April 26: Onward to Turkey

April 26, 2026

Underway for two days now since our last stop in Italy where we “officially” checked in to the Schengen. The European Union of countries includes a majority of countries that work together cooperatively to maintain security as if they were one nation. US Citizens are given 90 days to visit without a visa. Any time that is spent outside of the Schengen Area is returned back as another day they can return to visit. We had our fingerprints and pictures taken as part of the biometric data that is being used in the new ETIAS system, set to go live in October of 2026.

The system is new and, as such, a LOT of time was spent processing 2,000 passengers (give or take). With all of the delays, we simply processed through and returned to the ship. The port town we stopped in is rather uninteresting in itself and we did not want to rush about when we can stop in to Italy (if we stop in at Italy) on the land portion of our travels.

Barcelona, Spain was our first stop since you read our last entry. We have visited the city multiple times and decided to ditch the crowds, buy a subway pass, and work our way out into the surrounding mountains to do some hiking. I cannot describe to you how it feels to be out in the woods and listening to the birds, enjoying the vast panoramic views, and using our olfactory senses to sense the world through scents. It was a day well spent.

Beyond Barcelona, we pushed onward, overnight, to Cannes, France. I must admit that I had created, in my mind, an entirely inappropriate mindset as to how this town would feel. Being part of the French Riviera, I felt it would be stuffy and pretentious. It was anything but that and we changed our plans to avoid the scene and head out to a natural preserve on one of the harbor islands. Rather, we grabbed a loaf of excellent French Bread (which has no comparative in the states) and, for me, a rather excellent cup of coffee that far surpassed what is available from the communal kettle of dregs on the ship.

Gary had postcards he wanted to mail but, like everything in the south of Europe, Siesta time was rapidly approaching at noon and businesses including the post office would shut down for lunch. Off we ran to the post office, arriving in a huff with just minutes to spare. A woman in the post office found our highly animated entry to be of some curiosity and so, after mailing post cards, we entered into a chat, found that has a room available should we find ourselves returning to Cannes in our voyages, and exchanged WhatsApp information.

We headed off then for the local fresh market where we procured a variety of foodstuffs for a picnic in the woods, on our next leg of the day. Let me interpose here and state for the record that the open markets in Europe far surpass any that I have ever visited in the states. It is not just the quantity but more so the quality. Europe has strict rules on pesticides and processes for foods and, as a result, the flavors, are more remarkable (noticeably so) than what is available without searching far and wide in the USA. Prices are less expensive and the varieties are phenomenal. I'll include a few pictures in this blog update so that you might see.

Our trek up the mountain brought us about 200 meters above the town where we enjoyed a picnic lunch and received a WhatsApp call from one of our friends from the ship, also enamored with the town in a way that precluded her previous intentions on shore. We set our locations on and watched as her “dot” and our “dot” merged. We met at about the half way point on the mountain and shared some time hiking the park, back down into town and then through one of the shopping alleys.

The cruise has been enjoyable, although in Italy we maxed out capacity on the ship and it is noticeably louder and more crowded. Repositioning cruises across the Atlantic pull an entirely different demographic than the “fun one week cruises” that return to the same point they started from. Keep this in mind if you do a cruise. If you want a less full ship and a quieter crowd, do a one way repositioning cruise.

With the massive influx of people onto the ship in Italy, I'm ready, after 18 days, to disembark. I would definitely do this again. Everything about it is easier than flying. Time zone changes happen at most every day or every other day. Waters are calmer than you might imagine because of the immense size of these vessels, Sickness on board is generally overstated and crews are well trained to keep surfaces hygienic. In that sense, it's really no different from working 9 to 5 in an office building or as a teacher in a school, except that the ship personnel are constantly cleaning and sanitizing and keeping things actively under control.

Tomorrow we disembark in Kusadasi, Turkey and our land adventure begins. We will be staying with a host who is a computer engineer and we hope to see and learn much as we move forward to ultimately become lost in Armenia.