Our First Day Ashore,

started with breakfast,

then we were up and out,

for our first look at Palma,

I had to take a quick panorama of the docks,

and lorry loading as we neared our mooring,

what a beauty,

and here is another one,

on two hilltops in the distance, ancient,

and modern,

then one of I believe the Turkish Navy's ships was being towed into harbor,

no idea what is wrong, but the TCG C. G. Hasanpasa,

seems to need a little help,

to return to dock,

then downstairs,

for our first step ashore,

this looks a Herculean task,

look how small his brush is,

and just look at the size of the ship,

a quick pose at the front of the ship,

and our bus arrived,

as we made our past the docks,

and along the coast road past the Cathedral,

and narrow streets,

a violinist waits for a paying customer,

soon we we were making our way into the hills,

past towns nestled in the valleys,

dwarfed by the mountains next to them,

we then stopped a view point,

on one of the tree stumps this cat looked like it received the worse part of a cat fight,

Diana takes a selfie,

and I take a picture of Diana,

one of the features of this area is in the bay below there is a part of the coastline which features a natural hole in it,

we will move along a little to get a closer look, but first a picture,

or two,

or three,

I am not sure how it was formed,

but we were told it is 18 meters across,

unfortunately the restaurant was closed,

looking down on the other side of the peninsular,

the sea was a beautiful azure blue, 

then looking to the left,

another small bay,

it was a shame the weather was overcast, but there it was,

so one more pose,

from both of us,

and we were hopping from seat,

to seat on our way back to the bus,

we passed a stall selling locally made handicrafts on the way back,

as some of the locals their way to the viewing point,

although difficult to see in the picture, the skies above were filled with birds, just like the Hitchcock movie,

I mentioned the weather was a little overcast, clouds continued to roll in below the mountain tops in the distance,

we passed fields of wild flowers,

past almond, olive and fig groves,

we passed the same town,

on the way down that we saw on the way up,

below the town,

and almost everywhere you looked were countless terraces,

we then stopped a traditional hacienda,

and meet a goat,

and Billy the kid,

and some of their relatives,

we were going to see a flamenco show,

as we made our way to the entrance,

there were some farm tools or instruments of torture on display,

below a quiet courtyard,

with Diana,

we passed one of the outer dinning areas,

and made our way inside,

then the dance began,

two ladies and a gentleman dancer,

were accompanied by a guitar player,

and a drummer,

the show was first class,

everyone putting body and soul,

into the performance, I should have mentioned that while the show was going on we were being bombarded with plate after plate of cheese, ham, sweet salted peppers, potatoes, cheese flan and sangria,

we finished the meal with profiteroles,

now here is a question, if you dream whilst sleeping do you have nice dreams? you know like fluffy bunny rabbits, candy floss, honey flavored rain drops, sugar coated snow? well here is a minor dream of mine that just came true,

barrels of wine,

on tap,

all for free as much as you can drink, a dream comes true, I nearly missed the coach!

I am sure that statue is leaning at an angle,

our next place to visit was locally made foods,

like these sausages and salamis,

jams and preserves,

and beauty products,

Diana posed by one of the statues that seems to be upright now,

next some more foods to sample,

and we were on our way back as Billy the Kids older brother Billy the Goat came to say goodbye,

we jumped off of the bus at the coast near the Cathedral,

and sat on the sea wall,

with the Ventura in the background,

over the road,

to the Cathedral,

what a neat way to get around town,

the lake in front of the city wall,

we walked for a while and took a rest by a cooling fountain,

and made our way past the city wall,

and some of the horse taxis for hire,

two things we noticed in Palma, there are lots of steps,

and fountains,

and at least one nice motorcycle,

not to mention so many old buildings,

and statues,

like this one,

looking at it's counterpart across the street,

we made our way into one of the old parts of town,

where there were many clothes shops,

a hat for the weekend?

everything was so lovely walking through these cool streets,

and at last some flamingos, instead of flamencos!

we made our way along street,

after street with hardly a soul insight,

by now we were hungry again, so back to the busy part of own,

to this roadside  cafe/restaurant,

we ordered a couple of drinks,

a huge mug of coke for Diana,

and glass of wine for myself,

Diana's coke must have been a half liter,

I should have taken that on board, my beer came in a liter jug!

good job I was thirsty!

our meal arrived, one of the dinners on the next table kindly took a picture of us,

Diana had always wanted a real Spanish paella, and here it was,

sizzling prawns in garlic for myself,

one of the waiters took another picture of us,

across the road,

the Spanish flag was proudly flying,

back to the square,

which we crossed,

on to the courtesy bus and we were back to the dock,

looking at the huge Ventura,

a panorama of the dockside,

the sharp bit at the front,

with Diana,

by now we had started moving away from the dock,

the poolside leaving party,

just starting to get under way,

as was the Ventura,

as we moved from the dock,

some of the local gulls,

came looking for food,

oops, not a bird, a plane,

the party was now in full swing,

with the staff leading lines of conga,

and other dances to the delight of the staff,

and fellow passengers,

here is a short video of the proceedings, at the end there is the Ventura dance which the crew perform, to the encouragement of the passengers the tempo goes faster and faster till at the end the ships horn gives the crew a well earned rest, great fun,

on to our evening meal,

we were lucky,

in that we had a window table,

 for our main course Diana ordered paupiette of sole with crayfish mousseline, with Duchess potatoes, asparagus and vegetables in a white wine sauce,

for myself a prime sirloin steak,

we both decided on sultana brioche bread and butter pudding,

we were then ready for our night out,

we stopped at one of the smaller bars first,

and watched a show there,

we went on deck to look at the stars, alas all hidden by cloud, 

then to the big show of the evening, Blame It On The Boogie,

the DJ came in to the studio,

and then it was all go,

as the boys and girls,

sang,

and danced the night away,

there were also individual performers,

like a tribute Susie Quantro,

male soloist,

and duos,

the Supremes tribute group,

the show got better and better,

as it continued,

there was also an acrobatic act that was breath taking,

the shame was like all good things the show had to end,

so with a goodbye we made our way back to our cabin and we were of to bed.