Cadiz, Casablanca & Canaries

The oldest continuously populated city in Spain, Cadiz is a unique ocean port in south west Spain that has been inhabited for the last 3000 years. Located on a peninsula jutting into the Gulf of Cadiz, the city is surrounded almost entirely by water and thanks to its historical trade links, it has many foreign influences that are still visible today. Narrow cobbled streets, small squares and weather-beaten buildings dating back to the Moors make the old city a charming place to explore with look-out towers used by merchants to spot returning trade ships scattered along the skyline. Cadiz also has a fine collection of ancient and contemporary art in its many museums and galleries.

The Rock crouches over the sea like an ancient stone beast, looking Sphinx-like to Africa. Beneath the white cliffs of this natural fortress grows a profusion of palm, pine, and cypress. No fewer than 600 varieties of flowers thrive here, some not found anywhere else on Earth. Gibraltar’s stunning setting is matched by its history – five countries have battled for 13 centuries to control the passage between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. The result made for a cultural melting pot. Veiled Moroccan women in caftans and vacationing Englishmen and Spaniards stroll along the narrow, steep lanes. The locals revert to a liquid Spanish when talking among themselves. And visitors to a 15th-century cathedral pass through a blue-tiled courtyard, once part of a 13th-century mosque.

Helmeted bobbies, pillar-boxes and pubs make for a bit of Britain in the Mediterranean. Gibraltar is a fascinating place, from its caves and batteries to the Barbary apes gamboling on the slopes of the Rock.

Located on the western coast of Africa, the cosmopolitan Casablanca is Morocco’s largest city with a thriving tourism trade. Blending the modern world with the ancient, Casablanca can be accurately described as a cultural melting pot with clear African, Arabic and European influences. The city’s many parks, fountains and recognisably Art Deco flourishes are all courtesy of the French Protectorate who made the city their administrative centre in the early part of the 20th Century. Highlights include the impressive Hassan Il Mosque, the ornate Mauresque architecture and gleaming white 1930’s buildings immortalised in the classic film starring Humphrey Bogart.

Glittering sands that disappear into the distance. Souks brimming with sparkling trinkets. Medinas that ring with snake-charmers’ melodies. Morocco is a spice-scented corner of the world that thrills the senses. Sun-drenched Agadir is the country’s premier beach resort, with a 9km stretch of toe-tickling sands. It has all the appearance of a European resort but with an unmissable North African twist.
When you’re not horizontal on the beach, make a beeline for the Grand Souk. Enjoy the hustle and bustle of this traditional market crammed with shiny silver and hand-woven rugs.
Delve inside the ancient walls of Taroudant, an 11th-century citadel set among gnarled olive groves and sweet-smelling orange trees. Haggle to your heart’s content in the atmospheric Berber market.

A visit to Arrecife, Lanzarote, will literally sweep you away into another world. When you step aground from your cruise you will find yourself in a lunar landscape created by the coming together of the ocean and the lava. Hard to forget. It is the volcanic nature of the Canaries that makes this a unique land.

Arrecife appears from the distance as a row of little white houses along the coast as your cruise approaches the island. Looming over the port is the Castillo de San Gabriel built in the 16th century but many times restored, which now hosts a museum like the other fort in Arrecife, the Castillo de San Jose.

The town is a quiet location where one can enjoy a pleasant stroll but if you’re looking for something more exciting you should book an excursion to the Timanfaya National Park to take a close look at the volcanic activity that has shaped the hills, canyons and the strange rocky formations that characterize the island. Here Stanley Kubrick filmed some scenes of 2001: A Space Odyssey and the Timanfaya volcano is still active.

When you’re vacationing on a cruise of the Canaries, the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, welcomes cruisers ashore on its ramblas (wide, tree-lined avenues) that lead to the central Plaza de España where the Francoist architecture finds one of its maximum national expressions.

When you’re vacationing on a cruise to the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, welcomes cruisers ashore on its ramblas (wide, tree-lined avenues) that lead to the central Plaza de España where the Francoist architecture finds one of its maximum national expressions. If instead one comes from the old part of Santa Cruz de Tenerife you come across churches built in a variety of architectural styles, from the insular baroque of the church of St. Francis, to the colonial Canary style of the church of the Concepciòn or the 18th century Iglesia del Pilar, built on an ancient hermitage.

As you set ashore from your cruise ship, you can explore the Garcìa Sanabria park with the museum of outdoor sculptures, Esculturas al Aire Libre, where a tropical nature blends with the contemporary art of Mirò, Guinovart, Domìnguez, Moore and many others. A place not to miss is the Parque Marìtimo, designed by Canarian artist-architect Cèsar Manrique, which hosts 5000 palm trees of 300 different species, three pools dug into the lava rock, a beach, bars and restaurants.

Following breakfast onboard, you will be invited to disembark the Norwegian Star and you will be transferred to the airport for your flight back to Dublin.