Travel Diary: Croatia

The final instalment in my travel diary! Once again, I loved writing about and reliving my travels! I hope to do this again soon... I just need to book another holiday! I hope you've enjoyed reading about my travels as much as I've enjoyed writing about them.

Once again, if you didn't catch the others...
Part one
Part two
Part three

Sibenik 01/08/2017
They after Venice we visited Sibenik, Croatia.  Yet again, we had another tour booked, though this is one I'd been pretty keen on booking a while before the actual holiday so I was quite looking forward to it. This one was to Krka national park, which was incredibly scenic, especially with the pretty waterfalls.
After the coach had dropped us off at the site we took  boat ride to the main area. The wait for the boat was just mildly excruciating as the fierce heat reared its head once again. The boat ride was lovely, not just because it was welcome relief from the heat! We were treated to many nice views as we were transported to the main park. Once in the park we were given a chance to have a dip in the lake, though we sadly did not have our swimming cozzies with us so we had to suffer watching others cool of in the water while we struggled to find a place to sit.

Notice all the people taunting us splashing around in the cool water? What I would have given to have been one of them (i.e. not an idea who forgot her swimsuit)

This was followed by a small hike (which is NOT an easy feat in 40 degree heat. The rhyme was totally unintentional but still brilliant if I say so myself). Also, I'm not fit enough for a hike, especially on holiday when I've been stuffing my face. However, our suffering paid off as it meant we could see the waterfalls- a perfect photo op!! After our hike we boarded the coach to be delivered back to the port. Considering how cool it sounded and how excited I was for it I have to say, it was a bit of a let down. It was stunning for sure.... but there was a hike. In 40 degree heat. It certainly made for nice pictures though!

Please excuse the slightly distorted photo. This happened so often, hence the lack of photos. This one's not as bad as most of the other so I thought I'd keep it in as I don't have the patience for another re-upload. Anyway, this is one of the many views from our hike

Dubrovnik 02/08/2017

Can you see little slice of ship in the right hand corner??

Following Sibenik, we stopped off at Dubrovnik, Croatia's capital. Once we again we kicked the day off with breakfast in the cabin (I bet you can sense a theme here haha!), as we'd been doing at pretty much every port of call. I'm writing this quite a while after the actual holiday and I can say I'm sorely missing having a luxurious breakfast delivered to my room, especially in this chilly weather. Why is that not a thing? Anyway, I've strayed. Back to Dubrovnik. This time we (well, technically not my family personally as this was another tour, so it's the tour company really) bucked the trend of taking a coach to our destination. We were, instead, transferred by boat. It was so nice cruising along in the sun, surrounded by serene waves and stunning, vivid scenery. The boat took us to the old town (it probably has a more specific name but that's what I wrote down) where we were given a short (thankfully, it was pretty sweltering round here too) guided tour of the town. I invested most of that time in practising my photography skills. I don't mean to brag, but I think I captured some pretty neat photos, I was very impressed with myself.

A view from the water taxi

This is the photo I'm most proud of. The best one, in my opinion. I'm not actually sure what it is as I was too busy taking the photo 

After the walking tour we had one hour of free time to explore the town by ourselves. I invested this time wisely, making a necessary purchase- (overpriced) sweets. That was pretty much the end of the tour, and we were transported back to the ship via the water taxi (idk what a water taxi is specifically but I thought it sounded a bit more fancy than 'boat'). Before we jumped back on the ship, however, we had one final adventure in Croatia, seeking out a supermarket as we were getting low on the drinks front. Yes, there are drinks available for purchase on board the ship but we are cheap and wanted to save a few quid. So we stocked up on some decently priced booze and soft drinks (I do like me some Coca Cola!) from the local supermarket. I would like to pause at this point and comment on the fact that in Croatia they sell Vodka in a box. It's 3 litres. It was really cheap, around £15 maybe?? I don't know if this is common in other places but I don't think I've seen such a thing in the UK; it amused me greatly. Anyway, drinks purchased, we headed back to the ship happy as clams when tragedy ensued- my father dropped one of the bags he was holding causing the glass bottles in there (yummy cocktails- Cuba Libre and Cosmopolitan) to shatter and spill everywhere. Only one bottle survived. I was sad about the lost bottle for at least half an hour afterwards, until he nipped back out for more beer and also replaced the missing cocktails. So that trip ended on a sad-ish note that was promptly forgotten about as I downed my bottled Cuba Libre.

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Travel Diary: Italy

In case you missed them, here's the link to my first post
And my second

Messina 29/07/2017
Messina, Sicily was our second port of call. However, took a trip up to Taormina as there's more to do there then round the Messina area. The coach right was spectacular- the views were something else, with beautiful landscape and azure sea. Mount Etna was even visible, giving a chain smoker a run for their money.


Though I loved observing the scenery I'm pretty sure I napped for a good portion of the coach journey. Whoops. The spectacular views weren't restricted to the coach ride- once we arrived I the town we found we actually had a birds eye view- absolutely phenomenal!

The area we went to had lots of shops and cute cobble stoned streets. It felt very Italian. I also have to note, the locals were all so stunning looking, I felt like such a potato there! We, fortunately, managed to try some gelato, pizza and cannoli. I would have been pretty upset if I had missed out on trying those in Italy. Out trip was a brief one, sadly, but it was definitely not one I'll forget. I think it was my favourite? the views really one me over.

Look at how beautiful the sky is here! I don't think I've ever seen such a rich, deep, sapphire sky :o All my photos taken here are this stunning, vibrant shade of blue!

Venice 31/07/2017

A view from the motor boat. Please excuse the smudgy glass

Next up was Venice, which I was really looking forward to as I'd been wanting to visit it for a while now. While it had been pretty hot in the previous two places we'd visited, this is where we really felt the true potency of the heat. We had another tour booked, which kicked off with a motor boat ride round the water canals, looking at the sights from the boat. I must say, it was pretty damn cool to be able to cruise around in a boat and see all the lovely views.

We stopped off at a glass factory where we witnessed some glass being blown, as well as being given a chance to look around the shop. There were many pretty, ornate objects in the shop. Unfortunately my student budget didn't quite stretch enough for me to be able to purchase something. We were then transported, via the motorboat, to the main area (I'm pretty certain that's not what it's called but the name has totally escaped me. Actually, I tell a lie, I never had the name in the first place.) Anyway, it's the area where one can take a gondola ride, which is precisely why we were there. This sure was the most exciting part of the trip for me- I'd always wanted to take a gondola ride! We were  presented with the challenge of dealing with following the guides through hoards of people in temperatures that I'm fairly certain rivalled with that of hell to get to the... gondola station? Again, not sure what to call it but this seems fitting to me. There really is recurrent theme of me not knowing the names of things in this post haha. It was super worth the struggle though! If you ever in Venice a gondola ride is a must. Frankly, it would be sacrilege to go and not experience one! Anyway, once that had disappointingly ended we headed back (through the crowds and the heat once again) to the motor boat to be transported back to the ship.

Cagliari 04/08/2017
Our penultimate destination was Cagliari in Sardinia. Honestly, there's not an awful lot to say as we didn't do an awful lot here. There wasn't an awful lot to do, plus it was a pretty short stop- the ship departed at 3pm. I've been to Sardinia before and the area we went to at that time was gorgeous, so I was throughly disappointed with this stop. I was honestly expecting white sandy beaches with crystal blue seas and donkey rides like my first trip but, sadly, there was nothing so exciting round here. We ended up spending time wandering round shops. The one plus is that we found a lovely jewellery shop with a good sale on so I managed to get some cute rings. That's about it though.

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Travel Diary: Spain/Gibraltar

In case you missed it, here's the link to my first travel diary 

Cadiz 26/07/2017
Our first port of call was Cadiz. We disembarked later than we normally would, which I quite liked- it made for a more relaxed visit.

 Cadiz seemed pretty different to the last time we visited, but still lovely nevertheless. We started off by wandering around a bit, before hitting up a cathedral which was beautifully ornate- very visually pleasing! We stopped off at a stall selling paella and sangria, which is pretty much mandatory to try in Spain imo.

We wandered around a fish market which was a bit smelly but also disappointing because we couldn't actually buy any of the fish, even though a lot of it looked like it would make for some epic meals. We dined at a small, cute restaurant. I had battered prawns, which were tasty. We then headed to a local supermarket to take advantage of the cheap booze, before leisurely making our way back to the ship (I picked up a cute necklace on my way).

Gibraltar 06/08/2017
Gibraltar, our final port of call, was definitely the least exciting. That's partly because I've been a few times before, but also because it seems to be what I'd call a 'filler' place. It's very similar to the UK, which has its upsides but also its drawbacks. It was just kind of like wandering round my local town centre. However, the booze is cheap as there's no VAT or something like that, so I managed to get my hands on a 1 litre bottle of Absolut Vodka for £11, which is way less than what I'd have paid for it in the shops! It was a really cool flavour, acai, blueberry and pomegranate. In case you're wondering, it was as yummy as it sounds.Since there wasn't much to see or do there we didn't take a single photo. I suppose I could upload a photo of the Absolut, since I actually still have the bottle. It's acting as a bookend. It's doing a pretty good job, in case you were wondering.
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Travel Diary- Days at Sea

It's been a couple of months since I came back from this holiday but, since I enjoyed writing about my holiday so much last time, I thought I'd do another. It's a nice way to relive the memories. However, because it was a pretty long holiday, and also because I'm lazy, I'm basically just going to outline the highlights and include some pretty pictures. Because I write to much that didn't quite happen, so while I'd intended to shove it all in one post said post got too long and I've had to split it up.

This year's holiday was, once again, a cruise. However, it was a blissful seventeen days around Southern Europe- much needed after a gruelling four week summer job. We sailed with P and O cruises again, though this time we chose their ship 'Aurora.' A considerably smaller ship it was cosy with a more classical interior design. I particularly liked the Art Deco influences, though I slightly missed the fresh contemporary air of Britannia. 

The days at sea were roughly the same, so I thought I'd sum up what we typically did in this post. I'd usually wake up and read for around an hour with a coffee before hitting the gym for another hour. I'd shower once I got back and get ready for the day. This would then be followed by a combination of reading/exploring the ship/listening to music/napping/doing the daily crossword and sudoku (we're too cheap to pay for onboard internet... plus I kind of like brainteasers. I'm a bit weird like that).

The lift area, which I was just *slightly* fascinated with- lovely interior design!

The atrium. Smaller than previous ships but it still had character. Plus there was no risk of getting lost haha!

This is a general view of the ocean from our cabin on a sunny day.  This is honestly such an amazing view to have, mostly because it's not everyday that your view is the damn ocean!!

Then lunch, obviously. Usually eaten at the buffet, sometimes at the poolside grill. The period after lunch was usually spend similarly to the period before, with reading and music. If we were living dangerously we'd spend a bit of time on the promenade deck watching the ocean. There were a fair few times we saw dolphins- one of the biggest highlights of the trip.

We'd then get ready for dinner, pretty much always with a nice drink or two. Alcoholic, obviously, because who doesn't like being a bit tipsy for dinner??? We generally dined at the on board restaurant, which is pretty damn posh. Being the architectural enthusiast that I am I was particularly fascinated by the twinkling lights in the ceiling. Dinner's a three course meal with, usually, a fairly decent selection of food.

This is a little snippet of one of the dresses I wore on a formal night. Sadly it's mostly cut out in this photo. It's so lovely (and, more importantly, a bargain at £25! It's from H&M, though I bought it a while back so I doubt they're selling anymore)

Ok, I managed to get a proper photo of the dress I'm wearing in the picture above. Not that there's that much point because it's about two years old so I'm fairly certain it's no longer available for purchase.

One of the many sunsets we got to enjoy on our trip. Probably taken on the promenade deck just before dinner 

If you have a little flick through my blog you can probably gather that I adore food, so it should come as no surprise that I'm going to describe my favourite meal onboard. This meal is so worthy of description. It should actually have its own blog post, if I'm honest. Anyway, it was a roast dinner. To be more specific, a prime forerib of beef, plus some fancy potatoes that I forget the name of, a Yorkshire pud and some veg. And gravy, I think. The beef. That beef. It was the softest thing. It tasted beautiful, so beautiful, in fact, that with each bite I practically saw angels descend with their harps, singing the Hallelujah Chorus. I still have dreams about that meal. Then I wake up covered in drool and thoroughly disappointed. (I should also mention that the started was octopus and the dessert mango creme brûlée- an around A+ meal!)

Sorry I couldn't get a picture of this fantastic meal, I was too busy enjoying it. Instead enjoy a photo of me enjoying a glass of wine in the restaurant, taken on a completely different day to the one I had the meal on.

The top deck of the ship, it looks so pretty all lit up! 

Post dinner usually involved chilling in bed with a shot of whiskey before passing out (from sleep, not intoxication, I swear I only had a few drinks!!). It's been so nice reliving all of this, in the middle of autumn and a new uni term and with a whole bunch of deadlines rapidly approaching I'm wishing I was back relaxing on holiday! I guess I'm just going to have to dream about my next one for the moment...

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Apology and Thoughts on Travel Writing

I want to start off with an apology for the lack of posts (and the delay with getting those I had written out). I started university (again) and things were very hectic. I'll most likely do a post on it at some point fully explaining everything that happened to make it so stressful. On top of the stress I also had a lot of essays to write so didn't feel like doing much more writing on top of that. I'll discuss this in more detail in another post, though. I'm going to try and make an effort to post more, though this is dependant on whether I can think of things to write about.

Anyway, onto discussing the travel writing. I definitely enjoyed it, it was fun reliving my holiday, and I think it will be great to look back on several years from now. I'd definitely do it regularly if I was able to afford to travel enough to write a regular travel blog. Unfortunately, I don't have that kind of money, nor do I have the time seeing as I have degree to focus on, so it's not something I'd be able to do regularly. However, when I do go away I will definitely be documenting it on my blog, it was really fun to write about! I'd maybe do a few things differently- I'd definitely take a few notes so I can remember what happened properly when it comes to writing it up, and I'd maybe format my posts differently so they're less text heavy and easier to follow. I'm looking forward to writing about my travels again- I just have to get something booked now!

Travel Diary: Day 7 At Sea

Today was our final day of our holiday, which, for me, was pretty sad. I always miss my holidays a little when they finish, wishing I was back having a great time and forgetting about all my worries and problems. As a result, I made sure that I made the most of this last day, and this included waking up a bit earlier so that I had a longer day (and also so that I could have my second last breakfast).

After several bacon and croissant sandwiches we got comfy and watched a movie in our stateroom. The movie we selected was called 'Unfriended,' a 'horror' movie about a group of friends who are tormented by what I guess was meant to be the spirit of a friend of theirs who committed suicide. I put horror in inverted commas for a reason- it was the furthest thing from scary. The plot was decent, I suppose, but I wouldn't really recommend the movie, particularly if you want something that will keep you on edge with fear. I began repacking my suitcase, then we went up to the buffet for our final lunch. I really made the most of my lunch, even though I was a bit disappointed with the selection (though they did have truffle oil mac and cheese, which was nice).

After lunch we had a bit of a rest in the cabin. As we'd been pretty busy the previous few days, and adjusting to our new surroundings on the first day at sea, I hadn't had the opportunity to take pictures. Since I had most of the afternoon free I decided to grab the camera and rush round the ship taking photos of everything. I like having photos of my holidays, they make the memories I have of holidays much more vivid and sometimes remind me of elements of my holiday that I may have forgotten. Before I set off on my photo snapping adventure I had some scones with cream and jam from the buffet, where they were serving afternoon tea, and admired the ocean. Then we set off to deck seven, moving from location to location around the ship, taking pictures of the amazing decor. Having finished our little 'photo shoot' we went back to cabin where we opened a bottle of prosecco that had been intended for the first day, though it still seemed fairly fitting for the last day. We had a nice chat in the stateroom as we enjoyed our bubbly.

When we'd finished out prosecco, we proceeded to get ready for our final restaurant dinner. I opted for a simple, comfortable outfit (the dress code was evening casual anyway), but spent a bit of time doing my make up (I really enjoy doing my make up). I also finished up my packing, and got my suitcase ready outside my cabin, where it would be collected by a staff member and taken to a room at the port, available for us to pick up when we disembark in Southampton. Today's menu was quite nice, especially as there was duck, one of my favourite meats, as a main course. The desserts, however, were a bit of a disappointment, though I still ordered some. We spent about half an hour resting in the cabin, before making our way to the theatre on deck 7 to watch the show. It was pretty awesome, as it had been the previous times, though I wasn't too keen on the music, which had an impact on my overall enjoyment of the show. This one had a British theme, which was fitting considering we were sailing back to Southampton on Britannia, and the Irish and Scottish dancing was a particular highlight. I have to say, the performers were both incredibly talented dancers and singers, and their talent really brought the shows to life. The special effects were also spectacular, the shows were far better than anything I'd seen before, and much, much more than you;d expect from a performance at sea. The final day at sea was concluded with whiskey and coke and chatting until the early hours of the morning, largely in some attempt to prolong the holiday for at least slightly longer (we could sleep all we wanted at home, but we only had a few hours on the ship).

Travel Diary: Day 6, Bergen

Today I decided to skip waking up ridiculously early to see the port as we entered and catch up on a bit of greatly needed sleep again. I did make sure to get some breakfast, though, as there were only a few days left and I wanted to make the most of it all. It's pretty good I did because I discovered that bacon and croissant compliment each other perfectly (though I'm certain that my stomach and my heart don't agree). As a result of taking it a bit slower we left a bit later, which was actually quite good as getting up and leaving early was getting pretty exhausting.

Bergen is nicknamed 'the rainy city,' and on that particular day it really lived up to its name. Grey clouds filled the sky, and the day was punctuated with spells of fairly heavy rain. In my opinion, this did lower the tone of the day, making it somewhat more tiring and unpleasant. We did what we mostly do when we explore a port- wander around aimlessly, with no particular plans of anything we specifically want to see or do (which is not something I like doing, but is something that I have to do.) Actually, we did plan to see a fish market, though we got were unable to find it, and the weather didn't particularly encourage us to persist with trying to find it. However, we did find a restaurant that served fish that was quite impressive, with tanks of live crabs and lobsters and large, dead fish that actually looked quite spectacular on display, ready for costumers to purchase and consume. It also looked pretty nice, and my nostrils weren't assaulted with the smell of dead fish. The rain spells convinced us that it was better to head back to the ship a bit earlier, otherwise we'd just end up huddling in front of shop doorways in an attempt to shelter ourselves from the wind and rain. I have to say, out of the four places I visited, this was the one that I enjoyed the least. The not-so-pleasant weather certainly contributed to this, but I also found that Bergen was less scenic than Andalsnes and Alesund, lacking the beautiful mountains and lakes, and it felt slightly less quaint than Stavanger. I still thought it was pretty, nevertheless. 

We intended ordering room service, but decided to check out the buffet anyway. Since we happened to be in the buffet area we decided we might as well get ourselves a little to eat. We returned to our cabins to shower and generally relax with a book and a drink. Somewhere in the mid afternoon I decided that I wanted afternoon tea as I only had two more left, and, having been reminded that it was a special one filled with chocolate treats, I dashed all the way up to deck 16 (well, 'dashed' is a bit inaccurate seeing as I took the lift, there were no stairs midship, which I would have taken if I could have). The selection was lavish, with a ridiculous amount of elaborate, decadent, delicious-looking cakes, cupcakes, doughnuts and desserts, I had to restrain myself in order to prevent myself from taking all the desserts. Since I'd come up alone I sneaked these treats back to enjoy in the comfort of my stateroom. We also decided to order the room service we'd discussed earlier- it's not everyday you have the opportunity to order free room service. However, only a few minutes after we'd ordered, the captain came of the speaker announcing that there were whales visible, so we naturally dashed up to one of the top decks to see them. I love spotting the likes of dolphins, whales and other sea creatures on cruises- they always look so amazing, it really makes my holiday. These were pilot whales, so they looked a little like dolphins as their black fins bobbed up and down amongst the waves. Satisfied that I had finally seen a sea creature in this trip I returned to the cabin. Our pizza arrived shortly after we did, and we devoured it, along with the chocolate treats I'd brought back. 

On the journey back to Southampton the water was pretty choppy, and this could certainly be felt in the ship. As a result of this I ended up feeling quite travel sick, and this combined with the fact that it was a formal evening (and I did not have the patience to make myself look nice), I wasn't keen on anything in the restaurant menu and they were serving Italian food in the buffet, meant that I really did not want to go down to the restaurant for dinner. However, bearing in mind the fact that I didn't have a lot of time left on the ship I forced myself out of bed and into my formal clothes, put a bit of make up on and ate in the restaurant, While we waited for our pager to go off I ordered a ginger ale, which helped largely with the nausea. I quite enjoyed my meal, even if it was a bit much for me and I struggled to finish it. By the time we'd finished at the restaurant my sea sickness had cleared up, so i felt able to go for a bit of a walk around the ship to soak up the atmosphere as it's pretty nice at night! As per usual, we finished up at the cabin (where else would we go?!) for our penultimate sleep on the ship. 

Travel Diary: Day 5, Andalsnes

Today we docked in Andalsnes, which is a phenomenally beautiful place and definitely my favourite stop on this cruise. As I'd slept late and woken up early the previous three days I'd decided to skip going up to the top deck and eating breakfast in order to be slightly less sleep deprived when we did our tour. I wolfed down a delicious muffin that had been brought for me from the breakfast buffet as I got ready, then we headed down to wait for a tender to take us a shore. For those of you who don't know, a tender is a little boat-like vessel that, in my opinion, somewhat resembles a lifeboat that are used when a ship is unable to dock in the port (you'd usually just walk off the ship when it's in port). They're a bit more of an inconvenience because taking one means waiting for one to arrive, fill up with passengers and transport them either to the port or back to the ship, and who wants to waste time waiting?! I also used to find them quite small, wet and unpleasant as I found they rocked quite a bit, though I'm used to them now and so don't dislike them quite as much. In fact, in this instance I quite enjoyed  taking the tender, actually, as it provided me with the perfect opportunity to drink in the view, which was great as the view was stunning.

After exiting the tender we boarded our coach almost immediately, ready to start the tour. The tour consisted of two stops, one at a church and the other at the Troll Wall. A large part of the tour, however, consisted of driving around, which I thoroughly enjoyed as the whole place was incredibly scenic and all the roads we drove down were surrounded by this great natural beauty. The coach journey was truly amazing (even if I did have an incredibly quick power nap in the coach to boost my energy and reduce my tiredness). I have to say, I was awestruck by the views, which I think I was incredibly fortunate to see. Smooth, tranquil lakes sparkled calmly, while tall mountains stood proudly and peacefully as waterfalls and glaciers graced their sides. Bright fluffy white clouds hung low, adding both an air of mystique and serenity. Even the miserable, overcast day couldn't silence their beauty.

The church was our first stop. We were given a talk about the history of the church whilst sitting on the pews inside. We were then given the opportunity to take pictures of the church and use the loos if we needed, before we boarded the coach in order to carry on with the journey. The church's surrounding area was so astonishingly beautiful, with the most breathtaking view- I wish I hadn't wasted time queuing to use the toilet as it resulted in me having less time to marvel at its beauty. We then carried on to the Troll Wall, a tall rock wall that stands gracefully and majestically. We were given about twenty minutes to get off the coach and admire the wall, take pictures and have a look round the area. Once our twenty minutes were up we returned to the coach, which took us back to the tender area so we could go back to the ship. On our way back, we had a photo stop at a beautiful location, which provided us with an excellent opportunity to get some amazing shots of the scenery. This was great as I hadn't had much of a chance to capture the serene lakes with the impressive mountains towering above, with the emerald trees lining them. It was a pretty quick tour in comparison to others that I've been on, but I was completely satisfied and thought that it was amazing value- it really allowed me to get a real sense of the place without dragging on or being overly tiring.

Since our tour started quite early and only lasted for a short period of time we were back on the ship pretty early. We enjoyed a drink in our stateroom until it was time to go up to the lunch buffet. When we'd finished lunch we watched the remainder of 'The Theory of Everything,' (which I actually read through since I'm not that big a movie fan and I was finding my book pretty interesting). Once the movie had ended we went up to the top deck to admire the beautiful landscape while we still could, as the ship was due to sail away fairly soon. Shortly before the sail away we had some drinks in the atrium (I had the strawberry and lime cider again, yum), then we watched the ship leave the port and waved goodbye to the breathtaking scenery. We decided to have a more relaxed dinner tonight as there wasn't anything particularly exciting in the restaurant and they were serving Indian food in the buffet. It was actually pretty great eating at the buffet as the food was delicious and, as many people also came to the buffet this evening, there was a bit of a buzz in the atmosphere. It felt cosier and more relaxed than the restaurant, and we got to see the remainder if the gorgeous scenery as we sailed away, which made for a fantastic dining experience. There was another show being performed in the theatre, this time with a fairytale theme. It was a great show, though I felt that it lacked the 'wow factor' of the previous one and, as a result, was less spectacular.
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Travel Diary: Day 4, Alesund

The second place the ship docked at was Alesund, which was a lovely, pretty place. Again. like the day before, we woke up early and went up to the top deck in order to marvel at the scenery and practise our photography skills, followed by seeking out a table by the window and savouring our breakfast along with the view. This time we decided to set of a little later, and allowed ourselves a bit of extra time to sleep after breakfast in order to feel slightly more refreshed as we explored Alesund.

Alesund was a very beautiful place, surrounded by large mountains and glistening lakes. We spent a lot of time walking around admiring the area and taking photos of the scenery. It was pretty amazing to be able to walk around a town where you shops and other attractions but you also have a phenomenal view. Most of our trip consisted of walking around and taking in the place, which was nice but a bit tiring.

When we got back on the ship we did what we'd been doing at every port stop which was rush up to the buffet in order to fill up on unlimited food. We planned on watching 'The Theory of Everything' in our stateroom, as it was available on the entertainment system (the ships had pretty good TVs in the cabins, with shows and movies available to watch at whatever time you wanted). However, I was so exhausted from all the late nights and the early mornings that I was completely unable to keep my eyes open and as a result became overwhelmed with sleep and drifted off for a few hours (which is very unlike me- I never sleep during the day, I can barely even sleep at night when I'm supposed to). In between naps we went up to try some of the afternoon tea that was being served in the buffet, as I really like scones with cream and jam. We then quickly returned to sleeping, before getting ready for an earlier dinner in order to have more time to sleep as we had a tour the next day that we had to wake up early for.

Travel Diary: Day 3 Stavanger

Today would be the first day in port. We docked in Stavanger at around 7:00 am in the morning, though we woke up a little bit earlier in order to watch the ship arrive at the port as we knew the scenery in the area would be particularly beautiful. I forced myself out of bed at 6:00 am when my alarm went off, fighting off my instinct to just shut my eyes, roll over and go back to sleep. I dressed quickly and we went right up to the 18th deck, as we would get the best view from there. As this was a perfect opportunity to take some brilliant photos, I made it a point to take the camera with me, and spent a fair amount of time snapping away at the scenery. Since we looked somewhat decent, and we were pretty close to the buffet, we decided to grab some breakfast, taking special care to nab a table by the window in order to savour the scenery while eating. We then returned to our cabins to finish preparing before we went out to explore the area.

With cruises, the majority of the time you can simply walk of the ship and into the town you've arrived at, so as soon as we had disembarked we were able to begin looking around. We started by walking up some pretty cobbled streets with a relatively steep incline- quite a work out considering the time of day! Luckily, this did also mean that we had the opportunity to burn off some of the food we'd over-consumed. We then made our way down to a beautiful park, where we sat and enjoyed the scenery for a short while. After relaxing briefly at the park, we headed over to a museum. However, as it turned out that you had to pay to enter (the cost of living is particularly high in Norway, which meant that everything, including entry to the museum, was ridiculously expensive) we didn't actually go inside. We did make good use of the free WiFi that we discovered the museum offered, however. Following this brief stint at the museum we ambled through more cobbled streets, checking out the shops that lined them and snapping away like nobody's business. Finally, we ended up at a cute little market area which offered trinkets, souvenirs and fluffy rugs, hats etc., many of which were made from reindeer skin. At this point we were pretty exhausted from the hours of walking, and our tummies were starting to rumble so, with the ship in sight, we thought it was just about time that we headed back and rushed over to the buffet. 

After lunch had finished, the others went off to watch 'The Jungle Book' at 3:00 pm in the cinema on board. I debated going, but ultimately decided to stay back as my hair was due a wash, dry and straighten, which takes me hours, so I really needed to use the time available to do that. Three hours later (I'm not exaggerating, though I did take a pretty long, hot shower) and my hair was all straight and nice and ready to go.

Having looked at the menu in the restaurant we decided that there wasn't anything that really caught our attention, so we thought that this time we'd opt for a more casual meal and check out the buffet instead. I enjoyed having dinner at the buffet a lot! It was nice and relaxed, and we managed to get a table with a view of the sea, which helped add to the atmosphere. They were serving east Asian food in the buffet, and everything was so delicious. About an hour after we'd finished eating, we watched a show that was being performed in the on board theatre. The show was pretty spectacular- it involved pulsing lights and catchy, modern music brought to life with amazing voices and breathtaking dance moves, all set against an illuminated background. The whole theatre was alive and buzzing. I thoroughly enjoyed it! The day was finished off with another fantastic sleep, worn out and exhausted after a long day of walking and sightseeing.