our awesome world adventure

We really didn’t get to see Cyprus.

When we were leaving Malta on Wednesday I received an email that delivered a business surprise. Shit happens!

After debate, Jan and I decided I needed to go home for a while to help my wonderful team handle the decisions made necessary by this surprise. Looking at our itinerary, and flights, I decided to fly from Cyprus on Saturday to be in Sydney for Monday. Jan has stayed on the ship. Being beautifully looked after by the crew and new found friends.

I have had a productive week. Many decisions made. Good things now happening. Much to look forward to now.

Blog posts from Rome to Rhodes (and this one) have been posted (with the bonus of real internet!) from my office at home in Bowral. I’m setting off on Wednesday morning to return to the ship in Abu Dhabi, via Singapore and Dubai.

Jan has been taking lotsa photos in my absence, but I’m not sure just how/when we’ll pick up the blog from here. In any event it will be at least a week before the next post.

Stand by …

Another beautiful hot day …

We took our time getting off the ship. As we did, a very pleasant chap (Chris) approached and offered us a little tour in his Mercedes.

He showed us a church …

… where the Colossus of Rhodes is supposed to have stood astride the entrance to the old harbour (marked by the pillars behind us here) …

Then around to the beaches …

… and up a hill for a great view of the town and across to Turkey (only just visible in the Mediterranean haze 16 miles away) …

Rhodes has an acropolis too …

… and an Olympic stadium (only 200 meters around this one)

Then Chris dropped us off at the main city gates (the old city wall, 4.5km, is intact all the way around) …

… and in we went …

… it was a shopping mall … well almost … it was certainly the main (only?) occupation of the locals …

We looked around a bit, and then, because it was so close went back to the ship for lunch. I then made Jan’s day … you shop, while I go exploring!!!

I hunted the back alleys …

… and the squares …

Climbed a clock tower for a view over the city …

and went to the Grand Masters Palace …

The Knights and Crusades and all that stuff are a big deal in the history of Rhodes. You only have to see where it is on the map to see why …

The Palace is magnificent. Now a Museum throughout, of course.

In the courtyard they have concerts. You can just imagine how wonderful they would be …

I then explored the Street of the Knights. A row of amazing old stone “houses” …

… some with secret little courtyards you could catch a glimpse in to …

I looked in, but didn’t go in, to this huge old hospital. The knights suffered injuries too! It’s now also another Museum.

On the way back to the ship (along the harbour front outside the wall) I found Jan … really happy with her afternoon in the shops …

Valetta harbour is tiny and extraordinarily busy. You can see the whole harbour here behind the breakwaters. We went in and parked between those two big cruise ships.

As you approach it looks like the whole city is just carved out of rock … looks mostly like limestone.

We had organised a private little tour to see some things outside Valetta. First the Mosta Dome. An amazing church dominating a very ordinary town.

It’s hard to convey the scale of it, even with panorama photos.

A German bomb came right through this dome in WWII, luckily it didn’t explode.

Then to Mdina, the old capital of Malta. A fortified town, surrounded with a moat, on a hill near the middle of the island.

Just one way in …

It is now beautifully restored and preserved … and UNESCO listed. Our 90 minute stroll through the streets and squares was just gorgeous.

From the ramparts, a superb view. Mosta Dome in the middle distance.

Then to the Dingli cliffs. The high, wild west coast of the island, made up of very strange sharp porous rock.

… but they can still find a place to make a little farm/garden down there …

Then back to Valetta itself.  A busy Mediterranean city.  Lots of shopping opportunities here too, but after Italy, Jan is just about shopped out!

So we visited the St John Co Cathedral.  A “product” of the ancient knights of St John. You could spend nearly a day here soaking up the history and mystery of the old knights.

The decoration is quite something: particularly the painted domed roof and the hundreds of graves of the knights on the floor. Never seen anything like it!

We walked on, following incorrect directions as to how to get back to the ship, and found these gardens.

Then found our way past these very posh harbour front houses …

… and old, old warehouses outside the city gates …

Back on the ship I decided to check email … and … well, more of that story later …

We anchored “under” Taormina and Mount Etna on another drop dead gorgeous morning. Notice the first, old fortified town perched right up top left. (… and the fort to the right of it.)

Here’s a better look.

We had decided to take it a bit easier this day and got a taxi up to the main old town. The road up had more tight hairpins than any I’d ever seen.

In the distance, Mount Etna blowing a bit of steam. It last erupted 5 months ago.

And notice the Autostrada bridges … just before it enters a tunnel that goes right under the middle of town …

The taxi dropped us just outside the town walls.

The main street is just wall to wall shops: some of them very fancy and expensive.

We ventured along to a square with the inevitable fountain and church.

… past some very narrow side “streets” (some of our fellow passengers would struggle here, even if they walked single file!!)

… and thence to the main square

… with superb views over the sea (preferred views for some fancy hotels)

This poor thing was trying to take a selfie. I couldn’t resist offering to take a proper photo of her: at which time Jan took this. Chivalry is not dead!

We pushed on further up the main street …

… and to the ancient Greek theatre overlooking the sea and Mount Etna. As you can see they still use it …

The views from here are pretty special … south over the gardens and the town and Mount Etna

… and north up the coast

15 or so years ago, Tom O’Reilly and an old girlfriend Euro-railed and back-packed around Europe for several weeks. Tom doesn’t talk about it much these days, but when he does the Amalfi Coast emerges as a highlight … always … small wonder!

We anchored off Amalfi on a picture perfect morning …

I rushed Jan to the first tender. I wanted to be sure we could get a taxi along the famous road to Positano before the legendary traffic built up … just for the sake of doing it. We found Arturo.

He ripped me off fabulously at about $10 per km, but it was FUN …

We drove like only an Italian can … hair-raising!! These still pictures give NO IDEA of speed and risk … around curves … speed … passing slower cars … playing chicken with the odd bus …

We were to get cash from an ATM on the way … we suddenly stop in the middle of the road (about 1.5 cars wide at this point … “get out here” “be quick” “get the cash” … oh no!!! … the ATM is out of order (or cash I suspect)!! … problem, drive on, problem … “let’s stop at this ceramics factory” … we’ll bullshit our way into getting cash on a Visa card from there … lots of rapid Italian and arm waving … the proprietor finally reluctantly agrees … cash in hand we’re off again. Positano is in sight.

Jan was in the back. She just made it. Needed this pole to hold her up after we got out.

And a coffee to calm her nerves. The “exhilaration” had been almost too much …

The long slow walk down to the bottom of town was just gorgeous.

Past more beautiful cafes and hotels …

… and shops to die for …

The town was buzzing. Aussie accents all over the place!

We snacked on fresh truss tomatoes … Yum!!

Then we caught the public ferry, farewelled Positano, and back along the coast to Amalfi.

What a beautiful ride. Past villages, hotels and little farms clinging to the steep cliffs.

And so to Amalfi …

In Amalfi it was time for pizza and beer.

Then a visit to the amazing old cathedral.

And, of course, the main shopping street.

Then on the back of the ship, we pulled away, after a real highlight of the trip …

We started our rushed day at the Coliseum.

Jan couldn’t believe how big it is …

We decided that the size of the queues meant we wouldn’t go in, but we walked right around.

Then across to the Forum. The extent of these ruins is amazing and the history incredible.

We crawled up and down, in and around for a couple of hours in the heat and the crowds.

We checked out the House of the Vestal Virgins …

… is that one lurking there?

Bits of marble just lying about everywhere …

Then on further … amazing temples and arches and buildings. It really must have been a glorious city …

Then we checked out the adjacent, enormous memorial to Victor Emanuel II, better known as the “wedding cake”, at the south end of the Corso.

Now it was down to the serious business of trying to stay out of the shops!

We side tracked to the Trevi Fountain. Magnificent, but undergoing renovation!

… and the Spanish steps … same story!

But along the way we weaved in and out of little streets and big ones, shops and cafes everywhere.

Rome is full of these sensible cars …

We walked over to look at the Tiber … nothing much to see here … it’s certainly not the Seine, or the Thames, or even the Yarra!!!

By the end we felt like these flowers looked …

… and rendezvoused with the tour bus at the Piazza del Popolo at the north end of the Corso. Several churches, and a column dating from way back BC that the Romans pinched from Egypt.

The verdict on the shops from herself … Florence was better!!

Florence is world famous for it’s museums and art galleries … indeed the whole city is a museum … and beautiful!

We didn’t have time to queue for 2 hours to see David, so we settled for this copy …

We did, however, go to the Duomo …

… and did queue for 20 minutes to walk through … it’s very big and comparatively empty …

And we did explore the streets and squares in the heat …

But … Jan had found a new nirvana … (and smelt the leather!!)

We headed for the Pont Vecchio … shopping mecca …

… and spent quite some time there …

… and found shops nearby like this …

… and stalls with a few(!) leather handbags, and stuff …

This was the result …

Back to the square to rendevous for the bus …

Even the pigeons had taken to the shade …

A whisk past the Plaza Michelangelo to over look the city (without stopping!)

… and back to the ship docked at Livorno … Italian chaos pictured here … cars loading on a car ferry and a 12th(?) century fort nestled in amongst other modern infrastructure!!!

James, Gigi and many others had told us we’d love Barcelona. They were right. A perfect combination of weather, things to see and do, and shopping!!!

We walked for 12 hours (with a few short breaks of course) and didn’t even scratch the surface …

We docked close to Columbus. Pointing at Italy(??), not the New World.

A tiny elevator takes you to the top, so we took advantage of our early start and enjoyed superb views of the city … here, the tree lined La Rambla.

It was very quiet at this time, but Jan managed to find a shop open before 9:30am!

We wandered up La Rambla, and off into big squares (Placa Reial), small squares and alleys to the side …

Then (slowly?) along Calle Ferran (a main shopping street) full of delivery trucks at this time …

… to the main civic square, Placa St Jaume.

From here we taxied through endless, enticing wide streets and boulevades to the Sagrada Familia … still under construction after more than 100 years!!!

What can I say? Impressive in grandiosty, tick. Extraordinary, tick. Unique, tick. Ugly, tick (in my opinion).

Even this early in the day (around 11:30) it had attracted a boisterous crowd, worthy of a Barcelona v Real Madrid game. We joined the queue for timed tickets (about $25 each) to go in. What? … next entry 2pm!?! And, the ticket office queue was at least 45 minutes long. So after a short discusion we pulled the pin and taxied back to where we had come from. We’ll maybe check the photos of the inside on-line one day.

We walked lots more …

… and the city was starting to liven up.

We stopped for lunch beside this church. (Sadly, an unfortunate choice of cafe! … greasy food, undrinkable wine)

We went into the church, mainly for a look at this window …

Then, following obscure paths and through a door … this …

2000 year old Roman columns from the Forum once here.

The 15th century watchtower …

Beautiful courtyards and quadrangles …

Then to one of the highlights … the real Barcelona Cathedral … now THIS is a church! A gothic marvel with amazing history.

The crypt is gorgeous …

And the beautiful cloister a wonderful quiet sanctuary …

And so back to La Rambla (very slow process – because of the number of shops to visit!) … the main Boulevade was very busy now …

On one side the spectacular Mercat de la Boqueria … bustling, beautiful food markets.

Exhausted, we sat for a celebratory Sangria (one bucket each!) …

… and walked back to be last on board the ship …

Muchos gratias, Barcelona!

This part of southern Spain is famous for sherry, white horses, the Costa del Sol and Seville and of course for being hot and dry. Of necessity the houses are thick walled and painted white to stave off the heat. Today was only 36 degrees. I went to have a look at two “white villages” (while Jan shopped in Cadiz!)

Medina Sidonia is perched high on a big hill surrounded by marginal looking rural country and lots of cactus!

We were dropped off at the top of the village, near the church, of course.

And walked down to the Town Square …

On the way we passed some pretty details …

The main square was very quiet in the heat of afternoon.

Then further down to where the bus was parked …

A view back up at the village …

And down to a classic old rural scene …

We then drove for an hour past sunflowers, olives, wheat, cattle, horses and much more. Hundreds of wind turbines, and an enormous solar power “farm”. It’s all happening in Andelcia!

On to Arcos de la Frontiere. This is a poor photo taken from the moving bus, but here’s the village draped over this 185 foot high rock … spectacular! The two churches right at the top, of course.

We drove in and got on a little tourist train to go to the main square at the top of the hill.

We walked the little narrow streets … dodging the traffic!

… to one of the churches and went in. Not that remarkable.

Back to a hotel on the plaza (on the right here) perched right on the cliff edge.

They served us tapas and beer/wine behind that window …

… for this view …

Then a long walk down, down to the bus …

… you can plonk a cafe anywhere in the street, it seems!

Fascinating.

… first settled by the Phoenecians about 3000 years ago? … interesting, but not something we explored. It certainly is geographically very strategically positioned at the end of a skinny peninsular not far outside the Mediterranian.

We arrived mid morning. The giant cathedral dominates the skyline. We had less than 3 hours to explore before a tour (see next blog entry).

The Town Hall Plaza was just 200 metres from the ship …

… along a quiet street to the Cathedral Plaza …

… little alleys off to the side …

I went in … it’s a monster. The roof is crumbling and they have nets strung up to stop bits falling on your head! …

The SOLID SILVER number in a side chapel (no security in sight …)

There is a tower. I HAD to go up. The view was superb. (The monster “Anthem of the Seas” had just pulled in beside our little ship.)

Can you find Jan? … she’s down there waiting?

The shop magnet turned on, and Jan was losing control of it’s grip. We made a deal. This afternoon, you shop. I’ll tour. Meanwhile let’s just walk the city.

Here are some of the streets we found …

A beautiful park with an amazing topiary walk …

… and a walk along the old city wall …

Numbers of churches as you would expect by now …

And, at the end of the peninsular a popular beach …

With lots of little boats near one of the old forts.

Back at the ship we both grabbed lunch and Jan went shopping …