never leaving or viewing the ocean which is less than 10 miles away. Is that a symbol of their devotion to their faith? There are some incredible mountains on this island. It is a volcanic island with some high mountain and deep gorges, betcha they go through a lot of brakes on their vehicles. From there we returned to the ship, had dinner and prepared for our trip to Malaga which took approx 1 and half days.
5 March 2010
The Atlantic and the Mediterranean were extremely calm and we arrived to a cloudy day in Malaga. Temperature in the mid 60’s. Had breaky and made our own way into Malaga, it was about a 30 minute walk from the ship. The beach near the ships’ terminal reminded me of the West end in Vancouver. We jumped on the “hop on, hop off” bus and had a tour of the city. Malaga is a clean city and appears to be a resort city for a lot of the Europeans. We started walking into Malaga at around 10:00 a.m. (Friday) and it was deserted (almost like a Sunday) guess everyone was still sleeping, maybe a big party last night. We got off at the train station, we were thinking about hopping on one of these bullet trains, but didn’t think we would have enough time to make it Madrid and back, that would have been a fun ride. Once again of course we had to test out McDonalds here in Malaga, suffice to say it passes our inspection, you guys are safe to eat here. Oh by the way I have been looking high and low and have yet to find a Tim Horton’s anywhere in Europe. Shawn you will have to work on this major oversight by T.H. management, then you could be a district manager in Europe, maybe Las Palmas, we would come and visit. We walked around the train station, checked out some of the stores and then got on the bus and headed back to the ship. Took us about 30 minutes to walk back to the ship.
This will be the last blog we send from the ship as unfortunately our cruise is coming to an end, even though it feels like we have been out here for 1 and ½ months. We may try to send the last blog from the hotel in Barcelona before coming back to you guys.
Summary of Trip
• Air travel - apprx 18,000 kms
• Sailing distance - 11,700 kms, 6325 Nautical miles
• Travelled approx 1800 kms by bus, cross country
• Landed on three Continents:
o Europe
o Africa
o Turkey is in Asia for those of you who are wondering what we are talking about.
• Visited eight Countries
• Toured 15+ Cities
• Travelled back and forth through 3 time zones
• Most Northerly port Barcelona. Spain
• Most Easterly port Alexandria, Egypt
• Most Southerly port Las Palmas Canary Islands, Spain
• Most Westerly port Funchal, Portugal
• Took 1400+ photographs (yes you guys, my pictures count) I will have everyone sleeping by the time I go through all these. No there isn’t 500 photos of sunsets, I tried to avoid that pit fall.
• Took 70 videos (a lot of short videos )
• Road on a camel
• Road in a basket
• Road in a Gondola
• Took 7 onshore excursions
• Rode in 3 “hop on, hop off” buses
• Never used the ship’s elevators after the first day, I think that saved a few pounds/kilos.
• Nearly got sea sick once, maybe twice.
Looking over the last 21 days we have both immensely enjoyed the trip. Since we have been subjected to European news, we were constantly aware of how lucky we were to miss numerous storms this time. Perhaps our good fortune is due to the timely visit to the Temple of Poseidon in Greece, the God of the Oceans took mercy on us, but I’m sure Gerrie would argue that it had everything to do with our visit to Virgin Mary’s house and our precious holy water, and when you think of it, there very well could be gallons and gallons of it aboard ship due to the number of visitors to the fountain. As we look back on all the places we visited, Las Palmos was our favourite followed by Valleta on Malta, Turkey, Funchal, Barcelona, Malaga, Greece, Italy, Morocco and Egypt (dead last).
For those people that like cruising this is one to add to your bucket list.
We will be returning to Vancouver at approx 1825 hrs the 8th Monday. With some luck our limo will be there to pick us up, that’s you Shawn in the Camary.
Then it is back into the routine, oh wait I don’t have a routine, retired......
See you soon.
Love Gerrie / Noel

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