La Palma,the world's steepest island,seems to be on the itinerary of every P&O ship.

And if it isn't,it should be.and on the list of the ports of call of every ship that sails in this part of the world. The island is so tiny, you can "do" it in a day,you can, in fact, "do" it in half a day,as I did on my first visit there about 3 or was it 4 years ago when the Queen Victoria was too late to dock on Lanzarote.We had atrocious weather all the way from Southampton and it slowed us down considerably,one of the P & O ships had beaten us to the spot, thank God,and La Palma was offered as a substitute,thank God. When the Atlantic ocean is good, it can be very good, but when it is bad, it can be awful.And on that Christmas voyage it was worse than awful.And so we landed on La Palma. Besides seeing the whole of the island,in the capital Santa Cruz where the ship docked I managed to visit all the shops that took my fancy [my husband,being from the family of tailors, used to say, that every shop displays the best in the window and if you do not like what you see in the window, you will not like what there is inside], one of them a shoe shop.And this shop has been my first place of call on my every visit since.And I always buy something. Thursday last we had all day on the island,but the weather looked unpredictable, at times sunny,quite windy, the odd sprinkling of rain. It was best to keep near the port so that if the sky really opened one could quickly retreat to the ship. My first call was to the shoe shop and the most adorable and very,very comfortable, always a priority, pair of silvery grey sandals with a wide strap and a buckle, I have never seen anything so simple yet eye-catching,went home with me. There is also a lovely boutique,but it is at the very end of the main long shopping street and once I sat down to an excellent cup of coffee and a cake,I needed nothing more to make me happy and content,so I returned to my cabin. On my next visit to the island I would like to see again the Santa Maria, concrete and timber replica of Columbus' ship,the locals call Barco de la Virgen.