Barcelona, Spain – July 31

Overcast first thing, then sunny, 26 degrees and not too humid

Today Chris and I are on a different tour from the parents. They are doing the must-see Barcelona sights which is a full day and we are doing a morning tour off chocolate and cava tasting. Since Chris and I have been here before, we figured

chocolate shopping

we’d do something a bit of the beaten path and let the parents have some alone time!

The entirety of our tour today was in a town about 45 minutes outside of Barcelona in a town called Roses. The chocolate part of the tour was at the Simón Coll chocolate factory. This tour was very slick in an 18th-century paper mill since 1987. There was a short film followed by a tour of the automated factory. Then we had a chocolate tasting lesson which was very, very cool. This family has been making chocolates here in Spain for over 100 years. We couldn’t possible leave here without buying some, so after some shopping that was surprisingly well priced, we were on our way

in the cellar learning about cava

for some cava. 

cava sampling

The cava vineyard and winery was the opposite of the slickness of the chocolate factory, but in a good and charming way. This place is run and operated by 3 people. We were walked through the cellar and bottling area learning along the way before settling under a huge tree to sample some cavas and munch on some tapas of Spanish meat and cheese.

We were back on board for lunch, a nap and dinner on the pool deck for an outdoor extravagant BBQ accompanied by the ship’s bands.

cava maker

Marseille, France – July 30

Clear sky, 26 degrees, not too humid

Today’s excursion took us to a small town outside Marseilles called Cassis. Before we left the city, we drove by some of Marseilles major sites. Although we didn’t get off of the bus this drive-by tour let us see some of the sites from the comfort of the bus.

first day...first tour!

Once we arrived at Cassis, we boarded a small tourist train that took us to the heart of the old town. We wandered, looked in shops, admired the huge meringues and stared at the sea. Although it wasn’t yet noon, we had to try the local rosé wine, which was as expected delicious. In fact, the place we found to have our glass wasn’t yet open, but a few people including us were having a coffee or wine. I tried my best to talk to the woman who worked there in French and mostly succeeded, but she of course took

a votre sante!

pity on my terrible attempt at French, was very kind and spoke to me in English. I was just proud of myself for at least getting some of my message across in French.

Before heading back I had to try their lavender ice cream. Our guide described it as an acquired taste. It was exactly as I expected…floral and perfumery…I don’t think I’d have it again, but it was good. Again, I did my best to buy this using French and I think this time I did pretty well.

a votre sante

Lunch as back on the boat, followed by a couple of pool bar beers, a nap and dinner. The captain warned us that the seas would be a bit rough, and by the time I was going to be they sure were.

lavender ice cream

Monte Carlo, Monaco – July 29

admiring our ride in the distance

Partly cloudy, 27 degrees, not a lot of humidity

Today we board our home away from home for the next 11 days!!! I love the comfort that comes from familiarity. In addition to a few smaller cruises, The Seven Seas Voyager is where we spent 49 days in the winter of 2016. I like to know where the pool is, the restaurants, the bars are, and the loos are! There are certainly thrills to be had from experiencing new things, but the vast majority of travelling is new, so when there is something old and

comfortable, I embrace it.

Before heading to the ship we wandered around the port area drooling over the many, many mega yachts. These boats are something else. We’ve seen plenty of mega yachts, but seeing them always stuns me. I always wonder who these big boys belong to. None of the ones we saw today had helicopters on top, so maybe these are only mega…not

unpacking is a thirsty business

mega, mega?!?

Before we know it, we are on the boat,

champagne in hand and sitting down to a relaxing lunch while waiting for our rooms to be ready. Once the rooms are ready, we uppack, and get a load of laundry. Next is our lifeboat drill followed by a few pre-dinner drinks and dinner. Chris finished the night with a but of gambling and I called it a day.

fingers crossed!!

Nice, France / Monte Carlo, Monaco – July 28

Blazing sun and 26 degrees and 56% humidity - much nice to be outside.

socca

Nice is only a half hour drive to Monte Carlo, so travelling on this ‘travel day’ isn’t too taxing. No matter how far you are going, you still have to pack all of your stuff and be out of the hotel and into a new one. This is the #1 reason we like travelling via cruise ship – unpack once at the beginning and pack again once at the end.

After breakfast in the hotel, a bit of shopping we were back to the old town to get a socca. Socca is a local street snack like a fried crepe made from chic pea flour, olive oil and pepper - 3€, for one serving…quite tasty.

Monte Carlo Casino

We checked out of the hotel at noon, got an Uber. We waiting before booking the Uber for a while for the price to drop. We checked the price this morning, but when we wanted to leave it was up quite a bit. After waiting a bit we were on the go. 30 min later in pretty heavy traffic we were at the Fairmont Monte Carlo. It hasn’t changed a bit since we were here last. Lots of posh looking people and many posh cars.  

Of course our room is not ready, so we hang out in the lobby for a while. A glass of wine would be glorious right about now, but for 22.00 Canadian…we decided to pass – it wasn’t exactly a great atmosphere.

Casino ceiling

We finally got our room, went for a quick bite, and napped until my parents arrived. They made great time and were here way before we expected. The

first thing the 4 of us did was visit THE Monte Carlo Casino – the Casino

Royale Casino. Outside the casino is a bustling place with the richest of the rich. Driving there or being driven there in the most expensive cars – it is a sight to behold. We went into the lobby, but no further. There is a cost to get in and we weren’t that interested.  Next was a bit of food and a drink and then called it a night.

Nice, France – July 27

Musee des Beaux-Arts

A bit overcast and about 30 and high humidity when we started out, cloud and rain for the last half, maybe 24 and waaay less humid later

Nice’s fine arts museum was first on our agenda today. We had visited here the last time we were in Nice, but that was a long time ago (2006), so we thought another visit was in order. We remember this place as being small, but with a few ‘big name’ artists. Either we mis-

museum cat - a first for me!

remembered, or things have changed. This place was a bit of a bust. It was worthwhile to walk to a different part of town, get the exercise (it was pretty much straight up hill – the fitbit said 14 floors) and hang out in a quiet, not at all busy old palace for a couple of hours with a good toilet, but no AC – can’t win em all.

We walked back to the old town via the sea side and by now were dying for a beer. We settled on a place that had a second floor with an outdoor bar

museum gardens

overlooking the

promenade and the sea. It was pretty cool to sit there enjoying a beer in the breeze, not being in a total sweat watching the world go by. Next we lunch of a few tapas and some cold ros
é. By now the rain had started, but the waiter made sure we choose a table well under cover so that we wouldn’t get rained on. It sure did rain, but we were completely dry. No one seemed to care and just went about their business through the rain.

spoiled for choice - rose for days

We had planned to go on a night walking tour,

great location

but the rest of the day was rainy, so we stayed in and finished the dinner we started last night.

random street

story skys

watching the world go by

Nice, France – July 26

Apollo and Chris waiting for the tour

Blazing sun - 30 degrees, feels like 34– same as yesterday, but ‘moister’ - 75% humidity

Breakfast in the hotel for me today consisted

in-ground misters in a park

of tomatoes, cucumbers, bread, cheese, water, cappuccino. On vacation I never get enough veg, so a breakfast of salad looked good to me. I also had a pan au chocolate. This was an afterthought for me, sometimes what looks like it’ll be delicious ends up being not worth bothering...this was NOT one of those times, it really was delicious, it’ll be on my menu tomorrow and the next day!

walking tour group

The morning’s activity would be a walking tour of Nice – a free walking tour. We discovered these free walking tours last year in Europe and were hooked. The group can be a bit big (today was not and was only around 25, that’s a great size) and at the end you pay what you want. As usual, today’s tour was

oool doorway

great – thanks in large part to the guide. We walked around the old part of Nice, the seaside and climbed the

significant climb (the Fitbit said it was 28 floors) to the lookout where there is a waterfall. The waterfall is artificial, but it is very cool nonetheless. On the tour we met a woman from Calgary who is also a teacher! The tour lasted from 11 to about 1:15. Before we were ready to move on, we quenched ourselves with a couple of Kronenbourgs, while overlooking the waterfalls and Nice city scape. This is the kind of touring where I think I’ll need a WC, but never, EVER do. Not good, I’m pretty much sweating out any fluid inside me.

I'm starting to cool off

After the tour it was time for lunch. I had pissaladière, which is a regional food I’ve been wanting to try. It is like a pizza topped with caramelised onions, black olives, and anchovy paste used instead of tomato sauce. It was delicious. Mine was topped with arugula for a bit more veg! Of course as we are in southern France, I had to wash it down with some cold rosé. Chris had carbonera pasta and that was delicious too, in fact…there was actually too much ham – is there such a thing?

even cooler

beer and a view

By now we were about done with the heat and dampness, so we headed back to the hotel – as our room doesn’t have a fridge, we haven’t stocked up on

lunch

beer or wine that we wanted cold, so each time we want a room beverage we hit a piggly-wiggly. This is not a bad thing in my mind, as I’m happy to be in as many grocery stores as possible – the AC is always fantastic and I always like checking out local foods. We stocked up on a few other things…more cheese chips, this time they were “Fromage du Jura”…I’ve never heard of this, but apparently it’s a region in eastern France…these were good, but not as good as yesterday’s. It’s surprising how realistic the flavor is to cheese, not artificial cheese-cheesie, cheese flavour, but ‘real’ cheese flavour…the French know their cheese, I guess! We also found some mini saucissons (tiny dried sausages) – again…delicious.

We found some pétanque (French bocce) on TV to watch – it was fascinating. We have seen this a few times in parks in the past, but never on TV. I thought this was just a game old French men played, but apparently I was wrong. The teams we watched were one male and one female.

mini-saucissions

A nap turned into a lazy late afternoon/early evening and the rest of the day was spent this way, with yet another trip to yet another grocery store for dinner…bread, cheese and wine that we ate on our room’s balcony…not too bad.

dinner

Nice, France – July 25

Blazing sun and 30 degrees, feels like 34, 70% humidity

I’m not too sure how great the bed is in our hotel because I’m pretty sure I passed right out last night. Before 6 I was side awake but was able to will myself back to sleep until about 10 – I’m happy about that.

wine stop

Nothing was on today’s agenda, so we had our hotel’s included breakfast before heading out. The breakfast was

Nice Cathedral

basic, but good – I was a bit disappointed that there wasn’t anything new or exciting to try. We wandered a bit through Nice’s old town, then made our way to the sea – this is our first glimpse of the Mediterranean Sea that will be our home for the next 3 weeks. Of course, we saw it from the sky last night, but that’s not quite the same as walking next to it.

Nice Cathedral

Nice Cathedral

I remember Nice’s market from that last time we were here and it’s pretty much the same. As usual when in European markets I’m interested in prices – cheese is soooo inexpensive here…or maybe it’s soooo pricy at home. And there’s soooo much of it here. There is also plenty of cured meats and plenty of produce. The rest are nick-nacks and art.

We find a spot close to the market and have a glass of wine. We are able to watch the people coming and going

dinner

to and from the beach which is about 5 minutes away and to watch a socca seller. Socca is a local snack item, like a warm flat bread made from chic peas. I thought I’d get one after the glass of wine, but the market and the socca seller packed up shop before I was done…a goal for tomorrow.

On the way back we found ourselves at the Nice Cathedral – a nice break from the heat.

A stop for water, chips and beer was one the way home before a nap and some cool down time. It is a hot and humid one today. The chips we found were chili and goat cheese – wow…yum!

In the evening we wandered around a bit before settling on a place for dinner. We found a bustling pedestrian street for mussels, pizza and wine. It was delicious and hit the spot.