Another warm day, this time at Taormina, at the foot of Mt Etna. Our enthusiastic guide this morning wanted to make sure we knew where we were by saying we were in Sardinia about to embark on a 3 museum tour……..a big joke Fabritzio ! In fact we are in Scilly, about to see some beautiful towns and their churches.

First up Catania, and a wonderful Cathedral with astrological clock. A hole in the ceiling let’s light in at times which you can read the time off, on where it strikes on the floor.

Also some great light posts, statues and fountains within University Square.

Then at drive to Acireale via the Cyclops Riviera Road. Another beautiful church with a fantastic ceiling. All too soon time to drive back for out tender…..Ciaio Ciaio

A few more shots from today’s exclusion. Grand Harbour and Riviera

Walled city of Mdina and its tiny entrance, narrow roads and high walls.

Finally a few more at the aviation museum, and the amazing lift from the Cruise ship terminal to Valetta

After a day at sea yesterday we were looking forward to our Malta visit. I’ve read extensively about the siege of Malta during WW2, so was impressed upon entering the Grand Harbour, and could imagine the stricken oil tanker Ohio limping in with its vital cargo.

Our prime reason to visit was to pay homage to Hazel’s father who served here at Ta’Qali airbase in the RAF from 1940 -43 as an ground engineer during the siege. The site is now an aviation museum, and I’d been in correspondence with its Curator. First up was to get there, on the hop on/hop off bus. This was mainly off than on, with numerous bus changes and waiting. We did get to visit Mdina before all the other tourists. Being a hilltop village/fortification it had very narrow streets, easily clogged with traffic, let alone tourists. After another bus wait we finally got to Ta’Qali and was given a warm welcome by Ray Polidano. He was most interested in the photos we’d bought along, and promptly scanned them. Then he made our day and invited us to sit in their Spitfire cockpit and have a Hurricane pic ! A dream realised, even though Hazel found it a challenge to get out. It’s incredibly tight and not good visibility, let alone being shot at !  He then spent 2 hours taking us around and giving us coffee. THANKS RAY, what a treat !

Even starting at 8.30 it was now 2.30, with a couple more hours on the bus…….after visiting Valetta we pulled the pin at 6pm after a long hot day, but very rewarding. More pics to follow after a shower and dinner.

An early morning start saw a 6.30 breakfast sailing up the fjord to the old port town of Kotor. It was that warm already with some beautiful reflections in the water. I know very little about Montenegro, so was looking forward to our excursion.

We then drove on a heritage listed road with 25 hairpin bends up to a height of 900 meters. Being only single track there was some skilful coach driving, and a few gasps from American lady’s being suspended a inch from the road edge with sheer drops. The view from the top was spectacular, like Norway but a lot warmer. Riviera is the docked ship.

A cheese and ham sandwich was provided as morning tea, before visiting the King Nicola museum at Cetinje, a bit squeezy with a lot of buses. Thankfully the return trip was on a more modern, but no less impressive road to Kotor. The old town reminded us of Talin in Estonia, smart shops and restaurants crowded between narrow streets and squares. However the numerous churches and impressive mountain backdrop will leave a lasting impression, as did the afternoon tea on returning onboard.

A late morning arrival at Dubrovniks spectacular modern port,  and bridge,  saw another hot day. The drive to Cavtat was along a spectacular cliff edge road overlooking the old town. It was a pretty, but busy, little town with a lot of cafes and large motor yachts.

A quick drive back to the old town, and it’s massive medieval walls. Whilst much of the city has been rebuilt from earthquakes, fires and wars, it struggles to cope with the shear number of visitors.  The monasteries and their cloisters were lovely and cool, whilst little side streets were incredibly narrow and steep. 

Leaving Venice last night our cruise director promised the best ever sailaway from the portside. He wasn’t wrong ! Going down the Grand Canal the view from deck 16 was amazing ! I’d had a mental image of doing this for a while, it’s just I had a Bellini cocktail in hand rather than a rum punch. With Andrea Bocelli playing it was a moment to treasure.

We will be sailing into Dubrovnik in a few hours, so in the meantime enjoy….

After a hectic day travelling yesterday, more flight and immigration delays, it was a relief to board Rivera. First impressions were good, with a spacious cabin and bathroom ( well anything is spacious after T42), and pleasant dinner companions. Opting out of the madness of St Marks Square we instead visited the islands of Murano and Burano. To do so we boated down Canal Grande. One of the wonders of this world I think….

Murano is known for its glass making, and here at Linea Murano a glass master plied his trade. Not cheap souvenir trinkets but proper art in the form of blown glass. Needless to say a sample of his work will shortly be finding its way home.

Finally Burano, known for its lace. A highly colourful village with excellent gelato. All too soon we had to head home, time for the lifeboat drill and the open sea. Ciao for now.

An uneventful, but hot, cruise back to Pyrford was followed by a torrential rainstorm last night. Luckily it turned into a grey day, so off to Wisley to see how it’s grown. Battlestone Hill was a picture with Rhododendrons, Azalea’s and Cornus. 

After lunch the glasshouses beckoned, with Orchids and exotic Tree Ferns ! but the Jade Vine was  centre stage, with  its unreal green blue colour. Tomorrow we have an early start for Venice, with some Dolce Vita to follow. 

It’s been awhile since we’ve talked about T42, our 27′ Sea Otter. Built out of aluminium with a flooding keel she has 2 great attributes, light enough to trail and doesn’t rust ! Perfect for a pair of long distance narrowboaters. In daytime configuration she has 2 long seats facing each other, full kitchen, bathroom with toilet and shower and a dinette. The front well deck has a cratch cover fitted, great for wet weather gear or drying the washing. A veritable Tardis !  Hazel having a break after a long day looking after the Captain !

In nighttime configuration the forward long seats get filled in and becomes the Captains cabin, whilst the dinette converts to the galley slave quarters ! Actually the 2 seperate bunks work well, otherwise it’s all a bit squeezy. Don’t forget it’s only 6’10” wide, so that it fits into a 7′ lock ie 1″ spare each side. Also it rocks easily….making showers interesting.

Overall a nice bit of kit, here’s our mooring for the night, near Send and the New Inn.

Finally some fluffy cygnets to make you feel all warm and fuzzy, Goodnight !

We are still getting up early, so an 8am start saw us arrive in Guildford along with all the commuters. We seemed to be the only ones on the river though. Hazel saw us safely thru Millmead lock, no gongoozlers today, so of course everything went perfectly. 

Whilst Hazel went shopping I skulked around and accidently found a watch shop ! A nice 1948 vintage Rolex and Omega were added to the collection. The guys just wanted to talk watches and classic cars…….so I obliged ! 

Guildford was also home to Lewis Carol, author of Alice in Wonderland, so a statue of a bunny racing home to his rabbit hole was quite appropriate next to our mooring.

After a quick lunch, another Melton Mowbray Pork Pie ! We pushed onto Dapdune Wharf for their services and the New Inn at Send for a swift half of Stowford Press Cider, life couldn’t get much better ! Cheers Mark and Hazel