Adonia Cruise Part 4 - Alghero

Monday 7 May 2012

We woke to the promise of another beautiful day. It was to be the last sea day since we then had six ports in a row. The Adonia Uncovered event took place in the morning. This was the usual display of fruit carving, napkin folding (by Andrew, a waiter who was my table waiter on Artemis and who remembered me – how do they do that?), mechanical engineering and towel folding. I chatted to the Captain who said how much he liked our book. At 11.45 it was the Caribbean Lunch where Caryll and I were seated with Tom, the Safety Officer and two couples. He took the ship out of Gibraltar yesterday, under the Captain’s supervision. At 3pm I had a book signing in the atrium. Not the best day to be doing it with calm blue seas, cloudless blue skies and the sun shining so hot outside – still I sold a few before going to sit out myself. Then it was back to the cabin to prepare for the second formal night of this cruise – two gala meals in one day - oh dear!! At 7.15 there was a "radio" play starring officers and crew, including my friend Stephen who is Housekeeping Manager. It was hilarious and better than some of the so-called comedians. Our team won the quiz again last night - sort off. That is we won the majority of questions but as we had won the two previous nights, started with a -3 handicap so technically lost. As it was two teams came top and there was a tiebreak which, had we been included, we would also have won!! When we got back to the cabin we found our second towel animal on the bed - a seal this time – as well as our half bottle of Mumm champagne from the Peninsular Club, chilling in the fridge.

Tuesday 8 May 2012
Another beautiful morning as we arrived off Alghero in Sardinia, the first of our tender ports. The ship's tenders are very smart with panoramic windows all around so great for photographers. The tendering operation went very smoothly although the seas were a bit on the choppy side first thing – I got very wet feet at one point as I was sitting by the entrance to try and get photos. Both of us had missed the fact we were supposed to get tender tickets to board, but fortunately Stephen was on the platform and waved us on board anyway (after a grumble!).

I hadn't been here before and loved exploring the narrow winding streets of the old town. It is a pretty seaside resort and the low, pastel-coloured houses overlooking the marina and waterfront reminded me of photos I had seen of Burano. There was a church round every corner and shops selling the coral and turquoise jewellery that is the local specialty. After walking through the centre, we paused for a delicious gelato while sitting in the sun before setting off again round the town walls. These were interspersed with towers and huge catapults.

Caryll stayed ashore longer to find a Wi-Fi spot and as I came back on the tender a fast sightseeing boat swept past seeming to delight in causing our tender to rock about on its wake! The sun was sparkling on the water and it should be a beautiful sunset. My arms were by then nicely lobster coloured despite some factor 30 today.