Cruising the Mediterranean 4 - Barcelona and Montserrat

Our next port of call was Barcelona and rather than doing a tour of the city we chose to visit Montserrat!

Montserrat is a mountain about 50kms outside Barcelona and is very famous for its Benedictine monastery. To get there we travelled a very winding road by bus but you can also get there by train and cable car. 

Those making a pilgrimage to Montserrat usually hike to the top of the mountain which is more than 1200 metres above sea level. We were told that every young Catalonian (which is the area around Barcelona) will hike to Montserrat at least once in their life and it will take them about a day to get there!

The monastery itself is very beautiful and the church contains the most exquisite Spanish lanterns.

The monastery is also famous for its Black Madonna which unfortunately is kept behind glass so this photo is not great.

There is a story that Ignatius of Loyola visited the monastery in the 1500's and laid down his sword in front of the Black Madonna. (I put this one in for Daniel!)

After Montserrat we were shown some iconic spots in Barcelona including these buildings designed by Gaudi and their groovy street lamps.

To finish off the day we wandered down Las Ramblas, the main shopping precinct in the city, and enjoyed a feast of tapas, paella and a fishbowl sized glass of sangria!

Cruising the Mediterranean 3 - Toulon

After Monte Carlo we headed to Toulon on the south eastern coast of France. Toulon is a major naval base so there were lots of military ships in the harbour including the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle.

Because Toulon is famous for its harbour we did a harbour cruise instead of an on-shore excursion.

This is the Tour Royale which is a fort built in the 16th century to defend the harbour. Supposedly the Empress Josephine watched 200 of Napoleon's ships sail to Egypt from this fort.

Because of the size of the harbour, Cardinal Richelieu (as in the three musketeers) built another fort directly opposite the Tour Royale.

These three dilapidated vessels are actually pirate ships caught by the French navy running between North Africa and the French Coast.

This is what the French call - the Pleasure Port! We would call it the marina.

After our cruise we walked around the winding narrow streets of the old town and did some shopping. Stephen was standing outside a shop wearing his Brumbies cap when a local (with very little English) pointed at his cap and excitedly said 'George Smith'! George Smith left the Brumbies a few years ago to play out his career in Toulon. George subsequently made a comeback and after returning to Australia played a few more tests for the Wallabies! Small world! 

Cruising the Mediterranean 2 - Villefranche and Monte Carlo

For some reason we weren't able to dock in Monte Carlo and instead the ship anchored a few kilometres away in the Bay of Villefranche. This is a glimpse of the view we woke up to!

Because we were anchored in the bay the only way to get ashore was by tender! The tenders are actually the lifeboats from the ship and the crew of each tender spent all day ferrying people to and from the ship.

We chose to do a half day tour of Monte Carlo which also included a tour of the casino. We were very lucky because the casino is not usually open to the public (unless of course you are gambling) but because they were preparing the casino for Monaco's National Day celebrations and no gaming was taking place, we were actually allowed in.

The interiors of the casino are pretty amazing............

And the view from the back terrace is to die for........

Next to the casino is the very famous Hotel de Paris which hosts all the high rollers and celebrities. 

On arrival, guests toss their car keys to a valet for parking - no Toyotas or Mitsubishis here!

Apart from the casino, Monaco (which is the principality rather than the city) is also famous for........

1.  The Formula 1 Grand Prix

2. Princess Grace

This is where she married Prince Ranier.

3. The Grimaldi Family

Just up from the church is the Royal Palace where King Albert (the son of Princess Grace) lives. Opposite is the square which was being decorated for their National Day celebrations.

4. Oceanographical Museum

For several years Jacques Cousteau was the Director of the Museum and this is his submarine.

And after a hard day of sightseeing, you relax on board with a beer and wave goodbye to Monte Carlo.

Cruising the Mediterranean 1 - Civitavecchia and Livorno

From Paris we flew to Rome and then caught a train to the port of Civitavecchia (pronounced Chich-a-veckia) which is about 80 kms north of Rome. Being on the coast, Civitavecchia is quite touristy but still has lots of old world charm.

We stayed just the one night in Civitavecchia and then very excitedly walked to the shuttle bus for our transfer to the Norwegian Jade.

As first time cruisers we were a bit nervous about whether we'd like this part of our anniversary tour. We were right though - we didn't actually like it, we LOVED it! 

This is me with a glass of wine (the first of many as it turned out), as we sailed out of Civitavecchia. You can see by the number of cruise ships in the background that it's a busy port. Because we were not travelling huge distances we sailed at night and spent each day in a new port.  And so you can make better sense of where we were going, here's the itinerary!

LIVORNO

We decided not to do the shore excursions to Pisa or Florence (because we were going there later anyway) and instead spent a bit of time in the morning familiarising ourselves with the ship and then wandering around Livorno for a few hours in the afternoon.

Livorno is a fairly typical Italian port with basic amenities and infrastructure. It has a fort called the Fortezza Nuova, that was apparently built to defend the city from pirates.

And it has a Church dedicated to St Catherine which while quite ordinary looking has the most beautiful carved doors.

And then there's how the locals spend their Sunday - doing their chores!

Gay Paree

After our three days in Amiens we went back to Lille to drop off the car and then caught the high speed train to Paris.

We only had three nights in Paris so we didn't have a lot of time to get around and see the city sites.  However, we did manage a couple of iconic spots......

The Louvre

This is a painting called the Lacemaker by Johannes Vermeer. It was painted about 1670. We thought it was more captivating than this other very famous one by Leonardo da Vinci which was painted somewhere between 1503 and 1506.

The poor old Mona Lisa has had a pretty interesting life! She was stolen in 1911 by an Italian patriot who actually worked at the Louvre - when you know how much art Napolean pinched from the Italians you can kind of understand why. Fortunately, she was recovered a few years later when he tried to sell her to another gallery. Then in the 1950s vandals separately threw acid and a rock at her which did some damage that had to be repaired. Unfortunately, she is now kept behind glass which doesn't enhance the experience of seeing her for the first time. In fact, I had to pinch this photo from the internet because our photos were rubbish!

Also in the Louvre are the State Apartments of Napolean. The chandeliers alone are simply amazing! Napolean sure had a serious inferiority complex!

The Arc de Triomphe

We walked the 284 steps to the top of the Arc de Triomphe and enjoyed 360 degree views of the city. This site is also the location of the tomb of the France's Unknown Soldier.

The Champs Élysées

After the Arc de Triomphe we walked the 2 kms of the Champs Élysées which was quite beautiful with all the Christmas lights. Store holders were in the process of setting up their Christmas stalls so unfortunately it was to early to do any Christmas shopping.

Eiffel Tower

As it was over 700 steps to get to level four of the Eiffel Tower and because there was a two hour wait for the one lift which was operating, we decided to enjoy the view from the ground.

Near to the Eiffel Tower we found a sports store selling golf tees in the shape of the Eiffel Tower. Guess what Grandad Rumble got for Christmas!