Rome to Barcelona cruise - May 7-17, 2022

May 7&8, 2022

Dave and I took an opportunity to go on a cruise touring the Mediterranean, starting in Rome.  We left our family in the care of Rachel, Martha and my mom.  Sat, May 7 at 11am our first quick flight from ALO to ORD was smooth.  The second flight from ORD to Rome (whatever the airport code is there) was 9 hours long.  We asked and somehow got upgraded to first class...I might not ever fly coach again, haha, jk.  Lots of space and attention.  That was a major treat.  We landed at 10am May 9th Rome time, which caused us to "skip" a night's sleep, although we tried to sleep on the plane.  A delay and a medical emergency from someone on board caused more time in the plane than normal.  

Arranged transportation got us to our hotel (Marriott Flora Roma) and we checked in, dropped luggage, and grabbed a taxi to the next destination.  We only have today in Rome, and part of tomorrow morning before we get on the boat.  We booked a tour of the colosseum at 1pm that was very interesting.  We were in a group of 7 people and got to go to the underground part, the middle and upper levels.  The tour guide was full of information, however, we were very tired, so all the walking and taking-in of information felt a big grueling.   

Its official name is Amphitheater Flavium

this little hole in the corner was "cart parking" -  tie the rope up to the corner and dates back to its original time

there's a "ramp" in this pic, I'll have to figure out what it was

laurel leaf - smells good - and was used to make roman crowns

We grabbed a taxi ride back to our hotel and from 4-5pm we fell asleep. We showered fasssst and got dressed for a dinner arranged for us.  It was a restaurant called Terme de Colosseo. Appetizers were bread, some kind of mushroom flan, cheesy crisp bite, and eggplant/cheese...next dish was two kinds of pasta, then the main course was an unidentified meat, fried potatoes and salad, last was a vanilla custard thing.

The restaurant hired out some people to sing random songs during dinner.  They had microphones and walked around singing.  It was loud.

one of those singers

underground stone restaurant

dome or cathedral dedicated to Mary - one of the 4 important catholic things around here.

We caught a group bus ride back to our hotel and called home, then I blogged and then we crashed.

May 9th, 2022

Dave must have set my alarm for 8am, because it went off.  He had spent a little time talking to our cell phone provider last night about connections after a bumpy start landing in Italy without data. 

Marriott Flora Roma - why don't europeans have full shower curtains/doors?

Calvin this is for you - bidets

cool rooftop view during breakfast!

among normal breakfasty things like eggs and bacon, this salmon bar was available, so I tried a little of that with some olive paste, tomatoes, pearl onions and some oil/balsamic.  Violet - that's for you...tried something new

an old city wall. Every time we see something we're like "is that an old aquaduct?" haha!  I don't know about this one.

After breakfast we caught a quick taxi ride to the San Bernini hotel where covid testing prior to the cruise was set up.  We got quick negative results. We talked with a few people in the lobby and then used the short amount of time left in Rome to check out a little on foot while we could.  We went by a lamborghini showroom, the Trevi fountain, and picked up some local pizza and gelato.

Trevi fountain - construction began in 1732 and finished in 1762.  Copying/pasting from online research:

"What makes this fountain so special is the stunning artwork featured within the structure. The fountain and its sculptures are made in pure white travertine stone, the same material used to create the Colosseum. The fountain’s theme is ‘Taming of the Waters,’ with each sculpture symbolising important aspects to the city. The central structure is the God Oceanus, who can be seen standing on a chariot that is glided by seahorses. Beside Oceanus are other important statues, each representing certain factors such as abundance and health."

We got on buses that took us to the cruise ship port.  This was about an hour and a half long ride, leaving the city, crossing the Tiber river, and through some countryside to the ocean.

Tiber River

We were all shuffled into this large tent were we had to fill out a health form, show proof of vaccination and negative test results.  This moment was full of confusion, because the lab that sent results messed up sending a lot of people's results.  People's phones didn't work all that well so receiving the test results was complicated.  My results went to Dave's email and translating the italian to log in using the name/password they provided was a long process.

We did eventually get through it and got to board the ship.

We got into our room on Deck 6 smoothly.  Our room number is 661.

there's a jogging track on top

dinner plates at Silver Note

Tues, May 10, 2022 - Livorno in Tuscany and Pisa, Italy

This morning we chose to have some breakfast choices sent to our room between 8 and 8:30 since we had to be off the ship and on a bus by 9am.  Our butler Mariel was right on time...fried eggs, grilled peaches, bacon and coffee were the choices we made.  

The bus took us about 45 minutes of a drive to Pisa.  It was neat to go back there after being there 20ish years ago.  We entered from a different side and got some cool pics.  It was like the tower was peeking around the back of the church.  Words don't really describe the basilica, church and tower.  It is all so beautiful. The marble pieces used to construct the columns, walls, ceiling, etc of the church are just massive.  There is a long history but we hear the Medici family funded a lot of the building. The "bell tower" that leans was constructed on soft ground and tipped as it was being built but then construction was halted because of wars, so they tried correcting it, so it's more "banana shaped" than a full lean.

We got back to the ship and I was feeling super tired so I took a nap while Dave explored a little on his own around Livorno.  He got pizza, coffee, and came back.  Since I skipped lunch I went up to the grill and tried a spicy pepperoni pizza.  We ended up hanging out listening to a guitarist and a pianist in a lounge.  We had dinner reservations at Kaiseki, a japanese restaurant inside the ship on deck 4.  They had a 7 course menu selected by the chef, so I put on my brave attitude and tried caviar, tuna tartar, wagyu beef, lobster, and miso soup with vegetables.

I took pics of the menu and the food - every round was a surprise.

Amuse Bouche - "Rainbow Tobiku" - in other words, rainbow caviar.  The four on the left are "flying fish" caviar with chopped eggs, red onion and chives, and a plop of flavorful sauce and wavy rice crackers.

"Calvisius Tuna Tartar" - saku tuna, garlic, scallions, wasabi, soya sauce, arts italica oscietra caviar, fresh chiles

Wagyu Kushiyaki - marinated wagyu beef skewer with japanese mustard sauce

Miso soup with dashi broth, shiitake mushroom, leeks, chinese cabbage, soy sauce and mirin.  That green thing on the left is like a vegetable dumping you put in the soup

The main course - Maine Lobster Tail and Wagyu Surf and Turf.  Waygu beef steak, maine Lobster and soy in fused Jus

Green tea infused dark chocolate, yuzu flavored creme anglais, exotic fruit brunoise

Whew!  The dinner experience took a full two hours.

After dinner we made some phone calls home using WhatsApp over wifi.  The boys were home and we gave them a tour of the room and the cruise ship.  They were very impressed.  While in the hallways we met a couple Dave met in training, Dhavel and Darshna.

The next event was a musical show - the performing team onboard the ship performed music from the 60s.  I knew about half the music.  They did a great job!  

The only thing happening after this was basically a dance party/DJ music.  We mingled and talked with a few other people.  The time change seems pretty odd, it is 2am our time and we aren't even tired.  I'm blogging and Dave is catching up with email.

Wed, May 11, 2022 - Portofino, Italy

A highlight, for sure. Looking back on this day, we thought it was by far the most interesting port so far.  This picturesque town, part of the Genoa district, is probably on the background of all your computer desktops.  The colorful buildings wrap around the cutest little inlet of ocean surrounded with forest, boats, a castle and a church.  This is apparently a prized celebrity spot - where they anchor their yachts and wait for all the tourists to get out of the way, they show up.  We didn't see any, in case you were wondering.  We woke up pretty late, got ready and headed right towards shore on a "tender" lifeboat, since the cruise ship had to dock away from land.... and caught a relaxing breakfast (brunch?) at 11:30am at a restaurant near shore with cappuccinos, mozzarella cheese ball and dried meat, a ham and cheese omelet and a caprese salad.  We toured the town and my watch told me we went over 11,000 steps by the day's end.  We went up many many steps to San Giorgio church and further on to a brown castle, which is an old Italian fortress.  Every turn of the head was just gorgeous.  I think we took too many pictures. We hiked even further to the end of the peninsula and found ourselves at a refreshing little bar and had some snacks and drinks.  Dave is coming around to liking olives, but only had a bite of one of mine.  I think I polished off the entire little cup of olives....served along thin potato chips and peanuts.  

We detoured our path back by stopping at the peninsula's only tiny beach with round stones and barely any sand.  The water was freezing cold and felt like therapy for my sore left foot.  We shopped a little...a few souvenirs, Dave got some yellow moccasins, and then we split a pizza.  We got a ride back to our ship.  The boats were continuously going back and forth to the ship so it was easy to grab a ride.

Dinner was at the top of the line restaurant on the cruise ship, called La Dame.  French cuisine - and it was another 2 hour experience.  I didn't take pictures of its entirety though, but just the highlights.  Let me add some pictures.  I had a cheese souffle, mushroom soup, steak, and a chocolate/gold/caramel dessert that I couldn't finish because I was so full.

morning "tender" ride to Portofino from the ship - only 8-9 minutes from ship to shore

leaving the cruise ship "Silver Dawn" 

"breakfast" at 11:30" sure...

"Brown castle" - famous for being a spot to defend the isthmus in histroy

San Georgio church

there's the computer monitor pic

inside the church

behind the church was the strangest walk-through cemetery

local flora

views along the path to the lighthouse at the end

couldn't stop taking pictures

last WW2 cannonball found inside

cool views from the castle

resting at the end of the walk to the lighthouse

little rocky "beach"

all smooth rocks, almost no sand.  There's one that looks like an oreo cookie

a little italian pizza refreshment

yellow italian-made shoes, of course

french steak at La Dame on the ship

chocolate dessert with caramel and gold flakes

Dave's crepe dessert

This was a gorgeous day.  I am just amazed.  We had a sweet video chat with Vanessa and Eli.  We aren't tired at night, which is odd.  It's 2:20am (7:20pm Iowa time)....I don't know if we'll adjust.  Time for bed though!

Thurs, May 12, 2022 - Monte Carlo, Monaco

This little tiny country is on the edge of France in the French Riviera.  The scene here is quite different than the cute little quaint area of Portofino.  This place is rich, and our kids would say the entire thing is a "flex".  Money is just oozing everywhere.  Yachts, luxury cars, casinos, and unbelievably expensive real estate is the name of the game here.  We had breakfast at 10am on the back of the ship overlooking the bay full of yachts.  We planned out our day, as well as you could plan a day here, and saw a couple feature things, namely a cathedral where the prince had his wedding.  This area isn't governed by a kingdom, and the prince and his family have ruled for many generations.  This town is just wild.  We walked in and around many of the streets, and nowhere is a street flat.  The streets go up, down, sideways, crooked, and the buildings all go straight up forever.  Google maps struggled to navigate us anywhere that made sense.  It wasn't just wild and crazy, it was rich and expensive looking everywhere.  We explored luxury car dealerships, saw multi million dollar yachts, and felt like we were navigating a treasure hunt through a VR game or a movie scene.

We did a little souvenir shopping, tried espresso in a couple different shops, had a sugar crepe, and walked the Monaco Circuit where Formula One cars race once a year.  

Oh we also saw the official changing of the guard at the prince's castle at exactly 11:55 am.  That was a 6 minute event that was very official looking directed by trumpets, drums, guards yelling commands in french, and that sort of stuff.

this path gave me the willies - that's what I call it.  Too high and too close to the edge...

The walking was really starting to hurt my foot.  My watch counted over 14,000 steps and I iced it on the deck of our cruise cabin while Dave walked back to the pier to look at stuff.

Dinner we had reserved at the grill which is the restaurant at the pool at the top of the ship. They placed a hot black stone in front of us and we cooked our own meat. We each had a filet and different sides. It was very cold so we were able to move to a different table that was under some heat lamps. The staff provided blankets which made a more comfortable dining experience.

We perused the shopping, even though we knew it would be all too expensive. We tried to enjoy the music they provided at 10:00, but it was all too old style for us. We grabbed our playing cards and headed to a different lounge and listened to the same piano and guitar player take some requests.

I think they enjoyed it and Dave did too.

Friday, May 13, 2022 - Ajaccio, Corsica (pronounced a-zchack-see-oh)

Tody was a quick stop in Ajaccio, Corsica.  I say quick because the ship docked at 8am and we had to be all aboard by 2:30pm for sailing to our next destination by 3.  We were out of our cabin suite by 9 am and had breakfast at the restaurant on board the ship called Atlantide.  We tossed a little laundry in the machines down the hall in the guest laundry...trying to fuss with the buttons and change the screen to english to ensure it washed in cold water was an adventure.  We got the laundry done and headed to the gangway by Noonish to go explore a little bit.  

Corsica is a French territory and they have their own language, a mix of tuscan-italian and french.  The town was slow-paced, and the main tourism focus is the fact that it is the birthplace of Napolean Boneparte, who was the leader of the French Revolution (after the American revolution).  We walked past his birthplace (it wasn't open), got a souvenir or two, explored the city on our own terms, took lots of pictures, ate some pasta, and headed back to the ship.  The weather felt hotter.  I got some sunscreen (I think...it said 50+ and is a creamy lotion)...haha!....and just like that we were back on board.  Nobody really spoke english so there was a lot of pretending and motion-making to get around.  

opening the suite deck door and this was our new view of Ajaccio, Corsica

the Silver Dawn ship across the bay

in the city's citadel - an old defense fort with a moat.  This place was seemingly unkempt and abandoned

birthplace of Napoleon Boneparte

we don't know what we are ordering...penne please?

We had to be back at the ship at a certain time, I can't remember at this point exactly when.  We got back to the ship and got ready for dinner at LaTerraza, the italian restaurant on board.  We were greeted with this amazing charcuterie array - bruschetta, meats, cheeses, octopus salad, anchovy, tuna stuffed peppers, we tried everything but couldn't finish it.  Dave got some kind of pasta dish he loved.  I had lasagna.

We watched a movie to stay awake until 1:30 am our time when the kids Patriotic Program at WCS started.  Rachel was so kind to live-stream it for us using WhatsApp.  The internet stayed connected, and we got to see the whole thing.  The audio was a little off but overall it was great to be as present as we could.  It was hard for us to miss it in-person.

The night got suuuper late.  At 3am we ended up ordering a room service pizza.  The butler greeted us with a "good morning"!  We set our alarms for 10am and crashed. 

Saturday, May 14, 2022 - Palamos, Spain

Well, our alarms got us up at 10am.  A little tired, we had breakfast in our suite via room service.  We tried to plan out our day in Palamos, Spain.  

We first entered the town and landed right in the middle of a festival of some kind.  We don't really know its purpose but lots of local vendors had all their things on display.  We got a variety of candy and noticed a vendor selling handmade jewelry.  I asked him if it was all handmade and he said "el todo en mi casa!"  He held his hand up to the posters behind him and said it was his same thumb.

We were still close to the ship so we put our things back in our room and went back to town.  Palamos, Spain is known for its history in fishing and the purposeful continuation of fishing education through a museum that documents the history of fishing.  The displays were amazing, and we actually enjoyed it quite a bit (I say that because Dave and I are not big museum people).

The only two things left on our agenda after the fishing museum was to see the local cathedral and relax on the beach until onboarding time at 6:30.  That's about exactly what we did!  Dave found a shoe store and did a little shopping.  Apparently he likes to shop for shoes on vacation. :D

you can see the cruise ship in the backgroundd

We caught a shuttle back to the ship, caught a sunset for the first time since our room faced west as we sailed south.  Dave spotted some dolphins jumping in the waves!!  They were impossible to photograph.

We didn't have dinner reservations, but lots of places are open for dining.  We chose the italian place again!  No charcuterie this time, just yummy pasta. :D  Dave is congenial with the waiters - Alejandro from Cancun and "Doctor Dennis" are memorable.  Dennis tried to get a concoction to help Dave's slight indigestion.

The ship's vocal performers sang music by Queen then we turned in for the night.  Dave and I watched a movie and I blogged for awhile.

Sunday, May 15, 2022 - Palma de Mallorca, Spain (one of the Balearic Islands)

Today was very pleasant and a change of pace.  We booked a biking excursion in this place, hoping to see a lot of the city that would take longer to get to on foot.  I couldn't take much more walking anyway.

We met up with a group of 8 that also went on the tour and our witty guide Jonas led us to the bikes once we got off the ship.  He was a younger German guy whose girlfriend was the reason he moved here, apparently she teaches at a private school.  Anyway - we set off (yes, I wore lots of sunscreen and Jonas convinced Dave to wear some too) in the beautiful sun on a 75 degree day with the bike breeze.  It was so, so pretty.  We had cute baskets on the front of our bikes, so even though we were "advised" not to take pics while biking, you know I did anyway.  I was safe, I promise.  We biked past the "Catedral de Mallorca", also called la Seu, or the Cathedral of Light.  Its construction began in 1230 after the area was liberated from the Moors, and took 400 years to finish construction.  It is one of the largest gothic churches in Spain.  The architect Antoni Gaudi gave most of his life's work to this cathedral.  

Did you know why the cathedral Palma is also named “cathedral of light“? That´s the reason: Every year on the 2nd of February and the 11th of November, an impressive light show can be seen in La Seu: around 8:30 am a “light eight” is created. The morning sun falls at exactly the right angle through the large rosette on the eastern front of the cathedral, so that its 1,236 colorful glass pieces on the opposite wall can be seen as in the original.

On the two days of the light show the cathedral opens already around 8 am. At around 8:30 am, the light falls so that the two rosettes, the real and the projected ones, form a colorful eight. Admission to this special event is free.

https://mallorcacaprice.com/en/cathedral-mallorca-broadcasts-live-light/

^^ this link above will show a cool pic and video if you want more info^^

We did not go inside, as it was closed.  The biking tour took us all through the city.  I'll add some pics and commentary as I go here.

Jonas explained the nuns in this little convent we stopped at sell baked goods, and they put the goods in this spinning drum to serve through the walls.

I don't know the name of this place...a church connected to the convent.

here is a statue in memory of a missionary who went to California...Junipero Serra 1713-1784

up close at the cathedral of Mallorca -- those flying buttresses!!!

Rachel - the "Burratina" is for you! 

a dentist and orthodontist one right after the other

we rode right through a festival and I snapped a pic of paella fresh in the making....we didn't have time to stop but it smelled amazing

We biked back to the bike shop, walked to the ship, and rushed rushed to make our next destination - which was a "farewell" event that the trip organizers put together.  I took a very fast shower and changed, since I got pretty sweaty biking for 4 hours.  

The farewell dinner was at a place in the countryside of the island 20ish minutes of a drive.  The event featured spanish dancers (using those hand-wood clappers!), lots of wine, appetizers everywhere, and the CEO gave a speech.  We spent a good amount of time talking to Shawn and Tondi McCoul who own a Budget Blinds in Wyoming.  

Getting back to the ship, we had to turn our attention to packing and learn about the disembarkation procedure.  We put our suitcases in the hallway by 11pm with special colored tags on them.  We only put 2 of our 3 out, and kept back the third one so we could put our bathroom stuff in it in the morning.  The butlers brought all the luggage down to a spot that was easy for us to take it right to the bus when we got off.  I learned this is an efficient way to do it since cruise ships have narrow hallways/elevators/spaces in general and getting 500 people off with luggage presents a challenge.

Monday, May 16, 2022 - Docked in Barcelona, FLYING and landing in Philadelphia

We got up at 7am -  prepared to leave the ship after breakfast at Atlantide.  My goofy waiter kept bringing me cappucinos - I think I had three of them.

Our luggage tag colors were called to disembark.  So that was it!  We left the ship, got our luggage, and boarded a bus to go directly to the airport.  We had no time at all to explore Barcelona because of an early afternoon flight, but that just ok.  I know it is a gorgeous city full of history and beauty, but both of us agreed we had seen enough cathedrals.  A crazy problem to have ,right?

Our flight was smooth.  A 9 hr flight...1pm Spain take off..we did not sleep!  We watched a couple movies, reviewed our pictures, talked, and landed at 4pm PA time.  So .... the time difference ended up making it seem like our flight was short.  We followed the sun here...so a very long day.  We suffered through the Philadephia airport's clunky exit procedure and made it to our hotel, the Sheraton, after a hotel shuttle ride.  We Ubered a ride to a local philly cheesesteak restaurant, Leo's...and Ubered it back...and crashed.

Barcelona airport

the east coast

Philadelphia city scene

our dog boarding Fast Tracks featured Coco on their facebook page...she looks so happy

Leo's cheesesteaks

we saw a rainbow after a quick rainstorm while we had dinner