☀️ #37 The Blind Sightseers “Escape The Lockdown” With Distant Memories: “Corinth, Greece”🇬🇷(2017)

February 9, 2021 by Steve in Blind Photographer, Blind Sightseers, Caribbean, Classical Greece, Croatia, Honduras, iPhoneography, iReminisce, Lockdown, Travel & Landscapes and tagged Agora, Ancient Corinth, Apostle Paul, Beach walk, Blind Photographer, Blind Sightseers, Christian, Christian Life, Christian Lifestyle, Cicadas, Corinth, Corinth Canal, Cruise Holidays, Cruise Ship, Day trip, Holiday Resort, Kayak, Synagogue, Tent Maker, Thomson Cruses, Thomson Excursions | Leave a comment

Hi friends and welcome to Day 37 of this monumental, inconceivable and definitely memorable blind sightseers tour….!

Me stood on the right with my arms out stretched and waving as the Thomson Spirit shit covers the whole background

Good morning friends! (Καλημέρα φίλοι)😀

I love the fact that we’ve just sailed to Corinth on the ‘Spirit’ and we’re now going on a trip along the Corinth canal, then to walk around ancient Corinth in the historic footsteps of the Apostle Paul. To say i was excited is an understatement! 🙏 😲

But first…☀️

I’m not good in the sun but Sarah comes alive in the scorching hot weather. So i sloshed on my sun cream as it was already 36 degrees outside (ouch) I’ve also bought myself a ‘Tactical Sun Hat’ to try and keep myself cooler in the sun and provide a little shade with the wide rim…It worked really well but i was still dripping like a candle in a Salvador Dali painting! 🤣

Corinth canal…

Get ready to be impressed. The Corinth Canal marries up the Gulf of Corinth in the northwest with the Saronic Gulf in the southeast. It’s 3.9 miles long and its width varies from 69 feet at the bottom to 82 feet at the water’s surface. Before it was built, ships sailing between the Aegean and the Adriatic Sea had to circumnavigate the Peloponnese, adding another 185 miles to their journey. On this fascinating tour you’ll drive to Isthmia, around 1 hr’s drive, where a boat will be waiting to whisk you off. Sit back, relax and enjoy the views as you sail through this famous canal. Along the way, your guide will tell you interesting facts about the way it was built.

We stepped of the air conditioned coach and just as i said “Argghh now that’s hot” Sarah said “Wow that’s better, it was freezing on that coach” we followed the group to the boat. ☀️

After Sarah excellently guided me onto the boat, we took our seats. The whole trip was just stunning and we were blown away by the walls of the canal and the sheer size of it. The guide was telling us all about the history etc over the loud speakers (my fave part as i can’t see the scenery until i get home and really zoom in for a blurry look). I do listen and hear Sarah’s detailed descriptions of the landscapes and any other points of interest. I also take in the other people around me and their reactions too.

Another photo taken from the front of the boat looking up the canal with tall walls either side and a bridge on top crossing over.

photo taken from the rear of the boat with the beautiful blue water with hight walls either side

Photo of rear of boat showing people sat looking down Corinth canal.

The Peloponnese…

☢️ HEALTH WARNING…

Now for a blistering Sarah panorama!

A Sarah Panorama of the end of the canal where it expands into the vastness of the sea, with land touching each side

Another Sarah panorama with the sea and land stretching from end to end with rolling hills and mountains in the background

After doing a 180˚ turn we headed back down the canal, fantastic! 😀

Me stood right at the rear of the boat with the beautiful Corinth canal in the background

Ancient Corinth…

You’ll now take a short drive to ancient Corinth, where you’ll have the opportunity to explore the ruins of the “Agora” marketplace as well as the Temples of Apollo and Aphrodite.

We shot off the coach and followed the guide closely from the front, the path was all uphill and did i mention it was scorching hot?! ☀️ I kept saying to Sarah “Wow the Apostle Paul actually came here!” and after about the 10th time…We’d reached the top.

Me stood in front of the ancient Temple of Apollo wearing my tactical sun hat

Sarah and the Temple of Apollo

Temple of Apollo

After a brief history lesson all about the temples and the culture as it was back in the day, we headed along another hot dusty path and ended up at the Synagogue. “Wow” i said “Paul would’ve visited this actual Synagogue several times…It’s simply amazing that i’m standing in biblical history”.

Upon leaving the synagogue the guide stopped and pointed to an ancient hebrew marking on the wall. Sarah quickly took a photo of it to share. I continued “Wow, Paul may have walked under this very arch, wow!” 😲

A remain of the Jewish Synagogue where the Apostle Paul teached and preached

The Agora…

Moving further down and heading towards the agora, the sound of the cicadas were deafening, they were almost drowning out the voice of the guide…It sounded like i was walking around with a massive bee hive stuck on my head but less sticky and much less painful! 🤣

“Wow…the beema seat” i said whilst trying to get excited but actually about to collapse due to heat exhaustion. “The agora! This is where the Apostle Paul would’ve been making tents..No way!” i kept going “Did you know Paul stayed in Corinth for about 18 months and he would’ve have frequently visited and worked around here!” Sarah replied “Yes i know Steve it’s incredible, but we’re getting left behind as you keep stopping and making wow noises, lol!” 🤣

“Sarah could you take some photos of me in the Agora and in front of the beema seat? I’d love to have a photo as a keep sake…Oh and have i mentioned that the Apostle Paul would’ve been around here?!”. Sarah puts up with a lot! 🤣

Me and the Agora

Me stood (centre) in front of the ruins of the Bema in ancient Corinth

The cicadas were still singing their thunderous lament as we walked deeper into the Agora. The guide stopped to show us the ruins and described how it would have looked and what would be happening back in classical times.

lots of stones which are the ruins of the Agora in Corinth

A portrait view of the the ruins of the Agora and Bema at ancient Corinth

And then…

☢️ HEALTH WARNING…

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better…Sarah managed to fit the whole place in one monumental panorama!

A Fantastic Panorama taken by Sarah of the Agora

At this point i was so exhausted, head and shoulders stooped forward and my mouth was dry and frothing. I managed a slow shuffle back to the air conditioned coach. Sarah said “Oh it’s freezing on here!

It still blows me away when i think of this excursion to ancient Corinth and how we were actually there. 😲

Back at the ship…🛳

After freshening up back in the cabin, we still had a few hours before the ship left port. We’ve found that if the excursion leaves us with a few hours to spare we can use the ship as the starting reference and go and explore the town nearest to the dock (any further and we’ll get lost). This makes for a full day as we can go on the excursion around the island and then visit local shops and markets around the dock area…Yay! 😀

Wow…Did i mention it was hot! ☀️ 😰

iPhone weather app showing Corinth at 36° and sunny

“Yay…Steve a beach!” Sarah shouts as we step out of the dock, she continues “No way, holidays don’t start until i’ve put my feet on the sand…Come on!” I was just about to protest (as i’d left my beach shoes in the cabin) when Sarah dragged (i mean guided) me onto the powdery sand.

The boiling hot sun, the powdery white sand and the gentle touch of the sea rolling over Sarah’s feet educed a wonderful smile. 😀

My new Microfibre towel…

We were now wet, frazzled and covered in sand and we walked for a while before we found a bench under a large tree. “Yes…Here you go” is said as i unclipped my new microfibre hand towel from my carabiner loop on my BDU (Battle Dress Uniform) shorts. I bought this little towel just before this cruise as i wanted to be more prepared as we learn a little more what we need from each holiday…And this time it worked beautifully! 😀

After a while we were both sand free, dry and ready for a cold drink. We walked down a few streets then Sarah said “Steve, i think this looks like a cafe? I wonder if they do iced coffees?” “I hope so” i said feeling like a pulsing nuclear reactor.

They did the best iced coffee (Freddo Cappuccino) and even a sugar free one for Sarah…

Sarah enjoying an iced Cappaccino outside the Cafe in Corinth

As we were sitting outside drinking our amazing coffees…The man we’d met at the Captains table last night walked past and said hello. “Wow” i said to Sarah after a brief chat with the man, “We’re even making friends and it’s only the first day off the ship”.

Sadly it’s now time to return back to the ship…

Me stood in the middle of the road with buildings either side in Corinth

As we were walking towards the ship and the dock was empty…We stopped for a few photos…

Sarah stood in front of the Thomson Spirit shipwith both arms in the air

Sarah stood in front of the Thomson Spirit ship

Me stood on the right with my shadow filling the rest of the photo

Then…

As we were taking lots of photos, another nice person from our ship walked up behind us and asked if we’d like a photo together?! “Oh yes please that would be so kind of you” i said as i passed her my phone. 😀

Sarah & i in front of the Thomson Spirit in the background

Back on ship…🛳

We’d had a fantastic day and had lots to talk about with the people sat around our table at the evening meal. It’s lovely to hear other peoples stories from what they had done throughout the day, and to hear the adventures from the other excursions.

Finally…Just when you think the day is over, we have another fantastic folded creature.

A towel folded into a puppy dog with chocolates as his eyes

Our Route…..🛳

On Saturday evening Thomson Spirit sails to Itea, Greece. To arrive on Sunday morning having travelled 59 nautical miles at an average speed of 6 knots.

Hope you’ve enjoyed the adventure today…Let me know your favourite part?! 🤔 We’ll meet tomorrow…Same time…Same place for another adventure! 😀

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☀️ #36 The Blind Sightseers “Escape The Lockdown” With Distant Memories: “Dubrovnik, Croatia”🇭🇷(2017)

February 8, 2021 by Steve in Blind Photographer, Blind Sightseers, Caribbean, Classical Greece, Croatia, Honduras, iPhoneography, iReminisce, Lockdown, Travel & Landscapes and tagged Barrier Reef, Beach walk, Blind Photographer, Costa Maya, Day trip, Holiday Resort, Kayak, Kayak Excursion, Kayaking, Mayan Treasures, Mexico, Palm Tree, Thomson Cruses, Thomson Excursions | Leave a comment

Hi friends and welcome to Day 36 of this monumental, inconceivable and definitely memorable blind sightseers tour….!

10th Anniversary

Sarah i wedding photo

Wow, i still can’t believe it’s been 10 years since our amazing wedding day! ❤️❤️❤️

An unexpected blessing…..

This cruise (3rd) holiday has been such an unexpected blessing, as Sarah had another “Charcot Foot (diabetic problem)” and was in an air-cast for the last 5 months. We had to cancel our Barbados cruise and stay we’d booked for our birthday celebrations in April…But Sarah had it removed a few weeks ago and she’s been strengthening her leg for this cruise. So we are amazed to be spending our 10th wedding anniversary (July) visiting some fantastic places! 😎

Breakfast…..

We slept really well and caught up on the sleepless night we had yesterday. We thought we’d go to the Compass Rose (waiter service restaurant) for our 10th anniversary breakfast. It didn’t disappoint and we had porridge, omelette, fruit, nuts, seeds, bacon and bananas (not all together,lol). 🥓

Swimming…..

After exploring (getting lost) in the many different stairways, corridors and decks around the ship, we were trying to familiarise ourselves with our fave places so we could find our way back much more easily. we nipped back to our cabin to get our things ready for a couple of hours sunbathing and swimming. Sarah loves swimming (as you can tell in the photos below) and had an excellent time enjoying her anniversary in the pool! 😎

Sarah laughing and really enjoying swimming in the pool on the ship

Sarah doing handstands in the swimming pool on the ship....Herr feet and legs are outside the water sticking up and her body is underwater!

⬆ Sarah doing handstands in the pool ⬆

The Towel Swan Heart…..

After having lots of fun, we headed back to our cabin where we were surprised to find two towel swans placed in the shape of a heart, with flowers and our cards etc in a beautiful display. We rushed out to find the cabin stewards and thanked them profusely… whilst Sarah took lots of photos!

two towel swans together in a love heart shape surrounded by our anniversary cards, on the bed of our cabin on the ship

⬆ Towel folded Swan heart ⬆

The invitation…

Earlier this morning Sarah had found an invitation pushed under the cabin door. “This looks a bit fancy, it’s only an invitation to the formal evening. We have to sign it to say that we’re going, then hand it back to reception…..Seems like a lot of paper work to me.” “Oh right, i suppose they need to know how many people will be in the restaurant for dinner this evening, it must be the policy for formal night on this ship. It was different on the Dream ship” i replied. 😕

I hadn’t brought my tuxedo this time as it filled half my suitcase the time before and i didn’t want to waste that amount of space again. I did bring my trousers though as we like the waiter service meal in the evenings. “ i hope they don’t chuck me over-board for not dressing smart enough.” Sarah told me… “You’ll be fine, lol, it’s only for one evening and your new black shirt looks smart enough anyway”.

Formal Evening…..

As Sarah & i were queuing up to enter the show lounge, the photographers were taking our photos.

Me on the left wearing a black shirt and Sarah on the right wearing a beautiful while dress with a black ribbon tie

⬆ Me & my lovely Wife Sarah ⬆

My lovely wife Sarah wearing her stunning white dress

⬆ My lovely Wife Sarah ⬆

After listening to the Captain introduce himself and some of his crew, we headed to the Compass Rose restaurant where we planned to have a lovely four course meal.

We said we didn’t mind sharing, and the waiter sat us right next to a window (yay) on a four seater table. We introduced ourselves to Brian & Anne (more about our new friends in later posts) and they kindly read out the menu for us. After ordering from each section of the menu, we got to chatting.

AND THEN…..

An enormous shadow, from an even bigger man darkened our whole table…..“STEVE…..FOLLOW ME” said the man with a really deep transylvanian voice. I looked at Sarah, and then back at the man “FOLLOW ME” he said again. Sarah said “Can i come with him” “yES” he said as we started to stand. We said to Brian and Anne “I think we’ll see you later, we’ve only just ordered our food, and if we’re not back…..you’ll get double, lol”.

As sarah guided me behind this Behemoth of a man (not joking, he was about 7ft tall and 5ft wide) up a few flights of stairs, Sarah said “Where is he taking us?” “I think we’re going to the plank, or at least being court marshalled” was my apprehensive reply. 😨

We finally entered a small bar area where Claudia (the social director) greeted us with a glass of Champagne and a smelly fish bite (i don’t like fish, if you’d not guessed, lol) and showed us to our seats. Claudia said “I thought you weren’t going to make it?” “To make what?” Sarah replied still looking bemused. “You got the invitation?”.Sarah said “Yes…..the one to the formal evening”. Claudia then said “No, that was an invitation to the Captains table and an evening with the Captain.” “Oooopps” i misread it as a general evening invitation (easily done as the iPhone magnifier isn’t as good as the large CCTV we have at home)”. Sarah whispered to me “The Captain and his other guests were waiting for us up here, as we were seeming to ignore them and eating our meal already with someone else. 😲

The Captains Table…..

Since Sarah & i already knew the menu (thanks Brian & Anne) this was our easiest food ordering to date. We had a lovely meal and a fantastic time chatting with everyone around the table. It was really interesting hearing everyones stories and experiences…..Sarah already has her next cruise planned in her mind after asking the Captain what place he liked best after 30 yrs of cruising the seas, lol. 🤣

Now it was time to leave again for the Show Lounge to watch possibly the worst show we have ever seen (heard for me, lol.). 😎

Me stood behind Sarah on the right of the photo stood in front of the staff captains table with 4 other people(including the captain who is sat next to Sarah)

⬆ Photo of Sarah & i(on right) at the Captains Table ⬆

Wow, What a memorable 10th Wedding Anniversary….

Retiring back to our cabin (making sure we didn’t upset the swans), we talked about our memorable day and how we’d never forget our 10th Wedding Anniversary! Now it was time to sleep, as it’s an early start once we arrive in Corinth. It was also the start of 5 full days of excursions we’d booked and we were really excited, even though we knew the temperatures were going to reach up to 41℃ because of a heat wave across south east Europe (ouch). ☀️

Thank You…..

Sarah & i would like to thank you once again for celebrating our 10th Wedding Anniversary and for all of the lovely messages you sent us.

Hope you’ve enjoyed the adventure today…Let me know your favourite part?! 🤔 We’ll meet tomorrow…Same time…Same place for another adventure! 😀

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☀️ #28 Escape Lockdown 2021 With The Blind Sightseers: “Matlock Bath”🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

January 31, 2021 by Steve in Azores, Blind Photographer, Blind Sightseers, Caribbean, iPhoneography, iReminisce, Lockdown and tagged Beach, Blind Life, Cable Cars, Caribbean, Caribbean Beach, Caribbean Island, Caribbean Shirt, CODE ALPHA, Legally Blind, Matlock Bath, Shore Excursions, St Johns, Thomson Cruses, Thomson Dream, Tortola, Towel Folding | Leave a comment

Hi friends and welcome to Day 28 of this monumental, inconceivable and definitely memorable blind sightseers tour….!

Wow what a cruise! I hope you’re enjoying this trip down memory lane?

🚠 Before we head off back to the sunshine…Here is a trip in the cold and rainy UK, lol! 🇬🇧 ☔️ 😀

After travelling up to Derby and spending the day with “Our Friends The Wigley Family” Sunday came and we woke up to a lovely view over Derby.

Hotel Room View overlooking a road and a landscape

⇧ View from our hotel room ⇧

We then made our way to the train station to travel to Doncaster to see Sarah’s family.

Sarah Portrait

⇧ Sarah sat in the train station café ⇧

Little did we know that the Tour de France was in Yorkshire on this day, but to our surprise the reservations were overloaded and the train was full so we got upgraded to first class (for free) which was empty! 💪🏼 😀

Sarah s First Class

⇧ SARAH’S FIRST CLASS!! ⇧

We arrived in Doncaster for Marshall’s birthday dinner at Cosmo’s where we met all of the family. We had a lovely meal and it was great to catch up with them all! 😀

Marshall on left, Sarah in the middle and Alfie on the right

⇧ Marshall (left), Sarah & Alfie ⇧

After arriving back in Derby that evening, Sarah & i went to our fave italian Zizzi’s for a lovely meal. I also got to have the lovely chocolate, banana & ice cream calzone, which Sarah stole most of! 😀

Sarah the calzone

Then it was Monday 7th July our 7th wedding anniversary where we would enjoy “The Heights Of Abraham” at Matlock Bath.

Cable Cars Sarah 2

Cable Car View 2

When we’d arrived at the top we found a tower (which was too dark for us to climb) but it looked nice! 😀

Tower Cable Cars

And i met a new friend…….

Me and Donkey

⇧ My new friend (i love donkeys in case you didn’t know!) 😀 ⇧

And after my amazing driving in the bumper cars (see here) i found another vehicle i had to drive……..

Me driving school bus

⇧ Getting the chance to drive yet again! ⇧

Cable Cars Sarah

⇧ Descending back down to ground level ⇧

Cable Car View 3

Cable Car View 4

Cable Car View

⇧ Views overlooking the villages from the cable cars ⇧

After a fantastic (and exhausting) weekend we finally checked out and headed home!

The Hotel

⇧ Sarah outside Jury’s Inn, Derby ⇧

Hope you’ve enjoyed the adventure today…Let me know your favourite part?! 🤔 We’ll meet tomorrow…Same time…Same place for another adventure! 😀

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☀️ #27 Escape Lockdown 2021 With The Blind Sightseers: “Palma”🇪🇸(2015)

January 30, 2021 by Steve in Azores, Blind Photographer, Blind Sightseers, Caribbean, iPhoneography, iReminisce, Lockdown and tagged Beach, Blind Life, Caribbean, Caribbean Beach, Caribbean Island, Caribbean Shirt, CODE ALPHA, Legally Blind, Shore Excursions, St Johns, Thomson Cruses, Thomson Dream, Tortola, Towel Folding | Leave a comment

Hi friends and welcome to Day 27 of this monumental, inconceivable and definitely memorable blind sightseers tour….!

Leaving our room for the last time and hoping we’d not forgotten anything, we had a couple of hours on the ship before our coach arrived. We first went out on deck to say hello to Palma! ☀️

Palma Dock

Wow, we’re really going to miss the sun when we arrive home! ☀️

We stayed out on deck for about half an hour reflecting on our crazy cruise and how we actually survived some of the situations that tried to knock us down. Then it was time to say goodbye to my favourite place “The Coffee Port”. ☕

Cecily and the Coffee Port…

Photo of Sarah and Cecily in the coffee port

I would like to say a huge thanks to Cecily and the Coffee Port. Every time without fail, as soon as Sarah and i would walk in, and before we’d seen Cecily, We’d here one of our names(depending who entered first) melodically sung which put a huge smile on our faces, what a welcome! 😀

She was so supportive of us and made fantastic coffee! ☕ 😀

Getting the coach…

After leaving the gangway for the last time, we boarded our coach and headed to the airport. It was a nice drive through Palma, but the mood on the coach was somber, as no-one wanted to go home. Although Sarah’s cough was almost constant and she was so tired from just coughing, she really wanted to be home so she can order a replacement insulin pump and get her blood under control.

Palma airport…🛩

We arrived at Palma airport and found the assisstance that helped us with our luggage, then escorted us to the gate where we sat waiting for the announcements. Sarah said “Let’s go and find you a coffee, then i can go and look around some shops as we will be here for about an hour” “Cool, sounds good to me, as long as we don’t venture off too far”. ☕

Just then we heard our names called…

We were surprised to see one of the couples who befriended us at the Orion Restaurant in the evenings. They gave Sarah a card and said “Hope your new job goes well, and you find your feet quickly. We wish you all the best”. Sarah was in pleasant shock with this unexpected kindness, especially as we thought we’d never meet them again. 😀

Yay, the plane…

I was excited to be travelling on an airplane again, and was totally surprised i managed to capture a piece of Palma upon take off! 😀

Palma from Thomson Dreamliner

Back in the UK…🇬🇧

We arrived in Gatwick airport (freezing) on the Sunday before Bank Holiday Monday. The plan was to have the Bank Holiday as a rest day to try and recover from this rollercoaster of a cruise. But the drama hadn’t quite finished yet…A rest day, what is one of those? 😀

A&E…🏥

Sarah was suffering beyond even what she can take (that doesn’t happen often) and on Monday morning we had to go to A&E as her chest was now closing up really bad and she could hardly breathe. As it was a Bank Holiday it was quite busy, but we finally got in to see the doctor. He said she had a Respiratory Tract Infection which has now given her a secondary lung thingy (i can’t remember the exact diagnosis,lol). After picking up the antibiotics we made our way home. 😷

Sarah’s new job…

I’m not sure if i’ve mentioned it yet, but just before we started this cruise, Sarah left her job at RNIB (Royal National Institute Of Blind People), where she’d worked for over 10 years, and was going to start her new job at WCRF (World Cancer Research Fund) tomorrow!! Yeah i know it seems mad, but don’t forget we’er dealing with my “Warrior Wife”!! 💪🏼

Finally…

I can’t explain the emotions i’ve been through typing up this day to day account of our cruise. I’ve been smiling, laughing, crying and shocked to find some great photos that will serve as loving memories for us. 😀

Thank You, Thank You & Thank You…

It’s been such a blessing to know you’ve joined us on our trip, but beyond that, encouraging us with your kind and loving comments along the way. So we both thank God for you, and thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Hopefully we’ll see you on our other tours too??!! 😀

Hope you’ve enjoyed the adventure today…Let me know your favourite part?! 🤔 We’ll meet tomorrow…Same time…Same place for another adventure! 😀

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☀️ #26 Escape Lockdown 2021 With The Blind Sightseers: “Alicante”🇪🇸

January 29, 2021 by Steve in Azores, Blind Photographer, Blind Sightseers, Caribbean, iPhoneography, iReminisce, Lockdown, Spain and tagged Beach, Blind Life, Caribbean, Caribbean Beach, Caribbean Island, Caribbean Shirt, CODE ALPHA, Legally Blind, Shore Excursions, St Johns, Thomson Cruses, Thomson Dream, Tortola, Towel Folding | Leave a comment

Hi friends and welcome to Day 26 of this monumental, inconceivable and definitely memorable blind sightseers tour….!

After about a week of sleepless nights, to say Sarah & i were tired is an understatement. Also Sarahs cough is a lot worse and her lungs feel like a boa constrictor has coiled around them. Her erratic blood sugars are making her sick too…but apart from that, we are excited to find out what our last shore excursion has in stall for us! 😀

The coach was waiting for us from the bottom of the gangway (phew…at least we won’t get lost around the dock, lol) and we set off towards the castle. As we drove down narrow windy streets lined with vivid green palm trees, with cafes splashed with orange i said to Sarah “Wow, it’s like were driving through one of your fave tracks from Gran Turismo 4 on the Playstation 2!!” “Ok” she said ”Not sure i’d have thought of that, but now you’ve mentioned it, that is exactly what it looks like”….Wow, i’m just full of useful information!🤣

Santa Barbara Castle…🏰

As we stepped off the air conditioned coach onto the sandy/dusty car park, the first thing to hit me was the intense heat. The Caribbean was very hot but there was always a lovely cool breeze, but this heat seemed focused on burning me to a crisp! ☀️

I’m sure it was just a short walk to the castle and to my surprise i was already halfway down my bottle of water, so when we arrived to find a big climb to the top of the castle which included slanty slopes and invisible rough steps etc, it was time to start the thought process “I think we’ve done something stupid again, and taken on an excursion we should’ve never taken on”. But as usual my thoughts were quickly defeated as my Warrior Wife took my hand and relentlesly attacked the slopes! Sarah always leaves me speechless, as i know she is feeling much worse than me, yet she battles on and fights when most others would give up. This is one reason why i’m so proud of her and love her more than anything! ♥️

The view…

Once we reached to top and found the nearest wall, the view was fantastic and well worth risking our lives (well my life anyway, lol) 🤣

Alicante 1

A view looking out from the top of the castle down onto the coastline of Alicante

While stood admiring the view, i could hear a noisy flag flapping above my head. I thought “I havn’t tried taking a proper flag photo in motion before”. It took about 5 minutes to try and get my camera to focus, but i finally got my first! 💪🏼 😀

The tour guide was great, telling us all about the gruesome, bloody history of the castle (history never changes) told us we had an hour of free time to have a look around the castle and we’d all meet up at the bottom.

Yay, we had more time to look around! 😀

A view overlooking parts of te path quite a long way down from the top of the castle

Sarah sitting at the top of the castle

Another view looking down from the top of the castle

Alicante 10

Alicante 7

It really was stunning up here, and i was excited to find Sarah getting her phone ready for one of her breathtaking Panoramas! 😀

Sarah looking at her phone preparing for a panorama at the top of the castle

HEALTH WARNING…Wow Sarah has treated us with 2 breathtaking Panoramas again!!! 😀

Alicante Panorama 2

Alicante Panorama 1

After Sarah “Top Trumped” me again with her amazing photos, we decided to begin our adventure down to the meeting place. We knew it was going to be much harder on the way down but we were going to enjoy it anyway!

Alicante 9

As we still had about 30 minutes, we tried to look at everything we hadn’t seen on the way up.

Sarah and the gift shop

When turning around, i thought Sarah had found a gift shop and was carrying a huge present for someone, lol. But thankfully it’s one of the statue things we found on the way. 🤣

Sarah and the castle 3

We then found a cool little alley way.

Sarah stood directly behind a warriour throwing a spear pretending to throw it too

This has to be one of my favorite photos!! I’m glad to see Sarah(The Greatest Warrior” parting some of her knowledge and instruction to an inferior ranked warrior on how to correctly throw a spear! 💪🏼 😀

After many more laughs, we did eventually make it back to the meeting place, and then on to the coach, Ooooohh, air conditioning! 😓

The Town Hall Square & Cathedral of Alicante…

Walking through the town was hard work as it was very busy, but Sarah did find a local craft store that were selling handmade daisy broaches out of wicker etc. So while she was looking, i thought i’d quickly snap a couple of photos.

Alicante Market Square 1

Alicante Market Square 2 Sepia

The Cathedral of Alicante…

Alicante church 1

Alicante church 2

On leaving the Cathedral, the tour guide said we have 30 minutes free time, then could you please find your way back to the coach, i’ll be in the bar down this side alley getting a cold drink if anyone wants to join me? Sarah said “Come on quickly, we need to get to him before he gets swallowed by the crowds, as we don’t know our way back to the coach” “Okay, let’s go” i said as we zigzagged our way towards him. We caught up with him and he told us the easiest way back to the coach.

But before we headed back, Sarah had a chance to try the only Spanish phrase she could remember from her childhood holidays with her Dad.

“It worked!!! I must have said it right” Sarah said as she brought 2 bottles of Lager to the small corner table in the little bar we’d stumbled upon. 😀

The Explanada, one of the most beautiful waterfront promenades in Spain…

On leaving the bar, Sarah saw this stunning pavement lined with palm trees. It reminded us of the incredible pavement in Horta, Azores.

Sarah on the Alicante palm tree art path

Me and the pal tree art path

Shortly before leaving the coach back at the dock, we had one final laugh when the tour guide told us he was from California, works in Alicante and is married to his Wife from Doncaster, South Yorkshire. “Wow” I said “That amazing, the guide yesterday was from Derby(my hometown) and Today the guide stays in Doncaster(Sarah’s hometown) a few months of the year, and when he finally said”I’ll be outside the French Gate in Doncaster in November, we both burst out laughing. 🤣

Back on the ship…🛳

We had just enough time to capture the coastline of Alicante from the ship before Thomson Dream sailed away to Palma, Mallorca for us to get the plane home.

Alicante Dock 1

Sarah on the ship at Alicante dock

After getting changed for the evening meal, we knew it would be the last time we’d see our Orion Restaurant friends. We met them at our usual time and table and had a lovely evening talking about all the adventures of the day.

Who knows? We may bump into them again on a future cruise, which would be great! 😀

Our Friends at Orion Restaurant

Leaving the Orion Restaurant, we headed to the delo bar to enjoy our last cocktail with great music.

Alan Davidson playing piano and singing in Delo bar

After a really long day, we arrived back at our cabin to find a new fantastic towel creature on our table. Sarah quickly moved it into an arty position ready for a humorous photo! 😲

Lobster Towel

Just one more day to go before we head home, and Sarah and i spent the sleepless night talking about the highs and lows of our 1st cruise, and only my second time abroad!

Thanks once again for joining us, it’s a blessing to share with you. 😀

Hope you’ve enjoyed the adventure today…Let me know your favourite part?! 🤔 We’ll meet tomorrow…Same time…Same place for another adventure! 😀

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☀️ #25 Escape Lockdown 2021 With The Blind Sightseers: “Gibraltar”🇬🇮

January 28, 2021 by Steve in Azores, Blind Photographer, Blind Sightseers, iPhoneography, iReminisce, Lockdown and tagged Beach, Blind Life, Caribbean, Caribbean Beach, Caribbean Island, Caribbean Shirt, CODE ALPHA, Legally Blind, Shore Excursions, St Johns, Thomson Cruses, Thomson Dream, Tortola, Towel Folding | Leave a comment

Hi friends and welcome to Day 25 of this monumental, inconceivable and definitely memorable blind sightseers tour….!

Click Gibraltar Logo to begin the Transatlantic cruise

Sarah on top of Gibraltar rock waving her arms in the air and welcome to Gibraltar

⇧ Sarah welcomes you to Gibraltar! ⇧

After 2 days at sea, and finding out (by our new friends who met us for evening meals at Orion Restaurant) that on the excursion to the “Rock of Gibraltar” requires that we get a cable car to the top on the cliff! Wow…i love cable cars! It reminded me of the cable cars Sarah & i travelled on at “The Heights of Abraham” day trip.a couple of years ago! 🙂

So leaving the ship i was extra excited to travel on cable cars in Gibraltar! We found the coach that would take us to the beginning of the rock and got on-board.

The excursion guides so far have been amazing, and really proud of their country! So happy to share everything and anything about the local history and culture, always creating laughter and a friendly relaxed atmosphere. So when this guide stepped on-board complaining and quite angry we were quite taken aback! After complaint about everything she showed us, we pulled up at the bottom of the rock and waited for the cable cars.

Just a quick side note…As i’m registered blind (i know most of you will know this already) and don’t see people, just hear them. Whenever i’m out sat in a cafe, restaurant, at church or just around town, i often like to play one of my fave games using my ATS(accent targeting system). I love accents, and i like to try and locate their original area?! Also its my only way of knowing who’s around me, and i’ve now trained myself so i can listen to 3 conversations at once! lol This can be good and bad depending. 😀 Anyway enough rambling! 🤣

When i got near the guide i asked her where she was from originally? “Derby” she said! “No way, a Derby bird, i’m from Derby too. It’s crazy that we’d meet here in Gibraltar”. It makes sense now. lol. It’s sometimes hard to pin down a accent that’s the same as your own, but i’m getting better.

After fantastic views from the cable cars, we finally reached the top of The Rock of Gibraltar! 😲

Looking down over the bay of Gibraltar with the Thomson Dream in the distance

My Lovely Wife Sarah

After taking shots of my beautiful wife Sarah (which i could do all day) the guide warned us about the monkeys that would steal anything and everything that wasn’t in your bag or not in the right place. By this i mean sunglasses on your head instead of over your eyes. The guide told us of one woman who had put her brand new £200 Rayban sunglasses on her head to take a photo, had them quickly snatched by a monkey and were never seen again! 😢

Me and Sarah stood on top of the rock of Gibraltar in the hot sunshine with the sea behind us

A kind person asked if Sarah & i would like a photo together? I said that would be lovely, thank you. But i think my face is wondering if the man was going to run off with my Big Nikon camera! lol. 🤣

Sarah and the Rock of Gibraltar

The Rock of Gibraltar

The guide said we had about an hour free time before we all have to meet back together, so Sarah got her iPhone out ready to take one of her amazing Panoramas!

Photo of Sarah taking a Panorama of Gibraltar rock

HEALTH WARNING…Not 1…but 2 of Sarah’s stupendous and breathtaking Panoramas!!! 🙂

Sarah's second panorama of Gibraltar rock

It had been a fantastic day already and the views were simply stunning from up here. We now had to find one of those monkeys to try and get a photo before we go.

Sarah taking a video of one of the monkeys at the top of Gibraltar

⇧ Sarah videoing one of the monkeys ⇧

Photo of a monkey sat on a railing fence looking out ove the bay of Gibraltar

After nipping into the gift shop to get a couple of presents we started heading back towards the cable cars.

We were just near the steps (walking 2 by 2 when we heard a loud “Oi!!” by the woman behind us, followed by a quiet couple of seconds, then lots of laughter??! We stopped and turned round to find out one of the monkeys had touched/stroked the ladies leg near her bum, and she thought it was the man behind her. But after the mix up they all started laughing! 🤣

Travelling back to the ship after more complaining by the excursion guide (mainly about her many ex husbands) we had time to take a few photos from the deck before Thomson Dream sailed overnight to Alicante…our last port before we head to Palma, Majorca for our flight home 😭

Gibraltar 1

Gibraltar Sepia

Sarah & i had a fantastic time in Gibraltar and it was great to have a guide from my home town to share her great accent with us.

Creating these blog posts documenting each day of our trip has been such a blessing for Sarah & i, especially knowing that you’ve been right here with us along the way! 🙂 They leave us with such lovely memories every time we read back through them. 😀

Hope you’ve enjoyed the adventure today…Let me know your favourite part?! 🤔 We’ll meet tomorrow…Same time…Same place for another adventure! 😀

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☀️ #24 Escape Lockdown 2021 With The Blind Sightseers: “The Model Ship”🌊🛳

January 27, 2021 by Steve in Azores, Blind Photographer, Blind Sightseers, Caribbean, iPhoneography, iReminisce, Lockdown, Transatlantic Sunset, Travel & Landscapes and tagged Beach, Blind Life, Caribbean, Caribbean Beach, Caribbean Island, Caribbean Shirt, CODE ALPHA, Legally Blind, Shore Excursions, St Johns, Thomson Cruses, Thomson Dream, Tortola, Towel Folding | Leave a comment

Hi friends and welcome to Day 24 of this monumental, inconceivable and definitely memorable blind sightseers tour….!

After a fantastic 2 days in the Azores we found this new folded towel creature on our table. “How do they do that” i said just staring and touching it? 😲

Swan

“Yeah i know” said Sarah “it’s amazing how they get the towels to do that and stay in position”.

Just then i had a brain wave…To show our appreciation for the great work our cabin steward has shown us, i will show our gratitude with a model of my own!!! 😀

I thought rather than using a towel i will go larger and use the whole bed, quilt, pillows and towels! As the towels are blue…they can be the sea. The quilt can be the Thomson Dream and the pillows can be the big pointy thingy on top! 💪🏼

Having never attempted anything like this before, i knew it would be the thought that counts. I said to Sarah “You’re going to have to wait outside until i’ve finished, then you can open the door and see it as the cabin steward will see it”.

Here Goes…..are you ready???

My Ship

After Sarah stopped laughing 🤣, she said “It’s massive! I didn’t know you were going to use the whole king size bed?!” I said “Well ships are big, and i didn’t want him to miss it”. She was actually impressed with my first ever attempt. lol. 💪🏼

Now everything is set, it’s time to head out and relax with a nice latte at the Coffee Port. We also ventured out on deck being ensconced by blue sea. ☕

At Sea after Azores

We did meet up with the cabin steward that night and Sarah asked him “Did you like the big ship Steve had made for you?” He said he didn’t see anything and just thought the bed was left in a mess…Harsh!! 😔

Well at least WE all know what happened, and i hope my model ship will put a smile on your face instead!! 😀

Just 2 days at sea now until we reach Gibraltar!!

Hope you’ve enjoyed the adventure today…Let me know your favourite part?! 🤔 We’ll meet tomorrow…Same time…Same place for another adventure! 😀

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☀️ #23 Escape Lockdown 2021 With The Blind Sightseers: “Sao Miguel, Azores”🐬

January 26, 2021 by Steve in Azores, Blind Photographer, Blind Sightseers, Caribbean, iPhoneography, iReminisce, Lockdown, Transatlantic Sunset, Travel & Landscapes and tagged Azores, Beach, Blind Life, Blind Sightseers, Caribbean, Caribbean Beach, Caribbean Island, Caribbean Shirt, CODE ALPHA, Legally Blind, Shore Excursions, St Johns, Thomson Cruses, Thomson Dream, Tortola, Towel Folding | Leave a comment

Hi friends and welcome to Day 23 of this monumental, inconceivable and definitely memorable blind sightseers tour….!

After more wild blood sugar readings, no sleep and seriously nasty coughs, i was really looking forward to our excursion today. If you remember on day 7 – Antigua we had 1 horse power each, but now i was hoping for lots more horse power in our 4×4! 😀

4×4 Tour of the Western Edge, Azores (Excursion details)

If you want to get up close to São Miguel’s dramatic landscapes, a 4×4 is the way to go. Once we’re all strapped in, we’ll head off to the west side of the island. Our first stop is Vista do Rei. Translated, it means ‘King’s View’ – it was named after King D Carlos, who visited back in 1901 – and the vista from here is definitely fit for a monarch. It pans across Sete Cidades, a massive volcanic crater that’s glazed in greenery and, at the right time of year, baby-blue hydrangeas. Covering its base is a huge lake, split in two by the small bridge that crosses it, plus a picturesque waterside village. We’ll drive along the Pequena ridge to Sete Cidades village, stopping at Lomba do Vasco viewpoint along the way for a few snaps. We’ll have some free time to explore the village, before continuing our drive past Blue and Empadadas lakes. We’ll have one last photo op – at Pico do Ferro viewpoint – before making our way back to the ship.

With the excursion details in mind (see above), we navigated down the gangway and onto the dock. We quickly realised that the day wasn’t going to be as hot as every other day on the cruise…as we were getting wet, and colder by the second! lol 🤣 ☔️

Our 4×4 driver and tour guide met us off the boat(which was fantastic) and helped us into our Land Rover. Back when i was a panel beater my friend used to race custom Land Rovers with monster V8’s, and as usual i was letting my imagination get ahead of me, especially when the driver cranked up the engine and it was the disappointing sound of a diesel tractor! 😢 Since i’ve been blind and i use my ears to see cars, the engine noises are all i focus on! Sarah is quick to remind me as we walk into town back in Epsom that she really doesn’t want me to comment on every engine that drives by! lol, but she did acknowledge my disappointment with a gentle stroke on my arm. ❤️

Sarah leaning and the 4x4

⇧ Sarah and the 4×4 ⇧

Our first stop was King’s View which was really high upon the island, as we stopped and the driver asked us to wait in the car as it was chucking it down with rain, and the fog/mist was like a blankett covering all of the beautiful landscapes he had brought us to see, he left to talk the the other driver in the Toyota Land cruiser behind. He came back, apologised and said “We will try and head as low as we can to see if we can go under the fog/mist and see if it’s any clearer down there. But we have a few minutes here so if you want to get out in the rain, you can”.

A landscape covered in rain, fog and mist

⇧ King’s View ⇧

On a clear day there is a stunning volcanic crater with 2 lakes, 1 is blue and 1 is green! There were alot of disappointed sighs etc and some people were complaining…i just thought welcome to my world, and you can still see more than me even with the fog. lol 😀 I almost felt equal for the first time on an excursion. 🤣

We then headed off on a drive to the lowest point of the island which was beautiful and when we got to walk around by the river and volcanic hills it was like stepping onto the film set of Jurassic park.

The fog did lift a little and the rain slowed down enough for us to enjoy 15 minutes in this fantastic place.

A black and white photo of a lake in Sao Miguel

A path running from right to left through grass fields alined with trees

Me looking Terrified in front of the river with volcanic rocks behind

When i found this photo which Sarah had taken, we both started laughing and thought this was probably the best photo of me ever! 🙂 Don’t ask me what i was up to, i can only imagine that i heard a T-Rex or a volcano erupt!! 😨

Please let me know in the comments below if you have any great captions to add to this photo??!! I look forward to hearing what you come up with! 🤣

A 4x4 parked in front of a huge volcano and river

⇧ This place really does remind me of Jurassic Park ⇧

View of Sao Miguel river from a grass bank with volcanic rocks behind

Looking through the trees atSao Miguel

We all climbed aboard our 4×4 and headed of to a small village to stop and have another rest and look around. On the way Sarah saw a huge black Bull chasing a local who was running for his life right close to the Land Rover…Crazy! Lol. We stopped at a small cafe where the driver(to Sarah’s delight) started talking about the locally made Portuguese custard tarts. I said “No way, these are our favourites, and we have never had a locally made one before! It will be like when i had a slice of “Pizza in Pisa!” 😀 As usual… no body laughed so i asked “Do they sell them in this Cafe?”If they do could you get 3 and have one yourself!” He said “yeah sure” and we sat and enjoyed this special food moment! ☕

Most of the people stayed in the cafe as it was raining outside, but Sarah & i were already soaked so didn’t mind a little more rain to try and see as many things as possible in this tiny village. 💪🏼

Sarah in Sao Miguel

Sao Miguel Village

Sao Miguel church through the trees

We were now coming to the end of our fantastic 4×4 drive, but not before he drove us off road and up some really steep rocky terrain, Yay!! 🙂 We were rocking side to side and bouncing up and down, i said “Yeah this is more like it!”. We then stopped and the driver who had his window down as all the windows were steaming up from our drenched clothes…picked up a small piece of Sphagnum moss from the towering hillside. As usual i was the only one who didn’t know what it is (i blame going to the worst school in Derby) He then squose it and we were all amazed by how much water was running out of something so small, fantastic! 😀

Just one more stop and it was to see a tunnel drilled through the mountain that goes out to the sea so that the rain water does not flood the volcanic crater when there is, from time to time heavy rainfall on the island.

The tunnel is around 80 years old and almost 2 kilometers long and it´s actually large enough to walk through and that is also safe enough as long as you don´t go during heavy rainfall. As you know it was raining but that’s not enough to stop Super Sarah having a look! 💪🏼 😀

Sarah and the tunnel

Back on the ship…🛳

Having got changed out of our wet clothes, we decided to try and get a bite to eat at the buffet restaurant on deck 9. We sat down with an assortment of food and enjoyed talking about what we’d just experienced. We were about half way through when Alan Davidson (the piano entertainer) came and sat down with us. He had seen us the day before in Horta taking photos and had admired my big Nikon DSLR. Sarah said “Yeah it’s a nice camera and Steve gets some lovely photos even though he’s blind”. “Wow” said Alan “I didn’t realise”. I never know if that’s a compliment or not? 🙂 He continued “Back home in Scotland i visit a blind friend and help him with life skills etc, and telling him(using a clock face) where his food is on his plate”. I said “Fantastic, Sarah has just done that with me which is why i’m eating more confidently(and a lot less messy) as normal”. 🤣

Sarah mentioned that she hadn’t got chance to see much of the town nearest to the dock and we still have a couple of hours left before we sail away. Alan kindly replied “I’ll take you guys, there is a bus on the dock that goes into town, and i can guide you and make sure you get back safely too”. “Fantastic, let’s go” Sarah and i replied. 😀

Sao Miguel Church

We found the market place overlooked by this Cathedral where Me, Sarah & Alan stopped to find a table out of the rain to have coffee’s and a chat. Alan was also a keen photographer and he found a local who took a few photos of the 3 of us, but sadly i havn’t managed to get the photos of Alan yet, maybe one day i’ll get to see them and share them with you. 😀

Back on board again Thomson Dream sailed away as Sarah and i listened to Alan with our favourite cocktails. Sarahs is a special sugar free Mojito and mine is a Bailey’s Banana Colada! 🍹 😀

Alan Pianoman

Hope you’ve enjoyed the adventure today…Let me know your favourite part?! 🤔 We’ll meet tomorrow…Same time…Same place for another adventure! 😀

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🙌 Yay…Snow!!! 💪🏼 🤣

January 25, 2021 by Steve in Blind Photographer, Blind Sightseers, iPhoneography, Lockdown, Travel & Landscapes and tagged Blind, Blind Blogger, Blind Life, Blind Photography, Blind Sightseers, Blindman, Snow, SnowballFight, Snowballs | Leave a comment

Finally it was our turn for some fun in the snow! 🤣

After a nice warm coffee (and me getting a little too excited), we started out in our back garden. “Awww it’s the fat snow that make snowballs!!” ☕ 😀

Our back garden…

2 Sarah back garden snow

3 Sarah back garden snow

The woods…

After an exciting run around, we decided to venture out into the woods for a snow filled adventure.

1 Sarah woods

1 Sarah snow walk

My lovely wife Sarah started off looking all innocent, and she was guiding my way through the woods nicely…When…

“Hey…They are like bowling balls” i shouted whilst being bombarded!!

2 Sarah snowball

1 Sarah snowball

After Sarah unleashed a flurry of blasts…I took a large amount of damage and some of the hits were nearly fatal! I knew i had to return fire…

Here it comes…🤣

2 Me Baseball snow

3 Me Baseball snow

Thankfully i managed to lower the amount of bombs coming my way…And as i’m blind and can’t see Sarah…I can hear her heartbeat and locate her position, lol! 🤣

Anyway, there is no harm in getting closer!

Screen Shot 2021 01 24 at 18 07 47

Now it was time for the big guns…Here is a nice (accessible for the blind) monster snowball to finish the job, lol! 🤣

1 Me Rampage snowball

Wow…I hope you’ve had as much fun as me and Sarah in the snow?! Is it snowing where you are? 😀

☀️ #22 Escape Lockdown 2021 With The Blind Sightseers: “Horta, Azores”🐬

January 25, 2021 by Steve in Azores, Blind Photographer, Blind Sightseers, Caribbean, iPhoneography, iReminisce, Lockdown, Transatlantic Sunset and tagged Beach, Blind Life, Caribbean, Caribbean Beach, Caribbean Island, Caribbean Shirt, CODE ALPHA, Legally Blind, Shore Excursions, St Johns, Thomson Cruses, Thomson Dream, Tortola, Towel Folding | Leave a comment

Hi friends and welcome to Day 22 of this monumental, inconceivable and definitely memorable blind sightseers tour….!

welcome to Horta!!! 😀

Sarah is sat on a wall on the right with her arms stretched out while the cruise ship is facing us on the left

⇧ Sarah welcoming you all to Horta! ⇧

Wow…what an adventurous Atlantic crossing! Both Sarah and i didn’t expect that roller coaster journey. But it was great to be off the ship and once we mastered walking on land that doesn’t move constantly, we headed out to see what we could find. 😀

We couldn’t book an excursion in Horta as they were all sold out, but we were first taken aback with the stunning bay, and the beautiful sea front with it’s incredibly ornate pavement…We still talk about this pavement! 😀

Horta Marina 2

A sailing boat in the lower lft of the bay while the hills in the background dominate the reast of the image

White buildings line the left of the pavement and road filling the whole image

Horta designed pavements

Sarah leaning on a palm tree on the right with the Horta marina and bay filling the rest of the image

After following the pavement around the sea front we came to what we thought was the end of the bay…but as we were going to turn back Sarah saw a steep alleyway between some buildings which really didn’t look inviting, but she was determined not to miss anything while we were here. And after what she’s just been through the last 5 days i wasn’t going to say no! 😨

The narrow path became really steep but we finally reached the top. There were high buildings either side of s and i could hear what i thought were Portuguese gangsters. I said “Do you think we should turn round and head back?” Sarah said “No we’ve made it this far and it’s downhill from here, i think i can see the end of the path and it looks like it opens out again” “Ok” i said nervously and we pushed on.

As usual Sarah was dead right! The path ended and we were treated with a stunning view of the bay on the other side of the island! 😲

We both were silenced and stood in awe as we tried to take in more of God’s beautiful creation. No matter how bad the last few days were Sarah said “Wow, this was worth the wait!” God never fails to show up and when he does we are always left speechless. 🙏 😀

Warning…one of Sarah’s breathtaking panoramas…

Panoramic view of Horta bay

Sarah in Awe at Horta bay

Me stood on the left with volcanic rock beach all around and a view of the bay

Volcanic rock at Horta bay

Horta hillside with lots of scattered houses

the houses on Horta hill with a massive tree towering over all of them

Beautiful mossy green gill with a house/centre inbedded within

We were stood for around 10 minutes when 2 people approached us from our left, the woman said “We’ve been all around here and there is nothing worth seeing here! So were going over the other side to see if we can find anything worth seeing over there!” They walked on past us before we could even say hello. I was stunned, then said to Sarah “I can’t see that much but i still know how beautiful this place is!! They must be in a different dimention to us”. Sarah chuckled and quickly ran over to check out all of the amazing black sand! 😕

We stayed here for about 20 minutes and went over to our left to explore the green hills!

Sarah running and enjoying freedom on the volcanic beach all on her own!

Sarah walking around Horta hill

Sarah relaxing on Horta hill

Getting towards the top of the first hill, we stopped to take in the bay from a different viewing point! 😀

Sarah says hi

Sarah says a big hello to all of you who are still with us on our adventure!! 💪🏼 😀

Horta Sepia

On the other side of the green hills another bay opened out for us…Wow this place is beautiful and just keeps giving!

We thought if we stayed with the sea on our right we would eventually find our way back to the ship…we did but before we headed back on board we stopped to look in the local shops, and stop for a well deserved drink.

Also on the way back we found these interesting photos and paintings along the sea front, by this time it was getting late in the afternoon so we didn’t have much time left in this lovely place.

Sarah at Horta marina

Sarah had just enough time for one more pose! lol 🤣

Sarah and the ship

Hope you’ve enjoyed the adventure today…Let me know your favourite part?! 🤔 We’ll meet tomorrow…Same time…Same place for another adventure! 😀

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☀️ #21 Escape Lockdown 2021 With The Blind Sightseers: “Relaxing, Reflecting & Coughing!!”🌊

January 24, 2021 by Steve in Blind Photographer, Blind Sightseers, Caribbean, iPhoneography, iReminisce, Lockdown, Transatlantic Sunset and tagged Beach, Blind Life, Caribbean, Caribbean Beach, Caribbean Island, Caribbean Shirt, CODE ALPHA, Legally Blind, Shore Excursions, St Johns, Thomson Cruses, Thomson Dream, Tortola, Towel Folding | Leave a comment

Hi friends and welcome to Day 21 of this monumental, inconceivable and definitely memorable blind sightseers tour….!

Sea logo

Sarah & i were feeling really run down, tired and a little concerned about what the rest of our dream holiday had in store for us. But now we had a few days at sea, so we decided to get out there and enjoy the time we had left. 🙂

Sarah looking out to sea

⇧ Sarah relaxing and reflecting ⇧

During our time at sea, Sarah & i loved standing and looking out over the vast ocean. It seemed to put perspective on how majestic and awesome our God is. Also how small we were in comparison and yet he loves each one of us…amazing! 🙂

Shopping…

Handbags on ship

There’s nothing like being surrounded by handbags to put a smile on Sarah’s face! 🙂

Of all the places…i never thought i’d be in a handbag store, on a ship in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. But we have just spent the night in a hospital in the middle of the Atlantic ocean! 😀 Sarah seems to find these shops wherever we go… and if it helps her relax, i’ll be right there with her!

Another fave spot…

Sarah on deck

Each day we’d find our way up to this spot and just look out over the pool deck and take in the full panoramic view of blue. There was always a live band playing, giving a great atmosphere and a hot-plate thingy where i could get a fresh burger…Mmmm burgers! 🍔🍔

Hair salon…

Hair salon

After Sarahs last trip to the hair salon she was really pleased with the way the stylist had cut and styled her hair around her eye…. but the hospital adventure had kind of ruined it. So i thought she might like to relax and get it done again. Whilst waiting in the waiting room i took this shot through the window ….That’s the best view i’ve ever seen from a hair salon! 😀

The evening restaurants…

So far i havn’t said much about our evening meals. For the first few days we really struggled with the buffet restaurants, as the food was placed in big trays under a glass cover with really long fork/tongs to pick up the food. Sarah had no idea what she was picking up as it was just too far away for her to focus and the waiters didn’t understand we couldn’t see properly, which caused a few problems!

At home we try to stay away from self service/buffet style places …not because we are too snooty, lol …but because we simply can’t find anything e.g plates, food, cutlery, where to pay, which causes too much stress and makes us wish we hadn’t gone out at all!

After a few days we decided to try the “Orion Restaurant” which was waiter service. On entrance the waiter asked if we’d like to share a table or sit by yourselves. Sarah said “Sharing is fine with us” (I thought is it really… 😦 The waiter then escorted us to an empty 8 seater table. After he passed us our menus (which we had no chance of reading) our table soon filled up with people. After friendly hello’s Sarah said to the lady next to her “I don’t want to be a nuisance…but we are both registered blind and so can’t read the menus. Would you be able to read it to us?” After the confused look on all of their faces (my imagination from the body language) the lady said “Of course, but i’d never have guessed that either of you had sight problems”. (My thought was “You need to be on this side of my eyes to understand the problem :(“) After we’d heard the menu, Sarah whispered “This works perfectly for us…we get the menu read out, and we get to meet lots of different lovely people” 🙂

Shortly after…we heard the people sitting opposite us say “Did you hear the “Code Alpha” last night?” The others replied “Yes we did, it woke us up…it was after 1am!!” “Yeah i know and there was no need to call it around the whole ship”.

I said “Sorry…that was us.” “It was you two! what happened?” Sarah showed her bruised and bandaged wrists (from where the drips had been attached) and explained everything that happened. We heard this same complaint for the next few evenings…. and even some different, elaborate explanations of what had happened (even one story where Sarah was said to have died and been taken off the boat by helicopter in a silver bullet coffin????.)

We also heard that quite a few people had complained to reception about the 1am code alpha (because they thought it was a call to abandon ship) and how they felt they shouldn’t have been disturbed in the middle of the night!!

The Cough…

If you can remember…on Day 8 there were a couple of people in the hospital waiting room with deep growly coughs. Well today…Sarah’s got it too !! 😦 This deep booming growly cough (reminds me of the Rockford Fosgate subs in the boot of my old custom Nova) is giving Sarah lots of chest pain, a sore throat and a pounding head. We’ve noticed the unique sound of this cough around the ship as we’ve been exploring! ….As if Sarah didn’t have enough on her plate with no sleep, uncontrollable blood sugar, one eye closed and exhaustion…she now has this nasty cough 😦

Keep smiling… 😀

I have no idea how she does it. But no matter what’s going on…Sarah has a lovely beaming/contagious smile on her face that blesses all who see her 😀

Sarah reflection

The Azores…

After about 4 (or is it 5?) sleepless nights (i’ve lost count) we were looking forwards to arriving at the Azores. Sarah was especially looking forwards to getting off the ship and onto solid ground and having the freedom to explore another fantastic island! You just can’t keep this warrior princess down! 😀

Yippee land ahoy!!!

Hope you’ve enjoyed the adventure today…Let me know your favourite part?! 🤔 We’ll meet tomorrow…Same time…Same place for another adventure! 😀

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☀️ #18 Escape Lockdown 2021 With The Blind Sightseers: “Saint John’s, Antigua and Barbuda” 🇦🇬

January 21, 2021 by Steve in Blind Photographer, Blind Sightseers, Caribbean, iPhoneography, iReminisce, Lockdown, Transatlantic Sunset, Travel & Landscapes and tagged Bells, Blind and partially Sighted, Blind Artist, Blind Artists, Blind Blogger, Blind Community, Blind Life, Blind Man, Blind people, Blind Photographer, Blind Photography, Blind Sightseers, Blind Travellers, Digital Photography, Duomo, Firenze, Florence, iPhoneography, Italy, Legally Blind, Legally Blind Photographer, Photo Exhibition, Photography, Photography Exhibition, Tranquility Lounger, Tuscany | Leave a comment

Hi friends and welcome to Day 18 of this monumental, inconceivable and definitely memorable blind sightseers tour….!

After another early start (and you’ve guessed it) a bacon roll, we headed off the ship. The shore excursion lady was at the bottom of the gangway steps, and she showed us where to join the queue. Well i say queue, there were only about 8 of us in total. I thought “I think we may have over reached on this one. Maybe it’s going to be too difficult, and really not suited for the blind”. 🤔

We were then led towards the minibus. We were told they’d saved us the 2 seats in the front next to the driver, i said “Sweet”, and climbed aboard. I really didn’t expect what happened next…the driver turned on his CD player which started playing Ed Sheeran “Thinking out loud” and he started singing as i tapped away on my legs to the beat. His voice was incredible, it was like we were having our own concert in the front of the minibus, whilst driving around paradise. Quite a surreal moment. After more fantastic singing to Tarrus Riley’s “She’s Royal”, he pulled up at Fort James Beach where we were to start our horse ride. ☀️🏇

Welcome to Paradise…🌴

We left the minibus and were instantly greeted with a stunning view of porcelain palm fringed sands, and stilted turquoise waters of Fort James beach, also we received a further warm welcome by the “Horseman (sorry, i forgot his name)”. 😀

St John beach with a palm tree on the left and a life guard seat on the right

St John beach 2

Photo of the horse instructor walking across the beautiful beach

⇧ The horseman strolling along the beautiful beach ⇧

A couple of horses on the left walking across the amazing beach

⇧ Horses being led to the sea to cool off ⇧

The Horse Ride…

Once everyone was fitted with a protective hat (it took a while to find one to fit my big head, lol), it was time to line up and meet the horses. He asked for experienced riders first, then one at a time they mounted the horses. It was about this time i started to get a little nervous. I was saying to Sarah “How do we get up there? Are there steps? Which foot do i put forward first? Are the horses big enough to carry me?”

The horseman was out of earshot, but i think he could see my face, he said “Don’t worry, i have a couple of special horses for you two”. This put my mind a little more at ease. Sarah mounted first on the horse named “Sunshine”, what a perfect horse for her! 🙂 Then i mounted easily with the excellent help from horseman onto the horse named “Little Man”. 😀

After a short tutorial on how to hold (and use) the reins, it was time to move on out! We had only walked along next to a road for about a minute, and i’d just got used to the weird motion of rocking side to side whilst not being able to see the ground or the horse in front. When…a huge commotion…Lots of shouting from horseman, and the horses. I thought(at first) it sounded like a car had hit one of the horses. I pulled back on the reins as i saw Sarah(who was in front of me) appear at my side, Yay my horse stopped! 🙂 We found out at the end, that a car got too close and spooked a few of the horses, so no one (or horses) were hurt.

My plan was to take my Samsung WB550 compact camera with me to take photos & video whilst on the horse, but that was soon foiled when i got onto the horse, and my shorts were pulled tight around my pocket, so it had seal it shut. I didn’t want to try and move, as i thought the horse might mistaken my movements and start galloping off!. I did eventually get an opportunity when my foot suddenly got smacked out of the stirrup by an aloe vera plant (it got a few of us), and as my leg was free i quickly grabbed my camera! 😀 Note to self, next time take my other camera with a neck strap! 🤣

The horseman who was overseeing us said “Welcome to Sandhaven Beach”…

A photo of the back of my horses head with a beautiful seacape all around

⇧ “Little Man” taking me on a beautiful journey 🙂 ⇧

Photo of Sarah on her horse riding across stunning beach landscape with my orange shirt at the bottom as i took the photo over my shoulder

⇧ Sarah on “Sunshine” & in sunshine, along Sandhaven beach ⇧

Sarah on her horse looking inland as she rides across the stunning beach

Sarah looking out to sea as she rides along the stunning Sandhaven beach

⇧ Sarah ensconced in Sunshine! 🙂 ⇧

Words completely fail me when i try and describe the feeling of riding in paradise. The sound of the waves, the feel of the hot sun with the cool breeze, the movement(and sound) of the horse, topped off with the amazing panorama. We really didn’t want to leave our new fave place on earth!! 😀 ☀️

We left Sandhaven beach and headed back to Fort James beach. We’d been riding for around 1½ hours, and just before we finished, the man asked for my cameras so he could take a photo of us on our horses.

My horse “little Man” was busy eating grass, i think he had my appetite! 🤣

Photo of me9left and Sarah(right) sat on top of our horses. My horse is eating grass

⇧ “Little Man & “Sunshine” ⇧

Once off the horses, we were given a bottle of water each as they prepared for stage 2. Stage 2 gave the chance for the experienced riders to ride faster (or gallop as i’m told), and the chance to ride bareback into the water. Sarah and another lady paired up together to do this.

Sarah bareback riding

Sarah said “I was sat trying to balance without a saddle, when suddenly i was thrown back as one of my legs was pulled up. I looked down to see that the horse had taken a liking to one of my bright yellow laces, and was pulling on it as though it was spaghetti! 🤣

Once stage 2 was over, we had about 45 minutes before the singing taxi arrived. “No way, does this mean you get to swim in paradise again?!” i said as Sarah was already half way down the beach!! 🤣

The Swim…

Sarah running towards the empty sea

⇧ Sarah excited to be the only one in the beautiful sea ⇧

Sarah submerged in the turquoise sea. The whole sea is empty apart from Sarah

⇧ What a way to relax! 🙂 ⇧

Sarah walking towards me from out of the sea after her swim

Sarah portrait St John

⇧ I think Sarah enjoyed her swim! 😀 ⇧

The taxi ride was just as fun. The drivers stunning voice carried us all the way back to the ship.

Back on the ship…

We now had to say farewell to the Caribbean. 😦 We took our usual sofa’s in the coffee port, and with coffee’s in hand, we watched the island slowly disappear. We both agreed that this was our fave place of the trip, and the horse ride was our best experience so far!!

Our new friend…

On returning to our cabin, the steward had created a folded towel turtle, and used my hat as the shell, fantastic!! 😀

Folded turtle from towels with my hat as the shell

Our Route 4 2day…

This afternoon Thomson Dream sails to Horta, Portugal, we’ll arrive on Sunday late morning, after 5 leisurely days at sea. having travelled 2,173 nautical miles, at an average speed of 16 knots.

Hope you’ve enjoyed the adventure today…Let me know your favourite part?! 🤔 We’ll meet tomorrow…Same time…Same place for another adventure! 😀

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☀️ #17 Escape Lockdown 2021 With The Blind Sightseers: “Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis” 🇰🇳

January 20, 2021 by Steve in Blind Photographer, Blind Sightseers, Caribbean, iPhoneography, iReminisce, Lockdown, Transatlantic Sunset, Travel & Landscapes and tagged Bells, Blind and partially Sighted, Blind Artist, Blind Artists, Blind Blogger, Blind Community, Blind Life, Blind Man, Blind people, Blind Photographer, Blind Photography, Blind Sightseers, Blind Travellers, Digital Photography, Duomo, Firenze, Florence, iPhoneography, Italy, Legally Blind, Legally Blind Photographer, Photo Exhibition, Photography, Photography Exhibition, Tranquility Lounger, Tuscany | Leave a comment

Hi friends and welcome to Day 17 of this monumental, inconceivable and definitely memorable blind sightseers tour….!

Our excursion today “St Kitts Scenic Railway” didn’t start until 11am, so we had a more relaxed breakfast at Lido’s on Deck 9. Then another lovely coffee at the Coffee Port on Deck 8. Now we had sustenance, it was down to Deck 4 and off the ship to enjoy what today had in store for us?! 😀

Welcome to St Kitts…

Once an illustrious sugar colony, it now focusses its efforts on being a tropical paradise. A seductive blend of blonde sandss, and duck egg blue seas.

Once we slowly navigated down the gangway steps, we looked up to see a view of the beautiful bay.

The Caribbean never failed to surprise us, even when we thought we had seen the most beautiful places, the next place would leave us awe-struck with it’s breathtaking landscapes!

A panorama taken from the dock pier overlooking the amazing span of volcano hills with the vivid blu sea in front

⇧ Sarah’s stupendous Panorama of St Kitts ⇧

As i was taking a photo of Sarah, a nice lady came over and asked if we would like her to take one of us both together? “Oh yes please, that would be so kind of you”. The photo she took is probably my fave photo of the trip! 🙂

Me on the left in my bright orange shirt hugging Sarah on the right with the beautiful panorama of volcanic hills and blue sea behind us

⇧ Sarah & i at St Kitts ⇧

Showing my excitement, and love for the Caribbean. Sarah chose(and bought) me an amazingly bright and colourful Caribbean shirt, 😲

Excursion Details – St Kitts Scenic Railway…

First up, board a tour bus for a drive along the south coast. Important landmarks lie around every corner here.

Second, hop on a train at the “Needs-Must” station, and St Kitts light railway takes you on a 3 hour tour of the islands best bits. You’ll chug over ravines over 300 feet deep, circle mount Liamuga volcano, take a sneak peak at the islands black sand beaches, and soak up the jaw dropping views over lush sugar cain fields,

The Bus…

Another soothing air conditioned bus ride. Our tour guide was fantastic, and told us all about the Economy, history(some grusome battles), and the monkeys! She said “Around 100,000 monkeys live in the tree covered hills, and they steal our fruit etc. So if you want to take one with you, it will help us greatly!”.

View from the bus at St Kitts

⇧ A view from the bus window ⇧

The Train…

We got off the bus at the “Needs-Must” station. The hot sun felt lovely as we waited for the train. We had no idea what to expect, and looking at the small narrow train tracks, we expected a little open top fun train, or something like.

Then…this large double decker monster pulled up. “Wow, i didn’t expect that! It’s really tall, and doesn’t look wide enough to take the height”. I said as we climbed the stairs to the upper deck of the 1st carriage. “Yes! We get to sit at the front too! Unbelievable”.

As the train pulled away, the tour guide told us that the train will sway(strongly) side to side, so it’s best to stay seated, but if you want to stand then keep hold of the rail above the seats. She wasn’t joking!! It was the craziest train i’d ever been on, and i thought there is no way i can take photos whilst being violently thrown around!

But…as usual, i didn’t let that stop me! My Nikkor lens has VR(Vibration Reduction) on it, so i’ll test it out. I really didn’t expect to have any photos from this amazing, unforgettable train ride, but was surprised when a few turned out not too blurry!

We started off travelling through vivid green fields flanked by volcanos.

St Kitts 1

St Kitts 2

Then just as a lady asked us if we wanted a “Pina Colada”, we saw the first of many beautiful curved bays, with the sea crashing into the shore.

St Kitts 3

Sarah & i just kept saying “Wow, this is Amazing! How did we get here, it’s like a dream”. The beautiful hot sun shining down, a lovely cool breeze flowing through the train, and a Pina Colada in hand. Some of my fave things are Coconut, Banana and Pineapple, and this drink had them all! Mmmmm. ☀️ 😀

St Kitts Train

Then as the train curled its way through the lush landscape, a 3 part harmony choir started singing. The ladies would come up to our deck and sing some beautiful songs as part of the trip. The voices were fantastic, and brought even more sunshine to this incredible journey. 😀

As the singers finished, we heard a horn next to us, so we all started waving at the people on the fun bus! 🙌

St Kitts Bus

We were then treated to another stunning bay!

St Kitts 7

St Kitts 6

St Kitts 5

St Kitts 4

After passing through more sugarcane fields, the lady brought us a piece of sugarcane with spices. Wow, it was the nicest sweet thing i’d ever tasted! I always talk about this sugarcane everywhere i go.

Sarah St Kitts Train

⇧ Sarah sat at the front of the train! ⇧

St Kitts Volcano

The tour guide then said “On your left you will make out the bridge we will be travelling over shortly”. I heard Sarah say “No way, the train isn’t going to make it over that, it looks too small and rickety. Steve, if you could see it, you’d be saying the same!!”.

Train Bridge 1

Train bridge 2

Yes i would! After seeing this photo, i could tell exactly why Sarah was getting worried! 😨

After the bridge, we travelled back towards the end of the journey. But not before we were blessed, by what is now my favourite church building.

St Kitts Church

This fantastic train ride came to an end back at “Needs-Must” station, where the bus was ready to take us back to the ship. But before we boarded, we still had a short time to look around the shops at the dock.

I bought another Caribbean shirt(blue one) so i could keep up with the vibrant colours surrounding us from all angles! Sarah even plaited my hair too! 😀

My Platt Blue Caribbean Shirt

⇧ My quiet blue shirt ⇧

Tomorrow will be our last Caribbean island, before we are at sea for 5 days crossing the atlantic for the Azores.

We’ve booked a horse ride across the beach etc, so i’m a little nervous. But at least the horse isn’t blind(i hope) and will lead the way! Either way, i’m sure it’ll be another unforgettable experience! This holiday has been full of them! 🤣

Our Route 4 2day…

This evening Thomson Dream travels to St Johns, Antigua. We’ll arrive tomorrow morning having travelled 61 nautical miles, at an average speed of 4 knots.

Hope you’ve enjoyed the adventure today…Let me know your favourite part?! 🤔 We’ll meet tomorrow…Same time…Same place for another adventure! 😀

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☀️ #16 Escape Lockdown 2021 With The Blind Sightseers: “Sint Maarten” 🇸🇽

January 19, 2021 by Steve in Blind Photographer, Blind Sightseers, Caribbean, iPhoneography, iReminisce, Lockdown, Transatlantic Sunset, Travel & Landscapes and tagged Bells, Blind and partially Sighted, Blind Artist, Blind Artists, Blind Blogger, Blind Community, Blind Life, Blind Man, Blind people, Blind Photographer, Blind Photography, Blind Sightseers, Blind Travellers, Digital Photography, Duomo, Firenze, Florence, iPhoneography, Italy, Legally Blind, Legally Blind Photographer, Photo Exhibition, Photography, Photography Exhibition, Tranquility Lounger, Tuscany | Leave a comment

Hi friends and welcome to Day 16 of this monumental, inconceivable and definitely memorable blind sightseers tour….!

After a quick (but super tasty) bacon roll from Lido’s on Deck 9, Sarah & i found our way off the ship, and to the shore excursion point.

St Maarten Island Tour…(excursion details)

Flying under two flags, Sint Maarten has got something of a split personality. But despite being one half Dutch and the other French, its whole is as Caribbean as it gets. And on this trip you’ll get to see both sides of this two-faced island, with your guide giving you snippets of history as you go

You’ll travel from Philipsburg(Dutch capital) to Marigot(French capital) passing through dinky villages hardly touched by time. Once you reach Marigot, you have some free time to explore this four street-wide city. All patisseries, pavement cafés and designer boutiques, it’s easy to see why it’s known as the French Riviera of the Caribbean.

The Dutch Side…

Our tour started with a drive around the beautiful Dutch side of the island, the air conditioned bus was perfect on this hot day. The guide pretty much told us that this was the place for the profligates. Casinos, night clubs, fast food outlets etc. I instantly thought of Mathew 23 “You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean”. Not quite in context, but you get the idea! 😀

I know i keep going on about the vivid colours, i still can’t put into words how stunning they are, i couldn’t get my camera to do them justice! The Colours will be the main thing i remember about the caribbean! 😲

Lookout Point, Simpson Bay Lagoon…

The driver/tour guide said he’d stop the bus for about 5 minutes so we could take some photos of the bay. “Excellent”, i thought as Sarah & i followed a man with a DSLR who was leaving in a hurry off the bus. I thought “if he is so keen to get off, then it must be a beautiful bay”. But as soon as he had moved to the edge of the cliff, he started saying “Why did he stop here? This is horrible, and a building site! There were much nicer places where he should’ve stopped”. 😡

I ignored his complaining and started taking photos of the scenery i couldn’t see anyway, as i wanted to see what he was talking about when i zoomed in at home after the holiday. I still can’t make out the detail, but what i can see looks beautiful!, and well worth stopping for! 😀

Photo taken of Lookout Point, Simpson Bay Lagoon.jpeg

Lookout Point, Simpson Bay Lagoon.jpeg

St Maarten Bay 4

St Maarten Bay

⇧ Lookout Point – Simpson Bay Lagoon ⇧

The French Side…

Moving seamlessly from the Dutch side of the island to the French side, Sarah started to feel a little more at home as the guide said “You won’t find any Burger King, KFC, casino’s etc. You’ll find cafe’s, restaurants, small independent market stores etc”, mmmmmm coffee! ☕ 😀

After more fascinating history of the island, we pulled into Marigot(French capital), and now had 45 minutes to have a look around!

Marigot…

After leaving the bus, we headed straight for the open space where we found another lovely bay

St Maarten Bay 5

⇧ Marigot bay ⇧

We stood for a while to absorb the beautiful view, then it was over to the market to see what we could find.

The smell of the locals cooking on the market was amazing, but Sarah had found a sweet little craft stall. The lady created items from the coral found off the shores St Maarten. “Oooooh, i could have a necklace made from St Maarten”. I knew that to mean “i’m getting one, i just don’t know which one yet?!” sm

close up photo of Sarah's neckolace she bought fromm a market stall in Marigot, St Maarten

⇧ Sarah’s St Maartens Coral Necklace ⇧

Sarah really was starting to feel at home here, but we had to get back to the bus! We enjoyed our stop in Marigot, and we said we’d love to spend a week here to investigate more!

Back On The Ship…

After finishing the island tour, we went back to the ship to get some lunch. We had a few hours before the ship sails away, so we decided to see if we could find a beach!

Sarah always says “The holiday hasn’t properly started until our feet are standing on the sand!!” 🤣

After a frustrating hour walking from one end of the dock to the other, trying to find transport to take us to a beach. We started heading back to the ship defeated. When.. suddenly a “Water Taxi” sign appeared! Fantastic, lets go! Eventually we got on-board a very busy(yet cool) boat that took us a short distance across the bay.

After just stepping out of the boat, i heard “Hi Steve and Sarah”. It was Martin, a kind man i sat next too on the plane over to Jamaica. We’d got chatting on the plane about sight loss and coping etc, and he has a Nephew who is suffering at the moment, so i was giving him some resources that may help etc. We Sadi “Hi Martin, are we anywhere near a beach?” He chuckled a little and said “Yeah it’s right here, just walk down this short pier and you won’t miss it” “Fantastic!” “Don’t be long though, you don’t want to miss the ship” Martin said, as he boarded the water taxi.

Great Bay Beach…

Photo of the beach, with a palm tree on the left, and 2 cruise ships on the right

⇧ View of the cruise ships from Great Bay Beach ⇧

The afternoon sun was getting hot now, which must have been why most of the people were inside the bars. But we had been in air conditioning all morning so didn’t mind a bit of sun.

It also meant that, not only did we get to walk on the powder white sands, but Sarah got to swim in the turquoise waters with hardly anyone around! An amazing experience! 😀

Sarah couldn’t believe she was swimming in paradise, and couldn’t stop smiling for the rest of the day! 😀

A full photo of just sea, with Sarah head poking out in the bottom right corner

⇧ Sarah relaxing in paradise ⇧

close up of Sarah walking out of the see,with the water up to her hips. Sarah is wearing her fave spotted puple swimsuit

landscape shot of Sarah walking out of the turquoise sea, onto yellow sands, with sailing ships in the far distance

It really was getting hot now, so we nipped into a small bar for a cold soothing drink. I thought i’d try a local Rum & Coke(though i didn’t taste much coke), and Sarah had her fave Mojito. 🍹

We had a last walk up and down the beach where a woman kept shouting a me to have my hair braided! I think i was the only man here with long hair! 🤣 Then we managed to board the water taxi back to the ship. What an amazing day! This whole holiday has been simply breathtaking for us, and Sarah still can’t believe she got to swim in the beautiful, warm Caribbean sea! 😀

Towel Folding & Beyond…

You’ve already seen the fantastic towel folded Elephant on Day 1, and each night the cabin steward folded our bed in amazingly straight lines, but he went one step further. We found Sarah’s nightie folded in this fantastic pattern.

a close up shot of the fantastic pattern folded by the cabin steward on Sarah nightie

a photo of the folded bed covers and Sarahs Folded Nightie 2

⇧ Folded nightie and bed, with chocolate mints on pillows ⇧

Our Route 4 2day…

This evening Thomson Dream sails to Basseterre, St Kitts. We’ll arrive tomorrow morning having travelled 59 nautical miles at an average of 4 knots.

Hope you’ve enjoyed the adventure today…Let me know your favourite part?! 🤔 We’ll meet tomorrow…Same time…Same place for another adventure! 😀

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☀️ #15 Escape Lockdown 2021 With The Blind Sightseers: “Road Town, BVI” 🇻🇬

January 18, 2021 by Steve in Blind Photographer, Blind Sightseers, Caribbean, iPhoneography, iReminisce, Lockdown, Transatlantic Sunset, Travel & Landscapes and tagged Bells, Blind and partially Sighted, Blind Artist, Blind Artists, Blind Blogger, Blind Community, Blind Life, Blind Man, Blind people, Blind Photographer, Blind Photography, Blind Sightseers, Blind Travellers, Digital Photography, Duomo, Firenze, Florence, iPhoneography, Italy, Legally Blind, Legally Blind Photographer, Photo Exhibition, Photography, Photography Exhibition, Tranquility Lounger, Tuscany | Leave a comment

Hi friends and welcome to Day 15 of this monumental, inconceivable and definitely memorable blind sightseers tour….!

Absorbing The Landscapes…

As we were at anchor during our visit to Road Town, with local ship’s tender boats transferring us to, and from the shore. We had a little time to take some photos before we left the ship. It was so calm and peaceful as we stood in front of this beautiful landscape.

A view of the front tip of the boat in front of a beautiful landscape

Me on the left taking a photo of the coastline, whilst a boat enters the image from the right. Also the image has a overkill blue filter

⇧ Sorry…i couldn’t resist the overkill blue filter effect! 🙂 ⇧

A beautiful image of the small islands of Road Town

⇧ The beautiful coastline of Road Town ⇧

A boat leaving its stream from left to right with the coastline behind it

⇧ I listened patiently until the boat that i couldn’t see was hopefully on the right of my shot! 🙂 ⇧

Road Town hillside

⇧ The rolling green hills of Road Town ⇧

After having a fun(bobbing up and down) tender boat ride, we were driven along the coastal road covered in vivid green trees which stroked the tops of brightly coloured bungalows.

The Dolphin Encounter…

We had now arrived at the Prospect Reef Resort where Sarah got into the water to splash around with dolphins that call this place home.

As Sarah’s eye had been closed to keep out infections, we thought it was best to choose the “Dolphin Encounter” instead of the fully immersed “Swim with Dolphins”. We just couldn’t risk it!

We booked the “Dolphin Observer” which didn’t turn out well. Sarah & i were separated and i had no way of knowing which pool she was entering, so i waited on the nearest seats i could find, quietly listening for her name to be called out. Then as i’d hear it, i’d whip out my camera and get some shots. I didn’t hear her name as i was sat at completely the wrong pool. 😢

But all is not lost…i bought the fantastic photos taken by their photographer. Yay! 😀

Sarah wearing swim suit and life jscket, stood in front of a large surf board promoting the dolphins

⇧ Sarah stood in front of the surf board logo sign ⇧

Sarah had never done anything like this before, she was excited and apprehensive at the same time. But as soon as she got into the water and met her new friend, she was blown away! 😀

Step 1: Meeting the dolphin…

Sarah on the right touching the dolphins nose

Sarah now looking at the camera with a huge smile on her face, whist still touching the dolphins nose

⇧ Sarah’s first touch of the dolphin ⇧

Step 2: Dancing with the dolphin…

Sarah said as she took hold of both flippers, the dolphin started a funky wiggle dance! 🙂

Sarah stood on the right holding both flippers whilst having a dance with the dolphin

⇧ Sarah dancing with her new friend ⇧

Step 3: The Kiss…

Sarah getting a kiss from the dolphin

⇧ Sarah receiving a kiss on the cheek from the dolphin ⇧

Dolphin totally out of the water half way through a jump

⇧ Dolphin showing its excitement after meeting Sarah! 🙂 ⇧

Once Sarah was dried off and changed, and we collected the photo CD, it was time to catch the bus back and head for Road Towns pretty main street and market.

We had one place in mind(if we could find it) “Sunny Caribbee”. Everybody was talking about this place and the incredible local spices, sauces, coffee, artwork…everything! 😀

We got off the bus and walked into town. We walked for a while longer, then we did(what we always did) when we got lost on our trip…listen for a broad northern accent! It was only seconds until we found some people from our ship who pointed us in the right direction! 🤣

Sunny Caribbee…

Sunny Caribbee

⇧ Photo of the shop front of Sunny Caribbee ⇧

Sunny Caribbee Hot Spices

⇧ Bottled sauces with fantastic hats! 🙂 ⇧

Once inside the shop we were amazed by the variety and beauty of the products, and how lovely and helpful the ladies were, We just wanted to take everything! Once we saw the sauce bottles with the hats, we just had to get them as presents! 😀

We were super sad to leave Sunny Caribbee, but it was time to head off to the main street market as Sarah had seen some beautifully coloured dresses!

Sarah bought a lovely bright dress, but no photos yet. 😦

After getting lost again in the town, we managed to find directions (yes another northern couple) back to the tender boats. It was another bobbing boat ride back to the ship.

We then took our usual seats in the Coffee Port, while drinking our favourite double espresso macchiato’s, we watched the islands disappear as the ship sailed away. ☕

Our Route 4 2day…

This afternoon Thomson Dream sails to Philipsburg, St Maarten. We’ll arrive tomorrow morning having travelled 92 nautical miles at an average speed of 8 knots.

Hope you’ve enjoyed the adventure today…Let me know your favourite part?! 🤔 We’ll meet tomorrow…Same time…Same place for another adventure! 😀

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☀️ #14 Escape Lockdown 2021 With The Blind Sightseers: “La Romana, Dominican Republic” 🇩🇴

January 17, 2021 by Steve in Blind Photographer, Blind Sightseers, Caribbean, iPhoneography, iReminisce, Lockdown, Transatlantic Sunset, Travel & Landscapes and tagged Bells, Blind and partially Sighted, Blind Artist, Blind Artists, Blind Blogger, Blind Community, Blind Life, Blind Man, Blind people, Blind Photographer, Blind Photography, Blind Sightseers, Blind Travellers, Digital Photography, Duomo, Firenze, Florence, iPhoneography, Italy, Legally Blind, Legally Blind Photographer, Photo Exhibition, Photography, Photography Exhibition, Tranquility Lounger, Tuscany | Leave a comment

Hi friends and welcome to Day 14 of this monumental, inconceivable and definitely memorable blind sightseers tour….!

La Romana

Sarah & i were excited to arrive at La Romana, Dominican Republic, and we were really looking forwards to our shore excursion. After applying strong suntan lotion, deet bands to our wrists and ankles and finishing off with our hats, we went to see if we could find where the excursion actually starts!

Using my knees as suspention, i slowly navigated down the treacherous gangway steps until i reached land. yay! The hot sun was shining, I could hear a local band playing, and then i heard Jo’s voice, she is part of the excursion team. We homed in on her voice and she said that she was coming on the same excursion so we could wait for her and she’ll take us to the coach. Fantastic, we can now relax for a while. 😀

Sarah s Caribbean Outfit

⇧ My lovely wife Sarah’s beautiful Caribbean outfit! 🙂 ⇧

After a short coach trip, and hearing about the history of the island by the tour guide, we arrived at Casa de Campo,

Roman-styled 5,000-seat amphitheater…

a photo of the circular seating of the Amphitheater left view

Amphitheater centre view

Photo of the circular seating of the Amphitheater right view

Sarah and the steps

⇧ Sarah relaxing in the sun, sat on the amazing steps. ⇧

Me at the amphitheater

⇧ My new hat kept my head nice and cool, thanks Suzanne ⇧

After briefly taking in this fantastic amphitheater, it was a short walk to the lovely fountain.

Sarah fountain

Sarah fountain 2

I had no idea that Sarah had stopped sitting down and was now walking towards me, but it’s made a lovely photo! lol. 🙂

Another short walk around this beautiful place until we reached the church and river.

St. Stanislaus Church…

Church Dominican Republic

Me walking in front of the Church

⇧ Me walking around wondering what to shoot next! ⇧

Whilst looking at the stunning church, at my 6 o’ clock was the stunning Chavón River. What a beautiful place, and such a blessing to be able to be here.

The Chavón River…

Sarah at the Chavón River

Chavón River Chavón River 2

Just as i finished taking this photo, Sarah said “quick, take a photo of those ladies wearing the beautiful red dresses”. I span round and said “Where are they?” They were about 10 feet directly in front of me(i told you i was blind! lol). But just then they stood either side of Sarah and posed for the photo…

Sarah and the red dresses

Some of you more experienced travellers will probably know what i’m about to say?!!

After the photo the ladies said “Tip…tip”, i was about to say “No, it’s ok you don’t need to tip me for the photo, i’m not that good!”. But then as we realised it was they who wanted a tip for posing for the shot, Jo(our Thomson excursion leader) quickly gave them a tip as we had no change at all. That was a lesson learned for Sarah & i, and we will be a little more discerning next time! I still think it was worth the mix up as the photos are lovely. 😀

Chavón River 3

At the bottom left of the photo above…you can just make out the paddle boat. That’s where we are heading next! 🙂

Paddle Boats & Palm Trees…

Paddle boats and palm trees

Rambo river

Me on paddle boat

⇧ Me reflecting on God’s beautiful creation ⇧

Sarah paddle boat

⇧ Sarah feeling relaxed in the sun ⇧

Rambo river 2

Sarah on paddle boat

The whole excursion was amazing. I’ve never seen such vibrant colours, breathtaking scenery and a chance to travel along the “Rambo River”.

Back on-board the ship…

We went straight to the ice cold water machine, and then out on deck to get some last shots before we sailed away.

Dominican Republic 2

Dominican Republic 1

Sarah Portrait on board

Wow,what a day! The south east corner of the Dominican Republic. was labelled “The fairest land under heaven” by Columbus. I don’t disasociate myself from his opinion!! 😀

Our Route 4 2day…

This afternoon the Thomson Dream sails to Road Town, Tortola. We’ll arrive tomorrow afternoon having travelled 277 nautical miles, at an average speed of 14 knots.

Hope you’ve enjoyed the adventure today…Let me know your favourite part?! 🤔 We’ll meet tomorrow…Same time…Same place for another adventure! 😀

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☀️ #13 Escape Lockdown 2021 With The Blind Sightseers: “My 40th Birthday” 🎁🎉

January 16, 2021 by Steve in Blind Photographer, Blind Sightseers, Caribbean, iPhoneography, iReminisce, Lockdown, Transatlantic Sunset, Travel & Landscapes and tagged Bells, Blind and partially Sighted, Blind Artist, Blind Artists, Blind Blogger, Blind Community, Blind Life, Blind Man, Blind people, Blind Photographer, Blind Photography, Blind Sightseers, Blind Travellers, Digital Photography, Duomo, Firenze, Florence, iPhoneography, Italy, Legally Blind, Legally Blind Photographer, Photo Exhibition, Photography, Photography Exhibition, Tranquility Lounger, Tuscany | Leave a comment

Hi friends and welcome to Day 13 of this monumental, inconceivable and definitely memorable blind sightseers tour….!

Sea logo

Happy 40th Birthday!!!

Waking up to a pile of cards and a present beautifully wrapped from Sarah travelling across the Caribbean sea in a massive ship, was a special and surreal birthday moment. I couldn’t believe Sarah had packed all of my cards and even a present(which was 3 new shirts). Sarah’s love always fills to overflowing! ❤️

Me and my 40th birthday cards sat in the window of the ship

⇧ Me sat with my lovely cards ⇧

A close up photo of my 40th birthday cards

⇧ My lovely cards – Thank you everyone! 🙂 ⇧

My new shirt and birthday badge…

I quickly put on one of my new shirts(from Sarah), and the birthday badge(from Sara, sister in Christ) and went out on deck to look out over all that amazing sea.

⇧ Me wearing new shirt & birthday badge ⇧

Then it was back to my fave place “The Coffee Port” for a birthday Cappuccino with a stunning view! 🙂

A Cappuccino on a window seat looking out over a beautiful blue seaat sea

⇧ My fave seat in the Coffee Port ⇧

Sarah’s Cornea Problems…

Just 1 day before our holiday, Sarah & i spent the afternoon at Moorfields Eye Hospital, London. Over the past couple of months we’ve been to hospital almost weekly, trying to sort out Sarah’s cornea. We’ve now learned that Sarah’s cornea is crumbling and is completely exposed and cannot heal itself, or the ulcer inside. The doctor needed to close the eye lid so that it’s safe from air contamination etc. He did this by a botox injection just above the eye. He said it would close in about 2 days(my 40th birthday) and will stay shut for around 3 months. 😨

And during the afternoon…Sarah’s eyelid suddenly closed. We’d hoped that most of the time we would be in bright sunshine so Sarah could cover it by wearing her sunglasses. And for all other times, we’d get creative.

The Captains Gala Reception & Dinner…

Sarah & i had no idea what to expect as this was our 1st cruise, but i’d brought my suit and purple dotted bow tie, and Sarah had brought some lovely dresses, so lets go and try to find the show lounge!

Sarah had a slight panic when we realised the photographer was taking everyones photo on entrance, but she relaxed a little when he said she was fine to keep her sunglasses on. We ended up with a nice photo to remember my 40th, our 1st Captains Gala and a lovely keep safe shot of us both dressed up! 😀

Sarah i at Captains Gala 1

⇧ Me & my lovely wife! ⇧

The captain introduced himself and some of his team, then it was down to Deck 4 for the meal in the Orion restaurant. The food, the waiter service and the whole experience was fantastic. A great 40th birthday! 😀

Our route 4 2day…

Today Thomson Dream continues her journey to La Romana. We arrive tomorrow morning having travelled 546 nautical miles at an average speed of 15 knots.

Hope you’ve enjoyed the adventure today…Let me know your favourite part?! 🤔 We’ll meet tomorrow…Same time…Same place for another adventure! 😀

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☀️ #12 Escape Lockdown 2021 With The Blind Sightseers: “Hello Jamaica” 🇯🇲(2015)

January 15, 2021 by Steve in Blind Photographer, Blind Sightseers, iPhoneography, iReminisce, Lockdown, Transatlantic Sunset, Travel & Landscapes and tagged Bells, Blind and partially Sighted, Blind Artist, Blind Artists, Blind Blogger, Blind Community, Blind Life, Blind Man, Blind people, Blind Photographer, Blind Photography, Blind Sightseers, Blind Travellers, Digital Photography, Duomo, Firenze, Florence, iPhoneography, Italy, Legally Blind, Legally Blind Photographer, Photo Exhibition, Photography, Photography Exhibition, Tranquility Lounger, Tuscany | Leave a comment

Hi friends and welcome to Day 12 of this monumental, inconceivable and definitely memorable blind sightseers tour….!

Yay…Caribbean here we come!!!

🎶 All our bags are packed and ready to go 🎶, and it’s only 5:30am! Thomson included a chauffeur to take us to(and from) Gatwick airport, “cool” i said “I’ve never used a chauffeur before”. She promptly arrived at 5:50, put the bags in the boot and off we went! Really hope we havn’t forgotten anything, but too late now!

The driving was the smoothest i’ve ever witnessed, the acceleration and the cornering were like silk. didn’t move a inch in my seat, well impressed! lol.

London Gatwick Airport…

After a slightly less smooth check in, Sarah bought a fantastically colourful Swatch watch (pic coming soon), then we found a coffee shop and ordered 2 coffees and 2 bacon rolls. We had no idea this would be our local coffee shop (and food order) each time we flew from Gatwick north…But it was the only place that we could get a seat, lol! 🤣

As i was wearing the airport assistance buzzer thingy around my neck, we went and had a look around some more shops until it buzzed and beeped! It did, and we were picked up by the buggy/train turbo machine (well maybe a small exaggeration) which drove us right to the terminal where we waited to board the 787 Dreamliner! Sorry i couldn’t take the photo below, but i couldn’t get the window open! 🙂

A photo of the Thomson 787 Dreamliner in flight above the clouds, flying from left to right

⇧ The Thomson 787 Dreamliner – image from Google images ⇧

As i’ve only been abroad once(Tuscany Tour 5 months ago) and only been in an Airbus A320, i was interested in this 787 monster, as our flight is 9½ hours. It was huge inside, plenty of seating space and legroom, and had remote dimmers on the windows, instead of a plastic pull down blind! Impressed again! The Air conditioning was fantastic (unlike the inflight meals) but i’ll probably not mention them here, lol, just glad we had a bacon roll earlier! My excitable grin and constant babbling about stats lasted much longer this time (sorry Sarah), and somehow the time just seemed to fly by!

Montego Bay, Jamaica…

“Who turned on the massive hair dryer?!” It was really hot, but we still managed to get through the airport and get on the bright yellow bus that took us to the ship. The bus was fantastic, super soft suspension bouncing us along to loud reggae music, with stunning vividly saturated colours painting the landscapes.

Wow that’s a big ship…

After having our photos taken and registering for our on board payment cards, it was time to board. Again i’d only ever been in small speed boats when i was little, so this was another huge 1st for me!

A colour photo of the Thomson Dream cruise ship standing from the dock and looking up

⇧ The Thomson Dream Cruise Ship ⇧

As this was meant to be our ‘once in a lifetime cruise’ (that didn’t last long, lol), it will be my 40th birthday tomorrow(15th April), and we needed a fridge in the room for Sarah’s insulin, we booked a suite which we eventually located on Deck 7.

A Towel Elephant using the towels from our suite

⇧ A folded towel Elephant ⇧

We were welcomed by a fantastic folded towel elephant, and a bottle of Champagne chillin in an ice bucket, fantastic…I didn’t know this was ‘James Bonds’ suite, lol! 🤣

a photo of the lounge area in the suite

Suite bedroom with excellently folded bed covers

We were introduced to the kind and helpful cabin crew who said that we had beaten our suitcases to the ship, so we immediately went for a little exploring.

Well i said exploring…we found the fantastic, air conditioned and peaceful “Coffee Port” on Deck 8, a quiet oasis with stunning views overlooking the Jamaican coastline. Oh and it has sofa’s too!

Sarah relaxing in the Coffee Port on deck 8 with a lovely view of Montego Bay, Jamaica through the windows

⇧ Sarah relaxing in the coffee Port with views of Montego Bay ⇧

After beautiful and strong coffees we waited for the emergency drill at 6pm up on Deck 9.

Me in life jacket on the left of the photo, with a lot of other people on deck 9 stood around with life jackets

⇧ Me on left wearing a life jacket ⇧

Once out on the boiling hot deck we were guided to our posts and shown how to put on our life jackets. It took me longer to squeeze my head through the tiny hole of the jacket than it took for the whole drill! 🤣

It was really hot and humid out there, and after hearing a bit of a shuffling panic, a person had passed out near us and was stretchered away, I heard the person was fine shortly after and it was due to heat etc.

Returning to the cabin, our suitcases had arrived, so we spent the remainder of the extra long day (as Jamaica is 5 hours behind the UK) unpacking. Sarah was pleased to find a huge walk-in wardrobe and promptly started filling it. 🤣

I’d hoped to get more photos of the day, but as we were always on the move, being hustled to and from transport, i had to concentrate on walking instead of taking photos. ☹️

Tomorrow will be my 40th and a full day at sea as we head towards La Romana, Dominican Republic. We have booked an excurtion around Altos de Chavón(mediterranean style European village) and a paddle boat ride along the Chavón River where they filmed scenes from Rambo pt 1 & 2, and Jurassic Park.

Hope you’ve enjoyed the adventure today…Let me know your favourite part?! 🤔 We’ll meet tomorrow…Same time…Same place for another adventure! 😀

To be continued…

Hope to see you at sea on my 40th! 😀

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☀️#11 Escape Lockdown 2021 With The Blind Sightseers: “Farewell Firenze”🇮🇹

January 14, 2021 by Steve in Blind Photographer, Blind Sightseers, Florence Photos, iPhoneography, iReminisce, Italy, Lockdown, Travel & Landscapes, Tuscany Tour and tagged Bells, Blind and partially Sighted, Blind Artist, Blind Artists, Blind Blogger, Blind Community, Blind Life, Blind Man, Blind people, Blind Photographer, Blind Photography, Blind Sightseers, Blind Travellers, Digital Photography, Duomo, Firenze, Florence, iPhoneography, Italy, Legally Blind, Legally Blind Photographer, Photo Exhibition, Photography, Photography Exhibition, Tranquility Lounger, Tuscany | Leave a comment

Hi friends and welcome to Day 11 of this monumental, inconceivable and definitely memorable blind sightseers tour….!

Well this is it…Our time in Florence and Tuscany has come to an end! 😢

Up bright and early, packed and ready to go, we said our final goodbyes to the room, the staff and this incredible place. After having no idea where the bus stop would be…We had a coffee (not sure why we can always find a coffee shop?! lol.) as things are always better when you have a coffee! ☕ 😀 Then we found the right bus to Pisa (phew) and got our favourite seats right at the front, Yes! 😀

Bus ride to Pisa

Arriving at Pisa airport, Francesca (our assistance person) was great. She sorted everything out, then kindly took this photo of Sarah & i in front of the plane as we were first on-board again! The Thompson airport assistance are simply fantastic. We couldn’t navigate through the airport at all if it wasn’t for the kind and helpful assistants. 😀

Sarah and i at Pisa airport

The takeoff was stupendous! I love the acceleration, and i was just as excited throughout the whole journey! The Captain said “We are at 28,000ft, doing 480mph and its -52degrees outside” Wow! 😲 Sorry, couldn’t resist the stats…I love them! 😀

Sun from the airplane

I think God just smiled at me! 😀

Sarah & i can’t thank you enough for joining us as we travel back through our memories. It’s been fantastic for us as we sit down(with a coffee) and read back through our incredible trips…And to know you are with us(and enjoying) on our journey warms our hearts! 😀

Hope you’ve enjoyed the adventure today…Let me know your favourite part?! 🤔 We’ll meet tomorrow…Same time…Same place for another “Blind Sightseers” adventure! 😀

But…

Don’t be too sad as this tour of Tuscany was just the beginning!! The fun doesn’t stop here. So grab your coffee(or tea) as the next stop is the Caribbean!! 🌴☀️😎

To be continued…

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☀️#10 Escape Lockdown 2021 With The Blind Sightseers: “Firenze”🇮🇹

January 13, 2021 by Steve in Black & White, Blind Photographer, Blind Sightseers, Florence Photos, iPhoneography, iReminisce, Italy, Lockdown, Travel & Landscapes, Tuscany Tour and tagged Bells, Blind and partially Sighted, Blind Artist, Blind Artists, Blind Blogger, Blind Community, Blind Life, Blind Man, Blind people, Blind Photographer, Blind Photography, Blind Sightseers, Blind Travellers, Digital Photography, Duomo, Firenze, Florence, iPhoneography, Italy, Legally Blind, Legally Blind Photographer, Photo Exhibition, Photography, Photography Exhibition, Tranquility Lounger, Tuscany | Leave a comment

Hi friends and welcome to Day 10 of this monumental, inconceivable and definitely memorable blind sightseers tour….!

Sarah & i started our final full day with the legendary amazingly thick cheese…I mean breakfast, then headed out to make the most of our last full day in this beautiful city.

Our plan today was to head East, then travel anti-clockwise until we reached our favourite place (South, by the river Arno) to try and take photos of things we may have missed so far, or from angles different from the norm. Right let’s Go!

East…

Church Tower

Wow, another bell tower, how did i miss this?!

a black and white photo of a church

Building wit hroof statues

Pinocchio Workshop

Santa Croce black

North…

Heading North of our hotel, we stopped once again to gaze upon the stunning architecture of the Florence Cathedral and the Palazzo Medici Ricardi…

Christmas Cathedral

Florence Cathedral Bell Tower

Palazzo Medici Riccardi 1

Palazzo Medici Riccardi arches

West…

As we were heading west, i found another statue, but thought i’d take it from a random angle! 🙂

Statue in North Florence

Florence side street building

Sarah found a shop with sunflowers (her favourite flowers)…

Sunflower shop

Firenze archway

South…

Gold anyone!! 😀

Florentine Gold

Corridor Windows

After spending a while around the river, we headed to probably the most famous and popular square (Piazza della Signoria) to capture some more statues! 🙂

I wasn’t one of the statues, lol. But i was being very still!

Sarah the Medici Lion 2

Firenze Statue 1

Now for probably the most famous statue of all…Michelangelo’s David. Everyone was crowding round and getting the obvious and boring shot of David. So i decided to get a different angle! 🙂

Both Sarah and i had our own favourite statues. I’ll start with Sarah’s.

Sarah’s favourite is “Perseus with the Head of Medusa”.

My favourite is of Cosimo Medici on his horse…

Do you have a favourite statue??

For the final evening we had booked one of only 7 tables at the amazing “Santa Elisabetta” restaurant in the old 6th century tower at our hotel.

Sarah at Santa Elisabetta

I didn’t take anymore photos as i was too excited, and blinded by the real silver plates whilst picking up the silver knives and forks to see how heavy they were?!…So i simply forgot! 😀

The experience was sublime. Everything was fantastic and we still talk about this meal all of the time.

We then had a final walk out to see the Florence Cathedral at night, it really stood out against the dark night.

Florence Cathedral at night

Hope you’ve enjoyed being on our little tour today around Florence?!

We have been so blessed this week, not only to be here in this stunning city that’s so rich in history. But being part of an exhibition in the Medici palace still leaves me speechless….Well if always going on about it is speechless!! 🤣

Who’d of thought that after being registered blind 20 years ago, i’d have been here in a photography exhibition?!! Thank you Lord for always surprising me, and giving me a gift i just can’t explain! 🙏

Hope you’ve enjoyed the adventure today…Let me know your favourite part?! 🤔 We’ll meet tomorrow…Same time…Same place for another adventure! 😀

To be continued…

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☀️#9 Escape Lockdown 2021 With The Blind Sightseers: “Firenze”🇮🇹

January 12, 2021 by Steve in Black & White, Blind Photographer, Blind Sightseers, Florence Photos, iPhoneography, iReminisce, Italy, Lockdown, Travel & Landscapes, Tuscany Tour and tagged Bells, Blind and partially Sighted, Blind Artist, Blind Artists, Blind Blogger, Blind Community, Blind Life, Blind Man, Blind people, Blind Photographer, Blind Photography, Blind Sightseers, Blind Travellers, Digital Photography, Duomo, Firenze, Florence, iPhoneography, Italy, Legally Blind, Legally Blind Photographer, Photo Exhibition, Photography, Photography Exhibition, Tranquility Lounger, Tuscany | Leave a comment

Hi friends and welcome to Day 9 of this monumental, inconceivable and definitely memorable blind sightseers tour….!

Oh did i mention…. i’m actually in Italy,Yay!!

Map of Europe with a blue dot on Italy

Well i’m not actually in Italy as i write this, i’m at home on my iMac! But Sarah kept on catching me opening the maps app and taking a screenshot of our location!

Today we thought we’d head south towards the river, then curl round and end up North of the hotel at the Palazzo Medici Riccardi to see if last night really was a dream.

The Vasari Corridor….

Sarah owning the Vasari Corridor

Sarah & i really liked the “Vasari Corridor”, but now Sarah won’t let me through as i’m a commoner, lol. Eventually i managed to negotiate a deal, but it meant looking round more shops! 🙂

Sarah s Gold

Sarah looking fluent in Florin! (Italian gold coin)

Sarah at Tiffany s

Sarah at Tiffany’s! 😲

Sarah by the River Arno

After a while we decided to rest a little and get refreshed ready for more exciting touring. Mmmmmm coffee and cake! ☕ 🍰

Cappuccino Cake

Wow, now that was fantastic! Anyway better get back to it! 🙂

It wasn’t long before Sarah found another friend, in the form of a statue.

Sarah and the boar

As we walked past the amazing Florence Cathedral, Sarah noticed and got excited that there was now a Christmas tree and a life size nativity scene. 🎄

Me waving at duomo

The Nativity

After being wowed, we took lots of photos to try and get one good enough to possibly make Christmas cards for loved ones.😀

Now on to the Palazzo Medici Riccardi…

stood in the centre of the road with the palazzo medici riccardi on the left and a bus with its streaming light reflecting in the wet road

We arrived at the palace (left in photo above) and found the exhibition, yay i didn’t dream it! 😀

As the majority of the artwork displayed was created by blind & partially sighted people, it was really tactile so we got to touch the creations. I’m so used to going to museums etc and not being able to see or touch the art. Thanks artists!

Me viewing the art

Couple of people touching the art Me touching the Tactile exhibits

As i mentioned yesterday i was 1 of 3 artists (still not used to being called that) from the UK who exhibited, so i’d like to introduce to you…Ann and her paintings…

Ann and her paintings

And Christina’s photos…

Christina s Works

After a long walk around looking and touching the art, we went out of the back exit where i found an archway, and a huge ring that we kept finding on the outside of buildings, i think to chain the horses…Or the peasants. 😕

Palazzo Medici Riccardi Rear

Horse Ring

We’d had another fantastic day in Florence, and if you remembered, i’d topped the evening off with an amazing cherry topped cake…Well this evening it got better still…..

Bistecca alla fiorentina…..😲🥩

Bistecca alla fiorentina

Just when you thought the evening couldn’t get any better…Sarah & i shared the amazing Florentine steak! We had been told by Grace from our favourite restaurant in the world (Sicily Restaurant) that we couldn’t leave without trying one. Wow, she was right. It was truly magnificent and everything we’d hoped for, although i think Sarah got arm ache from sawing the never ending extra thick meat!! 🙂

We’ve had such a memorable and unbelievable time in Italy, and as this was Thursday, we still had a full day Friday, before we headed home on Saturday. 😀

Hope you’ve enjoyed the adventure today…Let me know your favourite part?! 🤔 We’ll meet tomorrow…Same time…Same place for another adventure! 😀

To be continued…

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☀️ #8 Escape Lockdown 2021 With The Blind Sightseers: “The Exhibition, Firenze”🇮🇹

January 11, 2021 by Steve in Black & White, Blind Photographer, Blind Sightseers, Florence Photos, iPhoneography, iReminisce, Italy, Lockdown, Travel & Landscapes, Tuscany Tour and tagged Bells, Blind and partially Sighted, Blind Artist, Blind Artists, Blind Blogger, Blind Community, Blind Life, Blind Man, Blind people, Blind Photographer, Blind Photography, Blind Sightseers, Blind Travellers, Digital Photography, Duomo, Firenze, Florence, iPhoneography, Italy, Legally Blind, Legally Blind Photographer, Photo Exhibition, Photography, Photography Exhibition, Tranquility Lounger, Tuscany | Leave a comment

Hi friends and welcome to Day 8 of this monumental, inconceivable and definitely memorable blind sightseers tour….!

Well this is it, the actual reason we came, lol! I know i mentioned i only had my iPhone 5s & Sarah’s iPhone 6 Plus to take photos, the main reason (apart from weight, lenses & tiny viewfinders) was the GPS map pins, i love them! 😀

A satalite map of florence with red map pins scattered around showing where i'd taken photos

It was now Wednesday and it was time for the sun to make way for the rain. The hotel room even had it’s own umbrella with “Brunelleschi” as the logo, i like this hotel! The exhibition didn’t start until 4pm, so we decided to explore (now we knew where we were going after our fantastic walking tour for a couple of hours with our new umbrella! 😀

Me with umbrella in narrow streets

It turned out that the streets were much quieter which is great for us, so we could relax a little more too after a couple of hectic days. OOoooo another coffee shop! ☕

Me and Coffee

The Exhibition…..

We left the hotel with posh clothes on and fancy umbrella in hand and headed to the Palazzo Medici Riccardi hoping there actually was an exhibition even though we had still seen no signs at all, not even a hint that there’d be one. 😕

Palazzo Medici Riccardi 1

Then…We turned into the main entrance…..

Sarah said “Wow, now this is a lot of people, the posters are up all around us and look great, and it’s in the beautiful, main part of the palace”. I started to feel a little out of my depth all of a sudden…As my nerves crashed over me like “The Great Wave Of Kanagawa” by Hokusai.

Art Senses Entrance with the posters in the background behind people gathering

Crowds gathering with me in the background Art Senses Entrance 2

Sarah then found Ann, who has also travelled from England, UK (thats ⅔ of the UK representatives, lol) so i had a chat with her as i’d never met her before, she’s an enormously talented artist and has a few paintings in the exhibition.

Me Ann at Art Senses

We hadn’t noticed, but the crowd had started making their way to the large area in the centre where the president of the blind union was talking (in Italian) through a PA system. By the time we had arrived we were at the back wondering what was going on, and none of us were able to see anything (even the sighted ones) as we were just too far away.

Then…..

Costanza, who organised the whole thing (with her husband) cut through the crowd, took my had and led me right to the front next to the president and a few of the other artists.

Me Costanza at Art Senses

Then after about 5 minutes, she put the microphone into my hand and said “Speak one word”.

Me on the mic at Art Senses

The place went silent, i could feel there were lots of people around, i had no idea if any of them spoke english. So i said “ciao a tutti (Hello everyone), i’m Steve Rebus from London”. It seemed to go across well, but i was so terrified i didn’t have a clue what to say next. Constanza gently took the mic and passed it along, aaaghhh i could now relax a little. 😀

After a few more people spoke we were given a glass of Prosecco and Costanza took me to see what they’d done with my photos. I had only sent the prints and they had mounted, framed and hung them beautifully, i can’t thank them enough, they looked great and very professional!

Me Costanza with my Photos at Art Senses

It wasn’t long before people started crowding round as they viewed each of our works.

Crowd around my Photos at Art Senses

Everyone kept telling me how fantastic the photos were and that i was a “Provider of inspiration” (now that’s a title, lol. , all i could say is thanks. I was completely overwhelmed by the whole evening. I never knew it was going to be this big, professionally done and not held in a dark attic somewhere! I’m not good at playing the artist game and kept thinking that i better start taking some better photos, lol. 😀

After a couple of hours walking round the exhibition, i was amazed at the level of talent. I enjoyed the paintings (a lot were tactile too), sculptures and other photography, simply brilliant!

I’ll post more photos tomorrow when we returned to see if we were just dreaming! 😲

Me and the poster at Art Senses

Sarah got me to stand next to one of the Art Senses posters while holding the amazingly professional catalogue/book of all the works and artists bio etc. Costanza really worked hard to put everything together, and i thank God that she found Sarah to ask for blind artists from the UK.

Hope you’ve enjoyed the exhibition today…Let me know your favourite part?! 🤔 We’ll meet tomorrow…Same time…Same place for another adventure! 😀

To be continued…

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☀️ #7 Escape Lockdown 2021 With The Blind Sightseers: “Firenze”🇮🇹

January 10, 2021 by Steve in Blind Photographer, Blind Sightseers, Florence Photos, iPhoneography, iReminisce, Italy, Lockdown, Travel & Landscapes, Tuscany Tour and tagged Bells, Blind and partially Sighted, Blind Artist, Blind Artists, Blind Blogger, Blind Community, Blind Life, Blind Man, Blind people, Blind Photographer, Blind Photography, Blind Sightseers, Blind Travellers, Digital Photography, Duomo, Firenze, Florence, iPhoneography, Italy, Legally Blind, Legally Blind Photographer, Photo Exhibition, Photography, Photography Exhibition, Tranquility Lounger, Tuscany | 2 Comments

Hi friends and welcome to Day 7 of this monumental, inconceivable and definitely memorable blind sightseers tour….!

During another sublime breakfast, Sarah & i wondered if there was a walking tour around Firenze?! We now have a love of walking tours after our hugely successful one yesterday (we had no idea what we’d started here, lol). It’s much easier for us to just follow a group instead of getting lost and wondering around aimlessly, and it’s a great way to learn the history and culture of the area.

They did do a tour and it started just after lunch. We booked on it and then decided to go for a walk to see if we could find the starting point by ourselves. It was in an area we hadn’t covered yet so we knew it was going to be a challenge…..We failed, but we found a lovely cafe! We sat outside with the sun blazing down, it was fantastic! 🙂

The image below shows me staring at the sun. Since being registered blind and having no central vision at all, i can now stare at the sun without squinting or blinking. Didn’t know it made me look this weird though, lol. 🙂

Me sat drinking coffee outside staring at the sun

We then spent a couple of hours enjoying finding new and wonderful shops, before heading back to the hotel. The reception had arranged for someone to walk us to the walking tour meeting point, fantastic! 🙂

Firenze Walking Tour…

The group met up in a different square than the one we found earlier, and gave us another one of those radio thingy’s, Yay! As the guide was talking about the square, i captured some shots!

Beautiful blue sky behind an impressive church wide impressive building with staues across the roof

One of the roof statues

Moving from the square and through some little side streets, we stopped at the “Basilica of Santa Croce” founded by Saint Francis. Sarah said “Wow, it looks like someone has iced it like a cake! It doesn’t look real”.

Dark skies hover over the amazing Santa Croce black

Walking through the streets we were told of a local artist who’s adding figures to road signs.

A figure looking like he's carrying the horizontal block of a no entry sign

Continuing with more fantastic Medici family history we found ourselves in a familiar square (Piazza della Signoria).

Palazzo Vecchio

Bronze statue of Cosimo Medici

As we didn’t have lots of time to walk around and take photos, Sarah & i revisited on Day 7 to get some more interesting shots. Now it’s onwards to the river. 😀

The River arches

When we accidentally found the river Arno during the Firenze marathon, Sarah had said that the river looks dirty, like brown sludge. But today with the sun shining bright, it glowed gold like nothing i’d seen before! 🙂

The River Arno Me Sarah at the river Arno

Me Sarah at Firenze river Bridge over river Arno

We continued our tour by walking through the “Piazza della Repubblica” ahh, the place with the sparkling building.

Firenze archway

Then finishing our tour at the Florence Cathedral (Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore). Yay another amazing bell tower! 🙂

Florence Cathedral Bell Twoer

I’ve heard of “Knocking’ on Heaven’s door” but now i was stood at “The Gates of Paradise”.

Me stood in front of the gates of Paradise

Sarah then said “Go and stand in front of the doors of the Cathedral, we need more photos with you in them so people will know you were here”. I really don’t like this side of the lens, but this is for you guys! 😀

Wow! Were these doors made for the Nephilim?!! 🤣

Me in front of the Florence Cathedral

Florence Cathedral 1

After this amazing tour, we felt that we could now spend a few days exploring with a little more confidence, starting with a trip to our fave coffee (and cake) place which is right next to our hotel. The cherry on top of the cake below really sums up our day. It’s been another unbelievable day that always leaves me saying “How am i here? This is like a dream! I still can’t believe i’m here?!” 😲

Cake

Hope you’ve enjoyed the adventure today…Let me know your favourite part?! 🤔 We’ll meet tomorrow…Same time…Same place for another adventure! 😀

To be continued…

You’ll be very pleased to know that my next post is the opening day of the exhibition!

I’m so blessed that you’ve stuck with me on this incredible journey. God bless you. 😀

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☀️ #6 Escape Lockdown 2021 With The Blind Sightseers: “San Gimignano”🇮🇹

January 9, 2021 by Steve in Black & White, Blind Photographer, Blind Sightseers, Florence Photos, iPhoneography, iReminisce, Italy, Lockdown, Travel & Landscapes, Tuscany Tour and tagged Bells, Blind and partially Sighted, Blind Artist, Blind Artists, Blind Blogger, Blind Community, Blind Life, Blind Man, Blind people, Blind Photographer, Blind Photography, Blind Sightseers, Blind Travellers, Digital Photography, Duomo, Firenze, Florence, iPhoneography, Italy, Legally Blind, Legally Blind Photographer, Photo Exhibition, Photography, Photography Exhibition, Tranquility Lounger, Tuscany | Leave a comment

Hi friends and welcome to Day 6 of this monumental, inconceivable and definitely memorable blind sightseers tour….!

The dark cloak of night ensconced us, light had finally escaped the dungeon of darkness but had disappeared..…Sorry, just trying to set the mood for the final destination on our amazing Tuscany in a day tour.

Chiara had been telling us of the year 1348 when the black death had wiped out over ⅔ of the walled medieval town of San Gimignano, the majority of the people who survived the terror had left. Continuing on this theme, and the fact that it was totally dark outside (due to this time of year) set the scene for the omnifarious emotions we were about to experience! 😨

Welcome to San Gimignano…

San Gimignano

After leaving the coach and a short walk uphill, the group arrived at the main entrance of the walled town. We then had about 45 minutes free time to explore, then meet back here. Afterr the group dispersed, Sarah & i entered this foreboding place …

No amount of photos could ever get across the feeling of this dark macabre town! The black windows towering over you from each side with their eyeless glare, the silence and the shadows creeping and following you everywhere, generated a smothering atmosphere that had flavours of Fear, Death, Sorrow for the people of old, Awe and a weird taste of Joy and amazement. You really can only experience San Gimignano by physically being here! I really don’t think it’d feel like this in the daytime.

San Gimignano 4

San Gimignano 1

San Gimignano 5

San Gimignano 2

As Sarah was checking out the few little shops on the main walkway, i’d stay outside and just stand, soaking up the atmosphere that my words can’t describe. Sarah says “They only sell pottery or Knives”.

San Gimignano Shop

San Gimignano 3

As i was stood (see above) it was completely silent. Then all of a sudden i heard heavy footsteps from behind sounding like they were headed straight for me. The hairs on my arms and neck stuck bolt upright, and i expected to see a blade sticking out of the front of my chest as an assassin wearing a monks tunic (from the video game (assassins creed) shot out of the shadows sending me to paradise.

As i turned though it was just a person leaving the church behind me, although i’m still not sure how they managed the booming footstep thing. My imagination really doesn’t help my heart at times like these! 😌

San Gimignano 7

We just had time for a super fast coffee before we met back up with the group having felt we’d been to probably the most special place of the trip. We were so grateful we hadn’t decided to stay in the coach as it was just too dark to risk having accidents, and we hadn’t bought our ultra bright torches yet! 😀

Wow what a super yet action packed day…It was really hard to keep our eyes open on the coach and listen to the end of the tour…But we didn’t want to miss anything from this very special time. 😀

Hope you’ve enjoyed the adventure today on the “Tuscany in a day tour”, let me know your fave part of the day?! 🤔 We’ll meet tomorrow…Same time…Same place for another adventure! 😀

To be continued…

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☀️ #5 Escape Lockdown 2021 With The Blind Sightseers: “Sienna”🇮🇹

January 8, 2021 by Steve in Blind Photographer, Blind Sightseers, Florence Photos, iPhoneography, iReminisce, Italy, Lockdown, Travel & Landscapes, Tuscany Tour and tagged Bells, Blind and partially Sighted, Blind Artist, Blind Artists, Blind Blogger, Blind Community, Blind Life, Blind Man, Blind people, Blind Photographer, Blind Photography, Blind Sightseers, Blind Travellers, Digital Photography, Duomo, Firenze, Florence, iPhoneography, Italy, Legally Blind, Legally Blind Photographer, Photo Exhibition, Photography, Photography Exhibition, Tranquility Lounger, Tuscany | Leave a comment

Hi friends and welcome to Day 5 of this monumental, inconceivable and definitely memorable blind sightseers tour….!

Photo while sat on the coach taken looking through the windscreen overlooking the mountains with Siena written on the road

While approaching Sienna, we were given a fantastic little radio thingy that you put around your neck. It has a single earphone so you can still hear the tour guide within a large radius,or if it gets noisy. We then met the new Siena tour guide who would guide the group and share interesting stories and history of this stunning place.

Welcome to Siena…

Me stood in front of the Siena Christmas Tree

We were very happy when we’d left the coach to meet in a little square around a huge Christmas tree (see above). I am now only wearing a thin shirt as it is like a summers day and it’s December…This just felt wrong as i come from England, UK, lol!!🎄 😀

Siena Building

close up of windows on a Siena Building 2

Siena Arches

Walking through the narrow streets and hearing more about how the Medici family slaughtered and captured Siena, we arrived at the famous medieval square (Piazza del Campo). Yay another tower! 😀

Siena Campo

Campo Tower

Siena campo windows

After a walk around the banked curves of the square (feeling like an Indy 500 car), the group then left the square and headed towards (what has now become my favourite bell tower of all time) Siena Cathedral!

Siena Cathedral…

Walking under a narrow archway, the group made a collective sound, it went something like (wooaaahhhhooww), Sarah said “Wow! A humbug tower!” I said understatedly “Oh right” as i could only look at the ground to try and navigate, and i can’t see the tower or any of it’s detail anyway. But when i got back, and was able to zoom into my photos to see what i was pointing my camera at…..”Wow, Wow Wow”. 😲

Siena Cathedrals humbug tower

Siena Cathedral Bell Tower

Siena Cathedral

a view of the stunning Siena Cathedral 3

Sarah was very happy when we went inside and found more humbugs! 🙂

Inside Siena Cathedral 2

Inside Siena Cathedral

The group then sat down to hear the final part of the tour guides history. Just after i said to Sarah “Wow, isn’t it amazing to think that all of this unbelievable place was done for Jesus?! It all points to Him!”. The tour guide said “And this was all done for Mary!”. I was not amused at all!

We then had some free time and was told to meet back at the medieval square, now which way was that??

Siena Campo 5

We did eventually find it, and we met back up with the group. to then return back to the coach, but on the way we passed the Christmas tree where we had first started and it looked beautiful! It finished Siena off nicely! 🎄 😀

Siena Christmas Tree at night

After quite a scare of nearly getting lost and left behind as the group disappeared into the darkness, Sarah and i boarded what we hoped was our coach (it was). Now it’s off towards our final destination of the day!

Hope you’ve enjoyed the adventure today on the “Tuscany in a day tour”, let me know your fave part of the day?! we’ll meet tomorrow…Same time…Same place for another adventure! 😀

To be continued…

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☀️ #4 Escape Lockdown 2021 With The Blind Sightseers: “Vinci & Chianti” 🇮🇹 (2014)

January 7, 2021 by Steve in Blind Photographer, Blind Sightseers, Florence Photos, iPhoneography, iReminisce, Italy, Lockdown, Travel & Landscapes, Tuscany Tour and tagged Bells, Blind and partially Sighted, Blind Artist, Blind Artists, Blind Blogger, Blind Community, Blind Life, Blind Man, Blind people, Blind Photographer, Blind Photography, Blind Sightseers, Blind Travellers, Digital Photography, Duomo, Firenze, Florence, iPhoneography, Italy, Legally Blind, Legally Blind Photographer, Photo Exhibition, Photography, Photography Exhibition, Tranquility Lounger, Travel, TravelBlog, Travelblogger, Tuscany | Leave a comment

Hi friends and welcome to Day 4 of this monumental, inconceivable and definitely memorable blind sightseers tour….!

As we left the amazing Pisa, Chiara (our tour guide) gave us some more interesting yet gruesome Tuscany history about the Medici family slaughtering everyone again and taking over more villages and cities. She also mentioned a man called Leonardo Da Vinci, “no way” i said to Sarah “I thought he was a ninja turtle, not a real man!” She gave me a swift elbow in the ribs, and Chiara continued. 🤣

Welcome to Vinci…

The image below is of the landscape that greeted us from the coach.

Sarah looking over the Vinci Hills

After taking in the amazing scenery, we headed off on foot to the Museum of Leonardo Da Vinci.

A view overlooking the town of Vinci with a bell tower on the left

A beautiful bell tower with purple blue sunrise over vince

A close up black and white of the Vinci Bell Tower

I really like bell towers!! 🙂

Sarah & i found that inside the museum was much too dark, so we struggled to see any of the fantastic creations on display. So Sarah started using her iPhone 6 Plus with it’s wide aperture of f2.2 to view each design as it showed much brighter on her screen, rather than the dark blob in front of her (she’s a genius).

We did find a cool bike though!!

Vinci Bike

Now it was back outside to have a wonder around and see what we can find. It wasn’t long before we found a familiar object!

Vitruvian Man

Sarah wasn’t happy with the “Vitruvian Man” and thought Leonardo had missed something out. So we added something extra……The Vitruvian Man & Woman! 🤣

Sarah stood in front of the Vitruvian Man doing the same pose

Now for Chianti…

After another trip on the coach through amazing rolling hills, olive grows and vinyards, the coach parked right up at the top in Chianti where we were to do a little wine & local Tuscan food tasting.

I didn’t have time to take any photos as we were dragged (i mean guided) straight to our table and greeted with a lovely plate of local baked bread, olive oil, cheese and spicy meat.

The lady first pour a little Chianti Simple (table wine) into the huge glass and as she was going into great detail of how to hold the glass etc, i continued on the food (i couldn’t see anything she was doing, so her over complicated directions were wasted on me, lol). As i don’t really drink alcohol except a very full bodied glass of red wine on special occasions (normally 1 bottle a year and that’s usually Châteauneuf-du-Pape i receive as a Christmas gift). My thought is that if i’m only going to have one glass on rare occasions, then i would like one that i enjoy! 😀

I really know nothing about wines, only that some are red and some are white, and some are watery and some are thick (like coffee or custard, lol) and i only like the thick ones, which now i know are called full bodied! 🤣

Then she poured a little of the Chianti Classico (full bodied), yay now that’s the business! 😀

But probably my favourite taste of the day was the 30 year old Balsamic Vinegar we got to taste! Wow, now that’s amazing, but super expensive so didn’t get any to bring home! ☹️

As we finished there was a mad rush to the little shop area. I stayed at the table as Sarah went to have a look and take a few photos for us!

Chianti Bottles on a shelf

Chianti barrells

look inside the Chianti shop

Hope you’ve enjoyed the adventure today on the “Tuscany in a day tour”, let me know your fave part of the day?! 🤔 We’ll meet tomorrow…Same time…Same place for another adventure! 😀

To be continued…

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☀️ #3 Escape Lockdown 2021 With The Blind Sightseers: “Pisa” 🇮🇹 (2014)

January 6, 2021 by Steve in Blind Photographer, Blind Sightseers, Florence Photos, iPhoneography, iReminisce, Italy, Lockdown, Travel & Landscapes, Tuscany Tour and tagged Bells, Blind and partially Sighted, Blind Artist, Blind Artists, Blind Blogger, Blind Community, Blind Life, Blind Man, Blind people, Blind Photographer, Blind Photography, Blind Sightseers, Blind Travellers, BlindSightseers, Digital Photography, Duomo, Firenze, Florence, iPhoneography, Italy, Legally Blind, Legally Blind Photographer, Photo Exhibition, Photography, Photography Exhibition, Tranquility Lounger, TravelBlog, Tuscany | Leave a comment

Hi friends and welcome to Day 3 of this monumental, inconceivable and definitely memorable blind sightseers tour….!

I forgot to mention in my older 2 posts in this Tuscany Tour section, that i didn’t take any of my DSLR’s with me to Italy (you’ve probably already noticed, lol). All of the photos taken were using my iPhone 5s or Sarah’s iPhone 6 Plus.

I’d like to split Day 3 into 4 separate posts, as i don’t want them to get too long, and i really don’t want to bore you to death! 🤣

Christmas Tree in the lobby of the Hotel Brunelleschi

Sarah & i were up bright and early, excited yet anxious for today’s big adventure. As we were in the reception area admiring the beautiful Christmas tree (see image above), the entrance doors opened as our taxi driver entered and escorted us to his taxi. It was still very dark (especially down the narrow side street) and already raining, and when i noticed the black minivan with blacked out windows (which only appear on episodes of 24) and the voice of the driver say “GET IN”, i had a funny feeling that this could be anyone and we were in some kind of movie (this didn’t do my slight blindman anxiety any good at all, lol).

The driver was very friendly and nothing like the man i was imagining, he dropped us off at the exact collection point for the ‘My Tour’ coach stop where we were met by Chiara, the tour guide. She already knew we were blind & partially sighted and said it would be easier for us if we sat on the front 2 seats of the coach. “Yes!” i said as they’re our fave seats too, good start! 😀

It took about an hour until we arrived at Pisa, Chiara was telling us lots of interesting facts and history of the Tuscany regions we were passing through, this (and my excitement) made the journey seem really quick. The coach parked right near the Cathedral Square (Piazza del Duomo) and after a short walk in the group Chiara said “Now you have one hour free time, then meet back here”. This was just perfect for Sarah & i as we now have a point of reference to go from and to return.

Welcome to Pisa!

First for my tourist pose! 😀

Me stood in front of the leaning tower of Pisa

And now it’s Sarah’s turn! 😀

Sarah stood in front of the leaning tower of Pisa

Everyone was rushing straight for the tower, so we hung back and got a few photos of the incredible Baptistry and the Cathedral.

Pisa Baptistry

Pisa Baptistry 2

The Cathedral the tower

Lookin up at the Pisa Cathedral

Me looking at the tower

Sarah sneakily snapped me tower gazing and trying to soak up the atmosphere, and the fact that i was actually in Pisa, looking at probably the most famous bell tower in the world! 🙂

Pisa Tower

A zoomed in photo of the top 3 layers of the tower

There was only one small cafe opposite the tower, so Sarah & i went to check it out. We ordered 2 Cappachino’s and to my delight, a slice of pizza. I know you might laugh, but i just had to try the Pizza at Pisa! 🍕☕

Tower from the cafe

The image above is the view from the open windows at our table, it was just amazing being sat with the leaning tower of Pisa as the backdrop. It felt like being in a movie or trapped in a postcard…So surreal! 😲

A panaramic shot of the baptistry, Cathedral & the tower in one shot

After Sarah had blessed us with one of her legendary amazing panoramic photos (many more to come), we just had time to buy a leaning tower of Pisa espresso cup…Yes it really does lean over, so not the best espresso cup…But a lovely memory! 😀

Espresso tower Pisa

We then met up with the group and headed back to the coach. This visit already made my day and i’d of been happy if that was the end, but this was only the beginning!!

Oh by the way…..The pizza was fantastic!! 💪🏼

Hope you’ve enjoyed the first stop of this “Tuscany in a day tour”, let me know your fave part of the day?! 🤔 We’ll meet tomorrow…Same time…Same place for another adventure! So please remain in your “ tranquility Lounger” and see what’s coming on day 4! 😀

To be continued…

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☀️ #2 Escape Lockdown 2021 With The Blind Sightseers: “Florence, Italy”🇮🇹 (2014)

January 5, 2021 by Steve in Blind Photographer, Blind Sightseers, Florence Photos, iPhoneography, iReminisce, Italy, Lockdown, Travel & Landscapes, Tuscany Tour and tagged Assistive Tech, Bells, Blind and partially Sighted, Blind Artist, Blind Artists, Blind Blogger, Blind Community, Blind Life, Blind Man, Blind people, Blind Photographer, Blind Photography, Blind Sightseers, Blind Travellers, Christmas Lights, Church Bells, Digital Photography, Duomo, Firenze, Florence, Gatwick Airport, Holidays, iPhoneography, Italian Coffee, Italy, Legally Blind, Legally Blind Photographer, Photo Exhibition, Photography, Photography Exhibition, Pilot, Pisa Airport, T1D, Thomson Holidays, Travel, Travel Blog, Travel Blogger, Travel Photography, Tui, Tuscany, Tuscany Tour | Leave a comment

Hi friends and welcome to Day 2 of this monumental, inconceivable and definitely memorable blind sightseers tour….!

As Sarah & i were about to leave the room to try our first breakfast, we suddenly heard a not so faint sound of bells. We quickly rushed to the window and opened the inner windows and the outer shutters, and the sound was immense! I wanted to record the sound but the video below doesn’t do it justice.

The Breakfast…

The breakfast, i can only describe as an amazing taste sensation. The chef must have only had one knife though, as everything was sliced about an inch thick! What seemed like a block of cheese to us, was a slice to them. lol, but i didn’t want to seem rude and waste any! 🤣

The search for the Palace…

After filling up with breakfast, we started out on our primary objective for the day…to find the Palazzo Medici Riccardi where my photos will be exhibited in a few days time.

Once out on the main street, i stood facing north (towards the Cathedral) and opened the Blindsquare app on my iPhone. I’d saved 2 locations to the favourites – the hotel and the palace, so they would be read out instantly and hopefully tell me (if the cellular network is good) where the locations are using a clock face description. It said “Palazzo Medici Riccardi is at 11’o clock at 350 yards”. Right let’s go! After passing the Florence Cathedral it was just a straight road until the Palace was on our left. Now to find the entrance which was another mammoth task for us …

A black and white photo of the amazing brick work of the Palazzo Medici Riccardi 1

We started walking around the outside of the whole building finding everything including a cash machine (very useful), clothes store & even a McDonalds (the poshest one we’ve ever seen). Finally we found it but we couldn’t see any sign of the Art Senses posters anywhere. We went inside anyway to have a look around where we’d maybe stumble across a tiny room being set up for the exhibition.

Inside the Palace…😲

Black and white photo taken from the inner courtyard looking up to the roof of the Palazzo Medici Riccardi arches 2

Black and white close up of the arches in the inner courtyard

Palazzo Medici Riccardi 3

As we were walking around, we both kept saying “I think we’re in the wrong building, there is no way the exhibition will be in here somewhere. But this place is amazing so we’ll keep looking”.

A photo of me looking upwards towards some amazingly designed door frames!

⇧ We totally need to get door frames like these!! 🤣 ⇧

Then a few minutes later i found a ceiling design for our home too!! lol.

an increible fresco ciellin g

As we entered the next couple of rooms, Sarah was oooing quite a lot, and now as i’m looking back over the photos to see what i was actually looking at, i should’ve known there were shoes! 😲

Sarah shoes gallery

After being amazed for a while longer, we decided to double check outside to see if this really was the Palazzo Medici Riccardi….It was!! 💪🏼

I said “There is no way my photos are being exhibited in there, just no way”.

Then as we turned to find our way back to the hotel, we suddenly realised there was a marathon going on!!

Yes a marathon, actually the 31st annual “Florence Marathon (Maratona di Firenze)”. Now the streets were not only packed, but worse still for us, blocked off so we couldn’t get back the way we came.

Photo of theFirenze Marathon

After a few hours of getting lost, trying different coffee shops and of course the clothes and shoe shops, we found ourselves by the river. Sarah said “oh, this is the river!!” I said “But isn’t the river south, way past the hotel in the other direction?”😕

Firenze River

We both realised we had no idea which way to go and we were both really tired from dodging people and with all of the noise, so we just decided to pick a street and walk up it. Then to our complete surprise as we were getting really fed up, Sarah said “That’s the sign to our hotel”, “No way, i had no idea we were here, now let’s get a takeaway coffee from our new local and rest for a while”.

A blue light shaped as a bell hanging over the street

After an eventful and tiring day, we decided to try heading east but only down one street as it’s dark now and we really don’t want to get lost again. The hanging street lights were beautiful and we found lots of clothes shops and a nice little sandwich/coffee bar to relax in for a while.

As we returned to the hotel we booked a “Tuscany in a day” tour for the morning. We knew it was a lot in one day but it will be ideal for us. Now we were getting even more excited. I could be stood next to the leaning tower of Pisa!! No way!!

Hope you’ve enjoyed the adventure today on the “Tuscany in a day tour”, let me know your fave part of the day?! 🤔 We’ll meet tomorrow…Same time…Same place for another adventure! 😀

To be continued…

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☀️ #1 Escape Lockdown 2021 With The Blind Sightseers: “Tuscany Tour” 🇮🇹 (2014)

January 4, 2021 by Steve in Blind Photographer, Blind Sightseers, Florence Photos, iPhoneography, iReminisce, Italy, Lockdown, Travel & Landscapes, Tuscany Tour and tagged Assistive Tech, Blind and partially Sighted, Blind Artists, Blind Photographer, Blind Sightseers, Christmas Lights, Church Bells, Florence, Gatwick Airport, Holidays, Italian Coffee, Italy, Pilot, Pisa Airport, T1D, Thomson Holidays, Travel, Travel Blog, Travel Blogger, Travel Photography, Tui, Tuscany, Tuscany Tour | 2 Comments

Hi friends and welcome to Day 1 of this monumental, inconceivable and definitely memorable blind sightseers tour….!

Here goes…As Sarah & i probably won’t be going on holiday this year…I’ll be sharing a post everyday (nearly 80 days of travels) so you can join us on our monumental adventure. This new endeavour is going to bring back some amazing memories for me and Sarah, and i hope it brings lots of smiles, laughter and interest during your 2021 new year lockdown, as we look back on the places we have been so blessed to visit.

Wow, the time has come…I’m (and my lovely wife Sarah) are off to Florence, Italy to visit the exhibition where some of my photos will be exhibited! The exhibition is being held at The Prestigious PALAZZO MEDICI RICCARDI, Florence, Italy. I still can’t believe this! It is my first time abroad and i’m really excited!! 😀

First i’d like to give a big thanks to our brother Ben who kindly managed to wake up at 4:15am and drive us to the airport, guide us into the airport, check in our case and take us to the assistance desk, thanks Ben, we’d still be wondering round the airport now! if it wasn’t for you! 🙂

A screenshot of my iphone showing the Voiceover cursor surrounding the enabled airplane mode button on the control centre.

The airport assistance was fantastic and couldn’t of made it any easier for us. We even got to ride on the buggy that takes us all the way to the gate! I was the first to board the plane and i couldn’t wait to finally enable “Airplane Mode” on my iPhone whilst sat on the plane! This may seem like a small thing, but remember this is my first time out of the country! 🙂

A photo looking out of the window onf the plane overlooking the wing and engine, with a beautiful coloured sunrise panarama!

I think my wide eyes and silly grin throughout the whole plane journey was getting tiresome for Sarah (she has been on planes lots of times). But it was fantastic! The best part is when the pilot “Gives it the beans” and accelerates down the runway when taking off, i’ve felt acceleration simular to this in different cars that i’ve driven(before i went blind lol), but when you think just how big and heavy this plane is, it’s just amazing! 😲

Once we landed at Pisa airport, the assistance were already there and waiting to escort us from the plane. They also sorted out our passports and picked up our suitcase. Now it was time to get our first Italian coffee while we wait for the bus to Florence. ☕

A photo of the beautiful hills taken from our seat on the bus from pisa to florence. Also Siena is written on the road.

Sarah described the beautiful panoramic landscapes from the bus (i couldn’t see them until i got back home to zoom in on my large screen) as it took about an hour to get to Firenze. We then got a taxi to our hotel, as i read on trip advisor that although it’s only about half a mile, it’s tucked away in a small courtyard, and as you know…We can get lost within a 10 foot radius, lol! 🤣

A sepia effect of hotel Brunelleschi at night with the old tower glowing out in the dark

Wow, the hotel was fantastic, and the staff were unbelievably helpful. Once we were settled in to our amazing room, and logged onto their WiFi. We decided to venture out a little and try and figure out where we were in relation to the duomo and the palace where my photos were being exhibited. We knew we were close but as Sarah & i can’t see enough to read a map, we could easily get lost and never find anything! 😕

A black and white photo of the top of cathedral of Florence

Shortly after leaving the hotel and finding the main street, we heard the thunderous sound of the bells from the north (i think) coming from the Cathedral of Florence (Il Duomo di Firenze), The bells would make our navigation much easier for the rest of our holiday as the Cathedral was only about 300 yards away from our hotel, thank you bells! 🙂 We then headed back to our starting point and headed west, where we found an ever better point of reference!! (see below)

A whole building completley covered in sparkling blue lights

The twinkling lights on this department store were simply amazing to just stand and look at, but it was dark now and we didn’t want to get lost on our first day! All of the streets were decorated beautifully with illuminated stars, borbals & bells so after one more photo (see below), we headed back to the hotel. What an amazing, exciting and tiring first day. 🙂

A twinckling star street decoration in Florence

I hope you’ve enjoyed being with Sarah & i on my first trip abroad? Have you ever been to Florence? Let me know your fave part of the day?! 🤔 We’ll meet tomorrow…Same time…Same place for another adventure! 😀

To be continued…

🇮🇹 Next Day ➡

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