Looking back. . . . . . .

Just a tiny ball of fine feathers, weighing in at no more than 1/2 oz/12 grams.
My favorite garden bird, the Carolina wren, enjoying a short spurt of warm
 sunshine on the front porch yesterday.
Singing loudly!

Perfection.

Shipshape. . . . . . . . . . . .

Remember how I told you the interior of Cunard's Queen Victoria is beautiful.

 This is the central staircase, decorated for the holiday season, leading to the

 shopping arcade upstairs, and then down to areas such as the ballroom, casino, 

British style pub, many lounge areas with live music such as piano, harp, jazz combo,

classical string quartet etc., and a walk forward to the bow brings you to the fabulous

 Royal Court Theatre. All the interiors of the ship are tasteful, classic, elegant,

 and I suppose very British. 

Then there are the open deck areas, and plenty of them. Of course on a winter 

cruise one doesn't get to use the wet areas unless you are brave and hardy . . . . . . and

 have perhaps tucked a wetsuit into the suitcase!

After unpacking I took a walkabout to refresh my memory of the ship's layout as

 it was over two years since we sailed on her to the Baltic and Russia.

 You can see on the water sloshing somewhat in the smaller pool on this our first day

 whilst crossing the English Channel.

My favorite print in a stairwell on the ship - I just couldn't resist adding an 

appropriate comment.

Pool towels didn't get much use - the ship's laundry must like this season.

This is the larger pool, the sun was brilliant but the temperature chilly, and you can

 see the water movement. I did see one swimmer there later - then she, along with

 two other young women, jumped into the nearby hot tub.

As the evening drew in and the sun illuminated the lovely billowy clouds above the

 Channel, Bob popped the cork of the complimentary bottle of bubbly chilling in our

 cabin. We stepped out on the balcony, clinked our glasses, and hoped for a

 smooth crossing as we headed to the often choppy Bay of Biscay and 

 Spain. . . . . . . . . . . and loved being at sea again.

We had a great time on this cruise.

Cádiz, Costa de la Luz, Spain. . . . . . . . . . . .

The Spanish coastline stretching from the Portuguese border to Gibraltar is known
 as the Costa de la Luz (Coast of Light).  Cádiz is the capital of the province and
 is the oldest inhabited town in the western world with 3,000 years of history.
 It's position is one of the largest ports on the Atlantic coast of Spain, also a
 naval base and a major shipyard, as well as the port of shipment for the brandy
 and sherry from Jerez de la Frontera, and also olives and olive oil from Seville.

We liked it here. After taking the usual Hop On Hop Off bus around the town

 which has 140,000 inhabitants, and the beachfront area, we spent the remainder

 of our time on foot enjoying what was a cool blustery but mostly sunny day with

 no rain for a change.

Although the historic buildings such as the Baroque style cathedral which

 has undergone recent much-needed restoration, the Renaissance style

 Church of Santa Cruz, and the Neo-Classical Museum of Cádiz were attractive,

 we headed to the seafront, enjoying a stroll through the parks and promenades

 where the combination of white houses and blue sea gave an impression of crisp,

 pristine freshness.

We loved the small shopping streets many leading to open plazas and a market.

This was a great find for me - a tiny, narrow, tucked away Merceria which translates

as haberdasher's, draper's or notions shop. It was very old fashioned, with high ceilings

and lined with wooden shelves displaying yarns, ribbons, knitting patterns, embroidery

 items etc. It was also crowded with customers, locals who obviously are keeping alive

 sewing and knitting traditions - I loved that.

There were Christmas decorations in many of the streets, some quite 

lovely, but this was my favorite in the window of the Merceria -

a lovely Nativity scene tucked between the yarns and notions.

As in most of Spain, tapas bars and restaurants were common. 

This sign made me realize there are never enough vegetarian tapas - although

 this one does have one, Pisto!

We found a nice coffee bar and stopped for a warming drink - then walked back

to the ship for dinner.

Our last port of call in Spain was La Coruña - more on that interesting town later, 

plus I still need to post more on the Lisbon, Portugal stop.  Slowly but surely

I'll get around to it - life has been hectic since we returned home!