Day 48 Barcelona

We docked around 9 this morning, lovely sunny day. Princess were offering a $7 each way shuttle bus to the end of the port, a bit rude when a port authority bus was available for 3 euros ($5) return to the town! We walked to the main street, La Rambla, which is a very long, busy and action packed street. The previous night, Spain had won a place in the World Cup final and we thought we would see very excited people but we didn't see anything relating to the win. I had a look in a few shops but nothing caught my eye enough to buy, George was happy about that. We walked to the old part of the town, The Gothic place, and this was similar to Venice and Rome....old buildings, narrow lanes. Many passengers did tours here and were happy with them, makes a change to hear this. It's a lively, bustling city and as we didn't leave till 10.30 p.m., we had a chance to see it by night, beautiful coastline all lit up. I have never seen planes backed up waiting to land, I counted 4 in a row waiting their turn!! Apparently Barcelona has 80 million visitors a year. It's a city you really need several days as you only get a glimpse in 12 hours, but nevertheless a place we need to come back to.

We had drinks with our group of friends as we sailed away, heading toward Gibraltar but luckily one day at sea tomorrow .... this will be a much needed rest day.

day 48 Continued

 

Day47 Cannes

The ship's tender took us to the pier at Cannes. We passed many luxury boats, some serious stuff here. Beautiful beaches along the shore, topless sunbathing is the normal thing here! As we had had very tiring days we just strolled along the shopping area. There is a lovely chain of stores called Blanc de Nile, all white cotton clothes, just the thing for these hot days we are having. Most of the ship's passengers had the same thought! They would do a good trade in Oz I think. We had the obligatory beer and local wine. When we arrived back onboard we hit the pool to cool off.... we both fell asleep on the sun loungers, that's a first.
We have been enjoying watching the World Cup, even though Australia is out. The TV onboard is not exciting, the movies are old and we have not watched much really. The MUTS is also quite disappointing, lots of repeats.
Tomorrow is Barcelona, we are there for 12 hours. We have nothing planned for this so just take our time and see what happens. We are nearly half way into our trip, it feels as though we have been away for a long time....not ready to go home just yet though!!.Still having a great time and still meeting new people. It amazing to meet someone you have never seen before and find out they have been on since Sydney.

Day 46 Livorno and Pisa

Fantastic day! We left the ship around 8.30 a.m., caught the shuttle (no option here as no walking allowed on the dock, so charged 5 euros each just to get off the dock)), into the middle of Livorno where we purchased return bus and train tickets to Pisa for 7 Euros each. Great price and interesting train ride. It was standing room only, the Italian people are not very friendly or helpful in the shops. No signs in English so it makes it difficult but we managed. Our personal tour guides, Roy and Marg were with us for the day. After a 20 minute train ride and a 15 minute walk we arrived at the Leaning Tower. Boy, does it lean! It's a 14ft lean and its surprisingly still standing!! Beautiful building, marble and ornate décor. You can walk up to the top of the tower but we opted not to, our legs are not young any more. We did all the funny photos, including me climbing on top of a stone bollard. Not a pretty sight trying to get on to it, but makes for good photos ha ha. Lots of market stalls surround the area, we had our usual beer. Its just so we can sit in the air conditioning really. We arrived back in Livorno about 3 p.m. and then headed back to the ship. We thoroughly enjoyed our day, probably have a quiet night as we arrive in Cannes tomorrow.

Day 46 Continued

 

Day 45 Rome

We arrived in Civitavecchia around 7 a.m., we had chosen to do Rome on our own. However as it is a 1.5 hour drive to Rome we did relent and catch the Princess Bus, just to ensure we would get back on time to catch the ship!  Once onboard, the guide did promote a Hop on Hop Off Bus ticket which would allow us to see all the main sights. What she did not tell us was that most of our bus and probably 4 others bought the ticket.....on arrival at St. Peters the queue for this next bus was horrendous. It was a 40 minutes wait in boiling hot condition. In hindsight we could have walked to everything, so any future WC, just walk! It gave us time to look around a bit of The Vatican square, very beautiful. The queue to go inside was long, very long. An amazing place. We got on the bus, sat upstairs in the open roof part. Firstly, Rome is busy, cars, motorbikes zooming everywhere. We jumped off and headed toward The Trevi Fountain, a place I had always wanted to see. Its so spectacular, lots of people but we managed to get to the water and throw our coins in....1 means you will come back for a visit, 2 means a new love and 3 means a divorce. I threw 1....and I only gave George 1 to throw!! We then just walked around the streets, trying to read our map but its hard to concentrate when all you see are the most amazing buildings. Finally we could see The Colosseum in the distance. We knew we couldn't see everything in 1 day so we chose 2 main ones....Trevi and Colosseum. The queue wasn't too long and it was worth the wait. I did not expect it to be as high... we could almost picture the animals and gladiators in the pit. We spent a while just taking it all in.

Arrived back at the ship around 5.30 absolutely exhausted, the heat is draining. A fantastic day in Rome and tomorrow we will be in Livorno. We have full days coming up from now till Southampton, we have heard of many people overdoing it and falling ill.