Day 87 Cádiz, Spain

 Two different tours for Philip and I today. Philip a "forest" bike ride and for me "The White Villages of Andulusia".  Both tours were not until the afternoon so we enjoyed a walk around Cádiz this morning.  From our ship it is an easy walk across the road to the City Hall of Cádiz.  

The city hall is surrounded by lovely parks and as we wander further, guess what we came across?  Yes, another ABC.  This one is the Cádiz Cathedral.  

No mucking around with names a mile long in Cádiz.  Adjacent to the Cathedral is a Carousel unlike any other I have seen as it is a double decker.  It's gorgeous.

We walked around the town centre for around an hour.  Of course we got lost but google maps to the rescue again.  When will we learn that these ancient streets are never straight!  Back to the ship for a quick light lunch before we begin our afternoon tours.

Philip said that he enjoyed his ride although it was probably the most strenuous out of all the rides he has done.  Everyone was given a choice between electric or push bike.  Philip of course chose the push bike.  We were both laughing before his tour about where they would find a forest in this region of Spain and indeed it was not what we would call a forest, more like bush. They travelled over sand dunes and rode past some beautiful beaches with really lovely views.  Their guide pointed out land in the distance that he said was Morocco.  Here are his pics.

My tour was around five hours and I was lucky enough to be on tour with Keith and Judy so I was not lonely.  Our first stop was the village of Medina Sidonia.  It is not a long stop.  Just long enough to walk to the top of a small hill for some lovely views out over the terrain.  The landscape is literally covered in wind turbines, and the buildings within the villages are almost all painted in white paint.

Now we are headed for the village of Arcos De La Frontera, and as we leave the bus, we are fronted by a very steep hill.  I had read about this in the tour description but nonetheless it was very steep and really got the heart rate up.  Over the past three months most of our walking tours have been almost entirely flat so this one was a bit of a shock to the system.  When we reached the top of the steep hill our tour guide reassured us that we had done the hard bit.  Not so.  Although it was not as steep, the next hour of the walk was all uphill.  All I could think was "well, it's going to be all downhill on the way back to the bus!"

This village is another that is so typical of Spanish Architecture.  Yes there are lots of white buildings but now and then you will spot a splash of colour as if in defiance.  The Basilica that we were making our way towards at the very top of the hill was built in the 15th century and once again it defies my imagination as to how they managed to build such magnificent structures with just muscle strength.  When we finally reach our destination, just past the Basilica, the views are breathtaking.

Our guide takes us to a hotel near the Basilica where we enjoy a glass of the regions Rioja and olives.  I love olives and the taste of these was outstanding.  I would love to know what they pickled them in to achieve the orange colour.  The view from the dining room was extra special with its wall of glass looking out over the valley below.  

After our snack it was a long walk, all downhill thank goodness, back to the bus.  Our bus took a different route on the way back and we drove by some lovely beaches with golden sand and azure water. There are lots of surfers riding the long breaking waves and our guide tells us that it is a favourite place for surfers.

This is our last day of tours and tomorrow is a day at sea (and the packing!) before we reach Barcelona where we will stay for two nights.  Lots to see here so stay tuned.

Day 85 (At Sea) & Day 86 Cádiz, Spain

Unseasonal Cyclone Gabrielle hit the coast of Portugal, meaning our next two ports of Oporto and Lisbon were closed to all shipping.  Our captain had no choice other than to stay at sea well away from the Cyclone.  The revised itinerary has been, a day at sea, followed by two nights in Cádiz (the z makes a "th" sound).  Again the destination services teams scrambled to find tours for us on the extra day in Cádiz, but amazingly by midday on the day at sea they had new tours organised.  The tour we chose was an eight and half hour day that would take us to Sevilla - the home of the Seville Orange.  The drive from Cádiz is one and a half hours so that is why the tour was so long.

We love getting out into the countryside to get a bit more insight into the character of the area.  The first thing you notice is how dry and relatively flat the southern end of Spain is.  Our tour guide tells us that they have sunshine 300 days of the year.  Of course this is perfect for the Olive Trees that are planted on every available acre.  The next surprising thing we see is cotton.  Who would have thought that this would be a cotton growing area.  There are irrigation channels to support the cotton and I googled later that they get the water from the Guadalete River.  However this area is subject to drought so cotton is a "maybe" crop.  Spain has a love of horses and although we don't spot any of the famous Andalusian's I'm hoping to spot them tomorrow on another tour in another area.

Sevilla is a large town with a population of around 700,000 and I remember Sevilla hosting a world expo that our guide says was 1992.  As we enter the city centre we drive through the heart of where the expo was held, passing all the impressive pavilions that different countries built. 

Our first stop on this tour is at the Plaza de Españo that was built between 1914 and 1929, for the Iberio-American Expo of 1929.  It is a massive and magnificent sight to see with its 117 buildings or pavilions built in a semi-circle around a central plaza with a lovely fountain.  There is a large amount of ceramic used in the buildings that adds a lovely softness.

There is a flamenco dancer entertaining the crowd and later we see another.  In fact there is a lot of street entertainment and even over lunch we were serenaded.  Of course they all come around with a hat for a donation after the performance.

Our tour guide now leads us to the old quarter for our full walking tour of around an hour and a half.  We are lead through Maria Luisa park before we reach the old quarters and we are told the park borders the royal palace. Our guide takes us through narrow, almost hidden alleyways, and we look up at some very elaborate Juliet balconies.  We come across secret courtyards and everywhere are the orange trees. There are 50,000 orange trees spread throughout the city.  Don't eat the oranges though. Our guide warns us, as they are very sour.  We eventually make our way to the another central plaza that is home to the magnificent Sevilla Cathedral where Christopher Columbus is buried.  This Cathedral is the largest gothic cathedral in the world and has a floor area of around 12,000 square metres.  Inside, there are 80 side chapels and the bell tower stands a magnificent 96 metres.  It was also declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 1987. 

Our guide now gives us a choice.  Follow him to the Metrosol Parasol or spend free time by ourselves.  He then says, "I don't really like the Metrosol Parasol" so our choice is made.  As it is now around 1pm we decide to go and have some lunch.  I googled Metrosol Parasol later and this is what it is.  It is made from timber and is actually a remarkable structure.

It was easy enough to find a place to eat.  The place is literally packed with restaurants to cater for the 10 million tourists this place attracts each year.  We were looking for a feed of Paella and the one we ordered was spot on.  We also ordered a pizza so we could have two dishes to share. And of course you cannot come to eat in Spain without washing it down with a glass of Sangria or in our case, two.

It was an enjoyable lunch and we got talking to the couple sitting beside us.  They were from Glasgow and travel to this area often.  Lucky them.  After lunch we still had around an hour to kill before meeting up with the rest of our tour group so we decided to hop on one of the horse drawn carriages.  The course took around 45 minutes that was the perfect amount of time.  We passed the Palacio de San Telmo that is not a residence but home to the Presidency of the Andalusian Autonomous Government.

Then the Costurero de la Reina. A very small castle ,with its four turrets, built around 1893, that sits at the entrance to the Maria Luisa park that we had walked through earlier in the day.

And then this beautiful fountain that I will call the Fountain of Love.  I didn't notice the couple standing in front of it until I edited my photos.  I would normally edit out this couple but they kinda go with the photo.

We drove down an avenue of these bougainvillea's that have been shaped into trees.  I wish I had have seen this when we were living at Kuramar with our bougainvilleas's that were out of control!

We were so lucky to get on this tour that was "waitlisted".  It was our butler that managed to secure us tickets.  I didn't ask how :-)

Although it was a long day but it was definitely worth it. 

Day 84 La Coruña, Spain

 After the last couple of days visiting small colourful villages, it's almost like a slap across the face to be back in a large city, but here we are in La Coruña.  Our tour today is a walking tour of La Coruña and Tapas.  I have mentioned the friends whose company we have enjoyed throughout the cruise, however the six of us have never actually done a tour together.  Imagine our surprise (none of us knew the others were doing the same tour) when we all rocked up together on the pier to start our tour.  It made a somewhat boring tour so much more enjoyable.  When I say boring, the walk was enjoyable but the tour guy just rambled on and on, making us stand in one spot for up to twenty minutes.  He must have surely known that we were all bored with his talking, as people started peeling away from him until he started walking again.  When he eventually gave us free time it was for five minutes!  It would have been better if he cut the talk in half and gave us an hour of free time.  OK.  Whinge over…..

La Coruña has a wealth of history with some historians saying that Hercules himself founded the city.  Spain has a history of expedition sailings and in the 16th century La Coruña was the departure point for the Spanish Armada and later endured an assault fly Sir Francis Drake.  Urban modernisation swept through the 19th and 20th centuries, leaving a legacy of elegant squares and modernist architecture.

Our walk began down a beautiful tree lined boulevard with parkland on our right and some elegant architecture on our left.  These white buildings, with their distinctive enclosed glazed balconies known as galerias, are a key signature of La Coruña and have given it the nickname of "Crystal City"

Our tour guide leaves the waterfront and we head towards the town square where, once again, the town hall takes pride of place.  It is a magnificent building with its three distinctive towers, one of which is the clock tower.

We now make our way down narrow streets with such a variety of shops.  I am always interested in the food that is on display.  The Scampi that I photographed are still moving.  Now that's fresh!

After two hours of walking, that included two ABC'c, we finally reach our first tapas restaurant where we are served a frittata, green chillies and mussels.  I love mussels and ate mine and Philips share.  The chilli I chose from the platter however, was extremely fiery.  Nobody else's was so I was just unlucky.

We spent less time here than we did outside one of the church's!  It was a bit of a rush to get to the next tapas place apparently.  At this one we were served Jamon (ham) with two cheese choices plus a delicious tuna slice, all washed down with a glass of white wine.  The ceiling of this restaurant was lined with legs of cured Jamon (ham). There would have been at least 50.  These are not good photos as the lighting inside was terrible, but you get the idea.

Our friends and us decided to leave the tour at this point.  It was almost the end of the tour anyway but we wanted to go exploring on our own. 

This evening we are all meeting in our suite for "sail-away" drinks.  We depart at 5.00pm.  A photo of the group.