fire eater

Sorry, Mick, for the confusion. We will be on the Maasdam. Just a tiny bit excited!

fe

Two weeks today we sail under the bridge, past the Quay, out through The Heads and off on our adventure! Yay!!

fe

In Luganville, we went on a ship's tour to Itu Flower Garden to see the Banks and Torres Strait Islands women perform their water music.

We were in a 14-seater bus, two or three steps up into it. The garden was flat and not huge, but the viewing area (with seats) was a couple so steps up, too. It was a wonderful experience.

I wish you both a happy cruise and send get well wishes to your wife.

Susan (in Oz)

We are cruising to Hobart in October and arrive on a Saturday. I want to visit the Salamanca markets, can anyone tell me if the Hop on, Hop off bus goes there? Any other suggestions for our day in Hobart would be greatly appreciated. [emoji3]

 

 

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The old penitentiary (The Tench) is supposed to be very good. Walking distance from the dock, too. We will be there in November on the Maasdam.

Enjoy your cruise!

Susan

About the first thing I said to my hubby this morning was, "It's next month!!" Happy dance!

fe

My husband and I had our 'flu shots a few months ago. We are in Oz and the US flu shot is in the vial, too. Very handy.

Happy sailing!

fe

From my D-Day and Baltic Cruise diary in 2014 on the Eurodam.

"Tonight we went to 'A Taste of de Librije' in The Pinnacle restaurant. It was the best and most interesting food we have ever had on HAL. It was very modern, complete with stuff like 'oyster foam' and de-constructed food and the flavours were sublime and the servings were perfectly sized. So, so good!

We loved it!

Thank you, Sir.

Susan

Hullo Sir, do you know who is bringing the Maasdam downunder for our 43 day circumnav. in October?

Thank you,

Susan

Hullo azcruise,

Clip from my diary regarding our excursion in Katakolon Greece.

Ancient Olympia and Mercouri's Vineyards

We had breakfast on our verandah this morning watching the sea. Hard life...

Docked at 10am, digging up a bit of sand in this pretty little port. It is nice to be in a small place for a change. We just wandered around for a while before we set off for ancient Olympia. It was a half hour drive, passing so-o many olive trees, melon fields and half-finished houses.

The ancient site of the first Olympics turned out to be quite a surprise. It is huge with the ruins of temples, treasury houses and hotels and a gymnasium as well as the original stadium. The marble starting line (about 60cm wide) for the races looks like it was made yesterday.

Archaeologists are still excavating and were there today, in two places. Today, it looked as if the first group had found a continuation of a huge wall of the gymnasium. And the other lot were digging up really high on a slope, because the whole plot was buried under about 15 metres of soil and rubbish after the big earthquake.

The only new thing in the whole site is a large Doric column built on the Temple of Zeus for the lighting of the flame for the most recent Olympics in Greece in 2004 and is beautifully done. It felt good standing on the place where the flame is lit every four years; even being a poor sports fan.

Excavation on this site did not begin until the late 19C.

The guide trained for seven years to become a registered guide in museums and archaeological digs in Greece.

Enough of the history, let's head for the Mercouri vineyard!

It is only a small winery, bottling about 160,000 bottles a year and 60% of it is exported.

The fourth generation owner took us on a tour, which was very interesting, through old tunnels and into very cold cellars. He was lovely and proud to point out a family photo of the previous three generations.

Then out into the beautiful grounds to sit under the huge canopied pine trees and have mezze and wine tasting. People were seated at tables of six and a bottle of red and one of white were placed on the table and we were told to help ourselves. There were peacocks walking around and cats coming for a pat and bougainvillea and red geraniums and I knew I wasn't in New South Wales anymore, Toto.

Wonderful day! Back to Katakolon for All Aboard at 4.30.

I think long pants would be more appropriate. I suppose it depends on which theatre/show you will be attending. Just my twopence worth.

fe

Hullo from Downunder, There is a concert, 'Great Opera Hits' - performances by AO stars - in March. I am not sure how to add the link, but if you google the above, you should find it. There are backstage tours which are being advertised, too. Some include breakfast; some include a tasting plate. The tours are offered in many different languages, on different days. Our big opera season is during winter, except for the Opera on the Harbour, which is staged on a massive floating platform near the Quay.

Happy sailing!

fe

We are booked on Tales of the South Pacific, leaving San Diego 30 Sept returning 17 Nov, 2016. Thus, we will be away for the US General Election 8 Nov, and for the 30-day period prior to Election Day which is when the Absentee Ballots become available.

 

I contacted Federal Voter Assistance Program and was advised that we do not qualify for UOCAVA voting as we would be on temporary holiday, not overseas residents nor military.

 

My guess is that someone has done this before! Any suggestions on how we can vote? Thanks, m--

Hullo from Downunder. Could you vote in Hawaii? Or at the US Embassy in Sydney when you arrive? Might be worth checking.

fe

DFAT site this morning : Reconsider your need to travel to Istanbul and Ankara.

fe

This warning from Dept of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia:

- Ankara and Istanbul, reconsider your need to travel

- Turkey overall, exercise a high degree of caution

So sad.

fe

There is a golf club in Akaroa. It has beautiful views, apparently. Just don't forget to keep your eye on the ball. 😊

fe

Maybe Bruny Island Fishing Charters (for Hobart).

Happy sailing!

Bruny Island Fishing Charters (Tassie) may be another company to check. They supply everything.

Happy sailing! (And fishing)

Quote from HAL Website

"Is Smoking Allowed On Board?

For the comfort of all of our guests, all staterooms (cabins), showrooms and most other indoor areas are designated non-smoking. While smoking is not permitted in staterooms, guests are allowed to smoke on stateroom verandahs. Smoking is also permitted on certain other designated, outside decks. The designated smoking areas for all ships are as follows unless otherwise noted:

Stateroom verandahs

Sea View Bar (not available on ms Rotterdam and ms Veendam)

Outside Decks

Sports Deck

Observation Deck (ms Prinsendam, ms Eurodam, ms Nieuw Amsterdam, ms Noordam, ms Oosterdam, ms Westerdam, and ms Zuiderdam only)

Casino

Active players only, when the casino is open

Designated slot machines only

Each sailing will offer one or more non-smoking nights depending upon the length of the voyage

Cigar and pipe smoking is not allowed anywhere inside the ship; it is only permitted on the outside decks where smoking is otherwise allowed and on stateroom verandahs. Electronic cigarettes are permitted in staterooms but not in other public areas of the ship other than on outside decks designated as smoking areas.

Any guest who smokes inside staterooms in violation of our policy will be charged a US$250 cleaning fee per day of violation.

Holland America Line reserves the right at any time to modify the smoking policy onboard or alter the locations where smoking is permissible."

Cqis, I am happy you enjoyed my ramblings.

When you go around to the back of the Basilica, look up quite a way and you will find a carving of people (which may be a representation of the nativity of Christ?). One of the architects (after Gaudi) included Gaudi in the group.

I wish we were sailing tomorrow, too!

fire eater

Portland England

Oh, to be in England . . . What spring? It was 11 degrees when we arrived and dark and cloudy and it rained later on.

Shuttle to Weymouth, walk.

Weymouth is a very pretty seaside town.

First to Nothe Fort (built from 1860-1872). In my head, I was calling it Noth fort, but the man at the entrance said it was pronounced like nose, but with a "th". He said it was from the old Anglo-Saxon.

Three levels of fortifications, air raid shelters and even a nuclear shelter. Cannons to defend the fort. Weymouth was heavily bombed during WWII.

We walked along the Esplanade and saw the ANZAC memorial. The houses are very quaint and well kept.

I had read that a cannon is fired as a farewell from the port to cruise ships, but didn't think they would fire it at 11pm, but a volunteer at Nothe Fort pointed out two cannons to us and said they would be used tonight, they just had to be moved. We thought she meant up on a rise.

Getting ready for bed as we were leaving the dock, John heard a noise and we went out on the verandah. There were soldiers in (old) uniforms with an officer hollering orders and a bugler and band and they let go two shots from each cannon. It was wonderful and people were hanging out over balconies, clapping.

What a clever touristy thing to do. And all done by volunteers.

Gibraltar British Territory

Arrived in this port at 1pm. We were cruising pretty slowly anyway, but had to drop down to seven knots which takes twenty minutes to do, otherwise the ship would have a conniption! (Over-heated engines).

We could hardly see the place because of fog, which apparently happens quite a lot. Saw a plane coming in, but I wasn't quick enough with the camera. The airstrip is also a road, so they have to stop the traffic every time a plane comes in.

Gibraltar is not a pretty place. Sorry, Gibraltarians!

We were only going to hop on a bus and go to Europa Point today to look at the lighthouse, mosque/church and see if we could see Africa. (Didn't want to visit the apes den.)

The weather is not clear enough to see much at all.

The observation deck is higher than the lighthouse anyway, so we can look for Africa if the weather clears a bit.

Cagliari Sardinia (instead of Tunisia)

We are really happy that we came here instead of Tunisia. Really happy!

A beautiful sail-in this morning and we got on the shuttle bus early. Went for a walk along the esplanade which has lots of coffee shops, so we thought we could fit in a Sardinian coffee. Sat for a while watching people, had another coffee, then decided to get on the hop-on hop-off bus. By this time, it was full and so we got on the hop-on hop-off horse-drawn wagon. The wagon had an electric motor, so the horses were more for appearance than pulling, which we liked. Two lovely big Clydesdales. Emilio, the driver and guide took us on a highly informative and relaxed trip to the top of the city (the Citadel) and back again. He stopped many times to talk about what we were looking at and let us off and waited while we walked to the very top for a 'photo opportunity'. It is not polluted here and was so pleasant plodding along in the slow wagon. It took about an hour and fifteen minutes return.

When we got back to the bottom there were a lot of people around as another cruise ship had berthed after us. We all clapped very loudly, which attracted people's attention and we reckon he was set for the day!

Then we wandered through lots of streets and lane ways looking at people and buildings and shops and came across a beautiful church in a little side street. St Augustino. The entrance was through a little courtyard garden with statues roughly carved from lumps of rock.

Just gorgeous with old frescoes (nobody had nicked them for a museum) and statues and paintings. It was very quiet, which was different, as in some of the other cathedrals and churches we have been in, people still talked at their usual volume. Oh, and there was a holy water font just inside the door, which we haven't found in any of the others. Just lovely.

A Taste of The Riviera - Eze and Nice

Oh, my goodness me, Monte Carlo is pretty ugly. Along the foreshore there are lots of old buildings, one of which is the casino, but otherwise there are huge apartment buildings everywhere. Not much thought given to the design either.

Anyway, we headed off in the bus again towards Eze (pronounced Ez). We went past Prince Albert's modest home and through some tunnels and then started to climb ... and ... climb ... and u-bend ... and climb! We were very high up and then our guide pointed out Eze way above us and I nearly had a pink fit!

Then drove down into Nice to the Côte d'Azur . Had free time first, so coffee at the Cafe Opera.

The hotels set back on the Plage all have umbrellas and tables and chairs and towels and stuff set up with fences around the area, so none of the plebs can get in. There is no sand just a white rock beach, so there are carpet runners from the water to the deck-chairs and along each aisle, so the poor rich people don't hurt their tootsies on the rocks.

So funny!

The wine cellar was a cellar! A low ceiling-ed poky room entered by precipitous steps straight off the street. It had been used in the war as a hiding place. The staff was really friendly and so knowledgeable. The man who explained everything was charming and amusing, but I couldn't see very well what he looked like because it was so dark. He had gorgeous shoes. :-)

His female offsider in the cellar was beautiful. I took a photo of her too, but it is too dark to post.

There was a big picture of Our Lady on the wall too - it's what you would expect in a wine cellar, isn't it?

We tried three wines. John decided that the rose he tasted was the best he had ever tried. It was yummy and went well with sheep cheese and had the most beautiful colour. When John asked the man with the gorgeous shoes his opinion of the best place for wines in Oz, he replied WA, Margaret River.

We had free time after that and were to meet back at the Opera House. We were on the Solaya Marche au Fleurs and opted for coffee of course and it was really Nice too! Boom, boom! Practised my Italian then back to the bus for the trip back to the ship via Eze.

Oh, my! I lasted a long time taking photos before I had to give the camera to John and as we were nearing Eze, a fog came up, which actually made it a bit worse when we crossed the Devil's Viaduct to enter Eze. The woman in the opposite seat understood early in the trip and kept saying, 'Ok, look now!' Funny really.

We walked up, up, up to the Church, then we just walked around for a while, took a photo of a man leading a donkey and found a cafe/bar where John had a beer and I had a wine. Very relaxing, watching the locals and tourists.

Back to the bus passing lots of cars and drivers registering for a rally to be held around Eze. I don't think I would like to do that!

Then down, down, down to Monte Carlo and the Dam ship.

It was a very good day.

Gaudi's Barcelona

I could see La Sagrada Familia from the ship first thing in the morning.

WOW!!!!

Drove around looking at all the wonderful architecture in this pretty, clean, friendly city. Then honed in on Gaudi. We saw some houses he had designed in the city, which are amazing.( I think Tim Burton may be influenced by Gaudi.)

All of his work has been declared World Heritage sites. And you can't see it anywhere other than in this city, so save your pennies people because it is worth every one of them.

When I first spotted La Sagrada Familia up a street, I almost fell off my seat. It is so big and unbelievable and gothic and almost scary and it made me want to cry.

The guide knew it so well and was very good. A few years ago, it was believed that building would be completed in 2016, but that has been revised to 2026 - if then.

The light inside continually changes and shines through all the stained glass. It was a dull, cold day in Barcelona, but the light still came in. It was given the title of Basilica after the Pope said Mass there some years ago. Really, I could cry now as I write this. It is magnificent.

What a wonderful day!