Retired Afloat is at Yeguada Maipe!

7 hours ago

Geoff escorted a wonderful excursion to an Andalusian Horse Ranch. The owners of the ranch explained all about these beautiful horses who are so elegant and so calm. We watched as the yearlings stampeded from their barn stalls out to the pastures. We then walked down to say hello to the mares who immediately came over to the fence to receive pats and scratches.

Over refreshments of tapas and wine we experienced a great flamenco show with a special performance from a dancing Andalusian horse. Upon returning to Viking Saturn, the tour guide took Geoff to the local yacht club for a Cartagena coffee which features condensed milk with a dash of locally made liqueur.

In the meantime Lea did a walking tour through Cartagena to three local tavernas for traditonal tapas and sangria, before dancing her way back on board through a crew and management welcome back on board reception (with the aid of Lemoncello spritz. Work, work, work. It never stops.)🥂😆
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Retired Afloat is at Malaga España.

1 day ago

We departed Malaga with an iconic Mediterranean feel. Smooth seas, sunshine and blue skies. Matched with delicious local culinary delights of pallea, lobster and Sangria on pour. As we sailed out into the Med our acoustic entertainer serenaded us into the sunset.

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Retired Afloat is in Málaga, Andalucia, España.

1 day ago

Geoff escorted a wonderful excursion to the beautiful towns of Marbella and the playground of the jet-setting and rich and famous, Puerto Banús. Any time Geoff gets to see beautiful boats he's happy.

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Retired Afloat

4 days ago

Vigo, Spain

We departed Tilbury with the news that we would be missing our first port of call Portsmouth and spending an extra day at sea to go directly to our second destination, Vigo, Spain. Post-tropical cyclone Imelda was in the North Atlantic and it was in our best interest to get beyond her sooner rather than later.

What a fabulous find!

We both escorted tours from Vigo to the major fishing town of Bayona. Here we walked around the beautiful 16th century Bayona Fortress, Parador Conde de Gondomar. We then wandered around the old streets and laneways before returning to the ship taking in amazing panoramic views of the coastline and ocean. The weather gods were in our favour, apparently the day before rained all day. We were treated to a magnificent day!

On returning to Vigo we wandered off to a recommended area for lunch in Constitution Square. When in Spain it has to be paella and Sangria. We had a new experience with "red rice" paella, matched the Sangria. 😆 We had reluctantly by-passed the oyster market on the way through, but suddenly found ourselves on the way back inside a restaurant with a serve of fresh local oysters and a bottle of wine. Oops 🥂. Vigo farms mussels, scallops and oysters and all the local restaurants have fresh seafood every day. Vigo provides 80% of mussels throughout Spain.

We would come back here in a heartbeat. ❤️

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Retired Afloat is at London International Cruise Terminal.

1 week ago

Sea Day, Portsmouth and Dover - UK

Our sea day cruising out of the Irish Sea and along the English Channel was as smooth as glass. We were treated throughout the day with sightings of pods of dolphins.

We arrived in Portsmouth more excited than usual with the arrival of our dear friends Diane Jones , Keith Jones , and Tony and Wendy Harbor. We met both couples on different past cruises (pre covid) and have remained friends. It was a very enjoyable day hosting them aboard Viking Saturn for Geoff's birthday. With our guests departed we had a fantastic sunset as we left Portsmouth enroute to Dover.

On arrival in Dover it was a coffee, Irish that is, with onboard friends who we also met on a previous Viking cruise, Richard and Wanda from Eugene, Oregan. Geoff gave his final presentation for this cruise leg, "The Penlee Lifeboat Disaster" which concluded with a standing ovation.

Arrived in Tilbury this morning, the current guests have disembarked and the next guests arrive shortly. The next itinerary begins tomorrow.

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