Today’s Daily Programme is here ….
The Captain announced our arrival into Cadiz early on Wednesday morning, but I’d have to take his word on that as there was the thickest pea-souper of a fog in Cadiz and it wasn’t possible to see anything beyond the ship.
QM2 was going to undergo a deep cleanse while in port and guests were asked to vacate their staterooms between 10:00 and 13:00. To accommodate this there was an early breakfast from 07:30 until 09:00. We were not doing any excursions so after breakfast we headed out into Cadiz for a walk. The fog had started to lift, but it still felt pretty chilly out and I was thankful I’d worn a jumper. We headed out to the sea wall and walked through the parks alongside there before heading into the centre to find a cafe for a coffee.
Suitably refreshed we headed towards the Market to have a look around there and maybe have a sherry, but it was a bit too early and all of the cantinas around the outside were still closed up. Instead we went in search of a holdall. We had a whole load of extra items including a wedding gift from Cunard and photographs from the wedding as well as lots of laundry to take home. We found lots of handbag shops and shoe shops that had a limited selection of luggage and then eventually we found a dedicated luggage shop and found the perfect holdall. As we were close to the ship we headed back onboard to dispose of the luggage in out stateroom, and on our way we saw our butler who said our room has been finished and we were free to go back in there., but we weren’t staying we were heading back into Cadiz for lunch.
The sun was now out and Cadiz was looking glorious and and importantly it was warm out. Our first choice for lunch was closed, it was 12:30 and the Spanish don’t really lunch until 13:30, we headed to another bar which was open, but while they were open they weren’t starting lunch for another 30 minutes. Eventually we did fine a bar the was open and serving food, and what a good choice it was, nice beer and fantastic food. we just had a selection of local tapas, grilled squid, prawns and octopus, roe salad, seafood patats, grilled chicken and tortilla.
Now we were full we headed back to the Market and head a glass of sherry there before heading back to the ship we’d managed to fit in 16500 steps and 16 kms of walking while out in Cadiz. After a bit of a lie down then some light quizzing, 15/20, we headed back to the stateroom with Pam and Max for the last of our champagne and some canapes.
I’d forgotten I’d ordered Dover Sole off the ALC menu for my main and ordered the chicken. When I remembered I informed our waiter who said there were only two Dover Soles ordered by our table mates. It turned out our table mates had ordered a Dover Sole and a Lobster Thermidor, so when they both got Dover Sole one was miffed as was I because I really fancied the Sole. My chicken was delicious though so it wasn’t too much hardship and Chris ordered the Thermidor for the next night.