Jan 21 Fortaleza
Grey, cloudy and rainy was the story of the day. We weren't scheduled into port until noon. We ate breakfast and an early lunch at the Terrace Cafe, which is outside covered seating. We were driven inside at lunch as the ship turned to enter the port allowing the rain to blow in.
We were near the front of the line when it came time to go ashore. First into a bus to take us to the cruise terminal. Through the terminal, where they handed out hats and bags if you wanted them, and into another shuttle bus that took us to the Mercado Centrale. The Mercado looked like someone had converted a parking garage into a jammed bazaar of small shops, most of them seling leather goods, lace, and t-shirts, with food stalls every hundred feet or so. It was hot, humid, crowded and noisy -- good training for our eventual arrival in India.
We then walked next door to the cathedral, which looked like it could use a good powerwashing. Maybe that's patina and not dirt and mold.
After about 90 minutes walking around we saw the shuttle bus pulling up out front, and decided it was a good time to head back to the ship. These are some pictures along the way. I'm fascinated by the use of the power poles for every kind of wiring. Also a lot of razor wire atop fences in front of buildings.
Bruno is the maitre de of the Italian speciality restaurant on board, as well as a supervisor in the Terrace Cafe at breakfast and lunch. Notice the free hat he's wearing.
Also notice the fine job of parallel parking that the captain did here in Fortaleza.
Technical note: we took old point&shoot cameras with us so we didn't have as much flexibility in picture taking as we normally do. Petty theft, particularly grab&go snatches of things around your neck are common. We didn't want to tempt anybody.
Finally -- this could be the tender that we took back in Belem. It was rough.
Grey, cloudy and rainy was the story of the day. We weren't scheduled into port until noon. We ate breakfast and an early lunch at the Terrace Cafe, which is outside covered seating. We were driven inside at lunch as the ship turned to enter the port allowing the rain to blow in.
We were near the front of the line when it came time to go ashore. First into a bus to take us to the cruise terminal. Through the terminal, where they handed out hats and bags if you wanted them, and into another shuttle bus that took us to the Mercado Centrale. The Mercado looked like someone had converted a parking garage into a jammed bazaar of small shops, most of them seling leather goods, lace, and t-shirts, with food stalls every hundred feet or so. It was hot, humid, crowded and noisy -- good training for our eventual arrival in India.
We then walked next door to the cathedral, which looked like it could use a good powerwashing. Maybe that's patina and not dirt and mold.
After about 90 minutes walking around we saw the shuttle bus pulling up out front, and decided it was a good time to head back to the ship. These are some pictures along the way. I'm fascinated by the use of the power poles for every kind of wiring. Also a lot of razor wire atop fences in front of buildings.
Bruno is the maitre de of the Italian speciality restaurant on board, as well as a supervisor in the Terrace Cafe at breakfast and lunch. Notice the free hat he's wearing.
Technical note: we took old point&shoot cameras with us so we didn't have as much flexibility in picture taking as we normally do. Petty theft, particularly grab&go snatches of things around your neck are common. We didn't want to tempt anybody.
Finally -- this could be the tender that we took back in Belem. It was rough.
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