Azura's Adriatic Arrival

Hi there!

Well we’re 5 days into our Mediterranean cruise and it feels like we’ve been sailing for weeks (it’s funny; every now and again we wonder where on earth the time goes, and then suddenly we stop and think ‘Are we STILL at sea??).

We’ll be calling into Katakolon tomorrow (The Greek port that I told you about a couple of weeks ago - the gateway port to the ancient site of the original Olympic Games). There are hundreds of people venturing out to the archaeological site tomorrow, and I’m heading over to a nearby beach to check out the facilities. I’d love to say that I’ll have my bikini on and a lilo under my arm, but unfortunately this will be a research trip only. If it’s nice and offers lots of facilities, then I’ll know to mention it to people in my next lot of port presentations.

We stopped for a half day call to Gibraltar on the way down into the Mediterranean Sea, which was a lovely way to break up all of the necessary leisurely sea days. The weather was quite mild in the morning which meant it wasn’t uncomfortable to rush out to the Duty Free shops or up to the top of the rock, and as soon as we set sail, the sun burst into the sky and the decks were full of happy faces covered in tanning lotion.

I spent the morning inside Gibraltar’s rock exploring the WWII tunnels that have recently opened up. What a fascinating insight into the little country’s history.

For those of you who’ve never been to Gibraltar before, it can be perfectly described as a ‘little piece of Britain in the Mediterranean Sea’ and there’s a lovely atmosphere which is immediately apparent.

All of the street furniture, the signposts, the phone boxes, the food, most of the bars and the restaurants, and the currency are all British, and yet the climate and the scenery are typically Mediterranean and warm.

Traditional British pubs sell real ale and fish and chips alongside some lovely little Spanish Tapas Bars, who offer jugs of Sangria in the sunshine.

Main street (which as the name suggests is the main street that runs through the town) has all the shops you could wish to find, including familiar names like Barclays Bank, Dorothy Perkins, Wallis, Top Shop, BHS, Next, and Marks and Spencer, so there were lots of bags running through the Security scanning machines back at the port.

Probably the famous sight in (or rather on) Gibraltar is the colony of Barbary Macaques.
Originally from Morocco and Algeria, these are the only group of wild primates remaining in Europe, and they wander around quite freely just like our New Forest Ponies.



They look so cute and cuddly and have got fascinating facial expressions but they are really, really cheeky. If anybody has a bag or a camera in their hand, they’ll try to steal it and eat it, and they have a great habit of jumping onto people and sitting on their heads. I found this out for myself as I was about to enter the WWII tunnels! A little ape jumped from a rock, across the road, and landed on my head.

Looking back on it now it was hilarious and gave everybody in my tour group lots to point and laugh at (and photograph), but at the time I was more concerned about keeping all of my fingers and both of my ears intact!! Obviously as the person underneath the ape and desperately concentrating on not freaking out, I didn’t get any pictures for myself, so if anybody gets home from Azura’s current cruise and has a photo of that little situation, please feel free to post it on the blog so that we can all have a little giggle about it! :o)

The WWII tunnels have only recently been opened up to the public, in the last couple of years, and they let you peer into what life was like in Gibraltar’s recent history. During the war years, thousands of men and women lived inside the protective shells of Gibraltar’s chunk of Jurassic limestone and life in the tunnels was highly organised around a 24 hour regime.

The soldiers would have 8 hours rest, followed by 8 hours of mining, followed by 8 hours of sentry duty. Men and women lived here in strictly regimented routine, and it’s absolutely fascinating to explore the huge complex network of tunnels.

One tunnel inside Gibraltar’s rock would take 2.5 hours to walk the entire length of it and there are tunnels big enough to accommodate trucks and lorries too. There were enormous mess rooms, womens’ quarters, truck and car stores, kitchens, bathrooms and even a hospital!
Have a look at some of the photos I took while I was following the tour guide....

I’m going to go and prepare for our Katakolon excursions now, so I’ll finish up and update you more on Azura’s travels in the next couple of days.

If any of you have any ports that you’d specifically like to know about or there is anything about the P&O Cruises fleet that you’ve always been wondering about, please feel free to fire any requests over to me. I’m going to be with you for just another 10 days, and then I’ll hand the blog over to my replacement so that I can go home for an awaited break, so please feel free to ask as many questions as you like.....

Til the next blog post!

Jo