Docked in Cobh, Ireland. Went for a walk around the town, saw the cathedral and lots of little shops on the side of the main road – plus a ton of pubs. Sent home some more DVD’s and paper. Then decided to take the train to Cork. A pleasant trip across the pastures and water. Arrived in Cork and walked from the train station to the main bus station near the river. Figured out which bus we wanted so that we could get to Blarney castle, managed to get it right and after about a 45minute trip arrived near the castle. Walked to the castle grounds via a park. Once inside the grounds, which are huge, we went into one of the old tunnels under the castle – really dark and very cramped. So with limited space you got quite dirty, oh well, wandered around to the main entrance. Walked up to the top of the castle and Sandy kissed the Blarney stone. It is suppose to give you the gift of the gab – don’t think it has worked. Walked down past the castle and past some more tunnels before deciding to leave. Back to wait for the bus to take us back to Cork. Once in Cork we grabbed some water, coke and nibbles to take on the boat. Walked back to the train station and got there a few minutes before it left – perfect timing. Back to Cobh and we decided to reboard. Had a drink while we sailed away to our next port.
2nd July
Arrived in Dublin, Ireland. Had a quick breakfast before taking the shuttle to the city centre. Traffic was quite bad so took us a little while to get into town. Once in town we decided against taking the hop on hop off bus and walked instead. Found an information centre and then headed for the DublinCastle. Not much of a castle as it wasn’t completed. Walked around the castle grounds and then headed on past the Cathedral. A bit of a walk to the Guinness brewery but we made it. Bought our tickets and took our journey through the world of Guinness and how it is brewed. Actually quite a good display on how it is made but lots of floors of not much once you get past the tasting centre. Had our taster as it is suppose to taste much better in Dublin and then headed up through more displays to the top which has a look out over the city and the brewery. The brewery is huge and takes up an entire city block! Had another Guinness before heading back down and out on the street again. Walked over the bridge and headed for the Jameson Whisky Distillery. Got to the distillery but decided against going through another tour – plus it was guided and we prefer it when we can go at our own pace. Walked along the river and headed back to where the shuttle buses pick you up. Got some more water as the water on board is horrible – lots of chlorine. The shuttle took a while again as lots of traffic – started to rain too as we travelled back to the ship – so good timing. Back on board for dinner.
3rd July
Day at sea
4th July
Day at sea
5th July
Day at sea
6th July
Qaqortaq, Greenland – Once off the boat via tenders we walked around the little town of Qaqortaq. Followed the river which runs through the middle of town to the lake. Apparently it takes 3 hours to walk at a good pace – so not enough time. There was a duck with her newly born chicks sitting by the riverside getting quite panicky with all the people out and about the town. Lots of mosquitos and bugs as we walk to the lake and they get worse as we start walking around the lake. Gave up at about a quarter of the way round and walked back to the town. The town is really colourful all the houses are painted bright primary colours. A stop at the local shop, a spar, for some water and nibbles. Got some postcards from the information centre and then waited in line for the next tender to the boat – had enough of being bitten. Managed to buy some stamps on board as the town had sold out and wrote my postcards while we pulled away from the port. Lots of icebergs about so we decided to head up to the 12th floor for a drink while we sailed away. Went for a spa and then to the gym – our sixth day in a row so doing well J
7th July
Nuuk Greenland – A little bigger than Qaroqtaq however still seems very small for a country’s capital city! Still it is a fairly scenic town, however a number of apartment blocks have been built which do nothing for the appearance of the city! Had tender services today – ship was as efficient as possible, however the dock needed another boarding area as it took us 3hrs to get off the ship! There were always 2 tenders waiting to disembark its passengers, it was just the old biddies on board are not able to move quickly any more so it takes a fair time to get 100 people on and off each tender.
Once we were finally on land – Chris realised he had forgotten his jersey after all the carry on this morning. So walked up the little hill near the water to get a view and warm up a bit. It is still really cold but there are lots of kids trying to swim although they are still not that brave as only manage to get their feet in before shrieking from the cold. Walked to the main centre, well what there is of one, a very strange town which is very disjointed everything is spread out and there is no definite town centre. Went to the local supermarket and found nutella and coco pops! Walked a bit further through the town and posted my postcards before heading back towards the ship. Stopped at the santa claus post office and took our photo. Apparently you can post your Christmas wishes to Santa in this box – don’t know what happens to them but there is a lot in there. Back to the boat via tender not a long wait this time – but lots of stupid people in this world – as we listened to them try to reason why the tenders took so long – grrr frustrating…..
As we were leaving the port we were told we had a propulsion engine problem, so only operating on 1 propeller. Max speed was reduced to around 10 – 12 knots. This meant we would get to Iceland 12hrs late – missing the first scheduled day.
8th July
At sea.
9th July
At sea.
10th July
We arrived late evening in Reykjavik but decided on an early night rather than getting off after dinner at 10pm. Repair crew from propulsion motor company on board.
11th July
Have a full day in Reykjavik so had decided to take a tour. The 8 hour tour included the geyser, gullfoss waterfall, ‘garden of eden’ nursery using geothermal heating, a crater, the American and Eurasian continental plate divide (shifting apart by 2cm each year) and finishing at a building they call the Pearl. The Garden of Eden was simply a tourist stop for bathrooms and a look at a nursery in a hothouse, showing how the steam is used to keep the area hot enabling a variety of crops to be grown. From here we stopped at a crater, fairly deep with some water in, apparently it was caused by water mixing with a lava flow causing an explosion. Next stop was the geyser. We have never seen a geyser before so were excited. As we walked up to an area where a group of people were gathered, woosh, and up it went. Fantastic! We watched for nearly 40mins and could have stayed longer. You never know how high it will go and when. The colours are very beautiful just as the first steam approaches the surface of the pool, as it causes the water to dome up before being blasted high into the air. It still amazes us how people stand down wind of it, on wet ground, and then get the shock of their lives when they get wet with steaming hot water! I mean really, surely this isn’t rocket science!
included at the Geyser – asparagus soup, fish and potatoes. We did not know until around 4pm that we would be leaving Reykjavik today and heading to Akureyri but it is good news regardless. The scheduled leaving time is 6:30, however it turned out to be around 7:30 due to a couple of tours being late. Apparently the motor is repaired, but there are a number of tests to be done on the way so we will take a while to get up to speed, however we did get to full speed of around 24 knotts later in the evening and stayed at that speed until we reached Akureyri. As it was a casual dress code we decided to eat in the restaurant for a change.
12th July
Akureyri – arrived around 1pm and had until 8pm to look around. Wandered around town, checked internet, weather was poor. Goddafest waterfalls would have been nice but a taxi there was 90 pounds so gave it a miss as we have seen many others. Went and got a pastry and drink then headed up a hill to the botanical gardens. Lovely place free to enter and enjoy. Finally had enough of getting drizzled on so headed back to the ship to relax for the evening.
13th July
At Sea
14th July
Olden Norway – arrived slightly later than originally scheduled around 12am, didn’t worry us as we slept in till almost then anyway as having trouble sleeping at night due to movement of ship and the fact the sun only goes below horizon for an hour so never dark! Olden is the furthest most point up the fjord and is simply a small township. It really didn’t look like much was available from the ship but went for a walk anyway. Found that there was a lake about 3km walk away. A tram service – or more like a trolleybus, operated at a fairly high cost so we figured we would just walk it. Turned out to be a very nice walk in the countryside from the towncenter as we followed a river. Great for photos of course. There are many small farms around with all the cattle housed inside. There is grass everywhere due to it being the middle of summer. They get 2 crops of grass and it seems most people had completed their first. There are round silage bales everywhere. Not much left to do after looking at the lake so headed back to the town, picked up a bottle of coke and orange juice. Saw a lady from our table – the one who is never happy, and she commented we must need a second mortgage to buy the 2 things, doesn’t she realize she spends the same on the ship for a fraction of the stuff? Unhappy and stupid!
15th July
BergenNorway – another poor sleep so in no mood to wake early. However being at the front of the ship we are above the bow thrusters which make a huge noise. This morning we must have done a few 360 degree turns as they were on for nearly 30mins! Still didn’t get Sandy out of bed… Not to worry, weather is not very pleasant with intermittent rain and mist. No point going up the funicular so had a casual breakfast. Headed towards the fish market and passed the UNESCO Bryggen world heritage site. They were old warehouses now used for tourist shops. The fish market was rather small selling mainly smoked salmon or shrimps. There were more tourist stalls than fish stalls but interesting nonetheless. Carried on and found a mall to look through, fairly expensive here so in no mood for shopping. Internet was cheaper near the ship so headed back that way. Called in to a historical tower but didn’t pay to climb to the top as it looked pretty ordinary. Checked email and sent a couple more picture emails. Couldn’t upload photos to facebook.
16th July
Stavanger – general wander around harbour, oil museum, old stavanger, cannery museum. Last day Sandy goes to the gym – about 12 days straight although not sure if it shows J
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