Holiday photos

As promised, I've picked out a few photos from our cruise.  Nothing special, just ones that capture each particular port of call.

Sunrise over the 25th April Bridge, across the River Tagus, on our approach to Lisbon, Portugal.  This bridge has a number of names, but the date refers to the 1974 revolution, and is modelled on the Golden gate Bridge in San Francisco.  

This rather bizarre-looking edifice is the famous Santa Justa lift in the centre of Lisbon.  It's a magnificent structure and we went all touristy and actually paid to go up in the lift, and an extra 1.5 euros each to go up the spiral staircase to the viewing platform - the views were great!  Having reached the top, we could then walk out onto another street level (although not visible in the photo) - this is the reason for the lift being built originally, as this part of Lisbon has some pretty steep hills!!

Old wooden windmills at the saltpans in Arrecife, Lanzarote.

Mending lobster pots - clearly size is important! - on Gran Canaria.

We had a wonderful day in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, and went ashore twice.  The weather was glorious, and what better way to pass a couple of hours than sitting on the promenade, by the beach (Playa de las Canteras, one of the longest city beaches in the world), enjoying a bottle of the local brew, and watching the world go by.  In the morning we had walked the length of the prom, and back again.  It was lovely.  There were lots of youngsters learning to surf, and school children had lessons outside, and they all seemed to be enjoying themselves.

In Santa Cruz de la Tenerife, the capital of Tenerife, we came across these colourful decorations in the streets around one of the churches, presumably for some local festival.

La Palma proved to be a delightful little gem - an abundance of flowers, shady squares and wonderful old buildings in the little main town.  There were no tacky tourist shops, and there was a lovely slow feel to the place.  We loved it.  La palma is apparently the world's steepest island.

Our final port of call was Funchal, in Madeira.  We went up in the chair-lift (we don't normally 'do' the tourist things so twice in one holiday was quite an achievement for us!) and were rewarded with some fantastic views - you can just see our ship at the cruise port, in the centre of the picture.  Although we could have walked back down, or had a ride in a wicker toboggan, we came back on the chair lift, and took loads more photos.  I think Madeira is a place we would like to return to for a week, to explore more fully.

It was a lovely holiday, and one of the benefits of cruising is the opportunity to sample several different destinations.  Inevitably we discover places we would like to visit again, but for longer.  Madeira is obviously one, but we also found Gran Canaria brilliant, and La Palma and Lisbon were also very enjoyable.  it's been good to look through the photos again to remind us.

Tomorrow is 'screen-free' Sunday, which is probably just as well as I really need to pack!