We have arrived home and have all our unpacked clothes to sort out and we are all completely knackered, well the kids seem to be still full of beans, oh to be that age once again.
Unfortunately the Internet charges on the ship are so outrageous that I refused to pay any more than the $35 that I paid when we joined the cruise for 60 minutes access, so the following recollections of our final few destinations are being done while sat having a cup of tea at home.
Cadiz was one of those surprising ports of call, where your expectations are overwhelmingly exceeded in a positive way. It is thankfully a port a stone's throw away from the bustling town centre and can easily be walked around, although there are lots of cobbled streets so wheelchair bound people might find it a challenge to negotiate without help, which brings me nicely onto my recollection. We walked through the beautiful memorial park, directly over the busy road from the port entrance and started our usual search for the shops (not my idea) when we came across a group of fellow passengers, some of which were in wheelchairs. The cobbles were not seeming to be causing any problems but an incline was fast approaching and I could see one of the group flagging a bit. I thought that her fellow travellers would come to her rescue and take hold of the handles for the short push up the hill but they just kept strolling along, we caught up with the lady and I being the gentleman I am offered to give her a push, which she gladly accepted, phew I thought, she wasn't one of those disabled types that resent any help. In fact she was quite the opposite and was glad of a helping hand, in fact I think we would have still been pushing her up the gang way if our plans to hit the shops and their plans to see the sights had been in the same direction, this was one time I was glad to search out for shops. We parted company and I headed for the nearest bench for a breather. Cadiz is like a maze of narrow, very similar looking alley ways that could quite easily have you lost in no time (so take a good map). Fortunately for me and the kids we must have missed the shopping areas and our last turn had us looking over the road to the ocean and a beautiful beach, well there was no stopping the kids and the sand and sea was soon in between their toes. We walked back to the ship along the sea front and to our amazement it was only a short walk away, if we had known that we would have spent all our time on the beach, something for Royal Caribbean to work on is looking after their guests that don't want to be fleeced by taking their tours!
Lisbon was a shit hole!! The one good thing about it was getting up early to watch us sail into port and catching the sun rise above the impressive suspension bridge.
Vigo is another of those surprising destinations. Clean, sophisticated, beautiful architecture, friendly people and enough shops to keep the weariest traveller happy! Oscar and I wandered aimlessly for a while waiting outside countless shops then decided on watching the world go by at one of the many coffee shops while the girls do what girls do. When we eventually got on board ship with 50 minutes or so to spare they decided that the hand bag seen in one of the first shops was just too good to miss out on and ran back off the ship with the sound of security guards warning them to be back on board by 3.30 or else! Thankfully they managed to get back just in time!
Our day at sea through the notorious Bay Of Biscay was one of the finest we had. The sun shone relentlessly and the wind dropped to make the afternoon sat at the Sky Bar one that will be remembered for a very long time. Thankfully we have pictures to remind us.
Those cocktails are sooooooooooooo bloody strong man!!
But that is another story ;)
I think the blogging bug has been caught and hopefully I will be back with our exploits.
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