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Published: October 29th 2014
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Wednesday 29
thOctober 2014
FROM BARCELONA TO FUNCHAL, MADEIRA
On Sunday morning, 26
th October, we strolled out in the early Spanish sunshine for coffee and croissants, after a good night’s sleep and a leisurely lie in; the clocks went back across Europe in the early hours. We got to the cruise terminal at 11.00 a.m. and by midday we were all checked in and aboard. We have a good cabin with a balcony on the starboard side, chosen on purpose, so that we can see the coast of Spain as we sail down the Med. After an excellent buffet lunch we joined the on-deck party. By the time we set sail, at about 5.30.p.m. the party was in full swing.
Monday was an ‘at sea’ day. The Med was like a mill pond and we lazed about in the sun around the pools and Jacuzzis. We woke up early and saw our coastline (where we live in Spain), passing Orihuela Costa around 7.00 a.m. We could clearly see the Mar Menor islands, the Cabo de Palos lighthouse and then the city of Cartagena at about 7.30 a.m. We were quite surprised,
being unaware that the cruise ships came so close to land. In sixteen years living there, we have never seen cruise ships going past, unless they were docking in either Alicante or Cartagena. Perhaps we have never been by the beach early enough in the day! It was quite a surreal experience, having left home nearly forty eight hours previously, to sail past our stretch of coast.
We passed through the Straits of Gibraltar between 8.00 and 10.00 p.m. leaving the benign waters of the Med behind us and venturing forth in to the Atlantic Ocean, saying a little silent prayer that the swell would not be too great during the night. It wasn’t. Tuesday dawned to calm waters and sunshine as well as another hour in bed, as we reset our watches once more, putting us back another hour on to GMT. In the evening Viv realised that she had lost her mobile phone. Pretty disastrous really. Our son Nick has managed to have the phone blocked but we still do not know if anyone has used it and run up a huge bill. We think it has been lost since Sunday and there are a
lot of people from all over the world on this ship, passengers and crew. However… Funchal awaits…
Funchal’s history goes back over five centuries. Colonised by Portuguese settlers and named Funchal after the abundance of fennel that grows here. The word for fennel in Portuguese is “funcho”. Madeira is called the “Island of Flowers” and it is truly verdant and lush, with the scent and colour of flowers everywhere, even in October. We took the cable car up to Monte Babosas, which gave us magnificent views over the city. We took a leisurely stroll around the old town afterwards, then found a nice little cafe for lunch. We are there now, sending this blog. Then we´ll return to the ship for a week at sea. Next stop, the Caribbean, so
"Adios Europa!"
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