Went with Spain Day Tours to Santiago de Compostela. Excursion was well organized and on time. First part was a walking tour of the town - spent about 2 1/2 hours on this. The guide was very knowledgeable and did her best to answer questions. From our perspective, though, the walking tour was too long and too detailed. There isn't that much in the town to see. When we went on the walking tour we saw that there were virtually no lines to get into the cathedral, which is the main attraction there. Unfortunately, by the time we completed the walking tour there were long lines and we had to wait about 3/4 hour in the rain before getting in. The walking tours should be modified so you have the opportunity to visit the cathedral when it is the least crowded.

Loved Porto. It's a hot mess of a city but quite unique. Took a Red Line, hop on hop off (HOHO) bus from the port in Leixoes to Porto. Got off in the central square and found our way to several interesting sites. The one I liked the most was the Church of San Francisco ("Church of Gold"). Highlight of our day in Porto was having lunch, with a glass of porto, by the Duoro with lovely views of the river and the Dom Luis bridge. The waterfront area in Porto in the Cais de Ribiera is lovely. A couple of warnings - first, Porto has very steep hills. By getting off at the Aliados Square HOHO stop we managed to walk mostly downhill to different sites, so that worked out well. Also note that the Red Line HOHO can sometimes be a "Blue Line" HOHO, i.e. red bus but with small "blue line" sign in the front window. We took a Red bus from downtown to return to the port thinking it was Red Line bus but it turned out to be a Blue Line bus that took us over to the wrong side of the river. Then later, when we finally got on the right Red Line HOHO, it wound around the central area with several stops before finally heading back to the port. And as it turns out the Red Line HOHO does not go all the way back to the port. At the end you have to get off and then wait for another Red LIne shuttle to take you back to the port. All that to say that the HOHO's can be quite an adventure!

We visited Gibraltar on our own. We walked mid morning from the ship to Casemates Square, then along the main street to the Cable Car. Landed up waiting slightly over an hour for the cable car to the Top of the Rock, which was much better than the horror stories we had heard about waiting times. Views from the Top of the Rock were extraordinary, as you might expect. Walked all the way to O'Hare's Battery, for terrific views from another part of the Rock, then to St Michael's Caves, which are also spectacular and worth seeing. All this involved a lot of walking, with surprising amount of up hill & downhill once we got to the Top of the Rock. In the heat I found that very tiring. We also had a few Barbary Ape encounters. On the way up, near the top, one of the monkeys jumped through the open window of the cable car and created panic. And on the way back I managed to get pick pocketed by one of the apes as I waited in line for the cable car down. They are really cheeky little devils! Before I even knew it, he managed to open my knapsack and steal my camera case.... Luckily the camera case was empty. He played with it for quite a while, opened and closed it and when he could not find any food (or money?) in it, he eventually let me take it back. When we got down, we finished the day with a nice beer at one of the British pubs on the main street - a great way to finish the day. We were happy to visit Gibraltar on our own but another alternative is to take a taxi tour on a minibus from the port. Price drivers were asking for this was 40 Euros. It cost us 22 pounds each to take the cable car and have access to various sites on the Top of the Rock so if you don't like walking a lot the taxi tour could be a better alternative.. .

We were in Ajaccio on a rainy Sunday. Although there was a bustling local food market in the central square, almost all the shops were closed. We took the yellow bus tour of the city (cost 8 Euros), which went out to the Sanguinaire islands. The tour lasts about an hour and gives you a good overview of the city and the area near by.. We were not all that impressed by what we saw - the beaches near Ajaccio are really nothing to write home about and the city itself, other than all the Napoleon-related monuments and sites, isn't particularly nice. It does feel very much like you are in France, however, when you talk to the vendors in the market or go for a baguette and a pain au chocolat in a local bakery. That is a nice experience.

We visited Cartagena on our own using Tom's port guide, which I had downloaded prior to the trip. Cartagena is easy to explore on your own. The most interesting site in my opinion is the Roman museum and Roman theater ruins. You can buy an admission ticket there (if you are over 60 you can ask for a senior rate and save a few Euros) that gives you access to the Roman Museum and theater, the Roman forum and the lift in the city that takes you up to the top of the hill with nice views all around. We found there was not an awful lot to see and do in Cartagena and after a few hours we felt that we had covered everything we had planned to do. The nicest part of the day in Cartagena was the caffe con leche and almond torte on the terrace of a little café overlooking Plaza San Francisco.