Friday, April 18, 2025 - Catagena

The ship docked early today in Cartagena. Our docking location was literally in the city, making it easy to navigate our off-ship time.

Today I’d booked a tour through Spain Day Tours to visit Murcia and Cartagena with a guide. After breakfast we met up with Kim from Atlanta, who’d organized the trip. We walked down to meet our guide and we ended up being a group of 14, all Azamara guests.

Our guide, Pedro, was awesome and the tour was great. We first traveled by bus to Murcia, the largest city in the region. As we approached Murcia we stopped at a beautiful church with a super lookout over the area.

Following that we headed into town, and Pedro let us know that due to Holy Week he wasn’t sure what we’d find. We were lucky that a procession was taking place, but since this was happening we could sneak in the side door of the cathedral. Nice to have a guide who could point out many of the features. 

From there he walked us around a bit and we had a few minutes to explore on our own. Murcia is known as a city of flowers, and the flowers in the parks were spectacular.

After our Murcia tour it was back on the bus for our return to Cartagena (about 30 miles). Once there Pedro gave us all a great tour of the old town, pointing out historic buildings along the way. He took us in a back way to see the Roman Theater, built between 7 and 2 BC. Hard to fathom the depth of history here.

He then discovered that it was open access to see floats being prepped for a procession the next day. What a highlight to see people working on the huge floats and get an up close glimpse.

Eventually our tour ended and we stayed in the city for some time on our own. Kim and her group of 4 invited us to join them for a glass of wine, but after sitting in a cafe for a long time and not being waited on we packed it in.

John and I tried a second cafe but had the same experience so left once more. We finally located a friendly place and split a delicious chicken paella. John also tried a cafe asiático, a specialty in the region, which includes liquor 43, cinnamon and condensed milk. He thought it was a winner.

By this time it was 3:30 or so and we walked back to the ship. We both ended up napping, then went up to the Living Room for a drink. We ran into Pam and John there, and all ate dinner together at Windows Cafe, nabbing a window table as we pulled out of port.

Following dinner we all trooped down to the Cabaret Theater for an 8 pm talk by the professor, and then stayed for a musical show at 9. After this we went to Mosaic Cafe and enjoyed coffee, cocoa and conversation before bed.

Thursday, April 17, 2025 - Malaga

Overnight we cruised, docking this morning in Malaga. We docked right near the Princess Sky, a cruise ship that totally dwarfed ours. John looked it up and found that it carries 3,800 passengers as opposed to our 660, so there you have it!

We had breakfast at Windows Restaurant once again, and then got ready to head into Malaga. Because of Holy Week, our ship had to dock further away than usual, so it was a bit of a process to board a shuttle to take us to the port terminal, but once there an easy walk into the city.

We’ve now rounded the southern tip of Spain and are on the Mediterranean Sea. This part of Spain is known as the Costa del Sol, so lots of beaches and resorts. As we walked into the city we could see beaches and high rises on either side.

Because of the holiday week a Royal Navy ship was arriving as we entered the city. Lots of fanfare, with a military band playing on deck, soldiers, and huge crowds waiting for the ship’s arrival.

Our first goal was the Alcabaza, which the professor had shown up pictures of in his talk. From below we could see the Alcabaza part way up the hill, and then the Castillo at the top. In our walking we somehow overshot the Alcabaza, and realized we were on our way to the Castillo. A long uphill but we made it, enjoying the great views from the top.

From there it was down to the Alcazaba, which was jam packed with tourists by the time we arrived. We’d fortunately purchased tickets for both spots at the Castillo, so we were able to bypass the long lines.

The Alcazaba was stunning inside, with beautiful gardens and water features, but it was so, so busy. After a bit we made our way out and walked by the Roman Theater ruins in the city, then headed into the main square to have drinks at a cafe. We managed to catch the act of some gymnast street performers who were really good.

We then wandered to the Mercado, which was unfortunately shut down for the day. By this time we’d had enough of crowds and made our way back to the ship. We went in the hot tub and pool, which felt great.

We’d made plans to meet Pam and John for dinner at Discoveries Restaurant (the sit down option) at 6:30. We had a delicious long dinner with them, finally ending our evening at 10 pm.

Wednesday, April 16, 2025 - Gibraltar

Gibraltar today! We were still cruising this morning when we woke up. We had breakfast at Windows, then walked up to the Living Room to look out. I was pulled into a half hour Zumba class while there, which was fun.

At 9:30 am we went to the Cabaret Lounge to listen to the Professor (Martin) do a presentation on Malaga and Cartagena. Very helpful and informative… his 45 minute talks hit the highlights of what to see and do.

Gibraltar was the one place that I’d booked a shore excursion through Azamara, and we had to meet our group at 12:15. We had some coffee/tea and small bites at Mosaic Cafe before we left.

The tour was called “City Under Siege” and was excellent. 19 of us and a British tour guide (Mark) on a small bus. We first stopped at the small Gibraltar Museum, then traveled to the Hundred Ton Gun. From there it was off to ride the cable car to the top of the rock. We were so lucky that we could bypass the 2 hour line since we already had tix. Spectacular views in every direction from on high, and even a photogenic monkey!

We eventually returned halfway down via cable car. We boarded our bus from there and traveled to tour the Siege Tunnels. Pretty amazing place; tunnels hand dug in the late 1700’s to fight when the city was under siege by the Spanish. There are 35 miles of tunnels throughout the Rock, and we saw the oldest and highest one.

The tour ended at 4:30 and we were dropped off in town. Our guide had recommended eating fish and chips at Roy’s, so that was our first stop. Great fish and chips served by Spanish speaking waitstaff!

From there we wandered the streets a bit before making our way back to the ship. We arrived at 6 or so and got ready for the White Nights party. Windows was packed by the time we made it up to the dining room, but we scored 2 seats next to Bob and Sharman, a lovely couple from FL (retired United pilot and American Airlines flight attendant).

Following dinner we made our way to the Cabaret Theater, sitting with Jerry and Marty from Madison, WI. All of the entertainers sang, band played, and lots of dancing. Fun night!

Tuesday Apr 15, 2025 Day 2 in Seville

 

 

Milo slept like a baby until 8:00. Deb signed us up for a food tour in Seville and Milo got invited for a private tour of the ship's mechanical workings. The plan is to start the food tour at 12:00 and then Milo will peel off and head back to the ship for the 3:30 engine room tour.

We first visited the huge Plaza de Espana, which was built for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929. What an impressive area. We then walked into town to “the mushrooms”, the big sculpture we went to yesterday and met Aysa who led the tour. She is from Turkey but landed in Seville and fell in love with the city. She studied theater and makes her living leading these food tours until her acting career gets established. There were 12 of us and we had 4 stops, each with some kind of drink and

food. The food helps you from getting drunk!

Milo cut out early and got to see one of the Easter floats on the way back to the ship. He had to kind of melt into the procession to get across the road. Nobody seemed to mind.

Milo and two other passengers got a tour of the engine control room below deck. The ship's engineer spent an hour or more going over how the engines, generators, motors, how they turn the boat, how fast they can go (21 knots). Very impressed that they did this special tour.

Monday, April 14, 2025 - Seville Spain

Wow, sleeping is easy on board! John finally woke up at 8:30 am and we headed up to Windows Restaurant for breakfast. They really do a good job with their buffets and choices.

By 9:45 or so we got off the boat. It’s all so easy since our ship is docked right in the heart of the city. We set Google maps with directions to Las Setas (aka The Mushrooms) and started walking. We first passed through the big park that was developed for the 1929 World Exposition, and admired all of the lovely buildings built for the expo at the same time.

We then passed through Barrio Santa Cruz, a stunning warren of narrow streets with all kinds of shops, cafes and homes. Seville has got to be one of the prettiest cities I’ve been to, and so fun to get lost in its streets.

We eventually reached Las Setas, and ogled the wood structure above us. Quite an engineering feat for sure.

We then walked to Triana Quarter and went into Mercado Triana. We wandered around looking for something to eat and settled on a ham and cheese baguette to share with a beer for John. Because of Holy Week, there are so many people out and about everywhere.

We then wandered some more, stopping for ice cream along the way. Eventually we found a replica ship on the river, and learned that it was the Victoria, a ship in the Magellan expedition of 1518. There was an Explorer’s Museum across from the ship, so we toured that and learned about the expedition.

After all our wandering it was after 4 by the time we got back to our ship. We first headed to Mosaic Cafe for coffee, tea and a snack, then up to the Living Room for a drink. At 6:15 we went to the Flamenco Show, which was excellent, then dinner after at Windows Restaurant.

By that time it was after 9 and we were ready to call it a night!

Sunday, April 13, 2025 Our day at sea (Lisbon to Seville)

Today is our one day “at sea”. We’re already learning there’s a huge schedule of possible things to do every day along with so many people to meet! 662 passengers and we’re meeting really nice people.

Last night we ate at Windows Restaurant, the main dining area with a beautiful themed buffet (seafood last night), so thought we’d try Discoveries Restaurant this morning. This is an order off the menu restaurant and it was a perfect breakfast.

We’d looked at our daily copy of “The insider” and wanted to attend a morning and afternoon talk by a history professor about the part of Spain we’re in. We went to his talk at 10 and the other one at 2, giving us a preview of Seville, our first port.

Let’s see… the rest of the day was filled with laundry, eating lunch, trying to get oriented on the boat, meeting lots of people and reading on the outside pool deck. 

We had 50 miles to travel up the river before coming to the lock into Seville. We had a great time hanging out on the 11th level deck watching our ship squeak through the lock and under a bridge. We watched all this with Pam and John from England, Sally and Griff from Australia, the professor from the talks and Susan and Richard from Maryland. 

By 7:30 we were hungry and headed to Windows for the French buffet. After dinner and more chatting we decided to check out the entertainment. 4 singers and 2 dancers and a band, with all kinds of familiar songs. All silly fun!

By 9:45 we were beat and ready for bed. 

Saturday, April 12, 2025 - Lisbon day 2

We slept in after last night’s late Fado adventure. Started with coffee/tea at Copenhagen Coffee Lab, then walked to breakfast at Augusto Lisboa, a restaurant nearby that turned out to have a great breakfast.

We walked back to the apartment and finished packing up. By 11:45 am we checked out and started meandering down the hill with our bags to find our ship, Azamara Journey.

Check in for the ship started at 12:30 and there was already a line when we arrived at 12:15. I was impressed with the organization, checking passports, getting our keycards, taking our luggage, and ultimately getting us on the boat. We ended up in line with Pam and John, a lovely couple from northern England. 

The Azamara Journey is a gorgeous boat. Our stateroom is on the 4th deck, and there are a total of 11. So many places to hang out, eat and drink, and a pool and hot tub area as well. Super friendly staff and most everything is included so no need to bring wallets with you on the boat.

We wandered, eventually checking in to our room, and at 4 we’re organized for a safety briefing. The day kind of went by, with cast off from port, dinner, a welcome toast by the captain, intro of the top crew, and entertainment. Looking like it’ll be a great week!

Friday April 11, 2025 Lisbon

 

We decided to have breakfast at Copenhagen Coffee Lab and headed there by 8 am. By 9 we were back at our apartment and Nancy called an uber to take her to the airport.

We walked with her to the pickup spot and said our goodbyes. Once the uber came we headed in the opposite direction to visit the castle (Castelo de Sao Jorge). We arrived at the castle with no line and headed in to wander. This time I found the museum (missed it the first time around) and scrambled up and down all over. We also signed on to an 11 am tour, so we sat and had a cup of coffee and tea before we met the group.

The tour was wonderful and filled in lots of missing history. As part of the tour we also got to see inside the archaeological ruins. All very interesting.

By the time we finished it was 12:30 and we were ready for lunch. We called an uber to take us to Belem. Once there we ate at the maritime museum cafe (bowls of veggie soup, roll, pastel de natas and beer/soda for 15.5 Euros) and then headed inside to tour the museum. I enjoyed re-visiting the museum, especially after getting a broad history lesson of Lisbon from our guide at the castle.

Once we reached the military naval display area, however, I’d had enough and returned to the cafe for a cup of tea while John finished up the museum.

By 3:30 we were ready to head back to the apartment, so called an uber. Back for a rest and some downtime before our booked dinner at a Fado restaurant at 8.

I’d booked us reservations at Tasca da Bela - Casa de Fados on the recommendation of someone Nancy and I had met at our other Fado dinner. It was only a 5 minute walk from our hotel, but in a neighborhood we hadn’t wandered through before.

Once again, lots of wine, many starters and bread, and then smaller plates of main dishes (bachalau with spinach, veal stew), followed by mango mousse and chocolate cake at the end. A very small and cozy restaurant, and we were seated next to a lovely Danish couple and right near 5 Irish women all celebrating their 50th birthdays.

Dinner was paused and lights were turned down 4 times for 3 different fado singers. All wonderful and we finally stumbled out of there and up the hill to bed at midnight.

Thursday April 10, 2025 - Bisbee to Lisbon Portugal

 

I got up at 2 am to get to the cheap ($3.99/day) parking lot and get to the Tucson airport for the 5:45 am flight. Tucson to Los Angeles with a shot stop. Then Los Angeles to Philadelphia with a long layover, then Philly to Lisbon Portugal. All in all about a 20 hour travel day.

I took an Uber to the hotel that Nancy Carroll had set up for the three of us. Deb and Nancy have been hiking on the Fishermen's Trail in southern Portugal for the last couple of weeks and we're meeting here for one night, and then Nancy flies back to Vermont and Deb and I get on the Azamara Journey ship for a 9 night cruise around the coast of Spain. 

I slept little on the planes, so I took a shower and crashed for an hour. Deb and Nancy showed up. I'll let Deb tell her adventure today.

It rained a bit overnight in Sagres but the sun was shining weakly when we got up. We hit the breakfast at 8, wanting to eat before our 8:45 am bus ride.

The hotel was located only a few minutes from the bus stop, so we made it there by 8:30. By 8:45 we were loaded on and on our way.

The bus made several stops along the way, and then finally we were on the A-2 toll road to Lisbon. Pretty uneventful ride, and by 1:15 we pulled into the Lisbon bus station. From there it was an Uber to Alfama- Lisbon Lounge Suites and our River View Apt where John was waiting. The apartment was ready when he arrived, so he’d had a chance to shower and nap before we got there.

We hadn’t had lunch, so we all went 2 doors up the street to the Copenhagen Coffee Lab for sandwiches and coffee/tea drinks. From there we walked around the Alfama district for a while, finally stopping for people watching and drinks at an outdoor cafe.

By this time we were ready for a break, so headed back to the apartment for some down time.

At 6:30 we walked to dinner at Costa de Castelo Restaurant and it was so good! Pasta with tomato sauce, shrimp and spinach for Nancy and I and a cod dish for John. We split a bottle of vinho verde and a piece of pistachio tiramisu for dessert.

Back to our apartment to crash by 8:45.

Monday Oct 21, 2024 White Spar Campground (Prescott AZ) to Las Vegas

Very quiet campground given we are so close to Prescott. Coffee and then a quick stop at McD’s for the breakfast sandwich we were cheated out of yesterday. Today we go to Las Vegas, where Deb has not been and I was last there at a trade show 30 years ago. I also met our daughter there in 2015 and we rented a Harley and rode around for a week.

Before leaving town we went to Watson Lake / The Dells which is a beautiful lake with odd round rock formations. One or two people there. The campground is closed for the season but the boat launch and park are open. Nice to have the place to ourselves.

Rt 89 took us directly north until we hit I-40 at Ash Fork. This road is pretty remote so you have to watch your gas. I-40 was busy but quick and we did a quick side loop to Seligman, AZ which is an old Rt 66 town. Lots of 1950-60 Americana there.

Then back on the I-40 since we wanted to get to Las Vegas in time to go into the city and see the sights.

We got to the Las Vegas RV Resort around 2:00 and checked in. A friend recommended it and it is indeed very nice. Our van was the smallest thing here.

We got an Uber to the Sphere, which we decided not to do since we hadn’t planned on it and also were too cheap to pay the $100+ a head. Better done at a later trip. Then we walked “the strip”.

First stop was The Venetian where they have boats with singing drivers that will take you in and out of the compound. All the shops were new and the casino was full, like all of the casinos.

Next stop was The Paris where they have a really big Eiffel Tower. Looked pretty new and well done. Then the Flamingo which was a little run down, but still busy. Then we tried to stop at Caesars Palace where I had spent a week at 30 years ago but it was hard to tell how you even got in. Then the Bellagio and watched one of the fountain shows. We decided to get some dinner and then walk the strip again after dark. We had dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp on the third floor balcony which was a great place to watch all the action down on the strip.

After dinner we went back to the Ballagio and watched the fountain show again with all the lights. Pretty spectacular. The crowds were double what they had been earlier today and it was fun to see all the crazy people on the streets at night.

We ended up back at the Venetian where we called an Uber and rode back to the RV park.

At our quiet spot back at the park we realized that Las Vegas is meant to max out all of your senses. Sight, sound, smell, vision, the whole works. Contrast that to where we hope to end up tomorrow night, somewhere on Rt-50, the loneliest road in America.

Sunday Oct 20, 2024 Bisbee to Prescott

 

It’s been a while since our last camping trip, Colorado in July. I took the van out for a ride, which I try to do once a month or so. The heater likes to be run every month or so but I forgot that it also likes more than a quarter tank of gas in the tank. I tried to run the heater but it locked me out. This happened a couple of years ago and I had to cycle the power on it but it didn’t work this time, so I found and pulled the fuses for the heater to cycle power and magically the heater worked. I also filled the tank up before running it of course.

We are going to Sacramento to see the grand kids and will go via Prescott and Las Vegas since Deb has never been there. Then we’ill take the “loneliest road in America”, Rt 50 all the way across Nevada.

We packed up everything, clothes and food, toothbrush etc., loaded the van at the end of the driveway, put everything away down on the street and then we were off.

It felt good to be on the road again and today we are all highway, which is fine because Phoenix is really busy. We were going to get breakfast sandwiches and coffee at McD’s but they stopped breakfast 10 minutes before we got there so we got a Subway sub since it was 11:00 already. It’s Sunday so Tucson traffic was easy, and then the long stretch on I-10 to Phoenix. Google re-routed us a couple of times and we did not see any slowdowns all the way through Phoenix. Thanks again Google!

Then north on I-17 to Prescott. It was only in the 70’s in Phoenix and Tucson and the temperature dropped another 10-15 degrees as we climbed to Prescott that’s at 5300 ft elevation.

The road into Prescott is really really busy. They have all the chain stores out here which must be their “strip”. We had heard that it was exploding in population and that appears to be the case. We went to the downtown where the old city is and it was less commercial. Prescott is the county seat of Yavapi County (twice the population of our Cochise County}, and their courthouse is indeed twice the size of ours, at least. We walked up the famous Whiskey Row and checked out all the shops. Gave a dollar to a Santa that claims he makes Xmas stockings for Vets (looked legit) so maybe he does and maybe he had enough to buy a bottle. Nice guy either away.

Prescott has two colleges, Yavapi Community College and Prescott College so the town had a lot of younger folks wandering around. We were told to go to Bill’s Pizza place (Santa disagreed) and we split a large salad and a small pizza.

Then we drove the three miles to White Spar Campground which was ⅔ full with pit toilets for $14. A nice quiet night. Tomorrow Las Vegas!