Welcome to the third and final installment of “The Best Cruise I’ve Taken So Far”. If you’d like to check out the earlier installments, please click on one of these helpful links The Best Cruise I’ve Taken So Far, Part I or The Best Cruise I’ve Taken So Far, Part II.
When last we connected, I was telling you about the beautiful port of Ceuta. Be sure to visit, if you can! We sailed overnight from Ceuta; awakening the next morning in the port of Malaga, Spain.
Malaga is a port for which we did not much research and didn’t know what to expect. While doing what little research we did do, we learned that we could visit The Alhambra from this port. It looked interesting and from what we read, it was not to be missed. For those of you who don’t know, The Alhambra is a 13th century moorish fortress with gardens; actually located some distance from Malaga; an hour and a half each way, to be exact, in the city of Granada. So a trip to the fortress is an all-day affair.
When I think about what I remember most about Alhambra; a story about a party with many beheadings, lunch at a local eatery … and “don’t miss the scheduled time of your tour” because they’re very strict about turning away latecomers.
I’m underselling the fortress, it really was a lovely way to spend a day and worth seeing, for sure.
If I sound negative its only because we missed spending any time in Malaga. I think it’s fair to say as we rode the bus out of Malaga toward the countryside we felt a pang of regret that we couldn’t spend anytime in what appeared to be a beautiful tropical city, with palm trees near the port (and probably elsewhere); and a cosmopolitan feel. Our fellow cruisers highly recommended the city. And I would love to revisit it one day.
Following the Malaga stop was one of my favourite ports by far: Lisbon! It’s hard to get specific as to what was so special about Lisbon, as it can be with any beloved city … let me walk you through our day in Lisbon … and hopefully it will become obvious.
We began our day with an attempt to jump on the Hop-On Hop-Off bus tour that swung by the port. Because of construction or some other unknown; we waited for what seemed like too long … and no bus appeared. We quickly switched gears and walked up (Lisbon is hilly), say a couple of kilometers, to find a more centrally located Hop-On Hop-Off stop, where we had success.
We “Hopped-Off” at a few different stops, each one a delight. Our final stop took us to pedestrian street: Rua Augusta. This is not to be missed. From Rua Augusta we were able to purchase a couple of Portuguese custard tarts (yum!), it was a short walk to Elevador de Santa Justa, and we enjoyed a local market.
The Elevador was a creation of Gustav Eiffel (yes, the creator of the more famous Eiffel Tower). It was built to provide locals with an easy way to ascend from Lisbon’s lower streets back in the day. It has a real steam-punk feel to it, and if you enjoy old mechanical things (though it’s electrical these days) … its worth the wait.
At the market, we enjoyed a street bevvy, took in the sights and grabbed a trolley for a ride down the narrow streets of Lisbon… the trolley ride is worth it, even if you don’t plan to get off. Though don’t take it, if coming to within a hairs-breadth of hitting parked cars on the side of the street makes you anxious.
Finally, at the end of our visit to Rua Augusta … we grabbed a tuk tuk (Yes, you heard me) back to the ship, where we enjoyed another bevvy in a local outdoor drinking establishment trying to squeeze every last minute out of our Lisbon stop. As we were within view of the ship, we pushed it, returning to the ship at the last possible moment.
Have I convinced you to give Lisbon a try? I hope so.
Next on our voyage was a stop in the city of Rouen. It’s worth mentioning at this point that the ship we were cruising in was a relatively small one … with a capacity for 800 or so passengers. This allowed the ship to sail into the Seine as far as Rouen, which transformed our heretofore ocean cruise into what felt like a river cruise. Hubby and I enjoyed sitting on the balcony checking out the countryside as the ship meandered into Rouen. Lovely!
Rather than sightsee in Rouen, we opted for a day trip into Paris. I’m sure Rouen is lovely … beautiful cathedral, etc., but I personally couldn’t pass up a chance to spend some time in Paris. We booked a round trip train ticket into Paris and spent an exhausting day walking the city. Please check out my earlier blog What We Do When We Visit My Favourite City In the blog I talk about (among other things), the food and beverages that are must-haves when we visit Paris. We managed to fit in most of those stops on this single day trip, though it seems to me that Berthillon was closed, so no rum-raisin ice cream 🙁
Our final destination was Dover … where, apart from enjoying the sail into the port admiring the white cliffs, we did nothing of note. That’s not Dover’s fault … we were just in a hurry to get to London, where we spent a couple of days taking in the sights of that beautiful city.
This brings us to the end of our journey. Have I convinced you of the merits of the extended cruise vacation and this itinerary more specifically? I hope so. And maybe one day I’ll be able to share a new “Best Cruise We’ve Taken So Far” … fingers crossed!
