Thursday, 9 October 2014

Day 43-46: Last but not Least

Day 43. is another transit day, involving getting people and luggage to train stations, returning hire car, returning to station, getting train to Florence, another train to Rome all for one nights accommodation before tomorrow's flight. Sounds busy and it sort of is, but not too busy to not go out and find another pair of shoes... I don't like to waste any of my luggage allowance. We met up with a couple of friends at a rooftop restaurant for our last Italian meal ( I will look like a carbohydrate soon) and it was delicious.

Day 44: Rome to Dubai; our first flight on an A380, I wanted to go upstairs but our request for an upgrade wasn't forthcoming. Sandy asks every flight and I know one day it's going to happen but it wasn't today, the free wifi on the plane was pretty crappy and after 6.5 hrs we landed in Dubai. 
Our hotel is very new and right behind The Mall of The Emirates( the one with Mt Thebarton inside). What I didn't realise until after I had booked is it is a no alcohol hotel, but at least we realised so we bought a couple of bottles of red duty free to drink in the privacy of our room. The only places to serve alcohol are the major hotels, and although we are in a Doubletree Hilton it obviously has a no alcohol policy perhaps that's something to do with the prayer rug in the drawer, or the " random" music/ chanting that comes over the loudspeakers at certain times of the day. There are also no bottle shops or liquor outlets either, unlike Europe where you can buy it from anywhere.
Day 45: Dubai Weather, hot , hotter and hottest.
This morning we made a trip to the Spice Souk, a little disappointing as I was expecting a market filled with rows and rows of spices.
It was still good but full of sellers trying to sell you everything except spice. What was amazing was outside where the boats were getting loaded up with anything and everything for Africa and Iran.

And they don't even look that seaworthy!!

It is just so so hot here and you can only really be out in the sun for about an hour at a time.  Time to head for the shopping malls, Dubai's shopping malls make Marion look like a corner deli, they are massive and so so cool ( temp) even if you just want to hang around. 
Back to the hotel and channel flicking Sandy discovered this:
Camel racing.. WTF, they have little remote control jockeys on their back and the owners all drive around the track in their cars controlling the jockey... Hilarious . We had dinner at the Sheraton ( with alcohol) tonight, Chinese... Yum
Day 46: Our last day. Today we did a boat tour around the "Palm Tree" it was fantastic.
The amount of wealth in this country is jus staggering, and the buildings.. It appears that everyone is trying to outdo the last one.
Not to mention the number of Super Yachts just floating around. 
It is an amazing place and quite tricky to get your head around, it is definitely where East meets west, and a great place to visit for a few days. 
An awesome stopover to ease us back into Adelaide which is now less than 24hrs away. We have had an amazing adventure and are now looking forward to getting home, reintroducing ourselves to Rory and  Cat, learning to drive on the right side of the road again and viewing some of those 3000 pics. 
Thanks for joining us.

Wednesday, 8 October 2014

Day 36 - 42: Almost There

Ok, this is going to be the mother of all blogs, with only 24hrs before we get on the plane to come home I need to get this finished. 
Day 36: Lucca, it was another Sandys birthday,( in the Villa we had 2x Sandys,  2x Julie's and 2x Heathers, 1 x Pinocchio and the rest of us) so we decided to get a cook for the evening. Her name was Tiziana, well if you think we are all grown women and wouldn't get a kick out of someone with a name like that then think again, it was as if someone had written boobs on the calculator. Anyway Tits was an absolute machine, we had: Cheese and Onion Tart, Fried Zucchini Flowers, Bean and something zuppa, Pasta with pesto, Chicken with Olives and last but not least Tiramisu, all in 4 hours and all dishes done and the kitchen left cleaner than when she arrived, brilliant!

Day 37: Guess where we are??
Today is Wednesday, Pisa day.  We were going to catch the train to Pisa but after driving for about 40 mins trying to find the train station, and missing the train, I decided I would drive there, my driving is getting a little better, although Sandy still tries to get into my side occasionally.  
The tower of Pisa was incredible, one of those places that you do really need to see in person to appreciate. The lean was very significant and it really looks like it is going to topple over.
It was our first rainy day since Stratford Upon Avon, which didn't really make a difference except for my photos and needing to keep my camera dry I had to purchase a poncho.
I tried to take all the clever photos with the Tower, like Sandy trying to push it over but am unsure of how successful it was til I look at my pics.

Day 38: Cinque Terre and the SS Minnow: 
Today was our boat tour day, and the weather was superb. It took us 3 train trips to get here, and it was worth every platform change. We met the boat at Monte Rossa, and then cruised past all the other towns. The colour of the water was absolutely amazing.
We cruised in and out of the villages all along. It was absolutely beautiful, there are no cars allowed into the towns, so they are only accessible by water, train or foot. 
We stopped in front of one of the villages for a swim off the back of the boat, something I will remember for a long time, swimming in the Mediterranean Sea. 

Days 39-42. The beautifull walled town of Lucca and our villa. 
Lucca is a medieval Tuscan City enclosed by 6 km of walls... (So many walled city's in Europe, and probably within reason due to the number of invasions) , it is a pedestrian area so cars are limited and you need to park outside the walls and walk in. This gives it quite a villagey feel and although quite touristy it's nothing compared to Dubrovnik, I can highly recommend if travelling to Tuscany.
The Villa Isa:
8 bedrooms, 8 bathrooms, a dining room table to fit us all, a couple of lounge areas, a swimming pool and enough mosquitoes to pick up and carry the whole house away.
Apparently Italy has a massive mozzie problem. Not really an issue for me as I don't appear to be their type, unlike Sandy who is targeted from about a kilometre away. Luckily our closest supermarket Conads which consequently became known as Gonads kept a full range of repellants.
Mosquitoes not withstanding the Villa was fantastic, it was peaceful, comfortable and had pretty much everything we required.
Ok so now I have one more day in Rome and two days in Dubai left... Getting there..

Sunday, 5 October 2014

Day 35: Towards a Tuscan Sun

Today we make our way to Lucca in the rolling hills of Tuscany. It started at about 6.15 when we departed the ship for our 10.30 train departure. We don't like to be late! There are 6 of us travelling by train and like a well oiled machine we made it on and off the trains with luggage intact. We transferred at Pisa where we decided to have some lunch, it was declared worst lunch ever and a complete waste of money.
An Aside:
Due to the fact that I have suffered a lot of distractions, and my blog is delayed by approx 7 days, I am currently sitting in the stairwell of the train to Roma watching our luggage.
Happy( not) because I paid for a seat but there is no luggage room.  End of aside.

Back to the stazione ( station) in Italian and it's on the regional train to Lucca ( you will notice that I will be dropping in more italian words now it is becoming secondi naturo to me). We arrived at the station with all our bags and it was hire car time. Driving on the wrong side of the road did not come quite as naturali to me as my grasp of the Italian language. Lucky I had a great co pilot, who by the way wasn't Sandy( who was sitting behind me mumbling Jesus occasionally, she still hasn't gotten over her trip to the Vatican) and was very gentle in telling me to move over a little, and you do need to be on the other side. We arrived at the Villa safely at about 5 pm, a long day.

Day 32/33/34 Split, Dubrovnik, Cruise Day

Cruise Days 10,11 and 12.... As I am sure you are all aware, focus isn't one of my many talents, so with 13 other people distraction has been prevalent, hence why my blog is a little delayed. So here we go 3 days in 1.
Day 1. Split, Croatia... What can I say, absolutely nothing because it was too rough to use the tenders to get into port. Ok so that's that day knocked on the head! But here's a pic of what it would have looked like courtesy of Google

Day 2: Dubrovnik, Croatia. 
Up early today as this was another tour day that had been booked many moons ago. Ivo was our driver and what a bank of knowledge he was. First stop was the lookout where the cable cars went from.

Such a beautiful city and hard to believe that not all that long ago the Serbs had blown the crap out of it. We then went into the town, OMG, never have I seen so many people( tourists).
So many people that you almost need to be connected so as not to lose anyone. A beautiful city but too many people, great for the city as tourism is their resource. After the city we drove into the hills for some wine, cheese and olive oil tasting. We drove back via Ston, which has the second largest wall to China. Lunch in Ston was delicious, as it  is renowned for fresh seafood and has oyster and mussel farms in its pristine waters. So lunch was oysters natural, 300 mussels in their own weight of garlic, and some delicious seafood and squid ink risotto...YUM. We had to be back on the boat quite early so we hastily made our way back through the hills to our home for the last 11 days. Dubrovnik was another big surprise and a gorgeous city which would be worth a return visit someday.

Day 3: Cruise Day, a day at sea for relaxing, packing and just enjoying and reflecting on what has been a fantastic 12 days.
Today's highlight, passing a live volcano.

Monday, 29 September 2014

Day 30/31: Venice: To Gondola or Not to Gondola.

Wed/ Thurs, Cruise Days 8 & 9...Venice.
We cruised into this amazing city basically down what you would call the Main Street (our equivalent of King William Street but only water) at about 2pm.
I have seen pictures before but nothing like really being there. With the ship safely secured with the other 4 or 5 cruise ships it was off to St Marks Square by water shuttle. 
So far this cruise Venice has been the busiest city, people/ tourists everywhere, tourism in Europe is huge, every " tourist" city just has thousands and thousands of people, regardless of day of the week. 
The one thing I have noticed is how similar the ferry logo is to our SAWater Logo.....I think someone has done a little copying..... And the worst bit is I get reminded of work when I don't want to be. 
We were meeting some friends in Venice, who just happened to be here at the same time. Friends met and being used to the 28 meals a day we were having on the cruise ship it was tea time. We did find a nice restaurant where we ordered large drinks.
They were massive, about 1litre each, who needs food when the drinks are this big. Dinner over and it was back to our floating hotel (so convenient). I'm sure I will miss the constant motion once off). It's Thursday and we are up early to negotiate a cruise around the canals on a water taxi. We thought about the Gondolas but liked the idea of a classic wooden water taxi better.
I have found my ideal job, a water taxi driver... The boat was fantastic and the drivers were great, taking us in and around Venice for an hour in style.
Boat ride over and it was coffee time and shopping... Venice is known for its glass, and it is absolutely beautiful, although not easily transportable, so I settled for something leather, guaranteed to make it home in one piece.
Back on the ship, we cruised out of Venice the way we cruised in. Spectacular... Croatia here we come.

Day 29: Kotor, Montenegro ( The Day We Survived The Hurricane)

Tuesday, cruise day 8, due to lack of WiFi  I am about 6 days behind, so I either have to stretch my memory or start making things up... 
The day began with me waking at about 5am, thinking I was sliding out of the bed feet first. I laid awake for a while but felt nothing more so I went back to sleep, it was only when I got up and went out on deck and noticed the deck chairs all over the place that we realised something must have happened. On our way in to this speccy little port, there was a storm with gusts of wind, about 80 knots ( hurricane classified at 64 knots), must have just leaned the boat over a bit and then righted itself, probably lucky we were all in bed ( and that wasn't made up either).
Anyway back to Montenegro, if you have been to Milford Sound or any of the fjords  in Norway then this is just as spectacular.

There were mountains on all sides and in front, we had travelled approx 3 kms I think ( my facts have got a little fuzzy). I did disembark, and instead of turning right I turned left, only to find a semi modern smoke( cigarette) filled supermarket, so a coffee and free wifi later it was back to the ship, amazed by the scenery but disappointed by the town of Kotor. Only to find out later if I had turned right there was a charming "old town"..... Luckily the location made up for it.


Friday, 26 September 2014

Day 27/28: Greek Style

It is day 6/7 of the cruise. Day 6 is a day at sea, rest day... although resting doesn't appear to come easy, not that it isn't relaxing just struggling to find time to listen to music or read. 
Day 7 is Corfu, Greece, and due to a ferry being grounded we had to use tenders to get ashore rather then dock.
Corfu was a very pretty town, I was sort of hoping it was going to be all blue and white, but it wasn't, it was quite flat with numerous narrow streets lined with jewellery stores and wood shops and souvenirs. I have become a souvenir hunter and can smell a shop before I get on land.
Corfu appeared to be quite cheap so we made a few purchases before lunch. Lunch was traditional Greek with grilled squid, grilled prawns, souvlaki etc, all delicious and made even tastier with a swig of ouzo supplied by our fellow travellers.

I am assuming the bottle is the shape of Corfu, although I can't be certain as geography isn't my strength. Corfu also appears to have numerous beggars, which isn't really surprising given the state of the economy. 
Once again the weather was perfect so my reverse Panda eyes are progressing quite nicely. I have now learned to speak Greek( yasou) which can now be added to my current list of languages, which is growing daily....English, Scottish, Welsh, French, Italian, Greek and expecting to add a few more before this adventure is over. 
Yasou xx



Wednesday, 24 September 2014

Day 27: Malta: What a Surprise

All the days are starting to get blurry, lucky the days are labelled on the lift floor so I know it is Saturday. Malta day. 
What a beautiful port to sail into.... It was a complete surprise as we had no idea what to expect. We decided we would do the hop on hop off bus which took
approx 2 hrs to do the round trip. We got off at the first stop which was an ancient temple and by ancient I think it was BC. Once again so much history. It was a particularly hot day, so much so that Sandy decided she would stay on the bus and take the rest of the tour back to the air conditioned comfort of the boat while I decided to stay on and get some extra sun. Our next stop was the fishing village, absolutely gorgeous, just like a postcard.
All the boats were painted with bright colors and there was a whole esplanade of souvenirs and restaurants, obviously fish and rabbits are food of choice in Malta, not Maltesers as some may think.
Malta is the home of The Blue Grotto, an ocean cave with the bluest of water.. This was to be our next stop but time was limited so we had to stay on the bus.
We travelled back to the ship to find all this action going on around us. Multiple stages were being set up, there wet helicopters flying around, naval ships in the harbour as well as a couple of superyachts ( when I win powerball I am getting me one). 
This one is only worth $30 million!! 
Anyway as it turns out it is Malta's 50 year Independance Day Anniversary on Sunday and there is going to be mega celebrations including an address by Prince William, hence all the extra security.
Malta is definitely a place I would return too and spend 4 or 5 days, so different than anywhere else we have been. Put it on your list, you won't be disappointed!!

Day 26: Messina Sicily,

I used to know a poem about how Italy kicked little Sicily into the Mediterranean Sea. I can now sort of see why. 
After being in the beautiful Amalfi Coast area yesterday Sicily was quite disappointing. The boat docked early and we were able to wander off at our own leisure. 
The city was very dirty with lots of rubbish and graffiti, we wandered around the souvenir shops and then around the city. Although there is a lot of history it is hard to look past the rubbish, including burnt out motorbikes.
One of the great things about being on a cruise ( apart from the towel animals of course) is that usually you can get back on whenever you want and it gives you a taste of the city. Well this one didn't taste so good so it was back on the ship after a few hours to enjoy our floating home.

Tonight's towel animal was a puppy and oddly enough I found myself sitting next to it patting it... must be missing Rory, tomorrow's Port is Malta... Can't wait.

Monday, 22 September 2014

Day 25: Take 2,the Amalfi Coast.

This was our first port day on the cruise, Salerno, Italy. We were all up bright and early for the tour that had been booked about 6mths ago for the Amalfi Coast, Sorrento, Positano and Pompeii.
Our first stop was the gorgeous Sorrento with lemons being its primary resource, limoncello, lemon soap, lemon lollies and anything else lemon you could think of. Little narrow cobbled streets, as you could imagine.
 Our next stop was Positano, this town being even more gorgeous than Sorrento, although you would need to be part mountain goat to reside here. These towns are both on the Amalfi Coast( think  of Great Ocean Road, halve the width, times the drop off by about 10 and add 1000 more bends in the road and you are getting close)
You can just see the road in this picture. This was taken at the magnificent restaurant that our driver took us too. We were so high up that if oxygen masks had of dropped from the roof of the van no one would have been surprised. Our lunch was delicious so much so that we almost left a €100 tip.
Travel Tip# 26 When recieving food bill always ensure that it is checked by fellow travellers as quite often €125 can be confused with €225 and you could end up paying significantly more.
Lunch over and we were winding our way back down to Pompeii, occasionally in reverse as 2 vehicles couldn't fit at the same time. Never have I seen a road and the associated views like it, breathtaking on so many levels.
We arrived in Pompeii about 1935 years after Mount Vesuvius erupted, and we all declared it safe to visit. Just a shame we forgot to grab a map, as it was quite a sizeable city. Although using our initiative we hovered behind English speaking tour guides and were able to pass on any important or useless info that we heard to our travel buddies. We did see all the important stuff like all the ruins and the dead people.
What was also an unusual discovery was that apart from their spas, saunas and orgies, the Pompeiians loved a hand stand, so much so that special pillars were placed around the square( as demonstrated by our tour fitness coach).

We had such an amazing day, and honestly I saw places and roads and beaches that I would never have dreamed of seeing. Our driver was fantastic and a brilliant driver, Pompeii Car Service. I cant recommend them enough.  We arrived back at the ship with all senses satisfied... What a day!!

Tuesday, 16 September 2014

Day 23/24 The Day we were Superheroes!



Another short one, as it is a transit day, travel to Civitavechia from Rome via train.
Being the train snobs that we now are we decided we would travel first class from Rome, an extra 30 Euro but at least a guarantee of a seat.
It is just a shame the same couldn't be said about the airconditioning which wasn't working, but only in our carriage, it was fixed about half way through, and thank goodness because it was getting quite warm. 
We arrived at the train station only to find no escalators, only stairs both up and down. 20 Kilos of luggage each, not really suitable for cruising folk. Luckily for us there was a taxi waiting which took us to our hotel.
Sandy likes to keep abreast of the local news! 
Hotel Traghetto was clean and friendly, all you need for 1 night. We went for a walk around and grabbed some tea,  lucky Sandy got some cardboard in hers, the guy assured her it was pancetta.....yeah right, maybe it was cardboardnara instead of carbonara???  
It was after this when we had to don our superhero costumes and rescue our lost police friends who had been wandering around deepest darkest Civitavecchia for hours ( an hour at least). I am sure our nominations for a bravery award will be forthcoming. Our other cruise guests arrived at about 11.00 so after a quick catch up it was bedtime.

Wednesday cruise day, yeehah!! We boarded at about 11am, so had a full day    on the boat, not as big as the last one but a bit more luxurious. We checked out our bat cave which was larger than we recalled, so we were happy! Today was about getting ourselves aquainted... Although I still have no idea if I am at the front or the back of the ship, but I should have my bearings by day 12. We left Rome at about 5 pm to arrive in Salerno by morning.



Monday, 15 September 2014

Day 22: Going Underground

Today is our last day in Rome, what can I say, I have liked it, but I haven't loved it. It is quite a dirty city with a lot of homeless and a lot of beggars with dogs, which pull on the heart strings. We have loved its history but hated its roads. 1. You have to take your life in your hands when you cross, regardless of traffic lights. Sandy and I always hold hands so at least we either both make it or both get cleaned up, so far so good. And 2. Those bloody cobblestones!!!
Twice I have rolled my ankle, and numerous times I have stumbled, as good as they look the practicality just isn't there.
After breakfast we made our way to The Vatican City as I had booked the special Scavi Tour. This is a tour I stumbled across somehow which is underneath St Peters Basilica where St Peters tomb and  his bones lay, a necropolis ( city of the dead)
We got there early as we didn't really know where we were going, and we had to put my backpack in the cloak room as it wasn't allowed on the tour. We approached the Swiss Guards who actually look like jesters( not sure who they are trying to scare?)
We were then told to check our bag in we had to get to the front of the line of about 4000 people all waiting to get in. This was going to be tricky because I knew people were going to think we were pushing in, but Sandy being very assertive just walked straight past the 500m queue, with me tagging along behind not making eye contact. We made it to the front of the queue with only 1 comment, mission accomplished. Note: to all who have paid extra for skip the line, you can do it for free.
Back to the guards and we were allowed in to wait for the tour. This tour is limited to 250 people/ week and there were probably 12 people only on our tour. We made our way underground, which was the original street level 2000 or so years ago, before they covered it with fill and built the Basilica on top, totally amazing .
We walked through tunnels where family tombs were, mainly the rich families, with mosaic floors and painted ceilings, where all the urns of family ashes were kept, mind blowing!!
After about an hour underground which was warm and humid, we found our way to St Peter, where his bones were found and still remain. We made our way upstairs to what is now the street level in The Basilica completely awestruck, it makes no difference if your are Catholic, Christian or Hindu the history of it all is still overwhelming.
So we didn't see everything in Rome but the 2 tours we had were particularly special and not the usual run of the mill tours. We leave tomorrow for the port town of Civitavecchia, where other adventures await...stay tuned!!