Author Archives: Bill

Our pick up was due at the hotel at 0825, and lo and behold there he was. It was rush hour so we took a back route to the airport that was interesting, we saw a part of Malta that we hadn’t seen. It appears that the Maltese authorities have changed regulations private taxis areContinue reading “1104 – We return home – Part one”

The ship docked at Valletta early, and we had to be out of the cabin by 0800. That wasn’t a problem we’re prepared and headed up to breakfast. Whilst we had access to the ships facilities for as long as we needed our transfer to the hotel wasn’t due until 1130 and as were weightedContinue reading “1103 – Our last full day”

Katakolo on the western main coast of Greece was Azura’s last port of call before our return to Malta and then home. We had a visit booked to see the site of the first Olympic village. Ok, that does it a massive injustice. Olympia the mountain is the home of the Greek gods, and isContinue reading “1102 – Katakolo & Olympia”

Oh Dear. We’ve just been going through what we have done over the course of our holiday and I was looking at my blog and I suddenly realised there was no post that had covered our visit to Ville Franche. I knew that I had written something but it was not where it needed toContinue reading “1101 (out of sequence) Monte Carlo & Monaco (Monte Carlo or bust)”

Yesterday afternoon, we could have gone ashore in Heraklion but decided against it and instead watched a Mission Impossible film (Fallout if you must know) before going to dinner. I think it’s number six in the series. We had only got to Number 3 at home, so we are a bit out of sequence. OhContinue reading “1100 – Heraklion, Knossos & Greek Society”

The transit across the various seas between Malta and Greece, the Aegean & Ionian mainly have had a deep low pressure area hanging over them these last few days. The captain of Azura, Neil Turnbull, has made no bones about it likely to be a bit rough. As it turns out, nowhere near as badContinue reading “1099 – Athens & Stormy weather”

Here we are at the end of one stage of the holiday, and the beginning of another. Today being marked by a stop over in Valletta. We are going to be here slightly longer than expected which means we can take a look at our plans. It turns out that there is a problem withContinue reading “1098 – Mdina & Valletta”

You’ll gather from the intermittent posting that my connection to the internet is also exactly that. To be honest, I refuse to pay the ridiculous rates that they want to charge on board, so I’m afraid I’m dependent upon when I get a good phone signal. You’ll also notice that I have completely given upContinue reading “1097 – Intermission”

On then to Civitaveccia the port that gives access to Rome. Another early rising, and the coach for a two hour drive to Rome. We were booked to go into the Colosseum. You can probably imagine that we were a bit concerned after we read a newspaper report a couple of weeks ago about theContinue reading “1096 – Rome, Gladiators, Senators, tourists and traffic – oh yes, the traffic.”

From the port of Livorno, we could have headed for Florence & Pisa, but we have done both of these before, a few years ago, I had the typical picture of me trying to hold up the leaning tower. I must admit I fancied the idea of try to get one pushing it over. Instead,Continue reading “1095 – Sienna and st Gimmignano”