Riviera: Canary Cruising Live

[babysteps]

Following, always great to be an armchair traveler!

 

We stopped in Lanzarote, Santa Cruz de la Palma and Santa Cruz de Tenerife last year - we rented a car in both Lanzarote and Santa Cruz de la Palma right on the pier (from Cicar) - made a reservation on line the previous day iirc.

 

Lanzarote was fun and easy to explore with no prior appointments (vistas, wineries, national park visitor center etc).

 

Santa Cruz de la Palma I might wander the town (following Paulchili's instructions or similar) or take a tour next time - exploring by car is mostly making a big loop around half of the island (the whole island might take longer than the length of the port stop), unless you have pre-reserved access to the National Park. The views *are* dramatic out to the sea, like Big Sur (with more tree cover on the north loop, not so much the south loop), but once might have been enough for me lol.

 

Santa Cruz de la Tenerife we took the local tram up to San Cristobal de la Laguna, a university town, and strolled around a bit (wine shopping, cafe) - we enjoyed this but it is a pretty low-key day, may not be everyone's cup of tea (or, more accurately, glass of wine).

[the mice]

Thanks, Paul for the great info. Will be super helpful. And babysteps - thanks, also.

 

Hey docmark, you haven't been on the Marina roll call in ages. Come stop by - it's too quiet over there.

Marilyn

[Paulchili]

Thanks Paul for your narration we are on same cruise as "mice", so very much appreciate your post

 

Just to be clear - this is not my narration. I copied this article from a travelogue (don’t have the source anymore but apparently a British source based on the pricing of meals :)) but I did pretty much follow along.

[docmark]

Paul

Regardless, Thanks for posting...could tell from words"sticking" together !!

 

Appreciate your contribution

[the mice]

Just to be clear - this is not my narration. I copied this article from a travelogue (don’t have the source anymore but apparently a British source based on the pricing of meals :)) but I did pretty much follow along.

When I got to the part about Manolo Blahnik stilettos I realized that! :D

[Paulchili]

When I got to the part about Manolo Blahnik stilettos I realized that! :D

 

You never know :D :D

[Peachy]

This might help - we followed this outline and it is very easy as it is a small place:

 

Exploring Santa Cruz is like walkingthrough a paint chart. Burgundy, apricot, ochre, olive… every house is adifferent shade along the narrow streets of the capital of La Palma in theCanary Islands. The town has a distinctly Caribbean feel, which is not sosurprising as it was once one of the most important ports in the Spanishempire, linking Europe and the New World.

In the pristine covered market, stacks ofsugar cane were piled up alongside mangoes and papayas at the Trapiche juicebar. I was soon sticking a straw into a sugar cane and passion fruit juicetopped up with a dash of rum, made in the north of the island.

That morning I had been learning about thetown’s history at the Museo Insular in the 16th-century monastery, where theexhibits are displayed in rooms with elaborately carved ceilings around acloister planted with citrus trees. After Santa Cruz was founded in 1493, sugarbecame the mainstay of the economy and was shipped to Europe by Flemishmerchants. English settlers planted vines, and malmsey was soon an importantexport too. Wine is still produced on La Palma, although bananas are the maincrop these days.

At the nearby Museo Naval, I found outthat the Spanish conquistadors had taken sugar from the Canary Islands to Cuba,and in the 19th century thousands of people had emigrated to Cuba from La Palmato work in the sugar industry. When they returned to their native island, theybrought tobacco with them, which is still grown here.

Improbable as it sounds, the museum is housedin a full-sized caravel, plonked at the end of Plaza de la Alameda. It turnedout to be a concrete reproduction of the Santa Maria, aboard which ChristopherColumbus discovered the West Indies in 1492.

 

I walked along the cobbled main street knownas Calle Real and cut down a lane to see the back of some of the grand houses,which give onto the waterfront. Looking up at the Canarian-pine balconies, Isaw that most had a little wooden cubicle at one end with a hatch at eye level.The original occupiers of these houses would have taken shelter there from thetrade winds, sliding the hatch open to look out for pirates approaching theshore.

At the Plaza de España, the heart of SantaCruz, an elderly man in a panama hat was sitting at a stall in front of theRenaissance town hall with a pile of tobacco leaves in front of him, totallyabsorbed in rolling cigars for anyone who wanted them.

As I continued along the Calle Real, I cameacross an ironmonger’s where machetes for cutting bananas were on sale.Intriguing as this was, I had been hoping to find some shoes by Manolo Blahnik.The designer was born in Santa Cruz and is still a regular visitor to theisland. No such luck, but I consoled myself with the thought that stilettoswould have been a nightmare on those cobbles anyway.

Where to eat

Mambrino £

Housed in an 18th-century building oppositethe market, Mambrino is an unfussy bar and restaurant serving traditionalCanarian food such as octopus salad, garlic prawns, grilled tuna, braisedrabbit and steaks (Avenida El Puente 19; 922 411873).

Parrilla Las Nieves £

 

Thanks also. We had planned on just walking around town in Santa Cruz so your description of your day is perfect!

[Skyring]

Thanks for all the contributions! I'm finding this reporting live to be a bit more difficult than I imagined. Especially when my wife hogs the internet for selfish reasons like keeping in touch with the family.

 

Now docking at Teneriffe. Loved Santa Cruze de las Palmas. They gave us a photo-op on the way back to the ship:

 

[LHT28]

You are on vacation

why not sit back & enjoy the trip

post the photos when you get home

 

Relax & enjoy

[Paulchili]

Agree with Lyn.

Also, consider composing your post off line (maybe in Word) and then just copy and paste when you have internet access. That way you need relatively little time online to post.

[the mice]

Would love to hear what you did in Santa Cruz de la Palma. We will be there on Marina in November. Paulchili posted some great info about the port, but would enjoy hearing yours.

 

Meanwhile, enjoy your cruise!!

[Skyring]

Yesterday morning was interesting and had the potential to be a very expensive one for Oceania. Docking in Santa Cruz de Tenerife (map here) was scheduled for 0800. Our tour group was to meet in the Riviera Lounge at 0800.

 

We watched P&O Ventura straddle the dawn before they backed into their berth on the mole, and we followed them in. My wretch of a wife insisted on making the 0800 meeting despite us still being outside the harbour. We weren't going to swim ashore, so I couldn't see the point, but she was adamant.

 

So I missed seeing it all unfold.

 

I grabbed a photo of a tug before heading down to the lounge.

 

 

Docking seemed to be going okay as I left the top decks. We were reversing in, passing a couple of drilling ships side by side at the harbour entrance, and backing past Ventura, now discharging passengers into an army of buses.

 

Here are the two ships, big ugly grey things, nothing like our sweet slab-sided Riviera.

 

 

So we went down, swapped our tickets for numbered chits, sat down and waited. Clearly, it was going to be a while as we were still under way, but the guests streamed in as their meeting times passed, and the staff handed out the chits.

 

I looked up at one of the windows on the starboard side. It was completely full of tugboat. I've been kicking myself ever since for not whipping out the camera on my hip as I walked over, but I didn't.

 

The tug was pushing hard on our starboard bow. A metre or so off its stern was the end of the mole, and on its port quarter was the nearest of the two drill ships. The poor tug was in a tiny patch of water about to be crushed by Riviera bent on destruction.

 

I don't know how we came to be sideways across the harbour mouth, but there we were. "Wind," they said, but I reckon up on the bridge the captain might have been throttling the pilot.

 

The tug managed to push us away from disaster, and we went out for another go, this time with two tugs hooked on and a third standing by.

 

It was well after nine by the time we made our berth, and those tugs worked hard.

 

The staff eventually gave up trying to keep us sitting down quietly and let us head back to cabins, up to Baristas or wherever, but to keep an ear open for announcements. I was off like a shot and watched the rest of the procedure hanging over the stern.

 

Must say that the crew worked well to make up for the delays. Once we were docked, they sent off the the eight-hour tours first. We were scheduled to leave by six, so their time was shrinking. Our tour, a 4WD jaunt into the mountains, was called soon after, and we had a great time.

 

Lunch hours were extended for those returning, and we had a pleasant meal in the Terrace Cafe on our return, instead of a hot dog at Waves Grill.

[marylizcat]

Still waiting on tenterhooks to find out what went wrong in Lisbon? You hinted at problems earlier.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[the mice]

Thanks for the update, and also still waiting to hear more about your day in Santa Cruz de la Palma. Please don't skip over that day!

[Skyring]

Sea day tomorrow. Will provide answers...

 

Could be a quiet day. This evening, five minutes before undocking, the captain announced an open bar in Horizons, Martinis, and the Grand Bar for two hours - to make up for the delay yesterday.

 

As I already had a beer waiting on the balcony, I decided to avoid what could be an epic crush, and instead went to the Spanish Market feast at the Terrace Cafe, which was fantastic. And almost deserted.

[Skyring]

Heading off to Africa now, after a much better than expected day on Lanzarotte. I thought I just had to share this snippet from our tour.

 

We did the Southern Lanzarotte and Wine Tasting, which included a lot of volcanoes, a camel ride, and yes, a little wine.

 

Our guide, Estaban was fabulous, and driver Antonio a wizard on the tight winding roads. Estaban won my heart when he discovered that one young lady was not quite as spry on her pins as she once was.

 

He offered his arm and assisted her everywhere. Here we are at one stop. Apologies for the quality; I was shooting straight into the sun. Everybody is smiling despite the cold wind.

 

Especially me.

 

[wilfwilm]

Thank you for your informative posts...but you did not reveal what the Spanish pilot really did!

Big dent in side of ship and stoved in cabin window!

Glad you like dear Riviera, this is our third time on her.

[Skyring]

Thank you for your informative posts...but you did not reveal what the Spanish pilot really did!

Big dent in side of ship and stoved in cabin window!

Glad you like dear Riviera, this is our third time on her.

I didn't see that bit - or hear about it until now. I was stuck in the lounge wishing I was on deck with my camera!

 

Yes, loving this ship, and her crew.

[Skyring]

Lisbon/Sintra continued

I’d left the planning for our Sintra visit to my wife. She had told me the place she wanted to go, that there was a bus from the station, that we could get there by train from Lisbon.

Our train pulled into Sintra Station, and I waved off the various guides and tuk-tuk drivers, pulling out my phone.

“Right, what’s the name of this place,” I asked, opening up Google Maps.

“Pella, I think.”

There was a Pella in Spain, but that would take us hours to get to. I raised an eyebrow. She dug around in her memory.

“Pena.”

This was more like. As the crow flies, the Pena Palace was quite close.

But the suggested route was about an hour. By car.

As I stood there trying to make some sense of this - I’m an ex-cabbie, so going “the long way” is very familiar to me, but oh, Google, how could you? - a young lady came up and offered to help.

I’ve spent years shrugging off touts with taxis and tours and uncles with carpet shops, so I ignored her.

She peered at my phone.

“Oh, Google Maps always shows that way. Do you need a guide?”

Well, yes, but I like to arrange these things beforehand.

“Right,” I said to my wife, “where’s this bus of yours?”

“I don’t know. I read about it after we were here two years ago and got lost.”

Great.

“The bus costs five Euro and you have to wait for the next one,” our new and insistent friend said. “But I can drive you there right now for the same price.”

“No!” I said. If some random stranger comes up to me when I’m looking helpless in a foreign railway station, it cannot be a good deal. Surely Google or Citymapper would help me out.

I was equally insistent, and she moved off.

I floundered with my phone for a few more minutes before giving up. I just couldn’t make head or tail of this place with its maze of streets, and my phone wasn’t giving me any easy options.

My wife led the way to the guide.

“Please, drive us to Pena Palace.”

She looked at me.

“My wife’s husband is an idiot,” I offered.

The guide cracked a smile. “Follow me.”

She led us to a Volkswagen convertible, and we climbed into the back seat. I was still a little grumpy, but as she expertly drove along the narrow - and steep - winding streets, I considered how little fun we’d be having if we were slogging along. As we drove, she offered information into the various places we were passing, even pausing so I could get a shot of the National Palace with its distinctive chimneys.

 

At Pena Palace, she parked at a back entrance; “There’s always a crowd at the main entrance, here you go straight in,” and even came in to buy us the correct tickets. Everyone knew her and smiled when they saw her.

I gave her the money she wanted, and a little extra.

“Tell all your friends,” she said. “This business is all word of mouth.”

So I’m telling you. This lady, Helena Santana, is the sort of guide you would fight for. I seized her card.

Elegant, educated, excellent English. thoughtful, and helpful. You want to see Sintra proper, Helena will do the thing in style.

[RJ2002]

Continuing to enjoy your reports. I actually thought your picture at Lanzarotte was quite good. :)

[Skyring]

The lower entrance at Pena Palace in Sintra is fast and uncrowded. We paid 14 Euro each for a pass that included access to the palace interior, but really it was the gardens we came for.

 

We thanked our guide, Helena, and set off.

 

Words and even pictures are not enough to describe the feeling of these gardens. Lush and green from the clouds which often shroud this peak, the hillside was a feast of vegetation.

 

Here and there whimsical structures showed. The Vale Dos Lagos - Valley of the Lakes - had a series of duck houses, each one more wildly romantic than the last.

 

 

Ducks - and some exuberant geese - sailed happily amongst the pools and falls and duckways, all keenly photographed. Not just by me, but by everyone.

 

 

Not a huge mass of tourists, in fact sometimes it seemed as if we had the whole tangled hillside park to ourselves.

 

 

There were maps available, and signposts pointed the way, but we couldn't possibly see and appreciate everything.

 

 

There was just so much available, all of it artfully wild and majestic.

 

 

Grand though the gardens were, I had to be hurried along lest I spend too much time on details.

 

 

Time was always at our heels. We had the deadline for the ship leaving nagging at us. For a ship's tour, they guarantee to hold departure until everyone is back aboard, but for we private tourists, if we missed a train or two, we'd be watching Riviera sail off without us.

 

We could easily have spent a day exploring this small part of just one of the grand sights of Sintra, but we pointed our shoes up the hill to where the palace itself showed under the mist of the clouds.

[Skyring]

 

Reluctantly leaving the park, we climbed higher. An improbable fairytale palace crowns the mountain, all turrets and battlements and gates and tunnels.

 

 

Again, words cannot capture the whole. Nor photographs. There is simply nowhere to stand that gives a whole view of the place. A drone, maybe.

 

 

There's a restaurant for those with time on their hands in one of the towers, and a cafeteria for those like us. We bought sandwiches and drinks - I chose the grandly named "Super Bock" local beer to wash down my baguette - and found a perch on one of the walls, all the tables being taken at lunchtime. Yes, the sun was over the yardarm, and time was ticking past.

 

A long queue for the facilities, well at least the ladies' side, and that was more time gone.

 

And, of course, time needed to record the details.

 

 

The entrance to the castle itself had a queue dozens long, but it was moving pretty fast, at least until we got inside. The palace was a royal residence, designed by a king with more of an eye for the arts than the economy, apparently, and it had remained almost untouched since the day the royal family rushed out.

 

The table was still set for dinner.

 

 

Not over the top like some palaces I've seen - Versailles, I'm looking at you - more of a comfortable weekender sort of place, modest in size and overdecorated to an insane degree. Again, a day needed to do the thing proper, but our clocks were ticking louder now, and the queue of tourists snaking through had to stop and take selfie after selfie…

[Skyring]

Eventually, inside the palace, we resorted to elbowing our way ahead, whenever there was a wide place in the corridor. "Lady with a pram!" I called, and startled tourists would scatter before me.

 

I wished. Few cared about letting someone push past.

 

We cut a few corners, skipping whole wings. Would the thing never end?

 

We found an attendant. "'Scuse me, Miss Signorina, but what's the quickest way out?"

 

She considered. "Back that way, Sir."

 

Quicker to exit via the entrance than to plunge on through the whole insane maze of bedrooms and music rooms and turrets and towers.

 

We made no friends thrusting our way back, let me tell you!

 

Once outside again, the next question was how to get back to the station? Helena had offered to drive us back if she were anywhere close, but I guessed that she probably wasn't, and it would take her a while to navigate through the labyrinth of roads and lanes to get here.

 

There were touts at the entrance, offering taxis and tuk-tuks, and in hindsight we should have just grabbed the nearest and paid what he asked.

 

But the bus cost five Euro, dammit. The 434 Scottbus, for those interested. I asked an official about the bus stop.

 

"Just here," he replied. "It will be along shortly."

 

True enough, a council bus rolled along ten minutes later, full of passengers, opened its doors, and a couple got off. I waited a moment too long to jump aboard, for it closed its doors and drove away, leaving me with my jaw hanging open.

 

I watched it move off. To the council bus stop, just a little further down the hill.

 

Where a long queue of tourists waited patiently. About three buses worth of them.

 

I studied the timetable. "It's okay," I assured my wife. "There's a fresh one every fifteen minutes."

 

Tick, tick, tock.

[Skyring]

As it happened, a couple of buses came along in quick succession and cleared the waiting crowd fairly efficiently. When the third bus rolled up, the driver paused the line to let a couple with a baby board ahead of everyone else. Top marks, that man!

 

We found seats, but there were standees hanging to the straps as the bus wound and ground its way down the hill. A few stops, a few narrow lanes in the old town, and we were once again at the station.

 

Two trains leaving about the same time - of course, another quarter of an hour before either went - and we headed for the first one to go. "Lisbon-Oriente" it read, rather than "Lisbon-Rossio". I looked at the map. Rossio was where we had gotten on that morning, and involved a half hour's walk back to the ship. Oriente, at least on the diagram, was right on the waterfront, and we could change to a train taking us one stop further to Santa Appolonia at the cruise terminal.

 

I had a few doubts, but taking the first train out of the station seemed like the better idea. There were four minutes between them, and after we took our seats for Oriente, I began investigating the real terrain via Google Maps, rather than the misleading diagram.

 

Rossio would have been a better bet, I decided, but would we make it across to the other platform, and with every seat clearly taken, just how pleasant a ride would it be?

 

As it happened, we staid put on the uncrowded train. Citymapper, I found as we pulled away, didn't even give it as an option. Still, that route diagram couldn't be too misleading, surely?

 

My misgivings grew as we got closer to Lisbon and began edging away to the north. Checking alternate routes on my phone, I found a better way with a direct line to Santa Appolonia if we got off at the next station.

 

Which we did. And this is where we discovered that there are two sets of trains in Lisbon. The regular one we'd been using, and the Metro underground, which shared station names but not locations. We were at Roma Station, and Roma Metro was "go out, turn right at the corner, go on two blocks, can't miss it."

 

 

Another quarter of an hour gone before we got to the Metro station, but at least Citymapper was playing ball now. Eight stops on one line, two on the next, change at Baixa-Chiado.

 

 

We followed directions, enjoyed our time amongst some of the more colourful Lisbonians, and emerged at Santa Appolonia beside the cruise terminal.

 

With an hour to spare.

 

Enough time to duck into a nearby cafe and buy four nata, which we consumed once were were safely aboard, the ordeal over.

 

 

Next time, take the ship's tour, or be bloody sure of the public transit system. Too much stress doesn't help with a relaxing holiday.

Edited April 30, 2018 by Skyring

[Paulchili]

I admire your adventurous spirit. It would have been too much stress for me.

Glad that it worked out in the end. :)