The only full day tour
was to Salamanca in Spain, involving a steep climb out of the Douro valley and
onto the central Spanish plateau. This was the day with the greatest potential
to be extremely hot but fortunately the temperature never rose about 30
degrees, which was more than hot enough for Diva. The last time TSH and Diva
experienced such a high temperature was above the Arctic Circle (see earlier
entry here). Salamanca is a beautiful
old city with many of the buildings constructed from golden sandstone.
One of the 16th
century facades, with World Heritage accreditation, has been recently restored.
The mason decided to get creative, so he added images such as himself eating an
ice cream and an astronaut in a space suit. UNESCO are not happy but the mason
said if they didn’t like it they could re-do it themselves. This is a new level
of Diva-ish behaviour.
Lunch at a hotel
included a flamenco performance which was so authentic that the singers led the
Viking tour group (but not TSH and Diva, who would not admit to knowing the
words) in a rousing chorus of ‘Viva Espana’, followed by ‘Volare’ (isn’t that
Italian?).
Dinner was a barbecue
on deck, involving flies on the food. Not as good as the served dinners.
Fauna spotted: Heron,
black pigs, black bulls, black donkey, white cows, sheep, horses, storks nests
(storks on vacation in Africa), many unidentified birds of prey.
Fauna not spotted:
dragons, dinosaurs.
To tell the truth, they
walked down the steps in Lamego, not up.
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