Round the Med

Arrive early in Ajaccio (pronounced a-jack-show), Corsica which was nothing much more than a stock standard Mediterranean town with lots of beachside hotels and resorts. Being Corsica there is a lot of Napoleonic history.

I got off the ship and got onto a bus which took a one hour tour of the city after which I spent about two hours walking around and headed back to the ship. That night I dined in the speciality Asian Reataurant, Silk Harvest – advice if you come on the Celebrity Eclipse, you really must…… NOT eat at this claim to being Asian Dining Experience. Well that’s not fair it certainly was an experience just not a good one. The more I travel the more I realise how spoiled we are for Asian food with the multicultural society we have in Australia. Anyway one bad meal does not a cruise spoil.

Apparently there was an announcement that it would be a rocky night – didn’t hear the announcement and didn’t notice anything during the night.

Next morning Villefranche, the port of Nice. I was meant to meet my friend Laurent for breakfast here but he slept through his alarm so I trained the three stops into Nice where I meet him at the station. He drives us to the old city where we have a lovely breakfast in the sun. He is a qualified town planner who works in Canne for a property development company. He told me a lot about the property market in the area including one four level penthouse of 3,000 square metres (not a typo) with a selling price of $A120,000 a square metre or $A360 million. He also told me the supply of Russian millionaires has dried up and that there are no Asian buyers in Europe “yet”. The market is OK and average prices are around $A10,000 a square metre which is just below Sydney prices. Anyway very interesting for me.

We part and I walk around the old city for a while, head to the Promenade des Anglais but it is way too hot for me in the sun so I head one street off there and look at the shops winding up for coffee at the Hotel Negresco, a hotel with a rich 100 year history and coffee prices to match the history. Having “done” Nice so many times I hop on the train to Monte Carlo which I have also “done” many times having spent two weeks here for a bridge tournament. I’m not sure how long the station has been there as I have never been to it before but it is huge and quite magnificent – yes I know it is Monte Carlo – but I am guessing the residents don’t train too often. Just wandered around and when I tried to have a coffee at the Hotel de Paris was politely told “Non Monsieur, guests only allowed in this hotel”.

Had a sandwich at Lina’s, a place I have been to many times but there sandwiches are sooooo good.

Head back to Villefranche, missing the station although I swear it didn’t stop there and having to get off the stop after and go back one stop. A tender to the ship and off we go for Ibiza as I sit in the spa watching the sunset.

The next day we are at sea till we arrive in Ibiza at 16:00. I do a tour of the kitchen which is massive on any scale. They gave us all the statistics which included 33,000 kilos of fruit and vegetables and 8,000 kilos of meat, fish and poultry.

In the afternoon I attend the charity auction of the glass pieces made by the glass artists during the shows on board and buy the central piece which is a vase with auction proceeds to the Breast Cancer Society. Unfortunately I buy it before the reality of how I am going to get it home sinks in – oh well I’ll manage it hoping it survives.

I get off the ship at 16:00 and have a brainstorm to rent a car so that I can see some of the Island. I drive to the old part of town and wander around and was quite unimpressed. I head back to the ship to have dinner and change and head back to the same old town and am extremely impressed as it has transformed itself into a vibrant night town with a lot of restaurants, people, clubs, shops and activities. Like most of Spain it comes alive at night.

Back to the ship around 23:00 and I will head off exploring the mountains and beaches in the morning.

Catch you soon

XD