Our Honeymoon

12th - 19th July 2005

Well, I did it, I tied the knot! I am now married to Helen Hargrave (nee Graham) as of 8th July, 2005! This page takes you on a brief tour of our honeymoon.

We set off for our honeymoon on Tuesday 12th July 2005. The destination, Palma de Mallorca for the beginning of our week-long cruise around the Mediterranean. Our cruise started at Majorca, then sailed on to Tunisia, Italy, France, Mainland Spain, Ibiza and back to Majorca.

We'd never been on a cruise before, and didn't really fancy the idea of having to dress up formally every night just to get fed! The cruise we chose, on board the Ocean Village was a much more relaxed cruise. The basic premise was that it was a cruise for "people that don't do cruises", and I have to say we really enjoyed it. It was nice to wake up every day in a different country, with different things to see. And then have a nice air-conditioned boat to get back to and cool off (and quoff wine!) just topped off each day nicely.

Anyway, enough of the schpeil. You can see photo's from each day by clicking of the various destinations above. You won't enjoy it as much as we did, because you aren't there, you're on a PC clicking on pictures! But anyway, there they are...go clicky...

The Boat

12th - 19th July 2005

What can I say, the boat was HOOOOOOJ! 14 decks (well technically 13, but there wasn't a deck 13 for superstitious reasons). There were about 5 eating places, 10 bars (mmmmm, beer), 4 venue's with entertainment, a casino, 2 pools, sports equipment, a gym, and oodles and oodles of seats and sun-loungers. The boat was full so often there weren't enough loungers to go around, however we chose to spend most days off the boat so we didn't give two hoots!

The first and second day were spent on the boat on the way to Tunis, so we enjoyed the evening views, the food and the entertainment. Oh, and the casino!

The Karaoke evening was rather amusing - you really had to be there to appreciate how bad (and odd) the ginger-goatee bloke was! I can take the mick out of ginger people now, I've pulled so I'm OK :D

It was amazing given how many people there were on the boat, how few people you actually bumped into in corridors/stairwells etc. It just didn't feel cramped at all!

The Marquee bar had lots of entertainment every evening, including "Piano Man" and a Robbie Williams lookie-likie. Sounded a bit like him too, but not perfect. In fact he cheated when singing "Angels" by having it in a lower key so he didn't have to struggle on the chorus that everyone else does!

We had a suite with a balcony - paid a premium but it was our honeymoon!

On the morning we were in Cannes we had a Champagne Breakfast in bed, courtesy of Helen's friends from work at Anchor Self Drive. It was a nice change from the early mornings of some of the trips we took, and the fruit/chocolate that came with the package made for nice nibbles during the week!

Tunis

14th July 2005

The first land day (Thursday) was Tunisia. We docked at the port of Tunis, the capital of Tunisia. Due to the distance from the other ports on the cruise we only had a morning here, so we decided to relax on the beach. We took a trip to the Corintian Khamsa Hotel (a 5 star hotel in a town called Gammarth) and sought sun-loungers. After 2 days exploring the boat, a few hours sun and sea was just the ticket!

Of course, no trip to an Arabic destination would be complete without the obligatory Camel ride!

After a while lounging around, I noticed a parasailer getting a little too close to our loungers. Although there is no photographic evidence, there's an Irish family that were on the beach that will testify how I had to do a commando-style dive under the strings of the guys parachute to escape decapitation! Thankfully the only damage was that the 'chute was wrapped around our parasol and I was covered in sand!

I should also comment that the guide on the bus was extremely happy to tell us all about everything that Tunisia ever has been/done. If I could have heard what he was saying over the tannoy I'd be able to tell you the entire history of Tunisa...but I couldn't... so I can't!

Rome

15th July 2005

After another 36 hours sailing we arrived at Italy, at the port of Civitevecchia, just over an hours drive from Rome. Unfortunately for us, we'd arrived at a day when all public transport was on strike, so the roads were busier than normal meaning it took us 2 hours to get to Rome! Fortunately however this also meant that the city itself was less busy than normal (even though it still seemed very busy!

We took a minibus trip to Rome (which cost more but got us to see more sights than the basic coach trip would). Our guide was about 3 foot tall and was a perfect soundalike for "Dr Nick Riviera" from The Simpsons. She had an uncanny ability to run through crowds and we had to keep sharp to not lose her, but she did tell us pretty much all we needed to know.

First stop was The Colosseum and Arch of Constantine. Next we went to the Trevi fountain. There's one photo of a building in the same square as the Trevi that was under refurbishment. They'd draped pictures of what the pillars did/should look like in front of the scaffolding, which I thought was quite amusing. You may find it less so.

Next we stopped for lunch. I can't remember the name of the place, but the food was rather good. In the same place it was evident that they were filming the upcoming film Mission Impossible III. There were no Hollywood types around though, just the crew - evidently Tom Cruise et al don't like filming in the midday sun so were hiding until later!

Next was a visit to Vatican City. We saw in the grounds, but had to skip the main museum parts due to time. It was clear that you would need many days to see even a small part of all that Rome has to offer, we were only on a whistle-stop. The ceiling paintings in the corridor on the way to the Cistine Chapel were particularly impressive, if a little busy!

I didn't get a photo of the Cistine Chapel itself since photography was not allowed. This however didn't stop many many other people taking them anyway! It was in the Cistine Chapel however where I discovered what must be officially the most boring job in the West. There's lies within those sacred walls a man who's job it is to simply shout "Shhhhhhhh, no foto!"

The final visit for the day was St Peters square and St Peters Basillica.

Cannes

16th July 2005

In Cannes we didn't actually dock, rather we dropped anchor and had to take tender boats to land. The view from the balcony however was rather nice.

There's a picture in the image gallery of an easyCruise "ship", which shows what a tug-boat it is in comparison to the Ocean Village!

On our wanderings we saw a nice Ferrari, though I'm buggered if I can figure out what model it was. Clearly it was owned by a rich bloke, because parked next to it was a Lambourghini Murchialago under a made-to-measure tarpaulin!

Not a lot else to say about Canne's really, just look at the photos in the gallery.

Barcelona

17th July 2005

In Barcelona where we've both been before we decided to try something different, so we took a helicopter ride above the city. This was a good experience, however we were a little disappointed that there was no commentary and we were left to look for landmarks ourselves.

After the helicopter we headed for a wander around. From the bottom of La Rambla by the Columbus monument and then on to see some of the Gaudi architecture. First was the Casa Mila, a rather distinctive appartment block. A Gaudi pavement type thing which would make a rather nice Windows(tm) background image :D

Then we saw the Sagrada Familia - probably the most famous place in Barcelona (except perhaps the Neu Camp stadium!) The unfinishedness of this building was very evident by all the scaffolding and cranes! We found the newly-cemented pilars particularly amusing - certainly gave an authentic feel to the place ;)

Ibiza

18th July 2005

The final land day saw us in Ibiza - though not to "'ave it large!" Rather we spent the day hooning around the island in 4x4's. I was driving with Helen in the passenger seat, and about 5 people stood up in the back hooting as I drove over every bump possible :D

There was lots of wild scenery, as well as a secluded hotel (the Hotel Hacienda Na Xamena) where posh celebrity types stay. Apparently they rent rooms for 6-months at a time, only to use them for a fortnight.

The photo's and video don't really capture the full escense of the day - it really was rather a good giggle, and certainly the most value-for-money trip we'd taken over the week.