1st July - 6 July still in the Mediterranean

Monday 1^st July – Barcelona, Spain.  Currency – Euro.  

Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia and is rumoured that Hercules built the city 400 years before the birth of Rome. Barcelona is a fabric of countless cultures, influenced by Arabs, Romans and Europeans. 

Gaudi is one of the greatest designers of the 19^th and 20^th centuries and he designed a great number of buildings in Barcelona, he designed the grandest ongoing projects in the flamboyant and spectacular a Familia, La Sagrda which is a jaw-dropping church into its second century of construction.  I personally think it is the ugliest building, in fact I think I dislike his work even more this year that I did last year.

Once again, Ann, Beverly and I got on the hop on hop off bus and spent 4 hours travelling around the city, gosh it was so hot, think it was more than 40 degrees sitting on the top of the bus.

We got off the bus and had a late lunch where we tried Tapas which is a number of small dishes that you can share; we had sausages, octopus, chicken, paella and beautiful bread, washed down by a jug of Sangria.

Before going back to the ship we called into the fruit market and bought a kilo of big fat juicy cherries for the huge cost of 2 euros (about $3) they were wonderful.

Another evening and another sail away, it is hard to work out what country we are in, I like to say ‘thank you’ in the language of the country and I now find myself having no idea what I should say.

Distance from Monte Caro to Barcelona 284.2 Nautical Miles, average speed 18.64 knots

Tuesday 2^nd July at sea. Today we are at sea and we followed the coastline of Spain and passing Cost Blanca, Alicante and Cartagena towards the Straits of Gibraltar.

Everyone got up late this morning as if was the first time we could sleep in for ages, it was lovely just wandering around the ship and catching up with people we hadn’t seen for days.  

I downloaded all my pictures and sorted them out into folders and picked out one which I am going to put into the photo competition.

Wednesday 3^rd July – Cardiz, Spain.  Currency – Euro.

 We passed through the Straits of Gibraltar in the early hours of the morning which meant that we left the Mediterranean and entered the Atlantic Ocean and rounded the Cape of Trafalgar to arrive in Cardiz at 0700 hrs.

As early as 1100 BC, Phoenician merchants established a trading post in Cardiz and the Romans took control in 218 BC, this city is rich in history.

Today, I took a tour to the city of Seville which is about 2 hours from Cardiz and this is the city from where Christopher Columbus left on his travels of discovery in 1492.

We walked through the old Jewish centre to look as some of the old buildings, we were told that they covered over their courtyards to keep the house and yard cool which gives the area a red glow. 

We then spent a lot of time walking through the special pavilion that was built to celebrate the wonders of the Spanish civilization in the early 19 hundreds.

It was a magnificent building and each province had a special area to display their crest and display special aspects of their province, it is amazing to see what they could do with tiles.

We then moved on to the royal palace of Alcazar which initially was a Moorish fort which later became the Spanish royal palace which is still used by the current King.  

The palace now owned by the Government but it is still used by the King on the odd occasions.

 The gardens are beautiful and any citizen of Seville can treat them as their own and visit any time they like.

In the same area was the Cathedral of Seville which is a centuries old Roman Catholic cathedral still showing the Moorish structures, some the bones of Christopher Columbus are interned in the church.

A number of the passengers were a bit disappointed today as they went to the Royal Andalusian school of Equestrian Art to see the beautiful dancing stallions only to find that they were not performing and they only walked through the stables.

Our ‘sail aways’ are taking on a different aspect now as we are all buying the specialties of the various countries we are visiting, cream sherry, sangria, local wines drunk and various cheeses are eaten.

Distance from Barcelona to Cadiz 595.6 Nautical Miles, average speed 17.14 knots

Thursday 4^th July – Lisbon, Portugal. Currency – Euro.

Lisbon is the capital of Portugal and is a large port at the mouth of the Tagus River and a great wave of exploration started from there in the 15^th century.  

Legend has it that Lisbon was founded by Ulysses but most likely it was the Phoenicians were the first in 1200 BC followed by the Romans.

Ann and I decided that we would get on the hop on, hop off bus and travel around the city which took us all day.  It was very hot again and well over 40 degrees in the sun with absolutely no breeze and not a cloud in the sky.

Lisbon is a pretty city with a lot of old cathedrals and grand old houses sitting on a lovely coastline.

Lisbon still allows bull fighting will all the old formalities but they do not allow the bull to be killed.  We were told while we were in Spain they had banned bull fighting altogether.

 Ann had never been to Lisbon before so we got off at the Monument of Discovery and continued walking around the coast until we reached a lovely old fort and then we stumbled across a war memorial that was guarded by two sailors, it contained nine thousand names of the soldiers who died fighting in Africa defending their colonies between 1961 – 1974. 

The Padrão dos Descobrimentos or Monument to the Discoveries was built in honour of Henry the Navigator, who was instrumental in the success of the Portuguese explorations during the 15th century, a period now known as the Age of Discoveries.

The age of Discoveries started in 1415 with the capture of the North African city of Ceuta and reached a peak at the turn of the 16th century when Vasco da Gama discovered a shorter route to India and Pedro Álvares Cabral discovered Brazil. The creation of trade posts and colonies on the new trade routes led to a Portuguese empire that spanned three continents, bringing wealth to Portugal and Lisbon in particular.

The Monument to the Discoveries was originally built for the 1940 World Exhibition. It celebrated the achievements of explorers during the Age of Discoveries and the creation of Portugal's empire.

The monument we see today is an exact replica of the original one. It was built in 1960 on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of Henry the Navigator's death. Henry the Navigator was a driving force behind the overseas exploration and he financed many of the expeditions.

The Monument is 52 meters tall monument, shaped like a ship's prow, stands at the marina in Belém, the starting point for many of Portugal's explorers. This is where in 1497 Vasco da Gama embarked on his voyage to India and in 1493 a storm forced Christopher Columbus to anchor here on his way back to Spain after his discovery of the Americas.

At the foot of the Monument to the Discoveries is a giant marble wind rose. A map of the world at the center of the wind rose charts the Portuguese explorations. The map shows the most important dates in the history of the discoveries and ships mark the locations where Portuguese explorers first set foot on land.

We went into entered the monument, which contained a museum, exhibition halls and other rooms spread over seven floors and then up to the rooftop where we could see over Belém and the Tagus river.

Lunch was another local feast but no wine this time as it was just too hot and then we were soon back on the local bus to the ship.

We sailed out in the afternoon sun towards the Bay of Biscay and stayed out in the cool until quite last.  The best part of a day on shore other than the great sights is the catching up with everyone and exchanging stories.

That night we went to the show in the Princess Theatre and it was certainly one of the best shows ever, it was a lady called Sally Jones who did a tribute to Edith Piaf who was a French singer and I have some of her records, the whole show was sung in French no wonder it is called the language of love.

There was a party on the ship for all the 40 or so Americans to celebrate their Independence Day, think it lasted about ½ hour.

Distance from Cadiz to Lisbon   250.3 Nautical Miles, average speed 19.25 knots

Friday 5^th July at sea continuing across the Bay of Biscay. The wind is quite cool and the waves are getting higher, I saw a pod of dolphins tonight through the window of the dining room about 2100, the sun is not setting until about 2200 at the moment. I have certainly seen a lot more dolphins this trip, some of the dolphins are quite small and this pod was full of large dolphins who were jumping the waves from the back of the ship.

Life on board has settled into a regular routine now and everyone has become a close neighbourhood with all the problems that goes with living in a confined area.

Tonight was a formal night which started off with drinks with the Captain and then we went to dinner, followed by a show in the Theatre.  The weather has become quite rough and the Captain has closed off access to the outside of the ship and extended the stabilisers to reduce the tossing.

I wore my Spanish outfit and looked really great, got lots of compliments, even got my portrait taken. 

Saturday 6^th July at sea still in the Bay of Biscay on our way to the Celtic Sea to approach the coast of Ireland.  

Stuck my head outside of the door to see what it was like on the deck and I think that I will be only going out when I go off shore.  The sea has calmed down a bit but the wind is still really strong and cold, I am wearing a spencer and slippers.

Distance from Lisbon to Cohb   807.6 Nautical Miles, average speed 13.52 knots