Day 7 - Tuscany and our plans change....

Italy’s third largest seaport, Livorno, located in the heart of Tuscany, was our next port, where we had our choice of visiting Florence, Pisa, or the Cinque Terre, which is a section of the coastline of the Italian Riviera that consists of 5 villages linked together by a hiking trail. That was our choice BUT the best-laid plans don’t always work out. A couple days before we received notice that our excursion to Cinque Terre was cancelled due to severe weather in that area on Tuesday. We later learned that torrential rains and mudslides had destroyed part of one of the villages of the Cinque Terre. So no tours headed that way and we had to change our plans. We decided on the ship’s tour of “Florence and Pisa on your own”. The ship provided the transportation on a coach bus and also a guide who gave us maps and information about the cities enroute.

Our first stop was in Pisa, where of course we saw the Leaning Tower of Pisa, along with a cathedral. You would think that late October would be considered off-season for tourists. But there are thousands of them—can’t imagine what is must be like during the height of summer when there is no school and families would be travelling. The tower is very impressive and we would have liked to have climbed to the top, but there would have been a wait to do that and we didn’t have enough time at this stop. The tower tilts 14 feet off center due to an underground river and the very heavy stone constructing the tower.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa

Yes, we are here!!

So it was on to Florence, which means “the Flowering” and is considered to be the jewel of the Renaissance. Since the bus ride to Florence is 1.5 hours each way from the port, we only had about 4 hours to enjoy and explore. Upon arrival it was lunchtime so we enjoyed lasagna in an outdoor café overlooking the Palazzo (a plaza) Vecchio.

Our choice of restaurant for lunch

Enjoying the city of Florence and a glass of wine!

We then headed toward the river flowing through town, the Arno River, browsing some shops along the way. We stopped by the cathedral in town, the Duomo, that symbolizes the wealth and power of Florence in its golden age. It took 14 years to build, and was paid for entirely by the clothmakers’ guild. The façade is decorated with multi-colored marble in geometric shapes. It was very impressive, inside and out. We had thought about climbing up to the dome of the cathedral for an overview of the city, but the 15 Euros per person to do so (about $45 total) changed our minds. Instead we found a place to enjoy some gelato for an afternoon treat!

The Arno River

Artists and vendors in the palazzos

The Cathedral Duomo

Ahhh, Gelato!

A return trip to Florence would definitely include a visit to the Academia and Uffzi Museums, which requires much more time than what we had on our short visit. Inside, among the artwork and artifacts of the Renaissance, we would be able to see Michaelango’s statue of David, certainly a highlight.

NOT Michaelango's David but one of many, many statues in the palazzos of Florence

So as we headed back to the ship, we said “Arrivederci” to Italy with hopes of returning again someday soon.

Day 6 - ROME

We visited Rome on Thursday so I’m a little behind on writing the blog. It’s been a busy few days as our days in port were full.

Our port for Rome is Civitavecchia, which I finally mastered how to pronounce. The port is about a 1.5 hour drive from Rome so we were off the ship early to make the most of the day. We had a tour pre-arranged with Tuscan Heart tours along with 2 other couples from the ship. Knowing that one cannot see Rome in a day, we used this tour company to show us an overview of Rome and its highlights. We had a nice ride in an 8-passenger Mercedes van and our guide Robert was very efficient in winding through the heavy traffic and narrow streets of Rome.

Our first stop was at St. Peter’s Square inside Vatican City for some photos. Visiting the Vatican Museum and St. Peter’s Basilica would have to wait for another trip to Rome as they require an all-day visit to get the most out of the history and artwork of the Vatican.

St. Peter's Basilica

Dome of St. Peter's

Next we visited the Colosseum. One of the couples in our group had taken care of buying tickets for admission and a guided tour over the internet so with directions given to us by our driver, we were able to breeze right by the long lines (queues as they are called here) and pick up the tickets and join the meeting place for the guided tour. As energetic and informative as our guide was, it was hard to hear and understand her English, even though we had radio handsets held to our ears. It would have been better to just use the Rick Steves’ guided audio tour on our iTouch or iPod. If we get back there someday, that’s what we will do. It’s a free tour that can be downloaded from iTunes or his travel website. The Colosseum was amazing to see and imagine what life was like when 50,000 Romans would pack this huge stadium and cheer as their favorite gladiators faced off in bloody battles. Only about a third of the original Colosseum remains. Throughout the years of the Middle Ages and Renaissance the pre-cut stones were carted off and re-used to make other buildings that still stand in Rome today.

Colosseum

Yes, we're really here!

Next stop was the Roman Forum, a rectangular flat patch about the size of a football field and about 20 feet lower than the level of the city today. This is where Rome was born and was the political, social, and economic center of the city beginning about 500 BC.

The Roman Forum

Lunch for the day was in a quaint restaurant filled with mostly locals. We shared a pizza and some good wine before heading across the street to the Pantheon, Rome’s best-preserved monument. Engineers still admire how the Romans built such a mathematically precise structure without computers, today’s machinery, or electricity. Guess have unlimited slave power didn’t hurt!

Our authentic Italian pizza!

The Pantheon

Typical street with outdoor cafes

One of many fountains

Terry on the Spanish Steps

Overview of Rome looking toward St. Peter's

Before leaving Rome, we made sure we stopped at Trevi Fountain. Legend says that if you toss a coin in the fountain, you will return to Rome. We threw in our coins and most definitely hope to return to this city again. It was a terrific day.

Trevi Fountain

Ready to throw our coins in the Trevi Fountain

Sardinia, Italy

Buon giorno!

Yesterday was a sea day as we sailed across the Mediterranean towards Italy.  We spent the day taking part in several ship activities.

Today was a beautiful day to enjoy the island of Sardinia, the second largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and just off the coast of Italy. It’s about the size of Georgia and Florida combined. The port town of Alghero is where the ship anchored and we were tendered in on small boats to the shore. Alghero is known as “Little Barcelona” as the language and customs come from eastern Spain. Most locals speak both the Catalan and Italian languages.

The waterfront in Alghero

We took one of the ship’s tours today. We started by walking the old cobblestone streets through the narrow walkways into the old, medieval part of the city. We entered the Church of the San Francesco, which is a 14th century Romanesque church. It took 200 years to build. We chuckled at the priests inside uploading photos from a digital camera onto their laptop computer.

Church of San Francesco entrance

Clergy uploading their photos

Next we rode a bus to the Sella and Mosca Winery, one of Italy’s premium wine estates. After an informative tour of the winery, we purchased some wine from their estate-grown Vermentino and Cannonau grapes, which will be good for sampling on the balcony as we sail away this evening.

1500 acres of grape vines

Wine barrels

Back on the bus we drove to Cape Caccia that overlooks a coral bay and rocky cliffs. Red coral is harvested from this bay and jewelry made from it is one of the main tourist souveniers. We were satisfied with just a photo.

The coral bay where red coral is 'fished'

Sampling of the red coral jewelry

On the way back to the port, we stopped by Nuraghe Palmavera, which has copper-age stone towers erected by the Nuraghi culture around 1500 to 500 BC. About 7,000 stone towers dot the hillsides of Sardinia; the one we stopped by is one of the largest sites. A typical tower had stone benches inside, stalls for animals, and frequently an altar at the entrance. There were often chambers on two levels, with a winding staircase inside.

Nuraghe Palmavera

Then it was back to the city and the waterfront where we joined our Colorado neighbors, Bob and Tissy at a waterfront café for a little glass of local wine and some good people watching.

Bob, Tissy, and Terry

Today was a nice introduction to Italy.  Tomorrow we arrive in Rome!

The rain inSpain falls mainly on the plain....

…and also in Malaga so it seems! We woke to a misty rain today. Guess the inclement weather caught up to us. We decided to go ahead and explore a bit of the town, with hopes that the rain would stop soon.

View of Malaga from the ship

Malaga has ancient roots, dating back 3,000 years. The first people to found a trading station here were the ancient Phoenicians. After that it changed hands many times, having mostly Moorish rule for nearly 8 centuries until 1492 when Ferdinand and Isabella, the ruling monarchs of Spain, captured Malaga. We learned from our British friends that today Malaga is the get-away spot for the Brits. It only costs about $60 to fly from the UK to Malaga and the area has many resorts and beaches for a sunny ‘holiday’.

A beach next to the pier.

Fountain in middle of a round-about

Every old city has a fort so that’s what we set out to find on our exploration of Malaga. It sits high above the city and gave us fantastic views of the city and harbor area. From atop the fort, we were able to get a good look down at the Bull Ring, the venue for the popular sport of bull fighting.

The fort - Alcazaba

The city's Bull Ring

We also spotted a building a little distance away with rounded windows that were slanted in all directions. We thought maybe it was something like the Gaudi buildings that we’ll find in Barcelona so we headed that way for a closer look.

What is this??

We stopped by the City Hall and went inside to find beautiful stained glass windows—it was a very good looking government building. Back outside we headed toward the strange building we saw and when we got close enough we could see that it was not a building at all, but instead a printed fabric enclosing a construction site like a tent!

The City Hall government building

Inside the City Hall

A construction site.

Unfortunately the misty conditions turned into a full-fledged rain so we decided to head back to the ship and dry off. Tomorrow is another sea day as we head toward our next port, Alghero Italy.



As I write this, it’s 4:30 in the afternoon here in Spain, but only 8:30 am back in our home state. So, I’ll say Buenos dias (good morning) as I sign off for today.

Day 2 at sea...

As I write this we have been at sea all day, heading down the coasts of Spain and then Portugal. Later this evening we will round Cape St. Vincent on the southwest coast of Portugal and go east through the Gibraltar Straits towards Malaga, our port for tomorrow. It’s been a cloudy day but temps are in the mid-60’s so it’s fine outside except for the wind. The seas are a little rough, but nothing that would bother anyone. We spent the morning going from a lecture on the Space Shuttle (for Terry) and an informative talk about cruising to Alaska (for Joyce) and then a slideshow presentation on touring the sites of Rome (for both of us—at least I think Terry stayed awake through it all). Just when we thought we had done enough ‘learning’ for the day, we popped into a Photography Seminar so we could learn the photographic techniques the pros use. Whew!! By then it was time to find some lunch. Never too long between eating when on a cruise ship. We sat with 4 Brits—2 we met the day we boarded at lunch and 2 we met the next morning at breakfast. They are related (2 brothers and their wives). What a coincidence to have met both couples separately.


We were good this afternoon, though, and headed up to the gym on Deck 15 (taking the stairs all the way) and worked out 45 minutes on the treadmill. And before we know it, it will be time to get ready for dinner. Tonight is the first ‘formal’ night and we’ll be dining again with our Colorado neighbors, Bob and Tissy. Last night as the four of us left the dining room, the Head Waiter stopped us and said he remembered us from another cruise. This surprised us as he went on to say the ship (the Sapphire) and the voyage (South Pacific last fall). He even noted the dining room we frequented. He was right but to be honest, we don’t remember him. But it’s good to have friends in the right places, and he took care of arranging a table for the 4 of us tonight.

I took no photos today but I am attaching a picture of a map. It pinpoints Cadiz, which we are not going to stop at due to inclement weather in the area. Where we will be stopping is Malaga, directly to the right on the east side of Gibraltar. And Jen and Lisa you will love this…..we have NO plans for this port. We will just get off and explore. LOL

All aboard and it's smooth sailing....

It’s Saturday and we are sailing toward Spain. Our travel via airplanes to London and then the port of Southampton went smoothly and without any incident, just very tiring. We left the house at 7:30 am on Thursday, flew to JFK in NYC and then after a 4-hour layover we flew to London, arriving about 9:30 am on Friday morning. Our transfer transportation to the port went well and before we knew it, we were onboard the Grand Princess. We were on this ship in March, just 2 weeks before it went to drydock for a little facelift. It was fun to see the new additions to the ship, but unfortunately the new things are just in the public areas…..no upgrading to the staterooms, except for the replacement of the tv with a flatscreen. We are hardly ever in the cabin so no big deal to us.

The Grand Princess

Last evening we met up with our Colorado neighbors, Bob and Tissy, and enjoyed a before dinner drink and then dinner with them. They have a balcony cabin and rounded up a couple extra deck chairs so that we can enjoy a drink on the balcony in the upcoming days. It’s a bit cool to be sitting outside now but the weather will get warmer as we head south and then into the Mediterranean.

Leaving the Southampton port

Terry, Joyce, and our Colorado neighbors, Tissy and Bob

This ship is full and we learned that 90% of the passengers are from England—Brits they call themselves. We have met several couples already and have enjoyed visiting with all of them. We laugh over the differences in our English language and find the conversations center around where are you from, where have you travelled and where are you cruising to next. While visiting with a couple of Brits at lunch, I noticed a way to tell the Brits from the Americans is that the British ladies all seem to carry handbags around the ship. I would say purses, but the Brits would correct me on that as a purse to them is actually what we would call a billfold or wallet, that goes inside the bag, which they would call either a handbag or shoulder bag. Why one would want to carry this around all day baffles me…..all I need is a pocket to stash the cruise card. 

A change has been made to our itinerary. Instead of our first port being Cadiz, Spain, inclement weather to that area has made the captain change our destination to Malaga, Spain instead. That’s one of the nice things about cruising. The ship likes to avoid adverse weather whenever possible. So we’ll be flexible and see what that port has to offer. We really had no plans in Cadiz except to walk around the old city and explore. That’s probably what we will be doing in Malaga.
Since we were so tired last night, we chose the buffet for dinner instead of the dining room. Tonight we’ll probably check out one of the dining rooms and enjoy a leisurely dinner and maybe a show.

We're off on another travel adventure!

The bags are packed and we're ready to head to the airport.  We are about to embark on our first trip to Europe!  Today's destination is London, where we will not arrive until tomorrow morning, London time.  We will then head to the port of Southampton where we will board the Grand Princess cruise ship for a 29-day cruise.  We will visit 14 ports in 8 countries and then cross the Atlantic and end up in Fort Lauderdale just in time to spend Thanksgiving with our Florida daughter.

Our cruise itinerary

We hope to be able to blog again on this cruise.  The laptop is coming with but we do know that this ship does not have a very good internet connection.  It's often hard to get connected but we will try.  Many days will be one port after another but there are plenty of sea days where we should be able to catch up on the blogging so there will no doubt be multiple entries on those days.

So, if you are interested, follow along as we share our travels through words and images.