Food Day Thirteen

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Starter-Creamy Mushrooms

This starter was full of flavour. The texture of the mushrooms were nice as they were not too hard or too soft. The pastry was nice, it was puff pastry which isn't my favourite but it was a mixture of crispy and soggy so I thought it was really nice. the sauce lived up to its name as it was nice and creamy.

8/10

Main-Roasted Duck

The duck was dry again, as I had it at the beginning of the holiday and it was the same. Some parts were moist but on the whole it wasn't, however the crispy skin made up for it. There wasn't much colour on the plate other than the pod peas which made it look not that appealing to eat. The sauce was really nice but there wasn't enough of it and the mushroom risotto was tasteless. 

6/10

Dessert-Ivory Chocolate Mousse

It was a white chocolate mousse and was really tasty. There were a variety of berries on top which went really nicely with the mousse. The portion size was just the right amount.

9/10

This meal was good but the duck let it down quite a bit so I'd give this meal a 7/10. 

Wandering Around Cadiz

Welcome to one of the weirdest weather days I've ever experienced in a foreign country. Is it hot, is it cold? Is it blistering sunshine or overcast cloud? We experienced it all! Cadiz was a beautiful place with a really nice atmosphere that was calm but bustling at the same time. The port was in the perfect place, stepping off the boat straight into the centre, my favourite (less exercise!). The cobbles narrow streets leading to hidden historic statues were beautiful and so cute!

The architecture in Cadiz is stunning. Much like Vigo the buildings remind me of little Paris apartments with the bright colours and balconies, except these were only three or four storeys so they weren't as imposing and made streets and squares nice and light. There was one main church which was central in Cadiz and when you saw it from the boat it looks like the biggest, most imposing building in the world. However, from the ground it is beautiful. It's in the most gorgeous square filled with market stalls (one which sells insanely good churros!).

Our plan for the day was just to walk around and have a little explore which worked out really well as everything was clustered together so we didn't have to walk far to get anywhere. When we went and had our usual little drink at a bar we had a beautiful view of the sea with little bobbing boats and the beach that was full of life. I'd love to go back and maybe stay for a few days as I think it would be a really nice place to relax, have a browse of the markets and spend a little time on the beach. I seriously loved this place and would definitely go back.

Mallorca Majorca

Day numero seveno! The Mallorca (or Majorca, I don't know what the 'correct' spelling is) port was one of the most stunning views out of all of the destinations. It was like a little bay with some typical spanish buildings on the shore and the most beautiful historical church as you look on the horizon. One problem with this stunning panoramic view of the city of Palma de Mallorca is that we could see this amazing church, and how far away it was from the boat, and how far we were going to have to walk to get to it. Yes, walk...fun times.

I'm not huge on exercise, in fact I hate it very much, so walking to what seemed to be 20 miles around a bay was not my idea of holiday fun but hey ho! What made it worse was it was THE HOTTEST DAY EVER.....EVER! When it came down to it the walk went past the harbour and was very scenic, it was just the heat that made it harder. When we got to the cathedral it was totally worth the walk, it was stunning. The detail in the architecture was gorgeous and I liked how even the surrounding lake and trees all complemented and made it a lovely area to have a wander.

When we docked in Mallorca it was a Sunday and I'd love to go back another day as pretty much everything was closed which was a bummer. The buildings were very historic, quite old and a terracotta colour which I really liked as they were different from the other types of architecture in the other ports. We had a drink in two different bars, as although not many shops were open most of the bars were, and they were in cute little backstreets in the shade and had a nice relaxing atmosphere. In fact I think the atmosphere of the whole place was laid back. We didn't do a whole lot in Palma so I'd like to do a little more if I went back but I had a really nice visit. (Sorry about the lack of variety in the pictures, oopsie!)

Barcelona By Bus

It's time. The moment you've all been waiting for, or at least I was in the destination line up....BARCELONA!!! I think that this was the place I was most excited to visit. I had been here before on another cruise but that was about six years ago and we only really got to see the football stadium (yay...) and a little bit of las ramblas, los rambles, whatever it's called.

As with Valencia, Royal Caribbean put on their own transport to get you from the boat to the port entrance but don't get it! The port themselves have their own bus and it's half the price of the other bus (€3 return, €2 single), plus they're really frequent.

We decided on getting the open top bus around the city as it's a great way to see everything in a relatively short amount of time. My main wish for the day was to see the Gaudi park and to do that we had to get two different coloured bus routes which was a bit of a pain but it did mean that we got to see different areas of the city like the gothic area where the stunning church is and the olympic area which was also pretty cool.

Park Guell was absolutely my favourite bit as the sun came out and everything was so beautiful and there were cute little parrots and arggg!!!! If you're in Barcelona I'd definitely recommend going to a any of the little bars and cafes off Las Ramblas (and there are plenty to choose from) because they are much cheaper than off the actual strip but are so cute! I had such an amazingly delicious cheesecake and churros, oh the churros. I also had my very first Kiko experience in these backstreets which was amazing and I may have gotten more excited than I should have...oops. To finish I'll leave you with all of these pictures, have fun scrolling!

Food Day Five

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Starter-Smoked Salmon Capriccio

Everything was in proportion and all of the components (the lettuce, salmon, onion and capers) went really well together. The caper dressing was really nice and the portion was just the right size so I really enjoyed it. But at the end of the day it was just smoked salmon and some other bits so it wasn't overly memorable.

8/10

Main-Pan Fried Tilapia 

I was quite disappointed with this dish. I thought that the fish tasted of soil and the potatoes were too hard. The pea pods were a little too bitter and crunchy but the meal was slightly redeemed by the saffron sauce that was fragrant and tasty. 

5/10

Dessert-White Chocolate Cheesecake

There are no words to describe how good this cheesecake was. None. It was the best pudding so far by far. It was a proper cheesecake filling that was creamy and beautiful with a nice hint of lemon. What made it even better was that the was a gorgeous pastry bottom. It was perfection and the best cheesecake I've ever had. 

10/10

Overall, the starter and the main of this meal were okay but the cheesecake just mad sit one hundred times better so I think that the meal was 7/10 overall.

Holiday Fun Times!

After two weeks of sunning myself at sea, I'm back to the worst possible weather. Yippee. But I don't really care because I've had one of the best two weeks ever! I mean, what's better than sitting in the sun with a really good book and stuffing your face with free food? Nothing.

I went on the Royal Caribbean ship The Independence of the Seas. I've been on one other Royal Caribbean ship before. Last year I went on Adventure on the Seas, which is one class down from the Independence, and was amazing at the time, but it was so small in comparison to this one! I'm not even joking, it was like a small town. No joke.

Here are some 'ship stats' to show the mahoosive size:
Gross tonnage-160,000
Length-1112ft
Inside cabins-733
Outside cabins-1,084
Passenger capacity-4,375
Crew-4,375

For the next few weeks I'll be posting every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday all about my holiday antics! That should keep me busy until I go back to uni!