I'm still feeling quite miserable with a cough I simply cannot shake; it has been there at various levels of nasty for the whole trip. I got a pharmacist on Elba to sell me some cough medicine which only vaguely helped. I've tried again here in Canterbury so we'll have to see how it goes. The worst thing is that it's worse when I'm in air conditioning, so for example on the flight yesterday I had a horrible attack of coughing, and same last night here in the hotel (and unlike many hotels in England, this is a new building with windows that don't open). I really hope that this latest lot of medicine helps. Part of the problem of course is that I'm now taking blood pressure medication which means I can't take any of the pseudo-ephedrine based medication. Well, I could, but I shouldn't.
Anyway, today was our day for seeing the nearby sights of Canterbury.
First we went to the Cathedral, which is simply amazing.
Then, we went to the Roman Museum- a really interesting place set up around an old Roman mosaic that they found buried well below the current street level. However, as well as the mosaic there are lots of other finds and some really interesting explanations. We were part way through the museum when we saw a man talking to some people about the artifacts, and we both recognised him instantly - Mark Corney who has appeared on Time Team on quite a few occasions. Turns out he does a lot of tour guide work and it's somewhat disappointing that I didn't know this; the short tour he is currently running co-incides exactly with our stay in Canterbury and would have been really, really interesting. And, once I started looking further into the tour web site I realised that there are a number of future ones that we would really really like to do. So much for retirement!
Anyway, back to Canterbury today.
We had also hoped to see the Canterbury Heritage Centre, but it opens 'seasonally' and this isn't the season :-(
Then we wandered off to find the Norman Castle but became side-tracked by the Westgate. This is the only remaining old gate into the city, all the others have been destroyed over time. The view of Canterbury from the tower is quite interesting, and there is also a small display of militaria. The tower was also used as a prison for a long time, and some of the old areas of the prison are set up with information about that part of its history. For the admission price this was quite an interesting place and I was really sorry to hear from the guy looking after the museum that we were the first visitors there for the day. I'm going to put a positive note on Tripadvisor, hopefully it might encourage other people to visit!
So, after a break for lunch we went and found the Norman Castle - mostly ruins of course but still interesting - and the city walls.
Then, back to the hotel for recovery, then catching up on blogs etc. Paul is also researching where we might go tomorrow - maybe Margate and Sandwich.
Thursday, 29 September 2016
UK and Med Cruise - Day 23 - 27 September - Return to England
First, some final comments about Rome - there's an amazing amount of history here; I think you could spend a lifetime investigating the history of just one street. Everywhere you look there are ancient buildings with fascinating history - for example, our hotel is in a street called "Via di Santa Maria Maggiore". This is because at the end of our street is the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore
and it "is agreed that the present church was built under Pope Sixtus III (432–440)"- although on the site of an even older building. This is somewhat mind-boggling when you come from a place where - as someone said on our Ostia Antica tour the other day - if a building is more than 100 years old we're likely to stick a plaque on it.
Or, another example- on our walk to the Trevi Fountain the other day we realised we were standing on a corner where there were fountains in the corners of all four buildings. This is the Quattro Fontane and they were installed between 1588 and 1593. I had no idea that these fountains existed, and obviously with only three days in Rome we missed the vast majority of the visible history.
On the down side though, the city seems to be struggling somewhat when it comes to dealing with the sheer number of people who want to see these amazing old buildings and structures. Apart from the early hours of the morning, there are always people everywhere. As a pedestrian you take your own life into your hands any time you leave a building; not just on the roads but on the footpaths too; people drive and park their cars and bikes anywhere!
I'm glad that we saw the little bit of Rome that we did- the ancient feeling of the old city is something special and even as a non-Catholic the cross border trip to the Vatican was a real highlight. However, I doubt that we'll be back; overall between the heat and crowds I think that touring Rome is a young person's game!
Anyway, back to our travels. We booked a transfer to the airport; the driver was due to arrive at 8:30am and I hoped we could be at the airport by 10am. All those stories about outrageous amounts of traffic were true, but it didn't stop the driver from arriving early and getting us to the airport at 9:00. So, we spent more time than we needed to sitting around, not helped by the fact that I completely misunderstood the signs about where to check in for British Airways, so we didn't go through check-in/ security/ customs until somewhat later than we could have. Oops.
Had a somewhat uncomfortable trip back; we had aisle and middle seats but when we got there someone was already in the aisle seat. He didn't want to believe that he had to move over to the window, not helped at all by the fact that I sat on his arm (quite unintentionally, but if I'd realised later how rude he was going to be I might have done it deliberately). Once we landed at Gatwick everyone who could of course immediately jumped up and started to try to get their bags. We waited for a few minutes and then he insisted that I must get out of my seat even though there was absolutely nowhere I could stand. Someone in front of Paul took pity on me, but I don't know where the man thought he was going to go. Anyway, we finally got off the plane and I have to say I was really pleased that it was over.
We had pre-booked a taxi to take us to Canterbury - it's well over an hour's drive and cost 87 pounds, but trains would have been almost as expensive and much slower.
Got to our hotel without too much drama - it's a Premier Inn which is a chain we have used before - at the low end cost and facility wise but with really comfortable beds and they always have a restaurant with completely predictable and acceptable food.
and it "is agreed that the present church was built under Pope Sixtus III (432–440)"- although on the site of an even older building. This is somewhat mind-boggling when you come from a place where - as someone said on our Ostia Antica tour the other day - if a building is more than 100 years old we're likely to stick a plaque on it.
Or, another example- on our walk to the Trevi Fountain the other day we realised we were standing on a corner where there were fountains in the corners of all four buildings. This is the Quattro Fontane and they were installed between 1588 and 1593. I had no idea that these fountains existed, and obviously with only three days in Rome we missed the vast majority of the visible history.
On the down side though, the city seems to be struggling somewhat when it comes to dealing with the sheer number of people who want to see these amazing old buildings and structures. Apart from the early hours of the morning, there are always people everywhere. As a pedestrian you take your own life into your hands any time you leave a building; not just on the roads but on the footpaths too; people drive and park their cars and bikes anywhere!
I'm glad that we saw the little bit of Rome that we did- the ancient feeling of the old city is something special and even as a non-Catholic the cross border trip to the Vatican was a real highlight. However, I doubt that we'll be back; overall between the heat and crowds I think that touring Rome is a young person's game!
Anyway, back to our travels. We booked a transfer to the airport; the driver was due to arrive at 8:30am and I hoped we could be at the airport by 10am. All those stories about outrageous amounts of traffic were true, but it didn't stop the driver from arriving early and getting us to the airport at 9:00. So, we spent more time than we needed to sitting around, not helped by the fact that I completely misunderstood the signs about where to check in for British Airways, so we didn't go through check-in/ security/ customs until somewhat later than we could have. Oops.
Had a somewhat uncomfortable trip back; we had aisle and middle seats but when we got there someone was already in the aisle seat. He didn't want to believe that he had to move over to the window, not helped at all by the fact that I sat on his arm (quite unintentionally, but if I'd realised later how rude he was going to be I might have done it deliberately). Once we landed at Gatwick everyone who could of course immediately jumped up and started to try to get their bags. We waited for a few minutes and then he insisted that I must get out of my seat even though there was absolutely nowhere I could stand. Someone in front of Paul took pity on me, but I don't know where the man thought he was going to go. Anyway, we finally got off the plane and I have to say I was really pleased that it was over.
We had pre-booked a taxi to take us to Canterbury - it's well over an hour's drive and cost 87 pounds, but trains would have been almost as expensive and much slower.
Got to our hotel without too much drama - it's a Premier Inn which is a chain we have used before - at the low end cost and facility wise but with really comfortable beds and they always have a restaurant with completely predictable and acceptable food.
UK and Med Cruise - Day 22 - 26 September - Rome - Vatican
And another early start - this time for a tour called "Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museums and St Peter's Basilica"
All I can say is, wow.
The tour company (the same one from yesterday's tour; different guide though) gets an early entry into the Vatican for this tour, and some special/quicker ways to move around. I don't know quite how to explain how crowded it was - we at least didn't have to wait in line to enter (at one point we saw the lines and the guide said their waiting time would be in hours!), but it was amazingly busy. However, our guide was really good, he managed to tell us a lot of detail without at all being boring or overwhelming, he had answers to every question he was asked, and he managed to manoeuvre a group of 20-odd people through the busiest crowds without losing us, all while explaining what we were seeing. I was just so impressed.
Everyone has seen many pictures of the Vatican and related places, so I'm not going to post any of them. However, this one came as a surprise to me - in the Vatican Museums, an entire gallery done by one monk who drew maps of the entirety of Italy. Amazing how he managed these birds eye views so many years before a birds eye view was something a human could do - this is just Sicily and Sardinia:
We had a different sort of Rome experience on the way back from the tour. We went to catch the Metro, and it was obvious that there was a delay - there was a breakdown on the line, not in the section we were travelling on but further out. However, it took quite some time for a train to arrive and when it did, it was already crowded. By the time people got on at our station and the next, we were packed like sardines. And, we kept being packed in further - I simply could not believe that so many people could fit into one Metro carriage.
Later in the day, after a rest and recuperate session, we decided to walk to the Trevi Fountain which is only about 1.3 kilometres from our hotel. We could have cut down the distance by catching the Metro, but I didn't think I could face another sardine session. We found it without too much trouble, although I have to say that without the smartphone and the Map app, we would have had some problems - modern technology is really helpful sometimes. Of course, at the same time as we found it, approximately a million other tourists found it too, so there was no chance to get anywhere near enough to toss a coin. However, we did get a really good look at it and I was amazed- I simply had no idea how huge it is.
All I can say is, wow.
The tour company (the same one from yesterday's tour; different guide though) gets an early entry into the Vatican for this tour, and some special/quicker ways to move around. I don't know quite how to explain how crowded it was - we at least didn't have to wait in line to enter (at one point we saw the lines and the guide said their waiting time would be in hours!), but it was amazingly busy. However, our guide was really good, he managed to tell us a lot of detail without at all being boring or overwhelming, he had answers to every question he was asked, and he managed to manoeuvre a group of 20-odd people through the busiest crowds without losing us, all while explaining what we were seeing. I was just so impressed.
Everyone has seen many pictures of the Vatican and related places, so I'm not going to post any of them. However, this one came as a surprise to me - in the Vatican Museums, an entire gallery done by one monk who drew maps of the entirety of Italy. Amazing how he managed these birds eye views so many years before a birds eye view was something a human could do - this is just Sicily and Sardinia:
We had a different sort of Rome experience on the way back from the tour. We went to catch the Metro, and it was obvious that there was a delay - there was a breakdown on the line, not in the section we were travelling on but further out. However, it took quite some time for a train to arrive and when it did, it was already crowded. By the time people got on at our station and the next, we were packed like sardines. And, we kept being packed in further - I simply could not believe that so many people could fit into one Metro carriage.
Later in the day, after a rest and recuperate session, we decided to walk to the Trevi Fountain which is only about 1.3 kilometres from our hotel. We could have cut down the distance by catching the Metro, but I didn't think I could face another sardine session. We found it without too much trouble, although I have to say that without the smartphone and the Map app, we would have had some problems - modern technology is really helpful sometimes. Of course, at the same time as we found it, approximately a million other tourists found it too, so there was no chance to get anywhere near enough to toss a coin. However, we did get a really good look at it and I was amazed- I simply had no idea how huge it is.
UK and Med Cruise - Day 21 - 25 September - Rome - Ancient Ostia (Ostia Antica)
Another early start today - we had a tour booked to see Ostia Antica
This is an amazing place, and the guide (Rebecca from City Wonders) did a great job of explaining what we were seeing.
This is Rebecca showing us the map of the site:
This site was covered up quite differently from the way Pompeii was - it was just covered up gradually by river silt. It was also uncovered quite differently as well - much of the uncovered stuff was dug out on orders from Mussolini with no care for proper archaeological process, so no-one will ever know how much evidence and information was lost in the process.
There is a bit of competition between the sites; there's very little money available for archaeology so any money that's spent on one site the other one feels they've lost. In reality both sites are so huge that you could spend outrageous amounts of money investigating and researching them properly, but sadly in the case of Ostia Antica there doesn't even seem to be enough money to properly protect the parts of the site that have already been opened up. Honestly though, if you only have time to go to Pompeii or Ostia Antica and not both, I'd go to Ostia Antica.
Just a couple of photos of this huge and interesting place:
This is an amazing place, and the guide (Rebecca from City Wonders) did a great job of explaining what we were seeing.
This is Rebecca showing us the map of the site:
This site was covered up quite differently from the way Pompeii was - it was just covered up gradually by river silt. It was also uncovered quite differently as well - much of the uncovered stuff was dug out on orders from Mussolini with no care for proper archaeological process, so no-one will ever know how much evidence and information was lost in the process.
There is a bit of competition between the sites; there's very little money available for archaeology so any money that's spent on one site the other one feels they've lost. In reality both sites are so huge that you could spend outrageous amounts of money investigating and researching them properly, but sadly in the case of Ostia Antica there doesn't even seem to be enough money to properly protect the parts of the site that have already been opened up. Honestly though, if you only have time to go to Pompeii or Ostia Antica and not both, I'd go to Ostia Antica.
Just a couple of photos of this huge and interesting place:
UK and Med Cruise - Day 20 - 24 September - Rome
Terrible night's sleep last night unfortunately, because we needed to get up quite early today - we needed to up and ready to leave and get to our assigned onboard meeting place by 7:10am. I had booked a shuttle ride for 9am to go back to Rome. Princess is so very definite that you won't be allowed off the ship until it's your turn, and of course we also had to pick up our suitcases once we got off the ship, and go through customs. I had no idea how long all of this might take, which is why I asked for a 7am to 8am departure.
Anyway, we got to the meeting place at around 7am only to be told that we could leave straight away if we wanted to. No chance of that; we sat around in the lounge until closer to 8am. Turns out that the disembarkation was going really quickly; while we were there they started calling for people who were still on board to come to their departure areas 30 minutes earlier than planned. Once we got off the ship we realised at least part of the reason that it was going so well - the customs check involved walking out past a sign that said that if you had anything to declare, you should declare it. And, no immigration check at all.
Bye-bye Royal Princess:
So we wandered out thinking that we were going to be really early, but the shuttle driver arrived quite early and all eight passengers showed up early too (and just to keep the numbers up, at least half the passengers in the shuttle were Australian; I still have no idea why there would have been so many Aussies - and Kiwis for that matter - on this cruise). This was a far less dramatic drive than the shuttle transfer to the port at the start of the trip - for a start, this guy used hands-free for his phone. It ended up taking quite a long time to get to the hotel; one of the people wanted to be dropped off at the airport, and of course we were all being dropped at different hotels. The big delay was caused by a fire though; some of the main streets in the centre of the city were temporarily closed off by the police and fire brigade.
We got to our hotel hours early - at around 10:30am - and by a miracle our room was ready and they let us check in straight away!
So, we got ourselves sorted out and then went out to have a look at the Colosseum:
and had a quick, early lunch at a cafe.
We have also managed to buy our three day Metro passes - which let you use most of the trains, trams and busses - and went on a couple of Metro rides just to make sure that we know how it all works. This might sound a bit anal, but we actually need to take the Metro to the starting point of our tour tomorrow, and I didn't want to have to deal with working this all out early on a Sunday morning.
I'm very happy with both hotels we have stayed in; the prices were quite reasonable by Rome standards and the rooms have all we need, including far more space than you'd get in a similar hotel in London for example, and air-conditioning (although that was deliberate; air conditioning was a non-negotiable part of my search for these hotels!
Anyway, we got to the meeting place at around 7am only to be told that we could leave straight away if we wanted to. No chance of that; we sat around in the lounge until closer to 8am. Turns out that the disembarkation was going really quickly; while we were there they started calling for people who were still on board to come to their departure areas 30 minutes earlier than planned. Once we got off the ship we realised at least part of the reason that it was going so well - the customs check involved walking out past a sign that said that if you had anything to declare, you should declare it. And, no immigration check at all.
Bye-bye Royal Princess:
So we wandered out thinking that we were going to be really early, but the shuttle driver arrived quite early and all eight passengers showed up early too (and just to keep the numbers up, at least half the passengers in the shuttle were Australian; I still have no idea why there would have been so many Aussies - and Kiwis for that matter - on this cruise). This was a far less dramatic drive than the shuttle transfer to the port at the start of the trip - for a start, this guy used hands-free for his phone. It ended up taking quite a long time to get to the hotel; one of the people wanted to be dropped off at the airport, and of course we were all being dropped at different hotels. The big delay was caused by a fire though; some of the main streets in the centre of the city were temporarily closed off by the police and fire brigade.
We got to our hotel hours early - at around 10:30am - and by a miracle our room was ready and they let us check in straight away!
So, we got ourselves sorted out and then went out to have a look at the Colosseum:
and had a quick, early lunch at a cafe.
We have also managed to buy our three day Metro passes - which let you use most of the trains, trams and busses - and went on a couple of Metro rides just to make sure that we know how it all works. This might sound a bit anal, but we actually need to take the Metro to the starting point of our tour tomorrow, and I didn't want to have to deal with working this all out early on a Sunday morning.
I'm very happy with both hotels we have stayed in; the prices were quite reasonable by Rome standards and the rooms have all we need, including far more space than you'd get in a similar hotel in London for example, and air-conditioning (although that was deliberate; air conditioning was a non-negotiable part of my search for these hotels!
UK and Med Cruise - Day 19 - 23 September - Portoferraio, Elba
We found out today that this is the first time any Princess ship has come to Portoferraio. It's a nice little city; we wandered around to the Archaeological Museum where we could also see the remains of a Roman Villa and one of the many fortifications around the island.
They don't really seem to be set up for cruise passengers - classic example being the public toilets in the main 'touristy' area around the bay. They gave us a really nice tourist guide which included these toilets, but when we went there we discovered that the toilets are locked for siesta(!!) from about 1pm to 5pm. Fine if you're staying in a hotel in the area, not so good otherwise. There are lots of restaurants and cafes but most of them don't have facilities either :-(
On the other hand, I finally managed to track down a pharmacy which was open and where I could get some medication for my sore throat and cough which are still bugging me. I got some lozenges and cough medicine, both of which are helping a little. Not sure why but they are only sold from behind the counter here - just one of those interesting differences between places.
Back on board in time to waste some time for the rest of the day.
They don't really seem to be set up for cruise passengers - classic example being the public toilets in the main 'touristy' area around the bay. They gave us a really nice tourist guide which included these toilets, but when we went there we discovered that the toilets are locked for siesta(!!) from about 1pm to 5pm. Fine if you're staying in a hotel in the area, not so good otherwise. There are lots of restaurants and cafes but most of them don't have facilities either :-(
On the other hand, I finally managed to track down a pharmacy which was open and where I could get some medication for my sore throat and cough which are still bugging me. I got some lozenges and cough medicine, both of which are helping a little. Not sure why but they are only sold from behind the counter here - just one of those interesting differences between places.
Back on board in time to waste some time for the rest of the day.
Friday, 23 September 2016
UK and Med Cruise - Day 18 - 22 September - Messina
One of the disappointments of our trip. All of the really interesting places around Messina need more than a half day by the time you get there and back, but a half day was all we had once they finished tinkering with the itinerary.
In the end we just walked around the parts of the city that are close to the port, then came back on board. We did stop at a cafe to get a fruit juice, and on looking at the menu we decided to have a very early lunch. We shared a delicious mushroom pizza and Paul had a lemon gelato which he voted to be excellent. While we were there a rainstorm hit - we were outside under the cafe's umbrellas and managed to stay pretty much dry. Fascinating to notice that the street vendors are really well organised - we had umbrellas but a number of people around us didn't, and the street vendors who until that moment had been selling cheap selfie sticks and junk jewellery all of a sudden appeared with umbrellas for sale!
Only one more full day on the cruise now, and then this part of the holiday will all be over.
In the end we just walked around the parts of the city that are close to the port, then came back on board. We did stop at a cafe to get a fruit juice, and on looking at the menu we decided to have a very early lunch. We shared a delicious mushroom pizza and Paul had a lemon gelato which he voted to be excellent. While we were there a rainstorm hit - we were outside under the cafe's umbrellas and managed to stay pretty much dry. Fascinating to notice that the street vendors are really well organised - we had umbrellas but a number of people around us didn't, and the street vendors who until that moment had been selling cheap selfie sticks and junk jewellery all of a sudden appeared with umbrellas for sale!
Only one more full day on the cruise now, and then this part of the holiday will all be over.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)