Today, I woke up in the port of Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
Today, I originally had a full-day tour of the island booked, but once again, when I got back to my room last night, the tour was cancelled. I decided that as I still wasn't feeling brilliant today, I would stay on board the ship. I had done a tour of Palma Mallorca on my last visit, so I didn't think I would miss walking around the town too much. This morning, I was able to collect my passport and Spanish identity card back up from the reception area. I collected them both; it was very easy, but I still question why they took passenger's passports from them.
I didn't feel like eating, but I went down to the Atrium bar for a couple of coffees instead of breakfast. I watched people leaving for their visit to town for a while and then had a walk around the deck, filming Palma from the ship. I decided to find a quiet area of the ship, read my Kindle and sunbathe. I walked up to the top deck and found a quiet area that had no one else there. There was a bar there, so I got myself an alcohol-free cocktail and lay on a deck chair reading my Kindle. It was a lovely, warm day. I was out of the wind, and it got hot. I ordered another drink and continued to read. I began to dose off in the sun and thought I better go back to my cabin for some sleep.
When I got back to my cabin, I took a shower to cool myself off a bit, and when I looked in the mirror, I realised that I had spent too long sitting in the sun; I had gotten very sunburnt. I turned the air conditioning in the cabin down to cool me off and then went to bed for an hour or so. Whether it was just the dehydration or whether I had caught some bug, I don't know but I had felt drained since my trip to Civita de Bagnoregio in Italy.
In the afternoon, I got up and walked down to the piano bar to listen to the pianist for a while. He was pretty good, and I was happy to drink iced peach tea while I listened to him play.
Video from onboard the Costa Diadema whilst in port at Palma Mallorca.
This evening, I met Gail for dinner. I was feeling a bit better and quite hungry after not eating anything else so far today. I ordered creamed cod, flavoured with truffle, for my first course. I received veal, but as I was very hungry, I kept quiet and ate what I had been brought. Gail had ordered the same, and she got the cod dish. I think I got lucky with the veal. It was pretty lovely. For my main course, I ordered veal cheek stewed in Chianti wine and served over mashed potatoes with rosemary and cherry tomatoes. It was delicious and probably the best meal I have eaten onboard the ship. For dessert, I had Swiss chocolate cake served with chocolate and coffee sauce. This was also very nice. It is a shame that I had to wait all week for the only meal that I really enjoyed.
After dinner, Gail and I met Val in the Teadora lounge, and we listened to some of the music from the bar. Once again, I settled for an alcohol-free cocktail. I was feeling a bit better after eating today but was still very tired, and once again, I went back to my cabin quite early. I had to pack my case and have it outside my cabin by 11 pm anyway. When I got back to my cabin, I packed my case and left it outside before climbing into bed and going straight to sleep.