Quest Cruise, Part 4

On May 14, our port was still in France, Dunkirk; northern France.  We didn’t tour this big city, but took a cruise ship tour to “The Quaint Opal Coast.”  This was a panoramic drive along the Channel Coast.  At one point we could see across to the White Cliffs of Dover, England.  It is called opal because the sea and sky merge into an “Opalescent oyster-grey continuum.”  It was very windy here, so we didn’t walk out to the cliffs.

View of Channel and countryside

Lighthouse on coast

Aerial shot of the coast and white dliffs

Beautiful scenery

View from ship of the pier area

Our favorite bar, Observation

 

 

For the next 2 days, our last of the cruise, we were in Belgium Ports:  Antwerp and Zeebrugge.  We toured the beautiful city of Antwerp, by foot.  Huge Plaza and Cathedral and many walking streets.

Antwerp covered buildings under construction

Even more colorful camouflage

Huge Cathedral

Tall buildings around the Plaza

View of city from Patio

Huge Cathedral with Onion dome

Many walking streets with cafes

Time for refreshment

 

Antwerp covered buildings under construction

Even more colorful camouflage

Huge Cathedral with Onion dome

Huge Cathedral

Tall buildings around the Plaza

Many walking streets with cafes

Time for refreshment

View of city from Patio

In the night between Antwerp and Zeebrugge, Jim and I had worse coughs and did not sleep much.  We therefore, skipped the tour of “Canals of Ghent” and slept in.  After a late breakfast, we went ashore and took ship’s shuttle to beach-side village of Blankenberge.  We had 24.6 euros to spend and so walked the shopping street checking out our options.  We finally decided to buy some Belgian chocolate to bring back to friends.  The 4 boxes cost 25 euros, but the merchant gave us the discount!   Back on the ship for lunch and we took photos with several of our favorite wait staff.  Got to know them well after 30 days!

 

Ninny and Marten in Colonnade

Ezra in Colonnade

Geoffrey served us breakfast and lunch

Anita, assistant Maitre’D

Shopping street, Blankenberge

Patio wait staff

Fun Wait Staff on Patio

On Friday, May 17th, we docked at Dover, England and left the ship.  We had transport by Blackberrycars to take us to our London hotels.  More in my next post.  What a wonderful cruise, despite our illnesses!

Quest Cruise, Part 3

We recently completed a road trip in our Van back to Nebraska to see family with stops in Utah and Colorado.  More on that later.  I had planned to add to this webpage while on the road, but we kept too busy.  Anyway….. more on our cruise.

Our first stop in France was St Malo.  In the morning, we walked to the ancient walled city.  It was lovely.   Later, we had a tour of “Delightful” Dinan.  After a bus ride, most of the tour was by foot through the town.  It was pouring down rain and chilly.  Jim and John had decided to wait for the group in a local pub.  I set out with JoAnn, using our umbrella.  I soon decided that I would be better off staying dry and warm, so gave her the umbrella and hurried back to the bar.

View of Wall

Walking streets of St. Malo

Before the rain

Shops and cafes in St. Malo

Dinan in the rain

Cherbourg was our next stop in France.  I always remember this town from the 1964 movie, “Umbrellas of Cherbourg” with Catherine Deneuve and the song “I Will Wait for You.”  We did not spend any time in town.  From there, we had a tour to Saint Mere Eglise, a small town that was the first to be liberated after D-Day.  One paratrooper was caught on the church spires.  This was a part of the movie, “The Longest Day”, about D-Day.  They still have an effigy of him on the church.  Then we had a brief visit at Utah Beach, on of the 5 beaches where the D-Day landings occurred.

Paratrooper on Church

Paratrooper above Jim’s hat to right

Special beer in bar

Wide beach of Utah

Lunch with sign of battle sites

Destroyed German Bunker

Statue at Utah Beach

Statues depicting beach landing

On Sunday, May 12, we docked at Rouen, France, on the Seine River.  This city is the historic capital of Normandy.  Since we were here overnight, we stayed on ship and did laundry and rested.  John and JoAnn did a tour of Monet Gardens.  We both were coughing a lot.

The next day we toured the old city of Rouen and rode a Tourist Train for a 45 minute tour.  We were not able to go inside the beautiful Gothic Notre Dame cathedral that day.  Rouen is where Joan of Arc was tried, tortured and eventually executed.

Signs at Pier

Many half-timbered buildings in Rouen

Gothic Notre Dame Cathedral

Site of Execution of Joan of Arc

Jim with JoAnn and John on tourist train

View from train

16th Century Astronomical Clock

Our train and back of Cathedral

When we left Rouen that day, there was a fun party on The Patio and we cruised the Seine River back to the ocean for a few hours.  We spent part of the sailing at the Observation Bar.

A little chilly on Patio for sail away

Drinks, gelato and more

Views along the Seine River

River cruise boat on Seine

Mansion/castles along the Seine

Quest Cruise of Iberia and France, Part 1

After the 16 day TA on the Quest, we stayed onboard in the same cabin for 14 days and 12 ports.  JoAnn and John joined us in Lisbon and we did several tours together.  It was a very busy cruise and many countries:  Portugal, Spain, Ireland, UK, France and Belgium.  There were some new ports and we had an afternoon sailing on the Seine River in France.

PORTO, PORTUGAL

Beautiful Porto

With JoAnn and John at Viewpoint

Poising with our TukTuk

Cozy seating inside

TukTuk tour with view of city

View of Porto city

Formal night

Beautiful Porto

With JoAnn and John at Viewpoint

TukTuk tour with view of city

Formal night

A CORUNA, SPAIN

Walking street with balconies

Some shopping and walking

Tapas and beer on the Plaza

Beer with Tapas

Beautiful Palacio Municipal

Beautiful church in A Coruna

A Coruna’s main city plaza