Detailed review with photos of Celebrity Beyond 23rd June - 2nd July Western Mediterranean

[Lunastella]

23 hours ago, WorkerBee74 said:

 

Haha!  I was going to ask if you saw him - his place is of course down on the water 😉

 

What an arse that he didn't invite you over for tea! 😄

 

We're sailing the ship named after the BEST member of U2 😁 in October (at least in my world it's named after him haha) so I am absolutely LOVING your review and pics right now... thanks so much!

 

Pity he wasn't made the godfather!!! 

[Lunastella]

22 hours ago, Scottishclover said:

You were right not to walk up to Eze. We were there in April  and had planned to walk up Nietzsche’s path from Eze sur Mer to Eze. We love to hike but even we bailed and walked down instead. It was pretty steep and you really need trainers  - it would be a step to far in Birkenstocks!  Your photos brought back lovely memories. Really enjoying the report. 

 

I think we made the wise decision so. DS and I could probably have managed, not sure about DM.  Glad you are enjoying the report Scottishclover!

[Lunastella]

22 hours ago, Beamafar said:

My least favourite in the tin of USA (just to confuse our American friends - for a change😁). 

AH I love Nice, still buy them!

[Lunastella]

21 hours ago, GeorgesGal said:

Loved your photos of Eze, in my mind a mini Mont Saint Michele!  My sister and I did walk up the hill to the bus stop to Eze BUT we did it from Monaco and were half way up at the start.  Paved sidewalks there and only about three blocks - uphill - from our starting point.  Getting to the top of Eze was quite the chore for a couple of old birds but we did make it to see the gardens!

 

I'm looking forward to the rest of your review!

Donna

Hi Donna, Glad you survived the trip up. I was somewhat glad of my choice as the taxi driver tried to negotiate those hills. 

[Lunastella]

20 hours ago, kathy49 said:

Really great day by day report...will be following. Thank you. You ladies know how to travel.

Thanks Kathy. This is our 7th cruise, plus numerout landtrips. I'm a lucky to have such like minded travel companions. 

[Lunastella]

16 hours ago, sunpsyche said:

Really enjoying your review and photos. What an entertaining style you have!

Thanks Sunpsyche. Its quite a contrast from my academic papers, if you need to go to sleep fast, they will do it!

[Lunastella]

15 hours ago, RTR 21-0 said:

Thanks for and loving your review.  Y’all look like a fun bunch to cruise with!  We have a deck 11 sunset veranda booked on Beyond next May in the Mediterranean and it cannot get here quick enough.  Will be a first on Celebrity and Europe.  

Oh RTR, you are in for a treat if its your first Celebrity cruise and on Beyond. You will have a fab time!

[Lunastella]

Day 4 Santa Margherita, Italy (North)

 

I had a pretty good sleep, no banshees or fridges tonight thankfully. I went to the gym about 7am, but just for a short 30min core session (with Zoe, not Alice!) and some time on the rowing machine….which confirmed to me, yep, still don’t like the rowing machine.

 

I took the spa stairs down to the spa café for my morning coffee to go

 

 

I was back in the cabin before 8 and somewhat unusually DS and DM were still in bed. While I slept well, DS and DM did not apparently! They got up and ready and we headed to Oceanview Café for breakfast for the first time. The things I do for research. So much effort! A went to a hundred stations just to get some granola (not like any granola I have had before), strawberries (from a tin perhaps?) and yoghurt (which tasted nothing like yoghurt), followed by some pineapple (which you guessed it, didn’t taste too much of pineapple either) and a mini pastry ( in fairness these are always good, mores the pity). And coffee, of course.

 

Doesn’t look that impressive really

 

 

Munir was still cleaning the cabin when we got back from breakfast, so we chilled out on the resort deck for a while.

 

And took some photos (of course)

 

 

 

Santa Margherita is a tender port. From here, I believe most people either go to the Cinque Terre or to Portofino. We had opted for Portofino as a) we never been there before and b) we planned on doing Cinque Terre from La Spezia tomorrow. Back to the cabin to drown myself in sunscream and then headed ashore.

 

Tender to shore was swift and from there you can take a public bus from Santa Margarita  to Portofino, but we had already decided to walk the 5km as its really scenic (hence the short gym session, all planned so course!

 

Santa Margarita is very pretty too. You could definitely just stay here for abit and eat Italian food. Why didn’t we go that again??? No, we had to walk….but it was a fine walk.

 

Some snaps from the walk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first 3.5km is very exposed, there is little or no shade at all, and it was very hot. DM was silently cursing me along the way. For the last 1.5km you can either walk through a forest, which provides a very welcome shade, but its very undulating, so it’s a trade-off. We went for the shade….DM is still cursing me as the buses speed on by (although less silently now). She is closer to 80 than 70 at this point, so fair enough.

 

The walk is beautiful, it takes you right along the coast, past all these little coves and beaches filled with Italians enjoying Sunday morning by the sea. The sea looks so inviting, we were so hot, I would have jumped right in had I had the foresight to bring my bikini…my towel…my hairbrush etc etc.…ah maybe not.

 

So inviting!

 

 

 

Getting closer now

 

 

 

It took us about 1.5hrs to reach Portofino, but we had lots of little rest stops on the way. Once there, an ice-cold drink was much needed. Portofino is super expensive, but that was hardly surprising; the mega yachts in the harbour provided a not so subtle hint. But at this point I would have sold DS for a cold drink and access to a bathroom (note there are public toilets further down on the dock for €1, but I wasn’t to know that at that stage).  I’ve got to stop drinking so much coffee in the morning.

 

Beautiful harbour

 

 

 

There are lots of bars/restaurants along the harbour but we walked up the main street to find somewhere. We found a seat in the shade at a pizzeria and ordered orange juice, small beer, and an apple pastry to share. We cooled down and watched the world (well the tourists) go by.

 

DM looking very hot

 

 

One of the main sights in Portofino (apart from the very pretty village/harbour) is Castello Brown which is on a hill/cliff right next to the town. DM took one look up and said ‘I’ll leave you to it so”. So we paid the €5 entrance fee and climbed and climbed until we were rewarded with amazing views and access to the castle itself (which is more a villa than a castle). There are a few rooms which you can visit in the villa, but its all about the views I think. We came down a different way than we went up but didn’t get too lost….

 

Views from the top

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am glad we persevered, but I am also glad DM did not, it might have killed her. She was happy to sit in the shade at the dock watching kids and dogs play in the water alongside the super yachts.  We were back down in about 35 minutes.

 

We toyed with the idea of having lunch in Portofino (pizza is cheap!) but decided instead to head back to the ship. There was a boat going back from Portofino to Santa Margareta on the hour every hour but we just missed it, so we took the bus (which appeared to be free…..maybe because it’s a Sunday or maybe we inadvertently fare hopped without knowing it(!). No-one else seemed to be paying. The bus runs every 15 minutes but we just missed one, so we went into the church for some refuge from the heat. The bus only took about 15 minutes….a much faster option than walking if time isn’t on your side. There was a massive queue for the tender back but it moved quickly and we really appreciated the iced towels for once…. I am dying in this heat!

 

Back to the ship please!

 

 

Did someone mention lunch again? It was 2.20 when we got back, limited lunch options so, but just in time for a quick dash to Oceanview Cafe before it closes at 2.30…others had a same idea it seems. We took the lift from deck 2 and 14 (normally we take the stairs but that’s a long way after our walk in the sun!). Everyone in the lift was wearing a mask and one lady got on and asked ‘why is everyone wearing a mask?’…emmmmm well you know, small spaces and all that… Overall there is very little mask wearing among passengers, but all staff are wearing them. I have been wearing one when in confined spaces with lots of people around, for example, in the lift, on the tender, on public transport etc.

 

For lunch I had salad (loads of leaves please, more, and some more, thanks), chicken salad, bread and a glass of wine white. I shared a little coffee cake with DM which put me in the mood for a proper coffee – I got one to go from the mini Café al Baccio.

 

Salad….again

 

 

Pool time! I have a blog post to write.  Back to my usual spot in the solarium, god its hot in here today and the busiest I have seen it (which in fairness is still not very busy at all).

 

DS cooling down

 

 

I typed, listened to some music and generally relaxed. I waivered about whether to go to a stretch class in the gym at 5pm. This morning’s core workout is going to hurt tomorrow, I can feel it already, ah I better go….quick dash back to cabin to change into more suitable attire.

 

When I arrived at the studio in the gym I was the only person there….perhaps I had the wrong time, the wrong day, arghhh that was a very long walk for nothing. Suddenly, the PT, realising that someone actually wants to do the class, appears. She seems happy enough to do the class just for me which is pretty nice of her (someone else joined a  little later), but how good is it to have an almost personal class for free! You have to pay for most of the other workout classes such as F45, but I’m not that type of masochist (or should I say I am not that type of masochist anymore, I only ever did 45 in Australia while on sabbatical and something weird came over me like being an outdoorsy workout fiend). Not here. The class was good and stretchy. Now back to the solarium for me.

 

And relax

 

 

I listened to Captain Kate’s daily update. She said we would be sailing to La Spezia so slowly that one could swim faster (but she wouldn’t recommend it). I headed back to the cabin to change for an earlyish dinner. No obligatory pre-dinner outfit shots or drinks today, what’s wrong with us???

We went to Tuscan for dinner and got a lovely window seat.

 

Tuscan

 

Menu

 

 

Me & window seat

 

 

I like the style in there, lots of black, lots of art, including a poem on the ceiling for some reason.

 

Not exactly Italian style but I like it.

 

 

 

 

I went with the Tuscan specials – eggplant caponata bruschetta (excellent), and a pasta dish with mushroom and goats cheese (pretty good) (although the goats cheese was somewhat MIA), and a coffee custard dessert (not good, not good at all, what was I thinking of - my own fault for choosing something called blue mountain coffee custard pot, what did I expect!). Afterwards we went up to the ice-cream place outside Oceanview and I got a cone instead.

 

Bruschetta

 

 

Pasta

 

And extra veg of course

 

No, I cant even look at it                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

 

We were back in the cabin by 9(!)….it was our first early night….much needed after all our excursions of the last few days. Big trip to Cinque Terre tomorrow!!!!

[MJSailors]

Lunastella- I am enjoying your upbeat review and lovely photos. 

  My DH and I have  sailed on theSummit a few times on cruises to Bermuda. We find that ship comfortable for us. 

   When the Edge came out, I was thinking we might not enjoy it too much after reading reports of the Hopper design, uncomfortable seating and the “entertainment” in Eden during dinner and afterward. But, your reporting from the Beyond has me thinking that we may just be comfortable on the ship. 

It seems that Beyond has been toned down from theEdge  in design and what is offered for dining and entertainment- in a good way,at least  for us.

   On another note, your photos of Portofino and the surrounding area   reminds me of the show, Hotel Portofino,currently being broadcast on public television here in the States.

It is about an English family who have turned a villa in the countryside outside of Portofino not a hotel in the late 1920s.

      I am not sure if this has been shown in Ireland, but it also is shown on Prime.

The scenery is beautiful as are the clothes,accessories and cars  in the film. Perhaps you or your DM may want to watch it,if you haven’t seen the program. But,you have seen the scenery in person,so perhaps the show may pale in comparison.

      I continue to look for your review and read about your travel adventures.

Cheers!

MJ🙋🏻🙋🏻

[WorkerBee74]

3 hours ago, Lunastella said:

 

Pity he wasn't made the godfather!!! 

 

RIGHT?!?!?  I know he'd approve of Malala though 😄

 

I mean.... 

Edited July 12, 2022 by WorkerBee74

[Covepointcruiser]

Captain Kate was not the first female captain of a major cruise ship.   It was Captain Inger Olsen in 2010 on the Cunard Queen Victoria.   She is a wonderful captain but spends more of her time managing the ship and no time in the shops.    

[lola2013]

53 minutes ago, MJSailors said:

Lunastella- I am enjoying your upbeat review and lovely photos. 

  My DH and I have  sailed on theSummit a few times on cruises to Bermuda. We find that ship comfortable for us. 

   When the Edge came out, I was thinking we might not enjoy it too much after reading reports of the Hopper design, uncomfortable seating and the “entertainment” in Eden during dinner and afterward. But, your reporting from the Beyond has me thinking that we may just be comfortable on the ship. 

It seems that Beyond has been toned down from theEdge  in design and what is offered for dining and entertainment- in a good way,at least  for us.

   On another note, your photos of Portofino and the surrounding area   reminds me of the show, Hotel Portofino,currently being broadcast on public television here in the States.

It is about an English family who have turned a villa in the countryside outside of Portofino not a hotel in the late 1920s.

      I am not sure if this has been shown in Ireland, but it also is shown on Prime.

The scenery is beautiful as are the clothes,accessories and cars  in the film. Perhaps you or your DM may want to watch it,if you haven’t seen the program. But,you have seen the scenery in person,so perhaps the show may pale in comparison.

      I continue to look for your review and read about your travel adventures.

Cheers!

MJ🙋🏻🙋🏻

I am also enjoying Hotel Portofino on PBS.  The pictures here make me anxious to return!

Susan 

[hawkesbaynz]

Hotel Portofino is on Britbox and apparently on ITV here in the UK. Good tip. Great actors. 
 

The Edge sat behind me on a flight to Geneva. I was off skiing and I imagine he was visiting his off- shore Swiss bank account. As it was Business class the steward served us using our surnames. Interestingly he was not called Mr Edge or Mr Evans! Boy was one of my favourite LPs of the 80s. I thought that was U2s peak (perhaps The Joshua Tree). 
 

Great report. Good tips for Portofino😀. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[hcat]

5 hours ago, Lunastella said:

Day 4 Santa Margherita, Italy (North)

 

I had a pretty good sleep, no banshees or fridges tonight thankfully. I went to the gym about 7am, but just for a short 30min core session (with Zoe, not Alice!) and some time on the rowing machine….which confirmed to me, yep, still don’t like the rowing machine.

 

I took the spa stairs down to the spa café for my morning coffee to go

 

 

I was back in the cabin before 8 and somewhat unusually DS and DM were still in bed. While I slept well, DS and DM did not apparently! They got up and ready and we headed to Oceanview Café for breakfast for the first time. The things I do for research. So much effort! A went to a hundred stations just to get some granola (not like any granola I have had before), strawberries (from a tin perhaps?) and yoghurt (which tasted nothing like yoghurt), followed by some pineapple (which you guessed it, didn’t taste too much of pineapple either) and a mini pastry ( in fairness these are always good, mores the pity). And coffee, of course.

 

Doesn’t look that impressive really

 

 

Munir was still cleaning the cabin when we got back from breakfast, so we chilled out on the resort deck for a while.

 

And took some photos (of course)

 

 

 

Santa Margherita is a tender port. From here, I believe most people either go to the Cinque Terre or to Portofino. We had opted for Portofino as a) we never been there before and b) we planned on doing Cinque Terre from La Spezia tomorrow. Back to the cabin to drown myself in sunscream and then headed ashore.

 

Tender to shore was swift and from there you can take a public bus from Santa Margarita  to Portofino, but we had already decided to walk the 5km as its really scenic (hence the short gym session, all planned so course!

 

Santa Margarita is very pretty too. You could definitely just stay here for abit and eat Italian food. Why didn’t we go that again??? No, we had to walk….but it was a fine walk.

 

Some snaps from the walk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first 3.5km is very exposed, there is little or no shade at all, and it was very hot. DM was silently cursing me along the way. For the last 1.5km you can either walk through a forest, which provides a very welcome shade, but its very undulating, so it’s a trade-off. We went for the shade….DM is still cursing me as the buses speed on by (although less silently now). She is closer to 80 than 70 at this point, so fair enough.

 

The walk is beautiful, it takes you right along the coast, past all these little coves and beaches filled with Italians enjoying Sunday morning by the sea. The sea looks so inviting, we were so hot, I would have jumped right in had I had the foresight to bring my bikini…my towel…my hairbrush etc etc.…ah maybe not.

 

So inviting!

 

 

 

Getting closer now

 

 

 

It took us about 1.5hrs to reach Portofino, but we had lots of little rest stops on the way. Once there, an ice-cold drink was much needed. Portofino is super expensive, but that was hardly surprising; the mega yachts in the harbour provided a not so subtle hint. But at this point I would have sold DS for a cold drink and access to a bathroom (note there are public toilets further down on the dock for €1, but I wasn’t to know that at that stage).  I’ve got to stop drinking so much coffee in the morning.

 

Beautiful harbour

 

 

 

There are lots of bars/restaurants along the harbour but we walked up the main street to find somewhere. We found a seat in the shade at a pizzeria and ordered orange juice, small beer, and an apple pastry to share. We cooled down and watched the world (well the tourists) go by.

 

DM looking very hot

 

 

One of the main sights in Portofino (apart from the very pretty village/harbour) is Castello Brown which is on a hill/cliff right next to the town. DM took one look up and said ‘I’ll leave you to it so”. So we paid the €5 entrance fee and climbed and climbed until we were rewarded with amazing views and access to the castle itself (which is more a villa than a castle). There are a few rooms which you can visit in the villa, but its all about the views I think. We came down a different way than we went up but didn’t get too lost….

 

Views from the top

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am glad we persevered, but I am also glad DM did not, it might have killed her. She was happy to sit in the shade at the dock watching kids and dogs play in the water alongside the super yachts.  We were back down in about 35 minutes.

 

We toyed with the idea of having lunch in Portofino (pizza is cheap!) but decided instead to head back to the ship. There was a boat going back from Portofino to Santa Margareta on the hour every hour but we just missed it, so we took the bus (which appeared to be free…..maybe because it’s a Sunday or maybe we inadvertently fare hopped without knowing it(!). No-one else seemed to be paying. The bus runs every 15 minutes but we just missed one, so we went into the church for some refuge from the heat. The bus only took about 15 minutes….a much faster option than walking if time isn’t on your side. There was a massive queue for the tender back but it moved quickly and we really appreciated the iced towels for once…. I am dying in this heat!

 

Back to the ship please!

 

 

Did someone mention lunch again? It was 2.20 when we got back, limited lunch options so, but just in time for a quick dash to Oceanview Cafe before it closes at 2.30…others had a same idea it seems. We took the lift from deck 2 and 14 (normally we take the stairs but that’s a long way after our walk in the sun!). Everyone in the lift was wearing a mask and one lady got on and asked ‘why is everyone wearing a mask?’…emmmmm well you know, small spaces and all that… Overall there is very little mask wearing among passengers, but all staff are wearing them. I have been wearing one when in confined spaces with lots of people around, for example, in the lift, on the tender, on public transport etc.

 

For lunch I had salad (loads of leaves please, more, and some more, thanks), chicken salad, bread and a glass of wine white. I shared a little coffee cake with DM which put me in the mood for a proper coffee – I got one to go from the mini Café al Baccio.

 

Salad….again

 

 

Pool time! I have a blog post to write.  Back to my usual spot in the solarium, god its hot in here today and the busiest I have seen it (which in fairness is still not very busy at all).

 

DS cooling down

 

 

I typed, listened to some music and generally relaxed. I waivered about whether to go to a stretch class in the gym at 5pm. This morning’s core workout is going to hurt tomorrow, I can feel it already, ah I better go….quick dash back to cabin to change into more suitable attire.

 

When I arrived at the studio in the gym I was the only person there….perhaps I had the wrong time, the wrong day, arghhh that was a very long walk for nothing. Suddenly, the PT, realising that someone actually wants to do the class, appears. She seems happy enough to do the class just for me which is pretty nice of her (someone else joined a  little later), but how good is it to have an almost personal class for free! You have to pay for most of the other workout classes such as F45, but I’m not that type of masochist (or should I say I am not that type of masochist anymore, I only ever did 45 in Australia while on sabbatical and something weird came over me like being an outdoorsy workout fiend). Not here. The class was good and stretchy. Now back to the solarium for me.

 

And relax

 

 

I listened to Captain Kate’s daily update. She said we would be sailing to La Spezia so slowly that one could swim faster (but she wouldn’t recommend it). I headed back to the cabin to change for an earlyish dinner. No obligatory pre-dinner outfit shots or drinks today, what’s wrong with us???

We went to Tuscan for dinner and got a lovely window seat.

 

Tuscan

 

Menu

 

 

Me & window seat

 

 

I like the style in there, lots of black, lots of art, including a poem on the ceiling for some reason.

 

Not exactly Italian style but I like it.

 

 

 

 

I went with the Tuscan specials – eggplant caponata bruschetta (excellent), and a pasta dish with mushroom and goats cheese (pretty good) (although the goats cheese was somewhat MIA), and a coffee custard dessert (not good, not good at all, what was I thinking of - my own fault for choosing something called blue mountain coffee custard pot, what did I expect!). Afterwards we went up to the ice-cream place outside Oceanview and I got a cone instead.

 

Bruschetta

 

 

Pasta

 

And extra veg of course

 

No, I cant even look at it                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

 

We were back in the cabin by 9(!)….it was our first early night….much needed after all our excursions of the last few days. Big trip to Cinque Terre tomorrow!!!!

Dinner choices looked nice.  I often get extra  veggies. No bread...

Tuscan  was our  fav on EDGE... one of the smaller dining rooms...love the black and white fellini decor and great music.  We also had the Elite breakfast there.. great coffee! Thanks for bringing back good memories.

 

Loved the photos of your long walk..I love to walk but might have melted.  But  carry a water flask when we go ashore..just in case.

[WorkerBee74]

3 hours ago, hawkesbaynz said:

The Edge sat behind me on a flight to Geneva. I was off skiing and I imagine he was visiting his off- shore Swiss bank account. As it was Business class the steward served us using our surnames. Interestingly he was not called Mr Edge or Mr Evans! Boy was one of my favourite LPs of the 80s. I thought that was U2s peak (perhaps The Joshua Tree). 

 

AMAZING!  🥰

 

Edited July 13, 2022 by WorkerBee74

[Lunastella]

19 hours ago, MJSailors said:

Lunastella- I am enjoying your upbeat review and lovely photos. 

  My DH and I have  sailed on theSummit a few times on cruises to Bermuda. We find that ship comfortable for us. 

   When the Edge came out, I was thinking we might not enjoy it too much after reading reports of the Hopper design, uncomfortable seating and the “entertainment” in Eden during dinner and afterward. But, your reporting from the Beyond has me thinking that we may just be comfortable on the ship. 

It seems that Beyond has been toned down from theEdge  in design and what is offered for dining and entertainment- in a good way,at least  for us.

   On another note, your photos of Portofino and the surrounding area   reminds me of the show, Hotel Portofino,currently being broadcast on public television here in the States.

It is about an English family who have turned a villa in the countryside outside of Portofino not a hotel in the late 1920s.

      I am not sure if this has been shown in Ireland, but it also is shown on Prime.

The scenery is beautiful as are the clothes,accessories and cars  in the film. Perhaps you or your DM may want to watch it,if you haven’t seen the program. But,you have seen the scenery in person,so perhaps the show may pale in comparison.

      I continue to look for your review and read about your travel adventures.

Cheers!

MJ🙋🏻🙋🏻

 

Hi MJ,

I really like the Hopper design, but I understand that it may not be to everyone's taste. There were lots of comfortable seating...if you can avoid the swinging chairs! I haven't been on Edge so I am not sure what Eden is like there, but on Beyond the 'different' entertainment was on at 10.45 at night so its easy to just have a nice lunch or dinner there without any entertainment. When we went for dinner they was some nice live background music, but it wasn't too loud or anything like that. 

 

I have never heard of Hotel Portofino, but I love shows like that, I am off to hunt it down now!

 

[Lunastella]

19 hours ago, WorkerBee74 said:

 

RIGHT?!?!?  I know he'd approve of Malala though 😄

 

I mean.... 

 

Very true!

[Lunastella]

18 hours ago, Covepointcruiser said:

Captain Kate was not the first female captain of a major cruise ship.   It was Captain Inger Olsen in 2010 on the Cunard Queen Victoria.   She is a wonderful captain but spends more of her time managing the ship and no time in the shops.    

 

My mistake Covepoint, I should have said first female US captain of a major cruise ship. Duly noted. 

[Lunastella]

17 hours ago, hawkesbaynz said:

Hotel Portofino is on Britbox and apparently on ITV here in the UK. Good tip. Great actors. 
 

The Edge sat behind me on a flight to Geneva. I was off skiing and I imagine he was visiting his off- shore Swiss bank account. As it was Business class the steward served us using our surnames. Interestingly he was not called Mr Edge or Mr Evans! Boy was one of my favourite LPs of the 80s. I thought that was U2s peak (perhaps The Joshua Tree). 
 

Great report. Good tips for Portofino😀. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wonder if we have it in Ireland, will check, we have mostly the same as the Uk channels (at least pre Brexit!). 

 

I have never seen the Edge, despite living in Dublin, but I have dined 'with' Bono twice, well not quite 'with' exactly but I have been in the same restaurant as him twice (different restaurant). Once he was with Bob Geldolf, Dublin is a small city! 

 

[Lunastella]

17 hours ago, hcat said:

Dinner choices looked nice.  I often get extra  veggies. No bread...

Tuscan  was our  fav on EDGE... one of the smaller dining rooms...love the black and white fellini decor and great music.  We also had the Elite breakfast there.. great coffee! Thanks for bringing back good memories.

 

Loved the photos of your long walk..I love to walk but might have melted.  But  carry a water flask when we go ashore..just in case.

 

Ha, I am all about the bread, and extra bread, please, plus extra veg! While on holiday and all.  I didn't know Elite could go to Tuscan for breakfast...I need to go on more Celebrity cruises to get those points up! 

[Lunastella]

Day 5 - La Spezia, Italy (North of…but more south…slightly)

 

Part 1 – Day in Cinque Terre

Yikees, I am sore today, that core session yesterday was a silent killer.

 

But no gym this morning as we have a big day ahead of us exploring the Cinque Terre (or the 5 villages). It would be a long and hot day. That said, we still went for a leisurely breakfast in Cosmopolitan. Needed to fuel up.

 

As it was still early, we were the only diners initially. Coffee, good; grapefruit juice, good; water, good (all this liquid could be a problem later, do I ever learn!).

 

Empty Cosmo

 

 

I asked for Greek yoghurt (instead of that substance they call yogurt in Oceanview) and they had actually some!!! Finally, some proper yoghurt. I also had granola….not proper granola, but 1 out of 2 ain’t bad. This was followed by French toast and bacon, unlike me,  but see above.

 

French toast (would recommend)

 

 

We were off the boat by 8.30. La Spezia is not a tender port, but it is a commercial port so we took the free shuttle bus to the main terminal building. Then we had a choice - either walk the 2km to the train station or take a public bus - we opted for the bus as too much walking this early in the day might cost DM later…we don’t want to leave her half way up a mountain. But this, it would turn out, was a costly mistake…and we still don’t forgive her…

 

I assumed we could buy tickets on the bus…this turns out not to be the case….we had cash in hand…but the driver was blocked off so we couldn’t pay him…and no-one else seemed to have tickets either….oh maybe the bus is free we thought (stupidly it turns out)… as luck would have it (or not) two ticket inspectors got on the bus demanding to see our tickets just before we were due to get off. I had the three €2 coins in my hand, but that was not good enough…it was so embarrassing, I am very law abiding normally. Apparently,  we should have bought tickets in a shop (but what shop, no idea???) before we got on, so they fined us…fair enough, we were in the wrong, but at €35 each…€110 in total…it the most expensive 10min bus ride in history! Ah you live and learn. Note to self.

 

Feeling suitably mortified and poor, we were not in a bad place when we got the train station. Hence, no photos of any of this part of the day. The queue for the Cinque Terre ticket was incredible long, but moving - €18.50pp gives you unlimited access to the trains and hiking trails in this natural reserve. If you are over 70 (DM!) its,  saving!

 

By 10am we were on the train to Monterossa which is the village furthest from La Spezia -  its takes about 45mins. We figured we would start there and work our way back to La Spezia. We planned on visiting all five villages if possible….we did 3 (not bad considering!).  Once you factor in the time it takes to wait for each train, the time it takes to walk around each village, the time it takes to drink a prosecco, time just runs away. Plus, we are very risk adverse people and like to get back to the ship at least an hour or more before departure, so fitting in all 5 villages would have been ambitious in hindsight….maybe if we omitted the prosecco stops…

 

We visited Monterosso, Vernazza, and Corniglia. In Monterosso we had prosecco; in Vernazza, ice cream and in Corniglia, pasta…..had we went on to Manarola and Riomaggiore who knows what we would have happened!

 

First up Monterosso

 

 

Monterossa has the best beaches. We should have brought our swimwear….it was hot hot hot today (>30 degrees) and we would have liked nothing more than to plunge into the clear blue sea….ah well, the plunge pool on Beyond will have to do on return.

 

Lovely beaches

 

 

 

With lots of shade

 

 

 

 

Pretty, but small, village

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes it is too early for prosecco, but who will know(!)

 

 

Next up Vernazza, which was really busy, it seems to be one of the most popular villages. Despite numerous trips to this part of Italy it was my first time to go to the Cinque Terre - sure they are really touristy, but I guess they are touristy for a reason – 10km of beautiful coastline with 5 pretty villages, and lots of hiking trails, what’s not to like?? Had we stayed in the area on a land trip I would definitely go hiking from village to village over the mountains.

 

Trying to find shade while waiting for the train

 

 

 

Vernazza

 

 

 

We took some shade in the church

 

 

We ate some ice-cream

 

 

We got the ice-cream here

 

We took a photo of DS in her Cinque Terre shirt!

 

And one of  me ...not wearing the shirt  and I dont look happy about it 

 

And we wandered around

 

 

Next up, Corniglia. We liked Corniglia the best, but note that this village is up on a hill so you can either walk the 350+ steps or take the bus from the train station (we took the bus, the hottest, sweatiest bus trip ever).

 

 

The views from the top were were beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I match!

 

 

The town itself

 

 

 

We decided to have lunch in Corniglia. I did a quick Google of best places to eat in Corniglia and found A Cantina de Mananan – so be it! Lucky for us they had a table available (plus it has air con!). Overall, it has a nice vibe, simple food, but fine for lunch.

 

The restaurant

 

 

I had ravioli

 

 

What did I say???

 

 

Nothing…said DS…she just cant comprehend how many photos we take

 

 

 Oh, no, all good

 

I will finish Day 5 tomorrow, DS got me tickets to see David Sedaris in the National Concert Hall tonight. Better go.

[WorkerBee74]

Thank you SO much for the extensive Cinque Terre coverage!  That's gonna be me on Oct 15th... we're doing a DIY train tour too.  Good to know about the bus... I'll be on the hunt for bus tickets in the terminal - that's awful that happened to you 😞

 

We're planning to start with Vernazza and work our way back... I'd rather see Corniglia than Monterosso - it won't be beach weather when we're there anyway!

[theopup]

What a great review, I am thoroughly enjoying it. Especially the pictures

[GeorgesGal]

Following along and loving it!  Will check in tomorrow for the next installment of this great review!

Donna

[ShelleyQT]

Oh, yikes!  When I was reading yesterday about your (free?) bus rides in Villefranche and Eze, I wanted to tell you that those rides are not actually supposed to be free.  In case several other readers also told you about this, I didn't want to pile on, so I thought I'd read the rest of the thread and then tell you if no one else did.  Unfortunately, no one did and I forgot about it by the time I got to the end.  Sorry!

 

Two years ago, we took the bus from Nice to Eze.  During the ride, our bus was pulled over by an inspector.  He didn't ask us about our tickets (which we had anyway), but he did check with a large family with several children, who did NOT have tickets for any of their members.  He got off the bus with them and the bus went on its way.  They looked really poor and unlikely to be able to pay.  It was really sad and I hoped that he would let them off with a warning.