Parting is such sweet sorrow….this morning we are off the ship for good and heading for the Terrace Central B&B in Fremantle for 2 nights. It is rather sad, though, to leave this ship and our new friends. We’ve really enjoyed our time aboard – much more than on the Silhouette - and are once again hooked on Celebrity. But , now it is time to move on to our next adventure.
Our luggage call is for 8am and we are actually off the ship with luggage in hand before 8. Worked well! Except they took our sea pass cards! First time ever they have taken them from us – haven’t a clue why – and now we won’t have a full collection. Oh well – we’re probably missing some from ages ago anyway – and yeah – that’s a little scary insight into what I keep and what I don’t!
Out into the lot and up across the pedestrian bridge, we begin our trek up up the street to the hotel. When we looked at the map, it looked a lot closer than it actually is – I think because we docked in a different location than where we thought. But nonetheless, we huff our way into town and get to the hotel pretty easily (and heck – we didn’t go to the gym this morning, so this is our workout).
The hotel is very centrally located – you can walk to all the great pubs, restaurants and markets from here. The girl at the desk takes our bags, gives us our room key and tells us not to come back until 2pm or she will get in trouble. Ok. We were going to explore anyway! So 0ff we go to fill in the next 5 hours with Fremantle!
Here again, the architecture is just great. Old stone buildings, that French Colonial look with wrought iron balconies, shaded pedestrian mall and lots of porticoes on Market street to walk under.
The center of town has a very vibrant retail/dining/entertainment district too – it’s not open now – but will be bustling by the time we get back from our explorations. We hit the TI and pick up a bunch of walking maps that feature history, maritime, pubs/breweries and retail highlights. We choose the history walk because it seems to capture most of the town. We start off on Market street, then walk over to the Fishing Harbor to look at the boats and the restaurants here. There are great statues at a memorial for fishermen who have lost their lives at sea.
And of course tons of boats. This whole country is boat happy – I suppose because so much of their population lives on the coast.
There is also a statue of Bon Scott who was with AC/DC and was raised here in Fremantle from 1958 on. It’s a great statue with a full overview of his history, but it is fairly odd sitting here in the middle of the wharf. We guess there is some tie to the docks here – but it wasn’t in the explanation so unless we care enough to Google it – don’t think we’ll ever know!
Back on the walk, we visit the “round house” – an original building from the first settlers here in Fremantle. It’s built on top of a rock cliff and housed prisoners (what a surprise) in its early days. Sort of cool place – but the docents are busy with other tourists, so we don’t get the full impact of the place, but just wander and look into the little rooms around the interior.
It’s also getting really, really hot – and we don’t want to stand outside in the blazing sun for more info here, so we press on and detour to the Maritime Museum (the guest lecturer aboard Solstice, Brian, said it was a great place to explore when it gets too hot to walk around outside). And it’s as good as Brian promised! First off, we got a senior “concession” for Ed, so it only cost him half price and secondly – it’s air conditioned! Oh joy! What a relief!
We spend a lovely hour or so wandering the galleries, looking at the sailboat that won the World Cup, a sailboat that went around the world 3 times, replicas of a sunken submarine, and general artifacts of the sailing/boating world.
There was also a great Antarctic exhibition that we spent time wandering through and reminiscing. Overall, an excellent mid-day respite from the heat.
Back on the street, we wander through the E-shed markets (boring) and head back up Market Street in search of lunch. There’s some great street art – little cement tables and stools with messages engraved upon them. This place strikes us as a little bit like Asheville too – funky, vibrant, a little earthy.
We end up at Sail and Anchor, a local brew pub and with great memorabilia on the walls. All sorts of beer posters and ads – really fun atmosphere.
More expensive burgers and fried seafood platters (yuck – no more fried!!!), beer and wine and now we’re closer to our 2pm appointed hour! So we spend some time in the Market shops, pick out some gifts, and then head back up the street to the Terrace at just after 2.
We’re all set, bags already in the room, so we head down to our “Bakery Studio” – which was originally a real working bakery complete with wood fired oven – still in the bedroom!
This place is great – large living room with covered porch outside…
There are some great wooden statues of cats in the living area as well as a cute, compact little kitchen area off the side of the bedroom. We’ve got a microwave, fridge and a kettle for coffee. We are in business!
After organizing a bit, we head back into town to grocery shop. Since we had such a huge lunch, we decide to grab some cheese, sausage and crackers and just have a picnic in for dinner. Picked up some Latvian Liverwurst (yeah, Latvian, who knew?) and assorted cheeses along with beer and wine then headed back for a nice quiet evening in the “Bakery”. Very fun! Started watching a movie, got bored, loaded most of the blog, sat outside enjoying the weather and just generally relaxed. Nice first night off the ship!
