“More bread, Madame?” At the slightest incline of my head the waiter deposits another warm, crusty roll on the side plate, along with a pat of saltiest French butter, before spinning off to another table.
Minutes later the first course is delivered – a tomato salad (the better class that includes yellow and green varieties in amongst the more expected red), the fruits’ sweet flesh balanced by sharp balsamic vinegar. It’s followed up by grilled squid and potatoes immersed in a rich, red wine and tomato sauce, and a crema catalana, the vanilla perfectly tempered by the acidic tang of orange peel.
For a moment, I forget where I am – which is decidedly not a restaurant deep in the heart of the Basque country – and then I glance up to see a woman take a few unsteady side steps. She hasn’t been at the wine (well, as far as I’m aware); just temporarily wrong-footed by the rolling waves on which we sail.
The Brittany Ferries ‘Galicia’ ship
(Brittany Ferries)
I’m onboard the Brittany Ferries service that runs from Portsmouth to Santander on Spain’s north coast, and I could not be more pleasantly surprised. Going to Spain right now is, for a start, much lighter on restrictions than elsewhere in the world. No need to test to get in if you’re double-vaxxed – all that’s required is a pre-travel declaration form which, let me assure you, is a lot simpler to fill in than the UK’s needlessly complex version. Admittedly, a few of my fellow travellers – who were more “rich in years” than I – seemed to be struggling with it a little when I turned up at the port on Thursday evening. But the Brittany Ferries desk staff, by now well versed in helping octogenarians master their paperwork, were incredibly accommodating, helping several people through the process again online.
Meanwhile, Spain currently has the lowest Covid rates in the EU, according to numbers released by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), meaning a trip there feels reassuringly “safe”.
It’s now been around two years since I got on a plane, after taking the Flight-Free UK pledge in 2020 and 2021. And, in that time, my travel experiences have varied enormously in terms of how straightforward and enjoyable they’ve been compared to flying. But checking in within a matter of minutes, relaxing in the waiting area…
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