Kingsbury Square market

 Early Start today and a craft market in Kingsbury square, a lovely and well thought out event by the council to support the love your market event. We had the centre point of the square  and were surrounded by coffee shops and restaurants with tables out on the square, which is quite handy as a bacon butty at that time of the morning is a must.

Barnardo's Big Toddle, Big Fun

Today Sophie went off to Nursery in her super girl outfit, she has always wanted to be a super hero and is normally seen running around in restaurants we visit with a napkin hanging out of the back of collar, so now she has her very own Super hero costume for real.

My event shelter

Oh im feeling so proud of myself i have bought a event shelter for my out side craft fairs to keep all my soap from not turning to bubbles in the rain, boy i had to sell a LOT of soap to buy this but i think its worth it.

William Harding combined school fete

 Today i was at the William Harding Combined school for their first ever summer fete.  I have to say i was really impressed by the organisation and thought that had gone into planning the days activities, stalls  and overall feeling of the fete very well.

Holiday treasure box

 Now we are back from hols we found that we had picked up a few things such as shells and trinkets from the holiday, and thought we would make a treasure box to keep them all in to remind Sophie of the wonderful times we had, plus its just a good excuse to get down to some crafting.

Vigo

 Vigo is part of Spain and is located on the Atlantic coast on the north west Spanish Provence, there was certainly a temperature change due to the Atlantic sea with fresh breezy winds blowing over the water, Vigo is know as the Wales of Spain.

 Around the coast line there was many mussel and oyster farms as well as many very brave large seagulls that came to rest on our large floating city.

Madame had a late night again and really didn't want to be disturbed to go out off the boat and took some rousing and even after getting her out was still in a sulk even daddies best efforts failed.

That was until we found this unusual art piece of a chopped woman on her head which Sophie thought was a bit odd as did we.

The Streets were filled with old houses and little shops selling bric a brac to high end goods.  The people of Vigo have their own language and culture called Galician which is influenced from Celtic roots.  Vigo was so wealthy from its ports that it was subject to a number of attacks including Sit Francis Drake and Napoleon.  Again this was another city that has not really been touched by tourism so the vibe is relaxed and you can get a proper feel for the place.

 Daddy set his mission for the trip again with another massive climb to the Citadel called El Castro which is one of three forts that guards the town, again located on top of a very steep climb and Sophie has wised up to daddies missions now and insisted he carry her all the way up, where we got great views.

 As we left Vigo we passed the mythical Cies islands that had the most beautiful beaches on them and the islands are said to be guarded by the spirits of the ancient Celtics.

See PART 1 of the INDEPENDENCE OF THE SEA here
See PART 2 of the INDEPENDENCE OF THE SEA here
See PART 3 of the INDEPENDENCE OF THE SEA here

Gibraltar stop here     Vigo stop here          

Toulon stop here       Lisbon stop here

Mallorca stop here     Malaga stop here

Lisbon

 Opening our curtains today we were greeted by Cristo Rei a monument to Christ, based on Rio de Janeiro's famous monument and was built in 1959 with a 90ft Christ on the top in thanks for the safe keeping of Lisbon during the second world war as Lisbon was a neutral place.

Malaga

Malaga morning brought mist and fog, and a big climb challenge by daddy, but after all of that food from the ship we needed to do a bit of calorie burning. 

Gibralfaro Castle is 14th century and was built to house the troops and to protect the Alcazaba which is a Muslim palace fortress.  The castle sits on top of a very high hill so that it dominates most of the city and  offers panoramic views of the city below.

 The walk up the many stairs and zig zaging paths took us a while and was quiet tiring but we got to see lots of lovely plants and views as we climbed, the walk was very tiring for Sophie's little legs and Daddy ended up getting a double work out as he had to carry her.

When we got to the top the views were amazing and we even got to see all that fog swirling around our ship making it look ghostly.  Its amazing seeing the town below and their high rise buildings with the many people in them then seeing further back the ship which looks so much bigger and is a floating city in itself.

Sophie and daddy regained their sugar levels after a tiring climb and shared some sweeties and then we noticed a bus stop and then the bus delivering fresh faced visitors...... !!! 

  We entered the castle and had fun walking about the long walls looking out at the town below spotting landmarks there were lots of pillars with gun windows to and the guys played hide and seek

When we came off from teh walls there was a garden area and trees to cool off in and every little person should get the chance to climb trees.

 We left and drove around the town to get a vibe for the place and saw lots of different styles of building old and new but most striking was the many blue trees we saw in the parks that were all in bloom, Beautiful.

 

See PART 1 of the INDEPENDENCE OF THE SEA here
See PART 2 of the INDEPENDENCE OF THE SEA here
See PART 3 of the INDEPENDENCE OF THE SEA here

Gibraltar stop here     Vigo stop here          

Toulon stop here       Lisbon stop here

Mallorca stop here     Malaga stop here

Mallorca

 Waking up in Mallorca more warm weather and blue skies, Mallorca is part of Spain and actually one of the places the royal family of Spain come to holiday at, and it is one of the largest of the Balearic islands.

One af the most distinctive things you can see from the port is this impressive Gothic cathedral called La Seu, It has one of the largest rosette and tallest naves among all the European Gothic styles, and we thought it was beautiful.

 Before we reached the Cathedral there was a small market outside which people selling arts and crafts, and before we set out Sophie said she wanted a wand and luckily for her we found a lady selling wands in the below picture you can see her casting magic spells with her new wand this was her souvenir from Mallorca.

 

As we walked about the cathedral we spotted this gargoyle of a crocodile. We we not allowed inside as there was a an important ceremony taking place outside with a big band, red carpet and lots of important looking people.

 As with most of Spain the a lot of the architecture is high rise as well as older smaller buildings and winding cool streets.  Lots of the streets were to small to take any traffic so they had reverted to the good old horse and cart to move about the old town which was very charming.  Many of the building were of medieval dating from the 17th century, as we walked round the narrow street they suddenly opened up and we found a lovely place to have lunch in a quiet plaza sheltered with some large palms.

Everywhere we went the Mallorcans did everything they could to make the streets feel cool and lush, the streets were covered in rows and rows of huge palms sheltering shoppers, Arches covered in soft green foliage gave relief from the heat and there were so many fountains with loads of different styles and designs gave a feeling of opulence, and if you wasn't quite sure about the opulence then the shops would give you a good clue if your a WAG then this is the place for you to shop with all the top end brands available to go and burn your cash in.

Our next place to visit was Bellver Castle on top of the highest peak 300 ft above sea level over looking the port.  The castle was built in the 14th century and is also Mallorcan Gothic style.  On approach the castle is surrounded by thick woods and with its tall tower you would be forgiven to think there maybe a princess inside. 

There were a great many steps and rooms to explore and all this walking was tiring work so luckily there were some chairs to rest in and when we finally got to the top Sophie was on top of the world.

The views were amazing as the town sprawled out below the castle and you could even see our big ship and you can see in below its not the one in front by the way.

See PART 1 of the INDEPENDENCE OF THE SEA here
See PART 2 of the INDEPENDENCE OF THE SEA here
See PART 3 of the INDEPENDENCE OF THE SEA here

Gibraltar stop here     Vigo stop here          

Toulon stop here       Lisbon stop here

Mallorca stop here     Malaga stop here