Port Intensive and Picture Intensive Trip Report for Jewel's E Mediterranean cruise

Wonderful review and pics. Looking forward for more!

Thank you!

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Vatican tour day!! I knew it would be amazing and touching but reality was so much more. I had tears at times during the day. It was an exhausting day but so amazing! The tour for the day with AAI was 370 euros and 140 euros for the guide in the Vatican.

Fz picked us up at 8:30 am. We were a few minutes late as M&F were working out mini bar bills. You get charged just moving things - $28 each!!! LOL, on the way down to the lobby, I leaned on the buttons in the elevator. An alarm went off and what I thought was a recording in Italian was talking to us. All of a sudden I hear “Americanos”…LOL!

Beautiful sunrise from our balcony!

First, we went back to the Coliseum to get some more pictures from outside. We did not go inside and will save that for a return visit.

We got a coffee and pastries at a place, called Burgers + Pizza, across the street. They did not seem to like us. Luckily, Fz was there to order for us and he paid also. Very nice!

Fz warning Frank that Fz would pay and showing him where the bathrooms were... 😊

Phil waiting anxiously for his coffee.

Yay! Thanks for doing this review! I'm planning on doing a 12 night E Mediterranean cruise for my husband's 60th in 3 years. So much planning to do!!

Then, we went to the Vatican Necropolis tour. I had pre-booked online. They only take 12 same language speaking participants at a time and only 175 people total a day. We were very happy that we did this. It was so touching and awe-inspiring. It was also very hot and humid. I thought it would be cooler underground. We met at the ticket office and there were no lines.

Amazing!! The entire Vatican is built around St. Peter’s tomb. You could not take pictures on this tour. Unfortunately, I had brought my bag as we were rushed when Fz dropped us off, and I had to carry it throughout, but I could not use my camera. We were at what is arguably one of the most sacred and solemn places in the Catholic religion – just under St. Peter’s tomb, and you can actually see it. People were visibly touched. I had tears in my eyes. All of a sudden, due to no actions on my part, Siri says from my bag, “I’m sorry, I can’t get a connection.” Everyone laughed. But come on!!!! Americanos in Rome!!!!! So embarrassing. Here are some pics of our way into the Vatican. The rest you must go to see. 😊

We saw another beautiful wedding.

We walked by the Popes’ tombs on the way out. Very striking. We saw a tomb for a woman, called the“Devine One”. We decided that we are now going to call Maria the Devine One instead of the General. The Vatican had gotten very crowded while we were down in the ground!

We went next to the Pantheon. Frank was taking pictures – said he got some good ones – and then he messed up the camera and it was all black. M could not fix it standing in the middle of the crowded Pantheon. She was putting it away and asked F if he had the lens cap because she told him to put it in his pocket when he took it off so they don’t lose it. He was patting his pockets and could not find it. Finally, they realized it was on the camera – he had been taking pictures with the lens cap on. LOL!!

We found an elegant store walking back to the car from the Pantheon. M&I got some beautiful scarves there. Beautiful but pricey! The clerk did give us a discount. I got a silk scarf for my boss to thank her for getting me able to work from home while P was ill. She LOVED it! She said she never had anything so nice and beautiful and she wore it to our company’s weekend holiday event. She looked so elegant in it! Even her husband told me how much she loved it! I should have taken a picture of it…

I didn’t write down where we saw this…

We stopped and got pizza slices for lunch in the market before our “regular” Vatican tour. We were strapped for time. The pizza was delicious, all folded up in itself. Very hot but yummy! We ate standing up by the car.

We had the Vatican tour with Fz’s guide, Barbara. She did a great job. She was so helpful, and I would highly recommend getting a private guide for this because we did not have to wait in a long line and she knew all of the short cuts and easy ways through the building. For example, she took us in elevators that were not in common areas. This place was so crowded!!

Vatican is just gorgeous. There are no words to describe it! I thought that you could not use your camera in here so did not bring in my camera. Very disappointing to not have pictures!! The Sistine Chapel was so beautiful, and I was very awed. However, it was so crowded and people were banging into each other. We were feeling claustrophobic and did not linger too long. However, it was simply gorgeous!

We were exhausted after this and went back to the hotel. We did not even want to stop for gelato!!

M&F were outside in the back of the hotel and saw P on his balcony. They yelled up to see if we wanted to come down for a drink. We did! We got some beautiful sunset pictures and had a drink.

There were 2 men at a table next to us, one had a fixation on shooing away the pigeons. He actually chased them towards us! (If you look closely, you can see the pigeon flying towards Frank's head!) M really despised the pigeons. We were teasing the waitress that we were going to order the pigeon. This area was so nice. They had fire torches throughout. We ended up eating there – yes, a 29 euros burger. We calculated the cost of a taxi and the efforts of getting up, getting ready, and going out and came up with that it was well worth it! I read that 2 of the 10 best view restaurants were here at the hotel – one the 4 star Michelin restaurant and the other the pool side restaurant. We did not go down to the pool but just ate right where we were. They mixed up the burgers so I got the med well, but it was still very good. Fries were great also. Americanos!!!!

I took some pictures of the artwork in the hotel also. As well as the public bathroom – which was nothing like any other bathroom I saw in Italy…