​Well after ending our 7-night cruise from Vancouver with two spectacular scenic viewing days in Glacier Bay and College Fjord, we docked in Whittier (45 minutes east of Anchorage) to begin our 5 night land tour.  Our first stop was in Kenai Princess Wilderness Lodge which was a 2 ½ hour bus ride from Whittier.  It was a new lodge for us and was very nice with cabin like accommodations.  On arrival we changed and headed out for a few short hikes around the area.  One of the hikes took us along the Kenai River which had rafts floating down river and boats fishing for trout.  After our hikes we ate a little lunch at the lodge which has a large back porch that has a great view of the river and surrounding area.  We had a river float tour scheduled for the early evening and had a nice float down the river.  We saw a few eagles and their nests but the most interesting thing we saw was the significant impact on the area’s spruce trees caused by spruce bark beetles.  Everywhere you looked around the lodge and along the river you saw dead or dying trees.  Evidently this has become a serious issue in many areas of Alaska.  The float ride was OK but nothing spectacular, althouh it did end on a high note as we were getting out of the river and got a great view of fisherman lining the shores and wading in the water, in order to fish for salmon.  We were told that a few thousand salmon had started their trip upriver that day and the fisherman were out there to catch their share.  We saw one fisherman walking by us with a string of 4 or 5 salmon.  Too bad we didn’t have a chance to do a little salmon fishing!  After the float trip Sharon, and her brother and sister-in-law, decided to take a hike to Juneau Falls that a few people had recommended.  It turned out to be a pretty strenuous 3.5-mile hike in heavily mosquito invested areas but the views were spectacular when they got there.  Greg took a break from this hike but had some late dinner waiting for them since the bar/restaurant closed at 10 PM and they didn’t make it back until 11 PM.  With all the extra day light in Alaska it is easy to keep doing things late into the evening.
 
The next morning, we had breakfast and headed out to Mt McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge by bus.  The bus ride was around 4 hours but was broken up with a 2-hour lunch stop in Anchorage.  We spent most of our time in Anchorage visiting a craft show and buying jewelry and other souvenirs.  We met a photographer there who was selling some of his very interesting wildlife pictures.  During our discussion he offered to guide us on some tours if we came back in the future to some nice areas where he guaranteed an opportunity to see bear fishing for salmon and plenty of moose, along with other wildlife.  We took his card and plan to set up a land only trip back to Alaska in 2024 with 3 or 4 couples who would like to experience getting up close and personal with some of the Alaskan wildlife.  After a quick lunch we headed back on the bus to the Wilderness Lodge.  When we arrived, we were thrilled to have a great view of Mt McKinley (or Denali Mountain as it is currently called).  It is said that only 30% of the people that go to Denali Park have an opportunity to see this mountain because of the constant cloud cover and smoke that tends to always be around.  Mount Denali is the largest mountain in North America with an elevation of 20,310 feet at the summit.  Mountain climbers from around the world come to Alaska to attempt climbing to the summit.  Only about 50% make it and there have been over 100 deaths of people trying to make this climb.  For us just seeing the dark blue silhouette of the mountain in the distance was a real treat.  This is the 3rd time we have been to the Denali area, and we have been fortunate to see the mountain each time.  Shortly after arrival to the lodge we went on a pre-arranged horse trail ride.  It was a nice ride through the park and there were a few opportunities to see the mountain during the ride.  We didn’t see much wildlife, but the ride was enjoyable.  Unfortunately, once again we didn’t get back to the lodge until late and no dinner was offered there after 9PM.  We were frustrated with that because there is no other place to eat around the area within 45 minutes of the lodge.  You would think they would keep the restaurants open longer but they are having staffing problems due to Covid, like some many other places are having.  On our way to breakfast the next morning, we were shocked to look over at Mount Denali and see how clear the mountain looked.  It was like the clouds and smoke had all gone away leaving a crystal clear and colorful view of the mountain.  Once again, we felt blessed with this wonderful view! 
 
We then headed out on bus to go to the train station about an hour away to take a train to the Princess Denali Lodge.  During the bus ride we had two great viewings of moose crossing the road.  There was even a mother and her baby that came out.  The mother had crossed the road, but the baby was afraid of the bus which had stopped and was trapped on the other side of the road.  Eventually the mother went back over the road to get her youngster and head back into the woods.  The train ride was very enjoyable, and many people see this as one of the highlights of their trip.  Passengers sit up on the second floor of a specially designed railway car in some very comfortable seats.  There are several people there who share information on what you are seeing and where you are going, and they even have a bar to serve you drinks along the way.  The sides and ceiling of the car are entirely made of glass to give you great views of anything outside.  On the first deck below the seats is a restaurant on every car where you can have a nice meal.  The also have an observation deck on each car where you can go outside and get some better pictures without having the glass windows to deal with.  Sharon and her brother and sister-in-law spend almost the whole ride outside taking pictures and enjoying the amazing scenery.  Once again, we got some tremendous views of Mount Denali that were crystal clear and closer than where we had been at the previous lodge.  There were so many different picturesque spots along the way and the narration that was provided was extremely interesting.
 
When the train ride was over, we took a short bus ride to Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge which is located in a great spot along the river and just a mile from the park’s main entrance.  After getting situated in our room (which isn’t as nice as some of the other lodges) and having a little lunch, we decide to take a hike into the park.  During our last trip here, we had hiked Horseshoe Lake where you might get lucky and see some beavers.  As we did this hike again, it was amazing how different the experience was since the first time we did it.  The trails had been significantly improved by the park rangers and there were steps and a very large open trail.  There were also thousands of mosquitos!  When we did it originally 7 years ago, the trail was rustic, and you had to find your own places to walk but now there are signs, steps and graded trails – and lots of mosquitos.  It would have been nice to have some mosquito repellent, but we didn’t bring any on this trip since we did not have this problem last time.  We did complete a walk around the lake and ran into a very big beaver on the shore who spent a lot of time swimming in the water near shore which allowed us to take many pictures of him.  We also had some great views of several of the dams the beavers have made.  Although the hike was enjoyable, we liked it better when the trails weren’t as nice and there weren’t many mosquitos.  When we got back from this 8-mile hike, we once again couldn’t find any place open to eat in the lodge – you think they could at least have a coffee shop with some snacks open throughout the night.  Fortunately, in Denali there are other places to go other than the lodge.  We walked across the street and the only place open was a pizza place.  We went there and some people got some drinks and snacks while Sharon and I spent most of the time watching TV.  We were mesmerized to see 3 TV’s showing live feeds of the Katmai area where bears were in the river fishing for salmon.  On one TV there must have been 4 bears fishing in the same area.  We watched several bears catch their salmon and either eat it or walk away with their dinner to eat elsewhere.  We were watching this around 11PM and it was still sunny outside as we watched the bears going after the salmon.  It was extremely entertaining.  We learned that there are many observation decks near these cameras where people go to watch the bears and take pictures.  This is one of the areas we plan to go during our trip in 2024.  Go to this link to see these video feeds although I think you have to create a log in to see the live feeds, but they have the previous days feed recorded which can be easily viewed:
https://explore.org/livecams/brown-bears/brown-bear-salmon-cam-brooks-falls
Fortunately, we had 2 nights in Denali, since we had learned from our earlier trips to spend most of your time here.  Unfortunately, a tour we had scheduled for the day had been cancelled and we decided to take a shuttle bus down the road to a trail that the park rangers had suggested.  The visitor’s center is very nice there with some interesting displays of the wildlife and plant life.  The rangers are all very helpful and friendly.  In past trips we have done the Wilderness Tundra Tour that takes you 50 miles into the park on a slow moving bus to view the wildlife along the way.  Due to a landslide that occurred earlier this year, you can only go about 13 miles down the road.  They have been working months to repair the road and hope to have it reopened sometime in September.  The hike we took went along a river where we were seeing constant signs of moose (droppings) and felt for sure we would see one somewhere along the way but unfortunately, we did not see any.   As the trail veered away from the river, it started to go uphill, and then more uphill, and the more uphill.  After going uphill for 2 miles of this 4.5-mile trail, we turned around the corner of the trail and looked up to see the trail going straight up the side of a mountain.  How depressing!  Greg looked at Sharon’s brother and said a nasty word or two, while we contemplated whether we would continue.  Sharon’s brother and sister-in-law didn’t contemplate it too long and said they were going back the same way we came.  Sharon looked at Greg, pleading to go on.  Greg looked at his out of shape body and grudgingly agreed to give it a try.  As Sharon ran up the mountain and Greg drudged far behind, we eventually made it up to the top after another 30 minutes or so of agony, at least to one of us.  The views were great but unfortunately clouded by heavy smoke in the area.  As we crested the mountain top, we were hit by 30-mile gusts of wind and cold air which was about 20 degrees cooler than we started.  Unfortunately, Greg only had on a t-shirt and was a little uncomfortable but kept following Sharon as she ran up in front taking pictures.  Down below the crest was ice covered snow to help remind us of how far we had climbed.  Sharon was the first to spot, what we eventually discovered were Arctic Ground Squirrels.  These were friendly little animals that came right up to your feet and were obviously being fed by hikers.  They seemed to love to pose for Sharon and we probably eventually saw 10 to 12 of these animals as we continued to hike.  Greg was the first to spot 4 Dahl sheep (mountain goats with heavy fur) up on the ridge in front of us.  After getting several hundred yards past the crest, the wind started to be blocked by the side of another mountain that the trail went around (fortunately not over!).  As we walked along, we came across another animal that we had no idea what it was.  We later found out it was a marmot.  This one was large and looked like it weighed over 12 pounds.  All it did was eat moss off a rock while Sharon took 30 pictures.  It certainly wasn’t scared by us.  The walk across the side of this mountain was not easy since the path was covered with loose shale which made it slippery, and you had to be careful where you put your foot.  There were several large rock outcroppings that were very picturesque.  When we finally came out of the last outcropping you could see the road below and the trails end.  Sharon noticed a bus up on top of a small rock formation halfway down the path.  Greg thought she was joking because it was actually a bus on the other side of the rocks down in the parking lot below but did look like an optical illusion that the bus had somehow gotten wedged up on those rocks.  When Sharon walked another quarter mile and couldn’t see the bus, she asked what happened to it and Greg explained that it really wasn’t up on the rock formation.  The path down was mainly rock steps and you had to be careful since some of the steps were large with loose rock on them.  When Greg reached the bottom and saw the trail marker, he went over and kissed it, thanking anyone who would listen that his ordeal was over!  From the end of the trail, we took a shuttle bus back to the Visitor’s Center and then walked a mile and a half to Riley Creek Campground where we were told a moose was being seen every day.  We walked around the campground but unfortunately did not see any moose.  As we made our mile and a half walk back to the lodge, Sharon saw a moose crossing the road about 20 yards behind us.  We walked across the road to take pictures of this large animal that was only about 20 yards away from us.  Fortunately, he was behind a row of birch trees and didn’t seem too interested in us.  In was amazing how many cars stopped when they saw Sharon was taking a picture of something.
 
After walking for more than 35,000 steps that day we headed out on an ATV ride we had prearranged with Viator.  The ATVs are not allowed in Denali Park and there is a $1000 fine for every wheel that touches park land.  The ATVs were run in a mining area that is inside the park but no longer considered part of the park since it is an actively mined property.  They are still pull-out millions of dollars of gold a month out of this area.  The ATV ride was enjoyable but very dusty.  The views would have been nicer except for the heavy smoke.  While we were in Alaska on this trip, there were multiple fires in many different areas around Denali.  The fires are almost all started by lightning and not humans.  They burn millions of acres of forest each year, but this is just a drop in the bucket of the forests in Alaska.  Out ATV group was big but moved at a good pace.  We stopped at a river and was given a lecture on rocks and geology.  It was a nice ATV ride, but it certainly was dusty.
 
The next morning a bus picked us up and drove us to Fairbanks which was our final destination.  When we arrived in Fairbanks, we went straight to the paddle wheel river boat which was to take us on a 4-hour ride.  This turned out to be a very enjoyable trip.  The paddle boat itself was an original Alaskan boat that had been taking Alaskans for over 50 years up the river to Fairbanks.  The original captain and owner of the company died about 15 years ago and the Alaskan senator at the time held a moment of silence in the US Senate in remembrance of this Alaskan hero who helped pioneer the territory to a new state over 60 years ago.  The boat was well suited for tourist passengers, and we were able to see a demonstration of how the bush pilots of Alaska land and take off on the many rivers around the state.  As we went down the river, we saw some beautiful homes that people had built including the home of the wife of the original captain who started up the company over 75 years ago.   A little further down we stopped at the kennels of Susan Butcher.  She was the second woman to win the Alaska Iditarod back in 1986.  She ended up winning it 4 times in 5 years and Alaska even created a Susan Butcher Day after her last victory.  We heard many great stories about her and sadly she died of cancer in 2006 but her story continues with her husband running her dog sled kennels that she built 40 years ago.  We saw from our boat demonstrations of how they trained the dogs and even watched a small race of how the dogs performed by dragging a sled on wheels around the entire kennel area.  The boat we were on acted as a theater to watch these demonstrations with the Susan’s husband providing the commentary down on the shoreline with his dogs.  As the boat moved further down river we saw an Indian village on the left side and were provided a demonstration of how they fish for salmon with a small paddle wheel that scooped up the fish right out of the water.  We were then told and shown how they prepared the fish and smoke them.  Next to the demonstration we saw 5 elk that suddenly appeared which turned out to be part of the show but were very interesting to see.  The boat turned around in the river when it joined another river and we sailed back up to the Indian village where the boat docked and we got out to see several demonstrations on how the Alaskan Indians lived and survived in this rough country.  After boarding the boat again, we headed back to where we started and was given more information about Fairbanks and Alaskan.  It was really a very nice tour, and we recommend it to anyone who gets up to Fairbanks.
 
After checking into our lodge, we were picked up for our ATV ride that we had booked through Viator.  It took us a good 20 minutes to drive to where the ride was to begin, and the roads were pretty bumpy along the way.  As we were driving, we spotted a moose on a small lake.  We turned around and stopped to take a few pictures but got eaten up by mosquitos while we did that.  We got to the ATV shop and was given a brief operations and safety talk.  Our group was only 8 which was much smaller than what we had experienced in Denali.  The ATVs were much nicer, and we had two good guides.  The trip was great but dusty once again.  Fortunately, they provided goggles which really helped.  We road on dirt roads, dirt paths, and through the woods (in some areas where there was only a couple of inches of clearance between the trees and ATVs!).  We got a few sunset pictures with the ATVs in the foreground and stopped at a few places along the way.  We rode for hours and had a great time.  When we eventually got back to the lodge it was over 5 hours later, but we had a great time.  It was one of the best ATV rides we ever had!
 
Ending the trip with that excursion was a great way to end a great trip.  We really enjoyed our land stay in Alaska and look forward to doing it again in the future.  Before we go back to Alaska, we have several other trips planned:

• Kenyan African Safari – July 2022
• Caribbean Cruise – August 2022
• Mediterranean Cruise + Italy Land Tour – September 2022
• Antarctica Expedition Cruise – January 2023
• Northern Lights Viking Cruise – February 2023
• Tahiti/French Polynesian Cruise – April 2023
• Iceland/Svalbard/Greenland Cruise – August 2023
• Canada/New England Cruise – September 2023
• Vietnam Cruise – February 2024

If anyone has any interest in joining us on any of these upcoming cruises, please let us know.  The more the merrier.
 
Sharon and Greg

Well, we haven’t been writing many blogs recently, but we have started cruising again.  Last year we took a great Iceland cruise, and over the last 9 months we have taken over 10 other cruises or land trips.  Most of these have been Caribbean/Bahama cruises although we have tried the Moon Palace resorts a few times.  At any rate, we are back to cruising and wanted to share our latest adventures with you on our Alaska CruiseTour we took in June 2022.  This specific blog will discuss the cruise portion of this cruisetour including the 2 pre-cruise days we spent in Vancouver.
 
We flew into Vancouver a couple of days prior to our cruise because we really like this city and wanted to explore some new areas.  Sharon’s brother and sister-in-law, Jim and Gina Moll, joined us on this cruisetour and had never been to Vancouver.  After we arrived in our hotel, we spent several hours walking the downtown area, focusing much attention on Canada Place where our cruise was set to depart in 2 days.  This area seems to have been built up a little since we were last there and they have added many signs discussing various stories which led to the creation of Vancouver and allowed it to thrive as the city it is now.  From here you can spend hours watching the float planes land and take off right in the same harbor the cruise ships leave from.  These planes are a needed form of transportation for many of the remote areas north of Vancouver and are also used by tourists to get a good view of the surrounding Vancouver area.  We had dinner at a nice restaurant called Steamworks, one of the many nice restaurants in the Gas Town area.  The following day we had a 5-hour bike tour scheduled and this allowed us to explore parts of the city and Stanley Park that we had not seen before.  We learned that Stanley Park is much bigger than Central Park in New York City and was once the home of one of the last Indian tribes that were forced to leave Vancouver.  They have a very interesting totem pole display in the park.  The park still has a significant amount of wilderness and even has coyotes living there and beavers who are actively building dams in the area.  We saw Vancouver’s (very cold) beach which had a few brave souls out there and we passed by some of the structures left from their last Olympics which was highly successful for the city.  We even had to venture quickly through one of the low lights of the city where people with meth and hydrocodone problems live and openly use their drugs out on the streets.  Canada legalized hard drugs recently to try and help the people that are addicted to them.  During the bike ride we visited Granville Island which is a very interesting island right next to downtown Vancouver and has a great food court and many interesting shops that you can visit.  After our bike tour we went back to Granville Island to spend some more time.  The next morning before we boarded the cruise, we had our last breakfast at Tim Horton’s, Canada’s version of Dunkin Donuts.
 
We boarded our cruise early and was pleasantly pleased to look around our new ship, the Majestic Princess.  We had not cruised on Princess in several years, but we were very impressed with this ship that we are actively looking at new opportunities to cruise with them again.  This ship is a Royal Class ship which is Princess’ largest category of ship, but it was specifically built for the Asian market and therefore is a little different, and nicer in our opinion.  During our second day of cruising, we spent the day scenically cruising up the Inside Passage and tried out one of their nicer specialty restaurants that night, the Crown Steakhouse.  This is their best specialty restaurant in our opinion, and it did not disappoint us. 
 
On the 3rd day of the cruise, we arrived in Ketchikan.  This is considered to be the Salmon Capitol of the World.  Since we have fished for salmon there many times previously, we elected to do a kayak trip to see what wildlife we could spot.  We used Viator to book the excursion and we always try to avoid using the cruise line excursions because they are typically very costly and crowded.  The kayaking was enjoyable, and we saw many eagles and one harbor seal.  The only other wildlife we saw were underwater – star fish and jelly fish.  On our return from the kayak trip, we asked to be dropped off at Creek Street which is a recently refurbished historical part of town that was once the red-light district and is now made up of nice little craft shops.  We departed shortly after we returned to the ship and enjoyed a nice scenic trip up the inlands of Alaska.
 
We arrived in Juneau on the 4th day and had an early morning kayak trip in Mendenhall Lake.  Unfortunately, it was a little cold, and the rain was a fairly constant drizzle.  The trip was a deceivingly longer 5 miles than it originally appeared, but we got some good views of Mendenhall Glacier and Nugget Falls.  We were a little disappointed we didn’t get a little closer to each of these sights.  We were able to get close to some of the chunks of ice that had calved off the glacier and were floating in the water.  After this tour and going back to the ship for some dry clothes and a little lunch, we headed out to walk around Juneau.  We had considered going back to Mendenhall Glacier, but the visibility wasn’t great, and it was too cloudy to get any good pictures.  After a quick visit to the famous Red Dog Saloon in Juneau, we went out in search of Perseverance Trail that someone had mentioned.  Along the way we came across Mayor Overstreet Park which had a nice walkway along the channel.  This park had many signs to provide insight on the local wildlife and plant life.  It also had a huge statue of a whale which was also a fountain.  We took pictures of this whale and sent it to people showing them of the great whale breech we saw when we were whale watching!  Most people believed us because it really was very realistic.  We continued to Perseverance Trail which took us through some beautiful old homes on our way up the mountain that overlooks Juneau.  At the top is a trail head of many different trails that branch out in different directions.  We walked down the Flume Trail which was a wood boarded trail built over an old railroad track.  Along this trail was a fast-moving stream that was once a place where gold prospectors panned for gold.  Later we came across an area where a water wheel was erected to harness electrical power just a few years after Thomas Edison’s experiments with electricity.  This power plant became the beginning of Alaska Electric and Power who now is the power company in the area, 100 years later!  On our way back to the ship we passed many more seafood restaurants that were packed with tourists from the ship.  Although the seafood may be fresh, it certainly is not cheap with some of these restaurants selling crab at $75 a pound!  We decided to have our dinner back on the ship!
 
Our last land stop on this cruise was at Skagway on Day 5.  We were doing a later hike and float excursion in the afternoon and spent the morning walking through town.  It is a small town made up of many souvenir stores and jewelry stores.  Don’t ask us why each of these Alaskan ports have 30 jewelry stores just like you would find in the Caribbean.  I guess cruise passengers will buy jewelry anywhere!  We did stop at one store and have some fried dough sprinkled in brown sugar that was really good.  We had stopped there on previous trips and didn’t want to miss that stop!  In the afternoon we headed out on our tour which started with a two mile hike up some pretty strenuous paths.  From there we took a 45-minute float down the river in a raft.  The weather was great, and it was nice to just get out in the wilderness and enjoy some of the great scenery.  We didn’t see too much wildlife on this tour except for a few eagles on our drive out there.  That was our last land stop before reaching the mainland of Alaska although two more scenic sea days are left.
 
Out next day was spent in Glacier Bay, arriving nice and early at 6AM.  What a beautiful day!  No clouds, not much wind, and sun everywhere.  As we glided into the bay, we had constant whale sightings.  We passed one rocky hill on shore where you could see many mountain goats.  As we got deeper into the bay, we had numerous sightings of sea otters including one group of 12 otters just having fun in the water.  We even saw a couple of bears on the shoreline although they were too far away to get any good pictures.  As we got deeper into the bay, we started seeing some of the glaciers.  At one of the glaciers, we saw a few small boats.  One of the boats was large enough to send out tours on kayaks and we saw at least 15 kayaks out on the water.  Our primary stop during this scenic cruising was Margerie Glacier at the very end of Glacier Bay.  This was a large glacier that was glistening in the sunlight.  Although we did not see any calving (ice chunks falling into the water), there were large chunks of ice floating all around the area.  We have never been to Glacier Bay when the weather was so nice.  During the entire day we had several park rangers on board who made presentations, answered individual questions, and made announcements throughout the day letting us know what was going on.  You pick up these rangers at the station at the mouth of the bay where 35 rangers stay throughout the summer, and then you drop them off again as you exit the bay. We have cruised this area 3 times previously and this was by far the best day we have ever had.  The weather was perfect and allowed for some great pictures.  The wildlife was plentiful, and you got to see a little of everything.  We even saw 20 or 30 harbor seals as we departed Glacier Bay and cruised down Icey Straits to go back into the Pacific Ocean and one to College Fjord to see Hubbard Glacier.
 
Our last day at sea was a visit to College Fjord and Hubbard Glacier.  In the morning it was totally overcast with very little visibility.  We feared the worst with regards to getting good pictures.  Boy, were we wrong!  By the late afternoon blue skies were shining and the sun was beating down on us.  We had another perfect day to view the glaciers.  College Fjord was named after an expedition taken by a team of scientists, artists, and writers back in the 1800’s.  Many of them were Ivy League educated and named all the glaciers on the right side after women’s colleges and all the glaciers on the left side after men’s schools and therefore the fjord was named College Fjord.  One of the glacier most visited by cruise ships in Alaska is Hubbard Glacier which is at the end of this fjord.  It is very popular because it is very wide at the entrance point into the water and the glacier is constantly calving spewing out thousands of chunks of ice which float all around this glacier.  Although we have seen this glacier calve once, during this visit the glacier almost seemed to be performing for us, by displaying one huge chunk of ice after another crashing into the water with a thunderous roar.  Huge sections of the glacier’s cliff face fell into the water with mighty crash.  Before you saw the ice giving way, you heard a loud rumbling like thunder.  This eventually led to huge chunks of ice crashing into the water with a tremendous splash.  We have seen this glacier a few times in the past but never like this.  It was amazing to see the glacier lit up by the bright sun while watching it constantly calve in front of your eyes.  This was just another amazing part of this trip.
​
This concluded our cruise portion of this Alaska CruiseTour.  It is interesting to note that Alaska had its busy season in 2019, the year before Covid.  This year they expect to have 50% more Alaskan cruise visitors than 2019!  People are ready to get back and cruise!  We hope everyone that gets out and cruises again has the same wonderful experience that we had on this Alaskan cruise!  Can’t wait for the land portion: Kenai to McKinley to Denali (2 nights) to Fairbanks.

​Intro
We traveled to Iceland after 1 ½ years of no cruising due to COVID.  Until our flight left the US to go to Iceland, we really weren’t sure if we would make it.  With the COVID resurgence due to the Delta Variant it looked like everything might get shut down again.  While several European countries closed their borders again to Americans, Iceland continued to allow tourists to visit – if you were vaccinated and provided a negative COVID test taken within 72 hours of your trip.  We were thrilled to head off on a cruise again, but you must remain flexible in today’s COVID world and not be too surprised when things get cancelled or new requirements are given to you.  We made this trip with 8 other brave travelers, who also were ready to get out again and discover the world.  The group had all booked a 7-night ocean cruise on the Viking Jupiter which was doing a round trip out of Reykjavik around Iceland, making 6 different port stops.  Prior to the cruise all 10 of us came 2 days early to further explore more of Iceland from Reykjavik.  After the cruise, 4 of us were staying for 3 more days to try and catch the Northern Lights in an exclusive hotel 1 ½ hours out of the city.
 
Day 1 – The Blue Lagoon and Reykjavik
When our plane arrived, we were picked up by Stefan our guide we had found from Tours by Locals.  We had looked at several guides in the area and liked the information about him from his bio on this site.  He turned out to be a great guide and a great choice to help us further explore Iceland.  If you ever go to Iceland, please let us know and we will give you his contact information.  We arrived at the Keflavik airport before 8 AM on September 5th.  It was a relatively short flight (6 hours) considering normal US to Europe flights. 

Prior to Stefan taking us to our hotel we had arranged a stop at the Blue Lagoon.  Reykjavik is about 45 minutes from the airport and the Blue Lagoon is only about 15 minutes from the airport.  None of our group had been to the Blue Lagoon previously – Sharon and Greg were the only ones to have been to Iceland before, spending 3 days at 3 different ports on a transatlantic cruise about 4 years ago.  The Blue Lagoon is the premier hot springs in Iceland.  It was originally created back in 1970 as a byproduct of a power plant who was dumping out the excess hot mineral water it used to heat fresh water for the homes in the area.  They were dumping this excess mineral water into a lava field but due to the high silica clay content, this water did not just drain away into the lave rock.  The minerals clogged these porous rocks, causing the water to fill a large lagoon like area.  Local Icelanders began to come to this “hot water spring” as a bathing area and enjoyed this heavy mineral based water without the sulfur smell that is present in many hot springs.  Over the years the Power Authority fenced off the lagoon, built a changing shed and began charging a fee for admittance.  It was called the Blue Lagoon because of the milky blue appearance when sunlight shown on it.  As time went on it became a tourist attraction as it was included in many guidebooks.  The Power Authority eventually sold the rights to a private group who built the current buildings back in the 1990’s and created a world renown spa.  The admittance price rose to the point that no Icelanders go there now, and it is considered a tourist trap by locals, but all the tourists seem to really enjoy the water and do not feel the price is too bad. 

Our group had a great time there.  We had purchased the “premium tickets” prior to arrival that entitled us to admittance, towel, robe, slippers, one free drink and 3 free mud treatments.  We had a great time wading around in the very warm water while the temperature outside was around 50 degrees.  You got your drinks from the lagoon bar by wading up and ordering whatever you wanted.  The mud treatments were 3 different mineral applications (white, black and green silica) that you put on your face to rejuvenate it.  We all felt really rejuvenated when we left 2 hours later after having a very memorable experience!

Stefan then took us off to our hotel – the Holt Hotel – in downtown Reykjavik near the center of town where there were many of the restaurants, bars, and local attractions.  We arrived at the hotel around 1 PM and were trying to stay up if possible to avoid the jet lag you feel if your sleep cycle gets out of whack.   After checking in several of us did a little tour of the city spending a lot of time at the Hallgrimskirkja Church.  This is the iconic Lutheran Church designed back in the 1930’s and stands over 250 feet tall.  It took almost 40 years to complete the construction of this church.  You can go to the top of this church which has an observation area and see 50 miles in each direction.  In front of the church is a statue of Lief Erickson who is certainly believed by all Icelanders to be the founding father of North America having sailed there 500 years before Christopher Columbus.  Lief’s grandfather and father were some of the early Viking founders of Iceland having been exiled there from Norway over a thousand years ago.
 
Day 2 – Snaefellsnes Peninsula
While Stefan took the rest of our group to the Golden Circle for a day tour, Sharon and Greg decided to take a tour to the Snaefellsnes Peninsula which is just north of Reykjavik.  We had taken the Golden Circle tour on our previous trip to Iceland.  This turned out to be a great decision as the rain came down in buckets around the Golden Circle and only a few sprinkles were found on the peninsula tour.  We found this small group tour by Troll Expeditions on Viator.
After stopping for a coffee and snack in Borgarnes, our group headed out to Kirkjufell which is small crater looking mountain.  By the mountain is a very picturesque waterfall called Kirkjufellsfoss.  Icelandic names are long and a very descriptive.  Foss in Icelandic means waterfall and this name basically means the waterfall of Kirkjufell.  Most waterfalls, glaciers, volcanos, lagoons, and rivers are named in the same fashion. The waterfall was really very nice, and we took many pictures with the mountain in the background.

We also passed by an area where they collect the sheep each fall.  It is a series of gated areas built in a circle where the sheep are herded and separated.  The sheep are allowed to freely graze (without fences or barriers) in the mountains and surrounding areas in the summer and then they have an annual roundup where the farmers gather all sheep in their area and herd them to this gated area.  Once there the sheep are identified by markers in their ears to know which sheep belong to which farmer.  Each farmer then takes all their sheep back to their farms to collect the wool and butcher some of their stock.  This roundup on the Peninsula was set to begin in 2 days from when we visited.

One of our favorite stops was at Djupalonssandur Black Sand Beach.  It seems almost all Iceland beaches have black sand which is comprised of crumbled lava rock and ash from the many volcanic eruptions that Iceland has had over the centuries.  This beach was the jumping off point of fisherman in the area.  As you walk down to the beach, there is an area with 4 different sized rocks.  The fisherman would lift these rocks to determine their strength and what type of job they could get on the boats.  The weights ranged from a 335 pound “full strength” rock to a 50 pound “weakling” rock.  Walking a little further to the water you came across many pieces of wreckage from an English fishing boat that wrecked there 75 years ago.  As you got close to the water it was amazing to see all the smooth rounded black stones that made up most of the beach area.  These stones are called black lava “pearls” (djupalonsperlur) and you cannot take any, as they are protected by the Icelandic government.  All around the beach are high sea stacks and a row jagged peaks which makes this an extremely photogenic place.

We also visited other places on this tour such as a lava crater, church, and lava fields before making the long drive back to Reykjavik.  It was certainly an interesting tour as it allowed us to see another part of Iceland.

Back at the hotel we shared stories with the other members of our group and went out to have a dinner at one of the many restaurants.
 
Day 3 – The South Coast
Stefan picked us up early on Day 3 along with all our luggage to take us on a long 10-hour tour to Iceland’s famous South Coast.  After the tour he dropped us off at the ship to check in for our 7-night cruise.  As we drove a few hours out of town Stefan educated us on geothermal plants and entertained us with Icelandic sagas.  He was quite informative, and we enjoyed his tour immensely.  If you are coming to Iceland in the future, let us know and we will give you his contact information.

Our first stop was Skogafoss, which was another impressive waterfall in Iceland.  It is not as large as some of the other falls we have seen but had its own unique beauty.  It also had a very colorful rainbow around it that made it very fun to take many pictures trying to get it with the best angle.
After visiting the waterfall, we headed to Eyjafjallajokul.  This is the glacier on Eyjafjoll mountain which was made famous when this volcano erupted in 2010 halting European air traffic for several months.  This volcano put Iceland on the world map for a lot of people.  As we parked in the lot for the glacier, we were told that originally the parking lot was built right next to the glacier.  Now you must hike 10-15 minutes to see the glacier because global warming has caused the glacier to recede by 1000 feet every year!  It was interesting to see our first glacier in Iceland and watch people hike the glacier with the special spikes placed on their shoes and the small picks they hold to move along the glacier surface.  We are scheduled to do a glacier walk tour after the cruise – weather permitting.

On our way to Vik, the largest city in the area, we stopped at Dyrholaey Promontory.  This is a unique nature reserve with a lighthouse on it that has an amazing view a large natural arch in the water.  This is an iconic picture seen from the beach below.  The view high up in this reserve is really quite amazing and the wind was very gusty.

We then drove to Vik for a quick bite to eat and a little shopping.  We also viewed a local church in the area before we headed out to the Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach.  This a beautiful beach with both fine black sand and rocks.  From there was a great view in the distance of the arch we had seen from the promontory an hour or so before.  Surrounding the beach was also a large cave and basalt columns.  These hexagonal columns were naturally formed and appear very similar to what can be on Ireland’s famous Giant’s Causeway.  Care must be taken when walking on Iceland’s beaches as the currents are extremely strong and the water is very deceptive on how far inland it can come.  Several tourists have been sucked out to sea over the years and once out there it is extremely difficult to get back while in the frigid waters.

On our way to our last stop we found a herd of Icelandic horses on the side of the road.  We had requested that Stefan stop if he found a place, so our group could take some pictures of these very interesting animals.  Although they were imported in from Norway over a 1000 years ago, they have maintained their unique heritage.  No other horses are allowed to be imported and even an Icelandic horse that leaves the country cannot come back in later in order to ensure the breed remains pure.  It is a great riding horse and work horse.  We took many pictures of these beautiful animals.

Our last stop was Seljalandsfoss which was a waterfall we initially passed in hopes of getting better pictures once the sun was higher up in the sky than the early morning when we first passed it.  It turned out to be a great decision even though a rain cloud threatened to ruin some of our pictures.  This waterfall was even more interesting because you could walk behind it without getting too wet.  Our group had a great time taking the little hike through the waterfalls and taking more pictures.

Sadly, this was the end of our tour and we headed to the cruise port to board our ship.  We were blessed with some great weather throughout the day.  For the most part it was sunny with just an occasional sprinkle.  When you travel to Iceland you have to be prepared for good days and bad days.  The day before most of our group had a wet and windy day in the Golden Circle.  This day was beautiful with mostly sun and little wind.  Who knows what the other days will yield for weather although the forecast continues to look bad? (delete)
 
Day 4 – Reykjavik from the Cruise Ship
Originally our group had planned this as a Blue Lagoon spa day but because of recent COVID restrictions no independent excursions are allowed once you are checked into the ship.  Instead, we decided to take an excursion around the area guided by a photographer who could provide good picture taking opportunities and some insight on how to take the best pictures while in Iceland.  While the excursion was very good it certainly fell short in providing good photographic insight.  We saw a very nice natural hot springs area where the steaming water rose through small cracks into the earth and flowed with cooler fresh water from the mountains.  The colors in this hot spring were vivid and the bubbling water made this a very interesting place to stop and take pictures.  We passed by the active volcano that just began erupting in March this year.  Our guide pointed out the parking lots filled with cars of people who hike up the volcano to get a close shot of the flowing lava.  We hope to do that in 7 days from now when we depart the ship and have a rental car to go exploring.

After stopping for a little lunch at a local café, we made a couple of stops along the beach where you could see old lave flows that had gone in the ocean.  Once again you could see the black sand beaches and black rocks, we were becoming accustomed to.  There also were some unique rock formations formed by this flowing lava.  At one of the stops we saw the oldest Iceland lighthouse still standing (built in 1908) on top of a hill and you could also see the remnants of the original lighthouse located a little ways away that was the first lighthouse built in Iceland back in 1878. 
We stopped to look at the geothermal power plant in the area that provides hot water to the home on the peninsula.  This hot fresh water is used to heat the homes in Reykjavik.  It was impressive to see the steady stream of steam coming out of the large stacks at the plant.  Around the plant you could see many vent holes where steam was rising from the hot water that seems to rise out of the earth in so many places around Iceland.  There is a local Aluminum manufacturing plant very near this power plant.  Iceland has been trying to entice energy intensive industries to build plants in Iceland to take advantage of their cheap energy.

We made a final stop on our way back to the ship to see the bridge between continents.  The Euroasia and North American plates come in contact in Iceland.  There are a few places in Iceland that you can walk between these two continents.  They say that the gap between these plates widens by 2 mm (0.1”) each year.  Where we stopped, they have a bridge that crosses over these “plates”.  You can take some fun pictures holding up the bridge between continents.
Once back on the ship we watched our sail away out of Reykjavik heading to our first stop in Isafjordur. 
 
Day 5 – Isafjordur
We arrived at our first port in Isafjordur which is the largest city in the West Fjords, a region of Iceland in the northwest corner of the country.  In the morning we went on an included Viking bus tour which first took us by the stone walls which guard the city from avalanches.  We then visited a mountain stream and series of waterfalls coming down the mountainside.  This is something you see everywhere in Iceland.  The ice melt from on top of the mountains creates thousands of waterfalls and streams all over Iceland.  Some of these waterfalls are huge and others are small but may still drop several hundred feet.  Around the stream we were shown all the wild blueberries that seem to grow everywhere.

We then drove through a tunnel to a small city on the other side of the mountain where there was a small fishing town of less than 900 people.  We were told how this town prospered by catching cod out in the Atlantic, almost halfway between Iceland and Greenland.  These fish are huge (some can be as big as a man) and are caught on hooks that are inches long.  A large fish processing plant is in the town and almost everyone in the town is involved in the fishing industry in some way or another.  We were amazed to see a small 9-hole golf course in this town and were told that golf is played all over Iceland.  It is strange that this sport would be so popular in a country were the weather is typically very cold during most of the year.

After finishing this tour, we went off to our second planned tour which was an ATV excursion up into the surrounding mountains.  We picked up the ATV’s just a few blocks from the ship pier and rode the vehicles down the small streets to the outside of town.  The paths we were on outside of town were made of lava rock gravel.  Lava rock is seen throughout Iceland and at times it is in the form of gravel or larger rocks or large slabs.  We drove up the mountainside to get some great views of the town and our ship below.  Fortunately, it was not too windy and we were told the previous week they couldn’t even get off the vehicles on top of the mountain because the wind would blow the people down.  This was a great excursion to see the surrounding countryside and get a great view from above.
 
Day 6 – Akureyri
Our next stop in Akureyri was on the northern coast of Iceland and is located down a long fjord.  In the morning we took an excursion to go out and see Godafoss waterfall which is a huge waterfall in northern Iceland.  We had seen it once before, but the weather had been terrible with a cold bitter rain.  This time we were able to see it with some great weather and get some really good pictures of the falls.  The falls are very accessible, and you can get some magnificent photos from different places along the banks.

After viewing the falls, we went to see a turf house which was where many Icelanders lived 100 years ago.  These houses have dirt walls and grass roofs.  Although they look relatively small from the outside, they are quite large inside.  The house we went into seemed to be many interconnecting houses.  There were probably 12 different rooms inside this large house, and it was furnished very nicely.  It would have been a pretty comfortable place to live.  These were primarily farmhouses that were scattered around the country.
 
Day 7 – Seydisafjordur
The night before arriving at our next port we were informed about an approaching hurricane – Larry.  We were told this hurricane was going to create some bad weather and large waves out on the ocean.  Because of this our next port stop was going to be reduced in length of time staying there and the last two port stops were being cancelled.  Who knew hurricanes get to Iceland – Caribbean certainly – but Iceland???  This was obviously disappointing news, but we had come to Iceland a few days early and some of us planned to stay a few days later.

When we arrived in Seydisafjordur the next morning we went off on an included walking tour.  We were told how this was one of the closest ports to Norway and many items were imported in from there.  They even purchased homes from Norway that came as material kits which were assembled in this city.  The cost of these homes today is around $400,000 for a relatively small house.  We were shown the downtown area that consisted of a few shops, restaurants, and grocery stores.  The townspeople wanted to paint the downtown area to brighten things up, but the mayor didn’t think it was a good idea.  The people went out one night and painted the downtown cobblestone road in rainbow stripes.  It really provides a quite a unique appearance along with the some of the houses that also were painted very artfully.

We were then told about the massive avalanche/landslide they had just last year.  It destroyed about 20% of the town and people were in their homes when the avalanche occurred.  Some of these homes with people in them were pushed out towards the water.  It is a miracle that there were no deaths during this event.  It is also amazing how quickly the town has recovered, and you can hardly see too much left of this landslide just 9 months later.  If it wasn’t for the pictures showing the damage and the huge scars seen on the mountain sides, you wouldn’t even know it had happened.
 
Day 8 – Cruising to beat the hurricane
We spent the next day cruising instead of visiting a port.  It was great to have a day of rest after doing so many excursions over the previous week.  Our group got together and had dinner together.  Many of our group booked future Viking cruises while on board.  Viking has a pretty good deal if you book cruises on the ship – you get both a discount for the future cruise and an immediate Shipboard Credit on the current cruise.  Certainly, something to consider if you are on a Viking cruise.
 
Day 9 - Reykjavik Again!
Well with our arrival again in Reykjavik a day early, the Viking team scrambled to put together a few excursions.  We took one that provided a transportation and a ticket to see the Fly Over Iceland show.  This was like a Universal/MGM ride where they buckled you into a car and physically flew over much of Iceland.  There were breathtaking views of waterfalls as you flew over the top.  You saw the lava spewing down the mountain’s sides.  We had great sights of the Icelandic horses running through the fields and the many farms spread out through the countryside.  It was a very fun way to see areas of Iceland we hadn’t yet see and remember a few of the sights we had already seen.  A certainly worthwhile experience.
 
Day 10 – Hotel Ranga
We all disembarked from the cruise in the morning and took a private shuttle to the airport.  Six of our group checked into their flights back to the US while four of us stayed on to see a few more things and try to catch the Northern Lights.  The Richarts and Conrads rented a car at the airport to take us around the southern side of Iceland for the next 3 days.  Before leaving the airport area we stopped by a nearby health facility to get a COVID test.  Even though we had been taking daily COVID tests on board the Viking Jupiter and the ship had provided test results for all passengers to show when reentering the US, our departure time and date were too far out for these to be allowed for US reentry.  We had to take a COVID test sometime after 9:30 AM to have valid test results which meant we had to wait about 30 minutes to have our test before going out and continuing our trip in Iceland.  Welcome to travel during COVID times!

After getting our negative COVID test results we headed out to hike the active volcano.  Around 3 months prior to our trip Fagradalsfjall volcano near the airport became active and started spewing out lava in some relatively isolated areas of Iceland.  We wanted to see this fresh lave flow if possible since there were some good observation areas near this active crater.  Fortunately, during one of our previous excursions we had driven by the parking lot we needed to stop at and the guide provided some good information on where to hike.  We arrived at the parking lot in about 20 minutes from the COVID test facility and really couldn’t see any activity from the volcano on our drive there.  It took us just about 30 minutes of hiking to get to the fresh lava flow.  It was really fascinating, and you could walk out on this lava and seem steam coming up through some of the crevices.  We learned later that there was certainly fresh hot lava flowing through tunnels under our feet.  If the crust on top had fallen, which can happen, we would be toasty little critters.  Another lesson learned!  From the fresh lava fields, we continued to hike up to the observation areas a few miles up the mountain.  It was not an easy hike and quite frankly a little disappointing once you got to the top although the pictures were certainly better from this vantage point.  Although you could see the crater much better, with the smoke billowing out, you couldn’t really see any flowing lava except for a little pink shade in the smoke.  It was still interesting to see an active volcano by just hiking up the mountainside.  We later learned that on the following day they closed the trails because the lava was flowing so much there were safety concerns regarding any nearby hikers.  We were at least able to get an up-close view of the volcano even if it wasn’t overly active. (I guess you really don’t want it TOO active!).

From there we went to Raufarhólshellir to see the largest lava tunnel in the area.  We put on hard hats to go underground and learn all about lava tubes.  This is where we learned that we were most likely walking on top of flowing lava at the Fagradalsfjall volcano.  You could see various colors in the tunnel walls which indicated whether there was iron, copper or some other metal composing the wall material.  These tunnels were very wet with water dripping from the roofs.  In some places the roofs had caved in and you could see outside.  We were told the tunnels ran for miles although they had only created a walkway to go in about a ½ mile.  The walkways were very impressive throughout the tunnel to allow people to get a good view of a real lava tube.

From the lava tunnel we headed to Hotel Ranga to check in for our stay to see the Northern Lights.  This was recommended by our guide Stefan prior to our trip and as we did further research, we saw that it was the premier hotel in Iceland to try and view the Northern Lights.  They even provide you a wakeup call late at night if the Northern Lights are seen while you are sleeping.  The hotel has hot tubs outside so you can view the lights while you soak in the nice warm water.  Unfortunately, due to Hurricane Larry the weather was very overcast, and we would never see the Aurora Borealis on this trip.  Because of this weather forecast we canceled our 3rd night at the Hotel Ranga and booked our last night before our flight out at a hotel near the airport.  The restaurant in the hotel is extremely nice and people even outside the hotel try to get reservations there for their excellent food.  We had dinner there the first night and really enjoyed the meal although it was VERY expensive.  It is certainly a very nice hotel to stay at if you are searching for the Northern Lights!
 
Day 11 – Glacier and Glacier Lagoons
The next morning, we got up early and headed out to see Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon which was almost a 4-hour drive from our hotel.  This glacier lagoon was created by melting of the Vatnajokull glacier.  This is the largest glacier in Iceland and the largest in Europe.  We had a 1pm tour scheduled to do a Glacier Walk and since we arrived a little early, we took a quick visit to Diamond Beach.  This is a black sand beach with chunks of ice on the beach.  Ice that falls off the glacier floats through lagoon and goes out into the ocean where the tide will bring these large pieces of ice on to the black sand.  This is a unique sight to see around one hundred “ice sculptures” slowing melting on the beach.  The black sand provides such a great contrast, and it is called Diamond Beach because ice can look like diamonds glistening in the black sand. 

After our visit to Diamond Beach, we went to meet our group for our Glacier Walk.  We had booked this excursion through Ice Explorers who used Super Jeeps to drive you close to the glacier to begin your hike.  Super jeeps have extremely large tires and have exhausts that periscope high over the cars roof to allow these vehicles to go through deep water and rough terrain.  When we got off the cheap, we still had a 20-minute walk to get to the glacier.  Before stepping on to the ice we were outfitted with crampons on our shoes, helmets on our heads and belt harness around our waist in case we fell into a crevice and needed to be hauled out!  The crampons had many 2-inch spikes which dug into the ice as you walked along the glacier.  We hiked the glacier for about 3 hours and learned much about the glaciers.  You can see the glacier melting everywhere and creating small mini streams that flow along the surface.  These small streams cause crevices in the glacier that might run hundreds of feet deep.  The depth of the glacier can be up to one thousand feet in some areas.  Due to global warming the glacier continues to recede, and the glacier lagoon continues to get bigger.  Before our hike was over we were taken to an ice cave.  The glacier walk and the ice cave were highlight of the tour.  The cave was eerie with the blue glow of the ice on the roof of the cave.  A heavily flowing river ran down the middle of the cave with ice cold water.  The cave offered so many unique views and the ice was so crystal clear along the walls.  If you ever get to Iceland, make sure you visit the ice cave on the eastern side of this glacier.

We had a zodiac trip planned to go over the glacier lagoon, but we were so wet and tired after the glacier walk, we decided to cancel it.  We took a few more glacier lagoon pictures and headed back to the Hotel Ranga.  We needed to some gas for our long drive back but many of the gas pumps are self-serve only.  At the first self-serve pump we stopped at we were unable to get it to accept any of our US credit cards.  We were told there was a station at a café about 45 minutes down the road and we weren’t sure the café would be open when we got there – and we really needed gas to make it back to the hotel.  We made it to the gas pump before the café closed and as it turned out we didn’t even need any help as this pump took our credit card with no problem.  Before arriving at the hotel, we made a stop in Vik for a late dinner.  By the time we got back to the hotel it was late and we were tired.  (Thanks, Mac, for driving all that way!)
 
Day 12 – Thorsmork
Our last day in Iceland!  We took an 8-hour tour, booked through Mid Gard, to what is called Thormork (in Icelandic it is Þórsmörk).  This was another super jeep tour, and we were going into a valley that is surrounded by glaciers and volcanos.  Unfortunately, it was another overcast day with some occasional drizzle.  We drove through some fast-flowing shallow rivers, and it was amazing to see how these jeeps were able to get through.  On our way back, later in the day, we were able to view another vehicle who didn’t make it and they had emergency vehicles rescuing the tourists off the bus!  Because of how much water was flowing in the rivers we were not able to go as deep as what the tour normally does but we were able to see some nice sights.  At one stop we saw the Myrdalsjokull glacier which rests at Katla Volcano.  If the weather had been better, we would have been able to see the Eyjafjallajokull Volcano whose eruption back in 2010 stopped European air traffic for a few months!  There are so many glaciers and volcanos in Iceland with very difficult to pronounce Icelandic names.  After seeing the glacier, we stopped at another location that was used in the filming of Game of Thrones.  There were many areas of Iceland used in the filming of this hit show.  In another area we took a short hike to some of the other valleys and rivers.  One stop took us to a spot where we needed to walk gingerly on top of rocks through a river to see a beautiful waterfall.  Everyone in our group of 4 gave up except for Sharon who eventually got some great shots of this waterfall.  Unfortunately, she also stepped into the cold river a few times and suffered from the wetness and cold on our way to our next hotel.  Out last stop in the tour was another waterfall where you didn’t get AS WET in walking around some cliffs through a river to see it.  But we did get wet when we posed on a rock below the waterfall with spray from the falls washing over us.  It was certainly a worthwhile trip but would have been better if we had better weather and the water level wasn’t so high.

We drove to our new hotel after this tour.  After washing up a bit we went out to the Costco in Reykjavik to see if they had any nice Icelandic souvenirs, we could bring back with us.  Although we didn’t find any souvenirs to buy, we were able to have a very inexpensive pizza dinner there and filled up with very inexpensive gas.  We got a real treat on our way home where in the darkness we were able to view Fagradalsfjall volcano erupting from the road.  We took some pictures showing the red-hot lava shooting up in the air.  We were even able to see this active volcano from our hotel room when we got back.
 
Day 13 – Back to the US
The trip back was uneventful which was good, and we were happy to finally get back in good old Peachtree City!
 
Next year we have more group cruises planned to Alaska (cruise and land tour in June) and the Mediterranean (late September).  We also have an African Safari planned for July.   In 2023 we have group cruises set up for Antarctica, Norwegian Fjords (& Northern Lights), and Tahiti/Hawaii.  If anyone wants to join us, please let us know!  We love traveling with our cruising friends!

On February 6th we flew to New Orleans to board the Majesty of the Seas for a 7-night cruise to Key West and the Bahamas.  We stayed at the Sheraton on Canal Street right next to the French Quarters for two nights prior to the cruise.  The first day we had an early dinner at a restaurant in the French Quarters, Deanies, which the hotel concierge had recommended.  It was an excellent restaurant to try out some seafood and we decided to split an order of catfish.  Boy, were we glad we split the order, because there was so much catfish we couldn’t even finish it between the two of us.  The food was very good, and it is now on our recommendation list!  After we ate, we spent some time roaming around the French Quarters and the famous Bourbon Street.  New Orleans had changed a lot since we were there 8 years ago!  We also managed to stop by Café du Monde for a few of their famous beignets for dessert.  We also walked through the Riverside Mall which wasn’t there last time we visited.  It has many outlet stores and has a more modern Café du Monde than its original location in the French Quarters.  This mall even connects to the cruise terminal.
 
The next day we did more exploring of the city and had breakfast at the newer Café du Monde in the mall.  We tried our luck in the Harrah’s Casino, but it didn’t really have any machines that we enjoy playing.  We went to a place called Coop’s for an early dinner after it was recommended by our son.  We got there at 5:30 and there was already a line to get inside.  We waited about 20 minutes to get in and we both decided to try the fried chicken although there were a lot of good Cajun choices there. This is another place we would recommend.  The restaurant was also located near the start of the first officially scheduled Mardi Gras parade.  We had seen a real informal Mardi Gras parade before, but this was our first parade that we have ever seen at night.  About 10 years ago we took a day trip from Biloxi to watch a Mardi Gras parade, but it was in the daytime and had a very different feel.  This night parade was a little wilder.  It was officially called the Bohemian Krewe but there were several other krewes who participated.  A krewe is nothing more than a social organization (neighborhood, club, etc.) that gets together and puts on a parade or ball for the Mardi Gras.  They do this year after year, trying to improve their performance from the previous year.  The earlier parades of Mardi Gras are performed by the newer krewes and are less sophisticated.  The floats and costumes are much more home made as opposed to being professionally done with the major parades.  But regardless of the level of the sophistication, the enthusiasm was certainly there!  It was a blast watching them.
 
Our ship was delayed getting into port the next day because of bad weather and seas on the way back to New Orleans.  We boarded the ship 4 hours later than anticipated but that wasn’t any great concern since Royal Caribbean did an excellent job in notifying us of this delay.
 
We arrived in Key West around 11:30 and it was very enjoyable to watch us pull into the port.  The weather was beautiful, and everyone was hustling about the city.  We took a leisurely walk around the city checking some of the marinas and restaurants in the area.  We checked out several shops and finally made our MUST stop at Kermit’s for a little Key Lime Pie.  Sharon had her chocolate keylime pie on a stick and Greg had a traditional piece on a plate.  There are a lot of places to get Key Lime pie, but Kermit’s is probably the best known.  From there we walked over to Duval Street.  Sharon wanted to see the southernmost tip of the US (again), but Greg headed towards a park that was the southernmost tip but didn’t have the memorial plaque that Sharon wanted to see.  After getting some new directions we headed back to Duvall Street and went to the very end of the street where there is a marker showing the Most Southern Tip of the United States. 
 
Nassau’s arrival was late also at around 2:00 PM but we were in port until midnight.  We really had nothing planned and didn’t really want to go to any of the places that we had previously been, so we decided to go to the Fish Fry which was about a 25-minute walk from the port.  We typically eat at Andros when we go there but this time, we tried out Twin Brothers.  Pricing was very similar between the two places, but Twin Brothers was a little nicer inside and the air conditioning a little better.  On the other hand, we preferred the food just a little better at Andros.  From there we walked along the beach, did some shopping as we walked back to the ship.
 
On previous trips to Nassau we have gone to the Blue Lagoon which is a nice private beach and offers you an opportunity to swim with the dolphins or sea lions.  This was the first place we ever swam with the dolphins and it was quite an experience.  The beach is nice with more facilities than most Nassau beaches although it still doesn’t compare to most of the nicer Caribbean beaches.
 
We arrived at Coco Cay early at around 8AM and were pleased to find out we would be the only ship in port that day.  Usually Royal Caribbean has two ships there each day except when one of the large Oasis class ships is there.  It turned out that the Anthem of the Seas out of Bayonne could not make it down to the Bahamas because of the weather leaving us all by ourselves at the island.  This was our fourth trip to Coco Cay within the last 2 months and we continue to be impressed with this newly redesigned Royal Caribbean Bahamian Island.  They had opened Chill Beach, South Beach and Coco Beach Club since the last time we had been there.  Our Royal Caribbean Business Development Manager had given us the name of the Island General Manager to contact in order to get a tour of these new areas.  This GM had just gone on vacation the day before we arrived, but the new GM was more than happy to give us a tour.  We could view Chill Beach and South Beach on our own, but Coco Beach Club was an exclusive area that required a separate entry fee to visit.  This area has 20 over the water cabanas that are very nice although a little pricey ($1000+ for 6 people).  There are less expensive cabanas on the beach and the little restaurant area was nicer than any other spot on the island.  Although this area didn’t have any real activities, it was a really nice place to get away from the crowds.
 
We spent the day at South Beach which was a little further away from the ship and therefore had fewer people.  Right in front of our beach chairs was a floating bar where you could swim over, order a drink and then just float around drinking it, or take a seat at the floating bar to enjoy your beverage.  The water was cold to go over to the bar but that didn’t stop folks to visit.  Also nearby was a Snack Shack which served a selection of sandwiches, sides and desserts.  This was a very enjoyable area.  With the addition of these new beaches and clubs, Royal Caribbean has more than doubled the beach area on the island.
 
On our recent trips to Coco Cay we have gone to the Thrill Water Park which is spectacular.  There are some great and thrilling tube rides in this park along with other raft rides.  You could do these rides all day and have a great time.  The crowds peak between 10AM to 2PM but if you go outside these times the lines aren’t typically too bad.  There is also a huge wave pool and some other activity pools in the park.  The pricing has a lot of fluctuation and you need to keep checking prices.  If you can find it for less than $30 a person you are doing well but don’t be shocked if you see if for $99 a person.  You can also get a cabana in the park which provides both a really nice place to lounge when not doing the rides plus the cabana cost includes the cost for 6 person’s entrance fees into the park.  This is usually a pretty good deal, but the cabanas go very quickly.  The cabanas include a concierge at your service for the day, 6 pool towels, cooler filled with water bottles, a locker for your valuables and an USB outlet for your electronics.
 
If you haven’t been to Coco Cay within the last year, we highly recommend you find a cruise that goes there.  It is the nicest out island now in the Bahamas.  It even surpasses Disney’s Castaway Cay in our opinion.  Royal Caribbean has hit a home run with its redesign of this island!
 
Now back to New Orleans and home after 2 relaxing sea days!
 
 
Greg and Sharon

We arrived in Venice on June 28 at the end of our 9-night Celebrity cruise.  We stayed at the Hotel Antiche Figure which is right on the Grand Canal across from the train station.  This is a great location to transfer from the cruise ship and then to eventually take a train (or plane) out of Venice.  A few people took a taxi to the main square with their luggage while most took the convenient People Mover to the square.  It is a short walk to the hotel from the square but there are two small bridges you must go over.  We highly recommend this hotel when you stay in Venice!
 
Our guide Eva took us on an afternoon tour to see some of the areas of Venice such as the Santa Croce and San Paulo districts.  We had been introduced to Eva by her sister Susanna who we had found on a Tours By Locals excursion during a cruise the previous year.  Our tour went on to the Dorsoduro district where we viewed a Gondola factory.  We were told how this took great craftsmanship to create the boats and the expertise was passed down by each generation.  The blade on the front of each gondola represents the regions of Venice flowing through the Grand Canal.  Eva took our group to St Marks plaza and provided some of the history of Venice and the Doges.  At one time, Venice was a very powerful and wealthy empire that controlled many areas south of the city.  The Doges (dukes) were elected from the many wealthy families of the time who all owned palaces along the Grand Canal.  Eva gave our group a great introduction to Venice and we agreed to have one last tour with her the morning of our departure.  After the tour we took a gondola ride to get the full appreciation of floating around the canals in a very traditional way.   That evening we ate at a restaurant on the grand canal that had been recommended by our hotel.
 
On the second day, our hotel arranged for a few private water taxis to take us to Murano to see the glass blowing factories.  We then planned to take a vaporetto to Burano to see this colorful fishing village.  Many times, the large glass manufacturers will pay for the water taxis of tourists hoping they will buy something.  Well boy, were they right!  After a great glass blowing demonstration, we walked through the galleries admiring all the works of art.  We bought enough that the glass manufacturer paid for a private water taxi for us to go to Burano!  This little fishing village in Burano is known for the colorful buildings painted in these bright colors to help the fisherman find their way back to the island.  There are hundreds of shops and restaurants on this island.  After finishing our shopping and having a little lunch we headed back on a vaporetto to our hotel.  That evening we had a very nice dinner at a restaurant near St. Marks Square that we had eaten at before.
 
Our last day we got up early to take one last tour which was more of boat ride on a vaporetto with some information provided by Eva on what we were seeing.  We think our group received some great knowledge of Venice during the short duration they were there.  Early in the afternoon we headed to the train station for our trip to central Italy where we were to meet Eva’s sister, Susanna.
 
When we arrived at the Orte Train Station in central Italy, Susanna and some of her friends brought cars to pick us up and take us to Vetralla where she lives.  It was somewhat humorous watching us take our many pieces of large luggage and fitting it into these vehicles.  Fortunately, one of the vehicles was a large van and we were able to get everything in and drive on to Vetralla.  When we got there, we went directly to Susanna’s garden which had been set up with a very long table to seat 20 people.  Susanna is an opera singer, when she is not a tour guide, and she built the garden as a small theater to perform opera.  We were there to have a few appetizers, but our group was starving after a long train ride.  It turns out the few appetizers, turned into many appetizers that our group could not finish.  These appetizers were unique Italian dishes that our group loved.  While eating we had some great conversation with Susanna, her husband and some of her friends who were there.  After eating these appetizers and drinking some wine, we were taken to our rooms.  We were staying in some of the residences in the village.  Each couple had their own bedroom and bathroom but there were 6 or 7 people living in each apartment or house.  The places were very nice, but they did not have air conditioning and only a few had fans.  Even with the windows open many of these bedrooms were warmer than what we are use to.  We Americans do love our air conditioning!
 
The next morning, we got up and went to the local café where we were treated to a free pastry and coffee as part of our lodging package.  We walked from there to a nice bus which took our group on our tour.  Susanna’s husband, Rudolph, took us on the tour since she was busy getting ready for her show that afternoon.  Our tour started down the Cassia Road which is one of the roads where the expression “all roads lead to Rome” came from.  It was one of the most important roads of its day (2000 years ago).  The area we were in was originally populated by the Etruscans who lived there before the Romans starting in 600 BC.  In 300 BC the Romans conquered the Etruscans and their empire began.  We went to Viterbo which is one of the best-preserved Roman cities and is also were the Pope lived and ruled in the 13th century.  Every year there is a festival there where 100 men carry a 100-foot statue of Saint Rose to the church.  We went on to Bolsena to see the Basilica of Santa Cristina.   This basilica houses the remains of two miracles.  The first is about Cristina who was born to a rich governor of the area and wanted her to be a Pagan Princess.   Instead she was visited by an angel and proclaimed Christianity as her true religion.  When her father tortured her in many ways, she continued to be devoted to her Christianity beliefs.  She was eventually a martyr when she was beheaded and eventually a saint.  Another miracle occurred in this basilica when a priest, Peter, on a pilgrimage to Rome was having doubts about his beliefs and wanted a sign to help guide him.  He received this sign when his consecrated host began to bleed.  This Basilica of Santa Cristina holds remnants of both miracles.  We were fortunate to have an English-speaking priest in the church who allowed us to take some pictures that were not normally allowed.  He also explained what we were seeing in the basilica.  We took a few pictures with him, even though he was embarrassed because he was only wearing shorts and t-shirt.
 
We then went to Hostaria del Ponte in Lubriano to have lunch and watch a special opera presentation by Susanna and her friends.  We had a very nice lunch in this pretty fancy restaurant, as we watched a very entertaining opera.  Besides Susanna, her husband, another friend and a singer from Rome came to entertain us.   It was humorous and interesting along with some great singing!  Most all songs were in Italian, but it really didn’t make much difference.  Everyone in our group enjoyed the experience, it was awesome!
 
The tour ended with a trip to Civita de Bagnoregio which is the “dying city”!  This was one of our favorite sights to visit when we first saw it with Susanna over a year ago.  It was built on a hilltop 2500 years ago by the Etruscans but over the last 500 years or so earthquakes and erosion continue to decrease the size of this city.  Now the city is surrounded by cliffs on all sides.  The hilltop city has now turned into a city on a pedestal.  Where you could once just walk out of the city on a road, today they must use a long pedestrian only walkway that hovers over 50 feet above the valley below.  Only 6 to 15 people live full time in this city.  It is truly a unique sight to see if you ever have the opportunity.
 
The following day we took a train down to Rome.   During our cruise we had already stopped in Rome for one day, but since most of our group had never been to Rome, we came back to Rome for 4 nights after the cruise. There is so much to see in Rome we knew that one day would not be enough.
 
On our one-day trip from the cruise port, Civitavecchia, our group took a train that had been pre-booked, directly to the large Roma Termini Station.  From there we walked around to visit some of the main sights.  We saw the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain first.  It is interesting to note that the Trevi Fountain was built so that ancient Romans could get their daily water which the aqueducts brought in from the mountains into the city.  We then took a quick visit to the Pantheon before heading over to Campo de’ Fiori to have a little lunch.  From there we headed back to the Termini with some quick viewing of the Colosseum and the Vittorio Emanuele building.   This was a long walk for our group of just over 10 miles.
 
When we came back to Rome on July 2nd by train from Tuscany, most of our group had a tour at the Vatican Museum to go to.  This allowed them to see the Sistine Chapel and the St Peter’s Basilica also.  That evening we had a pleasant dinner at a restaurant in the area where one of our group members knew someone who had a friend that owned the restaurant.  It was actually a very good meal.  The next day we had a full day tour lined up for a golf cart tour (Rolling Rome) that started in the afternoon.  In the morning most people went to St. Peter's Basilica and several of us climbed to the top of the cupola which provides you a great view of both the inside of the basilica but also the outside into the Vatican Gardens and out around the city of Rome.  The golf cart tour started with a guided tour of the Colosseum and some of the surrounding area (Constantine’s Arch and Palatine Hill).  After seeing this we had an early dinner (part of the tour) and then did a night tour on the golf carts.  They took us by Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps before going up to Villa Borghese to take some nice sunset pictures of Rome.  While we were there a young Russian couple was there, and the young man proposed to his girlfriend who readily accepted.  It helps to remind you what a romantic city Rome really is.  Our golf cart tour went by the Pantheon at night and Navona Plaza which is always a nice place to visit in the evening.
 
 The next morning half of our group headed back to the US while the rest of us went on another golf cart tour.  This tour took us along the hillside that overlooks the Tiber River and Rome where we learned about the history of the Republic of Rome.  They also took us to the Trastevere area of Rome which has many of the family style restaurants along with a myriad of different shops.  We went by Trajan’s Market which is very well preserved and looks more like a theater.  It is the first indoor shopping mall ever created!  We visited some other sights in ancient Rome including Circus Maximus.  The next day we had one last golf cart tour.  We saw new sights and spent some time inside the Pantheon.  We visited a Malta “consulate” which had a keyhole where you can see the Vatican through it.  The keyhole was especially interesting since you are seeing three countries at the same time.  The keyhole itself is in a building from Malta, while you are looking across Rome (in Italy) and eventually seeing the Vatican (its own country).  We also saw a garden where when you view the Vatican it looks like it gets smaller the closer you get to it because of an optical illusion in how you view it.   We spent time looking at the Ancient Roman Forum and saw the statue of Romulus and Remus with the shewolf were legend has it that Romulus created Rome after killing his twin brother.  It was very enjoyable viewing Rome on these golf carts, and it allowed you to see so much more in a short time.  If you ever get to Rome, consider booking these early because they are not available when you get there.
 
This ended our 3-week trip with our group.  Everyone but us flew back to Atlanta.  We rented a car and spent 7 days driving around Italy before flying to Paris to begin our 3-week river cruise.  Please go to this web link to see the pictures during this part of our trip.
 

Sharon & Greg

​During our Mediterranean cruise we stopped in La Spezia for a day and took a ship’s tour to see Cinque Terre.  We rarely take cruise line excursions, but we did this one because we had a lot of on board credit we needed to spend on the ship.  After the cruise we went back to Cinque Terre, where we spent 4 nights in Monterosso. 
 
Our ship’s tour first started in Portovenere which is not really part of Cinque Terre but has many of the same charms.  It is a little larger town with a fort and medieval church behind the city.  Many of the shops in the city sell pesto which is made in this area of Italy.  You can see some demonstrations on how pesto is made here.  Some of the shops also sell some great tasting focaccia along with the many styles of pizza available.  This town is a tourist haven for people wanting to take tours or ferries to Cinque Terre.  Portoverne is so packed with tourists and locals wanting to go to the beach we had to park our rental car over a mile away from the town when we came back there the second time on our trip.
 
Monterosso was the Cinque Terre town we chose to stay in for 4 nights.  We had found a nice hotel online called the Stella Della Marina Hotel.  It turned out to be a great find and we will certainly go back there if we get another chance.  Breakfast was served on the roof top where we enjoyed a great view of the small town and the ocean.  The manager/owner was extremely nice and helped us plan our daily activities.  On the first day it was a little overcast with rain in the forecast and we decided to postpone our planned walk between towns.  After breakfast the weather looked pretty good and we decided to walk to Vernazza.   This was a 2 ½ mile walk that took about 1 ½ hours because of the many steps you needed to climb.  We later found out we had climbed up and down 1800 feet which were mainly trail steps made of rocks.  There were well over 1000 steps we had climbed up, and then down.  The views leaving Monterosso and arriving in Vernazza were spectacular.  The pictures really do not give it justice to what we saw.  After arriving in Vernazza we took a short 30-minute break admiring the town, and then headed off to Corniglia which was a 3-mile hike that took around 2 hours.  This trip had similar elevation to contend with but not quite as many steps.  About 2/3 of the way through this hike we came upon a small restaurant where we were able to drink a frozen lemonade drink and rest a few minutes.  When we arrived at the city and took some pictures, one of us (we won’t mention names) decided that was enough hiking for the day.  We went to the train station and walked down the 380 steps from the city to the train.  After regrouping in Monterosso with less sweaty clothes we took a train ride to Manarola where you could get some nice sunset views of the sun setting over Monterosso.  We did get some good sunset views but some of the clouds prevented it from being great.  The next day we went back to Manarola for a Pesto Making Tour we had set up.  There we made our own pesto sitting out in a restaurant overlooking the town.  It took some time to make and grind all the basil leaves, but the end result was some really great tasting pesto.  We ate what we made along with some other food the restaurant provided as part of the tour.  It was truly an enjoyable experience.  The tour also included a boat tour to Vernazza in a small boat that allowed us to see a little more of the coastline and Corniglia on the way by.  After the tour we took the train to Riomaggiore which was the furthest town from Monterosso.  We walked around town taking pictures and enjoying the scenery before deciding to take the ferry back to Monterosso.  The ferry allowed us some different views of each town as we made our way to Monterosso.  On our last day Sharon took off on her own to do some more hiking while Greg rested his knees.  She hiked from Manarola to Corniglia and then on to Vernazza.  This first hike was much more difficult because landslides had washed out the easier trail and only a more difficult trail was available.  The scenery viewed though made it all worthwhile.
 
Cinque Terre is a great place to spend some time.  It is probably best known as a national park that was set up so people can hike between the five different towns.  We happened to visit in July when there are thousands of visitors wanting to go to the beaches.  We chose Monterosso to stay at since it is one of the few towns accessible by car.  Once again, we had to park our car well over a mile away from our hotel on top of the mountain and ended up taking a taxi to the car when it was time to leave.  Monterosso is by far the largest of the five towns.  Vernazza is one of the more scenic towns with a few iconic churches in town.  There really isn’t much of a beach here.  There are more boats out in the water in this town than any other.  The next town, Corniglia, is the only town not accessible by the ferry.  It was built higher up and doesn’t have a real natural harbor area.  Manarola has some of the nicest views of any of the towns.  There is a bay area where you can sit up high in one of the restaurants watching the boats go by or people swim nearby.  The last town Riomaggiore, is smaller and only has a narrow outlet where boats come in and out.  All of these towns make great pictures and all of them have some unique history on how they originated.  It is a great place to visit if you get some time.
On our way out of Cinque Terre we stopped at Portofino.  We had been to this small town around 12 years ago on one of our early Mediterranean trips.  We remembered the pastel colored buildings, with the nice sail boats and the focaccia (the first time we ever tried this) in this quaint town.  Our return trip many years later wasn’t as entirely satisfying.  It seemed like this quaint little place had been recreated into a place for rich tourists.  Restaurants and shops seemed to be all high end and some of the charm of the town was lost.  It is still a beautiful place to go.

​Sharon & Greg

​We arrived in Kotor on the 26th of June and Split on the following day.  At both ports we had Tours By Local guides ready to pick us up and take as around their areas.  It is so nice to have a pre-arranged private tour waiting for you at a cost typically lower than you can get with the crowded cruise line tours.
 
Our trip to Split started with a bus ride to Trogir which is a UNESCO site.  It is a small town built back in the 1300’s and was once the cultural city of the area.  We spent some time in the Cathedral of St Lawrence which has some unique sculptures.  We learned about a technique used on this church to remove the dark color caused by aging and exhaust from the many cars in the area.  They use lasers to direct pulses of energy that destroys the dark coloring without damaging the stone underneath.  After our visit to Trogir we went back to Split and were shown the Diocletian Palace, a World Heritage Site.  Diocletian was a famous Roman Emperor who rose up from the ranks of the military and a lower-class family to become emperor.  He was also one of the few Emperors that retired and lived his remaining years at this palace that he built in Split.  The palace had two main structures: The Temple of Jupiter and the octagonally shaped mausoleum.  The mausoleum was turned into Cathedral St Domnius after Diocletian’s death and the rise of Christianity.  After touring the palace for a while we were taken outside to see the old town which surrounds the palace and consists of many winding roads that are loaded with shop and restaurants.  It is an interesting town to visit.
 
Kotor is a beautiful port set in a large bay area that almost looks like a lake when you get through the narrow channel from the sea.  We had to tender into this port as the dock is very small and only accommodates small cruise ships.  The city itself is primarily made up of a very old fortified fort with many shops, restaurants and bars inside.  You can even take a walk around these medieval walls which will take you a few hours.  Our tour took us to some of the key sights such as Perast which is a quaint city where you can take small boats to St George and Our Lady of the Rocks.  These are two tiny islands that have churches on them in the middle of the bay.  The legend of Our Lady of the Rocks dates to the mid 1400’s when two fishermen discovered an icon of the Virgin with Christ on the sea cliff.  They took the icon home, but it was gone the next day having returned to the sea cliff.  They took this as an omen to build a church in the bay.  We continued to drive around the bay to the small town of Tivat which had a nice beach and several fishing boats in the harbor.  We drove a little further to the town of Budva where we saw the little island of Saint Stefan.  Today this island is a 5 star resort.  As we continued on to Kotor we stopped high above where we  got some great views of Kotor.  We went down to the fortress and old city for a while before heading back to the ship.

Our cruise ship’s first stop was France.  We initially docked in Toulon (La Seyne) on the first day. We had a TBL (Tours By Locals) guide meet our group and take us around the area.  In Toulon, Tim & Sandy guided us around the region.  It required 2 vans to take our group of 16 around.
 
From Toulon we went to Aix-En-Provence which is a place we had not previously visited.  It is a large town in the Provence area.  It has a very wide street in the center of town, just down from the main fountain, where the rich people of the era built large homes that overlooked the street.  Entertaining and business was done on the ground floor of these large homes while the residents lived on the next higher floor.  The servants lived in the top of these mansions.  Architecture styles varied somewhat but all the homes were built to impress people. Most of these homes have now been converted into shops or places of business with people living in apartments above the ground floor.   Today there is a marketplace that sells clothes and other items on the street with some very natural looking fountains along the way.  We walked through several open markets in Aix-En-Provence, selling meats, fruits, flowers, cooked foods and anything else you might want to purchase.  The old city consists of many winding cobblestone roads that have a myriad of shops, restaurants, and bars lining these roads.  We were dropped off in Marseilles which is certainly one of the largest cities in southern France.  Most of the group ate lunch there while others walked around the harbor and visited the many shops.  After lunch we viewed Notre-Dame de la Garde which is a beautiful basilica that overlooks the harbor.  It was built on the offerings of people to keep the sailors and fisherman of the area safe.  From there we went to Cassis which is a small fishing village just east of Marseilles.  We stayed just long enough to get a few scenic pictures, but this is a place we would like to go back and visit again sometime.


Sharon & Greg

In Villefranche we needed to take a tender to the port.  We took another TBL (Tours By Locals) tour to see the surrounding area.  In Villefranche, Michel and Yvonne were our guides. 
 
In Villefranche our guides took us first to Eze which is one of our favorite medieval towns.  It is built on a small hill right next to the sea.  The one cobblestone street in the town leads up to a garden that has some great views of the area.  We arrived nice and early in the morning before there were too many people and were able to collect some of the history of the town while taking some great pictures.  As we started back down the cobblestone road, the large cruise ship excursions started to come up.  Seeing these very large groups of people with only one guide, reinforced our feeling of why we like TBL and the personalized tours you get.  At the bottom of Eze, several people took a perfume factory tour.  There are many places in southern France where you can tour Fragonard or some of the other perfume manufacturers’ factories.  We then drove off to Monaco where we drove along the famous speed track that the Grand Prix holds their big race every year.  The race had just completed a few weeks before and you could still see fresh tire marks on many of the roads.  We were dropped off by the Monaco Casino so that you could either go inside and try your luck, or just walk around and take some pictures.  In front of the casino you will always see the extremely expensive cars of some of the casino patrons.  Before leaving Monaco, we drove by the palace where the Prince lives.  The flag was flying telling us that the prince was in residence at the time.  We drove by the St Nicholas Cathedral where Princess Grace was married so many years ago and is now buried there.  We were even shown the road where her car veered off over the cliff that, it is believed, her 17-year old daughter was driving at the time.  From Monaco we traveled to Nice but stopped a couple of times for some photo opportunities.  The French Riviera is such a nice place to take scenic photos.  In Nice our guides dropped us off at the bus station where we took some time to wander around the city.  We looked at the open market, walked over to the beach area and then just spent time in the old city (some just eating some lunch and others just wandering around the shops).  We then walked back to the bus station and took a local bus back to our port which was only 15 minutes away.  Back at the port we walked around Villefranche taking a few more pictures and visiting some of the many shops in the area.
 
This cruise gave us a good sampling of France and now we head off to Italy!


Sharon & Greg

Our group of 16 arrived in Barcelona early on June 15th after a direct flight from Atlanta.  This is the beginning of a 3-week trip on a Western Mediterranean 9-night cruise that ends up in Venice.  Our group will continue to Tuscany for a 2-night stay and then finish up in Rome.  We stayed at the Alexandra Barcelona Hotel for 3 nights prior to boarding our cruise ship.  The hotel was conveniently located to get around and the staff was extremely helpful.
 
Upon arrival we took a nice walk to La Rambla, La Boqueria and the Gothic area.  The group was able to get a feel for Barcelona and take some of the iconic pictures in the area, including the Barcelona Gothic Cathedral.  We had a light lunch in the Placa Reial at a restaurant called Cerveceria Colon.   At this point we went back to the hotel to rest up a little before going out to dinner.  We ate at a restaurant by the Marketplace across the street from the Gothic Cathedral.  This was a great restaurant with good prices.  
 
After a full night’s sleep to get over our jet lag, we headed out the next morning to La Boqueria. Everyone got to see all the fresh food offerings where over hundreds of vendors try to offer their specialties to the thousands of people who roam through this market place every day.  From there we walked to La Sagrada Familia where we met Mar, our TBL (Tours By Locals) guide.  She gave us a talk from outside this spectacular architectural feat discussing the origin of the building and letting us know it is expected to be completed in 2026 which will mark the 100-year anniversary of Antoni Gaudi who is considered the father of this project.  Although Gaudi did not do the original design, he did do a thorough redesign of the church when he took it over.  When he died of an unfortunate accident where he was run over by a streetcar, his assistants have continued to follow the original plans that he created.  After completing our tour, the group headed out for dinner at a restaurant near the hotel that had been recommended to us by the staff at the hotel.  We had another superb meal in Barcelona.
 
The next morning our tour guide, Mar, picked us up in a bus and we headed out to Montserrat.  This is a nearby mountain range that has a monastery built high up in the mountains.  There are many hiking trails around to enjoy the fresh air and spectacular views in the area.  In the early afternoon you can go into the basilica and listen to the boys’ choir perform a few songs.  These boys are educated in the monastery and live there until they graduate.  A few of us took a walk to a St. Micheal's cross and others took the funicular up one of the mountains to see some of the great views.  After spending a couple of days in Barcelona, it was nice to see some of the other things that you can do in the area.  When we got back to the city, we headed over to Palau Guell to see one of Gaudi’s designs.  This was a magnificent house built for a very rich man (Eusebi Guell).  It was this building that allowed Gaudi to become known as one of the truly great architects of his time.  His knowledge of building materials and nature allowed him to create buildings that are still marveled at 100 years later.  His style is certainly unique and not everyone appreciates his creativity.  After our visit we went to El Cangrejo Loco located at Olympic Pier on the waterfront for dinner.  We had eaten there before but we wanted to take our group there specifically to try the paella which is a specialty of the area.  We had a great last meal in Barcelona and were now ready to head out on our 9-night cruise.

Sharon and Greg