Lincolnshire - land of my youth

The Lincolnshire fens near Billingborough

We're just back from a swift visit between Christmas and New Year, to my brother's in Lincolnshire. We lived about 8 miles away from where he now lives from (very) late 1969 until 1979, so my formative years between 10 and 20 were spent growing up there. I wrote briefly about it here a long time ago.

We lived on the fens, where it is very flat. It's rural and pretty much all arable farming land. It can be very bleak, and the skies are huge courtesy of the flatness, and consequently it can get very windy too.

When my parents moved to Chepstow in 1979 I was in many ways glad to leave Lincolnshire behind, but the longer I've been away, the more I find myself missing it

It's been several years since we've made it over there, so it was great to get back for a big family get together. and a walk round the area taking in Sempringham Abbey when the rain stopped!

Sempringham Abbey

Who knew that there was a Welsh connection in Lincolnshire? Certainly It's not something I knew about when I lived near here!

Sempringham Abbey info

The fens lie very low - some below sea level, and most not far above it. The land is drained by "dykes" that criss cross the land, edging many of the fields before draining into larger "drains" and eventually, the local rivers and onto the Wash. Some of the dykes are little more than small ditches, and some are huge - almost rivers in their own right, usually with steep sided banks. Many a day I spent fishing on my local drain, the South Forty Foot drain a couple of miles from my house. I spent much of my youth wandering the fens in my local area near Donington, the village where we lived. Fishing, exploring the dykes and bridges and observing wildlife from pheasants, to curlews, water voles and more.

Sempringham Abbey, a dyke and a old bridge

Nostalgia eh? 

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The glorious Peak District - even in the rain

I'm a bit late with this post - about a month and half late truth be told. Stuff just gets in the way, doesn't it?

Higger Tor from the Longshaw Estate

As regular readers will know, we usually have a large family get away in late October/early November, most often to the Peak District, but a couple of times to Devon. This year it was the Peaks again and a week away in Matlock. Slightly depleted this year, as a few couldn't make it, and more poignantly our first family get away after losing my brother in law to cancer in March (he was the one who'd booked this trip), a total of 11 of us made the trip. With only my daughter and wife's niece under 50, we're long past the days of hiking up the bigger hills on 10 mile traipses. A couple of miles and a nice coffee shop tended to be the order of the day for the most part.

We stayed in a large house - Riber House on a hill overlooking Matlock and underneath the imposing Riber Hall. The journey to the house was inserting. Up a 1:3/1:4 hill with a couple of sharp hairpin bends, before a quarter of a mile along a rough track, but worth it. The house was fantastically set up, and included a hot tub on the patio and a pool table in the basement. The only downside, it was remote, so no easy walk to a pub. Mind you, we had enough beer and wine to sink a battleship!

The hot tub was well utilised, and we did find a nice pub that served food for an evening meal out, and we were very comfortable in the well equipped house during our stay. 

Our accommodation is the house just below Riber Hall
Taken from a bridge over the river Derwent in Matlock

As is usual, we broke our journey up from South Wales with an overnight stop at my sister-in-law's house in Solihull. The following day we stopped en route to Matlock at Keddlestone Hall a National Trust property, for a wiser, coffee and a bite to eat. As most of the group are NT members, a lot of our visits tend towards places like this and it was a pleasant stop for a couple of hours.

(Some of) The grounds of Keddlestone Hall

After a week of decent weather, the forecast for our week away was pretty miserable. Our first full day was a bit of a washout with the weather, although we popped into Matlock in the rain. The next day we managed to dodge the showers on a lovely walk along the Cromford canal a couple of miles from Matlock. When the sun did peek through the rain clouds, it lit up the autumn foliage beautifully. 

Some of the crew

Cromford Canal

Chatsworth estate is a regular haunt on our visits to this area, but we're normally too early for the Christmas decorations and market. This year though we were better timed, and had booked tickets to see the festive decorations in the house. We began with a walk across the grounds to the house and around the Christmas market before going into the house at our allotted time. The place was heaving - the market especially so, but the timed entry to the house at least kept the crowds slightly more organised.

Chatsworth House
(the hundreds of visitor cars not visible in this photo!)

Inside the main hall at Chatsworth

The following day was another wet one (well they all were to be fair), and we had a leisurely walking from a car park close to Bakewell, into the town and a meander around the shops, stopping for the obligatory coffee and snack. Bakewell's a lovely spot, though obviously gets very busy because it's such a pretty and central spot.

Bakewell and the river Derwent

One of the things I defiantly wanted to see on this visit was the Derwent reservoir dam, just above the Ladybower reservoir. This was the series of dams that the Dambusters used as their training ground before their famous attack on the Rhur dams. Whilst that peaked my interests, I was rather more interested to see if the water was flowing over the top - given all the rain we'd had, I needed have worried. It was pouring over!

Water overspilling the Derwent Dam

Alongside the Derwent Dam

The Derwent Dam

Ladybower reservoir below the Derwent Dam

Our final day we parked at another NT place, Longshaw Estate and did a 5 or so mile circular walk through down through get impressive Padley Gorge. The weather was kinder to us and whilst it was wet underfoot, at least it didn't rain! The autumn colours, and gushing brook and waterfalls were fabulous.

Oh, and we stopped for coffee and cake...

Descending into Padley Gorge

Down at the bottom

Nearly back out

Once again, we had a fantastic week despite the rain which we mostly managed to avoid. Matlock is a little further south than we've normally been, but to be honest, nowhere's that far as to be unmanageable. Derwent Dam for instance was about a 45 minute drive. 

I love the Peak District. So many interesting places and superb walking to be had. If you haven't been, you should go. If you have, then you'll know...

We're back to Devon next year though, at a spot near Bideford, so that'll be a nice change.

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Mosquito by Rowland White: Review

I've just finished this book. I wanted to drop a note to the author, Rowland White who I follow on Twitter (I still won't call it "X") to say how much I enjoyed it, but the character limit wouldn't let me do it justice. I've therefore written this review which I'll link in a Tweet to him.

I've never written a review of a book before, so I guess that's a testament to how good I found this one!

Firstly, some background. I started following Rowland when someone retweeted a post he'd written about writing this book. I have a passing interest in both aircraft and history, although admittedly this is VERY much from a layman's perspective. However, I followed Rowland's tweets to eventual publication, and asked for and got, this book for my birthday a month or so ago.

It's probably, as far as my 64 year old mind can recall, one of the first historical books I've ever read (or rather started and finished). Often I find historical tomes a little hard going. Mosquito was anything but.

I also have a soft spot for the de Havilland Mosquito. The very, very tenuous link for this comes from the fact that my late mum's cousin, actress Barbara Archer who we all knew as "Aunty Barbara" was in the 1964 film "633 Squadron" about an attack on a WWII rocket fuel factory by the aforementioned (but fictional) squadron flying the Mosquito. She was the barmaid in the Black Swan pub where the fictional crew drank. I also built a 1:72 scale Airfix model of the Mosquito when I was a lad. I think also, the fact that it was an aircraft built of wood, when (virtually) every other plane of its era was metal, gave it an intriguing status.

Anyway, to the book. 

I expected this to be a book solely about the aircraft and its role, and specifically when used on attacks on Gestapo HQ's in Denmark. Whilst the book built up to this, and particularly the climactic attack Operation Carthage on the Shellhus in Copenhagen, the building being used at Gestapo HQ, and with prisoners there as a human shield, the book is far more involved than just telling the story of the aircraft.

Broadly, it covers the war in Denmark, and the role of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and the role of it's Denmark section, the spies involved and the resistance in fighting the Nazi regime. This was made all the more problematic because Denmark had been invaded by Germany, but then set out as a protectorate. In effect, Denmark was being "protected" by Germany, and therefore was not an "ally". Obviously, that's not how the majority of Danes saw it though.

The Mosquito played a huge part in the war against Germany. Not only on its attacks on German military targets, but ferrying personnel and equipment to and from Denmark and neutral Sweden in order for the SOE members and Danish resistance to carry out their work.

There are too many people in the book to remember and reference here, but two stand outs from the RAF's point of view were Basil Embry who's flying and leadership of the Mosquito (and other) squadrons throughout was incredible, and Ted Sismore, an exceptional and very young navigator - indeed most of the flying crew were frighteningly young.

What makes this book so readable is the detail and research that Rowland White has gone into. You really get a sense during the flight operations of what it must have been like to fly those ops - and mostly it was scary and frightening. The bravery, composure and skills of pilots, navigators can only be imagined, flying sometimes twice a night and on daylight raids against relentless flak and the risk of interception by enemy fighters. Sadly there were all too many losses of both aircraft and crew, although it's pointed out in the epilogue that the "Mossie" had one of the best rations of ops to losses of all aircraft in the war.

The other "act' to this book, is the outstanding bravery of those members of the Danish population who were recruited and trained by SOE then parachuted back into Denmark to co-ordinate the resistance, undertake sabotage and report back. These were ordinary members of the public. I think our view of spies/saboteurs is so easily influenced by television and film, but this book really brings home the challenges, constant threat of nature, torture and death that members of the SOE/resistance, and indeed our armed forces faced during the conflict. 

Sadly, there are also the civilian casualties to record. In conflict, as we know all too well in current events around the world, civilians die and that's terrible. This book's climatic operation against the Gestapo HQ in Copenhagen, also bore a terrible civilian loss, as one of the Mosquitos crashed near a school and the ensuing fire and smoke was mistaken by following aircraft as the primary target. Many children and adults lost their lives in the resulting bombing. Those risks were known, as was the fact that the actual target had many members of the resistance and SOE spies in captivity on it's top floor, meaning the mission had condemned them to almost certain death. In the event, some managed to escape the bombing, but the horror of it is well captured in the book. But it must also be remembered the torment that the Danish SOE chief had whilst deciding whether to go ahead with the mission knowing that both SOE/resistance colleagues were being held in the target, and that the target was smack bang in the middle of a residential area in Copenhagen. No one would want to be put in that position. 

Soon after the raid the Germans surrendered. The efforts of the Danish resistance, the SOE and the RAF (amongst many others) came at a terrible price, but by defeating Germany, there was at least the chance to rebuild.

For myself one of the most harrowing passages of the book, is not about the the raids, or the Mosquito, or the SOE or resistance, but a statement from Herr Walter Darré a once influential Nazi theoretician. I hope Rowland will forgive me for putting this down verbatim here, because it reminds us all, what the Allies were fighting against, and for:

As soon as we beat England we shall make an end of you Englishmen once and for all. Able-bodied men and women will be exported as slaves to the Continent. The old and weak will be exterminated. All men remaining in Britain as slaves will be sterilized; a million or two of the young women the Nordic type will be segregated in a number of stud farms where, with the assistance of picked German sires, during a period of 10 or 12 years, they will produce annually a series of Nordic infants to be brought up in every way as Germans. These infants will form the future population of Britain. They will be partially educated in Germany. Only those who satisfy the Nazi's requirements will be allowed to return to Britain and take up permanent residence. The rest will be sterilized and sent to join slave gangs in Germany. Thus in a generation or two, the British will disappear.

And so in summary, I found this a fascinating book on a number of levels. Learning more about the fabulous Mosquito and the men who flew it. The SOE, which I knew of, but little about. The Germans and their approach to administering Denmark and fighting the resistance. The Resistance, and how compartmentalised it was. The civilians and all they did to help where they could.

But mostly, the brutality and horrors of war, and the bravery of all those involved in fighting and eventually defeating the Nazi threat.

Highly recommended.

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Wilburys at the Memo

Last night Mrs H and I went to the Barry Memo - the local theatre/arts venue to see the Paul Hopkins' Roy Orbison and the Traveling Wilburys Experience (Facebook link) a tribute act to the fabulous Traveling Wilburys. 

Barry Memo is a bit dated inside, but still a worthy local community arts and theatre venue, and regularly hosts live music, films and theatre. An easy place to listen to live music, there's a handy bar and no restriction on taking your drinks into the theatre

The original Wilburys - George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan and Roy Orbison were all represented by lookalike accomplished musicians who are now into their 7th year as this tribute experience. Not forgetting the less well known Jim Keltner on drums. The musicians are drawn from over the UK and had travelled down for the gig - I'm not sure how often they get to rehearse together, but they were very well drilled.

A mixture of original Wilbury tracks and individual performer songs (Blowin in the Wind for example by the Dylan member, Please Please Me from "George Harrison" and Mr Blue Sky from "Jeff Lynne" to name a few) were all very well received by the audience of mostly people the upper side of 50. Having said that, the Wilburys were formed in 1988, so 35 years ago when we were all a lot younger!!!!

There wasn't a massive audience, but the band were clearly delighted to be playing live music to appreciative ears - the photo below isn't a good one of the band (taken by their stage manager!) but shows the audience numbers and everyone enjoyed the show. A signed Fender Squier guitar was also raffled - sadly I didn't win.

Last night's show

All in all we had a very enjoyable evening - I'd recommend going to see them if you get a chance.

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De-cluttering is hard work, but good for the soul

It's amazing, or perhaps not, the amount of "stuff" you collect over the course of a lifetime. We've got a large loft full of "stuff", a garage I've never ever been able to get my car in, a 5 bedroom house that has "stuff" everywhere (PS the photo above is not our clutter!)

Some of this "stuff" is precious (in personal terms rather than monetary value). Books, cuddly toys and other bits and pieces from the kid's early years for instance. Some is just hanging around because it might be needed or required for something down the line, and a lot is just there because we can't be arsed to get rid of it.

I'm one of the world's worst procrastinators when it comes to de-cluttering. I think it's such a good idea, but I struggle to put it in to practice. Mrs H is even worse. She can always find a reason not to throw or give something away, in a sort of "Ah, that's cute/useful, we can't throw that away" manner on something we haven't even seen let alone used in many a long year.

This week I've been in the garage trying to sort through stuff that fits into the above categories. I subscribe to a local "Re-use" page on Facebook - I'd much rather give stuff away to someone who wants/needs it, that try and flog it on eBay or take it to the local tip, and I listed a few things. Mrs H immediately convinced me to take two things off that  list!

A couple of others were snapped up straight away and have now been collected, some things are still available. 

I must admit it does feel good for the soul getting rid of stuff we no longer need, and especially when it's given free gratis to someone who really wants it. I've got a long, long way to go though before I get anywhere near the Marie Kondo level of decluttering.

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FairFX - poor customer service

I haven't had a customer service rant for almost two months. That's good going for me. Anyway you'll be glad to hear I can now resolve that.

Some business are good at customer service, and some, well aren't.......

For many years I have had a FairFX multi-currency card. It's the sort of card you can pre-load with different currencies and use when out and about in different countries like a debit card to save you carrying cash. I first got it way backk in the noughties when we went to Florida (Disneyland). In those days you had one card for each currency (so one for dollars, one for euros etc). A few years ago they sensibly merged it so you only had one card to carry.

Anyway, my card was expiring a month ago and I got an email with a link to "upgrade" and order a new card which I duly followed.  However, fool that I am, when I was asked to enter my phone number so I can use two factor authentication (recommended by the way for extra security), I inadvertently mistyped my phone number. Then when I went to log in, I got a a message saying "enter the code we've sent you" only of course I hadn't received it because the number I'd typed was wrong (this despite the fact they had my correct phone number on account anyway).

Cue attempts to contact someone to put it right. The options on their website appeared to be either a live chat or emailing support. I tried live chat. It was more dead than alive. Eventually I connected and after the normal to-ing and fro-ing was asked to long in to continue the chat. 

Errr...I can't log in that's why I'm contacting you. 

Somewhat frustrated, I was then directed to the email support link. So I sent an email off. Two days later no response. So I sent another one. No response, I was then away for five days. Nothing in my in box on return. Sent another slightly more feisty email. No response.

I found a link for complaints which include (you've guessed it) directions for Live Chat or email support! However, there was also a phone number. I rang it and got a (badly) automated voice message advising to leave a message and email address and they would get in touch within three business days. 

Today I returned to live chat, which was slightly more alert, but not much so. Outlining my problem I was asked if I'd like a call back. Yes please I said. Oddly given everything that had gone before, I got a call back almost immediately. A pleasant young man called Ryan took me through security questions, and then confirmed he could see the phone number typo and changed it for me. Whilst still on the phone I successfully logged in. Whilst I whooped with joy, he asked me if there was anything else he could help me with, and that's where I made my next mistake.

My email address for that account was slightly different to my normal one, and I asked for hime to amend it. He told me he'd done it, and I could see the change when I refreshed the page in my account. All good, I thanked him and I rang off.

To check everything was Ok I logged out and tried to log back in. All went swimmingly until I got a message saying you can't log in because you haven't verified your email address from the link in the email we've sent you.

*checks inbox*

No email

*checks junk mail*

No email

*Waited 5, 10, 15, 30 minutes*

No email

Back to square one with a different issue. 

Apparently the "upgrade" process FairFX are going through with new cards has made them very busy. But that's no excuse for tardy live chat, not responding to emails, a crappy telephone system and a system that's supposed to send you a verification email link and doesn't. especially when it's got money (albeit not a lot at the moment) belonging to me.

I'm currently closing in on one hour's wait for a response to my current live chat query....

They need to look at their customer service. it's (lack of) support like this that puts people off companies and businesses. Good customer service makes such a difference.

UPDATE

90 minutes after I logged onto live chat, I got a response. The agent fixed my issue (without needing to send me a verification email link). Also turns out I was using an old version of the app on my iPhone and iPad which didn’t help. Finally seems all sorted.

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Mediterranean Cruise Part 5: Naples, Pisa and Departures

Waking up after our sea day, we opened the blinds to find ourselves docked in Naples, along with three other cruise ships. Our plan for the day was to get off the ship and just have a wander, as most of the excursions were to Sorrento (we've been there a couple of times) Capri, Pompeii and Herculaneum, all of which we've "done" but we've never really seen any of Naples. The first part of our wander was pretty disappointing. Main roads, the Piazza del Plebiscito that is on all the tourist guides but which was largely out of bounds as it was being set up for a 3 night concert, and the Galleria Umberto I, an architecturally impressive but retail disappointing "mall". 

Galleria Umberto I
Impressive building, but a bit scabby

We moved to Via Toledo which is the main shopping drag in Naples. It was a Saturday and the street was heaving, but interesting nonetheless with loads of side streets, cafes, shops, locals, but somewhere to keep you wits about you. We stopped towards the end for a coffee in a very low key street side cafe. The first thing they put on the table was an ashtray (neither of us smoke)! The coffee was great though.

There was a wedding going on in the church with the green roof!

We then moved  into the Spanish Quarter down side streets mainly filled with tourist tat shop and FC Napoli flags, with flags, pictures, miniatures and everything else you can think of with the footballer Maradonna plastered everywhere (he played for Napoli).

We went in a couple of churches, including one where there was a wedding in full swing, oblivious to the tourists flocking in and out of the church.

Typical Napoli street with Napoli and Maradonna flags everywhere

After about three hours, we'd had enough and returned to the relative calm of the ship, for a chilled afternoon before the usual evening routine kicked in. Whilst we enjoyed the vibe of the narrow side streets, I think our collective view of the bit of Naples that we saw was "it's scabby"!

Silent Disco in the Main Plaza

After dinner and the obligatory show we stopped in the main ship Plaza by the martini bar where a silent disco was in full swing, although with everyone belting out the songs they were hearing in their headphones, it wasn't very silent!

Tomorrow beckons, and out last stop of the trip, Livorno.

As we woke we were pulling into the port of Livorno. Although got old part of the town is supposed to be quite pretty, it's not that big, although it's a massive shipping port. The main purpose of the stop was that it's the closest port to Pisa and Florence, and our excursion for the day was a trip to Pisa

It was about a 40 minute bus ride to Pisa. Our excursion was "Pisa by Trolley". This trend out to be one of those tractor pulled "land trains"! But first we had about an hour to ourselves for the main attraction, the leaning tower of Pisa.

The leaning tower of Pisa

It's a fabulously impressive building (for a bell tower). We didn't have enough time to get tickets to climb up in (20 Euros), but took the obligatory photo of trying to hold it up as were the zillion other tourists in the square. Similarly the huge cathedral adjacent to the tower had a long queue so we didn't make it in there either.

The photo below shows the Baptistry next to the Cathedral, allegedly the biggest baptistry there is - a massive building just to baptise people!

After our time was up we boarded the "trolley" for our tour of Pisa, which was pretty underwhelming I'd say. Several people had said the only thing worth seeing in Pisa is the tower, cathedral and baptistry, and whilst that may be a bit harsh, I'd opine that a land train really isn't the best way to see the city.

Back on board the ship it was time to think about packing and our departure the following morning, but before then it was one last dinner, show and nightcap.

We'd booked a coach transfer to the airport direct with Celebrity - it seemed the sensible option, and we were off the ship just after 9am, and at the airport by not long after 10.30. Unfortunately our flight wasn't scheduled until almost 4pm, so we had some time to kill, so found somewhere to sit for a coffee and a bite to eat.

We met up with my golf buddy and his party in the airport, where they'd found their BA flight to Heathrow  cancelled! They'd been told they'd be taken to a hotel overnight, then get a flight to Madrid at 6am the following morning before catching a second flight to Heathrow.

As it tuned out, our easyJet flight to Bristol was delayed by 90 minutes as well, but at least it went that night. Apparently it was all due to air traffic control issues.

We were through our front door by 9.30pm after another long day, but with some fabulous memories from a wonderful trip.

A few thoughts from our cruise:

Good things

• The crew. To a man and woman, they were superb. Friendly, helpful always smiling and nothing was ever too much trouble. We paid for gratuities up front, and believe me, the crew are worth it. We gave an extra tip to out stateroom attendant Putu, who was absolutely bloody brilliant.
• The quality of the food. Whilst I heard some moans over our 10 nights (there's always one or two people who are never satisfied) the choice and quality of what we ate was superb. There were plenty of options for drinks too, and plenty of different venues on board to try them in
• Our meal in the exclusive "Le Voyage" was excellent
• A special shout out to the Cruise Director Alejandro Tortorelli, who was so funny and made us laugh every time he was on stage, or giving a talk or on screen on the videos and live streams he did

I was underwhelmed by

• Having to pay an additional 20% gratuity charge whoever I got a drink about the "Classic" beverage tier having already paid for gratuities up front
• Having to pay $5 for a packet of crisps from your stateroom mini-bar. It just seems bizarre to do that when you can walk into a restaurant and stuff your face any time of the day
• Classic drinks package topping out at $10 per serving with (typically) a 330ml bottle of beer at $9 and a box standard wine at $10. To up to the "Premium" package would cost an extra $80 per person per day and everyone in the stateroom has to have the same package. I might get through some premium spirits (but whether an extra $80 worth a day is doubtful), but Mrs H is not a big drinker. Still, they have you by the short and curlies.
• Same with Wi-Fi. We got basic Wi-Fi in our base cost, but that's so limited you can't send or receive images etc so I paid an extra $96 for the 10 night cruise for the Premium package (for ONE device only. I tested the speed of this Premium service, and the best I could muster at any time was 4.6MBps. That's black to dial up speeds, so they must be raking in the profit on that
• Not having a "proper" balcony. That's our own fault. Should have check the various room types when booking
• Having electronic top to bottom blinds instead of curtains in our stateroom. Useless if you just want a quick peek - you have to open the blinds which are slow and noisier than curtains

Don't forget you can see all our trip photos here 

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Mediterranean Cruise - Part 4: Kotor and Taormina

Kotor from the cliff path
Our ship is the little white dot in the far distance!

From Dubrovnik, it's a relatively short hop to Kotor in Montenegro, so we left Dubrovnik late (10pm) and were due to arrive in Kotor early (around 6am). Kotor is set quite a way inland from open sea through a series of fjord like waters, and many people (including me) were up early to see us navigate through, including a couple of very narrow stretches. As the dock is relatively small, and there was already another cruise ship in, we had to anchor and use tenders to get in to Kotor - we actually anchored a good mile or so from the mail dock, but as usual the transition was easy and well organised.

Looking back towards our ship just peeking our over that green penninsula

How's you language skills?

Today we were on a relatively short, two hour walking tour around the old city. In many ways Kotor is much like Dubrovnik, but smaller, and much more intimate. But it is just as crowded! Our local guide Milos was (as all our guides on the tours were) excellent, knowledgable and humorous. There are just three gates to the old City, and it's easy enough to walk round.  As with all these places, there were several churches, lots of tourists shops, cafes and restaurants keeping the tourists happy. 

Main gate to old Kotor

The Church of St Nicholas

It was soon evident that the old city is home to a large number of cats. Unlike many places where there's a cat population that often look scrawny and malnourished, these cats were clearly well fed and in good health. Milos told us that cats were brought in during the plague years (bubonic not Covid!) to keep the rat population down, and did such a good job that the city now looks after them making sure they're fed and that if they need veterinary help they get it.

Following our tour, we decided to make the climb up a steep and stony path for a more panoramic view of Kotor. This leads to a chapel where there's a viewpoint for the popular views you often see of Kotor. The path does go higher to an old fort, but that's about twice the distance, and you need to be fit - whilst the path does have steps in most places, they're narrow - generally wide enough for one, with the rest of the path rock or sometimes loose stone. (not it also costs eight euros per person to climb the path). You'll need sturdy shoes. A slow and steady 20-3- minutes later we'd reached the chapel.

A cat (one of many) in Kotor on the path up the cliff

Panorama of Kotor

They even have a cat shop
(not selling cats though!)

A tender returning to the ship

Small town near Kotor

In the screenshot above, wer'e the rightmost blue ship following another cruise ship, the Marella Explore out of Kotor. We turn left down that narrow channel, leaving less than 50 yards either side of the ship. Even then we're not in open sea

The iconic Lady of the Rocks Church near Kotor

One of the iconic landmarks near the narrow passage I mentioned above, is the Our Lady of the Rocks Church on a small island in the middle of the fjord.

The "sail away" from Kotor is truly spectacular, and the upper deck was lined with passengers looking and taking photos. It's truly fabulous.

We really enjoyed our time in Kotor, and I'd love to go back one day.

Passengers enjoying the "sail away"

One of the events we attended on the ship on our sea day passage to Messina was a Q&A session with Captain Kate McCue, hosted by the irrepressible Cruise Director Alejandro Tortorelli It was a real insight into Capt Kate's time at sea, the inner workings of being on a cruise ship and plenty of humorous anecdotes to boot.

Captain Kate McCue and Cruise Director Alejandro Tortorelli

The Captain's cat, "Bug Naked"

Got a photo with the skipper!

Passengers vs Officers Pool Volleyball
(Officers won)

An overnight sail from Kotor saw us docking in Messina, Sicily early the next morning. After a slightly later breakfast than of late, we were off on another excursion, this time a 45 minute coach trip down the coast to the pretty town of Taormina.

Messina

Taormina with Etna brooding in the background

Here we were left to our one devices for about three hours. Having researched beforehand, I knew we wanted to visit the roman amphitheatre, so we queued for our tickets. From Taormina the volcano of Mount Etna is clearly visible on the hills to the west, so we managed some decent photos as we explored the amphitheatre. 

Following this, we wandered the main street of Taormina, Corso Umberto I. Lined with shops, restaurants, side alleys, cafes it's got a real happening vibe to it, but like all our stops on the cruise, was pretty busy. We stooped in a cafe to sample the local granita a sort of cross between a sorbet and gelato. Anne had a pistachio flavoured one, and mine was a zingy lemon. Fabulous to cool us down on another very warm day. 

Amphitheatre and Etna

On Corso Umberto I

Taormina side street

Taormina piazza

Granita

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