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ExPat Expertise Needed!!
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naturelover
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Yep....Chiri already warned me about the monkeys!!I think I've got Cadiz and Lisbon already figured out....just don't know if we have time in lisbon to go to Belem and walk the Alfama. Really would like PapaTony to see the Se Cathedral where his name saint is interred.
Lambada said:
Unfortunately no Tangiers this trip (but we may make it back to Marrekesh after the cruise ends).
Anything else interesting in Le Havre? We really don't want to go into Paris as we've already walked the soles of our feet off there a few years back so we were thinking maybe the proffered tour to Honfleur with a tasting of Calvados, cheeses ans a traditional apple tart with freash cream and cider (I figure by then I'll have walked off a couple of kilos so can afford the extra calories
!!)So here's the agenda so far....
Copenhagen - Tivoli Gardens and anything else we have time for.
Rotterdam - Euromast and Museumpark
Zeebrugge (Buges/Brussels) - unknown but probably historical Bruges/canals and CHOCOLATE!! (not me....PapaTony is the chocoholic!!)
Le Havre - undetermined (see above)
Vigo, Spain - proferred tour to Santiago de Compostela
Lisbon,Portugal - we're taking public transport! Belem and possibly Alfamba
Cadiz, Spain - Walk.bus pack in as much as we can on our own! (suggestions welcomed!)
Casablanca, Morocco - proferred tour of Casablanca and Rabat (safe, I know- but we will see that mosque!)
Gibraltar, UK territory - Chiri's fabulous walking tour with coffee stop and lucheon!
Barcelona,Spain - by bus and by foot it's off to La Ramblas and the Sagrada Familia and all the other neat places suggested by Euterpe.
Cannes, France- I think Nice and St. Paul de Vence (proffered tour-reasonable price and sound interesting)
Livorno/Florence/Pisa, Italy - forget Pisa...we're calling a cousin in Livorno and heading to Florence for porchini and steak Florentine (with a bottle of Brunello di Montalcino!)
Rome, Italy - home at last!! PapaTony is in charge here and his brother will pick us up at the dock!! Now the fun really begins!!
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Unfortunately no Tangiers this trip (but we may make it back to Marrekesh after the cruise ends).
Anything else interesting in Le Havre? We really don't want to go into Paris as we've already walked the soles of our feet off there a few years back so we were thinking maybe the proffered tour to Honfleur with a tasting of Calvados, cheeses ans a traditional apple tart with freash cream and cider (I figure by then I'll have walked off a couple of kilos so can afford the extra calories
So here's the agenda so far....
Copenhagen - Tivoli Gardens and anything else we have time for.
Rotterdam - Euromast and Museumpark
Zeebrugge (Buges/Brussels) - unknown but probably historical Bruges/canals and CHOCOLATE!! (not me....PapaTony is the chocoholic!!)
Le Havre - undetermined (see above)
Vigo, Spain - proferred tour to Santiago de Compostela
Lisbon,Portugal - we're taking public transport! Belem and possibly Alfamba
Cadiz, Spain - Walk.bus pack in as much as we can on our own! (suggestions welcomed!)
Casablanca, Morocco - proferred tour of Casablanca and Rabat (safe, I know- but we will see that mosque!)
Gibraltar, UK territory - Chiri's fabulous walking tour with coffee stop and lucheon!
Barcelona,Spain - by bus and by foot it's off to La Ramblas and the Sagrada Familia and all the other neat places suggested by Euterpe.
Cannes, France- I think Nice and St. Paul de Vence (proffered tour-reasonable price and sound interesting)
Livorno/Florence/Pisa, Italy - forget Pisa...we're calling a cousin in Livorno and heading to Florence for porchini and steak Florentine (with a bottle of Brunello di Montalcino!)
Rome, Italy - home at last!! PapaTony is in charge here and his brother will pick us up at the dock!! Now the fun really begins!!
Sounds a wonderful trip and that you have it all organised, I loved Bruges to bits but don't get lost like we did - all the squares look alike when you get there hehehehehehehehehe
The island where Dumas' hero " Man in the Iron Mask" was imprisoned is the Chateau d'If ( also the site of the Count of Monte Cristo ), which is off the shores of Marseille, not Cannes.
In Cannes, not a great deal to see apart from the Promenade des Anglais, a couple of nice hotels ( Gray d'Albion, Martinez) and the sort of shops where you need someone else's credit card
Will do Euterpe.....seems the tour leaves lots of time for shopping and lunch at St.Paul de Vence before heading to Nice for a tram tour then back to the ship. Darn....we really wanted to do the gastronomic thing in Nice but looks like time won't allow!
Oh well......next trip.
Oh well......next trip.
You will eat much better in St. Paul de Vence than in Nice, and probably at better prices - you can still get a salade nicoise, and then play a game of petanque before going back !
For shopping, look for objects made of olive wood, lavender or olive oil toiletries, kitchen accesories printed with olive branches and similar on heavy provencale cotton.
Enjoy - I lived in the Marseille area for 23 years, and miss it terribly !
Thanks again!! I love fountains of knowledge (almost as much as I love olive oil,lavender and anything made of good quality cotton!)........now to brush up on my petanque skills (that is the game played with marked tiles similar to dominos isn't it??)
OOpps...nope it's the french version of bocce!! Yea!!! we have a bocce court in our backyard (as she heads outside to practise!)
OOpps...nope it's the french version of bocce!! Yea!!! we have a bocce court in our backyard (as she heads outside to practise!)
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Oh yes, in principle it's doable, Belem is not too far, although in Belem you'd need a taxi as the main sights are quite far apart. But you could stroll through Alfama for days, and trying to see both in 6 hours would be a bit of a rushed 'we've seen it let's go to the next sight' kind of trip. Whether it would be the best experience, I don't know, skipping Belem and walking around Alfama, taking a small tram and see something of dowtown Lisbon, Rossio or even Barrio Alto, would be more relaxed if you have just six hours.
For Rotterdam, how many hours do you have there? If large ports, modern architecture and modern art museums are your thing, stay in Rotterdam. If you have a bit more time, Amsterdam (one hour from R'dam) and even The Hague (about 20 minutes away) have much more interesting historical sights.
(BTW, Den Helder is a full hour from Amsterdam, not 30. min. But still, it's not more than 2 hours from Rotterdam, Holland is a small country).
From Zeebrugge Brugge (Bruges) would be the obvious day trip, it's lovely, although extremely touristy. Gent (Gand) 30 km further is just as nice but a lot less of a tourist-trap.
I noticed that you wanted to go from Vigo to Santiago de Compostela. That's definitely a nice place to visit, but quite far from Vigo, and public transport in Galicia isnt very fast. Maybe on an organised excursion from Vigo or if you have the whole day it would be possible.
If you want more info on Amsterdam/Rotterdam, or Santiago de C., send me a pm.
Change of Itinerary!! More help please........
Seems that due to security concerns the stop at Casablanca has been deleted and replaced with a stop in Malaga Spain!
The good thing is that we get four extra hours in Cadiz and four extra hours in Gibraltar.
The bad is I know nothing of Malaga!!!!aranoid:
What to see??? Where to go???? Good restaurants??? What to do???
Ideas???? Anyone???
Thanks! You've all been great so far.....we're going to have a blast!!
Seems that due to security concerns the stop at Casablanca has been deleted and replaced with a stop in Malaga Spain!
The good thing is that we get four extra hours in Cadiz and four extra hours in Gibraltar.
The bad is I know nothing of Malaga!!!!
aranoid:What to see??? Where to go???? Good restaurants??? What to do???
Ideas???? Anyone???
Thanks! You've all been great so far.....we're going to have a blast!!
Malaga is actually not that bad as large Spanish cities go. Obviously it's not a star attraction like other Andalusian provincial capitals like Cordoba, Granada and Sevilla, but it has a definite flavour of the "real Spain" especially in the Alcazaba area, without so much the tourist-trap baggage as in the big three. Malaga's main claims to fame are sweet wine and Picasso's birthplace - the museum is a must, and I recently heard of an excellent restaurant in what used to be a whorehouse - I need to e-mail the friend who told me about it for more information.
Four extra hours in Cadiz means you can get out and see Jerez, maybe a white town like Vejer, Arcos or Medina Sidonia, or seafood overload in Sanlucar de Barrameda.
Four extra hours in Gibraltar means you can do everything I suggested - only twice...
Four extra hours in Cadiz means you can get out and see Jerez, maybe a white town like Vejer, Arcos or Medina Sidonia, or seafood overload in Sanlucar de Barrameda.
Four extra hours in Gibraltar means you can do everything I suggested - only twice...
It's quite difficult to get a bad meal in Spain, especially if you avoid the obvious tourist traps - multi-lingual menus are a dead-giveaway and restaurants that display garish colour photos of the food are usually the ones to avoid.
Most of the seafront places in Sanlucar are great, but not cheap.
I'm waiting for my friend to get back to me on the Malaga recommendation.
Most of the seafront places in Sanlucar are great, but not cheap.
I'm waiting for my friend to get back to me on the Malaga recommendation.
I got a reply from my friend:
The restaurant in Malaga is called 'El Pimpi' and it is in the old part of the city. It has very high ceilings. Two entrances - go into patio leading into long narrowish bar which opens up into cavernous room with exit to sort of square. Huge wine barrels around, period memorabilia early 20th C. stairs leading off end of bar section leading up to rooms upstairs....where business was once conducted?
Lots of atmosphere and excellent raciones etc - not run of the mill and reasonable rather than tourist prices.
See also:
El Pimpi, M?laga - VirtualTourist.com
Funnily enough one of the reviews says it used to be a convent, while according to my friend it was a brothel!
The restaurant in Malaga is called 'El Pimpi' and it is in the old part of the city. It has very high ceilings. Two entrances - go into patio leading into long narrowish bar which opens up into cavernous room with exit to sort of square. Huge wine barrels around, period memorabilia early 20th C. stairs leading off end of bar section leading up to rooms upstairs....where business was once conducted?
Lots of atmosphere and excellent raciones etc - not run of the mill and reasonable rather than tourist prices.
See also:
El Pimpi, M?laga - VirtualTourist.com
Funnily enough one of the reviews says it used to be a convent, while according to my friend it was a brothel!