Rome, Italy 2018

August 6, 2018

Today we took the shuttle bus to Rome from the port which is about 90 minutes away.  We met up with our relatives for lunch with an amazing view of the Pantheon. After lunch we walked around a bit we visited the Trevi Fountain and a few other fountains. Afterward, we took the shuttle bus back to the ship.

August 23, 2018 – Second time

Today we disembarked from the ship and checked into The Waldorf Astoria Hotel. After we settled in we decided to take a walk around Rome and took a taxi to John’s Aunt Giovanina’s house to have lunch with her and her daughter Gloria and granddaughters Laura and Alessandra. We then we to the hotel to relax before we were going back to her house for dinner. We left their house shortly after dinner we had a big day the next day we were flying home which will take about 14 hours.

Follow us on our journey the next destination is Capri, Italy.

If you would like to see what we ate while in Rome, Italy.

John and Aunt Giovanina
Maria & Aunt Giovanina
Gloria, Giovanina, Laura, John, Maria & Alessandra

Fontana de Trevi – Tevi Fountain
Pantheon

Maria & Aunt Giovanina
John & Aunt Giovanina

The Waldorf Astoria Rome Cavalieri Hotel

Nutella Heaven

Florence-Pisa, Italy

August 5, 2018

Today we got a taxi to drive us to Florence also known as Firenze. While there we walked around for about an hour and got it was so hot we decided to grab some gelato at our favorite place called Grom. It’s right around the corner from Piazza Del Duomo and then we drove to Pisa and walked around there for about an hour we went into the La Domenica Cathedral and took some pictures and then headed back to the ship.

Follow us on our journey the next destination is Rome, Italy.

Monte Carlo, Monaco

August 4, 2018

Today we took a taxi to Eze Village in France which we absolutely loved. We visited the Chapelle St. John. We lit a candle for my mother in law because she wasn’t feeling well which was special to me since I’ve never lit a candle in a Catholic Church. I was happy to light a candle for her. We also visited The Exotic Garden of Eze. It was really cool they have 100’s of different cactus plants and a little waterfall which was cute.

We will definitely be visiting Eze again in the future and will probably spend about 3 days there. Afterward, we took a taxi back to Monaco to go and check out the famous casino. Inside the casino, there was a maze made out of a deck of cards.

The next stop while there, we grabbed a cab and went up the big rock to the Grand Palace and we were lucky we got there just in time for the changing of the guards. We visited the Saint Nicholas Cathedral of Monaco where Princess Grace Kelly is buried. Afterward, we walked back to the ship.

Follow us on our journey the next destination is Florence-Pisa, Italy.

Maria
John
The Exotic Garden

Prince’s Palace of Monaco

The Cathedral in Monte Carlo, Monaco

John, Maria & Evan

The coolest ring I bought

Cool Venetian Masks on the ship

Cannes, France

August 3, 2018

Today we got a taxi to drive us around the first stop was the old town of Antibes and while we were there we walked around a bit to check it out.  The next stop was Nice where we walked through the town and took some pictures. Afterward, our driver took us back to Cannes and sure enough we got ripped off again even after having a final price at the pier he changed the price when he dropped us off by 100 Euros.

Follow us on our journey the next destination is Monte Carlo, Monaco.

Saint Rita Church

Saint Francis of Paola – Chapel of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Church of Reparate

Soap that look like Macaroons

Toulon, France

August 2, 2018

Today we took a taxi and drove to Marseille and visited the Notre Dame De la Garde Cathedral which was beautiful and then we went back to the ship and be careful with the taxi drivers in Toulon because he ripped us off even though they are supposed to have a fixed price.

Follow us on our journey the next destination is Cannes, France.

Notre Dame De la Garde Cathedral

Mark, Cella, Corey, Belinda, John & Maria

Barcelona, Spain

August 1, 2018

Today we walked to the Montjuic Castle and then decided to get a pedicab to take us around and show us the Gaudi Sagrada Familia Church which was amazing after our pedicab ride we went to the Mercat St. Josep La Boqueria Market and grabbed a bite to eat. The market is a definite must visit it’s pretty amazing.

Follow us on our journey the next destination is Toulon, France.

If you would like to see what we ate while in Barcelona, Spain.

Montjuic Castle

Our pedicab ride around Barcelona

Gaudi Sagrada Familia Church

Taxi cabs on strike
Street performers

Saint-Tropez, France

July 31, 2018

Today we drove to Ramatuelle (Le Village Ancien) took a short stroll and then to Gassin both towns were pretty. Afterward, our driver took us to see the Port of Grimaud which is nice it reminded me of Venice. After that, we headed back to the ship.

Follow us on our journey the next destination is Barcelona, Spain.

Rue Saint Laurent

Port of Grimaud
Amazing looking candy

Irene, Adrian, Maria, John, Samantha, Evan, Mariya & Nano
Irene, Adrian & Maria
Evan, Samantha & Maria
John & Evan

Ajaccio-Corsica, France

July 30, 2018

Today Nano, John and I hired a taxi to drive us to Calanche of Piana which was breathtakingly beautiful. Mother nature at her finest. After seeing the beautiful sights, we had lunch with a fantastic view at La Table de Neptune. Afterward, we drove to the Cargese Village which was founded by the Greeks in 1676. After that, we headed back to the ship. Along the drive, our taxi driver ended up having a fist fight with this guy and his wife while they were riding their bicycle. Unfortunately, I was fumbling with my cell phone, and I didn’t get the video of the fight.

Follow us on our journey the next destination is Saint-Tropez, France.

Amalfi-Positano, Italy

July 29, 2018

Today Nano, Mariya, Adrian, Irene, John and I took the tender boat to the port and we then took a ferry to see the Emerald Grotto which was pretty. When we got back to Amalfi we then we took another ferry to Positano and had an amazing lunch at Le Sirenusa.  After lunch, we headed back to the ship.

August 7, 2018, Second time

Today we took the tender boat to the port and then boarded a ferry boat to Capri. We walked around a bit and had some lunch at this place called Isidoro Restaurant where we ordered the Caprese salad and it was the best Mozzarella we ever had. After lunch, we did some shopping and took the ferry boat back to the ship. Capri is a place that we would like to go back and spend some more time there.

August 22, 2018, Third time

Today John, Evan and I decided to take the tender boat to town and walk around a bit and grabbed a bite to eat. Afterward, we went back to the ship to finish packing since we were getting off the ship tomorrow.

Follow us on our journey the next destination is Ajaccio-Corsica, France.

If you would like to see what we ate while in Positano, Italy.

Messina-Taormina-Sicily, Italy

July 28, 2018

Today John, Nano and I decided to grab a taxi, and I need to let everybody know that you need to be aware that some of the taxi drivers there will try and rip you off.  We almost got ripped off, but luckily we spoke to another taxi driver, and he gave us a good price.

Another thing you need to be careful about is that all the drivers will tell you they speak English until you start driving and start asking questions. Unfortunately, we ended up with a taxi driver that barely spoke any English and drove like a nut.

The first place we went to was Taormina which was a nice little town afterward we went to Castelmola which was nice. The next stop was this cool gorge called Gole Alcantara it also had a waterfall afterward we went back to the ship.

Follow us on our journey the next destination is Positano, Italy.

August 8, 2018

Second Visit to this port on the same cruise – We did four back to back cruises and we visited 29 different ports so we were happy to spend a day on the ship. We decided since we were already at the same port we would stay on the ship and relax.

Follow us on our journey the next destination is Corfu, Greece.

John & Nano at Gole Alcantara

Nano, Maria & John

Castelmola
Isola Bella Beach in Taormina

Mariya, Nano, Adrian, Irene, Maria, John, Samantha & Evan