Day 10: Part 2: Leanin' a bit in Pisa

We had about an hour and a half drive from lunch to Pisa. It was a nice drive for the most part, as most of that was in Tuscany, with all the beautiful hills. Tuscany reminds me of the Napa Valley, but prettier, with slightly more sharp hills.

There's a law all over Europe that some vehicles can't drive in the city center. Because of that, supposedly our bus had to stop about two miles away at the public parking and walk to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. We found out later that other excursions had a shuttle bus. So we had to waste all that time walking there and back. Now, I don't mind a walk, but there were several older people there, and it really cut into the time we had in Pisa. We only had about an hour total there, and could have had at least another half hour to explore. Anyways, we walked past all the guys trying to sell us handbags (saw this in several places, such as by the Vatican - and they were all black. I don't know why, but of the hundreds I saw, I never saw a white, Asian, or any other people selling them. I think they were from somewhere in Africa). And we finally made it to the Field of Miracles. A lot different than I thought. I always imagined a large green open field with the Leaning Tower in the distance. But it's all walled in. I guess the whole ground is called the Field of Miracles.

Anyway, knowing we only had an hour, we first went to see if there were any tickets left to climb the tower. There was! So I paid my 10 euros and waiting for my time to climb. We went around and took pictures.

The Tower of Pisa is really not all that much. It's just the bell tower for the cathedral, that has all the fame because they messed up. As they were building it, they realized it was leaning and stopped for awhile. The real marvel is the gorgeous Cathedral, and the pretty impressive Baptistry. Still, it's of course such a wonder that you just have to see it.


Is it just me, or is something off here?


Thank goodness I was there to help keep it upright. I'm standing right by the cathedral.


I think this was my favorite cathedral. I wish I had more time to take pictures here, but after snapping a few nice pics, I had to go get in line to climb the Tower.


This is the baptistry. Back in the day, only baptized Catholics could enter the Cathedral, so they needed a baptistry to get people to be Catholics. Funny that now ANYBODY could go into the Cathedral. I didn't get a chance to see this place at all, since I ran out of time. Still, you had to pay to enter the baptistry, so this is pretty much all I could look at anyway.


Finally, 4:00 came, and I told Mom I'd meet her at the rendevous spot at 4:30. So I climbed up the 288 steps to the top. Now, after the climb up the St. Peter's cuppola, this was nothing. Much more space and not quite so steep. It's a little weird climbing, because you can tell you're at an off angle. Well, I couldn't as much, but I heard other say they could really tell. Maybe my equillibrium is off. Still, I could tell a bit, and it was fun to stop at the little windows and see what the orientation was.


Breathtaking views once you get to the top. This is looking out at the Cathedral. The Baptistry is behind it.


You can look out over the city


A nice security/police lady took this picture for me.

We made the long walk back, during which several in our group were complaining. Our tour host didn't tell us anything about Pisa and explained that to do so, she'd have to be licensed as a tour guide and she hadn't taken those tests yet. So it was a bit disappointing, in that originally Pisa was the place I wanted to see the most, and we had such a short amount of time there and not much explanation while we were there. Still, I got to climb the Tower and at least briefly visit the Cathedral. It was beautiful. And after that great lunch and seeing Volterra and the beautiful Tuscan countryside, I couldn't complain much.

We got back and I believe had a buffet at the poolside that night. All in all a very good day and a great excursion for me. I can't wait to go back someday!

Day 10: Part 1: A little Tuscany

Although Malta was my favorite stop, Livorno, Italy was a close second. . I counted all the pictures from going to the Tuscan countryside, our wonderful lunch, and then going to the Tower (and Cathedral) of Pisa, that I think it's best to break this one into at least two parts.

We arrived in Livorno, Italy in the morning. After getting our room service breakfast, we made our way to the theater to await our excursion to be called. They called us, and we made it to the bus. Now, when we were trying to determine what we wanted to do. The port of Livorno is by Florence, Pisa, and the Tuscan countryside. I really wanted most to see the Tower of Pisa. I kind of wanted to go to Florence so I could see David, but I was flexible, and Mom would rather go to the Tuscan countryside. I'm glad we did!

Our shore excursion consisted of a drive to somewhere in the Tuscan countryside, lunch at a bed and breakfast, and then a visit to Pisa.

On our way to the Tuscan countryside, our tour host (not a tour guide) said we were on our way to Volterra. Now, for those who have read the Twilight series of books, Volterra is the home of the most ancient vampires that kind of run the show. So it's gotten a lot of attention because of that.

Volterra

She asked if any of us had seen New Moon yet, but since it just came out a couple of days before our cruise, nobody had. (I still haven't!_)

Our drive was just awesome! There's a reason that area is known for its beauty. It was absolutely fabulous. My camera needed a break from all the pictures I was taking.


Volterra was quiet. It was Sunday and a lot of shops were closed. I remember thinking that the city in New Moon was pretty large, but the main square was pretty small.


The main square. In New Moon, this is where Edward is about to reveal himself. Anyway, there was a tourist center in town, and they definitely had some Twilight swag. It was kind of fun.


It was just beautiful. Surrounded by all those Tuscan hills.


The main clock tower.


Their roads are so much cooler than ours.


Yep, I could live here.


I love this picture. So 'picturesque'



After spending about an hour and a half there, it was time to head out to lunch. I wasn't all that excited about this at the time. The way they described it, I didn't think it'd fill me up, and I'd rather just gone to Pisa. Again, glad I was wrong. This was an awesome stop!


It was very pretty there. Our tour host said that a lot of Europeans bought these old farms and turned them into bed and breakfast places, and had these lunches for tour groups.


Mom having fun before lunch.


There were all sorts of great meats and cheeses and some pasta. Awesome garlic bread and other treats. They also had wine to drink and water. So we had the water.


It was nice and warm in the room. We found out that one of the people at our table is from Benicia. So it was fun to meet some neighbors of mine.



The lunch was so great. They had a great biscotti type of dessert. They had a shop on the premises, besides their bed and breakfast. In the shop you can buy wine and olive oil. I bought some olive oil.

We got on the bus and headed to Pisa. More on that in my next post.

Day 9: At sea

As I mentioned yesterday, I'm going to take the opportunity to talk about life aboard the ship as I recap our only 'day at sea.' For those who aren't familiar, a day at sea is a day where you aren't in port at all, but just travelling from one destination to another. Usually you'd expect at least two days at sea on a cruise 7 nights or longer, but on this trip we just had the one, right in the middle of the trip.

The Azamara Journey is a small ship. My only other cruise experience was on the Celebrity Infinity, which is a pretty large ship. So this was definitely a change of pace. I did like how we kind of got to know all the main staff on the ship, but I think I missed the greater number of stores that we had on the Infinity. Still, they did a great job of making sure there were a lot of activities on board in the smaller amount of space.

Unless we had an early shore excursion (in which case we'd order room service - which was no additional charge), Mom and I normally woke up, got ready, and headed to the buffet for breakfast. If it was a warmer day, we'd eat out on the back deck looking over the Mediterranean or whatever port we were in. If it was bad weather, we'd be inside. Breakfast often consisted of an omlette (created at the omlette station), a bowl of oatmeal, and come bacon. If it was a bit colder, I'd have some hot chocolate. Otherwise, it'd be water or milk. Then we'd often split up, me going to check out some lecture on our next port stop or to watch Bingo (I had a cruise crush on the activities director - more on that later).

After doing our days activities, we'd usually go to lunch at the buffet. We tried the nice dinner a couple of times, but my mom got annoyed at how long it took each time. If you've ever been on a cruise with the formal dining room, you know the whole setup. You go there, look over the menu for about 20 minutes, then order a four or five course meal - appetizer, salad, dinner, and dessert. And not normal food, but food with all the weird names or weird garnishes or side dishes. It's good, but it takes so long between courses. It didn't help that the second night we had a couple at our table from Park City and he was telling everyone what it was like to live around all those Mormons (we hadn't had the chance to tell him we were). The man wasn't exactly mean spirited, but Mom and I both felt uncomfortable. So we preferred the buffet.

I always enjoyed the shows that they'd put on at night. Sometimes Mom wasn't feeling well, so she'd go and take a break while I went to the shows. While on the cruise, we had a very good piantist, singer, group of Singers, a comedian, and magician/comedian, and the Journey Orchestra entertaining us. The only problem was that by the time of the performances, I was usually tired, and with the gentle rocking of the boat and sitting in a darkly lit room, well, I didn't actually fall asleep, but my eyes got so heavy I had to close them.


The fruit artist. Always a fun addition to the cruise.










All of these pictures were taken on that day at sea.

As for the day itself, we slept in a bit, had breakfast, I tried a bit in the pool and hot tub so that I could say that I swam ON the Mediterranean even if I couldn't say I swam IN the Mediterranean. Alas, that didn't last long, as it started getting very windy and COLD. But we had a lunch buffet with the ship's officers and later I did my laundry. Exciting, the whole laundry thing.

I'll probably go back to edit this post and add more, but for now, I'm excited to go on and talk about the other ports.

Day 8: Sicily - An Offer I Can't Refuse

Our next stop was a short trip up to Taormina, Sicily. We actually docked in the harbor and took a tender boat to a town below. Then we paid $15 for an all day pass to go to Taormina and back in a bus. The above picture is a view from the ship.


Taking pictures once we got to the top.

Just awesome views!


Mom and me in front of a fountain, picture taken by friends we met. Those friends had us take their picture earlier in some other port, and it kind of just seemed that we took a few excursions together and take each other's picture.

We decided to explore on our own on this trip as well. We basically walked up and down the main street, then took a side trip trying to find an ancient stadium that was around (we never did).

A pretty shop along the way. You might notice the no photography signs in the window. Uh, ignored.


A church along the way. I should point out that I don't think I've ever been in more churches over a two week period than on this trip. They were all amazing in their own ways.


I watched the Godfather for the first time on TV within the last year, so I just had to get a cannoli. Pretty good! I think this was me trying to do a mobster look.


I kept looking, but couldn't find my house here. But it must be there, because I must live here! This picture was taken as we were searching for the ancient stadium/ampitheater. We ended up in a non touristy place, and it was nice. There was a school nearby.


I took so many pictures of stairways on this trip. It's amazing how nice a stairway can look.


I have a friend who says this picture is just screaming to be made into a painting. Oh that reminds me, I owe her it in an email.


Overlooking the bay


That's Mt. Etna, the most active volcano in Europe. It spews steam all the time.


So after a nice day of enjoying the late Fall sun and checking out the shops, it was finally time to go back to the ship and head out. This is a shot of us leaving, with Mt. Etna in the background.

Our captain was really cool. After leaving Sorrento, he took us for a closeup view of the island of Capri, which was really cool. After leaving Sicily, he took us really close to Stromboli, another volcano and has created a volcano island. Unlike Mt. Etna, Stromboli erupts frequently with lava flows, so it's very spectacular. I couldn't take any really good pictures of it, but it was amazing, even though some of the people on board were annoying. Before we turned to go by the spot where you could see the lava flow, some people were starting to complain because they couldn't see much. Then they kept joking that the ship must send a signal and then the volcano comes on. These bright people evidently didn't see us turning around the island to see it.

Anyways, eventually almost everyone left and I ended up the only one still on the top deck looking our at the volcano miles and miles away as we made our trip up the Italian coast.

OK, the next day was our day at sea, so I'll take that time to talk more about life aboard the ship and some of the other highlights of the cruise that I haven't mentioned, as I've been so focused on the destinations, and not the journey (which ironically is the name of our ship).

Day 7: Malta - I love this place!!!!

Get ready for a TON of pictures. Malta was my favorite place to visit, and that's saying something.

On the way into the port.



Malta was our next stop. The capital city, Vallette, has the world's largest natural harbor. Malta is also just about exactly in the middle between the Suez Canal and Straits of Gibraltar, so it's in the middle of the Mediterranean. So this little island nation is very important, and was fought over many times by different factions. Eventually a group of knights came to be in charge of the island. They moved the capital from the Medina to Valletta. That was in the Medieval time period. Thus, Valletta has a medieval feel to it, unlike a lot of the other European cities we saw, which were much older. It was very cool looking, as you can see from the pictures.





We decided to explore Malta on our own, rather than with an excursion. So we took the but up to the main bus terminal of Valletta. Actually, first, we took money out of the Bank of Malta, but then tried to get change inside the branch. That took forever, and at first they said they couldn't do it. But we persuaded them. Anyway, we took the bus from the port to the bus terminal. It was a nice drive. We decided to go to the Medina, the old capital, first. It only cost us .47 euro to go there. The bus driver was very nice, pointing out which way for us to go to the Medina.

It was a very nice little town. The actual Medina is walled off, to defend from attackers during the day, but around it is the present town. We were hungry, so we stopped off for something to eat.


We had some good Malta pizza at this place. I really liked it and planned on eating the rest of the leftovers, but we had so much food and we didn't have a refrigerator, so we didn't want to chance it. But it was pretty dang good. There was a nice man and woman who ran the restaurant.

Afterwards, we went on a little train trip around the area.


One of the pictures I took from the train


After that nice little tour around the area, we decided to actually go into the Medina.


Even more beautiful architecture to be found there.



Malta is now known for these cute yellow busses. They restored several of them from the 50s.



We made it back to Valletta and explored the city. It was starting to get dark, and there was so much to see. I definitely need to come back here.


They had set up the Christmas decorations. Although we saw some other towns with their Christmas decorations up, these were the first ones we saw lighted.


And eventually we had to pull out to go to Sicily. Goodbye, my Malta! I miss you! The people there were just nice and a welcome relief after the aggressive Tunisians and the sometimes not as polite Italians. I can't wait to go back!