Tag: iTALY

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

The Bernina express & moving around Europe.

Bernina Express:

A journey that we had to experience once in our lifetime at least. Should we go to Zurich or should we go from Zurich and with not enough time. We planned out our exit from Zurich and so we did it through from Milan- Tirano to Chur. A four-hour journey going through the shades of greens and blues and tunnels with Lindt chocolates and Cherry liqueur for some company. The journey was lovely with the rains, the views and the comfortable space. A long time ago we had done the Glacier express Zermatt to St. Moritz and while that was covered with snow this journey was more greens, mountains, and waters through the journey. Maybe because more into the Italian region and little of Swiss. The train climbs up to the 2253 m high.

Planning to Travel:

Buy a Eurarail mobile pass: Depending on the days and countries you are travelling buy the pass. If it’s more than one country buy the Global pass.

Next, log in to the app.

And make the entry of all the passengers who would travel along with you.

Passport details and other basic information.

Make one Trip on the app:

Create a trip and add all the passengers.

Choose your preferred train time and soon one QR Ticket would be displayed on the app.

Now keep adding the journeys ( Intercountry, or outer country you would like to take)

And with the preferred time, you will soon have multiple QR Ticket under the first group you made for all your trips.

Now, whenever the Ticket collector comes to view your ticket it’s all there.

Do not buy a swiss pass it’s more expensive.

In case you are travelling with Zurich Via trams, Trains or public transport buy a Zurich card.

For Italy Milan :

Buy the ATM card – This can be used for Trams, Buses and Metro. A convenient fast way of travelling around Milan.

We always use public transport as much as possible to explore the city like a local.

FIFA 2018

The 21st  Edition of the World Cup that began in 1930 had  been full of surprises and Shocks. 

It began with Realising Italy wasn’t part of this edition for the first time in 60 Years  

Then Came the Saudi Arabian side who played their first ever World Cup in the 21st edition since the championship has been taking place. 

And Iceland had became the smallest nation to qualify in this year editions and had the Support of the country people came down to Russia for their Games. 

They did give it a fight,But weren’t really as good as the teams they were grouped with. 

But,This is just the beginning for them. 

From the World class team nations like Brazil– Who were as always expected to qualify from the group stage and Qualified for the Quarters were a complete disappointment.The Country that’s been 5 times Champions Had only one team player they were dependent on – Neymar. 

Argentina captain Messi -Messed up the game

Cristiano Ronaldo proved himself by Scoring Goals,But the Team did not Qualify to the next stage of Semi’s and the Dream of Ronaldo wining the cup must have ended forever. 

Uruguay proved themselves yet again.But France  was Better then them.

Spain was utter disappointment as they seemed overconfident against the host.

Sweden was a pleasant surprise. 

Germany the Champions of 2014 just did not have luck by their side.

With the Top 4 France,Belgium, Croatia and England part of the last stage, It seemed more like a Euro league with not a single South American team qualifying this time.

Croatia seemed like the Best side in the World Cup this time.As since 1998 was  the only time they appeared in the semi’s against France and 20 years later they played England and the 5 times they have qualified they hardly progressed to the next stage.

Belgium since the last edition of the World Cup has only become a better side as this time they qualified for the Semis and had some great come backs in the games which they nearly lost.But unfortunately couldn’t make it to the finals 

It’s was hard to believe the French  hadn’t won a title again until 20 years ago.The last time they came close to victory was in Germany 12 Years ago  and were Runner up’s.

The English Team- A team that’s not won in 52 Years. A team in the last 4 World Cup that  faced challenges to even qualify to the stages closer to the final one. 

This year too,The English team failed to qualify to final and even finished 4th .The wait will Continue. 

The Croatian team had reached the finals and it was hard to believe this side had played for the first time 20 years ago in 1998 when we saw them play and  they had finished 3rd In the competition.Now 20 years later they played the team they lost to in the semifinal of 1998 FIFA World Cup and my they were unstoppable but they couldn’t really win the World Cup.France was the Best. 

France coach Dider Deschamps is only the Third Man, after Mario Zagallo from Brazil who captained his side to two successive World Cup titles (1958& 1962 ) and 1970 as a coach and Franz Beckenbauer from Germany who won the cup for the team in 1974 &  in 1990  as a coach, to winning the Cup as a captain in 1998 and as a coach for the country in 2018.

PRAHA !

IMG_7416

Travelling is something that makes you relate to places you have visited before, So on my recent vacation to Prague the moment I started exploring the city of Czech republic, I was reminded of Edinburgh in Scotland ,the particular setting of that place ,the statue near the Charles bridge,And the tram line towards the old town going through the architecture gave me the feeling of me being in Florence in Italy.To the extent ,the panoramic view of the city made me relate to Capri in Italy  from Petrîn hill , when I could endlessly only see red roof tops from the viewing point as compared to the White House of Capri.No,I am not boasting of being a globetrotter,But only getting you to notice how travelling to so many places has made me observe and believe,that Prague is a place having something like every European country.

The cathedrals name Being the same with only the beauty of the stained glasses around being  different.

The traditional food “goulash”  soup like curry with the option of beef,Pork and chicken and bread is popular cuisine here.That was something different since all over Europe there are only a few dishes that are wet.The “Tredlink” Pronouced Tredlin was another tasty sweet cone with sugar coated on the sides, And if you wanted to have some guilty pleasure you could add the Nutella and vanilla ice cream to go for the kill.

This trip to Prague has been one of those trips that makes you wonder Europe has everything alike,Yet is so different.