Five-Star Mariners Jan and Dick Yetke set sail on Prinsendam’s 64-day Grand Mediterranean Voyage in March, and we’ll catch up as quickly as possible. Enjoy the journey with Jan and Dick!

Horta is the chief town and seaport of the island of Faial, also known as Fayal, Portugal, one of the Azores, in the Atlantic Ocean. It was named Faial (Portuguese for ‘beech wood’) because of the abundance at that time (15th Century) of wax myrtle, mistaken for beech by the Portuguese. Faial is mountainous, rising to 3,000 feet above sea level, and is 14 miles long by 10 miles wide. Fishing, cattle, and farming are the principal occupations. Basket weaving, carving (from the white pith of the fig tree), and lace making (from agave thread) are widely done. Faial is the smallest of the three ‘Triangle Islands’ and an easy island to visit and get around. It has one of the main airports in the Azores and there are several ferries every day to Pico from Horta. When the first transatlantic cables were laid, Horta was the central communication station and many cable company offices were located here.

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Five-Star Mariners Jan and Dick Yetke set sail on Prinsendam’s 64-day Grand Mediterranean Voyage in March, and we’ll catch up as quickly as possible. Enjoy the journey with Jan and Dick!

Today we were supposed to visit Alghero, Sardinia, but when we got there, the sea conditions were not great for anchoring and tendering, so the Captain decided to cancel the port stop. There is always that risk when an anchor port is on a cruise schedule. We have not been to Sardinia before but heard it is beautiful so we were looking forward to our day there. But, oh well, better luck next time!!! We were at least able to take some photos from the ship looking to the shore.

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Five-Star Mariners Jan and Dick Yetke set sail on Prinsendam’s 64-day Grand Mediterranean Voyage in March, and we’ll catch up as quickly as possible. Enjoy the journey with Jan and Dick!

This is a port where we go biking! We got off the ship, out the port, and turn right, going along the lovely plaza path along the beach and ocean. It’s very pretty and they are still under construction along there. When you first arrive on the plaza, you see a large statue of a Navy sailor kissing a nurse. It is called “Unconditional Surrender.” This statue is reminiscent of the famous photo taken at the end of World War II in Times Square, New York.

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Guests Jan and Dick Yetke set sail on Prinsendam’s 64-day Grand Mediterranean Voyage in March, and we’re catching up as quickly as possible. Enjoy the journey with Jan and Dick!

What a beautiful, warm, calm watered and sunny day it was in Sorrento!!! The Captain had really called it correctly and we were so happy about that. Tendering was not a problem at all today. Of course, tours go out from here to Amalfi Coast drive, Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Capri. All these are great places. We highly recommend them when you come to Sorrento!!!

Dick was so happy! A typical day on Prinsendam, just sitting on our balcony in the sunshine, anchored off of Sorrento and feeding the seagulls. The seagulls were on the balcony rail within arms length, squawking at him, demanding more food. He was listening to the Sunday morning church bells, eating chocolate marzipan pastries, and drinking coffee. He was also was solving an EVIL rated Sudoko puzzle. We had a glorious afternoon.

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Five-Star Mariners Jan and Dick Yetke set sail on Prinsendam’s 64-day Grand Mediterranean Voyage in March, and we’re catching up as quickly as possible. Enjoy the journey with Jan and Dick!

So, today is our second day in Venice. First thing is we have to return the car by about 10 am. No problem getting the car out of the lot and driving to the Hertz place to return the car. Then we were off on a water taxi (principal mode of transportation in Venice) from Piazzale Roma to St. Mark’s Square – our main destination goal for today for walking around and shopping!!! Bells chime, pigeons (some brave souls let the birds land on them!) and violins play – welcome to Piazza San Marco.

For some unknown reason, April apparently is “spring break”, holiday, season for Italians. The place was very, very crowded and we were very surprised. It wasn’t even summer season. Note the crowds in our photos. Also, take note of the platforms stacked up around St. Mark’s Square. These are laid out all over the area when it is flooded, which it does more than 35 times per year (4 times the number in 1970). We have been there when we were walking up on these platforms above water. Dick couldn’t take the crowds and therefore was not in the mood to go in and out of stores with me. But I wanted to shop! So, he went back to the ship. Therefore, I was free to buy what I wanted!! Hmmm – got some nice things!!! Anyway, I had a wonderful time and interestingly enough, after a couple hours, the crowds seemed to disperse. Don’t know where they went but they were no longer all crammed into St. Mark’s Square.

Water Ferry

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Guests Jan and Dick Yetke set sail on Prinsendam’s 64-day Grand Mediterranean Voyage in March, and we’ll catch up as quickly as possible. Enjoy the journey with Jan and Dick!

This country and port were a first for us, and for most of the passengers on this ship for that matter. It was a beautiful, great stop! We all loved it!

The local people were very friendly and welcoming. And because we are on this fairly small ship, as cruise ships go these days, we were able to dock right downtown! Awesome! I have also included a map photo showing our route into the town/harbor. Very unique we think.

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Guests Jan and Dick Yetke set sail on Prinsendam’s 64-day Grand Mediterranean Voyage in March, and we’ll catch up as quickly as possible. Enjoy the journey with Jan and Dick!

Welcome to the beautiful and very interesting city of Dubrovnik and the Dalmatian Coast!!! We have been here before but are always happy to return to this location!!!

It was a beautiful day!!! We took the complimentary shuttle bus from the pier to the Old Walled City – a very pretty about 20 minute drive. When we arrived at the plaza just outside the entrance to the Old City, it was mobbed with tourists. Crazy!!! Apparently April is a big tourist month for Europeans. Well, we made our way thru the crowds and into the Old City where we had a great walk all around. We went out to the little harbor, called Old Harbor there and walked around the wall there. Then we started winding our way up stairs and thru very narrow little streets, up and up. Oh, when you first enter the old city (you are on the Placa which is a very wide and beautiful street), you pass by a large fountain (Onofrios Fountain) which was built in the 15th-century. The 16-sided fountain’s carved heads spout cascades of water you are free to take.

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Guests Jan and Dick Yetke set sail on Prinsendam’s 64-day Grand Mediterranean Voyage in March, and we’ve just received these wonderful posts. We’ll catch up as quickly as possible. Enjoy the journey with Jan and Dick!

We had a very nice relaxing cruise down to Piraeus, the port for Athens, from Istanbul. We arrived in Piraeus at 4 pm. I stayed on the ship, but Dick went out for a short bike ride over to the ferry docks (next to our pier) to check out the ferry schedule to and from the small island nearby called Aegina. We have stopped there in the past on one of our sailing trips and he has always wanted to take our bikes back there when we are docked in Piraeus. Didn’t get to do it last year when we stopped there on the world cruise since there was a ferry strike that day. He got the schedule and was told there would be no strike the next day!!! Yea!!

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