May 7, 2023 – Civitavecchia, Italy - Partly Cloudy - 75F

I had a little trouble sleeping so I was able to get glimpses of our short cruise to Civitavecchia.  We arrived very early,

and I was up in the Oceanview Café when it opened at 6:00 AM.  It wasn’t crowded at that hour and all of the food items were still available on this disembarkation day.  A nice final breakfast accompanied by a beautiful sunrise.

I brought Ellen her breakfast and she would have sufficient time to eat it before having to leave the cabin.

After vacating the room, we waited for our group to be called in Café Baccio.  Group 34 was called pretty quickly, and we scanned out and headed down the serpentine gangway to the terminal.

I tried to say hello to Luigi, but he didn’t really see me (or maybe didn’t recognize me).  Found our bags pretty quickly and then found our bus.  We got our seats and put our backpacks up in the overhead racks.  As we were leaving Civitavecchia, I got final glimpses of Celebrity Beyond docked.

The ride took about an hour and took us through the countryside and parallel to the coast. In fact, I saw the train we usually take to Rome whizzing parallel to the bus and closer to the water.

We had a very good guide on board who tried to give us some info on what to do when we got to our destination – Ostiense Station. She said to only take the official White Taxi to the City.  The cab ride should run around 17 Euros.  She also took our name and Cabin number and told us she needed that to arrange for cabs to meet us at the station.

We got off the bus – there were a lot of taxis around – and grabbed our suitcases.  We were ushered over to a cab and got in.  When we looked at the meter, it already read 30 Euros.  We asked the cabbie what was going on and he said that he and the other cabs had to wait for us so the meters were running.  That seemed odd since the cruise line should have coordinated with the cab companies on the schedule.

We were about to exit the cab and look for another ride when the cab driver said it would only be 25 Euros.  For that price, we took the original cab. I should mention that the cab driver was very nice and understanding about the whole mess. 

The cab meandered around Rome and found our hotel, Hotel Isa, which is located on Via Cicerone.  The traffic was bad and the driver told us that there was a marathon today in Rome and many of the downtown streets had been closed.  He had to take an alternate route to get to our hotel.  He helped us with the bags, and we checked in and were told that our room was ready.  The hotel is very nice and quaint.  It has a vintage elevator (thank goodness) 

that took us and our bags to our room on the third floor, Room 307.  The room looks out on to the street and is about what you would expect from a metro European hotel room.  It had a double bed and a very small bathroom (no tub).  The room was very warm because it had a West exposure (just like home) so we tried to get the A/C to work.  Also, the sink drain plug was stuck in the down position.  The desk sent someone up to fix the drain as well as a fan to help with the room temperature. 

We were later told that the A/C doesn’t get turned on until June and so we asked for a different room.  We were shown a much smaller room with a single bed and a day bed but had decided to stay in the hot room for tonight.  The desk said to check with them tomorrow about room availability. 

Our hotel is about a block away from the Italian Supreme Court and the Tiber River.  We could see the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica from the roof top bar.  

We tried to take a walk around the neighborhood but there was no shade at the noon hour and we had to retreat back to the hotel to get out of the heat.  I got a picture of the Palace of Justice Supreme Court of Cassation (official name)

and the Piazza Cavour (named for Camilo Cavour, the first Prime Minister of Italy). The court played an interesting role in the history of Italy - this court made the final decision to not convict Amanda Knox for murder in a high-profile case years ago.

There was a movie theater on the corner of our street that played Italian movies.

For lunch, we had some of the snacks we snatched from the ship and stayed in the room with the fan blasting until it was time for dinner. We asked for recommendations at the desk and the nice woman told us to go to San Marco Pizzeria.  We did but the place was crowded, and the street was under construction, so we kept looking and wound up at Malaterra Roma Pizza.  I was looking for a salad as well.  The menu had both and so we decided to stay despite the name which means “bad earth”.  

The place was overflowing with atmosphere (the waitstaff was all in uniform including some interesting newsboy caps). The table settings were unique - the knife and fork were put on a little block of plexiglass - the dishes were interesting as well.

As it turned out, there was no salad available tonight, but we stayed and ordered a Margherita Pizza Buffa (Buffalo mozzarella instead of the standard cheese).  The pizza wasn’t bad, but it didn’t have a lot of Buffa cheese on it. Not the best. 

On the way home, we took the antidote for subpar pizza – gelato.  Again, the little cup was 3.50 Euros – I had an accidental mix of coffee and hazelnut (lost in translation) and Ellen had a hazelnut gelato.  They were a bit grainy and not as good as the gelato in Firenze.

When we got back, we spent some time in the roof top bar – much cooler up there.  There were quite a lot of people up there – I think some girls were having a party. 

We opened a window to cool down the room. The room seems quiet and perhaps the street will also be quiet tonight.

Not a lot of steps today but they were hot ones.

May 6, 2023 – La Spezia, Italy – Partly Cloudy, 72F

The last time we were in La Spezia was in 2018, Constellation was supposed to go to Livorno but weather conditions were so bad, the ship diverted to La Spezia.  We tendered to shore - in the rain - from the Constellation but when it came time to leave for Civitavecchia, the ship could not because of the deteriorating local weather.  In fact, at one point, Constellation broke its moorings and had to be guided back to the pier by tugs.  A really bizarre day.

But not today.  It is forecast to be a beautiful in Tuscany and we have an all-day tour to Firenze (Florence).  It’s an early day since our meeting time 9:00 AM but that wasn't going to be a problem since I was up very early (before sunrise and while the moon was still in the sky).

Because many of the tours left early. the Oceanview Cafe opened earlier so I still had time to run up and get my wonderful standard breakfast and watch a beautiful sunrise,

and bring Ellen her breakfast of choice. We watched the docking process from our cabin.

We gathered at the Celebrity Theater at 9:00 AM and our group was called just a few minutes later.  It was a short walk to the tour busses, and we made our way there quickly so we could get good seats.  The seats were in a good location, but the seat pitch was a little tight - I had to sit slightly sideways.  We departed on time for our two-hour ride to Firenze.  Fortunately, there was a stop midway or who knows where that morning coffee would have gone.  The ride was nice – lots of rolling green hills and mountains (some of which had white sections composed of travertine marble).  Our guide was nice, but she explained very little about the country and the region.

Once in Firenze, the bus parked several blocks away from our first stop and near the River Arno.

Our eventual meeting point would be the iconic Piazza San Croce.  

We have been here a few times and it continues to be an amazing place.  The Basilica di Santa Croce, 

with its sixteen chapels, is the largest Franciscan Church in the world. Construction was initiated in 1294 but it does look newer than that. The Basilica is the burial place of such varied Italians as Michelangelo and Marconi.  

The piazza is not as crowded as I remembered it when we arrived, but it will become so as the day goes on.  The piazza is lined with shops and gelato shop - there are also artists and artisans selling their wares.  

The plan would be that we would have an hour on our own (I originally thought that it would be three hours on our own) and meet back at the Jewelry Store.  Once assembled, one half of the group would go on a 40 minute ride on a gondola on the Arno River followed by another hour of free time and then meet back at the designated Jewelry Store at San Croce.  The boat ride and free time were combined and would alternate for each half of our contingent – one half would have free time and then go on the boat and vice versa for the other half.  Confusing enough?

We started off walking from San Croce to the Piazza Della Signore.  

This large square is home to the 14th Century Pallazzo Vecchio, the town hall of the city.  I couldn't get a picture of the huge tower because there was no place in the square from which I could get the whole structure in the picture.  The Piazza played a major role in the formation of the Florentine Republic and was the political center of the city. From this square you can access the Piazza De Duomo and the Uffizi Gallery.

On one side of the Pallazzo Vecchio is the Loggia die Lanzie, an open-air section containing a statue garden marked by arches.  There are numerous statues in the Loggia and the guides there direct tourist in a specific direction so that the flow of people is maintained.  I've done some research on some of the statues and have listed them below. 

The Fountain of Neptune

Menelaus Holding the Body of Patroclus (Patroclus was Achille's friend killed in battle)

Hercules and Nessus (Nessus was a Centaur whose blood killed Hercules)

Abduction of a Sabine Woman

Rape of Polyxena (Rape = "carried off")

Just outside the Loggia, stands the replica of the statue of Michelangelo's David.  

It is very popular, and it is difficult to get a good picture of the masterpiece.  The Piazza was loaded with tourists and locals, but I was still able to get some good photos including one without any tourists in the field. 

We wanted to get a picture of Il Duomo as we made our way back to Piazza San Croce.  I used Google Maps to get us there, but we were running short on time so all we could do was get a picture of the Dome from a couple of streets over.

We found our way back to San Croce and up next was the boat ride. 

Earlier, our guide had divided the group in two.  Our group would go on the boat ride now.  The boat launch site would require some more walking - it was located down a hill from the street and behind a gate, which was unlocked for us.  Probably a safety thing.

I had some concerns about getting on the boat, but the boat had metal railings that you could hang onto and that made climbing aboard very easy.  

The boat ride was in a small boat with no shade and a gondolier pushing the ship.  The Arno is a muddy river crossed by several bridges.  

Of course, the most interesting bridge was the Ponte Vecchio, the oldest bridge.  

Not as crowded today but there are still plenty of folks checking out the stores and shops.  We also saw the outsides of the famous Uffizi Gallery and Galileo Museum.

The river also sports apartments and restaurants along its shores.  The boat went under the Ponte Vecchio 

and almost to the next bridge before turning around and heading back (or floating back) to the pier. We disembarked our canoe and headed up the hill to street level and started our free time.  

We now had time for lunch – we wound up at Berbere, a cute little pizzeria on the way to San Croce.  The seats weren't very comfortable, but it was outside and safe.  

We ordered a Margherita Pizza, a glass of Brooklyn Brewery Pale Indian Ale and an Italian version of Coke Zero (Mole Cola).  

The pizza was OK – not the best (not a lot of sauce and a little skimpy on the tomatoes, but it was made with sourdough crust, which was really good).  We hung out at the pizza place (and I people-watched) until it was time to meet the group again. The street we were on was crawling with young people, maybe students on a field trip.

We found our way back to Piazza San Croce.

We waited a bit for everyone to come back to the store (I used the time to use the facilities and to try some Gelato from a store next door (very good Coffee gelato for 3.50 Euros for a small cup).  Then, we were off for another long walk to the bus.  Once on the bus, I thought we were headed home but instead we stopped off at a leather store for some last-minute shopping.  We didn’t go into the store and instead sat out in a covered area.  Ellen bought a bottle of water but unfortunately it was carbonated (I wound up drinking it). The facilities there would be the last for the next two hours.

The guide was quiet on the way home and many of the passengers were tired from the long day.  On thing I noticed as we were driving was what good condition the roads were in.  The drivers around us were pretty safe and polite.  

Back on the ship, we cleaned up after the long day and had a nice meal in the Oceanview Café.  Maybe because it was the last meal of the cruise, but the place was full of people and there were many more items on the buffet (lots of different kinds of focaccias and desserts, for example).  There were two pasta chefs working the station and there was additional self-serve pasta available as well.  The last hurrah of food.

Tonight’s Showtime was variety show time.  

Performing were Branden and James who sang "Unchained Melody" in Italian (wonderful), 

Matt Johnson, who used body language "tells" to guess what people were thinking,

Savannah Smith (who joined Brandon and James) in a wonderful version of "The Prayer",

and then sang Tina Turner's "Rag Doll" in hyper decibel mode,

Julian the saxophonist, and Uptown.

Missing was Sabrina, who must have disembarked in La Spezia.  It was an OK show overall.  Before the show, there was a video summary of the cruise and all of the entertainment and Celebrity activities with the exception of the Beyond the Podium Speakers.  It would have been nice, considering the level of attendance, to show a brief clip of each of the speakers at work.  I’ve seen it on other ships but not here.  Maybe, next time.

Ellen had been packing the last few days, so the final pack was a bit easier.  I put the bags out well before 10 PM.  We are in Group 34 – transport to Rome Central – and don’t have to be at our meeting point until 9:00 AM (however, we need to be out of our room by 7:30 PM).

Smooth sailing and no time changes.

Quite a day for the feet – 

12271steps, 605 calories, and 5.24 miles.

May 5, 2023 – Marseilles, France – Mostly Sunny – 70F

Another gorgeous day in Southern Europe.  

Another great breakfast (even though people are eating earlier to get off) and personalized room service for Ellen (our new cabin is closer to the food so few steps).  Even so, I was able to get a good seat up in the Oceanview Cafe.

We are joined here today by the Costa Fascinosa and the ginormous MSC Seashore (the biggest ship ever built in Italy with a passenger capacity of 5,632 or about 2,000 more guests than Beyond). 

While taking a picture of the Costa ship, I also captured an amazing number of contrails from jets taking off from the nearby airport.

 

It's a short day in Marseilles so we decided not to go on an excursion (they all departed very early and we have been on some of those in the past).  Our plan, instead, is to visit the Vieux Port (The Old Port).  We purchased tickets from Shorex ahead of time (10 Euro for the two of us).  

The ride to the port was relatively short and the bus was comfortable.  It was about 10 AM and a lot of the stores were not yet open.  We were dropped off at a fancy “strip” mall near La Cathedrale de La Major.  

From there, we had to ask a few people (not much English here) how to get to the Old Port.  The Old Port was not just up the street – it was quite a way and downhill from the mall.  The port is in Le Panier, the oldest district in Marseilles.

Using Google Maps, we made our to the harbor. The fortress-like building at the intersection where we turned left to find the harbor is The Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations. 

The harbor is a U-shaped port with lots of small boats moored.  

The street bordering the harbor is fairly busy and there is a ticket booth for tours (hop on hop off, etc) on the sidewalk.  We saw several tour busses pass down the street.  Drivers are mostly polite and will let pedestrians cross.

Restaurants line the street along Le Panier and only some of them were open.  We walked about two thirds of the way along the harbor and then decided to turn back because the walk was becoming a bit painful for me.  From our location, because it was such a clear day, we could see Notre Dame de La Garde in the distance. 

The basilica, which stands nearly 500 ft above Marseilles is the highest structure in the city.  It was built in the mid 19th Century and is a popular tourist attraction and a pilgrimage site.

I wanted to try the local coffee and get off my feet for a few minutes so we made ourselves comfortable in one of the open air coffee shops along the Vieux Port (actually, I don't think we actually made it to the Old Port, which was still a ways down the road). I could have set up business in the coffee shop because no one paid any attention to us until I flagged down a server and asked for a menu.  The coffee cups are small of course and my Café Americano was about 4 Euros.  

While I was nursing the coffee, a French Fly wandered into my expensive coffee. I showed the evidence to another server, and he ponied up a replacement but this coffee was actually a mocha latte so I did well on the exchange. Thanks, Mon. Fly for doing your part to increase tourism.

We stayed at the Coffee place for quite a while.  We had good phone signal in Marseilles, and I do like to people-watch (both in the restaurant and on the sidewalk).

Even though no one made us feel like we were loitering, we left the restaurant, walked the several blocks (all uphill) back to the meeting point, Along the way, we checked out restaurant menus, for future reference, and found the prices to be semi-reasonable and the food options diverse.

Fortunately, the bus was at the meeting point when we arrived.  We showed our tickets, got on, waited a few minutes and headed to the ship.

When we got to the room there was a handwritten note from Alexa thanking me for my presentations on this voyage – a first and very, very nice.  It was great working with her.

A nice lunch on board and then some quiet time.

We watched the sail away from our cabin.

I had the pasta chef make me Spaghetti Olio in the Oceanview Cafe.  The last time, I had this dish, there wasn't enough olive oil, and it was dry.  Not this time.  Plenty of oil and garlic.  Really good.  

While Ellen was getting a charm in the EFFY store (charms were given away every evening). There was also a nightly raffle, which Ellen actually won one night.  While that was going on, I was just down the road In the Grand Plaza, watching a flash mob led by Alexa.  Alexa is a trained dancer so she did a good job of imparting some dance moves to the mob.  They were very entertaining.

Tonight’s entertainment is a reprise performance by “Uptown” so we passed and instead found a quiet place in the Eden complex. I've been in Eden several times but I hadn't noticed this living "chandelier" in the ceiling.

Took a few millimeters off the bottom of my sneakers today with 10415 steps, 469 Calories, and 4.45 miles.  Here's the evidence.