After completing our last season as managers at the Beaver Island Lodge, we were exactly back where we were 10 years ago when I wrote the story “Wide Open Spaces Ahead of Us”. Our first …
Our transatlantic Princess cruise 2025 intentionally ended in Southampton UK, as it was about a two hour drive from my long awaited dream of visiting Seaton Village in the UK. Caught a taxi to the …
Port of Call Casablanca, Morocco: “Here’s looking at you, Kid” No we didn’t visit Rick’s Café Americain, famous from the 1942 Hollywood movie Casablanca with Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. Even though the café is …
Storms to the north forced us to change the Portuguese Island of Madeira for Santa Cruz de Tenerife for the much farther south Spanish Canary Islands. Santa Cruz de Tenerife was a good choice, especially …
Our first transatlantic cruise in 2022 was mostly the result of a Covid test gone lopsided, which prevented us from flying to Curaçao in the southern Caribbean. It was meant for a two wee trip …
This offseason had to be scheduled a bit different since TJ needed some facial skin procedures as a result of cancerous spots. Since we did not know the length of the recovery process we decided …
Remembering the good times we had during our first winter on Beaver Island during Covid, and the fact that we have made deep friendships with some other “islanders”, combined again with the fact that it …
Our Pacific cruise was over and more sick than ever, and ungodly early in the morning, we slouched ourselves to LAX for a flight back to Nashville, where our car was parked with friends Ric …
Port of Call: Papeete, Tahiti The Islands of Tahiti constitute of the 118 islands spread over a surface as big as Europe. The best known 3 islands are Tahiti, Moorea and Bora Bora. These volcanic …
Port of Call: Apia, Samoa This capital city of former French Samoa with about 36,000 inhabitants, situated itself in 2011 just across the international dateline, which of course meant we lost a day we never …
After completing our last season as managers at the Beaver Island Lodge, we were exactly back where we were 10 years ago when I wrote the story “Wide Open Spaces Ahead of Us”. Our first trip then was also to Nashville, where Han’s oldest friend in the US had moved to. Sadly Ric passed away a couple of years ago, so now we visited Kay his widow in Brentwood TN, a suburb of Nashville, for almost a month in Dec/Jan of 2026. This is also our last trip south in our trusty Nissan Murano which we purchased exactly 10 years ago. And the end of this trip she goes to another dear friend, while we take a transatlantic cruise over to Europe for an extended stay. But first some travel impressions from this last north-south trip.
There are so many amazing restaurants near her home, that we did not have to venture far to experience something new and delicious.
Our transatlantic Princess cruise 2025 intentionally ended in Southampton UK, as it was about a two hour drive from my long awaited dream of visiting Seaton Village in the UK.
Caught a taxi to the airport to pick up our rental car, which I was not on board about but Han really wanted the car. Literally to make a long horrific scary story short, unless you are extremely familiar with driving on the left, dealing with UK traffic, huge roundabouts, teeny tiny country roads or enjoy arguing with your mate…leave the rental car and take any other means of transportation. We visited Seaton for a week and I never got back in, until we had to return the car. It will try the best of relationships.
The staff was very nice and said I was the first “Seaton” that they could remember ever staying there. Close to town, a large grocery store “Tesco” next door, a rocky beach with massive boardwalk was just across the street, unique restaurants within a short walk and charming homes for as far as you could see. The hotel has a restaurant attached, but they were forever running out of multiple menu items.
Totally frowned upon the fact that you have to pay for parking and wifi at the hotel, which was very pricey.
Hotel is nothing fancy, but it met our needs and was fairly quiet. All in all, it was an enjoyable and comfortable stay.
For being off-season there were many stores and restaurants open, but then again the weather was unusually pleasant for the time of year.
We strolled through a few cemeteries because history fascinates me, but I was also hoping to glimpse some Seaton family graves, however we did not locate any. I did purchase my share of “Seaton” tourist goodies however.
The resale stores there are surprisingly easy on the wallet. It has many cute parks for people/dog watching. One feels very at home almost immediately.
Our friends David and Glenda with whom we met in Portugal Jan. of 2020 lived close by. We had a wonderful opportunity to spend more quality time with them. They drove us to neighboring towns of Beer and Sidmouth the day after our arrival. I sat in the back seat and covered my eyes a lot. Just when you think a road cannot get any skinnier, they do.
We had the largest most fantastic breakfast EVER at unassuming Beer Head Bistro. It is located on the Jurassic Coastline and set in a caravan vacation park. We needed nothing else until dinnertime, better yet, we were full.. The inside decor of the restaurant is beyond charming. This was my first experience eating a “full English breakfast” with many more in my future.
Next stop was Sidmouth. I had more energy than the other three, so I set off to do a bit of shopping, beach rock/boardwalk inspections, take photos and revel in the architecture. Sidmouth has a lot of sights to offer and I could have spent at least a week here also. Joined the rest of the crew to have some espresso, people watch and admire all the doggies parading in the sunshine. People in the UK have a lot of dogs and majority of stores welcome them along with their owners.
After a long wait we're almost there...
not much room to play with
Activity overload promised
Seaton - an Ancestry Away?
Glenda in anticipation of English Breakfast
David, English oak at its very best
As you want it interior decorations
Shopping street in town
Walking the waterfront, everyone's favorite pastime
Faulkner Hotel to the left!
Seaton downtown intersection
England's sense of colorful living. You've got to love it.
Seaton has a tramway from the olden days that still runs through the wetlands and stops in some small villages to the north. It was one of the highlights of our stay in Seaton. With it being off season, quite a few places were closed in each village, but still enough open and architecture to enjoy. Had a sweet treat and coffee in a locals restaurant. The vibe was very chill and welcoming, with everyone chatting to each other and a cute dog relaxing underneath one of the tables.
Dogs are also welcome in most restaurants in the UK. They have figured out that dogs are less problematic and cleaner than many humans.
There is so much history and information about the tram, that I suggest youclick on the link to see it all. Wear comfortable walking shoes and use a walking stick or cane if you have trouble traversing hills.
David and Glenda came by again to be our driver and tour guides of beautiful, fascinating Lyme Regis.
So very thankful for their friendship. Also for driving.
Regis, a World Heritage Site, is by far the steepest small town I have experienced. Today on the menu was Swim Restaurant for breakfast. Beautiful location on the water, extremely nice staff, high reviews and so forth, but we were all underwhelmed with the breakfast. I could not help but compare it to my first experience of the English breakfast in Beer (see above picture). Personally it was one and done for me. However, all four of us felt similar about it.
Back to checking out Regis… As Han, David and Glenda decided to relax on the seafront boardwalk having coffee, I had the bright idea of climbing the stairs from the boardwalk to the top of the village. I admit when I am wrong and I was out of my mind wrong about this. I lost count of the stair steps or even how many times I had to catch my breath. At first it is a zig-zag walkable incline, then steps that shoot up into the wild blue yonder. Just when you think you are at the top: nope, you have a very steep zig-zag path to continue the workout. Thanking whoever put random benches to rest before continuing. Once you are at the top, the world feels like it unfurls at your feet and I couldn’t believe I made it without calling for medical assistance. This is no exaggeration either. Then I started my descent to find the rest of the crew. I felt like I had run a marathon by the time I found them relaxing on a bench like smart people.
cemeteries and graveyards; where history becomes heavy
A church hiding among houses
Religeous color schemes
A Typical English Waterfront Look
Some strangely disturbing door ornaments
Any room can serve a great afternoon tea
Spend a day in the book/record store
British humor: tempus fugit amor manet
A scene in Devon on the Water
A great Chinese Restaurant in Seaton Village
All roads lead to Rome?
Life used to be so simple
The horse does not agree with the sign
Life portrays colorful in this part of the world
With the choice to drive back to Southampton on Sunday or Monday, we decided to drive at ease on Sunday, rather than in Monday morning workweek traffic. Why put yourself under pressure? The trip back to Southampton was not as horrifying but we were very glad to turn the car in. Of course that was until they tried to rip us off, and tell us we stole the boot out of the back that covers the luggage area. We were not even aware there was not one originally in the car. They were just trying to find a sucker to blame it on. It didn’t fly and we were not charged. Besides that, we had purchased insurance. Also the car rental airport crew are completely lacking in manners. Not to go into details, but we were not the only ones who the process started off negatively.
Note: Don’t rent from Avis or Budget, they are in same building with same workers.
Port of Call Casablanca, Morocco: “Here’s looking at you, Kid”
No we didn’t visit Rick’s Café Americain, famous from the 1942 Hollywood movie Casablanca with Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. Even though the café is located close to the cruise docks, the café did not open until more than 60 years later in 2004 and is clearly just an effort to capitalize on the famous movie, which by the way was almost in its entirety filmed in Burbank, California, using archive shots of Casablanca for flavor. Even though an admirable effort to be authentic, the entire café operation is essential a Hollywood inspired advertisement. Nothing even remotely comparable to the authenticity of “La Bodeguita del Medio” in Havana Cuba.
Casablanca, chaos and attraction
Casablanca has seen an explosive growth since the port was built 120 years ago. Today Metropolitan Casablanca houses more than 4.3 million people! Compare that to a mere 20,000 in 1900 before the port was built. As a result there is some chaos in the infrastructural picture you may want to take into consideration. Which is why we took it easy again.
Our choices for this Port of Call were a couple of Cruiseline organized bus tours to faraway destinations such as the capital city Rabat to the north or a 4 hour trip each way to Marrakesh, on the edge of the Sahara desert. Now both of these cities are worth a visit, but sitting in a bus for hours was not our idea of fun so our sights were set on the Ancient Medina (the centuries old covered marketplace almost next to the cruise arrival dock) and if time allowed, a stroll down Casablanca’s Corniche to the Mosque Hassan II.
Even though our visiting targets were in walking distance from the cruise ship dock, we took the courtesy bus that would take us to a central point in town, primarily because we needed a McDonalds for some Wifi and a bank to exchange some money. TJ had asked many of our friends and family where they would like to receive a souvenir/gift from and Casablanca came out as the absolute most desirable destination. Hence we needed some Dirhams to be able to “negotiate” prices. (It’s a must if you want Moroccons to respect you).
45 Minutes on the second floor of McDonalds, distracted by the excitement of two young children and their mother, apparently eating for the first time in a Micky D, informed us that everything on the Homefront was under control and we left. Across the street was a bank exchange ATM and we exchanged a good amount of dollars into Dirhams. Always use a bank ATM to exchange, the exchange is better and the service cost much less.
Ancient Medina of Casablanca
Ancient Medina
Coming out of the bank, we ask for directions to the “Souk” and a smiling Moroccan answer points right across the street to a kind of hidden entrance in a big wall. Life is easy in Morocco, about to get easier.
We enter the Ancient Medina and a young guy, young as in his thirties, walks up to us and welcomes us to the Medina. His name is Ibrahim (Abraham in Hebrew) and he introduces himself as the “mayor” of the Ancient Medina. He was born there and still lives inside the ancient walls, and his English is great. Done with the introductions, Ibrahim shows us his store and tells us a little about the Souk’s history. Though lacking the medieval magic (due to the Lisbon earthquake in 1755) that characterizes other Moroccan medinas, Casablanca’s compact 19th-century example is still very much worth a wander. You’re unlikely to find real treasures in its everyday shops (hardware stores, pharmacies and shops selling cheap clothing, shoes and spices ), but its whitewashed crooked lanes, occasional tree-shaded square and buzzy local cafes make it a popular route for those walking between downtown Casablanca and the Hassan II Mosque.
Ibrahim who introduced us to many shopkeepers, told us that less than a week earlier, American actors John Cena and Jessica Biel were spotted filming action scenes for the Apple movie Matchboxin the Medina and areas like Derb Omar, to be released on October 9, 2026.
Ibrahim's store is immediately to the left.
Don't judge...having a shower 100 years ago was rare
Treasures? Maybe if you look real hard.
Fresh Fish market Catch of the Day?
Beautiful details all around. The medina teaches
New Life next to a smoking warning
Making bread like centuries ago
Ibrahim patiently showing us around
Gorgeous shop interiors
Casablanca has the largest Hebrew community in Morocco
Fresh, organic eggs in ancient medina
Free music teaching in the souk
At one point Han, who had some problems with the very uneven pavements consisting of cobblestones and wildly place concrete tiles, took out several racks of clothing when he was tripped by 2 local women unaware and suddenly crossing his path. He went down with some scrapings on his hands. Ibrahim and a very concerned older Imam, guided him to a hidden bathroom, took care of his bloody hands and guided us to a restaurant hidden in the Medina, named Dar El Kaid. It is here where we learned about the flavors of local cuisine. This funky old school Moroccan joint is #1 in the city on TripAdvisor for one reason only: Both the food and the atmosphere are on point, and if you’re looking for a fancy Moroccan meal in Casablanca, we would recommend Dar El Kaid. Han had a flavorful lamb dish slow-cooked with spices and served with couscous and TJ had a Kebab Magdour: Grilled meat skewers seasoned with traditional spices, offering a taste of Moroccan street food. We took quite a few pictures of the fascinating interior and when we walked out there was Ibrahim, waiting for us to continue his tour. We bought souvenirs, spices, t-shirts and other memorabilia for friends and family and when we had walked by hundreds of stores and visited dozens of them.
Dar El Kaid Menu Cover
Heart Art
Part of the interior of Dar el Kaid
Now that is Bread
Han, ready to enjoy a magnificent lunch
Incredibly good Casablanca food
The detail looking up!
The Mecca Laser beam
By late afternoon we properly compensated Ibrahim for his marvelous attention and guidance and walked back to the bus stop where we would be picked up for a return to the ship. It was a great day with lots of local color even though we had not made it to the famous Mosque.
But… that evening from the deck of the ship we witnessed the green Laser Beam coming from the top of the 210 meter (689ft) high Minaret tower of the Hassan II Mosque, that reportedly is beamed directly to the city of Mecca. Quite impressive.
The Market of our Lady of Africa – Santa Cruz, Tenerife
Storms to the north forced us to change the Portuguese Island of Madeira for Santa Cruz de Tenerife for the much farther south Spanish Canary Islands. Santa Cruz de Tenerife was a good choice, especially since we had visited Madeira a couple of years before and were not totally impressed, as the island definitely breathes resort tourism, which we try to avoid.
Santa Cruz because of its sheer location just off the south of Morocco’s Sahara still inhibits a true African culture mixed with Southern Spanish atmosphere. It’s a lively combination of various historic influences. It is the largest island in the Canary Archipelago, and like its brethren Canaries, Tenerife was formed by fierce volcanic activity. Its landscape remains dotted with volcanic cones and areas of intense geothermal activity. Towering over the island is Mt. Teide, an extinct volcano since 1909 that, at 12,200 feet above sea level, is the highest peak in all of Spain. Santa Cruz de Tenerife is the island’s capital and our port of call. We decided to stick to town with Darcy and Caralee and make it a stressless fun day.
Santa Cruz is located on the northeastern shore of Tenerife has a population of more than 200,000 inhabitants. The island is home to close to a million residents, making it Spain’s most populated island. Its climate is known as the “Island of Eternal Spring” and we definitely enjoyed a token of spring that day.
The famous Wind Sculpture
We walked past the Wind Sculpture located in the center of the square in front of the Auditorio de Tenerife, the Castillo de San Juan and the Parque Marítimo César Manrique.
Walking down the main shore drive we passed a beautiful ‘sunken’ park and after crossing a couple of major la rambla sized pedestrian shopping street, we crossed the bridge and came up to the entrance to the famous Mercado de Nuestra Señora de Africa, locally known as La Recova. And what a pleasure that was. It stands on the site of the former Monastery of San Francisco. Its distinctive architecture, inspired by Moroccan aesthetics, features three courtyards and a clock tower, making it an architectural landmark in its own right. The market was a visionary project designed to centralize the city’s food supply and create a modern, hygienic marketplace for the growing urban population. Today it provides a daily showcase of the island’s agricultural bounty and rich culinary traditions.
Visiting this market offers a direct connection to the local culture and heritage. It’s a perfect way to immerse yourself in the authentic rhythm of the town and its vibrant daily life. You’ll find everything from exotic fresh produce to traditional Canarian specialities here, highlighting the island’s unique offerings and the diversity of its agriculture. The enormous, partly open air market, was inaugurated in 1943 on a neo-colonial architectural base, as a tribute to African Culture and the Island’s Fishing history. The fresh markets give an eye’s delight of color and composition. The people were not rushing, it was a rather slow stroll and moving from stand to stand. The flowers and fresh vegetables and fruits were generous in providing this area with vivid colors. And the smell! The mixture of all possible herbs, flowers and bakery.
Old and new mixes well here in Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz Bridge
Our Lady of Africa Market
Mercado
Fruits and vegetables
Exotic Fruits and Vegetables
Fresh Seafood -Shrimp - Crabs - Lobster
Spices as Presents
Tower Landmark
Quiet, restful, shady siestas
Pedestrian Shopping streets
santa cruz cat message
Decorative Wall Painting
Departing with the pilot boat
It is one of those places where you want to get your wallet out and start buying bags of stuff, and then you realize with certain sadness, you’re on a cruise ship where everything food is included in the ride and the fridge in your stateroom is too small for a cantaloupe. In the end you buy some exotic spices as a gift for friends back home, because you want to leave some of your “wealth” behind for these friendly, smiling, hardworking people.
After almost 2 hours of pure delight we leave and stroll in search of a nice outside café where we can get a drink and maybe a local snack and spend a while doing our favorite thing on vacation: people watching.
Darcy and Han decided that they could live on this island. Han actually has a history with the Canary Island where he helped his friend, architect/developer Peter Riteco, in the late 1970s develop and market a resort, Parques Holandés, on the neighboring island of Fuerteventura. Old memories kept floating the afternoon away, until it was time to return to the ship.
Parques Holandes, Fuerteventura
The Canary Islands as a tourism destination were developed in the early 1960 by Scandinavian, Dutch, ,British and German vacation suppliers. Some of the islands have suffered from over-development, while others followed a more cautious approach. Definitely worth a destination visit of several days to weeks.
Our first transatlantic cruise in 2022 was mostly the result of a Covid test gone lopsided, which prevented us from flying to Curaçao in the southern Caribbean. It was meant for a two wee trip to Barcelona. However before we arrived in Barcelona on that first cruise, the bug already got us and we booked a 2 week extension across the Mediterranean Sea and the Greek Isles. The next year’s cruise was a 28 day Pacific/South Seas trip, which unfortunately turned bad because of illnesses. In 2025 we once again opted for a transatlantic cruise, because the cost pretty much equals almost 2 roundtrip airline tickets and let’s face it, after 6 months of serving hotels guests, it just feels magnificent to be taken care of by a professional hospitality crew for a full two weeks. And last but not least for those who are sensitive to jet lag, the 6 hour time difference is absorbed over a number of days, rather than all at once. If it’s done right, it can’t get any better and we feel that Princess aims high in customer satisfaction.
Platinum’s with the Captain’s Circle
Our ship of choice (well it’s really more of a case of what ship needs to go over to Europe for the summer season) is the Sky Princess, the sister ship of Regal Princess, which we took three years earlier. Also, our routing choice this year was based on TJ’s longtime wish to visit her family ancestry’s origins supposedly in Seaton Village, Devon, not far from our end port of Southampton.
Having learned from our terrible experience during the previous year’s Pacific cruise, we had an extra suitcase filled with every medicine imaginable. We also decided to start the last 4 days prior to boarding with a vitamin elderberry liquid shot, as we have learned how easy it is to get infected with a cold or flu, just standing in line to collect your medallion. More than 3,000 people in relatively close quarters will get you infected easily.
Soon after boarding we headed for the smoking lounge on aft deck 16, since that’s where the cool people usually hang out. Unfortunately this time, the smoking area housed not only the nicest people but also some of the vilest, loudest, ultra right wing individuals one can imagine. One of them actually during the cruise claimed to be a proud right wing nazi. A quick warning to the security officers on board, made this guy shut up for the duration of the crossing. It promised to be an interesting ride ahead of us.
The sea day length was estimated at 8 days and arriving in the Portuguese Resort island of Madeira on day 9. For a schedule like that we always try to reserve a stateroom on the starboard side of the ship as that puts our balcony towards the south with usually lots of sunshine for tanning during the crossing. Yet, as often happens in the early months of the year, storms develop to the north of us, occasionally dipping down.
Our Besties from Vancouver Darcy and Caralee
That exact scenario was the case during most of our cruise, so we were not surprised that the captain had to change course deeper to the south. As a result we diverted from Madeira to Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Spanish Canary Islands. Since we had already visited Madeira in 2022, we didn’t mind one bit. Our new friends from Vancouver, Canada, Darcy and Caralee (also smokers of course) joined us for the day on land in Santa Cruz and we all had a great time.
After Tenerife we were looking forward to a day in Casablanca, Morocco for a day strolling in the Ancient Medina which turned out magnificent. But our last port of call, supposedly La Coruña in the increasingly popular Galicia area of Spain was the next victim of weather, as we only quickly anchored to let some ship- entertainers off, before steaming northwest through the notorious Gulf of Biscayne to Southampton, England.
Recent Comments