Day 7 - Puerto Vallarta

Puerto Vallarta……what a surprise you were.  I think I had pre-conceived ideas of what Mexico would be like but the town of Vallarta threw all those misconceptions out the door.

The Macaws were right on the dock

Our day started with breakfast in our allocated dining area – Moderno Restaurant, and as we entered the port of Vallarta we had a birds eye view.  I was totally taken aback with how narrow the entrance to the port was and as we passed by a block of units I swear I could count the hairs in the nostril of an inhabitant standing on their balcony waving to us!  Hahhaaa!

We docked right alongside one of the Holland America line ships.  Our friends from Kuranda sailed with this line last year so I was intrigued.  It was a beautiful ship!

The port of Vallarta

We didn't have a tour booked today and just decided to do our own thing.  As we left the ship we were greeted by a taxi driver who asked us if we wanted to go into town for a cost of $4.  This was reasonable so we said yes.  As we approached his vehicle he threw open the doors and there were another 8 people waiting inside!  We all greeted each other and we made our way into town.  As we were driving along the taxi driver said that for $10 each he would drive us all around Valllarta, our choices, for three hours.  That was a deal none of us could pass up!  It was the best thing we could possibly have done.  Someone wanted to purchase leather goods, someone else wanted silver and our driver knew the best places (and prices) to take them.

Very narrow streets that our driver navigated very well

The cleanliness of Vallarta is wonderful to see

Vallarta is not unlike other places when it comes to tourism.  Lots of street hawkers selling the same goods coming from the same place – probably China! But what makes Vallarta strand out is the cleanliness, the tree lined streets, the happy residents who are very proud of their beautiful city.  The taxi driver told us that they have a cruise ship arrive almost every day!

You pass through a lovely park to get to the Cathedral

The Cathedral that our taxi driver/tour guide took us to was as beautiful as any other and well worth a visit.  

The Cathedral from the outside

Inside the Cathedral

As we strolled along the cobblestone streets we stopped at a little restaurant and ordered Tacos, Quesidalla and water!  It was a very hot day. 

Our snack stop

Cobblestone Roads

Our driver took us to the expensive part of town where homes are upwards of a million dollars but the views were probably worth every cent of it.

Million Dollar Houses.......

Million Dollar Views

We were back on the ship before it set sail again although two young lads almost didn’t make it.  They were quite inebriated from perhaps too much tequila!

Dinner tonight was in the French restaurant – Le Bistro.  The meal was magnificent, all four courses, and the complimentary bottle of wine from our Conceirge went down very well.

No show tonight for us.  We were both pretty exhausted from our busy day and we also had to put our clocks forward an hour that meant we didn’t lay our heads down until 11.00pm……very late for us.

The view rom our bed