Saturday. Dubrovnik.

Today is our last full day aboard. At lunchtime we will be arriving in Dubrovnik where there is a tender service to land.
Yesterday the show in the theatre was 'I have a dream'. A show performed by the staff from various departments who thougt they had a talent to share. Sadly they were wrong. Simon Cowell would have cried. Honestly I am sure there must be some better talent onboard.
The show was followed by our second gala dinner so we was boted and suited again and I have to say looking mighty fine. Although the food was 'pleasant' (Note the wording Julie!) It really wasn't gala. Cheese stuffed pasta followd by cheese stuffed profiteroles with salad and blue cheese dressing folloed by a plate of .. cheese. I think someone needs to have a word with the menu planner! Having said that we did have enough to eat and enjoyed our evening.
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Today's photo prompt is 'up' . The first thing that caame to mind (you know me!) is not a photo I can publish here! So here's one I can....

Well when i take it that is... watch this space....

Friday. 21/9/12 All at sea

Yesterday after an interesting day out in Istanbul (yes there was plenty to look at....) we were treated to a great musical show. Why great? Because there was a lot of 80s music and of course some Abba.
Today we have been at sea all day with just the occasional island to break up the non-ending vista of ocean. Deep blue beautiful ocean I hasten to add.
Lunch was a disappointment - same veggie choice of pasta gratinada so I asked one of the maitre d's if there was another veggie option. He replied that Europe hadn't caught onto that fad yet. I begged to differ and told him it really wasn't acceptable. He offered to get me something specially prepared from the kitchen. Result I thought until one of the waitresses turned up with a plate of spaghettei in tomato sauce (Isn't that pasta?) And a plate of fish (I am veggie and had I wanted fish the buffet was overflowing  with it) Once again thwarted. I settled for salad yet again.
This evening is our second Gala night. Fingers crossed it is better that the first.
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Today's photo prompt is 'sometimes'.... and I'm still pondering this one.... maybe this evening will give me a clue....
Know what it will be but havent taken foto yet.... to be continued.
Sometimes you just see the things you dint really want to

Thursday. Istanbul.

Yesterday evening in the restaurant,following my complaint of the night before, we were well looked after even the maitre d' slending time at our table to make sure we were happier with the food. Of course we were the menu was back to being excellent. Last night's show in rhe theatre was billed as 'Magic,mirth and musical - comedy show'. Lets just say it was musical and leave it at that sshall we?! This morning we have been in Istanbul. The Palaces and Mosques are spectacular and in general the good folk of the city friendly. Interestiing fact: 16 million people live here! Taxi drivers on the other hand are like many all over the world and ripped us off at every turn.... ah well I guess they need to make a living. The most frustrating thing for me has been the inability to coomunicate well as we speak no.Turkish and altough they profess to speak Enhlish they really dont understand. Tomorrow we are at sea all day so i shall mostly be reading and eating.... ><><><><><><><><><> Today's photo prompt is 'man-made'. A pic of the ship could have sufficed here but I have added one of the view of Istanbul showing the Topkapi Palace and blue mosque - man made and incredible.

Wednesday. Izmir in Turkey.

Yesterday's tour around Olympia was interesting and enjoyable. For a change we weren't rushed around and had free rein looking around the site of the ancient games.
Returning to the ship for lunch was a mad bunfight aseveryone wanted to eat at the same time. Not an enjoyable experience at all.
The evening was the first gala dinner, preceded by the Captain's cocktail and a 'fantasy spectacle' in the theatre.
Unfortunately the gala dinner didn't live up to its billing and was the worst gala menu ever. I ended up with a small salad and was far from a happy bunny.
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Today's photo prompt is 'underneath' and I've no inspiration at the moment. I shall wait and see if our trip into Ephesus will help.... and indeed it did... underneath 10 metres of soil this is what they found....

Tuesday. Katakolon, Greece. CET +1

This morning we have arrived in Katakolon in Greece. It's only just 7am and we're up and breakfasted already.
Yesterday was a fantastic day in Bari. After disembarking we found some bike-taxis and jumped aboard to be shown round the city by a delightful Bulgarian girl who really knew her stuff.
In the first church we stopped at I saw the bones of Saint Nicholas - or as we usually say -Santa Claus.
Later on we saw a street lined with women making pasta by hand which was then left to dry in the sun.
Back on board for lunchtime and we set sail for Greece.
Last night in the theatre we saw Roberto Sinagoga. Another excellent, as was dinner.
Today we are off on an excursion to Olympia, details of which will be posted later.

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Today's photo challenge is price.... it's given me a lot of food for thought. Price of the cruise.... a bargain. Price of drinks onboard.. usual good value. What price tourism... Venice protesters.. the price is right..... Price's shop in the high street where I grew up. So here's today's photo.... what price fame. Anyone any clue as to the photo reference?

Monday breakfast musings

I've decided I am going to write a daily blog post and publish it as and when I get free internet access.
Yesterday we boarded after hours of hanging around and queueing with the hordes. Cruising really isn't just for the elite any more. I guess we ourselves are proof of that, although we do try to maintain certain standards. There are some on board, however, that do not. Dress sense at dinner proved that once and for all last night! I mean, would one normally wear cut off denims and a megadeath t-shirt to a 'nice' restaurant. Yes, there we have it. The travelling snob in me is alive and well!
Our cabin is spacious and comfortable, comodious I guess one could say. And that's where I've left hubby happily snoring whilst I feast my way through a plate of hash browns and scrambled eggs, washed down with orange juice. And whilst on the subject of food let me just comment that although we did come straight (sic) onboard yesterday and grab some lunch, and enjoy a FULL dinner last night we are not hogging. Others, on.the other hand' are making the most of the availability of food and piling their plates high but sadly leaving them piled almost as high when they leave. The gluttony and waste is something I find remarkable on cruises, clearly as I have just remarked.
Today we are due to enter Bari. ( Fnaarr) We've not yet decided if we will get off (Fnaarr) or simply lounge around on deck. Quite frankly we're both a little jaded after the last few days of socialising, both here and at home in VnG so the later is a possibility. I shall apprise you of our decision later.
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And today's photo challenge.. in my fridge:

Planning

We've had a bit of fun today checking out the details for our cruise in September.

We fly to Venice on the 15th of September and will be staying in the Hotel Marte for one night.

The next day we board the Costa Favolosa -now there's a name to conjure with -So Jules and Sandy.

 

We've had a look at the excursions and been checking out the  places we can visit. I am so looking forward to going to Olympia. Just seeing the pictures on the PC I have a feeling it's somewhere I know. Then there's Ephesus, and Istanbul and Dubrovnik. Oh what a fine time we are going to have- TulStig cruising again.

And whilst we are away we know that our animals will be in safe hands as Janey and Amy will be housesitting.

Sunday Catch up

Yesterday we had a great day.
A little while back I became facebook friends with a couple we used to see a lot of when we lived back in Brockley- Bob and Tom -they too lived in Brockley.
Well a few weeks back they surprises 'Skyped' us and said they would be in Barcelona on the 29th of July (Yesterday) as part of a cruise and would we like to meet up.
Meet up we did. I picked them up off their ship and we spent the day together, reminiscing, catching up and generally enjoying hanging out again.
WE were all surprised at how subjective all our memories were as we each remembered different things of days gone by to make up a bigger picture we could all identify. Sadly we also remembered many who have since died, but we really remembered the good times- and boy do I mean GOOD!!
WE are all a bit, quite a bit older and although our bodies have the signs of ageing none of us really 'feel' any older. 
It was great to show them round our new home, bot the house and the village and area.

A Day in pictures

An early morning walk:

Followed by a visit to Denise and Paolo's- it being Paolo's birthday we were dropping his present off- sorry no pic.
Then lunch in the garden again -leek and potato soup. Spot the cats enjoying the balmy weather (just one missing an he wa son the roof sunning himself!).

Tony enjoying my offering.

 And a little baking too- Raspberry muffins.

And just look what's just satrted to blossom - our Camelia:

And now as I type this up on my ne gadget we're watching 'Venice 24/7' and hav ejust seen the cruise ship that we are planning to be on in September coming into town- It looks like we're going to be in for a great view of the city.

Finally thoughts of tomorrow - There's a general strike here in Spain so our schools closed- a day off with pay- a great result. I  just hope there's no trouble in town to mar the demonstrations.

Just cruising along

Key word in today's title: Cruising - yup we've booked our September Cruise. We're flying out to Venice for a one night's stay in a hotel there- it's goodness how long since we were last there- we know it's an age as we actually booked the hotel by fax last time!
The return flights are booked -Vueling - the hotel in Venice is booked - The Hotel Marte- has good and bad reviews but the good outweigh the bad and it looks nice enough and is cheap and central -and the cruise, of course, is booked too - we are on the  Costa Favalosa ( I just LOVE the name -echoes of 'Round The Horne') starting in Venice, on to another stop in Italy, then Greece, including Olympus, Turkey (Istanbul and another stop) and then Croatia - Dubrovnik, returning to Venice from where we will fly back to BCN. All that's to book now is the flights for our 'babysitters' Janey and Amy and we'll be all set- I'm discussing the details with Janey on Saturday -Skyping and booking all at once. 
It's all just so Favalosa. And for the more observant of you - yes it is with the same company as last year, and yes that is the same company as the Costa Concordia which didn't fare so well just recently. We had no issues with the company at all, and trust them to deliver an excellent time again.

The Costa Favalosa

As for my writing- I've been well into the sequel today again , another thousand or so words -I'm trying to step up the production. I'm enjoying the story, and yes it is surprising me too.  As for 'The Key' it's bouncing round in my head so I'm grabbing another notebook and noting down important facts and details so hen the time comes to set that down on disc (PC) I'll be well set.