* LIVE from the Rotterdam - 30 day Passage to Spain and Western Europe - Mar. 30th*

[kazu]

Orvieto is very pretty.

 

The typical streets of a medieval town.

 

 

 

 

The bells rang on the hour and 1/2 hour. See the little man at the top? He actually moves and hits the bells. Very cool

 

 

Of course, there are lots of little stores that line the streets.

 

 

 

 

 

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[kazu]

This area of Italy is well known for it's ceramics.

 

They were really beautiful.

 

 

After exploring the church and the town, it was time to eat. We found a little spot with some sun and settled in.

 

 

While the ship had forecast 72 degree weather, it was quite windy and the wind was cold, so we definitely needed the sun.

 

 

 

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[taxmantoo]

This area of Italy is well known for it's ceramics.

 

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And it's wine, don't forget the wine ;) Orvieto Classico is known worldwide.

Nice pics Jacqui. I see you and Jose are truly enjoying every minute of this cruise.

[kazu]

And it's wine, don't forget the wine ;) Orvieto Classico is known worldwide.

 

Nice pics Jacqui. I see you and Jose are truly enjoying every minute of this cruise.

 

 

 

Oh the Orvieto wine was REALLY good Louis. We ordered the superior (5 euros) and the man said "good choice". He was right. It was fabulous. Wish I could have found a bottle of it to bring on board.

 

 

 

And thank you for leading into my next post.

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[kazu]

We ordered the superior glass of wine (5 euros) and the waiter assured us it was an excellent choice.

 

Loved the wine glasses at this restaurant.

 

 

The waiter was right. The wine was excellent. The vote at our table was unanimous.

 

The carbonara was ordered by friends and I ordered the tomato and mozarella sandwich.

 

 

 

The carbonara received thumbs up as did my sandwich.

 

If you are in Orvieto I happily recommend this spot (reason for the previous pic). Lunch was about 15.50 euros including the bread & cover charge of 1.50 euros. We thought it quite reasonable considering the wine and good quality food.

 

Washrooms were good there too! LOL.

 

Soon it was time for a last look at this very pretty place and to move on.

 

 

 

 

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[kazu]

At this stage, after discussing the itinerary with our driver, we have decided to skip Todi and change our itinerary. Todi is another 1 and 1/2 hours away and you need to take a funinculare to get to the town. Lineups can be bad and with 7 of us we might have to wait.

 

We would rather spend our time seeing more things than driving so we agree to go to Tarquinia with our driver promising a special stop on the way.

 

We drive along and see the Lake Bolsena again. We are now on the other side of the lake and come to an Etruscan town. The old fort has actually been made into an Etruscan museum.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What a pretty place. The town is actually Bolsena and that is the town that the Lake has been named after.

 

 

 

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Edited April 18, 2017 by kazu

[kazu]

This place is a gem. So pretty.

 

 

 

 

 

And look at the views.

 

 

 

 

 

And here we all are, soaking in the ambience.

 

I have their permission to post. After all, we "braved the bumps" to get there. LOL.

 

 

Tap a talk is causing grief so I will continue tomorrow. Good night from the lovely Rotterdam

 

 

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[kazu]

Oops. Sorry

[Skipper's Mom]

Loved Orvieto when we were there a few years ago!

 

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[Skipper's Mom]

We visited a winery and a small village where we had lunch. A lovely day!

 

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[kazu]

Etruscan reminders are everywhere. There are even Etruscan sarcophagi outside of the fort.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After enjoying our time here, we headed to Tarquinia.

 

 

 

Our driver took another back road and we bumped along - again!

 

We have started to name this tour "THE BEST OF ALL THE BAD BACK ROADS OF ITALY". LOL. The ride never got smooth until we finally hit the highway on the way back to the ship. That's about 20 minutes worth out of the whole day.

 

It's a good thing the group had a great sense of humour and was able to laugh at it. In fact, the new name for the tour was a group consensus. LOL.

 

 

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[kazu]

Tarquinia is an Etruscan town and, as I am sure you know, the Etruscans were here long before the Romans.

 

 

 

We enjoyed a small visit here and then headed for the Etruscan tombs. They were discovered by accident. We did go down to look at some of them but the pics I got just were no good. My ipad would have done a great job I think, but it's battery had been worn down and I didn't dare try to use it.

 

So, here are a few pics of the tombs themselves. You have to go down a fair number of steps as the Etruscans were buried deep. The mosaics on some are quite amazing.

 

 

 

 

These tombs are 1,000's of years old some dating 5 B.C. And some older. They were discovered by accident. Entrance fee here is 6 euros (or 8 euros if you want to combine with the museum which is also worthwhile but we have been there) and well worth it IMO if you like history.

 

 

 

 

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[kazu]

After Tarquinia, we hit the smooth highway and were back at the ship in no time.

 

 

 

The ship wasn't sailing until 8 pm so the fact that we returned around 6 pm was no worry at all. Love a late sailing where there is "no pressure" when you are in a port which is a fair distance from most anything. A big plus on this itinerary for both Livorno & Civi.

 

 

 

We were having friends over for drinks and munchies so I had to get some munchies ready. We had bought some different kind of Spanish olives previously and got a few nibbles from the Neptune Lounge and were soon ready.

 

We had arranged with our waiter for them to join us for dinner so we had a nice evening together. Here is the menu for the evening.

 

 

 

 

Our friends had the pot roast which they said was very good.

 

I opted for the shrimp and DH the anytime salmon. Everything was good.

 

Ario, our waiter offered to have the four of us anytime. Very kind.

 

The men returned to our cabin to sip some good Malbec and solve the problems of the world which we had bought and the ladies headed to the Casino. I know I am going to get the blame that my friend has started to gamble. LOL. But, since she didn't lose on the first night, I think I am safe.

 

By 11 pm, we all called it a night. I think we were all looking forward to sleeping in the next day.

 

We've had some pretty full days and while we were tired, it was so worth while. A lot seen and experienced. The ship did not offer any tours close to what we did in the last 3 days and we were glad to have the chance to see what we did with the flexibility we had with private tours.

 

 

 

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[kazu]

For all the dog lovers out there:

 

From the Etruscan town:

 

 

 

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[kazu]

Good evening from the lovely Rotterdam. April 18th and we were in Cagliari today.

 

We arrived at noon and the port supplies a shuttle (for free) to take you out of the port area to the town. It's not a long shuttle at all but necessary for safety.

 

The shuttles were very efficient. As soon as one filled another appeared so there was virtually no wait for us.

 

Here is our When and Where for today:

 

 

 

Cagliari is very hilly. And VERY steep. I saw a lot of people returning to the ship early and understood why. On top of that it was very windy.

 

When we stopped for a beverage we had to protect our "goodies" from being blown away.

 

We ordered a glass of wine and this immediately accompanied it. Who needed lunch? LOL

 

 

DH and I tackled the streets to take in some of the ambience and see a few sights.

 

I didn't take a lot of pics as there was graffiti on many of the monuments and buildings which I found a tad distressing and just did not want pics of buildings and monuments that had been vandalized.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[kazu]

Dinner was quite good.

 

Here is our menu for the evening

 

 

 

 

The dessert was to die for. Thank heavens DH and I shared. I would hate to guess the number of calories in this:

 

 

 

 

It is HAL's birthday today. Here is the cake at the entrance of the main dining room.

 

 

 

After dinner I ran into my friend in the casino. We both were up but weren't wise enough to quit while we were ahead and ended up down for the night. Oh well.

 

 

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[Krazy Kruizers]

Your pictures are bringing back many memories of some of the places we visited many years ago via a land tour.

[kazu]

We interrupt this Live thread for two announcements.

 

First in Cagliari, we had just pulled away when the ship turned around and the Captain announced that due to a medical emergency we were docking to allow passengers to disembark. From our verandah, we saw a lady in a wheelchair, 6 pieces of luggage and someone following behind. There were first issue (as my husband calls them) paramedics followed by the 2nd issue as well as an ambulance and police (perhaps security for customs clearance?).

 

Hopefully everything is fine for our passenger that had to leave.

 

And now, sailing to Gibralter, the Captain has come to announce that the winds are too high there. 50 miles an hour and no sign of improving and, so we are not going. The ship cannot safely dock under those conditions. The ship is being diverted to Malaga. For those that got on in Barcelona - a nice treat. For us, it is our second visit, but, we like Malaga. DH didn't like the haircut job he got on the ship so maybe his barber in Malaga can fix it. LOL. If we had only known, he would have foregone the cut here and had his barber he likes do it in Malaga. Oh well.

 

It looks like kazu will never get to Gibralter. This is the second time we have missed it. It is what it is. I'll put my British pounds away and get the euros back out for tomorrow. I can use the British pounds in Portland or save them for next year on the Prinsendam.

 

That makes 2 things in 2 days. I wonder what the 3rd will be? Just let us dock in Huelva and Vigo PLEASE.

 

 

 

 

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[1of4]

So sorry to hear you are missing Gibraltar. I loved it on my first, and only TA, in 1995. I checked WindyTV and there seems to be a system blowing off of Algeria and right out to the Atlantic.

 

But that just meNs you need to try again! Enjoy Malaga the second time around.

[3rdGenCunarder]

Sorry you're missing Gibraltar. You sound like me with Sydney, NS. Took us 3 or 4 tries before we could dock there--but we did manage it eventually. Hope you will, too, on another cruise. And look at it this way, if it's so windy, touring would be unpleasant--you don't want to get blown off The Rock!!!

[rkacruiser]

On the Amsterdam in 2007, we missed Gibraltar as well due to wind issues. The Captain told us that the Port Authorities required us to dock at an outer dock. If we could have docked at an inner dock, we could have made the port. For some time, there were negotiations taking place between the ship, maybe including the Pilots(because they had boarded), and the Port. We could see Terminal personnel waiting for us. Finally, the Pilot Boat returned to the ship, retrieved the Pilots, and off we went into the stormy night.

[ger_77]

A question for you Kazu, were the snacks included in the price of the wine in Cagliari? I know in Europe they often put bread on the table, but it is added to your bill if you decide to partake of it.

 

Smooth Sailing ! :) :) :)

Gerry

[1ANGELCAT]

Jacqui. Sorry you can't get into Gibraltar.

The night we transited the strait on the Westy we had 70 knot winds.

I know you were a day behind us, I hope it was much calmer for you.

 

 

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[NMLady]

I am really enjoying all of your photos. Thank you so much for taking the time -- and internet minutes -- to post them.

 

I am so sorry you are missing Gibraltar. I loved the day hubby and I spent there. Now you have an excuse for another cruise -- with Gibraltar as a port.

Edited April 20, 2017 by NMLady

[kazu]

A question for you Kazu, were the snacks included in the price of the wine in Cagliari? I know in Europe they often put bread on the table, but it is added to your bill if you decide to partake of it.

 

 

 

Smooth Sailing ! :) :) :)

 

Gerry

 

 

 

 

Hi Gerry from Malaga.

 

Wifi - hurrah!

 

Yes, those snacks were included with the price of the wine. No surcharge. Wine was 4 euros per glass so we thought all things taken into account, it was a bargain.

 

 

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