Photos from the holiday
I've put up a few of the photos I took while on the holiday. If you wish you can see them here.

Thoughts from a cruising holiday 3
Yet more observations...

Dodging Clouds
I'm currently sitting on the Lido Deck near the pool. No one seems brave enough at the moment to have a swim and I don't blame them. Although it's not too cool, there is a bit of a breeze and the sun keeps going in, behind the clouds.
I've been ordered out of the cabin while June pampers herself, so I'm listening to some Bowie on my mini-disc player and typing this.
Saw a really good show on board last night. I wasn't looking forward to it that much as I remember the artist (Allan Stewart) on a cheesy TV programme about twenty years ago. However, it was actually very good and very funny - though I think some of it went over the heads of many in the audience. The guy is a singer and impressionist and is pretty versatile. There was one point where he said that he'd heard that Frank Sinatra was a fan of Pavarotti, so he sang Nessun Dorma in a Sinatra voice, which was pretty funny.

Tenerife
We arrived in good time, but found that the weather was overcast. However, the excursion we had booked to Mount Tiede took us high up into the mountains where we rose above the cloud layer and into brilliant sunshine, which we were in until we descended for our lunch at about 2pm.
We thought that the weather would be cool in the mountains, but the sun had really warmed the air up and it was glorious the whole time. The scenery was nothing short of spectacular because of the constantly changing rocks from different periods and lava flows. Often it would be sharp and angular, then a little way along it would change to a rough and jumbled formation, which in turn would change to an area covered in soft green and red sand-like pumice. At times it felt like we were walking on the surface of a different planet.

La Palma
The best of the places we've visited so far and we had a fabulous day taking an excursion through the mountains and craters that form this volcanic island.
We did some wine tasting at 10 in the morning, but the wine wasn't anything special so I didn't over-do it. It didn't encourage us to buy any wine, either, so it strikes me as a bit of a commercial failure on their part. A number of people were complaining about the quality, too, so it wasn't just my untrained palate.
We went for a walk around the town this afternoon and like many places we've visited most of the shops were shut. this strikes me as an odd custom when a ship filled with two thousand tourists is only in port for the day. Still, we did find one really nice gift shop that took a lot of custom from the two of us; mainly because it sold pretty good gifts and not the usual tacky stuff that was on sale in Teneriffe and a couple of other places.

Thoughts from a cruising holiday 2
More observations from on board the Adonia.

Embarrasing lunch
June and I had the unfortunate experience of sharing a table one lunchtime with people who made us feel rather embarrassed. From the gist of their conversation, it was clear that the married couple had befriended a woman who'd come on the cruise by herself. In spite of her bravery, the single woman was a little green and the chap fancied himself so much that he fawned over her at every opportunity - something that his wife appeared to be completely happy with and actually seemed to encourage him to do. What really surprised us both was the way that they seemed to think that it was perfectly reasonable to behave this way in spite of others being at the table with them.


Sad note
It's Sunday morning and we were informed earlier that during the night one of the passengers was taken seriously ill and had to be taken ashore and to hospital. This meant that the ship had to turn around and we lost some time and are currently running half a day late. Overall, it's not going to seriously affect the holiday, but I can't help but think about the poor people who have had a rather unfortunate end to their holiday. I hope that whoever it is recovers fully.


Cool again
Although the sun is out, there is a strong wind that's making the day feel rather cool. Some brave souls are swimming and even stripped down to their shorts or bikinis to sunbathe. Me, I'm rubbing my hands to keep them warm as I type this.
Because the ship is attempting to make up some of the lost time, it's currently travelling at about twenty knots (normally about seventeen) and it's rolling quite a bit. This is wonderful as it makes me feel a little drunk and I haven't touched a drop so far.
I've been drawing a Juniper Crescent cartoon strip in my sketch book this morning. In just over half an hour I wrote and drew a complete strip. It's a little rough around the edges because of the rocking of the boat and I had to do the whole thing in pencils, but I'm pretty pleased with it. I was even interrupted by a pretty pleasant chap who wanted to talk about painting. Turns out he's been painting in oils and watercolours for a few years. Nice guy.
The ship is sitting beneath a large mass of cloud at the moment and sitting on deck is rapidly becoming less than pleasant. I may be forced into taking refuge in one of the warm bars if it doesn't pass soon. The trouble with cruising is that they keep doing things that you are likely to enjoy. How can I ever cope with all this hedonistic pleasure...?

Thoughts from a cruising holiday 1
Some observations I typed up whilst on board the Adonia.

Sunbathing
We line up on the sun-loungers like so many chickens placed on spit-roasting spikes, annointed with liberal amounts of oil; basted to maximise the crisping up of the skin. It's a slow roast, taking place over the course of the summer where the hotter the temperature the longer you give the dish, even though long cooking is likely to result in a toughened meat.

Empty Sea
I look over the side railing and see nothing but water. We are a small city cast adrift on the Atlantic with little for the eye to take in but the occasional breaking wave and passing gull. There was a bright red cargo ship earlier, but we overtook it some time ago and now no other vessels plough there way through the waves in the vicinity. The sun beats down from a blue sky peppered with small, light clouds. It's a hot day with a cooling breeze that's very welcome after soaking up more sun than is probably good for me.

Old
I'm more than a little surprised at the number of people who look as though they are in their seventies and above. And most of them seem pretty sprightly with it. I hope that I'm just as fit and active when I reach that age - if I ever do so.

Lisbon
Unfortunately, we didn't see Lisbon at it's best because the weather was pretty cold and overcast. Though it did start off bright and sunny, prompting me to wear a T-shirt and shorts (not a pretty sight), but by the time we got back to the ship it felt like a winter's day in sunny Hull - the wind blasting off the river, cold and strong enough to blow the bloomers off your gran.
Part of the excursion went out to Estoril, which is slightly up the coast from Lisbon.
It was closed.
The sea air was bracing, to put it mildly, but the sun came out for a short time, which gave me chance to take a couple of snaps on the ol' digital.
Lisbon itself made me think of it as a cross between Paris and Florence. The way the streets were laid out, the architecture, the style of shop-fronts, etc. So if the weather had been better and we'd had more time there is a really good chance that it might have been a passable experience.