Day 92 Ajjacio, Corsica, France- NAPOLEON all the way He was born here and everything is Napoleon- house, cookie tin…. And again, we are tied up to a pier very close to the main tourist area of town. We walked off the ship and across the street boarded a little train that brought us up to the tip the Island to Les Sanguinaires which are rocky outcrops with light house and small fort. I bought Nougat from a merchant at the little store. It was a lovely ride, the weather still balmy and again another lovely blossoming spring day to enjoy. We returned to town and walked the lovely market area with flowers, meats, cheeses and pastries; many merchants were selling woven palms as we are approaching the Easter season. There was a car race arriving ... read more

Day 90 May 5th Naples, Italy and the Isle of Capri…I love Limoncello Last night, we sailed past Stromboli(volcano #2) around midnight. The captain said he would slow down around 12 midnight so we could view the eruption. I go to bed early; but I really wanted to see the volcano. I stayed up painfully till 11:15, and went up on the front deck in the dark to better see the show. I saw the large dark cone of the volcano and assumed it was dormant as I saw no flame, no orange, no fire, nada. I returned to my room at 11:30, OUT LIKE A LIGHT AT 11:31. At 11:45 it started spouting lava and continued for a while, the captain had time to circle the mound for the port passengers to get a good ... read more

Day 88 April 3rd Valetta, Malta Malta was one of my 2 dream destinations, I was thrilled when HAL substituted it, along with a return for us to Athens and Kusadasi. My other desired destination being Reunion in the Indian Ocean and we were in Mayotte which is close and probably similar. We enjoyed learning more about the Knights of St-John. In Rhodes, last September we had toured their previous home, this time, we saw their great STONE fortress, churches and hospital. The St-John Co-cathedral is the most impressive catholic church I have ever visited because of the inlaid coloured marble tomb stones carpeting the whole floor of the church; then there are these 6 metre by 6 metre tapestries which are falling apart because of their great weight- just beautiful. I purchased a silver filigree ... read more

April 1st, 2006, Day 86 of our cruise of 105 Athens, Greece Our arrival was delayed this morning as we had to make way for the ferry traffic. Out by 9:30, shuttle bus to the subway, 0.70 Euro and 20 minutes later, we were in the Plaka. The Plaka is the old part of town at the bottom of the Acropolis. The Acropolis is 230 feet high and quite a challenging climb. The sightseeing all the way up, at the summit and during the descent was spectacular. Our ex-friend Robin then brought me up the next hill to get a good view of the first one! That would be the Filopapou Hill and a great viewing spot for the Parthenon. I wish I could have seen it at night all lit up from that spot; we ... read more

March 30th, 2006, Day 84 of our cruise of 105 Evening at sea after Kusadasai, Turkey, tomorrow, Iraklion, Crete, 220 nautical miles away. We have traveled close to 23 000 nautical miles. Everybody is running around planning touring activities for the upcoming ports as they are many and close to one another. We will walk to town tomorrow, hopefully tour the archeological museum and maybe go for a cab ride around wine country in the afternoon. Balmy weather, Very pleasant Hello my children, hello granny. -news pls from all of you Goodnight. Ttys, love to all ... read more