MSC Magnifica picture heavy fun review -- 12 days British Isles incl. DIY port trips

spinnaker2 · October 21, 2014

Thistle chapel is breathtakingly beautiful, elegant and inspiring...wish I could see in person!

Thanks for this review...

ocbogian · October 21, 2014

:eek: Oh my God! I just realized it took me 13 days to finish up the first port! Gulp...with 6 more ports to come this WILL take forever. I'm sorry guys. But I do write something every day -- at least I have so far -- I doubt I'll be able to hold that pace in the busy christmas time. But I'll try to hurry up as much as possible. Lol -- since there are few to none British Isles cruises in the winter time, I guess it isn't too catasrophic.

Stef

No need to hurry Stef, like so many others your review has become part of my daily routine. Stretch it out.

You can speed up if (and ONLY if) you need to start planning your next cruise. Will you be cruising in 2015? Will there be future adventures?:confused::confused:

denisey · October 21, 2014

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What I liked is that they have one regular knight being a lady nowadays. What bothered me is that I couldn’t find out, what they actually do… besides looking back on a long tradition… I believe they mainly uphold a courtly fashion and look pretty in their green mantles at coronations. If anybody knows of any chivalrous acts of this noble group…please post!

Well, it appears that they are made Knights (and Ladies) by the Queen for supporting her policies. They don't necessarily do anything after being knighted.

http://www.royal.gov.uk/MonarchUK/Honours/OrderoftheThistle.aspx

But I couldn't find anything on the individual symbols in the the chapel.

Kreuzfahrtneuling · October 22, 2014

thanks for all the nice posts guys.

ocbogian -- we sadly don't have any cruise planned for 2015. Tarik will travel to Austria with kids his age and we're thinking about a snorkeling trip to Crete...but we don't know for sure yet. But , since I have currently no planning to do -- I have more time to write on this review.

Stef

Kreuzfahrtneuling · October 22, 2014

Dinner day three

Menus and starters

I have to admit that we were too pooped to rate any meals tonight…we just gobbled down everything out of pure starvation. We simply forgot to eat all day long! Boy, were we glad to be on the early sitting tonight! We did manage to take pictures of the dishes...so just imagine what they would taste like and enjoy the show:

Fanned out prosciutto and Cantaloupe melon

Tortellini in brodo all’emiliana

Minestrone alla genovese

Lasagna alla Bolognese

Stay tuned!

Stef

Kreuzfahrtneuling · October 22, 2014

Dinner day three

Main courses and deserts

Grigliata di mare alla siciliana

Costoletta di maiale alla Milanese

Tagliata di manzo alla griglia

Parmigiana di melanzane alla napoletana

PDO Italian cheese plate

Tiramisu

Stay tuned!

Stef

Kreuzfahrtneuling · October 22, 2014

Italian night

Tonight was our first theme night. Italian flag theme…red, white and green.

I was positively surprised to see a lot of people really wearing those three colors. I guess we’re not the only ones who did our homework.

To understand the feel of this evening event, you’ll have to learn this song text (for the unlikely event you don’t know it already)…well – okay, don't panic -- you don’t have to memorize it completely, but I highlighted the parts which you simply must know by heart to join the fun..

Volare

Penso che un sogno così non ritorni mai più

Mi dipingevo le mani e la faccia di blu

Poi d'improvviso venivo dal vento rapito

E incominciavo a volare nel cielo infinito

Volare, oh, oh!

Cantare, oh, oh, oh, oh!

Nel blu, dipinto di blu

Felice di stare lassù

E volavo, volavo felice più in alto del sole ed ancora più su

Mentre il mondo pian piano spariva lontano laggiù

Una musica dolce suonava soltanto per me

Volare, oh, oh!

Cantare, oh, oh, oh, oh!

Nel blu, dipinto di blu

Felice di stare lassù

Nel blu, dipinto di blu

Felice di stare lassu

and since you shall know what you’re singing – here’s an English translation:

fly

I think, that dream does not come back ever again.

I painted my face and hands blue.

Then suddenly I was being kidnapped by the wind.

And I began to fly in the endless sky.

Flying, oh, oh!

Singing, oh, oh, oh, oh!

In the blue painted blue.

Happy to be up there.

And I flew, I flew happily to the heights of the sun.

As the world slowly disappeared out there,

A soft music was playing just for me.

Flying, oh, oh!

Singing, oh, oh, oh, oh!

In the blue painted blue.

Happy to be up there.

In the blue painted blue.

Happy to be up there.

And here’s a link to a youtube video, so you can practice singing along.

I’ll give you a couple of minutes…..

All set?

Well, then we can start to watch the waiters enter the dining hall with this song revved up in the background and all of the passengers singing loudly along, swirling their red, white and green napkings in the air. Ready? Set? Go! (Don’t forget to sing along – it’s half the fun!)

Here they come:

Presenting their cakes (and obviously enjoying the show of the passengers singing like there’s no tomorrow)

Or heck – just singing along with them! This guy was amazing – he got so into it, that he started dancing madly while precariously balancing that cake…He got a roaring applause!

Yippie – that’s our waiter Paul in the right side of the picture. He also thought this dancing performance to be hilarious. We all laughed a lot that evening.

I absolutely loved that first motto night.

Stay tuned!

Stef

Kreuzfahrtneuling · October 22, 2014

The show

Tonight’s show was “Italia in Musica”.

Before we headed to the theatre, we decided for a wee cocktail in the l’Ametista lounge.

See our Italian flag outfits?

Well, then Tanja and I strolled over to the theatre. I think Tarik wanted to take some more pics of the sea. Anyway, we got to the theater and there was nobody there. After having enjoyed a bottle of wine for dinner, a cocktail afterwards and not having eaten all day… we were a little tipsy. That’s what I blame the next picture on…

Just fooling around with the reflection. Doesn’t it look like we’re two big butted giants, sitting on the stage? We thought that was hilarious at the time.

Slowly we started to wonder why nobody else was here. Sigh, then we took a look at the time and discovered we were way too early…oh well, let’s have ANOTHER cocktail in the Tiger bar, since this was the closest one. They had a female singer with a band on stage.

Sometimes one of the MSC entertainment guys dressed up as a pirate to dance with any lady he could coax into it. He was also often found dressed like this on the inside pool deck during the daytime, amusing kids with little giveaways.

Tanja and I tried to dance too, but somehow we didn’t find a common ground…It was pure chaos; we left the dance floor way before the song we tried ended. I blame it on the cocktails – it surely couldn’t have been our incompetence. We’d just try again the next night. We haven’t been dancing together for years now (because of Tanja’s snapped crucial ligament) and maybe we just needed a bit more practice to get into it again…

Anyway, it was time to return to the theatre. The spectacle started with this fake waiter roaming the rows…boy was I glad, we were on the balcony. It was an attempt of a comedy show…quite okay, but didn’t make us laugh out loud.

Then after the ever so long multilingual announcement of the show to come, the main act started.

Maybe we drank too many cocktails, maybe we were just too exhausted after Edinburgh, maybe we’re just too inexperienced with Italian music…whatever it was -- this show wasn’t doing it for us. They were singing and dancing…pretty costumes no doubt… but we left after about 10 minutes. We needed to sleep. A long day lay ahead of us tomorrow and we needed to recharge some energies (and sleep off those cocktails).

Stay tuned!

Stef

Elmartellama · October 22, 2014

Italian night was probably our favourite! even if the show was not outstanding, everything was well Italian-themed and the atmosphere in the ship was truly amazing :)

Kreuzfahrtneuling · October 23, 2014

day four -- Invergordon, Scotland

dailies

stay tuned!

Stef

Kreuzfahrtneuling · October 23, 2014

Italian night was probably our favourite! even if the show was not outstanding, everything was well Italian-themed and the atmosphere in the ship was truly amazing :)

you're so right about the atmosphere! The whole ship was decorated in the national colors and everything just breathed Italy! It was a wonderful experience. We loved it too!

I got a bit jealous later on in the cruise as to how wonderfully they arranged the Italy theme and the atrocity they created of the German one with the "Oktoberfest" later on... buhuuuu -- sniff...I want a beautiful, stylish onboard national day as well... or none at all.

Stef

Kreuzfahrtneuling · October 23, 2014

drinks day four

Lol -- we stuck to our favorites today except this new one:

and I have positively no clue, what this was... any of you experienced MSC folks - can you help me? One thing is certain - it couldn't have blown us away, or we would have remembered or ordered it again.

so let's move on to the MSC excursions offered on our day in Invergordon:

and now last but not least our plans for the upcoming day.

yellow route start, red route return

We had rented a rental car with the only local available agent: Ken's Garage. So the route you see on the map would be driven by Tanja by car --- with the stirring wheel on the right hand side...and driving on the left side of the road...gulp.

ps: we didn't manage to visit Dunrobin castle...too little time. I'm just telling you ahead, so you don't eagerly wait for it and then get dissapointed.

stay tuned!

Stef

PathfinderEss · October 24, 2014

Enjoying your review and photo's, thanks.

Kreuzfahrtneuling · October 24, 2014

Invergordon

Getting there

We decided on a thorough early breakfast in the Sahara buffet restaurant. A pleasure with views of our adventure coming closer and closer:

That’s our pier coming up

Aehm, are we supposed to swim ashore?

…and what are these science fiction tanks in the background?

Anybody know the old British tv show “the tripods” ? I was kind of expecting one of those three legged things to appear behind one of them. By the way I loved that show as a kid and still today– never got over the fact they didn’t end up filming the third and last part…but I got it as a dvd with a listening cd for the third part… so I know how it ends…lol – not like I would tell ya.

Today we had a grand road tour planned. Tarik’s biggest wish on this cruise was to see Loch Ness … well actually he was intend to shoot a picture of Nessie. So that had to be integrated into the plan. I wanted to visit some highland games, since I’ve never seen such a thing before and thought it would be more of a local event, rather than a tourist trap. When I did my planning I was happy to find out that there actually would be some Games going on that day… quite a ways up north --- in Helmsdale.

Now we knew for sure that we’d need a car, since no public transport would offer us both - Loch Ness and Helmsdale in our time frame.

Booking the car online was real easy. I had fun to e-mail with Clare MacKay from Ken’s Garage, who was very helpful and friendly. Whenever in Invergordon, I’d take one of their cars again in a heartbeat.

Now all that was left to do was look up some sights on the way to fill the long driving sections. Little did I know, that the actual driving would turn out to be a big highlight of this day. Of course I knew it would be a scenic drive…but just wait and see how beautiful it really turned out to be.

The ship arrived on time. I was quite happy with that, since we wanted to jump in our car as soon as possible (preferably before the herd of tour busses left). I was a little aggravated when we didn’t get to actually leave the ship until 40 minutes later. Sigh, 40 minutes can mean a lot on a busy port day.

But once we were released, we started to walk the pier to shore. You get the rental car keys and papers in a little hut right next to the exit of the port…You simply cannot miss it if you walk straight on. I thought it’s a small company with a few cars – all Peugeots.

Well, I underestimated them a bit. They had at least 15 cars there. I don’t know if you were still able to rent one on the spot or if they were all prebooked though. The formalities were handled very quickly and soon we stood next to our car for the day with the keys in hand.

We’re in Scotland, so the stirring wheel is on the right hand side and you have to drive on the left side of the road. For us Germans this feels very odd, but Tanja was experienced in this from driving in Malta (decades ago) and she said she’d do it. Good – since I was way to chicken to try.

I’ll tell and show you all about our gorgeous drive in the next three posts. After that I’ll start with the actual stops we made, okay?

Stay tuned!

Stef

Kreuzfahrtneuling · October 24, 2014

Driving (post one of three)

Most people want to see Loch Ness – so did we. To get there you start by leaving the port turning left. This street will get you out of Invergordon and to the A9, which will bring you to Inverness and on your way to Loch Ness.

This is the “A9”. A highway! Ain’t it cute?

And here’s Tanja…proof, she did it! Very concentrated. I’m so proud of her.

All the road signs are very clear and simple. You simply cannot miss the road to Inverness. You’ll cross two bridges on the way.

When you reach this bridge to pass the Beauly Firth, you’re almost there.

Driving in Inverness was a little challenging because of all the round abouts…but Tanja was relaxed and I think it was only me stressing a bit.

When you enter Inverness, you leave the A9 to continue on the A82 to Drumnadrochit, which is a town right by Loch Ness.

Loch Ness is a narrow, yet VERY long lake. You drive by it for quite some time and the scenery is breathtaking…I’m sorry I didn’t manage any okay pictures here. But don’t worry, I have lots of the lake when I tell you about Urquhart castle later on.

When you reach Drumnadrochit, you have to turn left in town to get to Urquhart castle, no fear -- here also everything is well marked.

Here’s the parking spot at Urquhart castle by the way… see our neighboring car? Lol- I guess someone else drove a little faster than us :-) . We saw cars from Ken’s garage all day long.

After our visit there, we drove back to Drumnadrochit to turn left at the junction we came from the other direction before. We wanted to take another route back up north.

We took the A831 for just a tiny while, just to turn right on the A833. That right turn came a little sudden and the sign isn’t really big…pay attention here.

The road now is very narrow and leads you through a beautiful landscape in the middle of nowhere for quite a while.

Look at those colors!

Stay tuned!

Stef

pinkpanther52 · October 24, 2014

Invergordon

Getting there

We decided on a thorough early breakfast in the Sahara buffet restaurant. A pleasure with views of our adventure coming closer and closer:

That’s our pier coming up

Aehm, are we supposed to swim ashore?

…and what are these science fiction tanks in the background?

Anybody know the old British tv show “the tripods” ? I was kind of expecting one of those three legged things to appear behind one of them. By the way I loved that show as a kid and still today– never got over the fact they didn’t end up filming the third and last part…but I got it as a dvd with a listening cd for the third part… so I know how it ends…lol – not like I would tell ya.

Today we had a grand road tour planned. Tarik’s biggest wish on this cruise was to see Loch Ness … well actually he was intend to shoot a picture of Nessie. So that had to be integrated into the plan. I wanted to visit some highland games, since I’ve never seen such a thing before and thought it would be more of a local event, rather than a tourist trap. When I did my planning I was happy to find out that there actually would be some Games going on that day… quite a ways up north --- in Helmsdale.

Now we knew for sure that we’d need a car, since no public transport would offer us both - Loch Ness and Helmsdale in our time frame.

Booking the car online was real easy. I had fun to e-mail with Clare MacKay from Ken’s Garage, who was very helpful and friendly. Whenever in Invergordon, I’d take one of their cars again in a heartbeat.

Now all that was left to do was look up some sights on the way to fill the long driving sections. Little did I know, that the actual driving would turn out to be a big highlight of this day. Of course I knew it would be a scenic drive…but just wait and see how beautiful it really turned out to be.

The ship arrived on time. I was quite happy with that, since we wanted to jump in our car as soon as possible (preferably before the herd of tour busses left). I was a little aggravated when we didn’t get to actually leave the ship until 40 minutes later. Sigh, 40 minutes can mean a lot on a busy port day.

But once we were released, we started to walk the pier to shore. You get the rental car keys and papers in a little hut right next to the exit of the port…You simply cannot miss it if you walk straight on. I thought it’s a small company with a few cars – all Peugeots.

Well, I underestimated them a bit. They had at least 15 cars there. I don’t know if you were still able to rent one on the spot or if they were all prebooked though. The formalities were handled very quickly and soon we stood next to our car for the day with the keys in hand.

We’re in Scotland, so the stirring wheel is on the right hand side and you have to drive on the left side of the road. For us Germans this feels very odd, but Tanja was experienced in this from driving in Malta (decades ago) and she said she’d do it. Good – since I was way to chicken to try.

I’ll tell and show you all about our gorgeous drive in the next three posts. After that I’ll start with the actual stops we made, okay?

Stay tuned!

Stef

I loved the Tripods as well

Although I live in Edinburgh one of my very good friends lives near Invergordon and I am in the area quite a lot and can't wait to hear all your post about the area.

Loved seeing your photos of arrival I have never seen that view before.

Oh and those tanks are:-Naval Base[edit]

"A naval base in the early 20th century, evidence of which remains in the tank farm lying behind the town centre, which used to contain fuel oil and water for admiralty ships, and the Admiralty Pier, where once warships docked and which is now used for cruise ships in the summer and oil field support vessels through the year. One German bomb hit one of the tanks during World War II when a large flying boat base occupied much of the northerly coast of the Cromarty Firth, the result of this being that the fuel oil flowed onto the railway tracks. According to town history the bomb did not explode."

Hope that last bit does not offend you.

Jackie

Kreuzfahrtneuling · October 24, 2014

I loved the Tripods as well

Although I live in Edinburgh one of my very good friends lives near Invergordon and I am in the area quite a lot and can't wait to hear all your post about the area.

Loved seeing your photos of arrival I have never seen that view before.

Oh and those tanks are:-Naval Base[edit]

"A naval base in the early 20th century, evidence of which remains in the tank farm lying behind the town centre, which used to contain fuel oil and water for admiralty ships, and the Admiralty Pier, where once warships docked and which is now used for cruise ships in the summer and oil field support vessels through the year. One German bomb hit one of the tanks during World War II when a large flying boat base occupied much of the northerly coast of the Cromarty Firth, the result of this being that the fuel oil flowed onto the railway tracks. According to town history the bomb did not explode."

Hope that last bit does not offend you.

Jackie

Hi Jackie,

Whoohoo -- another Tripod fan! Yeah!

thanks for the info on the tanks.

lol and no worries, I'm not offended one bit. I guess every country has it's history...some good, some bad. Okay, on the list with the mean guys we're still top rank I believe, but I can't change what happened. What I can do however is to be aware of the political situation in Germany today and make sure to go vote whenever I get the opportunity to do so. And I do that.

Thank God that bomb didn't explode...can you imagine the size of that fireball? I doubt there'd still be an Invergordon in that case. Scary stuff. I'm so glad we live in somewhat peaceful times.

Stef

Kreuzfahrtneuling · October 24, 2014

Driving (post two of three)

The scenery constantly changed between wide open purple hilltops and heavily vegetated valleys with an abundance of yellow and pink wildflowers blooming around the stone walls to the side of the road.

We saw a pheasant hop off the street into the bushes, hundreds of sheep and the fattest, happiest looking cattle I’ve ever seen to that day (lol – remember, we weren’t in Ireland yet).

At one point you get to a T-section. Turn left onto the A 862 to Beauly. You’ll cross a little bridge over the River Beauly before the street turns right to the town of Beauly. Here I have to add a little sidetrack once more.

One of the things I looked up and thought was way cool for this port stop where “the Falls of Shin”. They’re found way north and a little inland from Invergordon. Anyway, they’re cool because of the nice hiking trails and above all the huge amount of jumping salmon. I’ve never seen jumping salmon before and would have loved to see that. But when calculating the times we’d need for the drive and all, it just dawned on me that we wouldn’t manage the detour to see these falls.

Bummer!

Little did I know, that we would have had the opportunity right here, close to Beauly as well!!! Even bigger bummer!!!

Our fantastic tablemates took a tour, which brought them to a bridge close to Beauly, where they could see jumping salmon! Aaarggghhhh. We drove right by it and missed it, because we didn’t know! We also missed the seals on the sandbanks in the Firths. Probably passed hundreds of them, not knowing they existed. Grrrrr. But now you know and will hopefully keep your eyes open for the aquatic life out there as well on this route. End of sidetrack.

After the stop in Beauly, you continue to drive north on the A862 for a little bit until you turn right on the B9169. This will bring you back to the northbound A9 either directly or by using the A 832.

Here we are again…just heading north this time.

That’s the Cromarty Firth and the bridge you’ll need to cross in the background.

A little closer:

And we zipped right passed Invergordon steadily heading north on the A9. The scenery was increasingly breathtaking.

Can you spot seals? I can’t.

Lol – another fun wildlife story on our drive was a sign we encountered:

I know caution signs like “caution bears” or” caution mountain lions” from my time in the US…but what we were told to be cautious about

here

completely cracked me up:

!!!Caution Otters!!!

Buhahahaha – we imagined raging, furious mutant otters attacking everybody on the A9. Can’t believe I didn’t take a picture of those signs.

Anyway…constantly heading north

I want to talk about two items in this picture: The B and B sign. They have numerous absolutely charming bed and breakfast places everywhere. When we return to Scotland, this will be our way to travel.

Which brings me to the other thing in the picture … see the motorhome up ahead? Although I imagine it to be nice to take your own tiny apartment along, I’d advise against that on many Scottish streets. Some are so narrow, that we were really happy to have a small and narrow car to zip through.We saw A LOT of motorhomes though. Maybe we're just too chicken.

Stay tuned!

Stef

Kreuzfahrtneuling · October 24, 2014

Driving (last post)

Vast stretches of this street present you with spectacular views of the North Sea right at your side.

Not only do you get advised to be cautious about the wildlife (especially otters ;-) ), but also there are numerous signs telling you to behave courteously toward the other drivers.

I wonder if that’s a local problem here, since there were so many of those signs. We didn’t encounter any difficulties with other drivers ourselves.

Tadahh – we’ve reached Helmsdale. Tanja just parallel parked this baby in a breeze– on the wrong side of the road with the stirring wheel on the wrong side…

God – I adore that woman!

Sigh, but every road trip comes to an end sometimes.

Here is another “colors of Scotland” picture for you heading back down to our ship.

We left the A9 at Kildary onto the B817 right by the actual Ken’s Garage to head to Invergordon. This way you not only save a couple of miles on the taxometer, you also get to enjoy a beautiful road right alongside the shoreline and last but not least a glimpse of your ship docked at the pier.

We made it…safe and sound. Tanja – you’re my hero!

Ps: when we returned our keys, the nice Scot asked us what we saw and we told him in the order of the sites…at first he just nodded:

Loch Ness…sure…did ya see Nessie? She’s sometimes shy on a Saturday – too many tourists around.

Beauly?…oh yes, that’s nice too…

Carn Liath --aehm???– he hadn’t even heard of it until we told him what that was exactly (well – maybe our pronunciation was just pitiful -- who knows)

and when we kept on talking and said we also went to the Helmsdale Highland Games, he looked impressed.

He told us that in that case we were probably the only passengers to have seen a pipe band today. Usually they have a pipe band come to greet the cruise ship…but this weekend they had some major competition going on in Glasgow, so there was only one single band around for many miles…and that one was going to the Highland Games in Helmsdale that day! Believe me -- I was one happy tourist!

Stay tuned!

Stef

Irish Cath · October 24, 2014

I really don't have time to write a post right now and I certainly shouldn't be spending time reading your review but guess what - I am and I love it so much and your photo's of Scotland are so fantastic you should get a job with the Scottish tourist board and I hope you and your little family have a fabulous weekend and I can't wait to get back to read more on Sunday.

Kreuzfahrtneuling · October 24, 2014

I really don't have time to write a post right now and I certainly shouldn't be spending time reading your review but guess what - I am and I love it so much and your photo's of Scotland are so fantastic you should get a job with the Scottish tourist board and I hope you and your little family have a fabulous weekend and I can't wait to get back to read more on Sunday.

Lol -- Cath -- where are you right now-- and what should you be doing besides this?

Stef

Kreuzfahrtneuling · October 24, 2014

Lol -- Cath -- where are you right now-- and what should you be doing besides this?

Stef

Lol --never mind...you just told us in your review!

Stef

cruiser77 · October 24, 2014

Following your review and loving it! I am dreaming of doing the British isles cruise in 2017, probably with Celebrity cruises so I am interested in reading about your experiences. Thanks for doing this!!:)

Kreuzfahrtneuling · October 26, 2014

Following your review and loving it! I am dreaming of doing the British isles cruise in 2017, probably with Celebrity cruises so I am interested in reading about your experiences. Thanks for doing this!!:)

Boy, that still is quite a while away...but the anticipation is half the fun...and the planning ... lol -- and afterwards the writing of a review -- wink!

Glad you're enjoying the review!

Stef

Kreuzfahrtneuling · October 26, 2014

Urquhart castle (post one of - lol – don’t know how many yet…guessing 3 or 4 :-) )

Urquhart castle is THE spot most every tourist wants to see if never having been to Loch Ness before – us included. We drove there very first thing in the morning and got there about half an hour after they opened up. Apparently it gets really crowded once all the tour busses arrive.

One advise I got from a cruise critic member before our cruise, was to do all the desired shopping in the gift shop right away…because it would get insanely full after a while. We followed that advice.

When we entered the gift shop after showing our Explorer’s pass for free entry at the front, we basically were the only customers in the store. I bought a t-shirt (lol – it shows a little Scottish hiker and is subtitled “oot ‘n’ aboot”. I love it! The Scottish way to pronounce stuff is so fun!) and a Nessie stuffed animal…yes, it’s cheesy, but I always wanted to buy one if I ever got to see Loch Ness…She sits on my bedside now, right beside the light switch and I have to smile, every time I see her just before turning off the lights. Tanja bought a pink Scotland bracelet.

Let me tell you --It was a VERY wise decision to do all the relaxed shopping in an empty gift store right away…look at the masses in there by the time we left:

One advice I’d like to add to all future female cruisers. Do not only shop right away --- be sure to use the restrooms right away as well…. There was an unbelievable line of women waiting to enter the Ladies room at the time I took the above picture!

Our tablemates found out something peculiar…when you wait with your visit until lunch time…the first wave of people have left already again and you have the same nice spacious visit, as when you get there real early. Good to know.

Once you get there, you have two choices. Either you go to the visitor center to watch a video about the ruin’s past and look at some exhibitions…or you go through that door in the back of the gift shop to get to the real thing.

We didn’t go see the visitor center. I saw their video online on youtube before the cruise, so I didn’t want to spend the time to watch it again. Plus – of course I did some reading about this place before as well, so I felt confident to just tell Tanja and Tarik all about the history of this place (done bragging now).

In short - we were eager to walk to the ruins so we chose option number two. (It turned out that there were plenty of wonderfully illustrated posters everywhere telling you everything about the place anyway -- so I basically had my day off)

This is the view once you step through that door:

And that’s the path leading down to the premises.

Look at the huge lake…and this is only the view to ONE direction.

Before you enter the castle grounds you have to walk over a bridge - formerly a draw bridge over this castle moat:

I love the green color.

Also the color mix of the grass, the stones and the sky fascinated me:

Stay tuned!

Stef

Edited October 26, 2014 by Kreuzfahrtneuling

MSC Magnifica picture heavy fun review -- 12 days British Isles incl. DIY port trips

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