Highlights of The Mediterranean, 18-25 May 2013 Index Page

A series of articles covering our holiday with David and Miss Jeannie (Creeping Bentgrass on tour!) on the Thomson Dream cruise ship. We'll be calling at Palma, Majorca > Day at Sea > Ajaccio, Corsica > Civitavecchia, Italy > Livorno, Italy > Puccini's house at Torre del Lago, Italy > Pisa, Italy > Villefranche, France > Barcelona, Spain. At some point we'll be treated to a storm with storm force eleven winds and a somewhat rough sea with decks closed and lots of people turning green.

I usually take something like 300 photographs during a week's cruise. David came back with 2000... I have therefore had to be ruthless when it came to selecting photos for these articles unless I was willing to write - and you, dear readers, were willing to read for as long as it took us to live through the cruise!

Each of the photographs below will take you to the related article and photographs.

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Last Night on the Thomson Dream

Friday 24 May 2013 was our last night on board the Thomson Dream cruise ship. We had had a week on the cruise which was called Highlights of the Mediterranean.

It was the night of the parade of the baked alaska in the restaurant. We've seen and enjoyed this bit of fun on a number of cruises but it was David and Jeannie's first experience of it.

The chef (he has the burns to prove it on his arm!) decided he should have his photo taken as well as the head waiters who carried the flaming meringue and cake-encased ice cream!

Our Head Waiter, Manny, brings his baked alaska for a closer look. Miss Jeannie is wondering just how close it's going to get...!

The Argo Lounge, where we spent some time every evening.

The largest lounge was the Medusa Lounge which had a stage for cabaret at the far end.

The party band, Strum Jam, a cheerful, fun band who played a string of medium and fast beat hits. I can't say I was keen on the colour of the Stratocaster guitar but... And someone seems to be missing...

Aha! She spies us from the side of the stage and comes out for a photo call and a hug for David and I! We'll come again...!

The bar staff are kept busy at all times and are not averse to tossing bottles in the air as cocktails get mixed together!

We head back to the Argo Lounge and the slightly more mellow classical sounds from the Boros Art Duo.

Cecille brings another round of cocktails and we are settled for a while, to listen to the music and talk over the events of the week, which by now have all appeared on the blog!

Highlights of The Mediterranean Cruise Index

Last Day of the Cruise in Barcelona

Friday 24 May 2013. Last night had been a doozy! As we left Villefranche we ran into the storm that we had tried to avoid by not going farther west to St Raphael. It reached Storm Force 11 and there was a fair bit of up and downing going on, combined with a lot of rocking forward and backwards and side to side for good measure.

We felt the effects but didn't see much as all doors to external decks were locked and going out was not allowed on account of it being a bit suicidal...

We woke the next morning to calm and peace and Barcelona. A few passengers were hobbling about with ankles in plaster...

We were in Barcelona and yet again were just going off on our own to fend for ourselves. We hailed a taxi and had him take us up the hill to Parc Guell, the famous park designed by the artist, Gaudi.

Every direction you look has a pleasing aspect to it, but first task is to climb those steps!

Gaudi had no liking for straight lines! His designs are sinuous curves and lots of colour from fragments of tiles juxtaposed to form a riot of colour and, almost as a bonus, plenty of seating!

Once you have climbed to the large plateau formed partly on top of pillars and partly by the hill itself, there is an excellent view over the city of Barcelona, all the way to the Mediterranean Sea on the horizon.

From the side you can see a different view of the seating shown earlier and the "plateau" from where I took the photo overlooking the city. Clever stuff!

And as we come down the series of steps again we pause this time to admire the sculptures, including the most famous one of the komodo dragon, colours picked out in mosaic and surrounded by school children, who I think were enjoying being on so many people's photographs!

We reach the gates and ignore the row of taxis waiting for a fare to take down the hill. Having looked at the map, the other place we wanted to see - Gaudi's cathedral, La Sagrada Familia - is a downhill walk which should be easy enough. And so it proves to be, if a trifle warm going!

By the time we are getting near the cathedral we are all ready for a drink and stop at a pavement cafe, the owner of which turns out to be a fellow Brit. He warns us against pickpockets in the area around the cathedral but fails to warn of the dangers of sucking in and swallowing the blossom that is falling from the trees lining the road. Fran consequently has a choking fit and, having finished her drink, swipes some of my beer... This not stopping the coughing she goes in to ask for a drink of water, not appreciating the thoughtfulness of the bar owner who insists on running the water for a while to ensure it is cold. [cough] "Just [cough] give me the [cough] glass!" she splutters.

And as if that weren't enough, there's another bit of drama at the next corner as we hear a bang and then see that someone has been knocked off a scooter by a car. Luckily there were no injuries and we hurriedly finished our drinks and got out of there before the third thing could happen...

And just a few yards on from round the corner we came to Barcelona's famous cathedral. It is still a work in progress which makes it all the more interesting as every time we see it there are new things to see. Barcelona is a brilliant place for lovers of architecture and ornate street furniture and I loved this street lamp in the photo above right that stands on a junction facing the cathedral.

Some of the stunning detail on the face of the cathedral - no squared off blocks of stone for Gaudi. Each side of the cathedral presents a different aspect, different styles of carving, little splashes of colour here and there. The distinctive round spires are due to be dwarfed by a central tower and work seems to have started on that since we were there last.

It's getting towards afternoon. We cross by a park and find somewhere to eat some lunch before having a look in a few souvenir shops and adding to the collections of fridge magnets (we need a bigger fridge...) and other essential items. I stay out of the shop - I'm a bit of the proverbial bull in china shops... But it gave me a chance to snap these glass figurines of flamenco dancers in the window.

So we had a look at the map and decided it was just a bit too far in the now considerable heat of the day and also after our long walk of the morning. We agreed a price with a taxi driver and headed back towards the port area and the Thomson Dream.

From the deck of the ship we had a great view of Barcelona, but we ignored it and consigned ourselves to wallowing in the sunshine with a good book and a glass of something. Soon it would be time to prepare ourselves for our final evening aboard. This book is really heavy you know... [yawn] I think I'll just put it down for a moment and..... zzzzzzzzzzzz....

Highlights of The Mediterranean Cruise Index

Villefranche, an Unexpected Port of Call

Thursday 23 May 2013. Due to bad weather further west we have swapped a day in St Raphael for a day in Villefranche.

David's longed for moment comes when we have to take the tender boats into the town. "Liberty guys to glamorize!" Hmmm... yes, he's been quoting this bit of Americanese all week. Apparently the Americans call tender boats Liberty boats and when David was in the navy and his ship was stationed in America anyone going ashore on the American naval vessel moored alongside was warned departure was imminent by this phrase over their tannoy. Stick fingers in throat to be sick... We are six days into the cruise and it has been uttered so many times that it is now greeted with groans...

Bienvenue a France! Villefranche presents a wonderful face to tourists approaching by boat. The brightly coloured buildings and an old fortress out of shot to the left make a typical French Riviera dream come true.

We moor up on the wharf and clamber up the few steps out of the boat before walking through the port authority buildings and onto French soil. We had waited until all the formal excursions had gone and our boat wasn't crowded at all. Even so it's still only mid morning and we have plenty of time to explore.

Called the Hidden Street, this enclosed street always reminds me somehow of the first Pirates of the Caribbean film. All the doors and windows are very heavily barred and old lanterns, but with modern electric bulbs, cast a suitably gloomy light so that you can easily imagine eyes peeping out to see if it's safe! It runs parallel to the sea front but isn't apparent from looking up the streets off the sea front.

We come out onto a path with a view over the lowest buildings onto the bay. To our left the path leads to the railway station. By looking right we are looking out of the bay towards the Mediterranean. Fran takes a last glance before we move on and there's a grunt of surprise from David, who has looked up to see someone working on the roof of a house abseiling down towards his head! The grunt, of course, is swiftly followed by the click of his camera...

Here we are at the far end of the bay looking directly out to sea where the Thomson Dream is moored. Another ship is coming in and turns to moor up in front of our ship. Time for "quatre cafes - un petit peu de cafe et beaucoup de lait"...

And whilst we are in the cafe and the coffee is cooling, the sketchpad comes out for a quick doodle of the seafront. I don't finish it yet so we'll have a look later...

The coffee having run out we set off back down the sea front, with the tables from cafe bars across the street lined up with colourful yellow awnings. A drunken boatman lurches onto the dockside and shouts angrily at his dog, scaring the life out of a poor woman who was sitting on the edge of the sea wall close to his boat.

A bit of time goes by. Wine time! We take a seat in another cafe bar. Unfortunately the waiter who serves us is not as nimble as he might be and he drops a dish of olives all over Fran, insisting on a remedy that involves emptying a salt pot all over her and bringing her a dish of hot water to dab on her top... Miss Franny retains her cool and just merely smacks him around a bit before deciding she is not splashing herself with hot water except for that which is necessary to remove all the salt that he's chucked over her.

Once decorum and wine has been established, I finish off the drawing I started earlier in the other cafe. A woman on the next table is admiring it.
"It was nearly finished when I bought it..." I say, which makes her laugh. Her husband smiles politely and her mother chokes on a prawn and has to be banged on the back. Miss Franny throws salt over her just in case... Oh alright... I made that bit up...

The ladies want to look round the shops and market so David and I wander off to see what mischief we can get up to. A lady in a gorgeous Spanish flamenco dress walks past - I only had time for a rear view, but apparently she was seen later by the ladies, dancing in one of the narrow streets as a street entertainer.

"Would you take our photo please?" comes a musical voice and I turn to see three young and very pretty American girls. They have come in on the other cruise ship which came in as we had our coffee. They were from Washington DC and were happily ignoring the advice of many of their friends who had apparently seen some Liam Neeson film called Taken about an American girl kidnapped by us devious and despicable Europeans.

We go for a look at the fortress and meet up with some fellow passengers from the Thomson Dream - seen here resting in the bay. We oblige them by taking their photo - hang on, we're turning into walkie-snaps here! Then we head down the hill from the fortress to walk alongside the fortress wall.

As we pass, the tender boats from the girls' ship, which we saw earlier, are now sharing space on the dock with ours. Passengers are making their way up the fairly steep hill towards the excursion coaches. The crystal clear water gurgles over the rocks at the foot of the path and it's a very pleasant walk before we realise that we've been quite a while and the ladies are probably wondering where we are. (They weren't - they were too busy looking at fridge magnets...)

We head back and find them loaded down with bags of thimbles, spoons with ceramic souvenir heads, fridge magnets and the odd snow globe. Then we head back to the tender boats for our trip back to the Thomson Dream.

A good time was had by all! "Liberty guys to glamorize...!" Yes, yes, yes David...

Highlights of The Mediterranean Cruise Index