Life On Board the New Amsterdam.

I I am going to try another method of pre writing my Blog entry so if (and when) I lose it it is still available for me to recover and re post.

Life on the New Amsterdam is not hard to take. The Holland America Line has been around for years and this being one of their newer ships has all the mod cons you would expect.

Our cabin with a balcony on the 7th deck near the stern has plenty of room without being described as roomy. Everything is perfectly designed to make the maximum use of the space available. Grab rails are perfectly positioned, lighting is spot on, the small bar fridge works fine and there is heaps of storage and hanging space. The balcony is great for drinks when the weather permits or for that sensational view as you slide into a new port.

The bed is huge!

When Trish was planning the trip this 24 night cruise came across as good value when you consider the nights we have, the high reputation the line has and the itinerary.

It is an American company and all is done in US currency. With the Aussie dollar losing against the US dollar you have to add around 25% to convert costs. And every time you buy a drink etc there is a further 15% service charge.

I am drinking Budweiser Aluminium @ US$5.25 an aluminium shaped bottle. It is around stubby size. Fortunately there are 3 lots of Happy Hour in 3 different bars daily, the first from 4 till 5, the second from 5 to 6 and the final one at 10 till 11. Happy Hour is full price for your first drink but only $1 for the next. So for around $18 I can get 4 drinks at around $4.50 each. They will sell them 'to go' unopened and allow you to take them back to your room if you want.

The food is excellent and plentiful. There is a bistro which we use mostly, also a sit down fully waited upon dining room, and other first class restaurants which require an extra charge to attend after you have been to your 'complimentary' first meal. We attended our 'complimentary' meal at this top class on board restaurant last night and the bottle of Australian Grant Burge shiraz cost $40 but as our meal was complimentary, the wine was a bargain.

The bistro dining area on the 9th deck (see photo below) is excellent and also is a great laid back place to eat as well. As well there is the free pizza bar or the Dive In which has burgers and cheese smothered hot dogs as well as chips.

The food costs are fully inclusive in our Cruise fares.

Being an American ship which originally set sail from Fort Lauderdale, most passengers are American. American twang permeates the ship and much of the on board entertainment has a strong American bias as well.

Let us now come to the shore excursions arranged for by the ship company. Having travelled in Europe before we have a rough idea on what these extra costs should be. A conservative estimate is ship organised tours are at least double what I would have guessed.

A tour to Sorrento and then Pompeii was available for around US$160 per person from the ship. We did an 'outside' tour to the wonderful Amalfi Coast, Sorrento and Pompeii for 90 euros each, roughly half price. 1 euro is around US$1.

Today is a day at sea, one of only 3 or 4 days we have just cruising. Tomorrow Thursday we arrive in Corfu Greece. Many of the passsengers are like us and will just wander ashore for a look around.

We have been fortunate with the weather. It is a little on the cooler side but today at sea on our way to Corfu I am in my shorts and T Shirt and is around 21 degrees, one of our warmer days.

Now the acid test will come when I have a go at copy/pasting this text into my Blogger app along with the photo. This time however I have a backup.

Remember to keep an eye on Trish's Facebook page for more photos.

At Corfu on free WiFi and removed photo to see if I can publish.  It won't publish with the photo.

Mt Etna Sicily.

Another day, another country. This is this morning's view as we sail into Taormina, Sicily. 

Hopefully we will get good internet access today and posts for the blog which were half uploaded will finish uploading today and not be lost. 

This was a small sleepy township with a snow covered Mt Etna looming up in the background.

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Into Naples

A cloudy morning was around as we greeted Mt Vesuvius in the Bay of Naples on Monday morning. 

Despite the less than perfect weather the sight was unforgettable and will be one etched in my mind for ever.

We were planning to live dangerously and use a tour company not organised by the ship. The tour would take us to the Amalfi Coast, Sorrento and finally a tour of Pompeii.

The rain was falling as around 20 in the party headed to the bus. I bought an umbrella for 3 Euros which helped keep me dry for the 150m dash to the bus.  Once on the bus we didn't see another drop of rain until we were back on board the ship after 5pm.

Seeing Pompeii was to be a highlight of the whole trip. Of the three things we did today, seeing Pompeii ranked third.

Easily the best was the Amalfi Coast. The spectacular road along the side of steep mountains overlooking crystal clear sea water was just stunning. The famous Great Ocean Rd in Victoria runs a distant second to what we saw today.

Sorrento was interesting too.

Pompeii was great as well but not as good as we had expected. I thought there would be more to see at Pompeii such as re constructed house and town scenes. There was kilometre after kilometre of destroyed homes and major buildings. But it is another thing crossed off the list of things to do.

We had WiFi at the restaurant where we had lunch but with 4 or 5 tour groups there having lunch the WiFi was good enough to download emails but not good enough to upload several new blog posts I have in the wings.

I did read an email from Kate saying she would meet us around 3:30pm when we fly in in a few weeks time. 

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Trish's Facebook Page

There should be more photos on Trish's Facebook pages.

There isn't any free WiFi at Maccas in Italy.  So we have had to buy an ice cream and a drink in Civitavecchia to get internet access.

This is a normal Italian seaside town with a rocky Beach.

Weather is coolish but Ok.

Yesterday we were given brochures for cheaper Pompeii tours than the ship offers despite Pompeii being two days away.  Noted a cheaper Ship based tour in our little letterbox this morning.

The trip is tomorrow so we will wait till the last minute before we decide.  Wet weather is forecast for tomorrow.

Doing this on my 7 inch tablet is a challenge.

Civitavecchia Near Rome

Both our teams lost the footy today.

Civitavecchia  the Port closest to Rome is where we are today. 

We meandered into the town for a leisurely walk around having previously been to Rome.

We found some great wifi at a small cafe and spent time with emails, Facebook and Blogger.  We both enjoyed the day.

Rome wasn't a close by city and having been there before we took the quieter and less expensive option.

Enjoy the slide show recently added below.

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Livorno Isn't Monaco!

I now recognise why there is pressure to do up Brisbane's Cruise Dock. Livorno Italy is about as depressing as a port could get.

There was an Anzac Day service on the rear deck this morning attended by around 50 Aussies and New Zealanders.  It was very emotional.

There was around 25 tourist buses lined up to take cashed up Americans who are happy to pay double the cost of a tour on their way for numerous overpriced tours today. We are due to depart port around 5pm tonight.

The quick look I had at footy scores earlier had Collingwood just in front early in the first quarter. I will check again shortly as the game is almost over.

We are about to head ashore and see what is happening. Maybe we can wangle a cheaper deal to a place like Lucca, a nearby Tuscan village.

Hopefully there will be some free WiFi around as well and I can upload this post and the one below.

Tomorrow we head to the nearest port to Rome. 

The next day Monday is Naples but very wet weather is forecast.  It would cost around $360 US to do Pompeii on a ship organised tour for both of us. That is around $450 Australian.

You wouldn't want a wet day and have to spend that sort of money. We have been told of a similar excursion at one of the Greek Islands so we may wait for that if the forecast is right.

We believe it is possible to negotiate much cheaper tours ashore but we will have to wait and see.

Check the other post below.

Monaco Isn't Livorno !

We ventured ashore at Monaco and spent several hours wandering the city. We managed to get lost a couple of times but after sorting the internet stuff we were able to walk about where ever we wanted.

We were able to walk sections of the Grand Prix track, through pit lane and the like.

We walked by a new car showroom and saw the latest Rolls Royce models on display but opted not to take a test drive.

From there we climbed the hill to Prince Rainier's Palace and along the top of the road there. That is where the photo below was taken.

You can see the ship and you may also be able to make out the banks of seating for the upcoming car race.

We have discovered that cruising is ideally more for the lifestyle than taking in all the sightseeing. If you want a really good look at the country a bus tour would be a much better way to do it.  Today in Livorno Italy some of the tours are around 10 hours long and cost around $100 each! 

They need to be that long so the bus has time to travel there and back.
 

I will do a second post above on our arrival in Livorno Italy. 

Into Monaco

Posts each will only be put online in future via free WiFi.  Yesterday I used some of my data from the phone.  

I checked the usage and discovered I had used $13 worth putting up posts, adding to Instagram and checking emails in a couple of days. 

Internet on the ship costs $25 for 30 minutes

What a gorgeous sight awakened us this morning as we slid into Monaco. Hardly a cloud in the sky,  a beautiful red sunrise and an amazing view.

We will head off for a walk soon around 10 am, just around the area nearby. Really that view as you may well see in this post makes it all worth while.

The body takes a little time to adjust to travel in far distant places.  And I don't think the three helpings of Seafood Chowder I had for tea was great for my constitution last night either.  But things have settled this morning.

We did take advantage of Happy Hour between 4pm and 5pm last night. I managed to take a cold beer back to our cabin but I then drank it.  More self control is required I think.

We did enjoy the comedian last night. He was great and had the audience laughing at themselves.

Tomorrow we go to Livorno in Italy. 

I can write posts on the tablet, have one photo and save it as a Blogger post, then upload it when we have internet. So that is what I plan to  do. 

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St Tropez

One thing we have discovered is we aren't rich enough to drink too much while on board.  I am doing this post from my tablet.

Things on board the ship are really expensive if you have to pay for it and all in US dollars. Tours on the mainland are around double what we would have paid for the same tour on our recent bus tour.

But cruising is something we are really enjoying.  We got on board without a hassle. It was too easy. There wasn't much entertainment on the first night but things get into full swing tonight.

Russ, they have happy hour when drinks are much cheaper.  The mini bar may get topped up later on.

Food is plentiful and great.  It will be around 23 today so it is shorts and T-shirt weather.

We headed ashore here at St Tropez and had a look around.  Money isn't a problem for locals and there appears to be very nice homes stretching as far as the eye can see.

It has been magnificent weather here on the French Riviera!  Trish has some more photos on her Facebook page.

Tomorrow we will wake up in Monaco!

Let us see if I can 'embed' this slide show!

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To Sea

You can follow our Cruise Itinerary HERE.

Our Last Full Day In Barcelona

We are staying at a hotel called the Melia Sky in Barcelona.  It is a middle of the range hotel but we reckon the positioning of it is excellent.  We are 6 stations out of the city centre, the Metro Station is 5 minutes walk away and the rail fares are almost as cheap as the alcohol prices.

We get ten local train trips for €10.  Trains come every 4 minutes! It is a less than 15 minute train journey into the centre of the city.

On top of all this there is another La Rambla, a local street which is setup as a pedestrian mall (almost) with various restaurants available all along it.  Small supermarkets are within a 5 minute walk where you can get a cold 500ml Estrella can of beer easily and icy cold.  And what is good about this local La Rambla, is it is authentic and not set up just for the tourists.  There are plenty of restaurants and most at good prices.

A glass of wine is especially inexpensive at around €2.  A 500 ml glass beer top top price locally would be €4 (Grande Size AUD$5-50 in a cafe/restaurant).

The hotel is very well situated and so much less expensive than those in the city centre.  I am making a few typos as I type, the Estrella cold 500ml can is working well!

Patsy, my toe is healing well, right now as I can't feel a thing. We checked out a local Pharmacy and the guy there suggested some treatment and sold us some antiseptic, antibiotics and band aids for around $15 all up.  The treatment is working well, There is no problem for me today.

Also the new ship we are travelling tomorrow on has "NO" laundry facilities.  But the food and entertainment is at no charge!  We understand the older ships had laundry facilities but not the newer ones. Instead of the laundry, they have an extra cabin!

So today we decided to try out a visit to Montserrat, a Catholic Monastery/Church built high on top of a mountain not far out of Barcelona and accessible to us by train.  It would cost us €29 each for train fare, cable car to the top and entry.  The best part of the day was getting there and back home again safely on our own via the train network.  The place was worth the visit but the adventure of doing the experience on our own successfully was much better.

The photo above left is a section of Montserrat, a holy Catholic place set high in the mountains nearby.  The photo to our left here is the view from Montserrat high in the mountains. Doing the trip on our own meant we didn't have to endure an ABC (Another Bloody Church) tour.

We had a quick walk through the area, didn't bother with any museums but just took in the magnificent views from way up there.

Trish had promised the grandkids a Barcelona Football Club shirt each.  They come in at around €100 for the genuine article.  Needless to say there are 'copies' available all over Barcelona at around 1/3 the price.  On our way back to our hotel, the train popped into the city centre where we got off and checked out a local less expensive supplier.

We had a bit of fun bargaining the price.  We only got around $10 off the price but it was a bit of fun that both the shop owner and I enjoyed.  Hopefully the grandkids will like them!

Tomorrow we board the ship around lunchtime.  We sail at 4 pm local time.  I have been lead to believe the internet on board is expensive and not very good.

It is most likely there will be a major slowdown in the rate that my Blog Posts have been coming.  I have some data available to me on the phone sim I have bought so I will post when ever it suits.  This may well be few and far between.  We shall see how we go.

If I need to post from my 'tablet' when on shore in free wifi areas there will not be photos I am afraid unless I can prepare them quickly before hand.

Just about evening mealtime here so we are again off to the local La Rambla for a walk, a drink and something to eat!

And by the way, the new jeans Trish took up for me yesterday have worked out perfectly!

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A Full Day On Our Own In Barcelona

Top daily temps are around the high teens so it hasn't been what we would call warm here in Barcelona.  But it is ideal for walking around and doing touristy things, and we have sure done a lot of walking the last week or so.

Trish caught a cold a few days ago while we were on the bus tour.  She is on the road to full recovery with a minor cough nowadays from time to time.  I have done something to my big toe, it is severely bruised and is just OK.  I was wearing scuffs all day today when we walked around Barcelona for four or so hours but it is a little painful right now.

Don't ask me how I got it, I don't know!

I had a bit of a tumble in the hotel a couple days ago but didn't think I had hurt my toe then at all.  I may have stubbed it on something, I just don't know.

So this morning we headed off on the Barcelona "Metro" or underground railway for the city centre.  The hotel reception gave us great directions and we made our way into the city centre safely by underground train.

We bought a T10 ticket for around €10.  This gives us ten local zone train trips and can be used by more than one person.  That means it is around AUD$1-40 per trip per person. So it is a good deal when the taxi fare is estimated at around €15 for a one way trip into the city centre.

I was after a replacement pair of not too expensive jeans for the trousers I ripped during that tumble in Madrid a couple of days ago.  You know, there aren't any fat blokes in Spain!  Or maybe it was the store we were in but I got the biggest size they had in stock.  I also don't think they get too many older gents in their up market store to buy stuff.

And Trish just hates taking them up for me.

La Rambla was a spot in central Barcelona we had been told to visit.  It is a walking street with all sorts of happenings on the go, street performers, market stalls, pick pockets all setup especially for the tourist.

Regretfully we both agree La Rambla is not our scene!

They like to mature their ham for a long time here in this part of the world, the longer it is matured for, the more it costs.  At a 'fresh food market' they had ham for sale at €189 per kilo.  A Euro is around $1.37 Australian!  You can see the photo at the top of the page.

We will wander out for something to eat later.  Right now our hotel room resembles a Chinese Laundry.  Most locals live in apartments and we have been told that there is a laundry on each floor.  So Laundromats just don't exist here in this part of the world.

With a full day and a half still to go, the washing should dry OK before we head off on the cruise on Wednesday.  We have to be there 4 hours prior to departure so will need to get there by midday.  We will use a taxi for that trip to the cruise ship terminal.

More From Barcelona

Our hotel (which we booked ourselves) is a little lower standard than what we had enjoyed on the Insight Bus Tour we just did.  The room though comfortable isn't to the same high standard.  The Bar Fridge doesn't work properly, there are screwholes left in walls etc just to give you an inkling as to what we are referring to.

We have just returned to our room after fending for ourselves for an evening meal.  We probably should have paid that little extra and had a really good meal rather than find something less expensive.

Now to the train trip to get here.  The photo above left shows what the speed reading was soon after we departed from Madrid.  Yes, that is correct, we were doing 300kph in the train.

The countryside just flashed by.  The route was over 500k's and we did it in 2 1/2 hours.  We actually slowed down a little towards the end of the trip so as not to be early!

It was great.

Our final dinner with the tour group on Saturday Night was one to remember. The competition for tour groups must be great because I certainly don't remember as many 'included' drinks as we enjoyed on this trip.  There was a couple of nights I really enjoyed myself, (possibly too much) at the expense of the tour operator.

Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining! 

We are not sure what we are going to do about laundry.  We have some stuff to wash but when we made inquiries about a laundromat we go nowhere with one shop assistant.  Maybe the front desk will be more helpful tomorrow.

Bedtime beckons!

Back To Barcelona

A very brief update in that we have arrived back in Barcelona.  The Fast Train was an experience and when we get time we will add a photo or two.

This hotel is a part of the "Melia" chain and our first night of our tour was spent in the other (and much nicer) Melia Hotel in this city.  So when I went to turn on the laptop it thought it was at the former hotel.  It took a bit of sorting but we are in and online.

We will head out for something to eat soon and stretch the legs a little.

Monday will be a 'house keeping day' (the laundromat) and we will spend much of Tuesday in the city centre looking around.

Checkout time here is midday which is when we are due at the Cruise Ship so that sorts Wednesday out for us.

Bus Tour Comes To An End

Our final full day (Saturday) here in Madrid was a busy one.

It began with me doing myself some nasty damage with my razor blade.  It took quite a long time to get the nick to stop bleeding and got my day off to a less than satisfactory start.

While rushing down to the dining area to grab a quick cup of coffee after the bleeding slowed I missed a step and fell, ripping a pair of trousers across one knee.  I will be to shops for a replacement pair when we get some spare time in Barcelona where we are due tonight for three nights.

Yesterday Saturday was a couple of tours.  One was to the Prado (Madrid and Spain's major art gallery).  We saw some famous paintings I had only seen before in books when at school.  It was OK but this is what you get on bus tours.

From there it was to the former capital Toledo around 80ks away from Madrid.  It began as a Roman city and was built high up a rocky peak to provide protection from any enemies.  Being high up meant it had many great views but any walking was usually either up or down a hill!

The streets were narrow and being a Saturday it was busy.  A visit to a cathedral (as usual) was on the agenda but around 1/3 of us opted to wait outside and enjoy the sun on this 18º day.

The city is now spread over quite an area of land and most of it (which we didn't visit) is now outside the former Roman Town.

The views are spectacular. This view in particular was great.

We can leave the hotel at midday today for our trip to Barcelona and make our way to the train station by cab.  Our Very fast Train leaves at 2pm and travels at up to 300kph and should have is in Barcelona by 5pm. Hopefully later we will be settled in to our hotel in Barcelona for three nights.

We board our Cruise Ship at midday on Wednesday in Barcelona.  It sails at 4pm.

Also hopefully we will have access to wifi as well at the hotel in Barcelona.  It is strange watching the footy scores live right now from Australia on my phone and/or laptop.  Hopefully my footy team will improve and have a win.  The early stages of the game don't look at all promising!

In Madrid

The bus was all packed and we were on our way from Seville by 8 am.  A full day and two stops later and around 550k's on the road we are in a lovely hotel in Madrid.

On our way here we stopped for a good hour or so at Cordoba and checked out a huge church. It had been an original Moor Mosque which had been converted to a church after the Catholics took over.  It has then been extended several times.  We are churched out already but this was worth seeing.

The Cordoba bridge in the photo above is fairly new as the former Roman bridge required replacing.  By fairly new I mean 400 years!

An ice-cream break and we were on our way again, this time to a genuine Spanish old style winery after a bite to eat at a wayside stop.  Again this was interesting as well.  The wine tasting was of some grapes I have never heard of before.

Our arrival in Madrid and a 5 star hotel happened around 6pm.

Then we went out for a lovely dinner (for which we had to pay) and a night tour around Madrid.  Despite being well after 10pm the city's squares were full of people heading out to eat and enjoy.  I am not an opera fan but during our delightful dinner we were entertained by two emerging opera singers.  I didn't mind what we heard but only in smaller doses.  It was excellent.

Today we visit the local art gallery "The Prado" and then we visit the old capital Toledo.

A farewell dinner all together tonight and then people will head their different ways tomorrow.

We head to Barcelona by the Fast Train, 3 hours for a 500k train trip after a midday check out.

We are in Barcelona  for 3 nights.  I am not sure what the internet access will be so this may be one of the last posts for a while.  However we will try to keep Instagram and Facebook pages going.

We will just have to wait and see.

A Day In Seville

We awoke on Thursday to cloudy skies and some drizzle.  After putting the previous blog post online it was then down to breakfast (or really an early day feast) then on the bus for an 'included tour' of some gardens and the third largest Cathedral in the world.

This is the usual fare you get dished up on this kind of tour.

We hopped on the bus with umbrellas in hand.  Actually we never needed the umbrellas for the rest of the day as the weather improved throughout to finish up a sunny 25º mid afternoon.

Our first stop was to a huge building almost 100 years old which housed an early Spanish Exhibition.  It was a nice enough building and worth seeing.  You can check it out in the photo above left.

We had been warned of the gypsies and I was disappointed it took three purposeful walks past them before I was approached!  I escaped safely.

Then it was onto a 'Garden Walk".  This sort of title does worry me.  We had plants and tree types recited to us but eventually finished near the "Old Quarter" of Seville known as Santa Cruz.  There was some interest here but not a lot.

We were however soaking up just what Seville is (or has been) and getting a real feel for the place.

The photo is allegedly the house where a section of the Don Giovanni Opera was set.

The final leg of the walk was to third largest church in the world.  Having toured Europe before, this was not a section of the walk that I was looking ward to.

However, after the usual 'guff' we did see where Christopher Columbus was buried.  This made the whole thing worth while.

As we had decided not to do the extra tour during Thursday afternoon we returned to the hotel.  Later we set out on foot locally for some lunch and a possible drink.

We finished up in a little cafe type thing where the drinks were exceptionally inexpensive.  We had calamari for lunch and all for around $12 which did not include the drinks but did include a tip!  As we are not heading out with the group again tonight we will return and eat there again it was such good value.

Being Spain the evening meal eating time will be after 8pm.

In a store similar to Myers we spotted a 1 litre bottle of Johnny Walker Red Label on special for a fraction under 15 Euros.  That is under AUD $21 for 1 litre and is close to the 'normal' shelf price or thereabouts in Spain.  I can buy a 500ml can of beer from the supermarket here for 80cents (around $1-20 Australian).

As the old saying says, the more you drink, the more you save.

Trish is weathering her cold fairly well.  She is putting on a brave face but all will improve from here on.

This time next week we will be on our cruise!

Seville

Now Flamenco dancing doesn't do much for me and when I saw there was a Flamenco Dancing Show along with a dinner it wasn't immediately highlighted by me as a 'must see'.

But it was really great.  It appears the very best Flamenco dancers in the world were appearing as they were recording a TV Special the evening we were there.

So that was great. The show was exciting and some of those guys can really dance the Flamenco.  Trish loved it.

It was raining as we entered Seville for a two night stopover.  Trish has a bit of a cold so we grabbed some cold tablets for her to try to nip it in the bud.  She feels pretty good and the cold isn't slowing her down.

It appears there is a conference on as well so the hotel is booked out.  Also there are so many trying to access the 'free' wifi I only found I could get online this morning.

We began yesterday under grey skies in Granada where we had a three hour wander through the streets of an older Moorish section of the city.  When the catholics took over in 1592 ALL Muslims and Jews were forced to become Christians or they were to leave Spain.

Many converted but still retained their former belief.  They used designs etc on their homes to convince locals they were Christian.  We were shown all these tell tale signs.

The photo shows a snow covered mountain and Alhambra across the gully taken during the walk.  The photo does not do the sight justice I am afraid.  It was a spectacular view.

We finished the tour at where Isabella and Ferdinand, the creators of modern Spain were buried.  It was they who commissioned Columbus to sail and return with all the riches of the New World.

This morning (Thursday) is a bus tour of the highlights of the city of Seville and this afternoon is optional tour that we are not doing.  A quiet day won't go astray. Yesterday weather was a mixture but fine weather around 20 degrees is expected today and even warmer tomorrow for the trip to Madrid.

Our accommodation remains 1st class! And hopefully the Cold Tablets will get Trish back to100% again quickly.

Wednesday Morning In Granada

Another thing I have remembered about touring is don't drink too much red wine the night before. I have woken a little early this morning and we have an extra hour sleep in so thought putting a post online would be a good idea.

The drive yesterday was almost 600k's and we had the front seat via the seat rotation process they do on this sort of bus trip.  It is around 6:30 am here and a quick look outside indicates the rain which was expected for today has arrived. Hopefully it will be showery and not full on rain.

Yesterday (Tuesday) we travelled along the southern Spanish Coast by several 'resort' cities.  See the photo above left. From the road they resemble other versions of the Gold Coast with hi rise towers everywhere.  These are filled to overflowing with holiday makers from all over Europe during the summer months.  They are the much hyped summer holiday in Spain to get the sunshine and the warmth.

The scenery from the coach varied from almost barren to some low covered tree areas into mountains, some with snow still on the top.

Upon our arrival in Granada we immediately set off to visit an old walled city built by the Moors called Alhambra from around the 1500's.  It was eventually taken by Ferdinand and Isabella back into Spanish hands and the Catholic Church.

It was a lengthy walk at the end of a tiring day.  I baulked at one section of the walk electing to wait while the others went on and visited the Summer Palace and the surrounding Gardens.

I had a good chat with an American guy who used to be with the U.N. and had served a post in Pakistan.

Below is a photo taken from the Moor Palace over looking a residential section of Granada.

Last night we had a dinner with drinks supplied early in the night by the tour operator.  The bottle of red wine with our meal was possibly a little too much.

We are warned to beware of Gypsies in this part of the world.  This morning we have a visit to a 'typical' older Spanish town this morning before setting off for Seville another 250k's away.

This is the last of our one night only hotel stops.

I think everyone will be pleased about that.  We have 2 nights in Seville and then 2 nights in Madrid before going by train back to Barcelona for three nights prior to the cruise.

This doing a bus tour can be tiring and full on!

Valencia

It has been a 'travel' day today.  We have gone well over 250k's from Barcelona to Valencia. And there won't be enough time to give you every little insight into what has happened.

Our first stop was a seaside resort called Peniscola.  Don't try to pronounce ot because it doesn't come out that way in Spanish.  This is just row after row of Holiday Units on the Mediterranean.

It has wide sandy beaches and a castle which featured in the movie all those years ago called El Cid. (middle photo)

The sand was like what we would find on Northern Queensland beaches.  Not the grainy wonderful sand of the Sunshine Coast but sand which with a little help would be come mud.

We enjoyed Calamari Roman for lunch before hitting the road again for Valencia.

Valencia is a much smaller city than Barcelona.  It is a one night only destination so quite rushed, just like this post.  I much prefer Valencia to Barcelona.

It was great sitting back in the City Square enjoying the 20 degree sunshine and soaking up the atmosphere.

(Bottom Photo)

Tonight we are all out for Paella for our evening meal.

I will let the photos tell the story.

Tomorrow is another long drive day for a one night stay in Granada.

I also have photos on Instagram (Thomfam90)

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Barcelona

I suspect it is Sunday here.  Our bodies are not sure just yet.  The clock says 10:45am but it is closer to 6pm real body time.

We have arrived safely and met the others in our tour group.  We enjoyed a meal of "tapas" all together last night.  Needless to say it was easy to get to sleep last night.  We did wake fairly early as my body was telling me I needed my anti reflux tablets around 1:30 this morning..

The hotel is great and we are taking today quietly.  We stay in Barcelona again tonight so no need to pack etc.  But tomorrow it is bags at 6 am, breakfast at 7 and in the bus by 8 to set off.

Today's breakfast was amazing in the range of foods they had.  The coffee was extremely good!

This morning we took a quick walk around the environs around the hotel.  The streets here are extremely broad with these huge areas to walk down in the middle of some of them. See the photo above. The walk helped to stretch our legs after over 20 hours in economy class in aeroplanes.

A little of my anxiety returned last night but a couple of tablets and all was fine again.

Shortly we head off on a tour of the city and again we have free time after 3pm.  We fend for ourselves for a meal later on.

It didn't take long to work out 1 Euro equates to around AUD $1-40.  Alcohol from the Supermarket isn't expensive.

My email program doesn't like me accessing emails from Europe and I was temporarily locked out of some accounts until I put in a code.  My android yahoo address wanted to send a message to my mobile phone number to re activate it.  My mobile number doesn't work in Spain! Now my yahoo address is on my phone.

Having good wifi via the hotel is handy.  Except I think it made a mistake with the Geelong Fremantle footy scores this morning, or at least I hope it has made a mistake! All our hotels on the tour have free wifi.  And there is wifi on the bus as well we are told.

We are both well but looking forward to getting ourselves into sync with the time zone

On Our Way

I write this from Dubai airport.  We have just completed a 14 hour direct flight from Brisbane. We got a little sleep.  The plane was full so there was no space to stretch out.  The time at home right now is almost 12.30 but here in Dubai it is almost 6.30am.

I just saw that WCE won easily and the next game starts in an hour or so your time.

We will be in the air on our way to Barcelona.

We are due in Barcelona just after lunch their time where we are to be met and taken to our hotel. There is a welcome dinner on tonight and the 9 day bus tour gets underlay tomorrow.

We are both looking forward to a good night's  sleep before our Spain tour gets underway.

What a Day

The internet went off around 8:30 this morning and still isn't back on.  I have used my phone's hotspot to get on the net now.

We are due to be collected shortly by friends and driven to Brisbane Airport (see left).  We should be there in tons of time and be able to book in and then wait for our 9pm flight.

The Community Association has had a few hassles today as well and I can only communicate via my phone email or whenever I hotspot the phone for a wireless connection. These are now someone else's problems.

Suitcases are organised, medications take up a fair bit of space at our time of life, the add on drive has been updated and stored in a safe spot for the trip.

The shed outside is locked, the garden furniture stacked and the rubbish bins sorted.  I even got around to someone's place this morning for a quick 30 minute computer update.

The pool filter has been cleaned, keys passed on to neighbours and my final chore will be turn off the power to my PC etc and the TV and other equipment in the lounge room.

Our Pay TV has gone into holiday mode and will cost us $5 per month.

Windows are still to be locked and blinds drawn.  The beer fridge has been restocked with beer and soft drink and the second car is again parked in our driveway so it looks like someone is home.

In other words we are ready to go.

And with the internet being off all today, rest assured when we return from our trip our thomfam90@intenode.on.net email address will be retired!  I have no choice but to swap providers I am afraid.

Hopefully there will be enough places where I can get internet and update the blog.

I now look forward to 14 hours to Dubai, a 3 hour lay over and a final 5 or 6 hours into Barcelona.

I will be in touch!

One More Sleep To Go

It is Thursday morning and we really have the best part of two full days still to go before we depart our home around 4pm for Brisbane Airport and our flight to Barcelona, via Dubai.

I left the teaching service all those years ago following a stress related illness.  Once you have had an episode the stress illness lurks within you for the rest of your life.

Something quite minor can set it off again while something which you suspect could set it off passes you by without any problem.

I have been to my Chiro several times with a very sore shoulder and each time she has endeavoured to fix it only for the pain to return a day or so later.

Then the 'tension attack' struck yesterday. I awoke around 4 am hot and sweaty and feeling quite strange.  It lasted for an hour or so until I began to feel better again.  I had experienced a relatively minor re visit of my stress related illness.  I took my regular tablets and a muscle relaxant I have.  I even dozed off again later as I recovered. However when I did get up and dressed, I felt quite washed out.

I am sure that once I get to the airport all will be fine again.

We managed a quick trip to our GP who suggested my painful shoulder was most likely caused by tension.  I am now on some very light medication.  My shoulder still hurts a little bit but I just don't care! I again feel I am in control.

It was a weird feeling!

So the bags are almost packed, final washing of sheets etc is being completed and the fridge is being emptied of stuff that won't last the couple of months we are away.

Once we arrive in Barcelona on Saturday afternoon we head off first thing Sunday morning on our 9 day tour of Spain.  We have some basic internet access on the bus so we will be able to receive and send emails. Hopefully there will times when we have free internet access at different spots all along our trip.

We are both taking our phones.  I will remove my SIM card when we board the plane and only use it on wifi.  We have a travel sim which Trish will have in her phone.  Hopefully we can work out how to set it up when we are away.

As well a our phones we are both taking our "computer tablets" and Trish's laptop.  So we should be well served electronically while away.  Our black spot will most likely be on the 24 day cruise.  Kate and Arj have excellent internet so we will be back and fully online when there.

I now have some more packing to do.

Getting Closer

Needless to say I didn't enjoy watching my footy team get a belting on Monday afternoon.  It could be a good time for me to go to Europe for 2 months and get away from the footy!

We have had a couple of warm days and I have managed a couple of bike rides the last two mornings.  The weather forecast is talking about 15º as an overnight temperature in the next few days and this is a real change from what we have been getting.  The pool was mid 20's this morning but still quite pleasant for a swim after the ride.

The quilt will get another run soon I would guess as the weather begins to cool off a little as we head into winter.

Despite a couple of trips to the Chiro, my left shoulder has been aching recently.  Hopefully today's trip to see her and the huge crack my back made will provide me with some relief.

I had a No. 3 haircut yesterday, a little shorter than usual but hoping to last a full two months!  And the height adjustment on the lawn mower went down a notch yesterday.  The one notch lower meant a whole extra catcher full of grass clippings.

Trish is off to the hairdresser this afternoon.

I will get my suitcase out later today and ready to commence packing.

I have handed over the Community Association website and Facebook Page to someone else to do.

It is getting busy!

Drizzle Again This Morning

The dampish weather continues. Though I did plan to get up early this morning, do a bottling and then have a bike ride.  But soon after I began the bottling, the steady drizzly rain began from overcast skies.  It was quite sunny yesterday with a top in the low 30's.

Very high humidity is a feature of the weather the last few days.  The bike ride didn't happen this morning but I will hopefully give the pool a vacuum when there is a break in the weather. More showers are expected throughout the day.

We are off to a luncheon today to celebrate the 60 years of marriage between our very good neighbours, Edna and Brian.  However it should not be a long and extended lunch as I guess the family will adjourn to continue the celebrations. We will return home and watch some more of the footy on TV.

The BBQ lunch on Friday at Ian and Kerrie's was great.  I always manage to get out of the driving so I wasn't encumbered by a need to be careful with my drinking.  However it wasn't a 'huge' day for me as far as the drinks go but it was extremely enjoyable.

On Friday afternoon we did get our email from Kate saying "Skype?" which we did again via the Skype App on Trish's phone despite being out at Kerrie and Ian's home.  Some of the others popped over to where Trish was talking and said Hi as well.

Right now Kate, Arj and family are enjoying their school holidays and are in Sri Lanka for a week.

I have bought my self a new toy. It is this retractable garden hose which you can see in the photo above.  With the very small backyard as we have, this sort of thing was a handy way to just be able to pull out the hose and then have itself wind up and be put away almost on its own accord.  They have been relatively expensive to buy though and I was having problems justifying spending around a $100 on a garden hose.

This one was on special at under $40 and has a 20m length of hose.  Now I have it setup the quality of the hose itself isn't great and I wouldn't want to be regularly extending it to the full 20m.  Our little backyard is only 10m across so I reckon it will suit our needs just perfectly.

I am not sure how the harsh semi tropical sun will treat the plastics over time either!

There is plenty of footy on TV over the weekend and we are beginning to look at packing as well.

So there is plenty to keep us occupied.

Kim seems to have settled well into Perth W.A. for her new position.  She is so excited by the challenge and is looking forward to it enormously.  Kate had nowhere to leave her cat when they went overseas so Kim took it on.  We are pleased to say the cat survived the flight to Perth and is enjoying living in a house where she can now get outside again!

Kim is renting the St Kilda unit out. She and Trish had a long talk on the phone yesterday and we caught up with most of the gossip!

7 Sleeps To Go!

Things are getting closer and closer prior to our trip away to Europe and Saudi Arabia. 

You can download a pdf of our Itinerary HERE.

We have had around 6" (150mls) of rain the last three days!  Much has come in extremely heavy showers lasting an hour or so.  Today is sunny and extremely humid as you can imagine after all that rainfall.  Despite the current sunny conditions, there are still a lot of very dark thick clouds about.

So some more forecast rain is not far off.

But I managed to get my bottles washed this morning and shortly I am off to do some work for the Community Association.  Then it is home and out to friends Kerrie and Ian for lunch and drinks!

I bought a hang on the wall retractable hose yesterday.  I am not convinced it is a good buy though the price was excellent.  I came with bolts to attach it to a brick wall, I was planning on attaching it to the fence.  However the dimensions of the fence poles do not fit the dimensions of the wall bracket.

We will give it a go and see how it works.  I need a 'click hose connector' to finish the job properly and being Good Friday, nothing is open!

I haven't ridden for several days nor have I braved a swim in the pool.  With more rain forecast I probably won't get a swim or ride for the next few days.

The footy is back on TV so that is one saving fact for this weekend. And there is Computer Club in the morning!

A Soggy Easter!

And an even soggier Wednesday!  As I made my cup of coffee this morning around 6am I checked that we had around 12mls of most welcome rain overnight.

It is now 8:30 am and I have just returned from removing the 'high water' plug from the pool's skimmer box just before the pool began to overflow.

Trish offered to take a photo of me out there which I politely declined because of what I was (or more accurately wasn't) wearing!  I am pleased to say the plug has been removed allowing the water to escape more quickly!

At 7:30am this morning there were 27mls of overnight rainfall in total in the rain gauge as I emptied it. Now, just an hour later, there is another 67mls in the gauge. That is over 80mls of rainfall in around an hour!

Now just a few minutes later the rain has eased considerably which should allow much of the water to get away ..... I hope!

Rain is expected to hang around till after Easter.  This isn't god news for the Sunshine Coast as one of the state's premier holiday destinations.

I did manage a bike ride yesterday morning but not this morning.  We continue to get our heads around the fact we head off overseas for two months in around 10 days.  Our thoughts are swinging to what to pack, getting medicines ready etc.  Our day to day program has quietened off quite a deal.  Now it is more 'steady as she goes'.

We are trying not to think too much about the 14 hour flight from Brisbane to Dubai, the first leg of our trip away.

My downloading has shifted to a quieter mode.  Several series I have been getting have now been discarded, I would probably not have watched them anyway.

Trish is at Stitchers this morning and if the weather clears, I may pop around to mate's place later and help him out with some PC stuff.

My back is a little tender right now and I am trying to protect it as much as possible until it settles down following a trip to the Chiro on Monday.  It improves daily!

I have updated the rainfall chart (HERE).