Palma de Mallorca

Went to the best beach here. Beautiful fine sand. Lots of Brits. Must have good inexpensive flights from London. Lots of topless, all sizes, all types. Tomorrow is turn around day in Barcelona.

Monte Carlo

Elegant and wonderful. We took the train to Cassis a quaint seaside town because we will be back in Monte Carlo in a few days.

Portofino & Santa Margherita

The hike up to the Castello and then on to the lighthouse gave us the most incredible views of Portofino. Then we took a ferry to Santa Margherita and had a wonderful stroll around and ate delicious blue shelled mussels for lunch.

Florence

Florence really is an open air museum. Michelangelo's David is in the Academia and just gorgeous. Ponte Vecchio has spanned the Arno river since 1345 and the shops along the river are wonderful. We visited the shop where I bought my gold necklace 13 years ago and they still have the same design and wow the price of gold has gone way up

Portoferraio, Elba

This is a beautiful island and the exiled home of Napoleon. He tried to make it a miniature Paris. We climbed up to Villa Mulini, Napoleons home and Forte Stella for some gorgeous views of the Medicean harbour.

Rome

Had a wonderful day in Rome and the city. was humming. Took the train from Civitavecchia (port). 92 degrees. Found our favourite restaurant near the Spanish steps and then shopped along Via Condotti.

Positano

Took the local bus from Amalfi to Positano. Exhilerating along the windy coast. So great to be back in gorgeous Positano. Had a wonderful lunch of mussels and pasta at L Incanto on the beach. Took the ferry back to Amalfi and took zillions of pictures.

Venice

Glorious Venice is faced with the threat of gradual sinking. Palaces line the Grand Canal and one of the stops along the way is St. Mark's station offering access to St. Mark's Basilica and the Doge's Palace both facing the renowned St Mark's square where bells chime,violins play, shoppers stroll, and lovers embrace.

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Dubrovnik

George Bernard Shaw was enchanted by this beautiful city: for him, it was paradise. The old town was completed in the 13th century and remains virtually unchanged to the present day. Tall ramparts surround it and there are only two entrances to the old town which lead to the Stradun, the city's promenade. One of the greatest pleasures is to have a drink in one of the nearby cafes but the greatest find was a little place for drinks a hole cut into the huge wall called Buzia 1 (meaning hole in the wall). This is probably one of the most beautiful places in the world perched up high where you can sip champagne and watch the path of scuba divers and kayakers as well as kids jumping off the cliffs to the water below. Heaven.

Kotor, Montenegro

The name Montenegro derives from the Venetian phrase for black mountain. Montenegro is an small country in eastern Europe.The tiny republic of Montenegro has got it all; dramatic mountains with rugged peaks slahed with capricious canyons, and the sapphire Adriatic Sea.

We hiked up to the Kotor fortess, shades of the Grouse Grind. Kotor is a gorgeous walled city, just awesome.

Corfu, Greece

The island of Corfu has rich scenery, numerous cypress and olive groves, gorgeous emerald water, rugged mountains, splendid hidden coves, and miles of sandy beaches, Paleokastritsa is the most scenic beach and the shopping here is stunning. Check out the Greek Orthodox priest versus my Peter.

Taormina, Sicily

As soon as we arrived in Taormina, we felt the magical, mythical atmosphere.Taormina dominates 2 grand sweeping bays below, and on the southern side the top of Mt. Etna, Europe's highest active volcano. This pearl in the Mediterranean offers art performances in the ancient Greek theatre. Taormina is an artist's paradise with gorgeous alcoves, doorways, balconies lush with exquisite flowers. The shops are high end and the Sicilian food just awesome,

Sorrento

Sorrento is 50 km from Naples and is perched on 500 ft high cliffs overlooking the bays of Naples and Salermo. Sorrento is also the gateway to the romantic island of Capri. The water is absolutely turquoise and the shopping is fantastic.

Amalfi

Amalfi, Positano, and Ravello have more than their share of natural gifts; lush flora, supurb cuisine, wine and spectacular scenery not to forget a chilled glass of limoncello as the grand finale. Lunch at Villa Amore was like deja vu.

La Spezia

The roads are wide and high and yellow houses.....this is the La Spezia seen from Ernest Hemingway. It is a large port with the Italian Navy base. It is a surprisingly elegant city and we found a wonderful local enotecha where we sat amongst the locals and had a little pinot grigio and some great snacks.

We arrived back to the ship just before the thunderstorm hit!!!

Portofino

A jewel on the Ligurian coast. Coming from the sea all of a sudden, Portofino becomes visible encircled by a hidden bay. We took lots of pictures early this morning of this incredibly beautiful port. We hiked up to the Splendido Hotel for an incredible vista from this luxurious hotel.

Porto Vecchia

Corsica is the 4th largest island in the Mediterranean after Sicily and Sardinia. The very mountainous island includes 20 peaks that rise over 2000 metres. Corsica has all the attributes of a mini continent with its tropical palm trees, vineyards and orange groves, forests of chestnut and indigenous pine, alpine lakes and cool mountain torrents filled with trout.

The port is Porto Vecchio founded in 1539. 1/3 of Corisicas' wine comes from here but the main industry is tourism in this gorgeous port.

Roma

Here we are on our way to Roma and the weather is supposed to be lovely and warm. We sail out of Civitavecchia on Oceania and the ship is the Insignia.

Capacity is 680 people and it is very luxurious. We will visit 19 different ports including the French Riviera, Amalfi coast, Cinque Terre, Sicily, and Sardinia.

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