The Mediterranean & Her Islands

Come and join our spring cruise through the Mediterranean The winter rains, long past, will have left the countryside green, making this an ideal time to visit the Mediterranean and her islands. After three days at sea during which you can enjoy all the comforts of life at sea on board a cruise ship we come to the Spanish city of Cádiz, on Spain’s Atlantic coast, a busy city with a proud maritime history. We visit two of the Balearic islands, the first one being Minorca, relatively low-lying, with rocky headlands, sandy coves and rich wildlife. The next day brings us to Ajaccio, Napoleon’s birthplace on the island of Corsica, where we follow a very pretty route along the coast.

Our next port of call is Cagliari in southern Sardinia. Our cruises rarely stop in this port, which is a shame, as Sardinians are renowned as being the friendliest of people and Cagliari’s history and buildings are fascinating. Malta is our next port of call, the island of the Knights of St John (whose museum is in Valletta where we come ashore) and of St Paul, who is said to have introduced Christianity here nearly 2000 years ago. Now cruising west we come to Palma de Mallorca. The island has some great walking and charming villages – we hope to give a flavour of this during our day on the island. Continuing to the Iberian mainland we come to Cartagena, a lesser-known Spanish gem which has fascinating monuments from Roman times and is close to a wild coastline.

Black Watch now leaves the Mediterranean for the Atlantic. Before the final leg of our journey we call into Leixoes in Portugal to visit Porto, centre of the port wine trade. Here, as in many of the other ports we visit, a local guide will open our eyes to the charms of the city and greatly add to the experience. Finally Black Watch brings us back to Liverpool. During our cruise our floating home will always offer a warm welcome when we return from our shore excursions, with its great food, charming crew and many comforts.