Bye John and Tonya and Lynn. We miss you already. Doug, Ngaire, Ken and I took the funicular to the town of Monte. Not too much to see, but the toboggan ride down was a hoot. You have wicker sleighs on wooden skiis and two guys ride the back and control the sled from crashing into things.

Then, we negotiated with a great taxi driver for a tour of the island and went to all of these beautiful lookout points, went to a fishing village, went to the expensive and glamorous Reid's Hotel, and to a winery where we only had 5 and 10 yo Madeira wine to taste.

The weather was glorious ... in the 70's and the sky was so blue. It is a beautiful island very reminiscent of the Almalfi coast. We had a driver who was adorable but spoke a little English and we spoke a little Spanish and somehow communicated during the day.

The ship provides a shuttle to the town and you can walk to the funicular and make it on your own to the Botanical Garden or toboggan. Those who went to the Garden said it was gorgeous, but requires a lot of walking. (I think there was a combo ticket with the botanical garden for $22 Euros) but I don't remember the round trip or one way fares. When I speak to Doug, I'll ask him and post. I really recommend the toboggan. However, you need a taxi when you get to the bottom to take you back to town as it is about 5 km.

This is a port which can be done on your own with either a taxi to see the island or you can just walk around the town or do the funicular and botanical garden on your own.

What is a shame is there are terrible forest fires due to drought on the island and a lot of this very verdant isle is being seriously damaged. The island is volcanic and very mountainous, with many terraced plots on all of the hillsides. It is immaculate and the people are friendly and warm. I enjoyed noticing the straw hats men wear being left outside the bars along with ladies' purses. They are left on the window ledges among the rod iron decorative bars over the windows.

We left about 11 and returned about 4, so this was a full day and could have been longer. But, we hadn't eaten and were starved and a bit tired. We had a block party on our hall,which was loads of fun. We couldn't get over the folks all around us who we had never seen and we had never left the ship!! New folks joined us today and we enjoyed a lovely day and evening before packing it in by midnight.

We arrive in Lanzarote tomorrow about 1 ish and will take our Regent tour at 1:30. Good night to all!