JULY, 2019






THE HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND FROM THE STERN OF THE VIKING SUN
YOU CAN SEE A SWIMMING POOL AND JACUZZI







We do a cruise every year or two, and this seemed to be a good time. We have done several river cruises with Viking Cruise Lines, and were impressed with their well run cruises. During the last few years, they have ventured into ocean cruises, and they shot right to the top of the pack, so we decided to go with them on an ocean cruise.  We decided that this particular cruise was right for us as it sailed to several places we had never been, and the dates suited us. We don't usually travel in the summer months, but in this case, the location required the warmer months. The northern most ports on this cruise were the Orkney Islands, and the Shetland Islands (both north of the Scottish mainland), and it's chilly there even in the summer.
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There are many pros and cons regarding cruises. Many people don't want anything to do with them, and many cruise continuously. On each cruise there is usually a "competition" to see which cruisers have cruised the most. Some have made 50 or 60 cruises.




Here are some reasons to cruise:

  • No need for planning. Somebody else takes care of everything.
  • Your hotel and restaurants travel with you. No need to unpack, and repack every day or 2.
  • You get to places where you would never get to if not for being on a cruise.
  • You meet people (the staff in particular) from all over the world.
  • On most ships, the food is great and plentiful.
  • You are spoiled and treated royally by all the staff.



And, here are some reasons not to cruise:


  • Cruises are expensive, especially if you are going with a top tier company.
  • The demand is continually growing and you have to book well in advance.
  • You usually have only a short time in any given port, except for the first and last ports and certain popular destinations, where more than 1 day is an absolute necessity.
  • There's too much food and everybody gains weight!

In the end, it's dependent on your each traveler's preferences.  We travel about 3 times a year and take a cruise about once in 2 years. We enjoy the cruise experience, but we also enjoy doing our own thing and getting to know the places we visit, something that requires several days in each place.




This particular cruise started from London (Greenwich to be more exact), visited 9 ports in Britain, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and Northern Ireland, and finished in Bergen, Norway. There are 2 cruise ports which service London - Greenwich and Southampton. Southampton is about 130 KM from London, while Greenwich is part of London and getting there is easy from central London. Southampton is used for ships bigger than the Viking ships. We started with 3 days in London, and finished with 1 overnight in Bergen.

VIEW OF GREENWICH
FROM OUR SHIP








BARNABY STREET 		In London, we stayed at the Holiday Inn Mayfair, which is a large business style hotel in a fantastic location. Mayfair is one of the nicest neighborhoods in central London, and is full of stores and restaurants. The hotel itself is steps from the "Green Park" tube station, with 3 tube lines which can take you just about anywhere in London. It's also steps from Piccadilly Street, and Green Park itself and it's a 5 minute walk (through the park) to Buckingham Palace. The hotel itself is large and well equipped. Our room was of decent size and everything worked. The front desk staff was very helpful and efficient.


The hotel's location is excellent, but that's not the main reason we stayed there. Our daughter, her husband and their 8 year old daughter (meaning, our granddaughter) also stayed there while we were there. They have business dealings in London, and this is the hotel they usually use, so we all stayed there at the same time. It was fun, quality family time. They also know the area well and we ate at several nice restaurants they frequent.
LITTLE BEN




VICTORIA PALACE THEATRE STAGE 		We strolled around a lot, did some shopping, and ate at several great restaurants, but the two main things we did were to visit the British Museum (our grandaughter wanted to see the mummies), and we went to the play Hamilton (just Alisa and I). Hamilton was as good as advertised, and we were amazed by the great lengths they have gone to in order to prevent ticket forgeries and ticket scalping. Tickets are available online about 3 months in advance, and after purchase, you do not get the actual tickets. You get an email receipt and you have to appear in person, with the appropriate credit card used for the purchase, and an additional photo ID. As might be expected, there's a line waiting to get in because of the procedures involved. The play is at the Victoria Palace Theatre, an old but recently renovated theatre.  

As for the British Museum, our granddaughter saw plenty of mummies, and we all had a good time. It's a great place to visit for the entire family. There's plenty to see beyond the mummies. Entry to the museum is free, and they suggest a donation in its place.








HIDE


BEAUTIFUL WOODEN STAIRWAY TO HIDE ABOVE
Hide is a beautiful and impressive restaurant complex. It is a complex because of its 3 different venues, which include a bar in the basement (“Hide Below”), a bistro at ground level (“Hide Ground”), and a Michelin starred restaurant on the upper floor (“Hide Above”). Hide Ground is open from the morning and they even serve breakfast there. We ate at Hide Above.
We had a lovely table next to the window, which overlooks Piccadilly Street. In the evening, they only serve a tasting menu. They were very accommodating regarding Alisa's dietary choices, and the meal was lovely. All the dishes were beautiful, and most were absolutely fantastic. There were a couple I would have changed a bit, but overall, we had nothing to complain about.

GLAZED
SWEETBREADS
AT HIDE ABOVE


LOBSTER BAKED IN FIG LEAVES AT HIDE 		The standout dishes were the “Cornish lobster baked in fig leaves over charcoal” (picture to the right), and the “glazed veal sweetbread in a warm broth of fennel & coffee beans”. The most unusual dish was the “green olive & olive oil ice cream”. The ice cream was delicious and came sitting on top of a block of ice in which were an olive branch and a couple of green olives. These dishes were some of the most original we have seen anywhere. 
Only at the end of the meal did we discover that we were dining right next to the multimillionaire founder and owner of Hide - Yevgeny Chichvarkin. We had a lovely time, and we told him so, and he was rightly pleased.
Chichvarkin and his partners spent 5 years and 20 million pounds to create this beautiful restaurant complex..


OLIVE OIL ICE CREAM AT HIDE




ORMER


JERSEY LOBSTER RAVIOLO AT ORMER
We had an absolutely fantastic meal at Ormer. The service was perfect, and each and every dish was fabulous. We had the signature dish of jersey lobster raviolo, Dover sole, Scottish halibut and rabbit loin, accompanied by asparagus, peas, truffle and gnocchi. I mention the accompaniments, because they were the best part of the dish. The rabbit loin was excellent, but the accompaniments were superb and were the true stars of the dish. The amuse bouche was a small cup of bouillabaisse which was excellent. Everything was so good, we even ordered desert of strawberries, which we don’t often do. The Desert was also delicious and beautiful.
Chef Kerth Gumbs came out and we had a nice chat with him.

SCOTTISH HALIBUT
AT ORMER




HEDDON STREET KITCHEN


ALISA, MAYA AND AMALIA AT HEDDON HOUSE

How could we visit London, and not eat at one of Gordon Ramsey's 15 restaurants located there? Heddon Street Kitchen is one of them and is located between Mayfair and Soho and is open all day. We had breakfast there. The restaurant is nicely laid out on 2 floors, and on the second floor there is also an ice cream bar. The food was nice and the dishes were elegantly presented.




NOVIKOV



STRANGE SCALLOP DISH AT NOVIKOV
Novikov is located right across the street from our hotel, and our daughter and her husband know the place well. It has an Italian restaurant and an Asian restaurant. We ate at the Asian restaurant. Unfortunately, we were disappointed by most everything.
The restaurant was very noisy, and the service was erratic. Most of the dishes we had were either strange or so disguised as to be unidentifiable. We had a scallop dish where we couldn’t find or taste the scallops. There was a dish of black cod in Kadaif, which seemed to be 90% kadaif, and in which we could barely find any fish. I had Gilliard oysters tempura, which had to be eaten by hand, which was quite sloppy. The best dish we had was the shrimp Szechuan, which was spicy and tasty. Overall, an underwhelming, but expensive experience.


BLACK COD AT NOVIKOV
(IT'S MOSTLY KADAIF)




NICE BEER
SELECTION AT
JACK HORNER 		JACK HORNER PUB
This is a typical pub located on Tottenham Court Road in Bloomsbury. It’s not far from the British Museum. We had lunch here after a visit to the museum. The specialty here is pies and ales. The food was fresh and tasty, and the staff was helpful and friendly.




THE GRAND

We had breakfast here one morning. It's an elegant looking place on Piccadilly Street in Mayfair. The eggs benedict were OK. Breakfast was nice, but nothing special.










GENERAL


This cruise, as noted above was with Viking Cruise Line, and the ship was the "Viking Sun". The Sun was put into service in 2017, so it is quite new. It holds 930 passengers, which qualifies it to be considered a "small ship" in the ocean cruising world.  We find this size of ship to be ideal for us. No kids, no casino, no photographers, no water slides, but several dining venues, and plenty of bars. It's ideal for mature cruisers who want a peaceful cruise on a ship with great service. The ship has a crew of 550, which is a nice ratio of crew to passengers. This ship is beautiful with lots of nice areas to sit and relax.




OUR FAVORITE BARTENDER (ORIENA) IN OUR FAVORITE BAR ON THE VIKING SUN, THE EXPLORER'S LOUNGE

On a cruise like this, there is also entertainment every night, as well as lecturers providing intellectual stimulation on a wide variety of topics. We learned all about the Viking settlements in the British isles, the development of the English language, and the early settlers in the area, including the Celts, the Picts, the Romans, and of course, the Vikings. In fact, our drinking buddies in the Explorer lounge most every night included the world famous archaeologist and lecturer, Jonathon Migliori.

On this particular cruise, there was a basic port tour included at every port. For those with more wide ranging interests, there was always a selection of 2 or more other tours which targeted more specific places or topics, and which cost an extra fee. Ship based tours are notoriously expensive. In our case, we found the "basic tour" enough in each and every port.





GREENWICH

GREENWICH OBSERVATORY 		As noted above, our cruise started in Greenwich. Greenwich became a part of London in 1965, and it has a long history of its own, and includes many famous and beautiful buildings as well as several important world renowned institutions. A top-10 UK visitor attraction, Royal Museums Greenwich is home to the Royal Observatory, the iconic historic sailing ship Cutty Sark, the National Maritime Museum as well as the Queen’s House art gallery. All these attractions are located within a short distance from one another, and all are within a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We did an enjoyable 2 hour walking tour of Greenwich. If you visit London, you must spend at least a full day in Greenwich.
SHIP IN A BOTTLE AT THE GREENWICH
MARITIME MUSEUM




DOVER

THE WHITE CLIFFS
OF DOVER 		Dover is a famous place, being the English town closest to France. It has been the scene of many historic moments. On the other hand, there's not much to see or do in Dover (except to see its castle and its white cliffs), so the basic tour went to Canterbury, a much more interesting place. In Canterbury is the Canterbury Cathedral, considered to be the "Mother Church" of the worldwide Anglican Community and the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The town is cute and has a nice pedestrian area, but the main attraction here is clearly the cathedral.

GATE TO CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL




DUBLIN

Dublin is the capital of The Irish Republic (not part of Great Britain), and is probably most famous for being the home of Guinness beer. We toured the  city center and bought a few souvenirs. 





HOLYHEAD, WALES

Holyhead is a small town in Wales, and our tour took us to the town of Beaumaris which has a historic castle, called, unsurprisingly, "Beaumaris Castle". The ride took about 40 minutes and we learned a lot about Wales.  Wales is famous for only a few things - being the titular home of the Prince of Wales, having the town with the longest name in the world, and being the home of Real Madrid football player Gareth Bale. Below, on a separate line because of its length is the name of the town with the longest town name in the world. We drove right through the center of town, but couldn't stop because of a traffic accident.

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch




 LIBRARY ABOVE
CATHEDRAL BELOW
LIVERPOOL

LIVERPOOL SKYLINE


THE FAB FOUR!
Liverpool is Beatles territory. Everything is Beatles, Beatles, Beatles. Even our guide confessed that her expertise and most of her tours are about the Beatles. Even without the Beatles, I think that Liverpool was an interesting visit. Our guide was very informative (not just about the Beatles), and the city has an impressive museum, skyline, and 2 interesting cathedrals in the same neighborhood - one Anglican and one Catholic. The city also has 2 of the most famous soccer teams in Europe, Liverpool and Everton. But, despite all that, the main draw here is still THE BEATLES - yeah, yeah, yeah! To the right is a picture of what is probably the most visited attraction in the city - the statue of the "fab four". This picture is a rare one, as it's almost impossible to see the statue without 1 or more people posing in front of it for a selfie.

BELFAST

BELFAST PEACE WALL 		Belfast was far more interesting and thought provoking than we had expected. This is the capital of Northern Island, several counties formerly part of Ireland, who decided to stay with the United Kingdom, primarily because of the predominantly Protestant population. It was also one of the centers of violence during what the Irish call "the troubles", the 20 year civil unrest which resulted in many bombings and killings, and which ended only 20 years ago. Belfast is also "famous" for being the place where the Titanic was built.
THE CAT GARDEN AT BELFAST CASTLE



BELFAST MURAL 		I guess that the most popular attraction in Belfast is "the wall", a mural and art covered wall which separated the warring factions, and today stands as a reminder of the past and a symbol of the present. Many world leaders have visited here and signed the wall. What struck me most in Belfast were the huge militant wall posters which memorialized the violence of that period, and many of its "martyrs". Unfortunately, there is still lots of residual resentment, and although no one wants to return to "the troubles" there is always the fear of renewed violence. That's why the border issue between Ireland and Northern Ireland is one of the thorniest issues in the debate about Brexit. 
THE PEACE WALLS
OF BELFAST

the red hand
of ulster




ULLAPOOL  (Highlands of Scotland)

ULLAPOOL 		Ullapool is a tiny little town in the Highlands on the western coast of Scotland. We had a tiny little tour in this tiny, but tidy little town. There were several well stocked stores full of local products, and everybody bought quite a bit of Scottish memorabilia here. Actually, there isn't much else to do here. We did stop into a coffee shop and tasted the local coffee and cake.
ULLAPOOL HOTEL

KIRKWALL (Orkney Islands)


THE RING OF
BRODGAR 		Kirkwall in the Orkney islands is one of those places that we would never have visited in a million years if it hadn't been a port stop on this cruise. This island group is comprised of 70 islands, of which 20 are inhabited. They are located just north of the Scottish mainland. The islands were ruled by the Vikings of  Norway, and were eventually taken over by Scotland in the 15th century. The largest island is called "Mainland" and on it is located the main town of Kirkwall. Our tour took us to Stromness, a small town of 2000 people, and on the way, we visited the "Ring of Brodgar", a neolithic ring of standing stones, similar to Stonehenge, but considerably older.
practical info for visiting the ring of brodgar

a guide to vacationing on orkney

neolithic orkney



SCAPA FLOW 		The islands are most famous for cheese, archeological ruins, and a body of water known as the "Scapa  Flow". I found the story of Scapa Flow to be very  interesting. It had been used as a harbor for centuries, and played an important role during both World Wars. It was also the site of the most famous scuttling of a group of ships in history as in June of 1919, under the mistaken belief that peace talks (to end WWI) had failed, German Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter gave the command to scuttle the entire fleet which had been interred in the Flow during the armistice talks to end the war. A total of 52 ships went to the sea floor and this remains the greatest loss of shipping ever recorded in a single day. Here is a detailed story of the event.

EDINBURGH

There's plenty to see in Edinburgh, and we enjoyed our short visit here. Actually, we had visited here for 3 days several years ago, and this visit was rather nostalgic for us. Edinburgh is a fun city and if you haven't been here, you really should consider visiting. Just don't come in August when the Edinburgh festival is going on. It's great fun, but a mad house, and you have to reserve any decent hotel 1 year in advance. To the right is a picture in the most famous cemetery in Scotland - "Greyfriars Kirkyard". Several of the tombstones here provided inspiration to Harry Potter author, J.K. Rowling. While we were there, we saw at least 3 different groups taking Harry Potter tours inside the cemetery.


GREYFRIARS
CEMETERY






IN THE RAIN IN INVERNESS 		INVERGORDON (Highlands of Scotland) FRESHLY CAUGHT HAGGIS ??
Our tour while we were docked in Invergorden took us to Inverness, one of the biggest towns in the Highlands. Inverness is a lovely town, although on this day, we had a bit of rain. In Inverness, I saw the hilarious sign on the right. If you know what "haggis" is, you won't need any explanation. If you don't know what haggis is, then check out the haggis link I have provided above.


LERWICK (Shetland islands of Scotland)

PETER, OUR GUIDE
IN SHETLAND 		The Shetland Islands is another spot we would never have visited without this cruise. The islands are located about 80 KM north of the Orkney islands. They were part of Norway for centuries, and the people still exhibit an affinity to the Vikings and Scandinavia. We were docked in Lerwick, but the main part of our tour was a ride into the hills where we learned all about the Shetland Pony, one of the symbols of the Shetland Islands. As many of the days on this cruise, the morning was very cloudy, but in the afternoon, the weather cleared up and the sun came out! To the left is Peter, our guide in Shetland, and our favorite guide of the entire cruise.

SHETLAND PONIES









DOCKING IN SUNNY BERGEN NORWAY 		Bergen is the second largest city in Norway (after Oslo, the capital), and has a population of about 300,000. It is located on the western coast of the country. It has been an international trading center for centuries, and was the center of the famous Hanseatic League which was a German dominated commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Northwestern and Central Europe. The town is surrounded by mountains, and is the gateway to the fjords of northern Norway. Bergen is also known as the rainiest city in Europe with rain on 270 days per year, and annual precipitation of up to 3000 mm. We were there for 2 days. One day was beautiful and sunny, and one day was more normal - meaning rainy.


BERGEN, NORWAY

The center of town surrounds the famous and beautiful port (Vågen harbour), whose main attraction is the Bryggen (the dock), a row of Hanseatic heritage commercial buildings lining the eastern side of the harbour. Bryggen has been on the UNESCO list for World Cultural Heritage sites since 1979. In the context of the cruise, we had a 3 hour city bus tour, and on our own, we strolled the area around the harbor, visited the famous fish market, and viewed the tall sailing ships in the harbor, as there was a tall ship race and festival scheduled for the weekend we were there.

LOVELY BERGEN HARBOR




While in Bergen, we stayed at Hotel No 13, a modern hotel located right in the center of Bergen, at Torgallmenningen square. It is a “cashless” hotel, which means that they don’t accept cash – only credit cards. Many hotels in Bergen are similarly cashless. The room and the hotel is in a style that I would call “neo-Ikea-classica" lots of plastic, white and black colors and stainless steel. Our room (standard double) wasn’t very big, and the shower and toilet area were glass cubicles installed in 2 different corners of the room. The sink area was in the room. It’s a room for 2 people who know each other well.
SHOWER & SINK CORNER

The thing that really bothered me about our room was that the windows had frosted glass and it was almost impossible to see outside. Only the top panes of the windows weren't frosted. Picture to the right. Breakfast was very nice, and the staff was very friendly and helpful. It was good enough for 1 night, which was what we needed. For a longer stay, I would look elsewhere. 
FROSTED WINDOWS

A MODEST CRAB IN
THE BERGEN MARKET 		We had lunch at a nameless restaurant in the open fish market. Bergen is expensive - very expensive. In the open, traditional fish market, there is a selection of fish stalls which are also restaurants. You pick a platter, and they cook it up. We split one platter of seafood, for the modest cost of $40. It is fresh! To the left is a "small" crab which was taken apart while we were having lunch. Just across the street from the open fish market is a building built a few years ago, which houses a more refined fish market, with more refined restaurants. We had dinner at one called Fjellskål.






MY 2 MODEST
KING SCALLOPS 		"Fjellskål Fisk & Skalldyr" is both a fish store and a restaurant. The store has an amazing selection of fresh fish and seafood (as do the other stores in the market), and the restaurant serves it all, as fresh as fresh can be. We had fish soup, monkfish, scallops and Norwegian grilled red snapper. Everything was delicious, although I was a bit disappointed by the scallops which were supposed to be “king scallops”. At best, they were more the size of 2 very young princes. Service was a bit lethargic, as the restaurant was quite full, but it probably is like that every evening. It’s a very popular place and we enjoyed our meal.


BROILED RED SNAPPER







CRUISING AND OVER TOURISM - THE DARK SIDE

CHANGING OF THE GUARD AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE

THE ROYAL MUSEUMS OF GREENWICH

THE ULTIMATE LONDON PUBLIC TRANSPORT GUIDE

10 ALTERNATE THINGS TO DO IN LONDON

VISIT SCOTLAND

10 THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE YOU TRAVEL TO SCOTLAND

HUFFPOST ON THE QUESTION: TO CRUISE OR NOT TO CRUISE

CRUISE CRITIC
(the best site for advice, reviews and information about cruises)








This is a page from our site "Travels with Steve & Alisa".  It describes one of the many trips we have made together. We've built these pages not just to describe our trips, but to help other travelers if we can.  Please use the information we've provided freely, and let us know if you have any questions we might be able to answer about your own planned trip, or just let us know if we have helped you. Or perhaps you have some information we could add to the site. Visit our home page using the link to the right.
            

            Enjoy your next trip!!                                                                                                      ~Steve & Alisa~

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MOST RECENT UPDATE: August 28, 2019