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| Royal Princess- our home for 11 nights |
Our friends Jenny and Peter had planned to take an 11 day Mediterranean cruise on the beautiful ship, the Royal Princess - only 4 years old. Although we had already decided to take a year off from doing any overseas travel, some health issues (thankfully short-lasting back/knee strain) encouraged us to change our minds, and travel while we were still healthy and fit enough. Believe me, after this last trip, we appreciate that overseas travel and associated back to back day touring (with many steps involved) is not for the infirm or faint hearted. Many airports have got so big now, that the distance to walk whilst pulling 20 kg suitcases to a taxi pickup area or rental car office, or getting from the parking area to the hotel entrance can be quite lengthy. In Naples, the distance from the car park to the hotel was only 1 km, but the route was via ancient, uneven cobblestones and crowded narrow streets crowded with people, so the going was tortuous, and the suitcases got a workout - as did we! All worth it though...
Here is a glimpse of our cruise itinerary. We had a balcony cabin and thoroughly enjoyed the comfortable king size bed and the fantastic food provided by the chefs. The waiter service was second to none.
The 14 hour flight from Brisbane to Dubai was smooth, and after a quick snack in the airport, we boarded our 7 hour flight to Barcelona. The 4 of us had spent a few days here last year, so as well as wandering the city and enjoying beer and tapas, we spread our wings and took a train trip to the quaint seaside town of Sitges. So pretty. A nice beach, lots of cafes, and the ever present church dominating the town. Even the weather cooperated!
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| La Sagrada Familia |
We walked from our hotel to check out the facade on the famous La Sagrada Familia - the Basilica begun by Gaudi in 1882 and is still not finished! The photo of mine obviously does not do it justice, but you can see the magnificence of it.
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| Jenny, Peter and Murray ensconced in a cafe |
The first port of call on our cruise was Marseille in France, and we did a tour of Provence. The notorious Mistral wind made its presence felt, but we soldiered on and tried a few cafes as we strolled around the towns we stopped in.
Murray and I had visited Florence 14 years ago with Jan and Dick for my 50th birthday, but this time we did a guided tour and learnt a lot more history of the place. So many amazing statues that were explained - artists and historians paradise! As we drove out of Florence into the Tuscany countryside, we passed an overlook where I took this photo of the Duomo. Below is my photo of Florence's medieval Ponte Vecchio bridge, originally built in 996, and destroyed twice by floods but rebuilt each time. The last time it was rebuilt was in 1345. Butchers initially worked in the shops along the bridge, but now it has jewelery, art and souvenir shops.
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| Ponte Vecchio |
After Florence, we docked at a Greek port with a tour that took in Olympia, the original site of the Olympics. Only men used to compete back then, and unclothed, so no women spectators were permitted. Thankfully that all changed. Murray decided to compete on the site where the first race was run, and earned himself a medal!
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| Go Murray, Go... |
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| Mykonos |
Next on the agenda were the two Greek Islands - Mykonos and Santorini. We were blessed with nice fine weather, which helped with the photography. We did tours of both islands, and enjoyed seeing the lay of the land - the islands circle a caldera which houses a volcano that had a similar impact as Vesuvius. During our tour of Santorini, we visited one of the archaeological sites. Akrotiri town was buried in volcanic ash in 1627 BC. It was amazing to see the toilet and housing they had even way back then. Whilst there is some stunning scenery to be seen, the reality of living on a steep, hot, stony, dry (due to the very low annual rainfall) island (water is imported or de-salinated) is not for me. Ballina wins my vote!
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| Town Mascot - Pink Pelican (coloured by the shrimp he eats) |
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| Santorini |
Initially the cruise was supposed to go to Turkey, but due to the security threat there, the itinerary included the city of Kotor in Montenegro instead. Montenegro is south of Dubrovnik in the Adriatic Sea if you were wondering where it is located, and what a pretty place it is too. Pretty as well as very historic, as it was founded in the 5th Century BC. What a pleasant surprise we had when our driver took us to this cafe overlooking Buzz Beach in Kotor. We then were driven to an outlook where we could see the Old City. Reassuringly, we noted our ship hadn't sailed away and left us a marooned
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| Overlooking the bay of Kotor - that's our ship moored in the distance |
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| Walking around Old Town Kotor |
After two consecutive days doing tours on both Mykonos and Santorini, we were grateful for the 'sea day' before we got to Naples. Peter and Murray hit a few golf balls on the 18th deck, and I got to laze about and enjoy the balcony - Murray had bought me back a coffee and cake from the cafe.
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| AnaCapri - south side of the Island |
Next port was Naples. As we planned to have extra days here after the cruise, we decided to take the tour of Capri, and Anacapri. I am so glad we visited in May - that idyllic island would be a nightmare in June, July or August as the roads are narrow, and the tourists are many. I am glad we have been there to see what all the fuss is about - the main crop here is lemon, and Limoncello is their #1 product. Of course we had to try it while we were there, but it was no comparison to our first experience of it when we had it with Jan & Dick whilst celebrating my 50th in Tuscany almost 15 years ago.
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| Capri |
Being in the Bay of Naples, we sailed straight past Mt Vesuvius. Here is a photo I took at sunrise. Several days later, we got to climb it with Kim, but that is for another blog. Our final dock was in Rome. Jenny and Peter flew to the UK and we flew 1 hour west to Sardinia. That is food for another http://warwarekrvusa.blogspot.com.au . Arriverderci!
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| Mt Vesuvius at Sunrise |
The 14 hour flight from Brisbane to Dubai was smooth, and after a quick snack in the airport, we boarded our 7 hour flight to Barcelona. The 4 of us had spent a few days here last year, so as well as wandering the city and enjoying beer and tapas, we spread our wings and took a train trip to the quaint seaside town of Sitges. So pretty. A nice beach, lots of cafes, and the ever present church dominating the town. Even the weather cooperated! 
Murray and I had visited Florence 14 years ago with Jan and Dick for my 50th birthday, but this time we did a guided tour and learnt a lot more history of the place. So many amazing statues that were explained - artists and historians paradise! As we drove out of Florence into the Tuscany countryside, we passed an overlook where I took this photo of the Duomo. Below is my photo of Florence's medieval Ponte Vecchio bridge, originally built in 996, and destroyed twice by floods but rebuilt each time. The last time it was rebuilt was in 1345. Butchers initially worked in the shops along the bridge, but now it has jewelery, art and souvenir shops. 
Initially the cruise was supposed to go to Turkey, but due to the security threat there, the itinerary included the city of Kotor in Montenegro instead. Montenegro is south of Dubrovnik in the Adriatic Sea if you were wondering where it is located, and what a pretty place it is too. Pretty as well as very historic, as it was founded in the 5th Century BC. What a pleasant surprise we had when our driver took us to this cafe overlooking Buzz Beach in Kotor. We then were driven to an outlook where we could see the Old City. Reassuringly, we noted our ship hadn't sailed away and left us a marooned
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