Europe Cruise 2023

A 28-day adventure by Barb Read more

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Trip start
October 13, 2023
Europe Cruise 2023 Traveler
Day 1 - departing Calgary
October 13, 2023 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C
Well, when we booked this trip way back in April, it seemed like forever away and yet, in the blink of an eye, we’re heading off to the airport. Last time we headed out for an extended vacation, Hurricane Fiona got the best of us, but we’re ready for full on adventure here…lots of walking, riding and pickleball…yup, pickleball on the ship.Read more
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Day 2 - London
October 14, 2023 in England ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C
Arrived in London around 11:30am after a ‘quick’ overnight flight of 7 1/2 hours…unfortunately, not much sleep was had - sure missed traveling Cathay business class. Took an Uber to our ‘home’ for 4 days in Kings Cross. Despite the distance being only 10 miles, it took over an hour - crazy. Checked in quickly and then headed out right away into the brisk autumn air…gonna try and push through til bedtime. Aimlessly walked down to the Thames and back. We will get more serious about actual sightseeing via Big Bus tours tomorrow. Delicious Mediterranean dinner and back at the flat by 7:30 trying to stay awake…and warm…the thermostat is broken and there is no one around to look at it til tomorrow. Super excited concierge though; pumping us for info cuz he is coming to western Canada next year. 8:30pm - lights out.Read more
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Day 3 - London
October 15, 2023 in England ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C
Fortunately, we both got a decent amount of sleep and woke up around 7:00am. Off to the races around 8:30 and managed to catch the first Big Bus (“HoHo”) down towards the river. Spent the entire day riding the bus all around London save and except a short but sweet cruise down the River Thames to the London Tower. Beautiful blue sky all day but definitely an autumn chill in the air. Not many pictures cuz it’s difficult getting them while on the bus. We were schooled a bit on Big Ben…it is only the bell that is Big Ben; the tower that houses it, as of 2012, was renamed the Elizabeth Tower on the occasion of Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee, celebrating 60 years on the British throne. We headed back up to our neck of the woods and after a brief rest, headed out to a Malaysian restaurant that I had read about. Clearly lots of other people had as well as there was a rather large line up to get in; ended up having pizza elsewhere that was soooo good, we ordered a second one…both of which were topped with warmed honey - delicious 😋Read more
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Day 4 - London
October 16, 2023 in England ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C
…up and at ‘em. Both of us had decent sleeps, again, and headed out just after 9. The HoHo is not allowed to drive by Buckingham Palace so we didn’t see it yesterday and I felt very strongly that I couldn’t visit London without seeing the palace soooo we walked there. Lovely walk down the Mall towards the gates, passing St James Gardens. After a few pics, we walked alongside the Green Park and then over to Hyde Park where we saw the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain - nice enough but rather understated we thought. We had a 2 day pass for the HoHo so hopped back on and went clear across to the other side. Took us almost 2 hours to go maybe 8km and good thing we left when we did cuz we were hoping to catch the Jack the Ripper tour which took us by the locations where 5 women were brutally murdered between August 31st and November 9, 1888. Our guide was extremely animated and knowledgeable and aside from the subject matter, it was a very interesting tour. Quick bite to eat and then back on the HoHo for a spectacular night tour around the city, again with a very knowledgeable and animated guide. Figured we hadn’t done enough walking, haha, and regular hoho stops running around 6:00pm, so walked back to the flat in Kings Cross, guessing about another 4km for the day. Neither one of us put on our map my run to keep track.Read more
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Day 5 - London
October 17, 2023 in England ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C
decent sleep again…we appear to have avoided any jet lag, woohoo! We walked down to the infamous Leicester square and after a couple of misguided attempts to get theater tickets, ended up purchasing them from TKTS London (equivalent of Las Vegas’ Tix4tonight). Walked from there to the Museum of Natural History and while we are not ‘museum’ tourists, it was very impressive and had come highly recommended by Brae who was here last spring. Next on our list, and way across town, was the Sky Garden. Hopped on the Tube for the first time and headed over. Sky Garden is a 360° panoramic viewing platform at the top of a building they’ve nicknamed the “walkie talkie” for its shape. Took some pretty spectacular pics from up there and glad we did it towards the end of our trip cuz enabled us to identify the ground we had covered in the past 3 days. Sent a Happy Birthday message to mom from up there too. Headed back to the theater district near Piccadilly Circus for a quick dinner and maybe the highlight of our time in London, The Book of Mormon - what a spectacular show and Alyssa was right, kinda the perfect show for Paul and I…fabulous!!!Read more
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Day 6 - London/ Stonehenge/ Southampton
October 18, 2023 in England ⋅ 🌧 13 °C
Up super early for our transfer to Southampton for embarkation. I found a bus transfer that stopped at Stonehenge on the way so a total win win. Brae had steered me to a podcast he listened to before going last spring and I’m so glad he did cuz those stories were way more mind-blowing than our guide. It was all kinda surreal and seemed like a perfect way to get to the cruise terminal. We drove through Salisbury and had a distant view of the Salisbury Cathedral which was pretty incredible - 365 windows (days in a year) and 8760 posts (number of hours in a year). Smoothest check-in on the ship EVER, but we ran into a bit of a weather issue and our departure was delayed…more on that later. We were seated for dinner with a lovely lady from Coventry who spends a lot of time cruising and had a wealth of information, as well as another couple who are also regular cruisers. Couple of martinis, trivia game, nightly show and we were done for the day.Read more
Great blog. Loved the pictures - brought back lots of memories.❤️ [Mum]
10/23/23Reply
Traveler 3.Tag Stongehenge
5/6/25ReplyTranslate
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Day 7 - Southampton - departure…or is it
October 19, 2023 in England ⋅ 🌧 17 °C
well…we did not depart first thing this morning as expected. Weather is still bad and the harbor was still closed. Finally did leave around noon but, unfortunately, the weather played havoc at our first stop, Hamburg, and they’ve cancelled that port. Apparently the storm has pulled the water out of the river and it’s too shallow for the ship to dock. Spent the day eating, wandering around the ship, drinking, ping pong, I took merengue lessons (sans Paul, but I found myself another partner), we won a trivia contest, more to eat, more to drink…I rediscovered mojitos 😋. Our drink package allows us a maximum of 15 drinks per day. Paul’s favorite quote from the cruise director…”15 is a goal, not a limit” 🤣. Sometime during the day the Captain came on the PA to tell us of further changes to the itinerary - Mother Nature simply is not cooperating, but it looks like we’ve traded a day in Hamburg and a day in Aarhus (Denmark) for a port that I think is reasonably close to Amsterdam and if that’s the case and we can get into Amsterdam, I’m stoked!!Read more
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Day 8 - at sea
October 20, 2023, North Sea ⋅ 🌧 14 °C
ok, we are rocking and rolling this morning and it’s just plain nasty out our balcony window. We set an alarm this morning cuz we prefer to eat in the dining room as opposed to the sheer chaos at the breakfast buffet and it was well worth it. Had a good chuckle as we were picking our Timmy’s scorers for tonight’s NHL games and mentioned the Flames and the guy on my right hand side said, you’re not talking about the Calgary Flames to which we replied ‘yes’ and the guy to our left said, well, you won’t be liking us - they were Oilers fans. What are the chances?? I had to avoid looking out the window cuz geez those waves were high but things calmed down quite a bit throughout the day and we actually saw some blue sky and a tiny sunset before dinner. We were seated tonight with 2 couples from Australia and a couple from Newmarket…again, what are the chances? The conversation was lively and interesting, following which we went to the evening performance and then off to bed, reasonably early tonight. Excited to be able to get off the boat tomorrow - we are docking in IJmuiden tomorrow, only an hour out of Amsterdam, but you really only get maybe 4 hours to explore and we figured that just wouldn’t do it justice and we had already talked about going to Amsterdam for an extended period another time, so we are going to make our own way to a city called Haarlem, from which the district of Harlem in New York was named.Read more
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Day 9 - IJmuiden/ Haarlem, Netherlands
October 21, 2023 in the Netherlands ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C
Back to some rough seas overnight so I had a bit of trouble sleeping. Woke up to organized chaos on various decks as all the people that managed to get an excursion in our last minute port change were rushing around to various meeting points. We decided to take a more adventurous route and discover Haarlem on our own. Haarlem is a city about 35 kms outside of Amsterdam. Once a major North Sea trading port surrounded by a defensive wall, it retains its medieval character of cobblestone streets and gabled houses. Off the ship and started walking around the port to pick up the bus to Haarlem, about 11.5km from where we docked in IJmuiden - glad we did cuz we heard there was a huge que for the bus from the port, cabs were charging $100US and that people got crazy with pushing and jamming onto the bus, so much so that somebody was even hurt. This city has electric buses with tap payment and their own lanes, at least sometimes, on the road. Streets are pretty quiet with the main mode of transportation being bicycles - they don’t even lock them…. Once we got off the bus, the rain started, but just like Calgary, you wait a few minutes and everything changes. We happened upon the Grove Markt that was full of stalls and our initial reaction was that it was pretty quiet for a Saturday morning. We had done a bit of research the night before so we headed towards the canal system where we caught a 90 minute tour down the Binnen Spaarne; cool way to see the city and peak in on a number of houseboats along the way…even saw 2 people getting ready to plunge into the river, without wetsuits…brrrr. Made our way back through the streets of Haarlem and returned to the markt as I had my heart set on buying some stroopwafels - a treat I had been introduced to in Hong Kong. The markt was absolutely packed by this time. Paul and I shared a fresh one and then brought back a small package to the ship. Wandered aimlessly along the canal for a bit and then back on the public bus for an uneventful, thank goodness, ride back.

Two nights ago we had been seated for dinner at a table with 2 couples from Australia that were traveling together and a couple from Newmarket who the Australians had ‘picked up’ at the first dinner seating. Had a very enjoyable evening and were invited to join them for before dinner cocktails last night, if we dared. We ended up eating dinner with them again - we were seated with a mother daughter twosome from New Zealand who looked horrified at first when we joined their table but by dinner’s end, lots of funny and interesting conversation. At this rate, we will be looking for a table for 20+ by the end of the first half of this cruise.Read more
TravelerI am really enjoying your blog❤️
10/25/23Reply
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Day 10 - at sea
October 22, 2023, North Sea ⋅ 🌧 13 °C
Another sea day on our way to Copenhagen. Weather is still rather cool and wet and the seas are rather rough, but the forecast is looking much better in Copenhagen. Great dinner with the gang. Looking forward to Copenhagen tomorrow.Read more
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10/26/23Reply
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Day 11 - Copenhagen, Denmark
October 23, 2023 in Denmark ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C
So we thought the ship was going to be docked in Copenhagen literally right across from where we were to pick up our e-bikes but not the case and so we started the day with a 5km walk warm up. Picked up the bikes and headed out…Little Mermaid statue, lots of castles (Amalienborg, Christiansborg and Rosenborg Castle), Frederik's Church, Nyhavn (described as a 17th-century waterfront, canal and entertainment district, lined by brightly coloured 17th and early 18th century townhouses and bars, cafes and restaurants ) - very cute. But what stood out for me were two stops we made: the first, Copenhill and the second, Christiania. So Copenhill is an artificial ski slope on the roof of an ultra-modern energy plant, used also for hiking & climbing. If you look carefully, you can see the t-bars. Paul took a close up of the climbing wall for Brae & Lindsay - the climbing wall is the tallest in the world at 85 meters tall with a width of 10 meters. Christiania is is an intentional community and commune in the Christianshavn neighbourhood and has been famous for many years thanks to the permanent stalls along Pusher Street—or 'The Green Light District', as it was once known—that sold all types of cannabis (illegal elsewhere in Denmark). A bit shady perhaps as there were ‘storefronts’ clearly selling hash, cannabis, etc but pretty cool community. After touring around on bikes for several hours, we dropped them off and walked back to the ship. I had forgotten to turn my May my Run app on until we got to Copenhill, hence the large gap. Copenhagen is a beautiful city, the capital and most populous city of Denmark, but very expensive. We lucked out having found a delicious kebab place (homemade wraps) for about $12cdn, but our Canadian friends were miffed at paying the equivalent of about $75cdn for a bowl of potato soup and some bread. Met the gang for before dinner drinks and to share stories about our individual adventures of the day. Lots of stories and laughter over dinner but we headed back to the room before 10 cuz we were exhausted.Read more
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10/26/23Reply
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Day 12 - Gothenburg, Sweden
October 24, 2023 in Sweden ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C
Today we are in Gothenburg, Sweden, the second biggest city next to Stockholm, known for their Volvo museum. The ship docked quite a ways away from the main part of the city so we were herded onto shuttle buses that dropped us off at the infamous Gustav Adolfs torg, home to a statue of founding father, King Gustaf Adolf. While we try and hit the common tourist spots you read about, Paul and I tend to tread off the beaten path and today, that led us to…a film set. I spoke to someone working there and she said it was a true crime movie about the biggest robbery in history that occurred in 2008 in Denmark but, she said, the story starts in Sweden. We stayed long enough to watch a guy aiming a rifle at an armored vehicle - yes, Alec Baldwin came to mind 😳. Anyway, when I got back to the ship, I researched it a bit more and I believe this is it, described as “In a spectacular heist that had all the precision of a military operation, armed robbers in Denmark stole 30 million kroner ($6.3 million) in cash early on Tuesday by smashing down the wall of a money transport firm with a crane and storming through the breach armed with submachine guns and rifles.” Another source said “DKK 60 million (USD 10.5 million) was stolen from cash handling company Dansk in Glostrup in 2008, making the crime Denmark’s biggest robbery to date.” Well after that bit of excitement we walked up to Masthuggskyrkan, a church high up that gave us a great view overlooking the city - if you look closely, you can see the ship in the distance. We continued on through Haga, one of the oldest neighbourhoods in Gothenburg that is now a pedestrian street, lined with plenty of independent shops and cafés, followed by various parks and gardens, a short walk along the canal and lastly, Nordstan, Scandinavia’s biggest shopping mall - we didn’t last for long. Two consecutive days of walking and riding and we’re wiped…Paul is napping as I’m writing this.Read more
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10/26/23Reply
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Day 13 - Oslo, Norway
October 25, 2023 in Norway ⋅ ☁️ 3 °C
…arrived in Oslo early this morning. We heard other people on the ship that said it’s supposed to snow. Before we left Calgary I had looked at average temperatures at each of our ports and for all of the ones north of Southampton, it said low to mid teens…no problem. What I didn’t take into account was the humidity cuz geez it sure can feel cold. Definitely putting our Eddie Bauer gear to the test. Anyways, headed out after breakfast for our first tour…took a boat tour around the fjords of Oslo. Lots of colours in the leaves and exteriors of houses - quite beautiful but holy crap it was cold on the mostly open ‘Viking-like’ ship, the Jomfruen. Off the boat and pretty much ran into the nearest cafe for a hot beverage. Now it’s time for a land tour with Viking Biking in true viking ‘fashion’ (check out my bike helmet). We only had 5 riders and our guide, Josh, who was born and raised in Florida; came to Oslo to study and has been here for the past 10 years, recently having become a citizen. Great sense of humour and took us up, down and all round Oslo (see screenshot of Map my Run). The one standout was probably Frogner Park, within which you can find Sculpture park with more than 200 sculptures by Gustav Vigeland (1869–1943) in bronze, granite and cast iron. “All 212 statues depict human beings of different ages, sexes and sizes, stuck in different and sometimes perplexing poses. Vigeland wanted his statues to capture all the aspects of a person's life, both in a literal and in a metaphorical sense. And he made them all naked, so that they remain timeless”. The city was very quiet, both because again, main mode of transportation seemed to be by foot or bicycle, but we also noticed a large number of electric cars, easily identifiable by license plates starting with “E”. Josh said that last year 70% of vehicles bought were electric and Oslo is aiming to cease selling gas vehicles by 2025. Oslo is our northernmost destination for this cruise so hopefully it just gets warmer from here. I have no doubt that this area would be spectacular in the warmer months as well. Enjoyed our group dinner with the gang, again exchanging what everyone had done throughout the day, and then lots of other stories. Reasonably early to bed as we’ve now done 3 days in a row with LOTS of walking and cycling.Read more
TravelerLove the helmet ❤️
10/26/23Reply
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Day 14 - at sea
October 26, 2023, North Sea ⋅ 🌬 9 °C
…at sea again, heading south to our next destination, Rotterdam. The sea is much calmer and Paul looked at the forecast for tomorrow which should be an absolute balmy 14. Quiet day catching up on emails, this blog, naps, prepping for future destinations, etc.Read more
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Day 15 - Rotterdam, Netherlands
October 27, 2023 in the Netherlands ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C
We woke up to a stunning view from our balcony this morning…the Erasmus bridge in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Another wet and gray day but oh so much warmer than Oslo. We walked over the bridge to our meeting point for our bike tour. We ended up with a private tour, with two guides nonetheless…we were guinea pigs for his maiden ride. A couple of wrong turns and a very wet ride, but lots and lots of information. We started at the Rotterdam Centraal, their main train station that was completed in 2014. On our way there, we had passed a sculpture alongside the canal that caught my eye. We didn’t get a chance to get a picture, in fact our pictures today are minimal cuz of the rain, so I’ve used a few off the net, but I had asked about it and figured I would get more info off the internet later, but I can’t find anything about it. However, the guide had said it was meant to depict a lonely boy, representing the increase in the past several years in teen suicide, and that the sculpture would be moved all around The Netherlands to bring attention to mental health amongst the youth. We went on to City Hall and then the St. Lawrence church that was almost completely destroyed by a bomb in May, 1940. I took a screenshot of what the area looked like after the bombing. Next stop - Markthal - an indoor marketplace place full of food venues and wares on the first couple of floors and then flats on the rest. The building was completed in 2014 and has a glass facade on both sides made up of smaller glass windows. The smaller windows are mostly squared and around 1485mm wide. All of these are hung around a structure of steel cables, 34 metres high and 42 metres wide, which makes it the largest glass-window cable structure in Europe. The windows are made to be able to flex to a maximum of 70mm in a storm. On the inside, the artwork shows enlarged fruits, vegetables, seeds, fish, flowers and insects and was made using digital 3D-techniques. The enormous file of 1,47TB needed special servers, which are also used by Pixar Studios for making their animated movies. The digital 3D-animation was separated in 4000 pieces and then printed on perforated aluminum panels. Pretty amazing. We did a quick drive-by of the infamous cube houses…would’ve liked to have seen the inside cuz can’t envision it. They were designed by architect Piet Blom and based on the concept of "living as an urban roof": high density housing with sufficient space on the ground level, with its main purpose being to optimise the space. Our next stop was at what they’ve nicknamed the “teacup” building, built in 2021 as the new storage home for the collection of the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen. It is a very cool 40-metre-tall mirrored ‘flowerpot’ and was crowd-funded…we were told you could purchase a mirrored panel for €1000. We finished our tour and headed back to Markthal for a delicious kebab and then on our way back to the ship, we walked through Lijnbaan and Beurstraverse, nicknamed “Koopgoot”, or “shopping trench”. Both pedestrian areas housed a variety of food, cafes, stores (some favorites from my time in France: Primark, Flying Tiger, Bershka, Pull & Bear, Kiko…). Then a quick stop at a pastry truck for an apple beignet 😋. We got soaked today but it was a great day of exploring - Rotterdam was pretty sweet. It is becoming very apparent that we sacrificed pleasant weather for less crowds. The rest of the gang took ship excursions and did not get back to the ship til late, so we had a quiet dinner and then skipped the nighttime entertainment to sit on our balcony (first time so far) to watch the evening skyline, as we sailed out of the harbor.Read more
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10/28/23Reply
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Day 16 - Zeebrugge/ Bruges, Belgium
October 28, 2023 in Belgium ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C
We have arrived in Zeebrugge, Belgium and the weather, grey and wet ☹️ but we are prepared. So the ship info said to get to Bruges from Zeebrugges (the port), it was shuttle, shuttle, train and/or bus 😳 so we researched a bit, cut out the middleman and are just shuttle, then bus. Bus ride was about 20 minutes long - we passed very green fields and a large number of wind turbines. We were dropped off just south of the old town and set free. Beautiful walk through the park and then aaahhh - first impression, medieval village with cobblestone streets, stone buildings side by side, canals throughout…very surreal. Horse and buggy seemed to be the mode of transportation du jour. Some bicycles but foot power was definitely the way to go and this was probably the busiest stop for tourists that we’ve seen so far on the cruise and the stores with Christmas decorations…lovely. We walked through the Béguinage (nuns & religious lay women occupy this ancient, tranquil complex with exhibits of 17th-century life) and then stopped in at the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk (Church of our Lady) - beautiful church, but the opulence 😳. This particular church is famous for housing a white marble sculpture of Madonna and Child created by Michelangelo around 1504. Then up, down and all around the various streets and squares checking out the three most popular things…waffles, beer and chocolate and yup, we enjoyed all three; even a chocolate dipped waffle on a stick. Check out the 2be beer wall - upwards of 1250 bottles of beer and we only sampled 4 while sitting outside on a terrace overlooking a canal…pretty sweet. We tried to get into a brewery tour when we first arrived, but their first opening wasn’t until 5:30pm. Back to the ship and enjoyed another evening comparing adventures and sharing stories with our Canadian and Aussie friends. The other Canadians head home after we return to Southampton on Monday ☹️, but the Aussies stay on until Rome 😊Read more
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Day 17 - LeHavre/ Honfleur, France
October 29, 2023 in France ⋅ 🌬 15 °C
LeHavre, France. Kinda grey again this morning but a bit warmer than it has been. Bit of a shit show trying to find our way to the city center so we can catch our bus to Honfleur, a quaint little commune approx. 25km from LeHavre on the other side of the river Seine. The Transat Jacques Vabre, a “yachting race that follows the historic coffee trading route between France and Brazil…named after (and sponsored by) a French brand of coffee” was scheduled to start today, so the bridge from the port into downtown Le Havre was sporadically closed throughout the day, making it difficult to cross on foot. We ended up on a shuttle bus from the boat to city center and as we stepped off the bus, the skies opened up. 30 minutes later, the skies cleared up. The bus trip from Le Havre to Honfleur included a guide who gave us a brief history of LeHavre…it is a major port city in the Normandy region of northern France. It is a huge industrial port with approximately 30% of its population working at the port. As the largest container port in France, they’ve become quite creative in repurposing old containers, ie. they’ve created a series of individual student residences using the containers. There is also a huge industry for the building of wind turbines - check out the collection of blades just below our cabin balcony. We crossed over the Normandy bridge, which was completed in 1995 to get to Honfleur. Honfleur is a 15th century village with cobblestone streets. It was founded by the Vikings and its name means “Corner by the Sea”. We were told that Honfleur enjoys over 3 million visitors in the summer and that it is the most popular village in France 🤔🤔 - guess the key word is ‘village’, cuz my favorite spot in France is Nice. Unlike Le Havre, which is just across the river Seine, Honfleur wasn’t bombed during the Second World War. We meandered up and down all of the various streets, losing all of the tourists who were huddled around the main square. We came across the local communal laundry facilities with their hours of operation, a number of hotels, and lots of stores selling the local delicacy - Calvados - a brandy made from apples and/or pears with a minimum alcohol content of 40%. Had a quick lunch and wandered over to a small island in the river delta, enjoying the occasional sighting of the sun. Great dinner with the gang…the Aussies had taken an excursion into Paris and the other Canadians toured Honfleur with the ship excursions. Kept trying to talk Wayne and Karin into staying for another week, but no go…promised to keep in touch.Read more
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Day 18 - Southampton, England
October 30, 2023 in England ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C
Southampton today and a sad farewell to Wayne and Karin who are heading home to Newmarket. Busy day on board with staff prepping the ship for the onslaught of new passengers…our steward, Anshul, looked a bit overwhelmed - it looked like we were the only cabin in his row that were staying for the second half of the cruise so he had a lot of work to do. Hopped off the ship and headed into town. We walked by the Mayflower memorial, a memorial to the 1620 pilgrim ships that headed to America. Then we made our way to the Solent Sky as it had been highly recommended by our Aussie friends. It’s a museum dedicated to the history of flying boats and the Spitfire, housing over 20 aircraft from the golden age of aviation. The Solent region was the centre of aviation research and development between 1910 and 1960. Paul enjoyed it, but only managed to take one picture, and had some interesting discussions with one of the volunteers who was impressed with Paul’s knowledge of the airplanes, particularly the engines. We headed back towards the city centre, passing the Church of the Holyrood (known as the church of the sailors) which was erected in 1320, but damaged significantly in 1940. We continued along Blue Anchor Lane, alongside the Tudor house, that in Medieval times, was used to bring up imported goods to the market place and then down by the Southampton town walls. It had been raining on and off all morning so we ducked into the West Quay shopping mall (check out the vending machine for fresh flower arrangements), continuing with my quest to locate one of my favs, The Flying Tiger (glorified Dollar Store) which, I might add, we’ve been successful with in every port so far, except LeHavre. Jacqui, my craftaholic on board, found it today too (I had brought back Santa tissues for the ladies a couple of days ago) and LOVED it…her husband, Malcolm, was less impressed. Stopped in for lunch at Franco Manca where they make their own sourdough pizza crust and source their ingredients from small suppliers across Italy and the UK. Paul ordered a “No Logo Lager” - bit spicy (the pizza, not the Lager), but delicious 😋. Heading back to the ship we popped into Ikea to get out of the rain…same shit, different continent and then into McD’s for a coffee. Dinner and a show (comedian) and then off to bed.Read more
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Day 19 - at sea
October 31, 2023, North Atlantic Ocean ⋅ 🌬 16 °C
Good morning from somewhere in the Atlantic…it was a dark and spooky night (Happy Halloween), but actually it’s been a rocking and rolling kinda night with high winds, crashing waves and we lost an hour of sleep having changed time zones 😖. So about an hour after sitting in on a lecture about what to see and do tomorrow in La Coruna, Spain, the captain announced that we have a change in itinerary, again, due to weather…we are skipping La Coruna and heading straight to Gibraltar to try and stay ahead of a storm, which means 3 consecutive days at sea. We had booked bike rentals for the day, so disappointing, but La Coruna was the connection to Santiago de Compostela, known as the culmination of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route, so I’m sure a lot of passengers will be really disappointed at missing it, but what can you do 🤷‍♀️. I’m thinking I’ll take a hiatus from the blog for the next 3 days until we arrive in Gibraltar unless something of interest comes up. Check in again on November 3rd.Read more
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11/1/23ReplyTranslate
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Day 22 - Gibraltar, Great Britain
November 3, 2023 in Gibraltar ⋅ 🌬 19 °C
LAND AHOY - thank goodness…it’s been a few long days at sea with a lot of ‘turbulence’. Today we have arrived in Gibraltar and today, we are going to cycle to the top of the Rock of Gibraltar. We had 10 riders and I think they were all from the ship. Pretty intense trip but definitely worth it and now off the bucket list. The roads were narrow, some were pretty steep and a ton of taxis and buses..was a bit ridiculous and reminded me of the bus trip to Victoria Peak or Stanley Park in Hong Kong. It’s November, it must be completely unmanageable during peak tourist season. We stopped at a few viewing points which were stunning, including riding across the runway that, in effect, is the boundary between Gibraltar, Great Britain and Spain. I found myself focusing more on the bike and pedaling cuz you really didn’t want to stop cuz very difficult to get going again on an incline. The worst part, I had my Map my Run ready to go and was sure I had started it but NOPE 🤬. Somebody else did so I took a screenshot of hers. She had clocked us for a 12km ride but Paul thought it was closer to 18; she said the elevation gain was 1800 feet. The guide didn’t give us a lot of information on Gibraltar so I googled 5 interesting facts. Here they are:
1. The current population of Gibraltar in 2023 is 32,688, a 0.12% increase from 2022;
2. Gibraltar is only 6.8 km2 in size;
3. Gibraltar is a British overseas territory, which means that it is under the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom, but technically it is not part of the nation;
4. Personal taxes are low across the board, with an effective rate of income tax of only 25% (27% for a period of two years from 1 July 2022 as a response to Covid expenditures) on all incomes up to £500,000. All companies in Gibraltar pay only 12.5% tax on profits; and
5. The Gibraltar airport is the only commercial airport in the world that has a highway passing across its runway. To avoid nasty collisions between planes and road vehicles, the traffic on the highway is closed for 10 minutes in the event of a landing or a takeoff.Read more
Did you see the Barbary macaques (monkeys)? [Mum]
11/4/23Reply
Traveleryup…up close and personal, but not as crazy as I was expecting
11/5/23Reply
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Day 23 - Cartagena, Spain
November 4, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C
Cartagena - woke up to beautiful warmth and sunshine. We have nothing planned for today and so we spent the first couple of hours just soaking it in on our balcony. We headed into town and really just wandered aimlessly for a couple of hours…stopped by the Roman Theater…“One of the most beautiful places in Spain, this astonishing amphitheater was built between the fifth and first centuries BC. In its heyday, it could hold some 6,000 spectators. Over the centuries, this Spanish landmark fell into disrepair and actually physically vanished as one building after another was constructed on top of the ruins. At one point, a marketplace and a bullring occupied the site over the ancient tiers of stone. Excavations only began in 1988, so what you see today is an incredible archaeological achievement”. Our Aussie friends went on a tour that included the amphitheater and told us that Cartagena now has a law that requires developers to excavate property to a certain depth before they are allowed to build on it. We then walked up a lot of stairs to the Castillo de la Concepción, an iconic hilltop castle from the Middle Ages, with city views, a history center & a panoramic lift. I just love these cities with tiled streets and the areas that are for pedestrians only. We called it quits a bit early today as both of us are feeling a bit under the weather.Read more
Glad the weather has improved. I loved Spain.❤️ [Mum]
11/5/23Reply
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Day 24 - Mallorca (Palma), Spain
November 5, 2023 in Spain ⋅ 🌬 20 °C
…another beautiful morning here in the land of Rafael Nadal, oh and Carlos Alcaraz. You’ll never guess what we’re doing today…yup, bike tour. We were actually booked for an independent tour, Formula 1 touring, but it was quite a distance from the port and we weren’t confident we’d make it in time so we regretfully cancelled. Today’s bike tour was actually offered by the ship…a bit disappointing in that the bikes were rather old and our tour guide really didn’t have much to say except how beautiful Mallorca is, and he’s absolutely right, but I do enjoy the stories that usually come with a guided tour. The harbor is packed with sailboats and yachts of all different sizes. We passed the main touristy highlights: Catedral de Mallorca and the Palacio de la Almudaina; and then wandered our way through narrow streets to the old part of town. Paul and I both noticed the lack of colour in the buildings. No Nadal sightings either ☹️ - granted the village he grew up in (Manacore) is about 60km away. One interesting fact our guide did share with us is that the population of Mallorca is close to 1 million but the number of tourists it entertains in a year is about 20 million 🤯. He also mentioned that there are a lot of people who own property in Mallorca but only spend a couple of weeks here…as a result of its increasing popularity with the wealthy, real estate prices have increased dramatically. We went back to the ship with the tour, had some lunch, and then headed out for a walk along the pier. The waves were smashing against the rocks; hard to believe how powerful moving water can be. As we were sailing away this evening, I noticed this interesting boat (see picture) - a transporter of yachts and sailboats…it lowers its floor into the water, the boats are ‘sailed’ in and secured, the floor comes back up and off they go. Great evening again with the Aussies - Malcolm and Jacqui, Colin and Jan. Colin and Jan are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary on board tomorrow 💕Read more
TravelerGreat pictures. Love your blog.❤️
11/7/23Reply
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Day 25 - Sea day
November 6, 2023, Western Mediterranean ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C
- sooooo, I’m not a real fan of sea days…I’d rather be out and about but woke up and looked at what was going on on the ship today - paper flower making 😳 - perfect, can make some for the happy couple. Paul helped too. We then went to the Culinary demonstration and galley tour hosted by the Executive Chef and Director of Restaurant Operations…very entertaining. Would you be surprised to learn that they prepare about 30,000 meals every day? It was very interesting to see behind the scenes - clean, quiet and calm - can only imagine what it looks like the other 23 1/2 hours in a day. Paul received a message from the tour company we had booked with tomorrow that they had to cancel due to injury…I kinda wanted to ask for a doctor’s note - disappointing for sure, but what can you do. Spent pretty much the rest of the afternoon putzing around, save and except participating in a “Central Perk” trivia challenge. Somebody actually got ALL of the answers correct - impressive. Celebrated the milestone of 50 years of marriage with Colin and Jan, Malcolm and Jacqui. They were treated to the crew singing Happy Anniversary and what looked to be a lovely cake surrounded by chocolate pieces but unfortunately, it was delivered after we had finished dessert.Read more
Sea days can be fun❤️ [Mum]
11/7/23Reply
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Day 26 - Sicily (Palermo), Italy
November 7, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C
This morning we arrived in Palermo, Italy. It is Sicily's cultural, economic and tourism capital. It is a city rich in history, culture, art, music and food and apparently, is the most conquered city in the world. The population of Palermo is approximately 850,000 while the island of Sicily is about 4.8 million. WOW - what a difference from every other port so far…crowded, traffic, horns, lots of yelling, dirty…a little bit intimidating actually. As I mentioned yesterday, our bike tour was cancelled and while I was ok doing a bike tour with a guide, I wasn’t sure I wanted to try it without one, so we decided to walk the city. Our first point of interest was the Teatro Massimo Vittorio Emanuele di Palermo, Italy’s largest opera house, opened May 16, 1897. Next we walked through La Vucciria market, filled with fish mongers and other delights. Headed down a narrow lane way, turned a corner and voila…the Palermo cathedral, one of the most important architectural monuments in Sicily. It was built in 1184 by the Normans on a Muslim Mosque. There is absolutely no rhyme or reason to the streets in old town. We came upon The Quattro Canti (the Four Corners) which is a square at a historic crossroads in the centre of Palermo. Paul captured a really cool picture of the four buildings at each of its corners. Next, we walked by the Fontana Pretoria and piazza. Figured we’d covered sufficient ground and that when in Italy, you MUST eat pizza…so we did. We found a cute little place down from the Teatro Massimo and ordered a diavola pizza, with a side of that’s amore, courtesy of the local accordion player. We continued to just meander up and down the streets again and then back to the ship to do some laundry and preliminary packing. Lovely pre-dinner drinks and chatter, and then dinner and chatter with the Aussies…what a great group of people with wonderful stories. It’s been a lot of fun getting to know them.❤️Read more
Traveler❤️
11/8/23Reply
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Day 27 - Salerno (Sorrento), Italy
November 8, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C
We’ve been very fortunate in having been to a number of towns in this area before: Amalfi, Positano, Ravello, even a couple of days in Sorrento back in 2015. We’re doing our second and final Princess excursion that starts with a couple of hours to explore Sorrento…such a beautiful town. Our guide talked about living in the red and yellow zones as they relate to Mount Vesuvius which is considered an active volcano. The red zone is closest to Vesuvius and deemed most at risk from pyroclastic flows, eruption, and would be evacuated if an eruption starts. Next is the yellow zone with the potential to be affected by significant ash fall. Kinda scary but guess they’re similar situations in all parts of the world AND you just never know. This whole region, courtesy of its eruption, has extremely fertile land resulting in an over abundance of orange, lemon and olive trees. On arrival in Sorrento, it rained for the first hour but cleared up completely for the second. We walked up/down each of the 4 streets stemming from the center square. One took us towards the Bay of Naples, 1 towards a rock face and the other two to cruiser’s delight (although not us really), shopping. Having said that, a pair of light purple combat boots caught my eye and had they had my size…☹️. Back on the tour bus, quick trip into a limoncello factory (varieties had alcohol content of 18, 30 and 42%) and then on to our main event: wine tasting. We arrived at Cantina del Vesuvio, an organic winery started by the Russo family in 1930. They have 16 hectares of self sustainable soil, sitting at the bottom of Mount Vesuvius. Enjoyed a nice 3 course lunch with, I think but honestly I lost count, maybe 6 wine tastings. Was a great day! Back on the ship and our last night to swap adventures, cheers and dinner shenanigans with the Aussies. We’re so glad we met them so early in the trip. Exchanged contact info, sorrowful goodbyes and promised to stay in touch, particularly if we head out there way (debatable after ALL of the stories they told me about critters that kill…Jacqui gave us a card and on the envelope were her drawings of said creatures) OR they come our way.Read more
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