Ancient Ephesus: one of the easier walking spots

Ephesus – the library of Celsus and Arch of the Emperor Augustus

Ephesus: Terrace Houses Museum being constructed

Theatre in Ephesus

Image of Artemis held in the Archaeological Museum, Naples

Yesterday we were in Santorini, but we didn’t actually leave the ship. We could see 3 other cruise ships; we were anchored some way off the coast so you had to get a tender to the base of the cable car station, and either catch the cable car or walk up a steep zig -zag path to get to the first town.  Furthermore, it was quite cold and windy and overcast, although the weather cleared up later. I wasn’t feeling very well, so I was happy to have a quiet day on board.  It seemed a shame not to go further, but Santorini was never on my list of “must see” places, and it didn’t look anything like the pictures you see!

We didn’t even go swimming; the boutiques were closed so it was very quiet indeed.  We were booked to eat at Toscana at 7:30 pm that evening, later than I would have hoped for; it was a rather disappointing experience too.

We didn’t have an appetizer, but we did have very nice bread with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and roasted garlic. JD had very nice fillet steak and I had veal scallopine with Marsala, but that was very disappointing. Portofino in Napier do it better! How about some cream and some Marsala wine? We also ordered potatoes roasted with rosemary, but they were not the lovely Italian baked potatoes.  We ordered asparagus spears too. When it came to ordering dessert, JD was busy in conversation with the Canadian couple at the next table, so I ordered tiramisu for him and apricot tart for me.

Since we were eating so late, our stateroom had been made up for sleeping before we went to dinner.

The next day the ship docked at the beautiful Kusadasi, and we were to visit Ephesus.  I did not sleep at all well; our breakfast tray came early as expected but I could eat very little. I was very anxious that the excursion I’d been encouraged (Terrace Houses) by our cruise consultant would be too strenuous.

 But there were several older folk with canes on the excursion. It wasn’t too bad but there were a lot of steps, and the marble was uneven and slippery at times.

We were due in the Nautica lounge at 8:15 am; when we arrived just after 8 there was no one there, and we had to go straight to Deck 3. We’d seen lots of people, presumably on earlier excursions, walking along the side of the cruise ship. Perhaps we should have been there earlier!  But what a schemozzle of cruise ships, passengers and buses! Thankfully we had a good (although grubby inside) coach and a good driver and great tour guide. She carried a blue and yellow parasol, and a sign saying 34 (our number), so it was relatively easy to spot her amongst the hundreds of people. That did make things easier.

We were driven to Ephesus (about an hour’s drive), and then disembarked. It was a downhill walk through the ruins: uneven and a bit slippery (there were plenty of warnings!); eventually we came to the very well-organised Terrace Houses Museum, with lots of steps but handrails and glass floors. These houses (two have been excavated?) were very finely decorated, with pillars, mosaics, lots of cool marble, and frescoes.

Coming down was tricky (uneven steps and no hand rails), but then we were at the library of Celsius, with a very well-preserved front. An amazing spot.

Then it was on (under an archway) to a spot where Paul preached to the Ephesians. I found that very moving. This site had an amazing mixture of Greek and Roman ruins, and then I think the first Chrisian assembly was established there. This place was very special to St Paul, and also special to those who worshipped Artemis: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians”. Now her temple is in ruins; in fact, of the site of the ancient city only ruins remain. As with most if not all ancient sites, it is very moving, in spite of the huge crowds.

There was another large theatre, then a grove of cool trees before we emerged into a toilet block (it was just fine) and a market place, where vendors were very keen to sell you stuff. There was no opportunity to browse as one would wish to do. You didn’t dare to look at or admire anything.

Then it was back on the bus. Thankfully our one was easy to find, although it was hard for the driver to manoeuvre his way out. On the way back there was a police stop, and then we were back to the port and an optional carpet demonstration. The demonstration was by a collective who were encouraged by their government to keep the art of carpet making, especially with silk, alive. The work is so intense that the women doing it have to take frequent breaks.

Well I really wanted to see this, and it was a big cool marble floored show room. We saw the double-knotting and admired the silk techniques.  There was hospitality: I had Turkish black tea in a wee glass (very nice) but they offered us quite large rolls to eat, and I refused, although I felt bad about it.

Then they showed carpets, much as the shop in Tunis had done, although this was far more upmarket and sophisticated. Anyway, silly old us, we ended up buying a wee silk prayer mat. This we have to take with us.  They wanted us to buy jewellery too, but the prices were very high, as they were for the bigger carpets. While they are processing the payment, wrapping the carpet, and preparing a statement saying what we have bought, we are distracted by some jewellery: they seem to think that since we have bought a small carpet, we are good for buying jewellery!  When we get home, we unwrap said carpet with trepidation. It is the one that we bought, it is truly beautiful, and the blue background colour changes with the lighting. I think it was a good investment.

Eventually we escaped and walked back to the cruise ship. This was our last excursion on the cruise ship. Once on board, we again ate lunch in the terrace cafe.  Tonight we have to have our packed and labelled bags outside our stateroom by 10 pm! And we’re required to be off the ship really early: I think I said 8:45 am. But we will be able to have room service breakfast.

I have reluctantly done some packing. After dinner tonight it’s my overnight sponge bag and essentials that I’ll keep with me. I’m so glad I brought two sponge bags! A small one and a larger one. They both have the essentials!

Nga mihi nui

Santorini – the file view

Santorini from cruise ship

Santorini cable car access

Last night I dressed up for dinner on the GDR. We looked out for our Australian friends, but without success; they may have been dining in one of the specialty restaurants.

Actually we had one of our best meals: pineapple cubes for an appetizer – freshly cut pineapple; then wiener schnitzel with potato salad, and a green salad to share, with lettuce, avocado and grapefruit with some fancy dressing. The potato salad was not what we were expecting – it seemed like sliced of cooked potato in butter(?), but the schnitzel was amazing – tender, and not quite too much. JD had a glass of Chardonnay which we shared. Then dessert was something else: the souffle was grand Marnier, with an orange sauce. I had that, with vanilla ice cream on the side, and it was hot and beautiful. JD had profiteroles: 3 filled with vanilla ice cream and covered with chocolate sauce. They sounded wonderful but weren’t as good as the souffle – the little choux pastry puffs weren’t great. Overall, though the meal was enjoyable and a success.

Afterwards we were introduced to Wayne and Fiona, another couple from Wellington on our cruise ship.

Then we went to bed. I had completed the online questionnaire; I’d like to complete it for JD, as there are a few suggestions I’d like to make, mainly about excursions.  Today we are not buying an excursion to Santorini.  I know it looks really beautiful in the photos, but today is cold and windy, and it doesn’t look so attractive. It’s also quite hard to get to, taking a tender and then waiting for the cable car access at either end of the trip. The questionnaire was generic questions, about the quality of the housekeeping, the food, room service, the entertainment, the excursions and so on; you manage to say they’re all marvellous or very good and then realise you haven’t really communicated the things that bother you: the crowds, the choice of excursions, the lack of tai chi, singing, or any religious observance, for example.

We had decided that we would not order room service breakfast this time, but since we were staying on board, we’d eat breakfast in the GDR.  It doesn’t start till 7:30 am, and we were awake before 6 am! Still the Internet is far stronger here than it has been.  I have pondered on the fact that once you get used to having no Internet, you do get used to it, and apart from being out of contact with Family in an emergency, it’s actually rather nice.

So this morning we had breakfast in the GDR. They are already taking excursion guests on tenders to the island. We can already see three other cruise ships.

The breakfast menu is more expansive. I am brought brewed coffee, but it’s actually quite strong and not as good as coffee in my stateroom . We start with fruit juice (orange and prune) and JD has Bircher muesli and also orders avocado toast. I order scrambled eggs and English style bacon (soft?) with a slice of toast, but things take a while to arrive: my juice comes much later than his; the eggs and bacon arrive well before the toast. Never mind, the scrambled eggs are delicious, much better than the room service ones (as expected).  I have a remaining half slice of toast with Seville bitter orange marmalade. JD goes back to our stateroom, but I longer over my toast, coffee and juice.

Then I sit on our balcony and enjoy the view.  The high expected today is 21°C, but although fine, it’s quite breezy outside and I’m glad of two lap blankets.

I thought I saw snow on some of the hills, reminding me of Horace’s famous ode, “Vides ut alta stet nive candidum Soracte?” (Do you see how high the white snow is on Mount Soracte?). This turns out to be white houses on cliff tops! Cataracts? Ach so, it was a pleasant reminder.

To get to Santorini, you have to take a tender to the shore; then walk or take the cable car up a very steep hill to the township. We can see three other cruise ships, and I’ve been told it is really crowded there. What’s more, it doesn’t look very attractive!

Tomorrow: Ephesus! our cruise is almost over.

Nga mihi nui

The entrance to Monemvasia

Another view of Monemvasia

Walking in Monemvasia is like this!

Our breakfast tray arrived and we are still asleep. In Greece it seems to be getting darker in the mornings, although summer is coming. In Italy and in Sicily we came into beautiful seaside towns or cities: Salerno, Trapani, Tunis, Catania, but Katokolon and Monemvasia are different: cooler, and overcast, with much fewer inhabitants.

The advertised excursion to Monemvasia was 5 hours long and sounded quite strenuous; it involved a lot of climbing to a castle on top of the hill, and having lunch at a Greek taverna, but during the cruise they’d added more excursions, including a much shorter (2 ½ hours) walking tour of the Old Town, and I’d signed up for that.

There seemed to be no other option: a private tour had been advertised that sounded ideal, but it seemed to have been discontinued.  I had never heard of Monemvasia before. It was one of those places that you had to see, photographs don’t really do it justice. Monemvasia is really a small island/rocky outcrop connected to the Peloponnese mainland by a tombolo.

To reach Monemvasia we have to catch a tender from the cruise ship to the bus parking lot; there are quite a few of us; our guide is very informative and tries to keep track of us all. Some want to go back to the ship later than scheduled, and that’s complicated.  We ride the bus to Monemvasia which is a rocky outcrop along a low bridge-like road to the sheer rock face: we could have walked this! We pass a small necropolis along the way. Then the bus stops and we disembark at the main gate. It looks scarily steep!

From there it is so pretty – with rocky steps and paths, tricky but uniform; some take a tour to the castle on the top of the rock; although we do a bit of climbing, we get to a main public square. There is a church there that I’d really like top see, but it is closed. There are several hotels along the way. What a beautiful place this is! I don’t find it claustrophobic, like the streets in Nimes or some of the Italian towns we’ve visited, such as Ravenna, or parts of Firenze. It is just gorgeous, with flowers growing in some of the rocks. It feels safe and secure here, and there are other crowds you find in many other places, although we are joined by several other groups.  There is a rocky path to a bathing spot. I’d love to come here again, although there isn’t a great deal to do.

There is time for shopping, and we see some very attractive dress shops, where the designs are quite beautiful. JD wants to buy some garments for our daughter in law and our eldest grand daughter but I think it is unwise to buy clothes without being able to try them on. Buying stuff for me is not an option, although I admired an embroidered blouse.

At another gift shop we bought tiles with view of Monemvasia, for our Wellington sons and their wives, and one for me – to remember Monemvasia. It’s wonderful the way they don’t pressure you to buy things.

Then we went to a coffee bar and had very good gelato, served in wee containers. I had mocha, and it was delicious.

The we got on the bus again, and came back to the tender point; the rain was coming – we could see it, but we got on the tender just before it started to rain hard. We were so pleased that we’d negotiated the steps while they were dry and not slippery! We agreed that we were so pleased that we came on this late-addition excursion. It was one of the best, up there with Paestum and Olympia.

We got off the tender and got on our cruise ship again. It was the only one there. Soon after that we went to the Terrace cafe for lunch. Oddly the outside tables were deserted. We went to find ours, on the right hand side, and it was quite sheltered although I needed my cardigan on. We could see Monemvasia and the little cemetery as we sailed slowly away.  It was lovely! The meat today was rolled roast pork, with a filling of dried apricots and pistachio nuts. They found some apple sauce for us; another American woman and I insisted on it (strange that it wasn’t there already). I had it with gravy, and took some lettuce, cucumber, grated carrot and salad dressing. I wish they’d label the dressings! I also took a bread roll and some butter (from Spain, Espana) and cheese.  Of course we had lemonade mixed with sparkling water (they know us now!), and one of the waiters made us double espressos. We also had wee desserts, of course: blue berry crumble for him, and a kind of mini Baked Alaska for me. Then we retired for JD to do the washing and me to have a rest/diary session before dinner.

It is definitely cooler now, and not sunny. One gentleman claimed that he’d been here in September and it was 41°C!! I’d rather have it cooler than really hot: you can put more clothes on. I guess for us it was hottest (thus far) in Tunis.

The housekeeping service here is amazing. In the morning, after we go on our excursion, they make the bed, clean the bathroom, and replace the towels. In the evening, when we are at dinner, they do something magic with the bed (it’s soo comfortable), turn it down, place a chocolate on your bedside, and put out a – prayer mat? Like a pillow case, on the floor. I could get very used to this kind of service.

Nga mihi nui.

Stateroom with Veranda

A view of Ancient Olympia

Another view of Ancient Olympia

Yesterday was a sea day.

Although we thought we’d ordered breakfast later than usual, it turned up pretty early when we were both asleep. After breakfast JD went back to sleep. It was a cooler and a windy day although very calm; I went to the laundrette along our corridor wearing a bathrobe to press my green skirt before showering and wearing it: pretty daring, as everyone I encountered was clothed, and I felt I needed to apologize!  Afterwards I tried pressing my other dress which although light had become very crushed. That went well, although it needed a very cool iron.

Although I’d made rough plans for the day (book a Monemvasia tour, see the concierge about posting a parcel home, and try out my new “tankini” bathing suit), but JD had other ideas, and doing the washing before he showered was one of them. I was going to get washing done as part of our complementary service; I rather like it being returned folded and pressed, but he was adamant. So I left him to it, booking the cheap 2 1/2 hour walking tour in Monemvasia (which had been added to the schedule), getting advice about our stop in Santorini and then going for coffee and exploring the shop.

Evidently there is a coffee bar on the high deck where the pool is, but I couldn’t find it. Anyway, it was pretty cold and windy up there. They did make me an oat latté at the bar outside the Grand Dining Room, and said I could take it back to our stateroom, however the mug was so full that I had to drink some of it before taking it back to our room. It did taste good though.

I had fun at the shop too. They had several “specials” for €10, and a range of pricier goods, but not everything is outrageously expensive. There are also very expensive jewellery boutiques: I admired a tourmaline ring, which cost USD 60,000!

There were bracelets for €10 each, which I thought may do for gifts for our New Zealand granddaughters and our daughter. After telling JD about them I bought two and some lip balm.

Then we had lunch at the wee buffet/bar at the entrance to the GDR, where we’d eaten lunch on embarkation day: nice little “sliders” filled with yummy things, and small cakes and biscuits. They make you a variety of nice coffees there too.  And you can sit in comfortable chairs to partake. It’s less formal than the Terrace cafe.

After that, boring as, we went back to our state room and found the movie “Twelve Angry Men” on our television set, starting the rather wonderful Henry Fonda in a famous old courtroom drama. Actually almost all the action takes place in the hot jury room after the trial, where the 12 men of the jury seem to agree on a verdict (1957, black and white).

Before dinner JD insisted I take him back to the shop, where we bought i.e. signed for a third bracelet with 5 “pearls”, which I will wear until we give it to my daughter. There was a nice string duo playing classical themes there.

During the afternoon I had decided that rather than join one of the Santorini excursions, as I had been minded to do, we would stay on the ship instead and maybe swim, and have a quiet day . I gather Santorini is very touristy, with several ships likely to be docked there are hundreds of not thousands of tourists. You have to get a cable car back to the ship, and there’ll be queuing no matter what you do. Santorini was never on my list as a destination: I know it’s beautiful but there are no ancient monuments that I really want to see. And the crowds are frustrating. So I feel relieved having made that decision.

This morning we docked in Greece, at a place called Katokolon, after our day at sea yesterday. We had met our Australian friends for dinner in the GDR at 6:30 pm, after queuing up in a long line; but the queue moved quickly, and the GDR is a huge space. I had a shrimp cocktail this time in half a firm avocado, followed by a lamb entree (ha ha!), with potato and a stuffing with aubergine; both were delicious, and the lamb tender and tasty, but I felt vaguely unwell afterwards. Dessert took a long time: I chose a vanilla -raspberry vacherin and peach ice cream, and it was a large meringue -like dessert, like pavlova. After that we did not go to the concert with our friends, but retired to bed. I was feeling sick and tired, in spite of doing nothing all day; when we went to bed we had to put our clocks forward one hour; presumably Greece is one hour ahead of Sicily.

I did not sleep well; fortunately I stopped feeling sick after a while. We were due to meet in the Nautica lounge at 8 am next morning for our Olympia tour.When we meet in the lounge there are lots of people there, and there are 41 people on bus #24! Our tour guide is pretty well – informed, if a rather wheezy and colourful older woman.

We drive for a while to the Olympia site, then get off the bus and walk around the remains of temples, and the stadium. As we go, it warms up and becomes sunny, but with a predicted high of 21°C it does become really hot. More and more tour groups join and we find our leader’s colourful umbrella is a very useful talisman.

It is a really beautiful peaceful site, with fascinating remains of not only the main stadium but several altars too. Sadly it is extremely crowded, and it’s hard to keep sight of our guide, to say nothing of our coach!

We go to a facilities area of the park and use the restroom (it’s fine) and then gather to sample kalamata olives, green olives, olive oil, Greek honey, and Turkish delight. My stomach is a bit upset from last night so I don’t do any sampling. But there’s a fascinating gift shop, and I queue up to buy a €7 T-shirt for a grandson.

By this time there are heaps of people and lots of buses, and some of us lose our guide for a few minutes. When she joins us we walk to the nearby village of Olympia, where there are lots of shops, and we have 30 minutes to browse. JD and I eat an ice cream, and buy presents for our youngest granddaughter- a book and some socks. That should be safe and easy to carry.

We also admire their jewellery, with opals; most of it is quite tasteful but reluctantly we do not buy. The Greek people are lovely, there is no pressure to buy here. I remember to say “efcharisto” which I hope is something like “thank you”.

Then we find our bus and ride back to the ship. There is a delay with boarding, since some passengers are exiting to join a later excursion.  Then we go to have lunch at the Terrace cafe. This time we get our sheltered table outside again. Today’s meat is roast chicken – I get given a wedge with thigh and drumstick

 It not terribly nice, but my filled rolls are pretty tasty. There is a raspberry dessert but it not rice pudding this time. JD finds a yummy chocolate cake. We drink lemonade with fizzy water and ice, a good combination, and finish with coffee.

After lunch I snooze for a bit, and wake up feeling ghastly. Tonight we’re eating at the Polo Grill again. I hope it’s better this time!

Tomorrow, Monemvasia. I had never heard of this place until this cruise, but it turns out to be one of our favourite places. It is in southern Greece, in Laconia.

It is now overcast again, and cooler. We set sail at 5:30 pm, pulling away from the Aida Blu, which apparently is a German cruise ship. They watched intently as we pulled out.

We ate at Polo Grill last night (evening of the day we went to Olympia).  JD was grumpy ! We ordered no appetizers – there were no that we fancied, but the the view was amazing. It was quite chilly there: I was glad of my cream wrap and JD wore the blue Van Gogh scarf we’d bought in Florence. The main courses were good, though: I had lamb (Two double loin chops grilled medium rare) and they brought a very bright green mint jelly (it tasted of mint, although there was no visual evidence of mint, and I suspect that RFK jnr would have been suspicious of the unnatural green dye), and I also ordered French fries and asparagus. JD had a Cobb Salad with grilled tuna, although the tuna was all chopped up.

 He pronounced it very good. And of course he asked for oil and vinegar to go with his bread. The containers came, without tops, and then we’re whisked away again. But our meals tasted good.

I had key lime pie for dessert, and some of those lovely fruit jellies they dish up. But JD was still grumpy; he has annoying hay fever, and I suspect I’d tired of the superficial constant bonhomie, where you’re always “having a great time”. The stories in the news, when we have wi-fi coverage, are alarming, including the growing cases of hantavirus on a cruise ship, and the discovery of a growing ebola outbreak in the DRC in Africa.

Tomorrow we have a shorter excursion to Monemvasia, a last minute inclusion.  We are to meet in the Nautica lounge at 8:30 am.

Nga mihi nui

Cathedral of St Lucia in Syracuse

The walkway to the Island of Ortygia at Syracuse

Mount Etna                                                    

The next day was our tour from Catania, Sketches of Syracuse. The ship docked at Catania, but it was a good hour’s drive to Syracuse or Taormina. We had to meet in the Nautica lounge at 12 noon, much later than our earlier tours.  It was nice to have a relaxing morning, and I spent a lot of time on our veranda, in the sun, viewing Mount Etna, spewing out steam but its upper sloped covered in snow.

We went to the Terrace cafe to get some food to take with us (biscuits and cheese and some fruit, as we’d been advised we could do), but there were no takeaway food containers; JD eventually found some tiny paper napkins that we used. But there were flies buzzing around the uncovered, unwrapped food! That’s disgusting and I certainly wouldn’t expect it on an Oceania cruise. Nevertheless we gathered up some wee sandwiches, crackers and fruit to take with us, and on our way to the lounge we stopped at our stateroom to get a bottle of lemon tea drink out of the fridge.

There were heaps of people in the lounge, I’ve never seen so many, and it seemed we were one of the last groups to leave.  It was a good hour’s drive to Syracuse, and the country looked pretty flat for the most part and fertile. Along the way we passed Pantelica where there were a lot of smokestacks; it was clearly an industrial area.

Eventually we got to Syracuse and stopped at the Archaeological Park. There was a toilet stop – 50 cents, managed by a man eager to collect the money. But the toilets were clean; you couldn’t put toilet paper in the toilet, but there was plenty of it; and you could wash your hands with soap afterwards and dry them on paper towels, which would be given to you.  There was a break of a few minutes here, but I had left my tote bag containing the food on the bus! It was a crowded bus, there were 35 of us! As in the Michael Fowler Centre, you couldn’t cross your legs.

Then we walked down hill to the archaeological area where we saw remains of a large altar, and some amazing caves dug out of a tall cliff face. There was the ear of Dionysus, or Caravaggio’s cave, with amazing acoustics. There were lots of trees, including orange trees. Our guide had spoken of the blood oranges grown in that area.  

She gave us a salad recipe: spring onions, oranges, avocado, and good olive oil. JD won’t eat onions but he wants to try this when we get home.

We climbed up a great many steps to reach some tombs (Byzantine?) in the cliff, and to see the theatre. I was rather disappointed, seeing many modern seats there, and it is still used. It was very hot although there was a breeze sometimes. I think the theatre at Segesta is better preserved; apparently the one at Taormina is very well preserved. Sadly we won’t see that this time – one could choose an excursion to either Syracuse or Taormina, not both, although I really wanted to visit both.

Then we walked back and climbed back on the coach (my tote bag was still there) and drove into the modern town, to visit the island of Ortygia. We walked some way from the bus, then over the bridge, and saw the remains of a temple to Apollo. There was a man in gold representing Apollo with a laurel wreath and a lyre; JD took a photo of me standing beside him.

Then we walked quickly up a narrow street filled with shops and restaurants to get to the town square – the most beautiful town square, according to our guide. There was a cathedral to St Lucia (who had lost her eyes). I would have like to buy a cheeseboard with Sicilian lemons on the ceramic insert, but alas there was no time to stop for shopping; there were so many people there, and our guide moved pretty quickly.

From the square we moved downhill to a different area with a view of the sea, and the fountain of Arethusa.  There was supposed to be a break here for ice cream, coffee, or cannoli, or to go back inside the cathedral, but we were too nervous to go for refreshments; it was quite a long walk back to the bus. I should have gone back to look inside the cathedral (why did we not do so when we were there?)

Instead we were gutless and waited for the group to walk back to the bus. Even using a short cut, it was quite a long walk to the bridge, and then back to our bus. I hoped I would not need the restroom in the meantime; it was a good hour’s drive back to Catania, and we were due to eat at the Polo Grill at 6:30 pm.

Well we got back; somehow this was really tiring, and our guide, who was very excitable, kept changing the plan. There was very little free time, and crowds and crowds of people. It would have been so easy to get lost. I had been really looking forward to this excursion, but I rather wished we had chosen Taormina instead. 

When we got back there was a short break before we were to dine at the Polo Grill. I put on my French linen dress, now beautifully pressed, and some makeup. We were seated at a table at the very back of the ship, overlooking Catania and the smoking Mount Etna as the ship slipped away on the next part of her journey.  I reflected on the fact that we were saying goodbye to beautiful Sicily: who knows if we will come here again? I should certainly like to visit Palermo again, and go to Agrigento, mentioned by several of our guides, and Taormina, to say nothing of Noto, Cefalu and Erice. I think that when doing half-day trips (we did two, Selinunte and Syracuse) you fail to get the sense of the real Sicily we got when we were here in 2010: the intensity of the food and the emotions, the feeling that life is fleeting, and the passion, not quite Spanish but Sicilian.

Dinner was strange . We had shrimp appetizers (3 very large shrimps) with cocktail sauce as advertised but it was really just tomato ketchup, although the menu said it was flavoured with horeseradish. We were given finger bowls with warm water – much appreciated. Then we both ordered their “Surf and Turf” – fillet steak with lobster tail. We asked about mustard, and we’re brought our requests: a jug of Dijon mustard for me, and Colman’s mustard for JD! You really just want a little bit on the side.

 There was commercial bearnaise sauce to go with the lobster, and we’d ordered potato gratin and asparagus sides.  The fillet steak was like a lump!  Not a slice of steak as we would expect. I had committed the cardinal sin of ordering mine medium – well done, since I don’t really like it too pink in the middle. Waiters kept asking if the food was all right, and we assured them it was, although you would expect real, not commercial bearnaise sauce on a cruise like this.

Dessert was better. They brought us apricot and raspberry fruit jellies before dessert – delicious. We each ordered a quartet of the desserts available: key lime pie (actually really yummy), Bailey’s cheesecake, chocolate brownie with ice cream, and Granny Smith apple crumble pie with pouring cream. They were pretty nice.

Today (the next day) we are at sea. Tomorrow, Olympia. Before we retired last night, we were asked to put our watches forward one hour, but although we’d ordered room service breakfast later, it turned up at 6:30 am (7:30 am?)

My phone hasn’t changed the time. Days and hours merge into each other. Internet service was all right in Sicily but is now virtually unobtainable, so I can’t listen to anything. JD has no trouble sleeping, but I miss my podcasts, although I don’t miss being without the news.  It’s cloudy today and not so hot, not warm enough to go on the balcony.  Billy the cruise director made an announcement but it’s gone from being way too loud to being virtually inaudible. So here we are, cocooned, away from reality. It is very strange indeed.

Nga mihi nui

Tunis Cruise Port

Leaving Tunis

Kasbah Square in Tunis

Remains of the Antonine Baths (Roman) in Tunis

This morning we had to meet in the Nautica lounge early at 7:45 am. That meant an extra early start for us, but already the Nautica lounge was full of people. We had ordered breakfast in our stateroom as usual – a Spanish omelette this time (with peppers, not potatoes as I expected) and with 2 small sausages. It was delicious. I had showered already; unusually, they had forgotten JD’s hot water for his tea. I had had very little sleep the night before, so I was pretty tired and anxious.  We had sailed into Tunis that morning, after putting our watches back one hour. It was already quite hot on our balcony, and I was glad I’d brought my muslin top on this trip. It wasn’t a beautiful port as some are, but we are very excited to be in North Africa, at the site of ancient Carthage. As we left the ship our passports were checked, and a New Zealand passport was given the thumbs up.

Our tour guide was very informative. We used no radio transmitters to hear him, which was nice. Although there were other tourist groups, we stayed together, mostly. Tunis seemed quite a prosperous city, and Tunisia (formerly French) quite a modern and free-thinking society, where it was up to an individual to make decisions about keeping one’s head covered, for example, said our retired professor.  Despite that, we saw many women with their heads covered.

There is actually very little left of ancient Carthage. The Romans destroyed most of it, but there are a few Roman remains, including an aqueduct.

The capital city seemed quite modern with a lot of low-rise apartment buildings with very little, if any, landscaping.  There were lots of trees.

Our guide took us first to a children’s cemetery. It was thought that child sacrifice had been carried out, but it seemed that many of the dead infants had been miscarried.

There weren’t many opportunities to take photographs.

Then after looking at a former Punic navy compound  on an island he took us to a Roman baths site. Although this was in ruins it was really interesting, with several columns with Corinthian decorative tops.  It was very dusty and all the buildings had flat rooves, because it never snows here.

We had a toilet stop here – there was a man mopping the wet floor (now why was it wet?); the 4 cubicles had Western style toilets with seats and very good toilet paper, but I don’t think you were meant to put toilet paper in the toilet. It had a modern flush, and you could wash your hands with squeegee soap.

Then the bus took us to the Kasbah Square and we walked to the Medina or souk. He gave us careful warnings about fake goods, and offered to help us negotiate prices.  There were modern government buildings and then we entered the souk, which had very uneven flooring. There were lots of people there. We were in a part that had many jewellery stores, but of course you couldn’t just browse without being hassled. It reminded me of the jewellery for sale in Dubai – very clunky, and not my style at all.

And then came the carpet demonstration. I remembered that JD ‘s sister and her husband had regretted not buying a carpet on one of their trips abroad. We were in some handcraft collective, where we all went upstairs and sat down while they showed us carpets. These were mostly really large, and I doubt that even cruise passengers would buy large carpets (they probably have them already!). We were served some kind of sticky cake in filo pastry with perhaps a honey and date filling, and then wee glasses of sweet black tea. I felt it would have been very impolite to refuse this hospitality.

Well, silly old me, I had my eye on a much smaller carpet, a blue and white one which I admired. The price was not exorbitant, so after haggling a bit, we purchased the carpet and it was wrapped. Two other couples were considering buying large carpets, but did not go ahead. The person wrapping the carpet expected a large tip!

Then we went through more places so we could see intricate Arabic design. The floors were cool marble and it was dark.  I was worried about getting back to our cruise ship in time, for it was to leave for Catania early in the afternoon, but it did not go without us.

When we returned we all wanted lunch, and it was hard to find a free table. But we did, and shared another Steinlager beer and a lovely mixture of lemonade and sparkling water. I had sliced ham, and made filled rolls with ham, cheese and lettuce with dressing .  The best desserts were already gone – it was a bit of a scrum as many people wanted to eat lunch and lunch was finishing.

Then we went to have a rest. Later JD did some washing; our washing from three days ago was returned, washed and ironed! 

The sea was rougher than it had been. We went to the GDR for dinner and had a watermelon starter, “roast” pork with mashed potatoes, apples and sauce: actually it was pork loin steaks but was quite nice; I also ordered ratatouille, but it didn’t taste so good. JD had a glass of Chardonnay too, which we shared.

For dessert we both had raspberry souffle with raspberry sauce, and coffee ice cream. I was surprised to find that the souffle was a hot one, not a cold one. It was very nice!

Then we went to bed, after putting out our breakfast order. Tomorrow we don’t get in to Catania till 11 am, so our tour of Syracuse starts later than usual. We are also booked to eat dinner at the Polo Grill at 6:30 pm, so I hope we get back in time for that.

Nga mihi nui

Ruins at Selinunte Archaeological Park

The remaining temple at Selinunte

On day 2/3 of our cruise we did our second excursion, to the ruins of Selinunte. It was my second choice after Erice – for some reason I’d wanted to go to Selinunte, but it actually wasn’t nearly as good as Paestum. Still as JD said if we hadn’t been to Paestum we would have thought better of this visit. It was quite a long bus trip to get there: we had a woman guide, who was actually very informative. We have radio receivers and earphones. We passed the turnoff to Segesta, where we’ve been before, and although it’s lovely there, we wanted to go somewhere different. But we did not go to the museum, although we went through it; toilet facilities were extremely basic; and there was only one temple standing; the other one, probably unfinished, was just mounds of rubble and what might have been intended to be pillars. We went inside the standing temple, although it’s always a mission to climb the steep and uneven steps to do so. There were no ruins of a city or town as there had been for Paestum. And there were crowds and crowds of people. I think it was a public holiday in Sicily. None of the people we’d been with to Paestum were on this tour – perhaps wisely!

There was a beautiful acropolis that we could see in the distance, too far away to walk to.

Our guide was very informative about the history of Segesta and Selinunte, who although only a few kilometres apart, went to war with each other, and I think Segesta prevailed!

It was a hot and tiring trip, and we went back to the bus early. But it was the wrong set of buses! Ours was some way away. JD thoughtfully waited to show others the way to the right bus, but the guide was upset with us for not keeping with the group!

Here was the full tourist experience, with shops of souvenirs that we were marched through, not that one wanted to buy anything. It’s much more fun to shop when you can browse and choose something at a reasonable price.

Somehow it was very late when we got back to the ship, and we were told that the Terrace cafe was being kept open just for us. So it was a case of going straight there, and grabbing some food. Before eating I went to a public bathroom to wash my hands. Sadly the yummy cold rice pudding with raspberries was not available today. We figured it was rice rather than sago. I had a bread roll with rare roast beef, Dijon mustard and cheese. It was pretty good. Lemonade and coffee completed the meal.

That evening we were to have dinner with our Australian friends, and meet them at 6:30 pm at the GDR. But the food wasn’t great: a very ho-hum crab cake; “roast” beef and a roast potato and vegetable timbale; with a sauce with an unpleasant aftertaste. The best part of the meal was the dessert: baba au rhum! Some tiny baba, beautifully served. Yum!

Then after the guys had a whisky we went to bed – we had an early start the next day. Tunis!

Ngā mihi nui!

Paestum Archaeological Site

Beautiful Salerno

The first day of our cruise, after embarkation day, we docked at Salerno, and we woke up in the morning to this wonderful view. Salerno was a really pretty town and although there was a container ship nearby, the view of Salerno was very attractive. We also saw a highway in the hills above the city with extraordinary bridges.

I also remembered that the previous day, when we embarked, they had just said goodbye to the passengers on the previous cruise, and it must have been a very fast turnaround for the staff.

Our first excursion was to Paestum, the remains of an old Greek city in Italy with an archaeological museum and three wonderfully preserved temples. This is rather an obscure site but it had been on my list for a long time, and the cruise seemed an ideal way to see it. I had investigated getting from Salerno Port to the railway station, then getting the train to Paestum, and then walking to Paestum itself, or using a Get Your Guide trip, but it all seemed too hard and I added this to our subsidised five excursions, figuring out that there would be no trouble getting back to the cruise ship on time. It turned out to be one of our best excursions, and was a great start to the cruise. There were few other people there, unlike many of our excursions, and not many cruise passengers on this particular excursion.

We were due to meet in the Nautica lounge at 8:15 am for an 8:30 departure.  We had breakfast in our room – what a treat! Although the scrambled eggs wasn’t great and the bacon frizzled, American style, the brewed coffee was good. We were coming into beautiful Salerno, and although our view was slightly obscured by a container ship, it was still beautiful with amazing viaduct-like bridges and lots of hills. Apparently Salerno was one of the places where the Allies landed during WW2. It was too breezy to sit on the balcony, but we appreciated the view. One doesn’t always get a great view as the ship comes into port.

Then it was time to shower and dress and get ready for our excursion to Paestum.  There was an envelope of tickets to the shore excursions we’d booked, and they all appeared to be in JD’s name although I had chosen them and negotiated payment.  But for some reason we later found that my tickets were behind his, in the envelope.

By the way, the shower, although tiny, is just great, and it doesn’t leak.  And you can’t fall far once inside it!  The soap and accoutrements are just fine, and there are plenty of towels. It’s very American – the left hand tap controls the temperature, and the right hand one the flow of water.

The cruise ship supplies vacuum flask drinking bottles and fresh water in our room every day, and the fridge in our stateroom is well stocked too. On each excursion we take sunhats we’ve brought with us, and sunscreen and insect repellent, but we do not have to use these. I am very glad of the lightweight jacket I bought in Taipei: it provides a bit of warmth when required, but it protects against sun burn too.

We gather on the Nautica lounge, and although we’re not the first there, we’re certainly not the last. We’re given tickets for our bus, and eventually we leave the ship. This time the gangplank doesn’t have steps. Before leaving the ship, we’re securitized again and our photos are taken – again.

Then we board our bus, and thankfully there are few of us on it, and many of them seem more infirm than us.

The bus drives through Salerno along the seaside part of the way. It’s about an hour’s drive to Paestum.  Salerno seems to have few private houses; there are blocks of apartments about 6-8 stories high, most with verandas; many have washing hanging out to dry, something we hadn’t seen earlier.  

We pass camping grounds along the way, and some new building as the small city expands.  It looks fertile and prosperous here. It’s known for its production of buffalo mozzarella cheese.

Finally we get to the parking area at Paestum: we have 2 hours here. Along the way we’d passed the first temple (to Athena); the other two are further away. We are to go to the mvseo first – it’s a fascist style building, but rather a good one, with rest rooms down a lot of scary marble stairs with no hand rail! Coming up, we use the ascensore (lift)! With relief.

Of course there really isn’t enough time here, but there are amazing tomb paintings, very like the Etruscan art I used to tutor. In fact although this is (or was) a Greek city there is more than a touch of Etruscan art, in the faces and other aspects. Our guide is pretty knowledgeable but wary of going outside his mandated spiel, as they usually are.

After the museum we make our way into the walking area of ancient relics – the amphitheatre, the forum, as well as the three wonderful temples – the two furthest ones thought to be to Hera and Neptune. We can walk inside the temples, although the steps up to them are really uneven. The ruins are quite wonderful, it really is the remains of a town with amphitheatre and forum as well as the 3 temple remains. It reminds me of our visits to Ostia and Pompeii, and again I’m reminded how quite and peaceful remains of towns are.

At the museum’s beautiful gift shop we buy a guide to Paestum and books about Greek myth for our grandson in Taipei.

Eventually we return to the bus for our hour-long drive back to Salerno port. It’s fun and sunny, not too hot but JD and I are rather desperate for coffee and something to eat. The bus seems to take a different route back.

Once back we check in to our stateroom and see about getting lunch. But in the Grand Dining Room lunch is over (it’s now after 1:30 pm), and we’re directed to the buffet in the terrace café.

We choose small bread rolls, cheese and crackers, fruit, and desserts in individual wee glasses of cold creamy rice pudding with a raspberry sauce on top. We find a sheltered table outside, and JD orders a Heineken low-alcohol beer which he shares with me. A kind waiter from Zimbabwe brings us coffee (two double espressos).

Then we go back to our room to organize our first of three lots of complimentery laundry. Unfortunately it’s a maximum of 20 items, which we did not realise, so we take some out. We have to allow three days for it to be returned, but when it comes back, it is beautifully ironed and folded. Actually the laundrette is on our passage way, and JD enjoys doing the laundry, so he chooses to do it after this, and I’m happy to leave him to it, and browse the shop instead! I need some lip balm, that’s my excuse. Actually the shop on board has many reasonably priced items, unlike the jewellery boutiques.

I also get complimentary pressing of one garment, which I use to have my French linen dress pressed, and it’s beautifully done. I bought this dress for the cruise, not realising that French linen crushes badly, but I did wear it several times once pressed. I did change for dinner every night, although I was surprised that people didn’t dress up more on the cruise, especially after Milan, Florence and Rome, where most people were beautifully dressed.

At 6:30 pm (having avoided the Captain’s cocktail party), we go to have dinner in the GDR, and we’re seated by a window.  Again there is delicious bread, this time with butter although JD of course asks for olive oil and vinegar, and they’re brought to him. He orders lobster for his entree (i.e. main course), and I order salmon (with Jasmine rice and beans). Thankfully a delicious sauce is served in a sauce-boat (without a serving spoon). For starters we each had shrimps – three large shrimps on a bed of lettuce with a tomato dipping sauce. They tasted good, although I would have preferred a cocktail sauce to accompany them, as I reflected on the yummy one I used to make from a recipe by Des Britten!  That was so long ago!

Afterwards we had a drink with an Australian couple that we spent some time with. Sadly he did not appreciate archaeological sites (“old rocks”) the way I do! Then we retired to our room and put out our breakfast order. I decide to order a Spanish omelette. Tomorrow Sicily (Marsala) and, Selinunte!

Ngā mihi nui

Civitavecchia, city north-east of Rome and cruise port

The hotel where we stayed in Civitavecchia

When I last wrote we were waiting in the Rooftop Bar of Hotel Diana in Rome to collect our bags and make our way to Rome’s Termini station to catch a booked train to Civitavecchia. We had done a lot of walking that day, and were very tired. We got to the station in good time, but they hadn’t put the platform up, it was very busy, and there was nowhere to sit down. JD tried lounges without success, and then he found a Cafeteria area up an escalator with a free table. I didn’t want anything to eat and there seemed to be no notice board or toilets. But I went exploring, and found both but you needed €1:20 to use the toilet. By the time I’d found the right coins, (someone showed me where to put them), and got out again there was a few minutes to our train on platform 25. Well silly us, the that’s simply miles away: you walk past platform 24 (the Leonardo Express to Rome’s Fiumicino Airport), and much further still to platform 25. I went as fast as I could, dragging my suitcase and overnight bag, but got there just as our train was pulling out.

We walked way back to the main station area and found a Trenitalia office that thankfully was still open (by now it was almost 7 pm).  We queued up and eventually a nice young lady served us. She rebooked us on a 7:12 pm train, and so we dashed through the entry gates again and made our way as fast as we could to Platform 25, validating our tickets as we went.  But this was a slow Regional train, with an upstairs and a downstairs – sit where you like! And no sign boards to indicate the stations coming up.  I did not know what would happen once we got to Civitavecchia – we wanted to go to the town, not the port, and I hoped our hotel wasn’t far away from the railway station. I couldn’t seem to do a printout of the route. In the event, they’d put a hold on my credit card for the one night we’d booked to stay (colazione extra).

JD had the train route on his phone, but I seriously doubted that we were on the right train. Both our phones needed recharging, but you had to use a proper plug: JD ransacked through his baggage to find the converter plug, and eventually his charger with plug. When we were last in Europe, there were USB ports everywhere to charge our phones: not so now. To our relief, he found the charger and correct plug before we got to Civitavecchia!

The route was very strange and quite remote, going through Etruscan-sounding towns like Cerveteri. I seriously wondered if we were on the right train and hoped and prayed that we were.

It was getting dark now but we were nearing our destination. Unfortunately someone had left a bicycle in the stair well, making it very difficult to manoeuvre our luggage out around it. But we did, and the next station, although confusing, was Civitavecchia. After disembarking we had to get a lift down, walk some way, and then go up again to enter the station building. This is a common feature of Italian railway stations in smaller towns.

But thankfully our hotel was nearby. It calls itself a 4* but has a kind of faded elegance. The bedroom is a good size, with a chair and an armchair. The towel rail is not heated, and the towels are few and thin. There is a bidet of course, and a couple of shower caps – giveaways. There are actually scuffs in the bathroom, but no bathrobes.  There are no USB ports for charging phones. The handbasin in the bathroom leaks. This is hardly 4* standard.

We walked along to a nearby restaurant, which was very busy. Sadly this is obviously a tourist area. We order veal scallopine al Marsala, but I think Portofino in New Zealand does it far better! The veal was tough and the sauce not very nice. We also ordered a plate of vegetables – zucchini, eggplant and tomato . That was tiny.  Afterwards we walked back to our hotel and had gelato at a nearby cafe – beautifully served in wee containers with a spoon and wafer on a saucer with a napkin.

Then we retired and tried to sleep. We had agreed to pay for breakfast at the hotel next morning (€14 each!), but it was a pretty good buffet. I even had some scrambled eggs, it looked so good (and tasted good, too). The orange juice was good and the coffee not too bad. Perhaps I’m getting used to Italian coffee!

By the way, there is a well stocked fridge and tea-making facilities in our room, and even a coffee machine!! So we each make coffee after breakfast.

We’re now waiting for our 11 am checkout, and then we head off to board Oceania ‘s Nautica. I have great trepidation about being thrown into the cruising world!

After checking out by 11 am, we leave our bags to be stored while we go for a walk. We are looking for a pharmacy, but cannot find one that is open. Although we can take some alcohol on our cruise, we cannot buy white wine (or any wine, for that matter), in screw top bottles.

 A nice store we go to even has no prosecco in small bottles. We buy a very expensive bottle of limoncello to sip after our meals; on walking around we find a shop that does stock small bottles of prosecco. So JD buys several, and a lemon tea for me. Then we walk back to our hotel to wait for the shuttle to our cruise ship.

We need to use the restroom – it’s down a very beautiful marble staircase with no handrail! So I’m very careful. But there is warm water, liquid soap and paper towels to wash my hands afterwards.

There is another anxious moment when the transport the hotel has booked does not turn up. I can’t remember exactly what time I said we’d board; after missing the train the previous night I’m rather on edge. We could walk to the cruise port, but it’s a bit far, and it’s very hot.

Eventually we arrive at the cruise port. I am surprised that there is nobody to carry our luggage, so we carry it ourselves. After being photographed (again!), we ascend a gangplank with steps to board our ship! We are tired and hot, but we make our way to the seventh deck, where our stateroom is. We’ve been told it’s ready, when we were given our access cards. I have to say the welcome is a bit underwhelming!

The first challenge is to have something to eat. Lunch at the main dining room was over by 1:30 pm. And I don’t want to go to the buffet (although later on it turns out to be very good). Instead, at the entrance to the Grand Dining Room (the GDR, I will call it), there is a bar where they’ll make specialty coffees on request, or drinks, and there are a few comfortable chairs. There is also some food to help yourself to: wee filled rolls, and biscuits and cakes. These are very welcome.

Then after a bit of exploring we go back to our stateroom, inspect it, and unpack. It is very good, with a private balcony, with two comfy outdoor chairs and a table; in addition to the queen-sized bed there is ample wardrobe space with scuffs and robes. There is plenty of shelving and cupboard space. And there’s a sitting room area with a sofa, a desk, a stool, and a low table which is ideal for the breakfast tray.  There is also a small bathroom with toilet, handbasin and shower and a surprising amount of storage space. There are shelves for both our sponge bags, and room for toiletries in the cupboard with a mirrored door, and another cupboard below the handbasin. There are two beautiful cakes of soap, for hand-washing and showering, and, of course, plenty of thick towels. So I unpack and, as directed, store my little suitcase under the bed.  I try not to think about repacking again!

Tonight we are to dine in Toscana, one of the specialty restaurants. We are seated with a lovely view of the sea, and we start to feel that we are finally on our cruise “holiday”. They bring a bread basket and a variety of olive oils and balsamic vinegars, so JD is really cheered by that. The bread basket also includes a whole clove of roasted garlic, which I smear over everything!

Then we retire to our stateroom, and put out our breakfast order. Tomorrow – Paestum! A city founded in Italy by the Greeks, of which only ruins remain, including three temples. we are to meet in the Nautica Lounge at 8:15 am, I think, so it will be nice not to have to get dressed up to go to breakfast. In our envelope we can only find JD’s ticket. It turns out that his are at the front; mine are all at the back, although I have organised and paid for this! I really want to go to Paestum, it’s long been on my list, and I hope it won’t disappoint.

Ends, nga mihi nui.

Bernini’s Statue of St Teresa

David holding the head of Goliath by Caravaggio, in the Borghese Gallery

The Borghese Gallery in Rome

Michelangelo’s Pieta at St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, completed when he was 22 years old

We arrived by train from Florence in late afternoon April 28. The train had come from Venice and was headed for Naples. As usual, the platform wasn’t shown until a few minutes before the train was due. We were in Coach 6, a long way to walk, seats 64 and 65, but it was evident that lots of people were boarding the train.

Again the phone  charging on the train didn’t work, but we were better prepared this time. I’d found the route to our hotel in Rome earlier and shared it with JD. We went through lots of tunnels, but outside of them the countryside looked incredibly clean, green, peaceful and wealthy.

We were nearly there when the train stopped for a few minutes, and I remembered that we had had a really slow arrival from Bologna last time we were here about 18 months ago. Eventually we arrived, and made our way to our hotel.

What luxury! Our room is large with a queen-sized bed and two singles. It’s really like a small apartment with a hallway, bathroom (shower and bidet), wardrobe and a separate luggage area. It has a bathroom with shower with 2 nozzles as in Milan, and two basins! It doesn’t have bathrobes, however! You could really use them seeing there is a bit of distance to get to the bathroom! There are lots of thick, white towels.

We went out to dinner at Trattoria Amadeo further down the same street. I got changed and panicked when I couldn’t find the cream top I was looking for. But it was in my overnight bag. Packing pods are wonderful, but you can’t always find what you’re looking for, especially if you combine skirts and tops!

Anyway, we are very well: beautiful bread, with olive oil and balsamic vinegar; we both had saltimbocca, something I haven’t seen on a menu in years. Veal escalopes came with ham and sage leaves in a beautiful sauce, served with green beans, stewed red peppers and another thinly sliced green vegetable: this tasted good but I couldn’t figure out what it was!  Perhaps another kind of green beans?

For dolci we shared a berry cheesecake. We had drunk a glass of Chardonnay and a glass of champagne with our dinner. The white wines here and prosecco is delicious, as is the sparkling (frizzante) mineral water. Our lovely waitress brings us each a small glass of limoncello on the house.

We walk back to our hotel but don’t sleep terribly well – we’ve drunk too much.

Next morning we go up to breakfast at the top of the hotel soon after 7 am, and already most tables are occupied. The breakfast buffet is very good, although the bacon and scrambled eggs don’t look great.  There is delicious kiwi fruit and pear juice; melon and pineapple cut up; lots of cereals, big prunes (not stewed), and a yoghurt dispenser.

You can make proper toast here (unlike in Florence); I pick a sachet of butter, and you can dispense jam and marmalade into wee dishes – very sanitary. There was coffee too, of course, but to me the Italian coffee doesn’t taste so good.

Afterwards I showered and washed my hair.  We were due to meet for our Skip the Lline entry to St Peter ‘s Basilica by 12:45 pm.

We walked to the Church of Santa Maria delle Vittoria, mainly to see the famous Bernini statue of St Teresa. What a beautiful church it is! So ornate! There were lots of people there, but you didn’t have to pay to get into the church. But as in our 2010 visit, you had to put coins in the slot to get the light to come onto the statue for a few seconds.

On our way there we passed some lovely shops, and I saw a handbag that I rather liked. It cost €79!  I’d seen a similar one when we first arrived in Florence, but sadly did not see one I really liked again. Not that I need another bag, of course; but you can’t go to Florence and not buy a bag, can you? Ah well, there’s always Venezia to come!

After that we visited the baths of Diocletian, but of course that’s all changed now. There was a very nice museum, with some Etruscan exhibits, and I have to say they were much better curated than those in Florence.

Then we went to the part of the baths that’s been turned into a church, but although wonderful, and very ornate, it seemed  different from what we remembered. Someone famous was married here. Who, I wonder?

Then we took a taxi to the Piazza Risorgimento, where our meeting place was for entry to St Peter ‘s Basilica. The place was in the middle of the piazza.

We had about 3/4 hour to have lunch, but most restaurants seemed full, some with queues.  We found a Cafe/bistrot and settled for that; we had panini filled with ham and cheese, but we should have shared. The fruit we shared was good, though, and the bottled water, frizzante, of course.  Then it was time to settle the bill and walk back to join our queue, as requested, but JD had gone to the bathroom, so we had a bit of a rush.

Well I had booked online a “skip the queue” visit, but here you just go in a different queue, several of them.  We stood in a queue for them to email us our entry tickets, tricky because I did not have internet access. Then we walked some way to a white tent to join another queue. People were weeded out here who did not have entry tickets for entry to St Peter’s Basilica, or had tickets to the Vatican Museums. We’ll do that next time.  There seemed to be endless checkpoints; eventually our bags were checked, and then, of course, we were only in the vast St Peter’s Square, we who had bought tickets online separated from the hundreds of people who waited in the Square.

Finally we were in, and we climbed some stairs to the immense basilica.  I kept remembering how well they’d done Pope Francis’ funeral here, and what a long way it was to the Basilica of St Mary Maggiore where he was buried, quite close to our hotel.

We saw the beautiful Pieta that Michelangelo had carved as a young man: it’s very well screened off now since an Australian tourist damaged it not long after we’d first seen it in 1974. I have now seen three Pieta by Michelangelo, but I think the Rondanini one in Milan remains my favourite and the one that moves me the most. It’s strange that that one and the one in Florence we saw almost on our own, but it’s really hard to see this one, and you can’t get very close.

It is a huge, very beautiful church. In one chapel a Mass is being said. We are happy to sit and reflect. Many here are young people, some children even, and many of the young women are beautifully dressed. There is a lot of cream. I feel a bit dowdy although I would not back in New Zealand.

After a time we leave, and go in search of a taxi stand. It has been wearying getting to St Peter’s in the hot sun. We are in the Vatican area, of course, so the taxi costs more, but he agrees to take us back to our hotel for €30 cash.

It’s still quite early in the afternoon; in St Peter’s we had contemplated going to the Pantheon, which now sadly you have to pay for! The earliest time slot was 5 pm, which would have meant a three hour wait. So we rested in our hotel room, feeling slightly guilty, but we had already seen several wonderful things that day.

In the evening we went to Ristorante Amadeo again. Again we had beautiful bead with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. JD ordered a breast of chicken dish while I had a fillet of sea bass with potatoes and julienne of vegetables. As the meal progressed, we spoke with the American couple at the next table.  They were very nice! We did the slightly dangerous dance around establishing that our political views are quite similar, and there are many things that we agree on. He is a Jewish doctor, she was a university teacher of English.  He offered to show us photos of her in protests! And he was pro-Palestinian. He’s in favour of Mamdani and Bernie Sanders!  They apologized for the political situation in the US, and we noted that in New Zealand things are far more nuanced, they’re not back and white as in the US. It was lovely to speak with them. We shared that we were booked to visit the Borghese Museum, which they had visited that day, and she commented how moved she was Caravaggio’s painting of the young David having killed Goliath.

Then it was back to our hotel. That night we both slept much better. In the morning the breakfast was a little different – the toast wasn’t nearly as good but I had two little croissants instead – not overcooked as they so often are here in Italy.

Then we showered and packed up for our 10 am checkout, and paid the city tax – €7.50 per person per night! We stowed our bags at the hotel, and set out to walk to the Borghese Museum.

On the way, we again called at the church with the famous Bernini sculpture of Saint Teresa. There weren’t nearly as many people there today. It was a treat to see it again.

Then we continued our walk. When we got to the Museum we were happy to visit the cafeteria there and have an early lunch. We shared ham and cheese toasted sandwiches (so original!), a beautiful fruit tart and fruit itself I had coffee and JD had tea.

At 11:45 we went to find our guide as requested. She gave us our tickets, and then we could enter the museum . I had downloaded a guide, as requested, but we could just “do our own thing” once in there. JD of course had not downloaded the guide or brought his headphones!

I thought we had bought a guided tour, but no. We had to climb many steps to get to the top floor. It was nice to wander around. There were plenty of others but it wasn’t too crowded there. And what treasures! Sculpture by Bernini and Canova, and six paintings by Caravaggio. Wow!  On leaving through the shop, JD bought books about Bernini and Caravaggio.  

Afterwards we had snacks in the cafeteria again: affogato, a dark chocolate cake with raspberry sauce, and more fruit salad. It was nice to talk about our experience.

We couldn’t go to the Pantheon – it was booked out, but we decided to walk to the Piazza del Populo – another 20 minute walk. Most of the way we could walk through the Borghese gardens, but although they are lovely and serene there are no flowers and there didn’t seem to be any children’s play areas. But we got to the Piazza, and it was just as we remembered it. But how frustrating! We couldn’t go inside the famous churches to see the Caravaggio wall paintings of the calling of St Matthew and Paul’s Damascene moment because they had a concert stating at 6 pm. So although it wasn’t far away, we took a taxi back to our hotel, where we are now, in the rooftop bar, reading our beautiful new art books and spending time on our phones before we catch the train to Civitavecchia at about 6:30 pm. We would love to have stayed three nights in Rome, but we could not. 

Tomorrow: embarkation day for our cruise!