Picture heavy fun review - MSC Armonia - Canary Isles and Madeira - incl. DIY trips

[denisey]

Take care of life, we'll be here!

 

I'm loving the hike! What different and beautiful scenery.

 

I also liked hearing about your showing young people what it is like to be a vet. Good for you for making such an effort to give the child a good experience. Hopefully the kids that did not have such a good example figured out what they don't want to do for a living!

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Fuerteventura --- hike continued

 

the lake

 

 

 

...lol well, I really can't promise you that there will BE a lake when you do this hike, because apparently it dries up every so often or at least transforms into a muddy slurpy basin. But since we were here in February rather than the summertime, we had a perfectly fine lake with actual water awaiting us.

 

 

 

the water was light brown to yellow and a lot of shrubbery peeked through.

 

 

We seriously felt like we were on a safari in Africa (not like we've ever actually done that) and were waiting for a hippo or a crocodile to appear.

 

 

 

I liked the glitz of the sun on the watersurface:

 

 

 

the trail runs nicely along the one side of the lake:

 

 

... along some cool giant rocks:

 

 

 

 

...just to be stopped abruptly by a gigantic man-made stone wall, which is right behind this line of bushes in the picture.

 

 

Behind that there is the steep drop into the canyon ...

 

 

which will be up next!

 

 

 

 

stay tuned!

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

No hurry! All the wonderful details and pictures are worth waiting for.

I'd love to do this itinerary on the Opera in December...so I hope you're done by then. :)

 

:DLol -- I promise to be done by december:D

 

thanks for the patience!

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Take care of life, we'll be here!

 

I'm loving the hike! What different and beautiful scenery.

 

I also liked hearing about your showing young people what it is like to be a vet. Good for you for making such an effort to give the child a good experience. Hopefully the kids that did not have such a good example figured out what they don't want to do for a living!

 

 

:pthanks!:p

 

lol, and yes, Tarik is sure to never step into a bakery again ... at least not work-wise:D.

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Fuerteventura --- hike continued

 

 

 

the canyon

 

 

 

that's the view of the trail once you get to the end of the lake

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

after starting a bit of the descent, this is the view when you look back to the lake ... the wall looks small on this picture, but it is actually pretty impressive. I just loved the looks of the water pools on many different heights.

 

 

 

 

 

 

once having entered the canyon, there is basically no shrubbery left .... well, except an occasional cactus:

 

 

 

 

 

 

it all comes down to bare rock and shimmery water ... absolutely loved it!

 

 

 

 

 

mhhh, I should have paid more attention to what Tanja is taking a photo of here instead of admiring the scenery behind her ... but more about that in the second-next post.

 

 

 

 

 

 

that little white hut is the hermitage! Our goal for today ... let's check it out in the next two posts.

 

 

 

 

stay tuned!

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Fuerteventura --- the hermitage in the Barranco de las Penitas

 

 

 

I'm not overly religious ... don't get me wrong, I do believe there are things between heaven and earth, which we can't explain (yet) but I have difficulties with the thought about an old guy with a beard watching you. I do believe that some things happen for a somewhat higher reason and if I'd have to choose a religion I'd probably go for Bhuddism. I love the idea of finding God within yourself and the awareness of positive and mindful interaction with the world surrounding us definitely sounds good.

 

However I am completely in love with Christian pilgrimage destinations -- not because I believe in miracles which supposedly happened at those sights, or to worship old scraps of bones, wooden splinters of a cross or a bloody cloth which was supposedly once wrapped around Jesus's dead body. No, I love these places because of the energy they produce. They radiate with the hopes and dreams, the joy and pain, the gratitude and desperation of the people who come here out of religious reasons. I've never been to another religion's pilgrimage destination ... so I don't know if it would equally fascinate me --- but I'm pretty sure it's a universal phenomenon.

 

Anyway, here are the pictures of this pilgrimage destination:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

cool -- at least 5 different languages on this little piece of wall alone ... the only one missing is English ... how odd.

 

 

 

 

 

 

hey, only a couple of days ago ... it really is frequented quite regularly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

okay, I have to admit the shoes with the attached sign produced a giant lump in my throat.

 

 

 

more to come

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Fuerteventura --- hermitage continued

 

Even here in the middle of nowhere --- love-locks (lol – or whatever their official name might be)

… mhhh I thought you had to throw the key into the sea or a river … I wonder if they threw them into the pools of the canyon … I’d be too worried for them to dry up and release the key again. Oh well.

Behind the grit there are many pieces of paper with little notes on them:

Really an amazing little place. Every inch of wall space is covered with signatures and messages. Flowers (mostly plastic) throughout the whole little room.

Oops, I guess Tanja was annoyed at me for taking this picture … Am I in trouble?

Lol – I guess not.

I loved the view into the bright canyon landscape outside.

And last but not least I found this picture on Tanja’s camera later on at home, which left me puzzled. What is this? And where did she take the photo?

Remember when I took a photo of Tanja with the rock pools in the background? Right underneath the hermitage there is this small hole in the rock, which you can point your camera at. Behind it is this cave with the crack in the rock which we think must be the original place where they found (refound) the Madonna. Crap --- I missed it. But Tanja said she couldn’t really see the insides of the cave with bare eyes anyway … too dark. Only the flash made it appear on the photo. I still think it’s pretty cool to have found the actual crack though. Yay Tanja!

So …. That was it. The hike back to the car is just the same path backwards. The whole hike is around 4 km long and it takes a little less than an hour each way – and that’s strolling leasurly and stopping for pics along the way. We really enjoyed ourselves. Thanks for coming along!

After the hike we decided to call it a day and return the car early. After a quick shuttle back to the airport --- again, the bus was all ours, we jumped into the next taxi and returned to the ship. We had Madeira up next and wanted to save some strength for the gazillion things we (well -- I) had in mind there. So Fuerteventura turned out to be a half day adventure for us … but none the less we enjoyed it … next time (if so) we WILL dare to explore Cofete beach and the Villa Winter though. The driving was easy and the times we calculated for our drive were much shorter in reality, so I’m positive it can be done on a (weekday) port day.

 

 

I hope you enjoyed our first port trip on this cruise. I’ll continue with pictures of dinner and the show in a little while.

Stay tuned!

Stef

Edited May 5, 2015 by Kreuzfahrtneuling

[posso]

really interesting - more please!

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

really interesting - more please!

 

 

:)glad you're enjoying it:)

 

I'm excited to start writing about Madeira soon .... I just don't know how to start ... sooo many things .... argh.

 

But first two dinners and two shows to report about.... that'll hopefully give me the time to figure it out.

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Dinner day two

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

composition di prosciutto crudo

 

 

 

 

minestrone alla milanese

 

 

 

lasagne alla bolognese

 

 

 

parmigiana di melanzane

 

 

more to come

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

dinner continued

 

 

tagliata di manzo alla griglia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and desert:

 

 

 

but the best was how it was served:

 

oh I just loved our assistant waitress! She always had this positive and openly friendly aura .... I imagine we could have had a ball partying together. But of course there is not much freetime or possibility for the crew to party at all and definitely not with the passengers .... even if --- they probably wouldn't want to anyway .... too bad. She was a doll and I'd have loved to find out more about her background.

 

Oh and that's the Samsung family in the back:rolleyes: and they are all busy communicating without any electronical device, amazing ...

 

and check out the cute little kid to the right merrily awake at 23:00 or later.

 

The aehm, quite well insulated lower arm and hand of the lady at our table belonged to the wife of a rather creepy guy who we saw basically everywhere. They thankfully were placed at our table only once. They were Germans --- not like they would have freely communicated either with us or amongst themselves. She had the sides of her mouth drawn downwards in a fashion I've never seen before or believed to be possible and kept sighing in pure boredom or disgust .... and he ... well he was the strangest little man ever. I wondered for a while if he might be facing some challenge like autism ... but I guess it was only his own shrewd personal self. Very, very bizarre.

 

It is always interesting and quite amusing just how many odd characters can be found on a cruiseship. Lol ... I don't even wanna know what people think about OUR weirdness-ranking. Wait, that's not true -- actually I DO!

Lol -- if you've cruised with us before, I'd love to know --- and do be honest, we can stand it and promise not to be mad.

oh well, let's continue with this night's show.

 

stay tuned!

 

Stef

 

Edited May 6, 2015 by Kreuzfahrtneuling

[spinnaker2]

I am enjoying your post! Thanks again for taking all of this time and effort for your devoted readers...we appreciate it.

I am really looking forward to the post on Funchal. We have been there twice, the last time we did a jeep tour which was just wonderful. We were in the first jeep of the pack, so we didn't have any issue with exhaust fumes, but I understand some people did.

We are going again in November, for a longer stay.

I hope you will have some suggestions of what to do.

We aren't interested in doing the toboggan ride, or blandy lodge.

I think it is a magical island, just phenomenally beautiful with so many different climates and vistas. I would consider living there.

Thanks much again.

[denisey]

What a nice day in Fuerteventura!

 

Well, while I haven't cruise with you (yet!) I think that you are weird in a good way...quirky, fun-loving, adventurous...but accepting of others! Some day I will have to find out if that is true!

 

But on a sad note....I won't be able to read your posts for the next 2 weeks. It is time for my land trip to Italy! Can't wait to catch up when I get back!

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

I am enjoying your post! Thanks again for taking all of this time and effort for your devoted readers...we appreciate it.

I am really looking forward to the post on Funchal. We have been there twice, the last time we did a jeep tour which was just wonderful. We were in the first jeep of the pack, so we didn't have any issue with exhaust fumes, but I understand some people did.

We are going again in November, for a longer stay.

I hope you will have some suggestions of what to do.

We aren't interested in doing the toboggan ride, or blandy lodge.

I think it is a magical island, just phenomenally beautiful with so many different climates and vistas. I would consider living there.

Thanks much again.

 

Hi,

 

sure I have suggestions. But for Madeira I'll keep to the things we actually did, because unlike Fuerteventura, there are a gazillion options. To do a complete write-up of all our favorites would definitely last too long.

 

I'm currently preparing a map-picture to point out the things we did or seriously planned on doing ... if I would include all the other highlights which I sadly had to discard .... the picture of the island wouldn't even be visible anymore underneith all the arrows and text.

 

But I do have a lot to report and hope you might get some inspiration anyway. We didn't do the Blarney lodge (we're not into Madeira wine at all --- way too sweet) but the toboggan ride.... and the rest ... wait and see:D.

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

What a nice day in Fuerteventura!

 

Well, while I haven't cruise with you (yet!) I think that you are weird in a good way...quirky, fun-loving, adventurous...but accepting of others! Some day I will have to find out if that is true!

 

But on a sad note....I won't be able to read your posts for the next 2 weeks. It is time for my land trip to Italy! Can't wait to catch up when I get back!

 

:eek: oh my god --- is it time already? Man, it flew by! I truly wish you a grand time in Italy --- but I'm sure you'll have a blast... it's Italy afterall:p.

 

 

We'll miss you on here, but be assured I won't be done with Madeira until you've returned:rolleyes:. We'll be here and I can't wait to hear all about your Italy trip!

 

Have a safe journey!

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Show --- day two

 

 

 

 

 

Tonight was Italian night and of course also the show was all about Italy.

 

 

 

the gals in the dresses are a member of the entertainment team.

 

The lady with the wild hairdo (lol, and she had that hairdo everyday ... even wearing formal attire) was Anna, our cruise director. She cracked us up ... a lovely mix between Cruella Deville from Disney and Peggy Bundy from Married with children. Of course she was German and of course she was fluent in 5 languages.... I liked her ... she definitely was a firery, passionate and quite amusing (in a biting-British-humor sort of way) person.

 

The guy with the limoncello bottle and the hat with the horns was THE funnest and craziest entertainment team member I have ever seen on a cruise ship or any other vacation for that matter. He is a show in itself. He made us laugh with tears in our eyes many times during this cruise.

 

The fake opera tenor was the second-best entertainment person ... Which is sad, because he was gloriously good as well, and just the comparison to the even better other guy made him land on second place. Really -- I've never even considered writing much about entertainment teams ... but this special one on the Armonia was just too good not to be mentioned. You rocked guys!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then the dancing started:

 

quite nice to look at. Italian tarantellas and wild costumes and colors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

and here's our female singer again:

 

 

 

 

 

...and today she was followed by him:

 

He didn't sing badly ... he almost always caught the tones ... that wasn't our problem. It was his overly love of himself singing that made it intolerable for us (or sometimes even the joining dancers or female singer) to enjoy his performances (yes! Plural!). Maybe I'm doing him wrong ... but we were always going to the theatre thinking: please not him again....please not him again .... just to find out he was included in almost every show. Except the flamenco one .... lol, but that's not the only reason I loved that one so much. I'm sorry if I'm being mean .... maybe there were plenty people who liked him ... just not us. Personal opinion. Rant over.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last but not least they had an acrobatic show:

 

it was breathtaking. And I personally was in awe by the beauty of the woman. WOW!!!!! I mean, look at that face and that body! I think I might have been drooling a bit ....

 

lol, I saw her in the gym working out like crazy one day ... no wonder she's so lean and trained. I felt quite intimidated on the treadmill next to her. I really should train more often as well.

 

But anyway, this was tonight's show. The following day was a sea day and I'll only write about dinner and the show ... the rest was romantic time for me and Tanja, so for once, I won't let you join. But soon I'll tell you all about our one and a half day port exploration on Madeira to make up for it.

 

 

stay tuned!

 

Stef

[Steirisch]

I don't know what brought me over to this board, but I'm glad I found your report (and the other ones, as well). Stef, you are amazing and I'll bet if you planned a group cruise, we'd all join you. Love your writing style, too. You sound like a dear friend. Ausgezeichnet!

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

sorry for the delay everybody! Extremely busy weekend. I'll continue today with the dailies of the seaday ...just need to scan them real fast ... give me a bit....

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

I don't know what brought me over to this board, but I'm glad I found your report (and the other ones, as well). Stef, you are amazing and I'll bet if you planned a group cruise, we'd all join you. Love your writing style, too. You sound like a dear friend. Ausgezeichnet!

 

Welcome! lol --- I 'd love a group cruise, but right now, there are sadly no new cruises on the horizon.

 

Glad you found your way over here. It certainly isn't the most frequented forum ... but small doesn't necessarily mean bad, right?

 

 

Stef

[denisey]

Just a quick note to say I haven't seen a single Panda yet in Italy! How sad! I sent you a Facebook friend request, if you would like to see some of my adventures so far!

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Dailies day three --- seaday

 

(sorry for the delay, but Flickr had some hickups with the upload)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

stay tuned!

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Just a quick note to say I haven't seen a single Panda yet in Italy! How sad! I sent you a Facebook friend request, if you would like to see some of my adventures so far!

 

:rolleyes::eek::rolleyes:

 

Lol -- get your butt off the computer ... for heaven's sake, you're in ITALY!!!!!!

 

lol -- but now I finally know what you look like and your poor hubby can quit practising saying "Kreuzfahrtneuling" for the time we'll meet on a cruise one day:D.

 

now... back to your vacation .... have fun and I'm looking forward to more pictures!

 

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

dinner day three

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Duetto Imperiale

 

 

 

Thin slices of Bresaola della Valtellina

 

 

 

Rock lobster bisque

 

 

 

Tortelli ripieni di punte di asparagi e mascarpone

 

more to come...

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

dinner day three continued:

 

 

 

Risotto allo champagne e provola dolce

 

 

 

Roast beef fillet with green peppercorn sauce

 

 

 

fresh fruit plate

 

 

 

 

cheese plate

 

 

 

next up: tonight's show!

 

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

tonight's show:

 

 

 

finally we got to meet the officers:

 

 

 

 

but the main event of the evening was an Egyptian-themed show.

 

 

 

It was a beautifully performed dancing, singing and acrobatics show, well -- except the mummies .... those were just a tad too cheesy:rolleyes:.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All in all a feast for the eyes ... the queen (pharao-ess?:confused:) was stunningly graceful and the dancing in general was very good.

 

 

all in all a very pleasurable and easy going evening .... just right for our last event before we'd start big time adventuring the next morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

:cool: up next: finally --- the start of our Madeira explorations.

 

 

 

stay tuned!

 

Stef