Live from the Sojourn - 21 Days in the Med

[margbem]

Really enjoying your reports. Thank you for taking the time to post them. 

[Fletcher]

 

13:  That man again

 

Portoferraio was the prettiest port we have seen so far, even in the early morning cloud and rain.  The Sojourn edged itself on to a berth, right in the centre of town.  About one third of the ship was alongside, two thirds jutting out and as the main little harbour was around the corner we were not a major eyesore.  Next to us was the Sea Dream Yacht Club II which we last saw in Kotor a few years ago.

 

Portoferraio was a busy little place with ferries coming and going all day from the mainland and from Corsica, making Elba a popular place for day trips.  There are some beaches here and resort hotels so some people stay for a weekend, a week or more.

 

Perhaps because of Elba’s Napoleonic connections I always had to remind myself I was in Italy and not France.  But the island has been Italian for centuries, despite the odd incursion and dispute.  It was in April 1814 that the Allied powers decided they had had enough of Napoleon and sent him into exile here.  He was delivered on a British warship. Instead of just growing tomatoes, lying on the beach and drinking Napoleon brandy, he raised a little army and basically overhauled the island’s infrastructure. Some people just never stop. And when he learned that his wife had died he managed to escape from Elba, return to Paris, seize power again and lead France to a crushing defeat at Waterloo.  The next time they sent him to a seriously remote island, St Helena in the South Atlantic where he just screamed at the walls.

 

We walked up the hill to see the Villa dei Mulini where he lived.  It was a handsome place with green shutters.  His childhood home in Ajaccio has a lock of his hair.  Perhaps they have a toenail clipping here. The vistas from up here were splendid and as the day developed the sun came out and the whole place glowed.   Near Napoleon’s house we saw an old woman leaning out of her window lowering a plateful of cat food to the alley, three floors below.  In the harbour there were fishermen just idling and smoking, carabiniere on their boats just idling and smoking, battles for parking places, tour groups going on a little train.  It was all extremely charming.  Sadly as the Sojourn slipped its moorings the clouds descended, the temperature plummeted and it started to rain again.   The weather seems set to follow us to Amalfi tomorrow.  Are we downhearted?

 

 

 

 

[SLSD]

2 hours ago, Fletcher said:

  Near Napoleon’s house we saw an old woman leaning out of her window lowering a plateful of cat food to the alley, three floors below.  I

 

 

I love this image.  For me, this would be worth the entire cruise.  

[galeforce9]

It may not be too bad.   If you have time, I recommend lunch at a paranza in Atrani, or at least a little walk there, or La caravella (michelin star) in Amalfi. 
 

[Astride]

On 9/27/2022 at 2:51 PM, Fletcher said:

10: Rougher than the Drake

 

What is a sure sign you are on a five star luxury line?  Maybe the paper bags placed discreetly by the elevators.  It was quite choppy this morning as we began our day at sea, heading east towards Corsica.  The Balearics of Ibiza, Mallorca and Minorca were off our starboard side and made a lovely passing scene.  The Sojourn was racing along at 18 knots to maximise the performance of the stabilisers.  There wasn’t a bird or a boat or a sea-going mammal to be seen.

 

On the pool deck at 10am there was something called Baggo which caused much screaming and yelling and applause.  This is what a Disney cruise must be like, I thought.  Further confirmation was provided at 11am when Ryan and his team staged something called snack and spritz, maybe not quite that, which involved snacking and spritzing and splashing, not into the pool today because it was, as I have said,  quite choppy.  However, this didn’t stop Ryan jumping fully clothed into the pool to a trickle of applause.  We observed all this peculiar human behaviour from our eerie on Deck 11.

 

At midday came the big news of the day.  Captain Tim, in his becalmed drollery, came on the blower to announce that a weather system was waiting for us near Corsica and that had put paid to our planned stop at L’Ile Rousse.  We would be going to Calvi instead.  Whoopee!!  I never understood why we were going to L’Ile Rousse anyway because the only place of interest around here is Calvi.  We had planned to take a little train from Rousse to Calvi which would have been fun but now we’ll miss the train and just step aboard a tender in Calvi itself.   We should have another cruise ship with us, the Marella Discovery 2 with 1800 pax.  I’m sure they also do spratz and splish.

 

I’m really looking forward to Calvi.  They say Christopher Columbus was born there.  There is also a citadel, a beach, some restaurants and they speak French.   That’s a fabulous combination, like salade niçoise.

 

At 5pm came the bigger news of the day.  The sea was rougher than The Drake. Skipper Tim, reassuringly  in the doldrums, has told us that Calvi has been nixed because he could never hope to operate the tenders.  He blames the Mistral.  That was a Maserati wasn’t it?  Now we are going to Ajaccio, the biggest town in Corsica and the birthplace of Napoleon.  We have the AIDA Cosma and Regent Seven Seas Explorer with us.  Maybe some others taking cover.  The Sojourn has already issued an info sheet on Ajaccio and organised a shore excursion.  The paper bags are still in position.  The ship is heaving.

 

 

 

Did you mean aerie instead of eerie?

 

[MrToblerone]

Thanks for the posts .

Your last post brings back memories of Portoferraio , we also loved it there.

As we sailed out ,about fifty boats with families were by our side and waving.

 

[Dusko]

We joined this cruise on Thursday. Agree there are some dreadful people on this cruise but hopefully we’re not categorized as such by Fletcher! Amalfi in the mist looks lovely this morning. The weather forecast is optimistic for the days ahead. 

[Fletcher]

It is indeed lovely this morning off Amalfi and thanks @galeforce9 for the forecast and welcome to @Dusko and yes @Astride I did mean aerie but my computer had other ideas.  

 

However, we have a problem with getting our tenders ashore and we might abandon Amalfi and head for Salerno.  

Edited October 1, 2022 by Fletcher

[galeforce9]

59 minutes ago, Fletcher said:

It is indeed lovely this morning off Amalfi and thanks @galeforce9 for the forecast and welcome to @Dusko and yes @Astride I did mean aerie but my computer had other ideas.  

 

However, we have a problem with getting our tenders ashore and we might abandon Amalfi and head for Salerno.  

What about the train to paestum from Salerno.  That’s an easy one? 

[SLSD]

2 hours ago, Dusko said:

We joined this cruise on Thursday. Agree there are some dreadful people on this cruise but hopefully we’re not categorized as such by Fletcher! Amalfi in the mist looks lovely this morning. The weather forecast is optimistic for the days ahead. 

I have to ask--what sort of dreadful people?  Are they drunken? loud? uncouth?

[lincslady]

I admit I would love to know also- I wonder if they might be travel agent employees on a freebie?  Or some other 'group'.  Normally you only come across the occasional person who might be drunk or loud, or more often, very entitled.  And luckily not often.

[doglover214]

I will be boarding the Sojourn in November for the transatlantic. 
Are there American outlets in the cabins, or will I need to have a converter?

Are there USB ports?

 

[PaulaJK]

There are American outlets as well as European…also an

USB port. The bathroom lacked ports/ disappointing as

we travel w waterpic toothbrushes and could not plug them in.

 

The bathroom does not lend irself to use by both simultaneously…which

would be desired as the area designation as a makeup area is

too small to have a label.

 

Enjoy your cruise. 

[SLSD]

3 hours ago, doglover214 said:

I will be boarding the Sojourn in November for the transatlantic. 
Are there American outlets in the cabins, or will I need to have a converter?

Are there USB ports?

 

No converters need.   This really helps in packing.  No difficulties at all with charging our phones or laptops.  I used the small desk area with mirror right outside the bathroom to dry my hair, etc.  I applied makeup in the bathroom as the lighting was somewhat better (not great).  This worked for us as my husband is a late sleeper and we never needed to be in the bathroom at the same time.   The bathroom is small, but I can't imagine having a larger one in a basic veranda suite--which is what we always choose.  We found the suite with its ship bathroom to be quite comfortable.  

Edited October 1, 2022 by SLSD

[Dusko]

1 hour ago, PaulaJK said:

There are American outlets as well as European…also an

USB port. The bathroom lacked ports/ disappointing as

we travel w waterpic toothbrushes and could not plug them in.

 

The bathroom does not lend irself to use by both simultaneously…which

would be desired as the area designation as a makeup area is

too small to have a label.

 

Enjoy your cruise. 

In our deck 6 cabin at present. There are two USB ports on one side of the bed, one on the other. There’s a couple of Euro plugs and, in the bathroom, a combination Euro/US plug above the phone.

[Dusko]

7 hours ago, lincslady said:

I admit I would love to know also- I wonder if they might be travel agent employees on a freebie?  Or some other 'group'.  Normally you only come across the occasional person who might be drunk or loud, or more often, very entitled.  And luckily not often.

I think that word entitled is very appropriate. Some passengers should remember that the crew are equals.

 

I also don’t appreciate meeting people who seem to have an urge to tell me, in sentence number 4 or 5, how badly an ex-President of the USA is being treated by the media.  That’s happened twice. No drunks so far. (Some of them can be quite funny).

 

Many years ago I read “Down and out in Paris and London” by George Orwell. It was a life changer. As a night porter in a hotel he relates complaining about repetitive meals, only to be shown a death camp survivor’s  tattoo numbers and told to learn the difference between a problem and an inconvenience. I have been reminded of that lesson in the last couple of days.  If you are being bombed in a Ukrainian convoy you have a problem. If you get a boiled egg that is too runny or too hard you have an inconvenience. There is no need to summon someone in a white uniform and belittle him.  Also, having worked in a service position at one point in my life, I would advise you that nobody knows better what you are putting in your mouth than the person who cooks it or the person who serves it.

 

 

[nancygp]

43 minutes ago, Dusko said:

I think that word entitled is very appropriate. Some passengers should remember that the crew are equals.

 

I also don’t appreciate meeting people who seem to have an urge to tell me, in sentence number 4 or 5, how badly an ex-President of the USA is being treated by the media.  That’s happened twice. No drunks so far. (Some of them can be quite funny).

 

Many years ago I read “Down and out in Paris and London” by George Orwell. It was a life changer. As a night porter in a hotel he relates complaining about repetitive meals, only to be shown a death camp survivor’s  tattoo numbers and told to learn the difference between a problem and an inconvenience. I have been reminded of that lesson in the last couple of days.  If you are being bombed in a Ukrainian convoy you have a problem. If you get a boiled egg that is too runny or too hard you have an inconvenience. There is no need to summon someone in a white uniform and belittle him.  Also, having worked in a service position at one point in my life, I would advise you that nobody knows better what you are putting in your mouth than the person who cooks it or the person who serves it.

 

 

+1000!
 

Nancy

[Catlover54]

9 hours ago, SLSD said:

I have to ask--what sort of dreadful people?  Are they drunken? loud? uncouth?

 

Those traits are not required to be considered dreadful by some.

 

A couple are described in the first two paragraphs of post #50.  And then there is the first paragraph of post #32, though a bit more nuanced in its messaging.

 

 

[Fletcher]

14: An unexpected treat

 

For D.E. “Themistocles sir, a Greek philosopher.’

 

I am sure there were lots of people on the Sojourn keen to see Amalfi, Positano, Ravello and other places on this legendary coast.  We had planned to take a public ferry to Positano and also to Sorrento if possible to pay homage to my all-time favourite film, Billy Wilder’s Avanti!, which was shot there in 1972.

 

But all that never happened.  We stood off Amalfi for an hour or two while the crew haggled over the swell or the filthy lucre. We never knew.  So we went to Salerno instead where we could walk ashore and not take a temperamental tender.  Salerno meant only one thing to us, the archaeological site of Paestum, about 20 miles south.  I had never been there but my wife had when she was a teenager.  Her father had driven there with his family all the way from the UK.  In a humble Cortina.  That was quite something in those days.  As they drove back from Paestum to Salerno they stopped at a beach for a picnic lunch and a swim.  They returned to the car to find it had been broken into and the day clothes they were wearing had been stolen, apart from my future wife’s fancy mini skirt from Miss Selfridge.  My wife then saw her father and mother obliged to enter a police station in Salerno in their swimming costumes to report the vicious crime.

 

We found a taxi at the dock and got to Paestum in 45 minutes.  This was lunchtime, a good time to go and the skies were blue with puffy white clouds.   There were relatively few people about.  There are three magnificent honey-coloured Doric temples here, all dating from 550-450BC and in an excellent state of preservation.  Perhaps only Agrigento in Sicily comes close to matching this Classical ensemble.  Two of the temples are close together, one further away, with the expansive foundations in between of the Roman settlement which came later.  Much less well known than Pompeii, Paestum is an absolute gem, a remarkably serene place like most Greek settlements.    We wandered around for nearly two hours and like Laszlo de Almasy I wanted my copy of Herodotus with me; it would have been sheer bliss to have read a few philosophical pages here. Either that or today’s Herald to discover the dress code this evening.

 

We got back to the ship in 30 minutes flat.  Our driver Simone, who could have stepped out of a Bertolucci movie, drove the Peugeot taxi like a Ferrari, like the proverbial clapperati.  Tomorrow we think we are in Giardini Naxos, below Taormina in Sicily.  Maybe.  I don’t trust tenders any more than I trust Truss.

 

(photo courtesy Mrs Fletcher)

 

 

 

Edited October 1, 2022 by Fletcher

[SLSD]

42 minutes ago, Catlover54 said:

 

Those traits are not required to be considered dreadful by some.

 

A couple are described in the first two paragraphs of post #50.  And then there is the first paragraph of post #32, though a bit more nuanced in its messaging.

 

 

Thank you Catlover.  I had seen #32, but had somehow missed #50.  I am shuddering.  

[doglover214]

Thank you for the outlet and USB information. 

[Fletcher]

15:  A day afloat

 

We took the day off today and stayed on the ship.  We were in Giardini Naxos, the port for Taormina in Sicily.  We have been to Taormina before and indeed once stayed for a week at the San Domenico Palace Hotel, now part of the Four Seasons chain.  We thought about dropping in for a lunch up there but the view from the ship was so stupendous we just stayed put.  Even Mount Etna was totally clear of cloud, a rare sight.

 

On my last trip to Taormina I attended the annual film festival.  The films were shown nightly in the Graeco-Roman theatre, surely one of the most magnificent movie venues in the world.  One night, leaving the performance, I tripped on an uneven Roman brick (damn that Tiberius!) and in the middle of the night awoke in excruciating pain. I went to the hospital and got a big bandage and the hotel gave me a walking stick which was in fact a swordstick, a long stiletto blade concealed in a glossy black cane with a silver handle.  I roamed the dark alleys of Taormina for a few nights, inviting trouble, but sadly no one challenged me.

 

Tomorrow we are up early to witness our arrival in Valetta, Malta, arguably the most impressive harbour in the entire Mediterranean.   We are there a day early because on the scheduled day there are too many big cruise ships in town and we would have been edged out into no man’s land.  Our Captain is a resourceful man wanting only the best experience for his guests.  

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

[Fletcher]

16: Bunkering in Valetta

 

Last night Captain Tim recommended we get up early for the sail-in to Valetta and many people did just that.  Valetta is a very special place, suffering terribly during WWII and awarded the George Cross.  Valetta is a place of vast harbour walls, fortifications, hidden inlets, domes of the churches, dockside houses with their elaborate windows.  It’s all just an incredible ensemble and thanks to our Captain, who juggled the itinerary, there were no other cruise ships in town.

 

We think, though, he might have had an ulterior motive here. Maybe more than one.  We are in port tonight until 0430am, and we have been bunkering for hours. There has been deep humming but no smells and dinner on the Colonnade tonight in the warm weather was a wonderfully romantic occasion.   The lights on the harbour water shimmered and we had a round or two of cannon fire from the walls. Also, reverting back to Captain Tim etc, a lot of the crew left today and we have a lot of new people.  Dragana went today and seemed pleased to get off.   Our lovely Sky Bar guy, Vinay, has also left to fly home to Mauritius.  It seems that they all fly via Istanbul no matter where they want to end up.

 

After breakfast we found a taxi which took us inland to Mdina, the ancient walled capital of the island, dripping with history and rich in architecture.  It’s said that no cars are allowed within the city walls and there were hundreds of them, parked into every nook and cranny.  But they never seemed to move and there are more than enough narrow passageways to gain a sense of the place.  For the photographer, the fun is getting a shot devoid of human beings which developed into a game of peek-a-boo with others of sadly similar minds to mine.  After an hour the city started to fill up with visitors so we found our driver and headed straight back to Seabourn Square for two Americanos followed by a seafood lunch in the Colonnade.

 

We headed out again in the searing afternoon heat, taking the lift up to the city itself, to watch the 4pm firing of the cannon, a daily event of some solemnity but also a lot of fun to witness.  It’s great up on that vast terrace, surveying the mighty harbour and listening to the military music.  The city itself is fantastic but we explored that a few years ago and decided to give our legs a rest and headed back to Seabourn Square for a cup of tea.

 

Tomorrow we are in Gozo, Malta’s second little island.  Just for half a day.  It’s a quick tool around the harbour for us.  We need a sea day and we will get one after Gozo as we head north for Sardinia.  In other words, we are now heading for home.

Edited October 3, 2022 by Fletcher

[SLSD]

All of your reports are great fun to read.  We loved Mdina, but understand that it is more beautiful before all the tourists arrive.  We thought we didn't have enough time there--but maybe we really did and would not have enjoyed it longer if swamped with tourists. 

 

There are some very ancient archaeological sites on Gozo.  I hope you are head to them.  

[Fletcher]

17:  HOHO GOZO

 

Today we toured the building site that is known locally as Gozo.  This is the second largest of the Maltese islands and until fairly recently it was an unknown backwater.  I learned a bit about it from my wife who worked with a man who was the son-in-law of the actor Herbert Lom.

 

Born in Czechoslovakia, and an emigre from Nazism, Lom arrived in the UK in 1939 and started to build an acting career. He was noticed as one of the clumsy gang in the classic Ealing Comedy The Ladykillers (1956) and then had striking supporting roles in epics such as Spartacus (1960) and El Cid (1961).  But it was as the long-suffering and increasingly deranged  Inspector Dreyfus in the Pink Panther films that he became internationally famous.  When he built his Gozo bolt-hole the island was just an obscure fishing community which could only be reached by ferry from Malta.  When Easy Jet started flying there a decade or so ago things took off.  Ferries arrive from Valetta every 10 minutes. The place was heaving. 

 

Looking at Gozo today I thought I might publish a photographic essay called ‘The Cranes of Gozo.’  This would not be a book about birds.  There are building sites everywhere, a sure sign of economic progress, but a bit of an annoyance for the tourist with a Leica.  There were literally dozens of construction cranes, towering over every town, church and citadel, and excavators all drilling sites out of the barren rocky land. New homes, new hotels, new roads, new businesses . . . Malta is a happening place.  And some rather dubious happenings I believe.

 

As tourists we took a Hop On Hop Off bus that showed us most of the island.  We did not hop off.  Our red double-decker bus was not a ship’s tour, so the great unwashed were also aboard.  These included many Germans, a young couple who never ceased to fondle each other and two English women who proved the adage, ‘never judge a book by its cover.’  They were care workers from Yorkshire, charming, knowledgeable, of Maltese descent, who hopped off the bus at the Catholic shrine at Ta’Pinu.  The tour whisked along narrow roads through a succession of small towns which all looked identical.  As with all bus trips this one raced heedlessly past sights of interest and stopped at dreary artisan shops.  Signs on the buses implored us to remain seated and we could see that the vernacular and vast numbers of overhanging windows could snap your head off in a second.  It was an interesting ride.  Cheap, too.

 

The bus lurched and lumbered for two and a half hours before returning to our port of Mgarr.  This is pronounced Em-jarr if you are interested, Ryan.  We fell upstairs to the Sky Bar for G&Ts. There was a great delicacy served tonight in the Colonnade - soft shell crabs.

 

Tomorrow, thank God, is a sea day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 4, 2022 by Fletcher