Cobh (Cork) Ireland

 July 31 - Cobh (Cork) Ireland 

As we sailed towards Cork, we passed through some fairly heavy rain around 5AM.  Hopefully the weather will clear before our arrival at 9AM.  Our tour today is with MunsterBus and we are sharing with Sandy & Ron from Southern California and Evelyn from Washington State.

…. By the time we were docking the weather had improved and our driver told us it should be a nice day - which in Ireland, apparently, is a rarity! He said sometimes they get the four seasons on the same day!

We took a brief Cork City Tour; Cork was the last port of the Titanic before it’s fateful Atlantic crossing!  It is a city of about 400,000 and was bustling with city traffic on the Sunday of a long weekend!

We headed to Blarney Castle and climbed the steps to kiss the Blarney Stone!  ( I took a pass on this, but intrepid Mary went on up and looked around the castle and some of the gardens)

From there we set out for Kinsale, a busy little town set on a pretty harbour across from Charles Fort.  

Kinsale Harbour

Charles Fort

We had lunch at Jim Edwards’ Pub, a popular local spot in town and then started back to the ship.

Despite the beautiful day, and the pastoral countryside, it was not one of our  best tours!  The driver was pleasant enough, but he didn’t offer much commentary; we had to keep asking questions to learn anything about Ireland’s culture, history and way of life.

Hopefully tomorrow we will have a wonderful experience in Holyhead, Wales!

Stay tuned!

The Travellers

Guernsey (Channel Islands), UK

 July 30 - Guernsey ( Channel Islands), UK

 We arrived at Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands, this morning where we are anchored off the harbour.  Today we are sharing our excursion with Deb & Glenn, and Dana & Michael and we had a very interesting and informative tour with Amanda Johns, whose family has lived here for several generations.

Our tour began with a drive out of town, passing by Victor Hugo’s house where he completed Les Miserables, and from there on to the top of a bunker overlooking the harbour and the other Channel Islands. At one spot we could see the coast of France. 

Our next stop was The Little Chapel, possibly the smallest chapel in the world. It was built to create a miniature version of the famous grotto and basilica at Lourdes in France. The Little Chapel, measuring about 16 ft x 9 ft, is beautifully decorated with seashells, pebbles and colourful pieces of broken china.

The rest of the tour was an account of the German occupation of Guernsey between 1940 and 1945.

First to the German Occupation Museum - 

Because some of Amanda’s family had lived through the German occupation she described some of their personal experiences; she told of how theGermans bombed the harbour and then Churchill made the decision to offer the choice to evacuate or stay and families had one day to decide and pack up! About half the population left.  She shared actual letters that her Grandfather had sent to his sister where he was only allowed to write 25 words!  In one letter he had to tell her of the death of their father.  

The museum gives glimpses into the daily life of civilians under German occupation, equipment used, newspaper clippings, the Red Cross Ship with food parcels for families which saved them from starving.

From there we went to the German Underground Hospital and Ammunition Store. The maze of tunnels comprised about 75,000 square feet and is built into the side of a hill and therefore not visible from the surface. Using ‘slave labourers’ from various European countries it took about 3 1/2 years to build, but was only in use for about 9 months!  It was an incredible structure and the conditions would have been deplorable.

It was a fascinating tour made all the more interesting by Amanda, whose passion about this part of her family history made it come alive for us.

 Back to the ship for the first ‘formal’ night!  Oh joy!  LOL  We are not really keen to get all gussied up, but we do our best!  We’ve decided to go to Sabatini’s, one of the specialty restaurants, for an Italian feast!  

Mangia!  Mangia!

Oh boy!  Started with Prosciutto and a pufffy pastry of some sort, then antipasti- lamb skewers for Mary, roasted peppers for Dorothy, then Pasta- lamb ravioli for Mary, seafood fettuccine for Dorothy, and for the main course - Veal Marsala for both of us.

But the dessert….. a small selection….

Tiramisu,  Zabaglione, Panna Cotta, and a chocolate extravaganza!

We asked for wheelchairs to get us back to the cabin!  Oh my!  Thank God for elastic waistbands and hopefully all the walking today will cancel out the calories!

Next stop, Cork, Ireland!

Love, 

The Stuffed Travellers!

 

 

 

Embarkation - Southampton, UK

 July 29 - Embarkation in Southampton,th UK 

July 28 - Arrival.  After a perfect flight - on time, great seats, tasty and well presented meals on real dishes with real cutlery, delicious Cabernet Merlot in a tumbler! and well looked after by Stefan, a flight attendant who called us by name after introducing himself! - we had a very long wait for special services to come with our transport.    

The ride through the airport was interesting; it reminded us of the CNE and the Haunted House ride ( minus the ghosts!) - winding through many rather poorly lit corridors and into elevators that were just the right size!  Even with the wait we were grateful to have this service as it was a long way to passport control, customs, and the baggage claim area.  To make a long, boring story short, the driver of the transport vehicle was extremely helpful in locating our transfer guy who had actually had to go back to the parking lot because he had exceeded his time waiting.  The driver then took the scenic route  to Southampton where we stayed at the Leonardo Royal Harbour Hotel.

After a tasty Caesar Salad with Chicken for late lunch, we walked around the old city and wall looking at the stone structures and buildings in the old medieval city that once protected the town and welcomed seafarers and pilgrims.

 

They have built new accommodation and repurposed many of the old buildings.  After that, we were really tired after the flight, little sleep and a lot of walking so called it a day!  

July 29 - After a good night’s sleep we were ready to head to the Island Princess to begin our long awaited cruise!   Check in was so easy and efficient as much of the registration and documentation about vaccines and Covid tests had been done online before we left home. We heard there are only 1500 passengers on the ship ( capacity is about 2200) which makes it feel roomy and passengers are requested to wear masks indoors which we are thankful for.

Once onboard we went straight to the Lido deck for lunch - and a celebratory glass of wine!  We spent the afternoon watching traffic in the harbour and enjoying a perfect day on the Promenade deck.

After dinner we returned to our cabin to enjoy the sunset on our balcony!  We’ll have an early night in preparation for our excursion in Guernsey tomorrow.  We are so happy to be sailing again!

Until next time….

The Happy Travellers