Day: April 25, 2016

Marseille also known as Marseilles in English, is a city in France. The capital of its department of Bouches-duRhone and region of Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur, Marseille is located on France’s south coast and is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,516 (January 2012) on a land area of 241 km² (93 sq mi). It is the 3rd-largest metropolitan area in France after Paris and Lyon, with a population of 1,831,500 at the January 2011 census but the first metropolis in surface. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The weather has not been very kind to us but fortunately we had not booked any excursions until we get to Genoa. I thought we could walk the 9km to the city but down came the rain and we were forced back to the ship to catch the shuttle bus. Marseille is a very busy port city and that was evident as we sailed into the harbour.

As we rode the shuttle, there were many very expensive super yachts parked waiting for repairs and maintenance in the shipyards. There was evidence of new yachts being constructed for the ‘billionaires’.

After checking into the WiFi to upload the post for Gibraltar, we noticed a little ‘train’ carting people around the city and eventually found the starting point to board. The streets here are very narrow and traffic is stop start most of the way. Our eventual main attraction to visit was the Notre Dam at the highest point of the city. Something different about this cathedral was the boats hanging from the ceiling. Even the ceiling was well done in brilliant mosaics.

After the ‘train’ tour, we made it back to the ship for around 2:00pm to await the departure to our next port of Genoa.

The evening’s entertainment was a performance in the main piazza by all the bands that are on the Royal Princess. Soon after, the Showtime performance was by the “Beatlemaniacs”. They wore the Beatles clothing and hairstyles and sang and danced to the old Bealtes music that is so well known to us oldies.

Tomorrow, we visit Genoa and take an excursion to Portofino.

Genoa is the capital of Liguria and the sixth largest city in Italy with a population of 588, 688 within its administrative limits on a land area of 243.6 km² (94 sq mi). The urban area called Genoa Metropolitan City has an official population of 862,885. Over 1.5 million people live in the Genoa Metropolitan Area. Genoa is one of Europe’s largest cities on the Mediterranean Sea and the largest seaport in Italy. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yes, overcast again. The weatherman hasn’t been kind to us – yet. But things may get better as we enter the eastern Mediterranean in a few days time. Rain is forecast for the day in Genoa.

We have planned an excursion to the little village of Portofino, know as the village for movie stars and famous people. When asked where Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor used to live, our guide was not sure who they were. So I guess, they aren’t famous people to the Italians, even though they lived in Portofino during one or two of their marriages.

Portofino is known as the playground of the rich and famous. The unique luxury designer boutiques have price tags on their goods for those who have gained a lot of monetary wealth over their years. Many of the houses are surrounded by lush gardens, well manicured and colourful.

Our journey to Portofino included travelling through many tunnels along the highway. Australia has never embraced the idea that tunnels are a great saving for all and seem to baulk at the prospect to bury this mode of transport. But I suppose with such rocky terrain as Italy has, it was not hard to decide on this speedy method of traffic movement; driving up and over the ranges would be very tedious.

In Santa Margherita, we change to a smaller bus that will get us around the sharp and narrow coastal road that takes us to Portofino without having to back up if on coming traffic becomes a problem. The village is a great place to just sit and watch the many visitors to the village. We didn’t pick any famous people shopping or taking a coffee. The sun shines for an hour or so which is most welcome for our photos. We were sitting next to a couple from Australia who owns a classic car in the UK and travel to the UK to drive around Europe for their vacation. They had never seen so many Australians on their journeys before.

After the purchase of badges, patches, and keyrings, we find a hot chocolate shop (which is more like a chocolate fondue). The use of the WiFi for publishing our daily post, downloading of email and the results of the previous day’s Giro d’Italia Stage is most appreciated. Even though we are in Europe, we cannot get direct coverage of one of my favourite cycling events so the internet comes in handy. (I cant read Italian).

We return to the ship at around 2:00pm in time to have lunch and walk back into Genoa to check out the city. Our departure from the port is delayed 30 minutes while we wait for a late excursion coach. As we depart some ports, our ship plays a tune on the fog-horn but we don’t have that experience this departure. It seems they only play the ‘fog-horn dance’ when departing a country.

Tomorrow, we dock at the Italian port of Livorno, which is close to Florence and Pisa.

Livorno is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 159,431 residents in February 2015. It has traditionally been known in English as Leghorn. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Livorno Harbour is another busy port and we are the third cruise vessel to arrive for the day. The sky doesn’t look too promising but we hope for sunshine as we visit Pisa. It’s a pity that we need to use the shuttle bus to get us into town again.

We had hoped to get to Pisa early in the day as on our prior visit, we were rushed and didn’t have time to explore the back streets of the very busy tourist spot. The first available bus to Pisa is at 12:00 mid day. To fill in the 2 hours wait, we took a little boat cruise around the canals of the city. Strikingly, at the end of the tour we passed under what is the widest bridge around – 245 metres. That was a new experience for us.

Our shuttle to Pisa left a little late and with the 1.5km from the coach terminal at Pisa to the tower, we needed to rush our visit. Fortunately, the weather was fine and we didn’t need to be bothered by the street sellers who seemed to think that we needed one, or a ‘cheap’ watch, or ‘cheap’ sunglasses.

Yes, the tower is still leaning – to the right. This tourist spot has to be one of the busiest we have seen along this trip. After the photo shoots, we found a nice restaurant which served a delicious eggplant lasagne. Now, that’s a first for me. I rarely choose to have pasta type food.

We had a rush back to the coach and for the shuttle connection to the ship before a late and stormy looking departure. The evening entertainment was a show called “The Voice on the Ocean” which was very similar to the well known show that is view in 160 countries around the world. Straight after that show was another performance by the Beatlemaniacs in the Piazza. There was lots of loud music and dancing, to the famous tunes of the 60’s.

Tomorrow, we will be in Rome for 12 hours.

Civitavecchia is a town and comune of the province of Rome in the central Italian region of Lazio. A sea port on the Tyrrhenian Sea, it is located 80 kilometres (50 miles) west-north-west of Rome, across the Mignone river. The harbour is formed by two piers and a breakwater, on which is a lighthouse. The name Civitavecchia means “ancient town”. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

160514 Rome

Our arrival into Rome was quite early in the morning around 5:00am. We are really doing three cruises back to back with passengers disembarking and embarking at Rome and Athens along the way. Some of the passengers have been on the ship since it left Fort Lauderdale and have enjoyed 29 days so far. So the stop in Rome, or Civitavecchia port becomes a busy one changing passengers and loading supplies for the next week. Some of the entertainment acts change too.

Our plan for this port was to find a station and train into Rome. But as we exited the terminal area, I asked a couple what they were doing and they had plans to hire a taxi for a personalised tour into all the touristy spots of Rome. They invited us to join them and we got along very well. We found a cab with an OK price and speed off into Rome.

First stop was the Colosseum. There were many, many tourists dressed in ponchos and umbrellas as the rain had started for the day. The cabbie waited for us at each of the points of interest. We stopped at the Colosseum, The Capitol, Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps, The Pantheon, and Vatican Square. Other points along the way were also noticed.

We needed to be back on ship around 5:00pm and our driver showed us how his Mercedes bus can romp along at 140kph. Why doesn’t Australia have speed limits like that? So much less traffic and just as good a roads.

After dinner in the dinning room, Lyn and I thought it was time we met up with members of our group to see how things were going. We had ‘banged’ into Lindley at the Capitol by chance during the day. Jennifer and Kath were just finishing their dinner in the Horizon Buffet after two long days of excursions. Enjoying everything but the comment that the Vatican Museum had too much wealth compared to its members across the globe.

Brian was eating alone. “The others were talking and couldn’t make up their minds what they wanted for dinner”. Eventually Kevin and Jan, Lorraine, Tony and Lynore, and Denise turned up all bursting to tell us their experiences for the last few days. Despite the rain, they had enjoyed each of the excursions they had been on.

Tomorrow, we dock in Naples for, hopefully, a sunny day.

Seniors Moments.

Brian and Denise had an interesting experience. Their bus ran up the back of an ambulance who had its siren blaring and lights flashing which then rammed into another car. The patient in the ambulance must have sat up and wondered how they got secondary whiplash. Remember, this is in the rain. After an hour of swopping relevant documents, Italian style, they somehow made it back to the ship, albeit late.

Someone in their group became lost. They found someone from the same group who was also lost. They then found a third person who was also lost. Thanks to group numbers on their lapels, they were found by the leader of the group. Always happens in Rome.

Naples is the capital of the Italian region Campania and the third-largest municipality in Italy, after Rome and Milan. In 2015, around 975,260 people lived within the city’s administrative limits. The Metropolitan City of Naples had a population of 3,115,320. Naples is the 9th- most populous urban area in the European Union with a population of between 3 million and 3.7 million. About 4 million people live in the Naples metropolitan area, one of the largest metropolises on the Mediterranean Sea. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I don’t need to tell you what the weather did for the day – you already know. Just the same as ‘yesterday’; wet, wet, wet.

Together with Tony and Lynore, we hopped in a taxi for a speedy tour to Pompeii and on to Sorrento with stops along the Amalfi Coast. For those who haven’t been to Pompeii, it is a ‘restored’ city after being buried when Mt Vesuvius erupted in 79AD. Today it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with fascinating ruins that hint of a once-thriving city. If there is a record for “the largest cobblestones in the street”, Pompeii surely has it. Sometimes, you need to hop from one cobblestone to the next as you wander around checking out what has been restored to the state it is in today. There were so many tourists around! It’s funny that when you’re not being guided, tourists get in your way as you rush at your own frantic pace. Wet cobblestones make it even more difficult.

We made a mistake. Here’s why. Why would anyone enter a city, not knowing the layout of the streets, without a map? Well, we did. Our driver gave us an hour and a half to check out Pompeii but without a map, it can be very hard to get back to the entrance to make our exit. Our ‘steps for the day’ skyrocketed as we endeavoured to exit the ruins. 10 minutes late and our Italian cabbie, that has relatives in every town, is across the street with a smile on his face, waving to show he is still with us and not a care in the world.

On to Sorrento and the weather starts to improve and the sun begins to shine. The Amalfi Coast comes into sight as we travel the narrow coastal highway towards Sorrento. We stop, and our cabbie, the one with “relatives in every town”, shouts us a “vely nice-a lemon-a” slushy while we view this amazing coastline. The region grows enormous lemons and there are many shops that have lemon scented, lemon tasting, lemon coloured, goods for tourists to purchase. (I’m not sure the locals use lemons for so many things in their lifestyle).

You’ve guessed it; lunch is at a ‘relatives nice-a restaurant-a just over there-a’. What a coincidence that we meet up with the two couples we travelled with in Rome. Their cabbie, from Naples, must have the same relatives as our cabbie does and they too are dining at the same pizza restaurant – “vely good-a pizza, my friend”. The service is smart and there is very little time between ordering and consuming “my cousin brother’s nice-a pizza”.

We have an hour or so after our meal, to wander the streets in the great coastal village of Sorrento. Just down the way is a large group of men practicing their team song, and various other chants, for the next soccer match. The gelato shop is very hard not to stop by. Over 50 flavours of gelato to choose from and with plenty of lick, we did our best to catch every drip before they hit the clothes or cameras. It is Sunday and many of the shops in the main street are already “close-ed” for the day. But we find a side street lined with market stalls of clothes, leather goods, souvenirs, and of course, lemon products.

It is a good time to take a nap on the way back to our ship. Rain, rain, and more rain, comes again and we get wet just ducking from the cab to shelter. And so we said “good-bye-a” to our new cabbie friend from Naples – the city with the worst drivers.

After updating our internet needs at the café that serves “the best-a coffee in Naples” just near the wharf, we seemed to get caught up with returning ship mates from excursions arriving back to the ship from their long day in the rain too. We had a ‘long’ meal chatting to Lindley about his experiences in Rome before making our way back to our suite for an early night.

Tomorrow is a ‘sea day’ as we journey to Heraklion on the island of Crete for the following day.

Heraklion is the largest city and the administrative capital of the island of Crete, Greece. It is one of the largest cities in Greece. According to the results of the 2011 census, the population of the city was 173,993 inhabitants while the Heraklion urban area has a population of 225,574 and it extends over an area of 684.3 km²(264.2 sq mi). From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

After so much wet weather in our first week on board, we finally came into beautiful sunshine while on our sea day travelling from Naples to the island of Crete, our first stop in Greece. Our ship berthed around 7:00am and over 2,000 guests disembarked to take excursions to various parts of the island. We chose (unwisely) to take the guided tour to the town of Heraklion. Our guide told us that we were to meet her at the bus at 2:45pm and if you have a problem, I will be ‘there’ in that coffee shop, all for $US19.95 each. We could have taken the free shuttle bus to the hop on-hop off bus, and seen the whole town with a guide for just E15.00. Bummer.

What was impressive about the town is that the pavements were smooth, not like most of Europe with the traditional cobblestones. After completing our internet requirements, we found out where to meet the hop on-hop off bus anyway, and toured the city for an hour or so. That made us back to the ship early to allow us to sit on the sun drenched deck for a few hours before departure and the evening entertainment.

There was a comedienne doing his thing in the main Princess Theatre, which I slept through most of. Following that dismal performance we walked to the rear of the deck for a piano-man show. I think if I hadn’t of slept through the previous show, I would have slept through that one. But anyway, an early night is always beneficial on a cruise.

We found out something rather funny today, which some of our group had already worked out would happen. Our garden club has a raffle where a member’s name is drawn each monthly meeting for a $50 cash prize. This jackpots if the person is not in attendance. I had sent an email to the acting secretary with our “and the winner is —– in Europe” notice. The email was read out just before Monday night’s draw, and my name came out. I missed out on jackpot of $250. I could have used it towards the purchase plants for the next year. You don’t always have to be in it to win it but you have to be there also. What a coincidence. Oh well, when we return home, we are sure one of us will win one draw; probably the first draw after the jackpot goes off, and we will win just $50.

Tomorrow, we stop at our first of two Turkey stops, Kusadasi. This is the port where excursions take you to the well-known tourist spot of Ephesus.

“Until you’ve travelled, you’ve never lived.”

Istanbul historically also known as Constantinople and Byzantium, is the most populous city in Turkey and the country’s economic, cultural, and historic center. Istanbul is a transcontinental city in Eurasia straddling the Bosphorus strait between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea. Its commercial and historical center lies on the European side and about a third of its population lives on the Asian side. The city is the administrative center of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (coterminous with Istanbul Province), both hosting a population of around 14 million residents. Istanbul is one of the world’s most populous cities and ranks as the world’s 7th-largest city proper and the largest European city. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It was a pity that we cruised through the Dardanelles at 1:00am as the scene would have been interesting to be sailing between the two great continents of Europe and Asia with both of them so close. But we didn’t. I happened to wake up around that time and took a quick look out to see a glass millpond. Lights dotted the coastline on the Europe side, which I could see from our balcony.

Coming into Istanbul is very fascinating indeed. There are many cargo ships waiting outside the harbour area for their turn to sail through the city and on into the Black Sea. It is a one-way shipping lane, which operates in one direction through the city for 12 hours and then the other direction for the next 12 hours.

We have booked an excursion for the day. This includes a Turkish breakfast on board a boat that takes us up the harbour towards the Black Sea and back, then a visit to the Blue Mosque followed by a quick visit to the world famous Istanbul bazaar.

The guide on the boat is full of information about the houses, castles and hotels along the coastline. As I had already taken breakfast on the ship, I was quick to make my way to the upper deck to do some filming of the buildings being described. There are three bridges that cross between Europe and Asia and one tunnel for trains travelling under the busy waterway. Istanbul is a ‘divided’ city with the population living on either side of a wide waterway. The ferries crossing from one side to the other are very busy and remind me somewhat of Sydney although Sydney has a lot more expansion of services to make to get up to Istanbul.

Our visit to the Blue Mosque was rather confronting for many, especially the women. We were all required to take off our shoes and if we were showing our knees, were given a ‘skirt’ to hide that which is pretty good. Nothing wrong with my knees. – so why walk around church hiding them? The ladies also had to wear a head covering. It seemed that it was a show of respect to their way of life rather than to the God they worshipped. And with all this covering up, we were allowed to take flash photography and video; that was an interesting contrast of concepts. Of course, tourists were all through the mosque and prevented a quick exit if one wanted to.

From here, we were transferred to the Grand Istanbul Bazaar. Now, if you want to get lost, this is almost equal to getting lost in Pompeii but with traders hassling you to purchase their wares. I learnt quickly never to look any of them in the eye because that became an indication that you were interested in their product and wanted to make a purchase. There were probably only 6 or 7 types of shop: the Turkish delight shops, leather shops, jewellery shops, carpet shops, material shops, bag shops, and maybe clothing shops (I don’t recall). We were given 30 minutes which enabled us to walk in one direction without deviating, do a u-turn, and back to the bus. There are 17 gates to the bazaar and we were ‘released’ at gate 1. No-one seemed to want to get lost so the one avenue was seen by all our coach load.

We did make it back to the coach for our transfer back to the ship. Our guide made a comment that he was sorry he didn’t convert any of us to the muslim way on the day but at least he had sown a seed in our minds. Mmmmmmm!

Leaving Istanbul was a great experience too, with many ferries and small boats out to enjoy our departure.

Tomorrow, we arrive at Mykonos for an afternoon at a typical Greek Beach. We then have a few hours to wander the narrow streets and find some Free WiFi to post three days’ posts in a very short period of time. I hope we can make it.

“To find inspiration, look to the horizon.”

Mykonos is a Greek island, part of the Cyclades, lying between Tinos, Syros, Paros and Naxos. The island spans an area of 85.5 square kilometres (33.0 sq mi) and rises to an elevation of 341 metres (1,119 feet) at its highest point. There are 10,134 inhabitants (2011 census), most of whom live in the largest town, Mykonos, which lies on the west coast. The town is also known as Chora (i.e. the Town in Greek, following the common practice in Greece when the name of the island itself is the same as the name of the principal town). Mykonos’ nickname is The island of the winds. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mykonos is well known for blue skies and white houses with blue trims. The churches usually have a blue dome roof although a couple are a dull red wine colour. So the hardware shop has an ample supply of house paint, as long as it is white. Mykonos made its mark on the world when Jackie Onassis/Kennedy made the island her vacation favourite destination.

Being a small island, the transfer to our excursion is not too far away from the port – just 15 minutes, we are told, but when the traffic is ‘heavy’, the journey can be extended. The beach was littered with ‘sets’. A set is an umbrella with two beach lounges. Our guide told us to follow him, past the restaurants that gave a free set for their expensive drinks. His favoured spot was 15 Euro per set plus drinks at a reasonable price. Lyn and I went on a little further and found a new brand new restaurant/bar with sets between their property and the water’s edge for much less – free for the set and just 10 euros for the drinks. That other ‘cheaper’ version must have been at his cousin brother’s property.

We spent 4 hours of relaxation by the Mediterranean. It is a pity that the sun wasn’t at its best to highlight the white buildings and the blue contrast. At 5:00pm, our bus collected us and transferred us to the main town to roam around the narrow streets. The exquisite shops had excellently displayed windows and goods. Lyn was afraid that we would get lost before finding the water taxi departure point for our return to the Royal Princess. I had my bearings and after seeing many narrow laneways, we found the ticketing centre. With 35 minutes before the next departure, we started to ‘wander’ again. Without really knowing our way around, we found what is known as ‘Little Venice’ and the other icon the island is famous for, the windmills. White against grey skies is not the best for photos and so the photos we took don’t do justice to the scene.

We had a late evening meal in the Horizon Bistro before making our way to the Piazza centre ship. The last night of the cruise, for many, was on the way. We are really on 3 back-to-back cruises of a week each – Rome and Athens being the ‘split’ points. A couple of nights prior, we had become friends of a couple who are on a church sponsored tour from California to where the apostle Paul made his mark in Turkey and Greece, followed by a week in the Jerusalem/Tel Aviv region. We enjoyed the countdown to the ‘dropping’ of the balloons together where all noise, both musical and not so musical, was allowed.

Much of Mykonos reminded us of Santorini mainly because of the white buildings with blue trim. We will be in Santorini in a couple of days for our second visit.

Years ago, friends of ours hired a 4 wheel motorcycle in Mykonos for the day and had mechanical troubles. I just want to let you know David and Elaine, that it appears all the four wheeler motor bikes we saw were very recent ‘editions’ to the hire company – the bike you had is at the entrance to the ‘dead-vehicle’ yard – on a podium.

Tomorrow, we will be in Athens where Lyn and I have planned an excursion to Antioch to see the man made canal.

“Even the shortest journey expands the world.”

Piraeus is a port city in the region of Attica, Greece. Piraeus is located within the Athens urban area, 12 kilometres (7 miles) southwest from its city center (municipality of Athens), and lies along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Athens is well known for the Acropolis, but we decide to take an excursion to the Corinth Canal. “This 19^th-century engineering marvel cuts through sheer rock, dividing the narrow causeway that links the Peloponnesus with the Greek mainland. Carved into a massive rock, the 76-foot wide and 26-foot deep canal dramatically separates the Peloponnese from the rest of mainland Greece. Before the Corinth Canal was constructed, ships had to sail all the way around the Peloponnese, adding 185 nautical miles and several extra days to the journey.” Our journey to the canal was 90 minutes and fortunately, it was a Saturday morning drive with not the usual heavy peak hour traffic of a normal Athens week.

Our highway took us along the rocky coves of the Saronic Gulf to Isthmia where we boarded a motor launch for our journey along history. Interestingly, at each end of the canal is a roadway that crosses the canal but when ships or boats pass the bridge, the bridge actually submerges for the watercraft to pass over. Along the canal, four or five other bridges cross 26-foot above. We could have had a rather boring local tour guide but we were blessed to have someone who ‘should have been my history teacher’. She made history worth having by using stories of the day to explain why the landscape of today is like it is. Her knowledge of greek methology mixed with history helped make what could have been a laborious excursion, one which has been a highlight to us. When you saw her trying to hold all the tips she received from other guests, you knew others appreciated her guiding, experience and information too.

After returning to the ship for lunch, Lyn and I needed faster WiFi than was available in the shipping terminal so took a walk off the port to enjoy some ice-cream at a café looking over the busy port, to meet our internet needs; sorry to everyone that I was four days behind in our posts. They all came through in a short period of time.

Athens was the end of the cruise for over 2600 passengers and so there were over 2600 new passengers to be processed ready for boarding. Lyn and I watched the last few get on board from our Deck 15 suite. Would you believe just as they were about to bring the gangway onto the ship, a taxi raced towards the ship from the entrance gate 500 metres away with two passengers needing to be processed right at the gangway. The ship’s staff must be very patient people, not like myself when the clock is involved, or silly people trying to ‘break’ my rules, hahahaha!

Tomorrow we visit the beautiful island of Santorini; the favourite of many visitors in the past.

If a person has anything in them, travel will bring it out.