Laurel Dauer 4/21/25 Laurel Dauer 4/21/25

Frankfurt, Germany

We have a brief stopover for a couple of days in our old “home town” and to see some very dear, old friends. How lucky we’ve been to stay in touch these 40 (!) years. I’m afraid our German is about as rusty as our knees, but they speak perfect English so it’s not a problem!

Our trip has been beyond even our wildest expectations! A definite 11 out of 10 and we wouldn’t change a thing. We did so much, and I’m so happy to have kept up this blog. This is because at this point I can’t even remember what we did 2 days ago, much less on March 1!

Home tomorrow to a very different country than what we left. Thanks for tagging along on this crazy, wonderful journey.

For those of you who knew us then, this is what our old house looks like today.

The last supper

Laurel Dauer 4/20/25 Laurel Dauer 4/20/25

Athens, Greece

April 19, 2025

Getting off the ship was a bit of a kurfluffel considering we were in Greece and it was the Saturday before Easter. Mistakenly I assumed Easter would be the next Sunday for Greek Orthodox however this was the rare time they fell on the same day, hence low staffing.

Regardless, we made it to the airport 6 hours before our flight to Frankfurt. We arrived at the airport Hilton (once again thanks to points!) and felt very much at home. It felt good to bring out our very rusty German that we learned when we lived here 40 years ago.

Laurel Dauer 4/20/25 Laurel Dauer 4/20/25

Kusadasi, Turkey

April 18, 2025

They warned us in advance that there would be 3 cruise ships in port the day we arrived. Sure enough, I opened the curtains to look into a stateroom about 70 yards away.

My cold had progressed to the point that I wasn’t feeling too great. It was a sunny and warm day though and we figured getting some fresh air would be good. So off we went through the gauntlet of about 20 shops selling “genuine handmade “ Turkish rugs, Turkish delight candy, leather and pottery amongst a myriad of other stuff. And that was just to get out of the cruise terminal!

We set our sights on getting stamps which were only sold at the post office. On the second try, we got really good directions from a lady in a beauty salon (they’re the BEST place to get good directions) and found it about 1km away. As an aside, I have learned not to trust Google maps in anywhere but the US. I can’t even count the wild goose chases it’s sent us on during our travels.

Anyway, got the stamps and walked back through the bazaar area which dwarfed what we had in the cruise terminal. Most popular for sale besides the above mentioned stuff was “genuine knockoffs”. Shoes (both athletic and women’s) were very popular along with anything you want with Gucci, Prada, YSL, etc labels. Everyone was in front of their stores calling to you to come in and buy. They were actually very polite and backed off easily when you said no thanks. Considering this has been their culture for at least 4000 years, we weren’t annoyed or offended.

We skipped the trip to Ephesus, the ancient city about 1/2 hour away that was built in 10,000BC. We had to get back to pack to disembark the next day.

Oddly, the town didn’t seem crowded at all, despite 3 ships being in port. It had beautiful beaches and tons of hotels. It’s an easy destination to get to for most of Europe to find reliably warm weather, friendly people, good food and cheap prices.

We liked it but I would stay away during high season, but I guess you could say that about anywhere.

The sign is in case you don’t know where you are.

Beaches and hotels

Old fortress guarding the harbor

Laurel Dauer 4/17/25 Laurel Dauer 4/17/25

Alexandria and Cairo, Egypt

April 16, 2025

We woke up very early to a sunny but hazy morning in Alexandria, the massive container port on the Mediterranean coast. We had booked an excursion to the Pyramids and a lunch cruise on the Nile in Cairo. Since the capital city is 3 hours from where we moored, it was up and at ‘em to meet up at 6:40AM. We boarded a beautiful Mercedes bus, and it was packed. We found seats way in the back but at least together. The tour guide was 30 something, very pretty, spoke fluent English and said we could just call her Nefertiti. There was also a somewhat shady looking guy in a suit that was to be our “security” and we set off for our adventure in a convoy of 6 buses with a police escort.

Nefertiti asked if we wanted to hear the history of the pyramids now or later and we all sleepily groaned “now” since we were somewhat awake. Not to worry, I will definitely will not be recounting the history of Egypt or the Pyramids. It would be tedious and admittedly I nodded off during most of her talk.

The upshot was that it was a great but very long and exhausting day, a surprisingly good lunch and most certainly an experience we’ll never forget. I’ll let the pictures do the talking!

Panorama of sunrise over Alexandria (named after Alexander the Great). The cranes and container ships seemed to go on forever. The brown Sahara haze must be a permanent fixture.

Security was crazy. These guys are everywhere and you can see the cameras

Camels, horses, buggies, carts - you name it you can ride it

Shows you just how big the stones are. To the right above Tod’s head it says “no climbing” in English and Arabic. You’d need a ladder or climbing gear to do it.

There were at least 40 souvenir stands all selling the same stuff. You wonder how they all stay in business.

Here’s that “typical African dog” again. Looks just like the ones we saw in South Africa. They are all over the place, weaving around buses and snoozing in the shade. The tag on the ear means they’ve been vaccinated. We asked Nefertiti if they we’re neutered and she looked shocked and said, “Oh no, we just let them be dogs!”. I asked who feeds them and she looked at me like I was odd and said, “well, everybody!”

Our lunch cruise boat. They do donuts for 2 hours in the Nile in front of the Hilton, Sheraton, Hyatt etc hotels

Lunch was remarkably good and plentiful. The dessert table looked like something out of a patisserie

Tod’s comment was, “I thought Muslims were modest…”

One of the hundreds of housing units that line both sides of the freeway. These are the lucky ones in that they have a view. On the inner streets they face each other with a one lane road in between. Population of Cairo - 22,000,000

Leaving town now - this is their new museum that they are very proud of. It will open in September and it will be the largest museum in the world. It will have all of King Tut’s stuff together at last.

This is the form of public transit in the city. I’m not sure what they call them but they’re everywhere and normally jammed with people staring at their phones. They can’t do any form of mass transit like subways or light rail because anytime they dig they uncover mass antiquity and have to stop construction.

Mosques are literally every mile (if not less) along the freeway so you can pull over and pray if need be

These conical structures are pigeon houses. There are hundreds of them. They raise the birds to eat and to collect their droppings to sell for fertilizer. Also most of the single family dwellings have re-bar sticking out because if your house is unfinished, you pay less in taxes.

Laurel Dauer 4/15/25 Laurel Dauer 4/15/25

Malta

April 14, 2025

We dodged all the ship traffic and pulled into Valletta, the capital of Malta at about noon on a sunny but breezy day. It certainly was an impressive sight, sailing into the very protected harbor. I had done a lot of research and found that not only is it a very historical site but somewhat mystical as well. Rumors about a giant race of people that once occupied the island, temples made of 50 ton stones, the stashed arc of the covenant and Jason’s golden fleece abound. For a place that is merely the size of Manhattan (only round) there are enough creepy stories from the last 7000 years and before to keep anybody up at night. Even Hitler had a particular fascination with the Island, beyond the strategic significance. He dropped more bombs here than anywhere else and lost over 150 planes on a place that’s hard to even find on the map.

Supposedly, at one point in time you could walk the length of the island through the underground tunnels that have existed since prehistoric times. Very odd sized bones have also been found. This is where the locals held out during the bombing. But the creepiest thing to me was that after WWII a group of school kids and a teacher went down to explore the catacombs, got lost and were never found so they have sealed off most of the passageways forever (cue Twilight Zone music).

I also got the story on the Maltese falcon. Back in the 1500’s when the Ottoman Empire was about to take over Europe for the Arabs, they knew that in order to do that, they would need to control Malta. So they attacked from where Libya is today, but the Knights Templar and the Maltese Knights were ready for them and there was a big, gruesome battle with the Knights coming out on top. The Ottomans had to go home with their tails between their legs. Europe was so happy these guys had saved them from the Arabs that Charles V of Spain said the Knights Templar could have the island and stay there if they gave him a bunch of gold and a falcon every year. I never did find out or see what the story was with the dog (Maltese).

We boarded a bus for a “panoramic tour” which actually was a big disappointment. It started with a one-hour movie of all the stuff I had already read about and had explained to Tod. The rest was eating some local food and a quick drive out and back to the other side of the island which is very densely populated so it all looked the same. The tour guide wasn’t very good and either spent time complaining about her grandchildren, or locals that had left the Island after the War. She thought it was highly unfair that they didn’t hang around to rebuild but ended up making a bunch of money in US, Canada or Australia and now they’re coming back to build big fancy houses and jack up rents. I suppose I can see her point, but it wasn’t something we had paid to hear.

Mercifully we were able to jump off the bus before we got back to the ship, and we had a wonderful couple of hours wandering around the middle of town. If I thought Cartegena was uber Catholic, Malta made it look like a den of iniquity. I just looked it up – there are 350 Catholic churches on the Island, and I mean cathedral sized. There is literally one on every corner. Neon crosses on people’s balconies was a common sight.

It was crawling with tourists, but it seemed more capable of handling the throngs than Gibraltar and the locals were very pleasant. Remarkably, a good percentage of visitors seemed to be American, the most we’ve seen anywhere on this trip and they were all around college age. We surmised that they were probably having a semester abroad and came to Malta on their Easter break. Also of note, there was kind of this brown haze in the air and both of us had to pop allergy pills to get our noses to stop running. I thought maybe it was pollution but since it was a breezy day, and it sits alone in the Mediterranean that couldn’t have been it. Later, we found out from Captain Frank that it was Sahara sand.

Despite the failed tour we loved our time here, although they say the “really hot” weather will hit in a couple of weeks. I’m glad we weren’t facing the crowd with uncomfortable heat and humidity to boot!

Sea day tomorrow then on to the Sahara sand up-close and personal.

Coming into port - see all the ships in the background

Tons of flags flying because of holy week

City of Mdina which we could only see from afar

It’s such an odd language with characters I’ve never seen before - all a result of their storied past I’m assuming

View from our balcony, you can see the layers of civilizations in the rock wall

Laurel Dauer 4/14/25 Laurel Dauer 4/14/25

Sea Day #1 Mediterranean Sea

April 12, 2025

We’ve got a somewhat complicated trip to Malta. Captain Frank has announced that this is one of the busiest shipping routes on earth. Not only does he have to look out for other cruise ships but also container ships and oil tankers. Then after you throw in yachts, your local fishing boats, unseaworthy African refugee boats and pirates, it gets a little dicey.

We were sitting in the Crow’s Nest right before he made this announcement. We had just seen us miss a massive Hapag-Lloyd container ship loaded to the max, who cut in front of us by only a couple of hundred feet. No doubt that it wasn’t that close but it sure felt like it was!

It seems weird to have “traffic” because we’ve been in the middle of nowhere for so long. We’re really looking forward to visiting Malta. I’ve been doing some research and if I thought the previous stops were ancient, Malta dwarfs them with its mystical and mysterious past that predates Stonehenge!

I got this off the internet- yep it’s crowded all right! Each arrow represents a ship

Laurel Dauer 4/13/25 Laurel Dauer 4/13/25

Cartagena, Spain

April 11, 2025

What difference a day makes! Waking up in Cartegena was like a dream compared to yesterday. Although the weather remained cloudy and breezy, what a refreshing change from Gibraltar. We were moored right near the central old town and main square so again, venturing out on our own seemed like the way to go. They apparently had a big red “hop on, hop off” bus but we never saw it, so we jumped on one of those 4 car mini train type vehicles to get an overview of the city.

It rattled us around for 45 minutes while the driver narrated a brief history of the town through tinny speakers. The price was right, and the information was good but after bumping down ancient brick roads on hard seats for almost an hour admittedly we were happy to get off. As it turned out it was a local holiday being the first day of Easter week in their community. I thought that was Palm Sunday but what do I know. Anyway, some fun facts about Cartegena include that it is the second oldest city in Spain (behind Cádiz) and was first settled by the Phoenicians, followed by the Carthaginians and then the Romans in about 200 BC. A few things made it attractive to these early inhabitants. It has a great natural harbor, plenty of natural resources like iron, zinc and salt which they still mine today, and it has 5 very large hills that are good for fortresses and fighting the requisite enemies.

They were digging up some ground for a parking garage in the ‘80s and surprise! They stumbled upon a huge Roman amphitheater which they have now uncovered and somewhat restored. There are 2000 years of beautiful architecture scattered around the old town of 250,000 inhabitants and it was remarkably clean and well cared for. There was one small Windstar cruise ship in town but not adding enough tourists to be a bother.

We wandered around for a couple of hours and then the action started at about noon. Locals started coming out of the woodwork and there were parades with drums and horns and folks dressed in traditional costumes. The favorite of the non-participants pastime was to plop down at a café near the square, order tapas and drinks and watch the festivities. So of course that is what we did! We needed our seafood fix that we missed out on the day before. Everybody seemed to know everyone else and greeting each other heartily. It was fun to be in the middle of it.

The breezy winds calmed down and although the sun only came out for about 30 seconds, we were quite comfortable to sit outside and eat for about an hour and a half. We found the Cartegenians quite cordial, a contrast to all the curt and stressed-out locals we had encountered in Gibraltar.

After a lovely and relaxing break, we headed back to the ship in plenty of time for our sail away at 4PM. There is a sea day tomorrow as we make our way to Malta.

Picture of all the historical sites to see in old town

The Roman amphitheater they discovered in the ‘80s when building a parking garage

Tapas course #1 - from left to right: potato salad on crunchy bread stick topped with anchovy (local specialty), steamed mussels with lemon, fried calamari with spicy mayo

They take lent very seriously in this town. Probably 1 in 10 balconies were decorated in some way.

Town hall and main square. You can see our ship through the trees to the left.

I snapped this right as we were pulling away. They were rushing off to join the festival in their traditional costumes

Laurel Dauer 4/10/25 Laurel Dauer 4/10/25

Gibraltar, British Overseas Territory

April 10, 2025

It had to happen, and today was the day. We arrived at our first bona-fide tourist trap. Our initial clue should have been when I opened the curtains this morning expecting to see the Prudential Rock. Instead I saw someone in their stateroom 75 yards across from us on a German cruise ship twice the size of ours. The weather was also not cooperative with heavy clouds, a steady breeze and about 63F.

Because it’s so tiny, about the only tour option in town is to go to the top of the Rock, either by car or tramway. On top live 300 Barbary Macaques (the only monkey colony on the continent of Europe) which can be aggressive, particularly if dumb tourists taunt or eat around them and we could easily miss that. There wouldn’t be a view anyway because of the heavy cloud cover and the other big attraction, tunnels burrowed through the rock that have been used in the last 300+ years of wars held no appeal to us. So, we decided to set off on foot to explore the teeny “British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar”. It’s only 2.6 square miles and that includes the giant Rock in the middle, so just wandering around seemed an easy option.

Before we ventured out, I did some Google research because I was having trouble grasping why it was British here at the very bottom tip of Spain. Apparently it all started with Neanderthals about 50,000 years ago. Because of Gibraltars strategic location at the entrance to the Mediterranean it has been fought for and occupied by everyone and his brother (look it up if you don’t believe me). It finally ended up in British hands some 300 years ago. After their occupation they fought off multiple foes in 5 or 6 more wars and now, after all that conflict, the Territory seems to be solidly British. Well, kind of anyway. The population of 35,000 are happy enough to be a protectorate and they’ve always voted, after multiple elections to leave things as is. The Brits certainly have no desire to give up this strategic stronghold. Their income these days comes primarily from tourism and online gambling companies based here.

English is the official language taught in school, signs are all in English and the currency is the Gibraltar pound which is directly attached to the British pound in that they have the same value. But other than the round red mail boxes, one red phone booth and a few cheesy “pubs” there was nothing we saw to indicate that it’s a British colony. They drive on the right, everyone converses in Spanish and almost all the products in the grocery stores are from Spain (I looked).

I had read that 90% of the tourists are “day trippers” who leave their cars in large lots at the border and walk in from Spain. In addition to them, plenty of cars, the people from our boat, the throngs from the German ship and about 20 busloads of Spanish teenagers on Easter break, we spent the day maneuvering through this obstacle course of humanity. I guess now we know what they are saying when they talk about European “over tourism”. I’m just grateful we didn’t go to the top of the Rock. The thought of hordes of people in addition to 300 monkeys gives me the heebie jeebies.

The restaurants didn’t hold much appeal and were jammed with tourists. We were hoping to get a nice seafood lunch, but offerings were essentially fish and chips, pizza, burgers or curries. So, after bobbing and weaving through the masses for about 3 hours, we headed back to the ship and had pizza, chicken curry and chips for lunch.

On to the big waves tonight which are in an area that is notorious for high seas. I was wrong when I said it was supposed to happen last night. Captain Frank says he’s going to batten down the hatches this evening and close a bunch of decks in preparation. Yikes! On to Cartagena, Spain tomorrow.

To the left you can see the airport runway. Up until 2023 when they built a tunnel under it, they had to stop car traffic for planes to land and take off.

Tod gearing up to face the crowds in the old town

Lord Nelson who left his arm in Lanzarote

One of the many ferries between Spain and Morocco

Laurel Dauer 4/9/25 Laurel Dauer 4/9/25

Sea Day #10 Atlantic Ocean

April 9, 2025

Not much to report today except it’s our first day of really lousy weather! We can’t complain because we’ve been so lucky so far. I hear Tenerife is getting hit by gale force winds today. Captain Frank says we’ll encounter them tonight but probably around 2AM.

We get to Gibraltar about 7AM tomorrow and it’s supposed to be cloudy but at least no rain. (so they say)

Laurel Dauer 4/9/25 Laurel Dauer 4/9/25

Lanzarote, Canary Islands

April 8, 2025

About 7 hours by ferry, or overnight for us lies the island of Lanzarote and its main city of Arrecife. We considered taking a tour, but admittedly we’ve been craving a little “alone time” and decided to wander around by ourselves. Another volcanic “sister” to Tenerife, we counted at least 30 volcanoes from our view on our balcony. There was nothing quite as dramatic in height as we’d seen yesterday. Lanzarote has had more “recent” eruptions from as late as back in the 1750’s. It was nice not have to rush off for a tour bus, so we had a leisurely breakfast and wandered off, again with crystal clear skies, to locate the shuttle bus to the main part of town. On our way we passed some excavations of something obviously historical, but we had no tour guide to describe what we were seeing. On Tenerife in the not-too-distant past they had uncovered some pyramids like the ones you see in Mexico and these diggings appeared to be unearthing something of that nature.

Arrecife was a charming little city with white brick houses and enchanting little streets. It was reminiscent of what you would find in mediterranean countries like Italy or Greece. The waterfront was lined with palm trees, seafood restaurants and cafes. There was another cruise ship in port, about twice the size of ours from the MSC line which Tod researched and found it originated in Brazil and was going to end up in Marseilles, France. I remember back in the ‘80s when you could easily tell Europeans or South Americans from the folks from the US particularly from what they wore, but not so these days. Everybody looks alike and we even had a couple of people ask us for directions in Spanish!

We set off with Google maps to find the island shopping mall because I was in desperate need of new socks and Tod was looking for a new shirt. We ended up taking the “scenic route” shall I say through the business district and finally came upon a gorgeous 3 story mall. We easily found what we were looking for and headed back to the tourist district to find someplace for lunch. I had a hankering for octopus and although I know it’s not politically correct these days, we found that most establishments were offering it. We found a very friendly café with a wonderful view of the inland harbor and had a relaxing meal watching the world go by.

After picking up a few souvenirs we couldn’t resist getting churros drizzled with Nutella for dessert from a street vendor. What treat! We really didn’t do much else but head back to the shuttle that would take us to the ship, but it was a wonderful, relaxing and memorable day. We did however walk about 4 ½ miles according to my watch so we didn’t feel too guilty about the churros.

As we sailed away, we could see massive Las Vegas sized resorts up the coast a bit and we were happy that we had missed them. Each had a teeny tiny beach which is apparently sand that they must haul over from the Western Sahara which is only about 150 miles away. Well, they certainly have plenty to spare!

Sea day tomorrow and loss of another hour as we head to Gibraltar.

Grilled octopus and baby new potatoes slathered in olive oil

Car ferries that dash back and forth between the islands

Laurel Dauer 4/9/25 Laurel Dauer 4/9/25

Tenerife, Canary Islands

April 7, 2025

Who knew there were a large number of volcanic islands with huge mountains off the northwest coast of Africa? I expected the Canary’s to be like desert atolls since they are off the coast of the Sahara Desert. WRONG! In fact, it couldn’t be farther from the truth as they are home to the tallest mountain in the Atlantic. At 12,000 feet Mt. Teide towers over the port of Santa Cruz where we landed on Monday to a sunny, 63F morning. Concerned we’d be cold because of what the thermometer said, we dressed in long pants and took our lightweight down vests as we boarded a massive tour bus.

Our guide introduced himself as Carlos Garcia (of which he said there were at least 60,000 Carlos Garcia’s in the Latin world) and gave us some back story on the Canary’s. They were first inhabited by people called the Guanche in about 1000 BC whose language is related to the Berbers. Then came the Romans, Arabs, Moors and then the Spanish elbowed everybody out in the 1400’s. Of course, the usual suspects tried to run the Spaniards out at various points in history and Carlos was very happy to point out that the English had tried 3 times and failed each time including the last time that cost Lord Nelson his arm. There are 9 islands in total and on Tenerife, the largest, there are 300 volcanoes. He said that the island locals they don’t really consider themselves as Spanish, unless of course Real Madrid (soccer team) happens to win a championship. The population of the island is 1,000,000 and they get 8,000,000 tourists a year.

The origin of the name is not from the little yellow birdie (who is native to the island) but from the large dogs (canes in Latin) that were found here when the island was discovered. So much for my vision of tweety birds on every tree. Regardless, he said that geologists had been arguing forever as to why these very volcanic islands even exist because they are not near tectonic plates. He often made comparisons to the big Island of Hawaii because of there volcanic similarities.

We headed up the massive slope where most of the population lives to a winding mountain road to the Mt. Teide National Park. We passed the airport where the worst aviation disaster in history occurred in 1977. Tod and I both remembered the tragedy well however we didn’t recall the details. Apparently, a terrorist had bombed the airport on the neighboring island of Grand Canaria, so all flight traffic had to be diverted to Tenerife. It was a tiny airport on a foggy day, and a KLM 747 pilot mistakenly thought he was cleared for take-off and broadsided a Pan Am 747 from LA that was sitting on the runway. The death toll was 583 people, including everyone on the KLM flight and all but 60 some on the Pan Am. When I saw on our itinerary that we would be stopping at Tenerife, that tragedy was the first thing that came to my mind.

We continued on our way with incredible views of the coastline below us. Carlos said that what we were looking at was the site of a massive landslide into the ocean that occurred ages ago. It generated a tidal wave that was felt as far away as the coast of north America. No doubt that it was pretty impressive when we stopped in the middle of the forest to get a better view of where the landslide had occurred. He also said that only 6% of the vegetation on the island is native having a bunch of Eucalyptus brought from Australia, cactus brought from Mexico and pine trees brought from California. He lamented that most of the natural fresh water on the island was going to a big (non-native) banana plantation, so they were always short on water.

I don’t think we could have had better weather. Despite what the thermometer said, we were quite warm and had a cloudless sky to see volcano after volcano with of course, Mt. Teide being the center of all the attention. Soon we were above the tree line and continued to climb, our gigantic bus on this tiny road. The higher we went, the more “other worldly” things became, and I mentioned to Tod it reminded me of a “Life” magazine book I had as a kid with colorful pictures of flaming volcanos and angry, drooling dinosaurs. We came around one bend to see a enormous planetarium and several telescopes where apparently Stephen Hawking liked to hang out. Carlos said he saw him one day several years ago when he was taking a tour group through.

On we climbed feeling very alone and like we were in the land that time forgot when we came around a curve to see a massive line of cars parked by the side of the road. Then we could look up the side of the mountain where we saw the stanchions for a cable car to the top. He said from the bottom of the tram to climb to the top would be about 10km and would take about 5 hours round trip from this point. My knees ached with pain at the thought! We carried on and came to the turn around spot for our out and back trip. It was the “Roques de Garcia” which ranked up there with the Grand Canyon as a wow factor, particularly because we weren’t expecting it. Carlos started to rattle off all the movies that had been made here including Clash of the Titans, Lord of the Rings and the best and most famous of them all….1,000,000 Years B.C. with Raquel Welch! He says his grandfather still talks about her visiting the island although Carlos said doesn’t remember because he wasn’t born yet. HAHA!

We had about a half an hour to wander around before we got back on the bus to begin our bloodcurdling 2-hour descent back to the ship. The bus driver navigated the 2000-foot sheer drops on one side and the 6” clearance with buses coming the opposite direction on the other side with the casual confidence that comes from doing this daily. I just hoped that the brakes held where Tod was more concerned about the guard rails, which he said were only there for looks or maybe just to prevent a scooter from going over the side.

Despite our anxieties which we had given up to fate about a half an hour into the trip down, it was an astonishing and memorable day for us who had entered into the trek with no expectations. What impressed us most about the island besides the scenery was the tourism infrastructure, and the gorgeous facilities in the national park. It was truly a hiker’s paradise! Ahh, if only to be 40 years younger…

Area of landslide with Mt. Teide in the background. You can see the island of Grand Canaria in the distance

Planetarium with Mt. Teide in the background

Line of cars and tram station on far left

Laurel Dauer 4/6/25 Laurel Dauer 4/6/25

Sea Day #9 Atlantic Ocean

April 6, 2025

We lost another hour last night and looking ahead, we only have 3 more time changes until we head home for another 8 hour change. This is one big planet.

The weather is warmer today and the seas are super calm. Not quite ready for waterskis but almost. I saw a large pod of dolphins today and I can’t remember the last time I saw trash in the water which is somewhat heartening!

We’re headed for 2 stops in the Canary Islands next who, despite geographically being African are considered European. We’re finally getting to the land of the Euro because the Canary’s are technically considered Spain so that will make finances a lot easier.

Laurel Dauer 4/6/25 Laurel Dauer 4/6/25

Sea Day #8 Atlantic Ocean

April 5, 2025

Oops - I see I missed Sea Day number 7. Probably because instead of falling back an hour last night we had to spring ahead one. How confusing! Tod says we’ve burned through 20 time zones on this trip.

The weather is a little chilly, no sitting outside today. We’re bouncing around a lot too, and did our pinball imitations on our way back from dinner.

I guess I’m being silly but I love that the top potato chip brand in Africa is called “Simba” with its mascot being a lion. LOL

Laurel Dauer 4/6/25 Laurel Dauer 4/6/25

Praia, Cape Verde

April 4, 2025

Today’s version of colonial takeover and pillaging is brought to you by the Portuguese! We arrived at 7:00AM to Praia, Ilha de Santiago, Cabo Verde (the city of Praia on the island of Santiago in the country of Cape Verde, for you English speakers). Located about 350 miles off the coast of Senegal on the west coast of the African continent, Cape Verde (CV) is a volcanic archipelago of 10 islands, with Praia being on the largest island of Santiago and the capital. The dock where we anchored appeared minute by the standards of the other harbors at which we have previously moored with maybe 25 containers or less peppering the wharf. It had been foggy coming in, but as soon as the gangway dropped, the skies parted to reveal another sunny day and about 75F.

I had booked us on a 4 hour excursion called “Praia and Cidade Velha” which sounded interesting enough for a couple who hadn’t heard of CV until about 6 months ago. We peaked over the railing of our balcony to see multiple white 20 passenger buses lined up below and were grateful that they appeared fairly modern. The tour description described the transportation as being “basic” and not to count on air-conditioning, so we were relieved to see vehicles that were a cut above a school bus. However, they still didn’t have air conditioning.

We filed off the ship and onto our bus where we were greeted by our guide for the day named “Joe”. Sporting a New England Patriots ball cap, speaking with a heavy Boston accent (“how ya doin’?”) and the skin color of café au lait, he didn’t exactly fit the bill of whom we were expecting to guide our tour. Regardless, with his infectious grin and constant joking he did a great job making us feel right at home. He started off by giving a little history about himself and then about his country. His parents came from one of the outer islands and were “imported” to Angola in the 60’s to work in the fields. He was born in that country but they were all able to return to CV when civil war broke out there in the ‘70s.

He described the history of islands as being uninhabited until some Portuguese guy discovered them in the mid-1400’s and claimed them for his country. They started cultivating and growing crops and developed a tidy business as being kind of the rest area for all the ships that were puttering around trying to conquer their own colonies in those days. Even Christopher Columbus stopped by for a rest and a chance to go to a local church. It wasn’t long before they came upon the idea of human trafficking and with the help of continental African tribes who wanted to get rid of their rivals, hundreds of thousands were captured and sent into the willing hands of the Portuguese on CV. Hence the island became the center of the slave trade for the next 300+ years shipping humans off to Brazil, Barbados, the Caribbean and of course, the fledgling USA to work primarily in sugar cane.

After the bottom fell out of the slave business in the early 1800’s, the Portuguese lost interest in the colony but hung onto power until the country got their independence in the 1970’s. Of course, the usual suspects tried to grab CV for themselves during those centuries and as a result it is a very diverse race of people, culture and music. Now they say there are more Cape Verdeans in the USA than there are in CV with its population of less than 1,000,000. But thanks to influx of money from the Germans, Chinese and Americans, the little nation is making a comeback with the greatest source of revenue coming from tourism. The national language is Portuguese with the spoken language primarily being Crioulo or Creole – a combination of Portuguese and West African languages. And this can vary significantly from island to island in the chain of ten.

Praia, the capital city into which we were now driving was not the original center of commerce after the discovery of CV. The Cidade Velha (city of Velha), our next destination was the real first stopping place and where most of the slave sales took place. It was also the place where Columbus went to Mass.

Our first stop was on the “Plateau” in Praia which looms a couple of hundred of feet above the harbor where our ship had moored. Apparently, it didn’t take the Portuguese long to figure out with all the slave trade and money changing hands that pirates were not soon to follow. So they relocated their capital to this tableland where they could much more easily defend themselves from marauders. We parked near the fortress which is now home of the CV army (all 1500 of them) and wandered around for a bit. We went into the pedestrian zone and center of town that contained the market where most of the action was.

Back on the bus we started on our 35-minute drive to Velha, passing a beautiful University (apparently a “gift” from the Chinese). The mountain scenery was really spectacular, all volcanic and very rugged with a couple of huge volcanos in the distance. Scrawny trees covered the landscape which Joe named but I can’t remember. Anyway, they hold the water in the ground, prevent erosion, are very bitter so the animals won’t eat them and repel mosquitos. Thousands of them had been planted (another “gift” from the Chinese) and appeared to be thriving in a very hostile environment.

Before descending into Velha town, we stopped at another large fortress that had just been rebuilt, we assumed for tourism and its new status as an UNESCO World Heritage site. All the cannons were aimed at the harbor below which was the graveyard for countless sunken pirate ships. Joe said they were attempting to launch a dive center there that would cater to people who wanted to explore the wrecks underwater.

After a short visit to the fortress and great photo ops, we drove down a narrow, rocky road to the old town to wander around. We walked up “Banana Row” which is the oldest street on the island dating from the 1500’s and which was lush and green among the stone houses. The center plaza of town down by the waterfront was marked by a spire where humans were humiliated and sold for hundreds of years. There was a church with a massive baptismal font nearby where the enslaved were baptized because reportedly they could fetch a larger price if they had been christened. (Don’t ask me, I just write this stuff)

It was indeed a beautiful place but with such a history, we were admittedly a bit somber visiting it. We found our short stopover to CV enlightening yet sobering as so many of our visits to island nations and South Africa have been on this trip. We wish them well as they enter a new era of prosperity in their new tourism ventures! It is most assuredly a very beautiful place.

Charles Darwin spent time here. Many streets are named after him.

First shot I’ve gotten of the typical African dog which we’ve seen on all our visits to the continent. Looks remarkably similar to the typical Asian dog, but with a slightly longer coat and slightly floppier ears.

They’ve just started cultivating strawberries and now is the season

View from the fortress down to Velha and the pirate ship graveyard

Laurel Dauer 4/3/25 Laurel Dauer 4/3/25

Sea Day #6 Atlantic Ocean

April 3, 2025

Another lazy day with temperature outside at 82 and water temperature at 89F. They say all the trouble with hurricanes in the US starts here so I guess thanks for nothing Africa!

A bit of ship gossip- apparently after our trip to see the hippos and crocs in South Africa a bunch of people complained. The guide joking about flipping over in shark, croc and hippo infested waters I guess fell pretty flat. Along with seeing no crocs that apparently could be seen nearby, a lot of complaints were generated so we got a 25% refund. We were just happy to be there and leave in one piece!

I continue to knit away at my blanket and Tod continues to battle with his online game alliance. Lose another hour tonight. Life is good!

Laurel Dauer 4/2/25 Laurel Dauer 4/2/25

Sea Day#5 Atlantic Ocean

April 1, 2025

Today was a 24 hour day which was great. The weather seemed cooler but it was the same old 82F. The difference is the water temperature which is now 87. Humidity always hovers around 85%. Tomorrow’s forecast is for high of 83 and low of 81. Maybe some rain though!

Today was April Fools day and the staff had fun making up our bed upside down, telling us it’s Saturday etc etc. They must enjoy days they can do something a little different.

We crossed the equator at about 4:30PM. Tod and I had a bet - he said there’d be a red line and I said definitely black. Turns out we were both wrong:(

Captain Frank tooting the horn when we crossed the equator

Laurel Dauer 4/1/25 Laurel Dauer 4/1/25

Sea Day #4 Atlantic Ocean

March 31, 2025

Well, you wouldn’t think that having repetitive 25-hour days would mess up your body rhythm, but it DOES! We are now on Greenwich mean time and between heading west and with Europe going on daylight savings time it’s a bit befuddling! I stared at the ceiling for about 4 hours last night.

It’s definitely getting warmer, 82F air temp with 82F water temperature and we should cross the equator tomorrow. Seas remain very calm, and we are going with the tide. I saw some flying fish today. At first, I thought they were little birdies playing in the water but then I thought, what would they be doing out here 500 miles offshore? Captain Frank says we’re in about 18,000 feet of water due to some trench which is over 3 miles deep. He also said to go out tonight and say goodbye to the constellation the Southern Cross as we won’t be able to see it again after we pass the equator. After dinner the clouds cooperated and there it was! We could easily see it from the very bow of the ship.

Laurel Dauer 3/31/25 Laurel Dauer 3/31/25

Sea Day #3 Atlantic Ocean

March 30, 2025

We set our clocks back for an hour last night so it’s been another 25 hour day. It’s definitely getting warmer which is nice. We were able to sit outside in the afternoon . Tod has pretty much kicked his cold and will do laps tomorrow he says.

Tonight is the big “Formal Ball” in which all the people that like to dress up and ballroom dance are participating. It’s not exactly what these couple of old grundgers would enjoy doing but different strokes for different folks! Besides, they serve the exact same food at the buffet as they do in the dining room where they won’t serve you unless you’re in formal attire. So we enjoyed steak and lobster in our sweats upstairs.

Some of the crew are from Thailand and are worried about their families. What a horrible tragedy. Others are just finishing up Ramadan and they will have a big feast tomorrow to celebrate Eid in the crews mess.

Captain Frank says we’re headed for an “Atlantic Ninõ” which apparently is the “younger brother” of the Pacific El Ninõ of which we are very familiar on our west coast. It comes only once a decade or so, and he found it noteworthy enough to mention it in his noontime announcement today. I guess we’ll see how it affects us but so far it’s smooth sailing!

No sunset tonight!

Laurel Dauer 3/29/25 Laurel Dauer 3/29/25

Sea Day # 2 Atlantic Ocean

March 29, 2025

Today begins our long voyage up the coast of Africa. It is 3000 nautical miles until our next port which is Cape Verde. We should arrive on April 4 per Captain Frank. Today we passed the infamous “Skeleton Coast” where apparently there are countless shipwrecks where the usual group of invaders fell afoul of very dangerous waters over hundreds of years. Apparently the area is still restricted by Namibia and it is only accessible by plane. They limit visitors to only 800 per year.

Most if not all of the Aussies and Kiwis got off in Cape Town, about 400 in all and only 50 some people boarded. It’s like being on a wonderful new cruise! Not that there was anything wrong with the previous time but everything seems so much calmer and staff are falling over themselves to be of service because they have so much time on their hands.

I had a nice long walk on the Promenade Deck and Tod hung around with his feet up to hopefully finish off this cold he’s had. I’m shocked and so happy I didn’t get it but I guess there’s still time. Let’s hear it for massive doses of Vitamin C!

The weather is warming up as we approach the Equator which should help. And what’s also great is since we are on the port side of the ship, we’ll have sunsets for many nights to come!

Laurel Dauer 3/29/25 Laurel Dauer 3/29/25

Walvis Bay, Namibia

March 28, 2025

I was gently awoken this morning to a very familiar sound, fog horns. Having lived most of my life either in Seatle or in the San Francisco Bay area, the regular droning of muffled fog horns was a soothing reminder of home. We had to look at the on-screen map to see how close we were to shore because the fog was so thick. Our arrival time was scheduled for 11:00AM but it was pretty clear we wouldn’t make it.

After our delay we stepped out into bright sunshine and a light breeze nof about 68F, again very reminiscent of home. I had signed us up for a tour called “Go Local – the Real Namibia”. It promised to show the real life of locals and since I felt our South African experience was a bit “white bread”, and Tod was willing, off we went to take a very deep dive into this remarkable culture.

No big luxurious bus this time, but a 20-passenger van of which there were 16 of us, a driver and our guide who again, I’ll refer to as TG. Regrettably I never got his name, but he was a proud young Namibian, spoke with perfect English AND vocal inflections, so we clearly understood everything he said (except for his name that I assume was in his language).

He started by giving us backstory on his country of which, except for a couple of You Tube videos, we were completely ignorant. Walvis Bay, the town where we docked and were currently leaving was one of the best deep-water harbors on the west coast of Africa. It is used by many countries, particularly the land locked ones like Botswana, Zimbabwe and Congo. Namibia had been subjugated by the usual suspect countries that we have learned had marched around occupying parts of Africa and Asia in the last 400 years, but this time we could add Germany to the list. When we saw half timbered architecture in the towns, it was easy to see their influence. Namibia was handed over to become independent from SA in 1990, and TG was very proud to say they had just elected their first woman president. Population is around 3,000,000, and top industries are mining, oil production, fishing and a fledgling tourist industry.

Geographically, Walvis Bay and Swakopmund, the town to which we were headed, sit between the Namib desert and the sea. We were immediately astounded by the towering dunes of this, arguably driest place on earth. TG remarked that funnily enough, it had rained last week and that was their first measurable precipitation in 16 (!!!) years. I thought, how funny that some 15-year-old kids had never seen rain in their entire lives. The only thing that grows in the desert are some little scrub bushes and the only creatures are reptiles and some desert elephants and horses that can survive by the river which was about 2 hours away. Our drive would take us about 40 minutes on a well maintained albeit narrow 2 lane road that was essentially the main artery along the entire coast. We passed miles and miles of fat palm trees on either side of the road meant to prevent sand from drifting on it. The trees survive from the heavy fog which is a pretty much a constant due to the winds from the cold water meeting the warmth of the desert. He told us that the highest dune was about 350 meters tall which is just short of the Empire State Building. He said it would take him 2-3 hours to climb it, but described getting down as “very easy, you just have to roll!”. It didn’t sound very easy to me but then I’m not a 25-year-old guy.

We arrived in Swakopmund in short order and headed to the local market where it was bustling with shoppers. He said normally we would stop and wander around, but because this day was payday for all the residents, there were likely to be some men that were drunk, and they might “misbehave” by doing things we wouldn’t want to see. I chuckled to myself and thought it was just like my hometown that I avoid on a Friday night for the exact same reason. Some things never change no matter how much money you have or wherever you are in the world.

We stopped at a small area that sold local produce where he thought we’d be safe from the riff raff and explained to us about the items being sold. Understandably, everything was dried being that was the obvious best form of food preservation. They had dried fish, a dried green substance that he described as “spinach” which he said you took home, rehydrated it and then laid it out flat to dry again to be stored as thin cakes. They also sold ground millet which appeared to be their major source of carbohydrate. Cooking is an issue for most people because they have no fuel to power a heat source. Wood and gas are very expensive while water is not. You can get about 25 liters for 1 Namibian dollar which is about $0.05 US.

He then explained that there were 11 tribes in the country and there was also an active municipal police department. However, they were only called on in the most urgent situations leaving the tribes to deal with most legal matters or disturbances of which apparently, they did a fine job. We made stops at 2 different homes where we were greeted at each by an elder woman of two different tribes. At the first home the lady explained in her language how marriage and traditions worked in her tribe, with TG translating. Then we headed to the home of an elder herbalist who explained some of her treatments and the ingredients, of course in her own language. Since hers was the language of TG, they both tried to give us clueless tourists a lesson on how to say words that would change meanings depending upon how you clicked your tongue. (see video below) I think we failed miserably but we tried!

Next stop was for a drink and a snack of the local dishes which again I will show below. We were both relieved to be with a group that was respectful and not silly or sophomoric about the very obvious differences in our foods and cultures. After our snack we headed for the local township where people lived while waiting to have their name called for a one room government house. Again, in the US we would call it a massive homeless encampment but as opposed to the ones we saw in SA, it was very tidy and although run down by our standards, completely free from trash. In SA I thought to myself I’d like to invest in a local barbed wire company because there was so much of it topping virtually every wall. Here in all our driving about, we’d only seen it a couple of times and that was usually around a machine shop or the like.

The people all wore clothes just like anyone in the States, the kids were clean and well-nourished and appeared very happy. We passed at least 8 schools in Swakopmund where education is mandatory. What we found really interesting was that up until 4th grade, the kids are taught in their own tribal language. After that, the parents make the decision on what languages they will learn, but their primary one is always that of their tribe. It was a real contrast in mood, status and regard from the folks in SA.

After a mind-boggling day, we headed back to Walvis Bay and our ship. We did make a photo stop to get a picture of the dunes, but I was SO disappointed not to be able to grab a shot that showed clearly how big they were. I asked one of our tour mates to get us in front of one to hopefully show the scale, but he put the setting on “portrait” and although it is a fine picture of us, the dunes are just blur. Back in the van, and dejected I just happened to glance left (I was sitting in the middle), flopped myself on Tod, aimed out the window and was able to catch what has turned out to be one of my favorite photos on the trip so far. See at the end.

TG left us with the words that Namibia is a beautiful country based on peace, where everyone respects each other and lives in harmony despite their religious and tribal differences. We certainly can’t argue with that from what we observed and would happily return to learn more about this fascinating culture anytime.

Tod and local produce items. Note those booze bottles are recycled to contain oils made from local seeds.

Typical neighborhood street. Note fake palm tree cell tower

Our first tribal elder with native costume

Our second Elder who was the herbalist and TG who was trying to teach us the various tongue clicks of their language

The root of the !Nara plant is used for medicinal purposes

The dung of the Aardwolf, a vegetarian hyena is very valuable in healing

Our snack - to be shared and eaten with right hand only! Clockwise from top left: millet cake, spinach, caterpillers and white beans. And no, we didn’t try but some people did! ;)

Local kids “high fiving” everyone but instead I did a fist bump. They looked so surprised that I think they’d never seen one before and had to run around the neighborhood showing all their friends!