Day 1: PRAGUE

We arrived in Zurich somewhat rested, and spent the whole hour/layover getting to our next terminal and departure gate.

We started noticing people who had been travelling the whole distance with us, and some good guesses were made with who was on our tour.

The flight to Prague was lovely and quick, and surprisingly comfortable considering the size of the plane. We had formidable views of Zurich from the sky, and in Prague we did a lovely slow lap of the city before landing. We were able to see the communistic era’s effect on the architecture – even from the sky.

We landed and made our way to the exit, and met with our tour group. Our tour guide or tour leader’s name is Fotini; she is from Greece.

The bus ride to the hotel was gentle and took about 30 mins. The streets were lined with some strong colours of autumn.

Got to the hotel, and our room wasn’t ready yet, so we decided to head into the city to begin exploring.

We encountered 2 struggling Ukrainien refuges who were finding the use of the ticket machines impossible, due to the language barrier – even with a translator app, we were unable to help them. Eventually they decided to walk off as they figured we were not the right people for assistance.

With only 6 stops on the train to the old town we were finally in the heart of Prague. Beautiful old buildings and streets in every direction. We wandered a little bit and eventually went into the Madame Tussaud’s Prague, and also the Museum of Sex Machines, it was a wild experience to say the least

Then we returned to the hotel to final go to our room and have a highly anticipated shower. We decided to head back to the city for dinner and go to a traditional Czech pub. With anticipation to do more, but the tiredness caught up with us during the meal. \240It was practically night time by 4:30pm.

The dinner was pretty good, and the beer very smooth. The pub was so busy, and about three levels underground. Riley had some Sirloin and Kat had the Duck; our meals and beer were ready in less than 5 minutes. These meals were 100% made for drinking with and insanely bread heavy

After the meal we beelined it to the hotel and we’re asleep within 10 mins.

Day 2 PRAGUE:

This morning we woke at 4am. Well rested but still not yet ready for the Timezone shift.

We made our way to the breakfast buffet at 6:30am which was insane. They had everything! Katherine had three servings whilst Riley had one, and the food coma kicked in almost instantly.

After breakfast we went back to the room and relaxed a bit before going to the bus for our first scheduled tour.

There were 2 travellers who weren’t ready at 9:00, and we had to wait for them - which saw us wait an extra 20 minutes.

Eventually they arrived, and we began the blissful drive up to the Prague castle. The largest in Europe. Built back in the 1400s and completed in the early 1920s.

The castle homed an even more exquisite cathedral which we didn’t go in because some relic was being toured around which made it cost money for entry.

We were in a tourist tsunami, groups everywhere. We began walking our way from the castle down through the castle city towards the town centre. We had a fantastical view of the city. It was halfway down the hill when we realised we weren’t benefiting from the guide we advised our tour leader to not worry if we disappear.

Within 5 minutes we had wandered into an antique store followed by a chiming cake shop.

Chimney cakes are doughnuts with icecream inside them, they really are everywhere.

We then continued down across the Charles Bridge. It was built in the 1300s after the even older bridge was damaged in a flood.

There were lots of artists lining the edge of the bridge, and people were patting a bronze puppy dog for no other reason than it was a dog, which was Katherine’s first opportunity to pat a dog.

At the other end of the bridge we hit another surge of people. And also saw some little Nutria, swimming along the edge of the Valtava, Prague’s river.

We decided to go get tickets for a river cruise and diner.

After booking that, we returned to the old town and wandered around looking for a pub for lunch. We wandered into a church by accident which was massive and deceiving from the facade. The ceiling had incredible art, and was built in 1238; which was actually the time of day we were in there… spooky.

We found ourselves being drawn into a kebab shop – but decided against it; which we would come to regret. We ended up going into The Švejk restaurant "U Zeleného stromu”. Another traditional Czech pub with a bohemian style menu; Bohemia being the region Prague was built in.

Riley tried the Pork Knuckle, a local delicacy. And Katherine had some chicken wrapped in bacon and beans. Another Czech beer, Pilsner Urqueel was had by Riley, deceiving it as “Pilsnery and crisp.” \240Kat had a cider, which have found that the description for cider on menus is very vague, and will either just say ‘Cider’ and sometimes have ‘(apple)’ next to it if you’re lucky. Fortunately, it’s delicious cider.

It was so much food, so much! We were in pain by the end of the meal. Hoping our next walk would pep us up for the afternoon. We were wrong.

We went into an over the top Lollie shop, themed like a gold mine, if we hadn’t just eaten our weight in food – it might have been very dangerous.

We tried going to the Prague library, which was sold out… not sure how a library sells out. And then we attempted to find the Franz Kafka - Rotating Head by David Cerny… which was down for restoration purposes. That was enough for us to tell us a nap should be had to overcome these unforeseen circumstances.

We found our way to the nearest Metro… which turned out to be a shopping mall. Then found the next closest actual metro station and headed back to the hotel where we passed out for 2 hours. Waking up with sincere regrets about our lunch choices as we readied ourselves for the dinner cruise.

We caught the metro, and got to the boat 40 minutes early. It was so hot on the boat, so we tried going up to the top deck, and that was freezing. So, returned back downstairs and took all jumpers off hoping the temperature would cool off inside soon.

It did, after an hour and a half.

Riley was unable to consume any of the buffet for dinner due to the over indulgence in lunch, and Katherine made a tiny little plate.

We did both have a slice of weirdly textured cheesecake for dessert. And then spent the remainder of the boat ride trying to stay awake and enjoy Prague by night.

We were the first ones off the boat and headed straight back to the metro, to the hotel, and to bed where we fell asleep instantly.

Day 3: PRAGUE – BRATISLAVIA – VIENNA

This morning we woke with the sad news that we had to depart Prague.

With the bud leaving at 8am we were packed and down at breakfast by 7, this time tactically had another go at the formidable breakfast the hotel offered and was on the bus at 8 on the dot.

Except our bud was parked in by all the other damn buses and we sat at the hotel for another 40 minutes.

Eventually we were off, on the direction of the capitol

Day 4: VIENNA

This morning we woke up at a reasonable hour. And headed down to the breakfast area. It was in the middle of a huge pyramid structure; which gives the hotel its name too.

It wasn’t quite as an extensive breakfast as Prague, but still quite delicious. The scrambled eggs and coffee were better at the very least. And the room had massive fiddle leaf figs that towered almost to the roof.

After taking our fill of breakfast we walked to the Westfield across the road to get some shampoo and conditioner. Katherine wanted some moisturiser too, and grabbed some Dove. It wasn’t until she was applying it completely over her face did she notice it tasted like soap… because it was milk body wash.

We got on the bus at 9:30 and drove to the city centre, touring around the outside for 30 mins as the tour leader taught us about the different building, and history of the city.

Eventually we stopped along the Danube and unloaded off the bus. We had taken on another bus too, as a group of people wanted to go to Budapest - so they took one bus there and their leftovers came on ours.

We walked from the bud to St Stephen’s Cathedral where we decided to rendezvous at 4:45.

Our first adventure was into the cathedral, which was super busy. Then we began a walk to the opera house. We met up with our two other youngster friends. Lapped the building twice before realising they didn’t have it open.

We walked pasted the Albertina Gallery, and made our way through some parks, passing the Mozart statue, and Maria Theresa Statue before getting to the natural history museum. It was massive. Half the first floor was just rocks! And dinosaurs. And then the whole second floor was animals. They had some pretty jenke taxidermy jobs. You could tell from the eyes.

We split up briefly from the other girls after the museum and we made our way through the Hofburg palace, and ending up at the ancient underground ruins near St Peter’s Catholic Church. We had lunch at a nearby restaurant where we shared a Cordon Bleu. Riley had an Aperol and Katherine an Austrian Cider.

We didn’t have any plans after lunch, so we ended up just wandering around, walking into old buildings and through open doors. We found ourselves outside the university and Parliament House. And then knew we had about an hour before departure, so started making our way to the rendezvous point. We walked through a beautiful rose garden, and made it back to the cathedral at 4:30.

We still had 15 mins, so popped into a close pub for a beer. At 4:45 we walked out hoping to see our group gathered. But no one was there.

Confused, we walked our way back to where the buses were - we saw a bus leaving. Our hearts sinking knowing that was probably our bud. But why would they leave without us?

The girls we were with had said their bus was leaving at 5, so we could just go with them.

After calling our respective tour guides, without any hesitation they had both left ours at 4:45 on the dot. So our minute or two lateness was the difference, which feels like a joke.

And theirs left at 4pm… and no one questioned their whereabouts.

We were given the option the bus that went to Budapest would be coming in and leaving at 8:15, which was a while away. Or we could catch the tram, which was a 40 minute ride and only left from the other side of the city center.

So, we made the decision to share an Uber; our Uber driver only spoke German, but he seemed alright, we got back to the hotel in roughly 25 mins.

The oldies kept laughing that we had missed the bud. But quickly changed attitude when they realised we weren’t finding the situation nearly as funny.

We decided to decompress after the shit show of TripADeal organising travel, and went to the hotel pool. It was pretty incredible, the room had lights on the roof to look like the night sky, there were more humongous fiddle leaf plants; and the water was beautiful and warm.

We went through to the Suana and steam room area, which was also a nudist area, and got some un expected full frontal.

Riley wasn’t a fan of the steam room, claiming his ability to breathe was compromised.

We then returned to the room and went to bed, exhausted and ready to sleep.

Day 5: LJUBLJANA

This morning we woke up in Vienna for the last time, and went for breakfast nice and early. We were not missing anymore buses.

We hopped onboard ready for our trip to Ljubljana. It was raining most of the morning, so our view from the bus, although became noticeably different, was hard to see through the clouds.

We made our a stop at a funny little restaurant on the side of the road. When 115 Australian tourists all get off at once, it makes using the loo quite a difficult task.

So, instead we did a lap of the perimeter and eventually found a blind spot where Riley could wee.

Afterwards, we all loaded back on the bus and continued to Ljubljana.

We arrived and the rain started to pour. But right as we finished our walk from the bus to the middle of town, it stopped raining.

LUBLIJANA is a beautiful city, noticeably younger demographic thanks to the university.

We did a short group tour through the main stretch of the town and were then left to our own devices. We stumbled across some brass skulls forming a pathway up a rather disconcerting alley. Along our adventures up this alley way we ventured “below deck” into a bar appropriately named the Captains Cabin. Riley decided to try a local pint called the ‘Sailors Storm’ which was said to be a full strength lager. The remainder of the group decided to take full advantage of the 6 for 10 shot special on offer and taste one of each of the \2406 flavours available. Afterwards, naturally, it was time for a Long Island ice tea to close out the wonderful day in Ljubljana. By this point Katherine was needing some light assistance from Riley to exit the building and guide her on her squirrel hunting endeavours. Tivoli park was the best chance for a squirrel sighting we were reliably informed by the bartender, so across town we headed. En route we passed many of the towns wonderful sights and buildings, the biggest standout being the former Gestapo headquarters. Once we had finally reached the park we noticed the little amount of time we actually had left available to us, so we did the important things (another bush wee) and made haste for the meeting point. \240Despite yesterdays failures, the crew had not yet departed and we were in fact 10 minutes early for the return journey back to our motel.

Day 5: LJUBLJANA

This morning we woke up in Vienna for the last time, and went for breakfast nice and early. We were not missing anymore buses.

We hopped onboard ready for our trip to Ljubljana. It was raining most of the morning, so our view from the bus, although became noticeably different, was hard to see through the clouds.

We made our a stop at a funny little restaurant on the side of the road. When 115 Australian tourists all get off at once, it makes using the loo quite a difficult task.

So, instead we did a lap of the perimeter and eventually found a blind spot where Riley could wee.

Afterwards, we all loaded back on the bus and continued to Ljubljana.

We arrived and the rain started to pour. But right as we finished our walk from the bus to the middle of town, it stopped raining.

LUBLIJANA is a beautiful city, noticeably younger demographic thanks to the university.

We did a short group tour through the main stretch of the town and were then left to our own devices. We stumbled across some brass skulls forming a pathway up a rather disconcerting alley. Along our adventures up this alley way we ventured “below deck” into a bar appropriately named the Captains Cabin. Riley decided to try a local pint called the ‘Sailors Storm’ which was said to be a full strength lager. The remainder of the group decided to take full advantage of the 6 for 10 shot special on offer and taste one of each of the \2406 flavours available. Afterwards, naturally, it was time for a Long Island ice tea to close out the wonderful day in Ljubljana. By this point Katherine was needing some light assistance from Riley to exit the building and guide her on her squirrel hunting endeavours. Tivoli park was the best chance for a squirrel sighting we were reliably informed by the bartender, so across town we headed. En route we passed many of the towns wonderful sights and buildings, the biggest standout being the former Gestapo headquarters. Once we had finally reached the park we noticed the little amount of time we actually had left available to us, so we did the important things (another bush wee) and made haste for the meeting point. \240Despite yesterdays failures, the crew had not yet departed and we were in fact 10 minutes early for the return journey back to our motel.

Day 6: LUBLJANA

Another morning in Ljubljana, breaky here was a bit hit and miss, but we found what was good.

We had the option to head to lake Bled this morning, instead of the city again, so we did.

Lake Bled was 50 mins away, and it had snowed in the mountains overnight. So, the bud ride there was very lovely. We did a short stop at lake bled castle, which was situated ontop of a mountain that looked out across the lake. The view was incredible, and we snuck off into the bushes and found another lookout which opened up to more of the lake than all the others could see.

After the castle we headed down in the bus to the town of bled. We had a few hours to spend in the village/lake and we really enjoyed every minute.

We started by trying their infamous Bled Cake, and Riley had a coffee too. It was almost exactly like vanilla slice, except fluffy cream inside and no icing on top.

We thought the humble vanilla slice was still the superior dessert.

After our cakes, we decided to walk around the lake. We had the option of renting a boat, or hiring a boat with a driver to go to the island in the middle which homed Slovenia’s only island. But decided against it, as it looked insatiably packed on the island.

We walked around and Katherine pat every dog she saw, and loved all of them. There was a spooky air-raid siren that went off at noon, but no one else seemed phased, so neither did we.

As we completed the lap we explored the Bled cathedral too, and then strolled back to the meeting point with time to spare. There was a cute photo op here with a love heart on the lake too.

After we all returned we made our way to Lubljana again, hungry for lunch.

We headed to the old pub which served traditional Slovenian food and drink.

We decided to share a salad with sausage and egg and an unholy amount of undressed lettuce, plus some sneaky horseradish – and a spaghetti with veal. They were pretty good and filled us up.

We then walked down to the funicular which takes you up to the city castle, for incomparable views of the city.

We had a look at some medieval artefacts and how they had renovated the castle to make it tourist safe. It was also a POW for Italians back in WWII.

After exploring the castle for a short while, we returned down the funicular and returned to the meeting point. Katherine and Stacey, one of the girls from another group, went into the oldest shopping mall which was right next to the meeting point. It only sold designer clothes. It was 6 levels and designer on ALL of them.

Then we returned again to the meeting point before headed back to the bus, to the hotel and straight to bed.

Day 6: LUBLJANA

Another morning in Ljubljana, breaky here was a bit hit and miss, but we found what was good.

We had the option to head to lake Bled this morning, instead of the city again, so we did.

Lake Bled was 50 mins away, and it had snowed in the mountains overnight. So, the bud ride there was very lovely. We did a short stop at lake bled castle, which was situated ontop of a mountain that looked out across the lake. The view was incredible, and we snuck off into the bushes and found another lookout which opened up to more of the lake than all the others could see.

After the castle we headed down in the bus to the town of bled. We had a few hours to spend in the village/lake and we really enjoyed every minute.

We started by trying their infamous Bled Cake, and Riley had a coffee too. It was almost exactly like vanilla slice, except fluffy cream inside and no icing on top.

We thought the humble vanilla slice was still the superior dessert.

After our cakes, we decided to walk around the lake. We had the option of renting a boat, or hiring a boat with a driver to go to the island in the middle which homed Slovenia’s only island. But decided against it, as it looked insatiably packed on the island.

We walked around and Katherine pat every dog she saw, and loved all of them. There was a spooky air-raid siren that went off at noon, but no one else seemed phased, so neither did we.

As we completed the lap we explored the Bled cathedral too, and then strolled back to the meeting point with time to spare. There was a cute photo op here with a love heart on the lake too.

After we all returned we made our way to Lubljana again, hungry for lunch.

We headed to the old pub which served traditional Slovenian food and drink.

We decided to share a salad with sausage and egg and an unholy amount of undressed lettuce, plus some sneaky horseradish – and a spaghetti with veal. They were pretty good and filled us up.

We then walked down to the funicular which takes you up to the city castle, for incomparable views of the city.

We had a look at some medieval artefacts and how they had renovated the castle to make it tourist safe. It was also a POW for Italians back in WWII.

After exploring the castle for a short while, we returned down the funicular and returned to the meeting point. Katherine and Stacey, one of the girls from another group, went into the oldest shopping mall which was right next to the meeting point. It only sold designer clothes. It was 6 levels and designer on ALL of them.

Then we returned again to the meeting point before headed back to the bus, to the hotel and straight to bed.

Day 7: VENICE

This morning we had our last breakfast in Slovenia before hoping back on the bus towards Italy.

Again we saw the architecture, cars and trucks change as we crossed the border into Veneto, passing a few interesting sites and sceneries. We pulled up at the bus station in Venice around 11:15.

Riley was in desperate need of some new sunglasses, as the glare from the Adriatic Sea was already getting to him.

He snuck off to a souvenir shop at the bus station and bought some knockoff sunnies.

We then made our way to the boat for a short cruise into the island city. One of the other groups tour leader blasted the Australian Anthem from the boats speaker; it was truely embarrassing.

Eventually we pulled up at the island wharf where we were split into our groups again for a walking tour. Our tour leader was on the larger side, and the temperature was fairly warm, and she wore a jumper. We each had ear pieces in which allowed us to all hear her clearly, but all we could hear was her heavy breathing as we walked from location to location. And she talked about the most unrelevent things. We made the call pretty early in to ditch and explore the island ourselves. Our first course of action – find food.

We had been tipped off to try a restaurant on the other side of the island, but quickly discovered when we got there that it was only seafood. We walked a bit further, and eventually found a quiet restaurant in Venice’s Jewish quarter.

Riley ordered some Totellini, and Katherine some Carbonara. It was so delicious!

Then we returned to the streets and alleyways and wandered around for the next few hours.

We found a Leonardo DaVinci invention exhibit; they weren’t his actually inventions but rather replicas. It was still very interesting.

We wandered into an old orchestra hall, where they had old violins, cellos, mandolins, lutes and violas from the 1600’s. And we found a busy exhibition too. Not really sure how old the busts were, but it was cool all the same.

We tried some Gelato on our walk back to the wharf and had some more when we got to the wharf.

Then the boat ride back to the bus was very cold, the chill off the water, and the breeze combined for a shivering ride.

We got back to the buses and we’re under the impression we were staying very nearby, but we ended up going to the small city inland of Venice. Except for the bud which had an our two other young friends. We only discovered we were at two seperate hotels when we tried to rendezvous at reception.

So, instead we put some washing on at the laundry available, FINALLY!

Walked to the pizza restaurant across the road and ordered a prochetto pizza. Then walked to the Aldi just down the street where Riley purchased a 6-pack of peroni for about $3 AUD.

We returned to getting our washing, picked up the pizza and then enjoyed it in our hotel room watching SVU on the telly; fortunately un-dubbed but with Italian subtitles.

Day 7: VENICE

This morning we had our last breakfast in Slovenia before hoping back on the bus towards Italy.

Again we saw the architecture, cars and trucks change as we crossed the border into Veneto, passing a few interesting sites and sceneries. We pulled up at the bus station in Venice around 11:15.

Riley was in desperate need of some new sunglasses, as the glare from the Adriatic Sea was already getting to him.

He snuck off to a souvenir shop at the bus station and bought some knockoff sunnies.

We then made our way to the boat for a short cruise into the island city. One of the other groups tour leader blasted the Australian Anthem from the boats speaker; it was truely embarrassing.

Eventually we pulled up at the island wharf where we were split into our groups again for a walking tour. Our tour leader was on the larger side, and the temperature was fairly warm, and she wore a jumper. We each had ear pieces in which allowed us to all hear her clearly, but all we could hear was her heavy breathing as we walked from location to location. And she talked about the most unrelevent things. We made the call pretty early in to ditch and explore the island ourselves. Our first course of action – find food.

We had been tipped off to try a restaurant on the other side of the island, but quickly discovered when we got there that it was only seafood. We walked a bit further, and eventually found a quiet restaurant in Venice’s Jewish quarter.

Riley ordered some Totellini, and Katherine some Carbonara. It was so delicious!

Then we returned to the streets and alleyways and wandered around for the next few hours.

We found a Leonardo DaVinci invention exhibit; they weren’t his actually inventions but rather replicas. It was still very interesting.

We wandered into an old orchestra hall, where they had old violins, cellos, mandolins, lutes and violas from the 1600’s. And we found a busy exhibition too. Not really sure how old the busts were, but it was cool all the same.

We tried some Gelato on our walk back to the wharf and had some more when we got to the wharf.

Then the boat ride back to the bus was very cold, the chill off the water, and the breeze combined for a shivering ride.

We got back to the buses and we’re under the impression we were staying very nearby, but we ended up going to the small city inland of Venice. Except for the bud which had an our two other young friends. We only discovered we were at two seperate hotels when we tried to rendezvous at reception.

So, instead we put some washing on at the laundry available, FINALLY!

Walked to the pizza restaurant across the road and ordered a prochetto pizza. Then walked to the Aldi just down the street where Riley purchased a 6-pack of peroni for about $3 AUD.

We returned to getting our washing, picked up the pizza and then enjoyed it in our hotel room watching SVU on the telly; fortunately un-dubbed but with Italian subtitles.

Day 9: ITALY

We spent most of today on the bud. Waking up earlier than usual to get our bags on the bus before breakfast at 6:30.

Breaky here was pretty sad, the food was both awful and with no variety.

After breaky we all made our way to the bud before headed off on our way to Citiccivia and the cruise port.

We made a few stops along the way for lunch and nibbles. But spent most of the bus ride sleeping and listening to E-books, and avoiding the coughing and spluttering of the pandemic making a comeback at the back of the bus.

We arrived at the port around 3pm and everyone tipped the tour leader for her efforts. We didn’t because she left us in Vienna.

Then we walked to the shuttle buses, quite easily with our back packs whilst the seniors all struggled with their now swelling suitcases. We got to the buses and even got to cut the queue thanks to our lack of luggage.

The shuttle bus wreaked of cigarette and the mass of ashtrays on each chair confirmed that.

After a short drive to the boat we were dumbfounded at the sheer size of the boat, it was massive and actually towered over the whole city of Citiccivia.

We breezed through customs, and checked in getting our ship cards, before entering the monstrosity that is MSC World Europa.

Our room was level 12 and not a balcony room, which we chose to save $800. And initially regretted due to the lack of light and fresh air; but quickly appreciated thanks to the fact we barley came back to the room and everyone with a balcony just closed the curtains anyway.

We explored the ship, it was a city in water, shops and restaurants, bars, theatres. There was a huge gym and 2 buffets, around 13 spas outside and a beach on the main deck.

We found our friends from the tour, and had even made friends with some kiwi’s too. And we’re enjoying some cocktails at a rooftop bar when one of the bartenders let slip there was a “secret bar”. Katherine made it her mission to gain access to this elusive bar and harassed so many staff before eventually a bartender at an inside bar gave away the location of the secret bar.

She had to tally to another 5 people before finally gaining the required tickets to get to the Secret Bar. We couldn’t get in right away, but figured out fairly quickly that we then needed to make a reservation and then go to the secret location.

We had our complimentary dinner scheduled for 5:45 on deck 6. But found ourselves on deck 19 at 5:40. Fortunately there was a slide that went the length of the levels and we walked into the restaurant right on time for a 3 course meal.

After dinner we had a specific table to sit at and sat with a lovely guy and his mother, who were on holiday Celebrating her 70th. They had done an Italy only TripADeal + cruise , as opposed to our more centres/eastern adventure.

We reconvened with the group after dinner before Katherine went to bed.

And Katherine writes these and can only say that Riley got to the room at 1:30 and Katherine was unimpressed to say the least.

Day 10: Palermo

This morning was a rough one, we woke up early for breakfast in the Hexagon restaurant. Riley was feeling pretty rough, but adamant he was not hungover, despite his late return to the room.

We ordered breakfast, Riley actually denied breakfast, but the server insisted on fruit and yoghurt. Whilst \240Katherine ordered the Eggs Benny, which was suppose to come with cheese and hollandaise but came with horseradish instead. Riley bailed on breakfast before the food arrived, not feeling great still.

We then watched the cruise ship port in Sicily from the top-deck, and excitedly returned to our rooms to ready for the day.

It was easy enough getting off the ship, they simply scanned our cruise ID’s and we walked straight off the boat. The weather was hot, debatably hotter than Australia… at least more humid.

Immediately we were harassed by hop-on-hop-off buss sales folk and horse and cart options, and taxis too, a tourist trap tsunami.

We were pretty stubborn and just walked right through. Not really knowing where the city centre was we walked in between the buildings, cars parked everywhere and a very potent smell of piss, poo and vomit overwhelming any other smell, even people walking behind us were dry reaching.

We passed through some fish markets selling all sorts of fish and even swordfish!

Another smell we weren’t overly fond of.

We tried going into a few churches but needed a euro or two to go in, and we didn’t have any coins with us at the time, but the architecture from the outside was still quite enjoyable to look at. especially the middle eastern / Arabic influence on the structure and design of it all.

Riley’s malaise was getting the better of him, plus the heat and smell of the city, so we headed back to the ship. We were at the final crossing when Riley walked off in the center traffic island and began throwing up - a moment he wishes never happened in the busiest intersection in the city.

We made it back to the boat, Riley headed for the shower, and Katherine decided to go for a swim in one of the whirlpools to make the most of the good weather.

Eventually Riley joined, but simply sat outside and wasn’t too interested in getting in the water.

Early afternoon Riley had conceded to his health, and headed back to bed. Katherine messaged Stacey and Cassie – our youthful friends – and met up with them in the city again.

She tried a famous Sicilian cannoli.

From a little corner store, no gloves worn by the merchant… filled with ricotta and chocolate chips; it was delicious!

Katherine rendezvoused with the girls and walked to the an old archeological site of an ancient castle/fortress. Where we saw old remains and catapults. And a very unkept sample of ancient times.

We then walked back to the boat, and got ready for dinner, Riley had pepped up slightly.

After dinner we attended an onboard show called ‘Amelia’. Which was basically an aeronautical-steampunk themed circus. Which had insane ballroom dancing, singing, rollerblading, juggling, cartwheels and flips, one girl spun by her hair. It was a great experience.