Author Archives: bettesbatson

Happy birthday to Bob!

As I explained in the prior blog we were not in Porto. We were farther up river. Once on the ship we learned that the place that the Tauck riverboats berth are close to the river’s mouth and the Atlantic Ocean. There was severe weather forecast and the captain decided that it was not safe to bring the ship there.

So, in order to get to Porto for our tour we had to take a bus to another pier where a local boat was waiting for us. True to our not so great weather, it did not rain while we were on the bus but poured as we walked to the boat and poured for the whole 20 minute ride. It was interesting to arrive by boat to the main area of the town.

Our guide started our walking tour with lots of information about Porto and the area. The name for the Douro River comes from the Roman times and means “heart” and difficult to navigate. We actually only move during the daytime because of the difficulty in navigating even in these times.

The city center was declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 1996. There are strict rules about renovations and keeping the exteriors historic. Porto has a population of approximately 220,000. Directly across the river is the town of Gaia which has a population of 350,000. It is in Gaia that all the port companies have there storerooms, tasting rooms and commercial facilities. The reason is because Gaia faces south and is better for aging the port wines.

Portugal is one of the major cork producers in the world. Portugal became a kingdom in 1143.

There are currently 6 bridges connecting Porto and Gaia, with a 7th under construction. As we started on the Porto side of the river, we crossed one of the bridges to continue our tour on Gaia side. In case you were wondering, it was raining on and off for this part of the walk.

Once on the Gaia side we saw the different buildings for the various port companies. Then we walked to the gondola to take us up to the top of the cliffs. While on the gondola it rained hard. Then we got to walk across the top of the steel bridge. As we started over it began to rain, then hail, then lightning and thunder. Scary to be on this bridge in this crazy weather.

Our next stop was a local shop to sample, mackerel and sardines and of course some sparkling wine.

Our next stop was the local market. There were all kinds of kiosks. You could even order prepared foods to eat at tables. It was very colorful and busy as people were shopping for the Easter holiday.

Our final stop was the train station to see the tiled murals. It was originally a convent. We had to duck into a subway station on the way to again avoid being hit with hail.

We did not get many photos of the streets and surroundings because of all the rain.

Leaving Lisbon to get to Porto to pick up our riverboat we had a stop in the town of Coimbra. Coimbra was the capital of Portugal until 1260. It was one of the favorite places for the Kings and Queens to spend time between their homes in Lisbon and Sintra.

We learned a lot about King Alfonso, who wanted to marry his son, Pedro, to a princess from Galicia (Spain) to tie the countries together for political purposes. When Pedro was introduced to Constansia, he noticed her lady in waiting, Inez, and it was love at first sight. Pedro married Constansia, but also had a home with Inez. He had children with both. Eventually King Alfonso, moved Inez to Coimbra and subsequently arranged for her to be killed. Constansia died 6 years into the marriage during childbirth. Although Inez was dead, Pedro had her coronated as Queen. Weird story.

Coimbra was originally a Roman settlement. The town is now known for its university. We toured the university grounds but our main attraction was the library. King Joao established it. Until 1910 it was the only University in Portugal. The city has a population of about 150,000 with 22,000 being students. Currently the university has 50 majors. For Portuguese students the tuition is 1250€ a year. For students from other places it is 5 to 7000 €. We were told there is a staircase of 125 steps that for orientation the freshmen have to climb several times, but when done they are rewarded with beer. Apparently many things at this university are rewarded with beer. They even have a huge party the week before exams to celebrate the end of the year. Our guide said they do it this way since not everyone can celebrate after exams 😉.

Coimbra University is one of the oldest in Europe and one of only five in the world listed as a World Heritage Site . It was founded in 1290, and occupies its current building since 1544. It’s the former royal palace, but very little remains of the royal residence, as it was remodelled and extended over the centuries, and especially in the 1700s.

The library, which is recognized as one of the world’s finest, dates from that period, and was a gift of King João V, who, thanks to the gold from the colony of Brazil, was one of Europe’s richest monarchs. The gold-covered library is filled with 40,000 books, and is accessed through a room that was the Academic Prison from 1773 to 1834. In order to preserve the books from insects, the library has two small colonies of bats, which come out at night. All the books are in Latin. There is a current project to digitize 30,000 of the books. The oldest book is an 11th century bible.

In order to enter we had to wait. We were only allowed in 2 different areas for 10 minutes each. This is to control the temperature and humidity of the rooms. We entered through the university jail and were able to see a floor for studying and we could take photos. The Noble floor with the collection of these rare books covered in intricate carvings and gold was unbelievable. No photos but I got one from the internet so you could see it too.

We also went into St. Michael’s Chapel. It had a very beautiful pipe organ.

After leaving the University we went into town where we had a Fado performance. Fado is a type of singing, with a special guitar.

After this we finally reached our ship, however it was not in Porto. Apparently the dock that Tauck uses in Porto is near the mouth of the river and there is bad weather there. We are about 30 miles from Porto in a safe spot to dock.

Today was our first official touring day with Tauck and the rest of the travelers on this trip. There were several touring options and we chose to go to Sintra and Cascais (pronounced cash-quiche). It took about 40 minutes to get from central Lisbon to Sintra.

Lisbon has a population of about 2.8 million including the surrounding suburbs. On November 1, 1755 the city was destroyed by an earthquake estimated to be almost 9 on the Richter scale. Not only was there an earthquake, but a tsunami and a huge fire. Almost 60,000 people lost their lives. Because of this great disaster the current city center was developed in a grid pattern.

Lisbon is the 3rd most expensive city in Europe, behind London and Rome. We drove through Parc of Monsanto, the large park, the lung of Lisbon, to get on to the highway. All the trees were planted in the 1930s. 15% of the city is the park. It has hiking trails and other things for the people to use to get back to nature.

We saw the aqueduct that was used to bring water to the city until the 1950s. It looked like a Roman one although it had been built in the 1700s. It is over 11 miles long, getting water from the mountains to Lisbon.

Sintra sits on the top of a mountain that is 1700 feet high. It was established by the monarchy as their summer retreat. Once the King and his court came here, the other wealthy also built mansions here. Portugal was a monarchy until 1910. Some of the pastimes was hunting fox, boars and bears. The royals also came to this area in the higher elevations to avoid the plague in the 1500s. In 1994, Sintra was protected as a National Park and a UNESCO site.

About 300 people live in the village, but 400,000 live in the general area.

Our tour was of the Sintra Palace. It was built over many hundreds of years. Some parts are from the 1500s.

When we left Sintra we drove along the Atlantic coast passing the Cape of the Rocks, which is the most western point on mainland Europe. There are many lighthouses along the coast because it is rocky with very few beaches.

The town of Cascais comes from the word “seashell”. It was the first public beach in Portugal. It is a high end beach town. We had some time to walk around and have lunch.

One of the industry’s in Portugal is paper making. Many years ago they imported eucalyptus trees from Australia. They thrived and the clever Portuguese found they could make paper from the pulp. There are companies who specialize in this paper and it is quite unique.

In the evening we went to a very local restaurant. We had an enormous amount of food, a salad big enough for 4, a whole chicken accompanied by large plates of rice and fries. Bread and drinks too. We tried the famous “piri piri” sauce and nearly died it was so hot. Our whole bill was under 35€.

Then we had to pack to get to our riverboat, bags ready at 6:30 AM.

We started our trip on April 14. We flew to Boston where we had a 9 hour layover. We took a room at the Hilton so we could relax. Jennifer was able to join us for dinner.

We were happy to see our luggage when we arrived in Lisbon.  We were concerned that a 9 hour layover might jinx us in having our bags with us.

We were met by the Tauck team and transferred to our hotel.  Of course, our room was not ready, but after a short wait we got our room.  We went out to walk and about half way to the city center the winds picked up and it began to rain, so we returned to the hotel and rested.

After a quick dinner at the hotel we were ready for bed. End of our first day in Lisbon.

We had purchased tickets to see the Jeronimous Monastery and the Belem Tower. Uber brought us to the Monastery and to a very, very, very long line. It took over an hour to finally get into the monastery. The stone carvings were beautiful, and we walked around the cloisters and into the chapels that were open for viewing. We also visited the church attached to the monastery but it was heavily scaffolded for renovation. While we stood in line it rained on and off.

We then walked to the Monument of the Discoverers. It was very windy being right on the Tagus River. By now it was raining hard but we walked on to the Belem Tower. The line there was very long and we were not inclined to stand in heavy rain to wait to get in. So only a photo from outside.

In the evening we had the welcome reception for our trip. We went to Queluz Palace and had drinks and dinner. The gardens were beautiful and the room for our dinner elegant.

Today Bob and I went on different excursions. Mine was to the mountainside village of Mijas. Bob’s was to a cave and the town where the cave is located.

The main economy of Malaga is tourism. In season there can be 7 cruise ships in port. Today we were the only one. Malaga is the 6th largest city in Spain. With the surrounding area the population of Malaga is about 2 million.

Malaga is on the Costa del Sol with around 300 days of sun a year. In the summer it can get to almost 100 degrees with a lot of humidity. It too was founded by the Phoenicians around 2,800 years ago. The Phoenicians came to this area because of the abundance of minerals, copper and silver. When driving out of the port area we passed many high rise buildings that overlooked the Atlantic. Our guide said that they were the most expensive properties in Malaga.

She told us about 2 famous people born in Malaga; Picasso and Antonio Bandalares. Picasso, born in 1881, only lived here for 9 years. He spent most of his life in France and could not return to Spain because of Franco, a Fascist and Picasso a communist. Franco came into power after the Spanish Civil War, 1936 – 1939. He ruled until his death in 1975, at which time Spain became a democracy.

Bandalares has homes here still and returns yearly for Easter. He has 4 restaurants in town, has built a theater and does good work for the city.

Mijas is a town on the side of a mountain about 30 minutes from Malaga. All the buildings are white. It is a very wealthy area with many people retiring here from all over the world. There are other towns closer to the water that are also made of white buildings. In the lower areas closer to the water there are 16 golf courses.

The symbol of Mijas is the donkey. There were carts available for donkey rides. The donkeys were originally used to haul the good to build the buildings up the mountain, but the owners soon discovered they could make more money giving people rides than hauling goods. Nowadays goods are brought in by truck.

The town also has a small bullring. It is oval in shape.

We had a tapas tasting in the local chocolate factory. We had meats and olives and chips and wine. They had a presentation on chocolate and on how they make it here. We then got to taste the dark, milk, white chocolates and also had a bonbon.

Bob went to Nerja Cave and said it was very interesting. He said there were 480 steps going down and up. The cave was discovered by some boys who saw bats coming from the mouth of the cave.

Cadiz is one of the oldest cities on the Atlantic coast in Europe. It was founded by the Phoenicians around 3,000 years ago. It overlooks the Straights of Gibraltar and 2 of Columbus’ trips started from here. When the Romans overtook the town there were about 50,000 people living here. The Romans built an aqueduct from the mountains that was about 75 kilometers long. The city was walled in the past. During our walking tour we saw the 2 remaining gates and part of the original walls.

Around 1717, was the heyday of the city. It was a major port for trade with the Americas. The legend of Hercules originates in this area of Europe. At Gibraltar there were messages to sailors to “go no further” and then the new world was discovered. According to our guide, the Temple of Hercules was recently found in the waters near this city.

Many of the streets do not have cobblestones, but river rocks from America. This is because the ships would use the river rock as ballast and off load it here before taking on the Spanish good to trade.

The old cathedral was originally a mosque. We could not go into it. The building of the new Cathedral was begun in 1722. It took 116 years to complete. The crypt is below sea level but stays dry. There is a spot in the crypt where if you make a loud noise it will echo 16 times. We tried it and it did! The Cathedral’s organ contains 17,000 pipes.

After visiting the Cathedral we walked through many of the plazas. We saw Plaza de la Flores, Plaza Candalaria and Plaza San Antonio. Most of them were lovely parks surrounded by old buildings. The streets in the old part of the city were narrow and winding.

Cadiz is also called the city of 100 towers. They get about 300 days of sun being on the Costa de la luz. Many movie companies film here because of all the great light. The new part of town was not started until the 1950s. The city actually is almost like a peninsula with water around a good portion of it. The waters were very clear. Locals are not allowed to scuba dive or snorkel because there are so many shipwrecks and ancient structures in the surrounding waters that are valuable and can only be accessed by government agencies.

In ancient times because there are very high tides here, they were able to mine for salt. It was a valuable commodity and even soldiers were paid in salt.

Today the port is busy with cruise ships and commerce. They export from here wheat, olives, oranges and cotton to name a few.

When we returned to the ship we had tea and scones.

Casablanca is a port city and commercial hub of western Morocco. The population is over 4 million in the entire region and the 8th largest city in the Arab world. It is also the country’s primary base for their Navy. The area was founded by the Berbers in the 7th century BC. It was used as a port by both the Phoenicians and Romans. One of its ancient names was Anfa.

Our guide explained to us that the people are very accepting of all religions. There was a large Jewish population in Casablanca but many left in the 1950s to go to Israel. There are still 12 synagogues in use today.

In 1943, Churchill, Roosevelt and DeGaulle met in Casablanca to discuss the war and it was called the Anfa Conference. At this conference the allies adopted the idea of “unconditional surrender”.

The French took control of the area in the early 1900s and their influence can be seen in the architecture and language. Morocco became independent in 1956. They are a monarchy with the King (never a queen) having absolute control of all aspects of the country. There is a parliament of elected officials but all laws and rules must be approved by the King.

Our tour started with a visit to the Hassan II Mosque which is the 3rd largest mosque in the world. It has the highest minaret at 600’. The call to pray is still done by a person and not a recording. At the top of the minaret, and actually at the top of all minarets, are 3 balls representing the 3 main religions of the world.

The mosque is actually built over the Atlantic Ocean with pilings going down 180 feet to support the building. The roof of the mosque was green indicating it was an important building. It was opened in 1997 after 6 years of round the clock building at a cost of 1 billion.

Our guide, Hamid, who was fabulous, explained the 5 pillars to be a good Muslim: declare your faith, pray 5 times a day, observe Ramadan, give charity/be generous and go to Mecca. He told us that the purpose of the mosque is for prayer only. To be married you go to a judge. He also told us that it has only been in the last 20 years that marriages that were not arranged have happened. He met his wife at university and when he told his mother he wanted to marry her, he was told no. It was only after his sister intervened that they were able to marry. As the oldest son, they lived with his family for about 5 years before getting a place of their own.

All the materials to build the mosque are from Morocco with much of the marble and stone coming from the Atlas Mountains. The only thing not from Morocco are the Murano chandeliers. The main ceiling is in Berber style, meaning the design has no beginning and no end. The ceiling is cedar wood and all the paints used to decorate it are natural coming from mint for green, pomegranate for red and other natural ways to get the colors. Friday is the holy day and everyone comes to a mosque on that day.

We had to remove our shoes on entry to the building. We did not have to wash since we were not there to pray, but if we were coming to pray we would wash our hands, face and feet since these body parts would be touching the floor of the mosque. Not only did this mosque have areas to wash it had Hammans for each sex. Women in Muslim countries come to the hamman each week to totally cleanse themselves and to gossip.

After our visit to the mosque we drove down the coast along the Corniche. They recently tore down the last shantytown in Casablanca but our guide was not sure what would be built on the land which was along the coast. We then drove through the wealthy part of town. The homes there could be 27,000 square feet at a cost of $5,000 per square meter (9 sq feet).

We stopped in United Nations Plaza across from their medina, or market area. We did not go into it since we were warned it could be unsafe. We did get to shop at a national store that had all native goods.

Our last stop was to see the King’s palace. Hamid had to turn in his ID and official guide badge to get us past the guarded entry gate.

Some additional things we learned today. Morocco is a large exporter of citrus. The capital is Rabat. Casablanca is the economic hub of the country. The country is 90% Muslim. The movie Casablanca put the country on the map. In the movie the cafe is called Rick’s. There are currently about 4 Rick’s Cafes in Morocco and the one that claims to be the original can only be entered with a reservation.

As you can tell from the length of this post it was a very interesting and informative day.

What a difference this day was from the last sea day.  No rocking and rolling.   We had a late breakfast and then joined some other guests for bridge.

After bridge we met with our trivia team and tried our hand.  We had a lot of correct answers, but not enough to win.

Bob finally got to rest while Bette had a massage.  Then around 5:30 we got to sail past the Rock of Gibraltar.

The sky was pretty with it being just before sunset.

Algiers is the administrative, political and economic capital and largest city of Algeria as well as the capital of the Algiers Province. The city’s population in 2020 was estimated to be around 4,500,000. Located in the north-central part of the country, it extends along the shores of the Bay of Algiers in the heart of the Maghreb region making it among the biggest cities in North Africa, the Arab world and the Mediterranean, making it a major center of culture, arts, gastronomy and trade. It is called the White City because of all the white buildings.

The city’s history is believed to date back to 1200 BC, but it was a small settlement without any significance until around the 3rd century BC when “Ikosim” became a small port town in Carthage where Phoenicians were trading with other Mediterranean ports.

Formally part of the Ottoman Empire but essentially free from Ottoman control, starting in the 16th century Algiers turned to piracy and ransoming. Due to its location on the periphery of both the Ottoman and European economic spheres, and depending for its existence on a Mediterranean that was increasingly controlled by European shipping, backed by European navies, piracy became the primary economic activity. Repeated attempts were made by various nations to subdue the pirates that disturbed shipping in the western Mediterranean and engaged in slave raids as far north as Iceland.

The French came to Algeria in 1830 and continued to rule here for over 100 years. Algeria gained its independence in 1962. About 80% of the country lies in the Sahara. All healthcare and education is free for all citizens. The country is a democracy. We passed many apartment blocks which were built by the Chinese. They have 20 desalination plants which provide 2 million gallons of water daily.

Our excursion took us out of town to visit the Royal Mausoleum of Mauritania and the ruins of Tipasa. Unfortunately we had a difficult time understanding our guide’s explanations. I have used Wikipedia for some information.

The Royal Mausoleum of Mauritania is located in the Tipasa Province of Algeria. It was built around 3BC. The mausoleum is the tomb of the Numidian Berber King Juba II and the Queen Cleopatra Selene II (daughter of the Egyptian Cleopatra) sovereigns of Numidian and Mauritania who were allegedly buried here. There are currently no human remains on the site. The monument is built from stone and is circular, with a square base topped by a cone like structure, looking somewhat like a pyramid.

After visiting the mausoleum we were treated to tea and traditional Algerian sweets. There were about 8 varieties of sweets to include some really good, but very sticky baklava.

Then we were off to the ruins of Tipasa. Initially the city was a small ancient Punic trading-post. Conquered by Ancient Rome, it was turned into a military colony by the emperor Claudius for the conquest of the kingdoms of Mauritania. The Roman city was built on three small hills which overlooked the sea, nearly 20 km. east from Caesarea. Of the houses, most of which stood on the central hill, no traces remain; but there are ruins of three churches — the Great Basilica and the Basilica Alexander on the western hill, and the Basilica of St Salsa on the eastern hill, two cemeteries, the baths, theatre, amphitheatre and nymphaeum. The line of the ramparts can be distinctly traced and at the foot of the eastern hill the remains of the ancient harbour. We followed our guide through all the ruins climbing from one hilltop to the next.

After we left the archeological site we returned to Algiers where we had a final stop at their memorial to those who died in the fight for their freedom as a country.

All in all a very interesting day, seeing such unique and interesting places.

The best thing we can say about our time after leaving Tunis is that we survived. The ship rocked and rolled and bounced and shivered all night.

We tried to get on with our day, but even with sea bands on our wrists we were not feeling well. The seas were still very rough, captain said the seas were 16 feet. We eventually took Bonine which helped as did sleeping.

The rough seas calmed down late afternoon so we were able to have dinner. After all, you don’t miss many meals when on a cruise. We were glad for this day to end.