Whenever I return from holiday friends and family always ask, "Did you have a good time?" or something similar. Usually I reply with something positive and if they're so inclined I launch into a description of some of the highlights. This time, however, my reply has been, "Yes and no."
The trip down to Dover went very smoothly and we arrived ahead of schedule. Unfortunately, the coach that we were due to meet broke down and by the time they'd arranged for another coach we were 3 hours late crossing the Channel into France.
Meanwhile, the coach that had broken down was repaired and met us in Northern France, but it still meant that we didn't get to our hotel in Belgium until 2am. This, of course, meant that we were late setting off the next day because the drivers had to have a nine-hour break before they could drive again.
We travelled down through Germany and in the middle of the afternoon the coach broke down again. It took hours to find a replacement coach and to get someone out to fix the original. Because we had to stop for an evening meal, which we were expecting to have in our hotel, we added more time onto the journey and by the time we reached Northern Italy it was about four in the morning and we still had to get to Lake Garda.
We were heading for a small town called Riva del Garda and the roads around there are pretty complex and although we were very close to our destination at one point, our substitute drivers took a wrong turn and somehow managed to take the coach up a narrow road into the mountains. With no way to turn a big vehicle around, they had no choice but to keep going until they found a turning point. This added at least two hours onto our journey and by the time we arrived at our hotel it was 8am. We were eleven hours later than our scheduled time of arrival and everyone was completely exhausted. Many, like me, found it nearly impossible to sleep on the coach.
We all poured out of the coach into the breakfast room. After that I slept for a solid four hours before getting up, still feeling pretty tired but not wanting to put my sleep pattern completely out of whack.
Riva itself was beautiful and our hotel was virtually on the edge of the lake itself, but I felt really out of sorts for the whole of that day.
The next day we had a trip to Venice, which was absolutely great. The weather was beautiful, I'd pretty much recovered and Venice itself was gorgeous. I just love wandering around the narrow streets and over the many canals. We even went up the bell tower and the view from the top was wonderful. Because the streets are narrow you don't see all of the people from up there and there's a strange sense of peace and calm that you don't get on the ground.
The next day we headed towards Savona, where we were due to meet our cruise ship. By this time we were on our sixth coach of the holiday and we were fortunate that nothing happened on the way and we made good time, embarking just in time for lunch on board. As we left Riva, however, I realised that the three nights we were due to spend there really turned out to be two and the delays have really robbed us of part of our holiday.
Although we've been on hilidays with this company before (the company's called Leger), we didn't have the best experience on the last holiday with them and this time really clinched it for us. We'll never travel with Leger again.
The cruise part of the holiday was much better and the only slight down-sides were the limited entertainment and the food, which on the whole was fairly ordinary - not something you expect on a huge cruise ship.
The ports we visited were excellent - Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Malaga, Cadiz, Lisbon and Vigo - although it was Sunday when we visited Vigo and the town was effectively closed for the day.
One of the best visits we did was in Cadiz, where we did a tour of the town and a visit to a small tavern where they had Flamenco dancing for us to watch. I must admit that I wasn't keen on seeing the dancing, but June talked me into it. I was glad she did as it turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip. Of ten you find with these things that the participants just go through the motions for the tourists, but it was clear that they were really into it and giave us a fabulous display. Because the tavern was only small the sound of the music, singing, clapping and stamping really got the heart pounding.
Unfortunately, because we were sailing back to Dover in the Atlantic, the sea was much rougher for the last few nights and I slept very little. This wan't due to the rocking of the boat, which we quickly became used to, but the constant noises from various vibrations. It seemed that the cabin was filled with things that rattled or rubbed together to make awful squeaking noises. No sooner had I found one and muffled it with a tissue than another would start up and I'd soon be climbing the walls.
Although we got back at a good time on Tuesday and I felt okay on Wednesday, it really caught up with me yesterday and I felt like a zombie all day. Thankfully I'm back to normal today (or what passes for normal for me) and I can begin to get back to my regular routine.
