Dover is referred to as the ‘Lock & Key’ of England. The town is the gateway to the Continent and is strategically located to guard the English Channel from invasion efforts by others. Historically, the French and Spanish. It was also the place from which the English Kings launched their numerous forays on the Continent. Dover Castle was built here by Henry II in the 1180s.

After coming around Lands End we had made our way up the English coast and came into Dover Port with the sun at our backs gleaming on the White Cliffs. Some small sailing vessels were out early in the Channel. Ferries were making their way in and out of the port.

Many of our fellow travellers were making the trip to London for the day. We had decided to stay in Dover and tackle the White Cliffs walk out to the South Foreland Lighthouse. This disused 19th century icon sits gazing out across the Channel, popular spot with picnic tables, cafe in the lighthouse and National Trust outlet. There is a good view of the lighthouse coming into port.

After getting off the ship we made our way into town by the shuttle bus service and then by taxi up the hill to the start of the walk. It is about a 10 km return walk to the lighthouse, the guide sheet says 50 minutes there and back.

The track is moderately flat in some places but does cross undulating country with a couple of stepped steepish sections. There is an old track much closer to the cliff line which we first started on, Homealone found this a bit uncomfortable so we reverted to the main pathway.

The track passes over former pasture areas which have been rehabilitated by the National Trust. The grassland now supports a great display of wildflowers, some weeds no doubt in the mix as well.

We also get great views of the cliff line. The French and Belgium coastlines are though a smudge on the horizon.

We had some sandwiches for lunch at the lighthouse cafe and put our feet up at a picnic table before starting back. The 50 minute walk took us a bit over 3 hours, counting the lunch stop of course!

We headed back down to the town via the Dame Vera Lynn pathway, glad we didn’t walk up it! Many readers will have heard of her WWII patriotic song, The White Cliffs of Dover. It’s about Blue Birds returning to and flying over the White Cliffs, symbolising the return of peace after the end of the war.

Allthego finds it a pleasant tune, but didn’t know it was written by two Americans who had never been to Dover! The writers also blundered by using Blue Birds which don’t inhabit England. Barn Swallows do and they have some blue on their wings. But Barn Swallows just doesn’t have the same ring to it! The National Trust also make a bit from it with their Blue Bird coffee mugs and tote bags, we couldn’t find any CDs of the good Dame’s rendition. Just have to get it on Utube.

Finally made it back to town after a stroll along the waterfront. Had some fish n chips for an early tea at the Elephant & Hind, overlooking Market Square, before taxing back to the ship.

Dover is the end of the second leg of the cruise and we know head north up the Channel.

But it hasn’t always been that way here in Cobh, the port for Cork. We have come to the end of our jig around the Irish Sea at Cobh in Ireland.

For much of the nineteenth century the Irish were under oppressive colonial rule by the English. Forty thousand Irish convicts left Ireland through the port here at Cobh bound for the penal colonies in Australia. During the potato famine and its long aftermath several million Irish left for the US and Australia as free but very impoverished migrants.

Today things seem much happier in Cobh, although our guide on our side trip into the west Cork countryside is pretty intense about the English!

The side trip took us down the green coastal countryside to Bantry Bay and then in a loop back to Cobh.

We passed through a number of picture perfect villages with names that sort of roll around in your mouth and refuse to come out.

It is not all beer and skittles though in these parts. The guide’s story telling reveals that these parts are suffering issues in common with other parts of the world: Rural depopulation, inflation, interest rate rises, lack of workers in hospitality, housing prices and so on. Sounded like the Courier Mail!

Of the several spots we stopped at along the way the highlight was the last, I suppose that is why it was last! Gougane Barra was an absolutely beautiful locale.

Here below the Shehy Mountains is the source of the River Lee that later flows through central Cork and then into the harbour at Cobh.

One can see why St Finn Barre chose this as the spot for a monastery in the seventh century. The group had a late lunch in the Gougane Barra hotel. A sixth generation establishment, would be great spot to stay a few days. Lunch was all cooked up using local or nearby sourced produce, including the Stag stout! Simply great and we had to get their little cook book, ‘Cooking with Katy’ for future reference.

Back in Cobh the town was celebrating Australia Day, apparently an annual event. But Allthego was a bit suspicious that it may be a marketing ploy and ‘Australia ‘ Day happens whenever a ship is in with a lot of Aussies! Anyway flags were out and a band was playing Waltzing Matilda, though we didn’t hear Bound for Botany Bay!

We now leave these parts and have a sea day ahead as Lands End is passed and the White Cliffs of Dover beckon. Got to get out the Dame Vera Lynn song book!

Greenoch, the port for Glasgow, is near the mouth of the River Clyde estuary. Greenoch is an old port town and during the 1800/1900s was a hive of shipping activity acting as the import/export hub for the industrial city of Glasgow. Today it is a lot quieter.

We have been to Glasgow city in the past and so have decided to head out into the nearby coastal Highlands and the sea lochs that are scattered along the coast.

The first stop was at Loch Lomond, in the small village of Luss. It was early, just before 9am and none of the handful of shops were open. The Loch is Scotland’s largest fresh water loch by surface area. The overcast sky made for a sombre atmosphere as we raised the Scottish flag at the water’s edge.

Our enthusiastic kilt wearing guide is a German chap, an honorary Scotsman having migrated to the UK thirty years ago. He leads us on a short walk around the village and waterside trails.

Luss would make a good base for a few days to explore this part of the Highlands!

We then headed off into the Highlands on the way to Inveraray, situated on a sea loch down the other side. We stopped along the way for a view down the glen we had travelled up and the tarn that was nestled beneath a mountain on the way towards Inveraray.

We stopped in Inveraray for a look around the town and to have lunch together in a small restaurant up a lane way.

The town was quite compact and clearly geared to the tourist. A big old hotel looks out over the loch, nice spot to stay for a couple of days!

It was then on for a tour of Inveraray Castle, the local digs of the 13th Duke of Argyle. He is also the top dog of Clan Campbell and is the keeper of the clan quaich. Together with his wife and three kids they live from time to time in a private section of the castle.

The public rooms are all decked out with period furniture and numerous paintings of the line of dukes and others. The armoury room quite impressive with its display of weapons. The Campbells were a very politically important clan in Scotland. They were careful to be on the right side of any conflicts and were handsomely rewarded with land and titles by kings for their input!

There was time to wander around the Castle’s gardens before heading back to Greenoch. We returned a different way along the coast and around a series of headlands and sea lochs, great views. Caught a ferry across the Clyde to reach the ship at the dock.

There is now a day at sea ahead of us as we work our way back down the Irish Sea to Cork in Ireland.

Overnight we have moved up to Belfast. The day is little dreary, a bit of light drizzle. As the day moved on it cleared a little for the sun to come through at times. As down in Holyhead it is much cooler up here in Belfast 13 C, and almost winter like. A cool breeze too, how different to back in the Mediterranean!

We have a short tour planned for today that visits the Game of Thrones studio housed in former linen mills at Banbridge. Many of the outdoor scenes in the TV series were shot around Belfast and the surrounding countryside.

But first we have a spin around the city taking in some of the main sights. We had been to Belfast back in 2007, quite a few changes in the intervening years. Including a big new Titanic Centre and the old hotel we stayed in back then has changed its name from Days Inn to Holiday Inn. Still looked the same!

Allthego is a bit of a Game of Thrones tragic, one has to look through some of the more violent and unsavoury scenes. The studios were an eye opener to modern TV production.

The tour takes you through major scenes and themes of the TV series, interspersed with costumes and props. One of these themes is ‘Winter is Coming’.

The Night King who is Master of the Living Dead has a mission to bring ‘winter’ from the deep cold north to the south. The south spend most of the series fighting themselves and only at the end seek some sort of common unity to defeat the Living Dead, the White Walkers. Enough of GOT!

We returned the ship and then returned to the city centre for a late lunch and wander. Found the old pub The Crown, but it was packed so headed next door to Robinsons another old establishment that had been recommended for a feed. Weren’t disappointed with the Fish n Chips and Irish stew.

The weather closed in again and we had some light rain on the way back to the ship.

Next stop is at Greenock, mouth of the River Clyde, Glasgow’s port.

Having left Lisbon we made good pace up the Portuguese and Spanish coasts on two sea days before making landfall at Holyhead on the Welsh coast. The Bay of Biscay was a mill pond, belying it’s reputation for a stormy crossing.

Holyhead is a true old port town, being the ferry transport hub to Ireland. Looks a bit drab. Dublin lies almost directly opposite across the sea.

It is here we start the jig around the Irish Sea. Over the next seven days we are dropping into Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Ireland and then back around Lands End to Dover in England.

But first it is Wales. We have been around this part of the UK before exploring the Welsh coast and the Snowdonia Mountains. However, back then we avoided seeing any of Edward 1 string of castles he had built following his conquest of Wales in the 13th century. We had already had our fill of castles elsewhere!

Conwy (‘Conway’) Castle was the tour choice. Holyhead is on the large island of Anglesey, separated from the Welsh mainland by the Menai Straits. Anglesey is mostly an agricultural area, sheep, cattle and grains.

We stopped for an early lunch on the island at Beaumaris and to also see Edward 1 incomplete, but well preserved moated castle beside the Menai Strait. Had some local pies here, as always rather good with a nice crunchy pastry.

The Menai Strait is a challenging crossing by water due to different tide times at either end creating strong eddies and whirlpools. Our bus crosses over it on a suspension bridge built in 1826 by Thomas Telford, the famous inventive engineer of the times.

It was then onto Conwy for the tour through the castle that is perched on a ridge line right beside the Conwy River. Great spot for a defensive position. We were late getting there because of a big traffic snarl on the motorway. Sheep were loose on the roadway and some had got into a tunnel causing the problem.

The Conwy Castle is also linked to the walls that encircle the town. Edward as part of the Welsh colonisation planted an English settlement beside the castle. They needed the wall to keep the Welsh out, who weren’t impressed by the invasion.

Allthego climbed up the stairs to the top of the Castle walls, great views of the castle construction and the town. Homealone stayed below to look after Slobro who didn’t like the look of the steps up.

We were then back on the bus for the return to ship, the sheep had been cleared from the road and tunnel, and to move on overnight to Belfast.

Sailing out into the Atlantic we are now on the way up the Spanish and Portuguese coasts. The sea is making a moderate swell of about two metres and there is a strong wind. It is significantly cooler than it was back in the Mediterranean, about 18 C, little humidity. The arrival time in Lisbon is later than normal and we start making our way up the Tagus River around 10am.

It is a great sail up the river, narrowing as we move further up stream and pass under the ‘25th April’ bridge. It is so named because it was on that day in 1974 that there was a ‘peaceful’ revolution against the long time dictator, Salazar, and the establishment of the current democratic parliamentary system.

After going through the docking process we were able to get ashore for a couple of hours and have a look around what is known as the Commercial Square, with the old Palace and Arch dominating the view. Plenty of tourist activity here, restaurants etc. The Pope is due in town in about three weeks and there is a lot of cleaning up and barricades being erected. There will be a big crowd here in the Square.

We returned to the ship for lunch before our tour in the afternoon to see some of the major sights.
The tour took us to the other side of the Tagus River across the 25th April bridge. It is built in the style of San Francisco’s Golden Gate bridge but has two decks, one for the railway and the other road traffic.

Looking down on the city from the other side is the Christ statue, a big but I think smaller version of the one in Rio. Still impressive. Great view from here of the city and the 25th April bridge.

Back on the other side we headed for the Maritime Museum housed in the Jerónimos Monastery. The guide goes through this fairly quickly, but it is a great overview of the contents documenting Portugal’s maritime history of the 15th to 17th centuries.

Our guide was a fairly enthusiastic promoter of Portugal’s leading place, ahead of the Spanish and Dutch, as the earliest European navigators, map makers etc. He sited some recent studies suggesting they made it to Australia ahead of the Dutch.

We had a light snack in the Museum cafe, a genuine Portuguese Tart. This is their answer to the vanilla slice! The tart had a crispy pastry shell and commendable contents. A worthy challenger!

Across the road on the banks of the Tagus is the impressive Monument to the Discoveries and plaza map.

Further down the river is the last remaining 16th century fort, the Belém tower. This area was the starting point for many of the exploration voyages.

Back on board the ship the sail away at around 10 pm under the 25th April bridge in the twilight was memorable. Great views of the buildings and lights coming on as we headed off north into the Atlantic.

Tangier is situated on the north west tip of Africa, in Morocco just across the Strait of Gibraltar from Spain but poking out into the Atlantic. Sailing out later in the day we could see the Rock of Gibraltar back down the Strait. Unfortunately, it was a bit hazy and murky and not a clear view of the coast.

Our tour here took us first to the top of hills surrounding the port, this is the ‘modern’ Tangier and reflects the great interest Europe and the US had in the city. Positioned where it is makes it a strategic point for entry into the Mediterranean Sea. The Romans were also here long before recognising the same advantage. The area on top of the hills is sort of segmented into various quarters; the English, the Dutch, the French, the American etc. Quite a few, each trying to exercise influence over the locals.

There is an English Anglican Church, in a garden setting that was constructed with ‘help’ from Queen Victoria. It is built a bit like a mosque. Numerous graves of English residents amongst the garden. One is of a chap who was a great friend of the locals, but is now thought to have been a British spy (according to the guide). A bit James Bondish.

Tangier was also a playground for the European and American elites in the last half of the 1800s and into the 1900s. Winston Churchill frequented Tangier as well as Marrakesh. Our guide said Churchill was so frequent here, as well as in most other parts of the world, that he left his initials behind ‘WC’. Well.

Our tour took us down through a gate in the walls into the Kasbah. The guide was full of interesting tit bits. The Kasbah was not the ‘market’ type place depicted in movies but the residential and administrative area for the local elites, the rif raf was kept out. They resided in the old town, or Medina, where the markets were located.

So, we strolled down through the maze of narrow alleys. Many white washed walls, colour blue dominates, and flower boxes, a mosque here and there.

Leaving the Kasbah and entering the Medina was where the fun and games started. Retail harassment on a grand scale. Hard to escape, but Allthego and Homealone were stoic. No pieces were acquired to adorn mantelpieces or walls!

At the end we were relieved to pause in the Hotel Continental overlooking the port, taking in the views and the amazing mosaics in the hotel’s side rooms and hall ways. Quite amazing work.

Back to the ship for a well earned period of recuperation, there was no urge to return ashore. Great experience in this port.
The Blog continues to be in Blog time we are now about a week behind what is real time, cruising down the Irish Sea having been in the Scottish highlands out of Glasgow a day ago.

We have had a welcome day at sea after a busy period of being in six ports. Time to reset and prepare for another three ports in the coming days. Leaving Barcelona the ship kept fairly close to the Spanish coast and we had some far views of coastal mountain ranges shrouded in haze from our cabin. The sea remains quite calm, although the wind is getting up and it continues to be quite warm out on the deck. We have some time to catch up on trivia and craft activities.

Malaga is a town with a long and varied history. It was founded by the Phoenicians in 770 BC, the Romans arrived 500 years later followed by a Moorish invasion in the 700s. The Spanish states ultimately united and kicked the Moors out around 1500. All this activity resulted in a great diversity of architecture and cultural life.
Today, Malaga is part of the Spanish Sunshine Coast or the Costa del Sol. Many of the shore tours take people away from the town into the countryside to Granada and down the coastline. We have decided to do our own thing and use the Big Red Bus as a means of getting around the sights.

Our first stop was at the 14th century Moorish fortress, Castillo de Gibralfaro. The fortress sits high on a hill overlooking the town, great views from its ramparts in all directions. Further down the hill the bus stopped near Alcazaba a moorish fort and palace built in the 8th century.

This place also has great views and sits above a much earlier Roman theatre that has been excavated from under hundreds of years of dirt and rubble.

Close by is the 16th century Cathedral of Malaga. The cathedral was designed with two towers, the second though has never been completed due to a lack of funds. It looks a little odd standing over a square now filled with open air restaurants and bars.

We had been tipped off about a good tapas bar for lunch, but not its exact location. So we wandered around a bit trying to locate it. Giving up we settled for a nice looking place called ‘illari’ where we tried a selection of tapas pieces.

Our first genuine Spanish tapas experience! Quite good. As we left we looked up and a few yards down the street was the place that had been recommended, a bit bigger and noisier. Maybe it was lucky we missed it!

We then set off to find the local market. There was a bit of back and forth in this also. Found it eventually, it was late in the afternoon and some of the stalls were closing down. As usual for these Mediterranean markets there were great displays of fruit snd vegetables. Also spices, olives, pasta and nuts.

It was time now to rejoin the bus and complete the circuit before returning to the ship for dinner. During the night we would sail to Tangier in Morocco, passing through the Strait of Gibraltar.

Barcelona is our sixth port stop in six days and there seems to be a general questioning among the older set aboard as to why are we doing this so fast? Need to catch our breath. It has been quite hot and humid but not the ‘crisis’ portrayed in the media. Then, again we are by the water which cools things down a bit. It could be a different story inland and in the north. Speaking of the ‘older set’, many are still getting out and about in the sunshine, others though are happy to remain on board. The average age onboard has it seems dropped to just below 70! Some younger people appear to have got onboard in Dubai, and there are the four who have sadly dropped off the perch, perhaps affecting the averaging. Feeling a little older.

Barcelona is too big to do everything in one day. So it is off to see a couple of the main sites and viewing points. Our guide takes us through into the Old City’s Gothic quarter and a viewing of the Cathedral of Barcelona. The Cathedral is in the Gothic style and is quite dark inside, some 600 years old.

We have a walk up and down some of the old narrow streets dating back to medieval and Roman times.

Back on the bus for the drive to La Sagrada Familia. This is something of a spectacle designed by Spain’s famous architect Antoni Gaudi. It has been under construction since 1882 or thereabouts. Gaudi died in 1926 and others have been faithfully forging ahead since then.

Pre COVID the objective was to have it completed by 2026 for the centenary of his death. But, like many other things COVID has been the gremlin in the time line and it seems that it will not be completed till 2032, 150 years after it was started. Meanwhile cranes and scaffolding abound.

Rejoining the bus we continue on a scenic drive around town on the way to Montjuic Mt for a look over the city from on high. We pass by the city’s bull ring, the ornate Plaza de Toros Monumental de Barcelona. Bull fighting was banned in the Catalan region of Spain in 2011, although overturned a few years later there hasn’t been a bull fight here since. The building now serves as an entertainment stadium.

The view from the top of Montjuic is panoramic, capturing the entire city. Quite a special outlook.

Although we are in port here till quite late at night it is back to the ship for a late lunch snack and then put the feet up for a bit of R & R.

All this activity has caused the Blog to slip behind our actual schedule by a few days. In Blog time we now have a day at sea before arriving at Malaga further down the coast towards Gibraltar. In actual time we are out in the Atlantic about to head, later this evening, across the Bay of Biscay. So, Allthego has a bit of work to get up to date.

We have now made our way out of Italian waters to Marseille, the second largest city in France and can be thought of as a gateway to the Provence region of Mediterranean France. Provence is one of the foodbowls of France and also one of the poorer regions economically. But it is a picture perfect region of rolling hills, fields and small towns. Great ‘peasant’ food and hospitality. Allthego and Homealone have spent time in this part of France before, including having had a great trip along the Canal du Midi, generally to the north of Marseille, with our friends the Watts back in 2017.

Most of the excursions off the ship took people out of Marseille to the countryside and Avignon. So we decided to do the city. It was a pretty busy place, 10,000 extra people being dropped into the touristy areas due to three cruise ships arriving. Us with 1800 aboard and two others of 4000 each.

Our tour took us to some of the city’s highlights. The most prominent was the Notre-Dame de la Garde church perched on a high hill overlooking the town. Dedicated to the Virgin Mary, a chapel was built on the hill, called La Garde (the guard) in the early 1200s. Hence the name ‘Our Lady of the Guard’. It has a nautical theme as well.

The hill was also a prominent defensive position against the Germans in WW11. Getting to the top was a bit of drama with all the traffic in the narrow streets.

The southern waterfront area was very photogenic. Great big old houses fronting the Mediterranean and the offshore islands.

Off the coast is a group of small islands. One hosting the Chateau D’If. It was here that Louis XIV imprisoned his twin brother Phillippe, ‘The Man in the Iron Mask’.

We had some free time around the old port area, including lunch. There were numerous options to choose from. The city is a cultural melting pot, a heavy North African influence pervades. We settle for lunch in a food hall, turned out to be Italian choices!

Marseille has been the fifth port in this section of travel. Nine ports in ten days, so we are half way through and it has been a bit hectic. It has also been quite hot and humid. A few of our fellow passengers are a bit worse for wear, there have been some falls which dampens the experience for those affected.

We are in Marseille on Wednesday 12 July. Our guide mentioned that there was to be a general strike the next day (Thursday), protesting about the increase in the pension age from 62 to 64, in Australia it has just gone to 67! Just happens that Friday 14 is Bastille Day, so a 4 day break. Very French timing!

Our next stop is Barcelona.

Elba Island lies off the Tuscan coast of Italy and is regarded as part of Tuscany. We arrived into the port town of Portoferraio at around 7 am. Impressive lighthouse on the hill coming into the bay, where we anchored.

Apart from Komodo Island this is the first port we have had requiring water shuttles to get to the pier. The sea was quite calm and there were no dramas, just stepping from the ship across into the tender shuttle. Plenty of helpers getting in the way for us mobile individuals! Slobro had to time his step carefully.

We were doing time ashore from about 10.30 am (we let the rush get away before us) by ourselves with a wander around the town and lunch. Had to be back to the ship on the last tender at 4pm.

The little train was parked right where we came ashore, so we got on board this and headed off on a 20 minute panoramic trip around the town.

This was along the water front, checking out the old fort and then up and down some back streets. Interesting. It did give us the lie of the land and pointers as to where we would go for lunch. Some most impressive sail and motor boats in the crowded Marina.

Slobro was keen for a pizza. So we walked up and down the waterfront before settling on ‘Il Garibaldino dal 1895’. Now, Garibaldi was an Italian revolutionary leader who was instrumental in the mid 1800s in unifying the Italian states. A ‘Garibaldino’ was one of his followers or soldiers.

So this little restaurant is suggesting in its name that it is a revolutionary sort of spot and it’s been open since 1895! Believable. The pizza was salami and fungi. Very good.

After lunch we had some more time along the waterfront checking out the sail and motor boats in the crowded marina. A lot of money floating around!

Headed back to the ship on one of the last shuttles for the sail away from Italian waters. Headed for Marseille.

We made it overnight to Civitavecchia, the port of Rome, from Salerno.

Rome is about an hour and half’s bus drive down the freeway from the port. So it is a big chunk of the day taken up in travel, cuts in to sight seeing time. Allthego and Homealone have been to Rome before for short stays but have never made it to the Vatican to have at look at St Peters Basilica or the other sights.

So we decided to face the drive and see what we could see. These building are just so unique and irreplaceable, they need to be seen if one is able. The drive in went fairly well but we encountered some traffic snarls along the way, not unexpected.

The excursion was divided into four parts. The first was through the Vatican Gardens, then into the Museum Galleries, followed by the Sistine Chapel and then St Peters Basilica.

The guide managed to get through this in about four hours. Photos could be taken everywhere without flash, except in the Sistine Chapel. Silence was expected in the Chapel, but there was constant hum requiring periodic PA announcements to keep quiet! Quite remarkable experience.

After this we had some free time looking around St Peter’s Square trying to avoid the souvenir shops and street hawkers that abound. After a nice lunch in a side street we headed back to the bus for the trip back to the port. Managed to get two postcards in the mail!

Back on the ship we had a light dinner and then enjoyed the sounds of ‘John & Paul’, a rather good Beatles tribute group from Liverpool.

Our next stop around the northern Mediterranean coast was Salerno. This is a gateway port for us to make a trip north to Sorrento and Pompei. Sorrento sits on cliffs overlooking the Bay of Naples, away in the distance Mt Vesuvius lurks on the horizon. Some great views of the coastline from the bus.

We have a couple of hours looking around a small touristy area of central Sorrento. Very busy being well into the summer season.

After trawling through a narrow street packed with everything a tourist would want, including postcards, we retired to a cafe for a Margarita pizza and a glass of rose.

Naples and the surrounding towns are famous for their Margarita pizzas. We were not disappointed. Slobro was very keen to put his feet up and enjoy people watching in the piazza.

It was soon time to move on to Pompei. Part of the deal it seems on these excursions is the need to drop into some ‘factories’ to check out local time honoured customs and production techniques. So we spent some time in shop that was full of wooden pieces, small tables, platters, music boxes, jewel cases and chess sets. These were made with ‘inlaid’ pieces of wood, quite intricate designs. Allthego was tempted by a very nice chess board. Thought twice about it and realised that at 400 Euros he would need to play an awful lot of chess to amortise the outlay! It would also probably end up in a garage sale down the track so it was passed up.

Slobro said that all the blog readers would know about Pompei and there was no need to go on and on about it in any detail. So my only observation is that Mt Vesuvius would have towered over old Pompei and the surrounding countryside.

Today the mountain has two peaks, but it is thought that when it exploded in 79AD it was one much higher conical type peak. The top was just blown off leaving it as it is today. The people must have got one hell of a fright before they suffocated and were swamped by the mud flows, ash and other debris . It last erupted in 1944. Today, the mountain is considered active and pressure is apparently very slowly building up. Maybe it will blow off again sometime in the near future. I wouldn’t want to be one of the 700,000 people who today live around it’s base!

We had an hour and a half with our guide looking at the excavations, quite amazing what has been uncovered here.

A bucket list experience ticked off our list! Back to the ship and the overnight sail north to Civitavecchia, Rome’s port.

We have had a short but entertaining stop in Messina, on Sicily. The Madonna is a great landmark on the way into the port, sits alongside ships of the Italian navy.

The Straits of Messina seperate the island of Sicily from mainland Italy. There is not a big gap to span and a bridge has long been planned between the island and the mainland. Plans have been drawn and abandoned over the years, the area is quite prone to seismic events which appear to have put authorities off the proposal. Recent studies also show that Sicily and Italy are actually slowly ‘drifting’ apart on seperate tectonic plates which make bridge construction problematic. So, they just have to keep using the ferries.

We had a short exploration around town, visiting the 12th century Cathedral and the more recent astronomical clock tower with all its characters doing their thing on the quarter hour. The church is quite spectacular, a great vault with all the European Catholic traditions. We were captured in the moment of a wedding in the Cathedral, the full thing, quite special experience. Homealone took a short video of the proceedings.

Messina was greatly damaged by a major earthquake in 1908 and much of the town has been rebuilt on the ruins. Statues and fountains are liberally scattered around the town.

Neptune looking out over the Straits to Italy is quite impressive. Neptune apparently ‘ripped’ Sicily away from the clutches of the heel of Italy and is quite revered.

One of our objectives here in Messina was to have a meal in local restaurant, away from those pesky tourists! Allthego had researched a place called ‘Casa & Putia’ (House & Home), a family affair.

Rather nice too, Homealone a bit disappointed with her choice but the white wine from the slopes of Mt Etna made up for it.
We were a hop step and a jump from the ship and made it back on board with 15 minutes to spare. Timing is everything! We are now on our way to Salerno.

Our transit of the Canal was set to start at 4 am, after being at anchor all night. Our convoy was assembled, 38 ships lined up waiting for the last vessel to come out of the canal from the north. It is one way and we are number three in the convoy. We have big car carrier in front and behind is huge container vessel.

Slobro was a bit sluggish getting out of bed which meant that we just missed the entrance into the Canal, despite it being 45 minutes later than planned. We saw the sun come up, over the Sinai Peninsular, as we passed the Canal sign.

It took some nine hours to travel up the Canal to Port Said at the Mediterranean Sea, averaging about 8 knots. Quite spectacular journey, much activity along the Canal particularly on the western side where significant infrastructure is underway for much of the entire length of the Canal.

A mural marks the spot where the Evergreen ship got stuck, blocking the Canal for weeks, a few years back.

Vehicle and rail tunnels have recently opened, as well as an irrigation tunnel taking water from the Nile River under the Canal to the west. A big industrial hub is being constructed on the Sinai side, supporting it is a new city under construction. Only, 220,000 units in hubs along the Canal aiming to have 340,000 in place by I think the end of 2025.

The buildings just go for kilometres along the Canal front. They seem to know how to get things done over here. Maybe, our politicians should have a study tour. Can’t see such a development on the upper reaches of the Brisbane River to address our housing issues getting the go ahead!

One could go on and on about what we saw along the Canal, Slobro said not to! Photos do a better job!

As we ventured out into the Mediterranean (above photo is looking back down the Canal) one might wonder what the builders of the Canal in the 1850/60s would think of it today. The Canal hastened the transformation of shipping from sail to steam, cutting weeks off the journey from Europe to Asia.

We are now out in the Mediterranean not far from Messina on Sicily, our next stop. Last evening we enjoyed a Neil Diamond tribute performer, some ladies got excited and stormed the mosh pit, Homealone resisted the urge. A memorable end to the Canal transit!

Slobro is eager to put up his map of the journey so far, quite proud of it he is. Such careful annotations!