drron29

You don't have to drink the offered wines of the night. Rojaan is often offered a Chardonnay which she really dislikes but then will ask for a Sav. Blanc which is what she prefers. Last night we had dinner with a couple from Florida. Of the included wines they really like Alexander Valley Syrah from Sonoma. The sommelier brings a bottle and leaves it on the table. Last cruise on the dawn we had a few meals with a retired Australian politician. On SS he had always preferred Billi Billi shiraz from Australia. Again always a bottle left at the table. However I did get him to try a Chilean carminere one night and he then stuck to that. So leave your bottles in your cellar -wine often doesn't travel well. And if you have a favourite wine type just ask for it and they will recommend a wine from their list. Plus if you want a special wine check out the Connoisseurs list with prices closer to wine shop prices than restaurant prices. Can be great value.

Dinner in Atlantide again. For starters Rojaan had the mushroom and cheese turnover and I the red prawns. Both enjoyable. I had the Tomato soup. Brilliant as usual. Rojaan went with the Italian veal chop. Couldn't finish it but it was lovely. And I went with the lamb Rogan Josh and it was just as requested -extra spicy. Really good. We passed on desserts. Back in the room they had changed our orchid.

We were on the Lisbon to Barcelona on the Moon. Lots of scooters and wheelchairs but we did not see any parking in the hallway. We at different times saw most decks. The only problem we had was one woman with a scooter thought that it meant she could push in anywhere. On excursions she didn’t seem to need her scooter. In restaurants a waiter usually parked the scooter out of the way.

More from the bus. La canal de Midi. Another ferry arrives. Another is alongside. But I arrived for trivia 1 minute before we started. Shared first place even though we scored 18.5 points and were the only team to get 2 questions right. And the port. The Moon had to leave Sete early as the Port Authorities had booked another ship into the berth 4 hours before the Moon's scheduled departure.

Now I was on bus number 1 out of 4. However the order of leaving Carcassone was 4,3,2,1. I was hoping I would get back to the ship for trivia at 4.45pm and it was now 3 pm. A couple of views first the memorial to the soldiers of the local people in the 13th century when they were invaded by the French Army on the orders of the Pope. The French won. Next Narbonne and it's cathedral..

And this was the place with their price lists. Back outside past the market. Still had 30 minutes until the bus was leaving so looked around the cemetery.

It actually was a lot quicker than I thought it would be so did go back inside. And was lucky to find no one on the drawbridge. And I found a place that was possibly the cheapest place to eat so I treated myself to a crepe with sugar and lemon which has always been a favourite of mine. It only cost 2.5 euros and had table service with a smile in a pleasant little courtyard.

And a scenic river Aude. Then time to head for the castle.

A stroll down to the river. The school with a great view. A nice little park with spring flowers.

A lovely old village church on reaching the village. Unfortunately locked up. Some history. The village was very quiet.

I had decided the place was very much just a tourist trap. I still had a couple of hours to while away so I decided to walk down to the village in the valley. I had hoped to find a place with something nice to spend my 4 euro on. Sadly it was not to be as most places were closed and those open had prices the same as on the top of the hill. I left by the back door -the Aude gate. So called because at the bottom was the Aude river.

I now had to find a place for lunch with a price cap of 20.5 Euro. Found a place with a 3 course lunch for 16.5 E. Now several restaurants had a 3 course lunch for under 20 E but often the first course was duck gizzard salad,duck heart salad,black sausage salad or a warm goat's cheese salad. This place at least had a French onion soup. I didn't hold much hope that the starter and dessert would be good so I wasn't disappointed. But it was a cold day and I felt a cassoulet would be good. Fortunately here is was hearty and nice.

The last of the church. And now just wandering the narrow streets. A nice patisserie.

More of the church interior.

Finally descending from the ramparts. And now entering the church. First time I have seen an admission of cult status by a church.

Now passing the former cathedral.

And has already been said this is actually a recent construction from the 19th century. What it looked like before reconstruction. A theatre has been added.

You do get great views across the countryside from the ramparts.

A museum of some original pieces of the original building.