# 47
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The Map

For those people that have been keeping track of where our ship was going on our cruise here's the map.

Sep 26  Civitavecchia.
Sep 27  La Spezia and Cinqua Terre,
Sep 28  Cannes (home of the film festival)
Sep 29  Mallorca (where I bought pearl earrings)
Sep 30  Barcelona
Oct 01 at sea
Oct 02  Malta (where we bought hats)
Oct 03  Corfu
Oct 04  Messina (met Rosemary and Armand)
Oct 05  Naples (trip to Pompeii)
Oct 06  Civitaveccia

Home many ports of call did you recognize?

# 46
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More pics  


The secluded hot tub 4 decks above our room.  There was seldom anyone else here.  Quiet area.

 Near the signature and hand print of Paul McCartney, we found one for Sly Stalone.   There were so many prints, from so many decades!

 How it looked from our balcony when the azipods were taking the ship out of the harbour.  Incredible colour!







This ancient olive tree was the focal point of the town square.  I bought some pearl earrings because this island is famous for their pearls.

# 45
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Missing Pics

Have you ever had that "ahaa" moment?  That moment when you get the little light bulb above your head?  You remember!  The memory card for our new camera wouldn't fit into the port of my tablet, so we used a mini card with an adapter.  There were over 100 pictures on the big memory card that was stored in the camera case in it's little plastic envelope.  I found the missing pics  ALL OF THEM!

The interior of our cabin




   

The incredible balcony                                                                     The infinity pool up top
                                                                                                         

                                                       








Some of the hot tubs                                                                         Retractable roof pool
    and another big pool                                                                      with more hot tubs
                                                                                                             

# 44
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Orentano, Tuscany

The maps function of my phone was steering us in the right direction.  The land started to slope more and hills were visible in the distance.








There were ancient castles and vineyards, modern villas and farms, If you think of all the gorgeous scenery of Tuscany that they show in the movies, it's just about right. Tuscany is lovely.  I think if we were ever to move to Italy, I would vote for this region.





Marianna and Salvatore and their daughter, Nadia, lived in a lovely home in Orentano, a small village west of Pisa.  The town had both old world charm and modern amenities. Salvatore had a small shop and made shoes.  He custom made me a pair of black dress sandles, and gave me two other pairs of sandles from the inventory that was boxed and ready to be shipped.  How lucky am I ! ! !  What a great gift.  Grazia Sal.

# 43
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Northward

Renting a car with a G.P.S. was stupidly expensive so before we left Canada I did some research and decided to change my cell phone plan so we could use it for our European maps.  With Rogers I could opt into a Roam Like Home feature and for $10 per 24 hours of use, my phone would work just like it does in Canada.  Data rates and amounts, long distance, texting and Google Maps.  Nice.
If I didn't use the service and turned off my phone, it cost me nothing, but while we were travelling from Civitavecchia to Orentano in Tuscany, my phone told us every turn, every roundabout and how to get to the nearest gas station or restaurant.  It never took us to the wrong place and it actually told us when there was an accident or local construction to avoid.  It work very well. Thank you Google Maps!

Our plan was to spend a couple of days in Tuscany with Mike's cousin Marianna and her husband Salvatore.  The three of them had spent time together in the summer of 1970 when Mike and his family had been visiting.  They had lost touch until just this year.  After Mike's mom passed away, Salvatore had contacted him on Facebook through another family member.  That's one of the nicer features of the internet.
                                                                                                                     

A rest stop along the A1 highway where we had some coffee and lemon treats for lunch and took a look at the paper map. Orentano didn't actually show up on the map, but my phone knew where it was.




Mrs. G had tried to stay in touch with her family while we were on the cruise. At each stop along the way we had looked for places where we could send and receive e-mail and or text messages.  Her father was ill and failing.  The morning we were waiting to get off the ship I signed her tablet in on my last few minutes of paid wi fi.  Her sister had sent her a message that their dad was not doing well at all and they were letting family know it was time to say their goodbyes.  It wasn't good news to receive, but at least she knew his time was near and that night, from their hotel, she got to talk to her dad for the last time. Again the internet provided a service as she saw her dad on her tablet . . . face to face.

# 42
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Oct 6th



This was it.  The last day of our cruise.  It had been 11 days, 10 nights of travel, dining, sightseeing, eating, playing, snacking, visiting, munching, walking, nibbling!!!  With all the food we had enjoyed since we came on board, I wouldn't be surprised if we've each gained about 5 pounds, if not more.

Our friends had given us a couple of specialty coffee coupons so we each had a cappuccino as we waited to leave.

Disembarking was actually easier than getting on board.  We gathered our suitcases in the terminal warehouse and lined up for the bus to take us out of the pier area.  It didn't take long and soon we were headed out of the gates and walking (hopefully) toward the rental office.

It was only two blocks away and within an hour both couples were heading off in different directions in our respective cars.  Mike and I had a 2015 Alpha Romeo Guillietta.  Nice car, stick shift, diesel. We had inquired about getting a car with  a G.P.S. when we first booked the rental from Canada, before our trip.

 The guy told us, "We take them out so you can rent them from us."  The rental for the navigation system was $140 Euro per week.  No Thank You!

# 41
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Oct 5th

This day had started well and having already docked at 7, it was soon time to gather in the theater area to prepare for our shore excursion.  Once again the weather was a bit "iffy" and staff were handing out plastic ponchos.  I still hadn't opened the other set from a few days ago, so I declined the offer.  We filed into the bus and were soon on our way.  The tour guide for this city was so much more entertaining and knowledgeable than the previous outing.  He spoke English very well, although with an accent, and began giving descriptions as soon as we pulled out of the pier area.  He gave details about the city and the outskirts as we traveled to our destination.

This was one of the places that I really wanted to see, and it didn't disappoint.  We were on site for at least three hours, but I could have spent double that amount of time exploring and taking in all the details.  Amazing how the life and times were captured so poignantly in such a short time frame.

# 40
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Oct 4th

Once again we were docking by 8 a.m.  This time it was the second last stop of our trip.  This island sits west of the toe on the boot and is part of Italy. Mike and I walked a few blocks and inquired about a taxi or small bus to take us on a tour.  In the midst of  negotiations, we met a young couple from Holland who offered to share a car or van with us.  The driver still wouldn't agree to our terms, so the four of us walked away and bought tickets for the local tour train.  Good decision. It returned to the square every hour so we had some time to wait.














Rosemary and Armand spent the day with us, sipping cappuccino, riding the tour train, and shopping for little people clothes.  We were shopping for our grand children, but I think Rosemary was expecting a child as she looked at a lot of little girl outfits.





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The view from the top of the hill was incredible.
When the tour train stopped we all got out to take pictures.  Wow




The ticket for the tour included hop on / hop off for the day so we took advantage and went in the other direction as well.  All this riding and picture taking made the men thirsty so we stopped for a sip at the end of the ride.   I opted for yet another cappuccino. Secret is out, now you know where we were.                                                              

# 39
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Oct 3rd

It was Saturday and by noon we had docked at this island that was our easternmost port.  The original plan was to stop at Tunisia, but after a bus load of tourists was attached when they stopped to visit a church, Tunis was taken off the agenda.  There were plenty of places to shop, have lunch or a nice cappuccino.  We were only stopping here for 6 hours, so we wanted to see as much as we could and attempted to sample the flavours and sights here.






With having such a small taste of this country, it might be a good idea to plan another trip to see the rest of the islands and spend a bit more time exploring.


The beaches were beautiful and the weather left nothing to be desired.  Our one night of wind and waves was long forgotten and once again, cruising was the way to go.

# 38
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Oct 2nd

The cruise ship was docked by 8 a.m. We were at a small island south west of the toe of Italy's boot.  For some reason I didn't order a cappuccino here, but there was a lot to see and do.  We opted for the local tourist bus trip around the island and hurried to get a seat on the upper deck.  (You get better pics when you don't have a roof.)










We stopped to visit a glass blowing factory on our way to the ancient walled city at the top of the mountain.  Once there, the bus driver had us all get off the bus, saying there would be another to take us back to the port in 20 minutes.  An hour and a half later, we flagged down a bus about three blocks away.  It took us back to the main city and then we literally ran back to the pier so we'd be on board by the specified time.

             Can you imagine what would happen if we didn't get back before the ship left?


Because we had some time to kill on the top of the mountain, we did a bit of shopping.  We got straw hats.  Yee haw!   Here's a double selfie while we sat on the end of our bed.  The whole wall was a mirror, so this was easy.

# 37
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Wed or Thurs?

I can't remember which night it was, but one night on the ship was a bit rough.  Well, maybe more than a bit.  It was rather difficult to walk anywhere and when we went to bed, we were being tossed about in our bed quite a bit.   At some point during the night, the suitcases came crashing out of the closet door, and banged into the bathroom.  Yup, it was a rough night.  That doesn't usually bother us much, I have always had pretty steady sea legs, but Mike actually had to go to the duty free shop and get some sea sickness gum.  There was a lot of wind that night and being on the back of the ship, we felt all of the movement.  So the big balcony was the pro making up for that con.  It wasn't that big a deal.  It made for an interesting evening though.

Almost every night after dinner, Mike and I would spend some time at the piano lounge in the middle of the ship. The casino was way too smokey so this was a nice alternative, (and cheaper than losing to the one armed bandits). A South American trio played soft lounge tunes.  The female vocalist had a decent voice, the drummer knew how to play gently, and the piano player could play.  It just so happened that we knew almost every song they played, and it made for a pleasant night.  Free drinks didn't hurt either.  They did a great version of  "No More Lonely Nights", and each night when they noticed us coming into the lounge, they would play it for me.  That's a great way to show customer appreciation.  I wish the pictures had turned out, but sometimes I just get fuzzy photos.

# 36
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Oct 1st    At Sea




We didn't do a lot on board while at sea, but I managed to try three different cocktails in the afternoon and evening.  The price of the trip included a package of 12 free drinks . . . each, so we decided it was time to start sampling. That afternoon the four of us sat around a table and played a game of cards.  Yup, we're that weird.  
The ship actually made a really nice cappuccino, at least they did at the bar just outside the buffet.  This made for a relatively quiet and serene place to enjoy my coffee.  Not only that, the constant top side wind was almost non existent. 

Our first day at sea was our second formal dinner on this cruise. Because we like to travel light, Mike took one suit with two different shirts and ties, and I took two outfits with the same shoes and shawl.  There were some couples with tuxedos and evening gowns, but that's not for us on a cruise. This is about as formal as we got!

# 35
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Sep 30

Before 9 the next morning we had docked and were waiting in the lounge area for our shore excursion. We were taking the city tour because neither of us had been here before.  The day wasn't co-operating very well.  It was cloudy and cool and there was rain off and on with much the same in the forecast for the rest of the day.  Our staff was handing out plastic ponchos for those of us that wanted them.  I took one for each of us, but if it stayed a drizzle all day, I could live with it.  Besides, I had my travel umbrella.  No wonder my shoulder bag was so heavy.  I carried far too much with me everywhere.


This city is the capital of the autonomous community of Catalonia in Spain.  Our tour guide always sounded like she had a lisp when she said the city name. She didn't have a lisp and it still makes me laugh when I think about it.

While on the chartered bus, we passed by this store. Can you tell that I'm a big Paul McCartney fan? Even taking pictures of his daughter's store?  Too much?

While there we toured the ancient city at the top of the hill and spent an hour or so visiting the shops in this major tourist attraction.

This time my cappuccino was in a paper cup and it really wasn't all that bad, but not the best.

# 34  
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Sep 29  
There was a grand theater at the bow of our ship that could hold over 1500 guests.  The cruise line didn't have any headliners, but the on board compliment of singers and dancers did a pretty good job of entertaining us each night.  We usually sat somewhere near the back on the lower level just because it was easier to leave right after the performance.

Our balcony was double the depth you see in this picture.  Too bad the photos from the first day on board are missing.  I took a few of our cabin and balcony because I couldn't believe how much room we had.
In the background you can see the island, just south of Barcelona, Spain, that was our next port of call.  It was 2 p.m. before we actually docked and the schedule said we'd be leaving just after midnight. That wasn't a lot of time, but we did manage to find a cafe and a super fancy cappuccino.

 

# 33
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Sep 28th     France

The ship left port around midnight so the rumble of the azipods was felt and heard just a little.  Once we headed out to sea things quieted down and we slept well until morning.  A new day meant a new country.  We headed west and landed just off the coast of this French town known for it's annual festival.


Our ship was too large for the pier so we had to drop anchor in the bay and take the life boats in to the shore.  There was a great promenade that ran all along the waterfront.  We walked a lot in this city.  It was well worth the stop here.  Very beautiful with some interesting history from the world of films.

 I found the spot where Paul McCartney left the imprint of his hands and signed his name in the wet cement. The place was covered in signatures. The history of visits by famous people goes back to 1946, the year of the first festival.  Impressive.  Have you figured it out?

# 32
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Sep 27  Still in Italy

Most of the pictures I had taken in the first few days of our trip have gone astray.  I don't know whether I've deleted them from my phone, or if I didn't save them properly, but they are gone.  I had planned to do something special with the photos, but since they can't be found, as yet, I'll make do with what I was able to glean from Mike's camera and what was still available on my phone.

We had sailed up the western coast of Italy overnight and were docked by 8 a.m. right near the top of the boot.  After a quick breakfast upstairs we made our way to the gangway on the 4th deck.


On shore Mr. and Mrs. B had arranged to meet with his sister and her family and spend the day with them, while Mike and I did the regular touristy things.  We went for a ride on a tour train and stopped off near a fountain in a huge public square. We found a little cafe/bar with free wifi and stopped for a cappuccino.  It was really good.  I didn't know they could be that rich and frothy and yum!  I was hooked.

This area on Italy's north west coast is famous for five small towns nestled in the hills.  They are so close that you can walk from one to another.  Did you find the place?

# 31  
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Cruising

Our room was great, but our balcony was WOW!  Being in the corner cabin at the stern, we had unobstructed views in three directions.  One drawback though, was the vibration and noise from the azipods as they maneuvered the ship out of the harbour and into the Mediterranean. Once we were in open sea and cruising, you didn't feel or hear anything, it was just as we came into and left port.

There were 16 decks on this vessel and it was only three decks directly above us to the buffet restaurant, and one more to the pool and outdoor bar then one more to the private hot tub area.  Being at the back of the ship had some really nice positives to it.  One down side was that it was a long walk to the dining area, the theater or the enclosed solarium.  As it turned out, that long walk was really good for me and it wasn't as if I was on crutches or in a wheel chair.  It was just walking.



The first night we had a gorgeous moonlit view from our balcony.  I wish this picture could do it justice, but it just can't.


There had been no sleeping since 6 a.m. the day before and with almost 30 hours of travel and excitement, we decided to get to bed early the first night.  Tomorrow was our first stop at La Spezia and Cinque Terre in northern Italy.  We were cruising the Mediterranean and life was good!