DAY FOUR

A VERY rough sailing, arriving in Cartagena about 8am. I felt slightly queezy in the morning, and it couldn’t have been the champagne last night. But even getting along to breakfast meant holding on to the rails.

We were looking forward to going on a trip to see the Andalusian Horses, but just at the last minute it was cancelled. The weather in the last few weeks here has been unusually bad - rain and wind and sand (from the Sahara), and the horse place was ‘floating’, apparently, but they may have meant ‘flooding’.

And so we had to whip down to reception with everyone else and change to another trip - a walking tour of the city, or wine tasting. So we chose the latter, as a wet windy walk did not appeal, though apparently Cartagena has beautiful Art Nouveau buildings.

So we had an hour and a half drive inland. And I have to admire the guides, yesterday and today - they keep up a constant commentary on the surroundings, the history, the crops etc. 

The Captain has just broadcast a warning of an expected Force 8 gale!! 4 metre swell. 45 knots wind!!! EEEK!

Our destination was a huge Co-operative winery with immense concrete storage vats. They also made olive oil. We had a nice tasting with bread and charcuterie nibbles.

We also stopped at a small family owned winery on the way back, which had large vats which looked like they were made of wood, but were also concrete. They both used normal wooden casks for the final maturation. We had delicious almonds and little samosas for nibbles.

We both managed to chat to several people, a couple of Scots, two elderly Aussie sisters who are deliriously happy to have escaped from the tough Melbourne lockdown. We’d definitely like to see more of them. And when we came back we went to our favourite cafe and learnt of another trick only old timers know. There are dozens of little cakes, biscuits, sandwiches, dainty cheese platters etc, but for those in the know, you can ask for a (warmed) scone, jam and cream.

Had dinner at our favourite restaurant, one which you don’t need to book. Being a creature of habit, I could not go past the Angus steak for the third time.

We had vague thoughts of popping along to the concert in the theatre, but the rocking and rolling, with occasional huge BANGS and things not tied down going flying, persuaded us to head back to the cabin and lie down. Let’s hope it’s NOT TOO BAD TONIGHT (though JR is thinking of sleeping in her life jacket…)