Thursday, December 18, 2014 - Durban, South Africa

We awoke at 7 to a beautiful morning with a cloudless sky.  It is good to see that the storm clouds are gone now.  We’ve been lucky on this trip with only 2 overcast or semi-rainy days.  The waters in the Durban harbor are so blue.  Durban is a huge city and it has the largest port in South Africa. 

Unfortunately this morning, I still have laryngitis!

We had a light breakfast and then went to exchange our tickets for the Durban City Tour.  We drove along the waterfront and through downtown.  We spent 45 minutes at the Victoria City Market.  The tables of spices were wonderful.  I wanted to buy some but Tim nixed the idea.  We left the group and roamed around out on the streets and ended up in the fish market – interesting.

The large soccer stadium in Durban, South Africa

An interesting gazebo near the waterfront

A statue along the waterfront

The busy main street along the waterfront - a mixture of old and new architecture

A large statue at City Hall

City Hall in Durban, South Africa

The spice market - we watched him make a mixture for a customer - fascinating

Various spices and things laid out at the spice market

Sheep heads at the butcher market

The Victoria Street Market

We then went to the Botanical Gardens which were beautifully kept.  There were beautiful flowers in bloom, large trees and ponds with lotus and water lilies.  We had a peaceful, although a bit warm walk through the gardens.

Beautiful botanical garden in Durban

Bird houses built on the tops of the tree branches

Beautiful water plants

Lots of flowering water plants in the small pond

Interesting light posts with figurines

Beautiful flowering lotus

Fully opened

Beautiful trees

Our guide was quite the botanist and knew all about the plants

Well manicured lawn areas

Beautiful private gardens

Flowering shrubs

An inside garden with fern and other tropical plants

Flowering plants of all types

Orchids too

A sculpture made from an old tree trunk

The bark on this tree was interesting

Another sculpture from a tree trunk

Shark and other sea creatures

The cannonball tree

Then we went to a lookout point for pictures of the city and harbor.  Then to the large Soccer Stadium that holds 80,000.  They have a cable car that will take people to the top of the stadium for a lookout point.

Panoramic view of Durban from the lookout point on the hill

The soccer stadium in the distance near the harbor

Downtown Durban

THey have a funicular that takes people to the top of the stadium

Another view of the modern "football" (soccer) stadium

Colorful shops along the waterfront

Then we drove along the huge, beautifully-developed waterfront.  It was packed with people.  Yesterday was a national holiday and our guide, Irene, thought many people had taken off today as well.

We ended up back at the ship a little after 1 and had lunch by the pool.  Then we went to take the shuttle back into town to roam around on our own.  We found out that we had just missed the shuttle so we took a taxi instead.  We walked to North Beach and then back to Central and South Beach.  The beaches were mobbed but most of the people in the water were all crowded together – safety in numbers, I guess. 

We walked along the waterfront - the beach was packed with people

 

From the pier looking toward downtown Durban

 

The Voyager docked in Durban, South Africa

 

Beautiful well maintained beach

 

The beaches were packed and the people were in large groups in the water

 

Large groups of people in the water enjoying the waves

 

There was a large swimming pool and I couldn't believe how many people were in it all at once

 

Packed beaches

We got to a mall on the beach and walked through it.  I stopped at a pharmacy and got spray for my throat.  Tim went into a dive shop but didn’t like the t-shirts.  We got the ship’s shuttle bus back to the ship and went to the bar for a pina colada with a Malibu floater – it was so good.

We returned to the cabin for a short nap and then went to sail-away at 5 pm with our champagne.  We went to the Brit’s lecture at 6 pm on the Titanic (a strange topic for a cruise ship).  We went for a quick drink at 7 and then to dinner in Compass Rose.  We dined by ourselves since I can’t talk still.  The cast is running the other way when they see me as they don’t want to get laryngitis.

One of the bar waiters made me a “hot toddy” that soothed my throat and our waiter gave me ginger.  We rested in the cabin for a while and then went to hear Elaine from Scotland.  A great performance for sure and “The Prayer” with David was spectacular.

We went to bed since both of us are under the weather.