Take a virtual trip on the Windsurf
with Rio Grande Travel owners, Joanne Summers & Mike Miller
Cruising Spain, France & Italy
Day One & Two
Barcelona, Spain
We arrived in Barcelona around 10:00 am. Our choice of hotel was the Avineda Palace, a five star hotel near La Rambla. The service, decor of the rooms and location are among the best. After unpacking and showering, we took a short hike in a zombie like state to La Rambla, the country's premier tourist shopping district. There are street artists, musicians, museums, Theatres, self portrait artists and monuments. Thankfully, no mimes! For us, walking the mile long stretch from Plaza Cataluna to the port was no problem because of our occasional stops at the shaded restaurants to have a large glass of Sangria and a few tapas. When the sun goes down the area starts to come alive, count on a few drinks at a local bar, and some exquisite Spanish cuisine to top it all off.
The next day the rest of our family arrived and we met them at their hotel near the airport. As soon as they unpacked and showered, we enjoyed shopping, long walks, big drinks, and good food yet again. We also headed down to Olympic village to see the Spanish playas and the Grand Casino. If you plan on gambling don't forget your nice slacks and a collared shirt for the guys, or skirt and blouse for the ladies. Even though it's situated directly on the beach they don't allow any beach attire in the casino (trust us, we found out the hard way). If you aren't much of a gambler, there is plenty of stuff to do on the beach. Join a pick up game of soccer, volleyball, drinking, or just lying down catching rays and checking out the locals on summer vacation.
After sunset, there definitely is no shortage of things to do in Spain. Barcelona is known for its nightlife, parties, and bars...but what would a good travel agency be if it didn't at least look into some of the activities for families to do. For some good clean fun one thing we found that is a must see is Spain's original Flamenco. Flamenco is an incredible evening with your family, or even your "special someone". But be careful, after the lights are dimmed, and without you knowing, your sister may switch her empty Sangria glass for your full one! A Flamenco show is a must.
For Barcelona slide presentation click here.
Day Three
Board Windstar's Windsurf - "180 degrees from ordinary"
Windstar Cruises was created in the mid-80's with the vision to offer an alternative to the typical cruise. The Windstar passenger sees the world from a romantic sailing vessel with luxurious accommodations, a casual yet elegant atmosphere, and exquisite service as well as cuisine. Passengers are cradled in comfort as all sate rooms and suites offer sitting area, ocean views, LCD Flat screen T.V., DVD, CD Player, iPod Nano Bose Sound Dock System, safe, mini bar, plush terry cloth robes, oversized closets, and luxurious pampering toiletries.
Boarding the Windsurf was the fastest and easiest of any cruise line I've ever been on. Not to mention one of the classiest. While getting the room keys and waiting on luggage, the ship provides champagne cocktails and miniature sandwiches along with other small hors de oeuvres. A credit card and a few signed sheets of paper is all they needed. Within twenty minutes we were at the pool bar ordering our usual, before heading below deck for some unpacking. As we were leaving they were nice enough to put up the sails and play their sail away music...which played every sail away from there-on after. The staff was amazing; with a staff to passenger ratio of almost two-to-one the service was five stars. Bartenders as well as waiters remembered past cruiser for most members as if they had cruised the week before, their favorite drinks and almost had the timing memorized and when you'd need another.
For Windstar slide presentation click here.
Day Four
Palámos, Spain
Palámos is a small port town known for corking and windsurfing. The latter still a big tourist force in the town, while the corking industry is rapidly declining, but doesn't make a huge impact on the tourist areas of the town. It seems like the biggest thing to do in the town besides windsurfing and sailing would be their smaller and more modern version of Barcelona's Las Ramblas. A long street filled with well known shops and bars runs parallel to the bay and even has some nice spots that overlook the water and other areas of the city. Stopping for a drink here and there and buying a few souvenirs for friends and family will take up most of the time at the port, but you'll need the time to walk back to the ship, take a shower and dress up for an exquisite dining experience aboard the ship.
For Palamos slide presentation click here.
Day Five
Marseilles and Avignon, France
One of the longest days spent on land during the cruise, with the most to do. Marseilles is one of the largest ports in France, and the oldest city in that region. The city is beautiful and you can feel the history. But we didn't spend much time there. Early that morning we got up to take the one tour that we booked on the cruise, a wine tasting tour in Avignon. We boarded the motor coach and the tour guide started pointing out every interesting sight that we passed on the way to Chateau nuef du pape. This was the first destination of the day, the winery and tasting center. After we all unloaded ourselves off the bus, made room for the wine, and gawked in awe at the French landscape and the fields of grapevines, we made our way into the aging room.
The aging room consisted of about 15 one-thousand gallon oak barrels of wine, then another room of 500 gallon barrels of wine, but many more in quantity. In between these two rooms was another, more spacious room with a lengthy table in the middle, topped with 50 empty glasses and 4 bottles of wine. As we circled the area like vultures a small French man began telling us about the wine, swishing it around the glass, slurping it noisily, holding to the light, and even rolling it around the table...it wasn't until the translator showed up that any of us knew what he was talking about or that we were supposed to be doing what he was.
After we learned our lesson in how to tell the quality of wine, they, of course, led us directly to the gift shop; where we proceeded to spend large amounts of Euro on beautifully crafted wine openers, pourers, boxes, stoppers, and obviously the wine. Then back on the motor coach for the short trip to the city of Avignon.
Arrangements were made at a quaint bistro inside the old walled city; it had a small lush courtyard with a big table for all of us to dine. Plants were hanging all around us, and food was being handed to us from every direction! Fabulous French bread, fantastic entrees, all the wine you desired, and even some delicious desserts...and we ate until we couldn't stand up. As soon as the majority of us stopped the frenzy, we boarded the coach...this time for a much shorter trip to another part of this old walled city. As soon as our bus driver maneuvered his big monster through a little stone hole in the wall we were free to do as we pleased in Avignon, or follow our tour guide to a few areas that she found interesting. We chose to go off on our own, being the adventurous travelers we are, and found ourselves at the Palais Du Pape, the papal palace of the 1500's for all of you like me that were looking for the French to English dictionary.
We did the audio phone tour of the palace, which is like having a tour guide without all the corny jokes. After that tour we went and did a little window shopping on one of the bigger streets there near the main Plaza before it was time to meet up with the rest of the tired tourists to head back for happy hour. Once again, the tour guide started giving out little tidbits of information on certain important sites, but gave up after a few minutes because she realized that everybody on the bus was taking a nice nap.
Upon our glorious and groggy return to Marseilles we unloaded and headed back to our spacious staterooms, where we proceeded to freshen up before heading out to see what Marseilles was all about. Unfortunately by the time all whole party was ready again all but a few of the shops had closed. So we made a long loop around the old harbor and made our way back to the ship for dinner.
For Avignon slide presentation click here.
Day Six
Porquerolles, France
Talk about relaxing. Whether you choose biking, eating and drinking, or even staying on the ship for the short time it's docked there your sure to see some beautiful scenery and breathtaking views. Unfortunately, those are really your only choices when it comes to Porquerolles, with about 3 bars and 6 bike rental shops there really isn't a whole lot to do, but we are serious when we say it's gorgeous.
For Porquerolles slide presentation click here.
Day Seven
Porto-Vecchio, Corsica
If you look up beautiful in the dictionary...this is the picture next to it. Just take a look at the slideshow from Corsica on this website and you'll see what I mean. The views are literally breathtaking, the water and island are picturesque more than anywhere I've ever seen, and even the little town of Porto Vecchio (where we docked) was a perfect little town to walk around. Porto Vecchio was actually a Genoa settlement and an Italian colony until France took over all of Corsica, so remnants of Italian architecture, food, and culture are everywhere.
We took a shuttle to the town because it's quite a trek from the port, although if you have the mind and a large bottle of water, you can walk. There is a cute little town square and an old church like every other European town...however the best part about Porto Vecchio is the views of the island. Our suggestion is to find a nice little cafe that overlooks the harbor, bay, or any part of the island really. We found nearly the perfect spot! You can see it again in the slideshow...the name of the restaurant is the Les Jardins de la Paresse. It's built into the side of a cliff that overlooks the harbor that our Ship was docked in. It's full of a lush green fruit trees and exotic plants, colorful flowers, and has some amazing food! That is definitely a highly recommended sight and restaurant.
Day Seven
Porto Venere, Italy
Porto Venere, Italy, one of our personal favorite destinations on the cruise. The coves and bays in this little Italian port were absolutely stunning. The water was the deepest blue-green, the rocks looked like something out of a movie, and the town itself was just as interesting. It has quite the history...which was evident in the old forts and churches, and even the faces of the buildings. The town was great to walk around, if you don't mind a lot of hills and stairs, and had a great street with cute shops and nice cafes, again...on a hill. The food was amazing, as it always is in Italy, and the gelato was the perfect refreshment on the hot summer day until you look down and find what would have been tasting on your shirt.
Day Eight
St. Tropez, France
Ooohhh la la! Everybody knows the song...and everybody there is trying to get the tan, especially all the rich and the famous. St. Tropez is one of the richest areas in Europe and without a doubt one of the hottest hangouts for celebrities and tourists. Right off the ship we could see Bentleys and Lamborghinis roaring by on the small, people packed streets along the harbor, which was lined with some of the most beautiful yachts I've ever seen. That weekend was the Rolex cup for racing sailboats, so the waters in the bay and the harbor were filled with really expensive and fancy yachts. When they say that St. Tropez is the hottest spot for some of the world's prettiest people, they weren't lying, but a city with that many tourists is bound to have a few lookers. However, St. Tropez isn't only known for its money, perhaps the more popular part of St. Tropez are the beaches.
Unfortunately we didn't get to see much of the beaches...we spent most of our time in the outdoor "flea market" shopping for unfortunate family members who didn't get to accompany us on the cruise. When we did get to go to the beaches, it was a little overcast and late, probably the only day that has ever happened in St. Tropez. Since this was our last port before the end of our cruise in Nice, our departure was not until midnight. There was plenty of time to head back at night as well as enjoy the lights throughout the harbor.
Definitely a great town to spend some time in, we all loved it and wouldn't mind taking a vacation just to hang out in St. Tropez for a nice tan.
Day Nine
Nice, France/Monte Carlo, Monaco
Well, Nice was nice...but that's about all I can say about that city. It was obviously a very old city with a ton of history, all of which we saw absolutely nothing. We docked there, got in line to exit the ship, picked up our wonderful Citroën mini-van and headed straight out of town on a very steep highway directly for the probably the richest country in the world...Monaco. Barely over a mile wide and a mile long, and steep since its set in the side of a mountain; Monaco is "home" to some of the richest people in the world...or at least one of their many homes.
The country is really beautiful, and so are the cars. Some of the rarest and most expensive cars in the world actually, and the yachts were even more expensive than the ones in St. Tropez. We ate lunch just outside the Grand Casino, so we saw all the insanely rich people driving in their extremely expensive cars mostly just to show them off. Unfortunately we didn't get to spend more than a few hours there, so we headed out just after lunch.
We got into Santa Margarita, Italy just before dinner that evening. We only had time to walk around for a little, find a bar, have some food and check into our hotel...which had a pretty nice view of the city and the bay.
Day Ten & Eleven
Santa Margarita , Italy
Our hotel of choice was the Park Suisse Hotel, a moderately priced hotel that included breakfast. The rooms were large in comparison to most hotels in Europe and many had balconies with views of the marina. Today we did some walking along the beautiful bay, and came to a street lined with shops and little restaurants like every other European city...it was Sunday so the church was in session, and the streets were pretty empty. We shopped and drank for a few hours, then sat down for some lunch along the bay, drank some more and then planned out the next week.
Our experiences in Italy are pretty laid back, mostly what we do is walk for a little, sit down and have a drink, walk for a little more, sit down a have a drink (maybe some food), repeat this process until the sun goes down and then find a single restaurant with a great view, have the normal long Italian six course dinner and go to bed. When we're in a small town like Santa Margarita...that's pretty much all we had to do for those two days.
Until we left for Lago Di Como! Lake Como was about a four or five hour drive on the Auto Strata from Santa Margarita, and a very beautiful drive through the Italian mountains and scenic countryside. Once we arrived it was a little difficult to navigate our way around the lake to find our hotel...but once we were checked in and settled we took a very short walk down the street to the actual lake, the same one George Clooney supposedly lives on. We weren't able to find his house, but we have many speculations as to which one it is. Besides looking for his house we actually did spend some time looking at the scenery, which is as amazing as the pictures and books say it is. The church there was absolutely amazing, if not for its decorative interior then for its sheer size.
