Huelva

I don’t think Huelva is visited by many cruise ships. They sent a couple of flamenco dancers to greet us on the quay and the Lady Mayoress came in all her regalia to have her photo taken with the Captain (who looks the part - tall, slim, young, and rather dashing).

The River running through Huelva is the Rio Tinto (as in Rio Tinto Zinc). It was a sleepy fishing village until RTZ bought the copper and sulphur mining rights in the 19th century. It is now a huge port and chemical processing centre.

It has two claims to fame - a UNESCO World Heritage National Park and the monastery where Christopher Columbus spent several years persuading the Spanish monarchs to support his voyage to America and then assembling the ships, crew and provisions. We visited the monastery that you can see top right. The chapel bottom left is said to be where CC prayed for a successful voyage. The painting bottom right is an imaginative image of CC preparing for his voyage. And the head top left is from the column celebrating the 400th anniversary of his “discovery” of America in 1842.