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

We arrived in Naples on June 24th and had arranged tours to both Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast.  We used a driver, Antonio, we had met several years ago who has driven us many times since our initial meeting.
 
We had not been to Pompeii in sometime, but most of our group wanted to go there.  Antonio drove us to the site, and we meant a guide there who was booked through Viator.  Pompeii was a major Roman city that was destroyed in 79 AD by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, a nearby volcano.  For those that have never seen Pompeii it is a unique experience because it is amazing what is all left in tact from the eruption.  You can see how the Romans really lived in these unique ruins.  They were first discovered in the mid 1700’s when the King of Naples was building a palace in the area.  He ordered the excavation to start and it is still in progress today.  You can see streets made of huge rocks were chariots and wagons rolled along creating huge indentations in the rock where the wheels rolled.  You can see stepping stone rocks across the streets to allow people to walk from one side of the road to the other.  There are human remains where you can see mummified people exactly as they were when they died during the eruption.  There are blocks and blocks of different buildings and palaces where you can learn how the Romans lived back in this time.  Shops line the roads and you can see the troughs that held the food that was served to the people walking down the roads.  If you ever get the opportunity to come to Naples, make sure you take a day to see the ruins of Pompeii.  It is certainly worth the time.
 
From Pompeii our group headed to the Amalfi Coast in two large taxis.  Unfortunately there was a recent landslide that created a great deal of traffic which prevented us on going to Sorrento as originally planned but our driver, Antonio, was smart enough to avoid the majority of the traffic and get us to Positano.  Many people from our cruise didn’t get to see much of the Amalfi Coast while our group got to spend a couple of hours walking down the beautiful streets of Positano.  With all the bougainvillea in full bloom this is truly a beautiful city.  You can walk right down to the beach and go in and out of the various shops and restaurants along the way.  The city was packed with many people going to the beach and others just enjoying some of the many restaurants.  July is a busy time on the Amalfi Coast!  Several of our group elected just to have a little lunch looking out over the Amalfi Coast and the town of Positano.  It is one of our favorite places to visit.

​Sharon & Greg