Katakolon

Day 3 Katakolon Mainland Greece Tuesday 2^nd October Sunny and hot 28C

Queen Elizabeth moored in Katakolon Harbour

We thought we were going to Kat a colon, then we were told it was pronounced Ker- tak-alon, however having visited we find it is Ka Tacky alon!Just to confuse a bit more the English alphabet Greek spelling seems to be Katakolo with no final 'N'. We were off early as there were three big ships in a town smaller than Ryde. Most folk go off to Olympia but we decided on a lazy walk around the town before back to the ship for mid morning tea and a swim before lunch. We spent only about an hour looking around the town which had a nice harbour area

Waterfront Cafés and Restaurants, Katakolon

and couple of a dirty beaches one sandy and the other a muddy sand. The main street was all shops and the narrow pavements were full of stalls making walking amongst the hordes of cruise passengers and touting locals quite difficult! It was not too bad as we were off early but we suspect it got a lot worse later on.

Island Girl poses in the Main Street, Katakolon

Finished off the champagne after lunch so needed a siesta before a lazy afternoon by the pool before our second formal night. Decided not to go to the show which is Penny Mathisen, a West End Vocalist – we have never heard of her.

We are getting on well with our dinning companions: as usual we are the youngest couple!

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At Coral Sea

Day 2 October 1^st At Sea (Sunny intervals and 25C)

Up late for us especially as we lost another hour to be 2 hours ahead of BST. Time for a quick swim in the not very warm pool before listening an interesting port presentation on Istanbul. Then a quick coffee before another port presentation on Odessa. Both talks were very interesting and will help us when we go ashore in a few days time.

Today is our Coral wedding (35 years) anniversary so we saved our boarding champagne to drink after lunch and finish off before dinner. Its also our pearl (30^th) anniversary as on that day in 2007 Alan was in St Marys on the island having a naughty lump removed from his thyroid! Now it's five years ago we do not have to declare this on our travel insurance! It is also Pat's 60th birthday so many happies Pat and welcome to free prescriptions and not a lot else!

Walk off champagne around ship and make sure we have explored everywhere on the ship. Then afternoon tea in the ballroom and a swim before our first formal dinner and the show is Vanity Fair in the theatre. We have nice dinner companions and Alan has not been told off too often for eating too fast or talking too often and too loud!

Our cabin – just the right size and very comfortable – plenty of cupboard space

We like Queen Elizabeth, which is very similar to Victoria. Its cabins, theatre, dining room, buffet, and public rooms are up there with the best. However we miss a covered pool and even the open ones just do not have the feel of Celebrity, Queen Mary 2 or even P and O ships.

Royal Court Theatre – could be the best afloat!

Now using Cunard internet which is free for 4 hours ( 2 hours for each of us) as we are now GOLD Cruisers. We had our gold lapel badges delivered to our cabin yesterday – not a lot of gold on them! Needs to be free as it is soooo s l o w!

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Sunday 30th September - Venice

Up early(4 30am!!!!) for the short walk to Terminal 5 to book in for our BA flight to Venice.

Terminal 5 from the air.

 At the western end of the airport. Handy for landing but a long way from thetake of end of the runway! Normally planes land from the east and take of towards the west, as they did today!

                                           Heathrow, Terminal 5

Due to take off at 8 15 but not in the air until 08 40 as we were bussed to a stand - new terminal but not air bridge! Very swift fight and landed at 10 20, or 11 20 local time. As usual rubbish breakfast of something called egg but neither looked or tasted like what we know as egg! Captain gave a humourous description of the air bridge driver trying to connect us with the terminal but the delay did not matter due to the usual carousel nightmare. It seemed like it was coffee break as there was a good 15 minute break in activity after our first case came and whilst waiting for Jack's case. then on to a coach to join one queue to chech in and then another to go through security and board the ship. Late lunch at 2 30pm and then our usual look around the ship, ( here is the ballrom where will have a coral afternoon tea tomorrow!)

 lifeboat drill and dinner. We do not sail out until about 8 30pm so it will be interesting to see Venice by night.

Blog by 3 dongle which has worked in Italy as we have put enough credit on it to pay 3 Italy its extortionate profit

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Off to Heathrow

We are picked up by fbb, AKA Peter for the short trip to Ryde Pier Head

 to catch the Wight Ryder across Spithead to Portsmouth Harbour.

Decide to go by taxi (nice clean Ford Galaxy) up to the Sofitel as there is no direct train service and we have heavy bags - all those frocks - to cart along with us. Driver has intelligent Sat Nav which told him M25 was closed at Guildford so we use A31 to use M3 rather than A3 and arrive in good time for a look around and dinner.


Sofitel, Terminal 5 Heathrow

Hotel could be very noisy as it's at the end of the runway but rooms are arranged in wings which look over an enclosed courtyard.

                                       Terminal 5, Heathrow, Hotel is off shot just to bottom left of picture

Blog by 3 dongle with left over data from Welsh holiday: Sofitel want £15.00 for stay!

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Queen Elizabeth Pearls of the Black Sea cruise

We are off on our travels again with a Black Sea cruise on Queen Elizabeth. We fly out from Heathrow to Venice on Sunday 30th September. As it is an early BA flight from Terminal 5, we are staying the Saturday night at the Sofitel Hotel.

our itinerary is:

Having already been on Mary 2 and Victoria this will mean we will have been on the entire Cunard fleet! We are interested to see how Elizabeth varies from its sister ship Victoria.

Queen Elizabeth off Seaview leaving for its Autumn Fly Voyage season

Last Blog

Day 12 June 10^th Messina (Sicily) Very hot, sunny and clear, windy.

As we sailed between the mainland and Sicily we could see the summit of Etna but it was a bit misty so did not photograph at all well.

We had originally intended to go to a beach in Sicily, but the trip was cancelled due to lack of numbers. We decided to just look around Messina rather than do another tour which would have been a bit too long for our liking.

As we have climbed up to the Church on the hill we decided to explore the shopping areas and then have a look at the Railway Station. We noticed that a Rome train was due so waited for that. After it arrived the engine was uncoupled and we realised that a diesel engine was going to shunt the carriages onto a ferry for a 35 minute crossing to mainland Italy.

This picture shows the rail tracks for loading through the open bow door, the car loading ramp raised on the left of the upper deck (passengers also use this ramp, mixing it with the cars, and Silhouette in the background. Great pic. Alan if he says so himself!

We then spent some time watching the carriages loaded on the ferry: it looked like they were all put on and then taken off but it might have been that they were shunted onto different tracks within the ferry.

Carriages just visible entering ferry – it was difficult to get this picture as Alan had to lean out of a window with Jack saying ' don't lean too far'!

We then enjoyed watching the various ferries come and go from the comfort of the ship. We were a little disappointed to visit Messina for the third time but having discovered the loading of carriages onto and off the ferries it certainly made the visit more interesting than we expected: yes we are sad train and ferry junkies!

Car only ferry enters the docks to join the four rail ferries

Final Silhouette cast show which we enjoyed, with acrobatics and jugling, but we found the music a bit durgy!

Day 13 June 11^th Naples Very hot, sunny and clear.

Our last visit to Naples was on a Sunday and we found the city a little intimidating and not very nice. However we decided to look around again and this time we found the main shopping and old town area. We even managed to go up to the fort overlooking the harbour on the funicular. Could not quite see the ship but the view over the city was worth the effort.

We really enjoyed Naples this time with its grand architecture and many ornate and imposing churches.

Piazza Plebiscito with St Francesco church

Inside one of the many amazing churches – this one is:

St Maria La Nova

There was a particularly fine 19^th century shopping mall called Galleria Umberto I, with its amazing high glass roof.

Galleria Umberto I

Exhausted we returned to the ship for lunch and a very lazy afternoon and evening. Have decided to miss show which is the magician that we walked out of last time.

So time for packing and up early tomorrow for our flight from Rome to Gatwick. We are ready to come home and will not miss drivers who chase you across pedestrian crossings, scooters on pavements, and the general hustle of Italian cities. Maybe the IOW weather will improve a bit!

Valletta - Malta

Day 11 June 9^th Valletta (Malta) Very hot, sunny and clear,no wind.

Clear and sunny as we watched the ship manoeuvre into the large natural harbour at Valletta, through the fairly narrow entrance. Valletta is a well fortified walled city on a hill with a harbour on each side.

Off ship early to miss the heat and crowds for a long walk around the city, with its Cathedrals and Palace of the Grand Masters.

St. John's Co-Cathedral known as the Church of the Knights of the Order of St. John

The shops are mostly familiar with Marks and Spencer, BHS, Accessorise, Dorothy Perkins and even Millies Cookies. The post boxes are red but with the Royal crest filed off and the telephone boxes are old style red.

 

Merchant Street (main shopping street)

Returned to the ship for a much needed swim and less needed lunch.