Thursday 5th November (Guy Fawkes Night) Awoke at 4am to find us edging into Barcelona harbour, which took about an hour past container cranes, an oil refinery & a grain handling area. After breakfast we took a shuttle bus to the base of Las Ramblas at the seaward end & then decided to try a Hop on Hop off bus as we didn't want to walk too far. This proved a wise, if not inexpensive, decision as the city service has 3 separate routes to cover different ...

Wednesday 4th November Tied up in Toulon harbour on a pier well away from the town & after breakfast, took a shuttle ferry across the harbour to the town site. The harbour is huge with many areas occupied by the French Navy as it their Mediterranean base & with quite a few of their warships dotted around. We met Cindy & Mike on the ferry & wandered off into the centre of the old town which is quite quaint with narrow streets & an excellent fr...

Monday 2nd November Arrived in Cittavechia at about 6.30 & left after breakfast to queue for a shuttle bus to the port gate for 20 minutes. At the gate there were a horde of touts trying to sell day tours to Rome so we chose one for €25 & hopped in the minibus. Here again we waited for about another 20 minutes before acquiring a bunch of Italians to fill the bus. Cittavechia must be at least 40 km north of Rome & it took about an hour & a ...

Saturday 31st October Woke up at sea to a very grey day with increasing winds & a rising sea. d*** had his last acupuncture session & we had a late breakfast before making a very poor fist of the pub trivia quiz of Halloween questions, not our strong suit. The ship is pretty stable although we roll & pitch slightly but very majestically. Luckily the wind is largely behind us for the crossing to Italy so the effects are minimised. Later the swell i...

Friday 30th October On the ship until 2.30 when we left by tender for the short service to Mykonos, one of Greece's most popular tourist islands. Here we wandered for an hour with Cindy & Mike before grabbing a well deserved beer in a cafe overlooking the famous windmills, formerly used to grind the island’s grain. The houses are all white washed pretty regularly & the streets, or more accurately, alleys, twist & turn every 10 m apparently to f...