Today we explored the Sultanahmet quarter. Our hotel is a stones throw from the Blue Mosque which dominates this part of the quarter. It was commissioned by Sultan Ahmet I and he want to surpass the size and beauty of the nearby Haghia Sophia. The work was completed in 1616 and has become one …
Day 1 We left Manchester in the late afternoon with wonderful flying conditions and views of Europe until sunset. The weather changed over the Balkans which led to an ‘interesting’ one under carriage landing in Istanbul. A rapid transfer by taxi took us through the modern suburbs to the old city and the Sultanahmet area …
Friday 12th June We explored the area around Varosliget (City Park), where some of the finest buildings and widest boulevards in the city focus upon the massive Millennium Monument. To get there we walked the length of Andrassy Street, the long and wide boulevard from the city centre. This is thought to be Budapest’s most …
Thursday 11th June Today we explored the medieval town of Buda which was developed around the 13th century castle. The castle was built on an escarpment that rises to 170 metres above the Danube. Along the foot of this are the spas and bathing houses where the water naturally issued from the cliffs. Today we …
Wednesday 10th June Our hotel is near Kalvin ter and upon leaving at 9:30 a.m. it was already 24 degrees. Budapest is thought by many to be the finest of three of the Habsburg Empire’s largest cities: Budapest, Vienna and Prague. It is essentially two cities split by the River Danube. Buda is on the …
Tuesday 9th June We flew from Manchester to Budapest in Hungary via Frankfurt. We arrived in a thunderstorm, with amazing lightening and at times heavy rain, which lasted most of the night. This did not stop us experiencing Hungarian cuisine in this well established restaurant at the end of Budapest’s most famous street called the …
Sunday 21st September Today our 7 hour train journey took us from Bergen to Oslo. We left Bergen through a very long tunnel to reach the fjord and river system that would take us east to Voss. Climbing all the time through pine forests, close to Voss we reached the railways 800 metre summit beneath …
Saturday 20th September At 8:00 a.m. this morning at Floro on the western section of the Sogn Go Fjordane Province under black skies, torrential rain and poor visibility. We made slow progress to the mouth of the Sognefjorden, one of Norway’s longest. The whole journey was a difficult one for navigation with cloud down to …
Friday 19th September Overnight we travelled to Trondheim, arriving at breakfast time. This was quite a lengthy stop as cargo was unloaded and new cargo loaded as well as waste removed, fuel added and fresh foodstuffs and under our cabin window a super tanker transferring its load of beer to the ship. We departed at …
Thursday 18th September We negotiated more of the Lofoten Islands during the night to reach the Norwegian Sea and the crossing of the Arctic Circle marked by a globe on an island near the Horseman Mountain 568 metre high. There was a glass of champagne available as well as another ceremony to mark the crossing …