Recife

Monday we dock in Recife, Brazil.  We have never been here so will do a Highlights of Recife and Olinda.

Recife is the capital city of the State of Pernambuco.  It is located at the meeting point of Beberibe and Capibaribe Rivers.  The name is derived form its surrounding coastal reef shoreline.  Recife is Portuguese for "reef".  The Portuguese rulers who first landed on Recife and ruled it for many years influenced its deep historical and cultural background.

Last night we had dinner in Signatures.  Sitting at a table for eight were Mili and Mal, Nacny and Dick, Captain Serena, General Manager Davor, and the Cruise Consultant Gudren.  We found out they were celebrating Mal's 2000 days with Regent.  Can you imagine.  2000 days at sea and this is only counting the days with Regent.  He has also done a world cruise with Silver Sea and has sailed with Crystal.  Every year he spends at least 5 - 6 months on board.

Yesterday at trivia we did not do as well as we had the first day.  But a few of the answers I knew but they took someone else choice.  Such is the way with team trivia.

We gathered for our tour in the theater.  We are on bus 2.  Our first stop was to get off our big bus and get on mini buses.  The town of Olinda is very narrow streets and the big buses cannot go there.  When we arrived in Olinda, we visited the Catedral Se.  Here you have a great view of the city of Recife and the dock area.  There were two Costa ships here along with us.  That made for a very crowded city.  Our tour guide could not understand why they schedule three ships at one time and then none on other days.

After the church, we were treated to coconut water.   And then one of the local men did some sort of dance for us.

We all met at the plaza and had to wait for the mini buses to arrive and take us back to the big bus for the rest of the tour.

In Recife, we visited the Golden Chapel and Church.  This was a private chapel for the very rich.  And we finished the tour with a driver by the ocean front.  Lots of high rise condos along the driver.  This is the only ocean front in the city so it is usually full of people.

Back on board for lunch and a nap and then to coffee connection where we talked with Carol and Parker for a while.  Carol is a needlepoint friend.  They are from California.  Have only cruised with Regent.

Then to tea and trivia.  Bob and I were the only team members for a while.  Noel and Tom arrived but Lyn and Eddie never showed up.  We came in third so we were pleased.  None of us are good with the questions that require a date.  So we got them all wrong.

Dinner in Compass Rose and then back to the suite to go to bed.