4/29-Naples

4/29-Arrived in Naples this morning and had time for a quick breakfast before meeting for our first tour of the cruise, the ruins of Pompei. We have spent a day in Naples in the past, and a description by European travel author Rick Steves says it best: "Naples is Italy in the extreme-its best (birthplace of pizza) and its worst (home of the "Camorra", Naples' family of organized crime. To me, it is like New York on Steroids. Pompei in its heyday was a booming Roman trading city, a perfect example of typical Roman life. in 79AD Mount Vesuvius errupted and buried the city under 30 feet of hot volcanic ash. It was rediscovered in the 1600's, and excavations began in 1748. Our tour was extremely interesting, and it was easy to imagine what it must have been like back then. Once again, it was a beautiful day, sunny and warm. We leave tonight for Messina, on the island of Sicily.

4/29-Rome

4/28-From Civitivecchia on the Italian coast where the ship docks, we hopped a train into Rome for a whirlwind overview of some of the sights. After an hour and fifteen minutes on the train and another half hour finding our way out of Rome's main station (via the restroom and the tourist information center), with map and camera in hand we began our trek, heading first for the Colloseum. We spent quite a bit of time there doing a self-guided tour with telephone-like devices to guide us in english. From there we headed for the forum. After a lunch of pizza (what else?) at an outdoor cafe, we continued on to the Trevi Founhtain, the Spanish Steps, and then worked our way back to the Pantheon before heading back to the train station for the return trip to the ship. We will have to return someday to complete our Rome experience, but we thoroughly enjoyed the time we had there. We have been blessed with perfect weather and smooth seas so far. Departing Civitivecchia at 8:00PM, we will arrive in Naples tomorrow morning.

4/27-Ajaccio (Corsica) France

Ajaccio, (Corsica) France is the birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte, as several statues in the area attest to. It was a nice place to wander around, with a nice beach area, an old town section and a more modern pedestrian area with lots of typical French eateries and cafes. Once again our day was spent sightseeing on our own and trying to decipher menus (without much luck.) We finally managed to order sandwiches and coffee, which turned out to be quite good. We have been having problems with the wifi aboard the ship-very slow, and sometimes unreliable, so we will limit the number of pictures we post, but will continue to update our blog. Weather is still nice, but rain showers are forcast for our day tomorrow in Rome.

Almeria, Spain-4/25

April 25-After passing through the straits of Gibralter last night, arrived at Almeria this morning, on the southeastern coast of Spain. The Straits of Gibralter are quite narrow, with just 7-1/2 miles separating Spain and Morocco. The highlight of our visit was the Alcazaba, which is a hillside fortress built in the tenth century to defend Almeria from attack. I won't go into detail here, but I'm sure there is information on the web if you are interested. The new part of the city is very beautiful and clean, with many pedestrian streets and parks. Also, as in most of Europe, there are many "squares", where it is nice to take a break and have a cappuccino. (Also a good place to use the "facilities", which can sometimes be a challenge!) All in all, a great port, and as usual we did plenty of walking and climbing. (Now, bring on the food!) Tomorrow is a day at sea, then we will land at Ajaccio, Corsica.

Cadiz

April 24-after another day at sea, we docked at Cadiz, Spain, which is just south of Seville. Cadiz is said to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in the Western world, dating back to 1100 BC, when the first Phoenician merchants landed here. It is a great city for walking and exploring, especially the narrow streets in the old town (barely wide enough for a small car to drive on-As a pedistrian you quite often have to step into a doorway to avoid them). Without the painted lines on the walkway to direct the tourist, it would be easy to get lost in their winding paths. It's also fairly compact, so it was easy to see the highlights in one day. No more time changes for awhile, thankfully. Weather is perfect, no rain yet, and no volcanic ash.

Madeira

4/22-Land ho!! We finally made landfall after 7 days at sea, arriving at Funchal, Madeira, which is part of a small group of islands, belonging to Portugal. Funchal is a very pretty and interesting place to explore. We did a lot of walking, took a gondola ride up the mountain, where we boarded a "basket on skids" and rode down halfway down the mountain road with two locals controlling the descent, an experience not to be missed. The road is steep, sometimes winding, and the "brakes" are provided by the rubber heels of the two men. (picture a dog sled with the dogs behind you). We walked the rest of the way to town and had lunch, followed by more walking through the pedestrian streets and old town. All in all, a good day, and weather was very nice (think San Diego). Today is another day at sea, with one more time change (our sixth since leaving Fort Lauderdale, and now we are 9 hours later than California). We've both decided that we prefer jet lag to boat lag!!

Sea days

4/19-Day five at sea,three more sea days until arrival at first port, Madeira, Portugal. Mostly we're relaxing, adjusting to time changes (ugg they have added an hour each day,the body doesn't quite know what to do ). Weather has been good, a little rough today, but still able to sit outside. Wind is from the west, so it is fairly calm on deck. Trying to excercize daily and not eat too much. So far, so good.

It is the start of our trip and we are spending it with Jen, Lance and Chase. We will fly out of San Diego on Tuesday and then sailing from Ft Lauderale on Wed April 14.