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Mediterranean Cruise 17 - Toulon, france & madeira, pORTUGAL

10/30/2014

Well our cruising is finally coming to an end. We have less than 3 days before we arrive in Ft Lauderdale, 2 months after leaving that port on September 1st. Since our last blog where we discussed our visit to the Vatican City, we headed to Toulon, France but the winds were really blowing and we were unable to make our stop in this port. This was the second port we have missed on this 29 day cruise but we weren’t too concerned since this was not one of our favorite ports and we had visited this city during the first segment of the cruise.

Since we had previously visited the port we thought we would share a few pictures from that stop. We first walked the town and saw some nice sights like the fountain in Liberty Square and the beautiful opera house in this small city. We also viewed a very unique sculpture of the bow of a ship that seems to grow out of a building that is actually an art institute. From the main town we took a bus up to the cable car where we rode up to the top of Mount Faron to see some of the wonderful panoramic views of the city, harbor and nearby mountains. While going up the cable car we saw several mountain climbers scaling one of the cliffs along this mountain. We finished our visit with a ferry ride from the city back to our ship where you get a great view of the French navy who use this port for many of their key naval vessels such as the aircraft carrier shown in one of our pictures. This is a nice city to visit but there is not a lot to do there except for casual sightseeing and shopping.

After leaving that port we headed to Barcelona where we have been so many times during our cruises over the last few months. We still love the city and always find something different to look at. We were able to go up to the roof top of the Gothic cathedral on this trip for some nice city views and we also took a 3 hour free walking tour of the Gothic area where we learned a lot of interesting facts about Barcelona and Spain. We didn’t share any more pictures from this visit since we have shown so many in our previous blogs on this city. Our final port stop was Madeira which we have always enjoyed on previous visits.

We spent our first few hours in Madeira using some internet at one of the cafes in the port terminal because we had been having so much difficulty in sending out our blogs on the ship. After sending out the blogs we walked into town to see what had changed since our last visit to this island last year. We had elected not to go on the famous “basket” ride this town has to offer since we have done it many times previously and will be coming back again to this island next year. We included a few pictures from the cable car ride and the basket ride from our previous visit to show everyone what this island has to offer. We then headed over to Santa Maria Street which is known for the art project underway over the last few years where most of the restaurants and shops have had their doors and walls painted by artists to add some unique character to the area. It is definitely worthwhile to check out this street if you get to this island. While walking this street Sharon found a cork store with some very unique items such as jewelry, watches, umbrellas, safety helmets, dresses, shoes, handbags, wallets, etc. all made out of Portuguese cork. You can see a picture of Greg carrying a golf bag made entirely out of cork.

You will also note in the last few pictures that we could not resist trying out the local Madeira bread which is really good. You can get it with just garlic butter, cheese, salami or bacon. This is a treat definitely worth trying out. Madeira was our last port to visit on our cruise and it is a nice city to see before crossing the Atlantic.

We have now been sailing across the Atlantic for 6 days and have 2 more days at sea to go. We are enjoying the nice relaxing cruise back to the US.

Hope you have enjoyed our cruise journey through our email blogs. Look forward to seeing family and friends very soon!

Greg & Sharon

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Mediterranean Cruise 16 – Messina, Sicily & Vatican City

10/26/2014

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Our visit to Messina was our first visit to Sicily. This was especially interesting since Sharon’s grandfather had come from Sicily. Since he was actually from the Palermo area we were unable to visit that city due to the long distance from Messina. As you enter the port of Messina you see statue of Madonna over watching the port to protect the sailors and ships as they go to sea (see picture). We decided to visit Taormina which was a small town 40 miles away embedded in one of the nearby hills that had some ancient churches and ruins. We had planned to take a bus there but because it was Sunday there were not many buses going there and returning. We eventually met another couple trying to catch a bus to the city and decided to share a taxi with them to the city.

Taormina was a really neat town to visit with all the ancient arches, walls, balconies and flowers around town. There were so many places to look at panoramic views of the beaches below and the mountains above. There were a few plazas, churches and clock towers in the town but the most interesting sight was an ancient amphitheater. This theater was built by the ancient Greeks in 3rd century BC and then further modified by the Romans 100’s of years later. It is still used today for concerts and classical shows due to the amazing acoustics of the theater. Almost all the shops were open in this town on a Sunday which was unexpected since almost all of Messina’s shops were closed. We found a hidden restaurant down an alley where many people kept bringing out take out packages. We decided to see what was inside and found their specialty were “arancines” which are baked rice balls filled with a variety of different items. We chose an arancine filled with mozzarella and spinach (see picture). It was an amazing snack to try out from the area. Later while walking around we also decided to try out a cannoli since Sicily is where this Italian dessert specialty originated.

On our way back to Messina the taxi driver stopped off at several overlook areas so we can take some pictures. Back in Messina we were dropped off at the cathedral and viewed the nearby clock tower which had a massive mechanical clock which has many gold plated figures that go into motion when the clock rings at noon. Every 15 minutes there is a small movement by some of the figures that pull the rope to ring the bell. It is quite an amazing clock tower. We took a small break after this to communicate back home on our iphones with some wifi from a local café while we tried out Messina’s version of the wine spritzer we had tried in Venice. After our break we took a few pictures of some other Messina sights such Church of Christ the King (with a large beautiful basilica dome) and the Fountain of Neptune. Our first visit to Messina was enjoyable and we look forward to visiting this island again in the future. We watched our ship sail out of the port and it is fascinating to look across the channel to mainland Italy and see how close Sicily the mainland.

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Mediterranean cruise 15 - venice

10/26/2014

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Venice is one of our favorite cities in the Mediterranean if not the most favorite. This city has its own unique charm with the canals and gondolas along with Murano’s world famous glass factories. The shops and restaurants around the city are second to none in the Mediterranean. It also has a unique history of how it was originally created and grew into its own republic to an entity of Napoleon’s empire to eventually part of Italy. We arrived in the city in the early afternoon on our ship cruising up the Guidecca Canal passing St Mark’s Square and getting a wonderful view of the city from our high vantage point on deck 18 of our cruise ship. It is truly the best port to enter in a cruise ship with all the scenery and the ship playing the most famous Italian songs! This was our only stop where we had two days to enjoy the city. We took full advantage of this by spending over 10 hours roaming the city on the first day (coming back to the ship after 11PM) and spending over 12 hours the second day getting back to the ship just minutes before final boarding time (being the last 2 passengers on board the ship prior to our departure sailing).

We went on two free walking tours during our stay where all you pay is a tip if you are happy with the tour. The first tour was a 3 hour walk through the San Polo and San Marco regions of Venice. The second tour was a 4 hour tour of the Ghetto and Castello regions. There are 6 mainland regions of Venice along with 3 outlying islands which make up the city. If you look at the symbol on the bow of a Gondola (see picture) you will see bars that extend from this bow feature that represent these regions and some carvings between the bars that represents the islands. The top of this symbol represents the opening of the Grand Canal. As we walked through these two regions we learned many interesting facts about Venice and the local areas. One of the reasons we enjoyed these tours was because the talk was not just about dates, buildings, people and history which can tend to get very boring after a while. We learned about the Venetian wells that were created over 100 years ago to collect rain water and make it available to the people twice a day for use. The wells were owned by wealthy businessman who sold the water to the people for profits. There were once over a thousand wells around the city but today only a few hundred remain and are all sealed shut. We were also told about the flooding issues that Venice has which is made worse due to the fact that the city has slowly sunken over the years from when it was first created by the Romans. The high tide heights can be higher or lower due to the moon position and the western African winds. There are 9 months of potentially high tides which are worse during the winter months. Tides can rise up to 3 feet and it is a common occurrence for the Venetian people. Because of the tides they were boots of varying lengths (depending of the flooding height) and each of the buildings first floors use partitions (see picture) to prevent water intrusion into the rooms. Venetian shoppers will just step over these partitions, buy want they want from a store, and then step back over the partition back into the flooded streets (as just a normal way of life in Venice). Because tourists weren’t prepared for flooding streets and had problems getting their luggage to the hotels from the train and bus stations, the city has put tables in all of the plazas to be placed in a manner to allow tourists to drag their luggage on top of the tables to prevent their luggage from getting wet. This is strange but creative thinking to solve one of the city’s problems. We also learned about the city’s festival that is held once a year in February for two weeks and is very similar to Mardi Gras. There are no parades but everyone wears masks during the festival. The origination of the festival dates back to the middle ages when the ruling class was trying to regain its relationship with the poor people after alienating them during the plague when the rich shut their doors preventing poor and sick people from entering their homes in order to protect themselves from the disease. The festival was created to provide two weeks out of the year when everyone wore masks so that the poor and rich were treated equally. Venetian masks also have another very interesting background. The masks with the large noses were originally worn by doctors. The length of the nose was used to prevent doctors from getting too close to patients with the plague. The large noses also contained various herbs to provide an aroma that was thought to filter out the diseased air. The doctors also used sticks to touch and move the patients to prevent touching them. I don’t think too many patients today would be very happy if modern doctors acted in this way or maybe in a few hundred years people will be looking back at our doctors dressed in Hazmat suits in a similar way and shaking their heads. Who knows? There were so many interesting things we learned about Venice during these two walking tours but we also saw some very interesting sights and learned more historical information on some of the buildings and plazas. We took hundreds of pictures as we walked through some of these areas that were well off the beaten path for most tourists.

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Mediterranean Cruise 14 – Athens

10/22/2014

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With Venice behind us and heading towards Fort Lauderdale, we stopped at Messina, Sicily yesterday. It was the first time we had ever been to Sicily and we will share our pictures from this visit at a later time. Today we are in Naples but decided to use this as a relaxation day and not take any trips to the surrounding areas.

Athens

Our visit to Athens was similar to past visits where we went to downtown Athens to see the Acropolis and the surrounding area. Instead of taking the train as we have on past visits, we took a local bus to town which was right in our cruise terminal and very convenient. We went with a couple of friends to help them find their way to the Acropolis. As our friends went into the Acropolis we elected not to visit the Parthenon and surrounding ruins. Instead we took walked around the Acropolis hill and found some areas we had never visited previously. One of the pictures shows the observatory which was on a nearby hill that contained the Pnyka which was an area used for public meetings in Ancient Greece. As we continued around the Acropolis we entered the Ancient Agora and looked at the Temple of Hephaestus which you will see in one of the pictures. As we continued our walk we came upon an ancient church seen in another picture. We found a really nice hill nearby that was really a rock outcropping with a great view of the Acropolis, the observatory and a modern church (see pictures). As we finished our walk around the Acropolis, we spent some time walking in the Plaka (shopping area) below the Acropolis (see picture). We had lunch in the Plaka trying out the Greek gyros and kebabs. On our way to the bus stop to return to the port, we stopped by Hadrian’s Arch to take a picture. We also took a photo of the ruins of the Temple of Zeus which is next to the arch. That ended our visit to Athens which is always an enjoyable place to spend a day.

Greg & Sharon

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Mediterranean cruise 13 - turkey

10/18/2014

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Well we are on the final segment our cruise heading back to the US! This blog will focus on our port visits to Turkey at Istanbul and Kusadasi. Last night we left Venice after 2 wonderful days of walking the city and taking the vaporettas (water buses) around islands to see much of what the city has to offer. It would probably take a week to really see all of Venice and the out islands that also offer many intriguing sights. We were there for two days and the first day after arriving at 1 PM we walked the city until after 11 PM. The second day we spent over 12 hours roaming the city before taking a beautiful night cruise down the main canal leaving the city for possibly the last time. Venice is no longer allowing in the future large cruise ships to go up the canal due to environmental concerns.

Istanbul

What an interesting city filled with mosques and ruins from the Middle Ages when this city, once called Constantinople, was the capital of the world. The Roman Emperor Constantinople decided the Roman Empire, which controlled most of the civilized world at the time, should be ruled from Istanbul, instead of Rome, since it was more centrally located in the empire. In the city you find the spice market, grand bazaar, Hagia Sofia, Topkapi Palace, Blue Mosque, Galata Tower, Galata Bridge, Suleymaniye Mosque and so many other sites. We went somewhere different during this trip to Istanbul, taking a Funicular to Taskim Square. We walked down Istiklal Caddesi where there are a lot of shops and eateries to enjoy. We first enjoyed a Doner Durum (chicken wrapped sandwich) to start our walk as well as a Turkish ice cream treat as these are some of our favorites while in Turkey! On our way down the road we stopped at the Galata Tower and went to the top to look at the tremendous panoramic views. We always enjoyed walking across the Galata Bridge and watching the hundreds of fisherman trying to catch fish off the top of the bridge with their lines hanging over the many people on the lower deck of the bridge eating at the many seafood restaurants below. We then walked through the Spice Market that we always enjoy seeing with all the colorful spices on display. Unfortunately the Grand Bazaar was closed because it was Sunday but we had been there before and enjoyed the shopping we had done. From there we walked up to the Hagia Sophia church which was the first church built in Istanbul which is over 90% Muslim. It is amazing how much this church looks like a mosque. Right across the plaza from this church is the Blue Mosque which is one of the most recognizable landmarks in Istanbul. As we walked back to the cruise ship from there we saw many restaurants preparing food specialties for their customers. It was fascinating to watch how they made their various specialties and definitely will plan to stop on another return visit. On our night sail out of the city we had an amazing sunset with many gorgeous views of the city. We have only provided just a few of the pictures taken and hope you will enjoy them.

Kusadasi

Normally when we go to Kusadasi we either go to Ephesus (one of the oldest large cities ever discovered) or the Virgin Mary’s final home. Instead of doing one of these things we decided to try out a Turkish bath. We had the full treatment with the sauna, steam bath, salt room, scrub down, soap massage, cold whirlpool, face peel and oil massage. It was a real experience! You can see a picture of Greg with some of our Turkish bath “helpers”. After our “bath” we walked around the city and viewed the many fishing boats in the area and looked at Pigeon Island with Fort Genoese on it. We had an opportunity to walk through their Grand Bazaar and view the carpet weaving performed at one of the stores. We finished our visit with a nice walk along the shore to view some of the shops and restaurants including the unique sculpture of the hand reaching out to the birds. The port has definitely grown since last time we were here and there are many new things to see.

Greg & Sharon

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Mediterranean Cruise 12 – Rome and Amalfi Coast

10/15/2014

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The pictures in this blog will focus on the Amalfi Coast and Rome but we thought we would share what we have been doing since the last blog. Almost 2 weeks ago on Sunday, 10/5, we said good bye to Diana and Robert as we boarded the beautiful Regal Princess. This is Princess’ newest and largest cruise ship which holds around 4200 passengers when full. We will be on this ship for 29 days until we get back to Fort Lauderdale ending our two month European journey.

Our first stop was in Toulon France where we went up to Mount Faron via a cable car with friends we had met on the cruise. We captured some really nice photos of the city below and the mountains in the distance. In the city we also visited a few interesting sites such as the Opera House and Cathedral along with a very interesting sculpture of the bow of a ship. We had been to Toulon once before but it had been on a Sunday when many of the shops were closed. It was nice to see the city alive with people on a normal work day. Toulon is also one of the key ports for the French navy and you can see many of the naval ships as you tour the harbor.

After Toulon we made another visit to Florence, Rome and Naples. After having a much needed sea day to rest up a little we went to Mykonos but unfortunately the weather was so windy that we were unable to safely reach that port, we proceeded onward towards Istanbul. Istanbul is a great port to see and we will talk about this later in a future blog. We visited Kusadasi the following day and tried out a Turkish Bath where we had the full treatment (sauna, steam, salt, scrub, soap massage, facial peel and 30 minute oil massage). Delightful! We have now crossed this off our bucket list! Yesterday we were in Athens where we walked around the Acropolis, visited the spectacular ruins of ancient Greek civilization, temples and strolled down the cobblestone streets of Plaka (lively shopping district) colorful stores, tempting cafes before we settled for a lunch at a Greek restaurant. In our next blog we will further discuss our port visits to Turkey and Greece.

Rome Pictures

We have been to Rome now 3 times and thought we would share some pictures from our visits to this amazing city. There are so many unique sights to see in Rome! The first picture shows Castel Saint Angelo which started as a mausoleum in the second century that was converted to a fortress to protect the popes in the Middle Ages. Later this castle was converted into a prison until it became a historical sight to visit. The next picture shows a lady in Piazza Navone feeding pigeons. This lady had pigeons resting on her arms as she was throwing bird feed to the hundreds of pigeons that flocked around her. The picture showing a sandwich shop shows our favorite place to grab a salami and mozzarella cheese sandwich on focaccia bread. This shop is located just around the corner from Piazza Campo d. Fiori and we recommend you try this out on your next trip to Rome! The next few pictures show your traditional Rome sights: Pantheon, Trevi Fountain (under restoration) and Coliseum. You can then see a picture of us riding our bikes around Rome with Diana and Robert (4-hour bike tour, great way to see Rome). This picture is followed by a good shot of a local pizza maker taking out a long pizza from the oven. The next picture shows Ancient Rome where you can roam and imagine what Rome might have looked like thousands of years ago. You really need one of those books that show before and after pictures to appreciate what the Romans were really able to build. Two of the next three pictures show the Vatican. In the first you can see people gathering for a Wednesday morning mass where the Pope was presiding. It was amazing to see thousands of parishioners from all over the world come for the service/visit and to be recognized by the Vatican for attending. In the second you can see a unique side view of the Vatican from a nearby hill that overlooks the city. There is also a picture of the tomb of Giancolo who was the hero of Rome. Unfortunately he died trying to defend Rome against the French when they came to restore the popes to the Vatican. The final picture is an overview of Rome from Janiculum Hill. There were so many great pictures from this hill it was hard to pick out just one. There is also a canon that is fired from the hill every day at noon where you can also listen to the many church bells that chime all over the city. Rome is certainly a city of many fascinating sights!

Naples/Sorrento/Positano/Amalfi Coast Pictures

The sights along the Amalfi Coast are really breath taking. The cliffs that go down to the sea are beautiful and it is amazing to see all the hotels, buildings, and homes that are on the side of the mountain/cliffs. We went to Positano this trip for the first time and really fell in love with the little city buried along the Amalfi Coast. It is much smaller than some of the other villages but there are shops all along the narrow cobblestone roads that run through the city. Before leaving the Amalfi Coast we visited Sorrento for some great marguerite pizza and wine. This is a nice town with many restaurants, shopping and beautiful views from the marina area. Our private driver, Antonio, was very easy to talk to and helped us learn more about Naples life and what it has to offer. One of the pictures shows us with Antonio and friends (Tim and Lynette) who we went with on one of our trips to the Amalfi Coast. It is amazing to watch the driving in the Amalfi Coast. The cars and buses just park along the side of the narrow roads and other cars and buses don’t hesitate to pass these vehicles even with other vehicles coming from the other direction. In the meantime scooters/motorcycles are racing in and out of traffic even while going around hairpin curves on the cliffs. It is amazing you don’t see wrecks as we are told the locals take their driving very seriously – they do not text while driving and know better not to drink and drive. They know they need to have minds much clearer while trying to maneuver in what we would call “very dangerous driving conditions”. Amazing to note the many times we have visited, we have not seen a crash of any sort. You will note one of the pictures also shows a school bus which we saw frequently on these narrow roads dropping off children who walked up or down the cliffs to their homes. No warning lights/arms, kids just exit and the drivers stop. Kids go to school from 8 am until 12 noon Monday through Saturday. You will also see a photo of a local bakery making cannoli’s (a favorite Italian pastry). No, we didn’t have any pastries here; we stopped earlier that morning at the famous Dolcezze Siciliane bakery that is well known by locals for their Italian pastries/cakes that arrive each day from Sicily by ferry.

Although we have been to the Amalfi Coast many times, we continue to find new places/sights to see that we have not seen previously. It is truly a remarkable place to visit in Italy!

Greg & Sharon

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October 15th, 2014

10/15/2014

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Mediterranean Cruise 11 - france and italy

10/11/2014

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It has been a while since our last blog. We boarded the Liberty of the Seas in Barcelona on September 28th and joined Robert and Diana Leon (Sharon’s sister and brother-in-law) on a 7 day cruise in the Western Mediterranean. Some of the port stops were similar to what we have previously shown but we had a couple of different places we went that we want to share with you.

Our first stop was in Marseille, France where we took a taxi and did our own walking excursion around the city. We had been here on the previous cruise but did not get a chance to stop in the Notre Dame basilica. We did this time and took many pictures from both inside the basilica and on top of it where you saw amazing views of the city below you. We also walked to the complete other side of the port that we were unable to get to on our last stop and take some pictures from a different perspective of the cathedral that we had not previously seen.

Our second stop in Villefranche, France we went to both Monaco and Nice. Since Diana and Robert and not been to Monaco before we took the train to the city and walked up to the palace to show them the sights and where Princess Grace was buried. We took some pictures of the city and the casino on the other side of the port but elected to take the train over to Nice as opposed to seeing the front entrance to the casino since it really wasn’t as impressive from the front side except for all the fancy cars that were kept there. We arrived in Nice and walked down to the beach area and roamed around to see the many restaurants and shops in the area. We had a little snack there before finishing our sightseeing at the panoramic overview of the port.

On our third stop in La Spezia we had decided not to go into Florence due distance to get there (2 hours each way by train). Instead we took a ferry that would take us to “Le Cinque Terre” which was 5 small fishing villages and valleys that are filled with vineyards that have made this area so famous. It is located off the west coast of Italy and has been turned into a National Park and a UNESCO site as a heritage to mankind. They were all very quaint little hamlets set inside small inlets or hanging off cliffs by the sea side. They were extremely picturesque and fun to walk through. There were a few shops and restaurants in each but they were very small towns. In the last village, Monterosso, we had a nice Italian lunch with some wine. Although we did this trip on our own for a small price we were fortunate to get some of the trip narrated in English by some tour operators who had their tour groups on the same ferry we were traveling on. This allowed us to learn more about where we were going.

Our next stop was in Rome where we had arranged a 4 hour private bike tour. In 4 hours we traveled around the city seeing most of the sights and learning a lot about Roman history. We were able to see much more going around the city on the bike than we would have if we had walked. It is amazing though how many of the real tourist attractions are under restoration such as the coliseum and Trevi Fountain. Our final port visited was Naples where we had made arrangements with a private driver, Antonio, to take us all day to the Amalfi Coast, Positano and Sorrento.

We are only including pictures of Marseille, Monaco, Nice and Le Cinque Terre in this blog since we have included pictures of the other cities in previous blogs. Our next blog will include Rome and surrounding areas in Naples.

Greg & Sharon