I Am A Celebrity!: November 2023

Sunday, November 26, 2023

Sardinia and Sicily

The Italian Islands of Sardinia and Sicily split the Tyrrhenian Sea (part of the Mediterranean Sea)

LOOKING ON a map, it would be easy to conclude that Sardinia and Sicily were two independent nations. And at one time they most certainly were. But in modern times, they are what are known as "autonomous" regions of Italy. They each have their own history, culture, and even linguistic backgrounds. But their official languages are Italian. They each have representation in the Italian main seat of government. They are essentially part of Italy. These two back-to-back stops were probably the least eventful, and probably shortest of all of our stops. This was such a full agenda, that it actually was nice to have a bit slower time. Because they were less full, I will cover them both in one post.

Sardinia was new for us

SARDINIA WAS new for us (all of us). Four of us opted for a short walking - food tour of the city we were ported in: Cagliari. A reasonably large city of over 150,000, the city center felt small and compact to us. We learned a bit about the history of the city and sampled some of its food and wine.

Our tour and guide in Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy
Copyright Andy Richards 20220- All Rights Reserved

AN IMPORTANT and protected harbor and Sardinia's largest and most important seaport, the time we spent in Cagliari's city center was mainly near the harbor.

Caglieri, Sardinia - Italy (Celebrity Edge docked in the background)
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FOR PART of our tour, we walked into probably the coolest wine, meat and cheese shop I have ever been in. We tasted some of their wine, savory meats, and cheeses. I bought a smoked pecorino cheese that never made it home (I am pretty certain we would not have been allowed to bring it through customs anyway, but we pretty much devoured it during our 3-day stay in Venice, later in the trip). I also have a bottle of their extra-virgin olive oil in the cabinet here at home, just waiting for the right "occasion."

Savory Shop - Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy
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WE SEEM to find quiet spaces in every one of the Mediterranean towns and villages we visit. In addition to the old, classic architecture, it is becoming more and more common to find street art adorning some of the walls.

Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy
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OUR STOP in Messina, Sicily was the second visit for my wife and me. Our first trip there was in 2017, with our friends, Paul and Linda. On that trip, we took an excursion to the interior of Sicily, up to the Mt. Aetna volcano, and to a mountain town of Taormina. The town is noted, cinematographically, for some scenes from the movie The Godfather, and there is a monument to Francis Ford Coppola there. This time, we originally planned a food tour for the 6 of us. But plans changed. My wife and I ended up doing the food tour in Messina, and the others took an excursion up to Taormina. I am glad they got to see it, as it is a magnificent slice of old Sicily.

Messina, Sicily - Italy
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WE ENJOYED the food tour, which was led by our guides, a local couple who were trying to establish themselves as food guides, and with a cooking school in their home for day-tourists. We found them charming hosts and enjoyed seeing a bit of Messina. Unlike many other European cities, Messina has very little classical, old architecture. This is because most of the city was destroyed by an earthquake in 1908. New building codes required buildings to be earthquake resistant and forbade multi-story buildings. Hence most buildings are only 2-story. It makes the city appear quite modern. Indeed, our feel from the city was that it was much like one of our mid-western U.S. cities.

Messina, Sicily - Italy
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BOTH OF these stops were relatively short in-port days. It was relaxing and gave us some time to spend outdoors on the ship enjoying the wonderful Mediterranean sunshine (and in my case, a cocktail and a cigar). We had one more stop on the cruise before disembarking in Civitavecchia. That stop: Naples. And it would prove to be a very full, but very fulfilling day.

Sunset from the aft deck of the Celebrity Edge - Messina, Sicily - Italy
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Sunday, November 19, 2023

A Return to Barcelona

Montserrat - Barcelona, Spain
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BARCELONA WAS our next stop, and it was the third time we had been there. It had been a long stretch of stops without a break, and I think each of the 3 couples traveling together had different thoughts on what they wanted to do in Barcelona. One couple ended up getting off the ship, walking around in the Gothic Quarter of the city for a short time, and finding a nice, beachside restaurant for a bottle of wine and some seafood. The other couple went on a private, day-long tour.

View (monochromatic) From Montserrat - Barcelona, Spain
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MY WIFE and I had had a trip up to the Montserrat Abbey cut short on our last visit (due to some Catalan demonstrations). We wanted to return and complete the things we missed. We went on our own to Montserrat, where we saw the Abbey, the Basilica, and spent some time in the quite impressive art museum. We then went to a Montserrat vineyard, where we had a tour, and a tasting.

Basilica at Montserrat - Barcelona, Spain
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WE FELT like we had completed that circuit. It was very foggy up there when we arrived, and I got some nice photos of the fog, and of the facility as the sun broke through. "Serrated Mountain" is the rough English translation for Montserrat. You get a pretty good idea of why it is so-named as you approach the Abbey. But when we traveled to the other side of the mountain and sat on the patio of the local vineyard sampling some wine - following our "formal" tasting, the backlit shot (even though the range is washed out), gives the best impression of the serrated mountains.

Montserrat, silhouetted by backlighting - Barcelona, Spain
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WE ARRIVED back at the ship after a nice day and made our - now-customary - way back to the Sunset Bar/Deck to a now-familiar view, to watch the sunset and the sail-away, headed next for two islands that are part of Italy.

Port of Barcelona, Spain
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Sunday, November 12, 2023

How about Toulon?

Parc naturel regional de la Sainte-Baume
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THE NEXT stop was Toulon ("for Provence"). Our ship seemed to be docked in a pretty out-of-the-way location. According to our guide for the day (Franck), it was. I am sure there were bus-tours sponsored by the ship, but we didn't see them that day. There was a gated entrance that seemed to be on the back side of the port. We met Franck outside that gate. His comment was that we were fortunate to find him, because most of the tour guides would not come out to this port. Marseille, about 35 miles away, is a much larger cruise port, and presumably, a better spot for business. But find him, we did (my sister-in-law found him well prior to the cruise - and she made a great choice). Franck was a good guide.

Climbers - Parc naturel regional de la Sainte-Baume - Provence, France
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IN FAIRNESS to the Toulon port, much of what we would see for the day was right there. We would have had to drive there and back from Marseilles. Though we actually would likely have done so either way, as a highlight of the excursion was a visit to Aix-en-Provence, a really nice city and popular tourist destination in the Provence region. But we began our day high up in the adjacent national park: Parc regional naturel de la Sainte-Baume. There were some spectacular views of the valley and the sea below from up there.

Fontaine de la Rotonde - Aix-en-Provence, France
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PHOTOGRAPHERS HAVE a saying: "f8 and be there." F8 is a measure of the lens opening (aperture), that is pretty much in the middle of things and more often than not, the technically correct aperture. "Be there," means you have to be there to make the image. And sometimes, that is just a matter of serendipity. The rock climbers' photo was totally unplanned - either by Franck, or by me. I didn't know, until we got up there, that this area was a popular climbing spot. Franck did know that. But he didn't know there would be anyone doing it where we stopped.

Cours Mirabeau - Aix-en-Provence, France
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AFTER SPENDING some time in the park, Franck took us to Aix-en-Provence, where he gave us a short tour and then free time on our own. He had made reservations for lunch. We had been to Aix in 2015 but had been on our own (our excursion was a couple vineyards, and then free time for lunch in Aix). We found our way back into a very cool little courtyard and had a really nice lunch. I made the mistake, however, of drinking the local tap water (instead of bottled) and while I cannot guarantee it, I strongly believe it was responsible for some significant intestinal issues a couple days later. For the most part, my advice since then has been only drink bottled water!

Aix-en-Provence, France
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FOR THIS trip, Franck took us back into the city again, with a short, guided tour. He then left us to be on our own and wander the area for a while. He had an issue with his vehicle, so he went to attend to that. We were to be at our restaurant, which was just next to the Cours Mirabeau on the Rotonde, with its iconic, large, 1860 fountain in the middle. Cours Mirabeau is a wide, very popular street in the city with many restaurants, shops, and street vendors. I had photographed the fountain some years back, with a view of a couple, arm-in-arm, sitting on a bench viewing the fountain. I have it in my Stock Photo area on my LightCentricPhotography website. There are some quiet, beautiful spots on the back streets, with fountains, piazzas, and some impressively majestic architecture. We also found the Roman Catholic, Aix Cathedral, originally built in the 12th Century and reworked a few times over the next couple hundred years. The exterior is impressive, with a mix of Gothic, Romanesque and neo-Gothic elements. But my favorite memory and takeaway from this church was inside, in a little baptistery off to the side right after entering.

Aix Cathedral - Aix-en-Provence, France
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OUR LUNCH was nice enough, but just average in terms of memorable dining experiences; particularly compared to the place we had lunch in Monaco the day before.

Le Castellet - Provence, France
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OUR FINAL stop for the day was back toward our cruise port, in the very quaint little village of Le Castellet.

Le Castellet - Provence, France
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THE VILLAGE is a quaint, pretty little spot high up in the mountains above the Cote' Azur. It has medieval origins but is today a favorite spot of vacationers hoping to spend a day or a few in such a quaint environment.

Sunday, November 5, 2023

Cannes; Why in the world would you?

WHEN I hear Cannes, the only thought I have is that there is a somewhat famous film festival held there, annually. I cannot really think of anything else the place is notable for. So, I had myself asking, why in the world would a cruise ship stop there? The only thing I could see to do in Cannes would be to stroll along the ritzy Boulevard de la Croisette, and "ooh and ahh" at the mansions and the fancy shops, and/or maybe visit the Convention Center ("The Palace of Festivals and Congresses of Cannes"), where the famed Cannes Film Festival is held. We didn't do any of that and I didn't take even a single picture of Cannes.

The true destination on this part of the Riviera? We all know its Monaco

IN MY opinion, Nice is a much more desirable location for a cruise ship to stop. The "Old City" of Nice (Vieille Ville) is a really nice destination, with its 4-block Zone Pietonne (pedestrian zone), lined with small shops and restaurants on both sides and a wonderful open market down the middle of the street, and the incredible beach, with its La Promenade des Anglais (English Walk). Nice has a much more desirable cruise port: Villefranche-sur-mer, with a deepwater terminal. We docked in Villefranche on the Emerald Princess in 2015.

We never had any plan other than to go to Monaco

THE REAL reason we stopped at Cannes? I personally think the answer is obvious. It is about "port logistics" (fees, availability, and timing). The true destination on this part of the Riviera is Monaco. If you look on Viator, TripAdvisor, or any of the cruise lines' excursion offerings, you see that the vast majority of them include excursions that, while they may stop in the Old City of Nice, or in the Medieval town of Eze along the way, have Monaco as their primary destination. On our "Italian Riviera" Cruise in 2019, we actually stopped in Monaco. Of course, the tiny port cannot accommodate most of the large cruise ships, and we had to anchor out and tender in. Generally, no big deal. We also had to do that in Cannes. 😏 The only real negative (to passengers) in tendering is that if the sea is rough, it may be necessary to skip a cruise stop (we had that experience on the 2019 cruise). For the cruise line, it also may include the added expense of operating (or contracting) the tender boats, and the logistics of getting everyone safely to shore and back on board. What I call "first world" problems.

WE KNEW these things when we booked the cruise. We never had any plan other than to go to Monaco. It was a pretty easy thing to take a cab or Uber to the train station about 5 minutes from the cruise dock. A train round-trip ticket was right around $20 (American). Our only regret was that on the ride back to Cannes, the train was overfull, and after a long day on our feet, we had to ride the 30-45 minutes mainly standing. My wife and I had done an excursion on our Monaco stop in 2019, and had seen Eze, and the Old City of Nice. For this day and our group of 4, it seemed like more that anyone wanted to do. We actually had a nice, relaxing day in Monaco.

IF ANYWHERE in the world "speaks" wealth, it is Monaco. We have seen a lot of evidence of wealth over the years, both in the Mediterranean and in the Caribbean. But nowhere does it seem to ooze from every direction like it does in Monaco. From the Prince's Palace, all the way down to the harbor, there are gorgeous buildings and boats. And there are expensive and exotic automobiles everywhere to be seen.

Monaco Marina
Shortly after we visited Monaco, I posted this photo on Facebook and remarked that my "next" boat would also have a hot tub in the back deck. 😀
Copyright Andy Richards 2022 - All Rights Reserved

THERE IS, of course, another thing Monaco is famous for. It is the home of the world's most famous casino: Monte Carlo. We have been inside the casino a couple of times. It seems surprisingly small compared to some of the mega-casinos we have seen in places like Las Vegas. But it is opulent. And there are rules and a dress code. Not being a gambler, I have been contented to simply walk in and look around. I personally am more impressed by the exterior of the building than the interior.

THE MONACO train station is up a hill behind and to the west of the casino, so as you exit, you walk down to it. That walk is pretty spectacular, as there is a kind of a park, with terraced levels and multiple fountains, from the top of the hill, all the way down to the large plaza in front of the casino entrance. I made a few photographs.

AT THE casino, the plaza is flanked on both sides by very ritzy restaurants. We walked into one of them and had a drink, before heading further down the hill toward the marina. But before doing that, I made some more pictures of the iconic mirror right in front of the casino entrance. It is pretty cool.

AFTER WALKING around a bit and taking in the sights, we went on a mission: find a nice spot for a nice lunch. As we walked down the hill toward the marina, we found a restaurant that overlooked the water and, with its white linen tablecloths, we had a pretty good idea that this one was fancy. Fortunately for us, the food was also excellent. We had a very nice lunch of soup and seafood and bread, and a couple glasses of nice wine. It's kind of funny, because I doubt that any of the 4 of us "normally" dine this way - especially for lunch. But we were in Monaco. It was fun and relaxing. Good food, good atmosphere, and good company.