Happy New Year from Valencia

NYE family selfie. Everyone looking at the camera with an expression that can pass as a smile. Pass!

It was a quiet New Year's Eve and an even quieter New Year's Day. I should be ashamed to admit that I did not even stay awake past 9pm. At home even that would have been a fail for the family fireworks. 

New Year's Day saw us arrive at our last port of Valencia. We had not booked a tour and were forewarned that everything would be closed on account of New Year's Day. We got off the ship regardless regardless to wander around the very dead port area. We refused to pay the extortion of 10 euros per person for a shuttle bus to get to the old town centre! Sadly there were no taxis in sight. 

It probably was not a bad thing. Everyone took the opportunity to enjoy the last of our down time before disembarking tomorrow for our next leg. It is rare that I NOT recommend something. Celebrity Infinity, however, ticked that box. The ship is old and dated, and it really showed. We also didn't fit the demographic, at least not for cruises for this region. Although the staff were friendly and tried hard to please, we felt that they haven't really received the appropriate training to deliver service that is top notch. The service felt forced and lacked finesse. The food was meant to be a drawcard, and the buffet certainly delivered. However, in general, everything was too salty or too sweet, and if you order meat, there was a good chance that it would come out looking like a nursing home meal. The activities were sorely lacking, and the quality of entertainment was generally poor (with the exception of the juggler!). We believed Celebrity to be a more "refined" brand in RCCL's portfolio and we were somewhat disappointed.

What did save the cruise was the itinerary (being port intensive, as well as having interesting stops), and cruising as an extended family unit. We had a lot of fun on our port days, and it would have been logistically difficult to visit those ports with elderly parents in tow. We would be willing to give Celebrity another chance but I'd be looking more closely at the age of the ship...

The dessert bar looked fabulous!

Time for our celebratory New Year's Eve dinner

A competition to see who would be the prettiest princess....

Jan 1 was to be the start of eating well. Oh well I guess it would have to wait until tomorrow!

Family photo in Valencia. Tick!

We found an open coffee shop!

We could not hold back any longer....we paid for Japanese food

We had very low expectations but it wasn't too bad

Sushi

Water views while relaxing. Never mind the oil refinery in the background (at least I think that's what they are)

Happy New Year from us to you! May 2024 see you fulfill your travel bucket list dreams!

Cadiz

Beautifully preserved Cadiz. It was all about trade!

We were back in Europe today at the southern Spanish port of Cadiz. Unbelievably my parents had not been here before! We chose a Tapas tour and thus was given a pseudo sleep in as the bars did not open until later in the day. At the very leisurely hour of 1000am by Albany standards, we wandered off the ship to meet our guide Charo. She was like a spanish version of my mother on steroids! I was initially a little scared! But she became rather hilarious (not intentionally I'm sure!) as she drank more and more at each stop!

Charo was great value, it seemed she knew everyone and had thick enough skin to help us push past the crowds on our walking tour and get us seats at the packed markets. She was a passionate woman who loved her city. We realised that we knew very little about Spain. She schooled us! "Watch me! Look at were I'm pointing". Cadiz is a very old city, up there with the ranks of Athens and Rome. An important city because of geography, controlling trade routes to and from Europe, the city was populated by wealthy merchants. This resulted in beautiful buildings and thanks to excellent preservation efforts, it is now a very pretty city to walk around. Cadiz is also known for sherry production and as a city that Napoleon failed to conquer

Charon taught us today that the word "tapa" means "lid" and so called because the original dish was ham or cheese used as lids to cover their drinks to prevent insects from getting in. It has now evolved to more than cheese and ham, to become the popular "small dishes" of variety. Eating at the bar versus to eating at a table will attract different pricing, much like coffee in Italy. 

Surprisingly, the 3 hours of being bossed around flew by and was highly enjoyable. The food was excellent and that was reason enough to book this tour. We said goodbye to Charon and sat down to much on the requisite churros and hot chocolate before wandering back to the ship. 

Lady of Justice. It was NOT a penis on her guide, said our guide, but none of us could remember what it actually was

Buildings in the historic centre must be preserved. Typical courtyard of an apartment block, central well, marble everywhere

Streets were narrow so cannons were in nearly every corner to protect the buildings from damage from carriages. The rich would melt the cannon against the corner with their family crest

Oyster stone, the blocks used for buildings quarried from local cliffs. You can see the oysters embedded

Our first tapas stop

Croquetas - deep fried potato goodness

The fillings were blue cheese, ham and prawns

Next stop, sherry. 17% alcohol

Lovely ambience and friendly owners

Seriously the best pork. Chicharrones and Carne mechada, consumed with the picos rolled inside

Payoyo cheese, a type of cheese we had not heard of! Intense flavour but not overwhelming. Delicious

The palms trees added a lovely feel to the city

The very busy market

Charo got us a seat for 7! She literally quizzed all the other patrons as to how long they would be at their seats lol

Fried cake of small prawns. Crunchy and tasty

We were also treated to deep fried anemone

More churros that we could eat...16 euros with 4 hot chocolates! The dough was light and it wasn't super sweet which made it easy to eat

Tangier

 

The Beach where waters of the Atlantic Ocean met those of the Mediterranean Sea

Our private tour was another organised in a hurry at the last minute via Expedia. Despite the initial pick up time confusion, our family had a good time in Tangier. It helped a lot that we didn't read the fine print and "all-included" meant entrance fees, camel rides, cave entrances and lunch was included. Bonus as we weren't aware of this! We did pass on the camel rides as the camels didn't look happy...

Tangier had a completely different feel to Casablanca. The city felt cleaner, and was more pleasant to the eye, perhaps because it was built on hilly slopes full of greenery. We were taken to beautiful viewpoints and given a city driveby tour. Perhaps it was because our guide, Ahmed, was more enthusiastic and relatable. We definitely needed him to navigate the way to the Casbah and then around the souk. We had fun in the stores looking at various goods and given demonstrations. Having done it before in Turkey, we knew how it worked. The Moroccans were just as hospitable as the Turks, and we stocked up on cashmere and argan oil. 

Lunch was at a touristy restaurant, complete with music. The food was not bad. For us, it was "free", we were tourists and we had to eat somewhere, so the experience was fun. Understandably, not all the other tourists taken there felt the same way. 

Tangier gave us a taste of Morocco. One of the earliest versions of this trip was a land based tour of Morocco complete with desert stays. It evolved into a cruise to accommodate the grandparents and we're glad we came, albeit very briefly. Here is to next time!

Original walls built by the Portuguese

It was too hazy but if clear, you could see Gibraltar across the water

Sometimes it seems not much has changed...look a playground! Must play...

That mentality applies to all the kids...

Practising for instagram

The master

Hercules Cave. Legend has it that this was where he rested before his 11th labour

Hand carved

Not sure what my camera was doing...but it made us look like intrepid explorers so let's keep it

Up next the old town

Original gate

This kid loves the free tea! This time mint

Oma loves the shopping and bargaining

The mosque that our guide went to for prayers while we were at lunch. Friday was their holy day

Loom demo. Men did the work here

The very friendly shop owner

Refugees? Movie extras? Ninjas?

It was a fun day. Our guide Ahmed on the right

Lunch. The verdict was that our family were not cous cous people

This pastry was hard to describe. The white stuff on top was sugar! But the inside was savoury

Our lunch

The musicians

Desserts and tea