Our driver makes good time to Southampton, and we check into the hotel a little after 2 pm. We have a room on the 6th floor overlooking the port area – where we can watch all the construction going on for the upcoming boat show. Wow – it’s truly a herculean feat. They are building these huge platforms with steps up to and around a bunch of huge boats – yachts really. And more and more boats keep being delivered. It is really fascinating to watch and keeps up quite entertained.
The boat show also allows us to be thankful we aren’t sailing out of the normal piers located right behind the hotel. We are sailing from Ocean Terminal, which is about a 10 minute walk from the hotel as opposed to the cruise ship terminal we can see from our window. We had been boo hoo-ing this longer trek, until we realized the boat show has the cruise terminal pier area blocked off. You can no longer walk from our hotel directly to the cruise ship terminal. What would have been a 3 minute jaunt is now more of a 15 or 20 minute haul since you would have to go all the way around the main roads and enter into the port main entrance now. Advantage Azamara!
It’s another beautiful day, so we reconnoiter our route to the pier area. It’s a straight shot, on the same side of the road, along very nicely paved sidewalks. Will be a breeze.
As we walk, we pass the Dancing Man Brewery, where we had planned to eat dinner.
So on the way back from the pier, we cross the street to get a better look at the brewery – as well as these great painted zebras we’ve been seeing all over town. The sculptures are part of some event called the “South’s Mane Event.” They will be auctioned off in a “Zebratastic” weekend in October. They are quite fun and quite abundant. We’ve seen 6 within our short little walk.
Our reconnaissance also allows us to check out other restaurants in the area. Ed had read about Regata, a Spanish Tapas place, that is just down from the Brewery. We stop there to peruse the menu which looks pretty good. Then we head to an afternoon refreshment at the Brewery, which is nice and really interesting on the inside (it is one of the remaining original buildings in Southampton) but the menu isn’t half as interesting as Regata. So, we enjoy our beverages outside in the sunshine on the patio, and make the executive decision to hit Regata for dinner.
We decide to go to dinner a little bit earlier than normal, and it turns out to be a very smart decision. There are no tables available at Regata without a booking, but we are able to snag the last 2 seats at the very small (6 seat) bar. Phew. Lucky!
Our executive decision turns out to be a good one too. The food is fantastic. We start off with a Cerdo Relleno (Pork wrapped around chorizo and cheese, then lightly breaded and fried) and Pork Belly with some sort of sauce that you really didn’t need! Both delicious.
Then we had marinated octopus (which I forgot to take a picture of before we demolished it) and finished off the evening (well Ed did) with meatballs. Totally yummy and totally filling. 
We walk off some of our food on the way back to the hotel, then hang out in the room, streaming Law & Order from our home cable before hitting the sack.
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