Month: September 2022

This should be headed VENICE because on the original itinerary that was where we were due to be on Wednesday 14 September. Out of the blue in the summer we were notified that Trieste was replacing Venice. I think they said there was no room for us in Venice which seemed a little odd. We all know that Venice wants to limit the number of cruise ships in the port because of the damage to the buildings.

Whether that was the reason or whether it was a financial decision we will probably never know. We’d do love Venice and particularly that 40 minute vaporretto ride from the ship to St Marks Square with all the working launches full of supplies darting in and out of the congested canals.

But Trieste was new for us. Queen Victoria was berthed right in the City. The terminal was a little tatty but we were quickly through and into the beautiful town. Jane and Kim have become experts in all things architectural after attending a lecture on this cruise by a remarkable lady. Now we study the windows and the doors, the colours and the statues. Well the ladies do.

We found a tourist information office and they produced a map and marked on it the route to the Old City (which, very helpfully, was at the top of a hill). The very helpful lady told me that there was a lift up to the Old City but told me that it was important that when we arrived at the kiosk for the lift that we pointed out Jane in her wheelchair (hard to miss!) as the lift man would need to active some special machinery which would be needed to get Jane’s chair out of the lift, when we arrived at the top. It took us some time to find the entrance to the lift which was hidden in an underground car park. The lift man looked out of his kiosk, saw Jane and shook his head. The gist of it was that the machinery had broken and Jane couldn’t go up.

Beautiful squares and lovely narrow side streets led us back to the shops and the coffee houses and it was agreed that the old man could sit and have a coffee while the ladies did some shopping.

And they left me there.

No. By then it was time for lunch and Jane’s afternoon nap and after Jane and Kim had had what was one of the best coffees of the trip we headed back to the ship. We had been told over and over before leaving the ship that we must have our passports with us as they would be checked by the Italian police before we could board. No one looked at anything! Why would they want to keep us there?

Jane’s brother Nigel is giving the eulogy at Winchester Cathedral this evening. The service starts at 6.00 pm UK time. If you go to the Winchester Cathedral website there is a Live Screen button which should enable you to see and hear the whole service.

The canal is a very short one but it does have two bridges over it and one of the bridges has an impressive statue of James Joyce on it.

Another bridge has a statue of the seated figure of Gabrielle D’Annunzio and many tourists have made idiots of themselves being photographed with him.

After leaving Trieste we sailed down the Adriatic Sea along the coast of Italy, round the heel of Italy, across the gulf of Taranto towards the Ionian Sea.

We then headed up towards Sicily. This was a return to the Straits of Messina that we had passed through in the opposite direction a week ago. It’s the narrow stretch water that divides Sicily from the toe of Italy. A week ago we were heading West to East from Cartagena to Corfu so sailed across the flat top of Sicily and the turned to starboard through the strait with the large port of Messina on our right and mainland Italy to our left.

This time were travelling back from Trieste to Sardinia and through the strait we were sailing in a northerly direction. It was lunchtime and we were dining in the Britannia Restaurant. I had asked for a table as near to the stern of the ship as possible because I was anxious to see and photograph the small volcanic island of Stromboli which I had missed earlier.

Before I talk about Stromboli, I want to mention Messina. It was in Messina that Jane, Kim and I left Queen Elizabeth 5 years ago for niece Katie’s wedding to my blog guru Sam near Lucca in central Italy.

We flew to Rome, then another flight to Pisa. We then drove to the wedding venue 20 minutes north of Lucca and after 3 days of wedding celebrations we drove north to Venice where Queen Elizabeth was conveniently waiting for us.

But back to Stromboli. It was misty and Stromboli wasn’t erupting for us so the best I could do was a photo taken by Kim which is much better than any I took

This is how I hoped it would have been performing

Today’s sunrise was magnificent.

And despite us approaching the Bay, the sea has remained friendly, crisp and fairly even

We just have one more day before Southampton, but tonight we are dining in the Verandah restaurant, courtesy of Cunard following the fiasco in Dubrovnik.

Last night in the theatre we were entertained by New Amen Corner, said to be the hottest band on the 60’s circuit. Their lead singer Glen Leon has a fantastic voice and led the band through a classic series of hits of the last 60 years. They will appear again on the last night of the cruise.