Monday, 29 May 2023
London, England

I arrived in London last night after a short flight from Amsterdam. I am staying at a different hotel than the one I listed in my original itinerary--I will give more details when the blog catches up. But first I must return to my final days on the Zuiderdam with a visit to Le Havre and Dover.

Friday, 26 May 2023
Le Havre, France

The first time I visited this well-known port on northern France's Atlantic coast was on my very first transatlantic cruise on HAL's ms Eurodam (still one of my favorite HAL ships), in Spring 2009. My reaction then was that it was one of the ugliest cities in Europe. And although there have been some improvements, Le Havre still does not offer much to entice the tourist to visit--with one exception that I will describe later.

Since I went on the best shore excursion when I was here previously--a visit to the marvelous port town less than one hour south, Honfleur--there is no excursion I wish to join today. So I sleep late and enjoy a leisurely breakfast in the Dining Room. There is a shuttle bus from the port to the center of the city (for €s), but the waiting line is so long I decide to take a taxi. The taxi delivers me to the heart of the city, les Halles 

Centrale food market, adjacent to the Place General de Gaulle, with its war memorials and landmark brutalist architecture of Oscar Niemeyer (Brazilian, 1907-2012).

Les Halles Market

Place General de Gaulle

Oscar Niemeyer's "Les Volcano" Cultural Center

There is very little of historic interest left in Le Havre, since it was blanket-bombed by both the Nazis and the Allies during WWII. Unfortunately, when the city was rebuilt after the war, the  administrative powers chose the brutalist style that emerged from Germany and Italy. The result is block after block of uniform low-rise square and rectangular architecture without relief. Occasionally the uniformity will be broken by either a rectangular tower rising from a rectangular base (for example, the City Hall and the Protestant Cathedral), or the magnificent folly of Niemeyer's "les Volcano."

Protestant Cathedral Tower

Hotel d'Ville (City Hall)

There are some lovely flowers on display in front of the City Hall. As I continue my walk, I need to find a bathroom. I decide a local Burger King is my best bet (public toilets charge a fee)--and it has a very nice free bathroom indeed.

Now that I have taken care of one bodily need, I must satisfy another--hunger. And since this is France, I look for a good close-by local bistro. I find L'Eau Tarie, with interesting reviews on Google Maps (which works quite well on my iPhone, even without a wifi connection). And it's only a short walk from City Hall and Burger King. The restaurant is crowded with locals, but the helpful waiter, who speaks excellent English, finds me a solo table, where I fully enjoy salmon rillettes, very tender flank steak with frites, and a cold beer--all for a very reasonable price.

I continue my walk south toward the cruise port, which I can see in the distance, stopping at the Le Havre Cathedral (Roman Catholic), one of the few antique buildings to survive the devastation of the war. It was built during the 16th and 17th centuries; the bell tower dates from 1520. 

A little further on my walk ends at the one very special site that Le Havre offers:  MUMA, the Musée d'art moderne André Malraux, probably the finest museum of 19th- and 20th-century art outside of Paris. In addition to its permanent collection of the major Impressionist painters, the museum hosts important temporary exhibitions.

It's now time to return to the Zuiderdam. Although I can see the ship looming like a giant over the port, I know from experience that it's not an easy walk (I did the walk in 2009, when both my legs were the same length). I ask the museum receptionist to order a taxi for me, which is scheduled to pick me up in 15 minutes in front of the museum. Well . . .15 minutes go by, then 20, then 45--and still no taxi. So walk again I must the very uninteresting 45 minute walk back to the ship.

Saturday, 27 May 2023
Dover, England

This is the final port the Zuiderdam visits before Rotterdam tomorrow, where I disembark. Many passengers are remaining on board for the next two weeks as the ship sails north into the Baltic Sea. But I will be heading to London for four days (and then on to Paris and the Avalon river cruise). So it may be a day or two before I get on with the blog.

For now, it's back to

Thursday, 25 May 2023
Torquay, England

I enjoy a late morning today as the ship doesn’t drop anchor until 10am. Tenders take passengers across Torbay to Torquay on the English Riviera. While the words “English” and “Riviera” may sound strange together, the Torbay area in southwest England has a resort atmosphere and a mild climate—palm trees grow naturally and there is rarely a frost. However, no one speaks French and fish & chips is the daily fare rather than crepes and croissants.

Unfortunately it’s a rather chaotic and frustrating morning because the HAL Navigator App does not have the correct information. Yet every HAL employee on board continues to tell us we must do everything on the app. First, the Navigator states that the Dining Room will be open for breakfast at 7:30am. But when I arrive at 7:35 I am told it does not open until 8am. The Navigator also tells me I should pick up my excursion sticker--necessary for boarding the coach--in the World Stage (as with all the previous excursions), but when I get there I am told to take a tender to shore and my ticket will be checked there and I will receive the correct sticker. However, when I get off the tender, I cannot find a HAL excursion person for almost an hour. When I do find her, she tells me she has no stickers; I should have gotten one on board. This means I do not have a coach assignment and am stuck in the last bus at the last minute.

But the 11 o'clock tour finally starts out at 11:30 for the short ride from Torquay to its sister city on the bay, Paignton. Here we board a vintage steam train for a 20-minute ride that will take us around the bay to the end of the line at Kingswear.

Then it's a short ferry ride across the River Dart to another medieval town, Dartmouth, which sits close to the mouth of the river into the sea. Dartmouth is also the home of the Britannia Royal Naval College, a military institution attended by all the British royals.

We have about one hour of free time to wander the small town and to have lunch. I choose a friendly local spot off the main street. 

Then we all board another boat for a one-hour trip up and down the Dart River. The boat tour brings us back to Kingswear, where we catch the train for Paignton, for the bus to Torquay, for the tender back to the Zuiderdam.

I leave you all with one last message from Dartmouth:

Friday, 26 May 2023
Le Havre, France

Today is supposed to be an easy day with plenty of rest after the rather vigorous tours I completed in Ireland and England. I did sleep in this morning and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast in the Dining Room. I left the ship about 10:30am and took a taxi to the center of the city. I was in Le Havre once previously, on my very first transatlantic cruise in 2009, and it isn't a particularly interesting or beautiful place. But I will get to all that when the blog catches up to Friday. For now, I turn back the clock (at four in the afternoon) to:

Wednesday, 24 May 2023
Dunmore East, Ireland

Another beautiful day as we drop anchor in Dunmore Bay and tender into shore. The city of Waterford, and its eponymous crystal, is the ostensible reason for visiting here. But I choose a shore excursion that again goes northward, this time into the heart of medieval Kilkenny, a very popular tourist destination, to explore its famous cathedral and castle.

First stop is the Church of Ireland's Anglican Episcopalian St Canice's Cathedral. Constructed between 1202 and 1285, it was originally Roman Catholic. The round tower is from the 9th century.

It's then time for lunch at one of the traditional grand hotels in the center of Kilkenny, Langton's. Unfortunately, this typical meal (salad with dressing; Irish stew with carrots and boiled potatoes; apple pie for dessert), doesn't do much for the reputation of the national cuisine. The salad and carrots are passable, but the meat and potatoes have no taste at all, and the pie crust is badly over-baked. Ah, to be in France!

After lunch the group trudges up the narrow streets of the old town to the castle that sits above it. The self-guided tour covers the important rooms--and can be walked in about 15 minutes. The castle was completed in 1260, with major interior improvements in the 19th century, and is less a stronghold of defense (like Cahir Castle), than an outlook post above  the River Nore.

Castle Entrance Gate with Tourists in Line

Castle Courtyard

Great Hall

"Chinese" Studio

Library

Before heading back to port and the Zuiderdam, there is a little bit of time to wander through the center of the city.