May 2016

    Three states share the Western coast of the Iberian Peninsula, i.e., Spain, Portugal and Gibraltar. People tend to forget Gibraltar when talking about the Iberian Peninsula. So there we were, on a 14-day roundtrip on the m.v. “Rotterdam” of the Holland America Line from Rotterdam to the south of Spain. Yes, we started on and returned to the home port of the m.v. Rotterdam.

left: The m.v. Rotterdam.

    We love cruising on a Holland America Line cruise ship,  because a large percentage of the crew is of Indonesian origin, especially in the dining areas. With the exception of the wine stewards, who are usually from the Philippines. They jokingly claim that it is because the Philippines can drink everybody under the table.

    Being able to speak Indonesian also helps, and we get the feeling they give us extra attention to make ourselves feel more comfortable. They greet us by name when we meet them in other parts of the ship. We also speak Dutch, so we could speak Dutch with the officers and staff. That is usually not much of an advantage. You try to speak French with Frenchman and he/she will be very appreciative of your effort. You speak Dutch to a Dutchman, and what he will do is correct your grammar, pronunciation, and tell you that the word you used is not correct or common anymore. So you speak English with him.

    Sailing to the South of Spain we had to traverse both the English Channel as well as the Bay of Biscayne. But the weather gods were kind in both directions; it was fairly smooth sailing most of the time.

    Described in the next few pages are the towns in our destination, as seen by a tourist with a limited amount of time and probably also a limited amount of understanding of local customs. It could have been worse.