Rab & Lesley's Big Trip

Days 128 to 145 - St Helena to Home

After leaving Namibia our ship was originally scheduled to visit a number of countries that border the west african coast but because of the recent ebola outbreak the route was changed. Days 128 to 130 were spent at sea with nothing of interest

Day 131 - 9th April 2016
St Helena

The island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic was where Napoleon was incarcerated from 1815 until his death in 1821

Some of our party were lucky enough to tour the island in this old charabanc, we sadly were in a 10 seater minibus.

Longwood House - Napoleon's 'prison'

A chandelier in the first hallway - taken before I was firmly told 'No Pictures'

Napoleons original Tomb. His remains were moved in 1840 to Les Invalides in Paris

View from Longwood House

While Napoleon died on the island aged 51, the islands oldest resident came to the island at the tender age 50 in 1882
He is now 184 years old (2016) and believed to be the worlds oldest living land animal.
Meet Jonathan - a Seychelles Giant Tortoise

One famous landmark on the island is 'Lot and his wife'
These 3 pictures were taken within the space of 2 minutes and show the very changeable cloud cover

Jamestown, the major settlement is wedged into a steep valley:
Harbour end

Top end of the valley

Creeping along the bottom of the first picture is Jacob's ladder Here is a better view

The stair leads up from the harbour area of town to the village on the cliff top to the right of town as seen below

Our ship as seen from the cliff top part of town

Day 132 - At Sea
Entertainment on board

The crew entertained us with a 'Greek Night' (captain was Greek)

Day 133 - 11th April 2016
Ascension Island

We arrived at Ascension Island

We had had some problems landing by tender at St Helena and the jetty at Ascension is quite exposed to heavy surf. The ship had been there 6 times before but only landed passengers once.

Captain considering the conditions..

It is now once in seven visits....

Days 132 to 139 - At Sea
Crossing the Equator

On day 134 we crossed the equator and were subjected to the usual ritual of appeasing Neptune

And the punishments for misdemeanors on the cruise

On Facebook one comment was 'What did the fish do?'

Day 140 - 18th April 2016
Casablanca, Morocco

As we approach the city we get our first sight of the El Hassan II mosque in the early morning mist

Almost docked we are greeted by locals as eager to take pictures of us

The El Hassan II Mosque is fairly new built over 7 years and opened in 1993 with the tallest minaret in the world at 210 metres

The main prayer hall which can hold 25000 worshippers

The wash rooms below the prayer hall

We managed a little time elsewhere in Casablanca but nothing to compare with the Mosque
Departure from the port...

Day 141 - 19th April 2016
At Sea

AT LAST ---- Whales!!!

Day 142 - 20th April 2016
Lisbon, Portugal

Only a short time in Lisbon but it is close enough for us to come here for a short break - and we will I am sure
So thinking we'd see the city another time we took a tour up the coast the Cascais and Sintra

Cascais