Izzywiz

Another lovely day as we sail south along the Norwegian coast to Alesund and the Fjords. Tomorrow we have out last Norwegian ports of Bergen, Stavanger and Oslo.

Alesund....

Trondheim in the summer...

and Andalsnes in the winter.....

Alta and the Northern Lights (winter cruise)

Tromso (winter and summer)....

So many wonderful pictures of Iceland and great to see it in good weather!

We have docked in Honningsvag today with further ports on this whistle stop tour of northern Norway. Tomorrow we sail to the fjords of mid Norway with ports like Olden and Flam.

We have done Norway in the summer and winter so pictures from both...

Honningsvag and the North Cape (summer cruise)...

The coastline as we sail south to Alta Summer and winter...

Our last adventure in Iceland was to do the 'Puffin Watch' boat trip and the sun finally came out too!....

The tour also took us to Thingvellir...

and Geysir...

We did a 'Golden Circle' tour through the countryside and out to Gullfoss

We arrive in Iceland this morning and are docked in Reykjavik Tomorrow we sail to northern Norway. As Norway is such a popular destination and has such a long coastline, I have divided our port stops into 3 sections over a 3 day period so the first one involves ports from Trondheim up to the North Cape.

Here is Reykjavik...

Sao Miguel...

Thank you everyone for posting the amazing photos of North Africa. There is so much history in that part of the world  so it is very sad that the political situation in the region prevents us all from visiting now.

Today we are in the Azores as we start a circuitous route back to Southampton. Tomorrow we dock in Iceland so get out the woolly jumpers!

My visit to the Azores in 2014 was the culmination of a long held wish to visit the islands. My Dad had been stationed there towards the end of the war as an air traffic controller working with transatlantic flights and the submarine detecting aircraft. He spoke with great affection of the islands themselves and always had a hydrangea bush in the garden to remind him of the hydrangea hedgerows that criss-cross  the islands. Unfortunately, we visited in April so it was too early for them to be in bloom. I was amazed to see that I could still identify places from his photographs after so many years.  We have another trip booked to go back in 2022 so fingers crossed.

Terceira...

and finally, Agadir

Rabat

Casablanca...

Ceuta, the Spanish enclave in North Africa, was an unexpected jewel...

We reach the North African ports today before heading north west across the Atlantic to the Azores tomorrow.

We did a land tour of Tunisia in 2007 and then had a port call in Tunis cancelled several years later. I loved the history and culture of Tunisia and feel so sorry for the ordinary people who are always the ones to suffer when there is political unrest.

 Just a few pictures from our tour...

Hammamet

El Djem

Dougga

Matmata

Sbeitla

Kairouan

Carthage

Sahara

Atlas Mountains

Douz

Sidi-Bou-Said

Hi, Gettingwarmer, glad to have you back on board again and thank you for your pictures of Knossos. We visited there on our first cruise in 1992 but the pictures have disappeared in the mists of time!

Tomorrow we continue sailing west along the coast of Africa to Tunisia, Ceuta, Casablanca and Agadir.

In 2017 we went on a tour from Heraklion to the Monastery of St. George Sellinari

before continuing to the resort of Agios Nikolaos via views of Spinalonga Island

I would be very interested in visiting the Lebanon and was looking at a land tour rather than a cruise. We had  been in the process of booking a land tour of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan when the Covid problems started  but everything is 'up in the air' at the moment so this thread is keeping happy memories alive!☺️  

Ashdod....

Jerusalem

Dead Sea

Great pictures of the Suez Canal. 

We have now reached the Med and have docked in Israel. Our itinerary through the Med is a little different from that of our outward journey as I don't want to repeat ports so tomorrow we reach the ports in Crete.

Haifa....

Nazareth

Sea of Galilee

Capernaum

River Jordan

'Morning all. I see we have some early risers again! Today we transit the Suez Canal so thank you for the pictures Bee-ess. Tomorrow we reach Israel with the ports of Haifa, Ashdod and Tel Aviv.

Aulanis, I quite agree about Egypt. I was absolutely enthralled by the history, culture and the sights when we did a Nile cruise in 2008. It is a shame that you felt that the Valley of the Kings has become so touristy but I would still go back if time allows. I envy your journey to the Galapagos and Easter Island. We should be going in October this year but I can't see the trip taking place. It will be our third cancellation for the same tour.  In 2019 it was cancelled 3 days before we left home because the ship had engine problems and, of course, last year it was the pandemic.....oh well...that's life.

Now for the Suez Canal... 

I think I got my passion for travel from my Dad who back-packed all over Europe before the war and who read stories of distant places to me from a young age. Dad spoke several languages with a fair amount of fluency (I was hopeless!) and he was always keen to take me abroad. We went to Loretta de Mar for my first foreign trip when I was 9 in 1957 and that really sparked my love of different cultures.
I studied geography and history at college and that fed the flames even more. I’m extremely lucky that my dear husband enjoys travelling as much as I do. When our son was young and we did family holidays to the 'costas', we always hired a car and explored the off the beaten track areas. I remember our son grumbling about having to visit “another pile of old stones” on one of our many (he said “interminable”) visits to the local historical and cultural sights. 
cruising since 1992 has given us the opportunity to visit fabulous places and we also do land tours but, unfortunately, age is catching up with us so we are trying to do as much as possible in the years that we have left.

We have been so lucky in our lives.

Hi Ardennais, thanks for asking although that is a tricky one and difficult to put in order but here goes...Petra, Machu Picchu, Iguazu Falls, Angkor Wat and The Terracotta Army closely followed by the Registan in Samarkand, the rock churches in Lalibela, Ethiopia, The temples in Bagan, Myanmar, the ice fields in Greenland and the view from the top of Table mountain plus many, many more. I’ve loved everywhere that we have visited in this wonderful world and really hope that we can keep healthy enough during our twilight years to see even more 😄

We walked into Sharm on our first visit in 2010....

and did a wonderful tour out to the Ras Mohamed Nature Reserve on our second visit in 2017...

Our visit to Petra ranks among the top 5 most special sites that we have visited in the world...

We had an overnight stay in Aquaba so had time to see the town....