So today I became 70. It’s weird being the same age as old people and I don’t think I like it. But – as they say – it’s better than the alternative.

Denis and I decided against any big celebrations and instead we booked a holiday for the two of us, and Anna, in Japan in early April. Before then, though, Anna and I are heading off on our usual winter holiday. I hesitate to call it a ski holiday as I’m not sure how much skiing I’ll actually be doing. We go tomorrow, bright and early from Manchester, and we are meeting Jamie at Salzburg AirPort to start the adventure.

Anna and I have spent the evening watching “Doubters to Believers”, the Jurgen Klopp documentary

While Denis prepared us a great meal and kept us supplied with great wine.

As well as the various holidays we have planned we are also in the middle of trying to sell our house

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/157626572#/?channel=RES_BUY

Which means a lot of tidying and decluttering.

Of course I am also in the middle of trying to win the Premier League

the Champions League

and the Carabao Cup !

So far so good.

Next update from Austria

Our last day ashore was in Tangiers. I helped with a walking tour and Denis helped with a more extensive coach tour.

We were both back by lunchtime although I came back with a casualty as one of the guests had fallen down some steps whilst out on the tour. I took her to the ships doctor once we were back on board and she seemed to be ok, although I will check up on her later today. We spent the rest of the afternoon making sure we were properly prepared for the last three days at sea, when we would be back to bridge events morning, afternoon and evening. Plus I had some tickets to sort out for PSV Eindhoven v LFC which was harder than it needed to be but was sorted in the end.

The last three days at sea were busy but the sea was much calmer than it was for the outbound journey so it was all quite pleasant.

We arrived in Southampton early this morning and were home for lunchtime.

We have spent a lazy day unpacking and, in my case, singing the praises of Darwin Nunez.

Now we have a very busy period ahead of us, as we are about to put our house up for sale.

We docked at Ceute just after 8.00

Denis had to be up and out early as he was helping on a tour to Tetouan (Morocco). I had an afternoon walking tour of Ceute so I had a nice leisurely morning. No football of any note for either of us to watch today.

The walking tour was very pleasant and only a couple of hours long. We started at the old fortifications, originally built by the Portuguese.

And then moved on to the more modern parts

Eventually ending up at the Pillars of Hercules

I was back at the ship shortly after 15.00. I quickly got ready for the rest of the day and decamped to the Observation Lounge for the cocktail of the day, to read a book and to wait for Denis.

He arrived back shortly after 16.00. Apart from a hiccup with guest passports at the border between Spain and Morocco he seemed to have had a good trip.

Tonight we have another bridge session and I’m going to try some more stargazing- especially as I have managed to borrow a pair of binoculars.

The ship isn’t leaving port until the early hours of the morning so both the bridge session and the stargazing might prove difficult. Once we leave we are off to Tangiers, our final stop

We docked about 09.00 and this was the view from the cabin window

Malaga itself is 2.5 km from the port so we took one of the shuttle buses to gets there.

Our plan was to do a bit of sightseeing, have a nice lunch and then watch more football – specifically Arsenal v Manchester United. Here’s Denis having a coffee and plotting the route.

We had a very pleasant stroll around the old town

And found somewhere for lunch. We started with a glass each of Manzanilla, nicely chilled and very tasty.

After that we found a good old traditional English-on-their-holidays sports bar and watched the football. Arsenal were playing Manchester United so one way or another the result was always going to be satisfactory. In the end Manchester United won on penalties.

We just got back in time to start the evening bridge session.

I went on top deck about ten o’clock to see the night sky. Unfortunately it was a full moon which made it difficult to see anything else apart from the moon itself and another cruise ship in the distance.

Next stop is Ceute. Until agreeing to do this cruise I’d never heard of Ceute. It is an autonomous city of Spain on the North African coast. So we left Europe behind and headed for Africa.

We didn’t arrive at Cartagena until after 09.00 in the morning and I took the opportunity to have a lie in. It was nice to be having a whole day out, with no tours to supervise or bridge sessions to organise.

Here was my first view of Cartagena – from our cabin window.

After doing some research I had a couple of bars in mind which I thought might be showing the Liverpool game, but our first stop was Tourist Information for a town map. Then we meandered through the small city centre in the general direction of the bars I’d researched. Denis met some soldiers who seemed to have as much enthusiasm as him for a match involving Accrington Stanley. Or indeed Liverpool

We wandered around the old and the new bits of Cartagena and ended up at Dowar’s Bar. We explained our need in terms of watching the football and they agreed to show the first half – after that the local team, Cartagena, were playing Racing de Ferrol in La Ligue 2 and (understandably) they would be showing that.

When the time came the manager tried and tried to get the match for us but was unsuccessful. He was very apologetic and made it up to us by giving us a significant discount. Excellent customer service.

We were back on board in time for the second half which wasn’t on the tv in the sports bar there either! Instead there was basketball which precisely no one was watching. So we were forced to follow the game via the BBC news feed. Final score was 4-0 to the good guys.

There was also a general knowledge quiz in the sports bar which – disappointingly- we didn’t win.

After that we went to the “Sail Away Party” where there was free if somewhat diluted sangria. It was great fun.

All in all it was a lovely day. Next stop is Malaga and we haven’t been allocated any tours there either. So once again we will have the day to ourselves.

We arrived in Gibraltar quite early. We both had a tour to help with. Luckily they were both by coach with only a limited amount of walking. Allegedly. Denis went to visit the military tunnels which run throughout the Rock here – he said it was excellent and he even got to see some monkeys.

I went to visit the city centre and the Kings Bastion – a tour which also included a visit to the airport runway. First stop was Europa Point, the southernmost tip of Gibraltar

Gibraltar is only 9 miles from Africa at that point.

The guide was friendly and knowledgeable but there’s a limit to how interesting you can be about things such as an airport runway. However I did learn that John and Yoko got married in Gibraltar- I suspect I knew this already really but had completely forgotten it.

In summary I would say that Gibraltar is a fascinating place to visit if you’re a military historian. Which I’m not.

On the plus side the tour was only a couple of hours long so I was back on board by lunchtime.

As the ship was leaving early we ran an afternoon bridge session, then I chilled out with the cocktail of the day – “one exciting night” – mainly rum and banana. Very nice and not too much alcohol, so I had a second

Tomorrow we arrive at Cartagena and we have no tours to help with. So we can have a little look around and find an Irish Bar to watch Liverpool play Accrington Stanley in the FA Cup. A banana skin if ever there was one.

And so we set off for Seville- 20 passengers, one tour guide, one coach driver and me. We met a second guide in Seville who would talk us through our visit to the cathedral. I spent most of my time rounding up stragglers in the group, particularly those who were engrossed in photographing everything they saw. So I didn’t learn much more than on my last visit back in September.

We followed our cathedral tour with a walk through some narrow backstreets until we found ourselves under “Rosina’s balcony”. The significance of this balcony was a bit lost on me but I dutifully took a photo of it and Googled it later.

Apparently I need to see the opera “the Barber of Seville “ to fully understand the importance of the balcony. As it happens I’ve given up opera ever since “The Marriage of Figaro” at the Edinburgh festival last year so I’ll need to resort to reading Pierre Beaumarchais’s comedy on which “The Barber of Seville” is based.

After that it was lunch at El 29 Restaurante. The food was lovely- here’s a sample.

We also had a very nice white wine they served, perfectly chilled. I took a photo of the label,hoping to set my sommelier the task of finding it but as it is made specifically for the restaurant that might prove difficult even for him.

Whilst the meal was nice we did spend more time than anticipated at the restaurant, meaning we had only a fleeting visit to the Plaza De Espana, which left most passengers a bit disappointed

Anyway we were back onboard at 18.00 – when I should have been going to dinner but since I felt like I’d only just had lunch I decided not to bother. I spent the time getting the room ready for the evening bridge session instead.

We left port late evening and headed for Gibraltor. Denis and I have never been, but the mere mention of it as brings a smile to our faces as it reminds us of Denis’ mum who always added an extra syllable to its name.

So Giberaltar here we come