The Last Few Ports

The Final Days

 

We were scheduled to visit Corsica following Rome.  That did not happen. We saw Bonafaccio, Corsica from the sea side on Tuesday morning.  The seas were high and it was windy even though there was no rain. Captain Palmieri decided that it was too rough for the tenders to take passengers from the Silver Wind to the shore.  He made alternative arrangements within an hour or so.  The Silver Wind went instead to a sunny resort in Sardinia for the afternoon. It was a typical rich person's playground full of expensive yachts and ostentatious condominiums.  Most of the expensive stores closed from one p.m. to four p.m., the time coinciding with the time we were anchored there.  Many of the women on the ship complained loudly because they had been denied a shopping opportunity.  I couldn't see why they wanted to pay extra high prices for merchandise they could purchase in any large city or other up-scale resort.  There is no accounting for taste.  Michael and I took a walk around the boat bay, looked at the shops and returned to the Silver Whisper for cocktail hour.

 

Wednesday we arrived at our final port of call – Portoferraio, Elba.  Elba is an Island not far off the Italian coast most famous as Napoleon's place of exile following his forced abdication in 1814. Napoleon stayed there less than a year.  He spent most of his time plotting his return to France and world domination.  Those dreams were shattered when his armies were defeated at Waterloo in 1815 and he was permanently exiled to St. Helena in the South Atlantic. While in Elba he renovated an decorated a large house in the small city of Portoferrario facing the sea and another in the countryside.

 

I didn't expect much of Portoferrario.  I was pleasantly surprised to find it a charming walled city surrounding a small port filled mostly with pleasure boats and fishing trawlers.  Michael and I saw most of the sights during a morning excursion.  We returned in the afternoon to enjoy the city and it's laid back ambience. Today, Elba is a summer tourist destination for northern Italians. Elba, like most parts of the Mediterranean I saw, has stony beaches.  The beach was well filled with sun bathers and frolicking children.

 

We spent the some time exploring the house Napoleon occupied during his stay in Elba in 1814.  The house is now a museum for all things Napoleonic.  I enjoyed the furniture and decorations.  I even bought a Napoleon tee shirt.  We took lots of pictures. Michael and I were there as soon as the museum opened.  As we were leaving a large tour group from our ship arrived.  The historic house was immediately full of noise and crowds. We met a large family group, the Petersons, also from our ship, at the front gate debating whether or not to pay three Euro each to see the house.  One of them asked Michael "Is it worth it?" Michael replied that it would depend on one's interest in Napoleon or in houses and furniture from that era.  We later found out that they went back to the Silver Wind and insisted on renting motor bikes instead.  I guess history just isn't exciting enough for some people.

Michael and I enjoyed a beautiful departure from Elba as the sun set.

After the Cruise

 

The Silver Wind arrived in Monte Carlo, Monaco on Thursday, July 7^th.  My impressions of that small city-state are blurred.  We admired the palace, the casino and the other buildings on shore as we docked.  Soon enough we were in a van headed for Nice and the French Riviera.  Except for short glimpses, we barely saw Monaco as we entered a highway of many tunnels leading to the airport at Nice.  

 

Shortly after 9:00 a.m. the van dropped us off at what the escort thought was our airport hotel. We were at the Novotel Nice; we had made reservations at the Suites Novotel Nice.  Half an hour later, the Suite Novotel van arrived and took us to the correct hotel.  The Suite Novotel turned out to be nicer than the more expensive airport Novotel hotel.  More importantly, we had direct access to the local train station for the Nice airport.  We had only to cross the street and walk under a viaduct.  We stashed our luggage and took the next train into Nice to see the sights while waiting for check-in time.

 

Nice is a typical French Rivera city.  We walked from the Nice central station down the main boulevard to the "Old Town."  We wandered through the famous flower market and its overpriced cafés.  We strolled along the beach and took pictures that were identical to some we later saw in a travel brochure.  We took the elevator to the top of a  cliff that is a public park and site of a former chateau.  The best part was lunch in a small café on a back street in the "Old Town." No one spoke English but Michael's high school French and our menu French sufficed. We spent a pleasant three hours exploring Nice.

 

Later, after we checked in to the hotel, we took another train to Villefranch sur Mer. Villefranch is a tourist stop for cruise ships.  The town dates to the sixteenth century and is most charming except for the inevitable tee shirt and gift shops and bars serving the universal pizza and mojitos filling the first few blocks near the cruise terminal.  We walked the tiny narrow back streets from the train station to the old castle that now serves as town hall and art museum.  The cruise ships Disney Magic, a Princess ship and a Royal Caribbean "…of the Seas" ship were anchored in the bay.  The little town was overrun by about five thousand tourists.  Fortunately for us, they were beginning to depart shortly after we arrived in the late afternoon.   Michael and I were able to find a small café on a back street where we enjoyed a glass of local wine and watched the people walk by. Very pleasant.

 

We returned to our hotel for dinner in the adjacent Italian restaurant.  Before retiring early, Michael and I repacked our luggage for the flights home the following morning.

 

The luggage was a problem when we arrived at the air terminal.  Michael had called Lufthansa before we left the U. S. to verify that we could take four pieces of checked luggage free.  The ticket agent made us pay 60 Euro for a third checked bag. Later we discovered that the rules had changes July 1^st while we were still on the cruise.  At the time it was a hassle, as was the Star Alliance partner club's refusal to let us in even though we should have been eligible. When we arrived home Michael filed complaints and got credit toward future flights from both United Airlines and Lufthansa so it all worked out in the end.

 

The cruise was altogether a fabulous experience.  It was hectic; a new port almost every day.  But what wonderful ports!  I have thousands of memories and nearly 3000 pictures.

Pictures: Monte Carlo (1), Nice (4) and Villefranch (7)

Rome in Nine Hours

 

What can I say about my whirlwind visit to Rome?  The pictures say more than words.

 

Michael and I were among the first off the ship after it docked at Civitavecchia, Italy.  Civitavecchia, which means ancient city, is the principal cruise and ferry port for Rome. A succession of newer cities have been built on an ancient Etruscan ruins.  I understand there are some tourist things to see there but Michael and I headed for the train station to get the earliest train for Rome.

 

Most of the other passengers had signed up for bus tours.  We calculated that a bus would take over two hours to get to Rome because of traffic congestion while the train was a ninety-minute ride.  The ship sponsored tour included admission to the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel as well as a lengthy lunch at a fine hotel.  The museum and chapel deserve more than the quick walk through Michael remembered from a past visit.  Neither of us wanted to waste an hour and a half on lunch, no matter how sumptuous. Therefore, armed with a National Geographic map showing the sights and Michael's knowledge of Rome from prior visits, we set out on our own.  This was my first visit to Rome and Michael wanted me to see my top picks.

 

The train let us off a few blocks from the Vatican.  We soon joined a long line wrapping around the Vatican piazza to go through the so-called security check before entering St. Peter's Basilica.

I was able to take pictures as we walked along at a strolling pace.  Michael had a conversation with a tour guide shepherding a group of Chinese students who were in line directly behind us.  Lots of Chinese are visiting western tourist attractions these days.

 

The security check was minimal; the screeners were more interested in keeping the line moving than inspecting backpacks.  Soon we were in a long line snaking up the steps of St. Peters. It's a good thing that we were there relatively early in the morning.  St. Peters was moderately crowded when we got in and became unpleasantly hot and crowded by the time we left a few hours later.

 

Rome, After the Vatican

After a brief stop at the Vatican bookstore, where I bought an art history of the Vatican, we headed on foot to the Castel St. Angelo and across bridge into Rome proper.  There was a wedding party having pictures taken on the bridge.  Everyone's attention was on the bride.  Michael sought out the groom, standing nervously to the side, and congratulated him.  The groom gave him such a smile of pleasure and relief at the recognition.

 

We walked through back streets, some of them pedestrian only, to the Piazza Navona. This very rococo rectangle is decorated with high renaissance art and appears to be the location of a permanent street fair.  Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers is the centerpiece.  We paused to admire the sculpture and fountains, watch the people and take pictures.

 

I plotted a route on the map to take us to the Pantheon by the shortest route.  Little did we suspect that it was a government district.  There were armed guards on the streets and in guardhouses near big imposing grey buildings.  We saw several black limousines pulling out from one building.  Later when we stopped at a tiny café for lunch, Michael noticed the same scene on a local news channel.  Neither of us speaks Italian but it appeared that the Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, was on his way to one of his many court appearances.  Three trials are underway alleging corruption and there is another trial over a sex scandal. He has even more problems than Obama. It's fortunate that I did not try to take pictures there. I might have lost my camera.

 

I was eager to see the Pantheon because it has been in continuous use for almost two thousand years. The dome is the largest such structure of unreinforced concrete ever built.  The Pantheon was initially a Roman temple to many gods.  A seventh century pope converted it to a Catholic church.  Over time, its gilt bronze ornamentation was stripped away.  The exterior is simple and austere. The interior is beautifully ornate, lighted only by the doorway and the oculus, the "eye" or opening to the sky at the top of the dome. My interior shot shows the tomb of Raphael, the renaissance painter.  A number of notables are entombed in the walls including Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of unified Italy.

 

After a short lunch of salami in a tiny café on a side street, we headed toward the Trevi Fountain.  We came across a tiny piazza with a large rococo church fronting it.  Michael and I ducked inside to escape the heat for a while.  The church was a stunner!  We had stumbled upon the Church of St. Ignatius di Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit order.  We spent a marvelous half hour admiring the statuary and paintings.

 

We finally arrived at the Trevi Fountain in the early afternoon.  It was beautiful but was difficult to see because of all the people crowded into its smallish square. On my next trip to Rome, I'll try to see it early in the morning before the crowds block the view.

 

A surprising thing about Rome is that most of the major tourist attractions are within walking distance of each other.  Part of the fun of walking from one to another is the opportunity to see the Rome that is not tourist land.  I'm sure Rome has more churches per square mile than Venice. The number of architectural styles of the various buildings is amazing.

 

Rome, the Ancient Ruins

We could have visited the Spanish Steps but I chose instead to spend our remaining time and my remaining stamina in visiting the Roman era ruins.  The ninety-five degree heat was tiring us both.

 

Michael told me we were getting close when we spotted the Victor Emmanuel Monument.  This huge structure was completed in 1905 according to my research but many people think Mussolini built it in the nineteen twenties.  It is certainly massive enough to be a Fascist structure and its construction required destroying some Roman era ruins.  Mussolini was responsible for the road: Via del Fori Imperiali, that runs from the monument to the Coliseum and cuts through the site of the Roman, Trajan and Imperial Forums.

 

The remains of the various forums, columns and arches are heart of Rome.  I had a great time walking the Via del Fori Imperiali and photographing many sites. Even though I had studied the map before the trip, the reality looked very different than I had imagined it.  Excavations and restorations have been ongoing for hundreds of years.  Remains of Republican and Imperial Rome overlay each other.  The early Christians also built their churches on the site or repurposed Roman buildings as churches.  Everything is jumbled together: forums, walls from many eras, remnants of columns, triumphal arches.  There are even walls from Trajan's market, perhaps the earliest known indoor shopping center.  We walked the approximately half a mile to the site of the Coliseum marveling at the diversity of ruins.

 

The Coliseum was as large as I had expected, however there was much less traffic than I anticipated.  The land at the back of the Coliseum and Constantine's Arch has been blocked off from traffic.  The street on the North side was very busy but the rest of the area has become a pedestrian only zone.  A wire fence prevents visitors from touching Constantine's Arch.

 

Michael and I were able to climb only partway up the Palatine hill.  The paths on our map had been blocked.  A gate prevented us from walking in the original Roman Forum, along the Via Sacra, from seeing the arches and remains of the temples there and the residences on the hill.  It was hot, we were tired and somehow I just did not feel like spending six Euros each to see them up close since we had been viewing them from a short distance while walking the half a mile of the Via del Fori Imperiali. I'm sure that had it been ten degrees cooler I would have been happy to spend another hour inspecting Roman ruins.

 

As it was, we were happy to discover that we could get a bus from in front of the Coliseum to Rome's main railway station.  The bus was cleaner than the railway trains. In about twenty minutes, the bus deposited us in the square in front of Rome's Central Terminal.

 

When we bought our unlimited rail, subway and bus passes early that morning we also got a map of Rome and a Train schedule for trains between Rome and Civitavecchia.  The schedule worked fine in the morning.  We reached the platform for the train departing at 3:40 p.m. and discovered that it was a train to Naples, not to Civitavecchia.  The actual train to Civitavecchia departed ten minutes later from a track completely at the end of the station and beyond on a set of tracks off to the side of the train shed and attendant buildings.  Michael and I walked briskly but took the entire extra ten minutes to get to the right train.  We boarded the last car no more than a minute before the train departed.

 

The train was a local.  It made every stop on the line between Rome and the port.  The cars were filthy.  Graffiti was scrawled everywhere. I don't think the car had been cleaned or its windows washed since the rail line had taken delivery some years ago.  We had no air conditioning but luckily, we could crank the window open a few inches.  This provided a view as well as some air.  I was surprised at the amount of farm and open land  relatively near to Rome. Michael and I spent a long two hours riding back to Civitavecchia and the Silver Wind.  I consoled myself with the thought that we left later and arrived sooner than the people who took the air-conditioned tour bus.

 

Granted, I have only seen a small part of the city but Rome did not seem as huge as I expected.  The seven hills so not seem all that high.  The things I wanted to see were mostly accessible.  By walking everywhere, I was able to see a living, breathing city, not just the standard tourist fare.  There were certainly many, many tourists.  July is, after all, part of the high tourist season.  It would probably take three or four days to see Rome properly.  I hope to do that someday, but not on a cruise.  Cruise stops only give one a taste of a place.  I think Michel and I made the most of our short visit.

 

Pictures from Pompeii