Tag: Experience

Curise Control 2024 Getaway.

Having travelled by Air, Train and Road the only mode of transportation left to experience was to travel by Sea, The cruise experience, was one of its kind. We were very sceptical about travelling and experiencing the Cruise and the Sea Sickness, How were we going to manage on the ship for so long and how do we go about the whole journey?
Fortunately, We bumped into the Man who would make the whole cruise experience seamless and memorable.
From the moment we checked in to the cruise, We had surprises waiting to unfold.
We had an invite sent for the exclusive meet-up with the team and a few guests who were part of the Heaven Suites.
On our first day during the dinner at Manhattan Restaurant, Where the menu changes every day and doesn’t require a reservation, We had a table ready for us.
We had meal suggestions from the chef.
The meal had seafood dishes,0% Alcohol Wine and Mocktails with Meat and desserts.
We had a team who had planned our next few days on the ship including our restaurant reservation for the whole journey.
The first Dock at Cannes – Was another experience of priority guests for the tender boat. ( Cannes is a tender port on Cruises, The Ship docks at a distance Before the tenders are released in Slots and on Reservation only. )
We had the priority to get on board the cruise.
Cannes, We do it again! A city known for the Film Festival is a beautiful stroll in the Promenade de la Croisette, The Cinematic painting on the walls and the walk through narrow steeped lanes while a red carpet awaits you to walk the steps of an auditorium that overlooks the French Rivera.
While that was the glamorous walk on the stage, the walk off to the Marche Forville
A weekend food Market was an interesting experience with so many fresh herbs and cheese available to taste, Before we headed to the beach.
Back on the Ship, We took a break to explore the ship before we headed to change for Dinner.
We explored the Reading Room – The Reading Room had an amazing collection of the new popular bestsellers with a view of the sea. Also a gaming room for ones who like to play chess with their mates.
Walking around the bars, We had a photographer doing photo shoots with backdrops and Art being displayed on the sides while we walked.

The next day we visited another port Civitavecchia and it seemed like the hottest day!


The highlight was Naples! We had made a reservation for Michele’s pizza!Rated as  The World’s Best Pizza.A 150 years old pizzeria `
Just 4 choices on the menu to choose from and order, Margherita being the original.
Legend has it, that the Queen ordered and loved the pizza so much! That it was named the Margherita. If you don’t have a reservation? You can take a takeaway from
The one-mile-long Queue side of the Restaurant. Braving the rain was worth it here!

And for those who are avid Football fans!
Here, is an interesting Trivia. Mardonaa was from Naples, and there is a mural and Fan made space in Naples!

Cagliari, Sardinia though a beautiful town, We hardly had any time here!  
Spain Palma De Mallorca was the surprise city For us! It was beautiful with a mix of the Middle East, Tangier in Morocco and hints of Europe! The cathedral was beautifully built with the best view of the sea and a sunset worth coming back to!
Ibiza! We would have liked to be here overnight to experience the Nightlife, but the day trip! Reminds you a lot about Greece.

Coming back to the cruise!

Each dinner meal was an experience!
Right from Indian delicacy Butter Chicken, Samosa and South Indian style Jumbo prawns and indian style Fish that were specially curated for us. The dessert Gajar ka Halwa! Couldn’t have been a better conclusion to our Indian Meal.
The French Meal at Le Bistro on the Escape ship was esquite with Jumbo size lobster and nice chunks of Sea Bass! With French onion Soup and herbed butter that was made of snails.
The Italian Meal at La Cucina- The pizza was at par with Michele’s we had in Naples!
Our Italian meal were with Risotto fungi mushroom truffles, With Amaretto liqueur and limoncello on ice on the sides.
For dessert, we had one of the best Panna Cotta till date, Tiramisu It was so good, that We went again the next day to Only have one more slice of tiramisu.
Teppanyaki – The Japanese Experience!
This was Very good + Entertainment.
A table of ten with a total of seven of us and it was a fun interactive dinner for us with tricks while our food was being prepared.
Tried a Wasabi Cocktail! And it was a sweet and spicy fusion drink.
The Moderno – The Brazilian steakhouse was reliving our Brazil meal again that we had a few months ago! And it was as good as that one! With meats and bread.
Cagney Steakhouse: a signature Restaurant that is there is most of the NCL cruises was an American steakhouse experience where we had very good Crab Cakes, Lobsters and calamari!  
The last but not the least Bayamo was the best seafood dinner meal with very huge size shrimps! And fish! That just melted away! And the birthday Surprise meal with a huge cake was the highlight of Dad’s 60th.
They also set up the room to celebrate the birthday to an amazement with chocolates, A spa voucher and a bottle of Wine and champagne!

The ship had a lot of other offerings, the gaming arcade, Table Tennis , Pools, The Mini Golf course, a Jogging track, Water slides for the kids or the kid in You! Rope walking For the adventurous one.
For the one’s who like to drink, there are about 15 odd bars to choose your drinks from and many spots you would like to Keep hanging around ,While you enjoy your drink. Many other interactive activities are scheduled throughout the cruise, and you have the freedom to attend or skip them!
If you haven’t cruised yet! Now is the perfect time to take control of your cruise Break.

Cruise Route:

Travel to Barcelona

9 Days

Barcelona – Cannes – Livorno- Civitavecchia-Naples- Cagliari-Palma De Mallorca – Ibiza- Barcelona

Mediterranean Cruise…

Port of Call: #barcelona
Day 1: #Cannes
Day2: #Livorno- #Florence and #Pisa Around the port
Day3: Overnight at #Livorno
Day4: #Civitavecchia – #Rome is close to this port
Day 5: #Naples
Day6: #Calgilari
Day 7: #Palmademallorca
Day 8: #Ibiza
Day 9: #Barcelona

Barcelona sightseeing:

Parkguell

Gaudi

sagradafamilia

Casabatlo

Cafes:
@nomadcoffee

Food:
@tapatapabarcelona

Food:

Churros #patatbravas

Cannes:

Marché Forville -Food Market

Livorno:
Cathedrals

Naples:
@pizzeriadamichele : Bucket list, Done after a decade!

Palma:
Cafes @arabaycoffee @thebarnberlin

Hampiness – An adventure in the waiting!

Virupaksha Temple

A journey that had been on the bucket list for the last few years.

And having explored India from the north and west.

South had a been little unexplored and was waiting to be explored.

Hampi is a city full of temples that have references not just mythology ( Ramayan) Hanuman’s Birthplace. But, also with Shiva- A single monolith statue that’s one of the most visited sights of the city. To the Dynasties battles Kilji, Chanayaka and later the British coming to existence.

No Wonder a city filled with so much history and mythology feels like one place with many world heritage references that the The Ministry of Tourism, on 29th September, declared Karnataka’s iconic destination as the Best Tourism Village of India-2023.

Hampi was selected one among the 795 applications received from 31 states and UTs.

Some bits of Hampi feel like you are in Macchi- Picchu to some feel like you are in Greece. While some truly belong to India.

The city has many world heritage sites.Think your ₹50 currency and you will observe the chariot stone. Hampi is also referred to as India’s Rome with so many ruins and history to the sights.

The historians at Hampi, also mentioned to explore the whole of Hampi that has 80 monuments worth exploring would take you an ideal 45 days here! So much history!

And if you would like to travel to Hampi some of the most important sites are Vitthala temple, that’s full of interpretations of history and the home to the stone Chariot. To the Virupaksha temple an active temple that has rituals performed daily including feeding of elephants as an experience of lifetime.

Elephant Stables a monument that was built for the kings elephant many centuries ago is another site worth visiting.

At times Hampi makes you believe you are In Stonehenge with the rocks here beautifully placed naturally or makes you believe you are In Grand Canyon with trekking around on rocks that are placed with boulders for support.

The sunset and sunrise view points of the city, give you an overview of the lush green landscapes covered with sugarcane’s and Banana plantations.

With so much to offer for history & nature buffs.Hampi still has the rawness and beauty of India.

Hampi is still not considered a tourist destination, with only one flight to Mumbai! And limited advertising for tourism in Hampi.

Stay: Evolve Back Resort

Did You Know?

Karnataka once served as the capital of one of the largest kingdoms of India the Vijayanagara Empire around the 1500 AD. And during that time it was known to be one of the largest and wealthiest cities in the world.

The Virupaksha temple dates back to 7th-century, which makes it one of the oldest functional temple in the country is dedicated to Virupaksha, an incarnation of Lord Shiva, built with a pillared hall, three.

One of the must things to do before you leave the temple take blessings from Lakshmi elephant

The pillars in the Vittahla temple would also be used as musical instruments by the locals. Each pillar would have a different sound and rhythm.

Elephant Stables
Vitthala temple

Reading- Reader!

 

Reading : 

There is so much that goes into breaking down the story, The thought, the idea – Where you can look at a simple story from your point of view and your personal experience, the difference & Similarities you felt before you read the book and travelled to the authors country to reading a book after travelling to the authors country to living the authentic life of the story you read- Behaving like the characters you loved the most and travelling and believing you are living in that city or travelling to the exact locations of where the story takes places to compare how the author has matured over time by comparing his previous works to the most recent works. 

Reading can enrich you in so many ways! It can make you look at the same things through a tunnel vision or through an experts eye and give you clarity by reading similar topics from other authors. 

Reading makes you imagine a certain thing and when you travel to that particular place, the reality is different or the same vision you were shown by the author. 

Reading can give you insights about locals otherwise you would be Oblivious to. 

And when you are part of a reading club – You can associate with so many things through the experiences of others as well as yours. 

Djembe Expercience!

The first social outing for the year!

Began with an evening at a friends place with about eight more couples invited for the evening. The Evening felt like “The invitation” as the couples that were invited that evening were from different backgrounds.

The evening was all about first breaking the ice between all of us incase we did not know anyone or were meeting some of them after long.

But, The highlight of the evening was “Drumming Circle” Where an organisation “Drumwithfreedom” Had carried twenty odd Djambe drums – A style drum of drum that origins from African. djembe comes from the saying “Anke djé, anke bé” which translates to “everyone gather together in peace”

“djé” is the verb for “gather” and “bé” translates as “peace.”

But the catch here was we the guest were involved in being part of the activity right from starting first with right hand than to left hand and later coordinating all that we learnt repeatedly until all are hands went Red. 

This was a wonderful experience as it broke the monotony of a typical social event,Was a New experience and was in many ways great to share how we all felt by doing this activity as a team and as an individual. 

What a way to start the year and the decade with another “New learning” and a New experience. 

A little history about the instrument.

•In the 1980s, a number of Guinean djembefolas started hosting tours to Guinea, allowing djembe students to experience Guinean culture first-hand.

•Djembe players use three basic sounds: bass, tone, and slap, which have low, medium, and high pitch, respectively.

•The combination of rhythm and the differently pitched sounds often leads an inexpert listener to believe that more than one drum is being played.

•The djembe is headed with a rawhide skin, most commonly goatskin. Other skins, such as antelope, cow, kangaroo, or horse can be used as well. Thicker skins, such as cow, have a warmer sound with more overtones in the slaps; thinner skins have a sharper sound with fewer overtones in the slaps and are louder

A typical evening just like how I had experienced:

Musicians form a circle, with the centre of the circle reserved for dancers. Depending on the particular rhythm being played, dances may be performed by groups.