GOODBYE - HELLO - APRIL 28TH - FINAL BLOG

Our wonderful world cruise has finally reached its conclusion.  The ship and its crew have been amazing.
We could not have had finer ship to travel on.  The majority of the ports were great, some fabulous and if truth be told, some awful.

We have travelled more than 29,500 nautical miles, crossed the equator twice, crossed the Tropic of Cancer,  sailed  the Pacific Ocean, crossed the dateline going west, cruised the Southern Ocean, the Tasman Sea, the Bass Straight, the Australian Bight, the Indian Ocean, the Makassar Strait, the Sulu Sea, the East China Sea, the South China Sea, the Strait of Malakka, the Andaman Sea, the Bay of Bengal, the Malabar Coast, the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, the Suez Canal, the Mediterranean Sea, the Strait of Messina the Strait of Gibraltar, the Atlantic Ocean ad finally the English Chanel.

We visited more than 45 ports of call and met some very wonderful people along the way.

I hope all of you have enjoyed reading the blog and looking at Len's photos.

We are looking forward to coming home, in fact excited to come home.

A remarkable experience, our heads filled with wonderful images, and memories to last a lifetime.

See you all soon.

Len and Helen

LAST PHOTO


 I have been collecting pins and souvenirs along the way.  This green jacket is the culmination of
The Sandow's Excellent Adventure!

BEAUTIFUL BORDEAUX - April 24th-25th

Our final port of call Bordeaux, France.  What a fabulous final destination.  Our ship sailed quietly up the Garonne River in the evening.  We started up the river around 6pm and arrived midnight in Bordeaux.
The river is quite narrow in places and it was exceptional to stand on the balcony and watch 200 feet away, as homes, cars as birds sang in the twilight (It stayed light until almost 10pm)

The ship was docked in the center of town and it was fantastic to look out on the balcony at all the people walking, biking, rollerblading by the ship.

We had a day and a half in Bordeaux and across the street was an humongous antique market.
The sunshine and cool air made the day exceptional.  We walked the rows and rows of antique
vendors - must have been at least 300 of them from 9 in the morning till 6 in the evening.
Beside the market were plants and flowers for sale and I've never seen a wider variety of exquisite roses, lemon trees and every flower imaginable for sale and all in springtime bloom.

This is a limequat tree - never even thought you could cross a lime with a loquat tree.

Look at the size of this very fragrant rose!

You only need money and a shipping container to buy the most fantastic items we've ever seen in one place!

It became overcast around 6 and started to drizzle but we walked back across the street to get on board, change our clothes and go out again into the old part of the city.  The old city was beyond our expectations.  Fabulous fountains, statues, scenic roads and at least 300 restaurants with people sitting and eating or just strolling.

Most Frenchmen had a dog on a leash. Water is put out for the dogs to drink at most restaurants and people in general were having a fabulous time socializing.

We stopped at Sweeny Todd's English Pub where we met a couple of people.  One was living in Bordeaux and  would you believe was from Boca Raton, FL and the other guy was from London.  People on the streets and stores were friendly and I guess it helped that Len especially spoke French and me enough to ask for directions and prices.

Not a drop of graffiti, no litter, no dirt.  It was fabulous and the most beautifully kept statues.

There are places all along the city where you can park your cars in the cool shade of sycamore trees, and an electric tram, spotlessly clean, takes you through the city.

The city is huge - sprawling for miles and miles with a population of over 250,000.

This is in the old part of the city.  The building in the background in called the Bourse.  It it is stock exchange and was immaculate.  Len photographed the exquisitely sculpted gargoyles that were on just 2 sides of the building each with a different face.

Just a quiet street after some rain.

We had only till 12 noon before the ship left (high tide) and wandered more streets.  In these 2 days we must have walked 10 miles!

As out shipped pulled away from the quay there were hundreds of spectators waving us goodbye.
Little kids yelling Bon Voyage!

Our sail up the Garrone was peaceful & beautiful as we passed wineries and chateaus all along it's picturesque banks.

The water from the river is quite muddy and as we sailed into the Bay of Biscaye you could see the color change.

It was a fabulous port in a wonderful part of France that we would love to revisit.

LOVELY LOVELY LISBON - April 21

Lisbon is one of the oldest cities in the world.  Julius Caesar made it a municipium (A municipium  means belonging to the second-highest class of Roman cities and was an outpost of Rome.
We had rough sea and dismal rain before coming into Lisbon, but it cleared up once the ship docked.


What a lovely, lovely city.  Set on 7 hills, there are forts and palaces all over!

Sparkling scenes from the ship in every direction.


We did not have a tour planned but got on the shuttle bus to be taken to a plaza to see the city sights.
Unfortunately, their country is in the tank and you could see that although they have lovely old buildings, there are signs of neglect - it was sad to see this.  Once the richest city in Europe, the city shows its age and financial difficulties.  Many, many buildings are covered with lovely tiles and mosaics, streets in the old part of town are paved with mosaics creating different patterned sidewalks.

Although charming, you can see, the tiles of this building have fallen off and not been replaced. 

We wandered the streets and watched all the traffic which was heavy in some places.  They use these electric trolleys everywhere.

We passed a store and took this photo with the cow's head through the glass and its back end in the store.

We strolled the streets looking in store windows.  Most of the stores we passed had deeply discounted prices  of 70% off.  We were told by a number of merchants that times were really tough.  

This street mime was earning a few bucks.  Never saw this trick before!


We walked for hours and found this fantastic arch.  It is called the Rua Augusta Arch on Praça 


do Comércio.  Close by the edge of the water.

I have no idea what this building is but see how the street has mosaic.

We sat at a cafe had 2 delicious cappuccinos and listened to these buys play Tico-Tico 


 (Isn't that Italian?)

We arrived back at the square and boarded the shuttle to take us back to the ship.  All in all......a great day.

SPAIN - 3 CITIES - 1 BLOG - April 17th, 18th, 19th

DAY 1 - BARCELONA
Barcelona is the capital of Spain and the 2nd largest city after Madrid.  It is a major tourist destination and the city is lovely.  People were nice however not as friendly as the Italians.  The weather could not have been nicer in Barcelona as well as Seville but started to drizzle in Cartagena.

We had no tours planned and got off the ship with Sandy and Dan to stroll around the city.  We walked for miles.  Since this is holy week, what better way to see the people than to stand and watch a procession with music and religious statues in the city.  They have a fabulous esplanade called Las Ramblas and it was filled with people walking.  We arrived on a Sunday, most of the stores were closed but the building were wonderful. We decided to take a double decker tour bus to see the city.  They have a fantastic system for tourists - 3 different routes and you can hop on and off at any of the stops along the way.

It was cool and sunny, a perfect sightseeing day.

There are loads of statues and fountains.

There are remarkable old buildings everywhere but the Spaniards are most proud of the Gaudi architecture. 

 I assume it is all a matter of taste but I find the buildings bizarre.

I understand that his ideas were to blend his buildings with nature and to add to the natural elements of the countryside.  

Personally, I think his ideas were not only ahead of his time, but into the next millennium, in a land far, far away, inhabited by creatures with poor eyesight but a great sense of direction so that they can wend their way through the curves and the labyrinths of these buildings.

They refer to this building as the "magnificent"  Sagrada Familia Cathedral begun over 100 years ago which many consider his "richest: and "truest" work, a massive, privately-funded Roman Catholic Church!

It was impossible to get into the building especially since it was Palm Sunday.  But we were able to go completely around the building and see the facades on each side.  The guide said that the building will never stop because of the donations that come pouring in, so as long as that continues more things will be built onto it.  The cranes are ever-present.

On the tops of some of the spires are grapes, oranges, bright green thingies and more.
Bizarre!

The city was lovely.

DAY 2 - VALENCIA

We tagged along while the chef went to the market to buy supplies and the market was huge.  Supposed to be the largest in Europe and it was fantastic and clean.  I've never seen so much food in one place.  We decided that rather than returning to the bus to go back to the ship, we would wander the market, buy some food and make a picnic outside.

We found a park bench and sat down to a picnic lunch with olives, tomatoes, cheese, butter and bread and enjoyed a splendid picnic in front of this fountain. And of course Valencia oranges for dessert.

Delecioso!

After lunch we strolled and Len took more photos.  Here is the bull ring in the center of the town.

This dog sat patiently waiting for some food.

More lovely architecture.

Well we wandered the streets some more then found our way to the shuttle bus for a trip back to the ship.

Fantanstico!


DAY 3 - CARTAGENA


It was cold and rainy in Cartagena. Our ship docked right in front of the city so all we had to do was to walk up the hill to town.

Cartagena has been the headquarters of the Spanish Navy's Maritime Department since the 18th century and is still an important navel seaport and a large naval shipyard.

Not much to see - just wandered the streets.

We could not even stop for a coffee because of the drizzle so it was just a short visit however as we were leaving we caught sight of this.

One full day at sea and then Lisbon, Portugal.