Back Home 27th April

A sad day - the end of our 107 day voyage in which we travelled 38,000 miles and visited 23 countries
:- America, Grand Cayman, Costa Rica, Mexico, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, India, Dubai, Oman, Jordan, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Portugal. It really was the trip of a lifetime and we have some great memories, plus some new friends.

Docked in Southampton

Queen Mary

We arrived in Southampton early in the morning and were off the ship by 10.00 am.  Nick came to meet us and we had a good journey home, meeting the rain when we got near Knebworth.  We started unpacking but it was only later on that we realised we were one suitcase short.  So far the baggage handling company hasn't found it but we are keeping our fingers crossed - particularly as it contained most of Keith's shoes including his brand new green brogues!

The Queen Mary was already in dock and some lucky people were going to transfer to her and carry on cruising.

A sad farewell

Thank you for following us on the blog - it was nice to have that link to you back home.  I hope I didn't ramble on too much, I notice the entries got longer towards the end!

Anyway we look forward to catching up with everyone now we are back. and I am looking forward to finding out what it is like to be at home and not working!

See you soon!

Lisbon, Portugal – Tuesday 24th April

Our last port of call before Southampton – and we loved it.  Lisbon is an ancient town on the banks of the River Tagus and has been a settlement for over 3000 years – some legends state that it was founded by Ulysses.  The Romans were there, and the Moors ruled for 300 years until 1147 when it was recovered and named Lisboa.  The route to Lisbon up the River Tagus is very picturesque – they have the second longest suspension bridge in Europe, modelled on the Golden Gate Bridge and their own Christ the King statue resembling the one in Rio de Janeiro.

City from River - St George's Castle in background

The city is built on a series of hills – the central part (the Baixa), which is in a valley, was destroyed by earthquake in 1755 and has been rebuilt on a grid system with many stunning unspoilt buildings and a large central boulevard,  whilst the neighbourhoods to either side are up steep hills.  To the west is a fashionable shopping  area known as Chiada and the Bairro Alto district of cobbled streets with lots of small bars and restaurants.  The area on the eastern side houses the original citadel containing St. Georges Castle as well as some very old houses, some of which are rather dilapidated.  However, the overall impression is of a city in a good state of repair that is virtually unspoilt by modern developments.  We found one small modern shopping centre but the streets are crammed with small shops with original frontages.  They look expensive, but on closer inspection we found there were bargains to be had.

Lift from Bairro Alto to town centre

We took the ship’s shuttle into the centre of town and started the day in a historic coffee house with coffee and a local speciality of custard tart – these come in melt-in-the-mouth puff pastry cases – absolutely delicious!  For 5 euros we bought a one-day transport pass and took the tiny ancient one-car tram up to the castle.  This was an adventure in itself as the tram had just enough room to squeeze past parked cars up the winding hill, and in places we had to stop for delivery vans to carry out their business – this was great for us as we could look in all the shops without the trouble of walking.  The castle has been restored and is fantastic  - there are no safety rails and it would be quite easy to fall off the ramparts, but that adds to the charm.

We managed to find another tram  which took us back across the centre of town up to the Chiada on the other side.  This houses some of the more well-known shop names plus lots of tourist-oriented cafes and bars with umbrellas outside.  A short stroll away is the much older night-life area with small bars, cafes and traditional shops.  We opted for a small café for lunch and weren’t disappointed – particularly at the price of the excellent red wine (3,60 euros for 50cl).  I had seen a lift marked on the map and was fascinated at the idea of taking a lift from one part of the town the other.  It turned out to be a rather splendid structure, recently restored, which must date back to at least the early 20^th Century.

We took the lift to the central part of town and finished the day with a walk down to the waterfront and around the theatre area and main shopping streets.  There is much more to explore further afield (not least the many seaside resorts which are a short train ride away) but this was a good first-time taster.  Another place we want to come back to!

We have two days at sea before arriving at Southampton.  We will have travelled 38,000 miles since setting out on 10^th January.

p.s.  be careful what you wish for.  I have been saying it is a pity we have had no rough weather since the Tasman sea because a lot of people on the ship have no idea what it is like.  Well, we woke up this morning (Wednesday) to huge seas  - 8 metre waves – and I have not been feeling too healthy, despite not having been affected previously – probably depends on the roll of the ship.    The captain promises it will get calmer by tonight.

Thank you for reading the blog – it is nice to know that some of you have stayed with us throughout.

Rome – Saturday 21st April

This is the birthday of Rome  - presumably of the Republic in 509 BC rather than the founding in 753BC by Romulus, as that date doesn’t seem very certain..

We docked at Civitavecchia, for centuries it has been the port for Rome, which is about 50 miles away.  The port has a beautiful fort designed by Michelangelo, but otherwise is mostly a modern town, so we decided to take the Cunard bus into Rome and arrived at St. Peter’s square around 8.45 am.

The cupola of St Peter's which we climbed

View from the Top

We have both been to Rome before so we worked out a schedule of things we wanted to do or re-do in the 6 hours we had there.  Our first task, which was new to both of us, was to ascend the Cupola of St. Peters.  There is a lift which takes you up the first 200 steps onto the roof after which there are 300 steps to a small outside platform on the cupola.  There is also an inside gallery on the way from which you can view the lovely ceilings.  The view from the top is stunning and it is particularly nice to look down into the Vatican gardens which you can’t see very well from ground level.  Back down on the roof there is a café, souvenir shop and toilets so you can spend your time wandering round admiring the huge statues and watching people in the square.

We had a quick walk round the interior of St. Peter’s before making our way down to the River Tiber, past the Castel St. Angelo and over the pedestrian bridge into the old Renaissance part of Rome.  The guide on our coach told us that the dark chocolate ice cream in Tre Scalini on the Piazza Navona was the best ever and I think she could be right – especially when mixed with a scoop of vanilla. 

The Pantheon

We were heading for my favourite building in Rome, the Pantheon, built by Emperor Hadrian on the site of an earlier monument erected in 27BC by Marcus Agrippa, and still intact after 2000 years – because it was made into a church and not plundered for building material like so many of the other buildings.  It had until the mid 20^th Century the largest concrete dome in the world – with a hole in the middle.  The building is massive and has a real atmosphere inside – particularly if viewed near dusk when there are not many visitors.  The photograph doesn’t do it justice – you need to walk round and feel the solidity of the pillars and view the very unusual architecture. 

Trevi Fountain

Next was a visit to the Trevi Fountain to throw coins over our shoulders (so that we will come back to Rome).  We had a quick stop for a beer and pizza then we made our way down to Trajan’s Column (beautifully carved depicting scenes of Trajan’s victories)  and Trajan’s Market.  The market was famous when it was built around 2000 years ago as a Roman Shopping Centre and the booths look good enough to be used as a market today.  I was surprised that all the wild cats who lived in the ruins outside seem to have disappeared.  Opposite Trajan’s Market is the Roman Forum which leads up to the Palatine Hill.  The Forum has impressive ruins of the centre of old Rome whereas the Palatine Hill contains the houses of some of the noble families .  We didn’t do it this time, but you can walk across the Palatine to view the site of the Circus Maximus where the chariot races used to take place.  At the end of the Via Imperiali which runs alongside the Forum is the Coliseum – we took a photo then headed back towards the river.

Trajan's Market

Our final stop was at the Napoleonic Museum.  We had seen this on the map, and as Keith is interested in the Napoleonic wars we decided to visit.  Actually Napoleon Bonaparte never visited Rome but his family were allowed to settle there after he was taken into captivity, and the museum houses artefacts from their homes  - some fine paintings, sculptures, porcelain and furniture.  The museum is right by the Umberto bridge so we re-crossed the river and headed back to our meeting point at St. Peter’s  by some of the quieter streets, stopping for a glass of wine on the way.

Napoleon in his Museum - this one is for Paul and Nicole

This was a very pleasant trip, the weather was perfect and Rome wasn’t too busy – if we had arrived the day before as originally planned we would have had rain all day and traffic congestion as there was a train strike!

Piraeus, Greece – Wednesday 18th April

I woke up at 7 am and wondered why I was falling out of bed.  The ship was listing heavily to the port side and there was a storm raging outside.  In the Lido restaurant Keith saw crockery smashing onto the floor and he struggled to bring my morning tea back to the cabin in one piece.  It was actually quite difficult to walk up the cabin to open the door!  All this because the captain was trying to get into Piraeus harbour and a 70 knot wind was making us keel over.  He came on the tannoy to tell us that there was nothing to worry about but we would have to go back out to sea and wait out the storm with our head to the wind.  About 4 hours later, with the help of two big tugs we managed to get to the dock, but we had to have the engines going and two tugs pushing at our side to hold us against the quay.

The Marina

Piraeus is the port for Athens and most people were either booked on tours or planning to go in on their own.  It was disappointing for them that tours had to be cancelled or curtailed, but they still managed to see the main sights.  I was not too keen on Athens, having been mugged there last year, so we had planned to stay in Piraeus.  We made our way down to the Marina hoping to visit a bar or two and then walk along the coast, but we hadn’t really bargained for the stormy weather which made walking anywhere near the seafront very unpleasant – also most of the bars were shut.  We wandered through  the main shopping area  but it was noticeable that several shops were abandoned – the result of the recession I guess – and the others didn’t have many people in them.  It was all a bit depressing so we came back to the ship early.

We were supposed to sail away at 5pm but the strong winds meant we couldn’t leave until about 10 pm – and then only with the help of three tugs.  This, plus continued high winds meant that we couldn’t reach Rome by Friday morning so today (Thursday) the captain has told us that he has cancelled our call to Monte Carlo on Saturday so that we  can have a full day in Rome instead.  We are quite disappointed as we wanted to explore Monte Carlo  - now we will have an extra day at sea on Friday – I suppose we can start packing!  We have certainly left the good weather behind, it is only about 13C now – breaking us in for the homecoming no doubt.

Alexandria – Monday 16th April

Alexandria is Egypt’s second largest city and leading port – with a population of 4.1 million, it was founded by Alexander the Great in 332 BC because he wanted a capital nearer to his homeland of Macedonia.  It was famed in ancient times for its Pharos, the great lighthouse, unfortunately no longer there, and its Library, the centre of knowledge for the ancient world (with 500,000 books), accidently burned down by Julius Caesar when he razed the palace next door (or so we were told).  Cleopatra lived here when she was Queen of Egypt from 51-30 BC – she and Mark Anthony committed suicide after being defeated by Octavian when Egypt came under Roman rule.  The city went into decline and by the time Napoleon captured it, it had only 5,000 inhabitants.  The French didn’t stay long, but the city appears to have flourished in the 19^th century  and came under British influence from 1882 until 1954.

View from the docks

We didn’t know anything about the city so opted for a one-day sightseeing tour.  It has a fabulous waterfront stretching for 20km, and looking out from the city it was idyllic with sandy beaches to the eastern end, a bright blue sea with rolling waves and lots of little boats offshore.  We were there on their Easter Monday (Coptic calendar calculates Easter differently) – although this is a predominantly muslim country, Easter is still a national holiday and the Monday is the day for families to go out together and enjoy themselves.  It was nice to see so many of them picnicking on the beach or in the parks and towards evening there were huge crowds on the promenade.  Everywhere we went people waved and smiled at us – some said ‘thank you’.  Our guide said that we were only the second cruise ship to come in this year and that everyone was pleased to see tourists again.  Must admit in the whole day we didn’t see anyone else who looked like a tourist.

Qait Bey Fort - on the sight of the Famous Lighthouse

Along the seafront there is a mixture of buildings – at the Western end some that are mid to late 19^th century that were once grand but now empty, and some terrible apartment blocks that are crumbling – we were told that rents are fixed for generations so many people  pay only 1 dollar a month and the owners can’t afford renovations!  Further along there are modern hotels and restaurants, but interspersed with slightly less terrible apartments and occasionally a shining beacon of a modern or renovated block.  Inside the city the story is the same, I felt quite sad looking at some beautiful buildings that seemed to be holding each other up and hanging on whilst yet more stucco fell to the ground  and balconies collapsed,  in the hope that a renovation might be forthcoming, but given the state of the economy I am not too hopeful.  On our tour we did of course visit some of the best sites…

Montazah Palace

First the Montazah Palace and gardens  - this was the summer residence  of King Farouk until he was deposed in 1952 and it is now used by the presidents.  The gardens are open to the public and were full of picnicking families. Nearby is a 5 star hotel built in the 1960s to provide accommodation for the Arab states and Israelis during peace talks. 

Next we visited the new library - Bibliotecha Alexandrina, built in 2002, with a UNESCO grant and Egyptian money, on the same site as the original – about 2300 years later.  It has a fabulous design and represents the sun with the earth (a planetarium) at its side – unfortunately we don’t have a photo.  The interior is equally impressive with hundreds of stations, all equipped with free internet.  They pride themselves on their multimedia collection – they have masses of books online and many of them are available for free download – including Napoleon’s Description of Egypt (many volumes of superb drawings of all of the antiquities which he commissioned in his brief stay from 1798 to about 1800).  We also saw a super 9-screen interactive ‘Culturama’ demonstration which depicts the history of Egypt and allows exploration of many of the monuments – would be fabulous to use if you were planning  a tour of Egypt.

Roman Theatre

We stopped at a restaurant for a very acceptable lunch before visiting the National Museum of Cairo which occupies the house once belonging to Omar Sharif’s family.  Amongst a selection of antiquities it had some artefacts rescued from the sunken palace of Cleopatra which is in the bay – it was destroyed by an earthquake.  There are plans to retrieve more and also to set up a tourist attraction allowing visits by glass-bottomed boats.

National Museum

Our next stop was the Roman amphitheatre which is still being excavated –  the site also includes a bath-house and other buildings. 

The most exciting visit was the last – the Catacombs of Ko el-Shogafa.  I was expecting some tunnels and a few holes in the wall with maybe some bones but this is so much more.  A spiral stairway leads down 99 steps to a magnificent Egyptian tomb (first century AD) complete with carved pillars and reliefs on the walls, plus some wall paintings (though damp has destroyed most of them).  It is thought that it was built as a single family crypt but then expanded for public use, and about 300 burying chambers have been uncovered so far.  There is a whole lower level that is under water and more tunnels have been discovered quite recently  The catacombs were first discovered when a donkey fell down a hole in 1900 – they are obviously taking their time with the excavations.

The catacombs are in one of the poorest parts of the city and as the traffic was very bad we had plenty of time to view the streets from the luxury of our coach windows.  It did feel a bit uncomfortable being a voyeur but even in this poor area people were smiling and waving at us.

The coach drove through streets like this

Alexandria has definitely got something to offer the explorer, but probably not as a Mediterranean holiday destination  - particularly if they don’t clear up the rubbish which was almost everywhere.  Quite a few people from the ship said they walked to the port gate, took one look  at the rubbish-strewn road and went back to the ship! 

Transit of Suez Canal – Sunday 15th April 2012

This tells us we are nearing the end of our voyage – travelling from the Red Sea into the home waters of the Med.  I was awake by 5.30 am but had already missed the start of the journey – we must have arrived at the convoy marshalling point in the port of Suez at about 4.00 am, and Queen Elizabeth was selected to lead the convoy of 27ships, so embarked the pilot and then started out immediately with two accompanying tugs.  The canal operates a one-way system with three convoys a day going south and two going north.  It is not just a straight canal – there are two lakes - called the Little and the Great Bitter Lake –  and the convoys collect to pass each other at the Great Bitter Lake which is at the Suez end and also  in the Ballah by-pass which is about half way.  There are no locks on the canal.

Al Qantarah Bridge

We didn’t have to stop at all but passed a southbound convoy in the Great Bitter Lake.  We watched from the front deck nearly all day  - it was quite exciting to be sailing through the desert.  There were regular military outposts along the length, although in parts the left bank was irrigated and there were some residential dwellings, including the town of Ismailia at the half-way point.  The right bank – or Sinai desert – was very bleak. The whole passage took about 10 hours.

French War Memorial (WW1)

A bit of history for those who want to read further (most of this is from memory, so apologies if I have got things wrong, but cost and speed of internet prevents me from looking it up!):  There were two canals built in ancient Egyptian times and they were used for a time before silting up.  The current one was completed in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work.  It was the brainchild of a French man, his statue used to stand at the entry to the canal but the Egyptians have removed it to a backwater.  The canal is 193 km long, 24m deep and 205m wide. It is crossed by a Railway Swing Bridge and a Road Bridge (called Al Qantarah Bridge).  The height of the bridge means that some of the largest container ships cannot use the canal.

When the canal was first built it was not the money spinner that was expected so the King of Egypt sold  shares to the British who snapped it up using a loan from the Rothschilds, so it was then under the control of the British and French.   In the 1950s the Americans were due to give 2.5 million dollars to Egypt to help with the building of the Aswan damn but they withdrew because they thought the Egyptians were getting too friendly with the Russians.  To raise money President Nasser decided to take control of the canal and use the revenue.  This forced the Suez crisis when the British, French and Israeli combined forces took back the canal. However international opinion was against them there was a vote of something like 65 to 5 in the UN for control to be handed over to Egypt (with the Americans teaming up with the Russians to vote against us).  There was a first use of UN peacekeeping forces in the area.  Israel was banned from using the canal and in the 1960s (6 days war) they took the Sinai desert including the coast where Sharm el Sheikh was built.  Nasser sunk ships to block the canal and it was out of use for several years – 8 cargo ships were stranded in the canal, I have no idea what became of them!

Peace was established in 1978, and the canal is now owned and maintained by the Suez Canal Authority of the Arab Republic of Egypt with an international treaty allowing its use “in time of war as in time of peace, by every vessel of commerce or of war, without distinction of flag”

Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt – Saturday 14th April

Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt – Saturday 14^th April

Sharm is at the foot of the Sinai Peninsula and it was developed for tourism by the Israelis when they occupied the Sinai from 1967 to the early 1980’s (after the Camp David agreement in 1978).  Perhaps because of the Israeli influence, or maybe because it is much more established,  it has a much different feel from Hurghada  and a nice holiday atmosphere – it helps that there is no rubbish and most of the buildings are occupied

The Marina at Sharm el Sheikh

We docked in the Marina which is close to what is now known as the Old Town of Sharm, though it probably dates from the 70s.  This has a beach and one or two hotels, but the main resort is  at Na’ama Bay which is about 4 miles away.  Here the whole resort area is traffic free and most of the hotels are only two or three storeys high – most of them are separated from their own private beaches by the promenade which runs the length of the resort and gives access to a range of restaurants and bars.  We were worried that we would not be allowed on the beach but as soon as we arrived by taxi we were approached by a young man selling a trip in a glass-bottomed boat which meant we got access  to the beach where his stall was set up between the beaches of two hotels.  Actually I think you can go on most of the beaches but have to pay if you want to use their sun loungers. 

Beach at Na'ama Bay

Coral Reef from glass-bottomed boat (fish are hiding)

There were a lot of boats in the bay which meant you had to keep very alert when snorkelling, but there were also a lot of fish to watch and the water is very clear.  The best bits of reef were a bit further out and we thoroughly enjoyed our trip in the glass-bottomed boat, though disappointed we didn’t get any good photos.  We finished our visit with a walk along the promenade to view the different hotels and a couple of drinks in the happy hour at one of the bars on the beach.  We met a couple who were on their seventh visit to the same hotel – the Jolie Ville – which did look quite luxurious.  I can see it could be quite pleasant for a few days sun, swimming and snorkelling, but there’s not a lot else of interest.

Keith liked the look of this

Tomorrow we are transiting the Suez Canal, will have to be up early to see the start.

Aqaba (for Petra), Jordan – Friday 13th April

Landscape outside Aqaba

Jordan has borders with Saudi Arabia, Israel and Eqypt with Aqaba, on the  Red Sea, being the country’s only port.  Apparently it is growing rapidly and becoming a tourist resort – there are 15 new hotels being built by the beach.  From the little we saw of it from the coach it looked a lot more interesting than Hurghada, with a very lively seafront packed with people and lots of shops and restaurants. We learned from our guide that Jordan is quite a liberal country where women have equal rights and can wear what they like – though many choose to cover their heads.  The country is 90% Moslem and 10% Christian.  The area around Aqaba is the home of the Bedouins some of whom still follow a traditional nomadic life, herding sheep, goats and camels, but more and more are settling into government-built houses (where they are provided with free electricity and water), though we were told that the grandparents will often carry on living in a tent – we did indeed see some of these houses with traditional tents in the garden.  Our guide was of the opinion that the traditional Bedouins will disappear within 10 years, partly because the younger generations are getting used to satellite TV, computers and mobile phones, but also because the climate is getting drier and drier and it is no longer possible for many of them to carry on.  Some have turned to farming watermelons and tomatoes – where water is available from wells or springs.

We embarked on a day trip to Petra which took us back into biblical times.  As we travelled across the desert – for part of the way along a 4000 year old road called the Kings Way – the guide told us stories from the Old Testament – ‘it was near here that Joseph was dropped down the well and then rescued and sold to the Egyptians’ – ‘here Moses lived for 10 years’ – ‘this is where he saw the burning bush’ - ‘this is where he buried his brother Aaron’.  On a slightly more modern note we also passed Wadi Rum which was the base for Lawrence of Arabia and his Bedouin tribes to sabotage the Turkish supply lines during the first world war.  The countryside is truly amazing and very arid – although in biblical times it was green and fertile and even up to 40 years ago there were trees growing in areas which are now desolate.

In the Siq leading to Petra

Petra, which is 80 miles from Aqaba, is known as ‘the rose red city which is half as old as time’.  It was built by the Nabataeans in 169 BC  - they were a group of tribes who occupied land between the Dead Sea and the Red Sea – and it lies on the cross roads of major trade routes from the East and Arabia.  It’s golden period seems to have been under the King Aretas IV, from 9BC to 40AD, and this when the best building work was done.  It was conquered by the Romans in AD106 but the Nabataeans still lived there and the town continued to flourish until AD363 when it was partly destroyed by an earthquake.  Bizarrely it is reputed not to have been re-discovered until 1812, though it is hard to imagine that the locals didn’t know it was there.

Al Kasneh - The Treasury

The entrance to Petra is through a narrow chasm in the rock which leads to a winding downhill path called the Siq one mile through sandstone cliffs that are at least 100 ft. high.  Along the path the excitement builds as you see evidence of carvings on the rocks but the first view of the biggest monument, known as The Treasury or Al Kasneh, is amazing.  This is 130 ft high and 90 ft wide and is thought to be a Royal Tomb – it is absolutely stunning and almost impossible to believe that it is 2000 years old. 

The Urn Tomb

The Roman Road

These look like houses!

As you go on there are more and more carvings on the cliff side – some are just facades but many have rooms behind them and you can climb up steps and walk through.  The majority are tombs but there are some temples and others which appear to be houses, also a 6000 seat amphitheatre!  The atmosphere is enhanced by the camels and donkeys and a number of souvenir stalls run by the local Bedouins – they are the Bdoul tribe who were living in the ruined city until 1985 when they were moved out by the government – but given sole trading rights inside the site.  There were some sights we didn’t see – a “monastery” high up on the cliff side (at least a monument that has signs of Christian use) and sacrificial altars on Jebel Al Madbah (the Mount of Sacrifice).  It would take a whole day to view everything properly - we would like to go back.

Safaga and Hurghada, Egypt - Wednesday 11th April

Safaga and Hurghada, Egypt - Wednesday 11th April

Safaga Port - view from our cabin

Safaga is the second largest port in Egypt but not very pretty.  You would think that as tourism is the second largest source of income for the country (after the Suez Canal) there might be some attempt to clear up the rubbish,  and make places attractive but everywhere we went  - even miles from the town – there was rubbish dumped.  Lucky that the Pharaohs built such nice long-lasting attractions 3000 years ago or no-one would visit Egypt.

Desert View on road to Hurghada

The main reason to stop at Safaga on the Red Sea  is for people to make the 3.5 hour coach journey to Luxor to see the temples and Valley of the Kings.  We have seen all this on a Nile Cruise so decided not to make the trek.  Instead we opted for a day trip to Hurghada, 40 miles north,  which is a holiday destination that we had previously thought of visiting for some winter sun.  We were taken to a resort hotel and expected to go snorkelling over the reef as advertised in the tour guide – unfortunately at this particular hotel there was no reef and no fish – Keith swam quite a long way out on the instructions of some of the hotel staff but found nothing except jellyfish!  We are currently trying to get our money back!

Pool at the resort

Keith took this view

The journey to Hurghada showed numerous half-built hotels and apartments with no sign of any ongoing building activity – reminded us of Spain – it is sad to see this which must be the result of recession and people worried about the unstable political situation.  In the town itself there were lots of closed shops and not many people going to the ones that were open.  We ended up buying some shirts from one young man in an empty shop because we felt sorry for him!

Muscat, Oman – Friday 6th April

Muscat is the capital of the Sultanate of Oman, which is an independent state on the southeastern corner of the Arabian Peninsula.  Apparently the Sultan Said bin Taimur who came to power in 1932 ran a very harsh regime and following  guerilla attempts to overthrow him in the 1960s he was ousted by his son Qaboos bin Said in a bloodless coup in 1970.  Under the new sultan there have been massive changes in the country with the building of hospitals, new roads and an international airport – the most impressive statistic is that average life expectancy has risen from 47 in 1970 to 71 for men and 76 for women.  The country is about as big as Italy but has a population of only 3 million.

View of Mutah as we sailed in

We docked at Port Sultan Qaboos which is in the town of Mutrah, itself 3Km from Old Muscat.  It is certainly a picturesque location with the mountains in the background and the Portuguese forts on either side of the bay. The forts look lovely but cannot be visited so  the main point of interest in Mutrah is the Souq where the shuttle bus dropped us.  As it was Friday we didn’t expect shops to be open but they obviously make an effort for cruise ships and were open in the morning.  We found the traders to be quite pleasant and although they called us in to try to sell their goods they weren’t overly aggressive.  We ended up buying a local hat for Keith and some Arabian perfume – although one of the bottles was broken by the time we got back to the ship (made the cabin smell nice!)

Muscat and Portuguese Fort

We took a cab into Old Muscat and visited the Sultan’s palace (built in 1970s), which is very grand but quite austere, there were a couple of museums which appeared to be in renovated old buildings but most of the city didn’t look very old, and there wasn’t a lot to interest us here.  There is a new Muscat which houses all of the shopping malls but that was further inland.  We decided to walk back along the seafront and began to find out how difficult it is to find your way around when no-one speaks English and you don’t have a map.  Eventually we found the right road (it was complicated because we had to go inland to get round the fort) and set out in the 41 degree heat.  It was tempting to give in to one of the many cab drivers who were touting for business but we persevered and were rewarded by seeing some marine wildlife in the very clear water- especially  two huge stingrays who came up close  – but by the time we got the camera out they had moved away.

The Palace

The Promenade

Back at the port we crowded into one of the few cafes which were open, along with many of the ship’s passengers and crew, but there was nothing else open so we headed back for the ship and cooled down in the pool.  It would have been great to stay for the evening when everything comes to life again but we could only watch from the deck as the sun went down and we sailed away.  It is a very beautiful spot and we heard from people who went on an excursion to an oasis that the interior is definitely worth visiting.

New Hat, Old habit

We now have four days at sea before our first stop in Egypt at Safaga on 11^th April.

Dubai – Thursday 5th April

This is an amazing city.  It was founded in 1833 by 800 members of the Bari Yas tribe who settled at the mouth of the Dubai Creek.  They lived in traditional houses made out of woven palms and developed a centre for trade in fishing and pearls.   By the start of the 20^th Century there was a flourishing port with 350 merchants in the souk, making it the largest marketplace on the coast.  In the 1930s a trade in gold was established and oil was discovered in 1963, making the city very wealthy – rapid expansion followed.  The British were in the area until 1971 (I don’t know the history here) and the United Arab Emirates were formed at that time – comprising Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajam,Umm Al Quwain and Ras Al Khaimah.  The population in 2010 was 2,262,000 – it has an area of 3885 sq. Km – about the size of Suffolk.

City Centre with Burj Khalifa on the far right

We left the ship at 8 am with the aim of exploring the older part of town which spans the creek.  We took a taxi to Al Bastakiya on the east side  - this is one of the oldest residential areas dating back to 1859 and it has been beautifully renovated – the houses are now home to cultural heritage offices, art galleries and a couple of up-market guest houses – all were open to the public to view. There is also a mosque.  It was lovely to explore before it got too hot and before there were any other tourists.

In Bastakiya

From there we walked to the Dubai Museum which is in the restored Al Fahidi Fort – this had some very atmospheric exhibits depicting life in the days before the discovery of oil  (i.e. all the traditional occupations).  There are also artefacts from tomb excavations going back 5000 years.

The Creek separates Deira and Bur Dubai

We walked through the restored souks down to the waterfront to cross the creek in an Abra (water taxi) – a great ride for 20p, reminded us of the gondola ferries in Venice.  On the other side there are other old buildings such as the Al-Ahmadiya school, but we were mainly interested in seeing the gold souk – every shop dripping with thousands of pounds worth of 22ct. gold – and not much in the way of security.  We asked the price of one small pair of earrings and they were 500 pounds (though with bargaining we could no doubt have got them cheaper) – gold is so expensive at the moment!

Just Looking!

View from the Top of Burj Khalifa

We found a nearby metro station and took the train which runs the whole length of the city (must be about 8 miles).  Most of the route is on an elevated track so you can get quite a good view of all the skyscrapers.  We stopped at Burj Khalifa as we had bought tickets to go to the top of this tower – the tallest building in the world (over 800 metres).  Surprisingly the metro is not quite linked up with the Tower and there is quite a long hot walk to the Mall which provides entry to the tower (a bridge is under construction).  The Mall is huge and very spaced out, we didn’t spend much time looking around but it seems to be full of all the usual western designer shops plus some more with a middle eastern flavour.  The viewing platform is on the 124^th floor and not surprisingly provides impressive views over the city.

Mumbai – Monday 2nd April

It was hot – 37 C!

Gateway to India

Mumbai (Bombay) is huge with a population of 12 million (or 20 million if you believe our tour guide – probably includes the shanty towns such as Dharavi where 300,000 people live in less than 500 acres ).  It was originally seven swampy islands, and was called Mumba Ai or Mother Mumba after the patron goddess.  It was the Portuguese who named it Bom Bahia (Good Bay), however they were not keen on the malaria swamps so gave it to Charles II as part of the dowry of the Infanta Catherine when she married Charles in 1661.  Charles in turn gave it to the East India company for 10 pounds per year and it became the centre of all the west-coast trade in India.  By the middle of the 19^th Century the railway was built along with textile mills and lots of impressive Victorian buildings and the islands were joined together in a series of reclamation projects.

Taj Mahal Hotel

Although the city is huge, the city centre is conveniently placed on a peninsula and the harbour is right on top of it on the east side, next to the Bombay Fort district where a lot of the old buildings are. On the other side is Chowpatty Beach and lots of modern hotel developments – it all looks nice but apparently the water is very polluted and when you get up close you can see piles of unsavoury rubbish at the high water mark.

Part of the Victoria Terminus

We weren’t sure how easy it would be to get about on our own so booked a coach tour, which was probably a mistake as we didn’t get enough time at the places we wanted to see, but we got a brief overview of some of the city!  It is interesting that nearly all of the places of interest pointed out by our guide were either built by the British or Portuguese, and a shame that many of them are in serious need of repair.  Some of the accommodation we saw was very run down but we didn’t venture out into the suburbs where the real poverty is visible (though our guide seemed to think that poverty wasn’t a problem because all these people had free education and could be employed in sorting rubbish for recycling)

We started with a visit to the Gateway of India which was erected in 1911 for the visit of the King and Queen and through which visiting dignitaries have since been met.  Behind this is the magnificent Taj Mahal hotel which has been beautifully repaired since it was bombed by terrorists. There are lots of impressive Victorian buildings in this area – the best perhaps is the Victoria Terminus (now Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaja Terminus) which is the main station in Mumbai and absolutely huge. 

Gandhi's bedroom with spinning wheels

We then drove round Marine Drive along Chowpatty Beach, past some impressive houses on Malabar Hill to Mani Bhavan, the house where Mahatma Gandhi stayed during his visits to Mumbai. This house is now a museum documenting Gandhi’s life – it has some of his correspondence including letters to Hitler (asking him not to go to war)  and Tolstoy (discussing the benefits of passive resistance to gain independence).  I thought I knew a bit about his story but would have liked a lot more time to look round – will have to buy a book.

Victoria and Albert Museum

Our next stop was at the Victoria and Albert Museum  (now also renamed but I can’t remember its Indian name).  This has been magnificently restored in the last few years and is really beautiful inside – though the exhibits depicting the history of Mumbai are not outstanding.  We continued back to the Colaba Causeway, near to the Gateway of India, where w