| Terry
Smith’s Site |
| 2000/2001 Christmas in the Canaries Had a coach tour of the City and Jerez (only 20 minutes there), what a lovely Town Jerez looked- wasn't long enough to really appreciate it but, of course, we had to go to the obligatory sherry tasting! Still, they also had horses at the sherry cellar which made it worth while. 2009 Wonders of the Eastern Med. Docked at 7PM but it was our Wedding Anniversary so we didn't go ashore on the first evening (didn't want to miss the fuss we were made of at the dinner table). Local Flamenco Dancers were the evening's entertainment, very good. Did the open top bus tour although, with the cold wind, it wasn't great fun sitting on top! Plenty of attractive buildings and monuments etc. and we went into the Cathedral. We went into the Cathedral and almost immediately came out! €5 entrance fee. I don't mind putting something in the box when I visit a Church but I do object to a set entrance fee.
2016 A Mediterranean Christmas Christmas Eve and two reasons to enjoy our stop in Cadiz. Firstly, the locals held a Zambomba in the Town Hall Square. Alright, I didn't know either but a Zambomba is, apparently, a Flamenco Party in which there is no separation between the artists and the public. People just play music, sing and dance. It was excellent. Spent a very pleasant hour watching that and then having a short walk around the area. Secondly, Saga Pearl II was also in Port! Met up with a lady who was travelling on the Pearl and she suggested that we joined her on board for tea. Apparently in the Pearl's daily programme they were told that they could go on board the Sapphire for tea and people from the Sapphire would be on The Pearl for tea. NOTHING was said about this on the Sapphire! If we hadn't met the lady we wouldn't have known that we were allowed on board. Needless to say we went on board and met up with a few members of staff that we'd met on previous Saga cruises. Great. Ann and Michael were livid when we told them and they certainly mentioned this on the end of cruise comments (as did we, a disgraceful oversight on the part of the Sapphire's Cruise Director).
2018 Barcelona & the Western Med. Took the shuttle bus to Town Hall Square. The bus took an age to go around the port, exit and drive to the drop off point. It was then we realised that we'd done the same last time and the port entrance (on foot) was only about 200 yards away! Went for a good wander around before we WALKED back to the ship!
When we got back on board, as the weather was pleasant (see the above photos), we decided to have a late lunch in the Beach Club on Deck 11 (it's open air so only open when the weather is fine). It was closed! Had to go to the Cafe on deck 9 and, therefore, missed the afternoon quiz (which is on deck 11). A pain but we didn't let it get us down! 2019 Flavours of the Iberian Peninsula Edna was feeling unwell so I went ashore alone. This has plus and minus points, wandering around a foreign City alone is not as much fun as wandering around with a companion but, being alone, I could stride out and see more. As we'd been here several times before I tend towards the plus - I saw more than we'd seen before! Of course I "did" the Town Hall Square again (a nice place to walk around) and the Cathedral (there was seating etc. being set up for Easter) and Espana Place
But the highlight of my day was "finding"
the San Carlos Walls
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Cadiz |
and the Alameda Apodaca Park. I'd seen them before from the open top
bus but had never wandered around before. Lots of busts of writers and
revolutionaries and a few more interesting sights around. Just my sort
of place! I've decided that the sights deserve