30 August Wednesday, Katakalon Greece

We were due to take a berth here, but I found out from a crew member that we had changed to a berth in Mykonos, so we swapped Katakalon to a tender/off-shore anchor. Celebrity Constellation was already berthed when we got here and Norwegian Star arrived while I was ashore. I had a sleep-in till 7.30 to give the early tour people a chance to leave, so the Lido was very empty when I went up for breakfast. Then I got ready and hopped on a tender with the last of the tour groups. It was a smooth crossing all the way. All official tours were going to Olympia.

The waterfront is about 300 metres of wall to wall shops. I found an empty, cavernous café tucked away through an archway and caught up on wifi: which ended up being almost hours with one coffee!

It's a nice sea port here, laid back; I bought a t-shirt with sparkly Greek writing on it, and a Christmas decoration, as I usually do on a trip. The crossing back in the tender was bumpy when we hit the breakwater, but not too bad. While I was sitting in the Lido having lunch, I was watching the weather rolling in; the water became somewhat rougher and the tenders were bobbing wildly out there, raised high and then dipping way down low, seemingly below the water. I was very glad I had come back early! By 2.30pm it was quite dark with lots of thunder and it was raining quite heavily: some people had a soggy experience, including one gentleman who said he got soaked getting from the tender onto the ship!

By about 4.00pm, the sun was out again and it was a lovely, sparkly afternoon. I went to Mass again: the priest has such a knowledge of scripture and is a delight to listen to. I found out he’s also going on the Ancient Corinth excursion tomorrow.

A nice dinner with my new friends, a walk around the deck and then preparations for an early morning tomorrow.

29 August Tuesday: Argostoli, Cephalonia.

I decided not to order room service for breakfast but went up to the Lido for breakfast at opening time, 6.30am. This gave me enough time to get reading before going to the showroom at 7.45am. I was very glad that I’d brought my little $3 alarm clock with me, because my phone let me down big time – it hasn’t recognised the time change.

We had three bus loads doing the Highlights of Cephalonia tour; I got a double seat to myself, which was nice and comfortable and gave me room to knit. The tour guide had a very heavy accent and took a while to understand. We were only 10 minutes on the road and already it was rural, with goat farms. The scenery overlooking bays is beautiful. (Far too many beautiful pictures to show here)

In other areas it’s quite boring, just olive trees, but there are impressive mountains and the bus hugged the side on some impressive drops. Lots of sheer white cliffs. On the bus, I chose to sit where I couldn’t see over the edge, nor could I see out the front window when there were bends coming up – it makes me too uncomfortable! Houses are fairly simple but the architecture is very attractive: lots of pastel pinks and golds and oranges, but not garish, quite softly coloured.

We got to Fiskardo about 9.50 and they walked us down to the restaurant where we would be having “lunch”. Annoyingly, they had staggered the total of 7 buses, so that our 3 did this section of the tour first and the other 4 buses did the Melissani Lake bit first, to avoid crowding the lake site. So, having all logged on to the free wifi and checked our emails, by 10.40 we were served our first course for lunch: carafes of local wine, white and red, a tasty green salad, followed by the most amazing Greek meat pie. Sorry, guys, but this is the best meat pie I’ve ever tasted – someone should catch on and create these as an option with our pies at home. Desert was lemon yoghurt over pineapple pieces – again, delicious. The restaurant obviously has a resident pussycat who was very happy sitting under and beside tables with clientele.

 We had a total of 2 ½ hours at Fiskardo where it was very, very hot. Lots of shops on the waterfront with the usual souvenirs and some pricey clothes. It was good to get on the bus again. I got some very pretty pictures here.

The drive to Melissani Lake was much shorter; again, it was very, very hot, humid and oppressive. The queue was very long and it took about half an hour before we got near the entrance to the lake. I was taking shots along the way with my phone (easier to carry on a excursion than the camera) and didn’t notice the battery was dying. Just before we got to the entrance to the lake, the phone died – so I bought a postcard! 

It was truly beautiful, the clearest blue water in an open-roofed cave, leaving to a covered cave; the boat men sang or whistled and the sound was lovely. Back up the top, I bought the most deliciously refreshing iced coffee to drink on the way home.

We were back at the ship at 4.00 and all aboard was 5.30, so I walked around the waterfront to find my postcard; then I took some photos of the port, had a cool shower to change for dinner and went to 5.00pm Mass. The priest is an amazing preacher, so I’m intending to go as often as it fits with my on board time; the protestants aren’t meeting again till Sunday and that’s too long without spiritual content.

None of the shows appeal so far, so I’ll work on my pictures and hop into bed. Tomorrow is Katakalon (Olympia) but I’m not going on a tour. The crowds have been still at summer holiday level and a site like that gets very, very crowded; with the hot weather added, I’ll give it a miss. Last time, Graham and I did a tour of the local countryside.

Tonight we’re rockin’ and rollin’ – at last! So far it’s been such smooth sailing.

28 August Monday, Sarande Albania

I woke up this morning to a harbour of grey looking buildings set into the mountain; then the sun came up and everything has colour. It looks exciting – time to explore.

I’ll go up on Lido shortly and have breakfast after the rush. Because I don’t have an excursion, I don’t have to worry about being ready early; everyone else had to be ready for tenders by 8.00 (and then sit in the theatre waiting for their turn). This cruise I get to go straight to the tender station anytime I want to and I don’t have to wait and queue up. So as soon as I have breakfast, I’ll head off for a look. My 24 hours of wifi on board will expire in half an hour, so my next post will depend on shore availability tomorrow in Argostoli, Greece. I heard that there is wifi in Albania but it’s known to be unsecured, so I won’t bother with that.

When I got up to the Lido, there was the Queen Victoria right alongside us, a little further out from shore. The view from Observation deck showed several little beaches close together. I went down to the tenders stairway and only had to wait a few minutes before I was on a tender; we were soon chugging towards the shore – only a very short distance in this port and pretty smooth apart from a bump or two at the breakwater. The waterfront and its exit are noisy, filled with taxi drivers all calling out their minimal store of English phrases: “Welcome. You need taxi?” I started walking up what appeared to be the main street/hill and one of the first public buildings was an Evangelical church: quite a surprise as we’d only heard Orthodox mentioned.

Then there was the first of several car washes! It seems there’s always money to get your car washed. I’m not sure if I’d try this one??

There’s also money, it seems, for Botox – the only beauty salon I saw – and Vodafone 4G!

I continued up the hill but soon it just seemed to be residential, so I headed in a square of “main” streets, assuming I’d end up back at the start. This street seemed to be chemist after chemist, as well as at least one doctor.

It turns out the little beaches are right there a few metres from the main streets. The sun was very hot but didn’t stop the enthusiasts.

The apartment buildings are fairly modern but fairly drab, certainly not fancy. Many shops are basic, somewhat dilapidated, dark inside, dingy; the ravages of communism are obvious, as are the signs of major unemployment. They’re trying to build a tourist trade and the cruise ships are an attempt to get this industry to a productive stage.

I can’t imagine buying fish here – the flies buzzing around the trays were huge and no-one seemed to be shooing them away.

When I got back to my room, they were just about to service it, so I sat in the lounge down the corridor; this has a huge screen along one wall with rotating pictures from the Rijksmuseum by Dutch impressionists from the 19^th Century. Beautiful to see.

I had a nanna nap and then dinner, which was very nice, as usual. Tonight we have to turn the clocks forward. I also have to be up very early tomorrow because the excursion leaves early.

28 August Monday, Sarande Albania

I woke up this morning to a harbour of grey looking buildings set into the mountain; then the sun came up and everything has colour. It looks exciting – time to explore. I’ll go up on Lido shortly and have breakfast after the rush. Because I don’t have an excursion, I don’t have to worry about being ready early; everyone else had to be ready for tenders by 8.00 (and then sit in the theatre waiting for their turn). This cruise I get to go straight to the tender station anytime I want to and I don’t have to wait and queue up. So as soon as I have breakfast, I’ll head off for a look. My 24 hours of wifi on board will expire in half an hour, so my next post will depend on shore availability tomorrow in Argostoli, Greece. I heard that there is wifi in Albania but it’s known to be unsecured, so I won’t bother with that.

27 August Sunday, At Sea

Up at 6.30, early breakfast in the Lido and then I created a 24-hour internet account (about $A35 for the one day!!) so I can catch up on everything and check in with the family. A lot of people complain about shipboard internet, but I haven’t had any issues on the laptop. I’m wondering whether it’s the other devices that are a problem, because I can’t seem to get my phone working successfully: I’m always glad to have my laptop when I’m away.

The service at 9.00 am was well attended – about 40 people at least. It turned out that there were two retired pastors on board; one of them, Dennis from the US, did the order of service (very un-structured) and the other one, a guy from Kentucky, did the message. We had a great time belting out the hymns in the hymnal (provided by the ship) and a prayer time when people contributed as they wanted to. The message was good (if a little to long) on Mark 2. Dennis asked me to speak at the end about organising further meetings, which I did, and then went to the Front Desk to get these in the schedule.

No sooner had I been back to the room to check email (with yet another cuppa), when it was time to go to the Mariner’s luncheon – yes, we really need more food! I took it easy because tonight is our first formal dinner. We also, of course, got a glass of champagne, so that’s 2 out of 3 days with a free drink. Tomorrow night I’ll take my bottle of champagne down to the table to share (another gift from my travel agent), as I’m sure the ladies will like that.

I had another 1 mile walk on the deck and had little else in the way of food during the afternoon. I went to a tech session about Cortana and was going to ask the girl if she had any suggestions about connecting my laptop with my phone. So I booted up the laptop, ready to ask and connected the charger to the opposite USB port: that must be the data download one because there was the connection. So I’ve been able to download all my pics from the mobiles.

Dinner was formal tonight: a nice menu again but I must remember to avoid their cheesecake: it’s the real crumbly cheese texture and I don’t like that – I prefer the smooth, creamy one. A walk on the deck after dinner to observe the sunset. I got a video of the red ball slipping behind the horizon but there was no colour show afterwards. Off to bed early.

26 August Saturday, At Sea

Happy birthday to my brother, Vince. I went to 8.00am Mass; the priest is Fr Gary from Kentucky, very out there and sees the ship as a real opportunity for ministry. Breakfast on the Lido.

I did some knitting and reading up on Lido deck and got myself an Explorations coffee; did 1 mile around the deck and went to the lecture about the first three ports. When I got to the Lido for lunch, Chris from dinner was sitting at a table for 2, spotted me on the line and motioned for me to join her. It was nice to have someone to share lunchtime with; I had a salad and got a cup of hot chips for us to share – delicious!

In the afternoon I watched “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin”, only about halfway through; the ports lecturer, who has a wonderful knowledge of local history, mentioned that this movie is made in Cephalonia, where we will be on Tuesday, and the scenery in the movie is a good idea of what to expect when we get there. 

I had my free Pinnacle Grill dinner booked at 5.30pm. It was a bit sad eating on my own, but ¾ of the way through, the couple sitting by the window called me over to watch the dolphin they had spotted – a lovely couple from the US, Louise and Craig. For dinner I had the pre-appetiser, which was a lobster/fennel creation in a tiny cup, beef tartare which was nice, petite fillet mignon which was perfectly medium-rare and my favourite: volcano cake. I did another 1 mile around the deck, then relaxed and worked on some pics before bed. I was excited to see that the Non-Denominational Service “run by the congregation” was listed in the program for 9.00am. I’ve brought some bible study material with me just in case someone else doesn’t come forward with something formal.

25 August Friday Cruise Departure

So, last night I had my delicious tepid pizza for dinner and had some leftover snacks and an apple for supper. This is the view from my other window – so beautiful. 

I was up reasonably early and did most of my packing (the suitcase needed re-arranging) Breakfast was in a small but beautifully appointed dining room; a typical continental menu, plus scrambled eggs and sausages. I was glad I was early because later the dining room became full and people were queued up waiting to get in for breakfast.

I decided to do a walk to the public transport interchange to see whether I thought I could manage my bags rather than getting a porter at ϵ5. There was  only one smallish bridge so I decided I could probably manage it; I bought my ticket for the People Mover – the light rail that goes to the cruise ships.

I have a bit of a cold, so I went for a walk on the San Marco side and bought some cold supplies at the chemist, just in case I need them: better than having to buy them on the ship. It’s very hot and a bit humid as well.

Getting back, I finished packing and checked out; the walk wasn’t too bad. I did manage to bump my suitcase up the dozen or so steps on the bridge and then bump it down again. The people mover only took a minute or two and we only had to walk across a compound to get to the terminal. Checking in took probably half an hour and I was on board by about 12.15.

By the time I had sorted my cabin bag and set up things as I wanted, it was time to go to the Mariners’ reception at 1.00; this was my first free champagne, with some lovely canapes, and served as my lunch. So far I have met Archie and Jan from Melbourne; Shannon and Margaret from Vancouver and near Seattle; the Catholic priest, from USA; several more Aussies. My suitcase had arrived just before I went to the reception, so I got that unpacked next. Missing: 1 bottle of hairspray, so I decided I’d see if I could buy some in the ship’s shop. Next was the lifeboat drill, after which I went up to Explorations Deck to take some pictures. Sailaway at 5.00 was fun, because for the first time I went to the stern and watched the tug pull us out of the narrow channel of berths and turn us around to head along the coast of Venice.

Back in my cabin I had an invitation for a free dinner tomorrow night in the special restaurant (used to be $20, now $35). That’s another gift from my travel agent. (She also gave me $100 on board credit and 100 minutes of internet. Want a recommendation? Sally Sturtevant at Cruiseabout – ask me if you’re interested in her details.)

Dinner was 5.45 and very good: Caesar salad, grilled salmon and a yummy creamy hazelnut pastry. My dinner buddies are all ladies travelling alone: Kate, who lost her husband early this year; Chris, her friend, both from NZ; Patsy, can’t remember where she’s from, and Martha from Victoria BC. I found my embarkation picture, asked if they could put it in a folder for me and it turns out you can’t do that anymore without paying up front. The shop didn’t have hairspray but the Spa did: embarrassingly I didn’t ask the price until after she had processed it – the shock of $US34 for a tiny pump bottle helped me conclude I can wait till we hit shore to get this item!! Another price change: at the end of dinner, a fancy coffee now costs extra. Also, the library has gone and is replaced by a small rack of books which are not to be borrowed, just read in the lounge area.

I had one walk around Promenade Deck (1/3 mile) but considered I’ve done enough walking today. When I got back to my room, the boys had turned down the bed and left me 2 chocolates. Nice! A frothy coffee (I brought sachets with me) and a cup of hot water and I hit the sack.

24 August: Florence to Venice, Firenze a Venezia

It was very special to have a farewell committee waiting when I got to the van, even though it was early for them to be up and around. Quick goodbye hugs and we were off; Max was very chatty on the way to Florence, about 45 minutes, and detoured through the city a little to show me some landmarks. We were at the train station at 9.30; I paid to use the bathroom at Maccas because it was only free if you had a current food receipt – E0.70, handled by a lady who managed at the doorway to the loos.

I found my train carriage and seat and got the last spot for my big bag (very little luggage storage on these trains). Once again, a high speed train. 

A good deal of the travel once you leave the town is through tunnels, so you don’t see scenery for some of the time: still very enjoyable, comfortable, fast. I had two seats to myself.

Venice Santa Lucia station was crazy. I realised I would need either a porter or a water taxi, but the taxis are costly. One porter came up and said “You need water taxi $60 plus E10 for porter to take your bag to the hotel.” This time I’m much more savvy, so I said no. Then another porter came up and said E40 to take my bags to the hotel. The issue in Venice is lots and lots of steps on bridges, so it’s not possible to lug 30kg of stuff on your own, hence the porter. It wasn’t all that far, just a quick 10 min walk. My hotel is the typical tiny, boutique building with a tiny room but exquisite and plenty big enough for a night’s sleep. Have a look at the view from my first floor windows while I sit here writing!

I went out walking, heading towards the Rialto Bridge – a very long way, probably longer than it should have been. It was lovely browsing the shops, keeping my eye out for food suggestions for dinner. I bought a piece of vegetarian pizza to take home (E3), asked for an Americano with milk, large, and got a half-filled cup: why bother? Coffee is such a mystery overseas.... When I’d just about given up, I spotted a stand advertising large iced Americano E2.50! So that’s what I bought, basically a large, cold coffee with milk. Very nice and refreshing after three hours’ walking. 

23 August: Pisa, Lucca

It was nice to have a leisurely breakfast, after which we hit the road, around 9.00am. A very hot day, particularly standing in the sun. It's rather amazing to drive around the last corner and suddenly there is the structure that you've seen a thousand times in pictures but now it's there "in the flesh". Of course, we all took lots of pictures of both the tower and the university; we only had 1-1/4 hours to spend and the queues to get to the ticket office and then to get to the tower meant we couldn't even consider climbing the tower, a feat which would have to take at least half an hour. There were market stalls everywhere, of course, and some exhibitions, so we wandered in little groups or alone and then met up in our designated spot.

Just before we left, we were surprised to hear the tower bell toll 12 noon: that would have been quite an experience for those who were in the tower at the time, because the bell is huge and even from across the other side of the compound, it was very loud.

The drive to Lucca was fairly quick. A couple of the guys went into a museum and the rest of us wandered through the shops, meeting at 2.00 in one of the squares for lunch. It was really reasonable and good food. I had a pizza but of course I needed lots of help to finish it! Then Therese shouted me a ticket in to the Puccini museum, in the house where he was born: a very special treat which we thoroughly enjoyed, remembering how both our Dads had loved Puccini.

22 August Tuesday: San Gimignano, Siena and Monterrigioni

We had a later start this morning, meeting in the dining room at 8.00am. Breakfast was wonderful; no bacon and eggs because that’s not local custom, but heaps of continental variety and great espresso coffees, no limit. We all took some snacks for the day as well. Max (whom we’ve dubbed Mad Max because of his incredible highway technique) was there right on time at 9.00 and first town on the list was San Gimignano, a 12^th Century medieval town famous for its towers, a sign of wealth in those days. On the way, we stopped at a great viewpoint on the edge of a winery.

Therese remembered the way to the panoramic viewpoint, which was spectacular.

Siena

Siena was crowded and hot, quite a drive from San Gimignano. The cathedral is visual overload. I chose not to do the 11 euro tour, as we’ve had so much overpowering interior church art already; I was able to buy a postcard of the inside of the church. 

We worked our way down to the main square, where we had a delicious lunch, followed by ice creams. I had a rocket salad with lots of smoked salmon and pecorino cheese. E13. We enjoyed sitting there watching the world go by. After a few minutes of wandering, we all met at the ice cream shop and had an ice cream (E1.50) waiting for Max.

Monterrigioni

This was Max’s suggestion; it’s a lovely little medieval town. We walked around for half an hour. Very pretty; more wonderful pictures. There was a very striking statue of St Anthony of Padua in the little church: a very peaceful place of worship obviously well used today.

We were home by 5.00 and headed for showers, fresh, comfortable clothes and then shared food by the pool. Dani had a swim too. It was quite cool out of the sun; very cool wind. We’ve finally got Therese’s blog sorted.

Later 21 August Assisi, Cortona and Arezzo

Assisi

Well, things went amiss because staff weren’t told we needed an early breakfast, so we hit the road looking for a fast food outlet. I bought a baguette-style roll with tomato and mozzarella and a few other tasty things. It turned out the best thing to order there was a large Americano with milk added. At least it was a good size coffee! I also bought a ball donut thing which turned out to be filled with custard. That was for the road, to make sure I had enough fuel if lunch was late.

We travelled to Assisi with much happier tummies and met Mickele, our young, very friendly guide for the walking tour. He was very knowledgeable about the life of St Francis and shared his faith in God openly; it's obvious that St Francis is deeply revered by the Italian people and they are particularly devoted to him in this area. It took the full three hours to go through the Basilica, where the artwork was explained to us in great detail: incredible picture stories of the life of Jesus and the life of St Francis. In those days, most people were illiterate, so the pictures were vital for spreading the faith.

The body of St Francis is interred in a deep crypt, very different and unadorned, compared to the bright colours of the art upstairs. It was a very sacred place. We walked to the little church where Francis attended as a child, and a later church he attended.

Lastly we went to the church of St Claire. Many of the artworks here are frescoes and because of the nature of the plaster-based colours, these have not withstood the test of time so well. Again they were picture stories and this different style of painting produced an amazing 3-D perspective. After 3 hours of walking, we were very happy to rejoin Max in the van and set off for Cordona for lunch.

In summary, the holy places in Assisi are filled with great peace; you can never capture this with a camera!

Cordona

Max dropped us at an outdoor restaurant overlooking the valley, shady out of the heat and quite windy at times. Lunch was delicious and reasonably priced; I had spaghettini with a vegetable sauce, E10. Then we were left to wander around the town, up and down the very hilly streets. Lots of shops to investigate, and lots more walking!

Arezzo

The purpose of this town was a booking to do a tour of the church of San Francesco with famous frescoes. We arrived and found great difficulty in communicating – the response to “in English, please” was “no – Italiano!” Because of the lack of understanding, after waiting in the designated stop for a guide, it took us a while to realise that this was a “walk around the church and have a look” tour and then go downstairs and watch a 3-D film, followed by a walk around the exhibition. Well, it was amusing in the end to find that we had purchased pricey tickets to an exhibition of very early 3-D photography; when we finally discovered the displays of these very early slides and cameras, after sitting through the slideshow with difficulty because 3-D glasses over distance glasses don’t work too well. So we were none the wiser about the church itself! However, it was one of the rare ones where photography was allowed.

We did walk around the cobblestone streets of the church and I took a picture of the Church of San Domenico for Dom to send to him on Wednesday for his 12th birthday.

Max picked us up, we stopped at a supermarket to get supplies for dinner and then the weary campers bundled back into the resort around 8.00pm. Having had the large breakfast/brunch/lunch, I was happy to tuck into my cheese and bickies and lovely fresh fruit for dinner.

A recommendation so far: Assisi is a must on any Tuscany visit, and having a private mini van with driver at your disposal is fantastic value for a group because it takes all the stress out of the driving.