A series of articles charting our progress and antics on a cruise with Island Cruises with my mum along for the week.
Each article can be accessed by clicking or tapping the photographs below. A link at the end of each article will bring you back to this index page.
Monday 25 August 2008. We are in Ajaccio, Corsica and have arrived back onboard our ship, the Island Star, after a morning's excursion to the Prunelli Gorge and the Tolla reservoir.
We are in our favourite afternoon spot, ready to relax, reading, perhaps taking part in the daily quiz. This is where the little bird crashed into the window yesterday.
Mum has filled her glass too full... Oh dear... Elegance at all times...
The effort has exhausted her...
Time for a quick peek off the side of the ship. On the dockside lorries are queuing up waiting to move onto a ferry.
To one side we have the Girolata, one of the ferries of the La Méridionale fleet. Launched in 2002 she takes 650 passengers and 160 cars and carries 45 crew.
Thomson Destiny is moored next to us on our port side. Built in Helsinki for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, she launched in 1981 and went into service as Song of America. She transferred to Sun Cruises as Sunbird in 1999 and after Sun Cruises ceased trading she was chartered to Thomson in 2005 who called her Thomson Destiny.
Mum meanwhile has woken up and decided she wants a smoothie. Julius the waiter grabs her hand and leads her off to get one... I'm not really sure what she was enjoying the most, the hand holding or the smoothie, but anyway it put a smile on her face for the afternoon.
The lovely little area at the rear of the Island Star gave us great views and was always a busy area.
Time for a quick peek off the stern of the ship. The outskirts of Ajaccio as the hills crowd down towards the sea. Behind them a range of mountains.
Time to set sail and Corsica glides slowly away from us as we head once more into the Mediterranean, bound for Civitavecchia, Italy from where we shall take a trip to Rome.
In the theatre, settling down to watch the show.
Afterwards we end up in the cafe bar having a coffee. I have a latte which is extremely strong! Yuck!
Friday 29 August 2008. We heard the call of lunch and walked the short distance from the cafe to the ship.
We entered on deck 3 and Mum got into the lift. We told her we'd see her on deck 11 and set off up the stairs. On deck 8 we told her to get back into the lift... Having had a spot of lunch, I wiped it off with a hanky and we went to find our usual table on the pool deck.
The usual crowd of waiters came round to talk to Mum; "Mom Evelyne, you want a drink from the bar?" Ha! The normal correct phrasing would be "Do you want to drink the contents of the bar...?" Eventually she allowed her favourite waiter, Julius, to take her over to the ice cream point for a Magnum.
I spent a happy hour with my mind switched off, doodling this view outside the window with a certain amount of head bobbing called for as the handrail was right at the height of my eyes.
Well, put a Magnum, my Mum and the hot temperatures together and this was inevitable. She even managed to get some on her glasses somehow. "Well, it gives you something to do..." she remarked cheerfully, watching me struggle to clean them.
Sailaway time came and, as the sun had moved around from where it was on our sail into Mahon, we now had another wonderful opportunity to photograph the opposite side to the channel on our way out. The ship's rail was lined with people.
"That one's mine!" said a crew member, pointing at a particularly gorgeous villa. "Oh, you must have moved in next door to us then," I laughed.
I particularly liked this one, with its many steps, its sun terraces and boat house. Fabulous! I imagine the rent is too...
We had our evening meal once more in the Steak Restaurant, ably attended to by Vivian and then went to watch the show in the theatre.
After which, the captain came on with a crowd of crew and staff to say goodbye. It had been a good relaxing holiday. Mum enjoyed it - she's already wanting to know if she can go again in a couple of years. Next year she's going off to Malta with my brother and his wife. As for us - well Fran had decided we were going back and booked it whilst we were on board, upgrading us to a cabin with a balcony. She'd have opted for one with a veranda if I hadn't said that it was the bridge she was looking at...
The following day we were back in Palma and faced with a three hour delay to the flight. In the light of the crash of the XL companies, perhaps we weren't so badly off!
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.
We had been told to be up early for our final day on the Island Star.
It was Friday 29 August and the final port of call before heading back to Majorca for the flight home was Mahon on the Mediterranean island of Menorca.
"It's the most beautiful approach to a port in the Med," one of the crew had told me. "Make sure you are up on deck as we come in."
And here is the proof to the accuracy of that statement. Whitewashed buildings, cliffs and a deep blue sea. "Of course it's the same view going out..." the crew member had shrugged, but as a photographer I knew that wouldn't be the case. The light would be totally different and, as it turned out, the morning light was ideal to take photos of the beautiful scenery coming in. Menorca has a long channel down which the ships sail before reaching the port and Mahon itself.
It took 30 minutes from turning into the bay to reaching our docking point.
We sailed past this tiny island with the ruined buildings and wondered what it was.
"It's a plague island!" I heard one passenger say. It could have been a leper or plague colony, but just as equally it could have been a prison, a military academy or a school or a religious colony. As always, Google provides an answer. Its name is Illa Del Rey, the Island of the King. The king in question was King Alfonso III of Aragon who landed here in 1287 prior to his conquering of Menorca away from the Muslims. The hospital was built by the British in 1711 and was so successful that the island became known as "Bloody Island"...
Over the years the island was used variously as a refuge for those with Yellow Fever (plague island - tick), a storage space for coal (didn't think of that one...) and in 1843, a military hospital with a much better reputation than the British effort. In 1888 traces of a very early 6-7th century Christian basilica were found and in 2004 a "friends" organisation was formed to restore and take care of the island.
We stayed standing against the ship's rail until the call for breakfast became just too much and the rumbling of our tummies rivalled the ship's engines! We went down to the Beachcomber restaurant and ate, then came back out into the daylight to be astonished at the view.
The ship was docked right at the edge of the town as this shot shows. Mum was looking slightly askance at all the steps leading upwards but we knew she'd make it ok if she wanted to! Ok, hats, cameras, suntan lotion, money, sunglasses - oh, no, the sunglasses are still in the car in Manchester aren't they... Too bad! Let's go!
