John started a blog

John has started his own blog to document his adventures in learning to cook Spanish food in the galley of a sailboat. He calls it Cooking in Spain - Voyage of the Solstice. In case you can't remember all that, I've added a link to the right. You can also subscribe to his blog just as you can to this one.

Holiday greetings from Cartagena

Whatever holiday you’re celebrating at this time of year, we wish you a good one and a happy and prosperous new year.

We awoke this morning to rain, as forecast. We’re likely to have rain off and on from now until after Christmas. What really surprised us, though, was to see snow dusting the top of a nearby hill. It was gone again by early afternoon, but today is definitely one of the coldest days we’ve had here. One forecast even predicts that it will freeze overnight. W

The whole town is getting in the holiday spirit. The grocery stores are playing American Christmas music, which I usually don’t even notice until I find a song stuck in my head on the walk home. The streets are decorated, and there are free concerts most days between now and Epiphany, which more or less marks the end of the holidays here. Too bad the weather was so nasty today; we had planned to go to a concert, but it was supposed to be outdoors.

When we went for pizza Wednesday night, John brought the camera and we took a route through the center of town. Each street has different decorations.

Shopping under blue stars (Calle del Carmen)

Little boy fountain with Christmas trees (at Calle de Jabonerías)

Christmas bells (Calle del Duque)

December in Cartagena

We continue to enjoy beautiful weather while the days drift by here. There was rain one day a week or so ago. One day of rain in more than a month. That’s nothing to complain about. We did dig out the electric heater a couple of weeks ago, but we only need it for an hour or so in the morning. After that the sun takes over. After dark we have to wear light jackets to walk the dog.

John has been entertaining himself with the Internet and cooking. I’ve been on the Internet too and reading. Our life is not that exciting, really. Most days we walk to the store, so we do get some exercise. One of these days we’ll get back to work on photo pages for the Web site, and I’ll start writing articles about our summer for our cruising association.

Steve and Barbara on Sidereal Time left Saturday, but were back Saturday night because the furler on their main broke. We don’t know how long they’ll be here waiting for the part they need and then waiting for another weather window. Since their return Barbara has discovered an American/New Zealand boat here, Swanyá, from San Diego. It’s a couple of pontoons away from us, but Märzen and I stopped by to say hello yesterday. We only met Kimberly because her husband was working on a project down below. They’ll be staying for the winter, so we hope to get acquainted.

Wednesdays are pizza night here. Last week Barbara let us know that Domino’s Pizza has a Wednesday special: any medium-sized pizza for €5.95. A beer is just €1.50, so that’s a cheap night out. The four of us went last week, and since they’re back, we’ll go again tonight. Whatever you think of Domino’s, it tastes pretty good here—a long time away from good American pizza. And it’s fun to walk down Calle Mayor (Main Street) after dark. It’s a pedestrian shopping street, and all of the stores are open at night. Christmas decorations are also appearing now. City Hall is all decked out and looks very pretty.

City Hall at night

Calle Mayor

Plaza San Sebastian

Street art along the way

Fountain at Plaza de España

The above photos are borrowed from Google Earth. John hasn’t brought the camera with him at night yet.