Faces in the places

Finally as we found convenient internet cafes in our ports of call the time came to talk about the itinerary we are on.
Hope the map below will help you visualize our route: 

To give you a teaser of the ports we decided to start with collages representing each of them. As we get to explore the ports and know them better we will post more details about each of them.
But for starters we will not show you any major tourist attractions, just the people and the street life. In other words it will be Barcelona without Gaudi, Malaga without Alcazaba… Well, hope you get the idea. Shall we start?

The cruises last 9 days starting from Barcelona, Spain.

Norwegian Jade docked alongside in port of Barcelona

Caption: Streets of Barcelona: people feeding doves, sitting by the fountains or promenading in the parks 

After two days at sea we arrive to our first port of call: Funchal, Madeira. This is the only non-Spanish port as the island of Madeira belongs to Portugal. It is a beautiful green island with climate so mild that both bananas and potatoes can grow here. The streets look very festive as doors and windows are decorated by dark granite against the white walls. Streets are paved with small black and white stones that form floral or geometric ornaments – different for every street!

The next 2 days we stay in Canaries Islands. First we call to the island of Tenerife – the biggest island of archipelago (for some reason the first Spanish settlers did not think so and another island was called Gran Canaria). The capital – Santa Cruz de Tenerife – is a busy cruise and cargo port. But we found peace and quiet in San Cristobal de la Laguna (or simply La Laguna) – the former capital that still preserved the old city charm.

La Laguna street workers – some beg, some make bubbles

Our 3rd port – and 2nd in Canaries islands – is volcanic island of Lanzarote. The islands main attractions are “lunar landscape” and other traces of volcanic activities and its capital Arrecife does not have any remarkably beautiful monuments. Yet we love its quaint peaceful streets.

The last stop on the way back to Barcelona is Malaga.

Hm... Looks like Alcazaba still managed to make its way in the picture...