Coral Gables, Florida

Wednesday, March 28th - Saturday, March 31st
Coral Gables, Florida
Partly Sunny - Mid 70s

Coral Gables is our favorite post-cruise destination.  The City Beautiful is comfortable, walkable, and historic.  It has good food and considerable charm.

And, it's not just a city, it's a movement.  "The City Beautiful Movement was a reform philosophy of North American architecture and urban planning that flourished during the 1890s and 1900s with the intent of introducing beautification and monumental grandeur in cities.  It promoted beauty, not only for its own sake, but also to create moral and civic virtue among urban populations.  Advocates of the philosophy believed that such beautification could promote a harmonious social order that would increase the quality of life, while critics would complain that the movement was overly concerned with aesthetics at the expense of social reform.

Coral Gables was developed by George Edgar Merrick during the Florida land boom of the 1920s entirely upon the City Beautiful movement, with obelisks, fountains, and monuments seen in street roundabouts, parks, and city buildings. Today, Coral Gables is one of Miami's most expensive suburban communities, long known for its strict zoning regulations which preserve the City Beautiful elements along with its Mediterranean Revival architecture style, which is prevalent throughout the city. Coral Gables has many parks and a heavy tree canopy with an urban forest planted largely in the 1920s."

We stay at the Hotel Colonnade Coral Gables.  Formerly a Westin, it has been rebranded as part of the Tribute Portfolio, one of Starwood's premium brands.  They have just completed an $18 million renovation that refreshed the public spaces and many of the rooms.  It is in the heart of Coral Gables, at the corner of Ponce de Leon Boulevard and Coral Way, "The Miracle Mile."

The hotel is all business, with historical bones.  The Colonnade Building was built in 1926 and served as offices for George Merrick, the founder of Coral Gables.  It has had several incarnations over the years, such as the Florida National Bank in this photo from 1949 courtesy of HistoryMiami.

Most of the ornate features of the exterior have been obscured by a series of renovations, but some of the interiors reveal the past.

Coral Gables is also home to our favorite chain restaurant, Hillstone.  The line is usually out the door with families and an attractive mix of the young and fashionable.  The service is always outstanding and the food never disappoints.  Grilled artichokes are a joy in season, the French dips are thick and rare, and the baked potatoes are as big as your head and come fully loaded.

Another favorite is Ortanique on the Mile.  Love the name, love the tagline Cuisine of the Sun, love the room, love the chef.  Cindy Hutson is one of the originators of Floribbean cuisine.  We were both jerks for dinner, sharing the Jerked Chicken Pene Pasta and the Jerked Niman Ranch Double Portk Chop with Guava Bacardi "Oakheart" Spiced Rum Sauce and South American Moros Topped with Drunken Raison Tropical Fruit Flambe.

Graziano's was the great discovery of this trip.  Family owned and operated, Coral Gables is ground zero, but they have several other locations around Miami.  It is a bakery, coffee shop, wine bar, cafeteria, sit down restaurant, market, and butcher shop.  Cuban is the dominant Latin culture in South Florida, but Graziano's has a different accent.  It's Argentinian, and it has a Gaucho's love of meat.  Buy it in the butcher shop and they will grill it while you wait.  And, there are empanadas.  Oh, the empanadas.  Sweet and savory, carnivore and vegetarian, for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  Dozens of varieties hot and fresh all day long.

The people are great too.  One of the servers was from Cuba.  We told her we had just been, and how much we loved it.  She asked where we were from.  "SEATTLE!!!  I want to go to Seattle."  Cuba was an exotic dream for us, but Seattle is just as exotic to her.  We hope she visits.

As great as Graziano's is, it can't be all things to all people, and the coffee is just OK.  Fortunately, right across the street is one of Miami's best.  Pasion del Cielo specializes in single-source beans from around the tropics.  We chose Cuban beans, of course, and they made the coffee as dark and deep, sweet and spicy, as a night at the Tropicana.

The City Beautiful has perfected The Pool Beautiful.  The Venetian Pool was carved out of the quarry that built Coral Gables.  It is pink and pleasant, with gardens and grottos, the most glorious public pool you can imagine.

"The Venetian Pool is an aquatic facility unlike any other in the country. It has been enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world, and is still one of the main tourist attractions for those visiting the City of Coral Gables.

The pool was created in 1923 from a coral rock quarry, where much of the original coral rock was used to border and further accentuate the pool. It also features two large historic lookout towers, with a view to the City Beautiful.

The 820,000 gallon pool is fed with spring water from an underground aquifer. In the spring and summer seasons, the pool is filled and drained daily!

Of course the aquifer is not the only feature that enhances a visitor’s experience. There are two waterfalls that provide a scenic backdrop as well as the cave-like grottos which provide a fun experience for swimmers.

The Venetian Pool’s beauty is further accentuated by its loggias, porticos, palm trees and signature bridge. It truly is an unforgettable experience!"

This was our final pilgrimage of the trip.  We rented lounge chairs, and I soaked up the sun while Tres soaked in the pool.

Next Stop:  It's a Big World!!!

George Town, Cayman Islands

Monday, March 26th
George Town, Cayman Islands
ms Veendam
Cuban Explorer
Day 9
Mostly Sunny - 83 Degrees

We had one day on Grand Cayman, and didn't even get off the ship.  The sunset was pretty Grand, though.

Next Stop:  Coral Gables, Florida

Montego Bay, Jamaica

Sunday, March 25th
Montego Bay, Jamaica
ms Veendam
Cuban Explorer
Day 8
Mostly Cloudy - 85 Degrees

When they go low, we go high.  We went high up into the hills, in fact, for high tea at the Good Hope Great House.

The ride there was an hour and a half of twists and turns and bumps and lumps in the back of the bus, leaving us both a little green and queasy upon arrival.  The old sugar plantation dates from 1774 and has some small measure of dilapidated charm.  The Great House was Good, a fine house museum as far as it goes, but it was much more pleasant roaming the grounds than touring the house.

The highlight of tea was our tablemate from Australia, now living in Atlanta.  We had Great Hopes, but the tea and scones did not live up to the conversation.

The best shot of the day was at sailaway.

Next Stop:  George Town, Grand Cayman

Cienfuegos, Cuba

Saturday, March 24th

Cienfuegos, Cuba

ms Veendam

Cuban Explorer

Day 7

Partly Cloudy - 84 Degrees

José Cienfuegos Jovellanos was a commanding general of artillery in the Spanish War of Independence, and then Captain General of  Cuba, serving as the Spanish Empire's man in Havana.  Cienfuegos literally means "100 fires."  It is the industrial capitol of the South, but it's more romantically known as Perla del Sur, Pearl of the South.  With a Spanish colonial namesake, and thought to have a French influence, it was actually the Catalans and Asturians who settled here.  It looks nd feels different from  Havana in the North, still Latin, but with a certain je ne sais quoi.

Our tour took us along the Malecon to Punta Gorda and past such varied sights as the Estadio 5 de Septiembre, home of the Elefantes de Cienfuegos of the Cuban National Baseball Series, the provincial hospital, a cement plant, and the Tomas Acia Cemetery.  An eclectic collection of destinations not found in any guidebook.

As in Havana yesterday, the people to people cultural exchange portion of the tour was first up with a visit to a local social center for a concert.  This was a much more pleasant stop.  The music was lovely and the back porch of the social center opened onto the water with a pleasant breeze drifting through the open doors.

Continuing inland and to the East, the highlight of the day was the Jardín Botánico de Cienfuegos, "200 sprawling acres with 2,000 species of plants, including outstanding landmark fichus and palm collections, surrounding the old Soledad Sugar Mill."   A naturalist joined us for a walking tour and immediately endeared himself to us with a familiar local reference.  "If you've been to Butchart Gardens in Victoria, Canada, this is not like that."  We have, and no, it's not.  More rustic than majestic, but still a nice walk.  First, a few rules.

On the way back into town for lunch, we continued our education in Cuban culture with a Q&A on a few random topics:

• Military or Social Service is Compulsory for Men with Waivers for College Students
• Guns are Limited to Police and Military with Few Exceptions for Licenses
• Internet is 30 CUCs to Start and 15 CUCs per Month
• Many have Families in the US who Pay for Internet so They Can Stay in Touch

The Hotel Jagua hosted our lunch al fresco, just around a bend in the bay from the social center we vested this morning.  It was such a beautiful day.  The buffet was nice, but the cool blue of the pool was almost impossible to resist.  It's a straight shot to the ship at anchor in the bay beyond.

Hotel Jagua Buffet:

• Roast Pork & Chicken with Mojo Sauce
• Steamed Prawns
• Fried White Fish with White Sauce
• Rice & Beans
• Potatoes with Onions & Peppers
• Fruit and Salad Bar
• Flan
• Rice Pudding
• Petit Fours

Hotel Jagua sits near the tip of Punta Gorda where Paseo El Prado meets the sea.  The fin del camino is marked with the sculpture Escultura la india de Guanaroca set in a pool of water.  The hotel's more famous and elaborate neighbor is a villa that Lonely Planet describes as the "impossible-to-classify Palcio de Valle.  Built in 1917 by Acisclo del Valle Blanco, a wealthy Spaniard from Asturias, the structure resembles an outrageously ornate Moroccan Kasbah, but draws on a mad mix of Gothic, Byzantine, Mudéjar and Baroque influences."

In this city of art as architecture, many simpler buildings are adorned with murals, this one at the Restaurant Covadonga.

The heart of Cienfuegos is Parque José Mart.  It is a lovely and leafy wide open space, the town square, surrounded by classic late-nineteenth century architecture.  There is a bandstand, and overlooking the park to the North, Teatro Tomás Terry.  We stopped and strolled, shopped and people-watched in the afternoon sun.

Finally, we took a walk down the pedestrian markets on San Fernando and Santa Isabel boulevards, and then out to the end of the pier, with one last note of unity from the pediment of an old building in the port.

Back aboard the ship, we joined our Holland America friends, Steve and Karen Hunt, for dinner at Canaletto.  We have all been enchanted by Cuba.  It has been a joy and a revelation.

Next Stop:  Montego Bay, Jamaica