Category: The Black Sea

Today, we said farewell to the Minerva and headed for home. First, we had to pass through immigration at the port before boarding a bus to take us to the airport. Istanbul airport is a massive, busy airport, where all luggage and passengers are passed through scanners BEFORE checking-in. Both Tracey and I held our breath as they weighed the...

Today we arrived at the end of the line (for this cruise, at least)… one of our favourite cities, in fact… Istanbul, in Turkey. The last time we visited Istanbul was in 2012, travelling on board Fred Olsen’s Black Watch. We fell in love with the place then, and it was with great anticipation that we went ashore today. One...

Nessebar charmed us today. We had a good feeling about the place when we arrived yesterday evening, but to have had a whole day to wander around the town has been an utter delight. Nessebar old town is situated on a small peninsular attached to the mainland by a single causeway (with a road on it). It isn’t a very...

Today, we arrived in Varna, Bulgaria. This morning, we visited a ‘Petrified Forest’ on the outskirts of Varna (roughly a 30-minute drive) that, quite frankly, is neither petrified, nor, strictly speaking, a forest. The area is very reminiscent of other limestone-eroded natural parks (check out Brimham Rocks in North Yorkshire), that result in weird stone shapes and an air of...

Today, we arrived at Constanta in Romania. Having no escorting duties and a whole day to ourselves (bliss), we decided to have a leisurely trip into the town by shuttle bus – see what’s occurring, then make our way back to the ship on foot. Constanta as a whole is quite vast; it stretches out, around a large bay, to...