What a difference a day makes. The skies are sunny, temperatures about 70, the winds are gentle, and our tour guide is deligtful, knowledgeable, and competent.
A guick breakfast in Chops and then off to the theater to get our bus stickers. Again I sneak out early so I can get to the bus on time. The tour description says there will be only 100 yards of walking over mostly even surfaces. I always heed such descriptions as I recognize limitations on my walking ability.
Our tour first takes us around different areas of the "old" and "new" city. Next we head to the city center area. Within the past few decades they discovered a roman theater that had been built over by residential housing over the centuries. During WWII a bomb shelter was dug into the theater, but still no one had a clue that the historic theater existed. Today much of it has been uncovered and a museum built to allow easy, but controlled access.
The city center was nearly vacant when we arrived at 9:30. By 10:00 when all the shops and businesses opened it was very crowded, mainly by tourists from the ship. By the time we returned to the bus after touring the roman theater I had logged over a mile and a half. So much for the 100 yards in the tour description.
A few miles out of town had been a large mining area for many years. It was closed when Spain joined the EU. A condition of joining as the mines were dumping millions of gallons of toxic waste into the med. The landscape reminded me of Arizona.
The next stop was a small lighthouse. Much difference in appearance than most lighthouses in North America.
As we head back towards the ship at the conclusion of the tour, the road is blocked by a military ceremony and parade. Neither the driver or the guide knew of this. Fortunately the passengers heading back into town could walk from where we were stopped, and we were soon able to turn towards the pier.
Prime rib was my choice for dinner. The baked potato was very good, but the rib was tough. No dessert tonight.
The theater entertainment was 3 male tenors from the UK. Excellent voices.
The weather was perfect today. Many crew were able to get off for a few hours, if for nothing else a few hours of fresh air and sunshine.
The next day will be a sea day as we head to La Spezia, Italy our next port.
For those of you that may be interested, I also have started posting images of my travels to my face book "Steve Raiford".
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