60 and sunny

What do you do when it’s finally gorgeous out yet everyone is supposed to social distance? Go kayaking! We took the tandem boat to a secluded put-in and launched onto a nearly deserted lake. There were a few other kayakers out there but we never got within 100 yards yet alone 6 feet.

An absolutely gorgeous day and it felt great to get out and do something physical that didn’t involve digging fence post holes.

Volunteering in Puerto Rico

There was a tremendous amount of devastation when Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico. Many people sent donations of money, goods, and their own time to aid those effected. Unfortunately, there is still so very much that needs to be done. One of the blogs I follow, www.jennifermurch.com went down with her entire family to rebuild a house. I was so amazed at the energy and commitment required to take 4 months of their life (and all four of their kids) to restore the home of a person they'd never met.

And then she called for volunteers. I mentioned it to Chris on a Saturday, he thought about it for a day, filled out the application Monday, was accepted by Wednesday and BOOM! by the next Saturday he'd left for San Juan.

The reception he received was warm and energetic. Hopefully you followed the link to get the story about the woman whose home was to be rebuilt. Chris says she lost everything right down to the chickens.

I have no pictures to share as Chris was too busy doing stuff to take any. Fortunately Jennifer captured the energy, and the dirt, for us.

Energy boost
ba-Bam

Chris is home now and sleeping off the travel fugue. He says it was an amazing experience.

Cruise - Barcelona

Whew! Nearly done with the cruise posts.

Barcelona was our disembarkation port but we had an overnight on the boat before we had to get off. Since we arrived in overcast and rainy weather we decided to spent the day lounging on the board and enjoying the last day of cruise-related service and activity. After all, we had two more days to explore if we wanted them as we had an extra day before our flight home.

Cool terracing - it is an old fort?

Huh, looks like little windows...

Wait, are those crosses? It's a cemetery!

Day 2 was officially the day we had to leave the boat for good and we used the transfer to the airport. From there we went to our airport hotel as our flight wasn't actually until the following day. Fortunately our hotel offered a very inexpensive shuttle service into the city. So off we went to La Rambla - the walking and shopping section of Barcelona.

Nice pedestrian area

La Rambla was pleasant but frankly crowded. Barcelona is a big city and it's flooded by cruise tourists on a daily basis (yes, I realize we were part of that crowd). It does a good job of absorbing them but it still feels like they're there around you. You thread your way more than you walk.

We ended up in the Barri Gothic (the Gothic quarter), an old section full of twisty lanes and pretty plazas. Loved this area and found a nice cafe to enjoy the sunshine and the streetscape. Given the size of the city and how touristy the area is, we expected exorbitant prices but they weren't too bad. About double Cartagena but not unreasonable.

Very pleasant cafe

"Black beer" Bock Damm and black coffee

Empadillas and cod fritters - yum!

Also just off La Rambla is the awesome marketplace La Boqueria. Permanent market stalls full of fish, meat, vegetables, fruit, and shoot, just everything edible. 

I bought some Catalan EVOO and some truffle oil. According the stall owner, the olive oil from Catalonia is a bit milder than Spanish oil. I can't wait to try it on my garden tomatoes this summer.

After all that gorgeousness in the market we decided we needed a pick-me-up and went back to the cafe for hot chocolate and cookies. Wow. Just wow.

So thick!

Cool touches. But why an umbrella???

Barcelona was nice but felt far too much like a big city for me to really enjoy it. We much preferred Madeira and Cartagena. But that's why we travel, right? To see what we like, what makes us uncomfortable, and figure out where we'd like to go again.

Cruise - Palma Mallorca

The weather was perfect coming into Palma and we looked forward to just wandering the port city. It was a fairly long, though certainly not strenuous, walk from the cruise dock to the main part of the city. There were dedicated bike lanes embedded in the walking area and both were well separated from the multi-lane road so it was quite pleasant.

The massive Catedral de Mallorca

Harbor full of gorgeous sailboats

Castell de Bellver overlooking the city

Ahhh...

So many sailboats!

One of several old windmills, now defunct

Roads and gothic churches - a mix of old and new

I wish the wisteria had been in full bloom

As the photos show, Palma was a very nice mix of old and new architecture and convenience. The waterfront is obviously prized as a pedestrian/cyclist space which makes walking a real pleasure. And even moving into the more commercial section of town, motorists were very polite and crosswalks were plentiful.

Overall we found Palma a bit too modern for our tastes. It's obviously a favorite spot for tourists and the city reflects that. 

Cruise - Cartagena

Our arrival in Cartagena was on a beautiful Saturday morning and we were greeted with music and cheering. Turned out it had nothing to do with our boat of course - it was their annual 50km (50!) run to all five forts around the city. Given the fact that the forts are all on hilltops this is one heck of a race. They deserved every cheer they got!

People starting off in the race

The port was very pretty and incredibly close to the old section of the city. A super easy walk and once you were there it was pedestrian only. I love when city centers limit traffic.

One of the forts - way up there

I would not want to climb this

Really don't want to run it!

This one isn't so bad...

We actually paid for an excursion this time - kayaking the coast. And it was worth every penny.

Inadvertent advertising

The weather was great - sunny, cool wind, fairly calm water. We paddled for a couple hours, saw a wee jellyfish (it wasn't Man-o-War season yet), oohed and aahed over cliff formations, and...

talked the guide into letting Chris climb a sketchy rope so he could jump into the water. 

Climb!

Much to my dismay I wasn't able to capture the actual jump (sorry honey!) as the camera chose that moment to give me trouble, but he had fun.

Back in the city center we saw pretty architecture.

Ate fantastic tapas at great prices. If we decide to do another trip to Spain I think we'll spend the entire time in this city, eating good food. A glass of red wine, a cappuccino, bottle of water, half order of fried baby squid (chopitos fritos), and a half order of the mixed fish fry (fritura de pescado) came to 14 Euro for heaven's sake. I just wish we had some idea of how to actually eat some of the fish. So many bones! Do you just chew em up? Is there a trick to deboning something this small? We did the best we could and left a bony mess on the plate.

Tapas at El Galeon Jr

After lunch we explored some more and found an archeological dig site. While remodeling some apartment houses they dug down and found ruins dating all the way back to 3rd century BC when the Punic (or Carthaginian) people lived there. They were followed by the Romans who built on top of the Punic ruins. Basically this city has been continuously lived in for centuries and everyone just built on top of the people who came before. So cool.

An active dig site

Overlooking the dig

You can wander from ruins to pretty city streets with very little effort. It's a wonderfully walkable city.

Typical street - clean, pleasant

We definitely wish we'd had more time to explore. We didn't go into any museums or shops. We did a bit of window shopping for shoes - so many shoes! (nearby Elche has over 1000 shoe factories) - and managed another sidewalk cafe stop for coffee. That included a local drink called Asiatico. Technically a coffee drink it consists of sweetened condensed milk, cognac, Liquor 43, and coffee. Very strong; very good. Definitely need some Liquor 43 - the golden elixir - now that we're home.

Next stop - Mallorca (or Majorca depending on your native language).

Cruise - Gibraltar

Gibraltar was our second stop and I have to admit it was a bit of a bust. It was pouring rain when we made landfall and though we did our best to ignore it, ultimately we gave up and just spent the day on the boat. We did find out that the anoraks, shoes, and rain gear we brought worked fairly well and dried quickly though (always a bright side, right?). 

Late in the day it did clear enough to get a couple shots of the rock.