Wednesday
26th June at sea, sailing around the
Elafonisu Straight to round the southern coast of Greece and crossing the
Ionian Sea towards Italy.
We went out on the deck
about 1900 hrs because the Captain told us that we were about to pass Mt
Stromboli which is an active volcano and I took some great photos, the girls
said that they could see steam coming out of the mouth but I reckon it was
smoke, we stayed out there for a couple of hours, keeping warm from the inside
with, in my case vodka and tomato juice.
At one stage we thought that we had seen a lava flow but it turned out
to be the lights from an aeroplane passing behind the volcano.
During the night we
travelled across the Tyrrhenin Sea towards Naples. This is a beautiful part of the world, with
fantastic coastlines, fresh fruit and great wines.
Our first visit was to a
farm in the mountains and it was over 3000 acres and had been a farm for
centuries and I think most of the farm buildings had been there for most of the
time.
The farm had oranges, and olive
trees and cows and of course the produce was turned into beautiful marmalade,
olive oil and cheese.
We walked around the farm
and then went to see the olive factory which was very interesting, they crush
everything including seeds.
We then watched the making
of the local cheese, they make one that is eaten straight away and the other
one is hung for a number of weeks. We
sat down to a lovely plate of antipasto which all was produced on the farm
followed by the compulsory visit to the shop.
I had been looking forward
to today as we were going to visit Pompeii which is a lost city buried beneath
the ash when Mt Vesuvius violently erupted in 79 AD and had been forgotten for
more than 1,500 years.
It is now a UNESCO World
Heritage Site and it is a weird feeling walking along the cobblestone roads and
looking at buildings, mosaics and fountains that had been so well
preserved.
The city had hot and cold
running water via copper pipes, the water was transported via aqueducts from
the hills miles away.
They had public
steam and bath rooms, sewerage pipes and supermarkets. The guide said that when they dug out the
bakery, they found bread and the market still had edible food.
We walked through a restored
brothel and the menu was still painted on the walls as most
clients couldn’t read so they made their choice by pointing at the desired
picture.
They had fast food take
aways, this picture shows stoves that were on the front of the street so people
could buy food.
We stayed there for quite some time, walking through various buildings
and temples, we saw a number of bodies and they were made from plaster poured
inside of the mould made by the set lava.
I could have spent a lot more time there.
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| Street Signs |
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| Public Fountain |
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| A male |
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| An item on the menu |
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| Bits & Pieces |
We visited a Cameo factory
on the way back.
Once again a great day and
wonderful scenery but as usual it is always good to get back to the ship.
The weather had been very
hot and we did a heap of walking.
Distance
from ANZAC Cove to Naples 841 Nautical Miles, average speed 19.11 knots
Friday
28th June – Civitavecchia – Italy.
Currency – Euro.
We arrived in the port at
0700 hrs and most of the passengers left early to travel into Rome to see the
Colosseum, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain and of course he Vatican and St Peter’s
Square and the Basilica.
There were 4 other cruise
ships in the harbour so there were over 8,000 tourists in town.
I decided that I would go in
the opposite direction completely and escape into the Italian countryside to go
to the medieval city of Orivieto.
The trip was made up of a
number of steep winding narrow roads and of course busses and trucks coming the
other way and very little space to move over, I thought I was back in Asia, the
only thing missing was the constant horn blowing.
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| Aquaduct taking water to Rome
The reason we travelled to
Orivieto was to see the magnificent Duomo of Orivieo Cathedral which was built
in the 13th century by the Pope Nicholas as a hideaway from the
troubles in Rome.
Another way which I
thought was interesting was that they allowed pigeons and doves to breed in
every crook and cranny as they bred fast and were a ready source of food!
The outer walls very thick
and this picture shows how high up the fortress was.
We left the walls and walked
through the streets inside the city, the buildings were well kept and the shops
were full of lovely clothes and great looking food.
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In the centre of the
fortress is the Duomo of Orivieo Cathedral which is a huge Medieval structure
and the side was stripes and the front a magnificent structure of elaborate
carvings and mosaics.
The paintings found inside the chapel featuring the ‘Final
Judgement’ are said to be the inspiration for Michelangelo’s paintings in the
Sistine Chapel.
Unfortunately, as in most
major attractions, you were not able to take pictures inside the building.
I have seen some incredible cathedrals over
the last 2 years and this one is high on the list.
We walked up the cobblestone
roads just a short distance to have lunch which was delicious, guess what I had
rabbit stew and of course several bottles of the local wine.
The weather had turned cold
and wet; the trip back to the ship was quite scary with a combination of water
and windy roads.
Distance
from Naples to Civiavecchia 164.4 Nautical Miles, average speed 15.66 knots
Saturday 29th
June – Livorno – Italy. Currency – Euro.
We pass by the island of
Elba where Napoleon was born in the early hours of the morning and berthed
about 0700 hrs.
I will ever forget my trip
into Florence last year as I saw the statue of David there and as I have told
anyone who would listen, David was the highlight of my whole cruise.
Ann, who had not seen the statue before came
back that night with the same look I had last year.
Once again, I decided that I
would go the other direction and this time travel down the west coast of the
Riviera to visit the ‘Cinque Terre’ which are five hamlets which either cling
to the cliff face or are concealed in miniature inlets away from pirates.
We travelled by bus, once again following beautiful coastlines until we reached the township of Manola where we boarded a motor boat to the next hamlet where we stayed for a short time, boarded the boat again to stop longer at the next hamlet and had lunch and then caught the train back to the bus which was waiting for us at Monterosso which is the last hamlet and we travelled back to the ship.
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| Wild Poppies grow everywhere |
We passed a mountain that
looked as if it was covered in snow and in fact the mountain was made up of
marble which they carved and cut into huge blocks for sale.
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| Mountain of Marble |
The ship had now become very
quiet at night as a lot of the passengers were beginning to get tired from the
early starts and lots of walking, there were not many people of the evening
entertainment.
Distance
from Civiavecchia to Livorno 118 Nautical Miles, average speed 11.80 knots
Sunday
30th June – Monte Carlo.
Currency – Euro.
Monte Carlo is a tender port for the ship
which means that we anchor about 10 minutes away and we go down to the bowls of
the ship to board the tender and we get taken to the wharf.
Monte Carlo is the second
smallest State after the Vatican; it is less than a square mile in size and is
ruled by a Monarchy. Ann, Beverly and I
got on the local ‘hop on hop off’ bus and spent an hour looking at the sites
and then had lunch overlooking the rich and famous yachts.
We passed over the grand
Prix track, passed by the Royal Palace and slowed down so that we could see the
Monte Carlo Casino where 007 spent some of his time.
We didn’t spend a lot of
time there and had set sail by 1600 hrs and because we only had a short way to
go we cruised very slowly to cross the Gulf of Lion on our way to Barcelona.
Distance
from Livorno to Monte Carlo 121.7 Nautical Miles, average speed 12.17 knots
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