Portofino, Italy (aborted to Genoa, Italy)

Saturday, April 11, 2015

Today we began the first day of the 5th segment, 18 days, of the World Cruise from Rome to Ft. Lauderdale.  Our first stop was Portofino, located in the beautiful area of the Italian Riviera not far from the French border.  We choose to again visit the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Cinque Terre, a national park comprised of five unique villages.

Upon arriving in Portofino, we encountered very big swells, not allowing for the ships tenders to safely transport passengers shore side.   Unfortunately, the Captain made the decision to abort our call to Portofino and instead relocate to Genoa, about 25 miles west of Portofino.  He will also extend our all aboard time to 7:30pm.  Most of the tours will operate but certainly with revisions.

Genoa is a metropolitan area with nearly 1 million people.  Here you find the San Lorenzo Cathedral, dedicated nearly 1,000 years ago and Chelsea del Gesu (Church of Jesus) containing priceless relics and artwork by Reubens.  The city has old boulevards with many palaces.  Also Genoa has museums, the largest aquarium in Italy, countless galleries and opera!

As promised, the Captain extended our stay to allow the excursions to complete as much of their visits as possible and at approximately 8:15PM we slipped the lines, blew the whistle and headed for Nice, France.

Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy

Friday, April 10, 2015

Tonight starts the fifth segment of the World Cruise, but today finds us in the gateway to the Eternal City (Rome), Civitavecchia.  Civitavecchia has served as Rome's seaport since the 13th century.  The port has a long and venerable history.  The emperor Trajan built a pleasure villa near, while Bernini and Michelangelo designed the harbor fortifications.

The ancient capital of the Western World and the center of Christianity for nearly 2,000 years, Rome provides an inexhaustible feast of things to do and see.  Nowhere on earth is there more art.  Rome gives us the magnificent Sistine Chapel and the largest church in the world, St. Peter's Basilica.  And we can't forget the Piazza's and fountains, especially the Trevi Fountain, one of the most famous in the world.  Throwing a coin in the fountain brings "luck".  Every night, workers collect about 3,000 euros and dollars from well-wishers.  The money is donated to charity.

And we can't forget the food.  It is said that Italians eat about 60 pounds of pasta per person per year - we can understand why - delicious!

Today was a "housekeeping" day for us and we did not venture into Rome having spent time here before.  Several new passengers joined the ship to do the transatlantic crossing to Ft. Lauderdale with us.

At close to 6PM, we lifted the lines and set sail towards the Ligurian Sea and our next port, beautiful, scenic Portofino.

Messina, Italy

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

During the night we followed a course north and easterly from Valletta towards the Strait of Messina, a narrow passage between the eastern tip of Sicily and the western tip of Calabria in the south of Italy.  This connects the Tyrrhenian Sea to the north with the Ionian Sea to the south, within the central Mediterranean Sea.

Messina is just 3 miles from the mainland of Italy and the third largest city in Sicily.  The city offers relatively new architecture after surviving a series of natural disasters, a 1908 earthquake that turned into a tidal wave and of course, the wars.

The main things to see and do in this area of Sicily is visit Mt. Etna, Europe's tallest and most active volcano that has erupted over 130 times in recorded history.  Or visit Taormina, perched 700 feet above sea level, and in existence since Roman times.  In the countryside there is also many vineyards and opportunities for wine tasting.

In Messina, the Duomo is a 12th century cathedral, with the world's largest astronomical clock that springs to life every quarter hour and provides a grand display at noon.  Unfortunately, the tower was covered in scaffolding, undergoing refurbishment!

Weather today was quite chilly with winds blowing and potential rain.  With an upper respiratory cold threatening to "join us again", we decided to remain on board the ship.

We set sail for Sorrento, Italy at 6pm.