MEDITERRANEAN ADVENTURE - May 2025

Day 1-3. May 16-18, 2025

We left Madison around 3pm on Friday, and arrived in Barcelona about 3pm on Saturday. Travel went well, boosted by a 4-hr layover in Detroit which we spent walking 3 miles and hanging out at the Delta lounge snacking and playing Backgammon on my iPad. We flew Air France to Paris, and then on to Barcelona, arriving about 3pm on Saturday. It was interesting to compare their Business Class to Delta’s. Service and food was superb, plane configuration was I will just say “different.” I was thrown off by the French flight crew and kept saying “gracias” when I should have been saying “merci!”

We stayed three nights in Barcelona at a Marriott Bonvoy property, LeMeridien. It has a great location right on the “La Rambla” and it is familiar to us as we stayed here 3 years ago. I unpacked quickly, and ran a bath to soak and relax after a long day of travel. We intended to rest a bit and then go out in search of tapas for a light dinner, but rest turned into sleep. I first awoke about midnight, drank some water and read a bit, then I went through a few cycles of sleeping and reading. Finally at 11am(!!) I said enough sleep and woke JT up too. I guess we needed to sleep! During the course of travel and awakeness, I read Kristin Hannah’s “Magic Hour,” an older book, but another that is set in the Pacific NW with amazing characters (like always).

We put on clothes and shoes to go walking, and our first stop was the Starbucks around the corner where we had our usual beverages and each had a warmed ham and cheese croissant. We sat and watched people ramble down the La Rambla, before joining them. There is a lot of construction going on (taxi driver said it’s because there is an election next year), and the construction constricted some of the walkway as well as the streets that run along the LaRambla. We walked about a mile when we reached the port, and checked out the World Trade Center, where we will check in for our cruise on Tuesday. It was a beautiful day with sailboats and tour boats heading out into the sea, and paddlers making their way around the marina. We continued walking along the marina - lots of people out, appeared to be locals, European tourists and of course, American tourists. I love making a game of guessing where people are from based on how they’re dressed.

We didn’t grab a water bottle, so we stopped by a market to buy water and some fruit. We sat for a while and watched people go by, and a little girl throwing a ball for a dog, and then wandered back stopping to listen to some great live music and enjoy the dancers.

Back at the hotel, I hit the gym to life some weights, then we showered and got ready to set out on the Food Tour I had booked for the evening.

We walked about 10 minutes to the Plaza de Sant Jaume, where we met our guide, Rocco, and the rest of the folks on our “Barcelona Tapas and Wine Experience Walking Food Tour. The others in our group were a couple from Orlando, his parents also from Florida and her parents from Pennsylvania. A little late to the tour were a couple also from Florida with her mother and their daughter. All ten of the others had been on the same cruise from Miami to Barcelona, which ended last night.

Besides his knowledge of Food and Drink, Rocco pointed out historical sites we walked by and sprinkled us with historical facts. I’ll do my best to relay some of them here!

Barcelona was founded over 2000 years ago by Romans - Barcino, Barco-Lina (little boat). It was mostly settled by retired Roman soldiers, who became fisherman.

The Plaza de Sant Jaume is the site of the former Roman forum and is still the political center of the city. This area is known as Old Town, and more specifically the Gothic Quarter as it includes six basilicas from the 14th century with gothic architecture. The maze of narrow alleys and cobblestone streets gives it a real medieval feeling.

First Stop (LeBouchon):

Vermouth and Tapas

I’d never heard of just drinking Vermouth, but we were served vermouth over ice with a slice of orange and it was delicious! We learned that vermouth was first made in Turin, Italy the late 1800’s using with low grade white wine and spices, primarily worm wood. In the 1900’s they made it dark to imitate CocaCola and also introduced sweet vermouth. It was traditionally used for medicinal purposes and later as an aperitif. In the late 1900’s it became popular with bartenders as a key ingredient in some cocktails (Manhattan and Negroni). We learned it’s called vermouth because the originator mis-spelled wormwood on the label.

Tapas:

Papata bravas

Croquette - French

Spanish omelet                       

Why are they called tapas (translates to lid)? One of the Spanish Kings established a decree that no tavern could serve alcohol without also serving food. The food was served on a small plate that covered the drink (keeping the dust out of the drink)!

After we ate, Rocco brought us to a VIP room inside the hotel, which is actually inside one of the original towers of the city wall.

Second Stop (Agüita):

Rojoi Red Wine

Two cheeses (Manchego made from sheep’s milk, and Garrotxa made locally from goats milk)

Four kinds of sausages, including special pork (Jamon Iberico) from Iberian pigs that free ranging pigs that eat acorns.

Bread with tomato’s Iberaco

Roasted pepper and egg plant on bread drizzled with olive oil

As we got further into the discussion of preserving and curing meats, we learned about Roman worked that earned a “salary,” and the term translates to paying workers in Salt, as it was so valuable for preserving food in the days before refrigeration.

On our next walk we saw several tributes to St George - Patron Saint of Catalonia

Third Stop (Cafe de L’Academia)

The restaurant was actually fully booked, so they arranged for us to gather in their 15th century cellar - really amazing! We were served sardines and table-grade white wine, but the way it was presented came with a funny story.

17th century sailors would come home to Barcelona, and had 2 days off. But they didn’t want to go home where there were chores to do and problems to be dealt with. So, they’d go to a tavern and present their catch (sardines) and exchange it for wine. They were sloppy and the tavern owner didn’t want to serve them in glasses, so they served it in a “porron,” which was passed from person to person (the kind we were using seemed a bit more fragile than glasses though)!

On our next walk, we looped through the Santa Maria Del Mar Cathedral, where there was an actual service taking place. It was built by the local people in the 1350’s who were tired of being marginalized by people with status in the larger cathedrals. Therefore, they decided to build their own - it took 60 years, which is quite a feat considering its size and the lack of equipment in those days!

We also walked by the Eternal Flame in honor of Catalonia independence movement and heard about some of that long and sordid history.

Fourth Stop (Llamber):

Cava - National drink of Catalonia. Made with same grapes from the champagne region of France, and same process. Double fermentation, no sugar added.

Gnocchi with cheese (Cabarales)

Black rice (flavored with squid ink) with octopus and anoli sauce

Date rolled in bacon with mincemeat inside or Cataloni (New Years Eve) special ty

Cracker desert - wafer, apricot, meringue

By the time we’d finished it was nearly 9pm and we’d been at it for almost three hours. Most of us had signed up to attend a Flamenco Show, so Rocco hustled us there and we got seated just as the show got started. Amazing dancers, and the “singing” reminded me somewhat of the Native American performances I’d seen - only with clapping and stomping instead of drums.

It was after ten when the show let out. We walked about 10 minutes back to our hotel - bypassing several gelato shops. Just too stuffed from our food tour! It was a gorgeous night, and being Sunday night, seemed to be winding down quite a bit.

Monday May 19, 2025

A lazy day in Barcelona. Up a bit earlier for yoga and work out. Out for breakfast and some shopping. First, we browsed the market - lots to see there, and we especially took note of the Iberian Jabon (ham) after sampling it last night. Most places were selling it for over €100/kg, more if it was aged longer!

We turned away from La Ramblas, and wandered the streets browsing in small boutiques and galleries. I was surprised to see a Kathi Wolfarht store (German Christmas store from Rothenberg!). I went in and bought a Barcelona Christmas ornament. I also bought a pair of Espadrilles (when in Spain!), and a purse and a beautiful linen scarf with some embroidery. In a rare turn of events, Jeff found some hand blown wine glasses that are really unique and we bought those too. We asked about shipping them home, but the cost was 2x the cost of the glasses! The proprietor bubble wrapped them and we’ll try carrying them on the plane (and the boat tomorrow)!

We went back to the room to drop off our packages and rest a bit, then walked down to the port. There was an exhibition from last year’s America’s Cup on the wharf that was really cool. One of the boats from the Swiss team was there and it was amazing to see the crew cockpits and the hydrofoils that lift the boat as it glides along in the water. Would have been an amazing time to be in Barcelona!

We walked back through the Gothic district and found a cafe for drinks and tapas while we people watched. Then we walked back to the hotel, stopping for gelato along the way.

Tuesday May 20, 2025

I was so excited that our day to join the cruise was finally here. I’d set an alarm for 8am, good thing as we were both sleeping so soundly. We dressed and went out to walk to the port. We were excited to see the masts of the Wind Surf peeking out above the roof of the World Trade Center! We got caught up in dozens of buses discharging cruise ship passengers from the four mammoth cruise ships docked out further on the port - yuck!

We walked along the wharf out to the beach this time. It was a quiet but beautiful morning and made me think of our Camino along the coast last fall.

Walking back along the Ramblas was a different experience with the cruise ship passengers that were pouncing on the vendors we’d been ignoring along the way for the last few days. We stopped at our usual Starbucks for breakfast, then back to the hotel to shower and pack. We had to check out of the hotel at noon, and couldn’t check in to the cruise until 1pm. So we sat in the hotel lobby and played a round of backgammon before catching a cab to the port.

The check in process went smoothly - we certified we are healthy and handed over my credit card, then we were issued our passes and we were on board. Our cabin is on the second floor, aft, and I’m still trying to get oriented to which stairwell gets us there - even though this is the same ship we were on last year so it shouldn’t be so hard. We dropped our bags in our room and went up to the sixth deck for lunch. I’d pre-booked our excursion for tomorrow, and we visited the excursion deck to get on the waiting list for the bike / kayak excursion for the last day (Elba). We also booked a massage for Monday morning and met the young lady that will lead yoga and Pilates in the mornings.

We lounged on the deck until the welcome meeting, where we met the entertainment manager Krizzy, then went outside to watch the maneuvering. We technically set sail at 5pm, but they needed to turn the ship 180 degrees to load a large piece of equipment on the other side. Always fun to watch ships / boats as they are docking! The captain came on board and said we’d be further delayed as some passengers were going to disembark due to an emergency. Not sure what that was about as we had to go back to change for our 6:30pm dinner reservation at the Candles Restaurant (on the outside deck so we dressed for it)! We were just finishing dinner as we finally set wait.

It had been another gorgeous day, but as we set sail and the sun became lower in the sky, the temperature cooled off a bit. It was still thrilling to be up on the deck as the sails were unfurled and the Barcelona skyline faded into the distance.

We went back inside and played more backgammon in the lounge (we started playing again on last year’s cruise and have become quite addicted to it).

We recognize quite a few crew members, but sadly, the band is no longer on this ship. Instead, they had a DJ in the lounge with just one table of patrons. We headed back to the cabin, as we have an early excursion tomorrow.

Wednesday May 21, 2025

The cappuccino after dinner last night was a mistake for this no-caffeine girl! Somehow, I thought it would be neutralized by the alcohol! As I lay in bed trying to fall asleep, I tried yoga breathing and tuning into the drone of the engine and the gentle rocking of the ship - no dice. Reading didn’t help much either, as I’m reading a thriller, “The President is Missing,” by James Patterson and Bill Clinton.

Originally, we were on a waiting list for this trip and when a cabin became available we didn’t ask (or even understand) where it was located. Cabin 202 - Deck #2, Aft (as far back as you could be, like on top of the engine! As I was trying to fall asleep, I tried to convince myself it was a gentle rumble, but eventually I resorted to ear plugs. That worked okay until we were pulling into port in Palamos sometime around 7am when the gentle rumble turned into a shake, rattle and roll! Note to self - next cruise book a forward cabin!

We dressed in bike clothes, grabbed a quick breakfast from the buffet, and were in the lounge by 8:30am for our “Bike to Pals” excursion. We joined thirty other passengers for this excursion - the activity ladies were careful to point out that this excursion was specified as “strenuous” and not designed for people who needed to learn how to ride a bike (good warning!).

We signed a waiver and were issued a hairnet (good idea) and led to a table of helmets, some of which were really cute and funky. I always kind of wanted to buy one of those straw hat looking helmets. I didn’t find any of the cute ones that fit comfortably, so I ended up with kind of a boring black brain bucket.

Next, we were instructed how to use the electric assist and throttle on the bike, and adjusted our seats. Jeff and I both found the throttle to be a little on the aggressive side, so we planned to keep it in the off position unless we needed a specific boost. The bikes also had about 6 gears, and the shifting worked well.

We set off with three leaders, the main guide (Victor) in front, a young lady in the back and a young man jumping along in the middle. They were connected by radio, which was good, as our group of thirty riders with various experience stretched out quite a bit! We stopped quite often for the group to catch up. When we had road crossings (even busy highways), Victor would send the two guides out to stop traffic!

We rode along the coast for a bit, to a beautiful beach called Platja de La Fosca, and through newer neighborhoods on the outskirts of Palamos, then we were in the countryside with wheat fields, poppy fields, campgrounds and farms. The ride reminded me a lot of the Trek Costa Brava ride we did in May 2019, and in fact, we did ride to the charming village of Pals during that trip. I assertively worked to stay in the front of the pack, as I knew crashes were likely to happen with this large of a group with mostly inexperienced riders! I was glad for the hearty mountain-bike like nature of our bikes, as we road on a really nice trail a lot of the way, but it was gravel and had many potholes. I leaned on the skills I’d learned at the mountain bike clinic I’d attended last summer and had fun riding off road and through potholes on purpose. One time, I heard a crash right behind me - not sure if there were others, a woman apparently went over her handlebars and crashed, with contusions on her palms, arms, and knees - but they bandaged her up and she finished the ride.

We rode through the village of Palafrugell, where it appeared we were quite an interesting scene based on the reactions of some of the towns people! From there, we rode on a converted “rail to trail,” called, the Cami Ral. It had been a small train that had been used to transport cork to the port. There are still 5 cork factories in the area and it’s quite a large production area (second to Portugal).

They said it would be about 12 miles, but I had 14.5 miles on my watch when we arrived in Pals. Most were ready to be done! We handed over our bikes and Victor led us walking up into the little picturesque village. We had a bus scheduled to pick us up at noon and it was 11:55am. He was surprised it had taken us over three hours! He worked with the ship and the bus to get some extended time so we had 30 minutes to get a cold drink, shop the artisan stores and see the village. I bought a new hat to wear to the race on Sunday!

Back to the ship, we changed into our swimsuits and went to the deck for cheese burgers and beer, before finding lounge chairs to nap / read away the afternoon. Jeff was too warm, so he wandered to the other side of the ship and found a knowledgeable guys to talk with about F1 racing.

At 4:30pm we gathered in the lounge to hear Bob Varsha’s presentation: “The Pinnacle of Motorsports 75 Years of F1 Technology.” I’m clearly way behind the curve here, as I’ve never heard of Bob and to-date have had zero interest in car racing. Many of the guys on the cruise are gaga about having Bob, who is a 40+ year former race commentator, on the cruise. We sat with a guy named Alfonzo (from Miami, but originally Cuba). He talked about being interested in racing since 1949, a year before F1 was started.

Here are some facts I learned from Bob’s presentation:

In 1921 there was a “Gran Prix” and Bob had photos to prove it! He said as soon as the second car ever was built, guys were interested in racing. F1 is the biggest annual sport in the world in terms of numbers of viewers and sponsorship. Bob reviewed the history of bringing F1 to the states, where the numbers of attendees are staggering!

There are still four of the original circuits still in the series: Silverstone (UK) Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium), Monza (Italy) and Monaco. F1 cars are the motor racing equivalent of the space shuttle.

About 5pm, in the middle of Bob’s presentation, we got ready to sail away. Captain Tom came on the PA says we’ll experience “Mistral Winds” coming down from Europe, should experience 6 foot seas tonight. The “Mistral Winds” apparently are strong, northwesterly wind that blows from southern France in the Gulf of Lion in the northern Mediterranean. Because of that, we’ve had to change our itinerary and rather than anchoring at La Seyne-sur-Mer as scheduled tomorrow, we will dock instead at nearby Toulon instead.

Bob then finished his presentation, making funny jokes at Captain Tom’s expense for such an extended interruption. Tomorrow there will be another lesson and we’ll be there - we don’t even know what we don’t know!

We went to dinner at 6:30pm, finishing in time to take our wine to the lounge and play a backgammon match before the evening’s entertainment started. Tonight was the “Name that Tune” competition, with some entertaining karaoke during the second half. After that we went up to the Compass Rose where a three-piece band was playing. The guitar player was great, but we’re still missing the band from last year!

We headed back to our cabin about midnight - the ship was really swaying and the seas appeared quite rough. Fortunately for us, we both kind of like the motion, but we did walk down the hall like drunken sailors!

Thursday May 22, 2025

I set an alarm in order to get to the fitness center for the 8am yoga class. Same instructor as last year, Tumi, who admittedly isn’t much of a yoga instructor but she led the small group of us through a nice stretching class. Last year I took a Pilates class from her and since then have been mixing more Pilates into my yoga on occasion.

After the session I stayed to do some weights and ab work and JT joined me there, and eventually we made our way to breakfast, lingering there until they shut down the buffet. We got a map of town (Toulon) and planned out some options for the day on our own here.

We were docked at the pier, which makes for easy disembarking, however it was a bit confusing to find our way out of the gate. We got yelled at in French for walking on the road, but thought that the sidewalk just led to the nearby ferry. Then there was a gate that we had to figure out how to open - push the button, walk into the neutral zone, then after the gate closes, push the next button. It took about six of us to figure it out!

We walked along the wharf, past cafes, souvenir shops and fishing boats. We also came upon some large sailing boats that appeared to be getting ready for a race this weekend. It looked like you could pay a fee and tour the boats. I’d seen on the map there was a National Maritime Museum at the end of the wharf, so we thought we’d check that out, and we were very glad we did!

The city of Toulon nestles in Europe’s largest bay and has been a powerful military port for centuries. Most famously, the Siege of Toulon in 1793 where a young Napoleon Bonaparte won his first engagement.

We spent an extra 2€ to get the audio sets to tour the museum, and it really enhanced the experience. The museum follows the maritime history back to the 17th century, and besides lots of paintings and artifacts, it had perfect models for the ships - some of them original models built before the actual ships and used for training the ship captains.

·         Louis XIV, the “Sun King,” was behind the initiation of the French Navy, and“Privateering” financed the expansion - not sure why that was so fascinating or shocking to me! The “Modern” navy of 1680 had 200+ ships, most of which were frigates, and which were faster than warships. There was also an amazing display of 18th century woodcarvings that used to adorn the ships - unbelievable how big they were!

·         There were lots of stories of prisoners conscripted to serve on ships or in shipyards (pumping out the dry docks for example). Most fascinating was an original logbook describing who the prisoners were and how each looked.

·         There was a 1:75 scale model of the “Royal Rope factory.” The actual factory was 400 m long and 20 m wide. An average Sailing ship (120 gun vessel) had 200km of rope and the rigging weighing more than 100 tons - all of it made by twisting strands of hemp!

After the museum, we walked through the streets a bit where a market was just shutting down. Then a short walk back to the ship for a light lunch and some R&R. We showered and then showed up to the lounge right at 5pm for the Bob Varsha lecture - to find it was Standing Room Only! We learned a lot more about F1 racing today, most of it technical over my head stuff.

After the talk, it was time for the staff to hand out our F1 tickets for Saturday and Sunday. Jeff went to stand in line for our tickets, while I went up to the Stella Bistro to hold our 6:30 pm dinner reservation. We had an incredible dinner and then returned to the lounge to play Backgammon.

Aimee, the cruise specialist was at her desk, so we talked with her about a Tahiti cruise next March. She needed some time to research things, so we went over to a table where a couple was just starting to layout a jigsaw puzzle - Charlie & Katie from Neenah WI! We ended up chatting with them and working on the puzzle until midnight! Also, during that time, Aimee finished our booking and we reserved it. Sad that it’s a different ship, but I’m sure it will also be an amazing experience …. and overwater bungalows in Tahiti has always been on my vacation dream list!

Friday May 23, 2025

I awoke when the engine change signaled we’d arrived at Cannes. We joke that it’s like one of those old sleezy hotels where you’d used to put quarters in the bed to make it vibrate!

I dressed for yoga and headed up to the sunny and secluded upper deck for my morning meditation and yoga. The settling couldn’t have been more perfect. We’re moored in the harbor at Cannes, several other smallish cruise ships here and lots of massive private yachts. From my vantage point, I could watch the tenders come and go and it seems our ship was being evacuated!

I met JT in the gym at 9am and we headed to have a leisurely breakfast. Then, back to our cabin to change and head into Cannes for another self-guided adventure. Last year, I’d booked an excursion every day - this pace of just wandering around town on our own is much more relaxing!

We rode to the pier in the tender - much easier to figure out the gate at this pier! There was an old castle and tower up the hill and we set out to climb up to it - good to get our hearts pounding after all this food. We didn’t go inside the castle, just toured the grounds and enjoyed the view - we did poke into a cathedral around the back and that was amazing.

We made our way down to the old village through narrow cobblestone streets, which were lined with small shops and restaurants. We poked in a few shops looking at men’s shirts - many of them came with cute matching shorts that JT said were not his style!

Then we went down to the promenade along the water, called “La Croisette.” Normally, it’d be legendary hotels and high end shopping, but today is the last day of the Cannes International Film Festival, so the whole scene was a bit crazy. Apparently, people flock here to see celebrities, but we were here to enjoy the sea, sun and people watching. We walked along the promenade to the next marina, then turned back, stopping to marvel and two skateboarders riding the sides of the skate board park! We also watched a barge and diver pulling up a sunken sailboat. We headed back into the old town and stopped for a sandwich there - sitting in a cafe with great people watching.

Back to the pier, perfect timing with a tender just heading back to the ship. The swim platform was open, but no one was out there even though it was a nice warm day. We headed to our room for a quick rest and showers, then up to the lounge for our third and final Bob presentation about the F1 race.

Still a lot we don’t know about F1, but these presentations have been helpful. It’s kind of fun to be in the presence of a bunch of “know it alls” on board the ship this week!

From there, we headed to the deck for the BBQ, similar to last year - a carnivorous delight!! It was a gorgeous evening with no breeze, actually hot in the sun! After dinner, they cleared part of the deck and some of the crew put on a line dancing show which was hysterical. After that, they played tunes for a while and we danced too.

About 9pm, we got ready to set sail for the short cruise to Monaco. They played the sailing song and unfurled the sails - what is it about that that makes me choke up? Probably some experience in a different lifetime! We went down to the bar on the back deck where the trio was playing and the dancing (and spontaneous karaoke) continued. To make the night even more memorable, the sunset was spectacular and fireworks were shooting off from Cannes.

May 24-25 Monaco

Saturday

We awoke to another gorgeous day. Stepping out onto the ship deck was a bit of a shock. I wasn’t prepared for the number of tall buildings, and the town of Monte Carlo clinging to the mountainside. And the number of boats, ships and helicopters in the sky. Wow - it was a lot to take in! And right in front of where we are moored, Prince Albert’s Palace.

We went to the gym, then to breakfast. The ship seemed practically deserted already, with long lines for the tenders starting pretty early this morning. After breakfast, I decided to walk the decks at as fast a pace as possible. We’re getting in a lot of steps, but most of it is at a meandering pace. I was able to walk three miles in just under an hour, and that felt like a great start to the day!

We weren’t in any hurry to get to the track, but we got dressed and headed out around noon. The sea itself wasn’t rough, but there was so much boat traffic between our ship and shore that the waves were pretty high. The tenders were really rocking and rolling, and it made it difficult for the crew to load the tenders. The crew had set up a loading dock on both sides of the boat, and they kept switching from one side to the other looking for the safest loading spot. Even the captain was involved in loading, so we knew it was going to be a safety issue. After about 30 minutes, it was our turn to load. I handed my bag to one of the crew and quickly stepped on board. You had to be fast and time it perfectly, a few times, the tender got stuck below the loading dock and would lift the whole thing up! I was never afraid, but the way the boat was rocking, you sure wondered if it could go over! Once we got to the Harbor, the water was smooth and getting off the tender was no issue.

It was just over a mile walk to where we needed to go to the track. Wind Star had stationed staff at every critical intersection that would point us the way to the next person, that was extremely helpful. We took a break at the Starbucks and had mocha Frappuccinos and watched people walk by. People in all manner of dress: some dressed up, some wearing not much at all, hardly any jeans, and not a lot of practical shoes!

We poked around the shops a bit, Jeff, looking for just the right Formula One shirt, and I didn’t know what I was looking for. We went in a really cool shop that had a lot of old Formula One, memorabilia for sale, and also a lot of historical jerseys, T-shirts, and hat hats. There, Jeff selected a red Ferrari shirt that looks really cool. We kept on going down the street and entered the Automobile Club of Monaco store. In there, I found a beautiful silk scarf with the ACM emblem. Souvenir shopping completed, we headed to find section K and our seats. As we drew nearer to the track, the sound of the race cars got louder and louder, so we popped in our “in the ear canal” ear plugs.

It wasn’t difficult to find our way, and they are truly amazing seats. The experience WindStar is providing us for this Formula One race is way beyond my expectations! Besides these really awesome tickets, they provided us with seat cushions, two kinds of ear protection, and each a set of binoculars. I use the binoculars primarily to check out the yachts in the harbor. We arrived at the end of the Fórmula 1, practice session. We watched it for about five minutes, and then there was a crash, and they ended the practice. Then there was a 45-minute gap until the next race, a Formula 2 Sprint race. We used the 45 minutes to stand in line for the toilet. Then we bought beer and went back up to our seats for the race.

The race was 30 laps. Formula 2 and 3 racers are young guys, trying to qualify to be Formula One drivers. I don’t know a lot about racing other than what I’ve learned from Bob. What I did learn is that the Monte Carlo race track is such that it’s nearly impossible to pass, so the driver who gets the pole position is likely to be the winner, unless he’s somehow screws up or has a mechanical issue with his car. That takes some of the excitement out of the race, in my humble opinion.

There were two pink cars that I really liked, and they were in first and second place the entire race. There was some excitement when two cars hit the wall and were unable to finish … therefore, we got to see what happens during the caution flag, and other than the cars going a little bit slower it really wasn’t much different.

After that race, there was another one hour break before the Fórmula 1 Qualifying Session, the race that would determine who is the pole winner for tomorrow’s race. At that point, we’d have enough of sunshine and crowds, so we made our way back to the boat. For the most part, we found our way, with one slightly wrong turn, which I recognized as a wrong turn right away. We got on a tender right away, and the ride was still quite choppy on our way out to the ship, but we both thought it was fun. The most critical part is the step from the boat to the dangling staircase on the side of the ship, but there are crew members there to assist.

Back to our cabins, we settled into rest and read which turned into an hour long nap. Thankfully, we woke up in time to shower and get to Stella Bistró for our 7:30pm Reservation. We had been invited to have dinner with Andreas, the ship’s hotel manager, and two other couples. The dinner was fantastic. Food was amazing. Wine was good, and it was interesting to meet other couples. One of the couples were long-term cruisers, who had a lot of stories about cruises they had taken all over the world. I’m really enjoying this cruise, but I also enjoy our travels with our hiking crew, and the way we can immerse and cultures on some of the trips that we’ve taken. I think a healthy balance of experiences is the best. Andreas entertained us with stories from his 30+ years working on cruise ships. Like the stories we have collected from our business, your wildest imagination couldn’t come up with this stuff: people overboard, naked men locked out of their cabins, etc.

We practically closed the dining room, then Jeff and I headed to the lounge for our nightly Backgammon match. He murdered me, winning six games to my none with two “gammons.” Sometimes the dice just don’t roll the way you want them to.

Sunday

We woke up to housekeeping banging on our door, it was nine A.M. and we were both dead to the world. We dressed and headed up to breakfast before they shut down the buffet. After breakfast I walked my 3 miles around the deck. Jeff went to the gym and then joined me for some of the walk. Again, the boat was deserted, as people were headed out to the races, but we agreed we didn’t need to spend the day in the crowds and the sun. I changed into my bathing suit and went up to the pool deck, and sat in the hot tub for a few minutes, before lounging on a lounge chair. By 1pm, were ready to get dressed and heading into town for race day.

It’s estimated there were 300,000 people in town for this event! Crazy. We had an uneventful tender ride and walk to the seats. Since it was between events, it was packed under the stands with long lines for food and toilets. We headed up to our seats and chatted with our neighbors/people-watched for about 30 minutes. Then there was a “warm-up” lap, the Monaco National Anthem, and the race started. Since it was 78 laps, we went down for beer about lap 20 … lines were quite short by then.

Lando Norris of Team McLaren (orange) had won the pole position and was in first place when we went down for our break, and when we came back, Max Verstappen of Team Red Bull had taken over the lead. Apparently, there is a lot of strategy around tires and the mandatory two pit stops that drivers need to take, so we figured something had occurred there. Max lead the rest of the race, until the last lap when he took his second of the two required pit stops. If you’ve never seen a video of a F1 pit stop - check it out. They change the tires and fill the tank in about 6 seconds - it’s incredible. However, Max didn’t have enough of a lead and his pitstop dropped him into 4th place, leaving Norris as the winner after all.

Surprisingly, the stands didn’t immediately empty out when the race ended, so we made a break for it. Leaving the bleachers was a bit backed up, but eventually we were able to walk back to the pier at a good pace and caught a tender back to the ship with no waiting. It was rocky, but not nearly as bad as yesterday. We were in our room for much needed showers by 5:30pm and in search of dinner by 6:30pm. We had another amazing dinner at Candles, the outside restaurant. It was breezy, which cooled things off a bit, but we were comfy with their fleece blankets!

After dinner was played our backgammon match, then went into the lounge to listen to the band. They’re good, but not as entertaining as last years group - I’m still stuck on that! At 9:30pm, the staff performed their talent show - it was so much fun, our faces hurt from laughing. There were some great dancing acts, two people from housekeeping did a great rendition of “Shallow,” one guy did an Elvis impersonation and another did Tom Jones (with an Indonesian accent). A group of six guys from the engine room did a hysterical version of “Mamma Mia,” a women did a beautiful Indonesian dance with her hands and eyes telling a story and a group of waiters did an Indonesian 100-hands act where they sang in native language with clever clapping their hands with each other. Andreas entertained us with a funny story about riding a donkey in Santorini, while the Indonesian Synchronized Swimming Team set up for their act (we’d seen it last year but it was still just as funny).

One more day tomorrow with a lot packed into it, so we headed off to bed after the show.

Monday May 26, 2025

We set sail around 9pm last night and sailed all night. I woke up around six am and it was great to feel the gentle rocking of the ship with no loud engine noise. About 6:30am I decided I was done sleeping, so grabbed my yoga mat and headed up to the top deck for meditation and yoga. It was yet another gorgeous morning, but a bit breezy - had to weigh down my yoga mat with towels from the pool area. We were mostly surrounded by sea with just a few islands on the horizon. No other boats in sight.

After my yoga session, I headed to the gym to lift a few weights. The gym was crazy packed, with us still at sea and no morning shore excursions! About 8, I went back to the room and found JT just getting dressed. We went up and tried to eat a light breakfast, as we had booked massages at 9:30am.

My first hot stone massage and I loved it. On the intake sheet, I rated my stress level as a 3 out of ten, but the tension in my shoulders says my number should have been higher. I think the tension will remain at least until Friday when we hopefully complete this deal we’ve been working on since the Fall of 2023!!

After the massages, we went back to our cabin to relax and hydrate. At noon, we docked in Portoferrario on the island of Elba (Italy). Elba is best known as the site of Napoleon’s first exile, however, every Mediterranean civilization has left its mark on the island. There are huge iron ore deposits on the island, which contribute to the island’s prosperity. However now, tourism is the main industry as ferries deliver people here from the mainland for shopping, dining and beautiful beaches.

We had lunch on the deck, then gathered for our afternoon excursion: biking and kayaking. This excursion was broken into two groups which was much more manageable - we had 11 people in our group. We met our bike guide and got introduced to our bikes - pretty nice electric assist mountain bikes with wide tires, shocks and drop posts (would have been better for our ride in Spain!). The guide was interesting - a man probably about my age; he was very passionate about the island and the sea, but he would be talking in broken English in a very animated manner, and I only caught snippets of what he said …

·         600 years for the water in the Mediterranean Sea to turn over, pollution, plastics, white whales, overfishing

·         Iron Ore (town name is translated to Port of Iron), Limestone like Yosemite, fights over the island because of the Iron

·         Some kind of white rock on the beach with black specks, stressed it is illegal to remove them from the island, some rare mineral specific to Elba

·         Plants - many unique to the island and all they can be used for, medicines, food, buildings

·         Tuna - used to use all the parts “like a pig” (no idea what that means but he said it many times), now they just cut off the good steaks and waste the rest

·         Trump - a few rants about him, including once when Trump’s daughter came on a big yacht and secret service closed the whole harbor down

We rode about 5 miles - gorgeous scenery, past villas and hotels. Lots of steep climbs and I was thankful for the e-bike. Once JT’s powered off on him and he muscled his way up the hill anyway, impressing the young ladies on our ride (I heard one say “that guy is a biker, look at his calves!”). Anyway, no flat land, but it was beautiful - the azure sea, lush foliage and fragrant blooming shrubs. Seems like it would be a great place to come for a week just to hang out and hike, bike and paddle.

We stopped at a beach, had a drink in the beach bar, then kayaked for about an hour - along the shore and back. Jeff and I immediately missed our sea kayaks with the supported seats and rudder systems! But it was a great paddle anyway. Beautiful crystal-clear water, interesting rock formations and secluded beaches only accessible from the water.

After our paddle, Jeff and I decided to go for a swim and 3-4 others joined us. It was our last opportunity for this trip and we hadn’t been in the sea yet. It wasn’t too cold, and it was so much fun to float - the salinity really made us buoyant! We toweled off, and had a 15 minute taxi ride back to the ship.

We showered and were ready to go before the dining rooms opened for dinner, so we wandered back to the pool bar to have one last drink on deck. There we met two couples - one from Denver who had been in town all day drinking and shopping. They bought a few bottles of rose in town and were sharing those with bar patrons (including us). The other couple is from the Dallas area, she has MS and was moved by Jeff’s long-time service with the MS Society and all the bike riding / fundraising we have done. Her husband, Alex, works in the automotive industry and has spent time in Janesville before the GM plant closed. He’d also visited LaCrosse a few times and was intrigued by ice fishing and snowmobiling. It was a lot of fun and our “quick drink” turned into a 90-minute party!

By then we were buzzed and hungry, so we proceeded to the restaurant and were seated with two other couples: one from Tampa that we’d talked to early in the week in the late-night bar, and another from San Diego, Terry and Kay. Terry was quite interesting to talk to. He developed a love of photography as a teenager in the sixties and ended up as a nineteen-year-old photographer in Vietnam. He said a few years ago after his mom died, he found a box of every letter he’d ever written to her during that time, and he recently self-published a book using the letters, called “How Did You Get This Job?” … we will look for it on Amazon when we’re back in the states. We just about closed down the Amphora Restaurant, lost in conversation with Terry!  Jacob was playing piano in the lounge, so we stopped for one dance on our way through for our nightly Backgammon match (tied up for this trip)

Tuesday May 27, 2025

Time to travel home already – this trip went so fast!  We were up early as our luggage had to be outside the door before 6am.  Since we were up and dressed, we went up for a leisurely breakfast while we watched the happenings at the Rome (Civitavecchia) Port.   We disembarked at our 10am scheduled time, sad saying goodbye to Captain Tom, our friend Andreas and the staff that took such wonderful care of us – but we’re hoping it was more of a “see you next time,” and we’ll see them on future WindStar cruises.  We claimed our luggage and boarded the bus heading to the airport.  Check-in went just fine, and we had a couple of hours to kill.  We walked the airport and then sought refuge in the Air France lounge, but found it wasn’t the most relaxing environment (I guess we’re Delta lounge snobs now!).

We had a 2 hour flight to Paris which was a little delayed and made for a really tight connection there.  We powerwalked to the next terminal and stressed out in the immigration line, but made it to the gate in time (only to find the flight was delayed anyway).  Nice flight to Detroit, where we had 3+ hours to hang out in the Delta lounge, play some backgammon and walk.  Easy flight home to Madison.