HAPPY BIRTHDAY FROM LAS PALMAS!

Thursday, November 30, 2023

Port of Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain

Aboard the Enchanted Princess

Room Aloha 212

Sunny, 82F—another gorgeous day!

Welcome to Las Palmas

 November 30 is a special day, the birthday of second son, Brian. I was able to wish him a Happy Birthday via text at 3 a.m., because we are 5 hours ahead of EST!  I am quite certain our weather is much better than  Erie’s and I hope everyone stays safe back home.

 

Gran Canaria, 93 miles of Northwest Africa, is the 3^rd largest of the Canary Islands and has a population of about 850,000. Las Palmas  itself has a population of about 370,000. Its geography is very diverse, with volcanic mountains, sand dunes, cliffs, and snow at the peak of some of the mountains.  The Canary Islands were used as a refueling point for Christopher Columbus as it was the last port in Europe that his vessels set sail from.   

 

Today we could walk from the port to interesting areas, thank goodness. That said, the ship’s map of Gran Canaria and Las Palmas wasn’t very useful.  I got a map from the tourist information kiosk near the port, but it turned out to be a darn shame that Janie cannot read (English).  I convinced TK that we should go to the Plaza del Pilar to see the market. Because it was quite a distance, we needed to take a city bus. We were up to the challenge, at least I was.

 

We boarded Yellow Bus 47, 1.40 euros/each, and off we went through city streets, traffic, bumping along. Fortunately, the driver indicated our stop to us about half an hour later. There it was, Plaza del Pilar, with nothing going on, nothing. How could this be? I took another look at the tourist information map only to discover that the market was only open on Sundays. If only I could read! 

Big buildings pass us by

At least there was a church at the Plaza del Pilar

 

There we were, no idea of where we were, tall buildings around us, people scrambling by us, all presumably with places to go.  I will say that TK did not say anything, either he held it in, or a new TK had evolved. We had 4 hours to find our ship!  We started walking and several blocks later we saw water. A closer look it was a beach and people were surfing. But our cruise ship was absolutely nowhere to be seen.

Surfers

Beach

Then, right before our eyes, a huge mall appeared.  A WOW mall. We weren’t going to pass that up! This mall was much bigger than Millcreek Mall, all decorated for Christmas, the hustle/bustle of shoppers, and no empty spaces! 

There used to be flower shops in malls in PA too

Somehow, we were able to find a bus stop for Yellow Bus 47 after a wonderful walk through the mall. Back to the port we were. We were not yet fatigued, and TK was yearning for churros. My hunt for sfogliatella took over at every previous port until yesterday. Without much planning we plopped into a bar/café and ordered a small plate of churros and Coke Zero. Oh my! I did not know they were deep fried and covered in sugar—we wish we had ordered a large plate! I’m adding churros to my repertoire!

Our churro bar/cafe

Churros, we already ate two!

TK sees the cutest things

He took the photo for the  temperature. By his method

of calculation, it is 82F/26C

Roundabout, Las Palmas style

Water closet--we encountered one of these 

near Notre Dame in Paris.

 

This part of Las Palmas is probably tourist oriented, but I still needed a few things for those back home, so we zigzagged in and out of some souvenir shops. There was even another big glorious mall near the ship.

Second mall

Janie inside a Christmas tree

 

We could not believe it was only 2 p.m. when we returned to the ship.

Enchanted Princess on the right

 

Tonight we were going to the “Movie Under The Stars,” but believe it or not, it started to rain---we have had the most beautiful weather in every port, it is OK for some rain to fall!

 

Happy Birthday, Brian!

 

TK’s Takes: The churro bar/café had the biggest ice cubes he ever saw.  Janie is not going to be the reader of maps/tourist info anymore.

 

 

 This was a 13000 step day--11,500 yesterday.

Janie's Note: As we begin our journey across the Atlantic, Internet may be sketchy. I will continue to write exciting daily reports, and hopefully I will be able to post them.  

ETERNAL SPRING IN TENERIFE!

Wednesday, November 29, 2023

Port of Santa Cruz, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain

Aboard the Enchanted Princess

Room Aloha 212

Sunny, 78F—another gorgeous day!

Port of Santa Cruz

 

This morning as we approached the portT

Janie was really in Santa Cruz, Tenerife!

The Canary Islands form a Spanish archipelago of seven volcanic islands located in the Atlantic Ocean, about 60 miles off North Africa.  The islands were named after the Latin word for dog, “canaria,” possibly because large dogs were found here, or “seadogs” (monk seals) were once plentiful in the waters around the island.  Beaten only by Hawaii’s Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, Tenerife’s Mount Teide is the world’s third highest volcano and the highest point in all of Spain at almost 13,000 feet.

 

One interesting fact we learned from the port lecturer was that areas of the island are used to test vehicles that will navigate the terrain of Mars.  Many movies have been filmed in Tenerife, including One Million Years B.C. with Raquel Welch, Dr. Who, and Jason Bourne.  The Canary Islands are a popular holiday destination with about 12 million visitors yearly.

 

Because of its year round mild weather, Tenerife is considered the “Island of Eternal Spring.” We can vouch for that—today the temperature was around 76F and TK wore shorts!

Even though Princess Cruise Lines knew it would be arriving in this port over a year ago, their planning was not very good. The lines were long as people waited for a shuttle bus to get to the end of the port and entrance to the city. I try not to be negative in this blog, but when 200+ people are waiting for a shuttle bus in the sun with no shade, happiness does not prevail among passengers. Most of the passengers are about our age, with varying degrees of mobility, and standing for 45 minutes in those conditions can be difficult.  There were probably 4 cruise ships in port, but every single passenger knew over a year ago that we were visiting this port. I must imagine that the cruise line knew that too. 

 

Actually, the situation was repeated when we wanted to return to the ship. Again, we waited 45 minutes for a shuttle with about 200+ of our closest friends. The bus capacity was about 60, which meant more waiting for some.  I wonder what it will be like tomorrow in a port (La Palmas) that we were not originally scheduled for!

 

We explored Tenerife last year and opted to amble around the port of Santa Cruz on our own today.

Santa Cruz is another vibrant European city, Christmas decorations galore, monuments, sidewalk cafes and restaurants, and glorious shopping.

Breakfast here, clean and slick

Breakfast, croissants filled with custard

Poinsettias!

No words (can you read this?)

For Lawrence

Lush street with fine restaurants

War Memorial

Our motto—leave no market behind. The Market of Our Lady of Africa was exquisitely planned—two levels full of colorful fruits, vegetables, meats, fish, and other wares.

Market of Our Lady of Africa

Sculpture, seemingly an homage to fishermen

Market-clean and neat

Beans for sale!

Closeup--All are bags of different kinds of beans!

Cheese

Supermarket on lower level

Colorful fruits and vegetables

Two special highlights:

The Police Canine Corps—I think the canine corps officers were acclimating their three dogs to crowds and noise. We were mesmerized by the dogs. The Rottweiler was the oldest and most experienced, totally intent on chewing his toy, off leash. A Belgian Malinois puppy was a little more rambunctious, but mindful of its trainer. The other Belgian Malinois was in between, quite well trained, but still playful. I know not to approach police dogs, but others didn’t seem to care, and the officers seemed OK. After watching these beautiful dogs for at least a half hour…

Police Rottweiler with his toy

Belgian Malanois

Rottweiler tugging his toy

 

The Children---we heard banging rattling noise get louder and louder. Soon we realized children from a Montessori school were dragging cans along the street in a long parade of about 60.  Each child had made a sort of string toy with pop cans, tuna cans, many kinds of cans, and were trailing their cans behind them.  We have no idea if this was a special day, or just a way for the children to be creative in a little parade with their special noisy project.  The Rottweiler had no reaction to the children or the noise. The other two dogs were mildly interested. 

 

I loved this demonstration of dogs and children!  A peek into life on Tenerife!

The children and stringed cans were adorable

Police dogs watching

Very creative!

They walked blocks and blocks!

TK's Takes:  Nice day, liked wearing shorts, saw only one pigeon, nicest market we have seen (except for the fish)

  

ROCKIN’ IN GIBRALTAR

Monday, November 27, 2023

Port of Gibraltar, Great Britain

Aboard the Enchanted Princess

Room Aloha 212

Sunny, 66F—another gorgeous day!

Rock of Gibraltar--2022 Cruise

 Enchanted Princess pulled into her berth in the Port of Gibraltar about 8:30 this morning, with a speck of fog covering the harbor. It did not take the sun long to uncover another beautiful port, ready for 3500 visitors!  Gibraltar’s area is 2 ½ square miles, with a population of about 34,000.  South of Spain, Gibraltar is not really an island. 

 

Gibraltar is 8.7 miles from Morocco, but darkness prevented us from seeing anything except the lights of cities tonight when we sailed away.  This site https://www.vesselfinder.com/ is a very cool site that I think our sons use to keep track of us. Have you seen this site before?  You can type in the name of the ship and you will find it.  We know that our sail to Tenerife, Canary Islands, will be a little on the rough side.

 

In the mid-1800s a skull was discovered in the area, considered to be a Neanderthal woman, signifying habitation in this area for a very long time. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibraltar_1 ) Muslims ruled the area for 700 years, till 1462 when Spain ruled, and then British took the land in 1704.  The Spanish wanted it back and attacked the British 14 times in the 18^th century.  It is well fortified, and the British are still in charge here!

 

As in almost every port without a tour, we settled into a coffee and croissant at a café in Casements Square.  The walk from the ship was about a mile, although we could have opted to take a taxi for 3 euro each.  

Croissants and coffee at Costa Coffee

Because Gibraltar is duty-free and tax-free, it is considered to be a shopping mecca. The charming streets were full of shoppers, cruisers, and natives alike. Black Friday Week posters were on full display. Shoppers and cruisers mingled in the busy streets, and most in the old town area are traffic free. There are very polite drivers here!

Janie loves Gibraltar

We need  to post  a photo of a church everywhere we go!

Janie had to make a phone call!

Christmas shopping!

Peaceful respite

Pastry shop, no sfgoliatelle.

Black Friday Sales galore!

Casemates Square

 One of our goals was to have fish and chips—last year we ate at Roy’s and the food was good, so we decided to do a repeat. Fresh caught cod and fresh hot fries, what’s not to like?

Roy's!

Menu at Roy's--not vegetarian or vegan friendly 

Fish and chips

TK at Roy's

We did take the shuttle taxi back to the ship—that line was long, but we had the energy to wait.

 

It wasn’t long before dinner and rest.

 

Sunday, November 26: The Champagne Waterfall Event was last night—it is a special event once per cruise--staff arranges a tower of champagne glasses and the captain and director of food and beverage together start pouring champagne into the glasses.  Champagne flows for everyone!  Yesterday was a sea day so that would be the most exciting thing that happened.  Tomorrow is another sea day and we will be spending it lazily, I am sure.

Are you ready to fill the champagne glasses

with champagne?

The captain and the food and beverage manager are ready!

Cruise Director Jayson on the right.

 

TK’s Takes: He missed the monkeys this year but noticed a British Navy ship in port.  He enjoyed the risotto tonight, and wild berry cobbler.

Barbary Ape--2022 Cruise