After a 3 day drive through Ronda, Seville, and Cordoba, we finally arrived in Barcelona, again. If you remember, we stopped here for a day back in October after our stay in the Balkans. Somehow, I got really lucky and rented a place in the liveliest part of the city. As you may remember, we were in the actual center of the city at the Plaza de Espana. We thought we lucked out with that spot because it was within walking distance to the best sushi place. But, this time, we were situated near Plaza de Catalunya. We had shopping right outside our doors, the Gothic quarter was just steps away, and, best of all, we were directly on the parade route for the Three Kings Celebration. Apparently, their big holiday is Three Kings Day on January 6, not Christmas. Not being a religious person, I have no idea what it all means but I’m sure someone will educate me.
We were also just steps from the cathedral. Jayden an I walked around and even caught some street performers.
After 3 days in Barcelona, we were ready to get on the Ship. Our cruise line, MSC was a cargo shipping company based in Italy who then got into the cruising business. They had a stellar reputation and we were about to embark upon a 119 day cruise around the world. It started in Rome (Civitavecchia), Genoa, Marseille, and Barcelona, where we embarked. First stop, Malaga! Right back to where I started this whole journey. Many of you may remember that I spent a week in Malaga after my Kilimanjaro trip to look for an apartment in Spain. We didn’t do much but walk around the center of town.
Next stop, Funchal, Madeira Island, Portugal. What a lovely little island. The views were amazing, the food was delicious, and the people very friendly. Because it’s an island, sometimes they run short of supplies so most everyone has a little garden here. The streets are lined with small shops and colorful paintings on walls. It’s amazing how resourceful people are. This island is full of hills and mountains but people live up and down those hills and have made a great life for themselves here. Major crop are bananas.
After our stop in Funchal, we had 5 sea days. Five days at sea is a lot of time with not a lot to do. We got acquainted with some of the cruise staff. This guy is on the entertainment team. He is so funny. He has a big crush on Justin. 🙂
First stop in the Caribbean was Sint Maarten. It was so nice to get into some warm weather after the cold weather in Spain. We went for a catamaran ride and a little snorkeling. The kids really like catamarans so you will see us on them often.
Next stop, St. Thomas. We went to a beach club so that we could just rest a bit and go for a swim. The highlight was seeing an iguana.
Curacao – We loved this island. As Curacao used to be underwater we walk up to the caves, rather than go down to the caves. The original inhabitants of this island used to live in some of these caves. There were even fresh water pools in these caves. After the caves we went for a “submarine” ride in the water. The guide jumped in the water to feed the fish and we got to see a lot of pretty fishies. We even saw a lot of puffer fish. Last but not least, we went to the Curacao factory. The Spaniards brought Valencia oranges to Curacao, hoping they’d grow. We LOVE Valencia oranges! Unfortunately, the Valencias did not do well in this hot humid condition. But, from this some ingenious person experimented and created the curacao liquor. The oranges stay green and are picked and the peels are used to create the drink. Authentic curacao come only in the round bottles with the long neck. Because you cannot trademark the name of the country, they trademarked the bottle design. All curacao taste the same no matter what color. There are, though, specialty flavors such as coffee, chocolate, tamarind, and rum raisin. I liked the coffee and chocolate flavors. We had to taste the drinks but, boy, were they strong!!! But, they were very pretty!!
Here are some sites around Curacao. There is a walking bridge that takes you from one part of Willemstad to the other. It’s called the Queen Emma Bridge. The bridge floats on a series of pontoons so it floats across St. Anna Bay. When boats need to pass through, the bridge actually swings open parallel to shore. When the bridge is open, two ferries carry people across the bay free of charge. It actually opened up when we were standing there. I wanted to run over to be on it when it moved but I didn’t want to be rude to our tour guide. I should have done it!! There is also a floating market. Merchants from Venezuela bring fruits and vegetables to this market on a weekly basis. There is a word in Curacao that is used for everything, much like Namaste is used as a greeting, or to say thanks, or to say it’s wonderful/delightful. It is DUSHI. Kind of a weird word for us but they use it for, mostly, to convey positive feelings. You can also see the Dutch influence in the architecture. It was very colorful and just very happy!
Next up, Oranjestadt, Aruba. Both Aruba and Curacao, along with Bonaire, make up the ABC islands. It is also a part of the Dutch Kingdom. In school, the learn Dutch, Spanish, French, along with the local tongue of Papiamento – which is a mixture of all these languages, plus more. This is also the case in Curacao. Our kids are so lucky that we didn’t know this. We definitely would have moved here to give them exposure to all those languages! Aruba is more of a desert-y island, and is very windy much of the time. We did another catamaran/snorkeling trip and then hired a taxi to tour the island. Seventy five percent of the population is Roman Catholic. Seventy five percent of the GNP comes from tourism. Aloe vera products are popular here. The California lighthouse is a big tourist spot and it was named after the steamship California that was wrecked off the coast off where the lighthouse is located. It went through a renovation which was completed in 2016. The Casibari rock formations that rise above the desert and provide a panoramic view of the island. It was really beautiful up there. According to government statistics, in 2005, there were 97 cultures represented on the island. The word DUSHI is also used here just like Curacao.
Next post – Colombia and more!
Higman Travels 