We made it onto Avenida 9 De Julio (July 9 Avenue), the widest avenue in the world, named to honour Argentina’s independence day. Traffic was particularly bad here but it meant we could inch past the Obelisco De Buenos Aires so it had its benefits. We eventually turned up Avenida Presidente Roque Sáenz Peña as the third coach in a convoy of four from the Star Princess but a side road was blocked off by police just as we tried to turn down it.

We were stuck there for a fair amount of time while our guide made calls back to the ship. Eventually, he secured the assistance of some crew to come out to us and help to escort us as walked the rest of the way towards what would be our next stop: the Metropolitan Cathedral. This meant we got to stretch our legs and get some fresh air – which was nice – and we got to walk down the middle of a major road in Buenos Aires with no traffic around and just the sounds of distant engines, helicopters, and the odd chant from unseen protest groups. Bonus!

The Argentinian police and their vehicles (including a water cannon) were certainly present in reasonable numbers in the area around Casa Rosada. As far as we know, though, there was no violence while we were in Buenos Aires.

The rest of the time on foot was casually walking towards our next stop, La Ventana tango hall (where we would see a fabulous show about a metre from the stage and have the most incredible steak I’ve eaten in my life (top travel tip in Argentina: don’t be like all the Americans on our table; order your steak rare, how it’s supposed to be, and get a nod of approval from the waiting staff absolutely free)). On the way we had plenty of time to pause and allow fellow passengers on the tour from the Star Princess cruise ship time to catch up and that gave me plenty of time to take photos of the buildings we passed. Some people might find the buildings ugly but I’ve always loved that gritty, grimy architecture of big cities. Nothing too brutal along the streets in Buenos Aires that we were walking, which was a shame, but plenty to see nonetheless.

Protest

We didn’t have to walk very far into Ushuaia before we spotted and heard groups of locals out in protest at something. Coming upon protestors in Argentina seemed to be a thing as we’d encountered a group on our arrival in Buenos Aires as well. The difference here was that we hadn’t been told about any planned protests in Ushuaia so we didn’t know what they were protesting about and we were on our own without a tour guide at this point. What we did know was that we’d been instructed not to wear anything Falkland Islands-related on account of the region’s relationship with the location and our recent visit to them (we didn’t; we respect common sense) and we’d spotted some graffiti that seemed to indicate tourism was killing Ushuaia (although my translation of the Spanish was based purely on guesses based on other languages and might have been completely wrong). Subsequently, we put two and two together and concluded that our cruise ship’s arrival might be the cause and that we should keep a low profile. I mostly kept my camera aimed away from the people at this point and we tried to look inconspicuous as we looked for a souvenir shop.

In the souvenir shop we picked up a few items and paid with some dollars in order to get Argentinian money in change. We’d been unable to get any Argentinian money before heading to South America and we like to keep souvenir notes or coins from wherever we go. The shop assistant was surprised when we requested the oldest, tattiest-looking notes in change but was happy to get rid of them. I then asked about the protest going on outside the shop and was told it was against the government. This was such a relief so on leaving the store I decided to hang around and take some photos of everyone around with more confidence that I wasn’t going to get yelled at.

We later discovered back on board the ship that a couple we knew on account of becoming regular quizzing partners with us had had a closer encounter with the protest groups. They’d been bolder than me and had approached the group directly asking what they were protesting about. On finding out their grievances with the Argentinian government they’d helped the protestors first with stoking a brazier that many were huddled around to keep warm and then marching with them at one point waving flags and banging drums. I envy their experience although I think keeping a respectful distance and seeking information indirectly was possibly still the wisest move.

Ushuaia Art

We left the protestors behind as they marched down towards the waterfront and continued to have a look around Ushuaia. I’m very fond of local street art wherever I go and there was plenty to see of varying levels of quality; simple tagging to murals and stencil work were all present and we found a brightly-coloured craft centre with a number of monuments and sculptures nearby. The protests and the artwork showed us that the people of Ushuaia were very passionate and it’s another reason why I absolutely loved the place.

Ushuaia Dock

By the time we reached the waterfront area the protest group had headed back into the town so we had a chance for a few last shots of the area from Ushuaia itself.

We were getting periods of sunshine warming everything up by this point and it was impossible not to imagine living here and never tiring of the views of the landscape.

I stopped to take a photo of a sign in the dock area that reiterated the Argentinian view of the Falkland Islands as seen from that region of the country although, as explained elsewhere, the Argentine people we’d met on the Falklands didn’t seem to share quite as strong a view.

The last shots of Ushuaia from dry land were of the few vessels along the dock.

Grayson Perry Art Exhbition

Properly titled Grayson Perry: The Most Popular Art Exhibition Ever! and taking place in the Arnolfini, this free exhibition showcased a huge amount of Grayson’s vases, sculptures, tapestries, and other art across three floors. It was wonderful to see so many objects in the flesh that we’d previously admired in some of his TV shows, knowing the meaning behind a lot of them. I was so engrossed I only took a few photos on my phone. If you get a chance to go then you definitely should.

Bristol

Outside the art gallery we were in time for the end of a protest taking place which was a shame as I like to photograph protests, especially for causes I believe in. We crossed over the pedestrian bridge and took a look at the nearby Millenium Square with it’s interesting sculptures and huge, open space.

Bristol Aquarium

From the square we then headed into the Bristol Aquarium past a sculpture with a sign requesting that people not climb on it. Why on earth would I be mentioning a sculpture with a sign requesting people not climb on it? Could it be because of the kids climbing on it while their parents sat facing them and the plainly visible sign from a few metres away smoking cigarettes? Possibly. In the aquarium my camera was spotted and I was told that photographs were permitted but no flash photography was allowed; fortunately, I’m well aware of this restriction and I rarely carry a flash on my camera body anyway. Why am I mentioning this? Could it be because there was an announcement while we were looking around reminding people not to use flash because someone clearly was? Possibly.

Anyway, a very large, well laid-out aquarium with a couple of star exhibits, those being the multitude of pregnant seahorses we saw in a number of tanks and the very active, surprisingly fast-moving (and difficult to photograph in low light) octopus. I took some video on my phone too with limited success but it does get across just how the tentacles move and roll over one another as the creature moves.

Upon leaving the dock there is an obvious, wide, straightish road heading into the city that we followed. Two dragon statues marked the start of it and we passed by them, knowing that staying on the road we were on would bring us to Kokusaidori Street in about 15-20 minutes.

Or it would have taken us 15-20 minutes if I hadn’t been distracted by the appearance of a block of greenery on our left that demanded a quick exploring. This turned out to be Matsuyama Park and we didn’t know it at the time but it continued on the other side of the street too and looks like it’s worthy of a nose around if you’re passing by; we certainly will if we return to Okinawa on a future cruise. The park contained an artificial pond and several statues and monuments, though to what we couldn’t tell. One sign did seem to indicate that the original hospital of Naha may have been in the area. With some schools for younger children and some playgrounds in the area I kept my camera away for the most part. The other thing of note in this park was a large gathering of people in similar attire with placards and bullhorns. They didn’t look the friendliest bunch in the world so we steered clear of this group too and decided against any inadvertent antagonisation by keeping the camera firmly down. As it turned out this wouldn’t be the last time we saw them.

Leaving the park we continued approximately southeast along the road we’d been walking on with the only landmark of any note being when we crossed over one of the tributaries feeding into the Kokuba River, alongside which were the elevated concrete rail pillars we remembered fondly from our previous visit to the city.

This then brought us to the large four-way road junction with its diagonal pedestrian crossing markings that signified the start of Kokusaidori Street and it was here that we encountered a wonderful surprise: the street was entirely closed off to traffic so we would be free to wander along its length and cross over to view shops at leisure. We didn’t know if this was just something they did on a Sunday (it was a Sunday when we were there) but it meant there was a gentle pace to exploring that could be shared by both locals and tourists alike.

It was great to see some people really making an effort and enjoying the pleasant temperature of the late afternoon on Naha’s main shopping street.

We then discovered the reason that Kokusaidori Street had been closed off. Our visit to the city of Naha had coincided with a large, public martial arts demonstration. Within many of the city blocks there were one or two red carpeted areas on which either a demonstration of moves was taking place or had already done so by the time we arrived. Groups were either engaged in their moves or milling about awaiting their turn. People in white martial arts outfits ranged in age from the youngest of children to the oldest of men and women. We saw some with sticks and some with other weaponry but the vast majority were unarmed. Some signs on poles along the street seemed to indicate that karate was the main martial art on show although I can’t say for certain that every person demonstrating to the onlookers was definitely performing just that skill.

The sun getting lower in the sky made for some lovely long shadows along the street.

We’d been making our way slowly along Kokusaidori Street in a roughly easterly direction all this time as we’d been entertained by the martial artists along its length when we spotted something very familiar to us. During our first visit to Naha we’d very much enjoyed finding an indoor market area and had picked up some souvenirs at the time. Guarded by an odd-looking sculpture of a creature playing a musical instrument we saw the arched entrance of the market again and decided to pop in for a look to see if anything would entice us to part with our wallet of yen.

Emerging back into the noticeably fading light but without any goodies we endeavoured instead to head back down Kokusaidori Street and check out some of the many shops we’d passed on the way up. The martial arts demonstrations had come to an end at this time and we could see some of the children being warmly congratulated by proud parents while adult practitioneers seemed to be drifting away in groups too.

It was strange to see so many Japanese schoolchildren around with it being a Sunday but not quite so strange as seeing a few of the schoolgirls taking photos of their sausages on sticks in the middle of the emptying road.

We ducked into several shops and started to spend our money. We like trying to use local currency when we’re travelling because it gives us a chance to pick up small change and keep it as a memory of our trips. Importantly, though, if you are travelling to Japan then it really helps to have yen on you because while it’s a very advanced country technologically in many ways we’ve found that the use of credit cards is not as widespread as you might expect; many businesses will only accept cash so if you’re looking to spend in Japan then keep that in mind. You can read more about this tip and others by looking at mistakes to avoid when planning a trip to Japan.

As we got closer to the junction that would mark the end of Kokusaidori Street and the point at which we would be turning back towards the direction of the cruise ship the low sunlight that had been creating such lovely long shadows along the concrete disappeared behind distant parts of the city and with that darkening of the evening the lights of the buildings became more prominent.

Dusk cast the evening sky over Naha City into gorgeous shades of pinks, purples, and dusty blues.

Now, you may remember me mentioning the group of people we’d stumbled upon who’d been preparing placards in Matsuyama Park when we’d paid that area of greenery a visit on our way towards Kokusaidori Street. On our walk back towards Diamond Princess we encountered that same group only this time they were in full protest mode. Slowly marching down the road they were accompanied by vehicles travelling at the same pace and one person inside one of those to which was attached a huge megaphone was yelling slogans to the sound of heavy drumming. Our grasp of Japanese is as close to zero as makes no difference so quite what this group were upset at was and still remains a complete mystery.

The remainder of the walk towards the cruise port took place in suddenly very dark conditions. It’s quite weird to look back now and see just how quickly the sky turned from twilight to pitch black. A few buildings were eyecatching enough in the dim conditions to photograph and the most interesting places included a building with a giant lobster on its exterior wall and public toilets with twisted industrial decorations outside.

Eventually we reached the dragon sculpture marker that signalled we’d reached the end of the urban part of Naha and the start of the port area but with this being night and with Diamond Princess being lit up and impossible to miss we didn’t really need any help identifying the location.

This then was our last moment at a port of call on our second cruise aboard Diamond Princess ten years apart. Following our departure from Okinawa we would have two relaxing days at sea before our cruise would end where it started, in Yokohama, and where we would sadly have to leave Asia and head home.