Towel Animals

The room stewards on Princess Cruises don't often make towel animals, probably because they are too busy, but now and again we do find them in the cabin waiting for us at night. These are some of our favourites.

This pair of swans was waiting for us on the night of our wedding anniversary.

This dog was waiting on the bed one night.

We didn't want him to get bored so we gave him a pair of glasses and a magazine to read.

This monkey was the first towel animal made for us and gave us quite a fright as we walked through the door.

On our way to dinner one night, the steward told us not to be scared when we came back.

A peacock, and lots of extra chocolates!

Canary Islands Cruise October 2013 - Vigo.

From Madeira we sailed on to our last port of Vigo in Spain. We had booked a private tour to go to Santiago de Compostela with a few other people.
We left the ship in pouring rain and that wasn't to change all day.

The best thing about the weather meant there weren't crowds of people there.

The occasional Pilgrim still braved the weather on one of the routes, many of them walking across France and Spain to get there.

The cloister of Fonseca College.

Statue of horses Praterias Square.

Inside the Cathedral.

Statue of the Virgin Mary which very unusually shows her pregnant.

So then it was back into the pouring rain and we decided to go and have a coffee before our return to the ship for a nice hot shower and a stiff gin and tonic.
That was our last stop and the next day was a sea day and packing before our return to Southampton.

Canary Islands Cruise 2013 Madeira.

After leaving Lanzarote, we arrived in Funchal on the island of Madeira.

We hired a taxi to take us around part of the island, and our first stop was the Botanical Gardens. The following are all views from there.

Bird of Paradise flowers.

We had quite a conversation with this parrot. I think he was hoping for a tasty finger to be put through the wire. We didn't oblige!

Not sure if the tabby lived in the gardens or was visiting from nearby houses.

From there we headed towards Garajau high up on the cliffs.

I don't know what these flowers are but they were growing everywhere and very pretty.

Garajau has a replica of the Christ the Redeemer statue, but is much smaller than the ones in Rio de Janeiro and Lisbon.

View taken from beside the statue. This photo is zoomed in and it is a long way to walk down there. We didn't do it!

Santa Cruz: The white attractive church is from the sixteenth century and is well preserved. From Santa Cruz we headed to Machico.

Bananas ripening.

We were being watched!

The Fort of Our Lady of Amparo.

The airport can be seen on the top coastline.

We looked down on one of the golden sandy beaches befor going back down to sea level and enjoying a drink in one of the many cafes and bars down there. From there it was back to the ship and on to the next port of call which is Vigo in Spain.

Canary Islands Cruise 2013 - Lanzarote.

After leaving Tenerife, our next stop was Lanzarote.

We didn't do a lot when we got there, just strolled around. This is the Castillo de San Gabriel.

Castillo de San Gabriel, Arrecife, Lanzarote

The Castillo de San Gabriel was first built in 1574 in order to defend Arrecife Harbour.
However it was destroyed just a few years later by the Algerian Pirate Morato Arraez in 1586.

The castle was then rebuilt in 1599 and was used for military purposes right up until the 1950s.
It now houses an archaeological Museum.

The Puento de las Bolas is the drawbridge entrance to the Castillo de San Gabriel and dates from 1559. 

The following are various photos I took as we walked around.

Next stop, Funchal, Madeira.

Canary Islands 2013 - Tenerife continued.

Our tour took us on to Mt. Teide and the National Park.

Mount Teide is a volcano on Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Its 3,718-metre summit is the highest point in Spain and the highest point above sea level in the islands of the Atlantic.

Above the clouds!

Tenerife is also home to one of the world’s most advanced astronomical observatories - the Teide Observatory - from which the entire northern hemisphere and part of the southern hemisphere can be viewed.

Some rock formations in the National Park.

A quick stop at a town on the way back to the ship. Bought some lovely banana body butter there!

Note the black volcanic sand on the beach.

We left there for our next port of call, Arrecife on Lanzarote.