We got off the ship as soon as the ramp was in place at 8:00 am. We walked to the train station and purchased tickets to go to Pompeii to visit the city buried by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. It was a slow long train that made fifteen stops in about 12 miles. We got there without incident and went in and walked around the ruins for about 2 ½ hours. It was impressive to see the site of the excavation. It was a large city and most of the streets have been uncovered.

We then got back on the train and took it to the end of the line in Sorrento, a coastal town built on cliffs. We went down the steep road and steps to the waterfront and got our return tickets to Naples on the last ferry. With that taken care of (we did not want to miss our ship if the ferry was sold out), we went back up the hill and toured the old city.

The sites along the coast were quite spectacular.

While waiting for our ferry boat to arrive for our 4:30 pm boat ride back to Naples, it started to get cloudy.  However, the weather gods were on our side, and it never rained.  It was an enjoyable, but windy  (had to sit outside for pictures, of course) 30 minute boat ride back to Naples, where we departed the ferry boat and headed back to the ship. It was another long, but fun day.

Today we docked in in the city of Civitavecchia, the port for Rome, and once again, we were off the ship as soon as the ramp was in place, this time at 7:00 am. There was a free shuttle bus to the town, and from there we walked about 6 blocks to the train station.   We purchased our tickets for the trip to Rome and the return. It was a double deck train, and we “commuted” to Rome with all of the regulars heading for work. We did get on early enough to get seats for the 55 minute ride. We got off at the station near St. Peter’s Basilica and walked to the square. We went through security and entered the church.

It is a beautiful sight inside, and since we arrived there early, it was not crowded at all. We walked around the entire church and then went back outside to enter another line (no waiting) to see all of the tombs of the Pope’s. It was a very moving experience. We then went back out and got in another line (again no waiting) to go to the top of the Dome.

It was another wonderful experience to go to the top and see Rome. We went back inside and took some more pictures since the high cloud layer was gone, allowing more natural lighting inside the Basillica.

We left St. Peter’s and walked down to the Tiber River.

We then walked back to the train station and got an early train back to the port.  We spent some time walking around Civitavecchia before heading back to the ship.

Today we went to Pisa on the train, it was quite an experience. The Livorno port is difficult to walk out of and into the city central, so we took a Taxi with another couple. We purchased train tickets for our ultimate destination, Lucca, a large walled city north of Pisa.   However,  our first stop was Pisa, which is on the way to Lucca, and uses the same trains and train tickets as traveling to Lucca.  The Regional Train tickets are great, you can go and stop along the way as long as you get to the final destination within 6 hours of first using (validating) your ticket.

We trained to Pisa San Rossore Station first, and walked to the Leaning Tower.

We picked up our tickets for the pre-reserved 9:30 AM climb to the top of the tower. It was very interesting, it really leans more than pictures make it look.

We spent 30 minutes on the climb, pictures at the top and descent.  We then walked back to the Pisa San Rossore Train Station for the rest of the journey to Lucca.  Our only disappointment was  some scaffolding  erected on the outside  of the tower itself, definitely a detraction from the overall  beauty of the sight.

We walked the elevated mound around most of the city, then ventured down into the older area where the shops and restaurants were located. We went into a couple of old churches and they were beautiful, although a couple were in need of major repairs.

We walked back to the train station for our journey back to Livorno, where our ship was docked.

The port today was Cannes, France. This was our only port of call where we had to tender ashore.

We planned at the last minute to train to a small mountain town called Eze, but when we got to the train station (after just a little extra wandering) we found out there was a train strike, and, due to the limited train service,  we could not get back  in time before the ship left port.  It all worked out in the end, we just as much enjoyed  walking  around the streets of  Cannes.

We walked to an old town section, and went through some open market areas selling fresh fish, vegetables and flowers. We climbed stairs to an old castle and church built in the late 1600’s. We also went down to the shore where the beach was and where the Cannes film festival is normally held.  We strolled along the empty beaches, certainly too late in the year for all of the usual crowds.

Although it was a quaint town, it was nothing really special. I suppose if one was there during the height of the summer season, it would have been more spectacular.  It was enjoyable and relaxing to spend the day close to the ship and not have to do a lot of  traveling  to another city and back.

Barcelona Spain was the stop today. It is a very large city, and we were not in port as long as other stops. It is also probably the largest port we have seen, there were at least 10 cruise ships in the port for the day.

We got off the ship at 9:30 as soon as the ramp was in place. Shuttle busses took us to the center area at the location of the Columbus Monument. From there, we walked up Las Ramblas, a street which is famous for its various street vendors.

From there, we walked to the famous, but still under construction, La Sagrada Familia Church. This was designed by Gaudi. It is very large and Gothic in nature, as can be seen from the photo, and has been under construction since the late 1800’s. It is estimated that it will take another 30 or more years to complete.

We then took a Metro (subway) to an area called Montjuic, and rode the Funicular up to the top of the mountain to the old castle.

From there, we again took the Metro to the old section of town called Barri Gotic (Gothic Quarter) to see the Barcelona Cathedral. Unfortunately, the cathedral was under major repair, and covered with scaffolding, a much too familiar sight in Europe at this time of year, so we did not go in. We walked back down to the port and returned to the ship

Today is a day at sea, a thankful rest time after five long days in a row visiting different ports. We woke up to a gray, foggy day with the wind blowing at 25 knots. The seas were pretty rough, but since we are going in the direction of the wind and seas, it was not too bad, especially the wind outside on the decks.

We took it easy today, played putt-putt, walked around the ship, and just rested. Everyone else seemed tired too; it was really crowded at breakfast even though we went at 9:45 am. Everyone must have slept in like we did.  We went to see a movie in the late afternoon. Then the sun decided to come out a little through the haze, so we sat on the deck at the pool. After dinner, at about 9:00 pm, we transited the Straits of Gibraltar. We could see the outline of Gibraltar against the lights from the cities in the background. It would have been nice to see it during the daytime, but it was still interesting to see Gibraltar on one side and Morocco on the other. Next stop tomorrow is Cadiz, Spain.

We were late getting up; at the latitude we are currently at, it does not get light until about 8:30 AM. The ship was also 30 minutes late letting off passengers. With all of that, and the fact it was also rainy, we opted not to try and make it via train to Seville. It is about an hour and 45 minutes train ride each way, and we had to be back on the ship by 4:30 in the afternoon.

So, we just opted to walk around the city of Cadiz. We did make it to church at 9:30, it was a very pretty Jesuit church, but the mass was all in Spanish, imagine that!. After church, we toured around the perimeter of the city along the old sea wall.

It started to rain at about 10:30, and drizzled the rest of the time until we got back on the ship at about 2:00. It was our first bad weather port day, but not a bad place or time for it to happen.  This was a short port day, in a port that does not have a lot of interesting things to see, or more specifically, miss seeing.

Later in the afternoon, the sun actually came out, and we were able to enjoy some time relaxing up on the pool deck.  We will get an hour back tonight (5 hours difference instead of the current 6 hours) as we make the journey to tomorrow’s port of call, Lisbon, Portugal.

We arrived in Lisbon for our 8:00 am disembarkation. We took a taxi to the Rossio train Station, and took a 40 minute train ride to Sintra. Sintra is a mountain town where royalty had castles in the early and late 1800’s. There is also a mountain top Moorish Castle dating from about 1000 years ago.

The walls remained and we were able to climb along the ramparts. It was very scenic because the clouds were blowing in over the mountain top and walls while were we were at this castle. It gave it an air of mystique.

We then visited Pena Palace, which was built by German born Prince Ferdinand. It was built out of the ruins of a 16th century monastery. It was brightly colored on the outside, and had original furniture and decorations inside, which unfortunately, we could not photograph.

We spent a little time walking around the town of Sintra, during which time the cloudiness burned off to a bright sunny day. Then we trained back to Lisbon and took the Metro (subway) to Rossio Square and Baixa, which was a large area full of shops and pedestrian only streets running down to the waterfront.

We took an electric streetcar back to the station near the ship, and were back on at about 4:00 pm, for our 5:00 sailing.

We were docked right next to the 25th of April Bridge (named for the day of liberation in 1974), which was the first bridge across the Tejo river, and was designed and built in 1966 , and is just like the San Francisco Bridge (but slightly smaller), even built by the same company. It carries cars on the top and trains on the lower deck. It was a beautiful sail away, as we passed under the bridge and out to sea.

We will be at sea for the next day (Tuesday), and then make our final stop in the Azores on Wednesday. As the sun was setting, we passed through a large pod of dolphins; they were jumping around the ship. The water was calm, and it was a wonderful sight from our balcony.

We gain another hour tonight and will only be 4 hours different than Eastern Time tomorrow.

Note: We sometimes add pictures and additional information to older posts if we get a good internet connection, so please check them to see if we have made any changes.

Today is a day at sea heading to the Azores.  We did not post anything for today