Smithy's Cruise Blog

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

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!

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

The original plan had been that I would go home, leaving Jane on the ship. I would collect the post, check the house was OK and then meet up with Andy and Jane Houghton who were joining us for the cruise. The intention was that we would go down to the ship in the taxi together.

It was two and a half sea days in reality. Jane and I love sea days. There is plenty going on around the ship, but if you want to do nothing but relax and watch the world go by, that is fine. Watching fellow passengers is a good game too. They come in all shapes and sizes. 

The speakers finished their series of lectures in the Royal Court Theatre and, as there was a celebrity speaker aboard, a Q&A session hosted by the Entertainments Director took place. Lord Digby Jones fits into the celebrity category.

On Monday at 11.15 am the theatre was packed. Standing room only for the latecomers. 

Jo Haley was the host and Digby was in his element.

A few excellent questions from Jo to get the ball rolling and then it was opened to the audience. Questions on his views on everything from Europe to migrants to Corbyn to the lady Captain (those that were there will know what I mean!)

We were here 9 months ago and I reported on our visit in my November 2014 blog.

This time my knee was giving me some grief, so we decided not to return to the Roman Baths and the Roman Theatre which would have involved substantial walking. We did manage to cover a fair amount of ground, though, on the eastern side of the town.

There is some splendid architecture and the main street is immaculate.

A super flat surface and traffic free. And we finished our tour with a beer, while overlooking the marina and the ship. I may have said this in the past, but ABP and the City of Southampton could learn a great deal from Cartegena about the way in which the waterfront should be developed back home.

But Jane did get into M&S. I know how to treat a girl!

These are the ports for Pisa/Florence and Rome. As we have explored Pisa and Rome in the past, and more particularly as no wheel chair tours were in place (more about that later), we decided to investigate the ports further.

 

and a “New Market” constructed 70 years ago, but Livorno does not rank far from the bottom of the list of our favourite places.

The other thing I forgot to mention was that while on the waterfront in Toulon we spotted Captain Inger having lunch ashore with the Hotel Manager, David Stephenson and his wife. As they were all in civvies, few passengers recognised them, and when the Captain travelled back to the ship on the local shuttle boat, she sat amongst the passengers and queued up with them to leave the boat. No pulling rank there.

Today (Thursday) is a day at sea as we sail to the west from Italy to Spain. Last night we sailed through the Bonifacio Strait which divides Sardinia and our old holiday island of Corsica. We had five summer holidays in Corsica with Mark Warner and those spent at Club Marinca were, without doubt, some of the best summer holidays the Smith family had.

The Toulon harbour is home to the French Mediterranean Fleet and in particular the French Navy’s aircraft carrier Charles De Gualle and her battle group.

There were more than twenty warships to be seen plus a couple of rust buckets waiting to be scrapped.

The cruise ships berths are on the other side of the harbour from the military areas, which means that passengers have to be shuttled by ferry to the town. It takes time to get people on and off the ferries, so it seemed odd that a new cruise ship terminal is about to be constructed across the harbour, away from Toulon itself.

Ten years ago, to celebrate my 60th, Jane and I boarded the Seabourn Legend in Monaco.

We arrived the day before and stayed in Monaco, at the boutique Columbus Hotel, part owned by David Coulthard.

This Sunday, our very much larger Queen Elizabeth edged into that same berth on the breakwater. It was a magnificent piece of seamanship by Captain Inger. At the time it didn’t appear possible to fit into the gap alongside two large yachts of the multi million pound variety, but she made it look easy.

Monaco was setting up for a Classic Yacht race week, and massive marquees were being constructed around the harbour. Some classic yachts had already arrived and appeared to be sneaking in a little early practice. 

In addition four super yacht builders had set up under the Yacht Club de Monaco for demonstrations throughout the day. There were a dozen massive vessels being taken in and out of the harbour with prospective purchasers aboard. Plenty to watch all day.

We enjoyed a day around the harbour and managed to get ourselves into the middle of the marina amongst a plethora of Ferraris and Bentleys sitting alongside the yachts. For some reason no one invited us aboard.

The original itinerary was for Queen Elizabeth to arrive in Monaco this morning (Sunday), staying overnight and leaving on Monday afternoon. The ship was to be on the berth today and was then to move to an anchorage, so that tenders would have been required to get us to and from the ship on Monday.

I was convinced that we would eventually find the shop

that I loved last year – but we did not and that was my mistake (and my fault, of course). We ended up with no shoe purchase.

In our travels we did find the 4 Gats restaurant- a favourite of mine – but shoes were more important at that stage and I had to walk by.

We had a coffee in a small square and some young locals put on a brief gymnastic show in front of us. It was brilliant. They moved round the square performing and then passing round a hat. 

It was a great day. The weather was perfect – sunny but comfortable. The only downside was my failure on the shoe front.