Wind, Waves, and New Pages- Part 7 of 7
A short hop from Gibraltar to Cadiz, then west and north to Lisbon.
The last two stops on our nautical journey around the eastern Atlantic Ocean were Cadiz, Spain and Lisbon, Portugal. Getting there was a bit of an adventure in itself. On the night the ship left Gibraltar, another atmospheric low pressure area was drawing wind and waves from the west into the funnel created by the Strait of Gibraltar, making the west-bound leg fairly dynamic. Thankfully, the midnight turn north toward Cadiz coincided with a similar shift in the wind direction, keeping the pitching and rolling at a tolerable amplitude. The other downside of the weather was steady and persistent rain showers, low clouds, and temperatures around 55 F. Not an ideal showing for the convention and visitors bureau.
Cadiz is a city built of defensive necessity. Sometime around 1,100 BC, some Phoenician captain decided to roll the dice and see what lay west of the known world. Hooking a right at the opening to the Atlantic, they landed on a river flood plain surrounded by gently rolling green hills with a natural harbor. The Phoenicians eventually settled in and uncovered enough economic opportunity on the west coast of Spain to make Cadiz the oldest continually inhabited city in western Europe. Much of the success of ancient Cadiz is location. The old city is located at the tip of a peninsula, with an easily fortified narrow neck of land. The port continues to be important to the European economy for its shipyards and Navy bases. Just across the Bay of Cadiz, the US Navy maintains a very important installation at Rota.
Inside the breakwater at Cadiz at dawn.
The fortification Napoleon’s army faced when they laid siege from 1810 to 1812.
Our day’s exploration took us further into the the Spanish region of Andalusia to the city of Jerez de la Frontera. While walking around the old city of Cadiz in the rain sounded like a good time, seeing a few indoor demonstrations of the Andalusian spirit was more attractive. As a way to understand the Andalusian region, think of Andalusia like Spain’s version of Texas (and yes, Texas was Spain’s at one time, too.) It is Spain’s second largest region by area and largest by population. It was the heart of Phoenician, Roman and Moorish occupation, and has a distinctive community as compared to the northern more European regions. (Kinda like Texas is to the USA. Ok? Now I’m sorry I made the comparison.)
Our first stop was the Gonzalez Byass winery where we learned all about the sherry business. As a distinguished authority on wines, I can say the tour of the facility was thoroughly enlightening. In general, the product is dry white fortified wine made from the palomino grape, and generally taken with meals. The winery folks explained all the subtleties of the grapes, casks, and the fortification process. The tour of the facility ended with sample glasses of Tio Pepe wines.
A complex of old warehouses store the aging-blending casks used to make the Tio Pepe products.
Records of the top-down blending process. A fraction of the bottom wine cask’s contents are removed and then replaced with wine from the cask above. The process is repeated with subsequent higher casks, ensuring a uniform blending over the course of several years.
The Gonzalez Byass Tio Pepe Fino (15% ABV) and Solera Cream (18% ABV)
The most impressive part of the Tio Pepe winery business was the usage of the wide open spaces in the facilities. Many of the buildings are beautiful in themselves and are dual purposed for wine production and rental gathering space.
A warehouse set up for a wedding later in the day.
After learning about the beverage side of the Andalusian region, we moved over to the art and entertainment side of the culture, and nothing says “watch this!” like Horses (in Andalusia and Texas.) Not far from the Byass facility in Jerez, there is an equestrian school that attracts the finest horses and riders in the region.
Fundacion Real Escuela Andaluza del Arte Ecuestre maintains a beautiful campus in Jerez.
The campus exhibition hall where the students and horses under training give twice a week performances.
The equestrian arts performances include solo rider demonstrations, two and four horse wagon maneuvers, and a segment with eight synchronized horses showcasing all the skills.
The four hitch team pulled a fine wagon, complete with hydraulic disc brakes.
As you can see in the equestrian school photos, we got a couple sunny minutes on our trip inland, but it didn’t last long. Coming out of the Equestrian show, we were greeted by a vigorous rain, leading to versions of My Fair Lady and the old diction exercise about Spain, rain, plains and all that. Getting back to the ship and dry clothes became the next objective.
The harbor was a gray miserable scene by the time we returned to the ship. It was just as well, as the ship was departing in the middle afternoon for the long overnight run to the debarkation port of Lisbon.
Passing a container ship while en route to Lisbon. The weather continued to dog us for the last 48 hours of the trip with plenty of rain and poor visibility. The ship bashed into fifteen foot waves and forty knot wind from the west all night. In the morning the wind backed to southwest and subsided, giving the ship a staggered roll and surge.
More rain and clouds greeted us at the cruise ship terminal. Bright colored buildings and construction cranes were a poor antidote for the gloomy skies.
Lisbon, another very old city originally settled by the Phoenicians more than 1000 years before Christ, is the largest city in Portugal and the nation’s capital. (They claim to be the second oldest capital in Europe after Athens.) It was part of the Roman Empire, then occupied by Visigoths and then Moors. In 1147 it was returned to Christian rulers and has held court since 1255. The city has been laid waste by natural forces a few times, and yet the people keep coming back because of the advantageous location on the Tagus River near the North Atlantic Ocean. During the Age of Discovery, most of the Portuguese expeditions sailed from Lisbon, returning to the city with massive wealth.
Perhaps the most significant natural disaster was the 1755 estimated 8.5-9.0 earthquake and associated tsunami. It wiped out three quarters of the structures and killed 40,000 of the 200,000 inhabitants. It is because of this event, the Baroque style hunting lodge of Dom Joao Mascarenhas survived through to today for us to visit on this trip. When the family’s main home was destroyed, they relocated to the lodge and haven’t moved since.
Our afternoon of exploration took us up to the Fronteira Palace, the 1670 hunting lodge that escaped the earthquake of 1755.
After examining the style of the First Maquis de Fronteira, we moved down into the old city center to appreciate what we could in the persistent rain.
Like the Fronteira Castle, the Ruins of the Church of Santa Maria do Carmo, founded in 1389, are a reminder of the 1755 earthquake. It is reported that the roof collapsed during mass and killed most of the occupants. It was decided not to rebuild and the valuables distributed to other churches.
In a similar story, Igreja de Sao Domingos has been standing near the main square of Lisbon since 1341, but it hasn’t been without incident. In 1531, an earthquake left the building unusable and it had to be rebuilt. The 1755 earthquake and tsunami knocked down most of the building again. Then in 1959, fire burned the wooden superstructure and buckled the stonework. It was rebuilt a third time, and during the reconstruction the parishioners elected to keep the interior unfinished, giving the church a unique atmosphere.
Our afternoon tour of downtown Lisbon included some shopping and sampling of the local pasteis de nata. The custard tart is really good, and probably the most upifting single item in the city.
On our way back to the ship, we were treated to a few minutes of clear skies and sunshine. Unfortunately, it bathed the modern state of the city in a revealing light. Outside of the tourist areas, the city is mostly utilitarian apartment blocks with copious graffiti surrounded by abandoned industrial buildings and traffic snarls.
Our last morning on the ship was as beautiful as they come. The sun rose over the Sea of Straw, showing off the prettier side of Portugal. Unfortunately, the fair weather arrived just in time for us to fly home.
The airport experience in Lisbon is one I will not forget anytime soon. Portuguese signage was confusing and the layout of the terminal was mystifying. The most amazing part was all the men’s restrooms seemed to be out of service at the same time. The long, long security lines had many men ansty to get through and find an open restroom, only to find the men’s rooms on the gate side of security were closed for cleaning, too!
On the bright side, while walking the full length of the building in search of the banheiro, we got to see the Fantastic World of the Portuguese Sardine!
Leaving Portugal behind for the high altitude sunshine. Kinda feel like the country didn’t show us its best parts. Maybe another time.
The flight home was mostly without incident. Our Boeing 767 arrived from the States on time, but there wasn’t a gate for it to unload, so it parked for half an hour. When we finally loaded, we were mostly on time getting away from the gate, but some unidentified computer wouldn’t re-set, so we got put in time-out for an hour while the maintenance crew resolved the issue. When we landed at Dulles, our tardiness meant we had to use a different CBP checkpoint, somewhere across the airport. We needed the exercise, so it really wasn’t a problem. We stopped in a sit-down place for some dinner, and after eating, the waiter informed us that the POS credit card reader wasn’t working that day. No worries, I had enough cash, but it would have been nice to know beforehand. Oh the joys of traveling!
Since this is the end of the line, for now, I thought I should make one more shameless plug for the new book. It is available for pre-order at your favorite bookseller today!