Day 5 - Thursday 26th December - Boxing Day in La Caruña

Cannon in the old wall of La Caruna.  We came across this on the way to the little castle.

Another leisurely start, but we were off the ship to have a look round the old town of La Caruña by about 10 am. The ship leaves at 1pm, so we only had a couple of hours. This time we headed right, to the Castelo De San Anton. You can easily see this little castle from the ship as it stands guard across the sheltered bay of the port, and with me and himself have a thing about old ruins, it was an easy point to head for.

The little fortress was originally built in the 12th century, but has been adapted and added to since. Like many fortresses, it's use changed over the years, and as well as a defensive point, it has been a prison, and now houses the Museo Arque-ologico. As a museum it is full of Egyptian and Roman artifacts, as well as loads of military items like swords, sabres, pistols and armour.  Normally, we don't have a great deal of interest in this sort of thing, but there was so much, and the items were so complete, even we were impressed.

Pictures taken from the highest point in the castle, looking out to sea, and then inland.

It only cost a couple of Euros, and we spent a happy hour wandering around. The only thing we should of thought of was to get an English guide book (we didn't even check to see if there was one), with so many interesting things to look at, including a leather ship, it would have been nice to have a bit more information about them.

Leather Ship inside the fortress

From the fortress we took a wander through the old town of La Caruña. A pleasant wander, with nice little plaza's and a few impressive buildings. We got back to the shopping centre just as it was time to go to the ship, so unfortunately, I didn't get to spend any money.

Plaza de Santo Domingo

Plaza de Santa Barbara

Back on board, the ship set off and Peter got the first of his two classes up and running. As the ship moved out of the sheltered bay, the rocking began again, but now, although we had to zigzag our way from one place to another, it was nowhere near as rough as previously, and people started to settle and feel a whole lot better about the trip.

Unusually for us, we spent the whole evening in Scotts bar, first enjoying a quiz that we would've failed miserably at if it wasn't for Chris and Mick who kept us company all night, and finishing up by listening to the ships female show singers, Ecaterina and Kate, sing their Diva numbers. A good night actually.

We're back at sea now for a few days, making our way to Tenerife. Thankfully, now that the sea has calmed down, we can settle into the normal cruise routine of activities. All we need now is for the weather to warm up a little.