Silver Spirit- 23 days - Fort Lauderdale to Barcelona - April 2

[spinnaker2]

Into the forest primeval...

Giotto is the younger of the two dogs, and as JP said he is a Lagotto Romagnolo, a water dog, bred for truffle hunting.

 

Giotto is truly a beautiful dog and full of energy.

 

 

 

[spinnaker2]

2 hours ago, englishusa said:

Spins: Did they change CD in Lisbon?

David,

Roy took over from Rico as CD.

 

[Stumblefoot]

11 minutes ago, spinnaker2 said:

Giotto is truly a beautiful dog and full of energy.

Good Boy!

[spinnaker2]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is Andrea and Barbera finding a truffle. Barbera is a mutt, part beagle, and the better truffle hunter of the two dogs. She is a teacher for Giotto.

Edited April 27, 2019 by spinnaker2

[spinnaker2]

a truffle!

 

 

[TLCOhio]

31 minutes ago, spinnaker2 said:

Here is Andrea and Barbera finding a truffle. Barbera is a mutt, part beagle, and the better truffle hunter of the two dogs. She is a teacher for Giotto.

 

Looking good and interesting.  Very nice above "action picture"!!  Is this this the big "SURPRISE" or is another major development still to be revealed?  Keep up the great sharing.  Was this arranged through a ship tour or did you set it up via a private excursion?

 

THANKS!  Enjoy!  Terry in Ohio

 

For latest live/blog, see “Holy Lands, Egypt, Jordan, Oman, Dubai, Greece, etc.”, with many visuals, details and ideas for the historic and scenic Middle East.  Connect at:

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Edited April 27, 2019 by TLCOhio

[spinnaker2]

The hunt produced five truffles, this is the last big find

 

giotto was deep in the hole he had dug, and was pretty exhausted

 But what the dogs found was pretty amazing

a large lovely fragrant truffle!

[Stumblefoot]

5 minutes ago, spinnaker2 said:

A large lovely fragrant truffle!

That’s quite a small treasure right there!

[spinnaker2]

And then we were done for the day, a good day of truffle hunting.

Back we went for a, you guessed it, truffle lunch!

 

From a large antipasti plate, to pasta, to an egg dish and finally dessert, all courses had truffles incorporated in some manner. And all were incredible. The food was complimented by local red wine, which was poured generously. DH even had truffle gin after the meal (which he said was good).

 

All partcipants thought this was a terrific excursion.

 

No, for those who are wondering, we didn't get to keep the truffles we found. After all, we didn't find them, the dogs did.

Point of reference, the biggest buyer of truffles is Saudi Arabia. 

Truffles need to be used within four or five days.

Cost estimate well over 1k per pound.

You don't wash truffles, just brush off that dirt.

[spinnaker2]

Yes, a treasure Stumble. I wish I could recall that olfactory experience of the smell as the truffle just comes out of the ground. OMG. Heavenly.

 

Terry, that was the surprise, and yes we booked the excursion through the ship.

I did compare prices with an independent tour, and they are comparable.

[TLCOhio]

43 minutes ago, spinnaker2 said:

Terry, that was the surprise, and yes we booked the excursion through the ship.  I did compare prices with an independent tour, and they are comparable.

 

Great to hear, Spins/Candy, that this excursion was your "SURPRISE".  Definitely unique and different!!  Also, excellent confirmation that Silversea was being reasonable in the pricing for this tour.  In preparing for our July Silver Muse trip, I have checked and compared several options for tours offered by SS.  Overall, Silversea has done fairly well with their tour options as to costs, number of people on the tour, quality, etc.  

 

THANKS!  Enjoy!  Terry in Ohio

 

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[WesW]

Candy, and besides as you said, “terrific excursion,” your wonderful narrative was terrific too.  Felt as we were there with you (and wishing we were at your truffle lunch with you too).  Would even enjoy sharing a truffle gin with Larry 🙂

[spinnaker2]

Thanks much Wes!

I am sure Larry would enjoy partaking of the truffle lunch yet again and this time with you and Ida, and of course the gin (how could he not have GIN)!

I am now regretting I didn't take photos of the meal, although Anita, the cruise concierge, did take pictures(my camera was put away in my backpack). 

 

Terry, this was such fun! 

Edited April 28, 2019 by spinnaker2

[Emtbsam]

We also did the truffle hunt with Giotto last October.  It was one of our favorite excursions, and the meal after the hunt was wonderful.  Thanks for bringing back such lovely memories.

[spinnaker2]

 

Table set for our meal

Edited April 30, 2019 by spinnaker2

[spinnaker2]

On 4/28/2019 at 2:55 PM, Emtbsam said:

We also did the truffle hunt with Giotto last October.  It was one of our favorite excursions, and the meal after the hunt was wonderful.  Thanks for bringing back such lovely memories.

Yes Emtbsam, I recall that you made inquiries about it on CC. 

Hope you and Bob are well and enjoying your cruise. 

 

 

 

[Unibok]

2 hours ago, spinnaker2 said:

 

Table set for our meal

 

Oh, how lovely!

 

[spinnaker2]

1 hour ago, Unibok said:

 

Oh, how lovely!

 

Yes it really was!

[spinnaker2]

and next was another port and unbelieveably another RAINY DAY!

 

This was by far the most rain we have ever experienced on a cruise and actually the sea was rougher than the crossing.

 

 

Monte Carlo in the pouring rain...

 

even the watches were dripping

 

[spinnaker2]

The lights were on in this building.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 30, 2019 by spinnaker2

[spinnaker2]

and the rain didn't deter people from eating at the Grill

 

 

 

[spinnaker2]

and the rain didn't deter people from eating at the Grill

 

 

 

[spinnaker2]

sorry for the double post, thats a little strange. I am unsure why it happened.

 

Last port and last day.

And of course it was raining until the afternoon.

 

A sign on the hills to rival that of Hollywood.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[spinnaker2]

Our approach to Barcelona, very early and we are ready to go home.

[spinnaker2]

Barcelona light