As Roisin and I have visited Barcelona twice before; the first time for a long week end and last time was during our Western Med cruise, we wanted to do something different. Most people head for something Gaudi-ish; either the Park Guell full of trees and shrubs (as parks usually are!!) interspersed with unusual and colourful sculptures, mosaics, walkways and tiling or the Sagrada Familia. This Roman Catholic Church was designed by the great man himself with cons...

This morning we have arrived in a new destination. Although Roisin and I have been to France many times before, we have never visited Cannes, on the French Riviera. Home to many famous artists through the ages such as Claude Monet and, in his later years, Pablo Picasso who are supposed to have been inspired by the vivid colours and clean fresh air of the region. Where Picasso is concerned I'm not too sure that it would have mattered where he got his inspirati...

The title of this blog doesn't quite work unless you know how to pronounce Civitavecchia. (chiv-it-a-veck-ia) The temperature for the past few days has been in the high 70s and today was no exception. Most excursions from Civitavecchia visit Italy's capital, Rome. Rome is 1½ hours by motor coach and about the same by train should you wish to do your own thing. The trains are fairly regular but as we discovered later today, due to 3 cruise ships being i...