We are back from our latest adventure. We flew to Madrid to visit our two little Spanish "nephews" who are no longer babies. They are 18 month old full of life little boys!
We mastered the "Metro" in Madrid and used it to explore parts of the city we'd not seen before.
We took an AVE train from Puerta de Atocha station to Sants station in Barcelona. Fast, clean and quiet. The train was about 2/3 full but we took an early morning service that left Madrid at 7:00AM.
We followed that with a 10 night Western Mediterranean cruise on Celebrity Equinox. It was as close to perfect as a cruise can get. Great weather and wonderful ports -- Corsica was the biggest surprise. We'd go back there in a minute.
On Mallorca we road a tourist train up into the mountains. The carriages and even the locomotive (Siemens Electric) were wooden and painstakingly restored or maintained. We traveled from just outside Palma to Soller.
When we returned to Barcelona we flew on EasyJet to Bristol, UK. The flight was good although the leg room was marginal. The for sale food, though, was very good with a choice of five sandwiches, two of them served hot.
We had booked a train from Bristol International to Exeter (St. Davd's). It included a bus transfer from the airport to the train. We were early so got a tour of the city instead of the expected express bus. The train was a disappointment. Very crowed carriages (People ended up sitting on the floor in the vestibule.) The leg room was even less than on EasyJet. We had reserved seats but, of course, people were in them. Those without reserved seats sit anywhere and hope nobody shows up.
Our friends met us at Exeter and helped get the bags off the train.
After four days in Devon we left Southampton on a Transatlantic that took us to Boston, NYC, Bermuda, Nassau and Miami.
We are now home until mid-April unless something amazing turns up!
Frank in dark and warm SBA
Posted by HopefulRailUser (Member # 4513) on :
I had to reassure people that you were still alive. Glad you posted a report and welcome home.
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
Well Frank, it appears nothing has changed since I was last in the UK during '86.
I learned rather quickly that if you are going somewhere other than London, things get a little "third world".
Frank, glad you made it back. Since you're a regular on Celebrity, I'm curious about your transatlantic return. Was it on another line?
We are contemplating a trip to Greece next summer to see a college buddy who has been living there since a couple years after college. We reconnected at a college reunion this past spring. We have never seen the Adriatic so are thinking about an Athens to Venice cruise on Star Clipper. Have you had any experience with sailing cruises like this one or Windstar? Any suggestions for that part of the world? We have both done the touristy stuff in Greece, so mostly curious about the eastern Med ports we would see including the Dalmation coast.
Posted by sbalax (Member # 2801) on :
We were on Celebrity Eclipse for the return -- Southampton to Miami. It was our first time on this ship and it didn't disappoint.
We've not done Windstar but friends who have loved it.
Our only experience in the Eastern Mediterranean has been Piraeus (for Athens), Istanbul, Alexandria (A truly sad city -- even the "new" Library.), Ephesus and Haifa. All interesting in their own way and good jumping off spots for day trips.
I hope that helps.
Frank in supposed to be wet but sunny and warm SBA.
Posted by Vincent206 (Member # 15447) on :
Back during the communist era I spent some time tramping through the islands off of Yugoslavia. Brac, Korcula and Hvar were all beautiful with clear blue water, friendly people, good food, and plenty of wine. I was travelling solo and the locals regarded me as a bit of an oddity, but I enjoyed my trip. Rail service was very erratic but the ferries ran smoothly--autos and bus drivers, however, were very scary. I remember thinking that the islands were like being in California without the Californians. I'd love to go back someday.
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
quote:Originally posted by sbalax: We were on Celebrity Eclipse for the return -- Southampton to Miami.
When sailing from Southampton, if you were looking off to Port (Eastward), it would be hard to believe that there is a rocky shoal called The Brambles.
I can recall sailing circa 1979 in my Brother In Law's 36ft sailboat, and, even if I've always been a Prince Henry in this life, I was trying to familiarize myself down below in a heeling boat with Her Majesty's charts, namely were the soundings in Feet or Fathoms? The Skipper calls down and says give me a course to Lymington, when at the time were off Portsmouth. I saw nothing but Blue Water and gave him a Rhumb Line course of about 275. Next I hear is "you want to put us on The Brambles? give me a course to the Outer Marker for Portsmouth, then another for Lymington. I'll worry about the set for tides in here".
So much for my introduction to sailing in The Solent.