Scotland, Ireland and Guernsey Cruise

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13 June. Greenock (for Glasgow), Scotland. A cool and ultimately damp day. Lorraine and I wandered through Greenock to the station where we caught a train to Glasgow. In Glasgow we strolled to the Peoples Palace which had the worlds largest terracotta fountain outside. It showed Queen Victoria on top of figures representing her empire. South Africa, Australia, India and Canada! Inside the Palace was a museum of social history. It was an odd place but strangely informative. After a quick flit through the winter gardens, we went back into the centre of the city, had a quick visit to the HRC and then back on the train to Greenock and the ship.

14 June. Portree, Isle of Skye, Scotland. Gales. High seas. Storm Herbert. Tender port. Missed port.

15 June. Kirkwall, Orkneys, Scotland. We took the shuttle bus into town and the a local bus past Scapa Flow to Skara Brae. There we saw a mock up of a 5000 year old Neolithic dwelling before seeing the real thing outside. Then we looked round Skaill house. On the way back to Kirkwall we stopped off at the Ring of Brogdar, which is like a poor man's Stonehenge! After lunch we visited St Magnus Cathedral and the Museum.

16 June. Invergordon, Scotland. Our only ships excursion. Inverness and Loch Ness. The weather wasn't too kind to us. We drove along Firth of Cromarty to Inverness where we saw the castle (built in the 1820's) and Cathedral. We also had a peek at the Victorian Market. Then it was on to Loch Ness where we stopped twice. It wasn't particularly nice weather but the views were OK. On our way back to Inverness we drove back via the highlands. Not a bad day, but better weather would have helped.

18 June. Belfast, Northern Ireland. We took the shuttle into the centre of Belfast day then a local bus to the Titanic Quarter. Our first visit was onboard the SS Nomadic. A ship that was used to tender passengers to the Olympic and Titanic. There were three classes on board. It was a much nicer tender than any I've been on! Next we went to the Titanic Belfast exhibition. Inside was information about Belfast and Harland and Wolfe Shipyards. There was also a lot about the Titanic. We went back to the city centre and strolled around a bit, looking at the City Hall and Cathedral. It was cool but dry.

19 June. Dublin, Ireland. Today was semi-planned. After shuttling into the town we saw a statue of went to the Book of Kells in Trinity College. An interesting exhibition and the library was an amazing place. Then I had a Guinness in the Hard Rock Cafe, which is number 39 on my list. Just 11 to go to reach my target of 50. After that we'd booked ourselves a trip to the Leprechaun Museum. Which was hokey but fun. Then we split up. Lorraine went to the Archeological Museum to look at the gold exhibits. I went to Christ Church Cathedral but was too mean to pay the €5.50 entrance fee! Another good day.

20 June. Ringaskiddy (for Cork), Ireland. Docked alongside us was the Oceana Nautica and across the way in Cobh was the Royal Princess. Lorraine and I grabbed the shuttle in to the centre of Cork. We went into the English Market and strolled over the River Lee to St Finn Bar Cathedral, where, once again, I was too mean to pay to go in. Then we visited Elizabeth Fort, a ruined Fort from long ago. The weather was cool and damp, so we decided to go back to the ship, where we saw the 14:00 showing of 'Victoria and Abdul'.

22 June. St. Peter Port, Guernsey. A tender port and one which we managed to visit despite P&O’s appalling tender operations. Zuiderdam was moored close to us. We walked to Castle Cornet, but didn’t go in. Then we visited the Victorian Shop, which was really interesting and had a bunch of stuff in it that I recognised. Brands that are just not in the shops any more. Then we just wandered through the little streets before tendering back to the ship and packing!

Atrium	Funnel	Sign	Pool	Us	Building

Street art	Fountain	Fountain	Lights	Sea	Neolithic building

Sea	Dwelling	Room	Tiger skin rug	Stone Circle	Stone Circle

Cathedral	Tomb	River	Castle	Cathedral	Loch Ness

Tender	Lounge	Crew Quarters	Escalators	Sign	City Hall

Titanic Belfast	Statue	Trinity College	Library	Harp	Statue

River Liffey	Lorraine	Cathedral	Building	War Memorial	River

Cathedral	Heads	St Peter Port	St Peter Port	Shop	Living Room

Castle	Oriana	Sailaway

Page created 24^th June 2018