Glenda Cook

Glenda Cook

traveled in 69 countries Read more🇺🇸Asheboro

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Jewels of Spain
SNAFU at Lisbon Airport
May 14 in Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 61 °F
Dalilah, our driver picked us up on time at the Andaz Hyatt Hotel and dropped us at the airport with time to spare. The first thing we noticed about the Lisbon Airport was that there were no signs telling us where to go. Dalilah had said that international departures were on the second floor, so we would need to go upstairs. Inside Terminal 1 we saw one sign indicating “International Departures,” with an arrow pointing diagonally upward. We could see no stairway, elevator or escalator, so we kept walking. At the other end of the terminal building we finally found an escalator to take us up. We got through security after a short wait in line.

We knew we had access to the Star Alliance Lounge, and after another considerable hike, we saw a sign directing us to the VIP lounges. We finally found the lounges, and an agent told us our lounge was next door. The attendant scanned our boarding passes and admitted us. An information board gave us the first information we had seen about our flight. We were to begin boarding in about two hours at Gate 43, so we settled in and served ourselves a little snack from the buffet.

About an hour and a half before our flight was to start boarding, Glenda glanced at the sign again and it said we should proceed to Gate 43. She asked the attendant for directions. The attendant said we should go back downstairs, and go through passport control before proceeding to the gate. We asked where passport control was located, since no signs had said anything about passport control. She said it was beside McDonald’s.

Once back downstairs at McDonald’s, we saw people in a line whose end was not in sight. We followed the queue to its end. To do this we had to walk about 15 minutes. The line was over half-a-mile long.

We took our place at the end of the line, and a young man from Texas just ahead of us was to board the same flight we were scheduled to take. He asked a security guard how long it would take. She guessed it would be about 2 to 2.5 hours.

He said, “We have to board in an hour. Is there any point of staying in this line if I know I will have to get a later flight?”

The security officer shrugged.

The young man asked me, “ What are you going to do?”

I said, “I’m not getting out of line until they tell me our plane is in the air and I have missed my flight.”

Soon the line started moving. The passport control must have opened other lanes. In about 45 minutes we showed our passports , he gave them a quick perfunctory stamp and sent us through the gate.

A sign said that Gate 43 was a seventeen-minute walk, so we hoofed it. Hard.

I yelled back to Glenda, “I found Gate 43,” but I was wrong. There were three Gate 43’s. I passed first Gate 43-B with an airplane going to Heathrow. Beyond that Gate 43-A had a flight going to Detroit. Finally I found gate 43 with our flight going to Newark.

When we arrived the airplane was still there at the gate. We waited for several minutes in a boarding line. There were no signs or other indications directing us to the place where we should board. Glenda risked getting out of our line and found another queue for priority boarding.

We got in that line, and after several more minutes we faced an airport agent who wanted to see our passports. Again.

She asked us why we had come to Portugal, if we were carrying any kind of powder, how long we had been in the country, what other cities we had visited, what hotel we stayed at in Lisbon, and how much we paid for our hotel room. She did all of this while visually scanning our passport. Again.

A line of other passengers waited behind us, sweating because they thought they might miss the flight.

Finally, she waved us through, and we boarded our airplane minutes before the flight crew closed the door.

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Jewels of Spain
It’s a Small World After All
May 13 in Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 68 °F
After our lunch in the Timeout Market, I was in line to use the restroom before we walked back to the hotel. A lovely young lady was standing in front of me, and I started talking with her. She asked me where I was from and I told her North Carolina and she said she was from North Carolina too. Her parents had moved down from up north to Charlotte before she was born. Then they moved to Denver, North Carolina before finally settling in Cornelius. I asked her if she went to school in North Carolina and she said yes she went to Gardner Webb. I told her that our nephew Bradley Hallman went to Gardner Webb and played baseball for them. The world got really small when she said that he was a senior when she was a freshman and she remembered that he was a pitcher for the baseball team. I never got her name because it was her turn to use the restroom and she was gone when I came out. What a joyful moment it was to be standing in line to use the restroom and to meet someone who knew our nephew.

It’s a small world after all.Read more
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Jewels of Spain
Foodie Heaven
May 13 in Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 68 °F
A twenty-minute walk along the waterfront led us to our destination—the Time Out Market. Imagine the biggest food court you have ever seen, then put it on steroids. Imagine about three Costco Stores rammed together with every kind of food you can think of—tacos, Asian, crepes, pastries, pizza, burgers, traditional Portugues fare, seafood of every kind, barbecue, chicken, wine, cookies. There is even a florist. And if fast food is not your thing, it is connected to another warehouse-sized facility that is the local farmers’ market. This place is huge. Maybe the accompanying photos will give you some idea of the size and the variety of the culinary offerings here.

Glenda was inclined toward Asian, so she got an enormous bowl of pad thai. I got two Mexican street tacos, an oversized enchilada called a Gringa, full of carne asada, and a Coca-Cola. It was all delicious.

We happened to pass a store that deals in nothing but the favorite snack of Portugal, sardines. Glenda hates them, but for me sardines are the “go-to” quick lunch. We bought a box of six cans of sardines in different kinds of sauce—olive oil, mustard, pepper sauce, etc. I can’t wait to get home to break them open.

Glenda also grazed along the souvenir shops and found exactly the kind of Portuguese azuleijos plate she wanted. It was a perfect day, alone, on our own in Portugal. So now we pack our luggege so that airport security will approve, and get ready to pull out tomorrow morning to fly away from the sunrise and back to the most wonderful spot on the face of the earth—home.Read more
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Jewels of Spain
Two Americans in Lisbon
May 13 in Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 59 °F
With thanks to George Gershwin and Gene Kelly for the title of this footprint, I want to share our wonderful morning, the experiences of two Americans in Lisbon. We did not go on any tours. We did not have to plug a QuietVox into our ears. We did not have to be herded onto a bus or through a turnstile.

A lovely breakfast here at the Andaz Hyatt started the day, and then we went shopping, admiring the ancient buildings covered with ceramic tiles. Glenda had a vague notion that she wanted to find a particular kind of saucer they make here, similar to the Portuguese azulejos tiles. So we wandered. Downtown. Through the shops. Across the plazas. Through Lisbon’s Arc of Triumph. And it was wonderful, unhurried, pointless, and wondrous.

Some buildings showed signs of age, but all were stately and dignified, doing exactly what their builders wanted them to do when they were constructed at the end of the nineteenth century. Some had monumental plaques on the front, marking the buildings as a major achievement of some forgotten grandee.

We wandered to the central plaza, the focal point created by the Marques de Pombal after the city was destroyed by a catastrophic earthquake and subsequent tsunami in 1755. This was also where Portuguese ships brought in riches from the distant colonies that turned this tiny nation into the world’s foremost superpower.

Only one block from that major plaza, our luxurious hotel room provided a welcome resting place for a midday break. It is easy to fall in love with Lisbon. It is happening to these two Americans even as I write this.Read more
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Jewels of Spain
The Last Supper
May 12 in Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 64 °F
Members of our group gathered at the Terraco Editorial Restaurant for our last dinner together as a group. Early tomorrow morning most of the folks will fly back to North Carolina.

At first I had my doubts about this restaurant. We had to enter through a department store. We took the elevator up to the roof of the building. There we discovered a lovely dining room, with many chairs out on an outdoor balcony. We chose to eat inside, since it was a bit windy and cool outside. The Europeans sitting outside seemed to enjoy dining al fresco, though.

I had an utterly delicious sirloin steak with fries and a grilled tomato. I washed it down with a local Portuguese red wine, and ate every morsel of the food. For dessert I had the Portuguese version of Mexican flan, accompanied by a glass of tawney port.

A leisurely walk back to our hotel involved several stops along the way as the girls each yielded to the siren call of the merchants.

A great meal with great friends—what a wonderful way to wrap up this fantasy in Spain, Morocco and Portugal!Read more
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Jewels of Spain
Searching for Geronimo
May 12 in Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 68 °F
General Black Jack Pershing spent much of the early 20th century looking for Geronimo, the Apache Indian chief in Arizona. We spent this afternoon looking for Saint Geronimo and his church in Lisbon. Glenda and I had visited there before but our friends had not. An Uber took us to the church where we found a ticket line wrapped around the block. No way we were gonna get in today!

So we went across the street and showed them the wonderful monument to all of the Portuguese explorers. There is a mosaic map underneath it that shows the dates that the Portuguese discovered their far flung colonies in South America and the far east. Rather than attempt to do more sightseeing, we simply decided to contact another Uber to bring us back to the hotel. We will have a few minutes of downtime before we meet our shipmates for a wonderful dinner in a nearby restaurant.Read more
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Jewels of Spain
Landing in Lisbon
May 12 in Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 63 °F
Lisbon—the very name evokes feelings of ancient conquest and exploration. According to tradition, the name comes from that of Ulysses. He is said to have landed here on his epic odyssey.

Like that ancient mariner, we have left our ship, and now our temporary home is the beautiful Andaz Hyatt Hotel. We have already been out with John and Sandy to show them the Central Plaza, to eat a pizza and to enjoy a pastry they make here called pasteles de nata.

The hotel is only two months old and it is absolutely stunning. They have taken a number of 18th century buildings and put one façade over the front so that it looks like one building. Each of the floor levels in the separate buildings are not always exactly on the same level so there are quite a few stairways that go up and down. But even though the Building’s bones are 200 years old, the hotel itself is brand new and absolutely beautiful.Read more
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Jewels of Spain
The Algarve
May 11 in Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 63 °F
This area is known as the Algarve, a word that comes from the Arabic for the West. Here in south Portugal the weather is affected by Africa, Spain and the Mediterranean. The surrounding provinces can have temperatures over 50°C. The ocean moderates the temperature here.

The beach is important here. Northern Europe has no sunny beaches. That is why tourists and retirees from Britain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Poland and Scandinavia come here to vacation and to retire. Many young people from Northern Europe also come here. Skydiving and surfing are very popular. A generation ago, farmers and fishermen would rent out a room. Now Air-B&B’s dominate the market.

We have had heavy rain here recently, and the water reservoirs are sufficiently full to provide water for the next four years. Before the rain came the cisterns and reservoirs were 20% full. Golf courses use a huge amount of water. Most of them have their own reservoirs. Some of the retirees moving into Portugal buy large estates. This means that they get not only a house they also get acres and acres of land which was formerly used for agriculture.

Honey is an agricultural product here. They will place the beehives in a field of rock roses to get a particular flavor. Or they can simply put the beehive in the countryside and get multi-floral honey.

Major products are oranges and apples. They also grow carob here, which is a substitute for chocolate. The eggs here have a large yolk and very little egg white. The monks here used the egg for starch when they were ironing.

There is a large community of retired Europeans who live now outside of Lagos. Almost no houses are for rent and now prices for real estate have been inflated by the large number of retirees settling in Lagos. Now the non-native population of Portimao is around 30%.

The area around Sagres is a national park. Birds migrating from Africa pick up seeds in their beaks, carry them in their feathers or their feet and deposit them here in the Algarve. Every year there is a new species of African plant that begins to grow in Portugal. That’s why it’s a protected area.

Among our favorite local dishes are an orange cake saturated with orange juice and simple syrup, and an almond cake that is delicious with coffee.

The Algarve has its problems. There is national medical care here, but the government hospital has only one physician. There is a private hospital with more doctors, but the cost is prohibitively expensive for most residents.

A generation ago fishing and sardine canning factories provided most of the jobs here. Now that industry has moved to Faro, a larger city nearby.

With all its problems, many residents of the Algarve would not live anywhere else. The beauty and the pace of life here are parallelled in few other places in Europe.Read more
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Jewels of Spain
The End of the World
May 11 in Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 63 °F
A promontory juts out into the Atlantic Ocean on the southwest tip of Portugal. I would love to claim that this bit of land is the closest in Europe to North America, but if one understands the geometry of a Great Circle, one knows that a straight line on a map is not necessarily the shortest distance between two points on this ball of a planet we call Earth.

Even so, if one looks at a traditional Mercator projection map, it looks as though the place on which I am standing now is the closest point in Europe to my home near the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Whether or not that is so, I can understand why little peninsulas like this one were regarded by the ancients as “land’s end,” or “the end of the world.”

Although it may not be the end of the world, geographically speaking, it was the end if this world for the saint who gave this cape its name.

Around the year 360 A. D. a Christian named Vincent in Saragossa (Roman name: “Caesar Augustus”) was tortured and killed for his faith. The Roman soldiers threw his dead body in a rowboat, and pushed it out to sea. It landed here, a widow found it and buried the body where the largest lighthouse in Portugal now prevents passing ships from crashing on these rocks.

It is hard to dismiss this ancient oral tradition as completely false. There must be some kind of history that attaches the story of Saint Vincent to this place. It seems unlikely that this particular tale about this particular saint would have originated in this particular place spontaneously. Of course, it could have happened, but it seems unlikely.

Cabo St. Vincent is indescribably beautiful. I could be convinced it is the end of the world. It certainly is among its most beautiful places.Read more
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Jewels of Spain
The World Expands
May 11 in Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 63 °F
I am standing inside the largest fortress I have ever seen. It is located outside the city of Sagres near a promontory called the Cape of St. Vincent. The fortress is over one mile in diameter.

Although Prince Henry the Navigator was neither a sailor nor a navigator, he sponsored a great deal of exploration along the west coast of Africa. Under his patronage, Portuguese crews founded the country's first colonies and visited regions previously unknown to Europeans. Henry is regarded as an originator of the Age of Discovery, and of the trade in African chattel slaves.

As a young man in 1415 he and his brothers participated in the attack on Ceuta, Morocco, making it a Portuguese colony. Henry became fascinated with Africa and financed exploratory voyages past the known limits of the world. Learning from fishermen here, already wise about West Africa, he moved to Sagres, and set up his operation in the harbor here. He ordered his ship masters to go beyond what Europeans considered to be the margins of the Earth, and thus disproved many of the myths sailors had believed about sailing over the edge of the world. His ships discoved the Canary Islands and the Madeiras.

Capitalizing on inter-tribal warfare in western Africa, tribal leaders assisted him in enslaving their enemies, initiating the African slave trade in Europe. Henry died in 1460 here in Sagres. By that time Portuguese explorers and traders had advanced as far as modern-day Sierra Leone. It would be another 28 years before Vasco da Gama, under the Portuguese flag, would sail clear around Africa and complete an expedition to India.

The knowledge of the African coast and the techniques to sail there were considered a Portuguese state secret. The value of this knowledge impelled construction of this huge fortress near Cape St. Vincent, and the smaller fort in the city of Sagres a few miles from here. The spice trade to India and the Far East became the major source for the creation of wealth in Europe for half a millennium. Before the invention of refrigeration, pepper was the primary means of preserving meat. Most of the European wars over the next three centuries would be fought to acquire colonies producing these luxuries—spices, pepper, tea, coffee, sugar, chocolate and rubber.

In that age of exploration the possession of one clove of nutmeg would buy an estate in England, and finance its upkeep and that of the owner for a lifetime. The British started making sailors’ uniforms without pockets, lest a sailor hide a purloined piece of nutmeg or saffron. British sailors’ uniforms are made without pockets to this day.

With such value placed on these commodities one can understand why the Portuguese guarded their early monopoly with a fortress one mile in diameter. Despite his lack of knowledge, his mistakes, and the moral judgment of later centuries, Prince Henry the Navigator more than doubled the size of the known world and turned the small kingdom of Portugal into a superpower of the sixteenth century.Read more
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Good Morning, Portimao
May 11 in Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 59 °F
We have been to many places in Portugal, but this is the first time we have ever visited the port of Portimao. We are looking forward to being here in the south of Portugal, and I’m going later to the Fortress of Sagres. It figured prominently in the early Portuguese explorations. We’re expecting a great day!Read more
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Spanish Fiesta
May 10 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 66 °F
The crew of the Scenic Eclipse prepared a fabulous banquet for our penultimate night onboard. All around the Yacht Club Restaurant, various stations offered every conceivable type of food. One had cheeses; another oysters; a third crepes with multiple toppings; one with pizzas and foccacia bread; one with beef; one with pork. It was magnificent. Every passenger could have whatever he might want, and as much as he desired. They also made a delicious drink of sparkling wine, elderflower liqueur, seltzer water, a slice of orange and a leaf if mint. What an Epicurean delight!Read more
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Alcázar of Seville
May 10 in Spain ⋅ 🌧 61 °F
This part of southwestern Spain is called “Andalucia,” a survival of a word indicating that, following the collapse of the Roman Empire, this area was ruled by the Vandals. In 711 A. D. the Almohad Moors occupied the area, transforming it into a part of their Islamic domain. It stretched across the strait of Gibraltar and into northern Africa. The Moors ruled southern Spain for a period longer than the United States has existed as a nation. As they occupied the area, the Moors built many structures, including many examples of the “cázar,” which could be translated as fortress, castle or palace.

The most famous of these is La Alhambra, located on a fortified hilltop near Granada. Another was built in the center of town here in the flat lands of Seville. Both structures are characterized by plaster and stonework miraculously transformed into lacy fantasies.

I have long wanted to see this structure for a number of reasons. For one thing, it is another strikingly beautiful example of Almohad architecture. There are several differences between this building and the Alhambra, however. When the Moors were expelled in the late fifteenth century, the Alhambra became a static monument. It was never used or changed afterwards. Parts of it have deteriorated. The Alcázar of Seville, however, while originally built as a Muslim building, was quickly adopted by Christian kings who wanted to replace the Quranic iconography with Christian symbols. First inhabited by Pedro I, the buildings went through major expansion and embellishment by Alfonso XI and Phillip II. Further alterations took place over the last two centuries.

Spanish kings and their families continued to live here for 800 years. They continued to maintain and repair the building. They repurposed some of the rooms and added on others. One important room we saw functioned as the custom house for all of the ships coming into Spain from the New World in the sixteenth century.

This is still a living building. It is still one of the palaces of the Spanish Royal Family, who occupy it for several weeks during the year. When they are not in residence, it is open to the public. Unlike the Alhambra, the Alcázar of Seville has been constantly repaired and kept in pristine condition. While some may contend that it lacks the authenticity of La Alhambra, many parts of this building look as though they could have been built last year, and they are beautiful. They are no less striking because they have been refurbished.

Across the plaza on the other side of the Seville Cathedral stands the Museum of the Indies, their name for what became North America. All of the ships’ logs, the maps, and the accounting sheets produced by Christopher Columbus and his successors are still available to scholars. This was one of the main things I wanted to see on this trip to Spain, and I was certainly not disappointed.Read more
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Jewels of Spain
Window into Heaven
May 10 in Spain ⋅ 🌧 59 °F
As we approached the plaza that contains the Alcázar I was struck by one of the largest cathedrals I have ever seen. I don’t know how the size of the Seville Cathedral compares with others. It may just be the way it is situated in the huge plaza in which it sits. But still to me today it seemed enormous. Not only is the brickwork on the outside breathtaking, it’s campanile is also noteworthy. Originally a minaret for a mosque here, it was transformed into a bell tower when the Christians reconquered this place in the 1260’s. But not only did they build a bell tower, they put a weathervane on top which rotated in the strong winds here. They call it “La Giralda,” or what could be called “The Rotator.” It was regarded as one of the engineering wonders of the Middle Ages.Read more
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Jewels of Spain
Spanish Dance
May 9 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 68 °F
Late this afternoon we were called down to the pier to see an exhibition of flamenco dancing. I was surprised by the fact that there was not only a woman there dancing flamenco, there was a horse dancing with her. I suppose the proper term for what the horse did was dressage, but still it was quite interesting.Read more
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Jewels of Spain
Way Down Upon the Guadalquivir
May 9 in Spain ⋅ 🌧 59 °F
The Guadalquivir River is the largest and longest river in Spain. Its name is Arabic for “Big River.” I was surprised at breakfast this morning as I looked out and saw our ship passing through a dredged channel in the middle of a tidal marsh.

We are about 2/3 of the way upstream going towards Seville. Now the land on either side of us looks dry, and I see some farm equipment making dusty clouds in the distance. So this land is certainly arable. There are dark gray rain clouds in the distance, and I do hope these farmers get some showers. It looks as though they need some.

We are excited about a leisurely sea day today and a wonderful tour of the Royal Alcázar tomorrow.Read more
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Jewels of Spain
The Peculiar Pleasures of Tétouan
May 8 in Morocco ⋅ ⛅ 66 °F
One travels to encounter different cultures and different peoples. We certainly did that today on our visit to Tétouan, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The town was the Spanish capital of Morocco, back centuries ago when Spain claimed this place, and, except for the use of electricity and automobiles (two big exceptions), people still live here as they did a thousand years ago. Life is simple. Life is primitive. Life is raw.

Glenda has mentioned in her footprint her reaction to some of the cultural differences we encountered. Yet remarkably, once one adjusts to those differences, Tétouan has some interesting cultural characteristics. We went to a beautiful mansion built in 1802, were offered a glass of hot, unsweetened mint tea, and treated to some interesting Moroccan music. Two violinists held their instruments on their knees, something like the position we hold cellos. Another played a large guitar-like instrument one could call a dreadnought. A final member played a hand drum.

And they sang. Boy! Did they sing! I could not understand the words, but their songs were those they learned from their youth. They were not trained vocalists, nor did they pretend to be. They just sang for the joy of singing. I loved that. The singers sacrificed intonation, pronunciation and vocalization all for the joy of just singing the song. I’m sure it was as familiar as “Home On the Range,” is to us, but it was very interesting. One song slipped from 2-4 to 6-8 time without missing a beat. I sometimes wish that we Westerners could forget about the recordings of professional singers and just allow ourselves to sing for the joy of it.

I’m sure if I spent any time in Tétouan, I would need to undergo a period of “seasoning” during which one becomes accustomed to a new bacteriological environment. But after the sickness passed, I’m sure I, like the people who have lived here for a thousand years, would have a load of fun just living, loving and trying to stay alive.Read more
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Life Unfiltered
May 8 in Morocco ⋅ ⛅ 66 °F
Yesterday Marbella displayed life with glitz and glamour. Everything was shiny and new and filtered through the lens of opulence and money.

Today we're in Morocco and went out an hour from the city to a town called Tétouan. The town is a UNESCO world Heritage site because they have not torn down or changed anything from the past to improve it or make it modern. The same market stalls that were used in the 15th and 16th century are still here and still being used. All of the vendors work from an area about the size of a normal American bathroom. If everything yesterday was a filtered version of life, today's trip was totally unfiltered. The city was dirty and dusty, filled with litter and millions of cats roaming around. Plastic garbage bags were stacked ten-deep against the sides of a thousand buildings.

Walking into the souk was like stepping back in time. We like to brag about eating at farm-to-table restaurants. Today we saw the chickens roaming around on the floor in a stall while other chickens that had just been killed were lying dead upon the table to be plucked and sold. That's the part of farm to table we in the U. S. don't like to think about.

A friend of ours on a previous cruise told us that in some ports you have to go nose-deaf. You simply breathe in through your nose five times and then the smells around you aren't quite as horrible. Today, walking through the market, we smelled blood, guts, dead fish, excrement, urine and body odors. It was life at its most basic, and nothing was hidden behind a closed curtain. Excrement and blood from several different animals was deposited, tracked and smeared through the narrow alleys.

Today we witnessed the brutality and simplicity of life. Women were sitting on the ground, trying to sell their fresh herbs and beans and potatoes while cats roam looking for food anywhere they could find it.

It is good to be reminded that not everything is pristine and clean, and that for us to eat, something else must die. Meat does not come from a grocery store. It comes from the lamb that I saw being slaughtered in a stall as we walked through the market.

And yet in this world, there was kindness and graciousness and a willingness to help and to please. I've been on a mission to find a plate similar to one hanging in my kitchen for a friend. The shop that we went into with our tour group did not have anything that I thought was appropriate and so our little assistant guide Mohammed said that he would take me individually to some other shops to see if I could find the plate. I did not find the plate, but I found a world that even our tour group did not see. I saw a world of people doing everything they could just to survive and provide for their families.

After spending five or six hours in a country where basic cleanliness is absent, I truly do appreciate my house and my bathroom and my kitchen and my refrigerator and my grocery store. And I promise you that the next time I eat in a farm-to-table restaurant, I will remember the lamb and the chickens in the market here.

We travel to see the world, the beautiful and the brutal and the wonderful people who are simply going about their lives doing the best they can. Immersing ourselves in the culture of a country makes us a travelers not tourists. And that makes all the difference.Read more
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Rodeo Drive East
May 7 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 63 °F
Marbella was a little town with an illustrious history on the outskirts of Málaga until the 1970’s when a group of entrepreneurs decided they would turn it into a beach-centered vacation capital. They poured millions of dollars into a tiny area down by the marina they named Puerto Banús. They built a small but palatial 20-room hotel, offering every imaginable convenience, with the notion that the beautiful and wealthy people could come, stay a night and move on. They had no idea how successful they would be.

King Fahd of Saudi Arabia used to bring his 69 children, along with numberless wives, servants, cooks and attendance to stay in Marbella, and they loved it here. They decided to come here every year in August. In fact, the local hotels could not hold his entire retinue, so he built here an exact replica of the White House. King Fahd died last year, but he has been succeeded by his son Prince Abdullah. The best guess is that the new ruler will also come here every year to spend the month of August. Most of his party will stay in his White House, but quite a few still must be housed off campus. Another aspect of his annual visits is that he employs hundreds of local workers at approximately five times the wages they would receive from any local employer.

Antonio Banderas, Julio Iglesias, Cristiano Ronaldo, Novak Djokovic, Simon Cowell, and Lord Alan Sugar own places here in carefully obscured locations. Buying property here is not for the faint of wallet.

Now the daily rental fee for a yacht slip on the pier in Puerto Banús is €10,000. We didn’t see a boat smaller than 250 ft. Oh, by the way, both the Ferrari and the Mazeratti dealerships are on the same street, right across the street from the Airbus Helicopter Dealer—just in case you need a helicopter for your yacht. And of course, the streets are lined with names like Gucci, Armani, Bulgari, Georgio, Versace, Yves Saint Laurent, etc., etc.

Of course, you don’t have to be a gazillionaire to visit here. We had a delightful morning wandering the beautiful streets and alleys. When our guide Tanya turned us loose, we headed for one of the oldest shops in Spain that makes churros, the Saint Gines Churros Shop. Something like a doughtnut, you unwind churros from a big spiral wheel of cake, dip it in hot chocolate syrup and immediately go to heaven. I washed mine down with a cup of espresso, and grew new hair on my chest. Wow!

I thought I would just have churros for lunch, but when we got back on the Scenic Eclipse, they had a special table in the Yacht Club Restaurant with Middle Eastern food. I had felafel and a red-pepper hummus that was the most delicious I’ve ever tasted.

Tanya, our guide, was born here, and her whole family still live here. They are not tycoons, by any means, but she said that they do enjoy getting the whole extended family together for births, weddings, and holidays. And when they gather, they all play, sing and dance flamenco. She said it’s not just something they do for the tourists. In this part of Spain, flamenco is still very much a part of the local culture. At home and in school as small children, everyone learns to dance and sing flamenco, and a lot of kids learn flamenco guitar techniques at an early age. She said they really don’t pay much attention to rock music or even to classical. They all just grow up with flamenco. I guess it’s something like country and western music in North Carolina. Even though the rest of the world has discovered it, country music was and is still just a part of our world.

So if you are among the rich and famous, this could be your next vacation spot. If you are a mere mortal like the rest of us, Marbella can still be a beautiful and interesting place to visit. For art, culture or classical music, you might want to stay in Málaga. But if you’re into la dolce vita, you can’t beat Marbella.Read more
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Miraculous Mijas
May 6 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 61 °F
The description in the tourist brochure said that we would be charmed by the little village of Mijas (pronounced MEE-hass). The language in such brochures is almost always exaggerated, but this time they got it right. Mijas is a tiny village perched on the side of a mountain, overlooking the blue Mediterranean, and winning the hearts of anyone willing to take the twelve-mile trip up the mountain from Málaga.

Every house here is white; every building, old or new, is required to have the same exterior design features, and the result is dazzling.

Traditionally Mijas was just a little farming village with more donkeys than people. There are still donkeys here, but they are no longer used as beasts of burden. With a smile and a wink, the town government assigns each donkey a taxicab number and they haul small carts holding a pair of tourists.

Nowadays the major industry is tourism, but Mijas has not been “discovered” yet. You can still buy a house here for half of what it would cost in North Carolina, and the views of the coastline from these mountains is breathtaking. Mijas looks to me like Malibu must have looked at the turn of the twentieth century.

Residents walk to the one local grocery store. They worship in a Catholic church occupying a building once used as a Moorish Mosque, and before that as a Visigothic monophysite Christian Church, and before that as a Roman temple dedicated to their pantheon, and before that as a Phoenician temple dedicated to Baal-marduk, and before that as an Iberian shrine dedicated to their animistic deities, and before that (I’m guessing) as a prehistoric shrine to whatever the residents regarded as divine. The building was built, rebuilt, enlarged and remodeled on the same spot. I am suggesting that ever since there have been human beings, they have worshipped here.

Our guide had an interesting take on the sanctity of the site. She said, “I don’t know if the ancient religions were right or wrong, but I do know that this is a holy place, and since we’re Catholics now, this is where we worship. This is a sacred place. There is holy energy here.”

We also visited a cave with a shrine inside dedicated to the Virgin Mary, but again we were told that this grotto has been considered a sacred site for millennia before written records catalogued it.

As if I were not already convinced that Mijas is the closest place on earth to heaven, our guide took us to a place I consider at least semi-divine—a chocolate factory. We sampled not only milk chocolate, but also an unsweetened chocolate flavored with pepper and fruit, a white chocolate flavored with coffee, and a bon-bon filled with caramel—all washed down with a delicious Spanish tempranillo wine.

Depending on the airfare you pay, one could probably fly to Spain and spend a week here for as little as one pays for a week at Myrtle Beach. I know without a doubt which vacation I would prefer.Read more
TravelerSuch a beautiful Town! Your trip so far is very inspiring. Maybe our next planned adventure! Enjoy the rest of your trip.
5/6/26Reply
Traveler Glenda with a jackass, imagine that..
5/7/26Reply
Traveler Chocolate looks delicious
5/7/26Reply
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Jewels of Spain
Cartageña
May 5 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 72 °F
There was a little fishing village in a trading post here at Cartageña even before the Phoenicians from old Carthage, now in Tunisia, documented their ships landing in this perfect port as early as 800 BC. The old Iberians here called this place Mastia. High hills surrounding the bay provide the perfect defensive positions for fortresses to protect the fleet. No wonder the Romans drove out the Carthaginians.

On our last visit here we saw the Roman theater and the accompanying museum. Both are well worth visiting. Especially important is the display in the Castillo de la Concepción relating the extraordinary history of King Alfonso the Wise. When most of Europe did not even know the Bible in any language other than Latin, he had teams of Jewish, Muslim and Christian scholars reading the Bible in the original languages. They translated Plato, Aristotle and other Greek philosophers. All three religions flourished here, their adherents living side-by-side in peace. Doctors here were practicing modern medicine. Science here was centuries ahead of the rest of Europe.

But today we went to a different part of the city to see what was, in Roman times, the center of town. The Museo Foro Romano Molinete displays the excavated remains of the Roman forum, as well as the ruins of a few temples, including the Temple of Isis. This building shows that the oriental mystery cults, which were popular in the eastern Mediterranean, made it as far as Spain by the second century. Layers above show that the town went through an economic depression in the third and fourth centuries, despite several attempts to revitalize the city. Even in difficult economic times, however, the port here never stopped functioning.

Every time we have been here the weather has been perfect, sunny and not too hot. So it was today. We are leaving soon, around 1:30 PM, but as we go away we will carry with us a new set of happy memories about New Carthage.Read more
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An Unexpected Magical Meal
May 4 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 70 °F
Yesterday afternoon when we returned from our excursion, there was an invitation on our bed, inviting us to go to the chef's table for a meal. This meal is prepared for a total of 10 guests in a private dining room and there were 12 courses each paired with the wine that was appropriate for that course. We are so grateful that even though we are in just a regular stateroom and have no status with this cruise line, we got a seat at this table. Evidently a couple who does not like creative, unique food combinations declined their invitation, and because the restaurant manager had spoken with us about our dining experiences, he, on the off chance that we could go, sent us a last-minute invitation.

When we arrived at the restaurant, we were given a glass of champagne and were ushered into a private dining room where we could see our food being prepared in the kitchen. The meal that followed, was delicious, creative, and beautiful. The executive chef explained each dish to us after the sommelier poured us a glass of wine chosen specifically for each course . I'm attaching a copy of the menu and then the photographs. The meal lasted three hours and it was three hours of pure culinary bliss.Read more
TravelerAmazing
5/7/26Reply
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Jewels of Spain
Quiz Question of the Day
May 4 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 66 °F
Today, as our tour group was leaving to explore the city, the young woman at the front desk told us that whoever came back with the correct answer to her question would get a hug. The question was "What color is Ibiza?"

Other folks came back with the answer, white, or blue, or green, but the real answer is a bit more complicated.

Chuck and I learned that different parts of the city are different colors based on who founded that part of the city. The area with red buildings was founded by the Phoenicians ; the area with sandstone colored buildings was founded by the Romans; the area with the yellow buildings was founded by the Moors and the area with the blue buildings was founded by the Greeks. But there are many buildings painted white and they are white because the city government is going to institute an ordinance concerning the colors that buildings may be painted and so all of the people who live in the white buildings are waiting for the decree before they paint their houses so that they won't have to paint the houses twice. Nothing is ever that simple. She said my answer was the most complete so I got two hugs.Read more
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Ibiza
May 4 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 63 °F
Until the 1970’s Ibiza was a sleepy Mediterranean fishing village with a few small farms scattered around its mountains. Prehistoric artifacts date from around 2000 B. C. This place was well known as a trading center for Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans and pirates. Salt flats here were infinitely valuable for preserving food and as a nutrient.

Then about 50 years ago Ibiza was discovered by the hippies. Most of them came from wealthy families in America and Europe. They were disaffected youth, or at least they had enough money to pretend to be disaffected. We poor kids had to either get jobs or go to Vietnam. At any rate, those rich, unhappy young people decided to drop out, tune in and turn on, and they came here by the thousands and thereby changed the culture and the economy of Ibiza.

The first thing I saw upon leaving our ship today was a brand new coffee-colored Bentley trying to navigate the maze of hairpin turns to climb the mountain. Our tour group had to stick like paint to the sides of buildings to allow a constant stream of traffic to pass on the one street, barely ten feet wide, leading up to the cathedral at the top of the mountain.

A small apartment here costs around €1.2 million. The island has a reputation for being a mecca for the jet set and young party animals. Nowadays Ibiza’s major claim to fame is that it has two of the top ten nightclubs in the world. The one called “Hi” has a cover charge of €250. A beer costs €30. Another nightclub called “The Universe” has similar charges.

Ibiza is, without doubt, a beautiful town, yet it does not have the glitz and glamour of Monaco. Ibiza is old, and that age brings a certain charm. In that sense it is like Pawley’s Island—“shabby chic.”

If you’re a party animal, you may want to look further into this destination. But if you come here, make sure you can afford it.Read more
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Sushi Glenda Style
May 3 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 66 °F
I have never liked sushi because I cannot tolerate the taste of the seaweed. Last night we had reservations at the sushi restaurant on our ship. I had figured I would eat salad and soup and the pickled cucumbers but the head Chef said that he could make me sushi with rice paper instead of seaweed. I had a perfectly lovely meal and enjoyed every bite of it. The attitude of every crewmember on the Scenic Eclipse is “we can make that work.”Read more
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A Time of Yummy Goodness
May 3 in Spain ⋅ 🌧 61 °F
After a walking tour today, our guide told us about two specialties in the area. One is a pastry roll made from potato flour, dusted in powdered sugar that you then dip in hot chocolate. And the other was an almond cake made of nothing but almonds and sugar and butter. So after about three hours of walking around the town, we stopped with Shane and Mika for coffee and hot chocolate and the local specialties. I thought that I would like the almond cake more but the potato-flour roll dusted with powdered sugar was heavenly. It was almost like an unglazed Krispy Kreme doughnut, which is also made with potato flour. My hot chocolate was so thick and rich that I almost needed a spoon to drink it. Our guide told us to dip our potato roll into the hot chocolate, and I promise you that combination was a piece of heaven. After our rest in the little café, we stopped by a pearl shop to look at some Mallorca blue pearls.Read more
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