I did a tour of the sights of Istanbul in the morning, then went off on my own to buy a carpet (from a shop recommended by the QE2) which duly arrived in Australia a couple of months later.  Then I explored in the Grand Bazaar...chaotic, noisy, alive.   In the evening I joined a very interesting tour to see the whirling dervishes.  This is a religious ceremony by an Islamic sect, where whirling around brings you closer to God.  The dervishes were young men in white "dresses" with full skirts.  There is a band plying mournful music on strange instruments... after some chanting and sedate whirling they appeared to go into a trance and started whirling madly and quickly.  We were then served a meal of traditional foods....

Then we cruised back through the Dardanelles, past the dignified Gallipoli monument on its promontory.

 

Our next port was Livorno.  It is a dreary container port but the gateway to Florence and Pisa and the vineyards of Tuscany.  As I have been to Florence and Pisa I opted to go on a wine-tasting tour of Tuscany - and what fun it was!  An interesting drive through varied country - we could see Pisa's leaning tower in the distance, and then up through olive groves and vineyards.  We went to a "farm" where they make their own wine (on a pretty large scale.)  It is in magnificent surroundings, and after listening to a talk about wine-making methods and varieties of grapes, we went down into the cellars, and there, among the huge wooden wine barrels, were set long tables covered in checked cloths.  It was mid afternoon and we had not expected a meal, but the food and the wine just kept coming!  Bottles and bottles of wine were placed before us - red, white, ros�, sparkling... as much as we cared to drink!  And to accompany the wine we had large baskets of delicious coarse bread, slices of salami, cheese, olives, ham.  It was all very convivial.

Beautiful Tuscany

 

The day we arrived in our next port, Villefranche, I got up early to watch as we came in.  We slowly sailed past Monaco - a magical spectacle: the sun coming up, large, red, reflected in the sea, dolphins leaping alongside, and the backdrop of the wonderful bright white buildings of Monaco on the hillside.  I stayed on deck as we rounded Cap Ferrat and there was lovely little Villefranche.

 

I went to Nice and enjoyed walking along the wide pink Promenade des Anglais, watching the people on the beach and in the cafes. The weather was glorious, and everything looked like a picture postcard - BLUE sky, BLUE sea, little white puffs of cloud on the horizon. Lovely parks and gardens - a really attractive city.  And I was delighted to see the names of places that I have read about to often, in novels and biographies - Hotel Negresco, and other haunts of Somerset Maugham and the rest of the Riviera coterie.

I did some shopping, cafe crawling, people watching. A happy day.  Then back to the picturesque little port of Villefranche - from the Corniche we could see the QE2 at anchor in the bay (this was one of the ports where we had to come ashore in the tenders.)  We sailed in the afternoon, with the jazz band playing for a sailaway party, and dancing  on the deck outside the Yacht Club.

 

Next port was Palma, Mallorca.  I did a tour of the Western part of the island.  First we went to Puerta d'Andraix, a picturesque fishing village with lovely views.  The drive was interesting - everything very green and lush, and many trees - citrus, olives, almonds.   On the last formal night of the cruise the staff performed their traditional farewell ceremony;  the lights were dimmed, the staff, dressed up in Mexican costume, danced in singing in procession,  bearing  the Baked Alaska desserts with Roman Candles ablaze on each one!

 

An amusing end to a very enjoyable holiday.

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