Month: September 2015

On our way to Oporto, the first port on our second leg, the Captain announced that the weather predicted for Thursday was such that we would be unable to berth at Oporto. The storms had built up after our departure from Southampton and the Bay of Biscay was living up to its rocky reputation.

The Captain had made arrangements for us to berth instead at Vigo, a very sheltered port in one of the world’s great natural harbours. For us, a second visit to Vigo in 2 weeks.

I had ruffled feathers last week about the lack of tours being offered with wheelchair ramps or lifts. The tour manager, Pierro, rang to say that he had organised a suitable vehicle for Vigo.  But he wanted to charge Jane and me more than the other 12 people in the coach! The cantankerous old blogger was incensed. Pierro later rang back to say that we would pay the same as everyone else.

And the tour was good. The guide, Kathy, was Irish but had lived in Galicia for 30 years. She arrived in Vigo to teach for a year, met her husband, had a family and turned herself into a brilliant guide. The tour took us up to a viewpoint where we looked down on the bay, littered with mussel farms.

We then spent time at Castrelos Park and the recently restored Palace. The gardens were of a French design and in one small pond stood a miniature version of the main house.

We were treated to tapas and wine in a beachside hotel on our way back to the ship. A lovely day.

And as we sailed out we passed the picturesque and rocky Cies Islands. Two of the islands are linked with a beach that has in the past been voted the most beautiful in Europe.

This is the beach linking two of the islands

After leaving Vigo, we sailed south, running parallel with the coasts of Spain and Portugal. We rounded Cape St Vincent, hoping to see Roger and Jill Wilson waving, but there was no sign of them. Then we were through the Straits of Gibraltar and heading east some 35 miles from the coasts of Morroco, Algeria and Tunsia.

 The harbour at Messina.

Blonde with very long legs and aged 25 (she said). I think that the gangmaster thought I would be swayed because of her looks, despite her English being virtually non existent. It worked!

The plan was to be taken to the pretty Taormina, some 30 miles south, spend an hour or two exploring the little town and then returning for a tour round Messina. Sandy made it all possible by driving fast but carefully for 35 minutes each way.

Taormina is 700 feet above sea level, overlooking a beautiful coastline.

Mount Etna sits in the background.

Taormina was full of tourists of all nationalities. It is the most popular tourist attraction in Sicily and its narrow streets have top of the range shops intermingled with tat.

There are some beautiful buildings – the Greco-Roman theatre, the Corvaja Palace and the Cathedral.

Sandy met us at the agreed time and place at the end of our allotted time and we blocked the traffic for a while as we poured Jane into the taxi and stored the wheelchair. Sandy didn’t appear to have seen a folding wheelchair before, which convinced me that in the Mafia riddled island, she was probably a gangsters moll rather than a cab driver!

After a fast dash back to Messina we toured the city, and took in a local wedding. Jane likes them.

 The church in the square.

 The Cathedral

I am sorry that I have not been live on the blog in recent days but there was a problem with Blogspot that I couldn’t  resolve without notes that I had stupidly left at home. Sam in London had set up the blog in the first place 2 years ago and a couple of emails from him today quickly resolved the problem. Thank you Sam. You are a star!

Many have asked not only where we have been, but where we are going.

I can understand why you yachtsmen love to sail in the Ionian Sea. We arrived in Argostoli, the capital of Cephalonia, on Tuesday at 9.00 am. It was a beautiful day.

We were on the berth – a relatively new construction which appeared to have transformed the tourist industry on the island – and a Costa ship was at anchor outside us.

We are in the middle of a very busy six days. No sea days and 6 ports in 6 days!

It has had an eventful history and many of us recall that the differences between Serbs and the Croats led to a horrible war less than 25 years ago. Thousands of people were killed and there were numerous massacres and atrocities.

Churches, monasteries and palaces were damaged, but remarkably the war damage has in the main been repaired.

Inside the walls there are numerous alfreso eating areas, small boutiques and a main traffic free street – Placa. A Dominican Monastery, a Serbian Orthodox Church and the Sponza Palace can be found as you pass along the Main Street.

Dubrovnik is an exceptional place and if you have not been there, it should be included in your bucket list. But do bear in mind that it can get crowded.

That night we celebrated Jane Houghton’s birthday in the Commodore Club. Plenty of excellent champagne before dinner.

Jane with husband Andy. 

Andy and I watched the Saints v Man United on TV in the pub on Sunday. He has not stopped reminding me of the score. I remind him that their first goal should have been disallowed for off side which would have made it a draw!

Many years ago, Ian and Carole Gordon, Roger and Jill Wilson and Jane and I, booked a weekend City break to Venice with Thomsons. I guess it was a cheapie, but it was great fun. We all loved the City and had time not only to visit the tourist places but to explore areas where the Venetians live and work.

You will have noticed that it was raining as we sailed up the Grand Canal but the weather was much better once we had gone ashore.

To be continued!

The voyage to the berth through the heart of Venice was magical. For some years there has been talk of large ships being banned from the lagoon because of the damage some believe they cause to the buildings. Luckily for us that ban has not yet happened, but is is clear that subsidence is taking place at a rapid rate. There is plenty of restoration work taking place and a new tidal barrier has been built, but it is doubtful that that is enough.

If you have not been to Venice by sea, we can recommend it. Try it for yourselves.

The weather improved by the time we made our way to the Tronchetto Waterbus. 3 Euros in total for the two of us for the 40 minute journey down the Grand Canal and back again at the end of the day. What value! We had been offered something almost identical for 125 Euros each on the ship.

Much of the advertising material said that the bridges in Venice couldn’t be crossed by wheelchairs. Wrong! We could see from the ship that many had ramps across them. We also found that a number of them had infills down one side to enable wheelchairs to cross. We were very pleased to find how easy it was for us.

The vaporetto quickly became packed with tourists, but we had found a comfortable corner and access to an open window for the camera. One other couple from the ship had a wheelchair and were clearly nervous about the trip on the vaporetto. They watched our every move, so that each time I stood to take a photo, they stood too and readied themselves to leave. When we disembarked at St Mark’s Square, they followed. They seemed overawed by the crowds and quickly made up their minds to return to the ship and safety. They missed a great day.

We decided to start with one of the most expensive coffees in the world. In a wonderful position in the square, people watching. 

We then started down one of the side streets off the square, and realised that we had never explored the streets and alleyways before. We went north initially, and often had to do 180 degree turns when an alleyway turned into a flight of stairs. We made great progress and covered miles, eventually turning south again and finding the canal where the gondoliers load up new passengers. There was no shortage of takers.

The dreaded knee has been holding up quite well, with the assistance of doses of ibroprofen. I had thought that Venice might be a difficult day, but it was not. The streets are so well trodden that the cobbles have been flattened and the surfaces are smooth.

Eventually it was time to return to the ship, and the vaporetto ride back down the Grand Canal was just as exciting as the morning trip. We also managed to collect and guide another couple, who had no idea about how to get back to the ship from St Mark’s!

Earlier in the day, while we were near St Mark’s Square, we had seen one of the Holland America ships taking exactly the same route that we had earlier. The Niewe Amsterdam is the same hull shape as QE and QV.

We left the berth at about 18.45 and retraced our steps down towards the lagoon, passing some of the mega yachts moored near St Mark’s. It was a great spectacle.

 

Long ago we visited Corfu three times. We stayed in different places and this time we decided to find a taxi driver who would drive us to Benitses, south of Corfu Town, then across to the west coast and Paleokastritsa and finally to the north coast and Roda.

Next we crossed from the east coast to Paleokastritsa in the west. An interesting drive through the hills and then down to what had been a picturesque bay. 

Jane and I had stayed there in the mid seventies before the children had arrived. We could remember that the hotel looked like a prison then. We also remembered that we had met two couples from the U.S. who were university lecturers on secondment from Rutgers in New Jersey to Oxford. We met up with one of the couples and stayed with them at their home in the U.S. a year or two later.

As we drove down the hill I saw the hotel behind a closed gate. Leo stopped the car. It was clear that the place was derelict – broken windows, weeds and trees out of control.

What a great shame.

And the beautiful bay we remembered was tatty and touristy.

Back in the taxi and off to Roda. What had been an average hotel all those years ago was now a large immaculate place with tennis courts, vast swimming pools and smart accommodation. It was Leo who explained to us why the Roda Beach Hotel was successful, while Benitses and Paleokastritsa were full of closed hotels and failed restaurants.

The big problem, which affects him as a taxi driver,  is that the big hotels have made themselves “All inclusive”. That means that the guests pay a fixed amount for their holiday and have no additional costs. Everything at the hotel is included. All meals and all drinks. Not top brands of booze, but as much as you like.

And what happens is that the guests never leave the campus. They eat there and they drink there and at the end of their 7 days they go home. They don’t explore, so they don’t rent a car or use a taxi. The local restaurants suffer and the bars and discos close.

Leo drove us back to the ship by the coast road, round the north and then down through Nissaki to Corfu Town. It was a nostalgic day and revived many happy memories.