Cruising the Mediterranean

To celebrate our birthdays this year we decided to take a Mediterranean Cruise.

We flew to Genoa, Italy where we spent a day exploring and an evening on the waterfront.

Genoa

Genoa is the sixth largest city in Italy and one of Europe's largest cities on the Mediterranean Sea and the largest seaport in Italy.  It is the birthplace of Christopher Columbus. 

The Bio Dome on the waterfront   

  John shopping for a new boat (he picks the one from Delaware)

On board the MSC Fantasia, looking over to her sister ship the Splendida 

The MSC Fantasia

The Fantasia (pronounced Fanta-see-a) was built in 2008 and christened by Sophia Loren 

It is a HUGE beautiful ship with 1637 cabins, with 1143 of them having a balcony. The ship accommodates 4363 guests. 

The week that we cruised it happen to have 

more than 700 Americans on board  

 (A large group of US Military Families based in Europe)

Our Cruise Itinerary 

 Naples

Naples is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities 

in the world and the birthplace to PIZZA! 

 We took a ferry to Capri 

We then took a cable car to the top were we took in some beautiful scenery  

 We finished off our day in Capri with a glass of wine and pizza 

Goodbye Naples

Hello Malta 

Malta

The country covers just over 122 sq miles, making it one of the world's smallest and most densely populated countries. The capital of Malta is Valletta, which is also the smallest capital in the EU. Malta has two official languages: Maltese and English. 
(No, we did not find the Maltese Falcon) 

We took the hop-on hop-off bus tour through Malta

We stopped in the quaint fishing village of Marsaxlokk, at the south-east end of the island and is memorable for the many colorful, traditional fishing boats called luzzu. The painted eyes on these luzzus are believed to protect the boats from danger.

 

We were told that we couldn't leave Malta without trying the Maltese Wine and Ravjul gbejna (fresh sheep's-milk cheese Ravioli)

We enjoyed both!

We did a little shopping then hopped back on the bus for a sightseeing drive back to the ship.

As we said goodbye to Malta we agreed that our time there was much too short, and are keeping it on our "to visit again list" 

 
A day at sea
We spent our day at sea on the quiet "adults only" VIP Sun deck. 
It was a very relaxing day soaking up the sun. We then went to the Mexican restaurant for an outstanding lunch, then back on deck to work on our very pale Scotland skin.
 
CJ's favorite place on the ship, The Swarovski Crystal staircase.

John's  favorite, The Giancomo Agostini Motorcycle 
(15 x world champion)

  Our fun-loving dinner companions 
Chris and Anthony from New Jersey 

(We do miss those nightly lemoncello after dinner drinks)

Our next Port was 
Athens, Greece
 The birthplace of western civilization,  Modern Athens is the capital and largest city in Greece.  The Acropolis lies in the center of a massive, sprawling metropolitan area that covers both Athens and the port city of Piraeus where we docked.  It took a while for our tour bus to navigate the congested streets to make it through to the ancient sight of the Acropolis.  We climbed up the Acropolis past the ruins of the Roman Era theater.  We looked over at the area that was once the Agora, where Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle laid the foundation for modern philosophy and science.  And finally we made it to the collection of temples at the summit, and the pièce de résistance, the Parthenon.

 

The Panathenaic Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium used for several events and athletics in Athens that hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. Reconstructed from the remains of an ancient Greek stadium, the Panathenaic is the only major stadium in the world built entirely of white marble (from Mount Penteli) and is one of the oldest in the world.

Our next stop was
Corfu
Corfu is the second largest of the Ionian Islands.  Including it's small satellite islands it forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece.

The island's history is laden with battles and conquests. The legacy of these struggles is visible in the form of castles punctuating strategic locations across the island. Two of these castles enclose its capital, which is the only city in Greece to be surrounded in such a way.
                                           

Dubrovnik, Croatia
Dubrovnik

Another admirer of Dubrovnik, George Bernard Shaw, visited the city in 1929 and said: "If you want to see heaven on earth, come to Dubrovnik."
In the bay of Dubrovnik is the 72-hectare wooded island of Lokrum, where according to legend, Richard the Lionheart was cast ashore after being shipwrecked in 1192.

A feature of Dubrovnik is its walls that run almost 2 km (1.24 mi) around the city. The walls run from four to six meters (13.2 to 19.8 feet) thick on the landward side but are much thinner on the seaward side. The system of turrets and towers were intended to protect the vulnerable city

We absolutely fell in love with Dubrovnik, and hope to see more of Croatia one day, but for now we are off to Venice!

As the cruise came to an end in Venice, we traded in one boat for another, we took a water taxi to the front door of our hotel.  

Venice

Venice is a city in northeastern Italy sited on a group of 118 small islands separated by canals and linked by bridges. 

Piazza San Marco

The Rialto Bridge is one of the four bridges spanning the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy. It is the oldest bridge across the canal, and was the dividing line for the districts of San Marco and San Polo.

 

We took a Gondola ride from the Rialto bridge through the canals passing by Marco Polo's and Cassanova's homes

 

We took a trip to Murano for a Glass Factory tour

Well as our Holiday is over and we head to the Venice Airport by water taxi we suddenly feel like we are in a movie 

While at sea we got to see many beautiful sights:
lighthouses, cliffs, caves 
color changes, sunrises and sunsets 

Well that's it for now, but not to worry we have already been on more adventures and taking more pictures for our next blog! 
(Not to mention that we have big plans for next week when our friends the Bryn's visit from Florida.)

Cheers!
John and CJ