Lisbon to Casablanca

On April 25 I joined my friend Elizabeth Vickery Lodal at the Hotel Dom Pedro in Lisbon for a cruise to Spain and three countries we’d never seen before: Portugal, Gibraltar UK, and Morocco. Over our 64 years of friendship we have had many adventures. Last year Elizabeth suggested that we try a 10-day trip with the “Traveling Owls”of Rice University and 155 alumni of other universities like Duke, UCLA, and the Naval Academy. Sounded like fun to me!

Our History.  Elizabeth and I were new freshmen at Rice University when on September 12, 1962 we heard President John F. Kennedy speak in Rice Stadium and declare the goal of landing on the moon before the end of the decade. On November 22, 1963, the opening night of “The Boyfriend,” a musical that Elizabeth was directing and I was playing the piano for, was abruptly canceled upon news of President Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas. Through both dreams and disasters our friendship has endured.

Our time at Rice was truly blessed with both learning and falling in love. Soon after receiving our Bachelors in History, Elizabeth and I married our Rice sweethearts.and headed east. By 1968 we had both settled in the Washington DC area. Soon she earned her Masters in Secondary School Administration and began to make her mark as an outstanding principal in Fairfax County Middle and High Schools.  After enjoying three years as a researcher in the DC office of McKinsey and Company management consultants, I preceded her into motherhood in June 1971. Six years later we bought a house in North Arlington on their same street. They moved to a larger house in McLean in 1980, but we stayed friends even after we moved to Florida in 2015. In October 2024, we attended the 125th anniversary of Cherrydale United Methodist Church, which Elizabeth had introduced us to in 1976 and where we stayed involved until 2015.

Now we are together in Lisbon! Our first outing was a bus ride down Avenida da Liberdade, an elegant boulevard inspired by Paris’s Champs-Elysées. After passing the statue of the Marquis de Pombal, the statesman who rebuilt Lisbon after a massive earthquake in 1755, we walked to Miradouro de San Pedro de Alcântara for a stunning panoramic view of the city.

We continued on to the Igreja de São Roque, a large church known for its opulent Baroque chapels. It features the famous 18th-century Chapel of Saint John the Baptist, known as the most expensive in Europe, a separate Chapel of the Most Holy Sacrament and another to Our Lady of Piety. I think I know where they got all that gold for this altar.

That afternoon we crossed the street from the hotel and visited the roof of a shopping center to see more views of the Tagus River and its bridges. This album, contains 44 more photos of what we saw on our first day. In the evening, we joined 60 or so members of the Pre-Trip group for a delicious dinner with Fado guitarists and singers creating haunting melodies between courses. Learn about Fado from Rick Steves!

To see more about how the royal family of Spain live, we traveled northwest an hour the next day to the former royal residence of Queluz, known as the Portuguese Versailles with its lovely gardens. We missed getting to drink the kind of chocolate the royals liked, but we did see a peacock spread out his tail.  See more in this album.

From Queluz we drove farther west to the Royal Palace in Sintra, an older, rather  more casual, but very popular place. It is known for its white conical chimneys; we saw the kitchen downstairs from which they arose.  Here are more photos with explanations of the feudal epoch when it was first built. As you see, it is still well-maintained. After a long bus ride back to Lisbon, we boarded the World Voyager cruise ship that would be our home for the rest of the trip.

Elizabeth and I especially enjoyed the lectures on Tuesday, April 28, that kept us busy thinking while the World Voyager traveled south many miles through the Atlantic Ocean to Portimäo and Lagos on Portugal’s Algarve Coast.

First we heard Abdullah Antepli, a professor at Duke University Divinity School, who was recently named President of the Rothko Chapel in Houston, an institution dedicated to interfaith dialogue, social justice and the arts (I visited there recently). He and his wife plan to move to Houston soon. Born in Turkey, Abdullah introduced us to the diversity and dynamism of the world’s 1.8 billion Muslims. From Sufi mysticism to modern reform movements, from women’s leadership to digital-age theology, I learned new respect for the cultures we would soon encounter.

The next lecture was by Ali Behdad , Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Los Angeles, who presented the cultural legacy of Al-Andalus, a period of intellectual and artistic flourishing in southern Spain. Abd al-Rahman, an exiled Arab leader from Damascus, established a tolerant society in 8th-century Andalucia, known as La Convivencia or “living together.” It was a rare time when Muslims, Jews and Christians coexisted harmoniously. He talked about how Abd al-Rahman and his descendants created an environment that nurtured poets, philosophers, scientists and artisans from across Europe and the Middle East. Averroes, Maimonides, and Abelard all contributed to a rich cultural exchange. This period saw the constrution of the grand mosques and palaces of Córdoba. He told how Syrians had brought irrigation technology for growing gardens and that contributed to the success of Alhambra, which started in 936 AD.

By noon on Tuesday, April 28, we arrived at Portimao, Portugal. After lunch, we were driven 40 minutes to Lagos, which served as a key departure point for explorers. for a walking tour pictured in this album. I later discovered that Prince Henry the Navigator did not actually go to sea on voyages of exploration. While he spearheaded the Age of Discovery from Portugal (1394–1460), his role was that of a patron, planner, and sponsor, not a sailor, and he rarely left mainland Portugal. Lagos was also an important port in the transatlantic  slave trade.

The “Traveling Rice Owls” paused to take a photo of our group with wings flapping in front of a statue that is a modern bronze sculpture of King Sebastian I (Dom Sebastião). Created by artist João Cutileiro in 1973, it depicts the young, ill-fated king in oversized armor, representing his reckless 1578 campaign in Morocco. In front on the right are two Rice Professors, Juan Castellon, Architecture, and Art Gottschalk, Music.

From Portimão, on April 29, our ship sailed due east on the Guadalquivir River towards Seville Spain, the heart of Andalusia. On our way, we heard Part 2 of Abdullah Antepli’s lecture the day before, titled “Engaging with Islam and Muslims in the 21st Century.” Antepli was born in Turkey. I appreciated his view that Islam’s past and present offer valuable lessons for coexistence, ethical leadership, and cross-cultural understanding in today’s interconnected world.

Next, Smadar Lavie, Professor Emerita of Cultural Anthropology at UC Davis, delivered her lecture, “Memory, Myth, and Shared Life in al-Andalus: Jews, Muslims, Christians, and late 20th Century Dreams of Palestine/Israel Peace.” I learned more about Al-Andalus, that it refers to the Muslim-ruled territory of the Iberian Peninsula, which spanned from the Umayyad (from Arabia) conquest in 711 to the fall of the Nasrid Emirate of Granada in 1492. Those 781 years were characterized by significant cultural, scientific, and agricultural advancements, fostering a relatively tolerant, multicultural society under various Islamic dynasties. While Jews lived as protected minorities under Islamic rule in medieval Iberia, cooperation occurred within clearly defined legal and social boundaries. Lavie traced how this Iberian legacy re-emerged in late 20th-century dialogues among Israeli, Palestinian and international intellectuals, where a shared past became a framework for imagining political possibility.

On our day at sea, some of our fellow travelers enjoyed the scenery from the deck or swam in the pool. I elected to play some piano pieces by Spanish composers that I had brought along. Here is a piece I learned when I was just 15. It was especially composed for the first performance of Goyescas at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York on January 28, 1916 and was not part of the original score.

Click highlighted links to hear Playera by Enrique Granados and Tango in D by Isaac Albeniz.

At 3:30 pm we heard  Juan José Castellón, Professor of Architecture at Rice University, present “Lessons from la Alhambra:  Tradition and Innovation in Al-Andalus.”  Al-Andalus refers to the Muslim-ruled territories of the Iberian Peninsula, emcompassing various Muslim states from 711 to 1492. La Alhambra in Granada and the Mezquita in Cordoba stand as remarkable masterpieces, showcasing the ingenuity and artistic brilliance of Arabic and Islamic culture. Maybe the Rice connection prejudiced us, but Elizabeth and I believe it was the best of all the lectures we heard. It was well-thought-out and well-delivered. We were glad to know that Castellón focuses on designing sustainable buildings and environmentally responsive cities. He co-founded xmade, a collaborative international practice based in Basel and Barcelona, his home town.

On April 30 we awakened to a beautiful day in Seville, Spain.  There we visited the magnificent Alcázar, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a stunning palace with intricate Mudejar designs and lush gardens. Originally built as a Moorish fortress in the 10th century, it was later expanded by Christian rulers. See this album for 37 photos  and notes that I took.

Next stop in Seville was the Cathedral. This enormous Gothic cathedral was built on the site of a former Moorish mosque; its construction began in 1401 and took over a century to complete. It is home to Christopher Columbus’ tomb and the Giraldo, a former minaret converted into the cathedral’s bell tower. The cathedral’s blend of Moorish, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque influences reflects Seville’s diverse history and cultural heritage. More photos here.

Cruising from Seville, Spain to Gibraltar took many hours. Elizabeth and I heard a second lecture by Ali Behdad of UCLA–this one on Postcards! He presented his recent research on early 20th-century French postcards from Morocco. Exotic landscapes, street scenes, and often eroticized images of women provide a unique window into colonial attitudes. Postcards were not only inexpensive forms of communication, but served as visual propaganda, carefully crafted to shape French public opinion about its colonial presence in North Africa. They romanticized the exotic, while obscuring complex realities. Here are three of his slides, his book is coming out soon!

Women with and without veils.

Behdad’s lecture inspired to buy more postcards, but stamps were harder to get, so I just brought them home to take turns on my fridge.

At last, Gibraltar on May 1–one of the Pillars of Hercules that marked the edge of the known world in classical antiquity! I had passed through the Strait of Gibraltar in June 1965 on my way to Vöcklabruck, Austria with the Experiment in International Living, but this was my first time to actually climb the Rock! We were picked up from the ship in vehicles that could do that safely. After a short walk around the Lighthouse, our driver took us to St. Michael’s Cave and introduced us to some of he Barbary Apes, a species of Barbary macaques who roam freely around the Rock and are Europe’s only free wild monkeys. Click for more photos in this album.

From Gibraltar we cruised that night to Malaga and boarded buses early on May 2 for a 2-hour trip to Grenada. There we toured one of my favorite places in the world, the Alhambra and the Generalife Gardens.  This photo album speaks for itself, but it doesn’t express the joy I felt returning there after my visit in June 2024. Seeing the gardens this time on a warm afternoon with crowds of people was definitely a contrast to viewing them early in the morning all by myself two years ago. My new perspective now includes the fact that it now hosts over 20 million per year! It was a pleasure to share this amazing place with Elizabeth and new friends with whom we had a delicious lunch on the grounds.

On Sunday, May 3, we arrived at the southern Pillar of Hercules that was once the border of the known world. Tangier, Morocco, is over 2,500 years old, with origins as a Phoenician trading post dating back to at least the 8th century BCE. This makes it one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in North Africa, with a recorded history spanning three millennia. This vibrant metropolis was conquered and claimed multiple times by Spain, Portugal and Morocco, but it attracted artists. In 1845, Eugène Delacroix painted The Sultan of Morocco.

A Moroccan guide took us through the original Kasbah and escorted us through many souks, where I bought two pairs of lovely earrings, my only significant purchases on this trip. We saw Moroccan rugs, many flowers, lots of fruits and vegetables and had a lovely lunch. Finding out that tangerines grow nearby made me feel at home! Click here to come with me to Tangier.

That afternoon I treated myself to a massage. On the evening of May 3 the Captain presented a Farewell Reception before we cruised all night to Casasblanca. We applauded the many crew members of the World Voyager who had served us well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After seeing many mosques from afar, we finally got to go inside the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca, one of the largest in Africa and one of only two open to non-Moslems. We took off our shoes and saw the treasures it contained. Adjoining the Mosque was a large school and buildings for administrators. Nearby was an enormous cemetery . In this album you’ll see these and more. The album also includes photos of our wonderful lunch in Sale near Rabat and pictures of the Mohamed V Mausoleum dedicated to King Mohammed V and his two sons.  From there we could see a new tower named for Mohammed VI and a Grand Opera House designed by Zaha Hadid, an architect whose lovely work I have seen in Miami.

Prior to this trip I had read Adventures in Morocco by Alice Morrison, a BBC journalist who was born in Edinburgh, grew up in Africa, and speaks fluent Arabic. This tour showed us how Morocco is continuing to expand and develop in the 21st Century. That evening I passed on Morrison’s book to our new friends from Rice, the Gottshalks, who were continuing to explore this awesome country.

Elizabeth and I bade the Traveling Owls and our many new friends a fond farewell and arose at 3:00 am on May 5 for our journeys home. I am so glad she invited me and that Gohagan did such a wonderful job of arranging for all our needs, especially intellectual stimulation and just the right amount of physical exercise.