Oostende, Belgium - waffles anyone?

I ate so much great food in Belgium! My first few days in Oostende were spent exploring the city; there’s a really nice beach. I ate tons of waffles and chocolate. There’s also really good mussels in Oostende.

On our second full day in Belgium there was a full day port program. We took a bus to Gent, a really beautiful old city. We had the best tour guide. He was this little old man who had retired from his job and did tours for fun. We saw some amazing cathedrals, some beautiful canals, and it was even better because the sun was out and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. At the end of the tour we visited an old castle that used to be the home of the count of Flanders, but now it’s a museum. There was lots of cool medieval weaponry. After lunch we got back onto the bus and went to Brugge. This was probably the nicest city that I’ve seen all year! There are tons of canals running through the city and so many old buildings. We saw a lot of cool churches as well. We were allowed to stay the evening in Brugge and take a train back to Oostende later that night.



Canal in Gent



My friend Holly and I



Our third day in Belgium was another port program. We went to Brussels. I have to say that I preferred Brugge to Brussels. Brussels was a lot more like a big city, and therefore not as charming. There were a lot of historical buildings though, and we visited the royal palace and more churches. We went by a really sketchy flea market. I feel bad talking about food so much but I had the best falafel of my life in Brussels and also my favourite waffle. We saw the famous statue of the boy peeing. It was kind of like the Mona Lisa: the statue is super famous but it’s really small and over-rated. There were chocolate replicas that were bigger! I was a little disappointed. When I got back to Oostende I went out for a Sarah supper with the other three Sarahs on the ship. It was a lot of fun!



Waffles everywhere!



Peeing boy statue

The next day we had full day shore leave. A group of my friends and I decided that it would be fun to bike to Brugge, about 25 km from Oostende. We rented bikes (they were free if you gave a passport number!) and we picked up a picnic lunch at the grocery store. The weather was amazing! It was really hot out and we could ride in t-shirts. There wasn’t a single cloud. You could follow a canal all the way from Oostende to Brugge - it was a really nice path and there were lots of bikers and walkers that we saw on our way. We passed a few small towns. We stopped a lot to rest along the canal and we had a really nice lunch in a field where all the buttercups and daisies were blooming. When we got to Brugge we locked up our bikes and walked around the city because cobblestone biking wasn’t very comfortable! I went on a canal tour in a little boat which was really nice. We took the train back to Oostende because we were running late and the bikes needed to be returned by 7 pm. You had to pay extra to take the bikes on the train. While we were riding the train the conductor got really mad at us because we didn’t put the bikes in the right compartment! We were never told that there was a special compartment so it was a little frustrating. All in all though it was probably one of my favourite days all year!

Biking along the canal from Oostende to Brugge




Cool recycling station in Belgium

 We got shore leave on our last day until 3pm because we had to wait for high tide so I just went for internet and shopped a bit. I also consumed way to much chocolate :) That seemed to be a bit of the theme for this port!

La Coruna, España

We’re back in Europe! It’s really good to be back in the more civilised world. When we arrived at La Coruna, Spain, we were docked right next to the Christian Radich, another Norwegian tall ship. She’s kind of like the Sorlandet’s sister ship. She is also fully-rigged just like us however a little bigger. Our captain used to be the captain of the Radich. The Christian Radich is also a school ship used to train the Norwegian navy. It was a real sight to see the two ships docked side by side. 

bell of the Christian Radich, Norwegian tall ship

 The day that we arrived into port we got a bit of shore leave in the evening so we just went out for supper and walked around town a bit. I got a hot chocolate at a cafe, and instead of getting the beverage that I expected I was brought hot chocolate pudding! 

Our first full day in port was full day shore leave. It rained most of the day. I had gangway duty in the morning, so I didn’t get off the ship till around lunch time. I went to visit the Radich. We got a tour of the ship from one of the mates. It was really interesting to tour the ship and see the similarities and differences between our ship and theirs. I guess I’m a bit of a sailing geek now ;) 

Afterwards I went to an amazing seafood restaurant for lunch and then walked around the old town. There were lots of really nice churches and parks. Later we took the bus to the Hercules tower. It’s the oldest working lighthouse in the world. It was built in the first century. Luckily, the sun finally came out and the rain stopped when we got to the lighthouse. We climbed to the top and got an incredible view of the city and the ocean. There were some amazing walking paths along the cliffs and around the lighthouse so we walked around for about two hours, enjoying the scenery and the sea air. 

the Hercules tower - world's oldest working lighthouse

view from the bottom of the tower

We decided to walk back into town to look for a place to eat and took the scenic route along the beach. When we finally got to a restaurant my feet hurt so bad from all the walking! None of the people in my group could read Spanish, and there were about twenty different plates.  We decided to just order all of the tapas that were on the menu, and when we told the waiter his eyes went really big. We watched him tell the cook who slapped a hand to his forehead in amazement. It was actually quite funny. The food came and we had no idea what anything was. We tasted it all though. Some was delicious but some was absolutely disgusting. It was quite an exciting supper. I limped back to the ship after that. 

Our second and third days were port program days involving an overnight stay at a hostel. We took a train to Santiago where we stayed at the coolest hostel that I’ve ever seen! If Ghandi, John Lennon and Bob Marley all contributed to interior decorating, this hostel would be it. There were tons of candles and dream catchers; the walls were all covered in psychedelic murals; Indian sarongs covered the ceiling; and weed leaves decorated everything. It was amazing! 

The man at the hostel recommended we have lunch at this Spanish restaurant.  The man who served us at the restaurant was extremely friendly. He basically just brought out food for us. I have never eaten so much! There was a whole platter of meat, and a massive pot of soup, salad, vegetables and dessert. It was amazing. After that we tried to work off our lunch by exploring the old town, and to visit Santiago de Compostela, the cathedral that Santiago is famous for. It’s the main pilgrimage site in Spain because of the tomb of Saint James that is at the cathedral. The cathedral was really impressive and massive. We stayed there for awhile admiring the architecture. Afterwards we drank hot chocolates (the usual kind!) at the hotel next door and then went back to the hostel for an early night.

Satiago de Compostela - it's massive!

In the morning we got to sleep in a bit (this is a real treat). We went out for a watch breakfast in the old town, and wandered around some more until it was time to catch the train back to La Coruna.  Next stop Belgium!

Horta Azores

It’s been awhile since my last blog - I didn’t have good internet connection in Horta, Azores.

Bermuda was really nice, and the residents here are very well to do and the streets are lined with high-end shops.  Bermuda was one of the parent ports, but my parents didn’t come to see me, so I hung out with the other “orphans” and enjoyed few days of freedom. As you heard, I hurt my back part way through this port, so I don’t have much to report other than that it was a really nice island!

The Atlantic crossing went really well. I was on the 6:00-9:00a.m. watch, so I got to see some amazing sunrises every morning. The sail across started off really calm; the water was just like glass on some days. It wasn’t good weather for sailing, but it was really beautiful. It got really rough about halfway through the sail - we reached a force 7, and  we were heeling over and pitching so much that the main deck was closed and we had to stay below. There were some fun events during the sail once again.  We had themed dinners, Crepes Afloat, and a dance. The dance was such a blast! We used headlamps as strobe lights, and everyone kept falling over when the ship rocked.

We also had a snow day on March 12^th!  We were allowed to sleep in, while the teachers covered our watch shifts in the morning. In the afternoon we had watch group challenges. First we had to make an ice sculpture - my watch carved a whale tail and we won! Next, there was an egg drop - if our egg survived, we were able to use it as one of the ingredients to make cookies next. The watch that won the ice contest (us!) got the largest amount of ingredients to choose from. That meant that since we had the egg, and we won the ice contest, we had six ingredients to work with!  Needless to say, our cookies were picked by our Cook as her favourite, and so we won this contest as well! I’ve got the best watch group this semester – we are having so much fun together :) 

We saw a sea monster during this sail. I call it that because no one could quite figure out what it was. We’ve got it narrowed down to a sail fish or a basking shark. My money’s on the basking shark. 

We sailed into Horta, Azores  on March 16th. Horta is a beautiful port!  Although it rained the entire time that we were there, it remains one of my favourite ports so far because of the beautiful scenery. Every ship that docks there is supposed to leave a mural; it’s really interesting to look at all the murals that have been done in the past. I found the one done by the Concordia last year, and the one by Class Afloat when it was on the Frededrick Chopin! 

The Sorlandet in Horta

The first thing we did when we docked was to find some land food after so many days at sea – I sure missed land food!  We found a Chinese restaurant where we stuffed our faces – then found some yummy chocolate cake at Peter’s Cafe. Peter’s Cafe was really cool - ships that come into port can leave a flag from their ship, so the restaurant is really nautical and decorated with lots of flags. Upstairs we found the Scrimshaw Museum filled with scrimshaw art (like painting on whale teeth); there was a massive collection, and it was amazing how much detail can be painted onto such small objects. I found scrimshaw of a tall ship, lines and all that was carved out of a whale bone!

Our second day in the Azores was a port program day.  We mainly walked around the island exploring: we went along the beach and along the coast, and the scenery is so beautiful! The island is volcanic and there are some incredible cliffs and plants. We also visited the whaling museum, all about the sperm whale hunting that used to be a major industry in the Azores. It wasn’t banned either until the 80s, so there are some really recent video footage. I found it to be horrible and did not enjoy this museum at all – did you know that they only killed the whales to extract oil? I didn’t like watching movies of innocent whales getting brutally murdered. 

Beautiful view of the island

That evening I went for supper at this really neat restaurant. We were served a plate of an assortment of fish and meat (steak, pork, chicken, prawns, octopus, squid, swordfish, tuna and trigger fish) and dipping sauces. They then brought each person a burning hot lava rock! We were supposed to cook the food on the lava rock - it was a lot of fun!

Our third day in the Azores was another port program; we took a bus to the volcano that exploded only just over 50 years ago. We visited an interpretive centre all about volcanoes.  We climbed up a lighthouse that had been hit by the volcano and partially demolished. From the top of the lighthouse all that you could see for miles was ash from the volcano - it was an impressive sight. In the afternoon, the bus toured us around the island and we stopped at a few places such as a national park, a natural swimming pool, and a few incredible lookout points.

Lighthouse by the volcano

Fields of volcanic ash behind me

A nice lookout - a rainy day

On the day that we left port I went scuba diving. I only did one tank and it was cold! I was in a full wet suit with booties and a hood - and yet I was still freezing! It appears that the Atlantic is NOT warm in the spring! We saw a ton of fish, really cool sea slugs, an eel and a few massive octopuses which was really neat.  The dive was really good and so was the rest of the port. It was definitely one of my favourite ports and I would love to go back.