After leaving Malta we headed to the Greek islands. The first place we docked was the port city of Chania on the island of Crete. There we visited an ancient monastery and then went on a walking tour of Chania. One key factor has to be kept in mind when the Greek islands are being […]
Read More »We spent two days in Malta. Officially known as the Republic of Malta, it is a small island country located in the Mediterranean between North Africa and Sicily. It is a member country of NATO. While it may be small (population 525,000) it is a very wealthy state and densely populated. It is overwhelmingly Catholic. […]
Read More »First Stop Malaga Málaga We had the first truly rainy day in port since the start of our trip in January, but that did not make Málaga any less special. We walked through the town for hours, enjoying a guide’s explanation of its history. Then we stopped at a local tapas bar for some traditional […]
Read More »So here we are in Cádiz, Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz in autonomous Andalusia. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities of Western Europe, but it is quite small. It has only about 115,000 resident citizens. It is often described as a typical Andalusian city brimming with historical […]
Read More »For the second day we decided to tour Lisbon proper. What is truly amazing is that Lisbon is spotlessly clean. Which is what we saw pretty much everywhere in Europe—so maybe it shouldn’t be amazing at all. One place we visited was a former monastery of the Order of Saint Jerome that was secularized in […]
Read More »After leaving Portimão, we sailed to Lisbon (AKA Lisbao) and we docked there for 2 days. Upon arriving we headed out for Sintra, reputed to be a charming medieval town. I can report it was everything it was cracked up to be. Sintra is a small town with population about 385,000 people. It is densely […]
Read More »We said our farewells to North Africa and headed out to Portimão Portugal. That is about 336 kilometers (208 miles) away as the crow flies. The first significant place we visited was Fort São Vicente in Sagres, or Fortaleza do Cabo de São Vicente. Fort São Vicente was built in the 16th century to protect […]
Read More »Tangier is located in the northwest of Morocco, on the coasts of both the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic ocean. Tangier has a population of about 1.25 million people. The city is located on a bay in the strait of Gibraltar, about 17 miles from Spain. It has always been a strong supporter of the […]
Read More »We finished sailing through the Canaries and, after a sea day, we docked in Morocco. While in Morocco we visited Casablanca, and then a day later we made our way to Tangiers. And yes, this was the same Casablanca from the the movie starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. The one where “Play it again, […]
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