Life at Sea : May 2014

16 May 2014

Cartagena, Spain :: Wall Scaling!

Another day, another mountain w a castle at the top! :) Didn't take very long to get to the top, so we made it a challenge and carried rocks to make it more of a workout. lol!

Brett and I ran into a couple of guests from the ship. Love how active they are!! They are 79 and 84 years old and they climbed around this castle w us. I hope to be as active as them when I'm that age!

Probably not the smartest idea... but the rope was taunting me! haha! made it to the top, but I decided to come down instead of going over.. I wasn't sure how to get back down if I climbed over the top. haha, probably for the best!

View from the top!

We found some tunnels on the way down. Kind of a sad story, there was a skeleton of a dog wearing a muzzle that had obviously been tied up to one of the doors leading into a tunnel. Some people are sick.

Door half sealed up into one of the tunnels

This door was open! We were terrified, but we HAD to go inside lol - it smelled like fuel and there was a bridge inside leading ... somewhere! from our echoes it sounded like miles of tunnel!!

Can't wait for the next mountain or castle to explore :)

15 May 2014

Argostoli, Greece

Argostoli, Greece in Kefalonia. Not much to see here, but went for a walk anyway and wandered through the markets.

Path along the water

Argostoli, Greece

Light House - Argostoli, Greece

Onions

Water Wheel

Detail

Tugboat!!

Street Art

Acropolis :: Athens, Greece

Here are a few photos from Athens! I spent about 20-30 mins on the Acropolis itself and the rest of the day in the Acropolis Museum. Truth be told there is not much to physically see on the Acropolis. Most everything of value is all in museums.

Doric Columns of the Parthenon

Corinthian Columns

Ionic Columns

The Erechtheion - Porch of the Maidens

Caryatids

Caryatid

Porch of the Maidens

Odeon of Herodes Atticus

Parthenon

Reconstruction of the Parthenon

Proof

Odeon of Herodes Atticus

14 May 2014

Gibraltar, Gibraltar

Hello Folks! Now that the Grand Voyages are over I'm finding I have some free time once again in which to edit photos! The list has piled up - so I think I'll just do random posts at this point.

Gibraltar is truly an amazing place to visit. I've had the pleasure of being able to explore the rock twice now. The landscape of Gibraltar is incredible, it literally just juts out of the sea at the end of a little peninsula. The rest of the spanish landscape is relatively flat in comparison. The rock itself is about 430m above sea level and there are a number of ways to venture to the top. Cable car, taxi, or my favourite... hiking!

There is a pathway to the top called the Mediterranean Steps - not sure how many steps there are, but it's definitely steep and quite the challenge. Brett (location guide) and I have hiked the steps twice now. As if it wasn't challenging enough the first time, when we hiked it the second time we put about 20-30 lbs of rocks in our backpacks for an extra challenge.

Here are a few photos from my two days in Gibraltar. The summit is home to Barbary Apes and a number of seagulls who make their nests in the cliffs of the rock.

East side of the rock and the Spanish landscape to the North

Tunnel to the Mediterranean Steps

Mr. Ape - giving me the eye

Ape looking for insects - Snack time anyone?

Seagull - ;)

The Apes sleep in the weirdest positions. Hope he doesn't fall backwards!

View to the South - Coast of Africa is in the centre of the photo

View to the North - the runway is basically the border between Spain and Gibraltar

I spotted a cave above the road on the way down and of course we had to find out if it was just a cave or a tunnel left over from WWII - problem was our legs were so shaky from the hike up that it made scaling the rock quite a challenge. I took one step on the rock and my legs couldn't hold me so then Brett tried - made it most of the way up but didn't want to fall so he came back down. I had rested for a few mins and decided to make a second attempt - this time I got all the way up! It was only a cave :(

Getting down was quite the challenge. But I made it, and didn't fall lol