Posted by Paul Groves on April 25, 2019

HAL 2019 World – Days 91-2 Sea Day & Cherbourg, France -Mont St. Michel

Once again, Ron and I chose two different excursions.  Ron’s strong interest in history led him to visit the Bayeux Tapestry while Paul chose to revisit a place he saw when he was a foreign exchange student to France in his high school days, Mont St. Michel.  This island rises out of a bay at the mouth of the Couesnon River and when the tide comes in, the island is completely surrounded by water.  In the old days you had to enter and leave the city only at low tide, but now a causeway has been built that overcomes that issue.  The island is dominated by a huge abbey dedicated to Saint Michael, the archangel.

Legend has it that in 708 the archangel Michael appeared in a vision to Aubert of Avranches, a bishop in a city near the island and told the bishop to build a chapel on the island where people could honor him.  Aubert thought he had experienced a dream and did nothing.  The next night the vision was repeated and again Aubert did nothing.  The archangel appeared a third time, but this time was angry and pushed his finger into the bishop’s head leaving a hole.  With this evidence that the vision was not a dream he immediately started building a chapel on the island.

Pilgrims come to pray to and honor St. Michael because he is both the conqueror of the devil as well the final judge who will use his scales to weigh your soul when you try to enter heaven.  If your soul is heavy with sin, Michael doesn’t let you in.  The number of pilgrims visiting the island increased and an order of monks built an abbey that eventually developed into the building we see today.  The rounded Romanesque arches and the later soaring Gothic architecture give the chapel its impressive appearance.

Until 1863 the island was turned into a prison and was only in 1866 that the abbey was inhabited by Benedictine monks and the abbey restoration began.  The refectory (dining room) and the cloister have been recently restored.  The 60 monks who lived in the abbey did not speak to each other while eating.  The position of the tables along the walls helped.  The cloister was used for meditation and prayer.

This large hall with its two huge fireplaces was reserved for important visitors and would have been the most comfortable room in the abbey, especially when the walls were covered with tapestries and the floor covered with rugs.

Four crypts were located at the cardinal points of the compass and helped support the weight of the huge chapel.  Many smaller chapels underground also support the weight.  One chapel has windows with a shell motif indicative of pilgrims.

One of the largest and best lighted rooms is the huge hall where the monks worked copying manuscripts such as the Bible and philosophical or historical works.

When you first enter the gate to the island you are on the Grand Rue (big street) which is the main street filled with shops, restaurants, and historical museums.  300 steps take you up to the abbey.  The trek was tough, but we rewarded ourselves with pastries and “frites” on the trip back down.  I had heard of the amazing omelettes made at La Mère Poulard’s restaurant located at the beginning of the narrow path taking you up to the abbey, but we did not get to try them on this visit.

Two other interesting points were the fact that the stones of the abbey are marked with the mason who made them.  Our guide said that the marks were important to determine how much each mason was paid.  Also, high up in the abbey, there is a huge wooden wheel in which six men would walk to pull a sled up a steep ramp to move supplies from the lower level up to the abbey.

Mont St. Michel is the second most visited site in France after Paris. 

Posted by Paul Groves on April 24, 2019

HAL 2019 World – Day 90 Porto, Portugal

After a hectic couple of days in Cádiz and Lisbon, it was nice to have a short excursion today in the city of Porto, Portugal.  It’s a beautiful old fashioned looking city lying on the Rio Douro.   It was the maiden visit of the Amsterdam to this port.

Port wine (named after this city) is made in the nearby countryside and shipped to Porto for aging in warehouses along the river. 

Contrary to the look of the city the cruise ship terminal where we docked was very modern.  The building was designed to look like an orange being peeled.  The interior was very spacious.  I believe that it’s the best looking terminal we’ve seen on our trip.

Our excursion today was entitled “Fado and Tapas”.

We boarded the bus and headed to the Herança Magna theater.

Along the way we saw this monument of women which is a tribute to the victims of a terrible shipwreck and their families.  The event took place in December 1947.  On that day four trawlers sank killing 152 fishermen.  A very touching memorial.

At the theater we were greeted by our host and shown to our tables.  On the tables were a plate of olives and a glass of Port wine.  Shortly afterwards two classical guitarists entered the room and played some very beautiful music. 

After a couple of songs the waiters arrived with the tapas plates.  They served us sardines, manchego cheese, ham, codfish fritters, balls of codfish, garbanzo bean salad, Portuguese sausage, and more olives, along with a red and white wine. 

Midway through the food and wine, the guitarists and singers began their performance of Fado.  Fado is a form of music characterized by mournful tunes and lyrics, often about the sea or the life of the poor, and infused with a sentiment of resignation, fatefulness and melancholia.  However it does not sound as mournful as the definition makes out.  The singers, Fernanda Moreira and Pedro Ferreira, had great voices and we really enjoyed them.

Sadly after a few more songs we had to leave and go back to the ship.  It was a wonderful afternoon.

One thing we noticed about Portugal is their use of tiles on their buildings and homes.  These are just a few of the patterns that we saw.

Posted by Paul Groves on April 24, 2019

HAL 2019 World – Day 89 Lisbon, Portugal

Yesterday’s tour was a little hectic since there is so much to see in Seville with so little time.  Today’s tour was much more leisurely and relaxing.  Our tour was named “Lisbon Sights, Sintra, and Cascais”.  Pulling into Lisbon early in the morning was an event in itself.  Lisbon is not located on the ocean, rather you reach it by sailing up the Tagus River about 7 miles (10 km).  Along the way we passed seaside towns and monuments, some of which we would visit on our tour.

Two monuments we saw on the way in and out of the port were interesting.  Cristo Rei is a tall statue of Christ with outstretched arms reminiscent of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro.  The statue dates back to the 1950’s and its construction was in reverence of Portugal’s avoidance of the horrors of WWII.  The other monument is called Monument to The Discoveries (Padrão dos Discobrimentos) that shows Henry the Navigator and 32 notable Portuguese.  This celebrates the Portuguese age of Exploration in the 15th and 16th centuries.  Ships left from Lisbon to explore India and the Orient.

The buildings that line the port area are very picturesque and uniquely European.  It was especially fun to eat breakfast and watch the scenery change from ocean to charming buildings.

Our first stop was the city of Sintra.  This is a beautiful villa that is a favorite vacation spot for visitors in the area as well as tourists.  We arrived on Easter Sunday which would usually mean that everything was closed, but being a tourist center, the shops, cafes and restaurants were open.  Again, the buildings were lovely to look at and the atmosphere was both bustling and relaxed since everyone there was on holiday.  At the top of the hill was a castle called Castle of the Moors.  There was also a palace on the lower level where the bus dropped us off, but we spent our free time wandering the streets, looking into the shops, and stopping for a tasty pastry and a cup of espresso.

From the Sintra town center it was a short drive to a restaurant for lunch.  We had salad, olives, beans, bread and wine.  The main dish was Bacalhau, cod casserole.  Cod is very popular in Portugal and the saying is that there are 100 ways to fix cod.  This dish takes cod, potatoes, garlic, onions and cornbread and grinds them together into a slightly grainy mixture.  It is baked and served hot.  Very tasty.  We were surprised to find that cod is not a local fish.  The cod eaten in Portugal is mostly imported from Norway.  Cod fishing, however, was often done by Portuguese fishermen dating back from the exploration period.  The cod was caught, cleaned, and salted all at sea and then shipped back to Portugal.

Our next stop was to the seaside city of Cascais.  This was a wonderful small villa that was a favorite vacation spot of royalty.  In modern times, there are shops and interesting streets.  One way leads to Queen’s Beach which was a favorite spot of royalty and many modern visitors.  Again we had some free time to explore and wander before returning to the bus to tour Lisbon.

On the way back to the port in Lisbon we made a few stops for photos.  Jerónimos Monastery (Mosteiro dos Jerónimos) is a former monastery of the order of Saint Jerome but was secularized in 1833 by state decree.  The monastery is one of the most prominent examples of the Portuguese Late Gothic Manueline style of architecture.  Famous explorer, Vasco da Gama’s tomb is located in the chapel. 

Belém Tower (Torre de Belém) or the Tower of St. Vincent, originated as a fortified tower that formed a defense system guarding the mouth of the Tagus River.  A matching tower formerly existed on the opposite shore.  These formed a ceremonial gateway to Lisbon.

Also near the port our guide pointed out several examples of street art.  These two examples are by the artist, Bordalo II, who makes impressive sculptural art pieces from trash.  Tomorrow, we are off to another port in Portugal, Porto.

Posted by Paul Groves on April 23, 2019

HAL 2019 World – Days 87-88 Sea Day & Cádiz, Spain

We arrived in Cádiz around 8:00 am.  We had visited Cádiz in 2017 and decided to book an excursion for a tour of the city of Seville which is about an hour and a half bus ride from the dock.

Our first stop was the Plaza de España, a huge complex built specifically for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929.   It was built to showcase Spain’s industry and technology exhibits.  

In the plaza, there are four bridges that cross a moat which represents the four ancient kingdoms of Spain.  The spindles of the bridge are made of ceramic and are very beautifully tiled as well. 

Along the walls of the Plaza are many tiled alcoves, each representing a different province of Spain. There are a couple of bookshelves on each side the the alcove where visitors could get information about the province.

The next stop was the Seville cathedral. This building is unique because the basis of the church is an Islamic mosque that was converted after the victory of Spanish Catholic forces over the Moors. The bottom of the bell tower is the mosque’s minaret. The cathedral has 80 chapels.

A surprise awaited us inside, the tomb of Christopher Columbus!  This is his final burial location as his remains were interred in several other locations before ending up here.  It’s a very beautiful tomb.

We spent about an hour inside the cathedral with our guide showing additional points of interest then it was off to lunch.

On the way we saw a very historically important building, not the building itself but what it contains.  It is called “The Archivo General de Indias”.  In it are the log books of most Spanish ships, maps, diaries, and other documents pertaining to the voyages of discovery and trade of the Spanish empire from hundreds of years ago.  Columbus’s personal diaries are kept here also.  This is the place that anyone researching a Spanish shipwreck goes first.

This being the Saturday before Easter we also saw many balconies that were decorated with palm leafs.   The streets were lined with decorated barricades to ready them for the processions/parades of religious bands and floats during this time.

After lunch we toured the royal palace called “The Alcazar”.  This magnificent palace is built in multiple architectural styles but the most beautiful is the section done by Moorish architects.  The second floor of the palace is still used by the royal family today.  We were lucky that they weren’t in town or it would have been closed.

We were headed back to the bus when we noticed a plaque honoring Washington Irving (Sleepy Hollow, Rip Van Winkle fame.) Are you surprised?  I was.  Apparently he was an ambassador to Spain for years where he wrote several histories about 15th century Spain.  He is fondly remembered by the Spanish.

P.S.  We looked high and low on our tour for a barber… a Barber of Seville.  No luck.

Posted by Paul Groves on April 21, 2019

HAL 2019 World – Days 85-86 Sea Day & Barcelona, Spain – Part 2

Barcelona’s Markets & Cuisine

After a late start Lynn and Ron headed off to their first stop at St. Joseph’s Market.

On the way we went by the Christopher Columbus column.  This was erected to honor the completion of Columbus’s first voyage to the new world. It was in Barcelona that Columbus reported his discoveries to his sponsors King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.

A few minutes later we reached the market.  This is a large market and it was extremely crowded (because of Easter, most markets are closed starting on Good Friday and only open four days later on Tuesday).

Our guide led us to a stall where we were served a “pinxos” which is a skewer containing small bites of food.  This sample contained a large shrimp wrapped in spaghetti, a fish stick, and a potato/ham croquette.  All were very tasty.  To wash it down, they served us a small glass of Champagne.  Our guide then gave us 45 minutes of free time.

 Lynn and Ron wandered through the aisles for a while until we noticed all of the tasty looking food they were selling in paper cones.  One stall had seafood cones but the Iberian ham cones looked great.  The cone that we bought was ham that had been shaved from some great looking legs of various flavors.  The cone also contained slices of Manchego cheese.  Manchego is a cheese made in the La Mancha region of Spain from the milk of sheep of the Manchega breed.  It perfectly complimented the ham.  In fact it did it so well that we soon bought a second cone of different hams and cheese.  These turned out to be spicy but still very tasty.

While walking around Lynn and I saw a sign for “giant crickets” for sale (?). We took a  closer look at the stall and realized they were selling bags of a lot of different types bugs and insects (4€ is about $5.00).  They were also selling a book of recipes.  It was a shame that we had eaten so much ham and cheese that we were full and decided not to buy any of these.

There were several tapas bars in the market as well (a tapa is an appetizer or snack of a small portion of any kind of Spanish food kinda like a Spanish dim sum). We could have stayed there and  eaten all day but time was running out.  On the way out we saw stalls that sold some great looking candied mixed nuts, olives, and, a huge variety of mushrooms.

We reboarded the bus for our journey to the next market which was only a short distance away.  To get there we had to walk by some towers from old Barcelona.  The bottom of the towers and arched wall was built by the Romans.  The top portion was rebuilt in the 13th century.  On the right of the street between the towers was the Bishop of Barcelona’s house decorated in red velvet for Easter. The Cathedral was next door.

We also noticed the artwork by Pablo Picasso entitled “El Fris del Gegants” (“The Giants”).  It was designed by Picasso but carved by another artist.  This is just one of many public artworks around the city.

Adorning many buildings/balconies was a red and yellow flag with a star.  The flag is called “The Estelada” ( or “Senyera” without the star) and is an unofficial flag typically flown to express support for an independent Catalonia which is composed of four provinces where Catalan is traditionally spoken.  Barcelona is located in one of these.

We also saw some beautifully decorated buildings along the way as well.

We finally reached the 2nd market.  It was not nearly as big or crowded as the first market.  There were no new food surprises here.  However what it did have was archeological site of an monastery that previously existed at this location from the 13th century.  The site has been carefully preserved and integrated into the market building.

We only spent about 25 minutes here and then it was off to lunch.  Lunch was a series of tapas served at two restaurants with a glass of wine at each.  The restaurants were located at the local beach.  The first restaurant served calamari, Salomon/avocado crisp, and a ham & potato croquette.  The second served a regional version of paella, potato bravas, and a skewer of squid.  These were all very tasty.  They also served a delicious red wine from the Nuviana vineyard called “Tinto”.  We returned to the ship shortly afterward.

On the way back to the ship we saw a couple of interesting places.  The first was the “Duck Store”.  Who would’ve thought you could make a living from selling only rubber duckies!  Later we saw a sculpture by pop artist Roy Lichtenstein call “El Cap de Barcelona” or “The Face of Barcelona”.

It’s now a little after midnight and we’re sailing past the Rock of Gibraltar.  I didn’t know that it was lit up at night.  This is the best picture I could get.  We were about 5 miles away when we sailed past.

We have 14 more ports to visit in 19 days before we head back to Ft Lauderdale.  It’s going to be difficult to keep up the blog at this pace but we’ll try.  We’ll catch everything up during the final eight sea days back to the U.S.