Tuesday 8th – Wednesday 9th September
Well, what an experience Istanbul was! We arrived in a heavy thunder storm early in the morning but due to the fact that the port is very busy and you have to wait your turn to dock, we were very late docking. When in Rome (in this case Turkey) you do as the Romans do. As a result of our late arrival all tours had to be adjusted to suite. We hadn’t booked as we have chosen to take a tour of our choice on stand by. That way, when armed with as much information as the tour lecturer gives we can decide shortly before a tour if we want to take it or do our own thing. At one stage we thought we might miss out in Istanbul but our luck held out and we got on one which was supposed to leave about 7.30 but it was more like 11.30 when we left. This three and a half hour tour lasted about 6 hours. This wasn’t because we saw any more that the tour indicated, it just meant we spent a hell of a lot of time stuck in traffic. We thought Naples was bad but Istanbul takes the cake, even worse than we have found in KL on a visit there. The place is full of tour busses, public busses and trams, people pulling barrows and private cars all wanting their share of the many narrow roads. We really admires the skill of the drivers as you see very few cars with dings in them. The bus drivers could go where, I’m sure none of our local drivers, would dare to go. What did we see? We crossed over the Bospourus (spelling?) from the European continent into the Asian continent to a coffee stop with a view from a very high hill overlooking all of Istanbul. We then came back and crossed the Golden Horn ( a natural waterway) into Old Istanbul, past the ancient aquaduct and a new dig where they were planning to put a station for the new unfinished underground system. In this dig they found (I think) 7 wooden ships in an ancient harbour so the station will be on hold for quite some time. Then we drove slowly past the Blue Mosque (not part of our tour) and on to a carpet factory outlet and enjoyed an apple tea while they showed us their wares and then to the Grand Bazaar. We were allowed about an hour at the Bazaar but didn’t see much of it. We were afraid we may get lost in there as it is huge and all under cover, so we stuck to the centre alley.
We met our tour guide outside at a designated location and then walked to St Sophia built in the year 300 and is under restoration. It took only 7 years to build with slave labour. It has been used for both a Christian church and a Mosque. The inside is all marble. Considering this area gets earthquakes regularly it is amazing that it is still standing in such good condition. There is too much to tell you about this church in this page but it’s worth looking into it’s history. We then had another 15 minute walk to get our bus and back to the ship. We missed lunch and did more walking than expected but it was a great tour. The GD managed to smuggle himself a bread roll out for his lunch. If he hadn’t he would have been in serious trouble.

Wednesday: I woke this morning with the aftermath of all our walking with a very sore knee – old Arthur playing up! Hope it improves for Rhodes tomorrow. We sailed into Anzac Cove this morning and there were two services held on the open deck, one at sunrise and another at 11am. We attended the very moving 11am service. We were only able to get within a mile of the beach but the monument was clearly visible and by blowing up our photos you could make out the white crosses. The sun came out just long enough for the service. Then the clouds moved in again and it has become quite cool.
There’s two more ports and then the Suez if all goes according to plan.

Sunday – Monday 7th September
We landed in Pireus (port for Athens) about 3pm, about 9 hours later than our original scheduled arrival. Greece excelled itself and although many morning tours were cancelled, they did a great job of accommodating passengers on alternative tours. The last one back was a little after 8pm. The GD and I took an easy tour of Athens and although we didn’t climb up the Acropolis to the Parthenon our tour did take us to the foot of the mountain where we got some pretty good shots of the Parthenon. We were also able to wander around the area of the Temple of Zeus and other ruins. After the tour, we were catered for with coffee and cake at the Park Hotel. Our tour got us back to the ship about 7.15pm.
Monday: We woke up in a bay at Mykonos in brilliant sunshine. It was a relief to have a much cooler day than we’d experienced in many of the other stops. What a delightful place – certainly one that will stand out in the memory banks. The wind had picked up while we were on shore and it was a rocky ride back to the ship on the tenders. We left Mykonos about 2pm and are now headed for Instanbul but not sure what time we will arrive there with the switch around of ports, due to our lost time.

Mesina

Friday 4th – Saturday 5th September
We arrived early in the morning at Naples. Since we had nothing in particular planned we took it easy and after breakfast etc., we took a stroll into town. Boy, is the traffic chaotic here. Traffic lights don’t seem to mean much. You just watch the locals and follow them to cross the roads. Of course you take your life in your hands doing it but the alternative is to stand on the corner and go nowhere. We made a couple a purchases and bought a few cards then headed back to the Ship for lunch. We decided to take an easy tour of Naples in the afternoon just to see what there was to see in Naples itself. One would really need a few days here to explore the surrounding area so, who knows, we may pass this way again one day and make Naples the base for a little while. We were late leaving port as someone took very ill and needed to go to a hospital shortly before we were due to leave.

Saturday: Today was supposed to be a full day at sea, however we found ourselves cruising into a harbour at Mesina, Sardinia. Another passenger had taken ill during the night and we had to make and unscheduled stop to send them off to hospital. We are now running about a half a day behind. This will be most inconvenient for those who were booked for a tour in the morning. We were due to arrive in Athens about 6am tomorrow. The ship will try to make up some time and they are trying to re-arrange tours. Greece would have to work a little more efficiently than Italy for that to happen successfully. We found the ports in Italy lacking in cleanliness. At some of the more popular tourist spots they appear to be cleaning up their act a little, but have a long way to go compared with other places we have docked. I expect the afternoon will be pretty much as the “Princess Patter” (the ships newspaper) indicates. Did I mention we get abbreviated versions of western newspapers, including an Australian version? It contains just enough information for us to know that down under is still there and what the weather, and for those who are interested, the sports outcomes. The weather has been terrific but unfortunately, yesterday we couldn’t get a good look at Mt Vesuvius as it was shrouded in a haze and clouds. After today we have about 8 ports in a row which takes us to Safaga, Egypt, on the other side of the Suez Canal. Hope we can stand the pace.

Wednesday 2nd September
Monaco seems like days ago already. Today we arrived in Livorno the port for Pisa and Florence. We spent the morning on board ship and booked for a tour for Pisa in the afternoon. It was nice just to take our time over breakfast, spend a little time on the computer, settle the ship board account, write a few postcards, then have an early lunch and a nap before joining our tour to Pisa at 1.30. Livarno is a busy port oriented city and nothing of interest to see. Florence was only included in the full day tour and a bit much for us oldies. It was about a ½ and hour bus ride to Pisa then on arrival we hopped on a trolley train to the garden of miracles where the leaning tower is where we had refreshments, complimentary (a vino or a beer), then a walk to the tower and the cathedral. We didn’t walk to the top. Once again, we’re glad we made the effort to take the tour. The history of it is fascinating, particularly for the engineering minded. They knew it was sinking before it was finished and took steps to try and counterbalance the building as it went upwards. A few centuries ago Pisa was a sea port but now it’s miles from the sea. This is all as a result of natural reclamation of the sea. We arrived back on board in time to shower and dress for dinner. Tomorrow morning we will wake up in the port of Civitavecchia (Rome).

Tuesday 1st September
Spring in the Med. The forecast was for 23 degrees but I think it was more like late 20’s. We didn’t book any tours today since the Principality is rather small and the cost of tours from the ship is rather inflated. We opted to walk a little way from the ship, up about 60 steps (a bit of a struggle for me) and then take the escalators up to the top where the Palace and the Old town are. We got to the top just as a little trolley train was about to take off on a tour for half an hour. It was free. It took us from one end of the principality to the other and back again. There were on board recorded players telling you were you were at each important place of interest. There is not one little bit of space not utilized in the area. There’s tunnel roads and roads through buildings or at least they seem to go through, parks running onto roves and busy. When the trolley tour finished, we found a restaurant in one of the very narrow streets (no cars allowed here) in the old town and had a pizza and a salad, water and a bottle of vino. We then took a tour through the Palace for a small entry fee. The rooms that are open to the public are rather small, including the throne room. The harbour is full of millionaires water toys. A great little spot on the map but apart from being a tax free location I don’t think we’d be in the category to spend much time here – one brief visit will do us nicely

Monday 31st August
Another month has gone by and our first ports of call seem so far in the past. When we awoke this morning we were docking in Barcelona, Spain. After reading up on the place this morning we decided it was too much to take in on our own, particularly as we don’t speak or understand Spanish, so we booked a couple of spare seats on a tour of the highlights of Barcelona. Glad we did, because not a lot of people got to see the inside of La Sagrada Familia (the Sacred Family), designed by Gaudi , which is still under construction after about 127 years. When it’s finished it will seat several thousand people. It should be finished in about 2025. It really was worth the visit. It is quite an interesting city. We have just watched a show with 2 fellows playing several instruments in a south American style. The same ones we watched a couple of nights ago, then to the Wheelhouse bar for a little bit of dance music before returning to our cabin to turn in. Tomorrow morning we will be in Monaco.

Saturday 29th – Sunday 30th August
Saturday was a sea day like any other sea day, that is, up to 2pm when we arrived in Gibraltar. We opted for a look around the old town, full of shops and bargains and interesting old colonial town buildings and narrow streets, rather than take the cable car up to the top of the rock. Talk about the monkeys up there and their inquisitive nature kind of put us off going up on the cable car. It was also cloudy most of the day and no guarantee that you would see anything anyway. We sat in the town square and had a couple of cold ones before making our way back to the ship. We left port about 10pm.
Sunday: We are now headed for Barcelona where we expect to arrive about 7am tomorrow morning. We’ve done our Bridge, computer trivia bit and the GD suggested we try a Pizza for lunch. We’ve been going to try them since coming aboard in Sydney but only just got round to it. The comical waiter seated us at the window looking out at the condolers (the lifeboats) as he put it. The Pizzas were A1, washed down with desalinated sea water and a bottle of Rosemont Cabernet Merlot. We’ll do that again. Usual afternoon activities…… Not sure when I will get back to the next installment as we now have 5 ports in a row coming up. See you then.

Gilbraltar:
Text to be posted later, internet problems again

Thursday 27th – Friday 28th August
We left port a little late yesterday (Thursday) as a few of the tour busses that had taken a lot of passengers up to London were late getting back. One of our friends was on one buss which didn’t only have one prang on the way back but two. After the first smash they had to change busses and the second one apparently knocked someone off a push bike. No injuries in either accident but it meant that the buss was about an hour late getting back to the ship. It has been another day at sea. The waves were about 3.5 meters with low to moderate gale force winds. It’s a bit heavy going for the new passengers who joined us at Southampton.



Friday: the seas and the wind have settled down a little today but it’s still cloudy. The temperature is expected to reach 30c degrees today but I’m not sure it will make that. The show last night was two musicians, who played everything from the flute to the bagpipes and a lot of other instruments with a genre which included Spanish/American, celtic, greek, traditional, you name it they played it. They were excellent. Time for me to toddle off to my bridge lesson and the GD is off to the internet lounge to organize our free access that we became entitled to in Southampton. After that it will be time for trivial pursuits and then lunch. Oh! Life’s a drag.

Text yet to be posted , Southampton,
Satellite problems yet again!!!

Wednesday 26th August
We arrived in Southampton in the early hours of the morning. It’s not a particularly pretty port but the dockyard area is rather large. There are lots of small sailing ships moored here as well. A lot of people from the ship are off early for a visit to London. Since we have been there, we gave that option a miss. We took the shuttle bus to the railway station and then a taxi into the city area about 10ish. We went to the bank first then wandered around a big shopping centre and got a couple of bargains, had lunch (fish and chips of course) and then a taxi back to the ship. Time for a nana nap then afternoon tea. There’s a lot of new faces on board this afternoon, probably about 900 of them. A lot of the staff appear to have been changed over here also. According to one of our taxi drivers, there is not a lot of pre war Southampton left. It was heavily bombed during the war and there is little left of the old historic part of town. Some of the facades have been left as a reminder of what was. He also told us that the town centre was once much closer to the water as the harbour is all reclaimed land where there used to be beaches and bays. It was very cloudy when we arrived but while we were in town it stayed fine but it is now raining quite heavily. Oh well! Isn’t that what English weather is supposed to be lik

The 21st just happened to be one of our dinner companions 80th Birthday. The usually celebration was in order complete with a bottle of champagne a Birthday cake and a chorus of Happy Birthday. The 22nd was just another day at sea. We have changed our clocks by 1 hour forward each day for the past 5 days and one feels they are a little out of sinc at times.

Sunday 23rd August
Cobh Ireland: We arrived in raining weather – well what could one expect, it is Ireland. The town of Cobh treated the ship as if it were full of long lost cousins and actually held an Australian day in town. All the shop windows had displays of Australiana in their windows, they had stalls and flags and music at the wharf. We haven’t had such a reception in any of the previous ports we have visited. This could partly be because a lot of the ships which took immigrants from Ireland to Australia left from this very port. The GD and I had book an afternoon tour to a little fishing villiage of Kinsale. A very pretty town with lots of winding streets with the buildings painted all the colours of the rainbow. Of course we had the obligatory Guinness. Although it was Sunday a lot of shops had opened just for the benefit of the ships passengers. A real warm homecoming type of welcome. I believe the Dawn Princess was the first big passenger liner for the season. We did a little shopping and had lunch at the Railway Station – a real railway station just like they were in the old days. I’m not sure why, but I always feel a little nostalgic when I leave Ireland.
Monday 24th – Tuesday 25th August
Monday was a sea day – the last sea day of their cruise for about 900 passengers, leaving us in Southampton on Wednesday. Said goodbye to a few from my bridge game and will have to find another partner for the next stage of the cruise.
Tuesday: An early start for me as I was going into Paris on a tour. We docked at Le Havre, about 3 hours from Paris. Jorgen spent the day in Le Havre. Let me tell you that if you haven’t already been to Paris then put it on you list of must visit places. It would have to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world and no words that I can write can do it justice. No photographs which I have seen of any of the attractions can depict just what it’s like to see it for real. There’s wide tree lined avenues, narrow streets, little parks, big parks, palaces, churches, bridges, cafes and all sorts of grand buildings which have to be seen at least once in your lifetime if you get the chance. My one day only touched the surface. The only place we saw from the inside was the Cathedral of Notre Dame. There just wasn’t enough time in one short day to do more. A three course lunch was part of the package which was quite simple but delicious and in a typical French restaurant. Not much time for shopping either so the suitcase can breath a sigh of relief. Apart from the steep roved houses, the countryside was similar to driving along the New England Highway in NSW. We arrived back at the ship just in time for dinner.

Text yet to be posted for Ireland

Monday 17th August – Saturday 22nd August
This was a sea day and I must admit, after three busy port days it’s nice to get back to cruising normality. We received an invitation to the Captains cocktail party on the 19th. It’s at 5pm so it will mean a free sundowners that afternoon. We’ve seen some great entertainers the past few evenings. A female pianist/singer, played everything from classical to rock and roll, Jerry Lee Lewis style. There was a young violinist equally professional and a impersonator/comedian who had us in fits of laughter. Tonight (the 21st ) is a formal night at dinner – a chance to dress up a bit. The weather across the Atlantic has been damp and miserable, with the forecast for the same or worse all the way to Ireland

Sunday 16th August
Boston: A great city, probably not much busier or bigger than Brisbane. It was another hot day, 31c degrees. We shared a cab with another couple and headed for Quincy Markets. The centre avenue of the building is about 150 meters at least and full of boutique eating stalls with food styles from just about everywhere in the world. Then there was the basement with all sorts of clothes, jewelry, gifts etc., and again outside along either side of the building. We had hot dogs for lunch, Jorgen had the traditional style, which he said was one of the best and I tried the Italian version, which was also pretty good. Then we wandered part of the Freedom train, which covers many of the historic sites and building in Boston. From my school days, I remember learning about the Boston Tea Party. Many of the sites relate to that historic event. I think of Boston as the city of Parks and Statues. They are everywhere there is a little bit of undeveloped space, along with a couple of much larger parks, all within reasonable walking distance. The heat got to us and of course, our advancing senior years so we returned to the ship at about 2pm for a nana nap and to catch up on the ironing while most people were on shore. There’s almost always a cue for the washers, dryers and iron. Having been to Boston on an earlier visit and seeing it again, I still think it is one of my favourite cities in the world. The GD confers that it is one of the nicer cities in the USA. We won’t see land now until we arrive at Ireland on the 23rd August. Time to catch up on my Bridge lessons and any activities the GD takes part in, like cooking demos etc..

Newport Rhode Island - Saturday: A much slower pace than NY to be sure. It’s a place where the rich and famous live or spend their summer holidays. I’ve never seen so many luxurious yachts and sailing boats – it’s a mecca for those with nautical interests. Getting off the ship today was pretty fast by any standard, thank goodness. We went ashore by tender – with all the vessels in the area, I don’t think it would be feasible to berth a huge cruise liner at a shore dock. We didn’t see too many taxis around to take us on any extensive adventure and after yesterday, it was nice just to stroll around the pretty town area right at the wharf. For lunch, we sampled a delicious fillet steak and mushrooms, with chips and slaw, at a local restaurant and thank goodness, not the enormous feed that we’ve come to expect in the US. We bought a couple a paintings at a gallery on shore. Hopefully they will fit in a suitcase. Alternatively, we may send them home by post from Darwin. It’s about 3pm and the GD is having his nana nap. We sail again at 4pm then it’s all stops out until we reach Boston tomorrow morning about 8am.

New York - Friday: Busy, Busy, Busy. We’re not to happy with the dis-embarkment procedures at New York, This was partly due to the organization by the Princess Line and the excessive procedures required by US, even though we had already passed immigration laws in San Francisco. It took around 2 hours queuing to get off the ship and through customs, before getting on with our plans for our day ashore. Since the hop on hop off bus had been suggested as a good way of seeing NY the first time, then that’s what we did. We viewed most the city from the top of the open level of the bus. We got off at only two of the stops, Ground Zero and Battery Point. We had lunch at an interesting café near Ground Zero and tried Chicken Adana (hadn’t heard of it before). It was spicy chicken rissoles with rice and salad and a creamy, lemony sauce. We shared one meal between the two of us and then still couldn’t eat it all. But it was tasty. It’s hard to appreciate the huge area of destruction on 9/11 until you see it. It’s now a hive of construction so even having seen the site you get feel the real impact it must have had soon after the event. From Battery Park you can see the little lady (Statue of Liberty) in the distance. I say little because she’s not nearly as big as one imagines. You nearly have to lie down to see the top of the Empire State building. Saw the Brooklyn Bridge and drove past Central Park but we were hot and tired (our 3 hour bus ride had become about 5 hours in total) so didn’t get off the bus. The smell of horse poo was rather strong as they have dozens of horse and carriages taking people around the Park. Too busy for us, and too many people. Very few people who live in the city own a car, so nearly every second vehicle was a yellow cab or a commercial vehicle. An interesting place but I wouldn’t want to live there – Neither Sydney or Melbourne come anywhere near the hustle and bustle. I would like to have got into Macy’s the biggest department store in the world but just ran out of time and energy. After setting sail at about 7.30 and watching NY fade into the distance from the top deck, we had an early night.

Wednesday 12th August
Another island in the sun – Bermuda. Not a lot here but it just breaths wealth. We didn’t visit any of the beaches which I believe have pink sand. The day is just too short. We bought a day pass for the bus and ferry, then took the Ferry up to the St George tip of the island, about 45 minutes ferry ride. All buildings both old and new have an old world appearance. You can have any colour roofing you like, so long as it’s white. All the buildings, both private residential and commercial, are painted in pastel colours – all very clean and well maintained. Most of the houses are surrounded by large, well maintained gardens. We had a walk around St George and then took the bus back inland to the city of Hamilton with lots of up market shops. We then took another ferry back to the ship and had lunch. The GD needed his afternoon nap, so I headed for the local market in an old stone storage shed. It was also a most fashionable market catering for the tourist trade, all air conditioned, but still rather expensive by comparison to home. There is another big ship in port along from us and there was another one up at St George. The waters are pristine and the people quite friendly. It has just turned 5pm and our ship is due to depart about now. They have been working on the faulty engine on the ship all day and the barge that has been pulled up at the aft end all day working on the ship has left so we hope we’ll have no more delays. We will now have a day at sea before arriving in New York about 7am on Friday.

sunraise at sea 12 August

we will be be birthing at Bermuda in about 1/2 hour, 8am local time Wednesday 12 August.

Sunday 9th – 11th August
All sea days with a variety of ship board activities. GD has been to a cooking class, I have been to my bridge playing and we have joined our friends at trivial pursuits. We’ve seen a show or two and a movie. I’ve actually played with some bridge players who know less than me, so I must be learning some of the finer points. The GD bought himself a big cookbook at his lesson and since he is the cook (sorry, chef) at our place, I can now expect some even more spectacular dinners than usual when we get home. Our ship is on go slow as the engine problem has only be partly rectified. This means we will not be docking at Bermuda at 6pm this evening as planed. The laws do not allow big vessels to navigate their channels into port during hours of darkness and we are about 4 hours behind schedule. We will now dock about 8am tomorrow morning. This has no effect on us personally but some people had tours to a huge market out of town this evening, so they will now miss out. Apparently whatever they need to repair the engine problem is waiting at Bermuda, thus a tender will go ashore this evening and pick up the necessary parts and work on the engine overnight. GD has gone off for a hair cut and then another cooking lesson and I’m off to my morning bridge lesson. Have a great day.

Saturday 8th August
Enjoyed an afternoon in Aruba (a Dutch holding until recently) in the Dutch Antillies. It’s a small very dry island with virtual cactus desert inland and beaches around the outskirts. Thus, we chose not to take a tour but just wandered around the city. It was a mecca for anyone wanting up market brands in cloths, accessories, jewelry, perfume etc.. Since we don’t want to have to pay excess on our return flight from Sydney to Brisbane, as we had to on the way down, we have kept our shopping to the bare minimum and basically only buying essentials, or consumables. We are allowed to bring two bottles of wine on board from each port to drink in our cabin. Back to Aruba – most of the older buildings are typically Dutch in appearance. It was very hot once you left the foreshore so we cooled down with a couple of ice cold Heinekens at the Renaissance pier after tramping around town, before returning to the ship. We were meant to sail at 7pm but one of the sideways thrust engines had an electrical problem so we were delayed. We finally left port around 10.30

Friday 7th August
Cartagena was quite a surprise. We hired a taxi for two hours, with another couple to see the highlights. The old city has a wall around it and a substantial number of the population still live there. A lot of the buildings are around 500 years old with lots of history and beautifully maintained. It has the distinctive Spanish look about it. Many old churches and other building such as the town hall and the local council building and would you believe it the original Hard Rock Café. The modern city (outside the walls) has lots of tall apartment blocks along the beaches. It’s rather a clean city with lots of little parks and gardens. There are armed guards everywhere but one doesn’t feel intimidated at all. The port area where we were docked was the usual greasy, busy trade port and probably deterred a lot of people on the ship from venturing further. There were also warnings of pick pockets etc. Those who didn’t go ashore and explore a little missed out on one of the most interesting places we have been so far.