Vista Athens-Barcelona 7/19/16 Review - Pictures Included

[maldenmusic]

Love these pictures. We are regular travelers to Athens but have never cruised out of there.

[TravelE]

Loving your review! The pictures are beautiful.

[lettienets]

Super review and pictures. In the Atrium does that fancy light fixture change colour every night or several times and colour in one night. It looks very attractive.

Was afternoon tea in Horizons on deck 4 aft? I understand they charge now for specialty teas? or you can have regular, decaf or green.

 

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Edited August 25, 2016 by lettienets

[easyboy]

Nice following your review and photos.

Haven't been to Messina and your shots makes me want to visit that port.

Thanks.

[clarkg]

Looks like a great trip.

[littlekid58]

Awesome review. Thanks for Sharing:)

[bluwes]

Loving the review. We have the same itinerary on our 13th September sailing so following with great interest.

[nybumpkin]

Super review and pictures. In the Atrium does that fancy light fixture change colour every night or several times and colour in one night. It looks very attractive.

Was afternoon tea in Horizons on deck 4 aft? I understand they charge now for specialty teas? or you can have regular, decaf or green.

The atriu fixture changes several times. It was a nice feature, and we liked havig drinks at the lobby bar.

 

And yes, afternoon tea was Horizons aft. They do charge for the specialty teas - I tried one and really wasn't impressed. I'm happy with an English Breakfast or Earl Grey. I had tea on the Lido deck most mornings and settled for the Lipton. Next year I might bring my own tea.

[nybumpkin]

Another long port day and another long tour. We booked Carnival’s boat tour to Amalfi followed by Pompeii, and it was a full day. Our bus traveled to Salerno, where we boarded a tour boat to take us along the Amalfi Coast to the town of Amalfi. The Amalfi Coast is amazing to see – towns carved into the sides of the hills. I’m glad we decided to do this by boat.

 

244 Salerno by baxted, on Flickr

Salerno

 

246 Amalfi Coast by baxted, on Flickr

Vietri sul Mare

 

256 Amalfi Coast by baxted, on Flickr

Amalfi Coast. It's amazing how they managed to build these towns into the hillsides.

 

261 Amalfi Coast by baxted, on Flickr

Look for the house, center left. We couldn't figure out how you would get there.

 

269 Amalfi by baxted, on Flickr

I'm glad we did the Amalfi Coast by boat!

 

270 Amalfi by baxted, on Flickr

Arriving at Amalfi

[nybumpkin]

At Amalfi, we had a given amount of time to explore the town and return to the boat. Amalfi is a picturesque town - central piazza in front of the cathedral with narrow, winding streets surrounding it. There was a funeral in the cathedral, and as the casket was carried down the church steps (not an easy feat for the pallbearers) the cathedral bell tolled, the shops in the piazza closed, and people quieted and paid their respects to the deceased. The casket was placed in the hearse and then the funeral party walked behind the hearse along the streets out of the town, led by the priest intoning prayers. Very moving.

 

274 Amalfi by baxted, on Flickr

Amalfi

 

278 Amalfi by baxted, on Flickr

Amalfi, Cathedral of St. Andrew

 

280 Amalfi by baxted, on Flickr

Amalfi Street

 

282 Di Cape di Ciucce, Amalfi by baxted, on Flickr

Di Cape di Ciucce, Amalfi. This fountain dates from the 1700s.

 

281 St. Andrew's Fountai, Amalfi by baxted, on Flickr

St. Andrew's Fountain

 

291 Amalfi by baxted, on Flickr

A last view of Amalfi

 

Our purchases in Amalfi were a hand-painted shot glass, a bottle of Limoncello (the bottle is so pretty I'm going to have a hard time opening it) and a bottle of balsamic vinegar. There are lots of other shopping opportunities.

 

One down side to Carnival excursions – you are at the mercy of the person who doesn’t understand time. We had several different Carnival tours on our boat – not all were continuing to Pompeii – and two people on one of the other tours was a half hour late getting back to the boat. Smaller groups are much more manageable.

[nybumpkin]

After returning to Salerno, we traveled to a hotel close to the entrance to Pompeii where we toured a cameo factory (no pressure to buy and restrooms on site) then had lunch in a catering facility. Lunch was good – cannelloni followed by a chicken course, with bottles of house red and white wine for the table. Gelato for dessert. This was our sons’ first introduction to gelato – wouldn’t be their last.

 

After lunch, we walked to the entrance to Pompeii. Our guide explained that to see everything, we would need to spend three days. Since we had only a few hours, we saw what we could. We did not go to the Antiquarian, the museum where you can see many of the artifacts, but what we saw was amazing.

 

297 Pompeii by baxted, on Flickr

Courtyard. Our guide explained that while the statuary was among the excavations, it does not necessarily appear in the place where it was located in 79 A.D.

 

302 Pompeii by baxted, on Flickr

Courtyard.

 

303 Pompeii by baxted, on Flickr

Amphitheater

 

305 Pompeii by baxted, on Flickr

Stairway in the amphitheater

 

306 Pompeii by baxted, on Flickr

Pompeii Street

 

309 Pompeii by baxted, on Flickr

Pompeii House

[nybumpkin]

314 Pompeii by baxted, on Flickr

Courtyard of a house

 

315 Popeii by baxted, on Flickr

Frescoes

 

317 Pompeii by baxted, on Flickr

Frescoes and ceiling

 

328 Pompeii by baxted, on Flickr

Pompeii Fountain

 

336 Pompeii by baxted, on Flickr

Pompeii square

 

340 Pompeii by baxted, on Flickr

Looking toward Vesuvius

[nybumpkin]

After Pompeii, we headed back to Naples. As you might be able to tell from that last photo, we had a storm come up but it didn't last long.

 

A word of caution for those visiting Naples: security here is different from most ports. Instead of screening bags on the ship, it's done in the port area by port employees, not Carnival security. Since many tours returned at the same time, the lines were very long. I've gone through TSA lines in a shorter time.:eek: It took a good 45 minutes to board the ship.

 

As we sailed away from Naples, we were rewarded with a beautiful view of Mount Vesuvius.

 

343 Mount Vesuvius by baxted, on Flickr

Vesuvius

 

346 Island off Naples by baxted, on Flickr

Island off Naples

[nybumpkin]

Love these pictures. We are regular travelers to Athens but have never cruised out of there.

 

Loving your review! The pictures are beautiful.

Thank you both! I wish we had planned more time in Athens.

[nybumpkin]

Looks like a great trip.

 

Awesome review. Thanks for Sharing:)

Thanks for folllowing!

[nybumpkin]

Loving the review. We have the same itinerary on our 13th September sailing so following with great interest.

You will love this cruise! It's pretty intensive but well worth the exercise. DH actually lost weight.:)

[nybumpkin]

We booked our Rome tour with ItalyTours.eu to do a full-day starting with the Coliseum and ending with the Vatican – and everything else in between. There were a total of six of us – our family and a couple from Ohio. Having a small group was great, and I wish we had done that for Florence. Our driver met us right at the ship in Civitavecchia for our hour drive into Rome. First stop was the Coliseum, where we had advance tickets to enter. That doesn’t mean you don’t stand in line – there are lots of other people with advance tickets, and everyone has to go through security. The lines move, though, and it is well worth the wait. I think our sons could have spent the day here.

 

355 Arc h of Constatine and Coliseu, Rome by baxted, on Flickr

Arch of Constantine and Coliseum

 

360 Via Sacra and arch of Titus by baxted, on Flickr

Via Sacra and Arch of Titus

 

363 Coliseum Rome by baxted, on Flickr

Coliseum interior

 

365 Boys, Coliseum, Rome by baxted, on Flickr

Sons, Coliseum interior

 

370 Coliseum, Rome by baxted, on Flickr

Coliseum interior

 

371 Arch of Constantine and Coliseum, Rome by baxted, on Flickr

Arch of Constantine and Coliseum

[nybumpkin]

After the Coliseum, we visited Palatine Hill and the Circus Maximus.

 

373 Circus Maximus, Rome by baxted, on Flickr

Circus Maximus

 

374 Palatine Hill, Rome by baxted, on Flickr

Palatine Hill

 

375 Palatine Hill, Rome by baxted, on Flickr

Palatine Hill

 

Our guide was a bit coy about our next stop – all he would say is “you will have an amazing view.” We drove through some residential streets to a small church – Santa Maria del Priorato. However, the church was not what we came to see – instead, we were directed to a gate near the parking lot to look through a keyhole. What we saw was a view across a garden to the dome of St. Peter’s, perfectly framed by the keyhole.

 

378 Santa Maria del Priorato, Rome by baxted, on Flickr

Santa Maria del Priorato. I wish I had a picture of the keyhole view.

[nybumpkin]

We were back in the van and off to the Capitoline Hill and the Roman Forum. One thing that struck me is that although it seemed like we had done a lot of driving, the sites we visited were in a fairly compact area.

 

379 Capitoline Hill and Roman Forum by baxted, on Flickr

Roman Forum

 

382 Roman Foru by baxted, on Flickr

Roman Forum

 

After that, the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. We had lunch at a trattoria near the Spanish Steps – Caprese salad and a carafe of the house red wine for DH and me, pizza for the sons.

 

388 Trevi Fountain, Rome by baxted, on Flickr

 

389 Boys Trevi Fountain, Rome by baxted, on Flickr

Sons, Trevi Fountain

 

391 Spanish Steps, Rome by baxted, on Flickr

Spanish Steps

 

392 Piazza di Spagna, Rome by baxted, on Flickr

Piazza di Spagna

[nybumpkin]

After lunch we went to the Pantheon. We had a 1:30 reservation at the Vatican, so our time here was a bit limited - but enough.

 

394 Pantheon, Rome by baxted, on Flickr

Pantheon exterior

 

395 Piazza della Rotunda, Rome by baxted, on Flickr

Piazza della Rotunda

 

398 Pantheon, Rome by baxted, on Flickr

Pantheon portico

 

400 Pantheon, Rome by baxted, on Flickr

Main altar, Pantheon

 

403 Pantheon Rome by baxted, on Flickr

Main entrance, Pantheon

 

399 Pantheon Dome, Rome by baxted, on Flickr

Pantheon dome

[nybumpkin]

Our last stop of the day was the Vatican. Again, we had advance tickets plus a separate guide who is an expert on the Vatican. We were paired with another six-person tour and equipped with audio devices and earbuds to hear our guide. The Vatican Museum is another one of those places where, if you want to see everything, you’d better plan on spending several days. The downside? The heat and the crowds. However the art collection is amazing.

 

406 Vatican Museum Entrance by baxted, on Flickr

Museum Entrance

 

410 Vatican Museum by baxted, on Flickr

Museum Courtyard

 

414 View from Vatican Museum by baxted, on Flickr

View from the museum

 

427 Vatican Museum by baxted, on Flickr

Museum stairway

 

428 Vatican Museum by baxted, on Flickr

Museum hallway

 

429 Vatican Museum by baxted, on Flickr

Museum hallway

 

At the end, you reach the Sistine Chapel – no photography allowed. Signs at the door note that it is a worship site to be respected with silence. Most folks observed this request, but every now and then the noise level would rise above a murmur and a security guard would call out, “SILENCIO!” Well, that helped the atmosphere of respect. However, the chapel is absolutely breathtaking – my recommendation is to stand (or sit – there are some seats) and just take it in.

[nybumpkin]

We then went to St. Peter’s Basilica, the size of which is awe-inspiring. It was still crowded, but it is so large there was plenty of room.

 

436 St Peters Basilica by baxted, on Flickr

Main Altar and Dome

 

432 Michaelangelo Pieta by baxted, on Flickr

Michaelangelo's Pieta

 

 

Outside, we took in St. Peter’s Square and were met by our driver, who took us back to Civitavecchia and the port. I really recommend this tour.

 

439 St Peters Square by baxted, on Flickr

St. Peter's Square

 

444 St Peters Basilica by baxted, on Flickr

Basilica facade

 

441 Swiss Guard, Vatican by baxted, on Flickr

Swiss Guards

 

I think this was the day we were 20 minutes late for dinner. After a long hot day, no one really wanted to go to dinner without taking a shower first – and I don’t think Dragan and his team would have wanted us there! After dinner we just took it easy, listening to music and having some drinks.

 

446 Towel animal, Rome night by baxted, on Flickr

Towel animal, Rome

[sjn911]

Absolutely loving your review. Thank you so much.

[cmcsharon]

I'm really enjoying your wonderful review and beautiful pictures! My kids are similar ages to your boys so it's nice to see that they are enjoying the sites as well. I was really glad to hear that you recommended Italytours.eu! We have them booked for all 3 of our Italy ports!

[nybumpkin]

I'm really enjoying your wonderful review and beautiful pictures! My kids are similar ages to your boys so it's nice to see that they are enjoying the sites as well. I was really glad to hear that you recommended Italytours.eu! We have them booked for all 3 of our Italy ports!

We booked Marseille through them as well (but I'm getting ahead of myself;) ). Both tours were excellent. I should have booked them for Florence as well. Not that I didn't like our day, but it could have been much better with a smaller group. I think if my sons could have picked their favorite places it would have to be Pompeii and the Coliseum.