Carnival Sunshine ~ Day 15: Barcelona, Spain

September 22, 2013 deladane Leave a comment

September 21 – Barcelona, Spain

I woke up at 7:30 and it felt like I was sleeping in haha I ordered mom some coffee from the hotel’s room service and it arrived 10 minutes later. I finished getting dressed and went downstairs for breakfast. Hotel Lleo offers a great breakfast with tons of meats, cheeses, pastries, other breakfast staples, and even wine!

After breakfast, we took the metro to the Gothic Cathedral. Entrance to the church is free as long as you enter before noon, so we made this our first stop to save a little money. We got to the front door of the church and the guard said I needed to cover my knees. Remember that black skirt I carried in my purse every day of the cruise? Well I don’t know why, but I totally forgot to bring it today! Oops! Luckily, there was a lady on the church steps selling thin brightly colored shawls for 2 Euros each, so I bought a pretty one and wrapped it around my waist to cover my knees. I guess it worked out okay in the end because that shawl was lighter and less bulky to carry around for the rest of the day than my original black skirt in its pouch.

We spent about 30 minutes walking around the cathedral. It was very detailed and pretty, but I was disappointed that there was a La Merce Festival tent set up in the front which blocked the views and made it hard to see the whole facade in one glance.

Famous ducks in the courtyard:

Next, we went down to the marina to see the Columbus Monument, the wave bridge, and the harbor. It was such a beautiful day outside, and there was lots of activity along the waterfront so it was fun to wander around and people watch for a little while.

After that, we went back up the Ramblas to the Boqueria Market. I was greatly looking forward to walking through this market, and it exceeded my expectations! It was very lively and crowded as we were there at lunch time. Vendors were selling everything you can imagine- fish, meat, fruit, veggies, candy, wine, cheese, bread, and more! We bought some fruit juice (I had the orange, strawberry, and pineapple juice and it was delicious!), and wandered around the market.

I thought this vendor was pretty funny… she sold eggs! And a LOT of them!!

I really wanted a crepe for lunch, but the line was too long!

As we were leaving the market, we walked passed a restaurant that caught my eye. It was called Wok and Walk, and they served make-your-own-stir fry dishes in cute take out containers. I picked udon noodles with chicken, mushrooms, and a sweet and sour sauce, and it was great! They cooked it very quickly and I ate my lunch as we walked the rest of the Ramblas and back to the hotel.

We rested at the hotel for a few minutes, and then took a taxi to the Picasso Museum. We arrived at 2:30pm and there was a huge line to enter. Luckily, we had pre-purchased our tickets, allowing us to skip the line. Our scheduled time was at 3pm, but they let us enter when we arrived a half hour early. We read the Rick Steves walking tour along with what was posted on the museum walls, although I found that we really didn’t need Rick Steves because it basically said the same things on the museum walls anyway. We spent about an hour at the museum, and while I enjoyed it, I don’t think it would have been worth waiting on that long line.

After we left the museum, we walked through the Barri Gotic neighborhood back to the Gothic Cathedral to catch the orange route for the HOHO bus, since this was the second of our 2 days on the pass and we had only done one of the routes yesterday. The first half of this route was interesting, but we were bored with the second half as it drives to very spread out sites all over the city and offers very little info on the audio guide. It took us 2 hours to complete this loop, approximately the same timing as yesterday, but yesterday’s itinerary was much better. If you only have one day to see Barcelona and want to do the HOHO buses, I would recommend only doing the Green route and skipping the Orange route!

Las Ramblas

Interesting sculpture near the marina area:

The Olympic Stadium

One thing I did want to point out was that our bus was basically empty. I don’t know if it is because this route is less common or because it was so late in the afternoon, but either way, the upper level had tons of open seats for nearly the entire ride!

We got off the HOHO bus when it got back to Placa Catalunya, and walked back to our hotel by 6pm. We got changed and left for dinner by 7pm. Tonight’s plan was to go back down to the beach for dinner and to watch the fireworks. We rode the metro bus from a stop around the corner from our hotel for 15 minutes to Barceloneta Beach. Our timing was pretty good because we arrived right as the sun was setting.

Once the sun set, we doubled back to the marina harbor area to check out the vendors, restaurants, and a big carnival. We ate dinner outside at a restaurant called Hispano Restaurant. They had a price fixe menu for 18.75 Euro including an appetizer, entree, dessert, and wine.

Patatas bravas

They serve a Catalunyan style of paella mariscos that is made with very thin short noodles (it reminded me of Rice-a-Roni, only much tastier haha). It was very unique and I really liked it since I always prefer pasta over rice anyway! Mom and I both ordered it as our entree, so they brought it out in the pan to show us, and then they divided it up onto two plates for us to eat.

Casaba melon for dessert

After dinner, we walked around the carnival for a little while.

After that, we walked back down to the beach to get a spot to watch the fireworks. I would say these fireworks were mediocre at best. As someone who has stood on the FDR Drive in Manhattan to watch the Macy’s 4th of July fireworks in person, these fireworks were a bit of a letdown. Apparently they were part of a competition from the La Merce Festival, so that’s why I had somewhat high expectations. The most interesting part was to see the locals react- there were audible oohs and ahhs from the crowd, so I guess the fireworks were pretty good by Spanish standards lol

The fireworks lasted about 20 minutes, then we quickly got a cab back to the hotel. Once again, it was very loud outside the hotel all night with whistles blowing, car horns honking, people screaming, and loud music playing from Placa Catalunya. I think there was actually a concert there for the Festival. After another long day of touring around the city, we were exhausted and managed to fall asleep despite the noise.

Up next: our Gaudi-filled last day in Barcelona!

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Carnival Sunshine ~ Day 14: Barcelona, Spain

September 20, 2013 deladane Leave a comment

September 20th – Barcelona, Spain

After 9 long months of planning and 12 incredible days in the Mediterranean, it was time for our cruise to come to an end. Debarkation announcements started at 7am on the overhead speakers. We had ordered room service for between 7:30 and 7:45am. At 7:35, I thought I heard a knock, so I opened the door, but they were knocking on the room next door several times as if no one was answering. They saw me come out but said it was not my food. We still had no delivery by 8am so I called the room service number and they said they tried delivering it but no one answered. I told them what happened and that they obviously tried delivering our food to the wrong room, so they said they would send up the food now. I was starving by this time, so I just ran up to Lido for one last breakfast burrito. I had planned to get room service because I feared long lines on Lido, but there was actually no wait for my burrito. Maybe people assumed it was closed and didn’t try? Or maybe enough people had already gotten off the ship? Anyway, I was back in the room by 8:10 and the food arrived from room service around 8:15am.

We had zone 30 for debarkation, and were called to go down to the lobby to get off the ship right on time at 8:45am. We got our luggage and waited in a loooong line for a taxi for 45 minutes. The taxi cost 25 Euros with the meter running for a 20 minute drive to our hotel. We did a lot of research on where we wanted to stay in Barcelona, and decided to stay near Placa de Catalunya and the top of Las Ramblas at Hotel Lleo. It was a medium-sized hotel which included a fantastic breakfast, and it was relatively inexpensive compared to some of our other options. The lobby and hallways looked newly renovated and were very nice, but the room looked dated. The room had a mini-fridge, flat screen tv, WIFI, and a balcony and it was a nice size, but it didn’t have very many outlets, so luckily we had multi-outlet power adapters or we wouldn’t have been able to charge all our devices each night.

There is a balcony behind the curtains:

Bathroom on the left, closet and safe straight ahead, front door on the right:

Our room wasn’t ready yet when we arrived at 10:30am, so we put our bags in the locked storage closet and went out to tour the city. We pre-purchased tickets for the red Hop On Hop Off bus online with 2-day passes. My plan was to ride the Green route today so we could see Park Guell. There was a 45 minute wait to board in Placa de Catalunya, and we could see the people waiting to board the Orange route had a similar wait. We were able to exchange our online vouchers for actual tickets right on the bus, but while we were walking to the bus stop, we passed a parked bus on the side of the road which is used as an office, so we had already exchanged our vouchers there.

This was the line for the Orange line:

Look for these signs on the sidewalk to know where to board the buses:

Finally on the bus, the view of Placa Catalunya from the upper level of the bus:

We spent the next 2 hours riding all over Barcelona and listening to the audio guide. They do provide you with earphones, but I would recommend you bring your own because theirs didn’t look very comfortable. We sat upstairs and were able to take tons of photos along the way…

I think those black and white things are lights, but in the daytime, they just looked like giant eyeballs to me! haha

This route also went passed Sagrada Familia and the other Gaudi buildings, but I will hold off on those photos until I get to the day we visited those sites.

It took close to 2 hours to reach the Park Guell stop on the HOHO bus (it was stop #13 out of 16 stops total). We got off the bus, turned right on the next side street, and walked 10 minutes uphill to reach the park. It was now after 2pm and we hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast at 8am, so we stopped at a small store for bocadillos con chorizo.

That was the first store we saw, and we didn’t know if we would have any other options, so we just ate there. It turns out, a few blocks further up the road, there were several other restaurant options. One of them sold gourmet popsicles, so we got those as a treat for the walk back to the bus after we left the park.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves…. I loved the park! It offered beautiful views of the city, and I loved the Gaudi style of art throughout the park. It was like Alice in Wonderland meets a Gingerbread house. We spent about an hour walking around the park and taking it all in. Unfortunately, it was crazy crowded so that made it a little hard to relax and enjoy the atmosphere, but it was still quite a feast for the eyes!

We stayed at the park until around 3pm, then made our way back to the bus stop to finish the last 3 stops to get back to Placa Catalunya.

We got back to the hotel at 4pm and checked into our room. We unpacked and freshened up and left the hotel at 6:30pm to get dinner. Our plan for tonight was to eat dinner in Placa Espana and watch the magic fountains. We took the metro for 3 stops to Placa Espana, and took our hotel concierge’s advice and ate at Las Arenas. Right when you get upstairs at the subway stop, there is a huge building called Arenas. It used to be a bull ring, and they converted it into a huge shopping center with tons of restaurants. It costs 1 Euro to ride the glass elevators to the top, and you can see a great view of the entire plaza and the city. They upper level has about 10 restaurants, so we walked around looking at the views and deciding where we wanted to eat.

We decided to eat at a restaurant called La Loma. I ordered the paella, and we had an amazing view of the sunset while we ate.

After dinner, we walked over to where they have the magic fountains. Now is a good time to mention that this weekend was the biggest festival of the year in Barcelona, called La Merce Festival. Thousands of people come to Barcelona for this festival, and it made the city extremely crowded. They had a concert outside for a pretty good pop rock band, but this meant that the escalators were closed to access the magic fountains, so we had to detour back around a huge building and up a side street to get to the fountains.

When we finally got to the fountains, it was extremely crowded, but we found a spot to stand and watch the show.

Unfortunately, another downside to the La Merce festival and the rock concert was that they did not play the music which normally accompanies the fountains. As a result, we thought the fountains were pretty, but we got bored fast and we left by 9:45pm and took a taxi back to the hotel.

Placa Catalunya was a major hub for the festival, so we could hear people honking their horns and screaming up in our room, but luckily it didn’t disturb our sleep. We went to bed around midnight after a long but exciting first day in Barcelona.

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Carnival Sunshine ~ Day 13: Provence, France

September 19, 2013 deladane Leave a comment

September 19th – Marseilles, France

Knock, knock, knock! I woke up to a knock on our door at 6:56am… it was the room service delivery! My alarm was set for 7am, and the requested delivery window was 7:15-7:30am, so it was quite a surprise for them to arrive before I even woke up! I got dressed, and when I got up to Lido deck, they were removing the towel animals from all the lounge chairs. I was soooo disappointed! I had read tons of reviews on Cruise Critic when other people posted photos of the towel animals taking over every lounge chair on Lido deck, so I was looking forward to seeing it in person. Apparently, it was so windy that the towel animals were blowing away, so the staff was cleaning them up and I never got to see it. Today was not getting off to a good start!

I ate breakfast on Lido, then went back to the cabin to finish getting ready. Noonan came on the overhead at 7:45am and said that the ship had to sail slowly overnight due to the rough seas, so we would arrive in Marseilles at 10am instead of 8:30am as originally scheduled. I guess we could have used those 40 minutes that we spent waiting in port for the stragglers yesterday!

Our original plan for today was to share a taxi with our friends to the train/bus station in Marseilles, and to take public transportation in to Aix en Provence. Now that we only had a max of 7 hours in port, we got nervous about relying on public transit. We met up with our friends and 2 other couples, and the 8 of us talked about a Plan B. We decided to find a taxi for 8 people and ask the price for him to drive us straight to Aix.

We met at 9:30 on Deck 1 at the forward stairs because we knew it would get very busy with people waiting to get off the ship ASAP. Sure enough, there was a handful of people already there when we arrived, and tons of people lined up after us, so we were happy to be at the front of the line.

It took a long time for the officials to clear the ship, but we finally got off at 10:30am. It was soooooo windy on the dock that we nearly fell over! We went straight to the taxi stand and found an 8-person taxi van. The driver said it was 15 Euros per person to drive to Aix en Provence, so we thought it was a good deal and got in the van (Carnival offered a shuttle to the train station for 14 Euros round trip, but that didn’t include your tickets on the train, plus that would take way more time, so we knew this was the way to go.) Once we were on our way, the driver Adam offered us a full day tour for 350 Euro (44 Euro each). We had not planned to do a formal tour today because we had just finished 4 straight days in busy Italian ports, but we thought about it and realized it would cost us 30 Euros each just for the round trip drive to Aix, so for 14 Euros more per person we could see a 2nd town, so we said okay!

It took us 25 minutes to drive from the ship to the center of Aix (the train ride alone would have taken 40 minutes, not counting the time to get from the ship to the station, so we saved a ton of time by taking the taxi!). We tried to ask Adam questions about the history of the region and things we saw from the road, but his English wasn’t great and he remained quiet for most of the ride. I guess that’s what you get when you just hire a taxi driver for the day, and not a real tour guide! No worries- the price was right!

We got to Aix at 11am and Adam said he would meet us at that spot at 12:30pm. We were confident he would be there promptly because we hadn’t paid him yet. Notice how cold I look in this photo… it was much cooler and windier in France than it had been for the last two weeks in Europe!

There is a big market on Thursdays along the main street in town, Cours Maribeau, so we did some browsing and a little shopping.

We also did a little bit of the Rick Steves walking tour. I just tried to soak it all in- it was such a beautiful little town.

Rick Steves recommended a fabulous pastry shop at the end of Cours Mirabeau. My goal for today had always been to eat my way through France, so I bought a chocolate croissant and 2 mini french macaroons in chocolate and raspberry as a mid-morning snack.

Adam picked us up as promised, and we drove 1 hour to Avignon. Since we only planned to spend the day in Aix, none of us researched anything about Avignon and we had no idea what to expect! Did we make the right choice? Would we enjoy Avignon? Stay tuned to find out!!

When we arrived in Avignon, we immediately knew we made the right choice. It was an incredibly charming medieval town, with beautiful old buildings and shops lining all the streets. Adam dropped us off in the town square at 2pm and told us to meet him at 3:15 for the drive back to Marseille. We spent our time leisurely walking around the town.

I was hungry for lunch, so we found a little take out restaurant. They had a bunch of lunch specials for salads, sandwiches, and pizzas with a soda and/or dessert. Continuing with my plan to eat my way through France, I got a flat bread pizza, a can of Coke Light, and a huge apple pastry all for 5.80 Euros! We sat on a bench outside on the street and enjoyed our delicious lunch while people watching.

Adam was waiting for us at 3:15, and he drove us to immediately outside the city walls to see the famous bridge.

After that, we started the long drive back to Marseilles. Originally, Adam said we would have time to go to Arles too, but I am glad we skipped it because we got back to the port at 4:40pm for a 5pm all aboard time! Talk about cutting it close! We definitely would have missed the ship if we went to Arles too!

We looked at the shops on the pier, but I didn’t buy anything because it was all more pricey than at the market in Aix. We went back to the cabin to do a little more packing, and then went to our last dinner in the MDR. It was so sad to say goodbye to the people we spent the last 11 nights eating with!

Spring Rolls from the every day menu

Fried Shrimp

Dessert menu

Diet Apple Pie

After we finished eating, we said goodbye to our wait staff. They took great care of us all week, and they were very hard workers. This was our head waiter Hristo (Chris for short)

We went back to the cabin to finish packing and put our suitcases out in the hallway, then we went to the Fun Shops to check out the last night sales (but didn’t buy anything because the prices were the same as they had been all week!) Last night, they cancelled the Latin Nights show due to the rough seas, and it was rescheduled for tonight at 9:30pm. At 9pm, Noonan came on the overhead speaker and I’ll bet you can guess what he said! That’s right, once again, the show was cancelled because the seas were even more rough tonight so it still wasn’t safe for the dancers to perform. Instead, they moved the comedians from their usual lounge into the big show lounge, but we decided not to go. We just went back to the cabin and went to sleep early, since we had a busy day planned for tomorrow when we arrived in Barcelona!

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Carnival Sunshine ~ Day 12: Pisa and Florence, Italy

September 18, 2013 deladane Leave a comment

September 18th – Livorno, Italy

Another early port day, another 6:15am wake up time, and another excellent burrito for breakfast! And again, we met our roll call friends in the lobby to get off the ship by 8am. Today would be the last of the 3 tours I organized with Rome in Limo, and we met our guide Rafaeli (Rafa for short) outside the port area with our oversized 8-person van. I think it was probably the same size as the 12-person vans we used in Athens and Izmir, but there were only 8 seats inside. It had a huge trunk space, so we suggested to Rafa that he should install a bathroom in the back haha

Once in the van, we drove for about 20 minutes to our first stop: Pisa! We arrived by 8:30am, and Rafa said we could have 45 minutes to walk around and take our photos. Since it was still very early, it wasn’t crowded yet, but there were a few other tourists walking around. I really wanted to take the typical photo of holding up the Leaning Tower, but I was surprised to find out that it is really hard to get the right angle for the photo! We kept walking around to different sides of the tower, and after about 30 minutes, I finally figured out a good place to stand to get the right angle for the photo haha

Miracle Square

Rafa went to college in Pisa, so he drove us around the town and pointed out some other sites besides Miracle Square, including the other leaning tower in Pisa at a church (although unfortunately, the angle is wrong to see it’s lean in this photo):

After that, Rafa drove us an hour and a half into Florence. Most of the drive was on the highway, but we had a few moments with a view of the Tuscan countryside. Our first stop in Florence was Piazzale Michelangelo, with an amazing view over all of Florence. Rafa pointed out each of the major buildings, so it was great to get an overview of everything we would be seeing for the rest of the day.

Il Duomo

Ponte Vecchio

Once we were finished taking our photos, we drove down into the city of Florence.

Our next stop was the Church of Santa Croce. Rafa dropped us off right next to the plaza, and we had 20 minutes to walk around the square. It was much more crowded here, with many large tour groups to dodge.

We got back in the van and drove through the city, and suddenly Rafa pulled up right in front of the plaza of Il Duomo! It was noon, and he said to meet him back at that spot at 1:45pm. He recommended a great little restaurant for lunch with pizza and paninis…

We spent the rest of our time walking around the plaza and shopping at the leather market. I found a leather purse that I really liked, and I was able to bargain the price down to half of what the vendor was originally asking, so I was happy with that. I also bought a leather bracelet and a few other things.

Does anyone have any idea what this sign means? haha

We pre-purchased tickets to the Academia to see the David at 2pm. Rafa helped us exchange our vouchers for real tickets, escorted us into the museum, and told us to meet him back at the van in 45 minutes. We wandered through the museum and spent a few minutes admiring the David. I thought it was well worth the price of admission to see the David statue in person. It stands 33ft tall and is truly huge and breathtaking. You are not permitted to take any photos in the museum, but some people were able to subtly sneak a photo of the David (wink, wink!) After seeing the David, we went into the room with hundreds of plaster casts. This room was a pleasant surprise, and I found it very interesting to admire so many sculptures.

We left the museum and met up with Rafa, and he drove us to an area of the straw market. He told us to find the boar at the far side of the market and that legend says rubbing its head will make you return to Florence. He also told us where to find the duplicate David status in the Piazza Vecchio so we could take legal photos. This straw market sold the same purses for the same prices as the other leather market that was closer to Il Duomo, so I was glad I did my shopping earlier when we had more time.

I think this was also when we were supposed to see the Ponte Vecchio, but Rafa only gave us 30 minutes, so there wasn’t enough time to go there. We did drive by it several times during the day and I was able to take several photos from the van, but it would have been nice to take 15 minutes to get to walk through it and see some of the shops (although I have heard they are very overpriced, so it isn’t likely I would have bought anything anyway!)

Our last stop of the day was at a local gelato shop on the other side of the river. They had about 30 flavors to choose from, and they were very inexpensive at 1.50 Euros for 2 large scoops in a cup. It was a delicious way to end the day before our hour-long drive back to Livorno.

We arrived back at the pier around 5pm for the 5:30 all aboard time. We quickly got changed and went straight to dinner.

My all-time favorite appetizer: Escargots!!

Seafood platter

Chateaubriand

Dessert menu

Apple and nuts baked in phyllo pouch

Double Roasted Pineapple

We sailed away 40 minutes late (they had paged 5 names on the overhead to call guest services, so we assumed they must have contacted the ship and the captain waited for them, although we will never know for sure), and when we did, it was very rocky. At 8pm, Noonan came on the overhead speaker to announce that the Latin Nights show had to be cancelled due to the rough seas because it was not safe for the dancers to perform. He rescheduled Latin Nights for tomorrow night, and instead, one of the dancers did a one-man show. He was fantastic!! He is very funny and we noticed he was the lead singer all week. You could tell he was improvising, as it looked like his wardrobe was one of the girl’s skirts from the Motown show, but he had 6 or 7 shows that he sang while dancing all over the theater and interacting with the audience. We all agreed that his performance was likely better than Latin Nights would have been! haha

After the show, we very carefully walked back to the cabin. I think everyone looked a bit drunk while they were walking, but it was probably just because of the ship rocking back and forth… or was it 😉 We decided to spend some time packing so we could enjoy our last night on the ship tomorrow night.

Up next: France!

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Carnival Sunshine ~ Day 11: Rome, Italy

September 18, 2013 deladane Leave a comment

September 17th – Rome, Italy

The day had finally arrived! After months of planning and anticipation, I was finally going to Rome!!! This was obviously one of the ports I was most looking forward to when planning this trip. As soon as I knew my cruise would be going to Rome, I knew I wanted to see as much as I could in 1 day since I had never been there before. The problem was, my mom spent 4 days in Rome less than a year ago and she had no desire to repeat everything she just saw. It didn’t take much time for us to realize that we should split up for this port day and each do our own thing. She ended up organizing her own tour with Rome in Limo, geared towards people who have been to Rome before (Jany even let her use the 50 Euro discount for booking multiple tours, even though I was also benefiting from that discount for my tour!)

I booked the Rome Highlights tour and found 7 people from the roll call to join me. Like usual, I woke up at 6:15am, ate breakfast on Lido, and met my group at 7:45am in the lobby. We met our driver Enrico just outside the port area at 8am. Enrico told us a tidbit that made me even happier I booked all these tours with Rome in Limo… he said that he and all the other Rome in Limo drivers arrive at the port 1 hour before our tour is scheduled to start! He had been in the port area since 7am even though we weren’t supposed to meet him until 8am! He said that way, the drivers can discuss any traffic issues they know of, and if someone has problems with their van, they have time to get a new van before the tourists get off the ship.

We drove for 1 hour and 20 minutes from the port area in Civitavecchia into the city of Rome. Our first stop was the Pantheon. Enrico left us right next to it and gave us 20 minutes to explore. I listened to the Rick Steves audio guide as I walked around and took lots of photos. Sadly, it was an overcast day, and the light streaming in from the oculus didn’t create the direct beam of light effect which I have heard sometimes happens. The room seemed brightly lit, and lacked the spiritual effect that I was hoping to experience.

Next, we drove to the Trevi Fountain, and Enrico left us a 5 minute walk away, pointed us in the right direction, and told us to meet him back at the van in 20 minutes. When we arrived, there were a few people there, but it wasn’t very crowded. Of course, we all threw coins over our shoulder in hopes the legend would come true and we could all return to Rome someday!

After we got back in the van, Enrico drove us past a few other famous landmarks. I was a bit disappointed that we didn’t get to walk/sit on the Spanish Steps and that we couldn’t take 5 minutes to hop out of the van to take a decent photo of these iconic Rome sites, but I guess there were just too many other things we had to get to…

The Spanish Steps

The Victor Emmanuel Monument

We got back out of the van when we reached Circus Maximus and the Palatine Hill. Enrico explained a bit of the history, and even showed us a book with pictures of how it likely looked when there was actual a stadium there…

Up next, we drove to the Roman Forum, and we had about 20 minutes to take photos and walk through the museums on Capitol Hill to meet Enrico at the bottom of the stairs.

Incredibly, we had done all of that and it was still before 11am! Our next stop was the Coliseum. Enrico dropped us off and said to meet him at the Arch of Constantine in a few minutes while he parked the car.

Unfortunately, the Arch of Constantine was half covered in scaffolding…

When I was planning this trip, my goal was to pre-purchase tickets to as many attractions as possible. My mission was accomplished with one exception: The Coliseum! For some reason, they never updated their website to sell tickets for any dates in September. I literally checked it multiple times every day, but for whatever reason, they never had tickets available for our date. I had emailed Jany a few times about the problem, and she said she was aware of it, that everyone was having the same problem, and not to worry about it. We told Enrico about it when we first met him at the port that morning, and he was able to purchase our tickets magically so that we had our skip-the-line passes by the time we arrived at the Coliseum later that morning!

After he parked the car, Enrico escorted us directly to the entrance. We literally had no wait at all, but there was a HUGE line waiting to get in (Enrico said they had at least a 2 hour wait! The skip-the-line passes were well worth the minimal extra charge!!) Enrico said to meet him at the van in 30 minutes, so I listened to the Rick Steves audio guide as I quickly walked around the first and second levels and took tons of photos. It was a bit rushed, but in the end, I don’t think I missed anything by not staying longer.

For our last stop before lunch, Enrico drove us to the top of a hill with several embassies. He told us to look through the keyhole in the doors of one of the buildings, and we had a perfect view of the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica! Sadly, the Basilica isn’t visible in my photos, but you can just imagine how cool it was to see it through that little key hole!

Enrico gave us two options for lunch. We could get some take away food in a market or go to a sit down restaurant. Enrico said we had the time to sit down, so we chose the restaurant option. We went to a place called L’Insalata Ricca.

They offered very reasonable prices and a huge menu with many options for appetizers, salads, pizzas, pastas, and entrees. They also allowed us to do separate checks.

I ordered the brushetta with garlic and olive oil:

They brought out each dish from the kitchen as it was ready, but mine was last to arrive and came 15 minutes after the last person before me, so everyone was almost done eating by the time my dish arrived. The waiter said it was because we did separate checks, but that did not make sense and I think they probably just forgot about my dish.

I ate very quickly, and we paid and left to drive to the Vatican. We arrived at the back entrance to the Vatican at 2pm to meet our guide Marco. He has not given many Vatican tours before, but he was a great guide. He warned us that we would have to walk/run fast to see everything in just 2 hours. We had pre-purchased tickets online, so we went through the metal detectors and exchanged our vouchers for real tickets.

Marco took us through several rooms and halls, and stopped along the way to explain the history and art. It was very crowded inside, but Marco moved fast and dodged between people so we had to rush to keep up with him! It was worth it though because we got to see a lot.

I was amazed by the ceilings throughout the Vatican… I think I gave myself a neck ache by the end of the day because I spent so much time looking up!!

Marco explained each of the paintings inside the Sistine Chapel before we entered because you cannot talk inside. Unfortunately, no photos are allowed but it was incredible to view in person, especially considering Michelangelo had no prior experience painting before he did this project!

Once we left the Sistine Chapel, we made our way back outside and ended up in St. Peter’s Square.

Marco lead us into St. Peter’s Basilica. I was not prepared for how grand it is inside this building! The ceilings go so high and looking down the hall, it looks so majestic.

Marco showed us the tomb of Pope John the XXIII. I was very weirded out by it because his body is so well preserved despite him passing 50 years ago.

Marco then lead us out to the exit at 4pm, which was timed perfectly to see the changing of the guards!

Here are a few photos from standing in St. Peter’s Square…

We met Enrico with the van on a side street right next to the Square. Our last stop was a bit of a surprise, as it was not scheduled on our original itinerary! Enrico took us to see Piazza Navona and to get some gelato. Marco gave us 20 minutes to see the square, take photos of the fountain featured in the drowning scene from Angels and Demons, and to buy gelato. It was delicious and the perfect way to end a fabulous day in Rome!

On the 1 hour drive back to the port, I read some of the information in the Rick Steves Mediterranean Cruise Ports book to try to take in all that I had seen and learned all day. It is a jam-packed itinerary, but it was fabulous and well worth the extra expense over doing it yourself on public transit. We really saw all of Rome in 1 day!

We got back to the ship at 6pm and said goodbye to Enrico before boarding the ship to get ready for dinner.

My mom got back from her tour at 6:30pm, and neither of us was hungry at all, so she called Irena in the MDR. Irena said it would be okay if we came to the late seating in the MDR. She sat us with our usual wait staff because one of the tables was empty as they ate at the Italian specialty restaurant. It was kind of funny to have a table for 8 all to ourselves, but we were grateful that she accommodated us and we could avoid eating from the buffet.

Mediterranean Seafood Chowder

Hawaiian Fruit Plate

Duck a l’orange

Dessert menu

Pistachio and Almond Clafoutis

We finished dinner at 9:30pm and we were completely exhausted! We were very happy we didn’t have the late seating for dinner every night haha We went back to the cabin and were asleep by 11pm.

Up Next: “Under the Tuscan Sun” in Pisa and Florence!

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Carnival Sunshine ~ Day 10: Naples, Italy

September 17, 2013 deladane Leave a comment

September 16th – Amalfi Coast (Naples, Sorrento, Positano, Pompeii), Italy

Another port day, another 6:15am wake up time, and another excellent burrito for breakfast! Yummmmy! I wish I could have one right now haha The port area offered beautiful views of the sunrise over Mt. Vesuvius:

Today was the first of 3 days when I organized private tours with people from our roll call. For all 3 Italy ports, we used a company called Rome In Limo. They received excellent reviews on Cruise Critic and Trip Advisor, and it was a breeze to organize tours with their company. They have a great website which outlines the many different itineraries that they offer, and they answered all of my questions within a few hours via email (sometimes I could swear that Jany, the lady who I coordinated with, never slept because she replied at literally every hour of the day!) As a special perk for booking 3 tours with their company, Jany gave us a 50 Euro discount on each of the tours. They charged 600 Euros for the 8-person van (but we only had to pay 550 Euros with our discount), and they even offer a tour sharing website to help you fill your vans if you are not able to do so via your roll call. They might charge a little more money than some other companies, but they were fabulous to deal with, and all of our tours were great, so I thought it was worth the extra expense.

Ok, back to Naples… Our group met down in the lobby at 7:45am so we could all walk off the ship together, but we were surprised to see that today, we exited from deck 3 instead of deck 0, so we actually exited right next to where we were meeting anyway! We met our guide, Diego, right outside the port terminal. Diego was very enthusiastic and spoke near-perfect English, although sometimes we thought he offered a bit too much information and wouldn’t stop talking! haha

We all got in our 8-person van and drove 20 minutes to Pompeii. As we were approaching Pompeii, we noticed some dark clouds in the distance. Diego promised us that it would not rain today, and told us to leave our umbrellas in the van. He said that the tour would be free if it did rain. I’m sure you can guess how that turned out… it rained for about 20 minutes, but sadly, the tour was not free haha

As I have already mentioned, we requested to have a private guide in Pompeii for an extra 100 Euros total (which we paid her directly at the end of our tour). Our guide’s name was Libby and she spent 2 hours walking us through Pompeii. Libby was fantastic and worth every penny as she really made the ruins come to life.

Pompeii was empty at first, as we arrived right when it opened at 8:30am. Even though it did grow more crowded as the morning went on, Libby knew where to go to avoid the crowds.

One of the highlights of the day was visiting the brothel. It was incredible to see how well preserved it was! This engraving in the street paving stones pointed the direction towards the brothel:

This projection outside the building was how they knew which door to enter for the brothel:

The beds inside the brothel didn’t look very comfy… guess the ladies didn’t want the men to stay too long!

These frescos were featured above the doors of each room. I was shocked at how graphic they were!

Men would etch ratings for each girl on the walls of her room to tell other men if she was good or not (and if she had any diseases!)

I knew people had said it was interesting to see the brothel, but really had no idea what to expect. Libby’s commentary to point out all of the details inside really made it come alive and it was an experience I will remember for years to come.

We also visited the bath houses, gymnasium, several homes and stores/restaurants/bakeries, and the amphitheater.

Entrance to the bath houses

Inside the bath houses

A restaurant

The Amphitheater

The gymnasium- notice the mosaic on the floor of the front entrance:

After 2 hours, we paid Libby, used the rest rooms, then got back in the van to continue our day. We drove for 30 minutes along the Amalfi Coast, with a brief stop to take some photos along the way.

Our next stop was Sorrento. Diego dropped us off and said we could have 2 hours to shop and eat lunch, and he pointed us in the direction of the stores. Tons of shops and restaurants lined the pedestrian street, selling every type of lemon product you can imagine- soaps, lemoncello, candy, candles, clothes, etc.

I bought several souvenirs as we walked around the town, and I also bought a prosciutto and provolone sandwich for lunch.

There were also several gelato shops, but Diego told us to go to one called Gelato Primavera because it was famous for it’s over 70 flavors!

I ordered straciatella and mint chip

Diego met us at the arranged time, and we drove along the Almafi Coast to Positano. The drive was beautiful, and we stopped at another view point on top of the hill to see the coast before descending into the town.

Diego dropped us off in town and said we could have 1 hour to walk around. I walked all the way down the hill and down 85 stairs (yes, I counted!) to the black sand beach. The views were amazing, and it was worth the work out.

This is one of my favorite photos from the entire trip. He was painting the church up on the hill:

Now it was time to head back up the stairs…

The lemons are HUGE… just for reference, these are my sunglasses!

Diego was always aware of the time and knew that all aboard was at 6:30pm, so he said we had to leave Positano by 3:45 in case there was traffic. We got back to Naples at 5pm, so Diego drove us around Naples briefly and let us walk around the town square for 10 minutes.

When we got back to his van, Diego had bought us a little snack- he said it was Naples’ version of a canoli. It was a pastry with an orange cream filling. It was okay, but I didn’t think it was worth the calories haha Diego then drove us back to the port, and he gave us a bottle of lemoncello to share on the ship. Overall, this was one of my favorite days of the entire trip, and I hope to someday have the opportunity to return to the Almafi Coast and spend more time exploring!

We took very fast showers and arrived at dinner a little late at 6:15pm, but it was fine. We got to watch the sail away at 7pm as we ate dinner.

Udon noodles with seafood and chicken as a starter

Escargots

Spaghetti and Meatballs

Dessert menu

Amaretto cake

Sunset as we left the port of Naples

No one knew any details about the show for tonight except that it was called “Man of Steal.” It turns out, the performer was a master pick-pocket and he was the best solo performer of the cruise! He was very funny and a unique entertainer. After the show, we went back to the cabin to rest up for Rome and my favorite towel animal was waiting to greet us!

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Carnival Sunshine ~ Day 9: Messina, Sicily

September 16, 2013 deladane Leave a comment

September 15 – Messina, Sicily

Today marked the first of 6 straight days with a 6:15am wake up time. Boooo! On the bright side, it was beautiful to watch us sail into Messina while I ate breakfast on Lido.

We arranged a private tour with 8 of our friends from Cruise Critic, and we all met down in the lobby at 7:45 to walk off the ship together. Our guide, Antonio, was waiting outside the port area with our 8-person van (2 people sat up front with Antonio, and there were two 3-person rows behind that). Antonio gave us small bits of information during the drive, but he was not nearly as informative as our guides had been in Athens and Turkey.

We drove for about an hour down the coast to a scenic view point on the water. I think Antonio said this was where the Greeks first settled when they came to Italy.

Notice the black rocks from the volcanic ash…

Our next stop was a park called Gole Alcantara to see the views and waterfalls.

On the same grounds, they set up a little store which offered free samples of olive oil, spreads, wines, and liquors. It was fun to taste all the different flavors, and of course you could also purchase the products if you wished.

Next, we visited an old abandoned church on the countryside.

Behind the church, Antonio lead us on a short walk out to the river and to see another waterfall.

Out in the distance, we saw a little surprise wagging his tail!

We decided to walk a little further to see the cow up close…

On the walk back, we sampled some of the figs and grapes growing on the trees…

Next, we drove to the quaint old town of Castiglione. It was a Sunday morning, so the town was mostly deserted except for a group of about 10 men sitting together outside (Antonio said their wives were all inside cooking!). We walked around the town for a little while, and then headed up the hill to explore an old castle.

The pacing of the day seemed a bit weird to me because that was all we did by 11:30am, but we still had a lot to do on our itinerary. It almost seemed like Antonio was stretching out our stops so we would arrive at the right time for lunch.

We drove up a steep, curvy mountainside road to our next stop, the Gambino Winery.

The winery was very pretty and offered beautiful views. Apparently, they recently renovated their tasting room and just opened it one week before we arrived!

For 20 Euros each, they had a wine tasting with 1 white wine and 3 red wines, and lunch including breads, cheeses, salami, olives, sundried tomatoes, mushrooms, and sausage. The food was served on large platters and they continuously refilled as we needed more. Everything was incredibly delicious and fresh!

Here was the wine list and shipping prices in case anyone wanted to purchase a bottle:

The food and wine were all very tasty, and we stayed at the winery for an hour and a half. Remember how I mentioned my mom’s food allergies? Well they did something very nice to take care of her… When we first arrived, my mom spoke to them about her allergies and they said that they would prepare a separate platter for her with things that were safe for her to eat. They brought her a few types of cheese, salami, and her own plate of sausage, so she basically ate the same thing as everyone else, but it was plattered separately to avoid cross-contamination from the items that she was allergic to. When she went to pay, they told her they were not charging for her meal because “She didn’t eat anything” That was far from true, as they gave her many options and she definitely ate her share of food, but they refused to let her pay! She ended up leaving her 20 Euros as a tip because they took such good care of her haha

After lunch, we piled back in the van and drove to Taormina. Antonio gave us 1 hour to shop, and suggested 2 good canoli shops (since canolis were invented in Sicily, so of course we all wanted to try one!) When I researched Taormina prior to the cruise, I had read about a Greek amphitheater which was supposed to be beautiful and worth a visit. I never ended up finding it (oh well!), but other on my tour said that it was crowded and cost 8 Euros to enter, so I guess I didn’t miss much. I spent my time enjoying the ambiance of the town, looking at the lava rock and Godfather souvenirs, and eating a delicious canoli.

Godfather stuff everywhere!

Lots of souvenirs made from volcanic rock:

We got back to the pier by 4pm for our 4:30pm all aboard time, and got showered and ready for dinner.

My cold was now hitting me with full force, so it was convenient that the MDR offered chicken soup on tonight’s menu!

I also shared Oysters Rockerfeller with my mom:

Petite Fillet Mignon and Braised Short Ribs

One of the couples at our table were going to celebrate their anniversary on Tuesday. That was the day we were going to Rome, and none of us knew if we’d get back to the ship in time for dinner (the one night when the 6pm dinnertime wouldn’t mix well with our 8pm all aboard time!), so we ordered them a cake for tonight to celebrate. They were very surprised!

They cut up the cake for everyone to have a piece

But I also wanted a dessert from the menu… Diet Apple Pie!

Tonight’s entertainment was Niels Dunger, Comedy Juggler. He was okay, but I’ve seen better on previous cruises. He dropped things a few times, and he wasn’t very funny. After that, I went to bed early again to try and fight off my cold and rest up for tomorrow in Naples!

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Carnival Sunshine ~ Day 8: Sea Day

September 15, 2013 deladane Leave a comment

September 14 – Sea Day

It was lovely being able to sleep in and wake up naturally without an alarm… unfortunately, I was up at 8:30am anyway because my body was getting used to all those early wake up times. I ate a light breakfast on Lido deck, then went down to the lobby and sat on a couch by the window to write in my trip journal.

We met our friends at the comedy brunch at noon, and redeemed our coupons for a free drink from being a past guest.

Cheers!

The Cruiser

Chocolate Chip Pancakes, Hash Browns, Turkey Bacon

Salted Caramel Cheesecake

Brunch took about an hour and a half, then we walked around the ship for a while. It was very windy outside and the temps were only in the 70s, so it was too cold to sit out on Lido deck. Instead, we sat at the tables near Blue Iguana because they were shaded from the wind. They had the chocolate buffet this day, but I was too full from brunch to enjoy it.

The Game of Love (formerly known as the Marriage Show haha) was scheduled for 3pm, so I was glad to have an excuse to be inside on this chilly day. They asked the same questions as on my last cruise, but it was still funny and entertaining. After that, we played 60’s trivia and “all about nothing” trivia, and we won a ship on a stick!

This ended a little after 5pm, so we quickly got changed and ready for the second formal night. It was fun that they had a different menu for this formal night (the menu with escragots and chateaubriand came later in the week), and there were so many great appetizer options that I ordered 3 of them!

langostino cocktail

Crepes filled with spinach and ricotta

beef carpaccio

lamb chops

Dessert Menu

Diet chocolate cake

After dinner, we went straight to the theater to wait in line for seats because we knew the line would be long. We were first in line downstairs and waited a half hour for them to open the doors. We were trampled by people when the doors finally opened, only to see that they opened the upstairs doors several minutes earlier and no good seats were left! We were rather annoyed to have wasted the half hour waiting in line for no reason, and we took seats on the sides of the theater with partially obstructed views from the columns. The theater was completely full by 8:10pm for the 8:30 show.

Tonight’s show was Studio VIP. It was a fun 70’s music disco-themed show with great dancing and costumes. They brought people up on stage from the audience to dance in several songs, so it was funny to watch and sing along. After that, I went straight to bed at 10pm because I had been coming down with a cold for the last two days and I wanted to rest up for Sicily.

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Carnival Sunshine ~ Day 7: Izmir, Turkey

September 14, 2013 deladane Leave a comment

September 13 – Izmir, Turkey

Uh oh! It’s Friday the 13th!! Good thing nothing scary happened today. I woke up to my alarm at 6:15am, got dressed and went up to Lido for my usual breakfast. When I got to the omelet line, it was way too long for my limited patience, so I went in search of an alternative and found the breakfast burrito bar just as it was opening at 7am! I am very happy to have found it because this was the first of many mornings when I ate here.

There was another beautiful sunrise this morning as I ate.

Like yesterday, we booked a private tour with 11 people from our Cruise Critic roll call. We met the group at 7:45 in the lobby and exited the ship together by 8am. As we got off the ship, they handed us a paper from customs which we had to return when we got back to the ship that afternoon. Everyone was unsure of how things would work because Turkey is not part of the European Union like most of our other ports were, but it turned out that we did NOT need our passports to get on or off the ship. However, the form did ask for our passport numbers, so it was a good thing we had them in our purses! We actually opted to always carry our passports hidden in a secure pocket of our bags when we were off the ship, just in case we ever did not get back in time (which luckily never happened and we never needed our passports during the cruise).

Anyway, back to the tour… We met our tour guide Bill in the cruise terminal. Bill spoke English well and was very informative and funny, although he had a tough act to follow as Kali was so great yesterday in Athens. We were unsure if we would even be able to dock in Turkey because of the crisis and the travel alerts for the Eastern side of the country, but I was glad we went because I never felt unsafe in the touristy areas of the West coast.

We drove 1 hour on the highway in our large air conditioned van through the countryside to Ephesus. Bill talked a lot about the history of Turkey and the current political and religious situations. We passed the ruins of Ephesus a little after 9am and noticed hardly anyone was there. I kind of wished we just stopped there because it would have been nice to see it when it wasn’t crowded and hot outside yet, but Bill said our first stop would be the House of the Virgin Mary.

Several big tour buses were already there when we arrived, so there was a 30 minute wait to enter the house. The ladies went to use the restroom while the men waited in line… they had possibly the best restroom sign I’ve ever seen. Notice her facial expression…

We spent some more time waiting in line, and then finally got to walk through the house. It was small and quaint, but no photos were allowed inside so I only got to take photos on the grounds.

After we walked through the house, we had 15 minutes to shop at the little stores on the grounds.

We met up with Bill at 10am and got back in the van to head back to Ephesus.

By the time we got back to Ancient Ephesus, it was much more crowded. Bill did a good job of finding a tree where we could stand in the shade while he explained the history, but most of the time we were just out in the 90+ degree direct sunlight.

We spent about an hour and a half walking around, taking photos, and avoiding the heat in the sun.

Nike, the Greek Goddess of Victory… notice the ‘swoosh’?

As the morning went on, it got more and more crowded and hot (notice the people carrying umbrellas for shade?)

The Terrace Houses were inside a tent/building to keep the moisture out, so it was shaded in there but still quite warm. Luckily, even though the forecast said the high temperature would be 95 degrees, it was not humid so it felt more comfortable than Athens yesterday (which was 95 degrees with high humidity!) The Terrace Houses charged an admission fee above that of the entrance to Ancient Ephesus, but it was included in the cost of our tour so it was nice to see Bill paying for all of these tickets and we didn’t have to take out our wallets. Here are photos from the Terrace Houses…

When we exited the Terrace Houses, we spent some more time walking through Ephesus to see the Celsius Library, the marble streets, and the large amphitheater.

Looking back towards the amphitheater:

Sarcophagus:

After we exited Ephesus, Bill gave us 15 minutes to shop. He told us the stores outside the exit gate were cheaper than those immediately inside the gate, so I took his advice and went out to the stores. I loved the lamps but was afraid of how to transport them back home, so I decided not to buy one.

I saw signs for “genuine fake watches” in several stores in Turkey and I thought it was pretty funny… but no, I did not go into those stores!

I ended up buying a purse and a trivet, and I was able to bargain them down to 8 Euros for the two so I was happy with that (I think it was originally 6 Euros for each item).

Next, we went for lunch. In planning this trip, I read many reviews complaining of terrible experiences at pushy carpet stores who forced you to buy rugs after you ate their lunch. I did not want that to happen to us and ruin our day, so I was hesitant about making a lunch stop. Luckily, we had a fantastic experience! Bill took us to a school where students learn to make rugs. It was in the countryside with pretty views, and they were waiting for us to arrive.

They set up tables outside under the shade of a canopy, and served very good food for lunch. Appetizers included an eggplant dish, 2 types of salads, a yogurt mint dip (which reminded me of Greek tzatiki sauce), and bread. That was served family style, then they brought out individual plates with our entree of grilled marinated chicken breasts, rice, french fries, fried cheese, and tomato. We could buy a can of soda for 2 Euros, or wine and beer for 4 Euros, but the food was included in our tour price.

After we ate, we spent half an hour learning how they make the rugs, starting with getting silk from the cocoons:

Next, they showed us how they dye the yarn to the correct colors:

Finally, they showed us how they use a loom and a pattern grid sheet to tie a double knot and create the rug.

Next, they took us into a room and laid many different finished rugs on the floor for us to see the different patterns and levels of quality, ranging from 100 to 1200 knots per square inch! They encouraged us to touch the rugs and to walk on them. They said we could buy them if we wanted to, but I never felt pressure to buy anything, and we were free to exit whenever we wished.

Here are a few more photos from the grounds of the carpet school…

Next, we made a quick stop at the Temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, and with views of a fort built by the Crusaders.

After that, we made the hour-long drive back to Izmir to get back on the ship. We hit a little bit of traffic on the way back, but arrived at the pier at 3:30, with a 4pm all aboard time. I did a little shopping at the pier and bought a small hand-painted bowel and a magnet for 6 Euros (of note, it was cheaper here than at the shops outside of Ephesus!)

When we were standing in line to get back on the ship, there was a crew member on line behind us and we overheard on her walkie talkie that 361 guests had not yet returned from their Carnival shore excursions at 3:45pm, but the ship waited for them because we ended up leaving port late, a little after 5pm.

I knew I wanted to ride the water slide at least once on this cruise, so I decided to do it now since I still had 2 hours before dinner, and I was hot and sweaty from touring in 95 degree heat and I wanted to cool off. I climbed all the way up to the top of the water slides and was shocked that not 1 other passenger was there! I rode down the “Twister” yellow slide. It was fun, but I didn’t think it went fast enough. After that, I got showered and ready for dinner.

Pear and Buffalo Mozzarella Salad

Steamed Muscles

Prime Rib

Dessert Menu

Variations of strawberries

which went very well alongside the Variations of Chocolate!

After dinner, we went to the show Epic Rock. It is similar to Rock of Ages, with an 80’s rock theme, and I LOVED it! They incorporated very cool visual effects with the video screens behind the actors, and I love 80’s music so it was a lot of fun to watch.

After that, we went to the adult comedy show. We arrived 15 minutes before it was scheduled to start and the lounge was packed!! We ended up sitting on the windowsill because all the other seats were taken. It wasn’t very comfortable, but it was better than standing the whole time. The comedian was okay, but not great. He had a few funny jokes, but I missed a few of them because he mumbled with a British accent, so I just didn’t understand what he was saying.

After that, we went to the piano bar. At first, there were no seats, but people left eventually and we took their seats. Seth was very funny as the piano bar singer, but I wished he would play more upbeat songs and fewer ballads.

When we got back to the cabin, we saw a flyer telling us to change our clocks back 1 hour to get back to the Italy time zone.

Up next: our second and final sea day

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Carnival Sunshine ~ Day 6: Athens, Greece

September 12, 2013 deladane Leave a comment

September 12th – Athens, Greece

Today was the first of many early port days, so I woke up to my alarm at 6:15am, got dressed, and ate breakfast up on Lido with a beautiful sunrise as my backdrop.

We were originally supposed to be able to get off the ship starting at 7am, but it was delayed until 7:45am. Luckily, that didn’t impact us much because we were already planning to meet our tour group at 7:45 in the lobby anyway. Once all 12 of us were together, we went down to deck 0 and met our tour guide Kaliope (Kali for short) in the cruise terminal. There’s always something reassuring when you first see that sign with your group’s name and knowing that the guide you booked privately actually showed up haha Kali spoke perfect English and was an excellent guide. She went with us into every attraction, while our driver Nicos stayed with the van so he could drop of off and pick us up at the front entrance to each site.

We loaded up into the van and drove directly to the Acropolis in an attempt to beat the crowds, as there were 7 ships in port today! We arrived at the Acropolis by 8:45am and there were very few people ahead of us in the line to buy tickets.

The tickets cost 12 Euros per person, and included entrance to the Acropolis, Ancient Agora, and the Temple of Zeus. Kali escorted us all over the Acropolis, stopping many times to explain what we were looking at and to give us time to take photos.

You can see in this photo that the crowds were starting to build as we spent our time exploring the Acropolis…

By the time we were ready to leave at 10:45am, there were thousands of people walking up the hill and narrow stairs to enter, so we were really glad we arrived early!

Luckily, Kali had a skill for weaving through the crowds (sometimes against traffic!) and we eventually escaped out to the entrance. The problem was that Nicos couldn’t drive the van up to meet us because of all the big tour buses and heavy traffic, so we had to walk a short distance down the hill to meet him.

After a short drive, we arrived at our next stop, the Temple of Zeus. We re-used our same ticket from the Acropolis and there was no line to enter. Kali escorted us to the only small area of shade as she explained the history of the site, and then we had some time to take photos. By the time we left, there was a huge line to enter because a tour bus had arrived, so we had some pretty good timing thus far!

Our next stop was the Ancient Panathenaic Stadium.

We got back on the bus and drove through Athens to the Prime Minister’s and President’s house just in time to watch the changing of the guards. It was very impressive how well Kali and Nicos timed all of our stops so we arrived just at the right time everywhere we went!

Up next, we drove through the city center and the Plaka to see the market area. We got off the van and walked through the market to eat lunch slightly off the main strip at Hermion Restaurant (per Kali’s recommendation).

We were bummed that we didn’t have time to shop at all the stores we walked passed, but the lunch was very good. I ordered pork souvlaki with a side of tzatziki sauce (my favorite!) The restaurant had a pretty outdoor seating area in the shade, and they were willing to do separate checks (although they had some trouble processing our credit cards!)

After lunch, we continued walking through the city center until we reached the Ancient Agora. We used our combo tickets once more to enter this site, and Kali walked us through to explain everything we saw.

Remember that temple I showed earlier from the view at the Acropolis? Well that is the best-preserved temple in Athens, and it is located down in the Agora, so we got to get up close to it.

Our next stop was a half hour drive up to the top of a hill which offered incredible panoramic views of the entire city.

It was a nice way to round out the day because we had views of all the places we had just visited up close, but I’m not really sure that it was worth such a long detour. By the time we got back down the hill and arrived at the shopping area, it was 3:30pm. Kali suggested we could have 20 minutes to shop, but our all aboard time was 4:30pm and we still had to drive back out to the port and were afraid there might be traffic considering there were 7 cruise ships docked today. We decided it wasn’t worth 20 frantic minutes of shopping to risk possibly missing the ship, so we opted to just drive straight back to the ship. Had I known how the timing would work out, I probably would have preferred to skip the scenic overlook to have more time shopping. Oh well! On the drive back, we passed a few of the venues built for the 2004 Olympics.

We got back to the port at 4pm and spent a few minutes shopping at the duty free stores in the terminal. Then we got back on the ship and got ready for dinner at 6pm.

Dinner Menu:

Prosciutto Ruffles

Sushi

Penne Mariscos

Dessert Menu

Warm Fig, Date, and Cinnamon Cake (one of my favorite desserts of the cruise… it was soooooo good!!)

Strawberry Cheesecake (it was disappointing)

After dinner, mom played a game of bingo (and sadly, she did not win) and then we watched the magician. He was not very good… he repeated the same jokes over and over to fill his hour on stage, so he was funny the first time he did the trick but not every time there after. We then went back to the cabin to unwind and get ready for our next day in Izmir, Turkey!

Dana's Destination Diary

Carnival Sunshine ~ Day 15: Barcelona, Spain

Carnival Sunshine ~ Day 14: Barcelona, Spain

Carnival Sunshine ~ Day 13: Provence, France

Carnival Sunshine ~ Day 12: Pisa and Florence, Italy

Carnival Sunshine ~ Day 11: Rome, Italy

Carnival Sunshine ~ Day 10: Naples, Italy

Carnival Sunshine ~ Day 9: Messina, Sicily

Carnival Sunshine ~ Day 8: Sea Day

Carnival Sunshine ~ Day 7: Izmir, Turkey

Carnival Sunshine ~ Day 6: Athens, Greece

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