Month: September 2018

Every time I exhibit a photo of a warship my young friend Nicholas Brewer, a retired very senior RAF Officer (he tells me – I’ve never seen his medals or his uniform) immediately researches and tells me it’s history. So here is a little competition for him.

This morning we were here and this vessel appeared and seemed to be protecting us. What is her name and which navy?

In the morning we glide into Venice. By 7.15am we should be passing St Marks Square.

More to report in the morning.

It’s in Sicily, in case you have not heard of it before. I’m not sure why Cunard chose the place except that it gives easy access to Taormina and Castelmola. I just wonder if it’s cheaper to anchor rather than dock in Messina or Palermo.

What was a fishing village has no docking facilities. As a result the ship has to sit in the bay at anchor and passengers are taken ashore in tenders. But Jane cannot get into a tender and has to stay on the ship.

We arranged for Kim to go on a four hour tour in the morning as she had not seen the island before. When she returned, I went ashore. Giardini Naxos is said to be a tourist destination. It is not. A sandy beach with rows and rows of umbrellas, but the pizzerias, restaurants and tatty tourist shops are all pretty run down.

One end of the beach was littered with derelict wooden sailing and fishing boats and a rusting Caterpillar truck with its tracks embedded in the sand.

Last year when we came to Sicily, the QE docked at Messina and we left the ship there, flying to Pisa to attend niece Katie’s Lucca wedding to Sam, joining the ship again in Venice. Had Giardini Naxos been the Sicily port at that time our plans would have been scuppered!

I must admit that this time I found a reasonable bar on the seafront with free WiFi and a very pleasant dry white wine and I was able to catch up with some of the emails that the blog produces!

32C was predicted by the Officer of the watch. In fact it reached 36C but it was not a problem. We had been to Valencia once before in 2007 on the much smaller Regent’s Navigator. Because of its size we had been able to dock near to the city and we were close to the pavilions that had been set up on the waterfront to house the America’s Cup competitors who were preparing for the elimination rounds, before the event itself in those waters later that year.

This time we had to dock in the commercial area some way from the city. An ancient looking bus with a wheelchair lift was waiting for us to shuttle us to the city – a 30 minute ride.

Valencia’s old city is a maze of narrow streets and large and small squares. It is delightful.

You may know that in the past the Rio Turia kept bursting its banks and flooding the city. In October 1957 the city was devastated by the worst ever flood and dozens of people lost their lives.

It was decided to divert the river away from the city. A massive exercise, but it was achieved. The original river bed was left in place, as were the many bridges over it. The river bed has now been converted into a 4 mile long area containing beautiful gardens, football pitches, cycle paths, tennis courts and more.

The drop off point for the shuttle meant that we crossed the Serrans Bridge to the very impressive entrance to the old city. This is it.

Within seconds Jane found a small shop that she thought might have sold dolls house furniture and miniatures. It was run by an Englishman who said he had been there for 35 years. It was a very small pokey place and didn’t have anything of interest. Jane and Kim moved on from there and started to tour ladies fashion shops looking for bargains. Here they are!

Valencia is lovely and on a sunny day it is hard to beat.

Our return was in a brand new Mercedes shuttle with a lift. Much more comfortable for Jane who felt much more secure.

The best bit of news was to hear that the Saints had won their Premier league game away to Palace.

I have to tell you about a very worrying incident that occurred last night. Jane woke at about 3.30am. She needed some medication and woke me. This particular drug is kept in the kitchen at home and in my sleepy state I went to the cabin door and out into the corridor thinking I was on the way to the kitchen. I was completely starkers. Luckily Jane realised what was happening and screamed at me to come back, which I did.

The door was a second away from closing itself. I would have been out in the corridor with no key, no mobile and no clothes. Jane couldn’t have let me back in, nor could she have contacted anyone. My only option would have been a trip down six decks to reception! That wouldn’t have been a pleasant experience for the pretty young lady who manages reception at night.