Cruising around the Iberian peninsula, with a brief hop across to Italy & Sardinia

Our cruise itinerary took us from Southampton and across the Bay of Biscay, to the north west corner of the Iberian peninsula.  This is the area known as Galicia, an autonomous region of Spain with a rich history dating back to the 8^th century. Our first and last ports of call were in this region, namely Vigo and La Coruna, and both were quite similar in nature and appearance. Of the two locations, we preferred La Coruna.

After leaving Vigo, our ship headed south following the coasts of Spain, Portugal and then Spain again, before turning east through the Straits of Gibraltar and into the Mediterranean. This occupied a full day at sea, and a further day and night cruising then followed to bring us to our second port of call, the city of Barcelona – the second city in Spain after Madrid, in terms of population and size.

We had the longest stay of the cruise in the Catalan capital, plus the only period of heavy rain, before heading due east, towards Italy. En route, we traversed the Strait of Bonifacio, a narrow stretch of water that separates the large Mediterranean islands of Corsica and Sardinia. We returned to Sardinia for our fourth port of call, but not before stopping off at the bustling town of Civitavecchia, which is the official port for Rome.

Our stop-over in Civitavecchia provided opportunities for excursions to Rome and its environs, so I took full advantage of a trip that allowed me to visit, and explore, the Italian capital for the first time. It also gave us a glimpse of the Italian countryside, which was looking quite green and verdant (same thing?) There will, of course, be a separate post dedicated to this iconic city which, surprisingly, seemed more compact than I initially thought. It was extremely hot though, with temperatures approaching the mi-thirties!

After departing Civitavecchia, Queen Anne retraced her course back across the Tyrrhenian Sea, passing through the Strait of Bonifacio for the second time, although this time in the opposite direction, and under cover of darkness. The following morning, we anchored just outside the harbour of Alghero, the second largest city on Sardinia, and a very attractive one at that.

  I've already posted an article about Alghero, a destination which us cruise passengers had to access by tender, due to the absence of a quayside large enough to accommodate large ships such as Queen Anne. I spent an enjoyable few hours exploring the narrow-cobbled streets of this attractive, medieval town, which is enclosed by ancient, and imposing, defensive stone-built walls.

After departing Sardinia, Queen Anne took a west, south westerly course towards the island of Mallorca, largest of the Balearics, and its attractive and vibrant capital, Palma. This was my first visit to this popular tourist destination, and we arrived on what proved to be the hottest day of the entire cruise. Taking the shuttle bus from the port area to the esplanade overlooking Palma Bay, and then walking towards Palma’s impressive cathedral, the heat proved too much for Mrs PBT’s, who decided to take the next shuttle bus back to the ship.

I stayed on, and headed for the old town, keeping in the shade as much as possible, where I enjoyed the authentic Spanish experience of narrow, shady streets, and the opportunity for an equally authentic Spanish lunch, and one of the finest tortillas I have experienced on various visits to Spain.

Our penultimate destination was the city of Malaga, on Spain’s southern coast. It would perhaps have been nice to explore Malaga itself, but I had pre-booked an excursion to Cordoba, an historic city approximately 110 miles inland, in the heart of Andalusia. Cordoba was well worth a visit though, and a full report will follow in due course.

There was one more destination, before our return to Southampton, and that was the small, port city of La Coruna. The latter is situated in Galicia, close to the northernmost tip of Spain, and just along the coast from Cape Finisterre. Today, the name is familiar to those who listen to the shipping forecast, but in Roman times it was believed to be the end of the known world! 

We were lucky to arrive on schedule at La Coruna, given a voyage that saw us passing back through the Gibraltar Straits. Mrs PBT’s and I enjoyed a meal in our cabin, that evening, and being on the port side of the ship, we had a good view of Tangier and the North African coast. There was quite a swell overnight as we passed into the Atlantic and followed a northerly course up towards the aforementioned Cape Finisterre. 

The following morning after breakfast, I was about to go out on deck when I noticed the access doors had been roped off. Shortly afterwards there was an announcement from the ship's captain that due to a medical emergency on board, a helicopter evacuation would take place – hence the closure of the decks! Shortly afterwards, a further announcement was made that owing to strong winds, evacuation by helicopter would not be possible, so Queen Anne instead would be steering a course toward the Portuguese coast, where a locally based lifeboat would transfer the patient ashore.

The captain slowed the ship right down, to ensure a smooth transfer, but did warn after its successful completion, that the detour might impact on our arrival time in La Coruna. As things turned out, it didn’t, indicating that the captain must have increased speed in order to make up time. The city itself was a pleasant surprise, especially as I had never heard of the place before, and Mrs PBT’s and I enjoyed a stroll along the seafront, followed by coffee and beer at a local café. The sun came out to greet us as well.

Leaving the sheltered inlet of La Coruna, and sailing out into the Bay of Biscay, saw the wind get up, taking the edge off the temperature. Two nights, with a day sandwiched in between, saw us arriving back in Southampton. I awoke early, in time to witness, and photograph a tranquil rural scene as we sailed up Southampton Water and into the River Test. Fortunately, we berthed at the Mayflower Cruise Terminal, rather than the less spacious Queen Elizabeth II Terminal, and that was the cruise over for us and our fellow passengers.

The cruise means that with the exception of the stretch of the northern coast of Spain between La Coruna and the Basque city of San Sebastian, I have now travelled right round the Iberian peninsula. Some of that journeying has been by train, but it doesn’t detract from the fact that, Spain is now one of my most visited, and extensively travelled. Germany still holds top spot, although with just the Baltic and North Sea coasts accessible by sea, that situation is likely to change within the next few years. As for cruising, the question remains, where to next?

Playing catch up, and celebrating with a rewarding pint of Union-brewed Jaipur

I’m still playing catch-up, so apologies for the paucity of blog posts but, as noted in a previous article, it wasn’t perhaps the wisest thing going straight back to work, immediately after our return to the UK.  Three days of my first “long weekend” at home were spent tackling the rampant plant growth that had taken over the past three weeks and which was threatening to completely overwhelm our back garden. Son Matthew had been left with directions to water certain areas of the garden, along with specific plants, and whilst he did as instructed, there were still areas missed and plants neglected.

Fortunately, nothing died, providing proof, if needed, that nature is far more resilient than people think. The grass certainly grew, as did the weeds, along with a tray full of runner bean seedlings that I’d forgotten about, but which needed planting out alongside supporting bamboo canes and plenty of garden twine. Sisal is the gardener’s traditional choice here, but it’s hard and unforgiving, albeit much stronger than twine.

Our hot water system developed a fault whilst we were away, and a theme seems to be emerging here, as this isn't the first time the boiler has thrown a wobbly during our absence. We have heating, which we don’t need, but no hot water which we certainly do require. I am waiting for our heating engineer to get back to me, as whilst our hot water tank has an immersion heater, as back-up, electricity is much more expensive than gas, in terms of energy costs.

I also ordered a new office chair for my study; the previous one having finally given up the ghost after many years’ service. It owed its existence to a total re-build over lock-down, using a variety of parts cannibalised from for two other chairs. The new one arrived over weekend, and whilst it’s light, maneuverable, and comfortable, with adequate support in the lower back area, I’m wishing now that I’d chosen a chair with a higher back, in order to support my upper torso and shoulder regions.

One thing both Eileen and I found is that due to us logging in from unusual locations (Spain and Italy), we had to reset passwords on our Yahoo and Google email accounts to prove it was us, and not someone trying to access our emails. This happened upon our return to the UK, and occurred at the most inconvenient moments, such as yesterday lunchtime at work, when I attempted to access my Blogger account.

Well, all work, and no play makes Paul a very dull boy, so a couple of days ago, I managed to escape to the pub for a well-earned and most welcome Sunday afternoon drink. I took a stroll down to Tonbridge Fuggles, the town’s well known beer café. It was surprisingly empty, although the town too seemed rather quiet, so much so that I thought one or more of the Euro matches must be taking place. That “joy” was to come that evening, with the England team lucky to scrape through after trailing for most of the match against lowly Slovakia.

There seemed no reason for the lack of trade that afternoon, but after a steady trickle of customers, and their dogs, Fuggles did start filling up. I didn’t end up drinking alone, as sanding at the bar with his own small dog in tow, whilst ordering himself a beer, was Keith, who is one of the leading lights in West Kent CAMRA. We both, unsurprisingly went for the same beer, Thornbridge Jaipur, brewed using the company’s recently acquired Burton Union set. For those who haven’t been following the story, Derbyshire - based Thornbridge bought one of these discarded sets from the Martson’s brewery in Burton-on-Trent, with the aim of using this unique, 19^th Century system of inter-linked wooden casks, for brewing not just some of their regular beers, but also for producing a range of "one-off” experimental brews.

I knew from Fuggles website that both their outlets (the other can be found in Tunbridge Wells), had a cask of Thornbridge Union Jaipur on tap, and I was concerned that I might have missed it. I think Keith had felt the same, but fortunately the beer was still on tap. What a beer it was though, and the perfect “welcome home” pint of traditional English cask beer one could wish for. I scored it at 4.75 on Untappd, although with hindsight I ought to have given it a 5! Keith enjoyed his pint too, and I should perhaps have gone for a second pint, despite its 5.9% strength.

Instead, choosing the much weaker (3.8%) Joined at the Hop pale ale from Gravesend-based, Iron Pier Brewery, was a mistake, certainly as a beer to follow on from the Jaipur. There wasn't anything wrong with it, I hastened to add, and had it been my first pint instead of my second, it would have been fine, bt the rule of beer tasting is to start low, and then gradually work your way up. Despite this minor disappointment, I spent a pleasant hour or so chatting with Keith and catching up with some of the recent happenings both within west Kent as a whole and also within the local CAMRA branch itself.

As for the blog, I’ve got a number of articles in various states of preparation, that I’m itching to put out, but with a major project underway at work, plus a family wedding in a couple of days’ time, I’m not exactly certain when they will see the light of day. Apologies in advance then, especially to all the cruising fans out there. Rest assured, there are still plenty of stories of life afloat to come, along with accounts of the fascinating places visited on what was only Queen Anne’s fourth, commercial voyage.