Ibiza, Spain: We had a rough chilly passage to Ibiza overnight. There was a lot of rain and a lot of wind (some lightning/thunder), but when we docked in Ibiza at 11:30a today (Wednesday), the sun was shining... but it was 52° - and 46° with the windchill. No matter, Dave went up to the outdoor stationary bike and rode it for an hour in the cold.
The weather was predicted to be less windy and warmer in the afternoon and the ship is not departing Ibiza until 11p this evening, so we took our time disembarking. We decided to hit-up the "buffet" for lunch. The buffet on the Explora II is not your typical cruise ship buffet. You do not serve yourself, but you visit the assorted stations - featuring every sort of food imaginable - make you selection, sit down and someone will bring it to you. Everything is prepared to-order. (When the ship is busy, they offer little buzzers.) It was so difficult to choose between the generous offerings.
Salad with red beets, buckwheat, raisins, oranges with citrus dressing. There is also a salad bar (the staff place your selections in a bowl), and about a half-dozen ready-to-go salads.
At the dessert section, there are so many small cakes, pastries, and mousses, plus a variety of fruits. Around the corner is a gelato station that also offer Belgian waffles and crepes - and, of course, gelato. My photos do not do justice to the variety of foods presented at the buffet. Now I really want to go there for breakfast to see what is on offer. We have just been ordering coffee in our room.
We headed into town after lunch. The ship provided a bus/shuttle at the end of the pier that dropped-off in the center of Ibiza town. My notes had us taking a taxi to the top of the fort/castle, and meandering our way down the hill back to the port. But you all know I live with DT, so we walked UP to the fort and walked DOWN to town. My quads are basically screaming after two days of up/down hill. Can you hear them?
through the narrow lanes.
Seriously, the route to the top of this castle/fort was so steep my footie socks slipped off my heels for the first time in 20 years. Achilles stretched to the max.
sites inside the castle walls.
The water is soooo blue!
We dragged ourselves along so many adorable streets in Ibiza. A hundred beachwear/bikini/flowy dress shops and so many restaurants and bars. The streets are filled with flowering plants and trees, everything is very neat and tidy and cars stop for pedestrians to cross the street. The shopkeepers speak so many languages as so many European tourists flock to Ibiza for the beaches and nightlife. We saw Sephora, Zara, and Burger King, so maybe everything isn't exactly local.
After catching the shuttle back to the Explora II, we recouped in our room. I edited photos and suddenly it was 7p and we needed food. First a cocktail. We have been going to the Explora Lounge at the front of the ship on Deck 11 for a before-dinner drink. Already the bartender knows how take my martini! (I did not, however, ask him to shake it one time for every year of my age, because this is only a 20-night cruise.)
For dinner tonight, we went to the sushi bar at Sukura restaurant. They had icy-cold Sapporo beer and a fabulous selection of sushi and sashimi. We really missed Leo tonight!
And, though some of My Readers will find no pleasure in the fact tomorrow is an "at sea" day, this correspondent is overjoyed to not have a fort or castle or hill to conquer. My meniscus needs a rest - and I have a fun needlepoint project to enjoy.
This day of rest is a good thing. The weather is not cooperating with our itinerary. Hopefully the ship will sail through all the bad weather tomorrow and we will begin to have fabulous weather, instead of cold windy stormy weather. We learned today our planned sailing excursion in Sardinia (on Friday, the 18th) has been cancelled due to weather conditions. Bummer, as DT was especially looking forward to this excursion.
It is what it is, and as long as we are still needlepointing having fun together, everything will be fine.
Pedometer: A lowly 11,074 steps. But it was all up or down hill. Can I get extra points for this? Also, for some strange reason, my Fitbit clocked me riding a bicycle for 30 minutes at 4:35p... and I covered only .84 miles in 30 minutes. Dang, am I the slowest cyclist ever... without a bicycle?
Until my next update, I remain, your Ibiza correspondent.
LINKS:
Ibiza Travel Office
Explora II
Current Ship Location
Lovely vacation your having. I’m enjoying it greatly!
Surely you write travel brochures in your spare time!
Do you have spare time?? A chuckle here :))