arctickitty

I will be in St. Martin in late July on the Caribbean Princess. I am in my 30s and my husband and I are doing this cruise as a way to spend time with his parents. I am looking for ideas of things to do that do not involve sun or water (yes, I know that sounds nutty and this is the wrong part of the world for that, but I have to avoid both for medical reasons). We did a Mexican Riviera cruise a few years ago and visited some local museums--anything like that in St. Thomas. Other ideas?

I walked to town first thing off the ship. There is a paved walkway along the water into town, with artistically carved benches along the way. Once in town, there were several places to see carvers at work and several places there were interpretive panels. Someone had given me a town map and also I had downloaded an app that had information about Hoonah. Other visitors were going nuts about an Eagle's nest in town. I love Alaska and I like small towns so I just enjoyed walking around town looking at boats, walking through the stores, etc. There are some hilly parts of town with staircases for walkways that I found fun. I spent some time in the port area close to tendering time, when it was not crowded and read the exhibits and enjoyed them as well. They have some nice crafts, some of it very genuine and local. There is also a nature trail close to the port that is wide and surrounded by giant trees.

In Homer the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies has lots of nature-related things to do, both in Homer and across the bay. As mentioned above, if your timing works to take a boat to the restaurant in Halibut Cove, The Saltry, the food is phenomenal. Otherwise in Homer you can't go wrong with halibut pretty much anywhere. The town of Homer has lots of art galleries. There is an organic restaurant where the spit meets town. If you want to do walking without going on another hike, you could just walk the entire length of the Spit into town, explore town, and then back. The crowds will thin out on the spit when you get closer to town.

In Kodiak, you can also walk long distances and just explore throughout town. I highly recommend the Alutiiq museum that has history and art of the original inhabitants of the island. My best food experiences in Kodiak have been at coffee shops and bakeries--names change from time to time. Renting a car in Kodiak can be worthwhile to explore further afield.

I'm enjoying this thread. Can anyone offer more details on visiting St. John from St. Thomas?

I've sailed twice on Princess and I'm in my mid-30s. On a 7 day cruise out of LA there was a wide age range. On a transatlantic, we were among the few "young people." Personally, I loved the transatlantic because the fitness and sports areas were always empty, whereas on the 7day out of LA, they were much more in use. As for day time activities, they had board games for loan in the library, game meet ups, crafts, live music of a variety of types, Zumba, dance classes, Afternoon Tea, cooking demonstrations, movies, etc.

Hi All,

 

I am considering booking the Ruby Princess Oct 13th cruise from Vancouver to LA as a little getaway for my husband and I. We have previously cruised on RCL's Oasis and Freedom, Disney's Fantasy and HAL's Volendam. I am considering this cruise as it leaves from Vancouver (which we can drive to) and the price is very reasonable. We enjoyed our cruises on DCL and RCL, we did find the HAL cruise a bit..boring, but we knew to expect that going in. Just wondering thoughts on Ruby Princess- what do the age demographics tend to be, do there tend to be people in the bars/night club in the evenings, how are the day activities?

 

Thank you all so much in advance

following, thanks for asking

following. Thanks for asking.

So very much enjoying your posts. Thank you.

Thanks to everyone for the kind responses so far.

How on earth you survived your trip home while being sick is beyond my comprehension! I would have had to be shipped to the closest emergency room!! I admire your fortitude! Bravo on a fine journey and journal!

I drugged my husband with Benadryl! We had never done that before but I told him that parents do it to their little kids all the time, and I talked him into it. Our first two flights were so long we got some really good sleep (and the couches in SFO didn't hurt) so we actually started to get better as we went along.

 

We had some of the best smoked salmon I have ever eaten, in Barcelona on our last trip, about a year ago. My dh is Jewish, so we don't typically eat ham but your enjoyment of the ham has peaked my desire to try some next trip, I am not Jewish.

.

I'm Jewish, used to be vegetarian, and my husband doesn't like meat so the ham sure took some working up to...it's nothing like American ham, believe me.

What can I say, I loved your precruise report stopped reading on April 21st...enjoy ur life on your little island......

Other half & I were joking about writing a cruise critic style report of one week of regular life

Thanks for posting & especially for the Salty Dog info...don't see much about it

perhaps their math didn't include meeting time, customs time, and breaks. Do others know what is customary when they add up the total time?

Wednesday, May 11th

We woke up exhausted at the AC Hotel Cosladas Madrid Aeropuerto. We hadn't slept very much. I was freezing, we couldn't shake our wetness, my husband was worried about our flights home, etc. I had a premonition that we'd have a problem with our bags at the airport, so I shuffled some things so that one of our planned checked-luggages would be security-friendly and could be taken as a carry-on. Final packing was not too bad as we hadn't bought much in Madrid. We rode our hotel's shuttle to the airport; they dropped off various workers along the way. Driving the long winding way around to our terminal, we were reminded just how massive the airport it. We processed our paperwork at the VAT refund office (so easy!) checked in, and passed through security. We had the predicted problem with our luggage (the American Airlines agent was not familiar with their partnership with AlaskaAir that allowed me and my companion to travel with 2 free bags each) so we made things easy by taking bag the one bag that would be ok going through security. Even though our reservation was booked all as one ticket, the agent, his neighbor, and a supervisor could not get our bag tags figured out. We knew we'd have to pick them up in Philadelphia, our first stop in the US, anyway, so I'd figure it out there. We went through security easily and started turning our attention to food. We are spoiled in Alaska by having a membership, where we get all the food we want included, and we were spoiled on the ship by having whatever we wanted whenever we wanted, and we were spoiled at our hotel in Sant Cugat by having an included breakfast buffet so we could load up in the morning without having to think. Boy is everything in the Madrid airport expensive! I cobbled together our food groups by getting a kiwi-spinach-apple-mint smoothie, a cheese plate from the duty-free shop, and a dry squid sandwich for bread to go with the cheese. The cheeses were awesome! The espresso vending machine ate my money and I did not have patience for it, but my loving husband got me a new one. We couldn't find a water fountain, so we bought a new bottle of water. When we got close to our gate, we found that American Airlines had cordoned off the area, and you had to show your boarding pass to get into the area. Said area was too small so we sat on the floor. Others followed suit. Once in this area, one could not easily leave, so we were glad we'd already fed and watered ourselves. We boarded and fell into our bulkhead seats, a gamble that paid off as we had a ton of leg room. We both slept most of the time except for the carb-loaded meal services--spaetzle in cream sauce, roll with butter, crackers with cream cheese, cake, small salad for the main meal--and a goat cheese empanada and more cake for the snack. We landed in Philly, where we went through a fast, easy customs process. The office asked us questions entirely about Alaska! We went to an American Admirals club, where my Alaska membership got us entrance. We ate more food there, with better variety. We slept most of our flight to San Francisco, where we went to the Admiral's Club again, until they closed at 12:15. We stayed inside security, were we slept on some couches (yes the SFO airport has real couches). At 4am we re-entered the Admiral's Club where my husband spoke the magic password and was provided with a key and towel. He lives for his showers, I swear. We ate first breakfast, exited the club, exited security since the American and Alaska terminals are not internally connected, and went through security again. SFO had private contractors wearing TSA uniforms but if you look closely, they are not TSA! At our Alaska gate, we were summoned to the podium, and surprisingly upgraded to First Class. This generally does not happen when one is traveling on miles, but we were thrilled. We were so happy to be back in Alaska territory again. Second breakfast served on board: egg white ciabatta sandwich with spinach and tomato and fresh fruit plate with melon, strawberry, and grapes. They also gave us biscoff cookies. We landed in Seattle at the N gates and went in the new N gates board room. It was very busy, but we read some newspapers and had third breakfast: hard boiled eggs and muffins. When one is flying backwards through time, it seems to be breakfast time every time one lands! We boarded our flight to Anchorage, landed in Anchorage, where my husband picked up his things from his co-workers, I ran into a friend, and we hid out in the board room (and had lunch). We boarded our flight to Adak and flew three more hours, landing right on time and very happy to be home.

Never mind that none of our luggage appeared. We got it four days later.

The End

Questions are welcome.

Tuesday, May 10th

We woke up just prior to our alarm to a mix of sun and fog; we were foggy ourselves as our colds had securely rolled in. We finished packing and finalized our directions. We took our luggage down to the lobby and had breakfast, including bread with tomato, chocolate croissants, pineapple, mixed fruit juice, orange juice, chorizo, and manchego cheese. We noticed a tray of hot dogs sitting on top of the toaster and wondered what it was for. We wheeled our luggage back to the train, rode it in, transferred to the Metro, and rode to the Renfe station. In planning this aspect of our trip, we used the website Seat61 and Rick Steves to learn about train travel options. Our tickets home departed from Madrid, the only place in Europe we could find mileage tickets all the way home. We have flown on the low-cost European airlines several times, and it's not the easiest or cheapest thing to do when you are at the end of your trip and have extra stuff. When you started adding up the fees, such as baggage fees, metro supplement fees for getting to the airport, etc, the cheap airlines begin to look less cheap. We had heard about the AVE high speed trains but hadn't been on one and wanted to try it. We have had so much fun trying different forms of transportation in Europe that I wondered aloud what first class on a train got you. Seat61 described this for us enough to pique our interest, and my husband found that by fiddling with the ticket times, we could get first class tickets for the same price of regular tickets at other times. Renfe's website is notoriously tricky and my husband spent a lot of time just prior to the start of our trip working his booking magic.

When we arrived in the Renfe station, we headed to the Sala, or the train lounge. We had entrance to the lounge included in our tickets. We timed our arrival for the maximum visit time, so we'd have time to enjoy the space and amenities. The sala is small and simple compared to an airport lounge but shared an important characteristic: it was very quiet. For us foggy people from a very quiet island, this was a relief from the hubbub and din all around us. They also had a lot of complimentary beverages, and we drank a lot of juices and sparkling water. They had a small library we perused and free internet, that we used to finish planing our transportation routes for the rest of the day.

We spent much of the train ride as the only passengers in our car. We stopped in a few towns briefly. After Guadalajara, the attendants quickly served a meal with wine (we abstained), fresh rolls, and Catalan sparkling water served with lemon slices. The meal trays included couscous, veal, vegetables, fruit salad, and a green salad. We were offered little bottles of olive oil, vinegar, and little pots of tomato spread. It wasn't the finest dining, but it included fresh produce and a balance of food groups. It was healthier than anything we saw available in the train station on either end. The upgrade was very much worth it to us.

Our main goal in Madrid was to visit the flagship location of El Corte Ingles. The plan the entire time was to do a little shopping along the way and then do a lot at the very end. We knew we'd be in Madrid the night the Prado museum is free and I had my heart set on a second visit. As it got closer, we realized that wasn't realistic. Instead of dropping our luggage at our hotel as planned, we followed directions from Rick Steves to store it in lockers in the train station. From there we walked to the flagship store, at least an hour one way. It was so wonderful to be back in Madrid! We loved how regal, formal, and full of life it is--no wonder it had captured our imaginations previously. By the time we got to the store, we were both starting to realize our trek was foolhardy, but we were determined. Anyone remember the silverware set we had fallen in love with back in Barcelona? We figured we would get it in Madrid, along with more groceries for home and supplies for our future business. Reading every last word of a Rick Steves book, I had been reminded of the concept of VAT tax refund. We discussed it and decided to try applying for one for the first time. I had a vague many-years-old memory that El Corte Ingles had a visitor information desk; we found this section--at the flag ship you had your choice of English, Chinese, or Russian--and the clerk explained the process to us in great detail. She also signed us up for their visitor discount card and explained that as well. It was a rather involved game to play all of this.

We made a bee line for housewares, or more accurately, wandered lost for too long before finding the silverware. They had the same brand but not the same pattern. We eventually showed a clerk a picture of the set we'd seen in Barcelona and she investigated but explained they did not have that set in Madrid. We debated a set we liked but didn't love, before we got out the calculator and figured out that the silverware by the piece was a better way to get the small forks and spoons I wanted. We got a bit disenchanted when we found out that a lot of their items were made in China; the really nice dishes were leapyears beyond our budget. We really only wanted to buy things made in Euripe as we can buy junk from China on amazon anytime we want, and not have to drag it around through the streets, trains, and airports. We found some coffee creamers from Portugal and a couple other small items.

By this point we were both disintegrating quickly. My husband thought I would be upset if we didn't get groceries, and I internally didn't want to get groceries because I was barely able to even think, but didn't say so outloud, so we found ourselves lost in the grocery store. Cough drops and suckers was what seemed most important at the time. I grabbed a few things, but it was not the big experience we had planned on. At the same time, we were also realizing El Corte Ingles is not quite the grocery shopping place we had imagined; their products are more globalized now and since we have more travel experience we are more comfortable with local markets and independent shops. We nearly melted down before we got out of the store, but we got our VAT paperwork processed on their end, found a snack, and managed to find the exit. We took 2 metros instead of walking back to our luggage, then got on the Cercanias to our hotel. We got off at the right spot but made lots of wrong turns. We wandered the streets for an hour before finally finding a sidewalk under the train line and then a narrow walkway along a highway, that led us in the right direction into a heavy industrial zone. We were cursing our existences and choices and then it starting raining, really hard. We were soaked like wet cats when we arrived at the hotel. The lobby was crowded and noisy (a magnet for local businessmen who have no where else to go). We'd had a wonderful trip and have a wonderful home to look forward to, but in between this not-too-comfortable-moment and then, we had a lot of flying to do. My husband was at a point at which he said that if he still felt as poorly as he did, when we landed in Philadelphia, we'd stop and stay in a hotel. I was at a point at which I agreed, that if that's what we needed to do, then that's what we'd do. Somehow, when we think we've cut enough from our travel lists to make things manageable, we still always push too hard!

Monday, May 9th

By this point we were both fighting colds that had started at the tail end of our time on the ship. We had a more leisurely breakfast including samples of different drinks from their automated machines:

cafe corto (espresso)

cafe longo (double espresso)

chocolate caliente (hot chocolate)

cafe con leche (coffee with milk)

We sampled our way through the buffet: croissants, mini croissants, salami, cheeses, rolls, mayonesa, motarda, ketchup, tomato spread, olive oil, peaches, kiwi, and tortilla espanola.

We worked on our packing a little bit before we left for the walk to the train station. Now that it was a weekday, the surrounding area was utterly transformed by cars parked on every single imaginable (and unimaginable) spot. What we thought were dirt paths were now parking lots. Gobs of workers streamed in every which direction streaming towards their workplaces. The train station was quiet until we heard "ahhhh!" and suddenly hundreds of schoolboys in matching navy & maroon uniforms came running off the train. The filled the whole platform in a matter of seconds.

We made it to La Sagrada Familia at the time of our reservation, but it took awhile and lots of questions before we found the correct entrance for our type of tickets. We entered near the Nativity facade and spent a lot of time dissecting the images, using information from Rick Steves and the posted placards to guide us. We entered and very slowly admired the inside. We enjoyed all of the colors in the stained glass. We alternated between walking around looking at everything and sitting on a side bench and just soaking it in. For people who didn't feel their best, this was a decent activity, but we didn't have as much in us as we would have preferred. We went outside and had a look at the Passion facade, again picking it apart with help from the signs and Rick Steves. We spent a lot of time in the museum in the basement where graphics about the geometry helped us to see the many different shapes within one column and that things were not just willy-nilly. Later we found a special exhibit of the shapes of nature that further enhanced our appreciation and enjoyment of the architecture. Gaudi was not only a mathematician but a naturalist as well. We went back inside for a second look but the crowds were starting to get to us. We walked a long leisurely way back to the main train station, and went back to our hotel. We had a picnic of cherries, apples, walnuts, crackers, and chips and fell asleep.

We rode the train back into the city center to attend "Live Tapas Dinner" hosted by Cristina and Guillermo, who lead small group cooking meals in their home and area markets, as promoted through EatWith and SlowTravelBCN. A family of four (parents and 2 adult daughters) and another couple joined us; our hosts stated it was unusual that their guests were all Americans. We started by sampling some of the best olives and garlic cloves we have ever had. Guillermo and Cristina are incredibly passionate about food and spend a lot of time pursuing it. They gave each of us a vegetable chopping job and we leisurely prepared about 8 different small plates. We started with bread rubbed with tomato, and we learned that the tomatoes which are a special variety, have their vines sewn in a particular pattern so that the fruits do not touch each other. Once cut in bunches, they can keep fresh for up to 6 months in the winter. We sampled many different olive oils and sea salts with our bread and tomato. We had some cheeses and a little sausage as well. The recipes were generally from Cristina's Catalan heritage, blended with the Spanish tapas concept. Some of the dishes we made/ate included:

Zucchini with Romesco Sauce

Eggs with Asparagus and Spring Garlic

Butternut Squash Soup

Marinated Mushrooms

Cod Paste on Potatoes

We made strawberry sorbet with mint grown right on their terrace for our dessert. We learned a lot from Guillermo and Cristina. They freely poured different wines through the evening; we asked for sips only, and enjoyed tasting them.

We took the train back to our hotel and packed before falling asleep.

thanks for posting!

Juices are included in the fare in the mornings in the dining room, buffet, and via room service card.

Sunday, May 8th

In trip planning, we have learned that we can generally "do" up to one big "thing" per day. We tend to prefer to spend more time on fewer sites, mixed in with lots of wandering, walking, and eating. Barcelona is a big city with a massive list of heavy-hitting sites. Everyone's advice is to add one more thing to one's must-see list. We looked at these lists very critically and mercilessly winnowed them down. We felt that Barcelona deserved more days that we had, but we had purchased the only mileage tickets home that were available on any airline that our miles were redeemable on, and those seats were only available on one day, period. So our time was what it was. It was a big decision to spontaneously decide to spend our first day in Sant Cugat, but that turned out to be a hidden gem. For Barcelona, we decided the Picasso Museum and La Sagrada Familia were our only requirements. After that, we had some goals, but we would let happen what would happen.

This morning we woke up at 6am and were at breakfast around 7am. We were tired, still raggedy from the back to back ports. The breakfast buffet was busy when we arrived and packed by the time we left; the guests were from all over the world, eating the wide variety of foods in all sorts of different ways. The Holiday Inn Express Sant Cugat received some angry complaints online for their breakfast-and I can't see it. It was more extensive than one could generally expect from mainland Europe: coffee, teas, juices, cold cuts, cheeses, spreads, breads, pastries, fruit, and even tortilla Espanola (a sliced-potato egg dish). The instant coffee machines made anything from espresso to latte and everything in between.

We left at 7:35 and walked to the train station, where we found the next train wouldn't be coming until 8:20am. We had a 9:10 museum reservation, so we were a little worried about the time. We got extremely wet and a little bit lost between the train and the museum, and arrived a little bit late but apparently close enough that we were admitted. We later heard from locals that many tourists mob the museums when it rains. It was crowded, but manageable. We knew to expect chronological displays with no backtracking and had done some reading about Picasso, and of course knew some things here and there, but overall our visit was highly enhanced by the materials we had from Rick Steves. It was interesting to compare the museum-provided printed commentary which was more idealized and cleaned up to Rick Steves' which was much more colorful. They often told the same story in two very different ways.

The skill of Picasso's realistic paintings in adolescence was remarkable. We observed his gradual slide from realism to more modern creations over time. One portrait was realist in the center of the canvas and became more abstract as it spiraled outwards. Another portrait was done entirely in pointillism, but we agreed with Rick Steves' comment that it "had the grace of a classical statue." We enjoyed his very playful pigeon paintings from the south of France in which you could see the influence of Henri Matisse. We did not care for his pottery, of which the museum has a large collection, which to our eyes looked like smeared messes akin to the sorts of things children make in elementary school. Our visit lasted about 2 hours, twice what many sources suggested. It was a worthwhile experience to go in-depth on a single artist.

We had a list of options for the surrounding area and decided to visit the Cathedral. Mass was in progress so our access beyond the front entry was limited. A Catalan tradition known as the Sardana dances was supposed to occur in front of the Cathedral when we were in the area but apparently never occurred because of the rain.

Nearby we found El Call, the historic Jewish quarter. We visited Synagogue Major, which has parts of its building from the 3rd and 4th centuries.

We happened to also be near the Roman Temple of Augustus, where a few pillars are still standing.

After looking for a market, and finding it closed (Sunday!) we wound up at El Corte Ingles, the department store that has too big of a spot in our imaginations. The menu in their 9th story cafe looked blank and expensive so we went to the basement. In addition to the typical grocery store located in every El Corte Ingles basement, we found a veritable mini-mall of gastronomic store fronts. While each section was really just part of El Corte Ingles, they were set up with different themes, cash registers, and receipts. We circled around looking at the different options. We kept leaning towards a very fancy-looking tapas bar when we switched gears and got in line at a hot-foods take out area. This would be the Spanish equivalent of where you get fried chicken, potato salad, and Chinese food in an American grocery store. Kudos to my husband for observing that one needs a ticket in addition to standing in line. We picked out some vegetables and I managed to tell the clerk (who spoke Spanish to us), in Spanish, what we wanted, for 1 or 2 services, and answered her question, to eat here and yes to please warm it up. We sure gobbled up our plates of thick juicy vegetables:

Verdures a la planche (eggplant, zucchini, mushrooms, red bell peppers, and asparagus grilled with olive oil)

Catalan spinach (spinach sauteed with ham and raisins)

We bought a small paper cone of ham bits and cheese cubes from another stand. People shared tables, squeezing where they could. A Spanish bodybuilder sat down with us and worked his way through 3 enormous & frilly desserts.

We happily explored the gastronomic shops, picking up treasures like a sample of turron & pastries made by nuns. We then went upstairs to look at housewares. We have dreams of opening some sort of food-based hospitality business on our island (it goes through iterations of bed & breakfast, boutique hotel, tea room, bakery, & coffee shop) that we wanted to get some things for the future on this trip. We fell head over heels in love with a silverware set. We stood there looking at them, touching them, pretending to eat with them, for a very long time. We looked at other things, then went back and looked at them. We ultimately decided to wait and do some research before dropping a huge load of cash on them, but we were smitten.

We walked a long way back to the main train station, so we wouldn't have to change from metro to train (we often prefer to walk longer) pausing in Placa Catalunya where hundreds of pigeons inspired dozens of people of all ages to break out into broad uncontrollable smiles. We rode the train to our hotel in Sant Cugat and ate a tapas picnic on our couch:

Jamon & queso salad with gazpacho dressing (from a container)

Cockle-flavored potato chips

White asparagus (that turned out to be from China because I suggested my husband buy the cheaper brand)

We plotted our route for the next day and fell into bed, exhausted.

Thanks for sharing what a BVE is like. Just explained this all to my other half.

Saturday, May 7th (Part 2)

So I had left us in the lobby of the Holiday Inn Express Sant Cugat. Prior to arriving, we had gotten off at the wrong train station and then followed directions to the wrong hotel. What could go right?

Everything!

The front desk was happy to check us in immediately even though it was well before the official check in time. She thanked my husband for his whatever ridiculously high status he has with IHG (thanks to the months of pain and suffering we both endured when he got sent to training away from home this past winter...I am not being sarcastic...it was awful to be seperated from each other for so long and it was awful for him to live in a hotel room for so long) and provided us with two coupons for drinks at their bar. She also informed us, correctly, that our points booking included free breakfast buffet for two. She then handed us the password for internet, one per device, totally free.

How we wound up out in this office park area called Sant Cugat was that we have a strategy that has worked well for us in several other large European cities: to stay in a business district or suburb. This goes against the advice of our travel guru Rick Steves, who strongly advocates for staying in the city/historic center, but it has worked for us, partially because we are, quite frankly, odd people.

Because we had gotten off at the wrong train station initially, we had had a glimpse of the town where the people working in the office parks live. We were so enamored of what we saw from that little glimpse that we hemmed and hawed and decided to spend the day in Sant Cugat instead of riding the train back into Barcelona proper. While my husband looked at online maps and plotted our walking route, I looked at eating options on Yelp. I noted that there was an indoor market/eating gallery with a couple of positive reviews in Spanish. Our room possessed a little coupon booklet for the town area of Sant Cugat and provided some more explanation of "El Mercat Vell" which they called a "gastronomic market." We were sold.

We walked along sidewalks, pathways, and bike lanes zigzagging our way to the center of the town. A couple highway roundabouts close to the hotel were not as pedestrian-friendly but since it was the weekend, it was easy enough. As we got closer to the residential core, we enjoyed watching families playing soccer or out walking, saw some of the most complex curbside recycling bins we had ever seen (you name it, they recycled it), and easily found the market. As is my custom, we circled and circled, looking at everything. One thing that was different than we expected was that the stalls of all-prepared food features global cuisines, eg Peruvian, French, Japanese, but all with a Spanish twist. I chose the place that looked most like a tapas bar, where locals were picking at plates of tiny fried things. It turned out to be a combination tapas-sushi bar, with a full-color sushi menu and a list printed like a receipt with the day's list of 100 tapas. There were no explanations, no translations (of course) and we had no resources with us, so I picked two of the most common items. My husband asked me what they were and I said I'm not sure but we'll find out. In this case, it worked out, and we tried two classics:

Patatas Bravas (potato chunks fried in olive oil served with an orangey-rose colors aioli sauce)

Boquerones (fried fresh sardines)

We enjoyed both dishes, and crunched up the little fishes, tiny bones an all. We have come a long way in our eating abilities since our first trip to Spain when we were too afraid to try even the ham! People around us think we are adventurous eaters but this has not always been the case: it is something we have steadfastly worked on, and has improved gradually over time.

Fully greased up, we wandered into an outdoor market soon after. We bought a paper cone full of cherries for 2 euros and a bag of chewy fruit candies for 3eu (that we mostly took home). We admired the cheese and sausages and baked goods. We visited a 9th century monastery (free) and some museums connected to it, including an exhibit about Neanderthals printed entirely in the Catalan language. We wandered in and out of several gourmet food shops, including the most beautiful bulk foods shop we have every seen. We retraced our steps back to our hotel where we settled in for the night after planning our transit/walking route for the following day.

I have enjoyed reading your review! We will be doing the fall TA on Royal this fall.

One of the reasons I was determined to keep notes and write a trip report (besides want to give back to CC in thanks for all the of the things I have read/learned here) was because that TAs only happen a few times a year, there are fewer TA-specific trip reports and trip reviews. I felt like I didn't come across many narratives that really told a story as to what a TA was like. Have fun this fall!

I am loving this report. I have to share that my brother in law was stationed there, so we feel a small kindred spirit. He told us all sorts of stories.....like; the wind would blow so hard, when he leaned into it and the wind shifted he fell over! Lot's more stories that you already know and live!:)

I would believe your brother in law's story about the wind! We had winds over 100mph for over eight hours one day in December.

I have not seen it onboard. Every grocery store in Anchorage has it. Costco carries it by the case.