Roman Holiday

Ok. We were getting tired. Only day 3 of the cruise but it had been 2 huge days on the back of a several huge weeks of travel.

We woke in the port of Civitavecchia, the gateway to Rome.

I really love early mornings on deck. 

For some reason, I was waking quite early, whilst Sequoia was needed that bit extra sleep in the mornings.

Breakfast in the windjammer cafe is always a treat.

Now, I had booked our tickets to Vatican City whilst still in Australia and was looking forward to taking in the Sistine Chapel. Unfortunately, due to delays in getting off the ship and taking the shuttle bus to the entrance of the port, we realised that there was no way that we were going to make it in time for our skip the line entry time.

There was always going to be things like this, but we decided to just cut our losses and go and see a bit of Rome. We we managed to negotiate a slightly better price for one of the shuttle buses available for the hour long trip to the city, but ended up sitting there for 40 minutes waiting for other cruisers to hop aboard.

Eventually we arrived. Now, I never expected to be able to see all of Rome in a single day, but somehow we managed to see a grand total of 2 sights!!! One of which was closed for renovations.

Oh well. We ended up having a fun time anyway. As they say, when in Rome...

And isn't always all about the food?

A little cappuccino and Italian pastry stop as we wandered soon made everything alright.

Now, what does a birthday girl want to do whilst in Rome? That's right. Go shopping!

It was really fun to watch Sequoia pick up some Italian fashion. Her big smile made the whole day more than worth it.

We made our way through the streets of Rome to the Spanish Steps.

Just so many people though.

We kept wandering, searching for the Trevi Fountain, gelato in hand...

Only to find the fountain under reconstruction. All I could think was all these poor people who can't throw a coin and will never come back to Rome!!!

Apparently there was a small break in the barricade where you could throw a coin, but we of course missed that because of the sheer volume of (disappointed) tourists.

Sequoia started humming a tune. It sounded familiar...

'This is what dreams are made of...' Thank you Lizzie McGuire Movie. No La Dolce Vita for us, let's get our travel tips from a Disney Movie! It was lunch time and Sequoia started leading us down a side street trying to find the restaurant from the movie.

I'm not sure if we found the right one, but there were loads of people sitting outside smiling, so we decided this was the place for our Roman meal.

lol, I should have really known better. We were waaay to close to the Trevi. But it was lunch time and the minutes were ticking by.

Sequoia enjoyed her plate of pasta. I, however decided to sample the pizza. On the menu, it advised that the price was €2 per 100gs. I chose 2 types of pizza expecting perhaps 2 slices of each.

This is what arrived at our table:

Just for me!!!!

I tried to clarify with the waiter what the cost was but he suddenly could not speak such good English.

So we ate. I think I managed 2.5 of those slices...and that was pushing it.

When it came time to pay the bill, I was absolutely horrified to find that he had brought me out €24 worth of pizza! That is over 2 kilo of pizza, costing over $A40. What an absolute scam.

I tried to reason with them, but in the end, I ended up just paying as I really did not want to deal with the Italian police. I look forward to writing my honest review in TripAdvisor!

We only had now to make our way back to where we're meeting the bus back to the Port. 

We got back to the ship to find our stateroom attendant had left a little gift on our bed:

This seemed to make so much about the day alright.

Anyway, Rome is somewhere I think I'd love to spend a week. I know I will be back. There is so much I'd love to see and it was just a fun place to wander.

I know on every trip there will be at least one day that just doesn't go right and Rome for us seemed to tick many boxes. But we had fun anyway. 😀

All along the Watchtower

We woke up in Livorno, Italy, ready to explore Cinque Terre. Now, I need to admit that I have been pronouncing the name of these five villages together hopelessly incorrectly. It apparently is 'chinka tare-a', not 'sink tare' as I had been calling it. Mind you, I have studied French not Italian, so it reads like my way. Haha.

Early morning found us already breakfasted and boarding a bus.

The route to the villages took us within sight of the leaning tower of Pisa. Unfortunately no kitsch photos of either of us holding up the tower, though.

I have come to the conclusion that there was so much interest in the Cinque Terre, the Cruise Line decided to put on another tour. We had to do a slight diversion into La Spezia to pick up a local guide as the one we had from Livorno was from Florence. The Royal Caribbean cruise tours are very expensive so we generally we happy to make our own way around, but is it was quite a way to get to the 5 villages on the hills, we decided to go with one of the ship'so tours to ensure we got back to the ship in time.

The port of La Spezia, however, is really quite stunning, as we discovered as we finally made our way up the mountain range.

After a bit of twisting and turning on the bus, we found ourselves walking down to our first village, Maranola. Due to time constraints and ready access, the tour would take us to 3 of the 5 villages only.

Aside from the multiple bus-loads of tourists all arriving at that same moment, it really is spectacular.

Apparently pirates used to be a major problem along this coast, so each village had to have ways of alerting and protecting their people. Lots of bell towers and watch towers.

Many of the townspeople grow their own wine grapes and citrus right in their courtyards.

The villages are really quite tiny, with a total population around 2000 people in total.

We kept finding cute little corners.

After a bit of group time as we made our way through the terraced village, we were given a short time to explore on our own. Sequoia and I decided to sample some of the local produce in the form of some bruschetta and local Cinque Terre wine.

I must say that the wine is absolutely delicious and I am very sad I do not have any to bring back with me. I am ok with this as I most definitely will be back. I would love to spend a few nights at one of BnBs scattered throughout the villages - preferably one that the cruise ships do not visit! Just saying.

After our little repast, we made our way down to the ferry dock, where we were now transported to our next village, Vernazza.

Farewell, Maranola!

Vernazza was just teeming with visitors. Another gorgeous little town, which really needs to be seen without the crowds, of which Sequoia and I were of course part of.

In Vernazza, we had a bit of a wander and then enjoyed some more wine.

Sequoia always makes friend wherever we go:

Our little hidey-hole: free wifi and wine...sold!

Soon it was time to ferry over to our final village, which also happened to be the largest, Monterosso.

This part of the tour included a wine tasting and some local snacks. Anyway, I could have told them already the wine was good. Lol.

We asked for a lunch recommendation from our guide, Francesca, who said that the restaurant we first passed as we came up from the dock was very good.

Francesca, our guide (in the glasses):

Our guide was very friendly and knowledgable but really did struggle with the microphone to all the earpieces that our group were wearing. We let the other guide know that Francesca was speaking loudly into a lapel pin that she was holding up to her lips, which was not only deafening on the lowest volume but also terribly distorted, but it didn't get any better.

When we made our way back to the suggested restaurant, we discovered it was completely full. However, we somehow managed to snag a much desired table as our fellow  cruisers watched on in sheer persistence and that there was only 2 of us.

The smugness, however, did wear off fairly quickly. The pasta dishes Sequoia and I ordered were pretty ordinary. I will say though that the area's specialty is seafood, which neither of us eat, but although the fresh pasta was quite delicious, the sauces were bland. My bolognaise sauce is much better, we both agreed.

Well, not to worry. The wine was superb and we ordered some dessert. This is what came out:

I'm sorry, but I wasn't expecting my sorbet to come out as a drink. That's not a dessert! But apparently it is in this part of the world. Although, I will admit that we did see this same 'dessert' on the drinks menu later on in the trip.

It was now time to start heading back to the ship, so we made our way to the local train station, and eventually back to the bus for the long ride back.

We did love Cinque Terre, but a cruise ship tour did not do it even remote justice. As I said, I look forward to visiting again independently.

Once back on the cruise ship, we were treated to a spectacular sunset, with the much-feted blood moon in ascension,

and another delicious meal.

An early night was in order, but we did catch most of the evening cabaret show I the Mascarade Theatre. They really do have some talented people in board.

We also had got into the practice of taking a dip in the hot tubs on deck in the evening. Not a bad way to end a lovely but busy day.

In the south of France

We woke up, after a restful night's sleep in the South of France.

A beautiful day stretched out in front of us, and we were back in our beloved France. Being new to this whole cruising thing, we navigated the whole tender ticket thing and before we knew it, we were docking in the gorgeous port of Villefranche.

Our tender:

Villefranche is a gorgeous little seaside village.

We couldn't have asked for more perfect weather.

Again, I made the mistake of using the little French language I have by asking confidently where the train station is. Again, I received a reply in rapid French that left is wandering off in the direction the French Monsieur pointed.

Eventually, we did find where we needed to be.

The views from the station were spectacular...something we got to enjoy for a prolonged period of time due to an eternally delayed locomotive.

Cheers erupted where the train towards Monaco arrived and we were eventually on our way...

2 stops later, we were at Eze sur-Le-Mer Station and we made our way up the bus stop. 

Unfortunately, it was Sturday - a weekend day in the South of France - worse than island time! We waited for about an hour for one of the 3 buses that was making it's way that day up to the village.

The view whilst we waited was pretty though.

Finally we were taking our lives in our hands and and made the death-defying bus ride up to this gorgeous little medieval village.

The views were spectacular however!

Finally we arrived in Eze and realised because it took so long to get there, we only had a limited time for a wander.

We had time for a little refreshment stop.

Then before we knew it, it was time to head back down 😕

Where we we made our way back to Villefranche and were tendered back to the ship.

Time for another delicious silver-service meal.

This is what we found in the bed when we got back to the cabin...