Thursday 6 June – Casablanca: Roger

At 0800 we disembarked the ship on the port side. On arrival at  Casablanca the ship  turned around just outside the port and backed in. We strolled through the customs area unchallenged as the ship takes care of all the immigration side of things. We just had to show our passports briefly.

Outside we were met by our guide Abderrahim and his driver. We headed through the busy streets of this city of 6 million onto a motorway heading northeast along the coast to the capital Rabat. Passing the king’s palace we arrived at Hassan Mosque. Built in the 12th century by Abu Youssef Yaacoub al Mansour, it was at the time one of the three largest Mosques in the world, one of which was in Spain. In the 15th century a large earthquake demolished it, the minaret which was never finished still stands. At the west end of the site is a mausoleum that was built as a resting place for king Mohamed VI. As we arrived a rather sloppy changing of the guard took place with the group of six soldiers not even marching in step. A man sat at the end of the chamber reading the Koran. I asked what happens when he gets to the end, “ he says a prayer and starts again”

From the steps we looked down to a large modern theatre and across to a very tall building just being finished that no one knows what it is for.

We drove through the streets, passing some more palaces, stopping at the kasbah, a walled city with lots of white buildings behind the pinkish walls. Built also around the 12th century, some descendants of the original family’s still live there. Now with lots of little shops, picturesque doors and outdoor cafes and some nice gardens it is a tourist attraction. The west end of the fort overlooks the Bou Regreg (river) with cannons defending the entrance of this navigable river.

Visit over we headed back to Casablanca, firstly visiting the Houbous quarter. There we entered a mosaic tiled passageway to a bakery with a large selection of Moroccan delights. After purchasing a few nibbles we headed across the alley to the bake house, which contained this huge oven where the baker used a long paddle to place and extract a large variety of bakery and meats all cooking together.

Wandering through a few alleys we came across an area where locals were selling second hand goods to each other; lots of shouting was going on in what seemed like an auction.

Next was an olive market where there were more varieties of olives than I had ever imagined. A few more alleys and it was back in the van for a tour down the coast and through some upmarket areas. We passed the building where Churchill, Roosevelt and DeGaulle met in early 1942 for the planning of operation Torch, which took place in November of that year.

Finally we visited the huge Hassan II Mosque. Work commenced on this building in 1986; at a cost of 585 billion euros it was completed in 1993. The building can cater for 25,000 worshippers with men in the main hall and woman on balconies above at each side. A further 80,000 worshipers can pray on the large cobbled grounds outside. Underneath there are large fountains where worshipers can cleanse themselves before praying. The place is huge but only the 14th biggest mosque in the world.

I don’t think even the photos will do justice to the uniqueness and size of this place with its 20,000 square meter footprint and  210 meter Minaret, complete with laser light pointing to Mecca. It was paid for by a tax levy placed on all purchases at the time, as well as donations and loans from European countries.

After being dropped back to the boat we had a snack and soon were at sea again. We headed up to the top deck and attempted to play pickle ball. With quite a breeze blowing and the ship heading into it at 16 knots it was rather difficult but did give us a lot of laughs.

We opted for a light casual dinner and a quiet evening to round out the day.

 

Friday 7  June – Agadir: Sylvia

We had a leisurely start to the day today, heading to the gym at about 8, then meeting Debbie and Dave for breakfast. We docked in Agadir at about 9am. It was impressive to watch the manoeuvring. We came in now first, then swung around to port and using bow and stern thrusters parked perfectly against the wharf, using ropes on winches to close the last few metres. A large white mas ah stands on the top of the hill along with two incongruous looking planes with their noses pointing out over the cliff edge – no, they have not overshot the runway, they are there as a novelty type of restaurant!

At 11 we headed down to deck 5 and disembarked, meeting our taxis and 9 other guests for the short transfer to a camel riding place just out of town. I had arranged this as the other three had never ridden camels before and were keen to have a go.

Agadir was almost completely destroyed by an earthquake in 1960 and has pretty much been rebuilt from scratch since then. It is clean and seems modern compared with the rest of the country with mostly 4-5 storey buildings, painted white and embellished in different ways. The king has two palaces in the city, including one massive one near our destination, but apparently he hasn’t been here in about 7 years.

When we arrived we were met and kitted out in traditional Moroccan dress and headwear, before mounting our camels. They start kneeling and when they stand up it is quite a rocking motion. Our ‘camel saddles’ had almost handlebars in the front for us to hold on to. We were tied to each other and proceeded caravan style for about an hour, passing the king’s palace, with guards spaced at regular intervals – happy to wave as we went past. A large, very green golf course on the left looked incongruous in the dry sandy area. Eventually we arrived at the river, quite close to the coast. Apparently they often have flamingoes here but not today. After a brief stop and more photo taking we headed back the way we had come. The young camel wranglers were quite hilarious, keeping up a bright pattern, regularly checking to make sure we were all okay and taking lots of photos of us with our phones or cameras. Debbie was at the back of the caravan and had a young ‘trainer’ camel tied behind her. She would get quite nervous anytime a car came past and nuzzled up to Debbie, sometimes even putting her head in Debbie’s lap, causing quite a bit of amusement.

Arriving back where we started, we dismounted and were offered a refreshing mint tea.

We had decided that we wanted to visit the Souk el Had, a large market primarily frequented by the locals. The driver gave us some story about it being closed for prayers and took us first to a Berber Artisinal bazaar and then to an Argan oil factory. Both were interesting enough and Debbie and Dave bought a few trinkets and a beautiful necklace. Eventually we made it to the soul and wandered around. It is massive! We only saw a small part of it before we decided we had had enough and returned to the boat.

We are quite enjoying the decadent afternoon teas on board (sort of like a late, light lunch), although Roger is preferring to go the cigar bar and have a G&T and a cigar instead.

We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing, then headed to Red Ginger, the Asian specialty restaurant on board for our dinner at 7:30. It is incredible on this ship to have so many different specialty restaurants. And they are all excellent. We all enjoyed a very good Asian inspired meal, then spent some time relaxing in the Executive lounge and chatting with  a few other cruisers before retiring for the evening.

One thing I have not mentioned on the blog before is our stateroom. We had opted for a Penthouse Suite and it is fantastic, about 8m by about 5m with a balcony about 1.5m by 5m. We have a large bathroom with a very roomy shower and even a walk in wardrobe! We have a butler, Ram, and two very friendly room stewards who keep the place absolutely spotless.

 

Saturday 8 June – Areciffe, Lanzarote: Roger

After another night of smooth sailing heading southwest, we arrived at the Spanish island of Lanzarote. We sat on the back deck enjoying another great breakfast as the ship cruised into the harbour, reversed the engines to bring us to a stop, then did its normal spin around in its own length and sidled up to the wharf using its powerful bow and stern thrusters.

After breakfast we disembarked and headed to the carpark to meet Justo, from Vulcan Bikes here on the island, our mountain bike guide for the day. Heading into the centre of the island we parked up and Justo extracted and assembled the electric, full-suspension mountain bikes from the back of the van. We rode along a rough track for several kilometres, passing many wine growing farms –  note I have not called them vineyards as each plant grows as a bush, mainly in a little pit surrounded by stone walls to protect them from the island’s vicious winds. It seldom rains here. All the houses are painted white to reflect the sun; their nearly flat roofs collect what little rain there is and store the water in large stone tanks.

A bit of history: The eruption of several volcanos created the island some 15 million years ago. Around 1000 BC the Majos tribe of the Guanches in Africa arrived, living in caves dressed in animal skins as Stone Age people. It wasn’t until the 14th century when Genoese navigator Lancelotto Malocello came across the island that he named it Lanzarote after himself.

The Castilian Crown granted the lordship of Lanzarote and the neighbouring islands of Fuerteventura and El Hierro to nobleman Diego de Herrera in 1454, and it would remain a feudal system under him until 1812. Despite Spanish claims to the islands, they would continue to be attacked by French, Moroccan and British pirates.

The following centuries were marked by instability, crisis and drought. If life wasn’t hard enough on Lanzarote, nature would intervene and make it worse: from 1730 to 1736, the island was hit by a series of massive volcanic eruptions. For six years ash and lava spewed from Timanfaya and other volcanoes. This blocked the sunlight, covered up to a quarter of the island and destroyed some 11 villages. Much of Lanzarote’s archaeological remains were buried under the eruptions.

The event forced mass emigration of Lanzarote’s inhabitants to Cuba and the Americas, but those who remained would find that the eruptions had left rich and fertile volcanic soil behind. After a few years, the island stabilised again and the city of Areciffe began to gain political and economic importance. Its port made it a hub for commercial activity, and in 1852 it was named the new capital of the island. By this point, feudalism had ended and the Canary Islands had been designated a single Spanish province.

As we rode along, Justo explained how the rich black fertile soil absorbs the moisture from the high humidity at night into the wine pits and the black soil some how stops it evaporating during the day supplying moisture to the plants. From the photos you will see the traditional circular stone walls that surround each plant . The modern way is to build the walls in straight lines so machines can be used to cultivate the ground and harvest the grapes. It still intrigues me how man is able to adapt to growing crops in the many different environments that we have seen in various parts of the world.

Drinking water is now produced by an oil-fired desalination plant and most of the power by an oil -ired plant. The many wind turbines produce nowhere near enough power to support the islands 140,000 people, let-alone the 2.7 million tourists that visit the island every year.

We stopped at a volcanic cave, which people book out for parties with another smaller adjacent cave to crash in when one has drunk too much.

Just after that I fell off while taking in the vast volcanic scenery. It’s been many years since I rode a bike and never a mountain bike so from that part on I had to concentrate on staying on the bike. Apart from a few kms on a sealed road most of the ±30kms we biked were spent on tracks often with deep volcanic ash on them.

Apart from grapes they grow a number of other crops on black flat cultivated paddocks. Justo did a really good job of pointing out the many volcanos and giving us the history of the island. After completing what was a big circle we arrived back at his van, loaded up the bikes and headed back to the boat for a late lunch, a relaxing afternoon and a quiet dinner on board, followed by a show covering the songs of Peggy Lee.

 

Sunday 9 June – Tenerife: Sylvia

We wanted to make the most of our day in Tenerife so were up fairly early and after enjoying breakfast while the Marina docked, were off the boat by 8am. We had arranged a rental car with Cicar, who have a depot at the end of the port. It was an easy process to pick up the car and we headed out to explore. I had planned out a route that circumnavigated the island with stops at several scenic points.

We headed off on the wide, smooth, 6-lane highway, marvelling that such a small island can have such good roads. The population here is only about 950,000 but they receive about 5 million tourists a year. Like Lanzarote, this is a volcanic island, but much larger, with higher mountains and more vegetation. There are natural water sources on the island too.

Our first stop, after heading south for about 40 minutes, was the Arco de Tajao, an area of desert with lots of rock formations from the erosion over the years, including a large rock arch. Debbie and I stood on top for the mandatory photos, while Dave and Roger admired a large pipeline that crossed the desert nearby.

Back in the car we headed south, then west to Acantilados de los Gigantesque, a picturesque village with stunning views of some giant volcanic cliffs running down to the sea. Large areas of banana plantations stand out, often surrounded by what look like hessian wind-breaks. We stopped for coffee and some postcard shopping at a lovely wee cafe with stunning views of the area.

Next we headed off the main road onto very windy, but extremely well-maintained road up into the volcanic peaks. (We continued to head westward but in a very round-about fashion). The road was lined on both sides almost all the way along with large concrete blocks, painted an apricot colour. They clearly do’t want tourists going over the edge. Again, we marvelled at the cost. While the road was very narrow, there were pull outs at regular intervals to allow for the safe passing of oncoming traffic.

 

 

We were headed for the small village of Masca, which is perched high in the volcanic mountains, surrounded by terraced gardens. The amount of labour that goes into the cultivation of these lands is really inspiring. The landscape is dotted about by huge peaks in all different shapes. Unfortunately there was no parking left at the little village (it is fairly limited) so we drove on, stopping at various points to take photographs.

Eventually we wound our way to the north side of the island, stopping for lunch at Garachico, a picturesque coastal village that has twice been destroyed by volcanic eruptions. The last eruption on the island was about 300 years ago.

Continuing north along the cost, then heading slightly east inland, we headed to the Rural Parc of Anaga, which apparently has the highest density of species per square kilometre of anywhere in Europe. We would our way through some beautiful forest, sometimes creating arches right across the road.

Our last stop, right on the northern end of the island was the Playa de Benijo, a beautiful black sand beach, with lots of rock formations that reminded us a bit of the Great Ocean Road in Australia, only in a different colour. Dave enjoyed some body-surfing in the water while Debbie and I sat and watched, enjoying the warmth of the sun. Unfortunately Roger has been plagued by some extreme pain so he sat in the car.

We then headed eastward and arrived back at the port just after 5. It was a great way to see the island.

This evening we had dinner at Toscana, the last of the four specialty restaurants on board. Roger spent some time being tended to by the medical team on board and was feeling much better when he joined us, a little later but not s much to miss out on a great meal.

Tomorrow, the last of the Canary Islands, La Palma…