I'm not sure that our stop in Horta is blog worthy but given that it's the first time in days that we've seen dry land it's probably worth a pin in the map. It's a clear sign that you're travelling too much when you opt to take a 26 day trans-Atlantic cruise to Europe rather than put up with the miseries involved in flying. To be fair we had a good time on our last, somewhat accidental cruise so we thought we'd jump on one that, in addition to taking us across the ocean, would take us to a number of destinations that would likely be one day stops even if we were traveling without the aid of a floating tour bus.

We had planned on joining the cruise as our Mexican exit but at the other end of the boat ride we (and by "we", I mean me) had labouriously mapped out an elaborate and detailed driving tour of Europe visiting the big hitter castles but while we were in Mexico, we (and by “we”, I mean she-who-must-be-obeyed ) used a veto that we (me again) didn't even know existed so the driving tour was out. DH did make the reasonable argument that she needed to get back to Toronto in order to turn loose the scientific and medical community there in order to determine why she was suddenly falling apart physically.

We couldn't just get off the boat and fly home (and given our not-so-wonderful health care system, she couldn’t get in to see her GP for a few weeks anyway) so we had a look at the flights leaving Venice (the stopping point for the cruise) and the cheapest one would take us to intriguing Dublin. From there, one of the cheaper flights home would stop in Iceland. Both Ireland and Iceland in May seemed like a good idea but somewhat cooler and wetter than our Mexican wardrobe could deal with. We used our short time in Ft Lauderdale (the embarkation port) to race to a nearby mall and buy springtime gear as well as some cloths for the formal nights on the good ship Niew Amsterdam. Sombreros went overboard to make room for the waterproof pants.

The first few days of the cruise were spent surrounded by nothing but Atlantic Ocean and we’re not sure what to think. We are far from seasoned cruisers (and most of our fellow cruisers are) but it does feel like a discounted version of cruises past. We had an enormous fear of the weight gain possibilities but the food on board was universally bad which I suppose is a new and unique form of portion control.

After days at sea, it was nice to see dry land and just about everyone on board abandoned ship for a short stroll on terra firma. Horta is a small town on the island of Faial and sits within the Archipelago of the Azores which belongs to Portugal. For a place on a small island in the middle of nowhere, it’s had a colourful history- founded by the Flemish, populated by the Portuguese, and conquered by the Spanish, British, and Americans, it has always been used as a bit of a rest point for ships and boats crossing the Atlantic. Many yachts doing the crossing stop here and paint a small reminder on the walls surrounding the marina, and it was fun to sort through them looking for Canadians that have made the journey- couldn’t find Indy E so I assume he’s not the sailor he makes himself out to be.

Not to diminish the offerings of this metropolis, but the highlight of our stay here (after 5 days at sea) was the free internet that was available almost everywhere. It’s amazing the stranglehold that Google has on you these days.