Malaga, Marseille and Ceyreste by John

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 9^th 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 11^th 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!”