Seville, Tangier, Ceuta, Gibraltar, and Malaga
I know I said I would try to make this one shorter and I swear I tried, but we’ve been busy and we have a lot to share. We are coming up on several sea days as we prepare to cross the Atlantic, so we’ll be slowing down a little. I hope you enjoy reading about our adventures so far.
Also, just a reminder that if you click on the photos they will become full screen and you can scroll through the enlarged versions if you like.
Seville, Spain
One of the reasons we were most excited about the Odyssey was that it’s a smaller ship with a shallow keel meaning we can go places that larger ships cannot. This meant we were able to traverse the Guadalquivir River to Seville. We travelled approximately 90 kilometers up the river and through a lock to reach the Port of Seville. Inbound occurred overnight, but we left early in the evening to head back out and we were able to watch them turn the ship around and travel through the lock before the sun went down. It was a little stressful since our ship is still quite large, but the pilot and tugs handled it with ease. Mike got some great footage and put a video on YouTube of our trip under the bridge and through the lock.
When we first disembarked in Seville, we followed a path out of the port and while waking under an underpass we saw an ad for the port featuring the Braemar. It turns out that our ship has been here before in another life, so that was cool to see. Right outside the port is the Parque de Maria Luisa which we wandered through working our way towards towers in the distance. This led us to the Plaza de Espana, a square constructed from 1914 to 1929 with a large water fountain, an ornate pavilion and seats with painted ceramic tiles. It was constructed for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929 by Sevillian architect Anibal Gonzalez. The bench seats depict 49 Spanish provinces through art as well as maps. I can’t even describe how beautiful and intricate the pavilion was; the amount of detail was incredible.
From the Plaza we made our way towards the Catedral de Sevilla and on the way we passed the Universidad de Sevilla, and it literally has a moat around it. The cathedral was an incredible site from the outside and while we would have liked to see the inside, the price and timeslots did not work out for us. The Parroquai del Sagrario (Parish of the Sanctuary) was open to the public though, so we stopped in for a look and they had a window into the cathedral proper.
We rounded out our first day with a nice long wander through town. There were lovely streets and squares and beautiful buildings at every turn. You can hire horse drawn carriages to travel around town which was neat to see. We stumbled across the Setas de Sevilla which is a massive wooden sculpture with an archeological museum, rooftop walkway and viewpoint. It was really something to see. We also saw the historic square of Alameda of Hercules which was complete in 1574.
We walked back to the ship along the river, but the weather started to turn, so we hurried back to the ship. We saw some interesting things along the way though, so we made a note to come back the next day.
We did a little more research for our second day, and we made a b-line for the Royal Alcazar of Seville, a Moorish royal palace. Unfortunately, entry was sold out, so we were only able to see the surrounding gardens. From here we headed back to the river to take some photos of the sites we had seen in the rain the day before. This included the Torre del Oro which is an outer defensive tower that was built around 1220 and the Plaza de Toros de la Real Maestranza de Caballeria de Sevilla which is a royal bullring dating from 1761 that is still used for bullfighting. And of course, we had to get a picture of the Seville Pirate ship.
We crossed over the river on the stunning Puente de Triana bridge to visit the neighbourhood of Triana. Here we stumbled on the remanent of the Seville Expo ’92. Seville hosted an international exposition in 1992, and you can still see the remails of some very interesting structures.
Again, we wandered pretty far from the ship, but we walked back through the city and enjoyed the site and sounds around us.
Seville was absolutely beautiful, and we would love to have explored even longer. The only thing I did not like was the cats…there were quite a few all over the city; however, none of them were tame enough to pet.
Tangier, Morocco
Continent number 4! We signed up for our very first shore excursion…sort of. We went in with a group of residents and booked a tour to Chefchaouen through Get Your Guide. Chefchaouen is a city in the Rif Mountains about a 2-and-a-half-hour drive from Tangier. The original village is over 600 years old and has a rich history. Many of the homes are painted blue and it is now known has the Blue City. There are a few theories as to why the city is blue, but the most popular is that when Jewish refugees settled in the city during WWII they painted their homes blue to represent the sky which reminds them of Heaven and God. The blue hues also help to keep the city cooler and deter mosquitos.
Anyhow, our driver picked us up just outside the cruise terminal and we drove about ¾ of the way there and made a stop at a lovely restaurant with panoramic views of the valley up in the mountains. We were then delivered to the old section of town in Chefchaouen to our local guide who walked us through the city. The city is absolutely beautiful, but I’m glad we had the guide because it’s a bit of a maze as well. There are several local artisans selling wares throughout the city and Tourism is how their economy functions.
Chefchaouen is also home to hundreds of cats; unfortunately, one of our shipmates that was with us is very allergic, so I had to refrain from petting any of them. Our guide told us that in Muslim culture cats are very good and they take good care of them. Dogs on the other hand are considered unclean and if they pet a dog, they must change their clothes and shower before the next call to prayer. Now a days they don’t really treat them any differently and the dogs are captured, tagged, vaccinated, neutered and released. Interestingly, they do not spay the cats for some reason, but he did mention that they prefer a cat city to a rat city…
We were very happy that we were able to get out of the main port city and see more of the natural beauty of Morocco. The countryside was beautiful, and the mountain views were incredible. The drive itself was worth the trip.
We were lucky enough to have 2 days in Tangier, so on our second day we were able to explore the city. When we left the port there was a lovely local offering to guide us around the old town, but we chose to explore on our own. There is an amazing waterfront that has been developed, and we walked most of the length of it. It was lovely as vendors are not permitted along the waterfront, so we enjoyed a peaceful walk. There were horses and camels on the beach and I’m assuming you could pay to ride them if you wanted, but we did not.
After a long walk along the water in the sun we wandered into the city proper. We didn’t want to be sold on anything, so we stuck to the outskirts of the markets and the old town. There were some very impressive views, lovely shops, and no one tried to sell us anything. Most importantly, I pet 11 cats today! They were all within arms reach while walking around. If I had wanted to walk around more, I could have pet several more…it was a great day!
Port of Ceuta
Ceuta is an autonomous city of Spain on the North African coast. It covers 18.5 square kilometers, so it’s not a very large place, but it’s very beautiful. Of course, Mike found us a scenic lookout to hike to. We hiked up approximately 330 meters to reach the Mirador de Isabell II lookout and the Fortin de Isabel II which is neo-medieval fort with a diameter of 24 meters and a moat. It was built around 1880; the entrance is bricked over, but it was still neat to see. We also caught a glimpse of our next port...Gibraltar.
After we came back down into town and wandered around the city proper. We saw the Casa de los Dragones (house of dragons), a house with bronze dragons on the roof and the Arab baths, a medium size medieval public bath. There were several lovely buildings, fountains, and squares around the city. Before we found the lookout, we had intended to hike up to the Fortaleza del Monte Hacho which is a fortress on Mount Hacho, but I powered out, so mike had to settle for just the one peak today.
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory on the southern coast of Spain. It consists of 6.8 square kilometers that is dominated by the Rock of Gibraltar, a monolithic limestone mountain 1398 ft in elevation. We had 2 days in Gibraltar and after our hike up the day before we decided to take a slow day 🙃 and save the hike up the Rock of Gibraltar for the second day. My loving husband got it in his head that he wanted to spend the day walking around the base of the rock, so we left cruise port and headed towards the airport. The Gibraltar airport is famous for its low altitude approach over a public beach. There is a highway running across the runway and traffic is stopped when planes are arriving/departing. We walked across the runway and headed around the east side of the mountain towards Catalan Bay and Sandy Bay. At this point we ran into a bit of a hiccup…the Dudley Ward Tunnel which cuts through the mountain. Unfortunately, this tunnel is meant for vehicles only, so we had to turn around and walk back the way we came.
When we got back to the town proper, we headed for the old section of the city which is walled and only accessible through tunnels and gates in the wall. We found the original land entrance to Gibraltar, the only other way to enter the city was by sea until they reclaimed more land around the outside of the wall. This led us into the main square and up high street. We were visiting on a Sunday, so most of the shops where closed which made sticking to our budget easy. Our final stop before heading back to the ship was the Gibraltar Botanic Gardens which were lovely. On the way back to the ship we hit up Morrisons (grocery store) for ice cream and snacks. All in all, we had a lovely day; although, it wasn’t as slow as we planned…
Day 2 in Gibraltar we of course had to explore the rock of Gibraltar which is actually a nature reserve. You can take a cable car to the top, but Mike found out you can hike up the back of the mountain… We left the ship early and walked across town to the Pillars of Hercules at the bottom of the Mediterranean Steps where we started our accent to the highest point on the nature reserve. It was a decent climb, but the views were incredible and honestly it wasn’t as bad as I expected. Mike posted a video to YouTube that shows most of the climb. Oh and I found cat to pet on the way to the steps.
There are several sites at the top to explore and they are all included in your entrance ticket. We managed to explore most of them, but we didn’t quite manage to get to all of them. The reserve is on a wicked slope and after the climb up we only had so much up and down left in us.
The Mediterranean Steps led up to O’Hara’s Battery and the engine room which was really interesting to see.
We then made our way over to the Skywalk where we saw several of the Barbary Macaque monkeys that call the reserve home.
From the Skywalk we headed down to St. Michael’s Cave which was pretty incredible.
After the cave we made our way to the Windsor Suspension Bridge. Mike was disappointed at how well secured it was, but I was relieved.
We bypassed the Apes Den as we had already seen several of the macaques in all our walking, but we walked across the reserve to Princess Caroline’s Battery and up to the Great Siege Tunnels. The tunnels go right through the mountain and look out the other side with several ‘windows’ for cannons along the way. It was really neat to walk all the way through and see how much work went into digging it all out.
After the siege tunnels we started to make our way down and we passed the WWII Tunnels. They are currently working on building exhibitions in these tunnels, and they are doing an excellent job. We are excited to return to Gibraltar to see the finished product. One of our fellow shipmates hiked with us and she was talking to a gentleman out front about the rifle he was restoring. It turns out he is helping with displays and renovations. He was very passionate about the project and even gave us a sneak peak of one of the new areas.
Finally, we got down to the Moorish Castle, but it appeared that the gate was closed to the inside of the castle. We walked back out to the ticket booth and found out it was in fact open, but we were pretty tired and worn out at this point and we still had to make our way back to the ship, so we decided to save it for the next time we come to Gibraltar.
After climbing down multiple sets of steps to the old town we wandered into a few shops on the way back to the ship and picked up some ice cream. It was a long tiring day, but I’m proud of us for hiking up and exploring most of the rock. And there was a cat outside the port when we got back.
Malaga, Spain
Home to Pablo Picasso and Antonio Banderas, Malaga is a beautiful port city on Southern Spain’s Costa del Sol. We were pretty worn out from several long days, so we vowed to take it easy today. We walked into town from the cruise terminal and literally just wandered around. We saw the Pablo Picasso Museum, but the line was ridiculously long, and we weren’t interested enough to wait. The Catedral de Malaga was stunning, and we walked up to the Alcazaba lookout for a view of the city over the roman theater. We would have liked to explore the Alcazaba (Moorish medieval fortress), but again there was a long entry line and to be frank we were just too tired.
We made our way back to the ship, sat on the pool deck and enjoyed a rum instead. It was a really hot and sunny day in Malaga. Our next port is Casablanca, and we have a sea day between the two. I never thought it would come to this, but I’m excited for a sea day because I need a break. I am eternally grateful to be on this adventure, but it can also be exhausting exploring somewhere different every day. We are looking forward to a quiet day on the ship!
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