May 31 – Bilbao, Spain

tortilla and pintxos #1

Weather – 24º sunny

Steps – 6,887

Humidity – 23%

Today’s weather was much better than yesterday – today is sunny, slight breeze, and warm – perfect for touring.

It is day 2 in Bilbao. Overnights in port are pretty rare. These days it seems like cruise lines are including more overnights in port and are making it known through their advertising. At least that is the case with Regent. Being new to Windstar, I’m not sure if overnights are usual, or new for them also.

Either way, passengers like them. One reason passengers like them is for the opportunity to do things in port at night. Typically, departure is in the evening or even late afternoon, so tours and time off of the boat are limited to daylight

lively, Casco Veijo 

hours. Us going in to find a pub in the evening is an almost unheard of opportunity on ocean cruises. River cruises…now that is another story, but for ocean cruises we are almost always onboard by dinner time.

Being that we were in port over night we had hopped there would be an organized evening tour…nope. I suppose it was good we didn’t have to choose between a football match with locals in their square and an organized tour.

second stop for food and drink

This morning we headed back to Bilbao for another walking tour of the old town, or Casco Veijo and some ‘pintxos’ (Basque tapas.) The drive in was exactly like yesterday, but the walking tour wasn’t. Some was the same, but we saw different things too. Duncan, our English guide, shared some of the same info as we heard yesterday. I always wonder how much guides make up.

After the walking bit, we stopped for our first pintxos – a piece of bread drizzled with olive oil, topped

Chris in the hot tub on the bow cam

with some hot picked peppers, an anchovy, and 2 olives – very tasty! We also had a rather large piece of tortilla. Technically, the tortilla wasn’t a pintxos – pintxos technically are traditionally something pierced with a toothpick.

This was accompanied by a drink – we both had a Txakoli, a local white wine.

Next, we wandered just a bit through the old streets to the next pintxos bar for a what resembled tuna salad on a very small baguette and a pintxos of a piece of bread topped with a large mushroom and some kind of white sauce. The drink we had with this was called a martini but wasn’t what we’d know as a martini. What I think it was, was Martini Rosso, served on ice with an orange slice and an olive – tasty.

We chatted with many of the folks on the tour with us – it is the drinking/eating tours that force you to chat with folks on the tour with you. Most people on today’s tour were American, but one couple were from Victoria.

our room attendant Edi from Sumatra

The only downside with being a group of 20 was that we didn’t fit into the small front spaces of these bars…sort of like last night, the inside is small, people just get drinks and spill onto the outside and sit on tables in the square or on the steps or just stand. Our group of 20 we sat in back rooms in both places – nice, but not very charming or atmospheric.

Once back at the ship, we weren’t interested in lunch. Chris went to the hot-tub, (if you look really cloes you can see him in the bow cam!) and I spent time icing and blogging.

Dinner tonight was a whole ship deck BBQ. I’m never a fan of these sorts of events…too many people jostling at the buffet eating food at communal tables. Chris tried to assure me by reminding me of how few people are on this boat –

turndown treat

312 max, not sure how many in reality. I have to agree that things have not been crowded. Compared with Regent (or Princess, which was our last cruise) things on this cruise have been good in the crowd dept.

As it turned out, it was busy, but very well laid out and managed. The pool area is 2 floors with the pool and surrounding chairs on one floor and the bar and other chairs on the floor above. The lounge chairs were swapped out for tables to eat at and food stations were spread out over the 2 floors, there was nothing made to order so this sped things up. There was also a walk-up wine station – this way if all you wanted was a glass of wine, you didn’t need to hunt for a waiter. There was also a roving white and red sangria station…another way to avoid hunting waiters.

Waiters for drink service are not actually hard to come by. In fact, when Chris was at our secret hot tub earlier today, a waiter passed by there to take his drink order. The hot tub is on floor 5, the bar is on level 8…that’s pretty good service!

Anyway…there were many options for food, we had a good meal (including a piece of chocolate cheese – not sure about that one…interesting, but not my favourite.)

Then it was time for the staff line dance. We did not join in.

After the deck party, everything was moved to the indoor bar. At first, it wasn’t too busy but then picked up. I have to say the musical selections have been terrific! I've still to hear Lady in Red!

Every night during turn-down we are left small treats…sometimes something sweet, sometimes a small memento. Tonight’s treat was a coin from the Guggenheim, with the Puppy on it…charming.

May 30 – Bilbao, Spain

Guggenheim exterior

Basque Flag

Weather – 21º

Steps – 15,776

Humidity – 20%

Bilbao (pop. 950,000) is the largest city in Northern Spain. This is a first visit for both Chris and me. Gijon and Vigo were also first-time visits for each of us.

impressive buildings

The main attraction of Bilbao for us (especially me) is The Guggenheim Museum. This is a museum of modern and contemporary art in the old town of Bilbao and
has been open since 1997. The building itself might be the most interesting of all there is to see in and around the museum and there were plenty of interesting things to see. The building was designed by Frank Gehry, a Canadian architect.

these were all over one building

When we were inside, we were led to some main exhibits by a museum guide. First, we saw and walked through “The Matter of Time” massive steel pieces intended to make the viewer a bit dizzy…it did.

The museum’s collection isn’t huge, but we only had about an hour with the
guide, and another 30 minutes on our own – that was almost enough time, but we could have used about an hour more.

train station

Not only is there art outside the museum, but there is also art outside…a huge flower covered dog, a giant bronze,
marble, and steel spider and a tree made of huge, mirrored balls.

Guggenheim interior

Before we got to the Guggenheim, we had a panoramic tour from Gitxo (pop.75,000) the town where we are actually docked at – described by the interwebs as “a mostly affluent residential area”. Very near to the water of Gitxo are large houses that our guide, Marina, called palaces.

Once in Bilbao, we follow Marina as she leads us through the narrow, old streets of Bilbao. Bilbao’s

giant flower puppy

old buildings are large, ornate,
and beautiful. The old part of town is busy despite the early time of day. I’d guess the people out are mostly like us – tourists, both from their appearance and their behavior, no one seems to be headed to work or school.

"The Matter of Time"

We’ve been on many an early morning walking tour that are always slightly disappointing, because shops,
restaurants, and bars aren’t open. Even when not in Spain…unless a place is for breakfast or coffee, 11 is too early. No matter…as usual, we can do plenty of looking. I’m not sure how tomorrow’s tapas tour will turn out when we will be back at the same time to eat.

Back at the ship we were between times for food, lunch was over and food at the bar wasn’t quite on yet. We found the cocktail of the day – a Hugo Spritz, and waited until the time when we could place our orders of chicken sliders and a burger.

"The Matter of Time"

Chris wanted to see if we could find a place to watch a soccer match in the evening. We walked into Gitxo and found a small square with a few bars. A couple of these had TVs outside – most places have little inside seating area. There are many tables and chairs outside, and you go into order drinks or food.

tapistry room

This is a very locals areas. We could easily have been the only tourists there. I didn’t hear any English. The table nearest to us had 3 men and little kids, the kids were stationed in the middle of the square with food. The kids wandered
back and forth between their station and their dads. Eventually one of the dads bought them bags of candy. By the second half of the game, the moms had arrived. There were other kids around. The whole square culture was interesting…bars, drinks,
kids, dogs, the game, food. Everyone looked like us. No kids were on phones – there were phones around, but the kids were too busy eating candy, petting dogs and tearing around.

great sliver balls

Guggenheim exterior

After the half hour walk back to the ship, partly along the residential streets of Gitxo and partly along the water it was about 9:00, so we ordered room service dinner.

We had to warm up too. Although the temp was 18º, we were chilly. All in all the weather was pretty gloomy today

May 29 – Gijon, Spain

church at Labour University

Weather – 21º

more of the Labour University

Steps – 10,104

Humidity – 20%

Today was the fist day we needed more than a t-shirt. It wasn’t cold, but it wasn’t warm either, especially when the wind picked up. Chris still

wore shorts but eventually put on a jacket.

Today was all about CIDER! One of my all-time favourite beverages.

We weren’t in port until 2pm, so we had a lazy morning, followed by a Spanish themed lunch, a drink while listening to ‘Cool by the Pool’ and watching sail in.

young apple orchard

The tour was a bit of a dud in retrospect, but it was fine and I got to sample some Spanish cider or sidre, as they spell it.

Again, we were on a large coach with only 24. And again, we had seats at the back to ourselves.

Gijon (pop. 270,000) is small city in the province of Asturias famous for cider.

old and new school crushing

Our first stop was at the former Labour University of Gijón, built from 1946-55. We really aren’t told a lot about this place other than its architecture is impressive.

Yes, I’ll agree that the buildings are impressive, but what else?? No stories, no lore…that’s what you usually hear when shown buildings. We were wondering what the point of this visit was.

With a name of ‘Labour’ we thought it had something to do with Communism or Fascism. It does, but we learn that from Google. Maria, our guide, only tells us that it was built as a school for children to encourage sports, learning, and excellence. Hmmm, there seemed to be more to

they put me to work!

the story and of course there was. It was first built as an orphanage for kids whose parents died in mines, then it was used by Franco during his reign. This place certainly is beautiful and impressive, but it was strikingly obvious how much of its history was avoided.

giant barrels

Next, we were off to the "llagar" (cider mill) where we hear about how Spanish cider is made – if we were here in the fall, during harvest, we’d actually

see what happens - now there isn’t much going on other than tours. After our lesson, we are rewarded with tasting 2 ciders and various regional cheeses.

These ciders are poured from a great distance (whether from a bottle or tap) and apparently this is where the fizz comes from. You aren’t supposed to savour, or smell, or look at the cider once it is in your glass, you are simply to drink so as to not let the bubbles dissipate.

our own bottle

I’d have liked to have tasted without the whole long-distance pouring, to see if there was a difference. We had our own bottle later in the day and we didn’t do any sort of long-distance pouring, and the fizz seemed the same. I really liked both ciders we tried – very dry.

tree made of sidre bottles

The last stop on today’s tour was to the old town of Gijon. We wandered behind Maria who gave bits of info, and then we were released for an hour of free time. This was about 5:30 and there wasn’t much going on. We saw evidence that things would be going on later, but this being Spain…not much now. We wandered a bit and finally found a place to get a bottle of cider – 700mL, 5.9%, 4 Euros.

street drawing

All in all, the tour was a bit of a miss. It was fine, but it was just a bit meh. We kept wondering if we were missing something…maybe it was Maria, maybe it is just a basic place.

May 28 – Vigo, Spain

Bateas

Weather – 24º

Steps – 5,752

Humidity – 21%

Vigo (pop. 300,000) is in a charming area of northwest Spain in Galicia. Actually, we don’t see a lot of Vigo, but the whole area is very charming. We are ported in Vigo, but our tour heads out straight away for Combarro – a tiny village in northwest Spain (pop. 1250.)

During our time here we see many walkers on their Camino de Santiago

Horreo

pilgrimage.

Along the way we listen as Daniel, our guide for the day (an aspiring teacher) shares info of the area, culture, foods (mussels, clams, oysters, squid, and octopus), and wine (Albariño.) Albariño is an absolute favourite wine of mine.

direction markers

Combarro is about an hour’s drive from Vigo. Once we arrive, we take a short walking tour of the still sleeping, mostly pedestrian town. We learn of the Horreo (Daniel describes the pronunciation as ‘like the cookie with a Spanish accent’ which are small granaries each individual family and their house have. They about the size of a small car or a garden shed. Once we know to look for them, they are everywhere in the

Combarro along the estuary

area driving to, from, and around Cambarro. At first, I thought they were chapels or mausoleums because they are marked with crosses.

The 20 of us trail behind Daniel as he describes things we see in Combarro. Unfortunately, it is too early for any shopping, eating or drinking as the tiny, charming town is still sleeping - this is the Spanish way of life. We were supposed to have free time, but that was about 15 minutes while we followed Daniel back to the bus. No loss as there was no shopping or drinking/eating to

Albariño at someone's home

be done. If we were staying here on our own for days, we’d definitely buy some of the Albariño…9-12 Euro for 3 bottles!

We also learn about tall stone markers of the Virgin Mary on one side and Jesus on the other to mark the direction…Jesus points south, Mary points north.

We also learn that the Albariño grapes are grown high off of the ground. There is so much rain, this keeps moisture off of the fruit.

anticipation

The town hugs the estuary that has moderately high tides (3 to 4 meters.)

Throughout our drive and in Combarro, we see and learn about Batea - a floating dock about the size of a tennis court used for mussel farming. There are about
500-600 around Vigo and about 3,000 along the Galician coast – they are

Daniel and Jesus

everywhere we look as we drive along the water.

After our walk through Combarro, we drive about an hour to El Grove to board a boat for a trip along the estuary. When the 20 of us first boarded it seemed like we’d have the relatively big boat to ourselves, then about 60 Spanish tourists took over. At first, we thought they’d be annoying because they were so loud, but they mostly kept to themselves – dancing and singing…having a grand old time.

town and estuary

We pulled up right next to a Batea to learn even more about
mussel, oyster, and scallop farming from a guy who stepped from our boat to the Batea. We then were able to view what the farm looked like under the water from an underwater viewing area.

feast!

Then it was time for the main attraction… Albariño and mussels…endless wine and fish! Each table could accommodate 6

mussels

people, but most of the 20 of us had our own where a bottle of wine and trays of mussels were plunked. Once you finished one, another appeared. We had 2 trays of mussels, but only one bottle. Then came the oysters. This time we had to pay…€10 for 5
enormous oysters. These were cooked and topped with diced red pepper and vinegar – they were waaaay more than one bite, very tasty though.

We were on the water for about an hour and then we were back to the ship.

We had no interest in lunch when we were back on board, and had no time to wander the town, so we made a few new friends in one of the ship’s hot tubs.

One of the ship’s hot tubs is very near our room on the bow of the ship. seem like the best place for a hot tub as when the ship sails it is very windy in the front of the boat. Apparently, they kick people out when we are sailing. Anyway, it is
kind of a secret spot tucked away way at

turn-down treat

the front of the ship. If you didn’t know where you were going, you wouldn’t find it. It’s on the ship’s map of course, but no where people just wander by – I’m not sure how many people look at the ship’s map anyway.

Batea

I was there for a good time not a long time – hot sun, hot water and I don’t mix. After a while, I headed back to the room, to spend the rest of the afternoon napping and blogging while Chris stayed a bit longer and then headed up to the top deck for sail away.

grapes growing high

May 27 – Leixões (Porto), Portugal

Weather – 31º

a unique 14,299 liters

Steps – 6,239

Humidity – 41%

Leixões is the port to get to the city of Porto about 14 km away. It is an area  in the city of Matosinhos (pop. 50,000).

Porto (pop. 1.8 mil) is the second largest city in Portugal, 280 km north of Lisbon (€200 Uber ride, if you needed to) and was first settled in the 2^nd C BC. This is where port wine comes from and is named after Porto.

This is our second visit to Porto, the first being in 2006 when we were on a Douro River cruise.

tasting

a few of what Burmester makes

What seems like a massive tour group is split into 2, so that we are 2 groups of 22 – this is a good
number. We travel on a large coach bus. Chris and I, as usual, head straight to the back. In our experience, everyone and I mean EVERYONE wants the front of the bus. Unless you get the first row, each seat provides the exact same view out of the side. A side view is perfectly fine with us.

Being at the back, means we almost always have 2 seats each – we can spread out and yesterday shifted from one side of the bus to the other as the sun moved. There were 2 guys today, one who sprinted to the front of the line, so he and his partner could sit in the front row. He was a big dude, who made himself even bigger buy extending his elbows while his partner caught up to him
so no one could get on the bus before them. I’ve seen some pretty awful behavior on tour busses, but this might take the cake.

cool building over my shoulder

historical port boats

Anyway…after we were seated comfortably at the back of the bus, Ricardo, our guide, explained all things Porto to us. We started with a drive along the coast as me made our way into the historical centre of Porto. We saw folks enjoying the beach on this HOT day, a lighthouse, 2
forts and other random sights – this was all while driving.

Once we arrived in Porto, we visited Burmester port wine cellar for a tour and a tasting. As you would expect, we learned the history of port, how it is made and the different kinds. The most interesting thing I learned was that each barrel has a different capacity because they are hand made. I thought all barrels were hand made and this is the first I’ve heard of them being a different capacity, makes sense I guess, I just never knew this.

very refreshing

church on the hill

We tasted a white, tawny and ruby port. I’m not the biggest fan of port…a bit too sweet for me – my favourite was the white. This was accompanied by a piece of dark and milk chocolate – interesting pairing.

Next was a short walk to board a boat for a scenic 1 hr sail along the Duoro river –
looking at Porto on one side and Vila Nova de Gaia, which is technically the other side of the river from Porto. We are always afraid of the sun on boats that we fear may not have shade…there was shade. 

on either side of the river

We saw many historic buildings, passed under many bridges, had jet skiers zoom past us, all while listening to narration of what we saw.

no idea who this is, but liked it

pretty fancy McDonald's

Ricardo, of course, was keeping track of the 22 us the whole time…that is until he lost 2! He walked all the way back to the Port cellar, but nope…lost. We never did find out what happed. Hopefully a health incident wasn’t the cause, which is the only explanation I can think of for people to get lost!

After our time on the river, we had some free time in Vila Nova de Gaia. We wandered for a very short time but quickly found a spot for a refreshment – sparkling white sangria. We only had 40 minutes, so figured we’d rather relax with a beverage, than rush after wandering more.

one of many bridges

might be the best steak I've ever eaten