Treasures of the Mediterranean Isles
April 28 to May 12, 2026
Mike and Judy Henderson
I'll leave this map up so you can see where we are.
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[Side note: Daniel Silva has a series of books whose protagonist is Gabriel Allon, a Mossad agent. In one of the books, "The English Girl", Corsica plays an important role, specifically an area north east of Bonifacio. I found the series interesting and recommend it.]
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5/8/2026 (Friday) - We arrived outside Bonifacio this morning about 7:00am. The Bonifacio harbor is a long tongue of water between the peninsula of Bonifacio and the main part of the island. At 7am we were near the black dot below, at the tip of the black arrow. The dock we're heading to is at the tip of the red arrow.
The local harbor pilot joined us. He turned the ship around and backed into the harbor. They can only do this when the sea is calm. If the sea is too rough, the ship has to anchor outside the harbor and tender in.
Here's the entrance to the harbor, a narrow opening between limestone cliffs. There's a lighthouse on the left side of the picture, and the city fortress is on the right side of the picture. That little black dot, between them, at the entrance to the harbor, is the pilot boat, and it looks about the size of a Zodiac.
The captain and the pilot backed the ship in slowly. The striated limestone cliffs were stunning, and very rough.
Eventually we came to the dock area. We're heading for the spot in front of the white building in this picture.
A bit better view of the fortress as we were almost docked.
After docking we boarded our excursion boat, which was docked very near us.
We had a local guide who gave a running commentary. Corsica was ceded to France in 1768 essentially as payment for debts incurred by the previous ruler, The Republic of Genoa, so the language of Corsica is French, which was our guide's native language.
A closer view of our guide. Note the scarf around his neck. It seems that both men and women wear them. Adds a touch of color to their outfits and keeps drafts off the neck.
My pictures of shore elements, such as grottos, did not come out very well so I won't put many of them here. Two members of the crew went to the back deck and threw bread into the water for the sea gulls, then held some up in their hands.
I caught one of the gulls taking the bread from his hand.
And another. "Gimme that!"
A view of the city from the boat.
A bit different angle view of the city and part of the wall.
Stairs are cut down from the city to a small boat landing. That's a lot of stairs to climb. Old people, like Judy and me, would have problems with that.
There were several of these natural grottos in the cliffs. Limestone is prone to being worn away by waves through the years.
As we came back into the harbor we could see more of the city walls. We'll be going up to the top of that hill area soon.
The city has a "train" to take tourists to the top of the hill. I took this picture later, but I'm going to put it here so you know what it is.
On the way up we had some panoramic views of the city and the harbor.
We passed a memorial to those lost in World War I. I doubt if they have many memorials for World War II. Corsica was part of Vichy France, perhaps not Corsica's finest hour.
We could see our ship down below.
We left the train at the top and began to walk the narrow streets.
We had more nice views down to the harbor. You can see the path down to the harbor in this picture. Judy and I will walk it later when we return to the ship.
We walked by a church, Eglise Sainte Marie-Majeure and I went inside to take a picture. It was built in the 12th-13th Century.
A closer view of the altar area.
Near the church was a cafe, and this dog was sleeping on one of the chairs. She thinks she's a lap dog! She belongs to the owner, and this chair belongs to her.
We walked several of the narrow streets, occasionally stopping to go into a shop. Here's another street scene.
One of the shops was selling cured meats: ham, sausage, etc.
There were lots of shops selling jewelry, clothes and souvenirs but I didn't take pictures of them.
As we were walking along, a small group of people was marching toward us, led by two people carrying French flags. I suspect it was military oriented, and maybe also emergency responders since I saw the word "sauveteur" on one of the flags (sauveteur is essentially the same as "emergency responder" in the US). One of the older marchers had a badge with "UNP" on his chest, which is the French "National Union of Paratroopers (Union Nationale des Parahutistes).
Eventually we went back to the dog's cafe and had a cup of coffee before heading back to the ship.
The dog came and visited each customer asking for attention (and probably treats). I spent quite a while scratching her ears, and when I quit, she put up her paw and touched me with it, asking me to continue. Eventually she went to another customer and I got a picture of her. She sure isn't missing any meals!
We decided to walk down to the port instead of taking the train. Here's the beginning of the trail down. There used to be a draw bridge here - you can see some of the mechanism for it at the top of the doorway.
The other side of the portal.
It was a fairly steep path but Judy held my hand to make sure I didn't trip. (Smile)
Here's a view from the path. You can see a lower part of the path in the bottom of the picture.
We navigated the path okay, and went back to the ship. This afternoon at 5pm a group of singers will perform for us, singing Corsican songs. Here they are on stage.
After the show we went to dinner. The crew put on a dessert extravaganza on the back deck.
Then it was to bed. We go to Elba tomorrow.
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5/9/2026 (Saturday) - We arrived in Elba about 7:30 this morning to bright skies. After breakfast we gathered in the lounge at 9am for our excursion to Napoleon's house. I don't know a lot of the history of Napoleon's rise and reign. I know that he attacked several European countries in an attempt to impose French hegemony on Europe, known as the Napoleonic Wars. His 1812 invasion of Russia was disastrous. Of perhaps 650,000 soldiers in his army, only about 100,000 made it back to France.
[Side note: There's a French movie, "Le Colonel Chabert" staring Gerard Depardieu. The colonel was wounded in the Battle of Elyau during the invasion of Russia and spent ten years in Russia recovering. He returns to France and wants to recover his life and his fortune. But his wife, believing him dead, has remarried and wants nothing to do with him. It's based on an 1832 novella by Honoré de Balzac. While Depardieu squandered his talent later in his life, his acting in this movie is amazing.]
That, plus Napoleon's defeat at the Battle of Leipzig, sealed his fate and Napoleon was forced by the Treaty of Fontainebleau, signed April 11, 1814, to abdicate and go into exile at Elba.
His exile was not solitary. He had 870 soldiers and other staff with him.
But Napoleon only spent eleven months in exile. On March 20, 1815, he escaped from Elba, which began the period known as the Hundred Days (les Cent Jours).
A coalition of countries, known as the Seventh Coalition, declared Napoleon an outlaw, which led to the famous Battle of Waterloo (then in the Netherlands, but now Belgium).
This led to the second abdication of Napoleon and his exile to the island of Saint Helena, which was out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. He was only allowed to take 20 people as staff with him this time.
The British carefully controlled Napoleon in his exile there (Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me) and he died there on May 5, 1821.
Now, back to our excursion. We're going to visit the house that Napoleon used during his Elba exile. He did not sleep at this house, but used it as an office, to meet with his generals and to handle administrative matters.
We arrived at Napoleon's house, Villa San Martino, in Portoferraio about 9:30.
As we were walking to the house, the tour guide displayed the Napoleon-designed flag of Elba which has three golden bees on a red diagonal. The exact meaning of the elements of the flag is not clear. Check the link for a discussion of it.
Here's a view of the house, Villa San Martino, as we approached it.
A closer view, showing how wide it is.
Here's an aerial view of Villa San Martino, taken from the web. We were told by the tour guide that this building was not constructed until Napoleon came to Elba. Napoleon did a lot of construction on Elba in the short eleven months that he was here, including roads and other civic improvements, and the people of Elba will not criticize him because of the benefits he brought to their island,
However, some research on the Villa indicates that it was originally built in the 18th century before Napoleon arrived. In 1851, long after Napoleon left Elba, it was expanded by Count Anatolio Demidoff with the addition of the neoclassical gallery. So that first floor gallery/museum we visited was not there when Napoleon was in Elba.
Tour guides are not always the most reliable source of information.
We went up the back way to the smaller structure at the top of the building, and then went through the rooms in it. I took pictures of most of the rooms, but I won't bore you with them. Just this one room, known as the Egyptian Room.
Here's the view from the deck of the main part of the house, looking out to the road we walked coming in.
Then we went down to the main floor, which is now a museum. There's very little remaining that was there when Napoleon was there. All the furniture and other artifacts were sold off or given away.
Napoleon had another house in Elba, Palazzina dei Mulini, where he lived. This is a picture of that house - which we didn't visit. He greatly enlarged the small house that was originally there.
After this, we returned to the bus which took us back to the dock area, and then we walked upward into Portoferraio.
We continued until we came to a small plaza, with the Vigilanti Theater on one side. It was once the Carmine Church but in 1815 Napoleon turned the unused building into an opera house.
From the plaza we had a nice view of the city and the fortress on the hill.
Then we went into the theater.
A pianist and a soprano performed a recital of opera and familiar songs, for about 35 minutes. All in Italian.
Afterward we went back to the plaza area where Tauck had arranged for some light snacks and local wine.
Then we walked down to a plaza near the harbor and had some free time before we walked back to the ship on our own. We boarded the ship about 1pm.
In the afternoon, there was a knock on our cabin door and when I opened it, the delivery guy gave me two bags of "stuff". I looked into the bags and it was nothing we had purchased, so I went to the front desk and told them it had been delivered to the wrong room. They said, "No, they are gifts from Tauck to recognize your 15th Tauck tour." Surprised the heck out of me. There were several lovely reminders of our visit, local specialities, which had been carefully chosen by our Tauck directors.
At 4:30pm, there was a general meeting to review the process of departing the ship. Our bags have to be in the hallway by 6:30am, and we have to exit our cabins by 8am.
We were mostly packed by 6pm, with just a few things to do before morning.
At 6:15 we had the Captain's Farewell Gala. Most of the guests dressed up a bit. The ship had a caviar station for those who liked caviar.
The tour directors were there to greet us.
The crew members were recognized. This picture is of a small a part of the crew. Given the limited space, groups were called up and recognized and then allowed to depart. This was the last group.
Then it was to a nice dinner, and finally to bed.
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5/10/2026 (Sunday-Mother's Day) - Annie and Lizzie had given me a card to give to Judy on Mother's Day.
We depart the ship today. We were up about 5:00am to shower and to get our bags out by 6:30.
The ship arrived in Nice about 6:30am.
We were out of our cabin and down in the lounge by 8am. Our bus was scheduled to depart at 9am and was on time. We're going to Aix-en-Provence, a bit over a two hour drive.
The roads were good and we stopped at a rest stop along the highway, a little after 11am, for a 30 minute break.
Then we continued to Aix-en-Provence, arriving about noon. Judy and I had spent a couple of days in Aix in 2014 and enjoyed it very much.
We walked along the narrow streets to the Cathedral Saint-Sauveur.
We broke up into smaller groups and took a tour of the cathedral. Here was our first view of the interior.
The cathedral was built in three stages over many years. The above picture is of a portion that was built in the second stage. We then went to the oldest section.
There was a baptismal well in the center of the building, probably an indication that the person to be baptized entered the well. Perhaps a partial full immersion baptism.
On the walls of the structure were frescos indicating the seven Catholic sacraments: baptism, communion, confirmation, penance, marriage, holy orders, and extreme unction.
Then we walked to the main part of the cathedral where I think public mass was held.
A closer view of the altar. I don't know why they had the cloth strung over the altar. There must be some church celebration coming soon (or just past).
Part of the organ.
Another altar, perhaps a minor one.
I took other pictures, but that's enough. After we went back out, the guide pointed out that the building across the square was the university.
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Hotel de Ville.
The clock tower was nearby and had the correct time.
We passed a restaurant which had a statue of a wild boar, and Judy patted his snout for good luck.
Then we walked down to Cours Mirabeau, which the guide described as the Champs Elysees of Aix-en-Provence.
We were given free time until 3pm to have lunch and walk along the avenue. Judy and I found a small bistro and were seated next to a couple from Ohio (who were on the Tauck tour).
We shared a ham and cheese pizza that was very good, then relaxed with a cup of coffee.
At 3:05pm we met the group at the fountain and boarded the bus to Marseille. Along the way, I was surprised by the amount of graffiti along the road. All of the roadway walls facing the road were covered by graffiti, as well as the sides of many buildings. Some of the buildings were quite high and could have only been tagged by rappelling from the roof.
I didn't take many pictures of it, but here's one. Some of the graffiti was well done, but too much of it was just garbage. Apparently, it's a "thing" in Marseille because if you Google "graffiti in Marseille" you get webpages titled "Street Art in Marseille".
Eventually we arrived at the Sofitel Vieux Port Hotel.
We were greeted by a nice flower arrangement.
We were in room 633, which looks out on the harbor. Here are a few pictures of the room.
And looking back from the window.
The view of the harbor from our window.
The room has excellent Internet access, but otherwise has several not so good things. First, the bed is extremely soft. When you get into bed, you sink in and the bed almost wraps around you.
Second, it has a tub shower, which is bad enough, but this one is perhaps the worse tub shower I've ever encountered. The tub is large and there are no grips to hold on to. Getting in and out of the tub was a challenge. Perhaps I need to make a request to Tauck for rooms with a walk-in shower.
Third, there's a window between the bathroom and the bedroom (see the second picture above). There are blinds that you can close, but it does not completely close off the light. We have to leave the bathroom light on during the night so that we can see to use the toilet during the night. The window then illuminates the bedroom far too much.
They do not provide bar soap, true of many places today, so we now carry our own.
Be that as it may, we settled in and eventually went to the lounge on the seventh floor to have a drink and share a croque monsieur. One thing I've learned in traveling is that everyone seems to make the croque monsieur differently. This one was three slices of bread with ham and cheese between them. I just prefer the traditional version with two slices of bread and grilled with butter and cheese on the outside.
Then it was to bed. Tomorrow we explore Marseille.
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5/11/2026 (Monday) - For some reason Judy and I woke up early this morning, about 4:30am. Perhaps we're getting prepared for our early morning departure tomorrow.
We went to breakfast in the 7th floor restaurant at 6:30. I was surprised at how skimpy the breakfast layout was, especially after how lavish the breakfast was in the Malta hotel.
There was one station with fruit, sliced meats and cheese, and hard boiled eggs.
One station of fruit juice and water.
And one station of bread, dry cereal, and yogurt. Coffee could be ordered at the table.
It was certainly enough. [Update: At the Farewell Dinner (the Last Supper) I talked with a guest who is staying at the other hotel in Marseille. He said the breakfast was equally skimpy at that hotel. So for those planning this trip, I can't make a recommendation on which set of hotels to choose.]
About 8:20 we met in the lobby.
Then went down to the street to take the tourist train.
Which took us up to Notre-Dame de la Garde, the Catholic basilica built on the highest spot of Marseille. We arrived there at 8:50am. The church was built from 1853 to about 1893.
Here's an aerial view from the web.
We walked up the stairs in the bottom of the picture, and I took this picture of the tower from the upper parking lot.
Here's a closer view of the statue, from the web. It's coated in gold leaf.
Then we walked up the next flight of stairs to enter the lower floor of the church. There's the remnant of a drawbridge as you enter the lower floor. Before it's enlargement in the 1800's the church shared it's location with a military fort. With the renovation of the church, the military fort was subsumed by the church.
When you cross the drawbridge you are at the crypt. I went in but it's not very big.
One more flight of stairs brings you to the main floor of the church. From there you have a panoramic view of Marseille.
Then I went into the church. Here's a view looking toward the altar.
A closer view of the altar area. This tour has been heavy on churches.
Exiting the church, I walked the deck around the main part of the church. You can see the Orange Velodrome Stadium from here. It went through a major renovation between 2011 and 2014
At 9:30 we met down on the lower parking lot and boarded the tourist train again.
The train took us to the location of the Intercontinental Hotel. It was once the primary hospital for Marseille but was converted to a hotel in 2013.
From this location, I could see a building with graffiti stretching down from the top. I asked the tour guide how people did that, and she said that they lower themselves on ropes, usually at night. That's serious tagging.
Then we walked through some of the old town of Marseille. The first place we stopped was les Navettes-des-Accoules, a biscuit shop which makes navettes, which are traditional biscuits shaped like a boat (or a weaving shuttle). The shape is intended to represent the boat taken by the first Christians to arrive in the area to spread their faith. Each year they are blessed during the Feast of the Assumption.
We were offered a sample of the biscuits. They were okay, nothing special. They are unleavened, with a heavy orange flavor.
Next we walked to Place de Lenche, perhaps the oldest square in Marseille. It has a lot of shops around it.
Continuing on, we walked through the old city and I took pictures of some of the graffiti. Some of it was nicely done.
While the work in the above picture is fairly professional, the other side of the street was not so fortunate. This is a problem for the city, and they are unable to control it. This area has a large population of young people. They seem to have enough money to buy paint.
We walked to Ville Charite, a former almshouse converted to a museum and cultural center. It was completed in 1749.
From here, we walked to the area of the Marseille Cathedral, known as Cathédrale Sainte-Marie-Majeure.
A view from the other side.
A few inside pictures. I promise these will be the last church pictures in this trip blog:-)
A view toward the altar from about the middle of the cathedral.
A view toward the back of the cathedral from the same location.
A close up of the altar area. Incidentally, you often see the letters "INRI" above Jesus on the cross. That stands for "Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum" which translates to "Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews".
Then we walked over to the Cosquer Méditerranée building. In 1985 a series of underwater caves were discovered in the Marseille area. The caves were used by early man when the ocean levels were quite a bit lower. They left a number of drawings on the cave walls, as well as hearths of fires used to light the cave while they were there.
Parts of the caves have been recreated in the Cosquer Méditerranée and visitors are taken through the display in small "cars" that hold six people. We were not allowed to take pictures during the ride.
Here's a picture of one of the "cars" (taken from the web). It's sort of like a Disney ride. Each rider wears an audio guide which describes every stop and is perfectly timed to the ride. It's a very well-designed recreation of these prehistoric caves, which are not available to divers today, as they are a protected site.
A couple of pictures of the art.
Hand outlines.
The ride took about 35 minutes.
Just outside the building was this ship, the Orient Express Corinthian, a luxury sailing cruise ship. It has 54 suites and is expensive, I understand. The guide mentioned something about several thousand dollars per night.
The "sails" are solid panels, that fold and stack when they are lowered. Here's a picture of the sails. The whole mast rotates to put the sail into the wind.
About 1:00pm we headed back to the hotel. As we were leaving the area, I saw this Memorial of the Deportations, which is a memorial to the people (mainly Jews) deported to death camps during World War II.
When we got back to the hotel, Judy and I walked about one block to Le Pharo, a very local bistro, and shared a hamburger for lunch. The farewell supper is this evening so we ate lightly.
We went back to the hotel room and packed our suitcases - they have to be outside our door by 3:00am. Then we took a nap.
At 5:15 we met in the lobby to walk to the restaurant.
It was a short walk. Here's the dining area, which is in a former private residence right on the harbor.
We began with cocktails on the deck. There was a trio playing for us.
And a bar area. They even had some non-alcoholic lemonade.
Here are some of the people during the cocktail time.
Then, it was dinner time. Here's the menu.
And some of the group at dinner.
Given our early departure tomorrow (3:20am) we didn't stay to the very end of the Farewell Event.
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5/12/2026 (Tuesday) - We travel home today. We fly from Marseille to Frankfurt (also see here), and then to Los Angeles.
We were up at 2:00am to prepare for the trip. We put our bags out before 3:00am and went down to the lobby a bit early. Terry was there, as well as the chauffeur, so we went immediately to the car. It was a Mercedes-Benz Chauffeur car, with two individual back seats and a console between the seats.
There's wasn't much traffic and the driver sped along, sometimes at scary speeds. I didn't take a picture of the car when we departed but did get a couple when we arrived at the airport.
And the interior.
We checked our bags all the way to LAX and said "good-bye" to them, hoping we'd see them again. Then through security and finally to the lounge when it opened at 5:00am.
They had some Pastel de Nata pastries, which we first encountered in Lisbon and which Judy loves. They are her idea of pastry heaven.
About 5:30 we went to the plane, an Airbus A319-100. The plane departed on time, about 6:05am.
We arrived at Frankfurt on time, about 8:00am. Our flight to LAX departs about 10:00am so we have some time. Turned out, it was good we had some time because it was a long walk from our arrival gate to the departure concourse. We also had to clear passport control and it was really backed up. Then security. It took until a bit after 9:00am to clear all of that. Just before we entered the last concourse, there was a Lufthansa lounge so we ducked inside for a cup of coffee and a restroom break. Then to the gate about 9:30.
The aircraft is a Boeing 747-8, the same kind of plane we flew over on.
I wanted to experience flying on a 747 in the top deck, but there's a disadvantage. When you board the plane, you have to climb stairs to the upper deck. That's tough when you're old and have a carry-on. After we got home, I contacted our travel agent and asked her to put us on the main deck for our next trip, where we also fly a 747. She was able to do that for us.
The flight took eleven hours and was unremarkable. The attendants fed us and we slept for several hours. I watched a low budget movie "Relay" which was pretty good. I did find some movies with closed captions on this flight.
We arrived at LAX about 1:15pm LA time. Clearing passport control was quick with Global Entry. It took a while for our luggage to arrive on the carousel but eventually it showed up and we found the limo driver. Traffic wasn't too bad at that time of day and we made it home in about an hour.
Greg had already left. The girls did their usual crazy dance and barking to welcome us home.
That was the end of another trip. Our next trip is with Tauck and is a river cruise across Europe. I hope you'll join us on that one, also.
[Added note: Here are a few suggestions if you take the Treasures of the Mediterranean Isles cruise:
1. None of the hotels provided bar soap. If you prefer bar soap for a shower, bring your own.
2. Tauck offers two choices for the hotels. As far as I can tell, they're about the same. I talked with people who were staying in the opposite hotels from us and they did not have wonderful or terrible things to say about their hotels.
3. While Tauck provides excursions, there's a lot more to see both at the beginning and the end. At the Marseille end of the trip, I would not extend to see more of Marseille, but I'd choose to see more of Aix-en-Provence. You can take a train to Aix, probably from the airport, but definitely from the main train station. Get a private tour guide to show you around Aix and Luberon (which has many nice small villages). For Malta, you can stay in your hotel and get a private guide to show you more of Malta. It's a fascinating area.
4. All things being equal, I'd do the cruise from Marseille to Malta. That way, everything gets nicer as you progress. Otherwise, things get a bit more Spartan as you go north.]
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