travel
An Autumn cruise with the Sapphire Princess on the Atlantic and Mediterranean Oceans

I have been working on my cruise photos in dribs and drabs for a few months. I cannot wait to share all the various collections I've put together. For the last post of the year, I thought I would get things rolling with some snapshots of the cruise ship. I embarked on this floating hotel at the end of October 2018 and found it a fascinating place to explore, especially as a first-timer. In my last post I described my previous boating experience of the Skellig Coast.


We went aboard the Sapphire Princess in Southampton and sailed across the English Channel for Le Havre in Normandy, Northern France. We took a day trip to Rouen. Followed by two days at sea, we arrived in Lisbon, Portugal where we visited Sintra and Cascais. Onward we sailed through the Strait of Gibraltar and docked at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula to explore the limestone outcrop. Then, we spent anther day at sea before we arrived in Barcelona, Spain. Our next port was Toulon, where we visited Aix-en-Provence and Marseille in the South of France. The following three days were spent in Italy. Our first port of call was Livorno and we went to see Florence, capital of Italy’s Tuscany region. The next port was Civitavecchia and we traveled to the ancient city of Rome. The last stop: Naples in southern Italy where we visited Sorrento and Pompeii. The trip was not over yet, as we still had another day of sailing. After crossing the Strait of Messina, we arrived in the port of Valletta on the largest island of the Meletese archipelago.




Having had four full days at sea, there was plenty time to explore all the nooks and crannies. Although, most of the first day was spent feeling sea sick and sleeping, we had an incredible opportunity to visit the Bridge. I witnessed stunning sunrises and sunsets, both in ports and out at sea. On a sea day, I had a lot more time to watch the sun rise and take photographs. Those were my favourite moments of being surrounded by water on a cruise ship. Watching movies under the stars and a full moon was also pretty surreal.





Weather was typically autumnal. We had sunny, windy and rainy days. As well as mildly "stormy" days. We were lucky to miss a bad storm that hit Rome just two days before.
For the most part, I took photos with my trusty little Fuji. Normally I only post photographs taken with that camera, but I will also be sharing mobile captures too. There were times I didn't have my camera on me, or it was quicker to take a photo with my phone. My phone also allows me to take cool panoramas, effortlessly compared to the Fuji.










Going on this cruise was an incredible experience, maybe even a once in a lifetime. It was not a relaxing holiday like you might imagine. Especially when you go on excursions and want to see as much as possible in only a few hours. Most of the tours are organised early in the morning. There was a lot of walking to do and many hours spent on buses as well. It was amazing to hop from country to country and visit so many different places in two weeks. This trip is way up there, along with motorbiking across Europe the year before. I have four posts up from that experience: PoznaĆ, Marburg, Bruges and Amsterdam.
Hope you enjoyed the first installment of the travel series and are looking forward to seeing the next ones!





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