Travelin' Road Show: 05/30/14

Friday, May 30, 2014

Friday May 30th, Cueta

Friday May 30th, Cueta

Rock of Gibraltar - Early morning

Mt Cueta

Downtoen Cueta early.

Beautiful backdrop for the city

More downtown

View across the Mediterranean

The Mediterranean

"Soota" is the correct pronunciation, apparently. As we sailed into Cueta (which is a Spanish enclave on the African side of the straights) early this morning we were really excited to see the rock of Gibraltar across the straights pf Gibraltar which connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean sea. What a beautiful sight. As legend has it Hercules stood on the two rocks (Gibraltar and Mt. Cueta) and pushed the continents apart. When we docked Cueta, we disembarked and wandered into town, opting to go it alone today rather than an organized tour. Easy walk into town and we strolled around window shopping and generally seeking out the local sights. The central market, cathedral, town hall, Spanish legion museum etc. We wandered along the road besides the Ribera beach...a beautifully pristine sand with great photo ops and views. We tagged on to the back end of the city walking tour for a few minutes and then found a suitable cafe for a cafe-con-leches. Then on to Macdonald's for the free WiFi...and a beer!!!! Just because we could!!! Decided we would get some "contraband " for the ship and brought it on-board before going back into town. We returned into town to go to a street festival with tapas, bars, music etc. .. packed and fun. In the middle of the crowd we spotted Chris and Tracey and Lucy parked in one of the open air bars; we joined them and indulged in a few sangria and Grand reserve Cruzcampo beers, chatting and laughing and people watching. We tottered to the shuttle to get back to the ship with just 30 minutes to spare. Much laughter and silliness on the way back.

The Med-side view of Mt Cueta

Outside Spanish Legion Museum

Leaving port was very memorable as we sailed west through the Straits of Gibraltar. The sun beaming down on the rock, in a crystal clear evening. We were told that often the rock is in cloud so this was even more enjoyable. After dinner we went to watch a Celine Dion impersonator/entertainer, not a bad singer but rather cheesy impersonating even her accent when she spoke. Then on to join Sammy's music trivia game in the casino bar. Hee hee hee!! we won a bottle of Champagne, (we were second but the winners had won earlier and declined their second bottle! Very nice of them.) What a great end to a lovely day. We really enjoyed Cueta, its quite a modern small town with that Moroccan Spanish mix and a young but mature crowd. Pretty Chic and lots of fun.