Thursday May 5, 2016 – Happy Cinco de Mayo! Expecting Mexican food on the ship, but no go!!! At sea between Naples and Cadiz, Spain. The big and exciting news of the day is that Lindsay and Christoper (Tachy’s son & daughter-in-law) are in the hospital waiting for their first baby (a daughter which up to now Tachy has named – “Apple-Ginger”) to be born in Toronto. All day bulletins were posted and messages went back and forth, but the big event was to wait until tomorrow after many hours of labour. The other big news today was that Norberto, the Philipine waiter in Todd English and in the World Voyage Atlantic Room, since we see him every day have got to know quite well , was the “employee of the Month” and 20 years of Service with Cunard, went AWOL in Naples. He got off the ship and never returned. A big surprise to all and sad that someone with 20 years service abandons ship in mid contract and destroys his career. As in all of these things, the crew are silent, but what we have been able to glean is that he did go off with all his baggage, so thus nothing untoward happened to him onshore for which we are thankful. It seems that he has a wife or girlfriend in Italy, so apparently decided to jump ship and go to his family. When on the ship for as long as we have been one sees the same people often and it becomes a community, so anything that alters that equilibrium becomes “big news”! On board the ship there were the usual more mundane activities. A lecture by Jonathan Rice (Tim Rice’s brother) on “Musicals from Rodgers and Hammerstein to Elton John” – a very interesting look at the classic Musicals, through his brother and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s collaboration for 5 musicals, through more modern Musicals with Elton John and Stephen Sondheim. Paul Sloane on “What is Lateral Thinking and How can you use it”? An interesting concept and one he lectures on and has written about. He gave an example of a city wanting to attract more visitors and increase tourism, that he consulted with a few years ago. After they had gone through the regular brainstorming exercises and came up with nothing, he was called in and said – Open the dictionary at any page and pick out the first noun. Now come up with phrases using that noun that may have relevance to the problem. From that they came up with some excellent ideas and tourism increased when implemented. This type of “out of the box” thinking is what he discussed. The evening at the Commodore club and then the show which was a fascinating display of acrobat is by a Rusian Duo called “Duo Deja Vu”. How can they contort their bodies and have such control that aerials seem so easy.
Friday May 6, 2016 – At sea en route to Cadiz – The big event of today was the little princess in Toronto deciding she was ready to face the world – Alexis Lake was born at 7 lbs with Lindsay, Christopher and baby girl all doing well and the new parents suffering from a severe lack of sleep. Jonathan Rice (Tim Rice’s brother) spoke on “How not to make a Hit Record”. He recounted the early years with his brother attempting to write / produce / anything to make and sell a Hit Record in Britain. They all flopped until eventually Tim went off with Andrew Lloyd Webber to make musicals, and he went off to develop the Guiness book of Hit Recordds in Britain. A very interesting “backstage” view of this talented family. Graham Howell in his last “Port Lecture” spoke of many other ports around the world that may be interesting to visit, other than the ones we visited on this voyage. Tachy had lunch with a ship friend who is doing the full round the world trip – Sally (married to Robert who is the largest collector of Logo Golf Balls in the world having over 50,000 balls in his collection – Googling it one can see the containers etc that he has them all in). Then it was time to organise the ship photos and start to pack some of the stuff as Tachy has decided to leave in Southampton and fly back to Toronto to visit with the new grandchild Alexis and then head down to Mexico to visit her mother. Diana, Nelson and Roger will continue on the ship to New York. In the evening, Nelson and Roger went to see Tom O’Connor do a Comedian show. He is supposedly well known in Britain and was probably funny a few decades ago. He was amusing in places but difficult to understand. We felt he had issues with his dentures which made enunciation a complex process! However, many in the audience seemed to enjoy his comedy.
Saturday May 7, 2016 – In Cadiz, for Sevilla Spain. After sailing into the harbour at 6 AM, we tied up Starboard to Dock with most of the town visible past the Container port, towards the town on our port side of the ship. After clearance, Roger and Tachy made their way to the coaches for a day in Sevilla. Diana and Nelson took a walking tour of Cadiz, which they thoroughly enjoyed, followed by lunch of Tapas and Paella and an afternoon of shopping. Roger and Tachy took the 1 1/2 hour coach ride into Sevilla, Spain. Our Calypso Tours guide Antonio and driver Juan first took us for a drive through Cadiz and the guide was amusing and enthusiastic about his home town. Once we got out of town headed for Sevilla, he beacme a poor guide, not really explaining what when where. At one point he would say just walk along this street, how far and where to stop, nothing. Eventually we found it was all the way to the end of the street a left then a right turn. We were promised shopping and no stop made. He said we would have a restroom break on the return journey but none made. Here we are in Spain where there is superb local food, but where did he take us to lunch – an Italian Restaurant for salad and chicken with gravy and potatoes! However, despite that we enjoyed the day, particularly as he handed us over to a much better local guide Manuel for our walk around the old town who happily explained that Seville enjoys 295 days / 3200 hours of sunshine a year, but less enthusiastically mentioned the searing 45-50C / 110F summer humid heat!!!
This area of Spain from the Portugal Border to Gibraltar is known as the Costa de la Luz with Cadiz, with the capital of the Province of the same name (Cadiz). The town of Cadiz is the oldest continuously inhabited city of the western world with 3000 years of history and with a current population of 150,000, area of 12 Sq Km and situated on a promontory, so that it is almost an island. It is the largest port of Western Spain and has a large dry dock and ship building facilities. Being the maiden voyage for Queen Mary 2, the local authorities were pleased to see the ship and as the Captain told us in a private dinner conversation, showered him with kindness. Also he told us about the local harbour master who apparently was still attempting to get QM2 to come to his dry dock to go through the refit, which will actually take place next month in Hamburg. By 1100 BC this town was already a Center for trade for the Phonecians with Tin, Silver and hides being traded. It went through the various periods with the Greeks, Romans, Visigoths and Moors (Arabs for 600 years). However, one of the important eras was with the “discovery” of America as all ships to and from, left from Seville until the Guadalquivir River silted up and Cadiz was used. Thus, as we will discover later, the immense amount of Gold from America that was used in the Seville Cathederal. By 1770, Cadiz was a wealthier city than London, given its strategic location of trade with the Americas, but 30 years thereafter Lord Nelson bombarded the town and the battle of Trafalgar took place in 1805. For a brief period in the 19th century through the constitution of 1812, Cadiz was the capital of Spain. Today Olive oil and Sherry are the major exports from the port of Cadiz, given that Jerez de la Frontera – the main sherry producing area of the country with its 25,000 acres of vineyards, is located 20 miles away. Indeed some 50% of the land is used for agriculture – citrus, grains, cotton, rice and apparently, according to the guide, it is the largest producer of olive oil in the world (olive trees introduced during the Roamn period), exporting to Italy where it is re bottled and sold as Italian. This same story I seem to have also heard in Greece and Italy while visiting those countries previously!!!
Sevilla is perhaps best known in England for it’s bitter oranges for the manufacture of marmalade, but it has been inhabited for centuries and by the 16th century already had a population of 150,000 and thus a major European city. As previously mentioned, it was the main port of trade with the Americas via the then navigable Guadalquivir River. Over time this silted up and although it still is present, it is a small river that leads to the Atlantic Ocean at Cadiz. We were warned of Gypsy women that would come up to you in the street offering free rosemary branches, leading to them wanting to tell your fortune, while removing items from your pocket for their gain and your loss!!! I did see one or two and kept well away. Our main stops of the day were for a walk through the old town and Jewish Quarter, Lunch and Plaza España. Many operas were inspired by this old city such as Carmen with the cigar factory work in what was then the largest building in the city. Today the yellow building is no longer a cigar factory where 4000 women would roll cigars, but a government building. The many balconies inspired Rossini and his “Barber of Seville” as well as many other classic operas. As we wandered past the Real Alcazar (fortified residence), the oldest continuously occupied Royal Residence in Spain and from Plaza to Plaza in this Santa Cruz neighbourhood and along the narrow streets, we were charmed by the atmosphere of the place. I had been here some 30 years ago with Sandi and know that we loved the place to the extent that we seriously considered purchasing a small second home / residence here. It was not to be and as all cities, it has grown and changed since then, but the charm of the old quarter remains. The church of Santa Cruz like several churches in this area of town change denominations depending on who is in power from Synagogues to Mosques to Catholic Churches. The apogee of the Safaric Jewish settlement was during the 13th and 14th centuries, where they were offered Royal protection, but as the 14th century wore on, there was a wave of anti-semitism with the Christians moving in and the conversion of the houses of worship to Christianity. The main destination of this wander was this, the Largest Gothic Cathederal in the world and third largest Cathederal in Europe after St. Peter’s Rome and St. Paul’s London. It took 105 years 1401-1506 to construct and is 126 meters (413 feet) long, 82 meters (269 feet) wide and the nave is 36 meters (118 feet) high and the side nave 26 meters (85 feet) high with 45 chapels . The place was amazing and well worth a visit irrespective of your viewpoint on religion. King Juan Carlos’s eldest daughter Helena was married here. It is interesting that a nun was the first architect however her plans were lost in a fire. The entire church was constructed from donations from regular citizens. One of these prominent donors was Juan de Cervantes who has a large Mauseleum within the church. Another prominent personality buried there is Christopher Columbus with a palanquin coffin surrounded by pall-bearers in a Mauseleum supposedly holding the remains of the great man. I have also seen his grave and Mauseleum in the Cathederal in Santo Domingo Dominican Republic and I believe there are others who claim to have his tomb. Whether this is indeed the famous one or his brother or whether his remains were moved from place to place, is still unknown. However, DNA testing does apparently prove that the remains are that of a male of his era and likely to be of that family. This DNA testing was done some years ago and permission has not been granted to undergo more modern DNA testing, so the mystery continues! The highlight was the enormous Royal Altar and backdrop which has the largest wooden area of a rhearodos in the world with an area of 27 meters high (89 feet) by 18 meters (59 feet) high with 1,000 proportional figures (smaller ones lower and larger people higher which aids proportionality when viewed from below. All this wood is covered with 2,000 Kilos (4,400 lbs) of gold brought from the Americas. As mentioned, this was the port where all the gold and riches from the Americas was brought, so Seville had it’s pick of the cargo!!! It is amazing to see the sight of all these carved figures and that amount of gold. We stood in awe behind the 20 foot high wrought Iron gates protecting the chancel area, poking our cameras through the bars to get a picture. While the other side chapels were very impressive and the one opposite the main altar, was almost as impressive with its gold leaf covered wooden statues, the main altar area was just spectacular. It was similar in overall layout to the Cathederal in Toledo, Spain, with no long nave leading to the high altar, but rather split up into many small areas around the armours altars. As stated, this was a converted mosque and the orange grove type plaza (Plaza de Los Naranjos) outside with it’s out buildings (for washing before prayer etc) certainly allowed one to imagine the old Mosque days. Ornate exterior stone carving, impressive porticos and flying buttresses add to the grandeur of the place.
After the Cathederal we continued along the streets of the old town, seeing the various buildings (including Burger King, Starbucks etc!) until at a point, the Sevilla guide Manuel, left us and the first guide resumed the leadership role. It was here that despite having the “whisper” (ear devices to hear the guide speak witching a 35 foot radius) that he opted to not use them and just said to go down this road. How far, do we turn, where do we stop, was it a long or short walk, and many more questions remained unanswered. Eventually we found it was to the end of the street, then left then right to reboard the coaches – Poor group management, despite having the devices to explain what we were looking at as we passed the various impressive buildings. One of these was the Alfonso XIII hotel (named after the Spanish Monarch) which apparently , according to the New York Times is the 7th best Hotel in the World! He then took us to lunch. We were expecting tapas (originally a thick slice of manchego cheese to be places on top of your glass of wine (from ‘tapar’ = to cover) to prevent flies getting into the wine) or paella or other such great Spanish food, but where did we end up – an Italian place for salad and chicken with gravy – a real let down. The only saving grace was the good wine and sitting at a table with ship board friends David & Ruth Ann (from Nova Scotia, Canada).
Following lunch we went to the area of the city built during the Iberian-American exhibition of 1929 to commemorate the 500 years anniversary after the initial voyage in 1492 of Spaniards to America. There were a series of buildings constructed by the various countries that formed part of the Spanish Empire in the Americas. We saw the buildings to Argentina, Mexico, Colombia and even the (Portuguese) Brazil, before getting to the Plaza España, constructed by Spain over 15 years, for this Exposition. It is one of the most spectacular mega constructions anywhere, consisting of a semicircular 3 story building in sandstone, with it’s grand entrances into foyers with painted tiles depicting famous events and people in Spanish history. The building was constructed upon orders from King Alfonso XIII who wanted to give something back to America after the Spanish rule for 300 years. The courtyard / plaza is enormous with a man made Venetian gondolier type river and bridges, to trees and concrete and the magnificent chairs and backdrop to each of the Spanish Provinces, all in tile and intricately painted. A stunning sight. We had some 15 minutes here and then it was all over.
One final piece of trivia we were told was that in 1898 there was a brief Spanish war with USA in which Spain lost Cuba, Philipines, Guam and Puerto Rico to the USA. We re-boarded our coaches and despite promises of shopping and toilet breaks, none were given and we drove directly back to the Port and on to the ship. This is technically the last port of the world voyage which starts and ends in Southampton – our next Port. For us, Southampton, is just one more stop, albeit one we are greatly looking forward to going to, as family and friends are planning to come and visit us. It will be fun to see Judy, Suzanne, Alex, Diana and Brian.
Roger & Anne Travels 