ollienbertsmum

Graham - I still have Iona aft envy. I am sure you know I was booked on my *first ever* aft balcony on Iona in June 2020. Even though youngest went with me to Tromso in Feb this year I still regret not taking an amazing cruise.

Hang on, are they not the same word?

In the middle of summer the tourist sites are packed and it is soooo hot. I would have thought that the shoulder seasons might be more comfortable. I would have thought that travelling to Rome by a coach tour would be easier. There is a board “Disabled cruise travel” that might offer insight.

First congratulations on your 25th. You have chosen a good itinerary. Your first “must do” is visit the places with You tube and via blogs. This is the way you will find out which sites would interest you most in these cities. Then you can start joining the dots in terms of transport options. At this point you should come back and ask more specific questions. If you have a good time I am sure that you will return.

I would certainly think that staying overnight in Rome or Athens is a treat and would make a lovely change to Barcelona.

Lovely as Malaga is, +1 You may have to change trains in Madrid. It is not a big issue.

I saw Graham’s post and turned on my tv. Oh how scary it all looks. Horrible and chaotic scenes. Stay safe Dani, praying for peace in the region

Using the mixer in the sink. Brilliant. I have cooked with so many kids and never thought of that.

Bonjour. I loved Ajaccio. We have been twice. So lovely to go to those ports where you just walk off the ships and you are ‘there’.

I have given up worrying. I have a friend who travels a lot. She has had Covid 5 times. Apparently none of these bouts have been more than a nuisance for her. She shares her house with her family, they including her Pilot husband have not caught it. no rhyme or reason

The chair looks great. I love the idea of ilevel. So important. Keep doing those 360 degree twirls.

Can you explain what the people are waiting for. In Gibraltar when storms are predicted we usually cancel appointments and take in the washing.

As someone who lives in the Med area I agree. If you intend to visit towns and cities avoid the summer months. However you do need to take a waterproof jacket and waterproof shoes - much better than an umbrella when you are trying to walk around.

I agree with Princeton about needing to know about your hotel. If it is not yet booked, then you are probably best to select the hotel with accessibility in mind. Also I might be harsh, but you might also pack with mobility in mind. We used the train to get to Trieste (from Bologna) and the Flixbus to get to VCE airport. We costed the return journey in an ordinary taxi - it would have been around 250 euro for the two of us (we were debating what would happen if we missed the bus). For a group of 6 a pre booked private car would be a reasonable rate pp. However…. to get from taxi to the hotel, I recall when in Venice in September 2019 that there were porters with big trolleys that passed us when going over the bridges. I don’t recall where you accessed these.

That front and back is amazing. I never had a cake at my wedding. Next year it will be 35 years. I think I need cake.

I thought of you and Pauline at church this morning. I am staying with my aged parents and was trying out my father’s car for the first time. I was out in their village at 9:30 this morning to do the bottle recycling run. I chose a time when there would be few people - but some were clearly on their way to church. My father’s car is very old, dodgy clutch and me having to drive on the wrong side of the road. I managed - and I thought about Grapau and Pauline. The rest of the day at about 27 C was great for me for gardening. Every time I come to England the weather is great.

Sorry I usually type with a keyboard. Today I am stuck with my finger. So tourists do use the number 1 - but are still charged £18 to go in the nature reserve. It would then be a long and strenuous walk uphill to see the other sites. Actually I used to do this weekly with DH before we married. I lost about 25 pounds in the first year I lived here. Even though using the bus gets you to the Upper Rock faster, it does not avoid steps and inclines. if have missed any info please ask.

I get annoyed when guides do not inspire tourists. The stories around the WWII tunnels should keep visitors engaged. I am too old to eretrain as a tour guide. so I went to the tourist office. I got information about the IZI travel app that has ‘old town heritage trail’. I am not at home so cannot try it. Looks interesting though. I talked with the tourist guide about the cost of the Nature reserve. It does not really relate to cruise visitors, but I feel it s hard to market Gibraltar as a weekend destination and Charge per day for the upper rock. If you visit for a couple of days I think it makes sense for the se cond day to be much cheaper so then y might visit the Med Steps or the old town coupled with the Tower of Homage. the cost of the Nature Reserve is £18 whether you walk, go in a taxi or ride the cable car. The taxi tour is recommended as £40 person. The taxi drivers can charge more if they don’t have a full taxi. If they are charging you more you don’t have to tip. As long as you get off the ship promptly there will be taxi availability - the drivers will fill up the cars. The longer (7hr ) tours will cost moreCarl Mesilio’s Inside Out tour is always popular. I was told about John Lopez and Rocky Monkey Tours. I’m not sure about costs but longer tours cost more. As to the number 1 bus

I’m away from home but promise to get back to this thread. I went into the tourist office on Thursday and got some helpful info. I need to share.

Not sure where in the port you need to go. It must be reasonably obvious. You cannot wander around the port so I cannot recce it for you. The taxi drivers sort out filling up the cars with the random people. I always thought it was 8 per taxi - and it might be more than 2 hours if you are off a ship when there is a lot of traffic up the rock. The taxi drivers act as your guide along the route. They can be quite interesting. The route the taxis have misses out the WWII tunnels and the Tower of Homage, I always think that is a shame). I think that if you have plenty of time and energy left you could ask to be dropped off at the Tunnels (I think that they are now open again) and then walk down to the Tower of Homage. It is a further walk down through the old town (there are steps and signs but as long as you are going down you are going in the right direction) and back to Main Street. From the North end of Main Street it is a flat 1 km walk to where the ship is docked.

I am still not quite sure where you are aiming for. If it is the Upper Rock, even if you get the number one up to Willis’s Road it is still steep uphill to the Tower of Homage, WWII Tunnels and Princess Caroline’s Battery. I am pretty sure that you would still have to pay for the Nature Reserve entrance and are still a trek away from St Michael’s Cave and the Apes Den. Unless you take a taxi tour it is difficult to avoid the fact that visiting the Upper Rock is a good workout. If you want an interesting lower cost activity in Gibraltar on the bus you could take the number 3 or 9 to Rosia and see the 100 ton gun (I need to find out from the Tourist Office if you can see that separately from the Upper Rock ticket cost). You can then walk past the bay that Nelson was brought into. Then you can walk through the tunnel to Rosia bay, great seafood and coffee bar there for a snack, some nice interpretative panels along the route. If you want to carry on through the big tunnel (it is mostly flat and takes me about 15 minutes walking) you get to the lighthouse which is an area worth exploring, again with some nice interpretative panels talking about bird migration, Gorham’s Cave and other history. The number 2 takes you back into town. You could also get to the lighthouse directly on the number 2 bus which is less walking. The Alameda Gardens is worth an hour plus visiting the conservation zoo. A bit hilly but you can avoid the steps, you can get there using the number 2, 3, 4 or 9 bus - or the 5-10 bus from the frontier. Catalan Bay on the Eastside which can be reached using the 4 or 8 buses used to be a nice destination. It has got a bit overwhelmed by all of the building work. We are so short of housing stock that the balance between protecting the old Gibraltar and building affordable (it still is not for many people) housing is at crisis point. It is still a steep slope or steps to get down to the beach and the couple of bars that are on the beach front. I will admit that I have not been there for years to check it out because I live near to Rosia Bay. If I want to swim I would go to the Europa Pool and don’t have to pay because I am a pensioner. If you are looking at using the bus system make sure you work out if you are going north or south. The number 4 goes from Rosia to the East side beaches. Number 9 goes from Morrison’s to Rosia so you have to ask the helpful drivers. You need to have the correct money - they do not have a lot of change because few people actually pay (with a local id card you use the buses for free - an initiative that is intended to cut down on traffic in town). So I will go to the Tourist Office later.

Where exactly do you want to go from and to? It might be an ‘interesting trip’ for a tourist in the same way that the Yangon Circular train was for DD and me when we were on a backpacking trip. It is a very small bus. I would think that it is easier to walk although there are a few steps on the way.

I just want to add my two cents to “I don’t want to miss anything”. You will! You cannot see all that these wonderful ports have to offer in one day. You have to choose what you will enjoy most. For me and DH it is usually DIY walking tours of the port town, the first few Med cruises took more planning. I have passed too many cruisers on walking tours that look so bored to make me want to change my mind. I have taken cruise tours when that has been the only way to get to see somewhere that is on my wishlist - and is further from the port than I am willing to risk. It takes work to get the best trip you can. You might find You Tube will help in your planning. You can see what others have done. I have used Rick Steves audio tours to listen to during the trip or even to help me plan. The best have been St Peter’s Square, the canal cruise of Venice and St Mark’s Square. Happy travels.

Does not sound like a tour of the palace to me either. The view is lovely - the photo shows the old buildings between the viewing point and the palace. You don’t really notice it in real life. It is especially lovely when the mountains on Sierra Nevada are covered in snow in the winter or spring. If you are only going to get the outside view, you would be better off going to Ronda or even staying to explore Malaga.

To be honest I am not surprised that you have not got a reply from the Taxi Association. They are not renowned for being good at booking. I think they would rather rely on who is available at the time. That does not excuse laziness in not replying to you. The service for rock tours is good though as far as I know. I think that what happens is that you can queue up at the port and they fill up the taxis. As long as you leave the ship reasonably promptly (before the traffic builds up) I don’t think that you will have a problem. If you want a private tour you would have to pay the going rate for 8 minus the cost of the entrance to the Nature Reserve for the empty seats. You can also consider ‘Inside Out Tours’ they do a 7 hour tour that has 12 stops. It is expensive compared to the 3 hour tour but covers much more. If you have 8 people it could be a good alternative. I have no personal experience getting any taxi tours to tell you about though. What I can report on is that the queues for the cable car are crazy long. I have a walking route through the gardens beside and nearly daily the queues are out of the building. Taxi drivers wait around for people to opt for a taxi tour instead. With the brutal temperatures I often feel like telling the tourists to take a taxi instead. I think I would probably come across as a scammer!!!