Carnival Pride

We have so much to share! We have finished our first Carnival cruise and are now halfway through our second Carnival cruise. Almost everyday we are visiting new cities so we are very behind on sharing what we’ve been up to. This post may be a little long but will include pictures and information about how we spent our time in Montenegro, Greece, Italy, and France.

Each city and country were unique in their sights, sounds, and tastes, and in the last seven days of the Mediterranean cruise we have explored so many wonderful places.

Kotor, Montenegro

Beautiful medieval city nestled into steep mountains. We previously posted about our hike so just one other highlight to share. Food! Corey picked out this place as they specialize in local meats. It did not disappoint!!

Corfu, Greece

After the amazing time we had in Kotor, Corfu was a little bit of a let down. It’s a large island with a lot to do, but we stayed close to port and visited the old walled city nearby. If we were to go back, I’d like to visit some of the famed beaches. The biggest highlight for me was the food. I love Greek food!

Our first stop was to a local taverna for decent coffee. It was a real treat to sip on Greek coffee.

We then visited a market, had a lunch of local specialties, poked around some shops, meandered through the maze of cobblestones alleys, and ate a late seafood lunch.

We also went grocery shopping to pick up a few items to stock our stateroom pantry.

Strait of Messina

Sailing through this strait was incredible! We slowly sailed past beaches, mountains, dolphins, and fishing boats. I saw the prettiest sunset in my life. It was an amazing day at sea.

Naples, Italy

This port is amazing due to the incredible sights that are accessible. The portion of the city near the port was unimpressive, dingy, and dated. But you can easily access Capri, Sorrento, and the Amalfi Coast. For our one day stop in Naples we decided to visit Pompeii. This has been on my list for awhile and I was almost giddy with excitement to walk around an old city, preserved by the 19 feet of ash and pumice that buried the city in 79 AD with the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. If you do not know about Pompeii, spend some time and read about the city, and how it was rediscovered in modern times. It is an incredible story to go along with the sights. The experience exceeded my expectations and if you’re in the area you should definitely visit.

We took the train to Pompeii and joined a small group with an English speaking guide at the gates, then spent another few hours walking around on our own. If you go, we suggest paying the small fee to join a guided tour. There’s a gauntlet of fake tickets and scammers at the train station. Walk past them all and go right to the actual entrance of Pompeii. It helps to purchase your tickets online in advance. One less line to stand in. There was so much to see! We toured gardens, homes, baths, and saw the plaster casts of the bodies. Here are some photos.

We then returned to Naples and had time for a bite to eat. The famous pizza restaurant Michele had a ridiculous crazy line, so we ate at a friggitoria, an establishment specializing in fried foods. We tried the “other” Napoli pizza: pizza fritta. One was stuffed, the other was topped, but both of them were deep fried! In addition we had fried fish and potato chips. Then we crossed the street for digestifs.

Civitavecchia

Instead of traveling 90 minutes each way to Rome, we decided to stay within the port city. Our hope is that we will later spend several days in Rome sightseeing instead of trying to squeeze in as much transportation as sightseeing. So after so many walking days, we mapped out a “spa day”.

We walked to the train station to find a taxi. Comically, a taxi showed up after a few minutes and the driver rolled his window down and shouted “hey Maaaaaario” in the most authentic Italian accent I’d ever heard. Mario was a portly man who appeared to be the “boss” of the parking lot. Authentically, he tried to rip us off with an over-market taxi rate, so we walked off to the nearby bus stop. While looking at the bus times a random man approached us and asked us if we needed a taxi. He offered his services for 15€ which we agreed to and we were on our way to the countryside.

First, we visited a locals’ hangout up on the hillside: an outdoor establishment with several outdoor natural thermal pools. We figured soaking in the hot water would be good for sore muscles. There were four pools, but it was so hot that we could only sit in the coolest of the four! We drank espresso and mineral water from the vending machines and eavesdropped on the local gossip (except we do not know Italian). This was a place far off the tourist track.

We then walked about two miles through country roads to see ancient Roman baths. There were two structures and we could see some original tile mosaics and some reconstructed edifices.

After that we called for our “taxi” to come back and pick us up so we could get back to the main boardwalk for an overpriced lunch then swimming onboard.

Livorno, Italy

It was here that I fell in love with Pisa and fell in love with Italian food all over again.

We took a train into Pisa. It was quite a simple route with a bus right outside the terminal that took us to the park surrounding the “leaning tower”.

It was such a neat experience!

Recommendations:

• Go in early morning or at sunset.
• The Museo dell’Opera has a terrace with great views and a clean bathroom. We went when the cafe was closed, but you can likely order a drink and sit for a while out of the sun and away from the crowds.
• If you have one or two full days in Pisa, look into the various ticket options to get into multiple attractions, as there is much more than just the Leaning Tower. Since we had a partial day, we opted to buy access to the city walls (Mura di Pisa). The walls are around 30 feet high, and you have great views of the park, the Tower, and the rest of the buildings. Then as you walk, great overheads views of the rest of the city.

We walked the walls in the hot, hot sun for about an hour. There was just about zero shade but we had rooftop views of the city.

I had no idea that it was going to be as hot as it was that day.

We walked for about two miles then meandered down to Ristoro Pisano, a small restaurant with incredible food. I cannot begin to explain to you how delicious the pasta was. The best restaurants are the ones with no English menu.

Pisa is easy to walk around and we spent the rest of the afternoon popping into stores for an AC break as we slowly made our way back to the train station. We had just enough time to grab a sparkling wine, hop on the train and take the 30 minute journey back to the port.

Toulon, France

(More trains!)

The French Riviera views do not disappoint. There are beach towns scattered along the coast that reminded me of Southern California. We hopped on a train to Bandol in the morning. The town felt like San Clemente or Santa Barbara.

We walked around the cute town, relaxed by the beach, went wine tasting, and had a fabulous lunch.

Lunch was the real highlight of the day. Corey selected an upscale establishment one block from the beach with a cute terrace.

Next we sailed back to Spain to start our next cruise: leaving the Mediterranean, circling around Iberia, eventually ending in the United Kingdom, which will be the base for our next set of journeys through mid-Summer. We will post again soon about where Pride has taken us.