Buzzing Around The World With Fellette & Doug

Cadiz, Spain... [last stop in Europe befor Madeira]

Forward: Doug again has "The Crud", as it is known affectionately on the ship, runny nose, eyes and coughing, I picked it up in Rome, surprise! We had a tour planned for today, the last of the cruise. It went to a Horse and Bull Ranch outside of Cadiz, where there was to be an exhibition of horsemanship followed by a lunch and Flamenco dance exhibition. A full seven hour excursion. This was a complimentary tour from the ship for early booking. If it is like the other one in Rio, it will be a first class show. I rather expect Fellette to come back with glowing tales of the best tour of the cruise, etc., etc. You be the judge, this is written while she is away on it, yes, she went without me!

Doug's Cadiz...

After a day and a half of hacking, coughing and being confined to my cabin, [voluntarily], I awoke this morning feeling slightly better. As long as I was sitting or lying still, I didn't cough. I showered and shaved, [my beard was two days old and I looked and felt like the old man of the sea]. We ventured up top for breakfast with our windbreakers on to eat on deck rather than inside. My request to Fellette was that if I started to cough I would return to the cabin and she would bring a bowl of mush to me in the cabin. [When I start to cough, I can't speak!]

Breakfast went well. As we were finishing, our old table mates Ruth and George came to see us and brought a package of cold medication for me.… Fellette had spread the word that I was looking for Niquil and Dayquil, this seems to work on me. All the medication we have are European brands and don't seem to stop the symptoms like Niquil.

I said a fond farewell to Fellette, escorting her to the bus. I then returned and had a rest, the strenuous activity so far had drained my strength! After a one hour nap I popped one of George's pills. Soon I felt better and I ventured alone into Cadiz. It was really quite nice, alone, rather anonymous, stopping for the odd photo, and just taking it in. I sort of felt like I was invisible, nobody knew me nor took notice of me. The sun was shining and the temperature was perfect, a bit of coolness but not chilly. I strolled the streets, content with life after buying a pint bottle of cough syrup by sign language from a nice Spanish Woman. When I did speak I sounded like a frog!





Editor's note: This is my second unsuccessful attempt to see Cadiz properly, an earlier attempt in 1960 failed when we could not hitch a ride from near Gibraltar to Cadiz. I guess it is not meant to be.

I soon found myself at the ship, came aboard and had the best sleep in two days. Before I had that nap I took a picture of the medication that I hope will get me across the Atlantic when we sail tonight.

I will now ask Fellette to write about her day in Cadiz for you.

Fellette's Cadiz...

We had a brief tour of the city before hitting the freeway and driving through a beautiful spring countryside. The field's all a lush green, the wheat and oats were already beginning to form grain heads. This is a very dry region having 300 days of sunshine, so I can imagine the fields very soon will become parched.

We arrived at an Andalusian ranchero in short order. Wine and nibblies were awaiting our arrival and, of course, the starving masses from the Prinsendam made a large dent in the fresh roasted peanuts, fresh roasted almonds, and giant olive bowls. There was a choir of older women there to entertain us while we stretched our legs after our hour long bus ride.

We were allowed to stroll through the horse stalls and the barn smells brought back memories of home (only 10 more days). Soon an older Spanish man dressed in jeans, a plaid shirt and a baseball cap led us to the bull paddock.

These bulls are raised for the bull fights. Nearly all of them were black and looked really mean. All sorts of questions came up about bull fighting and you just knew this crowd was not in favour of blood sports. I just thought of good old Zeus our highland bull who loved to get his neck scratched.

Next stop was the horse paddock where the mares and colts were awaiting our ooh and ahs.

We got to walk right in and I thought one of the more pushy Prinsendamians was giving me a nudge to get out of his camera range. Not so, it was a very friendly mare nuzzling the back of my jacket.

After we had had our fill of colt pictures, our Jean-clad guide led us to the bull ring!


He explained that the horses used Vienna's Lippezan Stallions and are raised in this area, and we were about to see a similar show. Now was the time I was sorry I had not braved bringing the video camera. The way these horses danced cannot be caught on a still camera but I tried anyway. For 3/4 of an hour these young men and women put their horses though some very intricate steps. It was a ballet done by beautiful white and grey horses.



Lunch time was drawing nearer as we were herded down to a plaza where a bar had been set up. All the wine, beer or soft drinks you could wish for were available and more large bowls were being passed through the crowds, the famous Spanish Tapas - delicious! The trick was not to fill up on these though' as a meal was to follow. And follow it did. I've never seen so many wine glasses on a table for 8.

The lunch was lovely as expected and the creme brule for dessert was to die for. Halfway through that lucious dessert the flamenco dancers arrived. What energy - they danced for 1/2 hour and, of course, coaxed a few of our exhibitionist types up to join them.


It was fun watching our fellow passengers ineptness - they truly are good sports.

Time to get back on the bus . After all the wine and good food consumed the last few hours, there was lots of nodding off on the homeward journey. No shopping opportunities, so unless Doug ventured out to get medicine and post cards, there will be no writing duties tomorrow at sea.

Today I found out what it is like to be a woman travelling alone. It's not nearly as much fun sitting in a seat on the bus by yourself. Don't get me wrong tho', the trip into the country was wonderful. Our guide spoke very good English and was very informative

posted by Doug and Fellette @ 8:07 AM