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A lovely town. We’d been there maybe twice before, many years ago. Another place with tree lined streets. The leaves were just beginning to change colour, just slightly behind the trees back home.

Thoughts about Ajaccio:

• More motorbikes!
• Lovely clean beach with clear blue water.
• A woman wading thigh high in the water while wearing a straw hat.
• Learners sailing little sail boats and being towed back after their lesson was finished.
• Smart car parked at 90º to the kerb, but taking up just as little space as some of the bigger cars.
• A private garden with exotic flowers and plants and a guard at the gate!
• Plane trees everywhere.
• Shop selling coats for cats and dogs. Scamp remembered the shop from the last time we were in Ajaccio!
• Flying witch outside a toy shop.
• Posh pedal cars for sale across the street.
• In the evening we watched, two Irish girls dancing in the Atrium.

Palamos is a staging point on the GR 92 long distance footpath, which runs the length of the Mediterranean coast of Spain. It’s has narrow streets and a medieval castle.

What we’ll remember about it:

• Outdoor fruit and vegetable market.
• Quite a small town.
• An artist shop called Edelmira. Bought myself a painting pad and a sketch book.
• Lovely pastries in Cafe Casamoner.

Next Stop will be Palma where some of the friends we’d made will be leaving to go home.

We actually went to Villefranche – Sur – Mer on a tender. It used to be the case that the cruise ships would drop anchor in the bay and then passengers wishing to see the sights of Villefranche would be ferried ashore in the ship’s tenders, smaller vessels that act as a support for a larger ship, often a cruise ship. However, purpose built craft capable of carrying more passengers, more effectively are now being used instead.

Once we were ashore we headed for the train station, bought tickets and were whisked away along the coast for four stations to Monaco. With our prior knowledge of Monaco station we knew not to walk out on to the the road that form part of the famous F1 GP circuit. The reason being that the only way down to the town proper is a long walk down the sloping road. Instead, we took the lift down to lower exit, saving aching feet from that long walk.

Monaco is a bit of a let down. Almost all the shops are shut until late afternoon and although there are quite a few petrol guzzlers around the Casino, we weren’t all that interested. We’d done it all before and were impressed then, but now not so much. We could have stopped to have an overpriced coffee in one of the roadside cafes, but instead, we went back in the train to Villefranche, then caught a boat back to the ship.

Things we’ll remember:

• Mr Top Hat!
• Morning Glory flowers that lined our path to the station.
• Lantana flowers. Brightly coloured flowers that seem to grow everywhere in the Mediterranean.
• The boat trip to and from Villefranche
• Two show-offs on jet powered surfboards.

PoD just had to be Mr Top Hat.

We were docked in Piombino, a town neither of us had heard of before today. Across from us were what looked like a some abandoned industrial buildings. Lorries that looked like toys from our vantage point in the ship were constantly offloading rubble onto ships. Not the scenic delights we were expecting. However, once we’d taken a free coach to the town, we realised this was a quiet and elegant little town.

What we’ll remember:

• The heat! And this from the man who thought, before he left UK, that he might need a couple more layers because, well, it was October!
• Bumping into an Indian family while we were checking out an open air market. This happened to us quite often!
• In that same market we found an English man selling tables of forks and knives from a market stall.
• Kids zooming about on electric scooters.
• Bruschetta served on a wooden plate outdoors from a restaurant.
• Washing down the food with an Aperol Spritz for Scamp and a lemon flavoured local beer. Sounds awful, but was really refreshing.

PoD was a view down a narrow lane looking out to sea. Lots of narrow lanes in these small towns. Check the street lights.

Tomorrow we’re heading to Monaco home of the Rich and Famous.