July 31 - Portoferraio (Elba Island), Italy

Last day on the cruise…last tour, no tender. It’s been a great cruise…pretty much exactly as expected…a few dud ports, but a few pleasant surprises.

When we opened our curtains this morning we were met with a slight I think a couple of little boys I know should have been here to see…the Super Heros ferry…I think the guy who delivered our breakfast was as interested as they would have been!

Today’s tour was a driving tour of the Elba Island. We started touring the island hearing about this and that to do with the island.

We were then given about an hour at the town of Porto

Azzurro. This place is very much a tourist town on the water. Here we wandered the tiny streets, poking into shops, walking along the water and finally ending up at a café.

Our last stop was at the ‘La Chiusa’ winery for a tasting of their wines and of local olives,

salamis, cheese and olive oil. The location here was terrific…right on the edge of the sea.

As it is the last day, the rest of day was back on board doing laundry, packing and relaxing.

We were thrilled to find out when we boarded the cruise 2 weeks ago that our favourite cruise band was on board! We have spent each of our happy hours f

or the last 2 weeks with them. The pretty much play everything and anything – a little too much Beatles and the Beach Boys for my taste however. They have a great rapport with the audience and crack tons of jokes between songs…it’s made the cruise better being about to listen to them each evening as we sipped a cocktail or 2.

Nature's Rhythm Trio

July 30 – Portofino / Genova, Italy

27 degrees, very clear, humid

This morning we woke up in Italy – Portofino, this is our second time here in 2 weeks…a bit spoiled I think. This time we’ve decided to take a trip to Genoa (or Genoa as the Italians call it.) Once again we start with a tender ride to shore, but today the sea is MUCH calmer – especially when returning to the ship…no tender cracks today.

Caravaggio - Jesus and Pontius Pilate

After the tender ride to Portofino, we ferried to Santa Margarita and then on a bus for a 45 min ride to Genoa. Apparently, only vehicles of a certain length are allowed in Portofino and a bus is definitely too long. This adds a good hour to today’s tour.

We walk through Genoa’s old city’s pedestrian-only streets – on either side are very old buildings. It always amazes me how ornate these buildings are that today are nothing more than a shop or bank.

We spend a significant amount of time with the guide in 3 the museum that were once palaces – the

Palazzo Bianco, Palazzo Doria Tursi  and Palazzo Rosso. There were basically no other tourists other than our group, so this museum visit was relaxed and unfrenzied – lovely.

Lastly, we visited Santa Lorenzo church and then lunch. We were on our own for lunch. One of the area specialities is pesto sauce…Chris got that with gnocchi and I had to have some pizza.

July 29 - Ajaccio (Corsica), France

back in France today

28 degrees, not a cloud in the sky, a bit humid

We start today with a walking tour of the old section of Ajaccio. The main attraction of this town is the fact that Napoleon was born here.

The tour starts directly from the boat, so no bus for us. There was a family on the tour with us with a boy around 8, he was

quite ticked off that there was not bus this morning. I don’t think he was much happier after the tour…it was a bit on the dull side for me…I don’t think he was loving it.

Napoleon portrait

We first wandered a bit through the narrow, zig-zagging streets, stopping here and there to hear about or look at something interesting – I have to say that there wasn’t much interesting at all. It is always charming to wander through the old parts of these small towns, but there was nothing particularly striking for me about this place.

There were a couple of beautiful beaches right in the old town, which were interesting…they even had sand rather than the stones most of the beaches we’ve seen recently.

We took a few minutes to take a look in the town’s cathedral and then continued on to the museum that is in the house where Napoleon was born. The most striking thing

death masks

at this museum for me was the 3 death masks of Napoleon – apparently it was the custom during the time of Napoleon to make death masks of leaders after their deaths.

We walked through the typical small town market as we have done a few times this trip…this is one of the most fascinating things that we do on walking tours. I like to see what they are selling and how much they are selling for. It seems to me that this place is pricy…maybe still less than home, but more than the last few places we’ve checked out.

cathedral

That was about it for the day, after a few days with little to no vegetables, we thought it would be a good idea to head back to the ship for lunch and load up on veg. The last couple of days our lunch timing wasn’t great. The rest of the day was spent relaxing.

July 28 - Ciudadela (Menorca), Spain

mostly sunny, 34 degrees, humid

Last night the ship had some mechanical issues, so we were a couple of hours late leaving the last port. That caused us to be late arriving at today’s port – what was planned to be a late morning (tour not leaving until 9:40) we didn’t g

et away until about 11:00.

Our first stop today was at a at Naveta des Tudons which is a funeral monument from the time of the Talaiotic people…the same ones we visited an archeological site of last week. Compared to the sites we visited last week…there is not a lot to this one. Plus, because the tour set off so much later than planned it is HOT! And with very little shade at this time of the day. This monument was from about 3,000 years ago and is the oldest roofed building in Spain.

Next we were on to taste a bit of cheese and wine. We were at Hort Sant Patrici, a rural hotel and resta

shoe calling

urant that makes its own cheese and wine. There was a nice garden we could have walked through, but the heat and lack of shade made this unappealing. We scrapped the walk and got another glass of wine from their café.

The last stop today was to the Mascaro, shoe factory. We had just got ourselves a little snack when the tour began…Chris went on the short tour, I relaxed…I was able to

our ship in the background

find a pair of shoes I liked!

On the way back to the boat we did a photo stop at the citadel and then we were back to the boat.

By the time we got back to the ship it was about 4:30, so we had a snack from room service and relaxed before dinner...good thing there is no lack of food here!

necropolis

necropolis

July 27 – Toulon for Marseille, France

Notre Dame de la Garde

29 degrees, feels like 34 - this is what the weather report says...I don't buy it for a second...it is a lovely warmish breezy day that is perfect for travelling...and not a bit humid.

Notre Dame de la Garde

Last night we were told that due to sea conditions we would not be able to arrive at our originally scheduled port. The plan was to tender and as we found out the hard way, sea conditions can wreak havoc on a tender. It was pretty rocky in the night, so I’m not surprised. We instead were docking at Toulon which would not be a tender arrival…good! The tour we had scheduled for today went exactly as planned, so really…I bet some

Notre Dame de la Garde

people didn’t even realize.

Today’s group was only 16, which was terrific…the smaller the number the better. The drive to Marseille is about an hour, but the time doesn’t seem that long with a bit of morning bus-napping and the scenery which is along the coast of France and the Mediterranean Sea. The scenery also includes rocky outcroppings, vineyards and olive tree orchards.

Our first stop is to Notre Dame de la Garde, a cathedral Basilica that is only about 150 years old…young compared to other churches we’ve seen. The interesting bit about this church is that there is a huge gold statue of the Virgin Mary and is at the highest point in Marseille – it was a bit of a climb to get to - because of this there are pretty great views of the city. Being that it is a pretty popular tourist stop, the military presence can’t be missed.

Then we have some time on our own around Marseille’s Old Harbor. We wandered aroun

d a bit poking our heads into souvenir shops, but didn’t buy. What we were convinced to buy was a couple of glasses of wine.

Marseille and Toulon both are much more popular with sail boats than they are with yachts. We saw endless sailboats today.

July 26 - Antibes, France

27 degrees, clear, a bit humid

This morning we are back in France starting the day with another tender journey, but nothing like the last tender ride…This one was smooth, short, and uneventful.

absinthe tasting

This morning we are on a walking tour of Antibes starting with a wander through the old town that dates back to the 5^th century starting at the port which again is teaming with mega yachts. A lot of the tour is wandering through old streets, hearing from the guide bits of information. We make a stop at the town church and then we were on to the open-air market. I love it when we arrive and it is market day. I never buy anything, but just looking at the meat, fish and produce is very interesting. It’s also interesting to see how

street art

 much less expensive cheese is here compared to prices at home.

random door

Next we are off tot the Picasso Museum – the reason we chose this tour. The building that houses the museum is the Château Grimaldi, where Picasso lived in 1946. Picasso created 43 drawings and 23 paintings in his studio here - all are displayed in the museum. Only one of his pieces is signed because he didn’t want the museum to ever be able to sell them.

museum - Picasso

Lastly we visit an absinthe bar. This place is in the basement of a tiny little shop. According to the guy serving us everyone has to wear a hat to sip absinthe…I think that is his way of laughing at tourists – the bar has about a million hats. It was a lot of fun watching the water drip slowly over the sugar cube into the glass of absinthe.   

We decide to get lunch in town and then head back to the boat.

One thing I forgot to mention yesterday is that we saw a whale…or at least we’re pretty sure we saw one, or 2…it’s h

sculpture outside museum

ard to say. What we did see was a bunch of spouts for about 5 minutes. What ever it was, it was thrilling. For as many times as we’ve been on water this is the first time to have seen any evidence at all of a whale!

museum - Picasso

sculpture outside museum

July 25 - Monte Carlo, Monaco

 

26 degrees, clear, humid

Today is the first day we have had NOTHING on our schedule since leaving Calgary…it is glorious. After a looooong sleep in (I’m pretty sure my body won’t sleep until 10 at home) we laze around the room and head out for lunch. It is days like today on cruises where we have bundled to smaller cruises into a longer one that at

good morning Monte Carlo

e the best…when we know others are getting up before dawn for early flights we can put that off for another week. Last night wasn’t filled with packing, but loosing our shorts at the casino! NOT GOOD.

The view of our cabin balcony this morning is something else! Mega yachts, super yachts whatever they are technically categorized as these boats are 

good morning Monte Carlo

HUGE…and they’re everywhere. I haven’t seen one yet with a helicopter on top – that one much still be back in Italy…did see one there.

Today the extent of our touring was to wander off of the boat to town for lunch a drink and back. I was happy to not be with a tour group or on a bus for once. It was nice to have been here before and to be relatively familiar with the streets and where we wanted to go. From the port where our boat is to the palace where it is we wanted to return to for lunch is a bit of a hike up

palace walls

moules frites

a million stairs, but it worth the climb. The walk takes us along the city walls to the top of the town where the palace is.

After a bit of wandering, we settle on a place that serves mussels...I had my heart on moules frites and I was not disappointed. This with a bottle of French rosé was delightful! The weather was hot, but not too hot, so sitting to eat for a while was lovely.

what goes up...must come down

After lunch we wandered a but more and decided one last vin was in order before saying au revoir to Monte Carlo.

quite a view

Once we are back on the boat it is coffee, cookie and balcony time before the shade disappears. Our room is on the town side, so we have a front row view to uncountable huge boats. Just as we thought we saw the biggest of them all, another comes that is bigger

can you see the chopper?

than the last…finally we see one with a helicopter…crazy!

It was a delightful afternoon back on the boat…reading, blogging, and googling every boat that sailed by…good thing each has a name that is googleable.

July 24 – Portofino, Italy

26 degrees, mostly cloudy, humid

We get off to a late start this morning as we aren’t meeting until 9:30…nice. The boat is tendered this morning, so we have that to get through before setting off. The seas are a bit rough this morning. It’s amazing how on the big boat they don’t seem rough at all, but once on the little tender boat, it’s obvious how rough they are.

Our tender brings us to Portofino, but we get on another boat that takes us to nearby Santa Margherita – a similarly small town very close by in Tigullio Bay. The boat ride is very interesting, scenery and boats

…once again we are in the land of huge yachts. Although it is a hot day, it is mostly overcast so we are able to sit on the top, uncovered deck with no problems with heat.

We start with a walking tour of the town, visiting the church ( as usual) along the way. We also visit some pretty amazing gardens built into the hill we walk up to reach the 17^th century Villa Durazzo Although beautiful, the villa isn’t particularly interesting. One interesting thing was that there is a chapel right in the villa that is still being today – mostly for weddings.

There is no ‘comfort’ stop on this tour, so only for the purpose of using the facilities do we sit and enjoy a beer before getting on the PACKED public ferry back to Portofino, to then get into a PACKED line to get onto the ship’s tender to finally get back to the boat.

This is when the day got interesting…as I mentioned earlier, the sea is a bit rough today, well this means that emptying 100 people from a tender in what should be about 10 minutes took about 30. Rather than streaming off one after the other with minimal assistance, everyone had to stay seated until each was directed to move to the exit, then we had to wait for the exact moment when we were directed to move and were

basically lifted off the tender. It was truly something else! Considering how many tenders we’ve been on, we’ve never experienced anything close to this. We are told later that the swells were 2 metres – no big deal from a big ship, but from a little tender boat…a very big deal. It was a bit unnerving sitting on the tender while it bobbed and smashed against the side of the ship that more workers than usual were trying to steady it.  I’m thankful we

are relatively young, relatively it and capable of lifting, hoisting and moving ourselves…others aren’t so lucky and needed a lot of help today.  Oh, and I’m also thankful I’m not prone to sea-sickness and had just used facilities…that would not have been pretty.

After all that excitement, lunch ended up being room service and a bottle of wine

Our departure time over two hours delayed…no big surprise!