After a week in Barcelona, we boarded the Regent Seven Seas Splendor for a 25-night cruise down the west coast of Africa to Cape Town.
This was the cruise Shirley had found and booked while we were relaxing in Wailea a few months earlier. She had wanted to spend New Year's Eve aboard a ship, and an itinerary that began in Barcelona and ended in Cape Town seemed like an adventure.
It certainly was.
Settling Into the Ship
Our first impression of the Splendor wasn't quite what we'd expected.
We'd recently sailed in the Haven on Norwegian Joy and had somehow imagined that an entire Regent ship would feel like the Haven. It didn't.
The Splendor was much smaller, with fewer than 750 passengers, but some spaces felt more crowded than we expected. The buffet was still a buffet. The fitness center and spa were smaller than those we'd enjoyed on the Joy, and the dining experience initially felt less intimate.
Our first evening we ate at Chartreuse, the French restaurant. We explored the ship, unpacked and asked our cabin attendant for about a dozen additional hangers—which probably told us something about how much we'd packed.
It took us a little while to settle in.
But we did.
Cádiz and the White Villages
Our first port was Cádiz, where we took an excursion into the White Villages of Andalusia.
The forecast called for rain, and for once we were properly prepared.
Our bus couldn't enter the narrow streets of Arcos de la Frontera, so we parked below town and walked uphill for about twenty minutes in steady rain.
Some passengers weren't thrilled about the climb.
Shirley and I were fine, and I made a mental note that we wanted to remain the kind of people who could make that walk as we got older.
At the Parador, we sat beneath a covered patio with two other couples, drinking red wine and eating snacks while the rain fell around us.
Later we wandered through the narrow streets on our own and eventually found our way into a cultural center. Upstairs, a balcony opened onto a beautiful view across the valley.
The rain never really stopped.
It didn't matter.
Shirley later commented that she was glad we'd kept exploring rather than letting the weather change the day.
Lanzarote
After a rocky sea day—with the captain warning us about fifteen-foot seas and thirty-knot winds—we reached Lanzarote in the Canary Islands.
The landscape was unlike anything we'd seen on the trip so far.
Our tour took us through Timanfaya National Park and the Fire Mountains, a stark volcanic landscape shaped by eruptions in the eighteenth century.
Later we stopped at a winery.
Rather than stick around for the organized tasting, Shirley and I wandered over to the taberna and ordered tapas and wine.
It wasn't especially adventurous.
But we enjoyed it more.
Tenerife
Christmas Eve found us in Tenerife.
The night before, Shirley had received a call from her sister telling her that their father had died in his sleep.
We spent time talking about him and were especially grateful that Shirley had recently gone home to visit. It had been a trip she'd put off before finally deciding to go.
That morning we headed into the Anaga Mountains.
The road reminded us of the Road to Hana—narrow, twisting, with steep drop-offs and blind curves. Our bus driver honked before entering turns, and some of the guardrails looked more ornamental than functional.
We stopped near Playa del Roque de las Bodegas, a rugged beach where the smell of the ocean was wonderful.
Later we visited La Laguna, walking through the old town, market and Christmas market.
During the day we also talked with other travelers, including an older couple who cruised frequently. The husband offered a simple observation: "You can't take it with you."
Back aboard the ship, we met another couple who had spent more than twenty years sailing around Europe for several months each year.
They estimated that all their sailing added up to more than four years at sea.
We liked that.
Christmas Day itself was quiet. We were at sea off the coast of Western Sahara. I worked out. We relaxed.
That was about it.
Cape Verde
On December 27 we reached Mindelo on São Vicente in Cape Verde.
By now Europe was clearly behind us.
We toured the town, markets and surrounding island, getting our first glimpse of a place that felt distinctly different from Spain and the Canary Islands.
This was also the point where the cruise began to feel less like simply moving south and more like entering West Africa.
West Africa
From Cape Verde we continued south.
This was the part of the itinerary that had made the cruise so unusual. We weren't simply sailing to Cape Town. We were stopping along a coast that neither of us knew much about and visiting places we probably never would have planned individual trips to see.
Some stops were fascinating.
Some were uncomfortable.
Some gave us a glimpse of places that were difficult to understand from a few hours ashore.
And increasingly, the contrast between life aboard the Splendor and life immediately outside the port became impossible not to notice.