Corsica Tuesday 19th May

View from our ship at berth in Calvi

Mountain villages in the Balagna region

Best grapefruit juice here - ever

Gorgeous views over the flat plains to the east

Back in Calvi

Calvi, Corsica
Our very clever captain - with the help of an obliging pilot and perfect weather conditions - was able to berth alongside the pier this morning instead of lying at anchor in the harbour.  This meant that we were only minutes from the town and didn't have to rely on tender boats to come and go.
Calvi is a stunning looking port and our guided tour this morning took us to some of the most picturesque villages in the Balagna region.
Our guide, Isabella, gave us information about just about every aspect of Corsican history, geography, daily life, primary industry, culture and education while giving us plenty of opportunities to take photos as we negotiated hairpin turns up and down the mountains that are barely wide enough for vehicles to pass.  There were several heart stopping moments when I wasn't sure whether we still had all four wheels in contact with the ground any more.
We also had a very welcome stop to sample the local citrus drinks. Vaughan declared his grapefruit juice as the best he's ever tasted.  My lemon juice packed a huge pucker until I added a little water.
The Corsicans have had a turbulent history - with efforts to achieve independence going back hundreds of years.  They have been subjugated by the Genoese, the French and even the British for a short while.  They are currently still under French control - but there is a degree of autonomy nowadays.  There is still a movement towards true independence but the last election saw the people voting to remain part of France.
In the early days of French rule - in the late 1700s, the Corsican language was banned,  the university was closed down and goods produced on the island were severely taxed.  It has taken a long time for this to be corrected, but now schools are bilingual, the university was reinstated and tourists are very welcome.
They are also very proud of their pristine environment, having very strict rules about coastal protection and preserving the maquis (sp): vast tracts of wildflowers found on the mountain sides that have medicinal properties.
Not only is Corsica the birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte, but Christopher Columbus is also widely believed to have been born in Calvi. (We have seen his tomb in Seville, Spain).
Corsica is an island of extremes and reminds me a little of Tasmania.  Everything is in such close reach.  It has snowfields and beaches only minutes apart, and mountain ranges and wetlands.  (Malaria was a problem here for centuries.) Right now it is very green too.
There is surprisingly little fishing considering its island status (coastal industries never prospered due to raids from pirates) but shepherding prospered in the mountains.  Foods associated with Corsica include the typical Mediterranean fare of lemons and other citrus fruits, olives and wine, but they use a lot of lamb, veal, goat (at Christmas), cured meats and wild boar too.  Corsica is largely self sufficient with fruit and vegetables except in the tourist season when their population balloons way past its usual 350k.
If it were not for the terrifying hairpin bends in the hills, I think I would be happy to hire a car and spend a week or more here. 
Our bus was the last group back at the dock and once we were aboard, we set sail for our next port, Tangiers in Morocco.  We will have nearly two days at sea.  We won't have time to be bored with Trivia quizzes, destination lectures and other entertainment arranged through the day.

Cinque Terre Monday 18th May

Riomaggiore

The fishing boats up the main street of Riomaggiore

Riomaggiore

Riomaggiore

Manarola from the ferry

Vernazza

Vernazza

Monterosso

Our ferry and its wheeled gang plank... a bit ricketty at times

There may be five villages in the Cinque Terre, but we knew we had no chance of visiting them all as soon as we hopped on the ferry bound for Riomaggiore at around 10am.  The ferry was absolutely packed.   Most guidebooks tell you to not even try to visit all five villages in one day, so we were satisfied with a flying visit to three:  Riomaggiore, Vernazza and Monterosso.

Corniglia was off the table straight away because it can't be accessed from the sea and we opted to miss Manarola because the coast walk, the Via D'Amor between it and Riomaggiore had been closed due to rock slides.

The first village, Riomaggiore, looked amazing from the sea.  The first glimpses from the water were stunning and once off the ferry we could see the colourful fishing boats literally parked up the main street after the night's fishing.  Anchovies are fished in these waters and are served with lemon juice.

We went onto Vernazza after an hour or so.  Vernazza is beautiful in its own right, having its own sheltered harbour and beach and two towers overlooking the port entrance.

There is a two hour break in the ferry service over lunch time so we settled into the Blue Marlin Restaurant in Vernazza for a quiet beer and some lunch.
I had a bowl of Trofie (a short pasta) with pesto sauce and  Vaughan chose a filled roll and took advantage of the free wi fi.   The cafe seems to be quite an art hangout.  The walls were covered with modern art posters, Italian folk music played and bookshelves on the walls were full of Italian literature.  It was no hardship to spend an hour in there out of the midday sun.

My only gripe about the whole day happened here in Vernazza.  A castle lookout point is advertised at the foot of a gazillion steps - and it wasn't until I reached the top that I learned there is an entry charge.  I was only carrying my camera at this stage, having divested myself of my backpack (and hence, my wallet) and I was seriously unimpressed by their failure to disclose the fee at the start - and returned to the bottom without a photo, and feeling most put out.

I cheered up somewhat in Monterosso after some very welcome gelati.  Then, when it was time to leave at around four, we managed to fluke our way onto the only express ferry running, which returned us to our base in about half the time AND we were lucky enough to see a dolphin at play between Riomaggiore and Portovenere.

I'll leave this entry with some photos of arguably the prettiest collection of villages anywhere.

Pisa and Florence. Sunday 17th May

Field of Miracles, Pisa. The Baptistry is at the front

Inside the baptistry, before the Shout

The shout as recorded in Pisa Baptistry

The Duomo, Florence with its famous dome

Rape of the Sabine women, currently in the Loggia ( soon destined for inside a museum)

Viewing the Ponte Vecchio from the river Arno. The Vasari corridor runs along the top

Centre point on the Ponte Vecchio with fountain and shop

Michelangelo's tomb in Santa Croce churcch

Heavily scuffed and worn tomb on the floor inside the Santa Croce church

Pisa and Florence. Yet again we are in a major port on a weekend. This brings the total to four over the course of the cruise so far: Athens, Venice, Rome and Florence. We wonder if things would have been less crowded if it had been a weekday, but I suspect we are heading into peak tourist season and the crowds are going to be large wherever we go now. I find myself fondly recalling the smaller, more picturesque ports such as Kotor, Korkula and Rhodes where the crowds were not so crazy. It's actually quite tiring to keep track of: your location - even with a map, your valuables, knowing that bigger cities have pickpockets galore, the traffic's direction (looking left or right when crossing roads) and whether to dodge around the mob of tourists or try to weave your way through it. Then there are the hazards of: avoiding hawkers and ensuring you have enough to drink vs being able to find a loo when you need one.

Today's semi-guided tour to Pisa and Florence was supposed to be hosted by a guide, who would handle our bus transfers between the ship and the two cities, then issue us with smart phone guides and say 'See ya later!' Well Cinzia mustn't have gotten that memo, because she briefed us so thoroughly and well that we didn't actually need to use the smart devices at all. She was an absolute treasure, being passionate about her subject and having a particularly soft spot for Australians, because her parents, who had immigrated from Italy to Melbourne in the 50s returned to Tuscany when she was 14. I asked her why her parents wanted to go back and she told me she didn't really know, that her father had been a successful restauranteur in Melbourne - setting up Australia's very first pizza restaurant, in Carlton. In Lygon St. Apparently I was talking to the actual daughter of the man who established Toto's Pizzas! I have very fond memories of late nights at Toto's, Papa Gino's and The Twins (for souvlaki) when I was a student in Parkville back in the 70s. Cinzia told me that her father would still have been there then. It really is a small world, isn't it?

We spent the first hour of our excursion in Pisa's Field of Miracles. Our ticket entitled us to visit the Baptistry and the Cathedral, but we only had time to visit the former due to the queues. I videoed the 'Shout' that occurs right on the half hour to illustrate the superb acoustics of the coned roof, and I will post a link when I have access to enough bandwidth. This is the second time I've heard the 'Shout' live and today's 'performance' was far longer and more intricate than the first. While I was videoing from the upper gallery however, I could hear someone standing nearby rattling off stills. Hmm, how does someone photograph an echo?

After walking back to our bus, trying to keep out of the strong, midday sun, we continued on to Florence, arriving soon after a 10k charity race had finished in the city. We could tell it was over because all the competitors were gone but their rubbish remained, including drifts of purple and white tissue paper swirling in the gutters in front of the posh hotels. Nice.... We ate as a group in a restaurant then went our separate ways for about three and half hours.

The queues for the Duomo and Santa Croce churches were both horrendous, so we confined ourselves to photographing the exterior of the Duomo, which is still fairly spectacular- even if it is undergoing restoration. Then we admired the statues in the Loggia near the Uffizzi, (where there was some kind of childrens's pageant ) to see the copy of David and the Rape of the Sabine women. We then walked over the Ponte Vecchio to check out the gold stores, then found another Hard Rock Cafe for Vaughan's pin collector friend at work. The queue for Santa Croce was more manageable at around 4pm so I went inside on my own to admire the elaborate memorials to Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli high on the walls, and the other smaller tombs with high relief carved figures worn down over the centuries lying dotted around the floor. I suspect I dropped some money while I was inside the church. I can only hope it went to a good cause.

After we met up with Cinzia, she took us in the bus up into the hills overlooking the city to show us some of the magnificent houses, gardens, and views back over the city. I've decided that Florence is a beautiful city but one best admired from a distance at this time of year.

We dozed most of the way back to the ship at Livorno and I find myself looking forward to our next sea day.

A half day in Rome - Sat,16th May

Entrance to the Colosseum: Titus' gate. Amazing relief carvings

Colosseum

Trevi Fountain - under repair

The forum: the site of a Breast cancer event all weekend

Busy time at St Peter's Square

This is the vessel to which our cab mates were returning. It left - all lit up like that- a few hours later

We were docked in Rome's main port, Civitavecchia for the day today - Civitavecchia, which means 'the old city' is a one and bit hour train ride away from Rome's Termini station.  We had to ask ourselves whether it was worthwhile to try to visit such an historical city for only half a day?  How could we even start to do justice to it?  (I'd had a short visit there five years ago - and even that had gone nowhere near doing the job).
In short, we couldn't,  but that didn't mean we shouldn't go into Rome either.  We just had to set our sights a little lower.

Our downfall was that we underestimated how LONG everything was going to take.  When you go on an organised shore excursion, it's a door to door service with little wasted time.  When you're on your own - well you're on your own!

We left the ship shortly after nine - and didn't reach Roma Termini until after 11:30am.  That was after we waited for a shuttle bus to take us off the port precinct, walked from the port to the rail station across town, then waited for our train, which was running late.
The journey itself wasn't an express, so we stopped at every station- extending our journey by a good twenty minutes.  The trains on this line come into the station at the unfashionable end, so we had to hike a long way to reach the main entrance, where all the Hop On Hop Off buses start.  So far, we'd been on the go for nearly three hours and had very little to show for it.

Once we found a HOHO bus, we planned to pick one landmark on the route and visit that in depth.  We'd agreed that the Colosseum should fit the bill nicely but we were aghast at the length of the Saturday queues for the inside tour.   Vaughan was all for staying on the bus and completing the HOHO circuit, but I persuaded him to get off so we could at least view the exterior of the building.  I'm pleased to say it was worth it.

We stopped for a toilet and meal break and found a pizzeria with arguably the best view in Rome, overlooking the Colosseum.  I wish the pizza itself had been nicer ( it was very oily) but it was a memorable meal, if only for the its location.

We pressed on with the HOHO bus, only getting off a few more times so we could grab an exterior shot of the Vatican,  popped into the Hard Rock Cafe to buy a pin (and checked out the posh (quiet) end of town in the Via Veneta while we were there,) then tracked down the Trevi Fountain - which is currently under repair.   Not that that slowed the crowds at all. A perspex viewing platform has been built across the fountain which allows people to examine the fountain's figures in more detail, but even with the fountain not working the queues were ridiculously long.  We decided against it, because we had to trek back a way to the bus stop, wait for the bus, sit for a while before it took us back to Roma Termini, where we had to wait another hour for our train back to Civitiavecchia.

It was getting dark as we arrived at the station. (Sunset was at around 8:15).  Rather than walk back to the dock in the dark, we opted to share a large taxi with another couple also heading for the port (but for a different ship), and the taxi driver was able to take us right up to the gangway.  Finaly - no waiting.
The gangway staff looked very lonely waiting outside the ship for stragglers like us, but they greeted us very cheerfully - all things considered - and told us there were only two more people due back.    I think that's the latest I've ever been back on board before sailing - this cruise anyway.   Not that the ship was due to leave for another few hours - but still.

They staff scanned us both and our bags as we boarded.  As usual, Vaughan's braces set off the metal detectors and they scanned him manually. It's become a running joke for them as Mr 'Vorgan' assumes the position.

I've decided today was a funny kind of day, really.
On the one hand we saw the outsides of some of the most iconic buildings in the world, but due to awful crowd sizes, only managed to see two train station from the inside.
We learned a bit about road rules and street manners as applied in Rome.  Basically there aren't many.  No that's not quite right.  Cars will stop at zebra crossings if you step out onto one,  but pedestrians hardly every stop at Don't Walk signs.  Cars park wherever there is a spot -even on a corner and motor cyclists create an imaginary third lane whenever they like.
Throughout this trip we've been regularly accosted by hawkers trying to sell us selfie sticks, genuine fake Rolex watches and other assorted junk.  It gets really old, really fast.   Today they were so aggressive I had to take to wearing my sunglasses, even while it was cloudy, avoiding all eye contact and walking REALLY fast.  That wasn't always enough and I finally snapped today, thrusting my non-smart phone camera back at the hawker and demanding 'Do I LOOK like I want one of those?'

Highpoint of the day? Finding the hotel just down from the Vatican that I stayed in in Rome in 2010.  It was so close to St Peters, it was impossible to miss.

Day two, Sorrento. Friday 15th May

Mathilde kept us on our toes.

Stepping stones - and stones worn down by wheel rims

Mosaic

A plaster cast of one of the inhabitants of Pompeii

At least they knew where to go

An example of Pompeii rebuilding its walls following the earthquake

Early cats eyes

The juices are wonderfully refreshing

We had a mixed day today.  At first the weather was bright and sunny and tours went ahead without problems, but by midday we had high winds tossing trees around and whipping up the seas which prevented the ship's tenders from operating safely.
The captain was able to reposition the ship so that the tenders could resume their shuttle service, but not before we and another 100 passengers sat cooling our heels in the tender for up to two hours, waiting for permission to return to the ship.  Some of the  Guest Relations staff, who were also ashore with us, went to a local pizzeria and brought back enough pizza for everyone on board the tender to have at least a slice each.  It was a thoughtful gesture - and well received by the now very hungry passengers.
Frankly, once we were back onboard, we weren't prepared to risk venturing out again, especially as the local  Port Agent had been similarly stuck on board the ship and was worried she might not get home.  She advised us that in very rough weather, the Capri ferries don't operate at all - and that the Blue Grotto boat rides would certainly be a bust in this weather.  Unfortunately it looks like visiting Capri will have to wait for another time.
I was struck by how accepting of the inconvenience most of our fellow passengers were.  The Captain even made a short announcement to that effect once we were all back on board.  I suspect that not all nationalities are quite so easy going.  Ahh, it made me proud to be an Aussie.
Even though we only managed to visit Pompeii today, I was glad we made it.  My last visit five years ago had been marred by a poor tour guide and I'd been left very disappointed.  If I'd been in any doubt about the difference a good guide makes to a tour, I'm not any more.  Mathilde - all four foot nine of her,  or in her own words, 'the guide you can hear but not see', was entertaining, informative, organised and engaging.  Basically everything you want in a guide.
She made me feel I'd been to a completely different Pompeii than the one I visited last time.  She took us to sections I didn't see last time, pointed out interesting snippets the other guide ignored, and gave us background information that made it all hang together.
Then, on the way home, she serenaded us all, 'Mathilde's family' beautifully with the song 'Return to Sorrento'!

Now here are some facts about Pompeii I learned today.
1 Streets had built in stepping stones at intersections to keep people's feet dry.  If the street only had three stepping stones, it was a one way street - as there are not enough gaps between the stones for two vehicles' wheels to pass.  If the road had 4 or 5 stones, it was a dual carriageway.  Ruts from the chariot wheels had been gouged into the gaps over time.
2 You could tell which were the houses and which were the shops in the main streets because the shops had grooves in stone for sliding doors, while the houses did not.
3 One of the ( 25 )  brothels has been partially rebuilt.   The sexually explicit frescoes on the wall in the entrance were used as a pictorial menu.  There was a short hand signposting for the brothels with  carved 'cock and balls'  on walls or the road 'pointing the way', as it were.
4 We saw was were essentially prototype  Cats Eyes markers made from marble chips on the black basalt paving stones in one street.
5They had modern plumbing and early functional refrigeration in Pompeii.   We saw original lead pipes used for heating floors and for bathing.  Ancient Romans understood the value of refrigeration and would keep hailstones in amphora in caves to help keep food fresher for longer.
6At the time of the volcanic eruption in 79AD  Pompeii had almost finished a period of rebuilding from a destructive earthquake in 62 AD.  Some of this rebuilding was apparent in the ruins. 
8 Graffiti was as common back then as it is now - and has given archeologists quite an insight  to daily life there
9 Pompeii was a sea resort town t at the time of the eruption.  The sea is now at least a kilometre away and Vesuvius is about three times smaller than it was then.  The residents of Pompeii died of asphyxiation and their remains were were covered in ten metres of ash within two days and lay virtually undisturbed for nearly 1700 years.  The first structures to be  officially excavated were the amphitheatre, whose oval shape was still apparent in the local topography - and the tops of columns poking out of the volcanic soil.  Pottery shards etc had been pulled out of the soil by farmers for generations.   The early excavations were very crude and likely did more damage than good.  Many treasures were lost overseas to the French.
8 All of the soil around Vesuvius is wonderfully fertile.  If the massive lemons we saw  today are any guide, it must be pretty good stuff.

Tomorrow we arrive in Civitavecchia (old town), which is the industrial port for Rome.  We plan to head into Rome by train and spend some time on our own.

Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast

View of Capri ( and the Faraglione) over a sheltered grove of ripe lemons

The filters on which crushed olives are spread, then pressed to extract the oil

The tasting plate from the farm. See the big slab of fresh Mozzarella.

Sorrento

Sorrento from the water

Our evening entertainment

The view from my balcony tonight

We are currently at anchor in the Bay of Naples off shore  from Sorrento and will remain here until tomorrow evening.  The weather is mild and balmy.  Hard to take, really.  I'm currently sitting on the balcony at 10:30pm looking at the night lights of the town, while listening to music from the shore and the  gentle lapping of the sea below me. 

My three highlights for today:
1 Our tour today took us along the Amalfi coast giving us gorgeous views of the matching half moon shaped Bays of Naples and Solerno, and of the Isle of Capri and the Faraglione rocks.   It was quite humid this morning and there were wisps of low cloud around the hilltops.  Being Spring, everywhere is lush and green and groves of ripe lemons are awaiting harvest on every hillside.  But other seasons can be harsh here, with temperatures upwards of 40 degrees C in Summer and  heavy rains and hail in Winter.  As a result all the lemon groves are shielded with green mesh fabric walls and rooves.

The hillside roads are incredibly narrow and winding and the drivers are fearless - or mad -  Or both.  I'm sure our bus driver, Cesare, has nerves of steel dealing with oncoming traffic the way he did.  I saw one motor cyclist overtaking on a blind corner taking him three abreast with our bus and an oncoming car.  Even our guide was moved to exclaim 'Mama Mia!'  more than once.

2 We were taken to a local farm high on a hill outside of Sorrento which grows lemons and olives.  There they make their own own limoncello, press their own EVO oil and produce several types of mozzarella and riccotta cheeses.  We were given a demo of the cheese making and a tasting platter of their products.  Now that was educational - and delicious.

3 We were treated to an open air performance by a local tenor on board this evening.  He sang crowd pleasers such as Nessum Dorma, Oh Sole Mio and Funicule funicula (sp)  His pianist was equally talented, managing to keep his sheet music from flying off the stand in the breeze, playing the accompaniment AND singing harmonies as required.  The crowd managed to get three encores out of them too.

One the dowside,  Vaughan now has my cold and is feeling quite miserable.  I hope he'll be well enough to enjoy Pompeii tomorrow and, if we have enough time (and energy ) in the afternoon, a trip over to Capri and Positano.

Into the Western Mediterrranean. Syracuse, Sicily May 13

The limestone cave known as the Ear of Dionysus

The Ancient Greek theatre is being made ready for a show

This is a fountain commemorating Archimedes, who was born here

The main square in the old town

St Lucia in Ortigia, home of the Caravaggio painting

The water is so blue here. The ship's tender's tent is in the background

Another glorious day. Leaving Syracuse

One of the very best parts of waking up in our suite each morning is seeing a brand new piece of scenery for the first time.  Sometimes it's still moving, but quite often we've anchored overnight and our new home for the day is right there in front of us.  Some port scenes are not especially pretty eg industrial ports like Ashdod (Israel) and Piraeus (Athens), but most are  really interesting.  Santorini and Kotor are the absolute standouts so far.  Arriving in Syracuse, Sicily today showed a surprisingly varied starting off flat with low scrubby trees  on a flat featureless landscape, eventually shifting to higher cliffs and fishing ports with elegant old buildings set back off the waterfront.   I started writing this before dinner out on our balcony shortly after we left port and enjoyed watching the Italian coast go by in the afternoon sun.  RIght now I can see the shadowy outline of Mt Etna on the port side.

The captain has promised to take us past an island volcano, Mt Stromboli, late tonight after we pass through the straits of Messina. 

But back to our day in Sicily and please, no jokes about the Cosa Nostra.  There were enough Godfather tee shirts in town to outfit a whole convention.

I'm pleased to report that I was feeling much more like myself today.  I still have a bit of a  sniffle and a wheezy cough, but was well  enough to join the four hour walking tour of Classical Syracuse, which involved a hike around the archeological gardens and then the highlights of the old town (Ortigia), without drooping like a faded rose.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         
The archeological garden is on the site of an old limestone quarry and there was one chamber called the Ear of Dionysius which has the most superb acoustics.  One of the guides - not ours- burst into song - and that created a magic moment right there.  There was activity around the ancient Greek theatre too, which was also built in the limestone quarry area and is remarkably intact.  Each year at around this time the city runs a festival where Greek comedies and tragedies are performed at the old Greek Theatre.  The old stone benches are temporarily covered with wooden shells to protect them from modern feet etc. and other than being performed in Italian, all the dramatic traditions are followed. The event is incredibly popular and attracts audiences from around the world.

We found another Caravaggio painting today.  That's two for two!  This one is in the Church of St Lucia, the patron saint of Syracuse, who was martyred in the time of Diocletian.  Caravaggio certainly had a flair for the dramatic, showing the gravediggers hard at work, while St Lucia lies in a crumpled heap between them.  Yesterday's painting, in Malta, showed John the Baptist about to be beheaded.
An unexpected highlight of the day was having lunch ashore with some friends who were keen to introduce us to a Sicilian delicacy: black pasta with cuttlefish.   The black comes from the cuttlefish ink and gives the dish a subtle lift.   It was delicious with a local beer served with lemon.

The true highlight of today though was the weather.  The sea is as smooth as silk and the skies were a brilliant blue all day.   It was almost uncomfortably hot on a couple of occasions eg while we were checking out the Greek theatre ruins, but there was plenty of shade to be found.  Other than a wet day in Istanbul and a late shower in Venice, the weather has been wonderful every day.
Tomorrow we have two whole days in Sorrento and we will spend part of one at Pompeii.

Update: midnight.
We passed through the Straits of Messina while we were in the dining room.  It was a little strange to see lights so close on BOTH sides of the ship.    The strait is only a few kilometres wide. I was relieved that the water didn't get too rough as we passed through - especially while eating.

I killed some time waiting for us to pass Stromboli, then went up on deck at around 11pm.  I was surprised how close the captain had been able to bring us.  Although it was just a large black mass in the middle of the sea, it looked close enough that you could put out your hand and actually touch it.  Some nights Stromboli is very active and gives a wonderful natural fireworks display - but not tonight unfortunately.  There was a dull red glow on one side, which was enough to indicate it is still active, but not bright enough for me for a photo.  One fellow managed a good shot though by putting up the ISO number as high as possible and using a a quarter of a second exposure .  I would love to get a copy of it as he managed to shoot more than the human eye could see.