Heading Home!

Our next port of call was Barcelona. Chuck and I had booked an excursion to a Christmas Market that included a tour of the city. Our excursion just happened to fall on Constitution Day. Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia and is famous for the Sagrada Familia Church and other architectural designs by Gaudi. Catalonia has been in the headlines lately. Many in Catalonia want independence from Spain; however, there are many who do not. While on our tour, there was a peaceful demonstration and parade against Catalan independence. Our group got caught up in the the parade, literally. After visiting the Christmas Market, our guide led us on a tour of the old part of Barcelona. During that trek, we had to mingle with the crowd of peaceful paraders. There were hundreds of people carrying signs and flags. It was definitely the most unusual part of the excursion.

Our next port of call was Cadiz. Cadiz, in the Andalusian region, is an ancient port city surrounded by the sea. This is where Lord Admiral Horatio Nelson defeated the Spanish Navy but lost his life in the process. Chuck and I wanted to do something a little more physical so for this excursion we decided to participate in an E-Bike tour of Cadiz. E-Bikes are great! An E-Bike makes going up an incline a breeze. They are a little heavier than a traditional bike but it's worth it. Our tour guide, Bostjan, was a very patient man who led us on a scenic tour of Cadiz. It was a great excursion.

An E- Bike is electrically assisted and can boost speeds up
to 30 mph. It makes bike riding so much fun!

We had a day at sea before our next port of call in Funchal, but getting off the ship to visit Funchal was not meant to be. Chuck developed bronchitis and ended up in the clinic getting antibiotics. I wasn't feeling well either and by the time we reached Tenerife we were both feeling so poorly that we locked ourselves in the cabin and only left to get coffee and little bits of bland food from the Market Place to eat. I guess we'll just have to go back and visit both of those places at a later date.

After several sea days, we were both feeling better and ready to resume normal activities. Those normal activities involved breakfast at either the restaurant or the Market Place, time spent reading, maybe a little lunch, then naptime waking up in time for dinner at 5:30 p.m. After dinner, it was showtime. The entertainment was excellent and quite varied. We saw a mime, a man who did shadow puppets, several musicals and even some opera.

We did pass through the Strait of Gibraltar which connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. Unfortunately, we sailed through at night. We tried to get some photos, but no such luck.

Our next port of call was Antigua. Antigua was where we began to feel the humidity again. We decided to just walk around and see the sights. We also had some Euros we needed to spend before we reached San Juan. We found some interesting little shops and found some cool T-shirts and even stopped for cool drinks at a crowded little bar. We headed back to the air conditioning in our cabin before it became really hot in the afternoon.

Our next port of call and final stop before we docked in Miami was San Juan, Puerto Rico. Before we could disembark the ship, we had to meet with the passport control and Homeland Security. They came aboard ship and all in all, everything went very smoothly. Our passports were checked and we were cleared to leave the ship. We had been to San Juan in September of 2016 and were eager to see what damage the hurricane had caused. We did notice that some buildings and shops were closed and under reconstruction, but for the most part, everything seemed to be operating as normal. We did hear that outside of San Juan, there were quite a few areas still without electricity and might not have it until early spring.

It was on to Miami and disembarkation. That took quite a while but in the end we got our luggage, took a taxi to the pick up our rental and we headed north on the turnpike. Our first stop was a Dunkin' Donuts for coffee then at a Chick-fil-A in Valdosta for a #1 for dinner. We were home around 11 p.m. Rip had the tree and mantel decorated. It was good to be home!

Rip did a great job of decorating for Christmas. Kip is
enjoying Christmas morning with a cup of coffee!