Aurora 2004
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(above) At anchor off Monte Carlo & (below) Our Table:-
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Jean, Me, James(11) & Mum Sandra, Malcolm, Dad, Betty
Itinerary Show Map
= ports at anchor
Sunday
1st September
-Southampton, UK
Monday-at sea
Tuesday-at sea
Wednesday-at sea
Thursday-Barcelona, Spain
Friday-Monte Carlo
Saturday-Livorno (for Florence), Italy
Sunday-Calvi, Corsica
Monday-Civitavecchia (for Rome), Italy
Tuesday-at sea
Wednesday-Gibraltar
Thursday-at sea
Friday-at sea
Saturday
14th September
-Southampton, UK

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My third trip alone with Dad; we had a great time and met some lovely people on our table. I put my dancing lessons into practice and found myself quite in demand! Ashore, I found the city of Florence breathtakingly beautiful and I was so overwhelmed in St Peter's in Rome that I nearly had a religious experience! I then went on to have an accident, falling over, gashing my arm and needing the attention of the medical staff on-board. But my goodness, it was all worth it!

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Welcome Aboard! At Sea Again Dad & G&T on his balcony Me & Jean, my dance partner
Thursday 5th September
Barcelona, Spain
They joke that the statue of Columbus doesn't so much point towards America as towards the nearest McDonalds but Barcelona is a lovely city blessed with, amongst other things, some pretty wild architecture by Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926). Most famous is La Sagrada Familia - not the Cathedral but probably better known because of its multiple spires and "melted wedding cake" appearance. It was begun in 1882 but quite when it will be finished is debatable. There are other buildings by Gaudi here as well; 2 of them below are accessible to the public, although on this occasion, there was a power-cut just as I was in the queue of the first one, so the lift and all the lights went out and I had to be content with exterior views.

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Columbus Monument La Sagrada Familia
by Gaudi
La Sagrada Familia
by Gaudi
Gaudi Architecture Gaudi Architecture

Worth a visit is the Pueblo Espagnol or Spanish Village. Built for the Great Exhibition of 1929, it has examples of building styles from all over Spain. It's now mostly tourist shops and restaurants.
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The Spanish Village The Spanish Village The Spanish Village The Spanish Village The Spanish Village

Friday 6th September
Monte Carlo, Monaco
We came ashore by tender at Monaco-Ville, the old city, and Dad took a fancy to the little "Train Touristique". While it does rather reduce Monte Carlo to a kind of "Disney Ride", it's a useful way of getting around as a tourist and you get to see the Palace, the centre of Monte-Carlo, the Casino etc, and it's only 6 Euros. On this trip, we decided to spend the afternoon in the Oceanographic Museum and Aquarium. Inaugurated in 1910 by Prince Albert I, it occupies a spectacular position on the cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean and it is quite impressive on the inside too.

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Le Train Touristique Oceanographic Museum & Aurora Oceanographic Museum Oceanographic Museum
Saturday 7th September
Florence, Italy
This was my choice of day-trip from the port of Livorno. I had high (if somewhat romantic) expectations of Florence and was not disappointed. The architecture was simply breathtaking. The crowds were breathtaking too, and I lost our guide twice! However, P&O had innovated a very clever tour compromise whereby you had the benefit of the guide until about 12 noon, whereupon you were free until about 4pm when you would all meet again at the designated spot for the return by coach. This simple but brilliant idea suited me down to the ground.

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The Ponte Vecchio & the River Arno Perseus slays the Medusa Restoring the copy of Michelangelo's "David" The Baptistry Doors The Duomo West Entrance
The main square, Piazza della Signoria, is where you will find the famous statue of David by Michelangelo. Or at least a copy (itself being restored), because since 1882 the original has been in the Galleria Accademia (see below). Here also is the famous Loggia di Orcagna sheltering a number of other statues and sculptures. From here, you can visit the Uffizi Gallery or, like me, head for the Cathedral, or Duomo. It was here on the western steps, admiring the beautiful bronze Baptistry doors that I had my "Merchant Ivory" moment when the tower bells rang out and a great flock of birds took to the skies. It was one of those heart-stopping moments that I was going to experience more than once on this holiday.

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The Duomo (Cathedral) The Duomo Interior View west &
Giotto's Campanile
View south to the Tuscan Hills Chiesa Santa Croce

The present Cathedral is early 14th Century and the magnificent facade is carved in white, red and green marble. The adjacent Campanile is by Giotto and was built around 1334. The 42m wide octagonal dome of the Cathedral, by Brunelleschi, is an amazing feat of engineering when you realise that it was built of brick and, because of its unprecedented design, without the use of scaffolding. I climbed the 463 steps to the top of the cupola for these breathtaking views over the city to the Tuscan Hills beyond. A short walk across town is the famous church of Santa Croce, also 14th Century and the largest Franciscan church in the world. Its interior is particulary noted for its frescos and tombs which include those of Rossini, Marconi, Galileo and Michelangelo.

Michelangelo's David, Galleria Accademia, Florence
There was a long queue to get into the Galleria Accademia but nothing prepared me for the experience of seeing Michelangelo's statue of David "in the flesh" as it were, and only recently restored. It is stunningly beautiful and once you have seen it, all other statues seem insignificant. Michelangelo was only 26 in 1501 when he was commissioned to do it. More than 5m high, it was originally placed outside the Palazzo Signoria (where the copy is now) but was removed when the people of Florence realised how valuable the original was. It was intended to be viewed from all angles and where it is now placed enables precisely that in near-perfect conditions. It is the most famous statue in the world and now I know why!

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Pictures reproduced from the Galleria Accademia souvenir booklet

Sunday 8th September
Calvi, Corsica
A welcome break after a hectic day in Florence, Calvi claims to be the birthplace of Columbus - a claim disputed by Genoa (and a number of other places). Nelson laid seige to the citadel, and lost an eye in the process.
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View from Aurora The Old Town The Citadel Aurora at anchor

Monday 9th September
Rome, Italy
My day-trip from Civitavecchia, this was another in which we were taken on a guided tour until about 1pm and then left to do as we pleased until about 4.30pm. Rome is such big city, and it seems littered with ruins and monuments everywhere! The traffic is chaotic and we were whisked around on the guided part of the tour by coach, with photo-stops at the Colosseum, the Forum and finishing-up at St Peter's Square.

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The Colosseum Arch of Constantine Victor Emanuel II Monument Swiss Guard Swiss Guard
When I set foot inside the Basilica, I was quite literally overwhelmed by the sheer scale of everything. Of course, this is just what was intended when it was designed; you see it and think, "This is so magnificent, surely there must be a God".

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Via di Conciliazione
& St Peter's
St Peter's Basilica St Peter's Basilica The Great Dome Piazza San Pietro
This is the largest Christian church in the world. The dome rises to 394 ft above the floor and that lettering around the frieze is 6 ft high! Michelangelo was only 37 when he finished decorating the Sistine Chapel, now part of the adjacent Vatican Museum, but I decided against the queue to see it, in favour of seeing as many of the other sights of Rome as my legs would take!

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The Pantheon The Pantheon Castel Sant'Angelo & River Tiber Trevi Fountain Spanish Steps
The Pantheon was re-built about 125AD and was actually a Roman Temple. The hemispherical dome is 43.3m in diameter, equal to its height above the floor. It remains today the world's largest unsupported masonry dome. Amazingly, a 9m central occulus is the only source of interior daylight!

My "accident"
I concluded that the Trevi Fountain was a bit vulgar and too big for the small square it was in, and that the Spanish Steps were lopsided, and I was hurrying back to meet the coach-party when I lost my footing and fell on the rough gravel beside the Tiber. Luckily, by this time my camera was safely in my back-pack but I gashed my arm and there was blood everywhere! Risking arrest by rinsing my wounds with water from a public fountain, I bandaged my arm with my handkerchief and returned to the ship, a little shaken but undaunted. Later that evening, I had to make a hurried exit from dinner when I realised that blood was seeping through my shirt! The on-board medical facilities were excellent, if costly, and I spent the rest of the holiday with a bandaged arm, re-dressed daily!

Wednesday 11th September
Gibraltar
Arriving at noon, this was only a duty-free shopping stop on the way home but Dad & I decided to do the standard tour. This proved a bit of a disaster because there was another cruise-ship in that day and Gibraltar's minibus/taxis were already stretched to capacity. We had to wait for them to return before Aurora's tours could set-off.

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From the Rock to Algeciras The peak from
O'Hara's Battery
My Nuts! The Old Rotterdam(1959)
By the time we got to the cable-car, we had to queue for 90 minutes. Dad was not at all happy standing all that time in the sun. Considering the money the cable-car takes, it is about time they invested in upgrading it to handle the volume of people! Still, the view is spectacular and I did get a good photograph of the beautiful old S.S.Rotterdam, in the harbour after having been brought back to Europe for restoration as a museum-ship, to be based eventually in the city of Rotterdam.


See Detailed Mileage Log for this cruise >>

Cruise Mileage: 4,651 nautical miles
Total Mileage to date: 97,732 n miles

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