Mediterranean Cruise --47 Days -- 21 October thru 08 December 2017

31 October 2017 – Lisbon, Estoril, Cascais, Cabo da Roca, Sintra, Pena Palace                                                   HALLOWEEN GREETINGS!! Actual Carved pumpkins! We had a wonderful tour of outskirts of Lisbon as well as some of the sights in town.  It was warm and sunny, high of 74 deg.!! As we left the ship and met Ricardo, our tour guide and Fausto, our driver, we merged into the morning rush hour traffic and drove west along the Targus River, seeing the 25  April bridge, built by American Bridge who built the Golden Gate, which is why it looks so much like it and was built to withstand earthquakes which destroyed Lisbon 01 November 1755. As we continued towards Estoril, we saw many forts that were b...

29-30 October 2017 – At Sea heading to Lisbon We had two wonderful days at sea, Sunday being sunny and mild (74 deg.), with calm seas, and Monday a bit more partly cloudy and a bit cooler with some more swells, but nothing severe. We are grateful to have daily interdenominational devotions and Sunday worship – a great way to start our sea days!  Robbi continues her morning and afternoon Mah-Jongg sessions and meeting people that she encounters onboard😊😊😊 John has attended a number of talks on the various upcoming ports and is soon to become our resident tour expert. He has enjoyed the art auctions and obviously, his daily exercise and sun time, with crosswords and reading. Cannot believe that we’ve completed 10 days already, and have enjoyed every day so far!  It’s everything that we anticipated.  The nightly entertainment is great and the food is superb! Here are the new additions to the Towel Menagerie that haven’t been posted in the past 3 days....

28 October 2017 – Ponta Delgada, Sao Miguel, Azores After docking at 8:00am Azores Time, and a beautiful sunrise, we met with our tour van driver, Hugo, and with 2 other couples we took off on our tour passing the old gateway to the city of Ponta Delgada. Traveling west into the overcast and foggy weather, we drove toward the top of an old volcanic crater and on the way we stopped at the Viaga de Belugas (Whale Lookout) and snapped the following photos: Left is an old windmill and hedgerows made of hydrangea bushes to contain the cattle, center is a thermal spa that Robbi will come back to in the future (HA!HA!HA!), and right is the city of Mosteiros (Monastery).   Reaching the top of the crater we stopped to look through the mist and take pictures: On the left is the so-called “green” lake, in the center is a cottage on the so-called “blue” lake(building is no longer permitted there) and on the right is the bridge that divides them....

27 October 2017 – Horta, Faial, Azores We are now 4 hours ahead of y’all in time zone changes, and have just finished our tour of the island of Faial in the Archipelago of the Azores.  We started at the port of Horta, which is the main city of the island.  Then traveling upward we stopped at the statue of Our Lady of Conceicao where we took the pictures of the ship at port and from the other side the landscape and houses at Praia de Almoxarife (Sheriff’s Beach).   We continued upward to the Caldeira of Faial in the center of the island. All the roads at narrow and lined with hydrangeas – beautiful—and mostly blue due to the iron-rich volcanic rock. Coming down via an unpaved road of crushed volcanic rock that was hairpin after hairpin after hairpin.  Our bus driver did an excellent job of navigating them.  We made a rest stop at a bar and small grocery shop and bought some locally-made cheese and bread reminiscent of ou...

25 October 2017 Our daily devotional this morning was on Noah’s Ark – very appropriate – as we had a rocky night and day at sea. Air temperature was around 60 deg.F today and with the wind and clouds, not a day for outside activity. Robbi continued with her Mah-Jongg group; John took a kitchen tour in the morning and participated in an art auction in the afternoon.  And bought us our first “art” – a remembrance of this adventure. Not much to write about.  Another day at sea closes with a “Towel” puppy on our bed…! 26 October 2017 The seas were much calmer throughout the day and the sun returned with intermittent clouds.  The temperature improved considerably since yesterday’s gloomy day.  This is our final 6 th day of crossing the Atlantic and tomorrow we dock at Horta in the Azores.  I think everyone is looking forward to dry land including the staff and crew!! Robbi continues her attempt to know everyone aboard the ship before ...

24 October 2017 Another day at sea with Robbi playing Mah-Jongg and John just chillin’.  Sea swells were 4 meters and we were fighting a strong headwind of 36 knots, but we’re still keeping up our speed and we’ve traveled 1840 nM(nautical miles) since leaving Ft. Lauderdale and we have about 1000nM left to go to Horta, Azores. John went to a tourism presentation on the ports of Horta and Ponta Delgada in the Azores which we’ll visit on Friday and Saturday.  Really getting excited after seeing the slideshow and the wonderful sites that await us! We went to the onboard show tonight and saw a very humorous and very talented juggler that did stuff that was very original and on a swaying, bumpy ship!  Losing another hour tonight with one more to go before we dock in Horta. And our latest “Towel” animal – the lobster!  Good night and hope all’s well back home with everyone!

23 October 2017 One thing Robbi always loves on the Holland America ships is the carpet in the elevators that change daily to remind one of what day of the week it is.  So today is MONDAY!! We are back sailing towards our first port of call in the Azores after departing Bermuda after the transfer of the patient who needed emergency care.  The Captain is continuing his accelerated speed to make up for the diversion to Bermuda and should arrive on time in Horta. Robbi continues to Mah-Jongg her way across the Atlantic, playing mornings and afternoons.  How do you spell A-D-D-I-C-I-T-I-O-N???   She is also making many friends as her outgoing personality has kicked into gear.  By the end of these 49 days she’ll know everyone on board!!  John was driven instead today a bit more than usual, due to windy and cooler temps, but still managed a fair amount of time on deck reading and working crosswords.  Just so relaxing! We went to an...