7 July 2013 Cobh

We sailed into Cobh, Ireland this morning.  It is pronounced "Cove"  It was very lovely indeed to be sailing into such beauty. We were given such an amazing welcome, the Tourist Bureau had organised an Australia Day for the ship.  There were many activities organised, a BBQ plus many other stalls with all manner of food, craft etc a mini market. There was a group of young Irish dancers all primary school age and they put on a beautiful performance.  There was a brass band playing in the rotunda this was just fabulous, they played for at least an hour and half.  We took a walk thru the very lovely town and then a little tour on the local train and the driver did a most entertaining commentary.

We saw St Colman’s Cathedral, which overlooks the town it enshrines the traditions of 13 centuries of the Diocese of Cloyne within its walls.  It is built in the form of a Latin Cross and its exterior is of Dalkey Granite with dressings of Mallow limestone.  It is named after St Colman (522-604) who is patron of the Diocese.  It is French Gothic and it took 47 years to build(1868-1915) at a total cost of 235,000 pounds, 90,000 of this was raised by the people of Cobh, and the remainder came from the Diocese and very substantial amounts were raised in America and  Australia.   There is so much more I could tell you about the Cathedral, quite outstanding.  When we were there on our little tour the bells played Waltzing Matilda and Advance Aust Fair. 

We then went to a typical Irish pub there was a fellow singing and playing his guitar and I did ask him to sing “Maggie” for us which he did to great applause.  We had a beer or two.

We all had a very memorable day, they say some days are diamonds well that is true.  An Irish dance troupe came on board and did a concert for us at 4.30 and then we were given a fabulous farewell.  All in all Cobh gave us a very lovely day, one we will all remember.

 

Cobh is the last port visited by the Titanic on its fateful journey where it took on around 150 passengers.   In order to save time on the race to break the Atlantic speed record the passengers were taken by ferry from the town to the ship anchored in the bay.

We sailed away at about 6.00 a very picturesque place indeed.  We have had dinner with Yvonne and Warren and a lovely girl called Corrine and we are due to dock in Dublin at 11.15 tomorrow.  This is really quite an amazing holiday, lovely places, lovely people we are just having a wonderful journey. Lots  of love Sabine and Sam  XXX

4 July 2013 Lisbon

We sailed into Lisbon on Thursday 4^th July.  A very pretty first impression as we sailed into the port.  We were tied up and received clearance by about 8.00am. We were booked on a walking tour which began at 10.00.  Our guide Annabella gave us a brief history and then took us through the old town. 

The likely founders of Lisbon were the Phoenicians around 1200 BC.  These were followed by the Romans and then occupied by the Moors between the 8^th and 12^th centuries.  A large part of the city was destroyed by an earthquake and tsunami in 1755, which also killed 30,000 people. This enabled the city to then be rebuilt with wide streets, in a geometric pattern, including many large beautiful squares.  These wide streets were frowned upon by many as a waste but today the town supports a great population and these wide streets, squares and buildings which were only permitted to be built to a height of four or five levels make Lisbon the lovely place it is today.  The ship was moored within easy walking distance of the old and new city.  

Our walk took us to see the birthplace of St Anthony, there has been several churches built on the site over the many years.  St Anthony of course is the patron saint of things lost and women wanting a husband often prayed to St Anthony to find them a husband, hence the current church still sees many many weddings.  Fifty percent of the population are still practising Catholics.  Across from this church is the Cathedral of St Mary Major, quite beautiful also, there is a most amazing chapel within the Cathedral all done in gold leaf.  The patron saint of Lisbon is St Vincent and he was the patron saint before St Anthony was born, but everyone looks on St Anthony as their patron saint.

We then took the funicolare up one of the seven hills on which Lisbon is built, a stunning view indeed.  We then wandered back down through the artistic and theatrical area, this is where all the high end shops were.  The women in Lisbon are quite lovely, trim and well dressed, I pointed this out to Sam but he was ahead of me and had already taken note.  Pretty much the whole group said good-bye to our guide and made their own way back to the ship.  Sam and I found somewhere and had a beer, I found a very tiny supermarket and bought a few hair colours and some handcream for a lady on the ship and a pair of sandals as well.  It was then 2.00pm which is their siesta and about 42 degrees, we made our way back to the safety of our ship.  Unfortunately about 8 people from the ship were robbed whilst in town, unfortunately a hazard of going anywhere these days. 

We had a formal night on the night of the 5^th and today the 6^th the choir did their performance for this leg of the journey.  We dock in Cobh, Ireland tomorrow, we do not have a tour booked, Cobh is putting on an Australia Day party for us tomorrow, how lovely.  We will wander into town and perhaps take the train to Cork with Yvonne and Warren our buddies from Adelaide.  We had a full house for our performance today, it was very lovely.  This leg of the tour ends this coming Friday in Dover and 700 disembark and 800 newies embark.  Quite a number of the people disembarking would like to be continuing on.  Talk soon  Love Sabine and Sam XXX 

3 July 2013 Cadiz

Hello to all.  We docked in Cadiz this morning at 7.00am.  We were booked to do a tour of Arcos de la Frontera.  Our tour began with a 45 minute motorcoach ride from Cadiz to the peaceful and beautiful pueblo of Arcos de la Frontera.  On arrival we were taken by our guide “Jesus” pronounced “Yesu” on a walking tour through the town’s tangled labyrinth of cobbled streets, stunning architecture and centuries old buildings.  The viewpoint at the top of the town was quite simply breathtaking.  We visited the old Castillo and Santa Maria Church.  We bought a box of pastries from The Sisters of Mercy.  You just put your money in a box and they put the pastries in the box as they are not to be seen by anyone.  We then had tapas and a couple of beers at the Parador.  There was a picture window and it was so beautiful now I know what the view from a picture window should be.  Lovely morning.  We had coach journey back, had a bit of lunch on the ship, met up with our friends Yvonne and Warren and went into town.  What a beautiful city, only small, but one could certainly spend a week or so here, so much to see and explore, beautiful beaches as well.  Yvonne and I went into The Cathedral, the boys sat on the steps (had had enough Cathedrals) it was indeed a sight to behold. We then had coffee and a beer in the square before heading back to the ship. We are now all on board and just pulling away from the port, I am about to go to my evening stretch class. 

1 July 2013 Barcelona

Monday morning and we arrived in Barcelona.  The weather again was beautiful with not a cloud in the sky.  Our tour was to Montsarrat, about an hour and a quarter drive from Barcelona.  This is a small town around a Benedictine monastery complex hidden high in the craggy Montserrat mountains about 2,300 feet above sea level with fabulous views of the valleys below.  This monastery has been here since the Middle Ages however the Montsarrat Basilica was destroyed during the Spanish Civil War and has been completely rebuilt.  It contains a sculpture of Catalonia’s patron saint La Moraneta, also known as the Black Madonna. There was a extensive range of stalls along the street selling local produce such as cheeses, dried fruits etc, which all looked very tempting.

When we got back to Barcelona we hopped out of the bus and explored the city, starting off with a walk along the famed Las Ramblas with its flower stalls, cafes, buskers etc, and wandered into the market with its fruit and vegies, meat and fish, all beautifully presented and very fresh.  The buildings on either side are very beautiful. We then walked through the Gothic Quarter and went to the Cathedral of Santa Eulalia, a 600 year old building with magnificent spires and stained glass windows.  We did not have time to visit the famous La Sagrada Familia, Gaudi’s masterpiece, as it is some distance from the city centre.  We then returned through the narrow streets back to Las Ramblas and headed back towards the Columbus monument near where we boarded a shuttle bus back to the ship.

30 June 2013 Monte Carlo

Sunday morning and we are anchored off Monaco.  Another stunningly beautiful day.  We were not doing a tour today, so we got ourselves organised down to the dining room to await our turn on the tender.  The ship’s staff do such an amazing job of everything honestly do not know how they do what they do for the price, beyond me.  We did not have to wait very long for our tender, a lovely crossing and straight into the town.  Perfectly lovely place certainly the place for the very rich and famous.  We me up with Yvonne and Warren and continued on through the gardens then up to the Palace and square, very fairytale indeed.  We ran into Heather and Ray from our table and they had just been thru the Palace so we did that as well. We then awaited the Changing of the Guard and then the four of us found a lovely restaurant and had pizza and a beer Yvonne and I had a coffee as well, had a look at the Cathedral where Princess Grace and Prince Rainer married on the 16^th April,1956.  After this we took a lovely walk and went thru the Aquarium which is housed in the most beautiful building, I know I say this about them all but it is true each one being as beautiful if not more so than the one before.   We wandered back to the tender and anor lovely journey back to the ship.  Love to all  Sabine and Sam  XXX

29 June 2013 Ligurian Sea

Hello to all.  What do I say, we have just arrived back from Lucca.  I fell in love with it last time and had to go back, I am indeed more in love than ever.  One walks thru the gates to the town and it is akin to travelling back in time.

We met in the Princess at 7.40 this morning for our tour to Lucca, a very intimate group only three small busloads today.  We met our guide Pierino, lovely fellow, he gave us some info whilst on our 45 min journey.  We docked at the port of Livorno an extremely big port, 160,000 people live in Livorno, many large ships, three in today, but other days more, so one can imagine how many souls there are to get out on to tours etc.  There are also lots of ferries going back and forth to Sardinia and Corsica, one very interesting thing, we saw all these bundles of branches ready for transportation, very many of them, we were told they are sent to Sardinia for their fireplaces etc as they are not permitted to fell any trees there, the world is a funny place, it seems an extremely expensive way to do things, the double, triple etc handling of such an item. 

We were travelling along thru Tuscany, there are 20 regions in Tuscany. Lucca has always been an independent Kingdom even going back 500 years.  They were very isolated and to keep themselves safe they built a wall around the city, it is 4 kilometres long and it completely surrounds the old town, it is the only city with the wall still intact.  The Medici family were very rich and influential in Florence and they pretty much owned everything and everyone, they loaned to people keeping themselves very rich indeed, but they did not own Lucca.  Lucca being as isolated as it was, wanted to keep its freedom, they were great merchants (as they still are –beautiful and elegant shops and this is how their economy still works today) so were able to survive independently. When Lucca became part of Italy when the country was formed in 1861, the townspeople bought the walls from the government for 1,000,000 lire (a large amount at that time) and so they have been retained.  Other cities such as Florence destroyed their city walls at that time. There is a population of 20,000 who live within the walls, and 87,000 live outside the walls.  The walls are now the site of a flowering greenbelt and the tree-lined garden boulevard on the top of the wall serves as the perfect place for a beautiful walk.

A celebration is being held in Lucca from the 9^th July to celebrate their 500 years of freedom, lots of music, Diana Krall, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds and Leonard Cohen (who I absolutely love – he must be about 80) all going to be there.  I cannot believe I am missing a concert with Leonard by 10 days.  One day I will get to one of his concerts. This festival is called The Lucca Summer Festival. 

This was a very beautiful day. We had coffee and a Danish in a very lovely little café in our free time, I did some shopping, Sam feels we should get straight back on the bus after the tour none of this free time business, all the men agree with him I think.  We journeyed back to Livorno going via Pisa as it is Saturday today and lots of traffic. 

One thing I did forget to mention yesterday, the port of Civitavecchia sees about 3,500,000 cruise passengers per year, there were only three ships in yesterday but on Wednesdays there are always nine.  As one can imagine they are delighted to see us all those tours, all that shopping, the baby boomers are certainly a presence in all these places.  I am going to hand over to Sam just on the off chance I have forgotton something he said that is most unlikely.

 We had an early dinner upstairs then went to the show, it was the MacDonald Bros very talented boys from Scotland, they came 4^th in the X factor, excellent show.  Time now to hit the hay, very busy day tomorrow in Monaco.    All the best, love Sabine and Sam  XXX

Friday 28 June 2013 Tyrrhenian Sea

Hello to everyone.

What an outstandingly beautiful day we had today.  Anor early start, in the Princess Theatre to meet our intimate group for our tour, it was intimate today, only three busloads.  We met at 7.25, the ship had been cleared and we were off the ship and on our bus by 8.00 am being introduced to our escort for the day, Jackie an English girl who has lived in Italy for 20 odd years, married to an Itialian obviously. We journeyed to a beautiful town about 1 hr 45 mins away, called Orvieto, in the region of Umbria.  This town has been there since around 700BC and was settled by the Etruscans, it is debateable where they came from, but most probably Asia Minor which is modern day Turkey.

When we arrived we met our guide for the day, Isabella a lovely girl who as always was very passionate about the information she was passing on to us, it is huge to take in and one cannot remember it all of course.  The town is all intact, so stunningly beautiful indeed, I so easily could live here for however long and try and see and soak in as much as I possibly could.  We did a walk of the town learning about the battles, how the Church wanted to control it but they finally became liberated around 1853. 

Isabella took us up a small street and rounded a corner and we were faced with The Chatedral of Orvieto (not the incorrect spelling)  gracious me how magnificent.  This Basilica/Cathedral was begun on the site of the church of S. Maria de Espiscopatu in 1290.  The reason it was built was to house an altar cloth or corporal which was stained with drops of blood that issued from the host during the Mass of Bolsena (1263).  This is how the feast of Corpus Christi came about, this is 50 days after Easter. This Cathedral took around 3 centuries to complete for lots of reasons, financial, deaths of architects, painters, sculptors etc, and many other reasons as well.  It really has been ongoing for many centuries, with a modernisation begun in 1622.  I have to say what an absolute privilege to see something such as this.  The only way to do it justice is to see it. 

After our tour of the Cathedral we had an hour of free time, which Sam says it may be called free time but a lot gets spent in that time.  We then met for our lunch in a lovely restaurant and a lovely meal, great company and then back to our bus at 3.00pm for our journey back to the ship.  We arrived back at 5.00pm had a bite of dinner and then went to see the Music Manager (a pianist) do a recital.  I am now sitting on our bed looking out my balcony at a couple of beautiful ships all lit sailing past us, very lovely indeed. 

Sam is going to have a read, perhaps he can remember something I have missed, anor early day tomorrow, dock in Livorno and we are going back to Lucca, which I did love the last time.  Everyone is probably bored to tears by now so I will sign off, hope all is well,  Love  Sabine and Sam 

PS  I did say to Sam few months ago, bet you Kevin 07 becomes Kevin 13 and he would not take a bet, now he is very pleased as I only bet in shoes and I am in Italy could have cost him a bit.