Silver Wind May 2013 Rome to Barcelona Excursions

Could someone share their knowledge regarding excursions on the Silversea Silver Wind May 14 Rome to Barcelona cruise? Looking for advice on these ports: Florence, Monaco, Calvi, Ibiza, Soller de Majorca, Valencia and Barcelona. Thank you!

Are you specifically asking about advice about organised excursions or views about whether excursions are needed or not?

The Soller stop in Majorca will be Port de Soller. This is a lovely resort town, great for strolling. There are some very good restaurants all along the front. If you have time, Es Faro up at the lighthouse is very good and has tremendous views.

To see more, take the tram that runs from the shore front into Soller, a lovely town. There is a pleasant central square, with a Gaudi-like cathedral. Try the local ice cream and orange juice.

You can also get the old train which runs over the mountains into Palma. The station in Soller is right by the end of the tram line. In Palma you can easily walk from the station to the main areas and on to the cathedral. Again, in Palma on the sea front near the cathedral there are some good restaurants.

In my opinion, this is a place to do it yourself. No need for a ship's tour or any other tour.

A lot depends on whether you've been to any of these ports before. In Calvi, we took the bus tour over to Sant Antoninu and Ile Rousse and loved the scenery. You can easily walk around Calvi on your own in the afternoon. Be sure to visit the deli Annie Traiteur in town.

We took the train to Florence from Livorno on our own and spent the night. I don't know if your cruise gives you that much time there, but we were glad that we didn't try to make it a day trip. If you are only in Livorno for a day, you might opt for the trip to Lucca instead.

If you have never been to the French Riviera, then I suggest a tour that takes you to Eze, La Turbie and Roquebrunne from Monaco. There might also be a helicopter tour which would be fabulous but expensive.

Ibiza is a lovely place just to walk around.

If you like modern architecture, take the tour to the City of Arts and Sciences. The tour we took also went to the old city which gave us a chance to walk up the tower of the Cathedral in the Plaza de la Reina and get a lovely view of the city.

In Barcelona, we took a tour of Gaudi parks and buildings which was most enjoyable. Since we were in Barcelona overnight, we had time to walk around the older parts of the city as well as Las Ramblas.

Hope you have a wonderful cruise. If you want more info, you can contact me at emtbsam at yahoo dot com.

I liked your suggestions .. and would like to add.

100% behind you re Lucca - a lovely place that can be a quiet oasis and antidote to - for example - Pisa. And some lovely food.....

You have suggested the traditional options many take along the Cote d'azur, and they are great suggestions - but if the OP would like a more independent and less touristy and quieter option - and if they'd like to combine one of the loveliest walks in the world - and most of us die for a walk when on a cruise - then I suggest the following.

Take the 100 bus from Monaco to Nice but get off at Beaulieu-sur-mer at La Reserve Hotel. It's a euro fare. Take the really lovely walk along the coast path, past David Niven's old house to St Jean Cap Ferrat for lunch at Le Sloop. It's a lovely restaurant overlooking the water and it's where we always head for now that the Negresco restaurant - Le Chantecler closes for lunch. A bottle of Ott Rose and some lovely Armagnac from the owners extensive collection. Walk back and get the bus back. It will be an ubeatable and really memorable day.

All of these suggestions are googleable.

Second Jeffs suggestion for the walk from Beaulieu-sur-mer to the Sloop at St Jean Cap Ferrat.

The couple that run this restaurant overlooking the yachts in the port do a great job.

We've been going to the Sloop for years and it's only a few years ago I was able to force a smile out of Madam and now we actually receive a smile and warm greeting and welcome! But this is France! Husband as you know is a highly competent chef.

What changed things in part was really funny. She managed to convince herself for some reason that my uncle is Michael Winner who was also an intermittent customer when he stays in Beauleiu and couldn't face the price of the club sandwiches in his hotel (Reserve) ..... I think he once took Lloyd-Webber to the Sloop. I once told him this story and he hooted with laughter and invited me to call him uncle in future.

The walk is perfect followed by some Ott and fish is my idea of a heavenly day.

Hello everyone and thank you for these suggestions!!

Pink Floyd Man

UKJeff - We've done that walk - actually we started in Eze and went round trip! It is a wonderful way to spend a day. Great suggestion for OP.

UKJeff - We've done that walk - actually we started in Eze and went round trip! It is a wonderful way to spend a day. Great suggestion for OP.

Thanks. It is indeed a lovely walk.

Beaulieu is also worth spending an hour or so in. Not widely known but most commercial filming in Monaco is forbidden for privacy reasons, and film makers use Beaulieu to represent Monaco. The Casino is almost identical etc. Many feature films were made in the area including films like "Dirty rotten scoundrels" which was filmed around Beaulieu and Villefranche.

The walk and fresh fish at the Sloop is a great antidote to the ship.

.

Then there's always "To Catch a Thief"! Is my age showing?

A few suggestions:

1) if you're in Rome ahead, check out Dark Rome Tours. They do a private tour of the Vatican Museum, including PRIVATE ENTRANCE TO THE SISTINE CHAPEL!!:D We were in the Sistine Chapel with our group of about 15 people and a guide that could talk/explain things. We were in there for 30 minutes (I think).

2) In Riviera, consider going to http://www.fondation-maeght.com/index.php/en/the-foundation

Very enjoyable.

3) In Barcelona - we did a city tour by motorcycle sidecar. My wife was in the side car, i was behind the driver. Everyone had helmets with earphones and microphones. So much fun and totally safe.

4) In Florence we also went to the Galileo Museum. Educational and enjoyable.

idlestry,

For efficiency's sake, perhaps you might consider starting a thread with your inquiry re: the Wind instead of posting the same questions in every other thread? You will get more focused replies that way.