Europe and the Mediterranean

Ahoy Mates!! 

It has been quite a few months since we returned home from our epic 97-day World Cruise. Since that time, we have battled Tropical Storm Debby, Hurricanes Helene and Milton, travelled to Orange County, California and South Beach in Miami. We both hope that you are well and with your indulgence, I’ll continue our world cruise saga.

You may remember that we departed Agadir Morocco  on day 63 (March 22, 2024) and were about to begin visits to 15 European ports over the next 22 days traveling over 4,900 Nautical miles before departing the Mediterranean Sea. Needless to say, that’s a heavy schedule and a hell of a departure from the weeks of sea days we enjoyed.

On a trip such as this, we are often fortunate enough to befriend wonderful guests and bond with the incredibly welcoming staff. This trip Trumped all others in that regard.  Our newly found friends and staff were delightful. All of us lamented the fact that Mario Fernandez, our incredibly affable waiter from Goa, India, was leaving us at our next port of Lisbon, Portugal.

 

On Day 64 Mario Toledo, Manager, had the chef prepare a special cake for Mario Fernandez. He organized a gaggle consisting of about 20 of Mario’s admiring workmates and along with our with gifted voices, we serenaded him with a hearty rendition of John Denver’s “Jet Plane”. Quite the send off. . .I’m sure he won’t forget it!!

  Our Celebration continued in the Princess Theatre with the production show ” Do you want to Dance”. The cast was spectacular showcasing their talents along with eye-catching lighting effects and costume changes.

 

Following the show, we indulged in a bit of Musical Bingo in the Lounge, which is always great fun. On the way back to the room we caught an incredible acrobatic act performed by a friendly and talented Polish couple that we met while re-boarding in Morocco.

After nights like these I am always amazed at those that have never booked a cruise because they were afraid they would be bored! You can’t be serious!!

It was time retire to the room and  prepare for our landfall in Europe and the beginning of  our 15 port tour through Europe. It was on this day that I published the Perth to Cape Town blog entry knowing full well that I wouldn’t have time to include all of West Africa, Macaronesia and Europe.

3/24/24 , Day 65 , Lisbon, Portugal   62°, cloudy,  forecast high  75º

We  arrived in Lisbon at 7:00 am under cloudy skies and 62º, typical for late March. Lisbon is the  capital city of Portugal and has  a strategic geographical position at the mouth of the Tagus River, the longest in the Iberian Peninsula. It one of the oldest cities in the world, known for charming old neighborhoods, colorful architecture, old-fashioned trams, delicious food, and rich history. 

 

Lisbon  is the capital and largest city of Portugal and one of the oldest cities in the world, with an estimated population of 600,000  in an area of 38 Sq miles. The city lies in the western portion of the Iberian Peninsula on the northern shore of the River Tagus. About 2.9 million people live in the metropolitan area, making it the third largest metropolitan area in Iberia after Madrid and Barcelona. 

After the fall of the Roman Empire, it was ruled by a series of Germanic tribes from the 5th century, most notably the Visigoths. Later it was captured by the Moors in the 8th century. In 1147 , Alfonso I of Portugal conquered the City and in 1255 it became Portugal’s capital, and the political, economic, and cultural center of the country.

Robin and I elected a 9:00 am Lisbon Highlights Tour via Motor coach that was guided and used audio headsets that made the tour much more enjoyable than having to heard closely to George, our guide.  The Tour included the Eduardo VII Park, Christ The King Statue, Jeronimos Monastery, Maritime Museum, Belem Tower and the Monument of the Discoveries.

After traveling north through the city we visited  Edward VII Park . The 64 acre park is named for King Edward VII of the United Kingdom, who visited Portugal in 1903 to strengthen relations between the two countries and reaffirm their alliance. We enjoyed the surroundings in the park before we travelled across the Tagus River to Almada to the Sanctuary of Christ the King and the shrine of Christ overlooking the city of Lisbon. The statue was erected to express gratitude because the Portuguese were spared the direct destructive effects of World War II. It was inspired by the the Christ the Redeemer statue of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.

We then returned to Lisbon to visit The Jerónimos Monastery, one of the most prominent examples of the late Portuguese Gothic style of architecture in Lisbon. It was erected in the early 1500s near the launch point of Vasco da Gama’s first Journey. You may remember from your elementary school history, that Vasco was a Portuguese explorer and nobleman who was the first European to reach India by sea. His initial voyage to India by way of Cape of Good Hope was the first to link Europe and Asia by an ocean route, connecting the Atlantic and the Indian oceans. 

The ornate side entrance to the monastery was designed by Juan de Castillo and is considered one of the most significant of his time. The main visitors’ entrance and wings housing the Maritime Museum and the National Archaeology Museum

The maritime museum is a celebration of Portuguese exploration and naval prowess and is next to the Jeronimós Monastery.  I found the first part fascinating and I really don’t think the early Portuguese explorers get enough credit for their achievements in cartography and discovering areas previously unknown to Europeans.

Dom Henrique of Portugal, Duke of Viseu, (1394-1460) better known as Prince Henry the Navigator, was a central figure in the early days of the Portuguese Empire and in the 15th-century European maritime discoveries and maritime expansion. 

Although Prince Henry the Navigator was neither a sailor nor a navigator, he sponsored a great deal of exploration along the west coast of Africa. Under his patronage, Portuguese crews founded the country’s first colonies and visited regions previously unknown to Europeans. Henry is regarded as an originator of the Age of Discovery and the Atlantic enslaved people trade.

 

We did spend quite a while looking at the map of the routes the early explorers took and the ships they that they travelled on were amazing, smaller than a river barge now. These ships carried small crews and sailed for months at a time through uncharted waters which was quite incredible.  All of the rooms and exhibits had extensive information in English and after suffering moderate brain overload ,we toured the final section which displayed showed the royal river barges and also some seaplanes which were quite impressive.

A standout was the gilded  royal barge Sirius, built in 1778 at the Royal Naval Shipyard in Lisbon by order of Queen Maria I. It served various functions for the royal house until 1957, when, on its last voyage, it transported Queen Elizabeth II of England on the Tagus River.

Belém Tower , officially, the Tower of Saint Vincent, is a 16th-century fortification (1519) located in Lisbon that served as a point of embarkation and disembarkation for Portuguese explorers and as a ceremonial gateway to Lisbon. This tower symbolizes Portugal’s maritime and colonial power in early modern Europe.

Since 1983, the tower has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with the Jerónimos Monastery. It is often portrayed as a symbol of Europe’s Age of Discoveries and is near the Monument of that name which stands at 170 Ft. This stunning monument was designed to commemorate the Age of Discoveries in Portugal and was inaugurated in 1960, on the fifth centenary of one of the country’s great discoverers, Prince Henry the Navigator, who discovered the Azores, Madeira, and Cape Verde.

The Monument to the Discoveries is made up of a group of sculptures that represent the prow of a caravel (a small sailing ship constructed by the Portuguese to explore the Atlantic Ocean). Leading the ship is Prince Henry the Navigator and behind him are many other great Portuguese discoverers.

We walked through the park between the two historical sites and encountered some lovely, spirited Portuguese ladies engaged in the  entrepreneurial activity of tropical pineapple beverages on a cloudy day.  Who wants a Pineapple?

 

 

During our travels through the city Robin bought new scarf that caught her eye, just glad it wasn’t another pillow! At last count we had over 64; It takes me about 10 minutes to get them off of the bed before we can sleep.

Our day was full, we logged about 5 miles and after a quick turnaround we met friends Bob and Libby for cocktails in The Wheelhouse and then dinner in the Reserve. As usual, our attentive staff  performed marvelously even without our friend Mario. We’ll look forward to seeing him on another trip.

We were late departing the dock at 10 pm as the weather forecast is calling for 25 to 30 knots of  wind and 12-15 foot seas. We may need to by pass next port of Cadiz on the western Coast of Spain as it is exposed to the weather. We had to adjust our clocks again before retiring, but for the first time we adjusted the clocks forward 1 hour., but before we did, I went out on the balcony and got a parting shot of Lisbon.

3/25/24, Day 66, at Sea,  60° Cloudy , light rain, 6-8’ swell

At 11 am  we were cruising on the west coast of Spain just south of Palos de la Frontera, but instead of traveling to the new world as Columbus did from that port on August 3, 1492, we were headed to Gibraltar and the Mediterranean. It was then that Captain Paul Slight announced that we would need to by pass Cadiz and then transit the 8 mile wide Strait of  Gibraltar late this afternoon. We were headed for an unplanned stop at Cartagena, a protected port and naval station on the Southeast coast of Spain.

HUZZAH Captain Slight! Captain Paul Slight came aboard and took command in Cape Town about three weeks ago. He is a dynamic, supportive and highly qualified Maritime Captain with over 30 years experience in vessel piloting and crew management and he also offers competent  guest services, and error-free navigation.  Since taking command he has had to deal with  several issues including ship propulsion problems, significant weather and ship infrastructure issues. His affable personality with ability to communicate with passengers and crew members made us feel confident in his ability to competently deal with any issue. No matter what the issue, he always addressed the problem effectively and instilled confidence.

As we slipped past Gibraltar in fog and mist about 5 miles off, I captured a ghostly shot of the Rock just before sundown.

 

 

 

After dinner in the MDR, as we walked back to our room we strolled past the the acrobats performing in the Piazza and Robin was picked to be part of show. There never seems to be a dull moment!

 

3/26/23, Day 67  Cartagena, Spain, 58° forecast high 63º, Windy

Cartagena is a Spanish city and major naval station  has been inhabited for over two millennia, being founded around 227 BC. Much of the historical significance of Cartagena stemmed from its coveted defensive port, one of the most important in the western Mediterranean. It remains an important naval seaport and home to a large naval shipyard. It has a population of about 410,000 in the metropolitan area.

The weather was chilly and gloomy when we departed the ship, but excited to see the original Cartagena,  we walked past the marina to the center of town. Since this was a visit scheduled only a day ago we decided to forego any ship tours and we set out on our own, which we call “YOYO” (Your On Your Own).

 

 

After some research and due to the fact that we wished to stay dry between the rain showers we chose to visit The Cartagena Naval Museum  a subsidiary of the Naval Museum of Madrid. Here we found models of sailing ships, uniforms, clothing, weapons, armament, navigation, torpedoes, and mines. They also have a collection of approximately 40 model sailing ships collected by Julio Castelo Matran.  I was drawn in by ship models, especially the HMS Surprise.

You may be familiar with Patrick O’Brian  an English novelist and translator, best known for his Aubrey–Maturin series, a sequence of 20 nautical historical novels which I have read intensely and kept in my library.  These sea novels are set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars and center on the friendship of the English naval captain Jack Aubrey and the Irish–Catalan physician Stephen Maturin.

HMS Surprise is a frigate of the Royal Navy, Jack Aubrey’s favorite ship and is  the main setting of the movie adaptation Master and Commander The Far Side of the World . Russell Crowe does a masterful job in his portrayal as Captain Aubrey. The film won two Academy awards for  Cinematography and Best Sound Editing at the 76th Academy Awards in 2004 and received 10 nominations in total across various categories.

We then walked next door to a second Naval Museum, this one specializing in Submarine service in Spain. Peral was the first successful submarine to be entirely powered by electric batteries and the first fully military-capable submarine in history. It was built by the Spanish engineer and sailor Isaac Peral for the Spanish Navy. the submarine was launched on 8 September 1888.

The Peral sub was the first military vessel to be built in a Spanish Naval shipyard using a steel hull. In 1890 it was the first sub to fire a torpedo underwater. On June 7, 1890, it sailed 1 hr. at 10 meters depth and emerged at pre-established coordinates.

We continued our tour of this great historical city which presented an interesting layout, was exceeding clean with it’s polished marble tile walkways, attractive people, street vendors and very little in the way of graffiti and hawkers.

Sangria and Pizza Margarita at “Yellow Submarine”

We returned to the ship for a short nap and then joined the usual suspects for dinner. By this time, in the Dining Room, we had a reputation for jokes, laughter and were certainly guilty of being convivial!

 

3/27/24 , Day 68 , at Sea,  61°, cloudy

We slept  late,  ambled up to Horizon Court Buffet to enjoy a leisurely breakfast then attended an enrichment lecture on upcoming ports. We then just relaxed for one of our few sea days while in the Med.

This evening was on of the Three Formal nights this month and we prepared for enjoying a dinner at the Bayou Cage and Steakhouse with our new found friends Bob & Libby.

3/28/24 Day 69, 61 °, sunny windy

At 7 am we caught a glimpse of Barcelona from the Port.

Barcelona is a city of about 1.6 million people overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, and is famous for Gaudí and other Art Nouveau architecture and one of Europe’s trendiest cities. Barcelona is one of Europe’s principal seaports and busiest European passenger port; its international airport handles over 50 million passengers per year, and has an extensive motorway and high speed rail line line with a link to France and the rest of Europe.  Needless to say, it is Crazy Busy! 

The escarpment of Montjuïc  overlooks the harbor and is topped by Montjuïc Castle, a fortress built in the 17–18th centuries to control the city. Today, the fortress is a museum and Montjuïc is home to several sporting and cultural venues, as well as Barcelona’s biggest park and gardens.

Rather than deal with the sharp elbows of the folks on the Princess tours, we elected to do Barcelona on our own (YOYO) and after taking the shuttle to the city we elected to use the Hop On Hop Off bus (HOHO) for our foray into the city. Its a method that we would use often on many excursions . . . YOYO on the HOHO

 

 

 

 

Our mission was to visit The Basilica de La Sagrada Familia which we haven’t visited since our honeymoon in 1992. We purchased tickets on line a week ago, absolutely the right choice. . . several were turned away! After a transfer from the Red HOHO to the Blue, we made our way to the Basilica and were in awe as it came into view. They have made a lot of progress in 32 years!!

Sagrada Família, is a church under construction and is the largest unfinished Catholic church in the world. Designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926).

Construction of Sagrada Família began in March 1882. Then a year later Gaudí took over as chief architect, transforming the project with his architectural and engineering style, combining Gothic and curvilinear Art Nouveau forms.  At the time of his death in 1926, less than a quarter of the project was complete.

Relying solely on private donations, Sagrada Família’s construction progressed slowly and was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War, work slowdowns and Covid. Only just recently, in March 2024, an updated forecast reconfirmed a likely completion of the building in 2026. Only 144 years!!

We finished our trip with a walk back to the ship through walkways and plazas until we came to La Rambla the iconic street offering an assortment of buskers, museums, and markets creating a lively experience.  It was crammed with people, and litter, but the architecture was wonderful.

After the shuttle back to the port, we settled into Good Spirits for a cocktail, then met our new Steward, Gerald. He continued in the tradition of Adi with superb courteous and timely service. We were so fortunate to have such great staff.

3/29/24 Day 70, 65°, 20 mph wind , hazy sunshine

From Barcelona, we sailed 185 nautical miles and at 9:00 arrived in Marseille which is in the Provence region of southern France. With nearly 2 million residents in the metropolitan area, it the second most populous city in France after Paris.

Founded in 600 BC by Greek settlers, Marseille is the oldest city in France, as well as one of Europe’s oldest continuously inhabited settlements. Marseille has been a trading port since ancient times.

We boarded the Port Shuttle to the Old Port and came across The Mucem, which is the first museum devoted to Mediterranean cultures, it is a completely novel structure. Marseille a working port, not really touristic, but we continued to walk to the Old Port and meandered through the port and surrounding streets.

The city was larger than we first thought, but it was somewhat unkept city with beggars and buskers,  a departure from the beauty of Spain or Portugal. However, there were some beautiful facades , churches and fortifications.

We walked back to the Shuttle drop off which was about 4 miles from the ship. On our arrival ,we were greeted by Tyrone Magat, waiter extraordinaire. The staff work extremely hard to ensure the guests comfort and pleasure.

We enjoyed a light lunch and adult beverage before a nap prior to dinner.

There was an all day tour that we neglected to take due to the weather, but it is something we’ll consider another time. Aix en Provence  is a university city in the Côte d’Azur region of southern France. It was the birthplace of Post-Impressionist painter Paul Cézanne. Called the City of a thousand fountains it is a tourist favorite.

 

 

3/30/24 Day 71, 61°, windy. Rain

We sailed only 85 nautical miles and arrived at the town of La Seyne Sur Mer,  just west of Toulon, it is France’s most sheltered port. When we tied up it was raining steadily, so we were happy that we did not have a planned excursion.

From here, there was an option to visit Toulon  a port city on southern France’s Mediterranean coast, lined with sandy beaches and  coves. It’s a significant naval base and the harbor is home to submarines and warships, as well as fishing boats and ferries.  The Commune of Toulon with about 200,000 people is a 40 minute drive or a $35 water taxi ride from our dock. 

We considered just relaxing on the ship, but at about noon the rain stopped and we then walked the 1.2 miles to the the town of La Seyne-Sur-Mer.

We ambled through the town and admired the plentiful graffiti wall murals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We happened upon the Église Notre-Dame-du-Bon-Voyage de La Seyne-sur-Mer or Church of Our Lady of Good Voyage. It was built on the site of the first chapel in 1603, replaced by the current structure in 1682.

We continued stretching our legs with a walk back to the ship to relax before cocktails with new friends and  Mario Toledo’s rendition of mixed seafood prepared tableside.

We returned to the room with a reminder to set our clocks 1 hr forward and prepare for our excursion to Genoa, Cinque Terre & Porto Venere tomorrow.

3/31/24, Day 72, 53° cloudy, Rainy

On Easter Sunday at 7:00 am, we arrived at Genoa, a  seaport in northwestern Italy located about 75 miles  south of  Milan. It  is the birthplace of Christopher Columbus (1451) who embodied the active maritime tradition of the city. With a population of about 580,000, shipbuilding is the major industry and the port of Genoa leads all other Italian ports in volume of passengers and freight traffic and the main source of city income.

On our arrival and for most of the day, the weather was miserable. It would affect the Cinque Terre & Puerto Venere Tour that we had planned, but not the comforting feeling at being in wonderful Italy, known for its landscapes, art, architecture, food and the home of all of my ancestors.

Fortunately, our guide Andreina, was knowledgeable, informative and kept the day action packed and interesting, even if the weather did not cooperate.

We boarded the coach at 7:35 am and drove South on Rt 1 through the Vara river valley to Porto Venere. Due to the sea conditions, we did not take the 75 minute motorboat tour along the whole coast of Cinque Terre. The Cinque Terre (meaning ‘Five Lands’) is a coastal area  in the northwest of Italy and comprises five villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. 

Porto Venere is a village on the Ligurian coast of northwestern Italy. The picturesque harbor  is lined with brightly colored houses while narrow medieval streets lined with shops lead up the hill from the ancient city gate to the castle. The Gothic-style Church of St. Peter sits atop a rocky headland.

We strolled around the old town and passed by a pesto shop selling delicious freshly made basil-based sauce and related products like fresh pasta.

How about a schlepp up a steep incline to view the 750 year old Church of St Peter. It was worth it.

With the help of Andreina, our courageous warrior and guide, we fought our way to board the crowded train with a “Tokyo push”. It was standing room only for the short trip. Can’t imagine what it’s like during season.

Monterosso al Mare is one of the five villages in Cinque Terre. Set amid some of the most dramatic coastal scenery on the planet, these five ingeniously constructed fishing villages can lift the most depressed spirits. Winding paths traverse seemingly impregnable cliff sides, but a 19th-century railway line cut through a series of coastal tunnels, allows easy passage from village to village. Cars were banned over a decade ago.

We walked to the center of the small town for a wine tasting with some local cheese, which we followed with one of my favorite pasta dishes at nearby Ristorante Al Carugio

We then had a short walk to the Train Station at Monterosso for the 11 minute train ride to Levanto and our waiting motor coach. 

The coach braved the now heavy rain and travelled through dozens of tunnels then we passed by Portofino on our way back to Genoa. 

Genoa is noted for its many examples of medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, and Gothic Architecture. The Ducal Palace, San Lorenzo Cathedral, Church of San Matteo, and Palazzo San Giorgio are some of the most important historical monuments. Obviously, worthy of a return in better weather.

After our return to the ship and during our dinner with the “fun table”, we heard the familiar high frequency tone over the PA system that precedes bad news from the bridge. Captain Slight announced that  due to a weather system approaching the port of Livorno and Florence, there will be strong winds at the port and worsening conditions throughout the day. We would need to bypass our visit to Livorno and proceed directly to Rome. We will make our way to Civitavecchia arrive in the morning, 1 day early.

4/1/24,  Day 73, 70°, cloudy, foggy

We sailed 240 nautical miles through the night and arrived at Civitavecchia at 10am. It is a a major cruise and ferry port, and major the port of entry for the city of Rome about 40 miles away. The weather was gloomy and windy so we elected to forgo a visit to the port town and remained on board enjoying the peace and quiet and then visiting the spa. It’s good to be king.

4/2/24,  Day 74, 58°, partly sunny, scattered showers

Civitavecchia is an hour’s drive from Rome. Known as the Eternal City, Rome remains a political capital, a religious centre, and a memorial to the creative imagination of the past. With a population of nearly 3 million it is one of the holiest spaces in the world. However, you don’t need to be religious to appreciate the incredible collections and works of art held in the Vatican Museums.

Some take the train or bus transportation from the ship, but since we had an early tour Discover the Vatican tour that we booked on our own, we did not want to chance traffic or rail delays. We left the ship at 7:05 am to meet a private limo with Rome Cabs at 7:15 and arrived at Vatican 8:30. We met our small group of 10 with a knowledgeable expert guide Francesca. Audio headsets were provided so we could hear the guide clearly and we avoid long queues with skip-the-line entrance tickets. 

Even so, the galleries were packed! At peak times, 20,000 people a day pass through the Vatican Museums and St. Peter’s Basilica.

Vatican City, a city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy, is the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church.  (and the smallest country in the world) . It’s home to the Pope and a trove of iconic art and architecture.

We navigated the vast complex of rooms, artwork, and history and Francesca  brought the ancient collection to life. The amazing works of art that have been collected for centuries by the popes are found in a long series of galleries and museums. Each gallery was  captivating and the vastness of the collection was overwhelming.

The Museum also houses the pontifical collections of classical sculpture dating back to the original collection of pope Julius II (1503-1513). One of the most famous ancient sculptures (30-40 BC) is the  The Laocoön Group, called “the prototypical icon of human agony”. Created likely by Agesander, a Greek Sculptor, it was excavated in Rome in 1506 and put on public display.  

Apparently, Laocoön a Trojan priest and his two sons were killed by snakes sent by Athena. They were attacked by snakes because they threw a spear at the Trojan horse in an attempt to foil the Greeks’ plan. 

The Round Room is one of the most stunning rooms inside the Vatican Museums. You can not miss this statue of Hercules in the Round Room. It is the largest statue in this room and it is also the only statue cast in bronze.

The centerpiece of this room is the Emperor Nero’s bathtub. This was taken from his great Golden Palace which Nero had constructed back in 64A.D.  The bathtub is made from a very rare and precious stone called Red porphyry and has a 43-foot circumference. The bath is the most expensive single item in the entire museum valued at 2 Billion.

 

We were then herded through long hallway containing sculptures, the Gallery of the Candelabra. Beautiful and  impressive, but hard to see because there were so many people in there. The ceiling was frescoed and gilded. That hall continued into another that displayed large and detailed tapestries

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next we were ushered into the phenomenal Gallery of Maps. The maps were wonderful, but most impressive to me was the illuminated golden ceiling that framed about a thousand small paintings. It is truly inspiring.

By far one of the most over-the-top as far as decoration goes, the Gallery of Maps is literally a gigantic mural with frescoes on both sides of maps depicting Italy.  It took Ignazio Danti three years (1580–1583) to complete the 40 fresco map panels in the 390 foot long gallery.

One after another after another, we walked through rooms, each amazingly gorgeous and unique. There was so much to see. We went up stairs and downstairs into more and more rooms connected directly with each other by exquisite doorways. There are 24 galleries and 54 rooms including the Sistine Chapel with over 70,000 exhibits over 9 miles of corridors! It would require several days to do a tour properly.

In the Raphael Rooms are ceilings and walls painted by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael who began his works at the same time that Michelangelo was beginning work on the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling.

One of his most famous frescoes is the Disputation of the Sacrament. It was painted between 1509 and 1510 and  it depicts the Catholic Church’s belief about the Eucharist, or the source and summit of the Christian life.

Finally, we stepped inside the Sistine Chapel which is the pope’s official residence in Vatican City. It takes its name from Pope Sixtus IV, who had it built between 1473 and 1481. Since that time, it has served as a place of both religious and functionary papal activity. Today, it is the site of the papal conclave, the process by which a new pope is selected.

The frescoes on the ceiling, collectively known as the Sistine Ceiling, were commissioned by Pope Julius II in 1508 and were painted by Michelangelo in the years from 1508 to 1512. They depict incidents and personages from the Old Testament.

Sistine Chapel is impressive beyond words, but we were not allowed to take photos or videos. I have included a few stock photos that can’t really capture the magnificence of the room.

Michelangelo painted the entirety of the Sistine Chapel ceiling in the medium of fresco. One of the most popular methods of painting during the Renaissance, fresco means fresh in Italian, and involves painting directly onto an area of freshly laid and still-wet lime-based plaster.

The Creation of Adam is probably the most famous fresco in the Sistine Chapel and one of the most famous in modern art. It was created by Michelangelo around 1511. 

Although the Chapel was packed with people, most observed the “Silenzio” rule so we could experience and enjoy in peace the magnificence of one of the greatest artists of all time.

The tour was continued through staircases and hallways until we exited and prepared to  finish by visiting St. Peter’s Basilica. Good thing we were on the “skip the line tour “, the queue to get it into the Basilica was blocks long.

The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican  is a church of the Italian High Renaissance located in  Vatican City. Construction of the present basilica began on 18 April 1506 and was completed in 1626. St. Peter’s as a work of architecture, it is regarded as the greatest building of its age.

Designed principally by Bramante, Michelangelo and Maderno , which sounds like an Italian law firm, St. Peter’s is one of the most renowned works of Italian Renaissance architecture, is the largest church in the world by interior measure and regarded as one of the holiest Catholic shrines.

Catholic tradition holds that the basilica is the burial site of Saint Peter, chief among Jesus’s apostles. His tomb  is directly below the Papal Altar of the basilica or  The Altar of the Confession. For this reason, many popes, cardinals and bishops have been interred at St. Peter’s since the Early Christian period.

St. Peter’s is famous as a place of pilgrimage and liturgy.  The pope presides at a number of liturgies throughout the year both within the basilica or the adjoining  St. Peter’s Square. These events  draw audiences numbering from 15,000 to over 80,000 people . . . almost as large as a Trump Rally!

The church has 44 altars, 11 domes, 778 columns, 395 statues and 135 mosaics. On the outside, the façade is 50 by 120 yards, that’s the size of a football field, including both end zones. 

 

Indeed the Vatican and St Peter’s are world  treasures, it was an awe inspiring but long day! We would have enjoyed more time to visit the sights, but the ship was departing at 5:00 pm and we didn’t want to miss sail away.

We had to scramble through hordes to exit St Peter’s square, but were able to commandeer a cab with the same technique that I use at Penn Station in New York City. . .  I avoid the queue by grabbing one a block away. 

We were off to the train station, Roma Termini, and caught a great view of the Colosseum on the way. Our overall impression of the city was diminished by the crowds, graffiti and need of an industrial power washer.  At a kiosk in the train station, we bought tickets to Civitavecchia for 9.30€, about $10.  This was a local train that made about 15 stops in the countryside and took 1 hour 25 min to reach the “ancient town” rail station, where we boarded a dedicated shuttle back to the port and our waiting ship.

We enjoyed a cocktail at Good Spirts and observed many new passengers that boarded and heard that many disembarked. The decreasing number of passengers was obvious in the Dining Room as it seemed rather quiet.  We turned in and prepared for our visit to Naples and our Viator trip to the Amalfi Coast and Pompeii.

There will be 8 more European Ports and 13 days before we start our Atlantic Crossing, but first, please wish us a Buon Viaggio a Napoli!

Fair winds and following seas,

Captain Bob