Portugal, Spain and Morocco – April 2025

We left home at 11:15am and 39 hours later arrived at our hotel in Porto. The service, food quality and beverages on QATAR airlines was fantastic and somehow the time passed and we arrived in reasonable shape.

After a stroll around the centre of Porto, we had a quick pizza and went to bed – asleep by 8:30. The Intercontinental hotel is old but fully renovated inside and our room is outstanding – pity we are only here for one night.

After breakfast, we went for a stroll and took in the railway station with its blue and white tiled walls which we recalled from our previous visit.

We then found our way to a beautiful undercover food market which had everything imaginable from meat, fish, confectionery, spices, etc.

We continued through the old historic part of town which is very hilly so took it slow. There were plenty of buskers providing entertainment and many cafes, bars and souvenier shops as per most places these days.

At 2pm we were picked up from our hotel and transported to our ship – Scenic Azure – where we met our fellow travellers, most of whom seem to be Aussies.

After a relaxing afternoon with a drink or 3, we had dinner and were in bed by 9pm.

After breakfast we joined a tour which included a visit to the Palacio da Bolsa, also known as Associacao Comercial Do Porto, built in 1842. The building has filled many roles over the years but is now a museum.

We set sail at 4:30 this afternoon and soon came to the first lock. The ship is a very snug fit – about 50 cm clearance on each side and just a couple of metres each end.
Quite a feat of navigation.
Even though it was the 2nd night of the cruise, we had the welcome dinner tonight with champagne, canapes etc and a beautifully presented meal.
After that, it was off to bed early again.

Last night was a better sleeping night as we adjust to the time change but, unfortunately, we have woken to rain this morning. Also the forecast max is 17 deg which is a big drop from the high 20’s we have had for the first 2 days.

After breakfast, we boarded a coach and took a 1 hour drive to the beautiful city of Guimaraes. The rain did not really develop and was little more than a mist so did not spoil the scenery en route which was predominantly farmland with many small vineyards.

At Guimaraes, we visited Ducal Palace which is a 17th century fortification with well preserved rooms.

A popular wine in this region is called Green Wine”. It is a very pleasant white wine with a hint of spritz – very refreshing with lunch (or anytime).

On our return to the ship around 1pm, we set sail for Lamego, passing through another lock.

I joined a tour of the Douro Museum at Regua which is very near to Lamego where we have spent the night. This museum tells the story of the development of wine in the region, dating back to the Romans.

It was fascinating and particularly interesting to know about the Phylloxera epidemic that attacks the roots and literally wiped out the vineyards in the 19th century.
To overcome this, they took American rootstock (which was resistant to the phylloxera, and grafted the new vines onto that rootstock. This, of course, meant that this had to be done by hand to each of the hundreds of thousands of vines that were subsequently planted.

Now the region flourishes and produces a wide variety of very pleasant wines and, of course, port. We were able to taste a 20 year old Tawny Port which was very nice indeed.

Reccua is the name the Romans gave to the area, now known as Regua

Today is our wedding anniversary and we are having a lazy morning. We had a slow breakfast, highlighted by a glass of Moet (why not?).

We skipped the morning tour and caught up on some reading (me) and knitting (Jen). The weather was mild with no wind so I was able to sit on the top deck and enjoy the view.
After lunch, we joined the afternoon tour to the town of Lamego, about 30 mins by coach up into steep mountains where the vineyards are virtually non-stop with new terraces being constructed everywhere.

It is an ideal area with a great micro climate created by the very high mountains that completely surround the area.
On arrival in Lamego, we visited the cathedral and it started to rain while we were standing around listening to our guide. As soon as we moved inside, the rain stopped. The cathedral was quite beautiful and had one unique (I think) feature, being a life size statue of the Virgin Mary openly breastfeeding the baby Jesus.

We then, most of us, walked down some 500+ steps (others took the bus) to a wine bar where we were served the local champagne which was excellent and a platter of meats and cheese. Then we walked down to the town and wandered around for a while before returning to the ship.

On our return to the ship, we set sail and passed through another lock then docked at a small village for the night. This evening, we dined with 8 others at Table D’Or where they served a 6 course degustation with matching wines. It was fantastic.

Sunday was a slow easy day with no excursions and we cruised further up the river, passing through a couple more locks. The weather was perfect, albeit chilly in the morning, but when the sun came out, the temperature went up to about 22 or 23 degrees with no wind so we were able to really enjoy it on deck watching the beautiful scenery. It is extraordinary how they are able to manage so many vineyards built on the side of such steep mountains.

At one point, we passed under a very low bridge and so the top deck had to be cleared of the higher objects and we were told to remain seated. As it passed my head, I could reach up and touch it.

Around mid-afternoon, there was a cheese and wine tasting with 5 local cheeses and a white and a red wine, both exceptionally good. There were also a selection of cured meats including their version of blood pudding – we gave that one a miss.

That evening, after dinner, we were treated to 3 flamenco dancers showing their stuff. It was good, maybe not great, but whet our appetite for the flamenco class we will receive on our Insight tour.

We stopped for the night at Vega de Terron, which is right on the Spanish border. In fact, for the last part of the cruise tomorrow, the border follows the river with Spain on one shore and Portugal on the other.

Today, the majority of the group went on a full day tour of Salamanca which is nearly 2 hours drive from the ship.
We opted for a half day tour to a quaint little village in the middle of nowhere called Freixo de Espada a Cinta where they make silk. We were shown the process and it was obvious that it is extremely labour intensive and would not be commercially viable without Government assistance.
It was fascinating to watch the painstakingly slow process of wetting and drying the fibre to strengthen it and then the meticulous attention to detail in weaving and sewing it.

Back on the bus we were driven a short distance to a local farm producing olives, almonds, walnuts, wine (including home-made grappa and port). We thought it was to be for a quick snack but there were tables laid out with the farm produce including cake, bread, olives, jams, cured meat and, of course, local wine, grappa, etc.
We couldn’t believe it and had more than enough to skip lunch on our return. Unlike yesterday, it was quite cold today, around 14 degrees and we are told to expect 10 degrees tomorrow. So, it is not just Melbourne that has widely fluctuating temperatures in the Springtime.

When we returned to the ship, Jenni had a snooze and I went for a walk with a guide into the local township. It was quite a trek, including crossing over an old railway bridge and managing a lot of stairs but the walk along the river itself was very easy and interesting.

Around dinner time last night we travelled on to Pocinho, passing through the final lock. Beyond this lock there is only a couple of kms of navigable river before the river rises very steeply through a series of hydroelectric dams.

Next morning, we visited another quaint village up in the hills called Cao and spent time at the Cao Valley Museum which is dedicated to paleolithic rock carvings, dating back around 20,000 years. There are reproductions throughout the museum enabling visitors to not only see what the carvings look like but to be shown what they represent.

Down this tapering slope is the entrance to the museum which is built into the side of the hill and made to be as visually unobtrusive as possible.

An example of the many reproductions in the museum.

On our return to the ship, we had a portugese bbq lunch which, unfortunately, had to be held in the dining room as it was too cold outside to use the top deck. The food was great and it didn’t matter but it seems we are in for quite a cold spell and may not be spending as much time on deck as we would like. The views from the windows are nearly as good though and it is very relaxing just watching such beautiful scenery pass by. We have now started the return journey to Porto.

We arrived at Pinhao around 5pm and will stay here 2 nights before returning on Thursday to Porto. The Pinhao Valley is the western end of the wine growing region and arguably the most scenic although the whole region is fantastic.

The weather has taken a turn for the worse with reports of snow in the mountains and temperatures plunging – we didn’t come prepared for this.

Tonight we dined in Portabellos, the other specialty restaurant on board, and were treated to a typically Portugese meal.

The wine pairing was also superb and we are very impressed with the quality and selection of Portugese wines. I think we have enjoyed the wines on this cruise more than any other.

The weather forecast for today was very cold and wet. We put on an extra layer and headed off for a drive that took us 600 metres above sea level to the village of Provesende, high in the hills of the Pinhao Valley region where the views are normally spectacular but we were shrouded in mist and drizzly cold rain. The tour of the town lost all of its gloss as we were hurrying from one shelter to another but we did get to taste the local white port and fresh baked bread from an ancient wood fired oven.

On the return journey, the skies started to clear and we were able to get some appreciation.

Later that day, I went on a shorter trip to a local vineyard which produces top quality Port Wines

We had a taste of 2 examples, one a rose port which would be drunk as an aperitif, rather than after a meal and the other was a typical reserve tawny port – both very nice indeed.

Dinner tonight was the Gala Farewell dinner, even though we still have 2 full days to go and it was, again, very memorable. At the conclusion, the tour director, a very capable young lady, Maria, brought all of the ship’s employees out and introduced them individually, explaining their role and their history with the ship. It was very well done and better than we have ever experienced before. It is a great crew, who work so well together and help to make the cruise so enjoyable.

This was followed by a singing, dancing performance from some of the staff, in which we were told to have low expectations but, in fact, was very good and particularly entertaining.

Today we said farewell to the wine region and headed back to Porto arriving late afternoon. It was a lazy day on board and again, unfortunately, the weather was cold and wet so we were unable to sit outdoors.

Back in Porto, we badly needed a walk so headed out along the waterfront. It was cool but quite pleasant and we managed to spend a few euro on souveniers. Then it was back to the ship to get ready for an early dinner.

Tonight we dined early and then walked from the ship to St Francis church for a live Classical Music Concert which was stunning. Ther were 3 violinists and a cellist, then a soprano and a baritone who each did solos but finished singing together. They received a standing ovation. The acoustics in the church were perfect and, although we were not permitted to take photos, the plaque shown below gives some idea

We awoke this morning to what promised to be a terrible day – cold, windy and raining. Our tour, which we nearly cancelled, was to Cockburns Port Cellar. It turned out to be a wonderful experience, helped by it being entirely indoors, except for a brief walk from the bus in the rain. The young man who conducted the tour was very knowlegable and able to impart that knowledge clearly. I have never seen so many wine barrels. There were 7000 tawny port barrels and several hundred of the much larger barrels used for ruby port. Some of these held 150,000 litres. The tour ended with a tasting of 2 selected ports, both of which were very nice. The rain stopped and there have only been brief showers for the rest of the day.

The last photo, above, was taken in the family wine cellar where samples of every vintage are kept. Every few years, each bottle is opened, tested and recorked. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of them.

Tonight it was farewell to the friends we made on the trip and so ended one of the best cruises we have ever done.

This morning we were up at 4:30am to catch our flight to Madrid. We had the ignominious task of queuing in the economy line at the airport for about 30 mins to check our luggage and get our boarding passes. Then another long queue at the boarding gate. Eventually we were on board, wondering why we didn’t go by train or car. We took off on time at 8:15am and arrived in Madrid an hour later at around 10:30am (due to the time difference). Then we waited an hour for our bags to arrive – apparently normal in Madrid.

We were met by the Insight representative and transferred to our hotel in central Madrid for the night. Tonight is a welcome dinner and then, tomorrow morning, we start our Insight tour.

Dinner was at a local restaurant where we had several small typically Spanish dishes, then back to the hotel and bed for a much needed sleep.

After a guided city tour on the bus, we stopped at Prado Museum which has some 1700 paintings by famous Italian and Spanish painters. Our guide introduced us to several of them and explained in great detail (too much) what the paintings represented. Photos were not allowed.

Back on the bus, we drove to the ancient city of Avila, a walled city dating back to the 5th Century based on archaelogical evidence of the original wall. The main wall dates to the middle ages has a perimeter of 2516 metres with 87 turrets, 9 gates and 2500 Merlons. The wall is the best conserved example of its type in the world.
We explored the city for an hour or so grabbing a quick lunch and then headed for Salamanca, arriving at around 5:00pm.

We walked as a group to Salamanca Square which has some resemblance to St Mark’s Square in Venice – very large, packed with people and surrounded by shops and restaurants. We had a few drinks and tapas in one of these and then strolled around, before returning to our hotel.

Today was a bit disappointing as we spent most of it driving (about 8 hours) in overcast and often raining conditions. We stopped at Fatima to see the Basilica but, by this time, the rain was really heavy and it was too far to walk so we took a distance photo and sought shelter for lunch. After about 1 and 1/2 hours, we were back on the bus for the rest of the journey.

We arrived in Lisbon for a 2 night stay. After check-in we did some hand washing and then headed out for a seafood dinner by the Tagus River. On the way, we observed a 17th century aqueduct built in 1615 in the same style as the romans built. Also we crossed over the “Golden Gate” bridge which is a genuine copy of the one in San Francisco. From the bridge we could observe the copy of Rio de Janeiro’s Christ the Redeemer.

The restaurant was crowded and obviously very popular but we didn’t think the food was up to expectations, even though we had prawns, mussels, clams, crab and many other dishes (too many). The beer and wine were good and we came away satisfied but not what we have come to expect.

We did a quick drive around the town centre observing several statues and other landmarks, then headed to the historic Belem Quarter, once the departure point for explorers of the New World. A huge marble plaque on the ground showed a 2 dimensional “globe” of the world and displayed the various routes by those early explorers.

The statue depicts the role played by the early explorers and others.

From there, we moved on to the National Coach Museum which holds one of the world’s most remarkable collections of opulent horse-drawn carriages dating back to the 17th Century.

From there, we moved on to the Portugese Riviera where we had lunch at a beautiful seaside town of Cascais.

This is actually flat but made us feel a bit seasick walking along it.

We rounded of a big day with a visit to the Palacio Nacional de Queluz, which is Spain’s “copy” of the Palace of Versaille.
It is very beautiful throughout and another display of monarchial opulence.

Today was another long drive from Lisbon to Seville. Most of the trip was through farmland and wilderness which was pretty but unremarkable so it seemed endless. One impression though was the hundreds of thousands of solar panels – we have never seen anything quite as vast as this before.
We did a walking tour of Seville on arrival and visited the cathedral which is a combined mosque/catholic cathedral and quite stunning. It is also the final resting place of Christopher Columbus. We continued on through the labrynthine jewish quarter where we were able to look back on the iconic La Giralda,the former minaret turned cathedral bell tower.

This evening we had an “Andalusian evening & the atmosphere of Old Seville”. It was a short drive to the restaurant which certainly provided the atmosphere with a guitarist who played some excellent music and even managed to get a couple of people up dancing the macarena. Unfortunately, both the food and the wine fell way short of expectations

We decided to skip the tour to Cordoba and have a more relaxed start to the day (read as sleep in). We eventually commenced an easy walk around the downtown area following a map and although we took a few wrong turns, managed to see a great deal. The day got quite hot (30+) and so we returned rather weary.

After more recovery time, we were taken as a group, to the Christina Heeren Foundation, a flamenco dance school, where we were taught the basics of flamenco – ha ha! We discovered how uncoordinated we have become and how difficult it is to do. The performers make it look so easy and we would have loved to have been taught about 60 years ago but we could only laugh at how silly we looked. Our teacher was a lovely 18 year old girl who showed wonderful patience with us.

The included flamenco stage performance was very high energy and exiting but somewhat marred by excessive vocal performances in Spanish which were painful. Photos were not permitted.

To round off the free evening, Jenni and I set off together to have paella. We knew roughly where to go and found a very nice little restaurant with outdoor seating under Orange trees. The paella was fantastic, as was the white wine.

Another early start today began the very long journey to Fes, including the ferry crossing to Tangier. These long days on the coach are a real test of our joints. Of course, the scenery is wonderful, not having been there before, but the joints can only take so much. The ferry crossing was very smooth but the immigration process was abysmal.

Once we were back on the bus, we settled in for the next 6 hours to Fes, not expecting much along the way. Boy, were we surprised at how lush the countryside is and how the road climbed high up into mountains, where vast areas were covered with orchards and crops of everything imaginable, particular avocado, strawberries, oranges, lemons, olives – perhaps to be expected in the Mediterranean but not what we had envisioned for Morocco.
No sign of any deserts which would no doubt begin on the other side of the mountains to the east.
We were gob-smacked as was everyone else on board.

Fes is a huge city and was the first capital of Morocco, followed a few centuries later by Marrakesh, until the French changed it to Rabat in 1912. It is predominantly Muslim but has a large Jewish community existing in harmony with the muslims.
The king decreed that it be so and his word is law. He has several palaces he owns around the country but the biggest is in Fez and is actually owned by the city where it is maintained and protected 24/7 even though he only visits maybe twice a year. It occupies 80 acres in the middle of the city and includes a 9 hole golf course.

Our hotel.

On sat morning we visited the Medina (old city) just a few kms from our hotel where thousands of people still live and work in the same way as centuries past. It was a veritable rabbit warren and without a guide we would have been completely lost. It was very hilly and we walked for a couple of hours so were rather weary.

The Palace Gates

We stopped at a carpet place and were told how the carpets are all hand made and how long they take, all stuff we have heard before in Turkey and Jordan. The carpets were magnificent but no way were we to be tempted.
We also visited the tannery which is UNESCO heritage listed and the tanning process is still the same as it has been for centuries. The smell was horrible but we had mint leaves to hold in front of our noses to help. The leather goods on display were impressive but……

In the afternoon we drove about 45 mins to Bhalil, located in the Atlas mountains, where we visited a cave house owned in perpetuity by a family (ie can never be sold and must be passed down via the eldest son). The cave (and others like it) were naturally formed millions of years ago. Homes were built above them and the caves used to be used to house animals but now are painted and preserved as rooms.
This was followed by a visit to a ceramic maker. The workmanship was impressive as was the price of the goods.

Each of these buttons was hand- sewn by this Lady. She produced each part in about 1 minute.

Dinner was at a local restaurant where we were treated to music, belly dancers, weird musicians that just made a lot of noise with “unusual” instruments, and 2 young girls put on a remarkable gymnastics act in a very confined area.

Drove west through rolling countryside until we were within sight of the Atlantic ocean, then south thru the outskirts of Cassablanca. As we continued south, the land became more desert like and in line with our preconceived idea.
On arrival at the Movenpick Hotel in Marrakech (boy, what a palace), we had a short rest and, while Jen had 40 winks, I had my first Casablanca Beer in the shade at the vast swimming pool. I could have happily stayed there but we had our Marrakesh by Night tour and dinner and did not want to miss it.
The market square is beyond description with thousands of people filling the vast area it occupies with everything you can imagine to be found. We had a somewhat guided walk through for about half an hour and arrived at our restaurant for the evening. Again, we had a typical Moroccan many course meal which was good and, again, were entertained for the hour or so that we were there. Some of the acts were quite good; others not. There was a lot of induced audience participation.

On Monday morning, we set of at 8:00am to the Ourika Valley in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains, which still had some snow on the caps. The scenery was fabulous and we were able to visit an ancient Berber home built into the hillside and still occupied by a Berber family living the same as centuries ago. The floors were bare rough concrete or dirt and the furniture and utensils very basic. Nevertheless, the views from the balconies on 3 levels were stunning. We were treated to home-made breads and mint green tea prepared the traditional way. It was a bit like the Japanese tea ceremony with the number of steps involved to ensure the best taste sensation.

We returned to Marrakesh and visited the Bahia Palace, initially created in the 19th century and which was the residence of the Prime Minister and his family. It has 152 rooms and included its own school for his children and other kids from the locality were invited to learn with them. He named it after his favorite 3rd wife. From there, we visited a “natural medicine” establishment and were told of the amazing properties of their range of products, mostly using a natural product called Argane, which is extracted from the kernel of Argane seeds.
Moving right along, we again visited the square which was nearly as busy in the day time as it was the night before.

We looked for mementos for a while but tiredness dictated the need to return to the hotel for a rest.

A later start (9:30am) on Tuesday morning found us more refreshed and ready for the journey to Casablanca. Guess what movie they played for us on the bus?
It was a pretty drive and we eventually reached the ocean after about 4 hours. We stopped at the Corniche, a seaside area with restaurants, swimming, fishing – all of the usual things you would expect to find. We were given 90 mins to have lunch, go for walk or whatever. An hour would have been plenty but we got some much needed exercise. My shoulders and hips have been giving me hell for the entire trip and nothing seems to help, but sitting for hours is the worst.
Next was a drive around the town to view the mosque and Moroccos first McDonalds – big deal. Another brief stop in town to “buy souvenirs”, then finally to the hotel – yet another with massive rooms.

Another relaxed start at 9:30 this morning with only a 1 hour drive to Rabat, the nation’s capital. The drive was flat and not particularly interesting but when we reached the outskirts of Rabat, we avoided the city centre and detoured around the coast road.

This is another city of contradictions with the extreme (make that excessive) opulence of the King’s palace(s) and the mansions of the wealthy versus the relative squallor for the many citizens living in the Medina (old town). The king has at least 9 palaces around the country, all of which occupy many hectares of land and have to be maintained and guarded 24/7 in case he decides to visit. There are living quarters in the palace grounds for the people who do all of this maintenance. We were allowed to drive slowly (no stopping) through the main one in Rabat.

Next we visited the Hassan mosque which was originally the largest in the world, built in the 12th century and destroyed by an earthquake in the 17th. Rather than rebuilding, the king at the time decreed that all of the funds were needed to fight the Ottomans who were working their way west. So it remains to this day a ruin.

More recently, a mausoleum for Mohammad V was built on one end of the site and is protected by soldiers on horseback

After lunch, we headed for Tangier, a quite spectacular city with high cliffs overlooking the Meditteranean. Our hotel was a very old set of buildings with a beautiful view from its terrace. The rooms were ok but had the worst pillows we have ever encountered. Dinner was at the hotel and, although the dining room and the staff looked good, the food was average at best. Breakfast was no better.

We next headed for the Costa Del Sol via ferry and Gibraltar for what turned into one of the best days of the trip. The ferry ride was mostly smooth and the only issue was the tedious immigration and customs process. The drive to Gibraltar was scenic and the rock, itself, was astonishing, even though we have seen it on TV so many times. The top was covered in cloud so we did not get a sight of it at it’s best but it was still impressive. We transferred to smaller shuttle buses, after clearing customs and immigration again, and drove to just about the highest point and entered what we thought was just one of the dozens of tunnels to find we were in St Michael’s Cave, a spectacular limestone cave with an auditorium where fantastic music was playing and reverberating through the cave. It was simply brilliant. There is about 55 km of caves and about 45 km of roads. The tunnels were mostly built between 1935 and 1945. We were not able to go into any of the tunnels.

There is also a colony of monkeys living on the “rock”, brought over from Morocco and happily breeding.
We had fish and chips for a late lunch and then pressed on to the beautiful Costa Del Sol. We had booked to go for a mediterranean seafood dinner which was at a lovely restaurant right on the beachfront. We had the most magnificent meal which came in several small courses, each one seemingly better than the last.
It started with a green salad and a capsicum salad, then there was pippies, white bait, prawns, calamari and grouper bites, served one after the other. By the time we managed all of that, we were almost too full for the main. The fish was sea bass, a large one roasted for a couple of hours in rock salt.
I had previously opted for the paella which was also fantastic and I couldn’t finish it. The finale was 3 flavours of ice cream. We just about waddled out of the place. This meal was an order of magnitude better than any other on the Insight tour and only the cruise meals came close.

This morning we chose not to do the tour to Malaga and enjoy a much needed rest. After a late breakfast, we strolled along the beach but found the sand (or more accurately the gravel) a bit uncomfortable to walk on for very long. Anyway we walked in the water so can say we were in the Mediterranean. We continued along the footpath looking into restaurant after restaurant and shops of every variety. It was very pleasant.

We chose to have a late lunch, skip dinner, and meet others at the Terrace Bar at around 8:00pm

This photo taken from the rooftop bar at about 9pm.

Today was a lot of fun, beginning in a small town called Colmenar, about 45 mins into the drive. We went into a cafe/restaurant, ostensibly to use the toilet,and were offered free coffee laced with either brandy or Bailey’s. This seemed to be to relax us for the steep winding drive up into the mountains to another little town called Alfarnatejo where we visited an olive oil producer and learned about the process. I think we have seen more olive trees on this trip than the rest of our lives put together.

Then we split into 4 groups and went to 4 different homes for lunch. Lunch was 5 courses plus wine and finished with a quince and aniseed liqueur – wow!

We continued on to Granada, vowing to skip dinner again tonight, and stopped at the Allambra Palace, just a few kms thru’ Granada. What a magnificent location – Granada would certainly “fall under our spell” for it’s breathtaking scenery. There was snow on the peaks of the mountains but a comfortable 20 degrees C in town.

The palace was originally a mosque, constructed by Muslims back in about the 12th or 13th Century after they migrated to Granada about 400 years earlier. Everything about it was stunningbut we suffered from the same old tmi syndrone and it is hard to recall much of what we learned, especially after nearly 4 weeks.

In around the 18th century, the catholics came along, under Charles 111 and took over the mosque and whilst they did not do any significant damage, they added on typical fashion and created a palace within a palace. We walked around for over 2 hours admiring the workmanship and beauty of the place including the extensive gardens.

On to our hotel and out for our farewell dinner with the group.

2025/04/02 – The long journey home

Insight offered 3 choices for the free shuttle to the airport. 6:30am, 8:30am or 10:30am.

As our flight was not until 4:10pm we took the 10:30. Unfortunately, the Qatar check-in desks did not open until 12:40 so we were left standing around (nowhere to sit) for nearly 2 hours. As we were first in line, everything moved very smoothly from there and we are now in the business class lounge which is very comfortable. Eventually we will board and head for home. Below is a photo in the Doha airport terminal