Roaming Las Ramblas

Arrived in Barcelona and after an early lunch, set off to stroll the streets of Barcelona. This is a vibrant city with its colourful markets complete with fruit, m eats, fish and pickpockets. We avoided them all!


The streets were somewhat quieter…… is it the Spanish economy or have we just remembered the place at night when it comes alive? Las Ramblas is still one of the world’s great streets to stroll. We looked at art, street mime, flower stalls and people.

At the end of the street we gazed at the massive column with Christopher Columbus right at the top gazing over the harbour.

We celebrated Jeanie’s birthday with sangria at Happy Hour followed by a wonderful dinner at the Pinnacle Grill complete with birthday cake and champagne.

                                         At the Christopher Columbus Monument,

                                             Christopher at the top of the monument.

                                        Jeanie admiring the flower stall on her birthday.

An Arnotts Biscuit Day in Monte Carlo and Nice

Our ship docked in Monte Carlo among several billion dollars worth of luxury yachts.


We wandered along the harbour to the train station taking a rather convoluted route as the barricades and grandstands from last Sunday’s Grand Prix were still in the process of being removed.

We decided to catch the train along the Cote d’Azure to Nice and maybe even have a swim. The train went through a lot of tunnels but we still caught tantalizing glimpses of small beaches, sun umbrellas and lounges.

When we arrived in Nice, we strolled down to the old town with its flower markets, little shops, the opera house and outdoor restaurants. We lunched sitting outside in the sunshine, taking in the passing parade of beautiful and not so beautiful people.

After lunch we walked the short block to the beach. The water looked a sparkling blue but the beach was large pebbles without a grain of sand in sight. As we watched people gingerly hopping their way to the water, we decided that swimming was not really on our agenda.

                                        The boat harbour in Monte Carlo.

                                   The fountain in the old sector of Nice.

Conquering the Cinque Terre

On Tuesday we arrived in Livorno but instead of visiting Pisa and Lucca as we had originally planned, we set off for the Cinque Terre by taxi and 2 trains.


After arriving by train at La Spezia, we caught the local train to Riomaggiore, the first of the 5 villages. All the villages are still suffering from the devastating mud flows last October but we enjoyed the quaintness of the villages.

We set off on the 1st walk to Manarola known as the Via D’Amore. Took lots of photos of the views and drank coffee at a shop hanging out over the cliff. Only 2 of the 4 walks are open at the moment.

From Manarola we caught a train to Vernazza, the worst affected from the mud slides. While it was great to visit, it is yet to be fully restored.

We even managed to visit our previous accommodation which is in process of restoration. We enjoyed walking round the little harbour before retracing our steps back to the ship.

For the 3rd time, we had conquered the Cinque Terre.

      
                                     Walking the Via d'Amore.

The beach at Vernazza - not as pristine as we remembered.

                                    Where's Wally?  (or Helen)

Tarquinia

Instead of heading south to Rome with the masses on the day the ship returned to Civitecchia, we caught 2 buses north to Tarquinia, an Etruscan and mediaeval hill town.


We waited to catch the bus up from the train station and the heavens opened.

In our sodden state, we visited the key sights to fit them in early in our visit as the entire town closed for a siesta. Our first visit was to the Duomo, Santa di Margherita. This included a magnificent ceiling with large wall and ceiling paintings.

The highlight of our visit was Santa Maria in Castello. This was truly beautiful both outside and inside although it was difficult on to capture on film with the blobs of rain on the camera lens. This is normally closed but we were lucky to gain entry.

Later in the morning we walked the rest of the town visiting churches, looking at fountains and marveling at the mediaeval streetscape.

We returned to the ship at Civitecchia by bus and train as the sun came out.

We also managed to fit in the main sights of Civitecchia – churches, sculptures and the fort.

                                                             It really was raining heavily.

          
                          The interior of the duomo.

                                     The  baptismal font in Santa Maria in Castella was very large - they must have     practised immersion.

Morning in Messina

The ship was in Messina for just half a day so we were soon ashore to check out the highlights.




We docked very close to the centre of the old town so it was a very easy stroll to reach the main square- Piazza Duomo. We especially enjoyed the animated clock with the largest and most complex mechanical astronomical clock in the world. It performs daily at 12 midday. The angels ring the bells. The lion roars. The cock crows. The apostles parade and a model of the cathedral appears. This did not leave us much time as the show took 10 minutes and we had to be back on board by 12.30 to depart for the next port.



We also saw the beautiful fountain of Orion, the cathedral and several mediaeval churches. Three of us climbed the Caperrina hill to visit the sanctuary of Montalto which has been rebuilt since the earthquake of 1908. Here we had magnificent views of the city and the Straits of Messina.



As we sailed for Civitecchia (Rome), we passed the island of Stromboli and had a great view of the volcano belching its sulphurous gases. It is called the lighthouse of the Mediterranean.

Santorini

We dropped anchor at Santorini with the view of the houses around the caldera and the azure waters.  We came ashore by tender and up the steep cliff by cable car.

Have spent the morning wandering looking at the beautiful houses predominantly white and blue, looking at the small churches and of course looking at the views.  We must admit we have been into lots of souvenir and craft shops.

The photos tell the tale.

The group at the caldera.

Gail with the ship in the background.

Checking out the shops.

Ephesus

This morning we arrived in Kusadasi in Turkey which is the port town for Ephesus.


Rob had already organized for us to be collected in a minibus complete with guide and driver, to take us to Ephesus.

Our first stop was at the House of Mar7, where it is believed she spent her final years together with John, the writer of the Gospel. It was on top of a hill and was rather cold but as we drove down towards the gate of Ephesus, the sun beamed out.

Ephesus is the best preserved ancient city but even so less than 20% of this 2000 year old city has been excavated. We visited the Terrace Houses which have been opened since were there in 2004. These were the houses for the wealthy because they had harbour views. (not anymore as the harbor silted up many years ago). There were still mosaic floors, wall frescoes and even a marble backgammon table.

We walked along the marble road where Paul walked and marveled at all the amazing sights.

Later we visited the Temple of Artemis, one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. There was not much left to see, mostly just 1 column.

Our final visit was to the Isabey Mosque which was built in the 11th century and had columns from Ephesus used in its construction.

Walking down the marble road.

The mosaic floor in a terrace house.

The library at Ephesus.

Detail of the stonework on the library.

Gail and Margaret at the Temple of Artemis.