Blogs from Europe

We finally reached the Azores Islands today and we were docked in Ponta Delgada when we woke up this morning. The Azores are actually composed of 9 islands, with this being the largest. They were all made by volcanos long ago, but none are active any longer – we hope. We went to the breakfast buffet and again someone helped Janet with her plate. They are beginning to spoil her and David is going to have to step up his game in the future. Anyway, we had breakfast while the people on excursions were lining up for their buses. The ship was cleared to let people start disembarking about 9:30, so we went back to our cabin to let them get out of the way. We did not have an excursion scheduled today. There was a ... read more

We were not quite ready to leave the building this morning when the fire alarm went off. Oh, no! Is it a test, is it for real? It’s only the alert alarm isn’t it and not the whoop, whoop for evacuate?? Cathy went to check the lift which had put itself into Fire Only mode. OMG, should we walk down six flights of stairs to check with reception? Before we could make a decision, the alarm went silent, Bernie checked the lift again and it had re-set itself to normal operation. Phew! Let’s just carry on with our packing and keep our fingers crossed that the lift is still available when we need to take all our luggage downstairs! After three glorious days in Dublin with the weather much warmer AND drier than we had anticipated ... read more

Dubrovnik!! Got here at last!! One of the places I had always wanted to visit, but never quite got round to it!! Flight from Bristol was only 2 ½ hours and we were treated to views of snow, the Alps (I think!) before all the islands along the Croatian coast. We had arranged for a taxi to collect us and drop us at the Amoret Apartments in the Old Town! What we didn’t realize is that Dubrovnic is pedestrianised, and no cars can enter therefore we were dropped, by the taxi, at gate no 2, which according to google, meant we had a 7 minute walk! That would have been ok under normal circumstances, but wifi signal was periodically bad and the map was upside down! Then Chris fell over, ( he tripped over my suitcase ... read more

Saturday 20th April 2024 Well hello Montenegro!! Caught the bus to Dubrovnik bus station, coach turned up early ( not the modern Flixbus but a Jadran Express...( Toilet didn’t work!) white coach with an eighty year old( I’m guessing!!) with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, driver!! This couldn’t be our driver, surely not.....but yes it was. And to be fair he did get us here despite over 2 hours delay at border!! Stunning scenery, especially where went into Montenegro as the coach took us all the way around the Bay of Kotor, which took about an hour!! The Bay was surrounded by mountains and it was definitely black over the mountains by Kotor! NB Sit on right hand side of bus! Sure enough, as we arrived at Kotor, the heavens opened and we got ... read more

We sound horrible. Susan started her antibiotics last night and I started mine when we woke up today. This was my twelfth day of not feeling great. Oh well, we had to make the best of it. After breakfast we wrote and posted the blog then headed into Greenwich. The ferry to the dock was relatively empty. The village was quiet and there wasn’t a lot to see. We did see the market; it was more like a flea market with some food vendors. The old sailing ship was located by the pier, and we got pictures of it. There is also the entrance to a tunnel built in 1903 that goes under the Thames. All the while on the trip, we’ve seen the old red British phone booths. They aren’t still in use. Some have ... read more