2004 Europe

Fornells, Minorca, Spain



May 1 – Well its May Day and I guess Socialists all over the world are having a great party.  The mindless twits need to have at least one day to be happy.  Today we’re at sea steaming toward Mahon, Minorca, Spain.  I guess ‘steaming’ is not a good choice of words since this ship is diesel powered.  It’s just that ‘dieseling’ doesn’t have quite the romantic sound I’m looking for.  The Noordam is one of the two ships left in HAL’s fleet that still use a shaft to transfer power from the engines to the screws.  All the newer ships are diesel/electric and the connection between the two is just a power cable.  The diesel engine drives a generator; the electricity then turns a motor attached to the screws.  The motor turns at a constant speed and they vary the pitch of the screw to adjust the forward thrust.



I have mixed emotions about spending any time or money in Spain since they have chosen the easy way out in the fight against terrorism but I guess I’ll have to set that aside this one time.  I’m using the sea day to do some laundry and just lounge around.  We did have a shore excursion lecture on what’s available for the remainder of this cruise and out port lecturer gave a presentation on Minorca.



Tonight’s another formal evening.  There are only two on this ten-day segment.  I actually don’t mind getting dressed up occasionally, but four in fourteen days was one too many.  Of course nothing will probably ever match the Transatlantic on the QE2.  Six days at sea and six formal nights.  Yikes!!! 



May 2 – Today we are in Mahon, Minorca, Spain.  We got up early, ate breakfast and joined a ship’s tour to Fornells, Monte Toro, Port Ferraris, Son Martorellet, and Sant Patrici.  Fornells (left) is a small fishing village on the northeast coast of Minorca.  It has the deepest natural harbor in the world after Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and a very small natural inlet.  It’s Sunday so everything is closed except for small cafés.  The town is very picturesque and has a good view of Monte Toro, the tallest mountain on the island and our next stop.



Monte Toro is 1,181 feet high and has a small chapel on top dedicated to the Virgin Mary.  Fable has it that some nuns were going up Monte Toro to pray and found their way blocked by a large boulder.  A huge bull came down the hill and pushed the boulder aside allowing them to go up to pray, hence the name Monte Toro.  While they were praying the Virgin Mary came to them and asked them to build a chapel to her on the top of the mountain, so they did.  Inside the chapel there’s a rock behind an iron grate that is said to be where they were praying when they got the vision.  An interesting aspect of the chapel is how they have done the Stations of the Cross.  (One of my more esoteric hobbies is collecting pictures of the Stations of the Cross from the churches we visit.)  They appear to be tapestries, but are in fact painted cloth.  I have never seen the Stations of the Cross done this way anywhere else we’ve been.  They are very elaborate, not just showing the station, but also various Saints, decorations and other events in Christ’s life.  The Station of the Scourging of Christ (right) also shows Him in the Garden of Gethsemane praying, some cherubs between the two main pictures and some unidentified saints along the sides.  Very beautiful.  There was also a statue of Christ with outstretched arms at the top.



Next we went to Port Ferraris, a very picturesque city on a small bay.  Very nice homes on the cliffs overlooking the city.  I was looking in the real estate office window in Mahon.  The houses there sell for about 500,000-900,000 British Pounds.  Pretty expensive even by SoCal standards.



After viewing the bay we went to Son Martorellet to see a show by Minorcan horses.  They are a mix of Arabian and British horses.  That produces a medium sized horse that is mild natured and easy to train.  It is recognized as a separate breed.  They are mostly black with a small white blaze or stockings.  They are trying to breed the white completely out of them.  The show was great.  Three riders, two men and a woman.  The woman was the owner of the ranch.  They rode several gates and dressage.  These horses specialize in rearing up like the Lone Ranger on Silver.  They can do it for extended periods of time and many repetitions.  They have a parade here once a year where the horses parade form miles taking two steps and rearing up for a step and repeating that over and over.

Sant Patrici was our next destination.  Here they make the Menorcan Cheese.  (I keep going back and forth between Menorca and Minorca because the maps have one spelling and the spell checker likes the other.)  Here we sampled the cheese, both Curado and Semicurado.  The Semicurado is aged for six months and is very creamy with great flavor, almost like a blend of Swiss and Cheddar.  The Curado is aged for at least a year and is like very hard, crumbly, sharp cheddar but tastes different, very tangy.  I liked the Semi so much I bought a pound.  At 7.75 euros to the kilo, about $4 a pound, the price is very reasonable.  We pay $3.50 at home for regular supermarket Swiss.  The grounds were nicely landscaped and very pretty.



Then it was back to Mahon.  We ducked onto the ship to drop off our stuff and then walked downtown.  We stopped in a harborside café and had coffee and Pescadito Frito, English translation, ‘Fried White Bait’.  That was actually on the English translation of the menu!  They were small, whole Smelt, lightly battered and fried.  They were great!!  While eating in the sidewalk café I saw lots of passengers and crew from the ship.  Two members of the cruise staff, Rachel (Miss Mississippi, 1997) and April saw me and asked what I was eating.  I told them and they wanted to try it.  I don’t think either of them were big fans of the little fish, but they did pose with me for a picture (above).  Everything in town was closed except the Cafes and some ceramic stores.  Diana and I walked up the stairs to downtown, about 140 steps in three sets.  Very wide and not steep at all.  We walked around and took pictures of the buildings and streets.  Typical of medieval towns, Mahon has very narrow streets that are all one-way for cars.



Then it was back on the ship to get ready for sail away.  This port has a long natural inlet and I want to get some pictures going out.  For the first time we skipped dinner in the dining room and ate at the lido buffet.  Dinner was great, lamb medallions, broccoli, stewed cherry tomatoes and shrimp cocktail.  Might eat there more often.



Tonight’s entertainer was Frank Berry.  He lives in Orange County, Irvine actually.  We’ve seen him before at least 3 times and he’s always funny.  Tonight was no exception.  His style is hard to define.  Mainly he’s a storyteller.  He interacts with the audience, telling individuals to ‘Look at me!’ as though you wouldn’t and uncross their legs so they won’t cut off the circulation and fall down when they try to give him a standing ovation.



Tomorrow, Barcelona.  We’re going to the Montserrat Monastery and Codorniu.  I’ll see you then.

(c) 2004 Rod Longenberger