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.

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

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.

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!!

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.

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!!

Day 21:Rome Wasn't Built In A Day

And today's hop on hop off bus tour confirmed that. We decided this morning after last nights google map debacle that we would use someone who actually knew where they were going. Anyway being the tightarses that we are we opted for the cheaper tour ( gives us an extra 5 euro for crap souvenirs) which although good wasn't as descriptive/informative as we liked, so we drove past a lot of spectacular sights we had no idea what they were. Here's one!

Obviously some were recognisable like the colosseum. Seriously this city would have been absolutely amazing back then. Finally my year 8 and 9 Latin classes are making sense. 

We alighted the bus at the Fontana Di Trevi, which was probably what Sandy was looking forward to most, (mine was the colosseum  and I wasn't disappointed ) but when we got there it was covered in scaffolding and not operational. You can sort of imagine what it is like and it is about 10x bigger than I thought but still disappointing.

Please note the hat which was purchased because we bought the cheaper tour. So with the fountain not fountaining we decided to eat our sorrows at a gorgeous little restaurant just around the corner.

After lunch we got back on the bus and headed back to our mood hotel for an afternoon siesta. This evening we went for a walk ( successful) and located some fantastic Italian leather boots for Sandy, so we are now both even in the new shoe dept, 2 each. 

Tomorrow is Vatican day, I hope The Pope isn't as rude as the queen and actually stays in for our visit. We drove past today and he did have a huge number of visitors, but it is Sunday after all.

Souvenir Of The Day:  A calendar of young good looking priests. I mean really, pin up priests, whats next, naughty nuns, monk of the month??

Day 20, Rome If You Want Too

We arrived in Rome about midday, having organised a transfer from the airport to the hotel, as had thousands of others. Never have I seen so many men holding up people's names. Finding it was like picking the powerball number, but it was our lucky day, I only had to do one lap to find our driver. Driving in Rome is completely chaotic and exactly like it is portrayed in film. 

We arrived white knuckled but in one piece to our hotel, opposite the train station. The hotel has a rather unique feature of mood lighting, and you can choose your color, still haven't worked out why and apart from that our room is good.

I had pre booked a night time colosseum tour for 9 pm, so we thought we would go and get some sustenance, Carbonaras all round and best ever cafe latte!

After lunch we headed to the supermarket, I love foreign supermarkets and I could browse for hours, but hours we didn't have, so a bottle of red, some beer and a packet of fonzies ( Italian for twisties??) later we left.

Tonight was colosseum night and I had myself prepared, I had printed out the google map directions, supposed to be 2 kms and about 25 mins so off we went. Well I think we missed the first turn, so after walking probably 15 mins, we decided to get the map out, just like the ancient Romans used to do, we got ourselves back on track and 45 mins later we arrived.

The tour was awesome and being a night tour not many people were there as it wasn't open to the public. Just amazing and you can completely imagine what it was like in its day, just the fact that it is still standing after 2000 years is a credit to its builders. I mean our house is about 40 years old and it will be lucky if it sees another 10.

Now back to google maps, we thought perhaps if we tried the opposite on the way home it would be fine, well it wasn't, we missed the first street again and that was it but this time it was about an hour and about 4kms. Neither of us could read the maps properly because we didn't have our night vision on, a man told us it was about 800 mtres up the road, it was 1800! Finally we made it, and  we haven't been able to get off the bed since.

Today's Learnings: Google your maps are crap, and can't be trusted backwards or forwards...something you need to work on!

Day 19: Au Revoir et Merci Paris,

It's our last day in Paris, so we have had a semi quiet day as we or should I say Sandy has packed our suitcases, but not before some ironing of clothes that were about to get packed?

Our goal today was to try Escargot, surprisingly quite tasty, although after looking at the close up photo it doesn't look that good. Apparently they were giant snails, we went for 6 between us and they came with their own snail extraction utensils, tongs to hold the shells and a 2 pronged fork to get the little suckers out. We liked to think we were doing the gardens of Paris a favour by getting rid of these pests.

Snails down and then it was fish with best ever mash.... Delicious. With every meal they serve about a half a baguette, I think I'm addicted, there is something about a fresh French baguette that says eat me, something my taste buds will miss and my waistline ( if I had one) won't.

We have seen so much of Paris but yet so little. We did not end up at any museums although we walked past them several times, I am unsure if I feel I should have gone because "that's what you do" when in Paris, but we walked and looked, we had a fantastic day tour around " our" neighbourhood. We learnt so much about Champagne, and fast trains that send you to sleep at the drop of a hat. We cruised on the Seine and ate at the Eiffel Tower, we explored inside passages and dined with the locals. We have even had some time to relax. So tonight we celebrate our time in Paris with a visit to Stohrer. ( I have been waiting all week for this).

And believe me it was worth waiting for.

The people of Paris have been nothing but friendly and hospitable and I wonder if the more effort you put in the better the reward, I mean honestly our French is crap and we now probably have 10 words in our repertoire instead of the 2 we began with but we have tried and we have always been polite, and we have recieved the same in return. 

Our appartment is incredible and we would always come back here, google Key2Paris if you are interested.

And what better way to finish it off but by seeing the google street view car, so here's hoping that next time I google map Rue Ettienne Marcel in Paris there is a picture of me taking a picture of the car.

Rome you have a lot to live up too.

Day 18: Short and Sweet

This will probably be the shortest blog yet as there really weren't too many adventures, we went for another 5km walk to Place des Vosges a beautiful park in the Marais area,

We seldom get lost now. We walked back and stopped for lunch where we had hamburger French style, mince cooked how you like it topped with an egg, no bun, no salad, no bacon, it was ok. We then came back home for a rest before our 9pm appt for dinner at the Eiffel Tower. 

We got a cab there and went through the wildest roundabout you have ever seen, I would never ever drive here, it's hard enough walking!! Dinner was beautiful, and the setting was amazing, although we didn't get a window seat we were only one away. The tower does look spectacular at night.

Tomorrow it's Escargot and pastries as it's our last day in Paris.... I can't wait.

Day 17: Its the Bubbles of Nothing That Make it All Something.

I It was champagne day today, so we were  up at 6am, so we could be on the train to Reims for 8. We arrived in Reims just before 9, I was expecting a small French village but instead it was a large town/city. We had a morning tour to Haute Villiers ( a beautiful little village on a hillside ) to the Dom Perignon vineyards and also 2 small champagne houses, we learnt how the champagne is made and also got to taste some. 

The highlight for me was the sabreage, getting to take the top off the bottle of champagne with a large sabre, much easier than I anticipated and I can't wait to try it again at home, just need a very large knife!! 

Dom Perignon was watching over our every move. We also went to the Abbey where he is buried. A fantastic morning, we learnt so much and it went so so quick.

We got dropped off in the centre of Reims at 1 pm, which was a good thing, because the tastings weren't small, so lunch was very much in order. We both ordered Croque Monsieur ( ham and cheese toastie), and some fries, which Sandy seasoned quite generously with pepper, her way of portion control perhaps???

We didn't have time to eat them anyway as we were running late ( and couldn't stop sneezing) for our Veuve Cliquot tour. Very similar information to this mornings tour apart from the storage in 24 kms of chalk tunnels.

French Word of The Day: Crayere: this is the name of the chalk tunnels that were initially mined for many buildings, but is now used to house leading champagnes, as  they are a constant 12 degrees.

Tour over and more tastings and it was time to leave to make the 5.15 train back to Paris. The train was fantastic and it was 1st Class all the way... none of this economy stuff for us... 

We are up on the 2nd level and it is obvious how much my French has improved, as here I am reading the train magazine which was completely French. 

I don't think I have mentioned before how fast these trains go but if you have a look in the top left corner you will see the speed.

It did reach 330 kms/ hr but even at 296km/hr the G Forces where too great for Sandy to keep her eyes open....( sorry if the picture misled you into thinking she was sleeping).

All in all another fantastic day in France., 2 more to go.

Day 16: And I Would Walk 500 Miles....

500 Miles, maybe I am stretching the truth a little bit, but try telling our feet that! 

Today was our walking tour with Martinn, the owner of the fantastic appartment we are staying in. We started at 9.30am and explored the area we are staying in, Les Halles, which used to be a major food market in the 17th Century and is now still quite foody and with so much character.

Paris has so much history and Martinn is a very passionate Parissiene who obviously loves sharing her knowledge. There are quite a few cooking shops as well that we visited which make General Trader look like a poor cousin( I am still working on Sandy about what I can bring home  but with not a lot of luck). We stopped for a coffee break, and I managed to order coffee with milk, Cafe au Lait, my French is improving no end. We walked for a further 50 miles looking at all the fantastic architecture and then it was lunchtime.

Lunch was at a delightful Restaurant La Comptoir de la Gastronomie, a restaurant renowned for its foie gras. We tried this previously, I thought it was ok but Sandy didn't like it. We had a set menu which was steak and the standout desert Tarte Tartin with Creme Fraiche.. delicious! The Restaurant is also attached to a store selling foie gras, snails and any other French delicacy you could think of.

After lunch we walked another 250 miles, exploring Paris some more and it's inside passages, these are a lot like our arcades only much older and much nicer, containing high end shops like Jean Paul Gaultier and some very exclusive restaurants and charcuteries.

Another 100 miles and more sights and history it was cafe au Lait time again, but this time it was at an exclusive eclair shop, so many choices although we did manage to choose finally and they were as tasty as they looked.

We saw some fantastic sights and I took a whole heap of photos and we learned a lot about Paris, it's history and it's food.

Today the food, tomorrow the champagne!!