My holiday

Hello, I thought it was time I showed you what I was up to for most of October.  For the last few years, Mr D's sister has been working for Princess Cruises which means we have been lucky enough to go and visit her.  The first time was to the mediterranean for our honeymoon four years ago, and I didn't think cruising would be for me, but I loved it and have never looked back!  Since then we have been a further three times; to Norway & Iceland, South-East Asia and the med again.  Because we are staying with a crew member, we are not allocated a cabin (or stateroom as they like to call them), so we stayed in my sister-in-law's room for the first few nights until a lovely passenger cabin with a balcony became available because the passenger had complaint that it was too noisy - didn't cause us a problem.  We are very lucky.

As you might imagine I took LOADS of photos, but have tried to limit myself and just show you enough to give you a flavour of what the holiday was like.

My sister drove us to Southampton to meet the ship and we showed her around and had lunch together before departure.  I had a little tear(s) in my eye when she left as I do miss her and my niece and nephew when we are away.

  First stop, Cadiz.  We went to the beach first, then on to a farm in the Andalucian countryside where we had some fantastic tapas and tasted some different types of sherry.

 Our next stop should have been Valetta in Malta but the sea was quite rough so the captain decided it wasn't safe because the harbour is very narrow.  We weren't too disappointed though as it meant we had an extra half-day in our favourite port, Venice.  The main disadvantage about cruising for me is that you don't usually get to spend the evening in the places you visit, so this was a real treat.  We went out with a big group of crew members and didn't get (should that be "stagger"?!) home until 3am!

 The following day we had a walking tour of Venice where we saw this gondola repair workshop....

 ...and drooled over this yummy-looking pizza, then went around the Doge's Palace and walked through the Bridge of Sighs. Venice is an amazing place with a fascinating history.

 Next, we went to Split in Croatia where we went to Diocletian's palace and saw some of the lovely Dalmatian coastline...

 

Before returning the the ship we stopped for a drink in the sunshine at a waterfront bar, where we saw this brilliant menu.  I absolutely love mistranslations into English, I just find them completely hilarious.  I managed to resist the temptation to try a marcipan stump!

 After Split we went to Dubrovnik, again lovely views of the coastline on our way to Cavtat which was where the King and Mrs Simpson went on honeymoon - I can see why they chose it as it was lovely.

 Then on to the main town, where I couldn't resist taking a photo of this lady crocheting lavender bags to sell on the street.

 Mr D. was very excited as the new series of Game of Thrones, which is the TV adaptation of his favourite books was being filmed in Dubrovnik - sadly the day before we were there!

 I took this one from our balcony as we sailed away from Croatia.  I would definitely love to go back, it is a gorgeous country.

 In the evening after we had been to Dubrovnik, it was pirate night in the ward room/crew bar; as you can see we entered into the spirit of it whole-heartedly!  This is me, Mr D and my sister-in-law.  The funniest part was walking back through a passenger area dressed as pirates (and I blush to admit, just a titchy teeny bit drunk) - we may have freaked out some of the passengers on the way.

 Sadly, this picture sums up our visit to Corfu - it was rainy and miserable.  I don't think we saw the best of Corfu! 

 Our last port was Gibraltar, another fascinating place.  Very surreal to hear people speaking English and see all the British street signs etc.  We went to the top of the rock,

 and saw some of the famous apes, very cheeky monkeys.

 I sat in a hot tub (it's not me in the photo though!!) as we sailed away from Gibraltar, such a perfect moment

 Obviously I took my knitting - couldn't have had a relaxing holiday without it!

Every day on  returning to our room, the room steward had folded my nightie into different shapes.  Not sure what my overnight guests would think of me doing origami with their nightwear!

Our home for 17 nights!  We had quite a few sea days so there was lots of opportunity for relaxation as well as seeing all the lovely destinations.  We had three formal nights, so when I get round to it I'll scan some photos of us in our finery to show you.

A whole string of wonderful experiences and best of all loads of time where it was just the two of us.