Thursday, October 23, 2014
Casablanca - 15th October, 2014
Malaga - 14th October,2014
We were able to see the amazing views of coastline and the town. After a short drive around the city, we left the bus at the Town Hall for time to explore. Malaga is a holiday resort on Costa del Sol. We walked a short distance to a plaza. Definitely time for a Spanish Beer and and a light lunch of Mojo Potatoes!! Part of the plaza had a Roman Ampitheatre, which dated back to approximately 3000 years AD. Malaga has lots of beautiful gardens and has horse drawn carriages making their way around the streets. People busking in the plaza makes it a very relaxing
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
At Sea 13th October 2014
We decided that as it was a day at sea, we would have breakfast delivered to our cabin. We spent mist of the day relaxing and trying not to get lost on the ship !! Weather has been great and sailing iwas smooth. Tonight was the Captains Welcome cocktail party followed by an introduction of officers and a show in the theatre. After a lovely dinner and a few relaxing drinks we headed off to bed - it's amazing how tiring relaxing can be !!!
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Genoa - MSC Cruise - 12th October, 2014
After a tiring day yesterday, we had a very relaxed morning and a late check out from our B & B. Feeling very excited we had short taxi ride to Genoa Port, expecting to wait for an hour until we could check in. To our surprise, check in had been bought forward, and after the checking procedure and of course security,mew boarded MSC Poesia. - wow !!!
Saturday, October 11, 2014
Genoa 11th October"2014
After a little sleep in, we caught the No 35 to bus Genoa Principle, with the intention of going up the funiicolare to see the overall view of Genoa !!! And short cab ride later only to find it was closed due to the floods. Back on the bus to the Historic Centre, where we saw part of the original wall of the city and the fortified gateway. We even found Elvis !!! We walked down the backstreets & lane ways , and bumped into some people we had met on the train yesterday. The church Mary the Virgin, has some oroginal paintings by Reuben. We sat for a while admiring the church and then realised that the priest was walking around with his keys, waiting for us to leave!!! All the churches and most of the specialty shops close between 12 noon and 3pm.
Genoa 10th October, 2014
and there were sirens almost continuously.
Thinking the worst was over, we ordered a taxi about 1 1/4 hrs before our train - it didn't arrive !! By this time we knew we had missed our booked train to Cinque Terre, but decided to buy another ticket and go anyway.
We caught the train to Monterossa , which is about 2hr trip. Thankfully, the rain had stopped, although it was still overcast. We had a lovely lunch overlooking the beach (the sand is nothing like what we have in Australia), wandered around and then decided to catch the train to the next town, Vernazza, which is a fishing cove, now overrun by tourists. We were about to head to Riomaggiore, one of the others towns, when we were advised that the trains were running at least 45 mins late, so decided to head back to Monterossa for a few drinks,(by this time the sun had come out) before our train back to Genoa.
We had booked 1st class tickets for our return to Genoa, and about 4 stations from Genoa Principe, our train was stopped, as it was too heavy to go over the flood damaged tracks Genoa Brignole, so we were transferred to a local train. We were able to see some of the damage - it was just devastating.
As it was about 7.30 we bought Pizza & wine on our way from the bus stop to our B & B, where we met a very nice man, who gave us lots of information on what we should to tomorrow.
Thursday, October 9, 2014
Venice to Genoa 9th October 2014
We changed trains in Milan and reached Genoa about 1.45pm, to an overcast and rainy day.
Tomorrow we are doing a day trip to the Cinque Terre, which is about 1 1/2 hrs from Genoa, so hopefully the weather will have improved.
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
Venice 8th October,2014
Next stop was Piazza San Marco, to see the Basilica Di San Marco. As we arrived at the piazza, we could see that it was starting to flood, which is nothing unusual. Tourists lined the raised walkways to gain access to the Basicila. It is very different to any we have seen. From here we took the lift to the top of the Campanile Di San Marco, which is a bell tower that has
John was keen to find a music museum that we stumbled across on our last trip, but we couldn't remember its name, so unfortunately after wandering around unsuccessfully, we returned to our hotel before heading out for a little shopping, some last photos of the back streets in night time Venice, and dinner.
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
Venice 5-6 October,2014
We had breakfast overlooking the Grand Canal this morning, which was lovely, and as we were leaving the hotel for a days sightseeing, were offered a complimentary Water Taxi ride to Murano, to one of the Glass blowing demonstrations and as we were intending to go there, we accepted.
After watching the demonstration, we then made our way to Burano, which is known for its traditional lace making. We watched a demonstration on how the lace is made by hand, and learned that it can take 3 women 5 days minimum to make a 6 inch doily. We enjoyed lunch chatting to some American tourists, and then set off to find the leaning Bell Tower. Whilst taking some photos, we met some people from Springwood, near where we used to live. Burano is a very colourful and relaxed place and we spent most of the afternoon wandering around the streets before heading back to the Vaporetto for the 40 min ferry ride back to Venice Island.
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