ole – How did I get here

Home! (to San Diego)

And so we flew home … or at least, we flew to San Diego, amost home. BAR -> MUN -> SAN And we ended up poolside at La Jolla shores. Another excellent trip! Time to reload for the next one …

One more day in Barcelona before heading back … what to do … how about visiting the Aquarium? A nice little ramble down La Rambla to the waterfront. Destination in view from our balcony The Gothic cathedral in all it’s glory Beautiful architecture everywhere And sculpture! The park at the water And there it isContinue reading “L’ aquarium”

Touring Barcelona

All great things must come to an end, as did this cruise; we disembarked our little yacht, said an appreciative goodbye, and moved into the Vivadora Hotel, in the Gothic district. Yay. View of Barcelona city from the Mont Juic The Arena – formerly a bull ring, now a shopping mall. La Sagrada Familia –Continue reading “Touring Barcelona”

Transit to Barcelona

Leaving Cagliari we spent our only entire day at sea, in transit to Barcelona. I can’t record what happened, we were simply down the whole day. Probably by the pool, possibly there were massages involved, who can say 🙂 Likely we ate at some point, and drank all through. It’s possible we saw Palma (capitalContinue reading “Transit to Barcelona”

Dinner at Amphora

For our “last night” at sea, we chose to have dinner at Amphora, the “nice” restaurant aboard our little yacht. It was excellent. .. After, the ship’s crew gave a performance! Quite a lot of fun – for them and us … 🙂

Cagliari, Sardinia

Next up and last intermediate stop of the cruise, Cagliari, Sardinia. Just like Sicilians, Sardinians view their Island as a separate entity, not [really] part of Italy. Good morning, Sardinia! Entering the [big, commercial] port of Cagliari. Picturesque it is not. The old town is better… How many almost-Italian versions of architecture are there? EminentlyContinue reading “Cagliari, Sardinia”

Pool day

On the second day of Trapani, we rested. And hung out by the pool. And did very little except “vacation”. Of course, every day begins with cookies and [real Italian] coffee in “the yacht club”. You want salt? Real sea salt? Real, pink, Sicilian sea salt? .. You’ve got it! A cool interlude, watching theContinue reading “Pool day”

Up to Erice

On a high mountain overlooking Trapani lies the old town of Erice. How or why anyone would build a place in such a forbidding summit, history does not record, but it was so. And we took a bus up there – and cable car down – to see it. The way up does yield aContinue reading “Up to Erice”

On to Trapani

From Messina we steamed West across the top of Sicily to Trapani, the NorthWest corner, the only city where we were to stay for two days. It’s a cute port, a bit of fallen glory I would say, as the importance of its Tuna fisheries have diminished. The waterfront features some classic architecture; almost Italian,Continue reading “On to Trapani”

Taormina

Taormina is an ancient walled city perched high on a cliff above the Ionian Sea, about 30 min South of Messina. Upon arrival we were greeted by a choice of rental cars: Ferrari or Lamborghini? Ah, decisions, decisions. Entrance to the city, closely guarded (by pigeons). A charming little central square. Cute, but crowded. NiceContinue reading “Taormina”