We arrived back on Bonaire, safe and sound, yesterday morning around 3am. The trip home was uneventful, although we had concerns about being able to leave Paris due to a strike which was to have affected Air France as well as lots of other things, but that proved to be a non-issue for us.

My postings to the blog have been, well, missing, since the one below about The Fat Duck, and that’s because once we had control of our own schedule in London and Paris, we abused the schedule, pretty much getting up, going about, getting back to the hotel and going to sleep.

So a very quick summary of what we did (with only a couple of photos because we’ve not had time to process more)

May 14, Wednesday - London
We visited the British Museum, and there visited exhibits about Celts, Romans, Mesopotamia, Assyrian culture, Greek Parthenon, and the Rosetta Stone.

The great courtyard of the British Museum in London

Bas holds some ancient Chinese money, over 3000 years old, at the British Museum

Bas poses, reluctantly, next to a replica of the famed Rosetta Stone at the British Museum

This was followed by excellent dinner at Gordon Ramsay at Claridge’s. Excellent service, great wine pairings, and a tour of the kitchen included.

May 15, Thursday - London to Paris
We had a late start, enjoyed conveyor belt sushi at Yo! Sushi at St. Pancras station, and took the Eurostar train to Paris’ Gard Nord. Dinner was at an excellent small Auberge recommended by the hotel concierge at the Marriott Rive Gauche.

May 16, Friday - Paris
We took a privately guided tour - just the four of us in a mini-van with our driver/guide Rupert - to Versailles to see the palace there and then Giverny to visit Monet’s home and lily pond. Lunch was at a very scenic restaurant located in a water-wheel driven mill along the way, but sadly we ended up in the “tour” dining room with a fixed menu, so we didn’t get to enjoy the breadth of the restaurant’s real culinary offerings. Dinner was at a nice bistro near our hotel.

May 17, Saturday - Paris
Our Dutch friends Martin & Angela drove down to Paris from Rotterdam in The Netherlands, and we went back to Versailles with them, this time by Metro and train, to see the amazing gardens at Versailles as well as some outbuildings, including Marie Antoinette’s “modest” home.

After a mediocre lunch at a cafe at Versailles’ grand canal, we walked around to visit the musical fountain “performances” near the palace. We discovered this was nothing like the fountain show at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Instead, they had merely turned on the fountains for the show (they are normally off except for a few fixed times on the weekends) and piped in music into the area around the fountain. Kind of a let down - an example of where expectations and reality did not intersect.

We then returned back to Paris, visited Notre Dame, and walked around the nearby parts of Paris for a bit before taking shelter from the rain at a Chinese/Japanese restaurant. Not bad, but not great.

May 18, Sunday - Paris
We met up with Martin and Angela again that morning, and headed out to visit the Arc de Triomphe. Krystyana and I were the only ones of our group who braved a tour of the innards of the Arc, which included a large number of stairs to a small museum section upstairs, as well as more stairs to access the open top of the Arc. There we found a great view of Paris, but it started to drizzle, so we headed back down.

We then walked in the drizzle to the Eiffel Tower, where we had a very nice (and very expensive) lunch at Alain Ducasse’s Jules Verne restaurant, half-way up the Eiffel Tower. We learned later that this was the place that Tom Cruise rented out to propose to Katie Holmes (although the restaurant was not under the management of Alain Ducasse at the time).

Great view, and perhaps the best asparagus and best sea bass we have ever had (two separate courses). There was a mashed pea course which could have used a bit more of a salty counter-point (more caviar perhpas) as far as we were all concerned, but the food, and especially the desserts, were great.

Linda also enjoyed (I think) a belated Mother’s Day, as the kids gave her small froggy presents. The only real negative at our meal was that we had to frequently and repeatedly request to get our water glasses refilled, something that should never happen at as fine a restaurant as Jules Verne (it should be done automatically without us needing to ask). And I couldn’t quite tell if the sommelier was being condescending to me or just trying to be funny and not really pulling it off well, although the wines we ended up with were quite nice. We did miss having pairings by the glass for our meal, however - again something different from other high end restaurants we’ve enjoyed. An 8.0 out of 10.0 on The Richter Scale.

Martin and Angela then made their way north to Schipol airport in Amsterdam, to eventually arrive back at our house here on Bonaire (where they still are, with us, at this moment).

We proceeded from the Eiffel Tower to Les Invalides, which houses the Musée de l’Armée, a military museum which Bas greatly enjoyed as it contained a panoply of armor, swords, guns, and other battle gear. This was followed by a visit to Napoleon’s Tomb under the great golden dome one can see from any high spot in Paris (also at Les Invalides).

We headed back to the hotel to freshen up, and then took a taxi back to the area of the Eiffel Tower, where we boarded a dinner cruise on the river Seine, which took us through sunset and into the night. Very nice views, but very poor food (Linda and I had never had mealy, mushy duck breast before).

May 19, Monday - Paris
We had another late start, but then finally ended up at the Louvre, where we viewed exhibits about various artists and schools of art, include the Dutch Masters. Part of the exhibit in the Dutch Masters section also included modern works by Dutch artist Jan Fabre - some very odd stuff, such as people made out of thumb tacks, sculptures made out of scarab beetle wings, others made out of slices of bone (crosswise), and yet more made out of other bugs, beetles, and even feathers. We also got to see the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo first hand.

We walked around a bit and ended up at Place de la Concorde and the Champs Elysées, where we saw a large police presence, apparently in response to a possible strike.

Dinner was at Les Foundus de la Raclette, a restaurant serving, of course, fondues and raclette cooking (where you get small pans and cook your own meal, with liberal contributions of Raclette cheese). Very enjoyable meal, although our cheese fondue could have used a bit more flavor. A 7.0 out of 10.0 on The Richter Scale.

May 20, Tuesday - Paris
We met up with Diane, the friend we had made aboard the National Geographic Endeavour. Diane was also in Paris for the week. Together we went to Montmatre and visited Sacré Coeur, a large cathedral atop the hill that is Montmatre. We planned to go on a tour of the crypts there, and paid admission to something similar to an ATM machine (except it takes money instead of giving it) to get to the “dome & crypt”, not realizing that “dome” meant the top of Sacré Coeur. The stairs up (the only way to go) nearly killed Diane, but the view, once we got there, was phenomenal. I believe it was the highest point in Paris mere mortals could visit, taller than the top of the Eiffel Tower. Going back down, we found the crypts closed for renovation. Sigh.

We wandered about Montmatre for a bit, had a reasonable lunch in the open square where all the artists paint under the open sky, then wandered downhill to the Pigalle area, where we saw the famed Moulin Rouge. From there it was another cafe stop, and then a walkabout which led us to covered shopping galleries featuring unique and interesting shops - antiques, collectible toys, philatelists, galleries, etc.

We had an excellent dinner at a small restaurant we stumbled across, part of which had a retail specialty foods section, although the name eludes me at the moment.

Diane then parted ways with us to go back to her hotel while we made our way to the Eiffel Tower for the last elevator up to the second level (the top level - the third level - was already closed, alas) for a nice night-time view of Paris. Got back to the hotel around midnight.

May 21, Wednesday - Paris
We attempted to visit the Musée Rodin, home to Rodin’s famed Thinker sculpture as well as dozens of his other works, but found instead a massive police barricade around the museum. People were walking past the barricade, so we joined the small flow to discover the museum had been closed for the day. The police presence was there to corral a hundred or so protesting and striking fishermen who were protesting that the combination of high fuel prices and EU restrictions on the types of fish they could catch were hurting their livelihoods.

When we asked one of the policemen in riot gear about this strike, thinking it was the civil servants getting an early start for their announced strike on Thursday, he explained that that strike was scheduled for the following day, and that the fishermen were “today’s strike”. When we asked if there was another strike on Friday, he responded “probably”. Pretty funny and sad at the same time that strikes and protests are so much a part of the Parisian (and perhaps French) culture.

We ended up going to the Picasso Museum instead, where we saw hundreds of his works as well as a film showing him exercising his creative processes.

Dinner was at the Michelin three star restaurant Le Pre Catalan, which had a mind-boggling wine list. We all tried the chef’s menu, which provided a decent sampling of many of the dishes on the menu, but while the food was quite good, nothing really stood out to us. Again, the lack of pre-researched wine pairings was something of a disappointment, and we again had to ask to have our water refilled regularly, although at least here, in contrast to Jules Verne, the refilling was done as soon as we asked instead of having to repeat the request several times. Service otherwise was quite good, but for what the restaurant cost, it could have been better. An 8.0 out of 10.0 on The Richter Scale.

May 22, Thursday - Paris
We spent the morning packing, checked out, and then ended up going to the catacombs at Place Denfert-Rochereau. The catacombs are the resting place for the bones of countless people (records indicate it might have been as many as seven million bodies) who ended up there from cemeteries on the Right Bank which had begun to seep into people’s homes in the 1760s. The bones we saw were mostly neatly stacked and organized, a macabre tribute to mostly unknown people, however plaques on the walls in the catacombs indicated that a fair number of those executed by guillotine in the late 1700s during the French Revolution and its bloody aftermath also found their way there. The catacomb tour was self-guided, and one way. After going in at Place Denfert-Rochereau, we came out about a mile south in a small neighborhood.

Lunch was at a very good and busy bistro on a side street, and we then made our way back to the Rodin Museum, which was now once again open (the day’s strikers and protesters were in a different part of town), but the top floor of the main museum building was closed due to a lack of personnel (due to the strike du jour). A number of Rodin’s sculptures were in a large garden, and more inside the ground level of the main building. We finally got to see The Thinker first hand as well. There was also an exhibit of the works of Camille Claudel, one of Rodin’s protégés. Amazing what these artists could do with marble and bronze.

We made our way back to the hotel to hang out in the executive lounge for a while, and then were off to the airport for a smooth check-in and flight to Amsterdam, and then from there back to Bonaire.

And that’s it for The Traveling Richters’ Moroccan and European adventure.

Our next trip is to Texas in about a month to see one of the showings of the True Colors tour (and we’re scheduled to briefly meet Cyndi Lauper as part of our ticket package too). And, as we’ll already be in Texas, we will be visiting The Alamo as part of the children’s American history school work. Best to see history first hand than merely read about it in a book - or at least so we think.

On Tuesday, May 13th, we moved from the Hilton Hyde Park to the more posh Marriott Park Lane, where we were to stay two more nights courtesy of my many thousands of Marriott Rewards points (cheaper by far than paying London hotel rates out of pocket, considering it is the most expensive city in the world to visit according to recent surveys).

After dropping our bags off, we made our way on the Tube to Paddington Station, and from there caught a train out to Maidenhead, some 40 minutes west/southwest of London to partake of a remarkably unusual lunch at a restaurant called The Fat Duck, operated by famed chef Heston Blumenthal.

Reservations at The Fat Duck, which is a Michelin Three Star rated restaurant, are very difficult to obtain, even a couple of months out, so we were elated when we received a call while in Porto the prior week telling us we had cleared the waiting list for one of the three different meal times we had requested.

The Fat Duck is one of few restaurants world wide which specializes in something called Molecular Cuisine, a cuisine in which science is blended with gastronomy to produce taste sensations based on scientific food research. It had been suggested that we explore Molecular Cuisine by Patrice, the owner of Bistro de Paris, back home on Bonaire, and we thank him profusely for that suggestion.

We arrived in Maidenhead early, so instead of a five minute taxi ride, we decided to use our GPS and walk the two miles to The Fat Duck. Half the way was drab and noisy, filled with cars, traffic, and asphalt, but the remaining half put us on a green country path which led us into the tiny little heart of the village of Bray. We actually walked past the house in which The Fat Duck was located, before realizing such a plain façade housed this fabled culinary destination.

What waited beyond the plain façade was a quaint room with perhaps a dozen tables, each seating no more than four people, necessary because a meal at The Fat Duck includes an element of theatre that is ill-suited for larger groups.

After being seated we ordered our beverages as we normally would, and all opted for the Chef’s Tasting Menu, but from there things changed.

Our first introduction to Blumenthal’s novel approach to cuisine was a vodka, egg white, and lime mousse which was “cooked” in liquid nitrogen right at our table. After it was removed from the liquid nitrogen the outside of the mousse was crisp. The server dusted it with matcha (powdered green tea), and we were instructed to immediately pick up the mousse “ball” and pop it in our mouths, where it almost literally exploded (gently, though – no carnage) on our tongues. We had a moment where we felt the frozen shell of the mousse ball before the whole thing came apart in a burst of flavor.

At the same time that the first mousse ball was served, the server also spritzed a bit of lime scent above the table using an atomizer, as part of the dining experience is to affect multiple senses. The spritz of aroma was for our noses, the nitrogen steam creeping over the edge of the copper vessel in which the mousse was being “cooked” was the visual component, and of course, the eating of the mousse ball filled our taste sensation.

And that was just our palette cleanser.

I went with wine pairings (excellent, incidentally) with my lunch, but Linda’s ear was still bothering her, so she stuck to water.

Dry ice and water creates ambiance for one of our courses at The Fat Duck

Other courses included oyster in passion fruit jelly with a sprinkle of lavender (Bas’ least favorite dish as he doesn’t like passion fruit); a pommery grain mustard ice cream in a red cabbage gazpacho (the ice cream was unexciting by itself, but when combined with the red cabbage gazpacho it was exquisite); and a duo dish of jelly of quail, langoustine cream, parfait of foie gras, and oak moss and truffle toast. Preceding this latter dish, a bed of moss was put before us, and water poured over it, creating an aromatic fog of sorts when the water thawed the dry ice below the moss, and we were also given a piece of foie gras “tape” which came in the type of dispenser used to deliver Listerine mint strips. After we put the “tape” on our tongues and let it melt there, we were treated to the rest of the course.

This was followed by snail porridge (green) with shaved fennel and hair-like wisps of jabugo ham; roast foie gras with almond fluid gel cubes, cherry, and chamomile foam.

Another dish in which a blend of senses was used to heighten the experience follow, namely the “Sound of the Sea” course. This started with each of us getting conch shells from which iPod ear buds dangled out. As we were served the course, we were instructed to listen to conch shells (each of which had small original sized iPod Nanos in them).What we heard was a sea scape, with waves gently crashing upon the shore and seagulls crying out. The dish before us looked like a small beach, with a strip of what looked like sand (but was actually artfully prepared baby eel crumble) and sea foam (which hid three types of shellfish and multiple types of seaweed). It was an interesting presentation and blend of flavors and textures, made more “realistic” by virtue of the beach sounds we were listening to.

Next was salmon poached in liquorice gel with artichokes and very tasty vanilla mayonnaise – a dish which even Krystyana and Linda, neither of whom are big fans of salmon, found quite tasty. A ballotine of Anjou Pigeon with black pudding followed. The pigeon was served rare, and Bas was convinced it was beef until told otherwise. He now insists that while he does not eat pigeon as a rule (an issue we had with him in Morocco with an excellent pigeon pastille), he will make an exception for the Anjou Pigeon at The Fat Duck.

As a palette cleanser we then received a cup of hot and iced tea – in one cup. Incredible sensation, as the tea came in hot on one side of the mouth and chilly on the other. It was an Earl Grey tea, incidentally.

We thought we might be winding down at this point, but there was more to come. We got a small pamphlet about Mrs. Marshall, who is believed by some to be the actual originator of ice cream cones, and then received a small ice cream cone in her honor. Then there was mango and Douglas Fir puree (yum!), followed by a breakfast with parsnip flake cereal (in a cereal box with The Fat Duck logo on it) with parsnip milk (also delicious), and finally the final course – nitro-scrambled egg and bacon ice cream.

Our server prepares Nitro Egg & Bacon ice cream at The Fat Duck using liquid nitrogen

For this last course, the server came out with eggs stamped with The Fat Duck logo, which she explained were special. And they were. She broke them open and as she poured the contents into the pan she had waiting table-side, it was obvious the contents were not just regular eggs. They looked like scrambled eggs with something more added. The server then poured liquid nitrogen into the pan, and started “cooking” the egg mixture, which was then served to us over a “pain perdu” (akin to French Toast) and a paper thin slice of bacon. The egg mixture turned out to be egg and bacon flavored ice cream, and it was extraordinary. Both kids now insist we need to find a way to make liquid nitrogen of our own so we can replicate this particular dish at home. I think that will be one of our science projects for their next school year.

We finished the meal with tea, coffer, and petit fours, including carrot and orange lollipops, mandarin aerated chocolates, violet tartlets, and apple pie caramels with edible wrappers.

The entire meal took over three hours, and was simply brilliant, with incredibly attentive service, great wine pairings, and, of course, intriguingly odd but delicious food with great presentation. The only thing that was a bit of a challenge was the final tab, which was nearly twice our monthly utility bill on Bonaire (and we pay more for utilities than most people we know pay for their mortgages). But it was definitely a worthwhile experience, and well worth the investment.

The Fat Duck is not a place one would eat at regularly, but it’s certainly worth a visit whenever the Chef’s menu changes appreciably (and one’s finances permit, of course).

I give The Fat Duck a rare 10.0 out of 10.0 on The Richter Scale.

The rest of our day was spent getting Linda back to the hotel in London so she could rest (her ear was still really bothering her), with the rest of us heading back out, this time to Epsom for a BonaireTalk mini-meet at the home of Sarah and Hugh Frame, old friends of ours whom we met through the BonaireTalk web site community that Linda and I started back in 1999. Also joining us were Roy from Germany (another BT’er who happened to be at a conference in Manchester), and Bob & Yvette Raikes, friends of mine who live in Surrey, the same county where Epsom is located. Bob is one of the world’s leading experts in the electronic display marketplace, incidentally. Photos from this evening can be found here. We had a delightful evening with everyone, albeit without Linda present, heading back, tired and weary, to the hotel by hired car, around 11:30pm.

On Monday, May 12th, the Endeavour arrived at the final port of our trip, Portsmouth, England.

We had an early final breakfast aboard the Endeavour, and then were off with 22 of our fellow passengers on yet another tour bus, this time with all of our luggage stowed below. After a brief partial tour of Portsmouth we arrived at the Naval Yard, where we got an in-depth, private tour of the HMS Victory. The tour was conducted by Peter Goodwin, the curator of the HMS Victory. Peter and his wife Katy had been on-board with us on the Endeavour since Lisbon, and had been both very informative as well as fun folks to hang out with.

The Traveling Richters pose in front of the HMS Victory

This part of our trip was in fact the only one which exceeded our expectations, as we had not expected to find the HMS Victory or its curator to be so interesting, and getting a private tour by someone as passionate about the Victory as Peter obviously was.

The curator of the HMS Victory, Peter Goodwin, holds up glassware which belonged to Admiral Nelson

The two key things we took away about the HMS Victory are that it is the oldest British Naval vessel still in active service, even though it has been in dry dock for over six decades. And, the HMS Victory is the vessel upon which the much admired Lord Admiral Nelson died during the Battle of Trafalgar on October 21, 1805.

The Victory is a fabulous vessel, and now in excellent shape, thanks in great part to the efforts Peter has been making. But I also learned that back in the early 1800s, people were a lot shorter than I am (as the sore bumps on my head will attest).

After our tour of the HMS Victory, we visited an exhibition which describes how the top sail (which is the size of a soccer field) was being cared for, and what had been learned about its history. This was followed by more touring of Portsmouth.

Peter and Katy also joined us for lunch at a restaurant called the Lemon Sole, where we found the food and service to be mediocre, and the staff reluctant to adapt to eaters who could not or would not eat fish for lunch.

We then bid Peter and Katy adieu, and were off to London on our bus, arriving at the Hilton Hyde Park in the late afternoon. Due to my Gold-level HHonors status we got upgraded to a very nice corner room with the kids next door. The only bad thing was that an ear problem Linda had been suffering from since the prior night had become so painful that we had to have a doctor come pay a visit. He prescribed her some medicine, which we went out to get before having an excellent dinner at Royal China, a small chain of high end Chinese restaurants in London. We opted for Chinese because we had tired a bit of food without a lot of spice and zest during our travels, and were not disappointed.

We went to bed with full tummies, but Linda’s ear problem prevented her from sleeping well, unfortunately.

On Thursday, we had an early (and very tired) start, getting on Zodiacs for the first time as part of our disembarkation in the fishing village of Finesterra, Spain. Finesterra, also called Fisterra, is located in the Galician area of northwestern Spain. The name of the village allegedly comes from when the Romans arrived there a couple of millennia ago, and figured they had reached the end (fini) of the world (terra).

The fishing village of Finesterra, Spain

Boarding the Zodiacs was reasonably simple as the briefing we had received on the process the evening before was quite thorough, and all went according to plan. We’ve been told that the use of Zodiacs for getting to shore is the norm for most Lindblad trips, but as previously noted, we’ve been using docks and piers all along. Apparently we are also due to use Zodiacs tomorrow to leave St. Malo, as the tides will require the Endeavor to leave the dock before we return.

Krystyana, Linda, and Bas aboard one of the Zodiacs from the National Geographic Endeavour

We boarded the ever present tour bus with our fellow horde of co-passengers, and headed off to Santiago de Compostela, a major Christian pilgrimage site featuring a cathedral which reportedly contains the remains of St. James, an Apostle of Christ. The remains were certified by a Bishop in the 9th century A.D., according to Isabella, our charming Galician tour guide. After Jerusalem and the Vatican, Santiago de Compostela is the third most visited site for Christian pilgrims.

The cathedral at Santiago de Compostela

Apparently, there are some very strict requirements for someone to be considered a proper pilgrim. First is that they must arrive on foot or by bicycle, but arrival by motorized conveyance is not permissible for pilgrim status. Pedestrian pilgrims need to travel at least 60 km to get to Santiago de Compostela, and get stamps certifying their pilgrimage walk at various checkpoints along the way. For those preferring to bicycle, the distance is 120 km, with checkpoint stamps required as well. Once a properly stamped pilgrim arrives in Santiago de Compostela they need to go to the Pilgrimage certification office and get an official certificate verifying that they are in fact a real pilgrim. Then, the first ten of such certified pilgrims each day can get a free meal at the Hostal hotel/restaurant.

Pilgrims also are supposed to be carrying scallop shells as a symbol of their pilgrimage, as in addition to being a useful tool for drinking and eating, it also represents a religious icon in Christianity (I didn’t quite grasp how or why that was, though, during our tour). Scallop shell motifs adorned the cathedral in many places in any event.

A symbolic scallop shell on the outside of the cathedral at Santiago de Compostela

One thing that was very surprising to me about the pilgrimages was that pilgrims only needed to complete the journey to be certified as pilgrims, and not actually even enter the cathedral. It’s not always been that way, however, according to a historical account I later read, as pilgrims at one point had to go to a mass, visit the tomb of St. James, have their confession taken, and take communion, at a minimum. Now, however, the process seems less spiritual and more bureaucratic.

The drive to Santiago de Compostela was a bit drizzly and foggy – something that Isabella indicated was more the norm than not, as sunshine tended to be rare, and rain plentiful. But it was a beautiful drive, at least the part during which we were awake (as we had not had much sleep the previous night). Our arrival in Santiago de Compostela seemed to be at something that was a cross between a Greyhound bus station and a cruise ship terminal, seething with mostly oddly dressed individuals overladen with giant handbags, backpacks, and camera equipment, speaking in a myriad of mostly incomprehensible but strangely familiar languages, ourselves included. As we were herded along – amongst the hundreds of other tourists – we paused briefly at a restroom and then made our way to the square in front of the cathedral, being teased by free samples of almond cookies and almond cake, both of which have become traditional foods associated with the town.

In the square before the cathedral, we were introduced to the Hostal de los Reyes Catolicos, a hotel and dining facility which started life as the accommodations for visiting nobility; the administrative offices for the county of which Santiago de Compostela was the county seat; the old school building, and of course the cathedral itself. Isabella said the square and its surroundings represented the basic element of human life – education (the school), work (the administrative building), leisure (the Hostal), and spiritual (the cathedral).

We then visited the interior of the cathedral itself, which at first glance appeared large but very simple and plain, but as we walked on, that changed, with amazing (and somewhat expected) ornamentation in the area around the resting place of the remains of St. James, which was also surrounded by ornate private chapels.

The bureaucratic nature of modern day Santiago de Compostela came through inside the cathedral as well, where priests sat in confessional booths lining one wall of the cathedral ready to take confessions. Seeing this felt like a Monty Python moment brought to real life.

A priest reads while waiting to take a confession in the cathedral at Santiago de Compostela

We were also told about how local cheese makers became political revolutionaries of sorts, when, in protest to a bishop having a sculptor give a statue a breast size reduction, started producing all their cheeses in the shape of a voluptuous female breast. That practice continues to this day.

Two of the breast cheeses of Santiago de Compostela

The other thing the cathedral is famous for is the giant censer – called the “botafumeiro” – which is swung after communion is given at a mass, filled with incense. The censer weighs 55 kg and reaches speeds of 60 km an hour, and requires a handful of priests to swing it. The censer was apparently first put to use due the stink of the unwashed masses of pilgrims that visited the cathedral back in the days when pilgrims did not have access to the showers that modern hostels for pilgrims now offer. While the censer we saw did in fact emit a lot of smoke, we could smell no incense at all, so it appears to be just for show now, and not for masking human “fragrance”.

The kids got to witness part of a Catholic mass, a first for them. Bas said he found the experience boring and that he almost fell asleep, and I pointed out to him that that was not an uncommon reaction even for devout parishioners at a mass or sermon.

The local Bishop gives a sermon during noon mass in the cathedral at Santiago de Compostela

After the mass was over we enjoyed an aperitif of wine and appetizers at the Hostal and entertainment of local traditional dancing and music, which also includes the playing of a bagpipe, something Isabella attributed to Galicia’s heritage as a Celtic-based community. Lunch followed in a huge ornate room where every other chair was throne-like. We had a bit of time to wander after lunch, and went and purchased some previously sampled almond cake and a couple of handfuls of breast-shaped cheese.

Our bus ride out of town took us to La Coruna (the Crown), a larger coastal city where the Endeavour was able to dock. In order to delay our arrival at dock until the appointed boarding time of 6pm, we toured the city by bus and also got out at the Tower of Hercules, a structure originally built by the Romans, and now featuring 243 stairs, which Krystyana and I climbed in a few minutes (and which my thighs are now still in pain from, two days later). The top of the tower afforded us a very nice view of Coruna, but as we had only 20 minutes away from the bus, we had to hustle all the way back down the tower, and even so arrived a few minutes late.

Once back on board the Endeavour we had a “recap” – a briefing that is apparently a bit of a tradition on board Lindblad cruises, and which are supposedly summaries and further discussions of things we have seen that day. Of particular interest was a presentation by one of our naturalists about the collection of Lalique jewelry at the Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon. Fascinating pieces, and we wish we had known about them before visiting Lisbon instead of days later. Historian Steve Blamires also provided an overview of the Celtic people in relationship to Galicia where we had just been.

Dinner was a BBQ served in the very chilly region of the back deck – a great location had it been sunny and warm out, but decidedly uncomfortable considering the exterior climate (slightly moist and windy, with temperatures in the low 50s).

We retired to bed late and tired, but well nourished – physically and mentally.

Visiting Lisbon, Portugal

This morning, around 6:30am, as the sun rose, we sailed (actually motored) our way to dock in Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. Locally, the name of the city is Lisboa, pronounced “Leezh-boh-ah”.

The sun rises over Lisbon, Portugal

We left the ship, after breakfast of course, around 8:30am, boarded the ubiquitous tour buses we’ve so become accustomed to, and got a tour of Lisbon, stopping first at the Tower of Lisbon, then the Explorer’s Monument, and then the Cathedral of Geronimo (where famed explorer Vasco de Gama is buried). The latter two stops were interesting, but the cathedral was overcrowded with tourists.

After the cathedral tour, we stopped in at another Lisbon landmark, Pasteis de Belem, a pastry and coffee shop that has been around since 1837, and which specialized in little custard tarts you sprinkle with powdered sugar and cinnamon. Yum!

Linda, Bas, Diane, and Krystyana after a great cafe stop in Lisbon, Portugal

From there the bus took us out from the Belem area to the heart of Lisbon, and on to the top of the tallest hill of Lisbon, where we disembarked, and made our way down the hill for some sightseeing on foot. We stumbled over a rather derelict building built in 1922 which had phenomenal tile work and statuary, and then after about three quarters of an hour, stopped into a local restaurant with outdoor seating and dined on seafood (Bas had pizza, and Diane, who had joined us, had vegetarian food – a mushroom omelet.

We then took a taxi to visit one of our favorite trip things to see, namely the local aquarium. The one in Lisbon is called the Oceanarium, and is located some ways out of town, but it’s absolutely brilliant. It has one of the best designs for a giant ocean tank, where huge viewing spaces are available all the way around, and other exhibits are well integrated into the environment. The tank was well stocked with a variety of interesting species, including a mola-mola (ocean sunfish), over a half dozen species of sharks, and likewise a number of different species of rays – and all in good health.

Diane and Linda observe the plethora of wildlife in the giant tank at the Lisbon Oceanarium

We had to hustle, as we only had an hour available because we had dawdled a bit at lunch, but we managed to get through everything in that time, making back to the ship only two minutes later than intended (and it did not leave without us).

Pre-dinner we learned how to tie a turban – two different ways and also learned about Spanish wines. During dinner we were joined by a Lindblad staff cultural historian, Steve Blamires from Scotland, who specializes in the history of the British Isles, and had a fascinating discussion on a range of topics including the building of places like Stonehenge, the Celtic peoples and their mythology and languages, cultural elements which gain or lose significance with the passage of time, and the decline of the Roman civilization. While little of our discussion was about the Iberian peninsula where we currently are visiting, the topics we did discuss were incredibly interesting and mentally stimulating. Both kids ended up getting very engrossed as well (although Bas’ tiredness finally won out and he headed back to his room). Steve will continue on the next segment the Endeavour goes on after it drops us off in Portsmouth, which is a tour of the British Isles (which is where David Barnes will be rejoining the vessel as well).

Tomorrow’s (actually by the time this posts it will be today’s, locally speaking) plans include a photography lecture followed by a photo critique session and then the rest of the day in Oporto, Portugal, where we will visit the Sandeman port house (where they make port wine), among other places.

Now that I have a working (albeit oddly) working phone data connection, I find I can’t get a decent WiFi connection in my hotel in Rabat. Ah well.

We had an early start yesterday morning in order to be able to get to our hotel in Rabat, Morocco’s capitol, at a reasonable time. We got to Casablanca, Morocco’s center of commerce and industry after a few hours in our bus, stopping briefly at Mohammed the 5th Square. King Mohammed the 5th was the father of King Hassan the 2nd, who in turn is the father of Morocco’s present King Mohammed the 6th.

One of the things that really struck us in Casablanca was how many satellite dishes were all over the place on residential buildings. It seems that the satellite dish is the national flower of Morocco.

Another stop in Casablanca was the world’s largest mosque, named in honor of King Hassan the 2nd. The mosque’s minaret, at 200 meters high, has an elevator inside, and 20,000 can worship inside and another 100,000 outside. Due to religious privacy laws we were not permitted inside, however.

After a reasonable but late lunch at the La Mer restaurant, we drove up to Rabat and visited the Oudeya Casbah, with its great ocean view and narrow alleys, painted white and blue. Very reminiscent of Santorini and Mykonos in Greece.

We ended our tour of Rabat at the Mausoleum of Mohammed the 5th, which features the sarcophagus of the named monarch, as well as sarcophogi of King Hassan the 2nd and his brother, Prince Abdullah.

Arriving at our hotel in Rabat was welcome indeed, especially as it was past 6pm. At our 8pm dinner it was announced that while our ship had finally come out of dry dock, it was now doing sea trials, and there was no conclusion yet as to when we might be able to board.

We had an even earlier start this morning as the bus ride to Fes (same as Fez, but apparently Fes with an ’s’ is the correct spelling) takes about three hours. We arrived in Fes at just before 11am, starting with a visit to a tile factory where tiles are still made by hand. Quite an amazing process (although by American terms it might be deemed a sweat shop), which produces some beautiful pieces of work.

Next up was the main reason for our visit - the medina of Old Fes, which is celebrating its 1200 year anniversary this year. Old Fes, with it’s 300,000 inhabitants and tens of thousands satellite dishes which bloom on the roofs like some sort of wildly spreading fungus, is a warren of narrow paths filled with shops of all sorts.

We went through the butcher’s section, where we saw sheep, goat, and camel parts, including udders, brains, and heads. We also visited various artisnal sections, like that of the leather workers, the bronze makers, herbalists, weavers, and more. Endlessly fascinating. We where also in the photographers group, in which we were joined by Massimo, an Italian photographer working for National Geographic, as our photography mentor.

Lunch (late) was a Morrocan-style meal (unfortunately serving lamb as the only meat - only Linda ate that) at the Palais Mnebhi featuring a belly dancer. We had a good time, especially as it was cooler than outside and we could sit for a while (photo above is from there). Even more welcome was the announcement made during lunch that our ship was finally en route and we would be boarding her in Casablanca tomorrow evening and having dinner on board. We had been semi-seriously joking about this becoming a bus tour instead of a cruise the way things were going.

After a bit more touring of the souks we now find ourselves on the way back to Rabat for dinner at a private home at 8pm tonight.

Tomorrow we are off to visit Meknes, known as the Moroccan Versailles, and the old Roman fortification known as Volubilis. And on Monday we should be in Portugal, finally, just one day later than originally planned. It’s a shame we won’t be able to go to Sark in the Channel Islands en route to England, but nice that we get to see Meknes and Volubilis, as we had read about both in various books recommended by Lindblad prior to our trip.