GRANADA
We are
actually docked in the port town of Motril on the Mediterranean coast. This is our 2nd visit to this
port. Motril is the second largest town
in the Granada province with a population of 60,500. Besides the being a commercial and fishing
port, greenhouse agriculture is important to the economy. The main
reason for calling on this port is for tours to the city of Granada, 60 miles
to the north in Spain’s Andalusia region.
Granada, with a population of over 232,000, is the capital of the
Granada province and lies at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains. The Alhambra, a medieval citadel and palace,
is one of the most visited of Spain’s tourist sites. The Granada area produces wheat, sugar cane, tobacco,
olives, oranges, lemons, figs, almonds, and pomegranates. Vineyards and wines are also a significant
contributor to the city’s economy.
Small triangle indicates our position today.
LAST EVENING
At 6pm we went to the theater to meet Captain Ubaldo and the rest of the senior officers in the receiving line as you entered the theater for the Captain's Welcome Reception. We just shook hands and left for the Meridian Lounge.
We had ordered these jalapeno poppers to go with our libations. They were huge and very good.
Four members of the ship's orchestra played in the lounge. Note the female trombone player.
At 7:00 we met Luca, the General Manager, at the entrance of Compass Rose for dinner.
He had arranged a birthday toast with this very nice bottle of Veuve Clicquot champagne. Rohan, a sommelier, served it.
Luca had also selected this nice Trilogy red wine for our dinner. Head sommelier, Kadek, presented the wine.
Here Kadek is decanting the wine.
Luca told us his life story about how he worked all over the world at different hotels and resorts before he was hired as a Food & Beverage manager for Regent in 2019. His real first name is Gianluca but he goes by Luca. You could tell he is Italian as he talks with his hands. He is now a General Manager. It was a fun evening with him.
We both had the Bejing duck as our entrees.
Of course Luigi, the Restaurant Manager, came by the table to make sure everything was good. Luigi is in charge of all the restaurants on board.
Then the Executive Chef, John Pugh, came out to say hi. We have know John for years and is our favorite chef.
They sang happy birthday and brought out my cake.
More photos of the evening. Old guy photo bombed the bottom photo. With Luca is Jelyn, a head waiter, and Eunicel, our waitress.
After dinner which lasted from 7:00 to almost 9:30 we headed to the theater for the headliner entertainer, Paul Baker. He is a British singer who has performed in the shows Chicago, Starlight Express, Les Miserables, and The Lion King. We thought he was one of the best singers we have seen on a cruise ship. Standing ovations!!
This is Dru Pavlov, our cruise director, introducing Paul. This is our first cruise with Dru.
We had great front row seats for Paul's show.
After his show we caught Paul and had a nice chat with him. Delightful man!
TODAY
Again I woke up an hour before Rebecca's alarm went off at 7:30. Another smooth sailing night and great sleep. I went right to work adding last night's activities on this post. We had both placed orders last night for our room service breakfast at 8am. Doorbell ran at 8:03 so very punctual. We both ordered cheese omelets. I only ate a few bites as need to cut back.
I went up on the sports deck for a 15 minute walk as not too hot yet. When I got back to the suite Rebecca was about to head to the treadmill.
You may recall we had signed up for "streaming" on Rebecca's phone internet so she could watch her soaps on Paramount Plus. Streaming costs $19.99 per day and it did not work.
Above is Lavente, the internet mgr. He had mentioned it might work if she had a VPN so I went down and he uploaded one. It worked!! He deducted the cost of last two days when it did not work. Rebecca is very happy now that she can catch up and continue to watch "Young & Restless" and "Bold & Beautiful".
After that I went back up to walk another 30 minutes. I thought it might help with "grabbing" going on with my lower back. It only seemed to aggravate the pain. I could hardly make any movement without letting out a yell from the grabbing. So after showering, I took a pain/muscle relaxant (Marcia Rector our Canadian friend had sent me) and an extra strength Tylenol and hooked up a heating pad for the area. I plan to get more when in Quebec City or Montreal during this cruise.
We are docked on a LONG pier into town today.
However the tour buses could come out to our gangway. This is shuttle bus for free ride into town for those without tours.
After my second walk I decided to take some photos on the sports deck. Deck 12.
Golf driving cage
Shuffle board
Miniature Golf
Pickleball court
Bocce and Croquet
Baggo
Hot tubs below on Deck 11 (Pool Deck)
Lots of lounge chairs on both Deck 11 & 12.
Pool bar
We cruised with Erik on Mariner during a world cruise.
Much lighter lunch today. Piece of pan fried sole meuniere with capers, small piece of the carved chicken thigh, a few fries, and of course, my anchovies and stilton cheese.
This is tonight's menu in Compass Rose. We did not care for anything on it so at lunch I spoke with Rey, the maitre d in Sette Mari, about dining up there this evening. At night part of La Veranda is turned into an Italian restaurant. Unlike the other specialty restaurants, Sette Mari does not require a reservation. Rey said it has been busy so asked when we would be arriving. He will hold a table for us. I also asked that the chef up there prepare veal parmesan for me as it is not on tonight's menu there.
This evening at 6pm is the ship wide "block party" which is unique to Regent. A bell will be sounded at 6:00 starting the party. Everyone is to bring their wine glass that's in their suite out in the hallway to meet their neighbors. The stewards/stewardesses will come around serving wine and canapes. In the meantime the Captain, GM, and Cruise Director will race around on all the hallways greeting the passengers.
We sail again this evening at 7:30 for Cadiz, Spain, our last port on the coast of Europe.
