Gibraltar

Hello from a very very wet UK!

I made a little mistake ... after Casablanca ... we set sail for the beautiful city of Cadiz ... but you wont mind if I skip the order and bring you Gibraltar today will you?

Now I warn you that there are a LOT of pictures ... 

Unfortunately as we sailed into port we hit thick fog ... Gibraltar looked very spooky ... like it had been bombed ...

This was all that was visible in the haze

To be honest it was so warm and I was pretty glad that the day was overcast ... it gets so uncomfortable walking around in the heat ... you have to understand we Brits are not used to heat ... It's the 6th July and the temp is about 60℉ 

Though I have been to Gibraltar before ... I had never actually been up the "Rock" so we took a tour bus and first headed up the rock stopping at this lovely Lighthouse

You can still see the mist and even this little guy decided to stay on land

This lighthouse faces a beautiful Mosque which cost £8m

You may be able to see what look like caves in the rock ... there are lots of caves ... but during WW2 Guns were installed in the Rock for defence ... there are also lots of tunnels which housed hundreds of troops ... we took a trip to one of the caves ... St Michael's cave ... where the acoustics are amazing and concerts are held ...

Just look at the amazing stalagmites and stalactites ... there were 69 steps to get out of here .. it is quite dark so I apologise for the poor shots

One of the highest points on the Rock stands the ruins of a Moorish castle or fort ... built in 711 AD ... the Moors occupied Gibraltar for around 710 years

Terrific view!

But by far ... the highlight for me was meeting the famous monkeys that inhabit the Rock

It is said that if these guys ever leave the Rock ... Then Gibraltar must be handed back to Spain ... needless to say they are the best looked after monkeys in the world! With a vet visiting every day

... and the cheekiest ... we laughed at how they pinched tissues and things from the visitors and jumped on unsuspecting people ... this guy was so laid back about it all ... inviting photo opportunities

The females had recently given birth and for the first time ever there was a set of twins born ... Just look at this cutie

Of course there is the shopping

And I love to shop ... That little tote was so handy

Many British shops here ... Marks & Spencer, Next, Peacocks, Bon Marche ... and even  an Apple store

Electrical goods Like most things in Gibraltar are much cheaper than back home ... hence my hubby treated himself to an iPad ... saved around £100

For those who don't want to shop ... there are lots of pubs, bars and historical places to visit ... even a cable car ... and canon's for the boys!

All too soon we returned to the ship ... where the RAF gave us a brilliant air display ... made my husbands day!

Gibraltar is not everyone's cup of tea ... my brother was stationed there for a few years whilst serving in the Royal Navy so maybe I have an affinity to it ... 

You can walk across right into Spain, the weather is lovely, there is no unemployment, no rape, pickpockets, muggings, murders, no illegal immigrants, goods are cheap ... what more could you want?

Have a lovely day ... I hope you enjoyed a little more of my trip

Till soon

~ Ros ~

Shabby/Vintage challenge

There are still a few days left to enter the fun challenges at Papercraft Star ... 

The 4th challenge has been set by the lovely Anitra and she is asking that we

"get our party on ... shabby / vintage style"

My sweet blog friend is celebrating her wedding anniversary today ... and I found out too late to have a card done and sent ... so this was the opportunity to make a card and enter Anitra's challenge ...

two sparkly hearts cut from burlap

Die cut "notes" using images from THATB

The backing paper is also from THATB

Ok, so I know that the card will be late ... but better late than never right?

Got to dash ... Thursday club tonight and I have missed my group so much ...

Have a lovely day / evening

Hugs

~ Ros ~

Casablanca

Day 6 we sailed into Casablanca ... this was to be our longest stay ... a full 14 hours here for those who wanted to take a trip to Rabat (4hr drive each way) ... 

This was the most disappointing stop for three reasons ... firstly this is the port 

Not so pretty huh?

Disappointment number 2... 

We had decided against a 9 hour trip and decided to take the shuttle bus that was supposed to drop us at a hotel ... Having visited Tunisia years ago ... I was apprehensive ... I had a few 'not nice' experiences in Tunisia ...

But we headed for the bus and as soon as we disembarked we were hassled ... We were driven a short distance ... maybe 10 minutes away (not to the hotel due to road works) and told we could walk from here ... Well it was awful ... traffic going everywhere, noisy and dirty and within seconds the bus was surrounded with people trying to take you to their taxis for tours ... I admit I felt scared ... My husband is completely deaf in one ear and doesn't hear much with the other so I worry for him  ... The ships' trip organisers gave us no information or assistance as this was all new to them too ... so I decided not to get off the bus and just head back to the ship ...

And the biggest disappointment was finding out that had we got off the bus ... turned the corner we would have been in the Famous Rick's Cafe!

How gorgeous is this place? They even keep an empty chair especially for Rick

And a sweet guy we met on the ship would have accompanied us as he had visited many times and knew everywhere to go ...

C'est La Vie!

Gibraltar next stop ...

~ Ros ~

July 4th and Lagos

Happy 4th July to all my American friends

I hope you have a wonderful day

I have some more photos to share with you .... lots of photos 

On day 5 we sailed into Portimao in Portugal 

There is a Moorish influence here 

and the chimneys on the houses represent minarets

... when the moors were taken over ... they were asked to abolish their Muslim religion ... some did but many didn't and secretly worshipped in their homes ... the chimneys acting as a mosque of sorts ... now everyone lives in harmony and the chimneys are a feature on most building

(photo credit)

But other chimneys are taken over by storks ...

These huge birds are everywhere about and they say that the young storks must leave their nests by 21st June ... and find their own homes!

We took a bus to the pretty little town of Lagos (pronounced Lar ..gosh) a place we have been to before many years ago ... It has such a pretty harbour and promenade

... A beautiful old church in a sleepy square

But the cobbled square and little cobbled streets are alive with shops and bars

They have such pretty tiles in and on their buildings

and just look at these pretty things 

Take a look inside this shop

It was very hot as we set sail later in the day away 

... Well ... gotta have a Pimms

I hope you enjoyed your visit

Thanks for stopping by

Till soon

~ Ros ~

Hello Doily

Kirsty is our host today at City Crafter Challenge and she has come up with a terrific challenge ... 

Create a project with a doily background ... the doily MUST be either stamped or doily patterned paper NOT a doily

Many moons ago we had a doily swap at City Crafter and my partner in the swap ... the lovely Chriss Blagrave sent me a doily stamp set by Maya Road ... which was just perfect for this challenge!

I inked up a couple of the doilies with Old Paper distress ink ... thing was I hadn't cleaned my stamp properly and there was a trace of black ink still on there ... hence the shaded doilies ... but I love it that way ... a happy mistake!

The beautiful image is a new one from The House Across The Bay ... I think this is my favourite to date

and that cute little vial was from sweet Kirsty

Our Guest Designer this week is Sylvia ... You all know how creative she is ... hop over and take a look at her project and those of the rest of our lovely DT and why not get out your stamps and join us this week ... We'd love to see you

Thanks so much for visiting me today 

Till soon

~ Ros ~

Papercrafts Star Challenges

Hi there ...

Well it still hasn't stopped raining but I managed to catch up with my GF's today for lunch which was lovely ...

I will of course show you more photos of my trip later in the week (thanks for asking) but today I have some cards to share ... 

Papercraft Star are celebrating their 2nd anniversary with some fun challenges ...

Each member of the DT has set a challenge for you ... (except for me ... due to my being away) and having a little time to spare today I have completed 3 of the 4 cards ... 

First up, Jan set a challenge to use embossing ...

Here's my card

I used the TH Postcard embossing folder and a gorgeous image from The House Across The Bay

Then it was Sylvia's turn to set a challenge and she asked that we make a card with a cold summer drink ... 

This is my take on her clever challenge

I drank a lot of these juices whilst I was away ... Again I have used an image from THATB that cute postcard (can you tell I love postcards?) to which I added some text and that picture of the glass came from my Print shop program 

You can just see that I added some glossy accents to the glass to give it that 'juicy' effect

 Jinny's challenge came next and she asked that we use Cardstock and embellishments only 

No patterned paper ... here's my card

I printed text from a digital file by Vinnie Pearce onto my cardstock to start then I used a freebie image from Papercraft Star which I printed twice ... cut out some of the flowers and mounted them onto the original image for some definition

and see those butterflies and buttons ... they are cut from papers from THATB

Fortunately the challenge date has been extended so I will also get to complete the last challenge set by Anitra ...which is Shabby / Vintage ... Which means that you too have plenty of time to enter any or all of the challenges for a chance to win prizes from both the DT and THATB ... we'd love to see you there.

Thanks for stopping by ... I'll be back tomorrow 

Have a lovely Day

~ Ros ~