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Beautiful predawn Naples cove welcomed us

It’s Naples, so of course our first place to go is Pompeii…. I was here 35 years ago and it had changed a lot.. It looked like real ruins back then, now it has been enforced and fixed up quite a bit which makes it easier to imagine what the city was like more than 2000 years ago

The tour also  took us to a cammeo factory in Torre del Greco, a city famous for cammeo making.. I have no idea what it was until today

After we were backed from Pompeii, we check out old town Napoli which is right by the port

Napoli is the 3rd largest city of Italy… The old town area is  definitely not as glamorous as Rome, a bit messy actually but kind of  homey with congested traffic, illegal crossing of streets , litters everywhere , fake goods  stalls interspersed with brand name shops.. Back alleyways with small restaurants and shops and laundry’s flying overhead

We were hungry so we found a pizzaria that looks authentic, as soon as we stepped in, it feels authentic with local families packed the restaurant with babies…ordered Pizza and spaghetti… Two local specialties.. And they are sooo good… For some reason, Italians were able to make their pizza crust and spaghetti more “bouncy” (can’t find a better word to describe) with more texture.. And the sauces have more flavor in it…. Pizza and spaghetti are such common food but the Italians find a way to perfect it

Restaurant is right by the shopping district, one of the major one is Galleria Umberto. Looks very much like the one in Milan next to the Duomo:  Galleria Victoria Immanuel ii… Very pretty

We also venture towards their alleyways where locals shop and eat.

Haha, not quite…. But need to woke up pinching ourselves that we are in Rome. No more rain today and the Sun is out…. What a difference..

We were really happy to have the chance to stay one night at Rome and check out familar places and new places… Even with the longer stay, we still wasn’t able to decently touch Rome’s surface… Luckily we were able to tour the inside of colosseum, Roman forum, pantheon, Vatican city, st Peter’s square before, so we do not need to bother with the Disney land like lines this time….P said Rome wasn’t built in a day and should not be tour in a day 😆

Will surely be back again… We kept seeing the phrase “Roma caput Mundi” everywhere, it’s Latin for: Roman capital of the world…. It really feels like it, so grand, so Majestic….

One again, when life gives you lemons you made lemonade out of it…. We were supposed to be at Livorno /Florence today but port of call got canceled due to weather…. So we arrived at Civitavecchia /Rome one day early and get to stay overnight here…. Rome is 1.5 hours away from Port via train so we booked a hotel and get to over night in the beautiful historic center of Rome and make it a trip within a trip..

We had been to Florence before so not too much anguish here except we already pre-booked to see David at the l’academia museum online…. Anyways, here are the pics we took back in 1998 of our trip in Florence

Now back to Rome

But the walk from the train station to hotel right by Pantheon took 1.5 hours as well.. As we stopped and gawked at every historic building and monuments that we saw on the way and there were plenty..

As we arrived at the hotel we were shocked to find out that it’s right in front of the Pantheon… The junior suite they gave us has one window facing the Pantheon, the other facing piazza de la Rotonda… we were so happy about this hotel choice and took tons of pics and spend quite a long time just people watching from the two windows… Rome is packed with tourist and locals as well since the Easter holiday spilled over to Monday.

We then hit the pavement and heads towards piazza Navona…..

Later it’s Spanish Steps

And then Dinner at one of the restaurant by the side walk that looks really cozy and warm, irresistible in this cold rainy day… The restaurant gave us complimentary prosecco and lemoncello…and that’s enough to get a 5 star Google review from me….. Not to mention that their spaghettis are also delicious… We are in 7th heaven

Walked to Trevi Fountain after Dinner

That’s it for today… More to come tomorrow

Arriving on Easter Sunday, Genoa the 6th biggest city in Italy.

Today we are going to join a full day excursion of the and explore three cities, Santa Margherita, Rapallo (was Portofino but changed to Rapallo at last minute due to bad weather… Portofino needs to access through ferry) and Genoa… the towns that helps define the Italian riviera

First stop is Santa Margherita, little seaside town lined with little bars, cafes and shops that opens even on Easter Sunday and in this awful weather….unlike the French rivieras which are on flater land and with deeper beaches, the Italian rivieras are hilly right by the beach…. The guide told us the reason Mediterranean diets mainly has vegis and fish is because meat is hard to get due to their hilly landscape… Interesting….

Second stop is Rapallo, another small town by the beach just next to Santa Margherita … There is much excitement in the air with kids running around trying to score Easter eggs..

Back to Genoa, lunch at Zeffirino, the chef show us secrets of making a authentic pesto sauce (pesto alla Genovese)… This restaurant is famous for their pesto source and according to the guide, one of the favorite restaurants of Sinatra… We had a wonderful meal there with the group, very festive and happy…

City walk tour of Genova after lunch reaffirms our love of Italy as our favorite country to visit… Their architecture is big scale astounding, the weather also clears up a bit with light drizzle only instead of actual rain earlier

Cant wait to visit the other 4 cities of Italy in the next 4 days…..

Arrived in soupy Toulon port… Suffering from wind and rain from Africa today… According to the guide, it’s rare

They told us there wasnt much to see at the Navel Port town of Toulon, so we booked an excursion. Tour starts at 7am…. The excursion goes to Aix En Provence (will call it Aix from here onwards).. It’s a Former capital of Provence. A small university town. Famous painter Cezanne was born here, love hiking near the mountains of Aix

It’s an hour away from Toulon…. Wonderful to enjoy some Provence scenery on the way….

First stop Cathedral saint sauveur

Turns out the soupy weather is due to this, 👇

Marseille, 2nd largest city of France and a very important Hub for commerce… Also a city that is busy prepping for this year’s Olympic where the sailing events will happen here

La Major Cathedral

Mucem (Museum of Civilizations of Europe and the Mediterranean) … The museum highlights the culture of Mediterranean….great building design and it link up with the neighboring Tour du Fanal castle and makes a perfect old and new pairing

Walk from Mucem to old port

Lunch by the vieux (old) port. I ordered the famous Marseille bouillabaisse (fresh fish soup with cod sourced from local fish market) P ordered the grilled Limande (sole 龍利）…he loved his dish so much but mine is a little too fishy

Capucine food market

Cour Julian… Street famous for graffiti that were deemed artsy

Random street scene during our after lunch stroll

Marseille is very Metropolitan and very multi cultural … A port town whose vibe reminds us of Kaoshiung in Taiwan

Btw… We saw a lot of Carrefour (家樂福）stores in Barcelona and in Marceille….all this time I thought they are a Taiwan chain…. Now I know Carrefour was founded in France and based in France

When we were here 20 something years ago (honestly we can’t remember the year, but it’s before Euro) on our first cruise of the Mediterranean from Gibraltar to Barcelona, Barcelona being the last stop…we were absolutely stunned by her beauty, all those curvaceous lines and colors and uncompromising glamour is unlike any city we had ever experienced… Like seeing a beautiful flamenco dancer in her full regalia…. So we are happy to be back

La Sagrada Familia

Pg. De Gràcia

Casa miro

Casa Batlló

Placa de catalunya

Arc de Triomf

Hotpot lunch

La Palau de la musica…. My pictures did not do the place justice… You can Google the place if it piques your interest….it’s not Gaudi’s modernist style so the ticket is not as expensive but to our opinion, we love this one better, it has a good balance between modernist and art noveau style

Boqueria market

La Rambla, the busiest street in Barcelona also the most dangerous where lots of pick pockets traverse

The effect of over tourism is everywhere in this city… We survived the rush and made it back to the ship…..

So we are savoring this single sea day as the next 8 days is going to be super busy with stops: Barcelona, Marseille, Toulon, Genoa, Florence, Rome, Naples and Sicily.. We remind ourselves to take it easy since half of them we already been and it’s never possible to see everything, so just chill and soaked in the vibe

Today they are having an art exhibition of students work during sea day classes, and P attended 3 classes, thus 3 water color paintings….

This seaside town is charming and glamorous with a lot of Roman remains and relics

The busy buzzling street lined with buildings with glorious ornate facades

The Roman Theatre of Carthago Nova

The Roman forum museum

Once again we were overwhelmed with lots of beauty and details… Its going to get worst as the next stop is Barcelona….. The downside of cruise travel is we only stop for average 8 hours and some cities needs at least a week…. Now we can understand why a lot of the cruisers onboard do the world cruise multiple times… Each time check out different places….

The captain announced the change of sea Port from Cardiz to Cartagena due to weather conditions so we are actually trying to outrun a storm….

Crossing the Gibraltar strait today…many cargo ships in sight…. Not sure if this is busier than usual volume due to red dea/ Suez canal crisis.. It’s interesting to sail in the middle of the strait and view the land of morroco on the right and Gibraltar on the left.

Some specialty meals on the ship is not free and requires an up charge… Today For lunch we tried the seafood bucket lunch for $40 per person and it’s great value… The bucket is packed with lots of goodies such as lobster tails and claws, crabs and shrimps, mussels and clams…and this feast also comes with hush puppies, seafood chowder and desserts

Princess invited a person name Pete Best who is the original drummer of Beatles to give us a talk about how they first started and one of the interesting little thing he mentioned about Beatles is in the beginning they wore leather clothing like rock bands, it’s when they have a new manager later who suggested that they wore suits, an idea they first resist but later became their signature