Mediterranean Cruise

17^th September - 1^st October 2023

Itinerary: Southampton - La Coruña - Palma de Mallorca - La Spezia - Marseilles - Barcelona - Cádiz - Southampton

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17 September. Southampton. Amazingly I was on board at 12:05. I had lunch and then went to the cabin, met James my steward, unpacked and went to get the drinks package sticker added to my card. Just visited a few bars, main dining room for dinner and more bars! At one point it rained very heavily. It looked like someone was pouring buckets of water down on the decks.

19 September. La Coruña, Spain. My first visit to this port. Today's excursion was a tapas tour. It had a civilised start time of 10:30. First, we had a short walk around part of the town by the port. Most of the buildings had glassed-in balconies. Then we went to the local market. Three stories, with fish on the ground floor, meat on the first and fruit and veg on the second. Our first tapas stop was on the first floor. We had tuna empanadas, chorizo, two types of cheese, bread and Iberian ham all washed down with white wine. Second stop was outside. There we had more bread, Padrón peppers, calamari, Spanish omelette and a few chips. I had a local beer, Estrella, this time. Our final stop was in the town square, near the town hall. This time we had almond cake, coffee and a choice of liqueur. I had one that was supposed to be 'smokey', but to me it tasted of Amaretto! Our departure was delayed because a passenger needed to be taken to hospital. Fingers crossed for them.

22 September. Palma de Mallorca, Spain. This morning's trip was to Valledemossa and Son Marroig. Valledemossa is a small village in a valley. It has 2,000 inhabitants and on a busy day, four times that number can visit. Thankfully, today wasn't a busy day. I visited a Carthusian monastery, where Chopin and Georges Sand visited for three months in the nineteenth century. As he had tuberculosis, he wasn't very welcome. Inside was a pharmacy from 1779, with original fittings. We looked around a house and gardens too. From the village, you can see down the valley to Palma. After that, we had a short visit to the Son Marroig estate. Built by Archduke Louis Salvado of the Hapsburg dynasty. Nice views of the north eastern shoreline. Limelight Club tonight. Lee Mead. Very good.

24 September. La Spezia, Italy. An early start today for 'Lovely Lucca'. Lucca is about an hour from the port and the old town is totally surrounded by its old walls. It's the birthplace of Puccini. We basically just walked around the old streets, saw many of the 100 churches and a few palaces. To be honest I wasn't that impressed, I much prefer Venice or Cádiz. It was an OK morning and I was back on board before 13:00. I didn't bother going into La Spezia, although it is a nice place, apparently.

25 September. Marseilles, France. A long day today. First stop was Châteauneuf-du-Pape, which is a wine region, not a specific vineyard. The vines were all really low and there were stones everywhere, which keeps the vines warm at night, they say. We tried a white, a rosé and a red. They tasted OK. Then we drove to Avignon, under the pont to a car park outside the city. We walked through the walls for a glimpse at the Pope's palace, then the main square and off to a hotel for lunch. After lunch, I had a better look at the Palace, strolled around the town, which was so much nicer than Lucca, went back outside the walls for a better look at the bridge. Then home. The best weather of the cruise so far.

26 September. Barcelona, Spain. A walking tour of Raval and a microbrewery, today. I didn't realise that Raval is the area round the Rambla. Basically, we walked up Las Ramblas, with detours off each side. We went into La Boqueria market, saw a bunch of of old buildings and ended up at Moritz microbrewery, where we had tapas, a light beer and a maltier beer. I was back on board by 14:15.

28 September. Cádiz, Spain. My umpteenth visit and second this year. I had a quick mooch around the town. Saw sharks on sale in the fish market, something I've never seen before and was back on board by lunch time.