At the end of each of these long voyages I seem to go through the same series of mental observations and questions. As we come into port, there are no activities to distract and it is a good time to contemplate the journey. 1. It will be good to get back to the world of […]
Read moreOur last port before home – can it be nearing the end? Bermuda is such a wonderful, civilized place to visit with beautiful beaches, beautiful people and a great history. We were supposed to tie up in downtown Hamilton, but due to high winds which made it to too dangerous to navigate the narrow channel, […]
Read moreMadeira is in a group of islands about 500 or 600 miles west of Morocco. This beautiful place was discovered and claimed by the Portuguese in the 1400s. It was uninhabited, and was quickly settled by the Portuguese and due to its climate and soil, well suited to grow almost anything; it prospered, quickly becoming […]
Read moreDuring the night we passed through the straits of Gibraltar and in the morning were docked at the port of Cadiz. On our previous visit here, we stayed in town and explored the “old town” of Cadiz. On this visit we decided to take advantage of one of the ship’s tours, a trip to the […]
Read moreWe started our second day bright and early (9 am is early in Barcelona) by jumping on the bus and proceeding to the stop for the tram ride to the top of Mt. Juic. We were in line when it opened and hopped into a car for the ride to the top. I must confess […]
Read moreHaving been to Barcelona several times, we knew we would enjoy the visit, but were skeptical that we would find anything new and different to see and do. Normally, on previous visits, our ship has been tied up on a long pier which required a fairly long shuttle ride into the city – this time […]
Read moreNice is NICE!! Really, nice. Since we have a relatively small ship, we were able to dock right in the small harbor of Nice. As much as I would categorize our last port, Genoa, as a gritty working seaport, Nice is on the other end of the spectrum – it just exudes an atmosphere of […]
Read moreWe approached the tiny port of Portofino at dawn today and began to position the ship for the use of the lifeboats as tenders to take us ashore. The Captain determined that the designated area for us to anchor had too much swell to allow safe operation of the tenders, so he proposed that the […]
Read moreWell, I have been hit by some sort of bug – laid low by a bad sore throat. As we pulled into the port of Sorrento, I surrendered to the medical department and went to sick bay. Just like an appointment ashore, I had to fill out a multipage medical questionnaire (I never can remember […]
Read moreThis is the second of the two ports which were added to replace our canceled stop in Egypt, and is the second of our string of 7 ports in 7 days. Messina is at the northeast corner of the island of Sicily just a few miles from the tip of the boot of Italy. During […]
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