Author archive
30 July 2017
Arriving at Barcelona, the beautiful airport was stuffy and the walk quite long (now that I’m using a backpack instead of a wheelie). The bus to the city took about 40 minutes with some traffic. With a one hour time difference flying to the east, it was a bit late. I got some milk and […]
30 July 2017
Exploring Lisbon I was up and out the door at 0730 for a wander down to Praca Comercio and the surrounding district inland, doing a loop taking in large city block and a few squares. It was an ugly start from my area and the bar patrons had littered the street with lots of plastic […]
29 July 2017
Above: Street scene in Algiers before I fly out to Lisbon. Making the most of my Algiers stay After an early breakfast I wanted to make the most of my short stay in Algiers and go to the casbah again. I took the metro as far as I could. I forgot that there was only […]
28 July 2017
Today I gave my best shot in going to Tipaza, the Roman ruins about 1.5h out of town. I had trouble finding the bus station based on what I read in my guidebook and the internet. One of the bus stations is now a park. By about 0900 I had given up and elected to […]
27 July 2017
Flying from Antalya to Algiers The meal was good as usual on Turkish. The 4h flight went quickly and we descended a little early, passing lights from a huge stretch of urban area before landing at Algiers about 20 minutes ahead of schedule at 0150. I appeared to be the only foreigner at the immigration […]
26 July 2017
I had a flight from Antalya to Algiers at 2350. I wanted to do “everything” that I wanted before it got too hot, then rest before the night flight. It seemed the right idea to go for a walk while it was still cool, before breakfast. I wandered into the old city. There was nothing […]
25 July 2017
Above: Antalya eateries in the evening. Most on board had had a bad night sleep but I was OK. I woke around 0700 and breakfast was served at 0800. We had a last swim in Gokkaya Bay before doing a short hop to Demre harbour around 1000. Our arrival was much earlier than expected as […]
24 July 2017
Last night felt warmer even though I had slept in the open, under the stars (as opposed to under the canopy). I didn’t use a blanket unlike the first night. Perhaps I felt warmer because of the dew condensing on me, making me feel all humid. After breakfast around 0800, we swam for quite a […]
23 July 2017
Captain had warned us that he would be starting up at 0500 for a long day on the move. In fact we would actually cover very little distance on the first and third days and most of it would be done today. I woke briefly when the engines came to life but fell back asleep […]
22 July 2017
My pickup for the Blue Cruise by Alaturka was around 1000. The term Blue Cruise refers to a recreational voyage on the Turkish Riviera, in the south-west of the country on the Aegean/Mediterranean sea. I had had my breakfast on the roof terrace of the pension at 0800 and was ready before 0930. The ride […]