BARCELONA, SPAIN | In a lifetime of teeing it up, I have heard more than one person lament that it was not possible to be both a golfer and a sailor. Each sport was too time consuming, they invariably averred, and attempting to enjoy them concurrently would drain a bank account faster than a Nigerian “prince” with a stolen Social Security number.
But as my wife, Cynthia, and I recently discovered on a 1,100-mile cruise from the seafaring city of Lisbon, Portugal, to the Mediterranean metropolis of Barcelona, Spain, the two actually go quite well together, provided one leaves ownership and upkeep of the vessel to someone else and relies on a first-rate tour operator to handle trip logistics.
For our voyage, we turned to Kalos Golf, a Chapel Hill, North Carolina, outfit that has been conducting golf cruises since 1994 on what it describes as “boutique ships.” And the Iberian Peninsula expedition it organized included rounds on some of the finest courses in that region, among them Real Club Valderrama and Real Club de Golf Sotogrande in Spain, and visits to interesting cultural sites, from the Seville Cathedral that serves as the final resting place of Christopher Columbus to the massive Central Food Market in Valencia where stalls feature everything from luscious langoustines to legs of jamón serrano.
Throw in tours of Lisbon, the Portuguese capital famous for its coffee houses (called pastelerías) and fado bars (where musicians sing mournful songs about the sea), and a stroll through the charming pueblo blanco of Mijas on Spain’s Costa de Sol, which is home to a modest art museum that boasts most notably a collection of ceramics by Pablo Picasso, and you have all the elements for a fun and memorable trip.
Perhaps best of all was the vessel on which we traveled, the Sea Cloud Spirit, a three-masted square rigger built in 2021. Some 450 feet in length, it has a crew of 83 and features 69 staterooms for guests. The ship feels and looks like something right out of the Roaring ’20s, which is understandable considering that it was modeled after one built nearly a century ago for two of the richest people in America at the time, financier E.F. Hutton, who also happened to be the founder and first president of the Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Florida, and his wife, socialite businesswomen Marjorie Merriweather Post. Initially named Hussar (V), the craft eventually was rechristened Sea Cloud. Regardless of its appellation, it was regarded as the largest privately-owned sea-going yacht in the world.
I thought back to the round I had played that morning on the Arthur Hills-designed Oitavos Dunes course outside Lisbon, full of umbrella pines and sweeping ocean views. Suddenly, I comprehended why people try so hard to sail and play golf. No matter what the cost.
Neither Cynthia nor I are sailors, though we certainly appreciate the allure of the sea. But as soon as we boarded Sea Cloud Spirit, we recognized she was a worthy successor to the original, from the bowsprit adorned with a gilded eagle and an interior replete with teak paneling and brass fixtures to the marble bathrooms in each stateroom and an elevator that ferried passengers among the four levels of the ship. In addition, the vessel had a spa and fitness facility as well as an on-board doctor and its own “hospital.”
That sensation swelled when we began making our way west on the Tagus River at sunset. And as we left the harbor and headed to the Atlantic, many of the 120-odd passengers gathered on the lido deck at the stern of the ship, holding cocktails and glasses of wine as they took in the views. To starboard was Lisbon, vast sections of its seven hills dotted with white-walled, red-roofed houses. And to port, a Catholic shrine called the Sanctuary of Christ the King loomed over the waterway from an isolated clifftop.
Then, we passed under the Pont de 25 de Abril, a suspension bridge that honors the 1974 overthrow of dictator António de Oliveira Salazar. Once we cleared that span, Cynthia and I sat down to dine on grilled shrimp and sea bass. And as we savored the seafood and the slight scents of salt in the air, I thought back to the round I had played that morning on the Arthur Hills-designed Oitavos Dunes course outside Lisbon, full of umbrella pines and sweeping ocean views. Suddenly, I comprehended why people try so hard to sail and play golf. No matter what the cost.
The attraction became even clearer the following morning when I watched the deck crew scramble up the ratlines to set the sails, some climbing almost as high as the main mast, which rises 190 feet.
It felt as if Cynthia and I had stepped into a different time and place. And while no one on board had near the wallet that Hutton and Post once possessed, we were nonetheless able to live a bit like they once did. At least for this trip.
I first heard about Kalos Golf before the pandemic hit, and the reports from friends about the company’s cruises around Australia and New Zealand, for example, or the British Isles and South Africa, were rave. The itineraries I checked out online (www.kalosgolf.com) were also enticing, and I liked the mix of golf and touring offered in each one as well as how they made sure there was plenty to amuse non-golfers such as my wife when their traveling partners teed it up.
Those same mates also told me that Kalos Golf drew a lot of repeat business. And I learned that to be so at the opening reception of our Iberian Peninsula trip, which was staged at the Four Seasons Hotel Ritz in Lisbon. Each passenger picked up a name tag upon arrival at the party, with the ones for newbies featuring a blue dot identifying us as such. Cynthia and I quickly discovered that we were very much in the minority as first-timers, with most of the men and women in attendance already having taken two, three, four and even more Kalos Golf cruises over the years. But we instantly felt at home, for the sense of community among the group, the vast majority of whom were retired, was palpable, and understandably so given the mutual interest in high-end golf, travel and cruising. Eating and drinking, too. Cynthia spent much of the evening chatting with the women with whom she had toured Lisbon that afternoon while the rest of us played Oitavos Dunes. As for me, I came away from the affair with commitments to play my other two rounds of the trip with people I had only just met.
Our first day at sea, sailing south and then east along the Portuguese coast to the Spanish port city of Huelva some 280 nautical miles away, set a proper tone.
Mine started with a double espresso on the lido deck as I gazed across the water, sometimes seeing dolphins leaping out of the water as if they were following the ship. At 10 o’clock, the deck crew began setting the 16 sails on the fore, main and mizzen masts. All I could think as I watched them move in and around the riggings like circus acrobats was how glad I was that they were secured with harnesses to prevent anyone from falling.
Once the sails were unfurled and filling with air, captain Heiner Eilers gave the order to shut down the engines. At that point, we were powered entirely by wind.
Soon after, he gave a talk about our itinerary as he also answered questions about the vessel, which is registered in Malta, and our journey. Top speed under sail or by motor was about 14 knots (about 16 mph), he explained, adding that sometimes the crew set all 28 sails on Sea Cloud Spirit – and that the total area for all of those sails amounts to 41,100 square feet.
A native of Germany and only 33 years old, Eilers then mentioned that he has an “open bridge” policy, meaning that passengers are welcome to visit the place from which he operates the ship. I took advantage of that invitation that very afternoon, and as we scanned the waters in front of us, we saw the outline of a monstrous cruise ship far off in the distance. I asked him how many passengers a vessel like that carried, and he guessed 8,000 or 9,000.
“You are no longer a captain when you have that many on board,” he said. “You are a mayor.”
That evening, the captain gathered on the lido deck with his officers, all of whom were wearing their dress uniforms, to offer a welcome and then a toast to fair weather and smooth seas. Then we retired to the main dining room one level down for a dinner that included lobster bisque, sautéed scallops and a surf ’n’ turf entrée with a perfectly cooked filet and a lobster tail. White and red wines from Portugal’s Douro Valley flowed freely, as did the conversation. And by 10 p.m., Cynthia and I were back in our stateroom, and in our bed, rocked ever so slightly by the waves of the Atlantic. We slept straight through the night.
Although every day of the cruise was different, they also were very much the same in terms of comfort and conviviality, to say nothing of the sense of adventure.
From Huelva, Cynthia and I joined the group that toured Seville, and not even a steady rain deterred us from enjoying this city, which was conquered over the centuries by the Phoenicians and Greeks, the Vandals and Visigoths and also the Romans and Carthaginians. Beginning in the early eighth century, the Moors occupied Seville for more than 500 years until they were routed and chased away by Ferdinand III.
We visited the Gothic-style cathedral, which was built over what was called the Big Mosque but alongside a massive minaret that stands to this day, and the Alcázar, a 14th-century palace that is still used as a residence for the Spanish royal family. And we savored a selection of tapas at an eatery in the old city of Seville called Casa de Robles. The repast included plates of Manchego cheese and jamón serrano, freshly baked bread and local olive oil, fried fish and a cold tomato soup with bits of shrimp scattered on top.
It was a day to remember, and so was the one after that, when we were docked in Gibraltar, a tiny British territory of some 30,000 residents best known for the famous rock that rises above the entrance to the Mediterranean. Cynthia spent the day touring that enclave, and seeing its famous apes, while I teed it up at Real Club de Golf Sotogrande, a beautifully conditioned and well-bunkered course full of cork oaks, pines and palm trees. Opened in 1964 and recently restored, Sotogrande is the first course Robert Trent Jones built in Europe, and it is regarded as one of Continental Europe’s best.
The hits kept coming as we worked our way east. To Malaga, the birthplace of Picasso. And Valencia, with a brilliant olio of old (La Lonja de la Seda, a Gothic structure that once served as a silk exchange) and new (the sleek and stylish City of Arts and Sciences). Also Barcelona, where so many of the works of architect and designer Antonio Gaudi are found, among them the spacious Park Güell and the still-unfinished Sagruda Familia church, which is said to be the most visited monument in Spain today. Outside that city is a scenic yet tough layout called the Stadium Course that is one of a pair of 18-hole tracks at the Camiral Golf Club. The 1,300-acre property felt like a private park, and the sight of the Pyrenees rising in the distance reminds golfers how close to the easternmost parts of Spain they are.
Then, there is Montserrat, where Cynthia traveled one day to visit the Benedictine abbey that is home to the Black Madonna, which is the patron saint of Catalonia and dates to the 12th century, before enjoying lunch and a tasting at a local winery.
After nearly two weeks on the high seas (and occasionally the road), Cynthia and I were somewhat spent and fully sated by our time in Iberia.
We also had come to believe that thanks to Kalos, golf and sailing really did make a wonderful combination.