Spain and Portugal, August 6th until September 12th In La Coruña, where we arrived with René, Marcel’s brother, we stayed for a week and enjoyed lovely weather, looking around town, speaking Spanish and eating Spanish food. It felt a bit like home, because it reminded us of Venezuela, where we met. There was a lot to see in La Coruña. It has an old walled city with nice small cobbled streets, old churches and squares with trees and fountains. As we were there, it happened to be Middle Ages week. There were actors in a drama from the Middle Ages, there were several stalls, selling anything from leather, candles, toys, and herbs and spices for health. There were women making lace, men pressing apples into cider, one could learn to handle a bow and arrow, practicing on a bulls eye, there were sculptors and a blacksmith making whistles for a penny. There was a lively atmosphere. Especially after siesta time (between 2 and 5 pm) the whole town was bustling with life. Everyone was out on the streets. We often had a nice meal in Spanish tapas bars. We enjoyed tasting something new every time, such as the "Pimientos de Padrón". These fried chilly peppers can sometimes be very spicy! On August 12th we sailed to Camariñas. This was the hardest day for us until then. There was quite a swell and Marcel lost his balance and almost fell overboard, I was shocked. Luckily he had clipped on his lifeline, he could pull himself inside again holding the jib sheet. Some time thereafter, I steered the boat in between 2 fishing buoys (at the time I didn’t even see that there were two) and there was a rope in between them, which got stuck behind the rudder. At first, the steering wheel felt strange and then the boat slowed to a halt. Marcel went overboard with his wetsuit, mask and snorkel and eventually got us going again. It was quite a job, and I saw Marcel go under with every wave. Luckily he came up again quickly. The water was terribly cold, about 14 degrees, and the boat was bouncing up and down on the waves. Again such a scary experience. I discovered that I am actually not much of a hero, when this kind of thing happens, or when it is storming. Often I am also affected by seasickness, and that doesn’t help either. In Camariñas we tried our dinghy for the first time. It worked fine after Marcel had spent hours to unlock the "stainless" padlock from the outboard motor. WD-40 was one of the things we did not (yet) have on board. Marcel rowed over to Foekje and Hans on board "Romarin", whom we had met in La Coruña, to borrow some of theirs. Two days later we left Camariñas in a south-westerly wind, whilst the fog was getting denser. The weather forecast had been a north westerly with good visibility. So how were we going to avoid those fishing buoys with those lines in between? Luckily, we did not come across any, or we did not see them in the fog. There were only a few boats around us, so we could easily keep track of their position and course on the radar. Strange to be totally dependent on instruments. Everything went well, and at the end of the day we arrived in Portosin. During the day we had kept in contact with Henneke, Fred Dijkstra with their son Maarten and friend Mike. They were going to spend part of their holiday with us on board Alegria. Just as we sailed into port, we saw them waving and jumping up and down on the shore. Fred was flashing the headlights of his car. It was a happy reunion. Together with them we explored some fjords ("rias") in Galicia. The weather was awful most of the time, with a strong south-westerly wind, and rain. One of these rainy days we went together in their car to Santiago de Compostela. There we visited the beautiful cathedral. Pilgrims from all over Europe have been visiting this cathedral for ages, and still do. The cathedral has beautiful sculptures in marble and lots of gold. It was very special to see how the Christian faith was still alive here. In the square in front of the cathedral was a man, painted from head to toe in bronze, standing still like a sculpture. Very impressive. The next day the weather was good, and the boys sailed from Portosin to Muros, whilst Henneke and I took the car to Muros. The boys had seen dolphins along the way, and had a nice day sailing. Henneke and I visited the market in Noia. In Muros we met Foekje and Hans again on board "Romarin". Due to the bad weather we sailed back and forth between Muros and Portosin twice, before we could continue on south. During the rainy days we played games in the cabin, and Marcel taught the boys how to do knots and splices. One night it was storming. Marcel and the boys were hoisting up the dinghy to put it on deck, whilst Henneke, Fred and I were doing the dishes. We were just discussing how I should let go more, and rely on things going well (I often feel responsible for safety on board). Then suddenly, we heard a few bumps and a "Shit", and Henneke and Fred saw the dinghy fly as high as the top of the mast. Later I heard that Marcel had been hanging on the lifelines again by the back of his knees, trying to hold on to the dinghy. I could see the bruises later. The dinghy came down on top of the flagstaff at the back of the boat. The flagstaff broke, dropped overboard, and was floating away. Now what? We could not continue without the Dutch flag! Marcel quickly mounted the outboard motor on the dinghy again, and together with Mike he recovered the flag just before darkness. So much for letting go. Marcel’s view on all of this was: It was exciting, wasn’t it? Of course I could look at it this way as well. On the 20th of August we went with Henneke and Maarten to Porto Pedras Negras. Again we had to motorsail because there wasn’t enough wind. Along the way we saw dolphins again. Fred and Mike went by car. In Pedras Negras we enjoyed a beautiful day on the beach. The day after we said good-bye to our friends, who were going back home. It had been the first time with so many people on board. We had had a good time together, even though it was sometimes a bit crowded on board with six persons, especially with the bad weather. That same day we motored to Bayona. The weather was beautiful, but again there was no wind. There was quite a swell from the northwest, which made us feel a bit queasy. We also slalomed around the fishing buoys. In Bayona we stayed for 5 days. Everyday there was no wind, and almost every day started with fog in the morning, which cleared in the afternoon. We used our time to see the town in detail. On a rock just outside the harbour was a 10 metre high statue of the Virgen de la Roca. She watches over the fishermen in the harbour. We climbed to the top of the statue. There was also a fort. It was funny to see how the boulevard of Bayona was very touristy, whilst a parallel street behind it was very authentic with lots of couleur locale. We had dinner in restaurant El Rincon, which had the atmosphere of an old wine cellar. In the harbour there was a replica of La Pinta, one of the two ships in which Columbus and Pinzón sailed to the West Indies. On the 27th of August we sailed from Bayona to Viana do Castelo in Portugal. We saw lots of dolphins along the way, some of them jumping completely out of the water. Just before we entered the harbour a thunderstorm was approaching. We disconnected all antenna cables on board, and we connected a jumper cable to one of the stays, dragging the other end through the water (as a lightning conductor). One time there was a thunderbolt really close by, with a loud bang. Thereafter we heard a continuous clicking noise in the mast, similar to the electric ignition of a gas stove. The electronic navigation equipment gave an error message. After the thunderstorm had gone, we switched the electronic navigation equipment of and on again, and reconnected the antennas. Luckily everything worked OK. Viana do Costello was the first we saw of Portugal. We like Portugal very much, and it is quite different from Spain. Many houses and buildings are in Renaissance and Manueline style. On the walls you can see "Azulejos", usually blue tiles with all kinds of images, witnesses of Moorish influence. There was so much to see that we went through town weighed down with cameras. From Viana do Costelo we sailed in two days to Cascais, a suburb of Lisbon. Finally we got a taste of the "Portuguese Trades", the northerly wind that should normally blow all summer along the Portuguese west coast. That is why we took the opportunity to cover some distance. That night was a bit uncomfortable with a strong swell from the northwest, and a wind force 6. Somehow we did not sleep very well during our off-watch times. Just before we entered Cascais we had some near gale force winds (33 knots), and Alegria set a new personal record at 9.5 knots. When we arrived we were both very tired, and went to bed without bothering to have dinner. At that time I was seeing things rather gloomy. Night sailing in a storm is not my favourite. Although I love seeing a nice sunrise and sunset, or a starry night with full moon, and of course dolphins, whales and birds. I have also noticed that I love going ashore at the end of a voyage to look around and talk to the people. After 11 hours of sleep we had both recovered and I was seeing things bright again. We met "Romarin" and "Saarein" in the marina. We treated ourselves to a lovely day in Lisbon. It was our fourth wedding anniversary. That night we went to a fado restaurant. Fado is a traditional Portuguese style of singing, very emotional and dramatic. There were three female and one male singer. The last female singer was the star of the evening, and owner of the restaurant. We both thought that Lisbon was very special, but also very touristy. The city has a beautiful layout with squares, tree lined avenues and parks. It is a pity that many buildings are badly in need of maintenance. We visited the gardens of a beautiful palace, decorated with blue-white and yellow tiles. An old part of the city, Alfama, is built on a hill. There were "miradouro’s" or viewpoints, from where you could have a beautiful view of the city and the Rio Tejo. We enjoyed mostly the old, authentic part of Lisbon with narrow streets ("becoes"), where you could see the local population. On a Sunday, the main streets were filled only with tourists and those catering for the tourists. On the 4th of September we sailed in 2 days and one night to Vilamoura in the Algarve. Vilamoura is not our kind of place. It is basically a resort town catering to mass tourism. We did find an archaeological site where the remains of a Roman villa had been uncovered. We also found a sail maker who fixed a problem with our furling mainsail. The only remaining problem is now some creases in the sail that are formed every time the sail is furled. On the 9th of September we traced back westward to Lagos. Lagos has an old walled city centre, and has some atmosphere despite the thousands of tourists. There are some beautiful beaches with nice rock formations and clear blue water south of Lagos. We took our bicycles to Ponta da Piedade, Praia de Camilo and Praia Dona Ana for a day of sunbathing and swimming. That night we had a delicious meal at Restaurante O Degrau, which happened to be run by a Dutch lady.
Spain and Portugal, August 6th until September 12th In La Coruña, where we arrived with René, Marcel’s brother, we stayed for a week and enjoyed lovely weather, looking around town, speaking Spanish and eating Spanish food. It felt a bit like home, because it reminded us of Venezuela, where we met. There was a lot to see in La Coruña. It has an old walled city with nice small cobbled streets, old churches and squares with trees and fountains. As we were there, it happened to be Middle Ages week. There were actors in a drama from the Middle Ages, there were several stalls, selling anything from leather, candles, toys, and herbs and spices for health. There were women making lace, men pressing apples into cider, one could learn to handle a bow and arrow, practicing on a bulls eye, there were sculptors and a blacksmith making whistles for a penny. There was a lively atmosphere. Especially after siesta time (between 2 and 5 pm) the whole town was bustling with life. Everyone was out on the streets. We often had a nice meal in Spanish tapas bars. We enjoyed tasting something new every time, such as the "Pimientos de Padrón". These fried chilly peppers can sometimes be very spicy! On August 12th we sailed to Camariñas. This was the hardest day for us until then. There was quite a swell and Marcel lost his balance and almost fell overboard, I was shocked. Luckily he had clipped on his lifeline, he could pull himself inside again holding the jib sheet. Some time thereafter, I steered the boat in between 2 fishing buoys (at the time I didn’t even see that there were two) and there was a rope in between them, which got stuck behind the rudder. At first, the steering wheel felt strange and then the boat slowed to a halt. Marcel went overboard with his wetsuit, mask and snorkel and eventually got us going again. It was quite a job, and I saw Marcel go under with every wave. Luckily he came up again quickly. The water was terribly cold, about 14 degrees, and the boat was bouncing up and down on the waves. Again such a scary experience. I discovered that I am actually not much of a hero, when this kind of thing happens, or when it is storming. Often I am also affected by seasickness, and that doesn’t help either. In Camariñas we tried our dinghy for the first time. It worked fine after Marcel had spent hours to unlock the "stainless" padlock from the outboard motor. WD-40 was one of the things we did not (yet) have on board. Marcel rowed over to Foekje and Hans on board "Romarin", whom we had met in La Coruña, to borrow some of theirs. Two days later we left Camariñas in a south-westerly wind, whilst the fog was getting denser. The weather forecast had been a north westerly with good visibility. So how were we going to avoid those fishing buoys with those lines in between? Luckily, we did not come across any, or we did not see them in the fog. There were only a few boats around us, so we could easily keep track of their position and course on the radar. Strange to be totally dependent on instruments. Everything went well, and at the end of the day we arrived in Portosin. During the day we had kept in contact with Henneke, Fred Dijkstra with their son Maarten and friend Mike. They were going to spend part of their holiday with us on board Alegria. Just as we sailed into port, we saw them waving and jumping up and down on the shore. Fred was flashing the headlights of his car. It was a happy reunion. Together with them we explored some fjords ("rias") in Galicia. The weather was awful most of the time, with a strong south- westerly wind, and rain. One of these rainy days we went together in their car to Santiago de Compostela. There we visited the beautiful cathedral. Pilgrims from all over Europe have been visiting this cathedral for ages, and still do. The cathedral has beautiful sculptures in marble and lots of gold. It was very special to see how the Christian faith was still alive here. In the square in front of the cathedral was a man, painted from head to toe in bronze, standing still like a sculpture. Very impressive. The next day the weather was good, and the boys sailed from Portosin to Muros, whilst Henneke and I took the car to Muros. The boys had seen dolphins along the way, and had a nice day sailing. Henneke and I visited the market in Noia. In Muros we met Foekje and Hans again on board "Romarin". Due to the bad weather we sailed back and forth between Muros and Portosin twice, before we could continue on south. During the rainy days we played games in the cabin, and Marcel taught the boys how to do knots and splices. One night it was storming. Marcel and the boys were hoisting up the dinghy to put it on deck, whilst Henneke, Fred and I were doing the dishes. We were just discussing how I should let go more, and rely on things going well (I often feel responsible for safety on board). Then suddenly, we heard a few bumps and a "Shit", and Henneke and Fred saw the dinghy fly as high as the top of the mast. Later I heard that Marcel had been hanging on the lifelines again by the back of his knees, trying to hold on to the dinghy. I could see the bruises later. The dinghy came down on top of the flagstaff at the back of the boat. The flagstaff broke, dropped overboard, and was floating away. Now what? We could not continue without the Dutch flag! Marcel quickly mounted the outboard motor on the dinghy again, and together with Mike he recovered the flag just before darkness. So much for letting go. Marcel’s view on all of this was: It was exciting, wasn’t it? Of course I could look at it this way as well. On the 20th of August we went with Henneke and Maarten to Porto Pedras Negras. Again we had to motorsail because there wasn’t enough wind. Along the way we saw dolphins again. Fred and Mike went by car. In Pedras Negras we enjoyed a beautiful day on the beach. The day after we said good-bye to our friends, who were going back home. It had been the first time with so many people on board. We had had a good time together, even though it was sometimes a bit crowded on board with six persons, especially with the bad weather. That same day we motored to Bayona. The weather was beautiful, but again there was no wind. There was quite a swell from the northwest, which made us feel a bit queasy. We also slalomed around the fishing buoys. In Bayona we stayed for 5 days. Everyday there was no wind, and almost every day started with fog in the morning, which cleared in the afternoon. We used our time to see the town in detail. On a rock just outside the harbour was a 10 metre high statue of the Virgen de la Roca. She watches over the fishermen in the harbour. We climbed to the top of the statue. There was also a fort. It was funny to see how the boulevard of Bayona was very touristy, whilst a parallel street behind it was very authentic with lots of couleur locale. We had dinner in restaurant El Rincon, which had the atmosphere of an old wine cellar. In the harbour there was a replica of La Pinta, one of the two ships in which Columbus and Pinzón sailed to the West Indies. On the 27th of August we sailed from Bayona to Viana do Castelo in Portugal. We saw lots of dolphins along the way, some of them jumping completely out of the water. Just before we entered the harbour a thunderstorm was approaching. We disconnected all antenna cables on board, and we connected a jumper cable to one of the stays, dragging the other end through the water (as a lightning conductor). One time there was a thunderbolt really close by, with a loud bang. Thereafter we heard a continuous clicking noise in the mast, similar to the electric ignition of a gas stove. The electronic navigation equipment gave an error message. After the thunderstorm had gone, we switched the electronic navigation equipment of and on again, and reconnected the antennas. Luckily everything worked OK. Viana do Costello was the first we saw of Portugal. We like Portugal very much, and it is quite different from Spain. Many houses and buildings are in Renaissance and Manueline style. On the walls you can see "Azulejos", usually blue tiles with all kinds of images, witnesses of Moorish influence. There was so much to see that we went through town weighed down with cameras. From Viana do Costelo we sailed in two days to Cascais, a suburb of Lisbon. Finally we got a taste of the "Portuguese Trades", the northerly wind that should normally blow all summer along the Portuguese west coast. That is why we took the opportunity to cover some distance. That night was a bit uncomfortable with a strong swell from the northwest, and a wind force 6. Somehow we did not sleep very well during our off-watch times. Just before we entered Cascais we had some near gale force winds (33 knots), and Alegria set a new personal record at 9.5 knots. When we arrived we were both very tired, and went to bed without bothering to have dinner. At that time I was seeing things rather gloomy. Night sailing in a storm is not my favourite. Although I love seeing a nice sunrise and sunset, or a starry night with full moon, and of course dolphins, whales and birds. I have also noticed that I love going ashore at the end of a voyage to look around and talk to the people. After 11 hours of sleep we had both recovered and I was seeing things bright again. We met "Romarin" and "Saarein" in the marina. We treated ourselves to a lovely day in Lisbon. It was our fourth wedding anniversary. That night we went to a fado restaurant. Fado is a traditional Portuguese style of singing, very emotional and dramatic. There were three female and one male singer. The last female singer was the star of the evening, and owner of the restaurant. We both thought that Lisbon was very special, but also very touristy. The city has a beautiful layout with squares, tree lined avenues and parks. It is a pity that many buildings are badly in need of maintenance. We visited the gardens of a beautiful palace, decorated with blue-white and yellow tiles. An old part of the city, Alfama, is built on a hill. There were "miradouro’s" or viewpoints, from where you could have a beautiful view of the city and the Rio Tejo. We enjoyed mostly the old, authentic part of Lisbon with narrow streets ("becoes"), where you could see the local population. On a Sunday, the main streets were filled only with tourists and those catering for the tourists. On the 4th of September we sailed in 2 days and one night to Vilamoura in the Algarve. Vilamoura is not our kind of place. It is basically a resort town catering to mass tourism. We did find an archaeological site where the remains of a Roman villa had been uncovered. We also found a sail maker who fixed a problem with our furling mainsail. The only remaining problem is now some creases in the sail that are formed every time the sail is furled. On the 9th of September we traced back westward to Lagos. Lagos has an old walled city centre, and has some atmosphere despite the thousands of tourists. There are some beautiful beaches with nice rock formations and clear blue water south of Lagos. We took our bicycles to Ponta da Piedade, Praia de Camilo and Praia Dona Ana for a day of sunbathing and swimming. That night we had a delicious meal at Restaurante O Degrau, which happened to be run by a Dutch lady.