Nicole schreibt...

Canary Cruise 2013

Cruises have been the big thing to do in Germany in recent years, so not very surprisingly, my mother felt the need to jump the bandwagon (or boat, as it is) and since she would have had to pay a 75 percent single room surcharge, she decided she might as well take me along for company. And who am I to turn down a free cruise?
The chosen destination were the Canary Islands (and Madeira) off the African coast - warm enough to provide a pleasant sunny escape during the dreary German winter, but not too far away to turn this into a very costly expedition.

We flew to Tenerife to meet our boat, the AIDASol, in the port of Santa Cruz where I had been a few years ago, so it was strange (and sweet) to find myself back there. The AIDASol is one of the newest of the AIDA-fleet and offers all sorts of conceivable (and some inconceivable) gadgets for its roughly 2000 passengers including a spa, a gym, a theatre, a nightclub, a few shops and a casino, not to mention several restaurants, bars and the sundeck with a few tiny pools.

Since we arrived in the late afternoon, we just strolled around the ship for a bit and found dinner before hanging around for the inevitable rescue exercise held a 9.30pm before the ship left Tenerife. You get to stand around on deck with your life vest around your neck and listen to 'what to do in an emergency' - as the Costa Concordia proved, definitely worth paying attention to, even though my mind was filled with images of the Titanic and a young hot Leonardo DiCaprio. It seemed to take forever, as some idiots hadn't shown up as they were asked to, but finally we were released back into the fresh air of the upper decks, where they had a champagne reception and welcome party around the pool. I gladly grabbed the bubbly, but then scooted for bed.

Here are a few impressions of the AIDASol - in blissful silence at sunrise on our first morning aboard (on the way to Madeira) and later with the sun- and pooldeck crowded with folks (ugh). Below is the East Restaurant where we could enjoy great Asian food with the lights of Funchal twinkling beyond the window and the 'Theatrium' where the (very professional) evening shows took place. We alternated between the East Restaurant and the Italian Bella Donna restaurant, avoiding the two German restaurants that seemed to draw the worst kind of obnoxious German package tourists (not surprisingly I suppose).

We wouldn't arrive in Madeira until the afternoon, so I hung around the sundeck most of the morning, then took part in half an hour of free yoga at the gym (try holding yoga positions on a wobbly ship!), before it was time to get ready. Amusingly, while the AIDASol made her way into Funchal harbour, a replica of the Santa Maria passed us on the way out - it was just crazy to see this tiny wooden nutshell in which Columbus discovered America compared to the massively oversized cruise ship! Here's a picture of the Santa Maria and of Funchal as seen from the ship:

Not all that surprisingly, we were almost the first ones off the boat to explore Funchal and find some free wifi along with coffee and Madeira wine (which is pretty much a Portuguese version of sherry) in a nice cafe in the city:

Madeira is known mostly for its huge variety of flowers and the Parque de Santa Catarina is testimony to it. It also has a nice statue of a dashing Columbus that looked like Errol Flynn modelled for it. The main street, the Avenida Arriaga, was fairly quiet since it was Sunday afternoon, but we came across this pretty nativity scene left over from christmas and a folklore group in front of the Catedral Se entertaining the tourists:

After a night at anchor we still had plenty of time for the big sightseeing tour next day and took the Teleferico up to Monte, a pretty "suburb" of Funchal famous for its gardens and the church Nossa Senhora de Monte where Austria's last Hapsburg Emperor Karl I. is buried (he who took over from legendary Francis Joseph in 1916 only to be exiled two years later when Austria became a Republic after World War I.).

Monte is also the place for the famous "basket sleighs" that take tourists back downhill for a fairly steep price. While a sleigh ride had been the original plan, we had not been aware that the Botanical Gardens which we also wanted to visit in Monte were NOT in the same area but another Teleferico ride away - and impossible to reach on foot. So we took this second Teleferico and walked around the Botanical Gardens which can be summed up as "Lots of green stuff" - but very pretty nonetheless. The funny-looking house might just be an exhibit in the Botanical Garden, but it's actually how the classical houses of Madeira are built, that are still dotted everywhere around the island:

Note to self: When an island advertises itself as green, don't forget: green = lots of rain. We had only just parked ourselves in sunloungers on the deck after our sightseeing tour, when it started to drizzle and we fled indoors and up to the spa, which was surprisingly large and had four saunas. Which led to the curious situation of me being inside a sauna when the AIDASol left Funchal and I watched the island fade away behind us sitting in 80 C heat. Ah well.

After dinner at the Italian Bella Donna restaurant my mother requested taking part in Bingo Night at the Bar - every second as dreadful as it sounds. But hey, I can bear a lot when I'm fed free Singapore Slings. Still not ready for bed, we were pulled to the Theatrium, where they had some amusing dance show based on Mozart's most famous songs (all done up in rococo clothing of course).

After a quiet night I woke up to the ship nearing the port of Santa Cruz, the capital of La Palma, one of the smaller and lesser known Canary Islands which is basically just one huge volcanic crater rising from the Atlantic. But the town turned out to be surprisingly gorgeous - apparently it was the third-biggest trading port of the Spanish empire and an important stop on the route between Spain and South America, so lots of wealthy merchants built pretty mansions with traditional wooden balconies:

Above is the main drag of Santa Cruz, the Calle O'Daly (yea, it's named after an Irishman who lived there) and below some gorgeous houses lining the waterfront:

Since we had wanted to do "something" on La Palma, but didn't want to join the coach loads of sheeple on the official excursions offered (for a steep price) by AIDA and its local partners, we had opted to visit the Church of Las Nieves a few kilometres uphill from Santa Cruz, a small but very revered place of pilgrimage.

The cab drivers by the ship all wanted to sell expensive island tours, so we walked into the centre instead and caught a public bus to Las Nieves. Which stopped half-way uphill because another bus had broken down by the street and their passengers all crammed into ours. And one of the stops was the major hospital of Santa Cruz (and thus the island I presume), so most of the passengers were chatty oldies, probably exchanging tales of woes and ailments in Spanish.

After the hospital stop it got ALOT quieter and we soon reached Las Nieves, a pretty ensemble of church, offices and dormitory for pilgrims. The church itself was small but really gorgeous and the whole setting, nestled into a green hillside, very peaceful and lovely. Seeing a sign for Santa Cruz, we decided to hike back downhill and soon realized that it was really just a tiny track following a dried river bed amid gorgeous gorgeous nature devoid of people.

And yet after just 45 Minutes of walking, we were back in the city too, where we stopped for a coffee on the Plaza de la Alameda, where a tiny Naval Museum is located inside a replica of Columbus' Santa Maria. The figure in front of the ship is neither Columbus nor Napoleon, by the way: The dwarf is a symbol of La Palma (for what reason I do not know). Passing by the church of San Salvador, we finally returned to the ship.

Evening entertainment wasn't up to much that night beyond half an hour of some Best of Abba thing that had been pretty forgettable, if not for some middle-aged couple going completely apeshit, probably reliving their youth. Seeing those rather dull dowdy people being so completely happy was oddly sweet and more fun to watch than the actual performers.

Next morning we arrived in Las Palmas, capital of Gran Canaria, which has long been a favorite destination of German package tourists, fighting the English for sunloungers on the beaches of Maspalomas. Luckily all of that is in the far south of the island, while Las Palmas is in the north. The town has grown into the biggest city of the Canary Islands and the "leisurely walk" from the ship to the Old Town turned into a long slog of more than one hour!

So once we got there, we first stopped for coffee (and free wifi) before visiting the Catedral de Santa Ana, the gorgeous main church of Las Palmas. Entrance covers the visit to the little museum that is attached to the church and you can fork out 1,50 Euro extra to take an elevator up the church tower. It was nice enough but the tower was not high enough for a really great view all over Las Palmas, so I didn't bother with photos up there.

Above is the cathedral square and the entrance to the Casa de Colon, our next destination. It was actually the governor's residence at that time where Columbus stopped for, presumably, coffee and cake, before jaunting off to discover the new world. Sadly the most interesting exhibit, a replica interior of the Santa Maria, was closed, but there were still some nice ancient maps to see, mementos of Columbus' voyages and a basement dedicated to the pre-Columbian cultures of the Americas that had lived peacefully for up to 25,000 years until the Europeans decided to pop in.

The pretty little kiosk on the right belongs to Plaza San Telmo, by the way, a nice shady spot on the northern end of the Old Town where we caught a bus back to the ship for lunch and a change of clothes.

The nearest beach, the Playa de las Canteras, was only ten minutes' walk away, so it was the perfect place to enjoy the first truly sunny day of this trip and some hours to chill out away from the crammed sun deck of the ship and its obnoxious denizens. I drew the line at swimming though, the water of the Atlantic seemed fairly cold to my weary feet. After a detour to a rather quiet Centro Comercial where the Rebajas were in full swing, I finally returned to the ship at 6pm when it really did feel like coming back to the hotel after a nice day out.

Another pleasant surprise was the entertainment for the evening, where one of the ship's singers did half an hour of Josh Groban songs and quite well, too!

Fuerteventura, the island of the big nothing (and the surf and party crowd) was our next stop, where the AIDASol dropped anchor at Puerto del Rosario. Famous for its endless beaches, the island has nothing else to offer really but manages to draw a huge crowd of surfers coming for the steady breezes here.

There was sod all to do or see in Puerto del Rosario, so we took a public bus to the big resort of Corralejo at the northern tip of the island which has fine beaches - and the usual blight of Spanish resort places: English pubs serving "all day breakfasts" while offering "live football" every night, cheap souvenir shops and bars galore. Funny enough, seeing Corralejo and remembering other Spanish resort places I've vacationed in, suddenly made me appreciate the Aida ships with their wonderful restaurants, the professional evening entertainment and other extras like the spa area and the gym. Still, the beach was quite nice and I enjoyed a day of leisure in the sun.

But no trip is free of drama and oddly enough it was sleepy Fuerteventura that provided this trip's drama. After spending some hours on the nice beach of Corralejo Viejo, we walked to the bus stop for the bus back to Puerto del Rosario among other Aida passengers and some more folk. The bus hadn't yet turned up after 30 minutes behind its schedule when another bus drew up and the driver told us that the bus to Rosario was another 20 minutes late, another one had in fact broken down and was missing from the regular service. Okay, so we waited. When the Rosario bus finally DID appear - it simply drove past the stop, the driver waving dismissively to indicate that his bus was full and he couldn't stop for more passengers. The Aida bunch started to worry slightly, since we had to be back aboard at a certain time after all, so it was decided to gang up and share cabs, so we could at least get delivered straight to the ship and split the cost between four people for one cab.

At least we could chill at the spa then where I had booked Hawaiian massages as a way to thank my mother for taking me along. The fancily named Lomi Lomi Nui massage turned out to be an oily cousin of the Thai Massage, but was definitely wonderful. This evening another Italian dinner was on the cards, followed by nice entertainment - a circus act styled in fin de siecle-costumes with dazzling aerial stunts and later an 80's rock concert (apparently the show director had seen Rock of Ages).

Last stop was Lanzarote. Also the island I had been most curious about since the volcanic barren landscape has more than once doubled as the moon in 60's science fiction movies. To see the Timanfaya National Park, we had decided for once to splash out on an organized excursion in form of a jeep safari. Which turned out to be a bit of a scam really, since we were taken to several very pretty places but NOT into the actual national park with the geyser and other stuff I had really wanted to see. At 65 Euro per person this really pissed me off - we had been cheaper and better off hiring one of the countless cabbies that always wait by the ship to do a 2-3 hour with us to the national park and get us inside.

Having said this, it was still a very interesting tour and at least we did get to see the truly unique volcanic area around the National Park as well as some pretty villages we had otherwise not seen. And bobbing along rough tracks in a 4x4 Land Rover was fun in itself too. And note the bright blue sky and gorgeous weather!

Here are the gorgeous little villages of Teguise (above) and La Santa (below right) on the North Coast of Lanzarote.

And finally, here's the famous moon landscape of the Timanfaya National Park and the attempts of growing wine there (and they do turn it into a truly delicious Malvasia, which I took home by the bottle (naturally):

We were returned back to the ship by lunch time, so we stuffed our faces at the Italian restaurant before heading for a walk into Arrecife proper. Another rip off was the shuttlebus that was provided because the port was fairly far away (well, 2.3 kilometres according to a sign) from the city centre and should cost 9 Euro per person. I really think this should have been a free service for the Aida passengers. Oh well, it didn't matter, since we walked - 45 minutes in lovely sunshine along the blue Atlantic glittering in the sun. Arrecife was small and very pretty and definitely worth the walk!

The AIDASol left Arrecife in the evening and while there was no glam captain's dinner for the last night, there was a goodbye party on the pool deck, some free champagne and a nice speech by the captain, before we finally returning to Tenerife in the night. Some people had to catch very early transfer busses to the airport, but we had time for another stroll through Santa Cruz and to soak up the last few hours of warm gorgeous sun.

But by noon it was time for us to head to the airport as well. Instead of boring you with my usual sunset picture, here's one of the cruise terminal at Santa Cruz, that seemed to sum it up nicely: In front are all the suitcases of departing passengers waiting for their transfer busses (nicely ordered by deck) while behind the new passengers are arriving to check in for their cruise.

Would I go on a cruise again? Yes. It's a great way to do a "round trip" to interesting different places you can visit within one day and basically take your hotel with you instead of dragging your baggage around. But I would always pick carefully which places to visit in this way as there are so many wonderful cities that just can't be experienced within a day (places like Rome or Barcelona spring to mind) and while it IS comfortable, it could also never replace the sheer excitement of a crazy solo trip like the ones I have done in South East Asia or the relaxation of a gorgeous beach resort where people have space to themselves. But as an additional way of travelling, yea, I can see myself back on an AIDA ship soon.