RachelG

Burrata for lunch and caprese salad

Old town Valenci a

Aquarium pics

City of arts and sciences

April 23, 2024–Valencia, Spain When I awoke, we were just sailing into a large port. It was bright and sunny, but distinctly colder than yesterday, with the temp in the low 50’s. There was a large city sprawled out in from of the ship. Our tour for the day was to visit L’Oceanografic (largest aquarium in Europe) and the old town. I am not really particularly super interested in aquariums unless I am taking my grandkids, but the architecture was supposed to be really impressive. We set off by bus, stopping first to look at the fabulous architecture of the City of Arts and sciences. It is really other worldly, very creative. Then on the to aquarium. We had about 2 hours there but could have spent much longer. There are all sorts of exhibits and not just fish. They have penguins, several aquatic mammals, and a lot of birds. Unfortunately I apparently am terribly allergic to something there and started sneezing non stop. But it was very interesting. We then drove to the old town alongside what used to the the channel of a river, but now is a huge park. Valencia really is a lovely city with lots of history. The buildings in the old town are well preserved and impressive. We broke away from the group as we were having lunch at a place I had found called Santa Rita. Wonderful fresh food—salad, burrata, pasta, pizza. We were stuffed. We walked back to the shuttle bus stop. Back on the ship, it was time for packing then a terrible showing at trivia. Final farewells with lots of friends. We were still full from lunch so had a light meal in Compass Rose. The Beatles show was to follow, but we have to be up at 5 am as we have a pretty early flight—so we finished packing and we’re off to sleep.

No Eason given that I know of, but I could have missed it.

The ship

Downtown Cartagena

Bull in the last tapas place

Cartagena theater kitties

Roman theater in Cartagena

April 22, 2024–Cartagena, Spain We awoke to a bright sunny day. We were just pulling up to the dock in Cartagena. Temperature again mid 60s. The port is quite a lot smaller than Malaga, and the ship is docked right down town. I appears much drier than Malaga too, with the hills surrounding being covered with short dry looking bushes. Our tour for the day was a walking tapas tour which didn’t start until 10:50, so we had a leisurely morning. Our walking tour took off from the ship right into town, walking along a long esplanade with beautiful palm trees. The walkway as well as the sidewalks in the city was marble. Very beautiful, and there was a really cool map of the world embossed in the pavement. We walked past several historic buildings then went to 3 totally different tapas places,one a very old traditional one, the next more of a sidewalk cafe, and the third more modern. The best of them was the last with a potato omelet. We then went to the Roman theater, interesting as it was only discovered in 1986, but has now been excavated and is in good shape. We then broke off from the group and went for lunch at Tagliatelle which is a great restaurant with probably the best pizza I have had outside of Naples and a huge salad. Back on board, we won at trivia. Dinner at Compass Rose was great though I wasn’t really that hungry given the huge lunch. I had falafel, mushroom soup and a asparagus ravioli. The soup should have been hotter, but otherwise everything was perfect. The show was another by Duo Esencias, the violin and dance duo. Again, very good. I mainly go to see her costumes which are fabulous.

Market with local products

A tight spot on the trail

After the sun came out and the fog lifted