Lisbon, Spain, Gibraltar, Portugal, Worlds, the ship trip and Barcelona

OK here we go, on Nov. 25th we parked the car in Newburyport at the C&J Busline with hopes that we would remember where we left it when we returned close to a month later and also hoping that it wouldn't be covered with a foot of snow because we forgot to put the shovel in the trunk.  As it turns out, we did remember where it was and there was NO snow anywhere AND it started!

The plane was on time but at the end of the trip was very bumpy and George thought we were going to crash. We flew to Madrid where we had a connection to Lisbon.  The airport at Madrid was amazing, there must have been at least 3 miles of walking in glass corridors with glass walls and glass floors (shaded so you weren't too scared) and glass elevators and no toilets or places to sit and rest along the way.  They did have conveniently located defibulators in case you were having a heart attack.  Very thoughtful.  We had a little time between flights thank goodness. These flights overseas are difficult because of the approx 5 hour time change.  When we landed in Lisbon, all seemed fine and we got our luggage and taxi without much ado.  We had a short cab trip to the hotel with 4 suitcases and one small plastic briefcase-type bag which was George's personal item.  My personal item was filled with sweaters and things like that.  While unloading the taxi and giving the bags to the bellman, someone grabbed the briefcase and ran away.  People in front of the hotel saw this and were yelling in Spanish, we didn't know what was happening right away.  The bellman and the taxi driver went after the thief, but to no avail.  I was very upset and trying to remember what was in that bag.  The contents of the bag was a manila folder that contained all the photocopies of all our cards and license and passport as was recommended by all the travel sites and all George's medicines which they recommend that you carry with you instead of putting in your luggage, and the itinerary of the trip which I had not committed to memory because it was so complicated, as well as the luggage tags and ticket info for the cruise. 

I immediately started to phone the credit card companies which is a horrendous task from overseas with all the phone trees and transfers and disconnects that happen.  It took hours.  I tried to arrange for  emergency funds, but after hours of calls back and forth, found out that they charge 20 percent per day for that money, so canceled that.  I tried to arrange for an emergency replacement card from one company.  They were supposed to send it in 5 days time to the hotel where the world meet was held and where we were for four nights.  There were strikes and snow storms and holidays and for these reasons the card never arrived.  Or so we thought, as it turns out, when I got home I found out through a phone message from UPS, that they sent it to Porto Rico instead of Portomeo, Spain. 

We were traveling with 4 friends on this first section of our trip (Sylvia, Verna, Judy, and Louis), and Sylvia let us use her card, and we had some cash with us.  We would not know where we were going or when if we had been traveling by ourselves since our itinerary was stolen.  While in Lisbon for a couple of days, many, many instances of pick pocketing and camera stealing happened--you had to watch every minute what was going on.  Guys were on phones, signaling ahead on the sidewalks, crossing the street when you did, and bunching up against people whereever there was a group, like on buses, lines for things, etc.  It was very nerve racking. 

The first night in Lisbon, after everyone arrived, we walked to a nearby famous fish restaurant and ate together.  It was very unusual, platters of all kinds were brought to the table with food most of us didn't recognize, and it was very expensive for a neighborhood style place, like $75 euros each.  The line went out the door and we were seated like sardines.  We all decided that we'd have to eat at McDonald's whether we liked it or not.  We didn't stick to our decision, however, as we ate at the Hard Rock Cafe the following night, it was good and not very expensive.

We toured Lisbon on a jump-on jump-off buss and mountain climbed to the Castle above the city.  On the third day we rented a van, stuffed our luggage and ourselves into it, and headed out of town for the southern part of Portugal.  People over there drive about 90 miles an hour, and here we are in a van weaving and bobbing along in high winds--headed for the rock of Gibraltar. 

First stop, Gibraltar.  It was raining so we headed directly to Gibraltar.  George and I stayed in that first day there but the second day I walked over (from the hotel in Spain) with the group and we took a van tour up the mountain, saw the monkeys and the military caves that were part of the defenses during every war in that part of the world.  It was very steep and the views downward are disorienting.  Gibraltar is owned by England and there is a huge airstrip that is the beginning of entering onto the island.  Everyone has to walk or drive over the middle of the airstrip after passing the passport check to enter the country.  We were able to go into a pharmacia in Spain and purchase George's medicines like gum over the counter and for 1/3 the price here in the U.S.  We did eat at McDonalds. 

Next stop was along the southern coast of Portugal to visit the End of the Earth.  This was the place that was a school of navigation for sailors during the time of Columbus and where he set off towards America.  Afterwards we headed to Portimao where World's was being held.

Portimao was a very beautiful place.  We stayed at a modern hotel that would have been closed at this time of year and did close the day we left.  Many of the shops were also closed, but I liked that it wasn't bustling with people.  It was a very old town and harbour with many slips and boats and gorgeous beach.  The venue for the events at worlds was very nice and they didn't charge too much to get in. 

After worlds we headed to Lisbon to fly to Barcelona.  They announced that there was a strike in Spain's airports so we didn't know if we would be able to get out and make the departure of the ship.  At it happens, George and I didn't have a reservation for that flight and we had to stand in line all during the night and we were luckey and get seats at 6 a.m.  The line to check the luggage was hundreds long, but Sylvia was able to get us to the front of the line so we made the flight.  Everyone in our party spent the night in the airport--Sylvia Haffke, Judy Graves and Louis Ledford, Bud and Shirley Engle, Bill and Marien Spooner.  Billy Mastriano was there as well, but he was headed to the U.S.  It was announced that Spain was working again, so we were all able to get to the ship.  Several others in our group were flying over directly from the U.S. to Spain and were redirected or left a day earlier in order to board in time, some were even going to have to meet the ship at the next port of call, but that wasn't necessary after all.

So everyone (all 14 of us) was able to get to Barcelona and board on time.

So on the morning of Dec. 5^th we arrived in Barcelona and took a taxi to the port where we boarded our ship, Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas, without a hitch.  Thanks to having some luggage tags from Verna, who travels a lot and has special status, our luggage arrived at our cabin in record time.  Some other people waited a day or so.  Right away, everyone proceeds to the first buffet luncheon where it looked like they hadn’t eaten for a month or so.   We were pretty tired so we skipped that first night’s dinner seating at 6 and just rested in our cabin.  We had a balcony room with big sliding doors.  This was a little treacherous when the bed was sliding across the room later in the cruise!

The evening of the first night of being at sea for the whole day, our little group of 14 were all present at the first formal night and we had a Birthday celebration for George.  The food is truly a special event, not only in the dining room, but also at any of the other stations around the ship where you can opt to eat. 

Our first stop was Palermo, Sicily.  I thought all the ports we stopped at were very scenic to look at.  We didn’t arrange for a tour for this port and walked to a main square and got a bus to another main square where we picked up the hop on hop off bus.  I was somewhat nervous because George can’t walk much.  We took it half way around and got off near the ship and went back onboard.  We did not like that place, it was crowded and old and dirty and had an uneasy feeling in general about it. 

Athens was the second stop.  After being accosted at the first stop by so many people who want to profit by the tourists, we decided to take some sort of tour at all our stops, and this would also keep the walking to a minimum.  So we toured around the area at and near Athens and I climbed up to the Acropolis which is not all that high.  Back to the ship and onward to Rhodes.

At Rhodes, which was a very beautiful place, we toured around then walked to into the old town, which is pedestrian only, and enjoyed a downpour of rain, sipping wine under the canopy of a charming café with lots of parrots, before running into some of our group and doing a little shopping and a little more sipping.

Now we are heading towards Alexandria, Egypt, and Captain Erik expected winds of about 35 mph and off we went.  It got very windy and wavy and bumpy and during dinner a cart of dishes fell over the dining balcony from above and smashed down the very beautiful stairway making a lot of noise.  Our waiters were having a difficult time navigating around the dining room and serving our dishes, drinks, etc.  There are screens on the TV in our rooms that show direction of the ship, wind, etc., like those onboard airplanes nowadays.  The winds were between 50 and 75 mph and the waves were 30-50 feet high.  Captain Erik mentioned that he would be heading east to favor the waves then turn south towards Egypt. 

At about 2:10 a.m. we awoke with a jolt as the ship rolled sharply and everything in the room sailed towards the wall to our left including our bed.  Then to the right.  Then again and again.  First I was surprised that everything isn’t fixed to stay put, like in a motor home.  It was a little hairy while our bed was headed towards the sliding glass doors but the night stand was wedged between the wall and our bed so we stopped short of hitting the glass.  Here I am laying on my back with both hands grasping the sides of the bed—George was sitting up on the edge.  I told him to lay down it would be safer.  Then when the ship rolled the other way, he ended up doing a backwards somersault over the bed to the other side.  I was picturing a scene from “I Love Lucy” where they got into some very crazy situations.  The TV which is somewhat affixed to a sliding platform crashed to the floor, but it surprisingly worked when we righted it.  This event was called “The Incident” thereafter.  It lasted 10-15 minutes, and then we continued to rock and roll all over the Mediterranean for probably another 24 hours.  Immediately after the Incident, people were out in the hallways, some crying for help as they were in a panic, and some investigating and taking pictures.  It was a pretty weird scene.  We got busy cleaning up, rearranging the furniture and bed and getting back to normal, somewhat anyway.  Stuff that was in the fridge and all the cabinets all fell out, some of it breaking open, the glasses broke.  I was surprised they even had glass glasses.  The ceiling tiles in the backroom fell down.  Because we kept the toilet seat down as they suggest, our stuff didn’t end up in the toilet, but I heard other people say a lot of their stuff ended up in the toilet including their tooth brushes.  The broken glass was all in one area as it was the result of that first quick jolt to the (my) left, so it hit the wall and slid to the floor. 

The Captain announced that people would receive $200 per cabin as a result of this incident.

The Captain was on the speakers often trying to keep everyone apprised of what was happening with heading into Alexandria.  While he was explaining that he would be trying to wait out the storm until we could go into Alexandria, the news stations were showing scenes of how the storm was affecting all the shorelines in that part of the sea and saying that many ports were closed.  The captain explained that there was a lot of “traffic” because the ports were closed.

In the morning when he went out to get some breakfast, a flyer was circulating from a fellow traveler which talked about who to contact and could have made other suggestions.  By later in the day, people were gathering to protest and it looked a little like mutiny on the high seas.  By this time, there were announcements on the world news stations about the incident, lots of aspiring news anchors where sending their stories to all the news outlets from their computers and phones.  In another day or two it was announced that we would receive a full refund.

The food for the next couple of days was only available on paper plates buffet style with whatever food didn’t get damaged during the incident.  A lot of plates, glassware, liquor bottles, statues and artwork (and kitchenware and food) ended up on the floor or were hurtled into walls and glass panels.  Many tables, chairs, sofas, curio cabinets, pool tables, etc. were piled up to be taken away.  The pool emptied and lounge chairs went overboard, so I heard. 

There were 13 elevator stops in the elevators, but the main elevators were out of order for a few days.  There is another bank of elevators near the front but most people were using the stairs until many just didn’t go anywhere and had their mate bring them food.  The two top floors were closed because it was very windy and they are more open to the outside air, also the side doors were closed on other floors.  74 mph is the speed for a grade 1 hurricane and we saw 75.  Some people saw waterspouts (when the water is formed into a funnel like a tornado). 

It was announced that we would abandon our hopes of going into Alexandria and would spend 2 days in Malta.  When we docked in Malta, news people boarded to “get the rest of the story”, but the crew had been very busy cleaning up and putting everything back as close as normal as they could. We were provisioned and the food experience was once again restored.  Malta was a very nice stop and everyone was extremely happy to set food on land again, some departed there and went home.  Just before reaching Malta the seas calmed down, but after leaving and heading back to Barcelona, the sea got rough again. 

Some longtime employees on board the ship said they didn’t experience anything like this trip before and at least one that I know of was going to quit.  They were saying that it was scheduled that this ship was going to make one more run to Alexandria and then would change to sailing to Qatar through the canal.

We were scheduled to spend a couple of days in Barcelona before heading home, but guess what, snow in northern Europe caused all kinds of flight cancelations and we had to stay two extra days.  I fought with the airline because they wanted to send me home on Christmas day but thankfully we got out on the 21^st.

One of those extra days was a Monday, and I couldn’t go to any museums because they are all closed on Mondays.  Barcelona is a very beautiful civilized city which I highly recommend.

We were home for a couple of days, had a very nice dinner on Christmas day with Marc and Carol, and then got into the car and started driving towards Florida.