Review - Passage to Spain - Eurodam - April 5 to 19

[arzz]

Forgot to mention in my general comments the new tea! Not sure how I could forget this after two weeks of drinking tinted hot water - no flavor at all. Bring back the Bigelow teas, or the plain teas with the Holland America label ... Anything but these new teas. Please!

 

The new tea bags are a perfect example of Larry Wilmore's "weak tea".

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for taking the time to post your review.

Glad you had a good cruise.

[arzz]

After leaving the Azores we finished our crossing under grey skies, relatively flat seas and only some wind - uneventfully.

 

This morning in Cadiz we docked in the darkness and the sun came up to more grey skies, temperature around sixty and rain. Not an encouraging day. Since we had no tour planned we went to the dining room for breakfast and to wait the weather out a bit. It was a good move. The rain clouds cleared out eventually followed by the sun and the temperature rose a few degrees. Absolutely perfect weather.

 

Off the ship we hired a cab to take us around and show us the city of Cadiz. We did not go to Seville as it was so magical in 2012 we were afraid that if we were to repeat our short visit with another short visit we would only be disappointed.

 

The city of Cadiz has two sections ... The old section and the new. We were driven through the old section down cobble stone streets so narrow that they were not much wider than our vehicle (about the size of a Prius) and a scant bit of space on either side for one pedestrian. We drove between three and four story buildings that soared with tall windows and ceilings that must be at least twelve feet each story. The street level was occupied by small shops for meat, produce, shoes, and other consumer goods. We even passed a pet shop that could have been one of the high end pet boutiques at home carrying all the pet paraphernalia and expensive brands of food. The dogs we saw in town were plentiful, leashed, and well cared for.

 

Our route brought us past government buildings, monuments that celebrated things like the first Spanish constitution in 1812, museums, an open air market, a large botanical garden, a castle and the cathedral.

 

The castle was a large fortification built at the end of a very long narrow stone embankment (path) that went out into the ocean. The castle itself highly resembles the El Morro Castle and fortification in San Juan (common roots and era). Our driver drove us down the long path and waited while we photographed but there wasn't much to see as there were extensive renovations in progress. It is interesting to note that the "stone" blocks used for the building appear to have been made of a crude concrete mixture (or natural sea stone?) containing large amounts of shells from the ocean and later painted or stuccoed over.

 

The cathedral was pretty and pretty standard for a European cathedral - full of carved wooden and silver religious items. It also had a basement "crypt" full of marker stones of folks who passed on during the 19th century and a couple who were much more modern.

 

After our tour our driver dropped us in the old city center where we did some walking on our own then stopped at a Taverna for another local light lunch. This time we sat outside and ate sandwiches made of a prosciutto type ham and local cheese accompanied by a local wine and a local beer. Total cost of the meal (for two) was 7.90 euro - just a tad more than our 7.40 euro lunch in Ponto Delgado in the Azores.

 

Then it was back to the ship. Good thing as the clouds soon returned and it started to rain. Right now it is 7pm and we are cruising towards the Straits of Gibraltar on our way to Malaga, Spain our port for Granada and the Alhambra. Unfortunately it will be midnight before we travel through the straits and 2 am before we pass the Rock of Gibraltar. Can't have everything, I guess.

[DeeniEncinitas]

Love your report!

Thankyou!

We look forward on being on her soon!

Denise

[arzz]

Eurodam 2015 - Segment 3

 

Alhambra and beyond.

 

OK, think of the word "Alhambra" ... does it conjure up for you all sorts of Moorish, exotic images? Does it seem like a "must see" sort of place? It certainly did for us. In 2011 when the Prinsendam was unable to get into the port of Motril, Spain due to bad weather and we missed both the Alhambra and the money we had spent on our pre-reserved tickets, we were quite disappointed ... so our port this cruise of Malaga, Spain was one that we really looked forward to ... our chance to actually see the Alhambra. In 2011 we ported in Cadiz as reparations for missing Motril. DH and I then took a taxi tour that day to Seville which was magical. We had wonderful weather - Seville was eye candy with everything in bloom and there was a local festival in Seville - and we also stopped to see the Alcazar Palace that visit.

 

This time we signed up for the HAL trip to the Alhambra as the excursion is long and our time in port ... well, the excursion was described by HAL as being a 9 hour tour yet the Eurodam was only to be in port for 8 1/2 hours ....

 

Our bus which we boarded at what felt like dawn was brand new and very comfortable ... it still had that "new bus" smell. The two and a half hour ride to Granada was very scenic as the bus climbed up to the 2000 foot elevation of Grenada. We traveled through the clouds and rain. We could see rolling vistas of towns, snow covered mountains (the Sierra Nevadas), fields of solar panels aimed at where the sun should be and windmill farms. The towns were full of white houses with orange tile roofs - the fields were full of olive and orange trees (did you know that you can take "olive oil" tours here?). It was a nice, albeit long, ride.

 

Once at the Alhambra we were split into smaller groups and assigned a local guide. Our guide passed out "whispers" to each of us (radio devices with earphones) so that we could listen to what he was saying without him having to shout. And ... it seemed that all of Andalusia visited the Alhambra yesterday. Scores of school groups, folks from our ship, the large MSC behemoth of a ship that was also in port and everyone's uncles, cousins and aunts. The crowds were reminiscent of the crowds at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg where you could not even move because of the sea of people. There were so many there using "whispers" that we heard a lot of static as well as guides from other groups. Today the "whisper" was not so successful.

 

Our tour began walking along the stone path through the gardens which were, to be fair, impressive with topiary hedgerow and tall open topiary arches through which the stone path meandered. Lots of colorful blooms and many pools and fountains as water was very important to the Moors.

 

We waited almost 45 minutes in a crowded line to get into the courtyard of the summer palace to see the long line of pools and fountains there - a nice view but our three minute visit seemed hardly worth the wait. Once in we went no farther in the summer palace as we had wasted the rest of our outdoor time (and more) waiting to get in. Our guide talked us out of a second bathroom stop (the first was mentioned by him but then not offered) and he then told us it was time to head into the palace. Ironically, the sun just started to come out.

 

One cannot deny that the inside of the palace with its intricately carved walls and soaring carved ceilings was indeed a treat to see - but the incessant and very repetitive oral ramblings of our guide on Islamic philosophy and all manner of background information became, after a time, very tiring to listen to. And we had to stand and listen, again and again. Did I say he was repetitive, dull and boring?

 

By the time our tour was over it was 1:30. We walked to the local hotel for a buffet lunch. We were even late there. We barely had time to grab food (Oh, did I mention that most of the trays of food were empty by the time we got to them?) and a quick pit stop before we were back on the bus for the return trip. All aboard was 4:30 - our bus arrived at close to 5:00 - good thing that we were with HAL and the ship waited.

 

All in all, we appreciated the Alcazar Palace in Seville in 2011 a lot more - just as beautiful, not as large, and in 2011 when we self toured the Alcazar Palace was not crowded.

 

However, after a bit of thought, though we were not impressed with this excursion, we were glad that we actually got there. Had we chosen not to visit we may have always regretted it. Now we know.

 

Next day we were in Cartegena, Spain. We were last here in 2009 on a Sunday - everything was closed and I remember it as being a bit run down though we did, at that time, walk out to see the amphitheater and other historical sights. It seems there has been a lot of renovation and we really enjoyed it as a lovely port - especially since we met friends there. The Amsterdam, which is on its world voyage, was in port with us and our friends are on the Amsterdam's World Cruise.

 

The Eurodam and the Amsterdam shared the dock in Cartegena - parked nose to nose! It was fun to stand on the promenade deck of the Eurodam and watch the Amsterdam come in and dock. Though for a time it looked like the Amsterdam was on a collision course aimed right at us where we stood on the promenade deck, Captain Mercer deftly docked his large ship just a few feet from the bow of our ship. Beautiful to witness.

 

In town we walked the streets with our good friends and stopped for pastry and tea and spent a lovely few hours together. I also have to admit that I really enjoyed that cup of tea - it actually had flavor and tasted like tea unlike the product produced by HAL's new tea service.

 

Later, back on board, we enjoyed Friday evening religious services with Rabbi Peggy. So nice that HAL had her on board his cruise.

 

Next port: Valencia, Spain which would prove to be one of our best port stops ever!

[oaktreerb]

Looking forward to your next port review.