The Azores

I am very impressed with the Azores.  The storm by passed us and we had no problem docking at either of the ports.  The islands are very green and with the contrast of the white buildings with red tile roofs they are beautiful.  We are now headed for the USA.

We had a real treat yesterday.  A big pod of whales came very close to the ship.   They were so close the Captain had to veer to the right.  I have not heard what type of whales but they were medium size. About the same size as a humpback; but I don't think they were humpbacks.

We have also had a few schools of Dolphins and I spotted 4 very large Dolphins along side of our ship a couple of days ago.

At 7:00 every evening we have our before dinner drink at the Crows Nest and also play Pub Trivia.  Last night we almost won which is the exact opposite of us asking for the booby prize.  My team consists of Joan and whoever I can find that is close enough to mouth answers or whisper to me.  I call them my roving team members.  I have a feeling the rest of the teams might cry foul if we won but that is very unlikely except for our good showing last night.

We did have a ball last night so we did do some dancing with the officers and some of the other guys. After dancing we went up to the Crows Nest to listen to Lee on the piano.  His wife, Daphna, joined the ship recently.  We have got to know her and I have enjoyed her stories about Israel.  Her home is in Jerusalem.

2 sea days

We really  needed these sea days.  This cruise has been port intensive and they can become tiring especially for the stair climbers. Our friend, Sue, who goes everywhere admitted that this is the first time she has become weary.

I am typing this as we are docked at one of the islands of the Azores.  Ponta Delgada, on the island of Sao Miguel today and Horta, on the island of Faial tomorrow.  The buildings of Ponta Delgada are newer than most of Portugal and white instead of sand color.  A nice change.  I will continue on a separate blog about Horta and as long as I have good WiFi free I will go ahead and post this short post.

The weather has changed and it is raining.  No free WiFi for me.  There are possibilties that we won't be able to dock at  Horta.  A storm is on its way.

Last Ports

Gibralter is not a good place to visit unless you are going to walk the rock.  Not much at the bottom of the rock so I took the opportunity to do things on board.

Our next port was Huelva and it is a delightful city.  Wide pedestrian streets with great stores and great values.  The town is trying to get the cruise ships in and I think the good vibes they sent to all of us will help in that direction.  Our friend, Don, use to live close and he said it is incredible how far they have come.

We found a little restaurant and a delightful waitress who did her best to translate  the menu for us.  The beer and Joan's wine were excelent.  The waitress actually spoke great English except the menu translation and she was a delightful girl.  We had a lot of fun with all the employees.  They laughed a lot at me and my attempts at Spanish.

Lisbon is a beautiful big city and lots of steps and hills.  We spent our time at Casa Colon in the city center and didn't stay out long.  Again, it was Sunday and not much opened except cafes and souvenier shops.  One exception and that was a very large shoe and purse store.  I am not up to walking uip stairs and hills but where we were was flat and we walked quite a bit just looking at the outside of buildings.

The WiFi at the port was really iffy and not good enough to down load for an hour or so.  Besides I would have to sit on dirty cement.  I willl check out the Azores on the 27th and 28th.  Otherwise, this blog is about my only avenue at communication with home.  

Xfinity Problems

The reason I have been getting some emails and not others is because of the need to update my app for Xfinity.  This takes close to an hour so I can't do it on the ship.  I will try to find free WiFi on shore in Seville.  I am at a lost why I get some emails and not the others as most of the ones I get are from other countries but one just came in from Colorado.  I am also getting facebook but I don't open those as it takes too long to down load.  

I am sitting next to the big rock (Gibralter) but there is no where close to do free WiFi plus I am making sure my battery is  at 100%.  You do not want to run out of battery on a long down load.  My advice to everyone is find a cruise line that does not charge for WiFi.  

Barcelona

I have been to Barcelona twice before but never really saw the sights.  From the airport to the ship and the ship to the airport.  So, it was the HoHo bus - red route first.  What a magnificent city and as The Trumpster would say, HUGE.  Magnificent buildings and plazas.  One problem.  Every few feet there was a red light when we were in the dead of the city.  Instead of an hour or two we were 4 hours completing the route.  Admittedly, we hopped off - once for ten minutes and once for about 30 minutes.  I wanted to continue but my friend wanted to go back to the ship.  If I ever get here again I will take the green route where most of the famous cathedrals are located.  

We did come across a "department" store and it was 9 stories and carried everything from groceries to hardware, clothing, and many things  you wouldn't think of or imagine.  It also had two public rest rooms and I think they are called Banos.  After 3 hours on the HOHO bus the Banos were a welcome sight. 

My impression of Barcelona is the city is a must see but three or four days minimum is needed.

I am not getting my emails and I have to go see Courtney this afternoon.  I haven't had a thing four two days and that seems rather impossible.  Actually, I did have one that came through.  Dana sent one from Switzerland and it made it to the ship but nothing from the states.

Te Phillipino staff show was last night.  Jennie, the gal who mkes my latte' every morning was one of the dancers and Christa who is the waitress at the Crow's Nest was one of the singers.  I also knew the other male singer but his name escapes me now.

Sete

Whoever heard of Sete.  i have driven from Italy through Cannes, Nice and other towns but Sete is way off the road and is basically a port town and full of blue collar workers.  There are rumors that they are building a cruise ship terminal and room on the docks for cruise ships.  This working port was the cleanest and neatest of all ports I have seen.  

There was not a lot to see and the shops did  not have good products.  A lack of neat things.  Most of the clothing stores were low end.  Peggy only bought one thing and for Peggy that is a wasted day.

We did stop and have a sandwich and a French wine.  Father James came along and sat down for awhile to tell us about his visit to the Vatican.  He had a friend who works there and met a lot of others.  No time for an audience with the Pope but he had not expected that would happen.

Joan said her pizza did not sit well so she stayed in her cabin.  I ended up playing Trivia wiith Don and Nancy.  Our Ausie couple left in Rome so that left me alone at the table.  I ate with Harry and Margo.  

As I am sitting here typing this post while we are docking in Barcelona.  I plan to do the HoHo bus and take the route that will take me to the Cathedral that has been being built forever.  Century after century.  This is not my first time in Barcelona but it is the first time I have the opportunity to explore the city.  I think Ihave been here two or three times before.

Livorno. (Leg Horn)

Unfortunately, Sunday is not one of the days to visit an Italian City.  A few things were open and a lot of things closed.   Livorno is a jumping off place for Pisa, Florence, Lucca and Tuscany in general.  Most of the passengers went to other places.  We did walk around and found a department store caled Zara or something like that which we had been told was great.  It was closed.  Peggy and Sylvia told us about a great little cathedral to visit but when we got there it was closed.  Later, Peggy said Zara's opened at 12:00.  Sometimes things just don't work out.  We did have a nice walk about and ended up getting a Gelato.

One thing that has been nice about this cruise is the money.  We have only had to use one currency and  that is the Euro.  Except for the lesser Pacific Islands that usually accept dollars, we have to exchange to six or seven different currencies.  Australian, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong and I can go on and on.  This is great using only the Euro.

We are now at Monaco and we have to tender.  Having been here several times I opted to get a Manicure which is needed.  I wouldn't mind walking in the Gardens as that is a relaxing walk but The only other thing I would want to do is the aquarium.  Prince Rainier was a great supporter of Jaques Costeau and other Marine expeditions and endeavors so it is only fitting that he had this great aquarium built.  But, I have the manicure to be done and I wouldn't have enough time.  It has always been on my to do list but not on the must do list.