British Isles Cruise - 2016
I took a 12 day cruise around the British Isles, in July-August 2016. The cruise started in Southampton, and stopped at ports in England, Ireland, Scotland and France. I had spent a week in London a few years ago, but I had not toured the interior of Buckingham Palace, which is only open July-September. I had also visited Edinburgh before, but the cruise was during the Edinburgh Festival, and I would be able to watch the famous Edinburgh Military Tattoo. This would also be my first time in Ireland.
I flew to London 3 days early, so I would have 2 full days in London to see things I had skipped on my earlier visit. Since I only had 2 days, I bought a pay-as-you-go Oyster card. My hotel was a block from Paddington station, which was really convenient for getting around. The hotel had free wifi, and there was a Pokestop close by, which allowed me to play Pokemon Go in the evening. The first day I went to Hampton Court. There are several different beautiful gardens, the best of which was the Great Fountain Garden. I also had fun getting lost in the maze. The interior of Hampton Palace was also very interesting. After spending several hours there, I came back to London, and spent some time in Trafalgar Square. The next day, I took the tour of Buckingham Palace. The State Rooms are really spectacular, though they don't allow any photography. After lunch, I went to the British Museum, and spent a couple of hours there, mainly in the Egyptian section. The Museum is free, but was a little hot and stuffy. After that, I went to the Tower Bridge, Tower of London, Parliament House and Big Ben. I did not go inside any of these, since I had seen all of them on my earlier visit. The third day, I went to Victoria Coach station and took the ship's coach to Southampton, for my cruise
The first port was St Peter Port, in Guernsey, which is one of the Channel Islands in the English Channel. The island has it's own currency, though they do accept British Pounds. A friend from one of the other islands met me there and we took a local bus that starts right at the port, and goes all around the island. That gave me a chance to see the whole island. When we got back, we walked to the Victoria Tower. The keys to the tower can be picked up at the gift shop, and the climb to the top gives you lovely views all around. We then took another bus to The Little Chapel. This is a tiny chapel covered with seashells, pebbles and broken china. It is incredibly beautiful and is possibly the smallest church in the world. It fits less than 8 people. Sadly, our time in port was limited, and I could not see some of the other things I would have liked to see, like Castle Cornet. In retrospect, I realize that taking the bus around the island was not the best thing to do, since it took a long time.
The next port was Cork, Ireland, which is the port for the city of Cobh. This was the last port for the ill-fated Titanic! I had booked a local tour to Blarney Castle. We had been told to get to their bus quickly, so we could leave before the larger ship's tours, and not have a long wait to enter the castle. We were the first tour group at the castle and were able to enter and climb to the top without any delays. I kissed the Blarney Stone at the top. To do this, you climb to the castle's peak, lie on your back, with the upper part of your body, from the waist up, dangling over the side of the parapet, and kiss the stone which is directly above, jutting out away from the castle's walls. A man sits at the edge and holds on to your legs. There are also two bars that you can hold on to. It is a silly tourist trap, but I did it anyway! When we returned, The grounds of the castle are pretty and worth walking around. I had time to walk around the quaint little town of Cobh, and visit the cathedral. There was a Titanic Museum, but I did not go inside.
The next port should have been Dublin, Ireland. However, our ship developed engine problems, and by the time repairs were made, it was too late to enter Dublin port - something to do with tides. This was disappointing because I really wanted to see Dublin!.
The next port was Belfast, Ireland. I had booked a tour through a local company, to Giants Causeway and Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge. We drove through the Irish countryside and when we got to the Causeway, there was a fire alarm going off, so they did not let us in till the fire department had checked everything out. It turned out to be a false alarm, and we were eventually let in. This is an area with about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption. Most of the columns are hexagonal, though there are some with other number of sides. It was interesting and I would have liked to spend more time there, but we had to get back to the ship. Because of the delay caused by the false fire alarm, we did not have time to cross the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge. We were only able to stop and take a picture. This bridge is a rope bridge that links the mainland to an island. It spans about 65 ft and is about 100 ft above the rocks below. It looked scary, and I would have loved to cross it. We stopped at the pretty town of Ballycastle for lunch. On the way back, we drove through Belfast, where we saw the Peace Walls that separated the Catholic and Protestant communities, and the Europa, the most bombed hotel in the world.
We left Ireland and sailed to Greenock, Scotland. The ship stayed in port till 2:00 AM, so that we would have enough time to go see the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. There were trains to Glasgow, but I didn't think I would have enough time at Glasgow, since I had to be back by 5:00 to go to the Military Tattoo. The Military Tattoo was the highlight of this cruise. It was held in front of Edinburgh Castle. There were military bands from UK, US, Norway, New Zealand etc, along with school kids. The precision marching and the music, with the castle as the backdrop was something I will never forget. The show ended with fireworks. Finally, the lights were all dimmed, with a single spotlight on a lone bugler high up on the castle ramparts.
We were supposed to go to Orkney Islands, but because of bad weather, we had to miss that, and move closer to the shore, and we had a relaxing sea day instead. We must have moved away from the storm, because we did not see any rain, wind or high seas!
We then sailed to Invergordon, Scotland. This was a tiny town. I walked around, looking at the many wall murals all along the main street. In the afternoon, I took a tour to Loch Ness, the home of the legendary Loch Ness Monster, and to Urquhart Castle. Along the way, we drove through the pretty little town of Inverness
Next stop was Edinburgh, Scotland. We sailed into the port of South Queensferry. I walked to the train station, and took a train into Edinburgh. I spent the day walking around the Royal Mile, visiting Edinburgh Castle, St Giles' Cathedral, the Scottish Parliament and Holyrood Palace. I grabbed a piece of Haggis Pizza for lunch.
Final port was Le Havre, France. Some people took tours to the landing beaches of Normandy, and others went to Paris. I had spent a week in Paris years ago, so I opted to go to Rouen. This is where Joan of Arc was burnt. A nice church has been built at that spot. There is also a very beautiful cathedral in Rouen. The town is also very pretty, with cobbled streets.
All in all, this was a quick tour of Scotland and Ireland, that has left me wanting to see more. Some day, maybe I will be able to go back, and drive through Scotland and Ireland,
Click on the picture below, and you can view the photos.
British Isles Cruise
