Final day - 18th January

A fine day for our last day at sea, with blue skies most of the time, and reasonably flat seas. Mum and I finished the jigsaw, then I read until lunch time while mum rested and did some of her packing. Lunch was at the Palms, our favourite restaurant as we can sit at the back looking out at the sea (and the swimming pool).

More reading, then I listened to the singing group at their last rehearsal, before packing my suitcases. Tonight it is talent night - should be fun! Next stop - table tennis. Definitely the best activity on the boat.

 

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Back at sea - 17th January

Back across the Bay of Biscay, but a lot smoother than the outward journey. I spent a lot of the day reading, and skipped breakfast altogether. After lunch I went to the jive lesson, but arrived late so just watched. They were doing swing jive, and all moves I knew, so I wasn't too disappointed at not joining in. I chatted to one of the dance hosts afterwards, Leonard, and he gave me a quick dance lesson in the corridor! He said I bounced too much, the top of my head should stay at the same height all the time!

A quick work out at the gym on the treadmill, then down to table tennis. Usual group and some good games. Mum and I were partners, and out in the first round as usual, but I felt we played quite well.

Formal evening, preceded by the Captain's farewell cocktail party. We gathered in the Neptune lounge, had fizz and nibbles, then listened to the Captain summarise our trip and give out three employee of the month awards. Dinner was good and afterwards Mum and I went to the evening show. It was cast night, and we had Phillipino and Thai country dances and a few songs. Then bed, and a bad nights sleep, possibly due to the fizz, wine and beer I had consumed.

 

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Lisbon - 16th January - Part two

Our tour of the city, escorted by Katerina, started with a journey past the town square and then a park where we learnt that Prince Henry's mother had been Phillippa of Lancaster. We also learnt that most of Lisbon was destroyed in a single night in 1755 (?) after an earthquake and tsunami was followed by a fire. The new city was laid out in a grid pattern with, for those days, wide streets. They have a tram system which has been operating since 1901, partially as a result of Portugese being neutral during WWII. They also have an old metal lift and three funicular railways operating from the centre of the city. It's a lovely city with 35 % of the area being parkland, and an aquaduct dating from the 1600s (?), crossing the ravine which cuts through the city.

We crossed the 14 April bridge, built by the same company as the Golden Gate Bridge, and named for the date the dictatorship was overthrown in 1973, and visited the site of the King Christ statute on the other side of the river Tigres. From there we drove to the St Jerome monastery, and visited the church there, and the naval ship museum. Lots of model ships showing how the Portugese fleet developed, and a display of the royal barges used by the royal family. After the Age of Discovery Lsibon enjoyed the Gilt Age, a reference to the period when they grew very wealthy on the gold they exported from Brazil.

After the museum we drove closer to the riverside, and saw the Belin Tower close up, and then the modern monument celebrating Lisbon's navigators and others influential in the start of the Age of Discovery.

Back to the ship just in time to board before we set sail from Lisbon back to Southampton, with the now traditional leaving party on the aft deck. During the day I bought a few souvenirs: two varieties of pepper and two of salt plus a Portugese cookbook, a fridge magnet, and a bottle of port. Very happy with my purchases, especially the cookbook which is written by a Portugese chef who has a very successful restaurant in New York.

I think I'd like to return to Lisbon one day. It's a beautiful city with a lot of rich history, many fine museums and it looked like it had some good restaurants too!

 

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Lisbon - 16th January - Part 1

Our last port of call on the cruise, and one that sounds interesting. We had breakfast in the Palms, sitting right at the back with a view over the swimming pool. We could see the land getting larger, and after breakfast I went onto deck to see, and photograph, our approach into the port. It was sunny, but cold, and by the time we eventually docked I was freezing. Mum came and joined me for the latter part of the process, and we watched the seamen attaching the many huge ropes which hold us secure whilst in port. Apparently we had had an emergency medical evacuation in the night, which had delayed our entry into Lisbon by some hours, leaving us a very short stay as we have to leave at 5pm for the final leg back to Southampton.

We were eventually moored by 10.40, and mum and I went back to our cabins for a warm up and a quick rest before our city tour this afternoon.

 

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En route to Lisbon -15th January

Today was a day at sea. We ate breakfast in the Avon restaurant, then went down to the Neptune Lounge to listen to the historian talk about Lisbon and the Age of Discovery. Quite interesting, though not particularly coherent.

We learnt a bit about Prince Henry the Navigator, and how he founded a school in the late 1400s incorporating sailers, cartographers and scientists, and how Portugal then dominated the sailing world for over a hundred years. He mentioned several sites in Lisbon built as a result of the huge wealth in Portugal at this period, and I'm looking forward to our tour of the city tomorrow.

After the talk mum and I went our separate ways, and as I was feeling very tired, and had eaten too much breakfast, I spent the next few hours with a book in the Lido lounge.

We met up again for table tennis, where everyone seemed to be playing extremely well and there were some great matches.

Dinner was good, then mum and I played Scrabble until 10, when we went up to the observation lounge for the evening quiz. Didn't do well at the quiz, then I departed for bed leaving mum with her whiskey and the late evening pianist.

 

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Fuertventura - 14th January

We watched the show last night, an extravaganza of British tunes, with countless costume changes. Good fun, and well done.

This morning we docked in Fuertventura as we were finishing our breakfast, then mum and I boarded our coach for the transfer to Caleta De Fuste. The island is mainly bare volcanic rock and gravel, but the village we went to has been there for a long while, and had many Palm trees and cactus lining the streets and surrounding the houses. We made our way to the beach, then found a cafe for a coffee and an ice cream. Mum also managed to buy a new hat, satisfying both her desire to keep her head out of the sun, and to buy a souvenir of the holiday.

We rented a pair of sun loungers, then lay in the sun - not bad for the middle of January. The temperature was in the mid to high 20s and it was gloriously warm. We had a paddle, but voted against a swim as the beach was very rocky and sloped very shallowly making a walk far enough out to swim rather too hazardous.

It was a long walk back to the coach, and we were the last to arrive, then it was back to the ship and a quick lunch. The ship left port as we were eating, and we are now in our way to Lisbon. There was another 'sail-away' party on the aft deck, with the same songs and dancing, but no sign of the rum punches served last time.

Mum had a rest in the afternoon while I went to the gym, then we both meet up in the table tennis room. I find the table tennis is like a little oasis of normalcy in the artificial life of cruising, and it is probably the highlight of each day. Play was interrupted by an announcement from the captain that there is an outbreak of gastroenteritis on board, the scourge of cruise ships. Measures against its spread include closing some areas of the ship, staff inside public toilets to check hand washing and appeals to stay in our cabins if we have any symptoms.

Formal night tonight, so we dolled ourselves up and had a good meal, then went to the show. Fairly average tonight, except for a hilarious performance of 'If I was not upon the sea, a.........me'. Each performer had a little sequence of movements with their part, innocuous on it's own but which, when they lined up next to each other, became extremely funny.

Quiz in the Observation Lounge afterwards, then bed! Full day at sea tomorrow, so no need to get up at any specific time!

 

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Las Palmas, Grand Canaria - 13th January

Mum and I played Scrabble after dinner last night, then both headed for bed.

This morning I was on a tour again, this time to see the Columbus House museum. A short coach trip took us there, and we had a chance to have a look in the main cathedral before seeing the exhibits relating to Christopher Columbus's voyages. Lovely old house, and nice to see something of an old city centre as well.

Then it was back in the bus, and a drive to the middle of the island where we had fabulous views of the whole island, and into a deep caldera made by a volcano about 2000 years ago. It was 1 km across and about 200 metres deep!

Next stop was the pretty village of Santa Brigida, before going to a wine house to have tapas and a wine tasting. The vines here were never hit by the disease that devastated most of Europe vines, and there are several ancient varieties of grapes growing here on the volcanic soil. Tapas was a local cheese (bit bland), olives, a red sauce (tasty but not hot despite warnings from our guide) and Grand Canary potatoes, which were delicious. Small potatos with skins, boiled in sea water. I did the classic, bought the white wine we had tasted, and a red wine I had not. The red I tasted was a bit thin to my mind, and the very helpful waiter suggested I buy a different one which he assured me I would like. Of course, I won't find out until we get back to the UK as they remove all your wine purchases from you when you return to the ship, and only give them back just before you land!

Our guide talked a lot about the fruits and vegetables that grow well here, including sugar cane, which was then exported to the Carribean. The traditional drink of the island is rum and they have a longer tradition of making it here than in Cuba. I shall attempt to find and buy a bottle this afternoon. Another surprising fact was that many plants that we consider small grow to a huge size here as there is no dormant winter season. This includes the dandelions I had already seen, and the poinsettias which grow into trees!

 

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