Relaxing Sea Days and Being Foodies in San Juan

 After we left Guadeloupe. we were set to visit a number of the other 'Saints' - Saint Lucia, Saint Bart's and Saint Thomas - as well as St. John's Antigua. We had already been to these islands a number of times, and as it was still quite warm and humid, we decided to make these 'in port sea days'.

But that didn't mean we didn't do anything at all. S.A.L.T. Lab was still holding classes on various Caribbean island cuisines, and I took advantage of the available spaces on the port days to learn a few more things. The classes average about 45 minutes in length, so they don't take up a lot of the day, but you have to make sure you only have a small breakfast or lunch before the class...

The first class was on national dish of Guyana and Antigua and Barbuda, a spiced stew called Pepperpot. Just reading the ingredients list, you would think you were making mincemeat for Christmas, but with real meat - and that's basically what this stew is: a traditional Christmas dish. We made it with a polenta on the side. When okra is included with the cornmeal, it is known in Antigua and Barbuda as Fungee.

The spiced meat sauteeing in the pan. Normally the
full amount is stewed for hours so the spices really
get cooked in

 The final presentation, It was different, but very tasty!

And on the next day, Curries! Curried Shrimp, and Aloo and Channa with homemade Roti bread. The shrimp was cooked in onion, jalapeno, curry powder and coconut milk with chickpeas, and the other dish was potato and chickpeas with a little more spice, similar to the filling in an Indian Samosa

The shrimp are almost done

Cooked and fork-mashed potatoes with chickpeas, curry powder,
chili pepper, garlic and cilantro.

You have to like chickpeas and curry to really
enjoy these dishes, but I found them
delicious!

Our final port stop for the cruise was in San Juan. We had been here in November on our Regent Splendor Transatlantic cruise, but the foodie walking tour had been waitlisted, and it never did clear. So when I saw that the tour was available here, I made sure to book it as soon as I could! And it certainly was worth it.

There were only 6 of us on the tour which departed at 10:30 a.m., so we could see it would be a nice walk around Old San Juan, and we wouldn't be waiting for people at any of our stops.

We met our guide, Nico, just outside the port building and set off. She was originally from Brooklyn, New York but moved permanently to Puerto Rico only 2 years ago. She was extremely knowledgeable about the history of Puerto Rico, and gave us a really good background of both San Juan and Puerto Rico as we walked around between our culinary visits.

Our first stop was at Chocobar Cortes. The Cortes family has been manufacturing chocolate bars for the Puerto Rican and Dominican market since 1929, and opened the cafe in 2013. There's quite a following here - when we left, there were 6 people waiting outside for a table - and we could see why:

The bar. There's lots of comic book style art on the
walls, too. A real fun vibe.

Nico handing out our first sample

The Chocobar 'Chocotini' - Rum, Bailey's, Milk,
and Chocolate with a double chocolate rim and
a little white chocolate shaving on top....yes,
it was only 11 a.m., but, 'It's Five O'Clock Somewhere'!

The Mallorca bun is a Puerto Rican staple, brought
by the Spanish conquistadors. It's a sweet yeast bun that is basically
used like breakfast sandwich bread. This version
has a delicious chocolate spread in the middle

We walked through the Plaza de Armas, the main square of the old town, where there are not one, but two, Kioskas, or coffee kiosks, within about 100 steps of each other - almost like Tim Horton's! Coffee also has a very rich history here, and the local stuff must be very good since we didn't see a single Starbucks anywhere (although there was one hiding in a side street according to Google Maps!).

The Town Hall - the front is the original, with
additional offices added in back

One of the coffee kiosks in the Plaza de Armas

On one side of the square is the Basilica of St. John the Baptist. It was originally built in 1521, so it is just over 500 years old. The original building was destroyed by a storm in 1529, but rebuilt soon afterward. It is the second cathedral established in the Americas, and, among others, it holds the remains of the explorer Juan Ponce de Leon. We had the chance for a quick photo of the inside, but forgot to go back to see it in depth after the tour.

We only headed across the street from the church to our next stop: The Hotel El Convento. This had been, since the late 1500s, a Carmelite Convent. The sisters took vows of poverty and silence and were known for taking care of orphaned infants up to the time they started to speak, when the children had to be placed elsewhere. They continued their works until the early 1900s, when San Juan started to grow so that it became impossible to maintain their vows. The convent was closed, and the building was reopened as a boutique hotel in the 1950s.

A local cat taking a nap on one of the lounge sofas. The
feral cats are well taken care of, and there's a charity
that collects them, has them spayed and neutered
and releases them back into the city

.The courtyard area. As soon as I saw it, I knew we had
been here before, in the 1990s on one of our first cruises.

Our next drink - although at least now the sun was over the
yardarm! This was a Fresh Watermelon Mojito.

Our other course here at El Convento was a Ceviche
of Mahi Mahi, red pepper, jalapeno and cilantro
with passion fruit juice instead of lime, and
yuca chips on the side. It
was delicious; definitely something I'll make at home.

Nico gave us a glimpse of one of the event rooms in the hotel when we were done. It was beautiful, just right for receptions after the weddings and other religious events taking place in the Cathedral.

Our next stop was a few blocks away at an Argentinian-Italian restaurant called El Viejo Almacen. They specialize in Argentinian grilled meat dishes as well as pastas. An odd combination, but it is apparently one of the best restaurants in the old city. As it is across from the territorial government buildings, many high level politicians have lunch or dinner there.

The main floor and the bar. It looks like a fine dining
establishment, and some of the steaks we saw as
we left looked delicious.

Yet another drink! This was a Sangria made
with prosecco

Gnocchi in cheese sauce made in the Italian tradition with local
potatoes. The difference is that these potatoes are a little
sweet, like a cross between a russet potato and a
sweet potato. Some didn't really like it, but I did.

We had a short walk to our last stop, and passed by a couple of interesting sites on the way.

This is the small Chapel of Christ the Savior, built in the
mid-1700s. Legend says that a miraculous event happened at this site.
Nico says the altar inside is made of gold and silver melted
down from all sorts of pieces left as offerings
over many years. 

The Plazoleta of San Juan, part of which
seems to be the 'home' of the local pigeon,
or paloma, population.

This little yellow place was originally an alleyway,
but was turned into living quarters. It is, or 
at least was, in the Guinness Book of World
Records as the world's smallest house, at
about 5' 6" wide. It does have a kitchen,
bathroom, bedroom and living room.

The final stop on our culinary tour was the restaurant Juanes where we had local staple mofongo and a cheese flan.

Our Puerto Rican Mofongo: The base is mashed plantain, and the
topping is chicken cooked with tomato and spices. This is only
one version of the dish, which is also often made with
various cuts of pork.

The mini cheese flan was delicious. It is like creme caramel,
but instead of a custard pudding, this version is made with
a ricotta-like cheese.

After the tour, we walked back to the ship with our escort, Giorgio, from the Shore Excursions Dept., and had a nice chat with him on the way. The tour was excellent and we would definitely recommend the company, The Spoon Experience, for anyone wanting to do a similar tour in San Juan.

We sailed out at 5 p.m. and wanted to be out on deck for it, as most of the time ships arrive in the early afternoon and leave around 11 p.m. when it is too dark to see the fortress of El Moro from the sea.

Our last two days on the ship were sea days, and there were still some S.A.L.T. Lab classes to do. But before that, there was a final Chocolate Delight buffet to admire and, this time, even taste!

Barkeep Extraordinaire Marilyn posing behind one of the
chocolate drinks offered at the buffet

Mary Ellen and I along with Bar Manager Mariya, whom
we've known for years as she had worked on Crystal. She's doing a great
job here, and we hope to see her again sometime.

A small 'tasting plate' from the buffet -
chocolate cream puff, chocolate rum ball,
and, in the back, a tiny chocolate eclaire.

And finally, there was one more S.A.L.T Lab class, this time on the Jerk cuisine of the northern Caribbean. We made a jerk rub for our piece of beef tenderloin (too bad - flank steak just wasn't available) and then prepared a Caribbean Slaw to go with it. After searing our steak, we cut it up and built a steak and slaw sandwich.

The S.A.L.T. Lab classroom. Nine stations and two
TVs to make sure everyone could follow along.

The preparations for our Jerk Rub on the left, and
the Slaw on the right

The Caribbean Slaw

Steak in the pan

and ready to go on the sandwich

The finished product. The saw is so delicious
and easy to prepare that I've already
made it at home as we've been back for
a couple of days as this is posted.

On our final night, we had a last sit at the bar with our favourite people - Mary Ellen (Ed had already retired), Marilyn and Pavan, who kindly took a group selfie of all of us.

We had a really good time on the cruise, especially being able to spend some time with Mary Ellen and Ed, whom we hadn't seen in 3 years, since we had to leave Crystal Serenity in Perth, Australia as COVID took hold in March of 2020.

There were a few things about the experience that we weren't crazy about, like the dress code and the system of needing dinner reservations in most venues ahead of time, but overall we liked the layout of the ship and all the dining options, and everyone on the staff was truly fantastic.

Deshaies, Guadeloupe AKA Honore, Sainte Marie

 And only fans of the British/French TV Series 'Death in Paradise' will understand that title. There have been so many British guests on the ship that we had thought they were all on the cruise just to see this port stop. That was partially true, as the many departures for the 'Death in Paradise' tour to a number of the series shooting locations were booked up and waitlisted, and so many people were talking about the series that the ship's TV was even showing some episodes. For those not 'in the know' the show is about a British detective inspector sent to head the investigations department on the French island of Sainte-Marie, and his team. Their cases are often quite ingenious, and always feature a lot of the island's beautiful scenery. The inspector, and they're into the fourth one over 11 seasons, always has a recurring back story or a quirky behaviour, and even the members of the team have developed, gotten promotions out of Sainte-Marie and been replaced over the years, so the dynamic never becomes stale. The show shoots in the Deshaies area for 6 months each year.

Deshaies is not the usual port stop for cruise ships. It is a very, very small town on the north-west coast of the largest island of Guadeloupe, Basse-Terre, and only has  small marina for docking facilities. Cruise ships usually go to the town at Point-a-Pitre which is actually on the island of Grande-Terre, across a very small channel that separates the two. I'm sure we've been there many, many years ago.

The view as we settled into our anchorage in the bay
at Deshaies. 

We were going to tour the Jardins Botanique de Deshaies, the local botanical garden, only a short bus ride out of town, and Mary Ellen even came on the tour with us. The 5 minute tender ride to the very, very tiny 'Port de Deshaies' as it shows on the map - really only a small marina -, and we had about a half hour to explore the town to see if I could find any of the 'Death in Paradise' sites for myself and Jane....yes, we do watch the series on Britbox.

The town - it truly only has two streets - Rue du Poissonier
at the waterfront going in one direction, and the N2,
island main road, in the back going in the other 
through town.

The church which is used quite a bit
in the show

The building of the Honore Police Department, obviously
one of the main sites. They don't even bother to take
down the sign at the door when they're not shooting....
but then, this has become a real tourist destination in
the past 10 years.

Blog update: April 21 - we just watched the final episode of Season 12, and this spot, the Paradise Kafe, played a central role as a crime scene, under another name, of course.

Here's my sketch of the Kafe from the beach:

After our short wander through town, we set off with the group on our tour to the botanical garden. The garden has its own interesting history. The land was originally owned by a French comedian named Coluche. He had made a deal with a friend, Michel Gaillard, to give him land for a palm tree nursery if he maintained the rest of the property for Coluche - Gaillard was an 'interior landscaper', the first one, actually, and needed an ongoing supply of palms - and this was done until Coluche's death not long afterward. Gaillard bought the property and turned it into the botanical garden, with species from all over the world, as well as a 4 bedroom villa for vacation rental (also used in at least 1 episode of DiP that I recall). The 5 hectare garden was built and is now staffed by people all from the Deshaies area and receives over 120,000 visitors each year.

The pool just inside the entrance

The pool when someone throws a little fish food in.

Because the island is a tropical rain forest, as well
as the diverse food sources in the gardens, there are
lots and lots of hummingbirds around

I caught one just as it took off from a
bird of paradise plant

There's also an aviary with lorikeets

...and a herd of flamingos

A lot of the flowers and plants were familiar houseplants to us, just not plants of the huge size they become in their native habitats, and some were a little different. The orchids growing naturally attached to tree trunks were especially lovely. 

Another type of bird of paradise plant

This is called 'Virgin's Tears'

Both of these Macaws are over 30 years
old

More of the flamingoes. There's a lovely
waterfall and pool just outside
the park's restaurant

One of the many palm tree species in the garden.

Our ship at anchor in the bay. That's the island of
Montserrat in the distance.

The moon was hiding behind a cloud as we sailed
out of Deshaies that evening.

We really had no idea what to expect of our day in 'Paradise', but we were very impressed with what we found. It is a beautiful and somewhat unspoiled area, even though it has become very well known due to the TV series. We hope it stays that way.