Travelog: Mediterranean Cruise Pt. 2

I hope you're ready to read more about my Mediterranean adventures! There isn't going to be a Travelog longer than the first, I think (there being only one at sea day), but this one could probably hold its own. A majority of the port-of-calls in this Travelog are in Italy but we do venture out into France and Malta as well. It seems like just yesterday I was sweltering under the unforgiving blaze of a European summer sun. That thing is relentless. Despite the copious amounts of sweat pouring down my back (that's specific to Cannes) (spoiler alert), I had a blast exploring and learning more about these gorgeous cities. Enough of my yammering. Click that read more to see what's in store but don't forget to check out the first Travelog if you haven't already!

7/18/15 Rome, Italy

The thing about Rome is that its port, Civitavecchia, is a good hour and a half away. That’s three hours out of an already tightly scheduled day. We’d planned to go inside the Coliseum before our guided Segway tour but by the time we made it to the city, we were already out of time. We had bought tickets to the Coliseum in advance, thinking we would save some time and skip the line but the line for those who already had tickets was even longer than the line to purchase tickets. As cool as it would have been to see the inside of the Coliseum, it was literally impossible even if we didn’t have a tour scheduled. We settled for taking some pictures outside and took a cab back to the Castel Sant’Angelo (which is literally across the street from Vatican City) to meet up with our guide and hop on the Segways.

Gordon getting a free refill.

I’ve been on a Segway tour once before but that was in Edmonds, Washington. This time around, we spent a lot of time on cobblestone roads, which made for an exciting (read: turbulent (not that I mind turbulent)) ride. We were on a slightly altered version of the Lovely Tour and got to see Piazza del Popolo, Villa Borghese, the Spanish Steps and Piazza di Spagna, the Fontana di Trevi, the Pantheon, and Piazza Nanova (I hope that’s all of them). Learning about the history of some of these places is so amazing. It was my first time at the Spanish Steps and it was just like in the movies except teeming with tourists. The fountain in front of it, the Fontana della Baracaccia, is the only monumental fountain in Rome that you can drink from. You might remember from your history lessons that Rome had (and still has) an incredible aqueduct system. Because of these, there are thousands of little fountains around the city that spouts out clean, fresh, drinkable water.

I found the obelisk in the middle of the Piazza del Popolo called the Flaminio Obelisk to be very impressive. It’s the original Egyptian obelisk sent to Rome as a gift in the ancient times. Even more impressive is that they shipped it over in one piece. The Egyptians cushioned the obelisks with lentils. They used ancient packing peanuts. This obelisk was one of Rome’s many monuments under restoration in preparation for some type of Catholic (?) (I’m very bad at religions but Italy is known for its Catholicism, right?) event (also ? the tour guide was not very clear on that) that starts at the end of this year.

Flaminio Obelisk 

One of my favorite sights from the last time I visited Rome was the Trevi Fountain. This time, unfortunately, it was one of the monuments still under construction so the water was drained and there were fences all around it. It was nice to see the gelato shop we visited six years ago was still there. Our next stop was a church called the Pantheon. It’s one of those buildings with a dome that holds itself up. The tippy top of the dome is empty and lets in all sorts of weather. Our guide told us that there’s speculation that way back when, rain never made it to the floor because the heat of the bodies in the church and the candles were enough to evaporate the water. Who knows? The only thing I can be sure about is that if you love architecture, Europe really is the place to be. I was in a near-constant state of “how dey do dat???”

Trevi Fountain

Pantheon dome

Our show that night was called The Soprano Experience featuring Jennifer Fair. I was expecting great things out of that show and she definitely delivered. With a mix of classical and pop music, she caters to all audiences and her voice really is stunning. I hope I get to see her perform again in the future. We considered getting her CD but for whatever reason every artist that performs on cruise ships sell their albums for $20. Is that in their contracts or something? 

7/19/15 Florence/Pisa, Italy

Florence from a lookout.

Livorno, the port we were docked at, is near both Florence and Pisa so in order to get the best of both worlds, we joined a semi-private tour that would take us to both cities. Our first stop, Florence, was about an hour away from the port whereas Pisa is only twenty minutes away, so most tours take passengers to Pisa first. By going straight to Florence (via scenic route), we were able to see the countryside in the morning and beat the rush of tourists heading to Florence in the afternoon. Upon arrival, our driver gave us a map of the city, pointed out the landmarks, and let us go to explore on our own. The main street was full of shops and the churches and art were off to the sides. We didn’t have enough time to go into any of the landmarks and appreciate the art but we did have time to head into this marketplace for lunch. The way our driver described it, I expected an outdoor market but it was so much nicer. Indoors with lots of fans and a wide variety of Italian food to choose from with clean bathrooms and free wifi. You can’t ask for much more. The star of the meal was definitely the pasta with truffle cream. It was so good that my mom went to their stall and bought some bottles of black truffle oil (the 10% off coupon that came with the pasta was a bonus). I also managed to send a postcard to Allison before grabbing some gelato and heading to Pisa.

Pesto linguini and gnocchi 

Pasta with truffle cream (oh my gooooooooooood)

Me with the tower and my new friend.

We didn’t end up spending a lot of time in Pisa because all there really is to see is the Leaning Tower. Since Pisa is about an hour away from Florence, I dozed off but I woke up just in time to catch a glimpse of the tower as we turned the corner. I audibly gasped a “whoa.” I could not believe my eyes. I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that I’ve been so close to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I made a point to have as many cheesy touristy pictures as possible. Shamelessly holding up the entire tower by myself with all the others tourists doing the same in the background. In that one hour we had in Pisa, the only thing we accomplished were taking some great tacky photos which was totally fine by me. On our way back to Livorno, we passed by fields of sunflowers. I wish we would’ve been able to stop and take pictures like at the Tulip Festival in Mount Vernon. Those fields captured my heart.

The tower leaned into my kiss... the rest was history.

Italian sunflower fields from a moving car.

Back on the ship, the night’s entertainment was Angels, the acrobatic show. It was so beautiful and the story was really cute. My favorite parts were when the two of them used each other to perform. One time the guy had the girl do a one-armed handstand on his forehead and he used his neck to keep her up??? What???? 

7/20/15 Cannes, France

Meryl Streep has bigger hands than me.

I’m not gonna lie, there’s not much to see in Cannes. I mean the Cannes Film Festival is held there every year but when it’s not that time of year, it’s just a building. They do have celebrities’ handprints outside of the building which is pretty cool, but there’s nothing else much to identify it as the venue for the festival other than the overpriced souvenirs. The highlight of my day was shopping for pate de foie in Carrefour. That may make today sound boring, but it really is a genuine highlight for me. Last time we were in France, we bought a bunch of pate and our stock has since dwindled. In recent years we’ve been rationing out our last cans. I am elated to finally have enough to go around. (We may or may not have bought everything they had on the shelf…)

Promo for Baku 2015 European Games.
I promise I'm wearing pants.

I didn’t end up spending too much time on shore. Since it was so hot and there wasn’t much to see on top of our grocery haul (which included twelve liters of water (six of those were sparkling)), I decided not to go back out when we returned to the ship with our purchases. My parents, on the other hand, were eager to get back out there and swim in the French Riviera waters. They had a pretty good time from what I heard.

The evening’s entertainment was a magic show. A cruise classic. The magicians they brought on board this time were called Haines Magic and I’m pretty sure they performed on the last cruise we went on last summer but they’ve updated their show and there are a few illusions that I still can’t work out. 

7/21/15 At Sea

Seriously, we aren't even making waves.

I’m not sure if I have ever been more grateful for at sea days than I have been on this cruise. We have so many things to accomplish with early wake up calls on all our port days that a day of rest is very much needed. Even the ship seemed like it needed a break based on how we were going no faster than a crawl through the ocean.

Everybody loves a good photoshoot.

Similar to the last at sea day, I spent most of my time reading and blogging. I also explored a little more of the ship. Okay, I just hung out in the library (to blog) and called it “exploring.” It’s a pretty boring day to blog about, but the entire family wore the matching Pokémon shirts we wore on my birthday and we got to see a group called 4ever perform in the Stardust Theater. They were phenomenal – singing in English, Spanish, and Italian. They performed all my favorites but my absolute favorite of their setlist was Unchained Melody in Italian. They have another show slated for the end of the cruise so I’m super pumped about that. 

7/22/15 Valletta, Malta

Valletta glows in the morning.

A must-do when coming into Valletta via cruise is to get up and out on deck when the ship is pulling in. Seeing the walls of the city is a stunning sight. The stone reflects the light back and everything glows. Also, since Valletta was pretty much a fort, they have some pretty impressive buildings lining the wall.

Luzzi in Marsaxlokk (zoom in to find the eyes)

Our first order of business was to get to the bus terminal to catch a bus to Marsaxlokk, a fishing village famous for their colorful boats called luzzu. Luzzi are fishing boats known for their bright colors and the eyes on the hull to give fishermen protection while they’re out at sea. You can find an abundance of luzzu in Marsaxlokk Bay. We didn’t have much time there but it was enough to get plenty of pictures. The waterside was lined with stalls selling souvenirs and trinkets but a break in the stalls held a shallow little pool that connected to the bay. There were lots of small fish that responded to the shadows cast when you looked over the edge. Gordon had a lot of fun “pushing” the fish around the pool.

Trying to catch the bus to get back to Valletta was a chore. The buses run on island time and completely disregard the posted arrival times so we had to actively search for the right bus to board before our transfer tickets expired. Once we were back in Valletta, we were on a quest to find postcards, write and send one to Ashlee, and connect to some wifi. The first two tasks were a breeze but finding some good wifi was difficult. It did, however, give us an opportunity to visit a little more of Malta. I also had the chance to get a couple more personalized necklaces made (in English this time).

Back on the ship, I finally got around to having steak for dinner (seriously, what took me so long?!) and we watched a juggling comedy show. It was a riot. The laughs were constant and he had content to appeal to every age. The juggling feats were also very impressive, although I did get a paper plate and a slobbery ping pong ball thrown at me. 

7/23/15 Sicily, Italy

The Astronomical Clock

The Duomo

Since we didn’t have anything planned for Sicily, we were able to sleep in a little and explore Messina at our own leisure. There isn’t much to see in Messina aside from the cathedral called the Duomo and the astronomical clock that moves (with music and everything like a show) at noon. The clock has several sections of golden animatronics that moves once a day. The lion at the top roars and the rooster crows and the rest of the figures do their thing until Ave Maria is over. After that was over, we tried to explore more of Messina but it really isn’t a touristy town and there isn’t anything interesting for the locals either. We bought a couple souvenirs and headed back to the ship for lunch. (Gordon wasn’t feeling well so he stayed on board while we experienced Sicily. We all got to check out the lunch buffet for the first time this cruise and it is so much better than the breakfast buffet. They should serve lunch for breakfast.)

"It's astronomy size!"

The lion and the rooster

If you didn’t know, there’s a town in Sicily that was used as a filming location for The Godfather. We had considered booking a tour to visit for the novelty of it but since only my dad has seen The Godfather (and the tour was ridiculously overpriced) we decided to pass. However, this means that there is Godfather themed souvenirs all over the island. There was a Godfather lighter in one of the shops we visited and at the time we thought we could go without it but after giving the idea some time to settle over lunch, we decided to head back out to grab it. Thank goodness we did because on our way back to the ship, we took a different route and passed by a clothing shop run by a vivacious Italian woman where my mom was able to find a nightdress she’d been wanting.

Back on the ship, we had a late afternoon nap before getting up and seeing the highly anticipated Elements show. It’s the show that everybody raves about when they cruise on this ship. I was speechless throughout the entire thing. Acts from earlier in the cruise were incorporated into the show for a magical spectacle. They really pulled out all the stops for this show and if you ever come across it on a Norwegian ship, you definitely want to get there early and reserve your seats (which shouldn’t be too close to the front to get the full experience).

One of my favorite nights on a cruise ship is chocoholic night. Years ago, chocoholic night meant an all-out chocolate buffet but these days it’s an entirely chocolate dessert menu. I’m still holding out hope that one day they’ll bring back the chocolate buffet. The chocolate dessert menu didn’t disappoint, though. Can’t go wrong with Nutella pot de crème. 

7/24/15 At Sea

Am I Harry Styles yet?

As with all the previous at sea days, today was spent relaxing. Since I was more on top of my blogging, I had more time to spend with my brother. We played Scrabble and Uno in the card room and, although we missed the beginning, we headed down to the Stardust Theater to watch the International Crew Talent Show, which is always one of my favorites. Before starting our evening, we paid a visit to Jasmine Garden, the Asian restaurant on board, to have some long awaited sushi. The night ended with the Farewell Show with 4ever. Their vocals and arrangements are so fantastic I want them to cover all the songs. I’m gonna miss their voices. 

One cruise down, one to go (plus Venice!). We're halfway through the Travelogs and I hope you're enjoying them! Sorting through pictures after a trip is a tedious task but knowing they're going to end up in a blog post makes all the organizing worth while. Looking back at them now brings back great memories. Imagine how it'd feel to look back on them years from now... That'd be a nice walk down memory lane. Speaking of memory lane, do you have any memories of your own from any of the places this cruise took me? I'd like to know if you've visited any of these sites yourself! When'd you go? What was your experience like? I'd love to hear about it!

Also, there's been a change in the posting schedule, in case you've been anticipating the second half of the Travelogs. Next Sunday will feature my August Wrap Up so check back in to see what I've been reading this month! The last two Travelogs will go up the following Sundays. As always, don't forget to follow xo, Yvette via email (found in the sidebar) and on bloglovin!

Talk to you soon!

xo, Yvette