Rialto Bridge from Singapore to Barcelona

You can see the ship details at http://www.nsb-reisebuero.de/english/schiff.cgi?display=883846971


SINGAPORE

Friday 10th February 2006

We arrived at the hotel around lunchtime, having braved the tropical rain to get to the taxi rank at the station. The taxi driver had stopped for us at an ATM so we could get some Singapore dollars.

He was a very chatty driver and gave us several suggestions for places to visit. He also told us that few Singaporeans cook at home as it is easier and cheaper to eat out. We found this idea rather peculiar, but observed in our five days in Singapore that he was probably right. There are food courts and large and small restaurants of all types all over the place. Many places are extremely cheap and you can eat an excellent breakfast of Nasi Goreng, or omelette and rice with a cup of coffee for 3 dollars, just over £1.

The drive to the hotel took us through various different areas of Singapore, and we saw buildings that looked Chinese, some that looked Indian, and in the business district, many ultra-modern buildings of concrete, steel and glass. The taxi ride was very cheap at only 8 dollars.

Our hotel is right in the centre of the prime shopping area of Orchard Road. Three or four shopping malls the size of Lakeside are within walking distance, and many more a short bus or taxi ride away.

When we arrived at the hotel the receptionist wished Kit a belated happy birthday, and we were surprised a few minutes after getting into our room to be told that a bottle of wine would be sent up to us to celebrate Kit’s birthday. And lo and behold a rather good bottle of Australian red accompanied by a smart plate of fruit arrived a couple of minutes later. One of the fruits looked very exotic. Found it later in a market – a dragon fruit. You cut it in half and the centre is creamy and sweet with little black seeds. Quite nice, but it looks better than it tastes.

A quick swim in the rooftop pool to cool off before going out to dinner. As we walked along the shops near to the hotel we saw a tiny reflexology shop with four beds inside and four middle-aged to elderly men giving other middle-aged to elderly men a reflexology foot treatment. We decided to have half an hour each. It was quite an experience. I’ve never had such firm reflexology, and refreshingly I’ve never had a reflexology treatment where the practitioner was not trying to find out what really ailed me! The shop is clearly frequented by people on their way home from work who want a relaxing treatment. My feet, and Kit’s felt rather tender after the half hour. But maybe we’ll go again??

We got waylaid on the way to dinner by a charming chap in a suit shop. He persuaded Kit to have a suit with extra trousers, two linen shirts and one silk shirt. They will be ready on Monday! The tailor’s wife tried in vain to try to get me to buy a dress or some trousers and tops, but her style book was rather old-fashioned and didn’t appeal to me. As we’d placed such a large order for Kit I was given a beautiful turquoise pashmina – very nice quality and with a smattering of gold threads in it.

We asked advice on where to eat, and the tailor took us to a restaurant very close to our hotel. It was called a snack kitchen, but had an amazing selection of Chinese/Thai food, especially sea-food. The highlight of the meal was deep fried baby squids – rather like eating hot squid-flavour crisps! We also had spicy prawns cooked with dried chillis, and a green vegetable dish – not sure what the vegetable was. All washed down by a cold Tiger Beer.

Saturday 11th February 2006

A swim in the rooftop pool in the morning. The pool was empty and we were able to swim our kilometre without interruption. The water is cooler than the air which is nice. We sat beside the pool for an hour reading, then off to explore the local area.

The weather was incredibly hot and humid. A short walk around a few shops was enough to tire us out. We had hoped we might be able to get the laptop keyboard mended in Singapore, but, even though there is a Samsung service centre in Plaza Singapura we discovered that it would take a couple of months to get the part needed. Never mind! We’ll just lug around the separate keyboard – it doesn’t weigh too much.

We then took a taxi to Little India. Today is Thaipusan, a festival in which penitents walk through the streets carrying small shrines which are attached directly to their bodies by steel spikes through the skin! Lots of music and throngs of people in beautiful bright clothes. I had hoped to buy a shalwar kameez and dupatta in Little India, but the weather was so hot and humid that I didn’t want to try anything on.

Lunch was at a small local vegetarian café. We had the special of the day which was a vegetable biriani served with some potatoes, cabbage and various sauces. We also had a samosa, a pakora and what looked like a donut but tasted very spicy. We drank laksa, Kit’s plain, mine flavoured with mango – delicious. We were the only non-Indian people in the restaurant. Almost everyone was eating with their fingers, but we had a fork and spoon. The food was spicy and really good. Amazing for less than 20 dollars for two of us.

Then back to the hotel for a read in the cool air-conditioned room. I wasn’t hungry enough for supper so Kit went out to the food court and had some supper and I fell asleep in front of the TV.

Sunday 12th February 2006

Another nice early morning swim followed by breakfast in the food court.
We decided to get City Buzz bus tickets today. There are three colour-coded routes passing the most notable places and areas in Singapore. For 5 dollars each we had unlimited access to the three routes getting off and on as often as we liked. The first bus we took travelled round shopping areas and took us down to the Marina Area. We got off at The Esplanade shopping mall and walked along the marina – distant views of the cranes we had seen loading and unloading in the container port. We walked through a small park with stalls and displays – part of the Chinese New Year celebrations. Although hot, the first part of the day wasn’t too humid.

Towards lunchtime we stopped at a riverside café for a cold beer. By the time we left there to try to find the bus stop to get the bus to Chinatown we were hot and sweaty and didn’t want to walk any more. Eventually found the right bus stop and went off in search of Chinatown. Today is the last day of the Chinese New Year.


Part way round the route we stopped at a beautiful Hindu temple. The decorations were lovely and we walked around inside. A calm haven in a busy shopping street.

We got on another bus and set off for Chinatown. The markets in the central streets of Chinatown are full of interesting junk, but nothing that we wanted. It was also amazingly hot and humid and we didn’t want to walk about too much. We found a tiny café and had vegetarian lunch and a cold beer. Excellent value and a bit off the main drag – also in a shady spot!

Set out back into Chinatown to get the bus back to the hotel and discovered that the main bus route had been closed for the evening for the last night of Chinese New Year. We then had to walk for what seemed like miles to wait for the bus at a different stop. We waited almost half an hour for a bus, and decided to go back to the hotel rather than set off to get the red route bus through Little India.

Back to the hotel and then out a little bit later to get a meal at the snack café we went to on Friday evening to get some more of the delicious baby squid!

Monday 13th February 2006

This was a very gentle day. We were both tired out from the heat and humidity. Kit spent a lot of the day hiding in the hotel room with the air-conditioning putting our diaries onto the web. I did the rounds of the local shopping malls. I also had a look round Marks and Spencer. It looks very much like the one in Oxford only smaller. The food section is tiny and has a choice of only four ready meals! I did, however, buy some wine there. It is very expensive in the hotel.

I spent the afternoon having my hair cut by the young Chinese hairdresser in the hotel – he did a very good cut, particularly given the language difficulties we had. The most amazing head massage was included in the price. I also had a pedicure in the very quiet salon in the hotel. There were four beauticians there and apart from me there was only one other customer – a man having his toenails trimmed! As I left two of the beauticians were busy doing a manicure for the owner of the salon – a very dapper Malaysian man. They all tried to persuade me to have an ear-candle treatment. They swear that it has all sorts of health benefits, but it doesn’t sound very comfortable to me!

In the evening we went to the tailors to pick up Kit’s suit and shirts. The suit really fits well. It’s the first time Kit has had a suit jacket that is the right size and most importantly LONG enough. The suit and shirts seem to be good quality. The tailor has Kit’s measurements on record so we can order more if we want. His wife was still gamely trying to get me to buy something – ANYTHING!! I resisted however.

Went for supper to the small Indian café on the corner. Had vegetarian dishes plus rice. We asked for bread expecting chapatti or something like that, but got toasted French bread. We also asked for onion bhajis and got deep fried onion rings! It was all delicious. As we were finishing our meal we saw the chef making an interesting looking dish of what looked like puffed up bread fried with and egg inside it (Roti paratha). We wished we’d got room to try one – maybe tomorrow.

During the day we contacted Ashley, the young man at the port agent for our ship. He confirmed that the Rialto Bridge would be in on Wednesday and he would send a car to pick us up from the hotel to take us to the port (more of this on our day of departure). We expect to leave the hotel at about 10.30am and the ship is expected to leave Singapore in the evening.

Tuesday 14th February 2006

My goodness, the Singaporeans do take Valentine’s Day seriously! The newspaper is full of advertisements for flowers, jewellery etc, and the streets are full of flower sellers.

We decide to take the bus round some of the bits of Singapore we haven’t seen yet. We need to have a Singapore Sling in Raffles Hotel according to everyone who has visited Singapore. However, first things first, a cup of hot chocolate (they called it nectar!) in the Marina Centre, then a bus ride round to Raffles Hotel.

Raffles Hotel is very grand and has been restored beautifully. It now houses lots of swish shops, including a spectacular antique shop with lovely furniture. We had a Singapore Sling in the famous Long Bar (sadly a reconstruction and not the original). The drink was expensive, quite nice, but not worth writing home about. The bar is interesting. It is the custom to throw your peanut shells on the floor. I find it almost impossible to throw rubbish on the floor!

After our drink Kit went back to the hotel to the cool and I went shopping to find a few presents to take home. The shops were full of stuff, but not much that I couldn’t have bought in Oxford. While I was shopping Ashley from the port agent phoned to say he wanted to pick us up at 7.30am to take us to the boat. Kit managed to persuade him to leave it till 9am – that way we can have a last swim in the wonderful hotel pool before we leave.

Dinner was a very good Indian meal at the Maharajah Restaurant just round the corner from the hotel.

THE RIALTO BRIDGE – Singapore to Barcelona

Wednesday 15th February 2006

We swam, were packed and ready for Ashley’s arrival at the hotel at 9am. A different chap arrived in a minibus, and told us we would have to pay $35 plus $10 plus $4 for various aspects of our journey to the port. As we had no Singapore dollars left we were less than pleased. Also, no-one had mentioned this at any stage of our bookings. We asked why we couldn’t take a taxi to the port as we had in every other port. There was no answer. Ashley was on the phone to us to tell us we had to pay – he didn’t turn up in person though. We were taken to the Military Police at the port to get day passes to see the Captain of the Rialto Bridge – (that was the $4). We were then driven to our ship. This was convenient, but we paid only reluctantly and will complain to the shipping company.

On arrival at the ship, a much bigger ship at 245 metres than the other two we’ve travelled on, we were met by one of the officers and our bags were whisked away and taken up several flights of stairs to our cabin without any fuss. A very nice touch was that we were given cotton gloves to wear to go up the gangplank. The rails are always greasy and this was a good way of ensuring we didn’t arrive in our cabin filthy. The Captain (Oliver) met us at the top of the gangplank.

Our cabin – again the owner’s cabin – is the best yet. A really beautiful living room with portholes on two sides, a full view to the front and a view of the lifeboat to the side. There’s a separate bedroom and a small but functional bathroom. We have two sofas to lounge around on, a TV and video, and a sound system that seems to work even when the ship’s engines are running!

Our steward Jaime introduced himself, and immediately got into our very good books by arranging for us to have a kettle, milk, tea and coffee in our cabin for early morning drinks. Lunch was grilled pork and fried potatoes, supper Chop Suey and Rice. The quality of food is good. The quantity is manageable thank goodness. There are plenty of vegetables, salad and fruit available.

During the afternoon we watched the departure from Singapore. The skies were black in the distance, but the heat was intense until we got moving and got a bit of a breeze. Singapore is the biggest port we’ve visited so far. There are several port areas. The one we left from was mainly for very large ships but we saw one very small container berthed right next to a giant.

The work of the ports is very compelling. I didn’t expect to be able to spend hours watching containers being loaded and unloaded, and the movements of the lorries around the docks. The operation in Singapore is very slick, and our ship is loaded earlier than expected, so we depart at 3pm.


Thursday 16th February 2006
Nice to get up and find that we have a cooked breakfast – bacon and eggs today.

The morning was punctuated by the lifeboat practice drill. There are two thirty person lifeboats, one on each side of the ship. Every month they have to be checked and several times a year they have to be launched, sailed a short distance and then returned to the ship. By 10.30am the engines had been switched off, and the ship had slowed down. The officers and crew were all dressed in their boiler suits with life jackets and hard hats. The temperature inside the lifeboat was very high and the boys were drenched when they got out. The launching of the lifeboat is very quick (as one would hope) and each lifeboat did a little circuit out and back to check that all was in working order. Then a careful checking of its position once loaded back on the ship. Towards the end of the lifeboat drill we saw some dolphins swimming alongside the ship. They weren’t very energetic, so we didn’t see them jumping out of the water.

As the lifeboat drill was coming to an end we saw two small brightly coloured boats sailing towards us. The captain joked (at least I think he was joking) that they had come to try to sell us some fish for supper – maybe it’s true?





The second officer (the safety officer took a couple of splendid shots of the ship from the lifeboat. It’s difficult tog get pictures of the whole vessel even when you are in port. In some places photography is not allowed, as we found out in New York! The officer also gave us copies of some pictures of the ship during a heavy storm in The South China Sea. It looks rather like the sea we experienced on CMA CGM Utrillo when we were passing through Hurricane Wilma near to Cuba in October last year.

In the afternoon the safety officer took us through the safety procedures and made sure we knew where the muster station, our life-jackets, and our body suits were. He seemed surprised that we’d been on two previous containership voyages. He has produced some very nice notes to remind passengers about safety issues. I feel very reassured that the lifeboat is just outside the door by our cabin. However, - fingers crossed! – the weather so far has been excellent with very calm seas.

Friday 17th February 2006

We went up to the bridge this morning to have a look at the charts. Has a brief chat to the fourth officer, a Swede who has changed to a career on the seas after being an electrician for many years. The charts show that we have been sailing close to the Nicobar Islands, a name seen by me only in books before. It seems we should be sailing close to the shores of Sri Lanka during the morning tomorrow.

We’ve now found two chairs to enable us to sit outside wherever we want to. It is still rather humid and clammy, so no chance of sunbathing, but a seat in the shade with a gentle sea-breeze instead of ice, fog and frost in Oxford seems like a good choice!

The food on the ship is continuing to be good. Certainly not gourmet, but well prepared from good ingredients, and plenty of it. Sadly the supper of braised ox tongue was not chosen by most of the officers, the captain or myself. Kit reported it was delicious. I was very happy with the salad.

As we are sailing in a very busy shipping area we are delighted to see lots of ships all the time. Neither Kit nor I can begin to estimate how far away from us they are. How can one tell if it is one kilometre, two kilometres or ten? We are also beginning to see some smaller boats, maybe fishing boats, so we can’t be too far from a land mass.

Saturday 18th February 2006

Another amazingly calm day. We sailed right past the tip of Sri Lanka this morning between about 10am and 11.30. Lots of small fishing boats and a few military ships as well. The coast of Sri Lanka appears to consist of great lengths of sandy beach interspersed with modern (?) blocks which we think must be hotel complexes. We could also spot (through the binoculars) some individual villas nestled in the hills above the beaches.

I (Liz) had a go on the rowing machine and the exercise bicycle. Both are very good quality, and are easy to use in such calm seas. Our peace on the ship is only marred by the start of some painting going on in the freight decks. They are grinding down the rust at the moment, and it’s just outside our cabin portholes!

We also saw some more dolphins. The weather is beginning to get less humid, and it is very pleasant to sit up on deck six (next to the bridge deck which is deck 7) reading a book and watching the world go by.

We borrowed a video from the crew recreation room ‘The Crying Game’ a rather good film about the IRA. More recent than we thought it was made in 1992 and starred Stephen Rea, Miranda Richardson and Jim Broadbent. The other film we took off the shelf had an English title, but sadly was in German.

Sunday 19th February 2006

More of the same. Reading, looking at the sea, sewing etc., etc.

The food continues to be good, though we had some difficulty in identifying the vegetable served to us with our Sunday roast chicken. I think it might have been celeriac cooked in small slices, but the taste wasn’t quite right. Chatted to the captain at dinner about accidents with container ships. He feels that the captains of some larger ships take insufficient notice of weather reports because their ships are inherently more stable and that this can bee foolhardy. He told us about one very large ship (4000 TEUs) which lost most of its cargo and had the rest badly damaged in very high seas. They were almost at the point of abandoning ship, but didn’t actually do that. Not a single container on the ship escaped unscathed!

Borrowed two more films from the crew recreation room. One was an award-winning Bruce Willis film called ‘Sixth Sense’. It seemed quite good but we stopped it halfway through as it was frightening us! The other was an unknown US comedy which revolved around a stag night. We turned this one off as well.

Monday 20th February 2006

Woke to a slightly cloudier day, but the temperature is still very pleasant indeed. The painters are hard at it grinding the rust away on the freight deck. Need to check the charts to see that we are making good progress. It seems that we might arrive at Suez a day early, but not sure if the transit date will be brought forward.

On our frequent visits to the bridge we are amused by the notice on top of the radar monitor – ‘LOOK OUT OF THE WINDOW’. It’s all too easy in any profession where electronic wizardry plays a role to believe it willy-nilly and not check the evidence of your own eyes!


Tuesday 21st February 2006

More of the same. Very calm day.

There was a general safety exercise today, including a fire drill and bomb scare. This is partly because we are entering waters known for piracy. There have been about eight reported ‘attacks’ on large ships. However, mostly they happen in port. The safety exercise went well. Apparently for the bomb scare the bomb identified itself by someone shouting out ‘I’m here!’

The captain joked that in a real fire the first thing you do is lock the life boats, otherwise the Germans would be fighting the fire, while the Filipinos take the life boats. The chief engineer drily remarked that you have a few minutes to get to the lifeboats to lock them while the Filipinos are packing their suitcases!!

It was the birthday of the Swedish fourth officer, and we were invited to have a beer with him in the officers’ recreation room in the evening. No chance to get cards or presents so I made a copy of the CD Pete gave me for Christmas ‘The Secret of Life’ by The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. It was nice to be invited for the beer, but having two English speaking passengers in the German-speaking officers’ recreation room made the conversation somewhat stilted as they all spoke English in deference to us!

Wednesday 21st February 2006

Last night, today and tonight we are at security risk level 2 because we are in a piracy area near to the Somalian coast. Near is a relative term – we are actually almost 200 km away from it for most of the time. Faxes have come through every day with new reported incidents of theft and piracy. It seems that many incidents happen while ships are in port and therefore quite vulnerable. The main target seems to be the ships’ stores which can include large amounts of tobacco and booze. A few of the incidents are at sea. Pirates use small fast boats, and are often in convoys of three or more. They can easily surround a larger ship and try to get on to the ship. However, it is very dangerous to attempt to board a large, high ship doing 25 knots when your own small boats have to keep up. Nevertheless this doesn’t stop attempts. The officers and crew of the Rialto Bridge (as the crew of the Baltrum Trader before) are ready with high pressure water hoses to repel boarders. There is also a very careful watch on small craft in the surrounding seas as we pass.

Today we see quite a lot of land. At one point we could see land on both sides – the island of Mayyun on the right and the coast of either Eritrea or Djibouti on our left. We were passing through a narrow straight known locally as the Gate of Tears as the slaves being taken this way knew that there was no further chance of escape.

Sent Pete an email this morning to let him know when we expect to get to Naples. He tried to phone, and indeed we did talk briefly, but the signal is not strong and keeps going away. I’ll let him have details of the agent in Naples so he can find out the wharf address.

Thursday 23rd February 2006

Back to level 1 security so less concern about keeping the outside doors locked. Another beautiful day, though the sea is slightly livelier. Hardly rough, but there was a little bit of movement inside the cabin. However, I’ve not felt the need to put everything away while we’ve been on this ship as we needed to on the Utrillo in the Atlantic.

We’re beginning to see more ships as we approach the Suez Canal. There are several shipping lanes and it seems there is some jockeying for position so we can get an early place in the queue at Suez.

Friday 24th February 2006
The Captain’s birthday!
We have begun our approach to the Suez Canal through the Arabian Gulf, and we entered the Gulf of Suez around lunchtime. Neither Kit nor I realised that the resort of Sharm-el-Sheik was just at the entrance to the gulf of Suez. The temperature and humidity here seem perfect. Maybe TB and Cherie aren’t so daft spending winter weekends out here!

During much of the day we have land on both sides. The coast looks rather uninviting with steep cliffs and swathes of white rock/maybe sand? However the mountains in the background provide a stunning backdrop. There are lots of ships of all sizes, also many local small boats fishing. The gulf is, of course, littered with oil platforms. There are also a few towns on the coast – very low buildings sprawling long distances along the edge of the sea.

By 8pm we have reached the first anchorage where we wait to be assigned a number for the convoy through the canal. The ship’s engines were stopped, and we heard them start again briefly around midnight when we moved forward into the final anchorage area before the canal. Hope we get a low number so we’re early in the convoy. During this evening I think we pick up the pilot for the canal, and also two local crew members – The Suez crew – who are brought on board in case we need to go alongside in the area. We don’t think this will happen – even if it does we can’t go ashore as we haven’t got visas. In the way of these countries I expect we could pay for one here, but probably not worth the money!

Sent an email to Pete about Tuesday in Naples. Looking forward to our day out. Pete has taken the day off work, and is going to meet us at the dock gates in a rented car. Doubtless he’ll have discovered a few nice places to visit and eat, and will show us.

Saturday 25th February 2006

We awaken to a quiet boat. We can only hear the air-con and not the main engines. We’re still where we dropped anchor last night. Looking out of the porthole reveals us to be in a seafaring parking lot. We’re surrounded by ships of all shapes and sizes. 3 car carriers [soap dishes as Capt. Claquin would have it] several container ships – including the Maersk ship that passed us a couple of days ago, several passenger vessels, oil tankers of various shapes and sizes and lots of little boats bustling around us. We’ve got a small boat raised up on our crane which belongs to the Suez crew in case they need to take hawsers ashore or similar. Everyone here thinks the Suez crew is just another way of extracting money from shipping companies as they usually do nothing at all, except eat and sleep at the company’s expense. We’re all waiting for the southbound convoy to leave the canal before we can begin. It has been delayed by sandstorms in the canal – these also caused us to be delayed in moving to our inner anchorage. The to-ing and fro-ing and various officials arriving as soon as we were anchored has meant the captain has had little sleep. We are due to get the pilot at 1030, which if the transit takes as long as the last one means we’ll finish the transit at 2230. The captain hopes we won’t have to anchor in the middle to let another southbound convoy pass – if so, we’ll finish the transit by 2000 and he can have his birthday party and an early night.

Sadly the sandstorms descend upon us. Like a London fog, the sky goes yellowy grey and Port Said and the surrounding boats disappear into the murk. Around 1030 – later than hoped – our engine starts, and ever so gently with the aid of the bow thrusters, we turn 180 degrees and set off for the entrance to the canal. Thank goodness for radar as we can see almost nothing. Buildings loom up out of the gloom as the channel entrance nears and we slide up the canal. We can see a little on each side, and it fits the played down descriptions we have been given by all and sundry. “The Suez – its just sand” and so it seems. We can see so little we don’t bother to stay on the bridge, and go down for some lunch. Even though we weren’t expecting much, its still a disappointment.


As the afternoon progresses, there is no improvement in the weather, and we come to a halt in the Bitter Lake. We have no news why, but we wait for several hours until dark. Then we creep forward in the gloom. Again – thank goodness for radar, and I hope the pilot knows what he is doing. Our crew are competent, and so we trust them. We just hope the lengthy delays don’t affect our arrival time in Naples and the day out we are looking forward to. Amazing what Picasa can do to a picture. We could hardly see the temple in the picture because of the fog. ‘I’m feeling lucky’ in Picasa seems to have removed most of the fog!!

At the end of the voyage through the canal it is usual for the pilot – and various other bods – to be given a carton of cigarettes as a ‘tip’. Apparently last night’s pilot wanted five cartons because he said we didn’t hit any of the buoys on the way through the canal! I thought that was what he was paid for! I don’t know how many he actually got. It seems that we were declared as guests of the owners as the shipping company would have to pay extra taxes if we were declared as passengers.

Sunday 26th February 2006

Woke to find the ship gliding through the Mediterranean. According to the captain the weather forecast was for force 7 gales and clear visibility. There seems to be very little wind, and visibility is marred by dense fog all round. Its not a particularly pleasant occupation to walk around the deck as its very dirty, and now cold – well relatively. The ship is covered in sand from the desert, and the crew are spraying water everywhere. We spend the day in the cabin, with exits to the bridge to see where we are [passing South of Crete] and as ever – meals. There was general gossip about the Maersk mega ship that lost a container of trainers North of Holland. The captain promises us some pictures of accidents that have befallen container ships.

And there are of course more blood curdling pictures including some of the sailor’s real fear – fire at sea.

Monday 27th February 2006

More of the same. We think that if we take another freight voyage we’ll ensure that there are no 14 day periods at sea between ports. We are very much looking forward to our stop tomorrow in Naples, not least of which because we’ll see Peter and he’ll be able to give us a flavour of the bit of Italy he’s living in at the moment. We’re also looking forward to a meal enjoyed at leisure, and not a re-fuelling stop to be undertaken quickly between tasks.

We expect to be going through the Messina Strait early this evening and berthing in Naples during the night. Hopefully we’ll get some mobile signal this evening. Calls should be cheap again as we are in Europe and in our Vodafone Passport zone.

At lunch the Captain told us that we don’t have a berth in Naples until perhaps midnight tomorrow – Tuesday. This means that our planned day out must be cancelled – unless Pete is able to move his arranged day off, in which case its just postponed. We’ve sent Pete an email but we don’t know when it will be transmitted. Hopefully in time for him to rearrange his affairs. As long as we get mobile connection this evening, at least we’ll be able to stop him turning up at the docks tomorrow morning! We were in luck! Spoke to Pete and he can change his day off and his car booking. Let’s hope that the ship schedule doesn’t change again!

The transit of the Messina Strait produces some more dry comments from the Captain. As we approach, we can see land closing in on us from both sides. It looks as if we are heading direct for the beach! Happily, standing on the bridge we can see the radar which shows that we do indeed head directly for land, but once in the strait, we make a steep turn to the right and head out into the open sea. We have some time to appreciate the view – it’s a little like crossing the Solent to the Isle of Wight. Lights on both sides, thriving [?] communities, restaurants and many ferries back and forth. We have to slow down considerably as the pilot is not ready for us. Finishing his coffee[?] and eventually he boards us, tells us when to turn right – doubtless using the same radar that we can all see, and disembarks after a total of 15 minutes on board. Goodness knows what the pilot service charges for this, but maybe they carry insurance in case of serious unhappiness……..!

Tuesday 28th February 2006

Awoke several times during the night to hear the sounds of reverse thrust and anchors being weighed – well that’s the romantic image anyway! The view from the cabin in the morning was magic. We are floating in the middle of the Bay of Naples, surrounded by the most beautiful coastline city. This, of course, together with the views of the container port, which seems to be remarkably static. The cranes are not moving, or if they are moving, are doing so very slowly.
The views of the city itself are stunning. We have Vesuvius on one side, topped with snow. On the other side, the city proper with its Roman buildings. All set off by the glittering sea! We spent some time in the morning sitting out on the sixth deck soaking up the sun. It is clearly not that warm overall but our spot on deck six is sheltered and we can sit comfortably in shorts and T shorts. Used the very strong mobile signal to phone home. Pat is clearly still on good form, and Monika and Krystof are doing well. Spoke to Andrea. She’ll be in Barcelona on Sunday, the day we WERE due to be there. Sadly the delay here in Naples means that we’ll be there on Monday instead. Also had a chat to Pauline and Noel. They have recovered from their trip and related jet-lag. They report that all looks well in Bridge Street, but that they’ll put on some heating in our flat as snow and dire weather are forecast. We asked about the new landlords at The Hollybush and Pauline said it seems to be going OK. I think we’ll try and have a meal there when we get back to the UK.

We were lucky that much of the day was dry and sunny, so spent some time outside. However, when we went out in the afternoon sunshine we discovered an icy wind which sent us scurrying back to the cabin to read.

Usual quick supper – we are looking forward to a leisurely meal with wine and conversation! Hopefully we’ll get one at least tomorrow! Went to bed thinking that when we wake we’ll be alongside and ready to disembark in Naples.

Wednesday 1st March 2006

A quiet night! Neither of us heard the move into the berth in Naples during the night. A quick look out of the porthole explained why. We were still out at the anchorage with the city tantalizingly one kilometre away across very cold sea! Went down to breakfast to see that the ETA had been changed from 4am to 7am, but we were well past 7 and still no sign of movement. The captain told us we were waiting for the pilot to come aboard. Called Peter to let him know we might be a little bit later than we thought. While I was speaking to Peter the pilot had clearly come on board and we arrived in our berth at just after 9am.

The entry to the berths at Naples is very narrow behind a breakwater. It was clearly designed before ships the size of the Rialto Bridge were brought into service. There is slight disagreement between the captain and the pilot about what moves were necessary for a smooth move alongside. Nevertheless we arrived safely, and as usual we didn’t feel any bumps as we were tied up safely alongside.

We agreed to meet Peter at the gate near to the ship, but as is always the case it is more difficult than it sounds to find the same gate! Landmarks such as piles of containers are there on every side! After several calls Peter got one of the security guards on the main gate to give him a day pass and he was escorted (in his car!) to the wharf beside the Rialto Bridge. This wouldn’t have been allowed in any other port we’ve been to. The security man then came and found us (at the other gate) and drove us to meet Pete! Amazing service! By this time it was about 11am.

We set off with Pete to have a look at the Amalfi Coast, familiar to film stars of the 1950s, and probably looking much the same now as it did then. Pete has already visited the coast with his work colleagues and suggests that we start in Ravello which gives us an excellent view of the coast from its elevated position. Even though we are some way from the bright summer days that will arrive, the coast looks stunning and the sea inviting. It will maybe not look so good when every square inch of sand is covered by brightly coloured umbrellas and thousands of tourists.

Our journey is not precisely planned as Pete hasn’t got a local map, and the maps in The Lonely Planet Guide are rather lacking in detail. We make a right turn to try to cut across the mountains over the peninsula. The mountains are about 1500 metres high and the road winds around through small villages, most of which are still asleep until the start of the season. We are struck again by the lunacy of Italian driving. Overtaking on blind bends at speeds that would make French drivers blanch!

We find Ravello and its lovely views. The first car park we found was expensive, but the local council had put a special note on the parking meter signs suggesting that we might prefer to park in another – equally convenient – car park which was half the price! This is exactly what we did.

We walked through the town, including climbing a massive flight of steps and saw lovely views of the coast and the surrounding lemon groves. The town has lots of shops selling ceramics, and a few nice looking food shops. Make a mental note to buy some fresh tomatoes later (to go with the mozzarella Pete has given to us), but the shops were shut by the time we’d had lunch.

We spotted the restaurant mentioned in The Lonely Planet Guide and checked it was open before continuing on our walk. They confirmed we didn’t need to book if we returned to eat in half an hour or so. We continued on our walk.

It was nearing lunchtime as we spotted a lovely hotel terrace through some glass doors. The hotel 5 star Hotel Palumbo was open so we asked for glasses of red wine on the terrace. We sat in the sun and lovely local red wine was brought to us by a waiter in starched shirt and bow tie. The view was lovely and we spent a happy half our chatting there. The air is clear and we were lucky to be in warm sunshine.

Went back to the restaurant and had a splendid lunch. Starters of mixed antipasto for Kit and me, a plate of mixed pasta dishes for Pete. Pete and Kit both had the fresh fish of the day – filleted at the table for them. I had fried prawns and calamari. All food delicious. Pete and I had puddings, Kit a coffee, and we were presented with fresh oranges by the owner – Netta – as we paid our bill. Most people in the restaurant were Americans apart from us.

After lunch we had a look round the Villa Rufolo a 13th century merchant’s house overlooking the sea. Discovered a view that we had all seen in travel literature as being typical of the Amalfi Coast. Pity Liz stuck her head in the picture!!



A bit more of a walk around then off on the coast road to look at Positano and Amalfi. The coast road is narrow and picturesque and the towns look as if they haven’t changed for centuries. Even though we are out of season, it is impossible to find a parking space in Amalfi so we head back to Naples with a view to taking Pete on board before going out for a pizza in the evening.

It was quite difficult to find the port but we eventually got there after a few detours. Some further discussions with the port security officers and we were able to park Pete’s car near to the ship so we could go on board. Loading of boxes was still in full flow and Pete was quite impressed with it. Maybe he’ll take a freighter trip some time?

Then off into the centre of Naples for some supper. It’s out of season and so there are people harassing you outside every restaurant to come and eat there. We found a decent place and had a pizza. It was good and not expensive. Then Pete took us back to the ship. We were expecting to leave Naples at 4am but this was not to be!

Thursday 2nd March 2006

Awoke to find the ship still berthed in Naples. Departure time had been changed to 8am, but there was still no pilot on board until after 9am. We eventually set sail at about 9.30. Mostly calm day but the wind got up during the afternoon and the ship was bouncing about a bit.

Watched another not very good video and went to bed early. By midnight the sea was very rough and continued so all night. Not quite Hurricane Wilma, but enough that sleep was difficult because conscious effort is needed to stop rolling out of bed. As soon as you drop off a pitch or roll threatens to eject you! However, no damage to us or our stuff. We berthed in Genoa some time in the morning – probably about 5am.

Friday 3rd March 2006

When we got up we were surprised to find the temperature in the ship had plummeted to 12 degrees. After some very hot periods yesterday this is a bit of a shock to the system. We think the Chief Engineer is trying to accustom us to the colder temperatures in this part of the world. One of the major differences between cruising and freighter travel is that nothing is laid on for you in ports. No little boats to take you straight to the souvenir sellers, or charabancs at the quayside to take you on the four hour highlights tour of the area. Its all down to you – as much or as little as you want. We decide to wait a bit before going into Genoa to miss the rush hour. Also we need to wait for our passports etc. Passports ready just after 9am. We went down to the office to try to find out how to get out of the port. Luckily, we bumped into the young [impossibly cool] customs official who was getting the port shuttle to Voltri, the local part of Genoa. He gave us the phone number of the shuttle driver, and explained where to get train tickets to get to the centre of Genoa. The train ticket for a 20 kilometre journey is only 1€ each way – a bargain, British train companies take note!!

We got a train from Voltri to Piazza Principe, right in the centre of Genoa. We found the main rail station, where we visited the tourist office for a map and advice on where to walk. The centre of the city is quite compact and largely pedestrianised, so it was easy and pleasant to get around on foot. It is also stuffed with lovely old buildings and colonnaded shopping streets. However, walking on mainly cobbled side alleys is a bit tiring!

We wandered through an area of traditional food shops, tempted in turns by pasta, bread, cakes and chocolate. We stopped in a coffee shop – Kit for a machiatta, and Liz for a creamy hot chocolate drink which equalled the ambrosial confection remembered from Bologna all those years ago! Liz bought some sugar-free dark chocolate flavoured with chillies! There are lots of small shops selling souvenirs as you’d expect in any city, but we also saw several lovely shops selling paintings and silk, and some antique shops selling beautiful furniture and a fine selection of antique jewellery.
The city is, of course right on the sea, and there has been a lot of development of the harbour area. Sadly many of the magnificent buildings now overlook a massive flyover taking traffic above the harbour road. The city also boasts the largest aquarium in Europe. We were enjoying the sunny day walking about so didn’t venture in there.

A couple of hours walking can give one a good appetite and we decided to stop for some lunch. And, of course, before that, a glass of wine in a tiny bar down an alley-way. The city has lots of small restaurants but we decided to go to the place where we’d bought the chocolate. It’s a very old place, [founded 1828] and is apparently famous for its pasta – a handwritten board outside offered [for plato primera] a choice of six different handmade pastas of the day with a choice of six sauces. Our lunch bore this out. The dining room is up a rickety flight of stairs, the waiters are traditionally dressed and the other diners are clearly the local business community. No-one spoke English, and again we were frustrated and embarrassed by our inability to speak the local language. The waitress was charming and helpful and made expressive shrugs at our initial choice of a pasta/sauce combination, replaced with beams as we selected a more appropriate combination. Liz had gnocchi with pesto – light and delicious, and Kit had spaghetti carbonara – creamy and spicy. Main course for both was thinly sliced veal with vegetables, and Liz had a delicious dessert of mille feuille with cream (don’t know how to spell the Italian version!). We also bought more of the chocolate!

Lots more walking in the afternoon, including a visit to the covered market – stuffed full of delicious produce of a quality and range somewhere between Melbourne’s Victoria market and Jerez town market - where we bought strawberries and some interesting-looking dark green tomatoes. We walked from the market along the main up-market shopping street. Ornately arcaded and with every major brand shop cheek by jowl with local jewellers, fashion houses, tailors etc. We’re getting pretty tired by this time, but the route we chose took us along the Via Garibaldi which has perhaps the best collection of fabulous buildings each next door to the other. Our spirits lifted, and happily we found a normal, local café for a restoring coffee and grappa. We then took a ride on the main funicular railway all the way to the top of the city. The hill is very steep and I’m sure the locals were happy when the funicular was opened in 1946! We picked up a nice picnic before setting off to find the station to get back to the port.

Arrived back at the port about 8pm. We were pleased that a phone call to the shuttle worked despite our lack of Italian and the shuttle arrived at the station car park ten minutes later to take us back to the ship. A delicious picnic supper accompanied by aching feet and tired legs. Then off to bed. The ship clearly left Genoa during the night, but not sure what time.

Saturday March 4th 2006

We were expecting to arrive in Fos-sur-Mer sometime in the morning, but we must have left Genoa quite late and so our arrival was early afternoon. We were also delayed somewhat because we had to wait for the pilot to board. Fos is a very unprepossessing sort of place. Looks like there might be an interesting sort of town nearby, but by the time we see the gantries it has sailed away into the far distance. The entrance to the harbour at Fos is clearly quite shallow, and there are lots of sandbanks about.

As we arrive at the berth it is clear that we will be docking in an area which consists purely of chemical works and a small wind farm. The dock looks very spacious and moderately clean for docks! However, the ship’s agent has already told the captain that stevedore work will not commence until the evening and there will be a break between 3 and 7 in the morning before completion of loading. We had all hoped that loading would be quick so we could get on our way to Barcelona, but it is not to be.

Sunday 5th March 2006

There were problems during the night with loading fuel (bunkers alongside!). Apparently it takes about 8 hours for the 2500 tonnes of fuel to be loaded from a barge which comes alongside the ship either in the dock or out at anchorage. The captain was first told to expect the barge at 3am, then 4am, then 5am, and then told it could got not get alongside until 10am. This was impossible as we are required to leave our berth as soon as loading is complete around 10am! The fuel company also said they couldn’t load the fuel at anchorage as the expected wind is too strong. The captain tried to get advice from ‘head office’ on the emergency telephone number – but no-one answered! Luckily we have enough fuel for the next few stages of the voyage. It’s probable that the ship won’t re-fuel now until it gets back to Suez.

I was writing this as Kit was watching to check the boys were doing a proper job setting off from Fos. There was much to report back. We had wondered why we seemed to be leaving without the full complement of boxes waiting to be loaded. The captain told Kit that this was because the cranes had automatically shut down as the wind is too high! We had wondered why the crane operator had climbed down all the steps rather than use the lift provided! That explained it. Also, apparently we had had constant checks during the night to check the security of the cranes in such windy weather.

The captain told Kit he had been in touch with head office eventually, only to find that the person whose number he had been calling – the emergency number!! – was away on holiday. When told that some boxes had been left behind the chap in London was cross and said he’d ‘have to make some calls’. Can’t imagine what he expected the captain to do about it! Three of the boxes left behind looked rather important. They were beautifully constructed timber boxes which didn’t look very waterproof if they have to stay on the quay for very long!

We are expecting very strong winds (Gale force 8 with stronger gusts) from Fos to Barcelona. The captain is not too concerned about the wind as it is coming from the land so it shouldn’t build up into huge swells as it would have if it were coming from the sea. Looks likely that we’ll arrive in Barcelona at midnight tonight, but now find we won’t have a berth until 0800 Monday. We may have to sail up and down rather than anchor if the wind stays as high as it is now. We’ll aim to get to the station in Barcelona in the morning to check on trains. Looking forward to being in Jerez again!!

As I write the sea is becoming very wild. It looks beautiful, but rather terrifying. I’m not sure whether I prefer to experience rough weather during the day or the night. During the day there is the constant checking of movement to avoid falling over. During the night one has to hold on to the edge of the mattress to avoid falling off the bed. Putting in contact lenses in such rough weather poses serious health risks!!

The pilot had a difficult job getting off the ship after the [not too arduous] job of piloting us out of the Fos harbour. We had to make a sharp turn to create a lee under the vast hull in which the pilot launch could approach and take the pilot safely.

This leaves us setting off into the Mediterranean mid-morning with all sorts of fierce weather warnings. The captain has been very sanguine and tells us that in severe weather you have to either change route or speed. It turns out that we will have to do both.

As the weather gets more severe, we are grateful that the wind has not had a chance to create great swells. It is pretty severe as it is. We later discover that the captain has not left the bridge for 24 hours. He tells us that the Mediterranean does not have ‘hurricanes’ or ‘typhoons’ but that the winds we are currently experiencing [Beaufort force 12 plus] would qualify for either of those descriptions. As twilight gathers the boat rocks more and more. Neither of us are the slightest bit seasick, but we do fear for the safety of our limbs. We’ve wedged ourselves into the corners of our living room couches with our feet against the fixed table legs. Our glasses are on large squares of anti slip mat. The boat takes a huge dive, lurch upwards and then our glasses don’t slide to destruction, they leap bodily off the table. Happily they were empty, but it is clearly necessary to clear up the broken bits. Not daring to walk to collect the bits, Kit goes on his hands and knees and still is slid hard into unmoving furniture. Hopefully all the broken bits are collected to avoid discomfort along with the morning tea.

Time for the evening meal. We’re actually a little hungry, but the ship is leaping about so much we think that the real possibility of a broken limb is not worth the culinary offerings we are likely to get. We discover later that our steward has been laid very low with a bad dose of sea sickness and that our meal would have been basic – at best – had we turned up for it.

As we’re disembarking tomorrow, it seems like at good idea to finish off the remaining drinks. We certainly don’t want to carry them. A large VAT [thank you George Cole, Minder] or vodka and tonic, a Cinzano and the remains of a bottle of German red. We slept well.

As the ship turns south alongside the coast from France to Spain, the turmoil reduces. As we sleep, we are peripherally aware of changes of direction, calming and we wake to find ourselves alongside the quay in Barcelona.

Monday 6th March 2006

Stunning sunrises, and welcome peace and tranquillity, slightly disturbed by the realisation that we must disembark today. Leave our snail shell.

Breakfast as normal which is where we discover how severe last might was. Still, we’ve arrived now. As we get back to our cabin to finalise packing, we bump into a newly arrived passenger who will be travelling from Barcelona to Singapore. We give him the benefit of our advice as well as unused bottles of mineral water and tonic from our fridge. In return he gives us the address of his travel agency [www.frachtschiffreisen.ch] which later proves to have details of many voyages from Cadiz [and Seville!] to Southampton and Felixstowe. Our regular correspondent hamish@freightertravel.co.nz has also told us of car carriers that travel regularly from Valencia to Southampton.

The captain appears with our passports and asks when we are getting off. He arranges crew members to get our bags from the cabin onto the quayside. Heavy bags - Big relief. And so we stand on the quayside – now what. We are not the ship’s responsibility – although the crew members are really helpful. We flag down a port car, who although not the port shuttle [I don’t think it exists] is sufficiently Spanish to smile, leap out, move his stuff and get us and our bags in. Whilst making the 1km drive to the gates he uses the port radio to order us a taxi which arrives within a few moments of our drop off. This is luxury travel.

Our taxi takes us directly to the main station in Barcelona where we find that the morning train to Jerez has only two single seats in separated carriages. The next option is the night train with a compartment with its own ‘en suite’ Sold, together with dinner and breakfast, a left luggage option and a lounge to await the final minutes before departure. A footloose and fancy free day in Barcelona awaits.

12 hours in Barcelona – we agree before we start that this is ridiculous and that a longer visit is necessary. Still, what to do with those hours. Walk to the Sagrada Familia. Coffee at the expensive café that has ‘the’ photographic view. Take the tour and try to ignore the scaffolding because it is after all a work in progress. Having been on our feet for more than two hours, lunch beckons. A taxi to the Plaza Real drops us in a sea of football supporters who had clearly been celebrating longer than we had. Our tried and trusted method for finding lunch sites [it works just as well for picnic sites when motoring] turn left down the first likely road, then first right, then first left…………Continue until successful. This has the big advantage of having easily retraceable steps so that one can find the way back to where you were before.


This leads us to an old fashioned Spanish – sorry Catalan – restaurant. Thankfully it was old fashioned as we fetched up at 1500 and they were still pleased to see us. Two brothers ran the front of house and the kitchen and two sisters were the waitresses – or some combination of brothers and sisters in law. Fellow diners were an anniversary couple – or if not they were very friendly – two earnest businessmen, a Catalan family that were still hiding secrets from 1936 and us. Goodness we ate well. And drank well. Walked around the corner until we found Café Elizabeth for a coffee and a cognac, and then a taxi back to the station to savour the peace of a club class railway lounge.

We travelled from Barcelona to our apartment in Jerez de la Frontera and plan to finish our round the world by freighter trip end April/ beginning May 2006 from Cadiz to Southampton – if possible.

As soon as we know, we’ll put any blog addresses here.

Thanks for reading.