ROUND THE MEDITERRANEAN AGAIN SEPTEMBER 2010
We are back on 'Arcadia'. We have travelled on this ship twice before. A very beautiful ship (though we might prefer something smaller). The public areas are filled with art of all kinds: paintings, ceramics, glass, textiles - which makes it especially interesting for me.
Our first three days were spent at sea, which is relaxing after the rush to get away from home. Time to read, catch up on sleep and just wander about.
The people on our dining table are interesting and pleasant and our waiters are called Suds and Nitin!
Tuesday 7th September
We had both been to Barcelona before, and had seen most of the sights, but we decided on the spur of the moment to join a jump-on, jump-off, city bus tour. At first we were very confused, as we could not make sense of the route with the map we had been given when we got off the ship. Then we realised that we had a map from one tour company and were on a bus belonging to its rival! Perhaps the tour was not a good idea, as it was rather dull, especially when it spent a quarter of an hour at the main train station.
But we eventually jumped off at the Catalan Museum, which is housed in a magnificent building built on a hill in the 1920s as part of a world trade fair. There is a glorious view over the city. The museum was interesting, especially the section housing a collection of ancient wall paintings rescued from local churches which had fallen into ruin. They were well displayed in specially built sections mimicking the original form of the ceilings, pillars and apses they had originally adorned, in crimsons, ochres and deep green-blues. We returned to the ship in a heavy shower.
This night we experienced an amazing thunder storm. As dusk fell a bank of cloud formed over the coast as we sailed away from Spain towards France. Every few seconds parts of this cloud mass was illuminated from within by flashes of sheet lightning. At sea you can see a storm in all its majesty, unimpeded by the usual clutter of houses, trees and hills.
The storm continued throughout the night, at times approaching the ship with accompanying rain and thunder, at times further away, and sometimes with forked lightning as well. It was still flashing away as we anchored the next day, but fortunately it cleared as we landed. Our local guide said they had experienced most unusual weather, accompanied by torrential rain during the night. We wondered if the storm had developed all the way along the mediteranean coastline, or had we just kept pace with its progress all night?
Wednesday 8th September
Villefranche is a pretty little town overlooking a sheltered bay. Once it was an significant port, but the city of Nice sprang up 3 miles to the west, and Villefranche, surrounded by steep hills, unable to expand, remained small and unspoilt.
Nice has now become a large and extensive city. Much favoured by the British in the 1800's, it is now the premier seaside resort of the Cote D'Azur. The beach is long, straight and pebbly, and not very exciting. The glory days were in the Belle Epoque, and there are several faded Art Nouveau hotels on the sea front. Queen Victoria stayed in Nice and an enormous hotel inland was built to accommodate her and her retinue. Later, Henri Matisse ended his days there.
Our tour included a short walk around the old city, with narrow streets and tall buildings. A small market near the seafront sold local produce, and I bought a couple of little cherry and almond cakes, and a small bag of Mirabelle plums, tiny, golden and sweet.
The coach returned along the corniche ('shelf') road, with spectacular views back across the bay to Cap d'Antibes. We had a beer in a little cafe on the seafront at Villefranche, and I explored the old town far a short while - similar in layout to that at Nice, but smaller and built on a sharp slope, so full of steps. The town is altogether more attractive than Nice itself.
We had landed here by tender, so we had a long wait to get back to the ship, feeling rather exhausted. We collapsed in our cabin and pigged out on the Mirabelles. From our balcony we had a fine view of the peninsula of Cap Ferrat - one of the most exclusive parts of the Riviera. I fancied a large sugar pink villa perched on the side of the hill, and wondered if the owners would be interested in a holiday swap with our place at Lyme Regis!
Thursday 9th September
Much confusion last night. We knew we were going to Corsica, and expected to land at Calvi, but our landfall was changed at the last moment to the capital, Ajaccio. It seemed that Calvi would require another tender disembarkation, and the weather forecast was bad. Some of the boats at Villefranche had experienced very severe problems when returning to the ship, and no-one wanted a repeat performance.
This alteration meant that we had to re-think our planned excursion. Only two were on offer, and we couldn't agree - I preferred the longer trip to see the rocks at Les Calanches, Sandy thought he would enjoy a shorter and less energetic trip inland. So we went our separate ways.
Sandy: The highlight of my travels past river ravines and into the Corsican Pine ridged mountains was a large slice of traditional Apple and Chestnut Tart. Chestnuts are known locally as the Bread of Corsica because often that was all the locals had to eat - apart from the birds - very quiet in the mountains and valleys with little by way of birds and mammals - they have eaten all the deer as well - not a richly resourced country - expensive produce because much has to be imported - but they do have Goats milk which is a major contributor to Roquefort Cheese.
Penny: Corsica is very mountainous, and basically volcanic, with dramatic mountains, deep valleys and long sandy beaches. But the sea looked very rough and perhaps it's not good for swimming. The drive took in some glorious scenery. The rocks called Les Callanches are truly spectacular. Deep salmon pink and deeply fissured, they have been eroded into fantastical shapes and pinnacles. One narrow gorge, falling down to the sea, must have been two hundred yards deep. The pink rock is overlaid with a patchwork of lichens, white, grey, green and black.
The rocks were well worth visiting. Unfortunately all the other tourists on Corsica thought so too and they arrived in their thousands in their cars, camper-vans, motorbikes and on foot. Many of the cars were parked and abandoned in the passing places on the exceedingly narrow, steep winding road. We had arrived very early, but by the time we were ready to return getting a large P&O coach back up the road was quite a challenge. This being France, the was much shouting and waving. "Advancez un peu! "Ca, c'est impossible!" (this from our driver). Anxious looking motorists were obliged to shunt up a little while we passed them with barely an inch to spare on one side and a precipitous drop (fortunately with a sturdy parapet) on the other.
It took us a good two hours to negotiate a short stretch of road that had taken us maybe 15 minutes, with photo stops, to walk down earlier.
A short stop at a pretty village to visit two churches (one Greek, one Roman Catholic) and we returned rather late from our trip.
Friday 10th September
Today to the port of Civitaveccia, from where most people went on a trip to Rome. We decided that we would rather not deal with the noise and bustle of that great city, so we opted for a quieter trip to see the local countryside - pleasant rolling fields, with wooded hills in the distance. It is a very fertile area and we saw all sorts of crops in the fields: tomatoes, melons, asparagus, maize, sunflowers, as well as olives and vines.
We stopped for a while at a small olive farm, where we were given all sorts of local delicacies to sample, cheese, dried hams, and a glass of red wine (at 9.30 in the morning!)
Then to a small town called Tuscania, with ancient walls and narrow streets to explore. Back to Arcadia for a lazy afternoon.
Saturday 11th September
We had now reached the furthest point of our trip - Naples. We last visited about 40 years ago - and the city is still a run-down as ever. Three million people live here as it sprawls scruffily over the costal plain. Vesuvius looms over all, most uncomfortably close. Our tour guide assured us that it wasn't scheduled to erupt for 60 odd years - all the same, I wouldn't want to live there. He also said that people kept building houses on the lower slopes of the mountain: "the land is very cheap!"
Our trip took us to Sorrento, but the coastal road is frantically busy, though the views are glorious. Again we had chosen to visit a small farm, where they grew lemons and olives on the high slopes above the town, and they showed us how they made various kinds of cheese, including ricotta. We were given some samples and more morning wine.
The charming girl who showed us around the farm spoke excellent English, but with one of the most bizarre Italian accents we have ever heard. It turned out that her mother came from Birmingham!
A brief visit to Sorrento town provided the opportunity to eat Tiramisu ice cream (which came with a small glass of fizzy water) and an excellent coffee at a street cafe.
Sunday 12th September
A lazy day at sea.
Monday 13th September
Back across the Mediterranean to Spain, we stopped at Cartagena. We were expecting a large industrial port, but found a charming small natural harbour surrounded by hills, each of which had an ancient ruined fortification on the top. This place has been strategically important for millennia.
We decided to split up again - I went on a 6 hour trip, Sandy stayed in Cartagena itself.
Penny: My outing was to the town of Elche, some miles to the north, and the second city of the region of Murcia. Whilst Cartagena itself was rather pretty, the hinterland was less attractive - an extensive plain (with occasional surprising hills arising out of it) heavily populated and developed. The area is very fertile when irrigated so there was a patchwork of small fields among all the houses and roads. They grow almonds, pomegrantes, artichokes, and dates. On the coast there are extensive natural lagoons where sea-salt is harvested.
Elche (or Elx in Catalan) is an ancient town with several claims to fame. It makes most of the shoes for Spain, the people perform a celebrated mediaeval 'mystery' play every year, an ancient and beautiful stone head called 'The Lady of Elche" was unearthed here and they grow the best dates in the region.
It was the dates that formed the focus of our visit - we went to the 'horta del cure' - a garden made by a priest in the late 1800s/early 1900s. Here they grow every type of palm tree, set among winding gravel paths, with other planting underneath: a beautiful and tranquil place
We visited the church where the mystery play is performed annually. There was a high dome with an internal ceiling painted to look like the sky. Apparently the highlight of the event is when an eight-year old boy is lowered though a trap door in the ceiling in a special gilded 'cage' - dressed as an angel and singing his heart out. It looked totally terrifying to me - but apparently there is great competition for the role.
We didn't see the Lade of Elche - she now resides in the national museum in Madrid - but there are plenty of copies around. She wears (in stone) an amazingly complicated head-dress, with tassels and elaborate wheel-shaped decorations over her ears, and several chunky necklaces. I'm not sure how old she is.
Sandy: I left the ship early because I could see it was going to get very hot. After a short walk alongside some Palm Trees I was able to go straight into the lovely pedestrianised centre of Cartagena. It was busy with local people and I saw an old submarine there (made in the 1880s!)– one of the town’s symbols – I bought a T-shirt for Bradley displaying the local football team’s emblem – a yellow submarine!
The buildings were splendid and tall and there were one or two tourist shops. After a great coffee in the shade I bought myself a small statue of a hooded local clansmen – they parade in the streets before Easter wearing different coloured robes – my statue is red – the Marijo clan – something to do with Roman Soldiers and the Crucifixion. A notice in the shop beside the figures said in English – Not the Ku Klux Klan!
I tried some local Estrella Beer and took a picture of it in honour of my mare, Estrella.
It was very hot indeed by 11.30 am so I ambled back to the ship for an excellent four course lunch in the Meridian Restaurant, and drank more beer served by Sherlene our friendly wine waitress – then Siesta time, and deep sleep.
Tuesday 14th September
Our final stop was at Gibraltar. We had both looked forward to visiting this unique place, and were not disappointed, even though we had to leave by lunchtime. '
The Rock" is a dramatic sight - an oddly shaped high ridge, protruding out of a wide bay. It's steep on the inhabited side - but stomach-churningly vertical on the other side, as we discovered when we went up the top in the cable car. Amazing views, but very hazy. We had been warned against the monkeys - but we went up in the first cable car of the day, and we only saw one in the distance. Apparently the monkeys (like Naomi Campbell) don't get out of bed until it's worth their while!
Back at ground level we visited the botanic gardens, which are associated with Kew - interesting rather than exciting - and walked towards the centre of the town. Here we finally saw several monkeys near the naval graveyard, where some of the casualties of the battle of Trafalgar are buried.
We had a fine view of Gibraltar as we sailed away. It's a strange place - very British and very Spanish at the same time, an odd relic of empire. For some reason the Straits of Gibraltar are very prone to fog and we only had a partial view of the Moroccan coastline as they were obscured by white clouds at sea level. But the Atlas mountains looked craggy, and Tangiers must have been there in the mist, somewhere!
Wednesday 15th September
Back in the Atlantic and it's grey and drizzly. We're on our way home! As we left Gibraltar I saw a pod of dolphins near the ship. This makes four sightings on this trip - which is amazing as I have always missed seeing them before. On one occasion I was on our balcony, and I watched them for some minutes leaping and frolicking in the wake from our bows. Without a doubt, they were just having fun! A magical sight.
Friday 17th September
Back home again. The garden looks colourful, and our dog, Sammy has enjoyed his stay with Isobel. Now we have to unpack and get back to real life again.
And here are some 'on board pictures to amuse you....
