Peter's Travel Blog

Because we weren’t due to arrive in Istanbul until midday, I took the opportunity to do some painting in the cabin in the morning. Satisfied with what I’d produced, I joined Tracey on deck at about 11:30, when we picked up the Pilot to take us into port. We were lucky; the Black Watch had bagged a good parking spot,...

Today, we arrived in Yalta, our final port in the North of the Black Sea before heading South-West towards Istanbul. It was a little cooler to start off with, and when we looked out at passengers heading off on early tours, it was raining, and many were wearing winter coats and sporting umbrellas.   We headed down the gangplank to...

Today, we arrived at our second Urkrainian destination; Sevastopol. More signposts and notices with Ukrainian lettering that means nothing to us, and more of the architecture we’d become familiar with in Odessa yesterday, only not quite so ornate or pristine. Being a Monday, we expected to see more life, but, in truth, Odessa was livlier, and catered for visitors far...

Today, we arrived in Odessa, in the Ukraine.   We’ve had a little trouble with internet connections over the last couple of days; yesterday, we were disappointed not to find free Wi-fi in Varna. Later, when we came to upload and update all our stuff, on board ship, we found we couldn’t because the internet was off… grrrrrrrrr!   This...

Today, we arrived at the first of our Black Sea destinations, Varna; the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast.   It was going to be a relatively short visit, with guests asked to be back on board ship by 3pm, so to maximise on our time, we decided to purchase a couple of shuttle bus...