Distance from Gibraltar to Huelva, Spain: 125 Nautical Miles
Port Information. Huelva, the city that Columbus departed from on his first voyage, is located in Southwestern Spain. The city, situated on the Gulf of Cadiz, has a population of approximately 149,000. It lies on the Odiel River estuary. The port is bleak and it is a 10 minute ride into the city. The area is known for mining, copper and iron, being the home to Recreativo de Huelva, the oldest soccer team in Spain.
A sunny but cool day in Huelva, Spain.
The seas were smooth last night but, for some reason, another difficult sleeping night. I suspect that the Decaf coffee I ordered post dinner in the Windows Café may actually be the real stuff. No coffee tonight.
Breakfast, as always, was in the Windows Café. However, I broke my waffle habit by trying a Veggie Omelet and pancake plus an oatmeal starter. Feeling pretty hungry this morning.
There are very few tours scheduled for today – the only ones are those going to Seville. The ship is providing a shuttle service from the minimal port (there is nothing here) to the City Center. We are going to go to the town around 10 AM, when, we hope, some shops will be open.
The bus ride was relatively short and dropped us at a large park in the City Center. We were met by a group of “actors” all decked out in Columbus gear. This gave us an opportunity for some nice photos with locals.
Bus Drop Off
Colons Everywhere
We walked through Huelva for a little more than an hour.
Huelva, Spain
It looked like the area was undergoing some kind of urban renewal – some buildings were torn down waiting to be rebuilt. There were very few shops open and very low foot traffic. We covered quite a lot of the central city during our walk. There are models of the Columbus Ships somewhere in Huelva but we were just not up to finding them on this trip.
Our real goal was to find the statue of Cristobal Colon that graces Plaza Colon in the city. We used a map to find it.
El Almirante in Plaza Colon
Like a lot of Columbus statues, the Admiral is pointing at something (maybe the New World). After walking around the square a bit, we headed back to the bus drop off point using a different route. Soon we were back on the ship.
Lunch consisted of a Cesar Salad and a Veggie Burger. At the risk of repeating myself, I must say that the Veggie Burgers on Azamara are not just the frozen store-bought kind I am used to, but a concoction of several veggies and beans. Served hot and crispy, they are pretty much the best VBs at sea.
Tonight’s Dinner in Windows featured the Spanish Buffet. For me that consisted of Cesar Salad, Gazpacho, Spanish Consommé, Salmon en Croute. A very tasty dinner.
Tonight’s Showtime featured two shows: The first was a Flamenco Show put on by a local troupe – the women were good dancers and the show was entertaining even though all of the numbers seemed to be similar.
The second show featured vocalist Laura Carter (wife of Joe West), who put on a very entertaining show.
Laura Carter
Both shows were late so we were done for the day after Laura finished.
No comments:
Post a Comment