Blog16 Malta, Algiers, Seville

Blog 16 – Malta, Algiers and Cadiz, Seville

John has been looking forward particularly to the visit to Malta since the beginning of this cruise , as he lived here for a year in 1961-2 and hoped to meet an old school friend from 1956. First impression of the Grand Harbour was that the grandeur of  Bighi, Senglea and Fort St. Angelo is now diminished by the adjacent somewhat larger cranes and even Abramovitch’s yacht. I have tried to take photos that diminish this unfortunate effect.

We began our visit with a walk to the new Barraka lift and a stroll through the Upper Barraka gardens to St John’s Co Cathedral. The sunshine gave a wonderful golden glow to the forts across the harbour and the view from the battery was as marvellous as ever.

Adrian Strickland could not have been a more generous host and we were most graciously welcomed into St. John’s  for the procession of the Knights of Malta of which he is one, and the pontifical High Mass. Afterwards we were allowed in to see Carravagio’s ‘Beheading of John the Baptist’ even though the room was formally closed for an address to the knights by their president. 

After a short visit to Marsaslokk we went for lunch to the Royal Malta Yacht club overlooking Valetta and Manoel Island where we met his charming wife Jacqui. We did not visit Sliema where John’s parents lived as the whole of that area and of St Julians is totally changed, dominated now by high rise flats – not as attractive as it used to be. 

This visit was altogether a highlight of our entire cruise and we are very grateful to Adrian for giving us so much of his time when he had a very busy schedule that day. We were very sorry to have to be back on board by 1530 for an early departure.

The following day at sea was enlivened by a brilliant piano recital by a Spanish pianist Maria Garzon.  Outstanding.

Goodness knows why the ship called at Algiers where numerous police closely guarded us throughout our tour. The tour began with a visit to the “Martyrs Memorial” a grandiose structure topped by telephone aerials and with a 15 foot high statue of a heavily armed martyr at each of its three bases. It commemorates the war of independence. An interesting but sobering visit.

 Two more sea days during which John volunteered to man a stand at the “Country Fayre” in aid of the ship’s charities, two orphanages in Thailand and the Phillipines. Will he never learn? Three intense hours of getting people to guess from given examples how to say “ Hello|” in the language of the displayed flags resulted in about £30 despite a queue at the stand throughout the afternoon!

Our last port of call of the entire voyage was Cadiz.  Although it is a beautiful and historic city we opted to go on an excursion to Seville, 2 hours away by coach.

This was a fabulous visit, the highlights being the Real Alcazar and the Cathedral. The wide streets lined with scented Seville Orange trees in blossom are delightful as is the atmospheric old town. The Alcazar shows how it was possible for Moslems and Christians to live in harmony and the gardens are magnificent. A fitting end to our cruise. It is hard to believe that this was our last tour though it is already getting cooler as we sail north but 22 degrees in the sunshine in Seville was extremely pleasant!  We arrive at Southampton in three days time. It will be very lovely to see everyone again but a bit of a change to get involved once more with shopping, cooking , washing up and cleaning – we have been spoiled! We feel hugely privileged to have made this trip and to get an overall if sketchy overview of the coast of Africa.  It is going to be impossible to answer the question ‘Where did you enjoy most?’  We have experienced such variety. The answer perhaps should be ‘lots of different places for different reasons’. We hope you have enjoyed sharing our blog.