Blogs from Cádiz, Andalusia, Spain, Europe - page 2

November 6, 2019 Our transatlantic Royal Caribbean ship docked in Cadiz at 8AM giving us plenty of time for breakfast. Once again, to be on the safe side, we signed up for the ship tour, this time our last exploration of Spain: Cadiz and Jerez de la Frontera. Booking the ship’s tour gave us assurity that the ship would not sail without us! The ship was scheduled to depart at 6PM which gave us ample time to explore a bit on our own before heading back to dinner aboard ship. Thankfully we left the ship well in advance of our 10AM tour, After a confusing and worrisome 10 minute walk from the ship’s dock, including asking many questions of anyone on the street, we finally found the location where we met our guide Jose to begin ... read more

Well recovered from the journey to Puerto Santa Maria...all in all it's such a short train journey...but checking out of accommodation & checking in has all it's own individual idiosyncrasies that need to tie up so that we are not wasting time in stations etc. We have everything we need here to start off our new day in a new place. A little wander round the village to orientate ourselves, via the info centre & onto the ferry to Cadiz. Good weather...have to sit outside for the views..35mins across. Old town Cadiz was swamped with cruise ship tourists....so that means blankets of people...so therefore difficult to negoiate. Very Malta like with the buildings having similar galleries to those of Malta. So how did that work....the Spanish were in Malta too. We ventured into a few monumental ... read more

Bonjour à tous, Enfin j'ai trouvé les paysages d'Andalousie tels que je les imaginais. Pour revenir sur l'hôtel d'hier au soir, il est ouvert depuis 1901, Winston Churchill, le roi Juan Carlos y ont dormis. Je n'avais jamais vu un parc d'hôtel aussi beau et aussi grand, la bâtisse à vraiment, de la classe du chic, le top, sans avoir vu le prix sur un site de réservation, je ne serais jamais entré. La nuit, diner, pdj, parking, 72e. Je vais reprendre l'expression québécoise, les chambres ont besoin de, beaucoup, beaucoup d'amour. Elles n'ont pas dues avoir beaucoup de travaux depuis mes illustres prédécesseurs. Dommage ce contraste. Je n'ai pas l'explication, sur le fait qu'hier je vous disais que le phare à Europa Point était le plus au sud d'Europe, alors que ce matin j'étais à ... read more

After another sea day we arrived in Cadiz, Spain. It is on the Atlantic coast and is one of the oldest cities in Spain in the Andalusia region of the country. As we approached the dock we saw a very familiar sight. The P&O ship Oriana was in port. We sailed on her in 1997 from Great Britain to Honolulu via the Panama Canal. That was our first time thru that feat of engineering. We met some lifelong Australian friends on that cruise and are still in touch with them these many years later. In Cadiz we decided to take our own walking tour of Cisco Antigua, the old walled quarter of the city. We have been to Cadiz numerous times and we always enjoy strolling the winding alleys and green plazas and visiting the large ... read more

1 more day on board arcadia! i'm feeling quite reflective and melancholy today. sad to be leaving this beautiful ship that has been my home for the past 75 nights. the arcadia has kept me safe and well fed. it was arcadias birthday the other day. she celebrated 14 years on the 12th of april. the pastry chef made a beautiful replica of the ship in a cake, and that evening they held a huge birthday party for her in the globe disco. there weren't any balloons but we all had glow sticks wrapped around our heads and arms, and anywhere else you could coil a glow stick around. :) today we are heading north in the atlantic ocean alongside the west coast of spain having left cadiz yesterday at 5 pm. i am writing to ... read more

Malaga was our next port and this makes the fourth time here. We headed to a jewelry shop where I wanted to buy a mother-of-pearl necklace like the one ML bought on our first stop but on reflection I adhered to my mantra “Subtract, don’t add”. We strolled around the city window shopping and I was particularly intrigued by the beautiful paving stones of marble. They provide a comfortable walking surface that I enjoyed after all the cobblestone sidewalks. We stopped at the same cafe and enjoyed our chat with a young Russian woman and a slightly older Brit gentleman. They met a couple of years ago and have been travel companions since, more like friends according to him. Four years ago he quit his job and bought a boat. Now he has a coffee business ... read more