A Happy St. Paddy's Day

Back on the ship from our tour to Rabat, I changed into green – jacket, sandals, purse and a plastic shamrock necklace I’d brought with me and I headed to the bar as there was going to be a St. Patrick's Day celebration as it was March 17th.   

Azamara is very good about recognizing various holidays or special celebrations.  For example, I was on the Pursuit, one of the other ships, when the coronation of King Charles III took place.  The Cabaret Lounge was decorated with red, white and blue balloons, British appetizers (sausage rolls and such) plus scones and cream were served, and the coronation was live-streamed.  I also know they celebrate AnZac day in April.  

So, the Den bar had been decorated with orange and green balloons, Guinness and grasshopper cocktails (green) were served – I wasn’t interested in trying either of those! – and little shamrock-shaped cookies were passed around.  There was Irish-themed entertainment with everyone singing Danny Boy and What Shall We Do with the Drunken Sailor.  I wish they'd sang Wild Rover as it is one of my favourites.   Anyway, the following will give you an idea of the celebrations.







After the celebration, three of us had dinner with Astrid,
the very talented assistant cruise director

And, as the Irish would say, it was great craic!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tomar (The City of the Templars), Elvas (not Elvis!), Back to Azeitao and Heading Home!

Image
Sunday evening, we arrived in Tomar around 5 pm but it took quite a while to figure out where our hotel was.  We'd put it in the SatNav but the address wasn't recognized.  Note to self: it's better to put in the name of a hotel in case it is located on a pedestrian street!  Once we'd found the  Casas Dos Oficios and checked in about one hour later, we were very pleased.  It is a four-star hotel in, I think, an old mansion. The rooms were almost luxurious and the hotel is in a good location; once, of course, you figured out where it is!      Tomar was the last Templar town to be commissioned for construction and is one of Portugal's historical jewels.  The town was especially important in the 15th century when it was a center of Portuguese overseas expansion under Henry the Navigator, the Grand Master of the Order of Christ, successor organization to the Knights Templar in Portugal. The town, with a population of about 20,000 is a World Herita...
Read more

More of Las Palmas

Image
Monday, I did a walking tour called The History of Las Palmas through Get Your Guide.  The tour had been recommended to me by friends and it did not disappoint.  Luis, the guide, was super - passionate about the islands history but not so serious that he didn't make it interesting.   Like most other places, Las Palmas has a complicated history, particularly with its link to Spain’s history.  For example, there was a large influx of Jews during the Spanish Inquisition who converted to Catholicism and relocated to the island to avoid persecution.  Not all managed to escape that, however.  Christopher Columbus also spent time here repairing one of his boats, the Pinta, before he sailed in 1492.  It was also a stop on his subsequent voyages.   We began in Plaza San Antonio Abad (apparently abad means abbot ) and the tour was mainly in the neighbourhood called Vegueta.  The area around the square was formerly a little military camp foun...
Read more

Starting in Gran Canaria

Image
On March 7th, I flew from Victoria via Vancouver and overnight Frankfurt then on to Gran Canaria where I am staying in Las Palmas for a couple of days.  It was a very long journey but, thankfully, without any big glitches.  One, which was a bit of a drama, was when I was going through security at Frankfurt airport after passing through Passport Control.  Recently, I have started bringing a Tens Unit with me as using it can help my back pain.  I have travelled with it before without a problem as, having done the research, I know that it is okay either to pack it in your checked luggage or put it in your carry on.  It was no problem last year.  Clearly the staff at security in FRA had no idea what it was when my bag was scanned.  The next thing I knew, I was taken aside because it had tested positive as a bomb or an explosive.  I have to say the German Politzei men were ever so nice once I produced my passport and I'd convinced them I was no terrori...
Read more