Return To Sorrento, 2026

Tuesday 22 September 2026. We are at anchor off the cliffs of Sorrento. Across the Bay of Naples is the familar sight of Vesuvius. We always remember our visit in 2014 when gazing at the same view before breakfast a fellow passenger said slowly, as if it took great thought... "You know, that looks a bit like a volcano, doesn't it?" We laugh about it every time Vesuvius, Pompeii, Naples or Sorrento ever crop up in a conversation...

Anyway, Vesuvius isn't going to feature greatly in today's plans as we are looking forward to just catching a tender boat to Sorrento, having a wander along the colourful narrow streets of shops and a drink (sadly non-alcoholic). I do miss being able to sip at an Aperol aperatif in Italy. We won't be bringing a bottle of Limoncello back with us either this year!

But we do make for the little cafe named for Belgium's Mannekin Pis that we have visited several times in the past. The waitress has a rather familiar accent... she was from Leeds!

Most Italian towns have fabulous displays of pottery and Sorrento is no different. There are lots of Chinese girls wandering about in groups dressed in long flowing layered skirts and dresses.

The non-alcoholic drink of choice this holiday is a cloudy lemonade with a splash of orange syrup. Very refreshing and, let's face it, those weather-beaten features need all the refreshing they can get...

Then we carry on along the narrow street until the shopy peter out and so we turn to head back to the cliff tops above the harbour. I don't know whether people take one look and then feel sorry for me, but I always find it very easy to fall into conversation with people on holiday.

Having found a space to sit on a bench I chat with a couple from Garstang, just a few miles from our home, who are staying a short distance along the cliffs at San Agnello where we had stayed with my mother in 2005. They were replaced by an American couple from our ship.

We fell into many such conversations with our fellow cruisers from across the pond. I was careful (and so were they) to avoid any mention of Donald but from reading between the lines I don't think we met anyone in favour of him as any talk about conditions back home was about rising prices and axed services.

Once back onboard, we caught up with Tom and Maris as they performed on the Pool Deck and went in search of some lunch. As far as eating went on the ship, we used the buffet for breakfast and lunch and then every night but one went into the Main Dining Room for our evening meal and a bit of outrageous flirting with the young lady who was greeting and directing waiters to take us to our table.

We always say (well Miss Franny does and usually in a resigned tone) "Once seen, never forgotten..." and by just the second night I was greeted by name and we were placed on a table next to a window, which agreeable treatment became a nightly feature. We tried one of the speciality dining rooms one night but be patient and it will feature sooner or later...

That afternoon we made our way to Baristas coffee bar and I found a table near enough to the window that I could so this pencil sketch of the coast and Sorrento. Apparently once again this gathered an audience but as they mostly stayed behind me I was totally unaware of them until Miss Franny told me later.

This was slightly tricky as the window only gave me a narrow view and each side had to be done as the ship swung that way at anchor. I'd usually get to a tricky point and the subject would disappear behind the side of the window...

That night we were sitting in the Horizons bar, listening to Tom and Maris when an American lady came up to me and said "Oh, we have so much in common!" I must have looked a little non-plussed as her husband bent down to my ear and said, "Don't worry - she frightens me too sometimes...!" They went to sit at a table a little way away and after a while I went over and said, "I'm intruiged, what do we have in common?"

They were from Seattle and were a lovely couple who we had a little chat with every time we came across them. If you get to read this by any chance, guys, please do feel free to get in touch!

Oceania Sirena Cruise Index

The Big Wheel Cafe

In April 1983 we went out over the River Wyre to have a look for a curiosity I had wanted to find for some time.

On the Out Rawcliffe road from St Michaels was a cafe that had been once connected to a petrol station, though that had since been demolished. The cafe extension is the last surviving carriage from the Blackpool Ferris Wheel, demolished in 1928.

At the time, the carriages had been sold off to be used as summer houses and greenhouses and this one, which can still be seen by the roadside, was and is the only one left to remind us of that great Big Wheel that is such a feature of early Blackpool postcards.

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The Devizes Canal Lock Staircase

Sunday 26 May 1998. As we motored away from West Kennet Long Barrow we passed through the Wiltshire town of Devizes.

As we passed over a bridge, crossing the Kennet and Avon Canal I saw the familiar black and white beams and remembered that Devizes has a famous flight of locks.

I parked the car and we walked back over the road and onto the towpath. There are 29 locks in a little over 2 miles but here at Caen Hill the 16 locks are so close they resemble a flight of stairs.

The best place to photograph them is from the bottom of the flight of course, but I had parked at the top and time was pressing.

Besides, the Lock Cottage Tea Room is near the top and we were served scones with jam and clotted cream and took a table by the window with a view of the locks. Very pleasant! An elderly gentleman came in with his family and sat solemnly down at the next table before turning to me and then commencing to "play" the table as a piano. We shared conspiratorial grins as he confided "I like to joke!" whilst his family chided him to behave.

The Kennet and Avon Canal links the River Avon to the River Kennet by the way of 57 miles of man-made waterway that was completed in 1810. A mere 31 years later the arrival of the railway left the canal in decline and by 1952 it was largely unnavigable. Thanks to the efforts of the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust, together with British Waterways and Local Authorities, 86 derelict locks, the bed of the canal, aqueducts and pumping stations have been restored to make the canal navigable again between Reading and Bristol.

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Kalamafka

Sunday, 23 August 2009. After leaving Ierapetra we come to a small village called Kalamafka - a typical village of narrow streets and whitewashed houses with locals in traditional dress, the women in black with black shawls covering their hair.

We walked through the village as a group and I couldn't help but think the locals must groan at the noise of each coach party!

The tour guides tell you of course that the village is happy for the money that tourists bring - but only the kafenion - the cafe/bar - made anything from us.

Inside it was just like a house, with an empty interior and a tiny bar backing onto what was obviously a kitchen area. The kitchen floor was obviously a couple of feet higher than the room we were in because the woman who served us had to lean over the counter and stretch to serve us the drinks and take the money. Seating was provided outside on a terrace.

I thought I'd got a picture of one of the little old ladies, swathed in black and bent over as she carried her bundle, but (blush) I mustn't have pressed the button far enough or I deleted it by mistake! Around the back of the kafenion 200 steps led upwards to a church on top of the hill. We stayed put...

I'll bet it looked something like this though... The village was loud with the sound of cicadas. You'd think there was a whole swarm of them but just one insect produces an impressive sound which in the narrow streets echoes as though coming from many different directions. We did manage to spot one on a wall. Ok, back to the coach - time to head off back to Aghios Nikolaus.

Pearls of The Aegean Cruise Index

Krimml Falls

Our friends Chrissie and Alex visited Austria this year and made a trip to Krimml Falls. Chrissie has uploaded some of her photos to Flickr.

We were there ourselves on Friday 18 August 2000 and she was asking how far up we got. My photo here shows exactly how high we went.

It was a hard slog up some very steep pathways, that zig-zagged up the mountainside. The height at the coach park was 1100 metres above sea level. We reached 1330 metres so in the limited time that we had, we had climbed the equivalent of one and a half Blackpool Towers!

Chrissie asked if we got as far as the cafe and to prove it here we are - on our way down, I might add - having our lunch all on our own!

We'd been told not to miss having some Wiener Schnitzel. It was excellent and we both enjoyed a really great dinner.

We ordered in German and after a while a waiter came in and rattled something off that I didn't catch. Presuming it to be "Is everything ok with your meal?" I answered cheerily, "Ja, danke!" on which agreement and thanks, he opened the windows, turned the stereo down and left...

I'm afraid I haven't any larger versions of these photos. From around 1997 I started to take digital photos, using the film camera only sparingly. The early digis weren't up to large format photos so there is a bit of a gap in my collection of large photos until around 2004 when I started saving photos at 800x600 size.

Here are a couple more of Krimml though!

Mahon, Menorca

Friday 29 August and we have arrived at Mahon on the island of Menorca where the ship has sailed right up the the streets of the town.

Mum made it up the four series of steps from the quayside with a stop to catch her breath every now and then and we found ourselves in the town of Mahon.

We had a short and gentle walk around the immediate area.

Brightly coloured streamers were flying, giving the place a carnival appearance. Put these up in a resort in England and I suspect they would be faded and dirty and giving anything but the right atmosphere before too long!

We wandered the streets and shops for a while and decided we didn't want to buy any souvenirs and that Mum had bought enough new clothes to last a lifetime...

We went back down the steps and along a row of cafes on the port road, but they all seemed to have square umbrellas that made an unbroken roof and were a bit smoky underneath from cigarettes! After they were banned from enclosed premises in the UK we've got used to clean air and notice cigarette smoke more.

We got back to the cafes at the foot of the set of steps that we had walked up into the town this morning. Just up a few steps overlooking the cafe tables was a market with perhaps half a dozen stalls.

Fran and Mum went off to a market whilst I drew a quick sketch of the steep hill seen earlier and then I caught up with them back at the cafe.

Fran had a slush drink - not sure what it was but it was based on some sort of red berry and it was delicious. I got one myself and we spent a pleasant half hour just talking and watching the comings and goings taking place around us.

Mum was happy with a new top that she had bought. Fran was less than happy at the fact that she had taken her eye off Mum for just a second or two only to find she had totally vanished from this very small market. She had gone behind a stall to try on the top without telling Fran where she was going. For a while Fran was on the point of going frantic. Mum remained unconcerned... "I knew where I was..." she said.

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Corsica

Sunday 24 August 2008 was a day at sea on the Island Star. We sat sheltered under the canopy of the upper sundeck and the only incident of note was mid afternoon in the middle of the Mediterranean when there was a loud thwack! and a small bird, the size of a sparrow, but bright green in colour, fell onto the table right in front of Fran. The poor thing had flown over the ship, thought to swoop over the pool and out through the side and crashed into the window which it couldn't see.

It was stunned unsurprisingly and to give it a chance I picked it up and moved it to a quieter spot away from the sun deck, wondering whether it would recover. Around half an hour later I was just about to go to look at it again when we saw it fly off, probably a little pained and puzzled!

Monday 25 August 2008 saw us docking in Ajaccio, Corsica and we took an excursion to see the Prunelli Gorge.

Getting out of the coach we soon found that this was no mighty Cheddar Gorge, but it had some nice views none-the-less and the advantage of a little bridge that we could look over the edge and completely block to traffic...

There was a stream tumbling merrily over the rocks at the bottom, but the bottom just didn't seem all that far below us somehow!

Next we came to the Tolla reservoir. We were all getting ready for something to drink and apparently that's our next stop! So with that in mind we posed for photos at the reservoir!

I'll just put the one up here, but every possible combination had to be done...

The reservoir gets its name from the town of Tolla, which is around halfway down the reservoir. The restaurant we visited is further down almost at the end of the reservoir.

We stopped for a cafe break here, where we (a bit to my surprise) were able to get a drink including a cup of tea for Mum.

I was expecting getting drinks - it was the availability of tea that surprised me.

I went for a short walk as someone said there was a spectacular view of a dam at the end of the reservoir. This is looking back at the restaurant.

Then a fast-paced walk over rough paths high above the road.

And at the point where I was starting to wonder whether I had time to get there and back before the coach was due to leave, I find this small unguarded concrete platform right on the edge of the precipice overlooking the dam of the reservoir. Not for those who suffer from vertigo!!!

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