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Our Mediterranan Cruise 2019

July - August 2019
July 2019 Read more
  • 44footprints
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  • 46.7kkilometers
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  • Our Mediterranan Cruise 2019
    Day 7

    Gibralta, Spain

    July 22, 2019 in Gibraltar ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    We could feel the ship docking this morning at about 6am. Can't really feel ocean movement at night but we can feel slight motor vibrations.

    Walked into the town which took about 25 minutes. Very quaint. Cobblestoned and very British influenced. Interesting place. Cool that everything is dutyfree so I got my new fav perfume for almost NZD50 cheaper! Yeah. Robin got a pair of white shorts - very Europeans 😉

    We had a tour booked for 1.30pm but we missed it. We were going to see the monkeys and look through some WW2 caves. We were soo disappointed. It wasn't entirely our fault. We went to the meet up point 15 mins early, but there were just a bunch of guys smoking; no tour signs. So we moved on a bit, waited, nothing, back to ship, nothing, back to pick up point 5mins late, he was gone! Phoned the tour company and they credited us. Learned to just trust our gut and stay put.

    Oh, well, more pool time.

    Dinner in the set dining room hearing about everyone's Gibralta experiences.    Read more

  • Our Mediterranan Cruise 2019
    Day 8

    At sea, cruising to Marseille, France

    July 23, 2019, Western Mediterranean ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    Quiet day at sea heading to Marseille. Hung around the pool, read, ate...

    We popped into the Wheelhouse Bar and listened to Luca blast out a tribute to guitarist legends before having a scrummy dinner at the Salty Dog. I also tested out a couple of cocktails - whisky sour is my favourite so far.

    Then we were off to a production called "Disco... Blame it on the Boogie". 70s discotheque show with the Emerald Princess singers and dancers. Only 45 minutes, which was long enough for Robin, but really great dancing and singing.    Read more

  • Our Mediterranan Cruise 2019
    Day 9

    Marseille (Aix En Provence)

    July 24, 2019 in France ⋅ ⛅ 34 °C

    Early start today. Had a 9am shipside pickup. Downed our brekkie and followed the directions for our tour pickup. But, again, didn't go too smoothly. The driver was late because the port authority wouldn't let him through because they didn't have us and another family as being onboard the ship - I'm pretty sure we're onboard.

    Finally got our tour guide. 40 min drive into Marseille. Our guide (Marc) gave a quick foot tour then left us to wander the streets. Was similar to Gibralta, but French, lol.

    Checked out a gorgeous church then a quick drink. Super expensive place so no shopping today. But there were heaps of tastings along the street, like nougat and florintines. Headed back to the car at the meet up point and we were back at the ship by 1pm.

    Exciting times! Did a load of washing. Two washers and two dryers for our entire floor of about 300 rooms (so about 900 people). But we grabbed a machine and job done.

    Spent a few hours by the pool - in the shade, people watching, trying another cocktail (a martini something).

    Busy evening. Formal night for dining so got a bit dressed up. First it was an hour of ABBA in Club Fusion, dinner at 8pm (our set dining time), then off to the Princess Theatre with our dinner group to watch an hilarious Irish comedian, George Casey. Then we topped it off with a night cap in the Wheelhouse Bar.

    Porting in Genoa tomorrow. It's meant to be about 33c.    Read more

  • Our Mediterranan Cruise 2019
    Day 10

    Genoa, Italy, part 1

    July 25, 2019, Ligurian Sea ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    What a day! Off the boat at 8.30am, back on at 6.30pm. It's now 10pm and I finally writing up our day.

    We were booked for an historical tour of Genoa, but we assume it wasn't fully booked, so was cancelled so we did a hop on hop off bus. 10 minute walk to the bus.

    First it was a full round trip of the city to decide where to stop. First place off was Cattedrale San Lorenzo, a stunning cathedral from the mid 1200s.    Read more

  • Our Mediterranan Cruise 2019
    Day 10

    Genoa, Italy, Part 2

    July 25, 2019, Ligurian Sea ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Then it was off to the Piazza de Ferrari E Palazo Ducale, a royal palace dating back to about the 1600s. A lot of it had private exhibitions happening, but we went into the prison and up to the tower. That's was so fascinating. It was almost unchanged from the 1600s and still had original prisoners' pictures and writings on the walls. We also saw the tower prison for the elite or royal prisoners in the tower - quite respectable for a prison, even had windowsRead more

  • Our Mediterranan Cruise 2019
    Day 10

    Genoa, Italy, part 3

    July 25, 2019, Ligurian Sea ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Next stop was the shopping district to buy me a tank top - it got up to 34c and I'd worn a linen shirt which was drenched in sweat after 1.5 hours on the top deck of the bus. Ten minutes in one shop and two tops for 14€ and we were off again and I was feeling much cooler.

    Stop two was the Christopher Columbus monument. Good, but not a lot to see. So we were back on the bus and stopped at Portello which is a lift that goes up a hill for amazing panoramic views of Genoa. Then we walked down a beautiful cobbled and steep path to the bus.    Read more

  • Our Mediterranan Cruise 2019
    Day 10

    Genoa, Italy, part 4

    July 25, 2019, Ligurian Sea ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Finally, we headed back to the port, had a pasta and campari and Robin had a beer. Our last visit was to the the Museo Galata del Mare (Maritime Museum). This place was amazing! So much history, but the life-size boats were incredible and we could go on them and see how sailers lived and worked. Each of the five floors were a different period from 1100s to current time. Robin was over museums by now so he left me and the second floor to wander on my own.

    By far the best was the floor where the Italians traveled by sea to America. We walked from the docks in the late 1800s, to loading luggage on board, to the bunk rooms, officers' quarters, to landing in America, off the ship, to tiny B&B rooms. Then it changed to an early 1900s passenger ship, then to a submarine. Awesome!

    We were back on board at about 7pm, had a shower, rest and off for dinner at 8pm.

    Florence tomorrow. Eight hour trip. My feet already hurt, they'll be raw by tomorrow night.    Read more

  • Our Mediterranan Cruise 2019
    Day 11

    Florence, Italy, part 1

    July 26, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Docked close to Livorno at about 6.30am. It's gonna be a hot one today - high thirtys, ouch.

    After another amazing breakfast, we were in another minivan, this time heading into Florence. Plan was to tick off seeing the statue of David and then to see the leaning tower of Pisa. We got to one... the trip to Florence should have taken an hour and a half, but ended up three hours! OMG, the traffic was crazy slow on the highway. Our tour guide said that with this traffic we would never get to Pisa in a half hour and back to the ship in time. I was so disappointed.

    It was scorching hot so we did a slow wander around the city. Saw David and his other statue mates. Saw some stunning architecture. Ate gelato, drunk tiny espresso coffees, then pizza and prosecco. Food ticked off.    Read more

  • Our Mediterranan Cruise 2019
    Day 11

    Florence, Italy, part 2

    July 26, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C

    The heat was getting to us so the solution was to duck into some shops, which ended up with Robin buying a leather overnight bag. It's gorgeous and was relatively cheap compared to NZ. Maybe not compared to Bangkok, but you can't be sure you're getting the real deal there.

    Back in the minivan at 3pm and we headed back to Livorno via the countryside route and a stop at a summit for some photo ops. The drive back was so pretty with vineyards, olive groves and gorgeous Tuscan homes. Our driver, Nikki, was a crazy man (apparently all Italians are) and after a close call with a car we were back onboard the ship in an hour and forty-five minutes.    Read more

  • Our Mediterranan Cruise 2019
    Day 12

    Rome, Italy, part 1

    July 27, 2019 in Montenegro ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    Cruised into Civitavecchia early this morning with a bump and a bang. Early start... 7.30am we had a shuttle to catch to the coach parking, then it was off to Rome for the day.

    Another stinking hot day and a city full of high season travellers. We had a great driver and only 12 of us in a minivan. Arrived about 9am at Vatican City for a quick 45 minute look around.  We bought tickets for a full tour starting at 12.45pm and hop on hop off bus tickets. Then it was to the Colloseum for a 45 minute look. Didn't go in as not enough time today. The outside was pretty awesome though and still with great views of the coloseum. Then into the city centre and dropped off in the city centre and being picked at 3pm outside the Vatican museum. It's an amazing city with, like the other places we've been to so far, incredible architecture.

    First stop for us, breakfast! Second stop for us, finding a Vodafone shop to get more data - very important. By now it was 11.00am so we figured we should hop on the bus to the Vatican as we had to do half a loop to get there. Well, we couldn't find the bus stop. Robin used a real (going back to the dark ages 😅) map as the new sim card was an hour away from being activated. So we headed in the direction Robin said and still couldn't find the stop. I popped into a tailors and asked the shopkeeper where to get to the bus. Turns out we were going in the wrong direction and were half way to the Vatican, so we just kept walking. Got close to Vatican, stopped for a beer - geez it was hot! Got the sim card working. Discovered we were still 20 minutes from the Vatican and it was 12.30! We ran. Got there in time, joined the group, phew.     Read more

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