Rhonda Bracey: At Random

What a lovely place! The dock is about a street away from the town centre, there’s a beach right in town (yep, we went swimming and yes, it was reasonably cold, but very refreshing), it has good shopping and a very long pedestrian-only street full of delightful small shops, and there didn’t seem to be a lot of tourists except those of us from the ship. Ajaccio was the birthplace of Napoleon, but we didn’t feel the need to visit the historic places that celebrated him.

You know how some places just speak to you and you say in your head ‘I could live here’? Well, Ajaccio was one of those places for me. After the high levels of glitz and glamour seen in St Tropez and Monte Carlo, it was refreshing to come to a place that wasn’t so focused on wealth or tourism.

After wandering about town for most of the morning, we walked back to the ship for a relaxing afternoon by the pool.

The journey from Barcelona so far

Ajaccio city centre is on the right, the town beach is on the other side of those buildings

One lone figure in the Mediterranean at the town beach. There were more, and we added another two, but it certainly wasn’t crowded even though it was another hot day. The water was refreshingly cold!

Freshly squeezed orange juice is everywhere in the southern/western Mediterranean and it’s DELICIOUS. This large glass cost EU5 in a cafe right near the beach

A GORGEOUS yellow Vespa! (yellow wasp)

The very long pedestrian-only area, which had hundreds of small shops and cafes

What a day! We arrived in Monte Carlo around 9am, and when we got off the ship we decided to do the hop-on hop-off (HOHO) bus this morning to see the sights because we had a car and driver booked for the afternoon.

First, find the HOHO bus stop, which we been told was right near the ship… it was, but we didn’t see it so we walked quite a way to the next one. EU25 per person, which seemed a lot but a ticket gives you a full day hopping on and off. It was really good value.

We started up top in the open air, but after the hour-long circuit we went downstairs because the direct sun was getting very hot. We stayed on to get off at the casino the second time round, but knew that getting back on again in time to get to the place where we were to meet the car and driver would be tight. So we stayed on for a full second circuit. Bonus! We arrived at the palace just as the daily changing of the guard was happening, so saw it from the bus while the traffic was held up for the ceremony. The HOHO bus is worth it to see all the spots, especially because Monte Carlo is perched on a hillside and there are a LOT of steps and steep roads.

Frederic, our driver (from Ruby Services), met us at the designated time and place in a Mercedes 7-seater van, which had blissful air conditioning (the HOHO bus had none). And off we went. For the next 5 hours, Frederic took us where we wanted to go—Cap Ferrat (where we had a quick dip in the Mediterranean to cool off), Ville de Franche, Nice, and Eze, a medieval hilltop walled village, finally stopping at the Monte Carlo casino that we missed earlier, before taking us back to the ship. We saw a lot of the Cote d’Azur and it is stunning! As are the yachts that are on the water and in the marinas.

Tip: Whenever you hear ‘medieval hilltop walled village’ you can guarantee there will be steep climbs and LOTS of stairs, and that you need to be related to a mountain goat to negotiate them!!!

Another beautiful clear day with light winds and temperatures in the low 30s (in the shade) and high 30s in the sun.

The dock is right in Monte Carlo

Cap Ferrat

Ville de Franche waterfront

Cote d’Azur (Cap Ferrat?)

Monte Carlo casino. Free to go into the lobby but EU20 to go onto the floor

Leaving Monte Carlo around 10pm

Back to 8,600+ steps walked today! We anchored in St Tropez bay around 10am then were tendered to shore. The dock is only a couple of minutes walk to town, so we wandered about town a bit and went down to the waterfront where the big yachts are moored.

We were on a shore excursion this afternoon to Port Grimaud (built in the 1960s, with lots of canals for the boat owners to pull up outside their very expensive houses; we heard that one cost EU23 million!!), and the medieval town of Grimaud. The port town, where we did a canal boat tour, was a bit Disneyland, with fake facades, but the old town was just beautiful, with very few tourists (except our group). Even better, they had an elevator to take you up the worst of the hill to the town itself. There were still some steep areas and steps but not many and relatively easy to negotiate. And lots of shaded areas. Grimaud is a delightful medieval hill town, with a church that dates back to the 1100s. And no tourist shops!

Anchoring in St Tropez bay, near another ship already on anchor

The yachts are right at the waterfront in the main part of St Tropez

More yachts at St Tropez

One of the canals at Port Grimaud

I’ll just take the boat into town… (Port Grimaud)

Two local cats at Grimaud

The ships at anchor, from Grimaud

Typical street in Grimaud

Grimaud

Another ‘at sea’ day today. The changeover of passengers was obvious everywhere we went on board today. So far we’ve only seen 4 faces we recognise from last week, other than the crew of course.

I spent much of the morning figuring out how to use my phone and tablet to record a eulogy for my best friend’s memorial service (bathroom towels came in very handy for propping up both!). Then spent the rest of the morning by the pool, then we went into the air conditioning and the Explora Lounge and completed two 500-piece jigsaws in about 5 hours. A very lazy day, where we walked fewer than 2,000 steps; other days have regularly been 8,000+ steps).

This evening we participated in the music trivia quiz, as we have most nights, but with four new team members (2 from London and 2 from Edinburgh); the previous two from Kansas had disembarked in Barcelona. We came equal 2nd on 80s music, losing by just 1 point. We’ve really been enjoying the evening music trivia nights—they start at 9pm, typically when it’s still light out and the ship has either just left or is about to leave port. We try to get to the 5pm general trivia competitions too, but sometimes we haven’t been on board to make it.

More photos of food that we shared, these from the Med Yacht Club restaurant…

We’re already halfway through our cruise! Lots of people (about 700 we were told) disembarked today, with about the same number embarking for the first time.

We started our day in Barcelona with a 2-hour tuk tuk tour of the main spots. It was an excellent introduction to Barcelona and covered the main highlights, so much so that we felt we didn’t need to also do a hop-on hop-off bus tour or catch the cable car to the top of Mount Montjuïc behind Barcelona.

After the tour we wandered the wide footpaths to two of the Gaudi houses, but the length of the crowds meant we didn’t feel the need to buy tickets and go inside. And I had an amazingly refreshing mint and lemon drink at a cafe while my sister had her usual coffee and croissant.

Barcelona was surprisingly beautiful, with wide streets and footpaths, and LOTS of street trees for shade. We avoided the heavily touristed areas like La Rambla, and thus avoided the pickpockets that Barcelona is infamous for.

One of the Gaudi houses

The famous La Familia Sagrada, designed by Gauci. Note the very wide footpaths and shade trees, which were everywhere we went

Our tuk tuk, with our driver, Diana

Mint and lemon drink – SOOOO refreshing on a hot day with a lot of walking