Sunday, 28 April 2024

At Sea on QM2

It’s bedtime on Sunday as the QM2 starts her journey across the Atlantic. After spending two nights in cold and rainy Southampton, we boarded the ship at 3pm, set sail at 5:30pm, and had our first martini and dinner at 8:30pm. We set the clocks back one hour tonight and tomorrow; we are looking forward to making up all the sleep hours we lost on Oceania sailing eastward. But more about this ocean liner voyage later, as I use days at sea to catch up on the blog. 

Thursday, 25 April 2024

Ibiza, Balearic Islands, Spain

We have a close-up view of Ibiza's Old Town as Seabourn's Quest sails into the harbor.

We have a four-hour shore excursion, "South Ibiza Discovery," that takes us to various sights and scenic views on the southern half of the island. The tour does not take us to the old city, as it was supposed to, and that is disappointing. However, I did have a tour of that area on my previous visit in April 2010 (see the links at bottom of page).

The tour drives to Ses Salines, where Ibiza's salt industry began. Although no longer a major part of the economy, local salt is still sold for exorbitant prices at local tourist shops. The sea water deposits its brine in the spring months and as the water dries and evaporates over the hot dry summer the salt crystallizes and is harvested in the fall. It is still very early in the spring and in the process, so there is not much to see. We had a much more interesting visit to salt collection deposits in Bonaire, in the Netherlands West Indies in July 2018 (links below). The redeeming virtue of this site in Ibiza is the presence of flamingoes, who thrive on the healthy bacteria in the salt water.

The tour continues on to the village of San Jose, where we have a brisk walk through the town as a result of the guide letting us off the bus very far from our destination--a local cafe to sample Flao (a cake of soft cheese and local herbs), with a quick view of the old church across the street.

Bayside Sant Antoni de Portmany is lined with large hotels catering to the many British visitors to Ibiza. The town is also the location of several of the very large nightclubs that make the island so popular with jet-setters and hedonistic tourists. Many of these clubs are very expensive for visitors but make their owners very rich. Each of the clubs often host up to thousands of visitors on summer nights.

Roadside Sign Pointing Partygoers to a Large Nightclub

Near Sant Antoni are many small bays and beaches enjoyed by locals and tourists. We stop at one overlook to see how the leisure class lives and plays.

We return to port and to the Quest in time to see this large ferry dedicated to a famous American:

Back on board we spend the rest of the day getting our luggage ready for tomorrow's flights from Barcelona to Paris to London, and then on to Southampton.