Rome, Day 1

Our cruise has come to an end and we are now in Rome for the next few days. We are doing a post cruise extension and many of the people we met on board the ship are doing the same thing. One of the best things about small ship sailings is that you get to meet so many people.  Our ship had 400 passengers and of them about 160 are on The World cruise.  The Aussies in the last segment numbered 12 and we have been a tight little group for the past couple of weeks.
Once we disembarked Regent Navigator for the last time we were once again on board a bus for our day’s sightseeing. This was the first day out of 42 days that we had to don a raincoat and grab the umbrella so we have been lucky weather wise.
Our first stop was at Pallavincini Estate for a wine tasting tour.  This beautiful old renovated farmhouse with it’s huge underground cellar was where the talk began.  We learnt about the whole wine making process and then it was over to the cellar door for the tasting.  I’m not a wine connoisseur but the white wine was very good and the owners had laid out trays of food to nibble on with the wine.  We munched on pizza, olive oil soaked bread, cheese and sweet biscuits.

The rain, complete with thunder and lightening had really set in as we set off to our next destination for lunch and a pasta making demonstration.  Lunch was unlike anthing I had ever eaten.  So much food!  We were served five courses.  Home-made pasta with mushroom, Penne Pasta with tomato sauce, Roast Pork with roast potatoes and bitter greens, Zablagione and finally very strong Espresso Coffee.  I waddled back to the bus!

After this very large lunch the bus took us to Castel Gandolfo where we entered the Apostolic Palace, built in 1623 by Pope Urbano Vlll.  The palace is used as a summer retreat for the Pope and it is a spendid building.  We were given our own audio guide to take us through the many floors of the palace.  I commented to Philip that if everything inside this palace was sold it would probably pay for the restoration of the Notre Dame Cathedral!

After we had finished our tour of the Palace we were given privileged access to the Vatical (Barberini) Gardens.  I had read so much about these gardens that it was almost an anti-climax to walk through them but they are simply beautiful and literally take your breath away.  I was surprised that there were only 20 gardeners to take care of the 40 hectare gardens but as they are well established gardens it is now purely maintenance.

Today was a long day because our little ship went through some rough seas the night before and not many of has had a good nights sleep so we were grateful when we were finally taken to our hotel - The Grand Hotel Bernini Bristol.  It is a lovely hotel and I can’t wait to explore the area tomorrow.

Naples, Italy

The last port we had on our itinerary before we reached Rome was Sorrento.  Here the ship was to drop anchor  and we would be tendered to the shore.  At 7.00 am the Captain’s voice came across the intercom informing us that it was far to dangerous to use tenders.  The swell, although it doesn’t look much in this photo was very large and stepping from the ship to the tender could have broken legs....
So the Captain announced that we would pull up the anchor and more further up the coastline to Naples where he had secured a dock.

Sorrento, Italy that we did not get to see....

We docked in Naples (Napoli) around 9.30 am but almost all tours that had been booked for Sorrento had to be cancelled.... we were going to travel by hydrofoil to Capri. It didn’t leave us any choice other than to explore Naples on our own.  It didn’t worry us at all and we had looked forward to doing this our whole journey.  Unfortunately most of the places that we docked at were not attractive and certainly not within walking distance of anywhere that we would find interesting.
The walk from our ship to the city centre of Napoli took around fifteen minutes and we thoroughly enjoyed the walk.  The city is lovely and being a Sunday not many shops were opened so we weren’t bustled along. This changed rapidly however as word got around that there was a cruise ship docked!
We walked up and down narrow alleyways passing fish mongers, fruit stalls and many pizzerias. The buildings are all around five stories and as you look up at clothes fluttering in the wind hanging from the balconies you are reminded that life simply moves on no matter where you are.

We walked for around an hour and then boarded another Hop On Hop Off bus so we could get a little more information about the history of Napoli.  As you know, we love this and the GPS headphones give exact information about where you are and what you are looking at.

After our quick one hour bus tour we headed to a Pizzeria for beer and pizza.  By this time it was almost 1.30pm and we were quite hungry. We ordered Margarita Pizza that we were told is the traditional pizza for this area.  It is possibly the best pizza I have ever eaten!  Our waiter was friendly and played around with us by bringing an extra pizza (on the house) as we devoured our pizzas very fast!

All to soon we were back on board Navigator and heading to our final port - Civitivecchia.  This is at the gateway to Rome where we will spend the next few days.

Heraklion, Crete

I find it hard to get my head around how long ago some of the places we have visited were built. Today we had a tour - in 3D- of Knossos.  This Palace built by the ruler Minos was thought to have been created around 1900 BC, that is almost 4,000 years ago!  The palace had between 1300 - 1500 rooms and in some places was up to five stories high.  It is set on a hill but can’t be seen from the sea.
Around 1700 BC it was destroyed by a massive earthquake and then re-built but a second disaster in 1450 BC saw it layed to rest.  It is thought that the second destruction was probably caused by conflict between the rulers of Crete. In 1878 excavations started and continue to this day.

As we commenced the 2 hour tour we were given tablets so that we could see in 3D what the palace would have looked like.  It must have been an amazing place to live if you were the ruler or his wife. For the slaves....not so great I’d imagine.  There were plenty of blood sports in those days with the slaves being the usual sacrifice.

After our tour of Knossos we were taken to the city centre of Heraklion for time on our own.  It was a hot day so ice cold beers and hot fries for us!

We only have two more nights left of our cruise and I just don’t want it to end and am begging Philip to take my on a world cruise.  I just love it.  “What would you like to eat Madam?” “What would you like to drink Madam?” “Can I service your room Madam?” “Let me hold that door for you Madam”
“You want a tour of the Galley, let me arrange that Madam”. How am I ever going to cook a meal or make my bed when we arrive home!
However, we still have more to do.  We have three days in Rome post cruise and then back to Egypt for a more intensive look. Unfortunately though it will be back to living out of a suitcase!
Today is a day at sea so more relaxing poolside with cocktail in one hand and book in the other.  It’s a great life....

Haifa, Israel - Day 2

Israel with a population of 8.7 million and covering an area of only 28,000 square kilometres, has been a centre of conflict between the Arabs and Jews for a long time but in recent times the main areas of conflict have been

• The Gaza Strip (a strip of land between Egypt and Israel)  
• Golan Heights ( a rocky plateau between Syria and Israel)
• West Bank (a territory that divides modern day Israel from Jordan)

At the moment relationships are friendly but according to one of our guides “We will never go to the movies together”......

To summarise our tour today; we ascended the narrow windy road to the fertile Golan Heights where, even today,  marked land mines dot the countryside.  Before we ascended the Golan Heights plateau we visited Jerusalem for a photo stop and on to Yardenit, the baptismal place, where we watched dozens of pilgrims dip their white robed bodies into the cold waters of the Jordan River.  We hugged the shores of the Sea of Galilee, 166 sq kilometres and 400 metres deep, as we drove to Capernaum where Jesus healed Peters mother-in-law, according to the gospel. We stopped at Hamet Gader for a buffet lunch and then back into the bus to Tiberias for a Diamond Museum visit......yes...some were lucky enough to buy!

We passed souring mountains where the relics of years of fighting could be seen.  There is such a variety of crops that are grown in and around the area we visited.  We saw crops of bananas, garlic, date trees, pomegranate trees and wheat to name but a few. We tasted and bought date honey that is absolutely delicious and I can’t wait to serve it to my friends to see if they can tell the difference between that and bee honey.

Israel is renowned world wide for it’s innovation.  Tell an Israeli it can’t be done and he will find a way to do it and never argue with an Israeli because you will never win.  These statements came from our tour guide. The Israelis were the first in the World to use desalination  and re-cycling of water.

Israel is a very interesting place but it’s almost like they carry a chip on their shoulder that most certainly comes from years of conflict.  Their staunchest alley is the USA and they very much dislike the British.  We heard stories about the treatment of the Holocaust Jews by the British after World War 2, that I won’t go into, so the dislike runs deep.

Everywhere we went the military were present and passport checks in and off the ship were almost over the top. Israel is an interesting place and mark my words....watch this space.