Cruising the Mediterranean is wonderful. Many different sights to see while only unpacking once. I was able to see a volcanic vineyard, ride a camel, watch meat cook over an opening in the earth...without fire, sample new foods in Morocco, view beautiful scenery, interesting history, architecture, etc. What a fabulous trip!
Sailing on the Royal Caribbean Brilliance of the Seas was wonderful. She is a beautiful ship that offers many extras (mini-golf, water slide, rock climbing wall, etc). Yet, it only took a few minutes to go from one end of the ship on an upper level to the opposite end of the ship on a lower level. Really a nice sized ship. Food was great and the entertainment was good.
Ship Pictures:
Malaga is located in the Costa del Sol part of Spain, so you have miles and miles of beautiful beaches just waiting for you. There's also a lot of history here also. I took a city tour to try to capture the highlights of this city.
Malaga, Spain:
Lanzarote is one of the 7 larger Canary Islands. Each island has it's own beauty and looks different from the next island. Lanzarote is a volcanic island, and is very interesting. Some say it reminds them of traveling to the moon. It rarely rains here so things aren't very green, unless you go to the city where they have irrigation. You need to get out of the city to really appreciate this island. You'll notice in the photos below that the earth is so hot naturally that they can put brush on the ground and it'll start on fire, throw water down a shoot and it'll explode like a geyser, and dig a deep hole in the ground and cook food without any fire in just a matter of minutes. Their wine is sweeter due to the volcanic minerals and local processing methods.
Lanzarote, Canary Islands:
Tenerife is a beautiful island with the highest peak in Spain (Spain owns the Canary Islands). The sky was picture perfect and the scenery breathtaking. This is one of the most popular Canary Islands so the city can get busy, but outside the city limits it's very calm and peaceful.
Tenerife, Canary Islands:
Morocco was not anything like I had imagined. Casablanca is a metropolitan city and very busy. Don't think about renting cars here....very few traffic lights. Driving is more like playing the game "I dare you" since cars come from every direction. The people are very friendly. I was able to visit the Hasann II Mosque which some believe is the 3rd largest Mosque in the world. This is the only Mosque however to be built over water. Traveling to Rabat was about 1-1/2 hour drive but was definately worth it. It's such a pretty city.
Casablanca, Morocco:
Cadiz is the oldest city in the Western Hemisphere and has both an old city and new city. For James Bond fans, this is where Die Another Day was partially filmed (beach scene with Halle Berry). The city offers both an old city beach and a new city beach, however try to take a drive out of the city for scenic views. The town of Vejer is one of the most pictureque spots in the south of Spain with white-washed houses, an old walled inner city, narrow streets, and cute shops.
Cadiz, Spain:
This is where we started and ended our cruise. Fly into Barcelona a day or so before your cruise and you won't regret it. We hired a private driver who charged a flat fee to pick us up at our hotel, drive us wherever we wanted to go, and then dropped us off at the ship to start our cruise. Barcelona isn't an inexpensive city, but it's wonderful to see all the different architecture of the buildings.
Barcelona, Spain:
