Home with Ryanair

We had a city tour to help pass the time before our 5pm flight back to Birmingham with Ryanair and a Club Taxi home. Photo opp from Montruic followed by a slog around the gothic quarter with a funny guide Auriol and his assistant Mark, then crawled through the busy airport. Flight was on schedule but the taxi was a bit late and we arrived home at 8pm. Chippy was asleep.

Sea day to Barcelona

Just a sea day to finish our cruise. Cloudy all morning, went to wine tasting after a healthy breakfast in Eden cafe. Rosemary had Thai style fish and chips and I had a shrimp stir fry in Raw on 5 the Sushi restaurant. Sun came out later, bit of sun bathing and packing. Selfie on the magic carpet.

We sailed through a very active thunder storm just before midnight.

Corsica

Woke up to a beautiful view of the harbour at Ajaccio on the west coast of Corsica.

After breakfast we browsed around the craft market on the quay and then walked into the old town past the house where Napoleon Bonaparte was born (now a museum). I had a quick paddle on the town beach, lit a candle or two in the cathedral and we found a nice French bistro (no, not Pierre). The lunchtime platter of chacuttery and French cheeses with a glass of white wine provided a welcome relief from the hot sun. Back on board we chilled out on the resort deck with a cocktail until departure at 6pm. It's smart chic dress code tonite and lobster is on the menu.

Birthday in Rome

We are in Rome today and doing our own thing via a combination of Celebrity rail transfer and hop-on hop-off bus arranged with Viator. We arrived at San Pietro station at 10:00 and followed our guide around St Peters Square to avoid the large crowds attending the outdoor Wednesday mass. Nice cheap coffee and croissant in side street cafe before catching the HoHo opposite Castel Angela. We spent an hour on the bus before hop off at the Coloseum, then walked by Circus Maximus (no Chariots today) to hop on bus and return to start. Walked back over the river Tiber  taking photos, chatting to bride on photoshoot and making our way to Les Ettoiles terrace restaurant near St Peters. We celebrated my birthday with champagne, arrancini and prawns while taking in the spectacular panarama. We wandered back via St Peters square, the masses were now queuing to get into the basilica and museum, to rejoin our guide at the station. Managed to take a few distant photos of the basilica and a selfie on the square. We had a special dinner in the Roof Garden Grill back on the Edge and I finished the day at the Abba sing along in The Club.

La Spezia and Cinque Terre

We crawled into the commercial port at La Spezia at about 6:00am and awoke to see rows of containers instead of pretty villages. We get off quite early today and may take the train to the Cinque Terre villages although we have been before in the van.

We shared a taxi to the station and caught the train for 15min journey to Venazza with thousands of others, took the photos, had a nice fishy lunch and came back to the Edge at 4:40. It's been warm, not too hot for our first day ashore. We walked back from the station just stopping by the Garibaldi  monument (nothing to do with biscuits) for a Cappuccino on the way.

Portofino? Nearly.

We were anchored close to Portofino but alas the swell from the south was too strong (allegedly) to risk the tender operation. So near and yet so far again! So another sea day, but not quite as static as yesterday, as we cruised away south at 2knots towards La Spezia.

The shops and casino opened and we booked a nice lunch in La Grande Bistro with a window table to watch the Ligurian coast drift by very slowly.

The big musical show was a bit underwhelming, dinner in Normandie again with interesting  French Canadians on next table.  Prawns, marmite, duck. Duke Ellington tribute band  in cocktail lounge.

Cannes

We are at anchor off Cannes and waiting for a tender to take us ashore. We had buffet breakfast in Seaview and chatted with Texans who have fallen in love with UK.  It's a bit breezy so the tender queue is going down rather slowly. We left it late and had not been called to tender by 2:00pm so gave up and had a static sea day instead. We have swapped restaurants and are going to Normandie tonight. Went to Eden, an excellent 3 level retreat, for cocktails as we set sail for Portofino just before 8:00pm. A much nicer table in Normandie, the beef tenderloin en croute was excellent, the duck too much for Rosemary. It was smart chic and silent disco night.

Boarding the Edge

Breakfast in the excellent hotel buffet and packing ready to go on board the Celebrity Edge. Perhaps then  they will stop sending me reminders every 8 hours! It's a nice sunny morning and getting warm - cruising weather.

The Edge is certainly an elegant and spacious ship compared to its predecessors. We like the infinite veranda cabins, they are large with ample well designed storage and facilities. We dined in the Cypress restaurant on lamb shanks and short ribs, Greek style, after seeing the comedy show. Chatted with friendly Canadians over dinner but did not like the table we were allocated in a dark corner of the restaurant.

Sagrada Familia before the storm

A stormy afternoon was forecast so we took the Metro to see the Gaudi cathedral. First sight of it when leaving the metro is a wow moment. It is still not completed after about 50 years and has 2 huge cranes and scaffolding. It is still an amazing sight and we spent the morning walking all around outside. We had to pause at the chocolate and fudge shop because they insisted on us having lots of samples! It's very busy with tour groups and almost impossible to see inside without booking ahead or joining a very long queue. We took the compulsory selfies, had a cappuccino in a side street and rode the metro back to a tapas street restaurant by the hotel. We had just sat down when the rain started. After lunch we waited for a brief respite in the rain and made it back to our room to siesta the rest of the afternoon away. When the rain finally stopped we had another stroll and enjoyed the evening prawns and bravad snack deal in the hotel bar. We are ready to board Celebrity tomorrow.

Barcelona and the Mediteranean

We flew Jet2.com to Barcelona from Birmingham for 2 days in the Innside Apolo hotel before starting a cruise. Smooth taxi  transfer to a lovely Melia group hotel on the  busy Parallel Ave.  We have a studio room on the top floor with balcony looking out over the city. Its nice and quiet with the double balcony doors closed. Coffee machine, music tower, Yoda dressing gowns and yoga mat, just a few of the facilities. After settling-inn we took a walk to the end of La Rambla where the landmark Columbus column is located by the harbour. (America's cup is here in 2024) We had a nice quiet dinner in the Terrace restaurant and an early night after a busy day.

Home again

Its all over in next to no time. We had a knock on our door from  Mark at 6:30 to go for breakfast. It should have been 7:30 but Marks phone was stuck on European time.

We went down for a proper sit down breakfast in the restaurant which helps to kill a little time, as we have to vacate the room by 8:00am. We were given different disembarcation times and in the confusion Christina left the ship before us. But it all worked out in the end and we were whisked back to the park and cruise in the mini coach, to drive home. After a short coffee stop on the M40 we were back in Croft by about 1:00pm. Katie took the train and was first home closely followed by Mark and Christina.

We all had a great cruise and enjoyed some warm and sunny weather. It was a good introduction to cruisng for Gill on here first cruise.

Bruges and Chocolates

We sailed back up the Amsterdam canal during dinner, passing a party Pirate boat on the way. We arrived in the port of Zeebrugge on a warm sunny Sunday morning. I had booked a shuttle to Bruges with Viator to take us all on the 30min coach journey to the World heritage site of cobbled streets and canals that is Bruges. 

Our visit started with a walk from the bus parking area at Bargeplein through the attractive park with its lake and picturesque bridges, via the chocolate shop lined streets to the central square. As it was a Whit Sunday the town was busier than usual with a lot of locals enjoying a day out.

Everyone found some chocolates to buy and we also stopped for compulsory Belgian waffles and Fries with ketchup and mayo, before taking the shuttle back in time for an afternoon cocktail. 

We went to see the lively Celebrity Life show, with their singers and acrobats, before our final dinner in The Grand Cuvee restaurant and thrn packing. 

Amsterdam flower market

We had breakfast in the Seaview buffet restaurant as usual then we split into 3 groups to do Amsterdam. I stayed on board to rest my knee, the others spent a few hours in the city, while I am doing this blog.

It was very quiet on board and there was plenty of room in the pool and jakuzzis while most of the cruisers were off in Amsterdam. 

The rest of our party took the no 26 tram to the flower market which is set up along the canal to do a bit of shopping. Rosemary bought an Amarylis bulb and a white Agapanthus amongst other things. Gill and Katie bought some Holland memorabilia and after a coffee stop in a sunny side street, then two tram rides, were back on board in plenty of time for the 6:00pm departure. 

We were all  reunited in Cafe Bacio then had enough time to enjoy a bit more relaxing sun and yet another cocktail in the sunset bar before getting changed into our the smart chic evening attire for dinner.

Amsterdam 'river' cruise

After a lazy start it wasn't long before we were approaching the port of Amsterdam which is entered via a sea lock that looks far too narrow for our ship. 

It just fits with 120cm each side and then we enjoyed a scenic 3 hour canal cruise, past the industial area right into the heart of Amsterdam. The ship moored just past the central railway station and beside the Movenpick hotel which was dwarfed by our cruise liner.

We disembarked at about 6:30, walked through the station precinct and took a tram from outside the station, to somewhere in the city, to a bar for some local Amsterdam beer tasting with chips and mayo. 

Then two trams back to the cruise terminal as the sun was setting at 9:45. We missed our dinner in The Grand Cuvee but just made it back in time to grab some more food, including lettuce, then rounded off the day with a liquor coffee in Cafe Bacio.

Southampton mini cruise

Today we are off on a 4 night mini cruise to Amsterdam and Bruges. I drove down to the port with Gill and Rosemary and we met Mark, Christina and Katie at the park and cruise to board the Celebrity Silhouette for 4:00 pm departure.

We are all on board and Rosemary is taking Gill on a ships tour before we start eating! We are on a late dinner so we went to Celebrity Showtime in the theatre, which was Leanne Mitchell a 2003 winner of the Voice TV show.