MALAGA, MARSEILLES AND CEYRESTE
We have now been back home in Ceyreste
for one week and like Christine, I should write the last article in English for
the blog before Alzheimer sets in and I forget everything we did before getting
home!
Our last stop before Marseilles was
Malaga, an old city first founded by the Pheniciens, then taken over by the
Romans, followed by the Moors and then the Catholic King Ferdinard and Queen
Isabelle of Castille. It was the coastal port of Grenade at the time of the
Moors and one of the most important cities in Andalusia. We had never been to
Malaga before but as we very much like Andalusia, we were looking forward to
the visit. However the extra bonus was the fact that Malaga is the birthplace
of Pablo Picasso and has a major museum/art gallery dedicated to him and which
houses one of the largest Picasso collections in Europe – donated by one of his
daughters and her son. There is also the house where he was born and brought up
during his first years. As we are both Picasso fans, we knew what we wanted to
do - so no need for a Costa excursion in Malaga!!
The ship pulled into the port which is
close to the old city centre. As the ship is quite long, it docked on one of
the outer quays and instead of walking into the city (one of the few “open”
ports that we had been to), we took the shuttle bus to the square near what
looked like the old customs house and which backed onto the 800m long park
dividing the city from the port area.
We then walked up to the cathedral, a
mixture of gothic and baroque architecture with only one spire – the money for
the other spire was “diverted” to other ends, some say to helping the Americans
gain their independence, others say for building the waterfront roads. We spent
some time inside the cathedral – this was really “coming back to European
culture” and so very different from all that we had seen up to then, including
in the very catholic/Spanish/Portuguese South America, and so “familiar”.
We then ambled through the narrow
pedestrian streets to the nearby Picasso museum where we spent the next 2 or
more hours slowly wandering around, looking at paintings, drawings, sculptures
and ceramics including some from friends of Picasso – Braque, Matisse etc.
Personally I found the audio-guide excellent and as there were not many people
in the museum when we arrived (just after 10am – the opening time) there was no
rush.. For the first time I really felt that I had learnt quite alot about the
different phases in his work – the evolutions, the changes in style etc and not
just “looking at the pictures” – for example the origin of the description/word
“abstract” (or in English would be “subtract”). A very good museum and a very good morning
spent there.
We then made our way towards Piazza
Merced and his birthplace. That was much less interesting – and all we can say
is that we now have an image/picture in our minds of where he was born and
where/how he lived until his family moved away from Malaga (when his father
lost his job working at the local art school/art gallery).
On the way to the Piazza Merced we
stopped in a small shop to buy some Malaga bacon as per Olivier’s instructions
– we had thought of buying a whole bacon as Olivier did several times when
coming back from Seville – but how to transport it on the ship?
From Piazza Merced we wandered down
towards the square which is overlooked the Alcazaba – the Moorish palace and
castle which is itself overlooked by the Castello Gibralfalo (another Moorish
fort built on the top of the Gibralfaro Hill which dominated both the palace
and the city). In the square there were 6-8 Henry Moore “life size” sculptures
which really did not look “out of place” – very good. The Alcazaba overlooks
the Roman theatre which is also abutting the square. There is not much left of
the theatre other than the semi-circular stalls and the stage – apparently the
Moors used some of the stones from the theatre to build the Alcazaba.
We then had a gentle wander up the
ramps and through the different gateways to the centre of the palace with its
orange and “water” patios and laid out gardens. The walk to the Gibralfaro
would have been too long as we had to get back to the shuttle bus pick-up point
by 16h30-17h00 (last passengers on board by 17h30 for a 18h00 departure). That
did not prevent us from having a gentle amble back to the pick-up point and
buying some “last minute” gifts/souvenirs – including some red and black
flamenco shoes for Manon - and yet one more suitcase for carrying back all the
souvenirs/gifts acquired over the last 4 months (in addition to the extra one
already bought some time earlier in La Reunion!).
So that was the Tuesday and a very
nice day it was. Next day was the last “packing day” and regretting that we had
not bought 2 extra suitcases in Malaga! And that evening it was the big
“farewell” in the restaurant – all the waiters, cabin stewards, kitchen staff
etc filed through the restaurant to the cheers and applause of the clients.
Photographs, exchanges of mail addresses and alot of hugging/kissing goodbyes.
Next morning we went to have breakfast
in the restaurant to be able to say goodbye to Kumar the head waiter with whom
we had become close during the last 4 months. We then went up to the 9th
deck buffet to say goodbye to Gustavo (who also had been looking after us for
the last 4 months), Ali, Joseph (Kumar’s replacement when he was ill) and then back
to our cabin and Deck 4 to say goodbye to Carlo our cabin steward since leaving
Marseilles.
I filmed the arrival in Marseilles –
the ship came into the port with excellent views on the Estaque to one side and
to the other side, the islands off the coast of Marseilles and then the city of
Marseilles – the Basilica of Notre Dame
is clearly visible at a distance, as is the new tower of CMA-CGM.
The ship tied up to the quay in the
new cruise port at Gate 4 of the Marseilles docks – the same quay from which we
embarked 4 months earlier. Another Costa cruise ship – the Magica - was tied up
at a nearby quay.
We were among the last to be allowed
to disembark as we had neither an excursion planned (for those staying on the
ship upto the final destination of Savona), nor a plane or train to catch. We
had to be out of our cabin by 9am but we could not leave the ship before
11.30am. Our 7 suitcases and large bags had been collected from outside our
cabin door during the night and we had registered into a temporary store (in
the discotheque!) our hand baggage (another suitcase, 3 back packs,2 walking
sticks from Pitcairn, a bag of Mrs B clothes which would not fit in one of her
suitcases and …. HMS Bounty). So we spent an hour or so wandering around the
ship taking some last minute photos and sitting in deck chairs on the now
deserted 11th deck.
Finally there was an announcement over
the loudspeakers saying that we could disembark, we picked up our hand baggage
and despite losing each other somehow, we ended up finally onshore in the
terminal building, along with a 7 suitcases and bags plus Olivier, Tiffany and
Manon who had come to pick us (2 cars being necessary because of the number of
bags etc which we had accumulated in 4 months).
Back to Ceyreste where Fanette and
David were waiting for us, where lunch was being prepared and where Manon busily helped us unpack to
find her presents etc. It was a very warm homecoming. Obviously we both felt
the absence of Guizmo, our 18 year old cat who had disappeared during our
absence.
For several days after we got back, I
kept having the feeling that we should soon be getting back on the ship again
and thinking “well where are we going next?” However I think that we have at
least 6 months “debriefing” to do – editing the 30+ hours of video, writing up
the log books of the travels and sorting out the thousands of photos, catching
up with family and friends..
I have come back with many
feelings/thoughts. Lets forget about the Costa mob, their mediocrity, bad
manners, lack of “savior vivre”. Lets just think about the good luck we had in
being able to visit so many different places and things that we never imagined
seeing. I also think about what one of the good acquaintances (the Sheik of
Saumur) said to me “we are in the last 25% of our lives – lets enjoy it!”
