Airing Out Our Clean Laundry!

We were back on dry land by a little after 8:00 this morning. We're at a different hotel than the one we stayed at the night before the cruise, however it's only about a half mile away. We had scouted it out so it was easy to find. 

Our game plan for today was one thing and one thing only, laundry!

Good thing we only had that one item on the agenda because it was quite time consuming. 

First of all the very nice front desk clerk sent us to the wrong place. What she thought was a self serve laundry was some type of laundry drop off service.  It looked pretty cool and moderately high tech.  You download an app. Then you put you dirty laundry in a secure locker. Later it's picked up washed, dried and returned to the locker. You get a text that it's ready, pay by your phone and you get a code to open the locker. 

The whole thing sounds quite practical and ingenious for residents but not for visitors who are only in town a few days. The challenges with me and my clothes staying together have been documented in a previous blog. We weren't taking any chances!

So it was back to the hotel to get the name and location of another laundry mat. It took a little time to locate it due to the fact the streets run in random directions, turn, start and stop again but we found it. 

It was nice but small with only five washers and three driers. We had to wait for a while on a washer and the driers were really backed up. Instead of spending time watching other people's clothes tumble dry we brought everything back to the hotel and spread it out to dry naturally. 

Thankfully the room has a large window that was letting sunlight in and there were plenty of flat spaces, closet doors and others places to "air out our clean laundry."

Once everything was laid out we had nowhere to sit because every space was occupied by some article of clothing. 

We did discover that the hotel has a nice rooftop terrace. It was ideal for kicking back and relaxing while looking over Barcelona on a sunny Monday afternoon. 

It's Tuesday morning now. Most things have dried and been put away but the room is still quite a site to see. 

There's a bed under there somewhere!

Paella and a Crab's Revenge!

Valencia was our last stop on this first cruise. Ironically it's going to be the first stop on our next cruise. However we have five nights in Barcelona sandwiched between the two. 

Throughout Europe there is a blend of the old and historic sections of towns that sometimes date back over 2000 years and the new coexisting together. 

This contrast of old and new is never more apparent than it is in Valencia. There is the old very gothic city center with narrow alleyways and huge cathedrals which is contrasted by very futuristic architecture of the museums and aquarium. 

I guess you could think of it as the Flintstones vs. the Jetsons. 

As has been the case throughout the cruise the temperatures have been somewhat chilly although it was a little warmer and sunny today making it a perfect for a bike ride. 

We started in the historic city center renting the bikes from a   shop I was pretty sure we'd never be able to find again. 

A few blocks from our starting point we hit familiar territory. There is a bike path we had ridden on a previous visit. The unique thing about this path is that it is actually a dried up river bed that runs through the heart of the city. 

From what I understand there was a massive flood in the 1950's after which the city diverted the river to eliminate future issues. This left a riverbed that has become an amazing park in the center of the third largest city in Spain. 

We rode from the old (historic) section past the modern architectural marvels out to a beach that was fairly lively with Sunday afternoon walkers, runners and bikers. 

We took the riverbed path back to town. Shockingly we were able to find the bike shop and returned the bikes without injuring ourselves or harming any Spaniards' along the way.

We rewarded ourselves for our physical and navigational feats with lunch at a restaurant that the friendly guy at the bike shop recommended. The name of the place was Rall. I have no earthly idea what Rall means but their speciality is Paella which originated in Valencia and is popular all over Spain.  It's yellow rice flavored with saffron and most commonly covered with seafood, although there were chicken, rabbit and vegetarian options on the menu. 

Being somewhat traditionalists we opted for the seafood version which included fish, shrimp, mussels, crab and who knows what else. 

It was served in a deep dish pan about the size of a very large pizza. When our server brought it out it looked great and also big enough to feed a decent sized army. It took some effort but we finished it off and have the before and after pictures to prove it.  This gastronomic feast was not without danger. Beth jabbed herself on the hand not once but twice try to crack open a crab leg. I guess you could call it the crabs last act of defiance. 

Not sure what we'll do next Sunday when we're back in Valencia but Paella just might be on the menu.....assuming Beth's wounds heal properly!

Paella Anyone?

Killed it

Museum & Aquarium Area

Museum & Aquarium

Muey Bien!

Not being able to go to Marseille turned out to be a really nice blessing in disguise.
We were able to get a little rest and recovery time throughout the day and were treated to an early arrival and overnight stay in Palma, Mallorca.
The ship got in right around 5:00 PM which was just as the sun was going down. We were off quickly and exploring this city of around 450,000 which we had never visited before.
My first impression was that Palma is stunning. There are mountains in the background and the buildings form almost what looks like an amphitheater with the huge harbor being the stage (that's my deep analogy for the day).
There was a well lit walkway along the harbor that we took for 2-3 miles before we turned up towards the city center and historic district. The streets were bustling with people of all ages enjoying food and drink as well as after Christmas sales. We have learned that after Christmas sales over here don't don't start until after the Three Kings Celebration which takes place in early January.
We're not shoppers but we weren't going to miss out on the food and drink. We found a nice little cafe for tapas and sangria.
We walked back to the ship just in time for the 9:30 show which featured four overly theatrical but somewhat entertaining male Spanish singers.
Our plan for Saturday was to visit a small beach front town called Port of Soller.  The images of the town looked great and the trip advisor reviews were equally impressive.
It was about a one hour bus ride through very scenic mountainous roads to reach the  town. Much to our surprise we actually went through a small area that had just received a nice dusting of snow.
Once we got there we quickly realized that the place lived up to it's billing. If Palma was a large amphitheater with the harbor as it's stage, Port of Soller was a small playhouse with it's tiny beach and port as it's stage.
We noticed one other thing. Port of Soller is definitely a "seasonal" town and this was the off-season.
I'm sure this would be a big disappointment to many people but given our general dislike for crowds and people it was perfect for us!
There was a great promenade along the beach that at any given time we could see no more than 10-20 people strolling with us. The entrance to the harbor was mountainous on both sides with very nice lighthouses to guide boats to safety.
We imagined the place in summer when all the closed hotels and cafes would be packed and were very glad to be there at this time of year.
There were a couple of outdoor cafes and shops open along the  way. We settled in to an outdoor table at a place that featured a guy playing and singing. He was really very good.  He had a raspy kind of Joe Cocker voice and did very mellow and laid back versions of Dylan, CSN&Y,
Keb Mo and others. Every song was sung in perfect english and seemed to last at least five minutes.
One of the things I love the most about this journey is not having a clue how the day is going to unfold.  A small off-season beach front town, lunch at an outdoor cafe, a guy and his guitar.....muey bein!

The footpath to Wallyworld aka Eze

Waking up in Monte Carlo is quite an experience. This was our second time in Monte Carlo but the first time to dock in the city.  On our last visit the winds were too strong to get into the port so we docked about 20 miles away in Nice, France. 

The first thing you notice about Monte Carlo is that it is stunningly beautiful. The water is crystal clear and there are amazing high rise apartments along the waterfront that give way to huge mansions up in the mountains. 

The second thing you notice is that there are numerous private yachts in the harbor that are almost as large as a the cruise ship (a slight exaggeration but not too much).  

This is definitely the "high rent district" of the French Riviera . We saw a studio apartment that was 50 square meters in size that was selling for $1.5 million and another place that was selling for just under nine million. Sorry, I didn't get the realtors name but if you're interested I'm sure you can find it. 

I also got a kick out of the car dealerships we saw as we made our way around town. No Honda, Toyota or the likes in this place. However there was a Lamborghini dealership right across the street from the Ferrari dealership both of which were just a few steps away from the Maserati dealership. I think you get the picture. I'm a little surprised they'd let a bunch of low life's like us in town!

We were told about the mountain village of Eze and that there was an easily accessible trail from the coast up to this village that made for a nice hike. 

We made our way out of Monte Carlo by bus to Eze seaside which was a mere 500 meters below the village of Eze. Thanks to a friendly local who pointed us to the trail head we were soon on our way to the village by way of the Charles Nietzsche footpath. From what I have learned Charles was a poet and philosopher who lived in the area back in the 1800's who found inspiration for his writings while walking this path that would later be named after him. There were a few markers along the way with some of his deep thoughts and poetry. It was a little too deep for me to appreciate but come to think of it pretty much anything beyond Green Eggs and Ham is going to be over my head. 

The trail was well marked, sturdy and very steep. Although it was only about 50 degrees, Beth was down to a short sleeve shirt within just a few minutes. I had on a pretty thick pair of warm up pants which I considered shucking but I had selected an old pair of underwear that wouldn't have been good for public display. 

The trail was only a little over a mile and a half in length but with the grade and frequent stops to enjoy the views it took around an hour to reach the village of Eze. 

The village has a very medieval look and feel to it complete with awesome views up and down the Riviera coast. Just the views and walking the narrow alleyways made the efforts of our climb well worth it. However, I do have to admit that I felt a little bit like Clark Griswald in National Lampoon's Vacation. When he reached Wallyworld it was closed and when we got to the top everything in the village of Eze was pretty much closed for the season. I guess business is so brisk in the spring, summer and fall that they shut it down from November to March. We don't generally contribute much to the local economy anyway so it wasn't a big deal.  Especially since we were able to find a little restaurant that made killer crepes. 

Reenergized from the rest and crepes we decided to let gravity do part of the work for us so instead of taking the bus down we took the footpath again. 

I reread some of Charles's poetry and deep thoughts.....I was no more enlightened on the way down than I was on the way up!

Once we were back on the ship we were informed by the captain that due to unfavorable weather conditions we were not going to sail to Marseille, France but head directly to Palma, Majorca (Spain).  

There was a small hint of disappointment but we had been to Marseille before so it wasn't a major disappointment. After five ports in five days a day at sea to rest and recover was pretty welcome!

From the trail to Eze-more pictures later!

Naked statues on a cold day!

While you shouldn't judge the day by the weather it is perfectly acceptable to adjust the day based on what the weather gives you. 

Our port for today was Livorno which is the gateway to Florence, Pisa and Lucca.   From what I know about Livorno it was originally built centuries ago to become one of the great cities of Italy like Rome, Milan. Florence and Venice. Somewhere over time plans changed and it evolved into an industrial city. I'm sure from an economical standpoint it plays a vital role because of the large port but as far as tourism goes there isn't much to see. 

So we went to sleep last night thinking we'd be spending the day the really cool small town of Lucca. 

Lucca is a very charming walled city that we visited a few years ago. It's filled with what you find   in small Italian towns; churches, shops, restaurants, pastry shops and of course gelato!  

What we enjoyed the most on our previous visit to Lucca was walking the perimeter of the town on the wide path on top of the wall. It was a nice Sunday afternoon and it seemed like half the town was out enjoying a stroll. 

When we woke up and headed out for the day we found a little ice had formed on the top deck around the pools and hot tubs. A fellow passenger said the temperature was a balmy 31 degrees with a "feels like" temperature of 20!  Suddenly the walk on the wall didn't seem quiet so attractive so we made a quick change of plans and took the one hour fifteen minute train to Florence. 

Even though we'd still be outside for the most part Florence would provide more opportunities to duck inside some of it's numerous churches and museums, if needed, plus the train ride was a little longer. We considered the train ride as part of the days events. 

The trains in Italy are nice and run frequently. Today we were especially grateful for the frequency because we (along with a bunch of folks off the ship) got off at the wrong train station in Florence. No big deal. There was another train in fifteen minutes that was going to the right station just 5 minutes further down the track and we had another memory to add to the journey. 

It wasn't our first visit to Florence, however it was the least crowded we'd ever seen this historic Tuscan city. 

The temperature did warm up a bit, probably to about 45 degrees. Thankfully there was no wind so we spent most of the time outdoors although we did enjoy walking through the Santa Maria Del Fiore Catherdral which is commonly referred to as the Duomo. While it is certainly lesser known than St. Peter's in Rome the exterior is very impressive and the stained windows and the adjoining bell tower are certainly a sight to see. 

Although we never planned on going in since we had seen him before we did walk by the Galleria Dell'Accedemia which has been home to Michelango's David since 1873. 

During the busy time of the year getting in to see David requires waiting in a long line or an advance reservation. Today we could have walked right in by simply paying the 12.50 euro admission price. I'm not sure how he was holding up in the cold weather, he might have enjoyed a jacket and some ear muffs today. Good thing he's made of stone or there might have been some serious shrinkage on such a cold day!

Rapidly Roaming Rome

Today was a fast paced day even by Tucker standards. 

We were docked in Civitavecchia which is the cruise terminal for Rome. Now you can pay a ridiculously high price ($150+)for the ship to transport you by bus or train to Rome or do it "Tucker style". 

"Tucker style is walk through the small town of Civitavecchia to the train station and pay around $10 for a round trip ticket. 

The trains run frequently and once you get to Rome there are several options on where to get off including St. Peter's, Trastevere (lots of hotels and convenient to the forum and coliseum) or the central station. 

It was before 9:00 and a little chilly so we opted to get off at St. Peter's and say hello to the Pope. This area is a huge mass (note the catholic reference) in the summer, however on a chilly January weekday morning it was almost like we had the place to ourselves. 

Unlike our last visit two years ago, this time we didn't see the Pope.  I guess he had more important matters to attend to, no hard feelings on our part. 

We did the St. Peter's walk around which is always amazing and headed out to do a walk by of many of the amazing sites of this fast paced city. 

Along the river, into the Pantheon, by the Trevi Fountain, in front of the forum, halfway circle the coliseum, have a nice sit down lunch and catch the 3:00 train back to Civitavecchia

Whew!  Thankfully we've spent enough time in Rome as well as in Civitavecchia that we knew how to navigate our way around. 

Rome is truly amazing and to fully appreciate it you need at least three days. But even if you're on a cruise and have only one day you can cover a lot of ground and begin to develop an appreciation for the Roman culture as well as their ingenuity. It is amazing to stand in the Pantheon or outside the forum or coliseum and think about the fact that these structures are around 2,000 years old. 

We'll be back in Civitavecchia shortly, there's a hot tub on the ship with our names on it!

True Roman Gadiators!

   

Palermo, Sicily And The Italian Beatles!

Living in Texas one of the most commonly uttered phrases about the weather was "if you don't like it just wait ten minutes and it'll change". While I never found that bit of wisdom to apply to summer when the temperature would rise to around a million degrees it was pretty accurate in the other three seasons.

 Although it was rather chilly all day today in Palermo bits and pieces of the weather such as clouds, sun, rain, sleet and wind were constantly changing.  We knew it would be silly to let these little atmospheric changes rule the day. 

The noise and "grittiness" of this metropolitan area that we experienced a few years ago are still there. Maybe because there was less rain and more peeks of sun this time around our impressions of Palermo were much more favorable. 

We enjoyed roaming for miles along busy streets ducking into many of the large and well adorned historic churches. Many of these churches were 500+ years old. They were established well before the 7-10 word praise and worship songs  and theatrical displays we have in so many churches today. Heck, I doubt these old churches even have an audiovisual team but they seem to still be plugging along. 

We wandered far enough to run into the Royal Palace and Palatine Chapel which were added to the world heritage list back in 2015. Touring this palace was like a walk through history since the original construction started shortly after the coronation of Roger ll in 1130. Additions to the original construction continued through the early 19th century. The architecture and artwork from below your feet to the top of the ceiling were really impressive. 

Speaking of impressive and dramatically switching gears. One thing we did on our first visit that we didn't do this time was go to the Piazza Cappucini Catacombe. The catacomb is a big crypt where you are surrounded by hundreds of folks who have been dead for centuries. It's hard to describe but very interesting to see if you ever find yourself in Palermo looking for something to do. 

I'll add a link when I get to a computer, and as was the case with our fall trip I'm doing this blog on my iPhone so pictures and captions are difficult. More will be added at a later date. 

The shipboard entertainment can range from bad to cheesy to very good. The production cast onboard are pretty good. They did a show a couple of nights back that featured a bunch of rock music from the 70's and 80's that was nice. 

Last nights show was a Beatles tribute band called The Moondogs (seriously, that was their name). They were Italian guys so imagine four lads from somewhere in Italy with strong accents and probably named Marco, Guseppie or something  trying to impersonate four lads from Liverpool. 

I'd give them a solid A for effort as for pulling it off ........

No trip to Sicily would be complete without a cannoli!

Main cathedral in Palermo