chrisLgodden

Friday, 18 January 2013

2012 MSC Melody Cruise & Italy & France

2012 MSC Melody Cruise & Italy & France

Part5

We departed Dakar at 6pm and were on our way to Las Palmas – due to dock on the 4^th March 2012. Two full days at sea.

863 Nautical Miles to go.

Was looking forward to exploring Las Palmas.

“Las Palmas de Gran Canaria , commonly known as Las Palmas is the co-capital (jointly with Santa Cruz) Las Palmas is the largest city of the European Union lying outside the European Continent. It is located in the northeast part of the Spanish island of Gran Canaria, about 150 kilometres (~93 miles) off the north western coast of Africa^[6] within the Atlantic Ocean.

Las Palmas enjoys a subtropical climate, with mild to warm temperatures throughout the year. Founded as a city in 1478, considered the de facto only capital of the Canary Islands until the seventeenth century.^[8] Today, the city is capital of Canary Islands with Santa Cruz and home to the Canarian Ministry of Presidency (shared in a 4-year term with Santa Cruz de Tenerife), home to half of the Ministries and Boards of the Canarian Government, and home to the High Court of Justice of the Canary Islands. It is the judicial and commercial capital of the Canary Islands, and is also home to a great share of the executive power.”

Arrived nice and early and was rearing to go. Pretty overcast day, so perfect for walking and exploring.

Pat, Elaine and I decided to walk from the cruise terminal along the promenade towards the flea market, they wanted to buy gifts for home. Needless to say lost them in the crowd and decided to explore on my own.

Everybody on the cruise said they were going to the promenade, I walked for ages and not cruise passenger in sight, hell there were hardly any people on the promenade.

So where was everybody?

Walked back to my starting point and decided to do the hop on hop off tour bus. Always works in my opinion as you get the lie of the land so to speak. So off I went. Landed up at The Cathedral of Santa Ana. Bumped into an excursion or two from the MSC Melody.

Browsed around the Flea Market set up at the back of the Cathedral and spent some time enjoying the show with traditional music and dance put on my the elderly citizens of Las Palmas. Most enjoyable.

Caught the tourist bus back to my starting point and decided to go into the town, walked down a side street and low and behold found the “promenade and the rest of the cruise passengers and about 80% of the population of Las Palmas. I had found the “Las Canteras Beach Ave”.

One restaurant and curio shop after another. Most of the passengers and decided to have lunch at one of the numerous restaurants. I assume most had been here before and had seen all the touristy places and just wanted to enjoy a good meal. I could see why, prices for a Sea Food Paella, not bad at all. Such a pity I had stopped off at the MSC Melody for a free lunch. Oh well!

Did my normal thing walked along and took some pics and made sure I was in time back to the MSC Melody for departure.

All in all a very nice experience, would like to see Las Palmas one day again soon.

Now for our next stop, Cadiz Spain.

Friday, 4 January 2013

2012 MSC Melody Cruise & Italy & France

2012 MSC Melody Cruise & Italy & France

Part4

Departed St Helena at 7pm on the 25th February 2012

Four full days at sea until we dock at Dakar Senegal

Distance from St Helena to Dakar 1985 Nautical miles.

So this will be the longest stretch at sea. This is when the friendships you have made at the start of the cruise kick in.

We will be crossing the Equator on the 28^th February 2012 – been there done that, so sit back and watch the Ceremony from behind the scene, much like the last time.

Was not too sure how I felt about Dakar Senegal, what I had read before the cruise regarding the country and port seemed ok. Well was I in for a surprise, more about my experience later.

All I can say is thanks to Pat & Elaine for keeping my days occupied to the fullest. There was never a dull day, they always found something to do other than what was offered as entertainment.

A normal day at sea would be as follows:

9.00am Stretching

9.30am Aerobics

10.00am Good morning with the Entertainment team

10.30am Ping Pong tournament

11.00am Table Soccer tournament

11.00am Bingo

11.30am Quiz time

3.00pm Apertif game

3.30pm Surprise game

3.30pm MSC Melody quiz – 2^nd round

4.15pm 2^nd Italian Lesson

4.30pm Line dance

5.00pm Aerobics

5.30pm Stretching

7.45pm Salsa dance lesson

10.45pm Beatles game

So there is no excuse that there is nothing to do on a cruise

Days were partly cloudy almost every day so not much lying around in the sun. The day of the “Crossing of the Equator Ceremony” temperature was 35˚ C and overcast. It’s always a festive occasion and I was expecting it to be as great as it was in 2010 but alas it was not to be, maybe it was the kind of passengers on this trip, who knows.

Spent most of the four days at sea with Pat 7 Elaine or reading and just unwinding. This is the time to enjoy and recharge the batteries as once we hit Europe the ports visited are more frequent and then you are on the run. A day in port sounds great but in reality a day is just not long enough, so I try to see as much as I can in the short period of time I have.

We were due to arrive in Dakar on the 1^st March 2012 at about 11am.

Pat, Elaine and I decided not to do any of the excursions offered as they were rather expensive and anyway I much prefer to walk the streets, that is when you see the real city.

Dakar is the capital city of Sengal, located on the Cape Verde Peninsula, on the Atlantic coast. It is the largest city in Senegal.

As we near Dakar we will pass the Goree Island, this island is of historical importance, as it from here that the slaves were transported to America.

Once we were docked and the passengers were given the all clear to disembark, Pat, Elaine and I were off, well the 1^st thing that hits you when are on land is the heat, dust and dirt.

Walking through the harbour gate and into the city was the most hellish experience ever, everybody jostles for your attention to be your guide and if someone can speak better English than the “Tour Guide” that you have, they are physically pushed aside and now you have a new “Guide”.

We had to hide inside a Pharmacy at one stage to get rid of our “Guide”, he was irritating us somewhat as he wanted to take us deeper into the city to one of the African Markets. He just could not understand that this is not what we wanted to do, so he became a little aggressive.

To be honest I was too scared to take out my camera, so unfortunately I have no pics to show of the dirt in the street, squalor and dilapidated state of the buildings, we could not get back to the ship quick enough.

I reckon we probably spent about two hours walking around and that was too long for my liking. Could not wait to get back to the MSC Melody to have an ice cold beer and lunch.

Pat & I went back out after lunch to a small African Market on the Quay to barter for a few items we were interested in. Now that was an experience in itself, I must have walked away a few times before the seller caved in and accepted what I had to offer.