Port Power

I was looking down from my balcony and noticed movement in the water. There are dozens of huge fish at surface level. They look like carp from here. I will have to ask someone with local knowledge of Malaga.

Jumping ahead, our neighbour again today, Saturday, in Malaga. I saw it from La Terrazza last night as it sailed alongside. Too big for most of us here on Silver Dawn!

Friday 18 November 2023. Cartagena, Spain. Our neighbour at the port.

The tour ended with a visit to a small production local winery, Pago de Tharsys. We went through the cellar and then tasted their cava, a rosé type wine, and full flavoured red. The rosé was savoury and rather weird, but not horrible. The other two were very nice. Wine production started in this area 2,500 years ago with the Phoenicians. At that time the wine produced was a clear, light coloured wine.

The above was just the walk to the main event. Underneath this old city there are 1200 sq metres of caves, dug out by hand in the 14th-16th centuries. They fell into disuse in the 17th century and were only discovered by accident in the 1970s during a renovation project. These caves were all private, reached from stairs with each house. At a consistent 16 degrees centigrade, the caves were used to store wine, water and olive oil. Grain was also stored, wheat for making bread, because it was also dry down there. It was a totally unexpected and incredible excursion! There was also an ossuary, reached by stairs underneath the church. No bones remain there today.

My photos are still not transferring from iPhone to iPad, so I am writing the text on one and then editing on my phone to add photos. I can see another help session with my trivia team member coming up. He happens to work for Apple! Our trivia team has been very successful. There is the family of three from eastern Australia and myself from the west, and a couple from Belgium. Roy asks hard questions, but we keep managing to place. We can second with 13/20, which reflect the standard of questions he sets.

Big ship?! Will you like Silver Dawn or Silver Muse then? I quite like this size ship, but I have certainly met others who prefer less than 200 passengers. Actually, preferably 100 pax!

We walked up into the Old Town of Requena, past the old Arab walls. It was an Arabian walled city from the 8th-11th centuries. Santa Maria gothic church was built in the 14th century and is now still used for concerts. It has been a national monument since 1931. An interesting moment was seeing this silk museum. Silk cloth was a major industry back in the day. A street view in the old town.

Thursday 16 November 2023. Valencia, Spain. My excursion was to the pretty town of Requena, an hour’s drive from the port. Valencia is very proud of its Arts and Science buildings, and many people enjoyed the tour of the opera house. I only managed a picture of the aquarium on the way past, which we were told is the largest in Europe. There are two white whales there. The guide did not specify what type of whales though! Right next to are warehouses where oranges used to be stored for shipping overseas. More recently these lovely buildings were used as pit stops and to house cars competing in the Formula 1 Grand Prix.

I wouldn’t expect so. A class in the morning and another at 3:00pm, so two classes every day are a lot already.

As the dishes on this trip are all based around the ports we visit, I guess, like @canderson, that the first classes will be Portuguese inspired. There will be a list in the Lab on embarkation day. Sign up was between 3:00-5:00pm. One class guaranteed, two others can be waitlisted.

Close enough to one hour. It was thoroughly enjoyable. I hope that I have the opportunity to participate in another class on this cruise leg.

Oops! There’s had been so much talk about the next port that I mixed them up. This is Cartagena. 😬

I’m having trouble connecting to WiFi on my iPad, so I’ll post yesterday’s photos later. However, I was back just in time to join my S.A.L.T. Lab class to make paella. Valencia style; no seafood! It tasted delicious. (My team mate and I removed the skin before serving.)

Malaga in the morning.

Silver Dawn has docked in Valencia, Spain. This might not be the most picturesque port view, but I couldn’t resist the sunrise. (Far over to the right, out of picture, is one of the mega cruise ships. 🤢

For those who are interested in the ship itself, Silver Dawn is just lovely! Dolce Vita might be more work for the bar team, but the central location of the bar means that waiters circulate through the whole room and don’t forget people in the corners! I had poached eggs for breakfast in La Terrazza. Perfect eggs and very good service. For lunch I went to Kaiseki for sushi, and thoroughly enjoyed. I will be booking for dinner. Yesterday I booked some classes at S,A.L.T. Lab, one being confirmed for tomorrow afternoon. The others are waitlisted as passengers can only book one confirmed class per trip. Chef also said to call by in case someone doesn’t turn up. Looking at you, @highplainsdrifter, you would enjoy the ship. Even my lowly deck 5 cabin is spacious. I love deck 5 due to its pro to Dolce Vita. I collect my green tea from the bar every night on my way “home”! I have been into a Silver Suite (as favoured by @drron) but have not seen the bigger suites. I love the Observation Lounge on Deck 11 for a pre-dinner cocktail or an after dinner drink.

On return to Palma, only half a dozen passengers continued on with a walking tour through the old town and past the cathedral. I took a photo from the bus. There are more boats and yachts than you can count out here!

Mallorca was not created by volcanic eruption, and is limestone. We saw along the way that hillsides have been terraced, using said limestone to make dry stone retaining walls. There are orange groves everywhere, along with almond and olive trees.

This morning’s excursion was to the delightful interior town of Soller. There were 31 in our tour group, but seemed less. Our excellent guide was a retired historian. We drove to Soller by coach, then walked about one kilometre past backyards and pretty buildings to the train station. Another walking impaired lady and I had a delicious coffee at the train station while the group did an hour’s walk through the town. By all reports, extremely pretty. The train and vintage carriages took 50 minutes back to Palma, with scenic views and several tunnels. One tunnel was about 5km long! (random passenger)

Early morning at Palma de Mallorca, Spain.

I decided to do a trip report “Dawn to the West”, so I will comment on the ship along the way. So far I am very impressed with the ship and most staff. Not too sure about my butler, though. She said she couldn’t change the champagne in my suite while we were still in port due to licensing regulations. I could go to the bar for a drink while in port, so that sounded weird. I hadn’t fully unpacked before going to events and dinner. The open suitcase of clothing was on the bed, surrounded by hangars. The butler took all the hangars away! She brought what I needed back again, but why would you do that! I’ll log it up to a very busy embarkation day.

I think my TA may have booked door-to-door without flights, as I did get Blacklane transfers from home to airport and back. We then booked an around the world flight itinerary as I will be going on to Santiago for the Antarctica expedition cruise. On this leg I chose the Casablanca all day tour with lunch from Virtuoso. On the transatlantic I was given US$200 OBC.

Hmmm, I haven’t heard anything. Yesterday I returned my excursion ticket for Casablanca as I have been given a private tour there through Virtuoso. Max at Shore Excursions didn’t mention any cancellations. I will ask later on today.

Beats me! It is a photo of the container terminal, but the ship was moving and flash turned off.