Cagliari Sardinia Day 4

Is the capital of the island of Sardinia, a region of Italy and literally means castle.  It is an ancient city with a long history.  It occupies a favorable position with the sea (a natural port) at the front, with fertile plains behind and high green mountains behind that.  It has a swamp to either side making it very easy to defend and the people could escape to the green mountains if all else failed.  It was established about the seventh century BC under the name of Karalis as one of a string of Phoenician colonies in Sardinia.  With its excellent port and being ideally situated for communication with with Africa, it was doubtlessly prized by the Romans under their occupation during 238 BC.

In 1943 the island was taken control of by the German army and was subsequently heavily bombed by the allies.  This caused the Germans to retreat and Cagliari was taken by the American army.  This was strategically an important position during the war and is still currently a NATO airbase.  After the war, the population of Cagliari rebounded and many apartment blocks were built often with very poor planning lacking recreational areas.  The city is currently undergoing large scale redevelopments with a metro system, museum, modern art gallery,  stadium, aquarium and amphitheater being build where the old apartment buildings used to be.  Cagliari has already become Italy’s greenest city.

The main beach is Poetto, a stretch of 8 km which is still relatively unspoilt by tourism.  The old part of the city lies on top of a hill were the castle is with most of its city walls still intact.  This overlooks the Gulf of Cagliari (also called Angels Gulf).  Cagliari is twinned with Buenos Aires in Argentina and Pisa in Italy.

Last night we had the Captains dinner and had to dress up with a jacket and tie for a formal meal.  We left port really early yesterday at about 1pm because its a long way from Majorca to Sardinia.  This meant that we no longer had any mobile phone reception so I couldn't phone my mum to found out how dad was.

 

He had been ill for a little while and his doctor had taken him off of two of his drugs and arranged for a blood test Monday and a visit back to see him on Tuesday so it was important that I rang mum late on Tuesday after his visit.  We are one hour ahead of England so I couldn’t use my mobile and tried our cabin phone.  I had read the paperwork and although it is expensive at about £7.50 a minute or part minute to phone England I needed to anyway.  I couldn’t get it to work o rang the reception for instructions.  You have to ring 36 then 011 then 44 then the STD code, then the phone number, wait for a double beep, then dial the last 4 digits from your Costa card, then your 4 digit room number.  She told me not to wait for too long because they start charging you after 30 seconds if you have a connection or not.  I tried loads of times without success.

 

We arrived in Sardinia at about 11pm local time which it 10am English time today.  I switched my mobile on to ring mum but I already had 3 messages saying that he had been taken into hospital at around 11.45am Tuesday morning; they hadn’t even managed to get to the doctors.  Mum was having real trouble getting him ready for the doctors and once she realized that he was incapable of driving, she phoned Joan, her next door neighbor before they moved.  Joan came around to help mum and to take them to the doctors.  When Joan saw dad she realized tht he was in no condition to travel and so rang his doctor instead.  The doctor had his results and immediately rang an ambulance to take him to Leicester hospital.  The ambulance turned up at about 11.30am and took mum and dad to Leicester hospital.  They had to wait as there were no beds available.  They were given no food or even a drink.  They finally admitted him at 10pm to a bed.  Mum sorted his things out and then had to get a taxi back to Melton Mowbray.

Of course, mum still doesn't really know what is wrong with him.  The doctor told her that from his blood tests he had something wrong with his kidneys and his liver.  I guess that by the time she visits him today (Wednesday) at 2pm to 4pm she will find out.  Joan’s car is in the garage today, but she has asked her nurse friend for a lift to the hospital.  The nurse, Joan and mum will all visit together.  So they wont get home until at least 5pm and we will have already left port before she gets home.  I have emailed Harriet and hope that she will find out for us and can email me back to find out.

 

Dad is really not very well.  The other day their electric had tripped and the consumer unit is in the garage.  Dad went out to reset it, and I guess he forgot why he was there before he arrived.  Mum said he came back in the house shivering without any clothes on and they still had no electric.  Mum went out, tripped the switch back on and retrieved his clothes.  It sounds like some form of dementia but as its happened so quickly we are guessing that it is some form of bacterial infection that is affecting him.  All his troubles have escalated so quickly, there has been no gradual deterioration.

 

Anyway, I will keep you informed when we find anything out.  We arrived in Sardinia at about 11am to rain and overcast skies.  Its a shame because Sardinia is the only place on our cruise that we have never been to.  We decided against any of the tours or even the shuttle bus because of the weather and other things.  We didn’t even manage to get down to breakfast this morning.  Good job they supply a bowl of fresh fruit in our room everyday.

 

By about 11.30am we were starving and decided to try the buffet food on the 9th deck.  There were about 5 different canteen style counters all serving food but it was absolutely packed out and was a proper bun fight.  We couldn’t face it and didn’t fancy, pizza or burgers anyway and opted for a drink in Ricky’s piano bar instead while we waited for ours to open.

 

The thing that we don’t like about lunch is that they normally put us on a large table to share with others.  I know it sounds anti-social but we both prefer our own company when it comes to meal times.  We are both very social for drinks times but not so when food is around.  I wanted to try and sit in our dinner table for two but the waiter guided us to a table of his choice.  As it turned out, it was close to our table anyway, so I asked if we could sit there and he agreed.  I was so hungry that I had four courses this time while Claire had three.  My extra course was a lovely seafood linguini.

Having more time on our hands we explored our ship to find all the pools and whirlpools on the top decks.  They also have a nice gym and we got the girl from the spa to show us around their facilities.  I’m not trying to get the correct text with the correct photo today so you will have to make your own story up.

 

This afternoon we intend to spend in our cabin reading which will give us a chance to drink our complimentary champagne at the same time.  I will give you an update, if possible tomorrow which is our last proper day in Palermo Sicily.

 

Palma de Mallorca Day 3

Palma de Mallorca is both the capital city of Majorca and the capital of the Balearic Islands in Spain.  Almost half the population of Majorca live in Palma making it the twelfth largest urban area in Spain.

Palma was founded as a Roman camp on the remains of a Talaiotic settlement.  Talaiots are Bronze age megaliths on the islands of Minorca and Majorca that look a bit like a castle turret.

Again, Antoni Gaudi was drafted onto the island for some of the architecture, in particular, the restoration of the cathedral La Seu which was originally build on a previous mosque site.  The old city (behind the cathedral) is a fascinating maze of streets clearly hinting towards its Arab past.

When we went to dinner, we both had wine every time it was offered but I poured mine into Claire’s glass while she poured her water into mine.  I really like dinner as we have our usual table with our usual waiter that looks after us and we have a different view every day.  No 5 star hotel can offer you that.

As I was ill last night we had a cabin night and we looked for a movie.  We have quite a few channels but as far as I can see only two in English other than the ones telling you about the trips etc or the ship webcams.  However, they do have a pay as you go movie channel.  The first one I looked at was Argo which we had missed at the cinema so it was great to catch up when I felt ill.  Before we went for our meal we had a quick water and wine in our local where they had a couple of guys playing music; very sophisticated.  Every day we get a small newspaper delivered to our cabin, just like we did in the QM2 but without the news.  This one only tells you of the days activities onboard and off board excursions without the world news.  But still nice and we look forward to it as there is nothing negative.

 

We had quite a rough crossing from Barcelona to Majorca.  We were pitching, yawing and ‘rocking and a rollin’.  This made everything quite noisy.  The structure was creaking under the strain, it sounded like a door kept opening and closing but worst of all, it sounded like we had a football under our bed.  It kept hitting the 4 sides making a slightly different tone on each side.  Sometimes it would be quite rhythmic but mostly quite chaotic.  It felt like we needed a rim around our bed to stop us sliding off.  Claire slept quite well until about 3.30am when she put the light on and started looking where all the noises were coming from.  Too late, I already tried that while she was asleep.  She then couldn’t sleep so started reading her Kindle under the covers.  The whole quilt seemed to light up like a light bulb.  Its odd that when we went on the QM2 we never had a rocky journey like that and it was the same time of year but in the Atlantic ocean.  I guess being on the back corner of the boat, amplifies your movements as the boat will rock from its center of gravity near the middle.

 

We arrived into port before breakfast today.  It started out looking like a lovely day but clouds have started to gather over the city.  Again, it doesn’t look like we are far away from the city but we know from yesterday that looks can be deceiving.

By the time we had docked, the clouds had started to gather around the city and it felt cooler.  I still decided to walk in my shorts and sandals.  I had no choice really as my feet were buggered from my new shoes the day before.

 

The shuttle worked well for us at €7 each as we were there in no time and could see the sights immediately rather than walking for an hour or more to even get there.  By this time the sun seemed to have burned off the clouds that formed earlier.

  

As both of us suddenly needed the toilet, we almost came back very early to go back in our room.  Luckily Claire is an expert at finding a toilet.  We hit the equivalent of their Harrods, but I can’t remember what its called now.

 

Once we felt relieved we were much happier wandering and I felt that the old town was to our left so that’s the way we went.

 

In no time flat we discovered the old walls surrounding the city and an advertisement for Miro and Picasso at the Modern Art Museum.  To start with I thought that it was just an advert and the museum would be miles away.  It wasn’t, it was right in front of us, so I talked Claire into going inside to see.  It was €4.50 each but the downstairs was closed.  I asked it they had Picasso and Miro upstairs before I paid her the money.

They only had a few Miro paintings but lots of drawings.  I think he was from the Catalan area of Spain but lived in Majorca for a short time, but not too certain.

 

However, when we got to the Picasso floor, it was pathetic; all they had was a few painted plates.  I couldn’t care less.  I guess that he painted them for a present for a friend or something; what a con.

Never mind, Claire didn’t want to spend all day in there anyway.  We headed outside and they have plenty of sculptures.  Most of them are going rusty but in some way I thought this added something.

 

The actual museum is fabulous, a modern glass building built right into the old city walls; I love it.  I guess that it was more important to them to get the building and location right to tempt people in rather than their contents.  Never mind, I’m really glad we found it.

There are some amazing sculptures around town, far to many to include them all in this short blog; maybe I will get space for a few more in my end of month report.  I liked this one; the upside down building but it made me think that they are in a cyclone zone.

Not quite sure what this building was but it looked so perfect framed by the palm trees and the sun had really come back with a vengeance by this time.  This is my sort of shot, I love it.

 

Barcelona Day 2

Barcelona is Spain’s second largest city after Madrid and the capital of Catalonia.  It is also the largest metropolis on the Mediterranean Sea.  Founded as a Roman city in 15 BC centered on a military camp on the “Mons Taber”, a little hill where the city hall is located now.

The Barri Gotic (Gothic Quarter) is the centre of the old city of Barcelona.  Many of the buildings date between the Roman and medieval periods.  Catalan modernista architecture (Art Nouveau) developed between 1885 and 1950 can be seen throughout the city.  The most famous architectural work by Antoni Gaudi and listed world heritage sites.  His most famous but unfinished church of the Sagrada Familia, which has been under construction since 1882 is finally expected to be finished in 2026.

Barcelona contains seven beaches, totaling 4.5 km of coastline listed as number one in a list of top ten city beaches in the world by National Geographic and Discovery Channel.  These seven beaches are split by the Olympic Harbor which lies at the end of the famous street, “La Rambla”.

The open top bus rides are worth a try in Barcelona as there are three overlapping routes which you can hop on and off as you wish.  Because of the size and complexity of the city, plan your route beforehand to ensure you get time to visit the places that interest you.

It turned out that you have to log onto and purchase your wi-fi each time you use it.  Its €10 for one hour plus €3 for each purchase.  You can reuse your time if you log out.  I will but 3 hours in a minute but cant remember how much it is.

We had a great sleep last night in our Queen sized bed and the gentle sway of the waves.  We awoke to blue skies and what looked like a very nice day.  Breakfast was ok but it couldn’t be compared with the QM2, whereas the dinner was comparable.  It was mainly buffet style which created a bit of a “bunfight” atmosphere.  You could order from a menu but service was very slow.  It was almost impossible to get a cup of tea as they are so geared up for coffee, but I guess that’s understandable.  I still enjoyed it but it wasn’t 5 star.

As most of the trips are about €49 and above we opted to take a walk into Barcelona.  Big mistake when you are wearing new shoes.  We were at terminal D which is the last one and we had to walk miles to even get to the bridge to the mainland.  The bridge was literally miles across to the mainland and when we eventually got there we had miles to walk to the start of La Ramblas.  So all together we had to walk miles x 3 both ways.

La Ramblas is miles as well so we didn’t walk its entire length and my feet were killing me and I needed the toilet.  We thought about siting down and buying a coffee but then thought again.  We have lovely coffee on board ship and I am going to try a Caribbean coffee (with rum) while Claire wants an Irish coffee.  And its all on our all inclusive card.

I worked it out today, and we have already broken even going all inclusive in just 24 hours so effectively we have the rest of the week free.  Got to go down for our coffee’s now, see you tomorrow in Palma De La Majorca.  Also an update for the rest of today; I think it will make sense for me to publish at lunch time each day rather than in the evening when our time is more precious.  Remember, we are All Inclusive!  Boy, did they make a mistake and we haven't even had time to drink our welcome champagne yet.  Kenneth, our cabin boy (it should have been Roger), keeps filling up our ice bucket twice a day and he even tidies up after us.  He must be after a good tip.

I had a nightmare with the internet, its €24 for 3 hours plus €3 registration fee and once you have paid it you can hardly use it.  The only way that I could get pictures on was to edit them to below 256K otherwise it would freeze up.  I hate paying good money for crap service.

Lunch was a s good as dinner, a proper sit down where you order what you want from a menu.  We noticed another course, cheese and you can still have a desert if you have this course.  We didn’t get a very good seat though; Its really cosmopolitan here and they plonked a French couple right next to us.  If that’s not bad enough, he started sneezing and coughing through his entire meal.  I leant away from him as much as I could but that wouldn’t stop the millions of bacteria and viruses spread throughout the room, some of which would be certain to land on my meal.  By the time he left, I had already started sneezing myself and as the day gets longer I feel worse and worse.  Constant nose run and I feel like I have a temperature coming on.  All those courses at dinner and all I could manage was a soup without a roll.  I felt so poorly I was in my jim-jams by 7.45 with my bottle of water and a toilet roll.

On our first day, we had the obligatory safety meeting where they try to sell all the excursions.  It was quite funny though, as quite a few people turned up with their safety vests on and the lady stressed so much how none of the staff would leave before all the passengers had and that the captain would be the last one off.  Our meeting point is not far from our room and there are enough lifeboats to seat everyone. Thats as long as there are no Bengal Tigers aboard.

Tomorrow, we arrive at Palma and its not a long trip as we didn’t leave Barcelona until 8pm.  Sorry this is a bit disjointed, but I am not writing it all in one go.  I’m doing a bit here and there, as I can and then, very quickly going online, once a day to load stuff on to try and preserve my precious wi-fi time.  Its a bit of a trek to visit a bar from our room to get a drink, you have to go up and down lifts as you cannot walk through along each deck.  Claire just arrived back with some drinks and she has left her Costa card at the bar so she has to go all the way back again.  Never mind, at least she can bring 

some more drinks while she is there.