Tapp's Travels

I’m having to retype this section.  A bit of a tragedy on the Internet front.  It stopped yesterday.   Stopped for EVERYBODY!  The ship has a weirdly complicated system on board.  Every cabin gets one account (at least) – the posher, more expensive suites get several!

Of course, creation of a hot-spot in the cheaper cabins overcomes that little issue!  However, these accounts are all time limited.  Conveniently, but for no apparently useful purpose, they all expire at the end of the cruise.

Unexpectedly, and we’ll come to the reason for that in a bit, we have had our cruise extended.  We will be arriving in Barcelona about 40 hours later than planned.  So everyone lost connection to the outside world.  And, for reasons known only to Regent Seven Seas, everyone’s accounts had to be reinstated.  Individually!  And there’s only one person on board who can do this.  And she takes a four hour break (REALLY) starting about five and a half minutes (not quite so really!) after connections were lost!  And she had a long queue!  500 people!

I mention that to explain why I’m even further behind than normal!

So, from one disaster to another (and I’ll skate over this one because of personal involvement!).  Our planned excursion was due to depart at 0950.  Up to now, departures have been running 25 to 30 minutes late.  Today they left on time.  Due to a relaxed approach involving two cappuccinos, and one of us not focused on the programme, we found ourselves left behind!  So we took a random gamble on a trip which left a little later and which included a wine tasting.

First stop was at an Aloe Vera farm where we we told all about the cultivation of the succulent.

Basically, cut off a side shoot, plant it and wait nine years!  Then harvesting – cut off the outermost leaf once or twice a year.  The extraction of the gloupy product involved washing the toxins off the outer skin, cutting of the spiky leaf edges and fileting off the top and bottom leaf surfaces and pouring the clear soupy gunk into a big vat.

Thiis is then mixed with all sorts of products to make a range of skin treatments suitable for all sorts of cures and potions.  Everything seemed to take advantage of the Aloe Vera’s capacity to move stuff through the skin surface and dry without leavng the skin sticky!  Interestingly, everyone handling the stuff was wearing protective gloves!

Then it was off to the olive farm where farmer Giles told us (in fluent Spanish) that they hand pick every olive from their 1000 trees.  Except this year it won’t be so much of an event.  Cold weather in the flowering season meant no insects, so no pollination and no fruit.  Well, less than 10% of their normal crop anyway.  The berries, once picked are cleaned and processed and end up in huge barrels of brine, where they stay for two to three years!

The main attraction of the olive and cheese tasting session was Polly!

Now, where’s the wine tasting stop?!!  The Bodega San Juan.  Long established, but now reduced in size as parcels of land have been passed to sons and daughters over the generations.  The grape vines are grown low and horizontally to protect them from the island’s strong winds.

Each of the islands has adopted a representative plant species.  That of Gran Canaria is the Canary Island Spurge – a type of Euphorbia…

And there were Dragon Fruit all over the place…

… but where’s the wine?

Found it!  And very good it was too!  All grapes are picked by hand.  No mechanisation.  But at least they don’t press the grapes by foot any more!

After all the excitement of the wrong trip, we were delivered home in time for a short walk from the East Coast to the West Coast – less than a mile from the ship.  A quick walk up the beach of dubious-looking, imported sand (La Playa de Las Canteras also labelled as La Playa Grande) and home in time for departure to Lanzarote.

Good heavens – and here we are about to disembark in Barcelona!!!