Costa Victoria Part 4

Thursday 21st April 2011

We have a morning at sea before we get to Barcelona after lunch, so there was time to enjoy a walk around COSTA VICTORIA.


I noticed that this morning I could attend an Arts & Crafts Napkin Folding session, but chose not to. We saw many of Captain Stephen Card’s wonderful ship paintings, which he was commissioned to do for COSTA VICTORIA in 1996. It was good to see one of EUGENIO C, in the classic view that we all admire.


Outside the weather was damp at first but the sky soon cleared and once in Barcelona we could take the ship’s shuttle bus (6 Euros return) to the bottom of La Rambla, ready for a harbour tour.


We chose the little TRIMAR because it was going on a longer route around the harbour area, so we saw lots of the interesting vessels in port.

Liberty of the Seas
Rome Express
a pair from Rotterdam

Mol Premium
Liberty of the Seas
Costa Victoria

We were back on board in good time for sailing at 8 p.m. and to watch the departure of LIBERTY OF THE SEAS. This was her very first departure from a European port, so I enjoyed seeing her sail, as well as seeing the penguins above her Bridge.

Liberty of the Seas


Evolution
Cruise Barcelona approaching


Florencia through the rain

Abel Matutes (seen through glass)

We decided that we would have dinner this evening in the Bolero Restaurant Buffet on Rigoletto Deck 11, and that was an excellent choice for food and wine.

Ships seen: Liberty of the Seas, Pelcrus, yacht Limitless, Majestic, Trimar (for the harbour trip), Murillo, Evolution, Montras, Cruise Barcelona, a Phillipino ship, Encarnation, Martin y Soller, Florencia, Fortuny, Sorolla, Corelli, Rome Express, Mol Premium, Abel Matutes

Costa Victoria Part 2

Part 2
Tuesday 19th April 2011
Another shippy chum arrived so after breakfast we walked to the Antico Porto, and had coffee on board an old ship that was berthed on one of the quays, but was now a café/restaurant with interesting views.


Strolling on towards the Aquarium we came to the harbour tour boats and spent a happy 40 minutes going around Genoa Harbour, seeing my old and new favourites;

Sardinia Vera

Alexander von Humboldt

Corsica Marina Seconda

Moby Corse

there was the ex-Hebridean Spirit now called Sunrise,



Moby Drea with a man on a ‘cherry-picker’ platform, half-way through painting the funnel,



and there was the Ital.roro still berthed and waiting for whatever the future holds for her.

Cosco Rotterdam

Karina

Sanko Spring

Sea Feyz

Skodsborg


Brezzamare

Alexander von Humboldt

Five in a row

Pacific without her lifeboats


View through Moby Ale

Titan

Lunch in a local café set us up for a walk high into the city to locate the shop of Mr Eugenio Costa.


Yes, it was the gentleman who as a very little lad had a wonderful ship named after him. I had first met him a few years ago and was happy to say hello again and introduce him to another admirer of the EUGENIO C. He showed us various pictures and items, including ‘his’ ship of course, so that was all very interesting.

All saddled up...

A nearby funicular took us up and down a very short distance, but then we located another one.



The Zecca-Righi funicular was built in 1901, but had been re-built in 1989. There was one single line of 1428 metres with a passing place in the middle for the two carriages. It took us up to a height of 279 metres above where we started, stopping at each station along the way. Half of the line is through a tunnel of 700 metres in length, and the speed is 6 metres per second. We were in one of the two cabins (with a driver), which can each hold 156 people, but today there were just a handful of us. We could see the stretching and tractor cables, run on electricity, at the station platform.


It was an amazing piece of engineering, and the view when we got to the top was just astounding – all over the city and harbour of Genoa, with the sunlight glinting on the water of the harbour and the Ligurian sea beyond it.

A cup of tea was needed after all the funicular mileage, then more walking around the harbour and ships, before a meal in a little back street restaurant that obviously suited local people as well as us. It had been such an enjoyable day with ships, sea and funicular, plus good food and photographs.

Ships seen: Athara, Zeus Palace, Oltra Modo (the coffee stop) Mar Express (harbour tour), Moby Ale, Moby Fantasy, Sunrise (ex-Hebridean Spirit, now with a Bermuda flag), Sardinia Vera, Corsica Marina Seconda, Taurus, Alexander von Humboldt, Pacific (with no lifeboats), Moby Drea, Moby Corse, Moby Tommy, Forza, Skodsborg of Nordana Line, Dana Futura superstructure, Sea Feyz, Brezzamare, Carina, Sanko Spring, Titan, St. Catherine