Southern Spain

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We are now entering the port intensive portion of the cruise. First stop, Malaga. We were here before with Rich so many of the attractions were old hat. Still it is lovely to find familiar spots is foreign cities. We strolled past the cathedral and the old cardinal’s palace and found the cafe were I had enjoyed a drink in the past. I had forgotten that the drinks were humongous. We each had a G&T at the tonic came in a small bottle. The Gin or Vodka however were presented in a large brandy snifter with a couple of ice cubes. It is the only time I can remember where they served a larger proportion of alcohol versus the mixers. Total cost, 10e.



We chatted up a woman who was vacationing from England and worked at finding employment for released felons. She was wearing a lovely mother-of-pearl necklace and ML went off to the shop and found one for herself. We wished each other a safe journey and ML and I wandered the streets back to the shuttle and home to the ship.



Our days on board have become somewhat of a routine. Happy Hour 4pm, trivia at 4:30, dinner at 5:30, often a movie and then a walk back to our cabin.



Cartagena is another lovely City. We walked into town and visited Roman Theater Museum. This is a wonderful restoration and the museum is divided in two separate buildings connected by an archaeological underground passage passing beneath the Church of St. Mary the Virgin.



The passage ends up at the Roman Theater, built in the first century BC. It has been beautifully restored but the stairways from the seats to the orchestra were very steep and there were no hand rails at all. Rather than risk a disaster, we retraced our steps and took the lift back down to ground level.



Next we stopped at a cafe for a traditional Spanish drink. It is sort of like Irish Coffee, but not.



Start with a juice size glass. Put in a drollop of cream followed by strong coffee. Next a layer of 43 liquor, a slick of brandy and cinnamon. It was as good as I remembered and the owner/waiter was charming too. We then strolled about, stopped in the cathedral where mass as going on so we didn’t wander around as we might have.





For once the stores were unfamiliar to us, no Guess or Channel or Coach. The paving stones were smooth marble, much too expensive for the newer areas but still beautiful since they were placed centuries ago. I suspect they would be treacherous on a rainy day but we have enjoyed perfect weather. After a bit we returned to the ship. See above

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