Day 23 - At sea

Today is our third day at sea, and Halloween!  I've never been on a cruise ship for Halloween...or spent Halloween floating in the Med or other body of water... 

It's also our last day on the ship, and we'll be spending part of the evening packing our goodies (and hoping the zippers don't burst!).  Tomorrow is going to be an early morning with everyone being booted from their cabins, eating breakfast and eventually getting off the ship.

Day 22 - Valletta, Malta

We were supposed to be in Tunisia today, (which would have been cool to say we've been in Africa!), but due to some port issue, we're in Valletta instead.  To be truthful, I don't know much about Malta (other than Madi DiPassion being from there -- Cynthia will be the only one who understands that comment...LOL, he was a guy in our graphic design program for a year), but we're going to wander out and see what we can find!

Split

Well, we arrived offshore in Split yesterday, but we weren't able to tender to the city due to crappy weather. (It was fine in the morning, but there was a storm coming in for the afternoon, which isn't good for the little tender boats.) So we had a day at sea to relax (and another one today) before we arrive in Malta tomorrow.

Our 4x4 excursion was cancelled in Split, so we've arranged for another one in Malta tomorrow, which should be fun!

Venice

Venice was a great place to visit, namely because we couldn't get run over by any cars! All through the canals, only people can walk, which was really nice. We lucked out early and figured out the public transport system using vaparettos (water buses) which were fairly quick and never had us wait too long for one. We bought a 36-hour pass which gave us unlimited usage for that time.

We saw St. Mark's Square first, and it was full of gothic venetian architecture and pigeons. Everything in the sqaure is really expensive and touristy, but if you go a few streets in, things become less expensive (we compared gelato prices!).

We also went to Murano -- which is known for it's glass production. We saw some glassblowing and walked around some galleries and shops.

Funniest soft drink.  LOL!!

Where people live in Venice (well, one part!).

Skinny alley!  (oh, and Trevor's there too!)

Gothic venetian architecture in St. Mark's Square.  oh la la

The tower in St. Mark's.

Best. Hot. Chocolate. EVER.  (I mean that.  We have had dreams of it...sigh.)

Rush hour in the canal.  5 gondola pile-up...LOL!

Naples, Sorrento and Pompeii

Naples was the city we had to go through to reach Sorrento and we were not impressed by it at all. Very dirty. This is the city that, a year or two ago, had the trash collection problem (it's run by some shady people) and it still looks like most of it hasn't been cleaned up. There are piles of garbage everywhere -- in the streets, in the alleys, tucked into corners -- some people even live in them. It's not pretty at all. Add to that the boxy and tall apartment buildings that have been constructed illegally (the mob does deals with the permit places), and it's a really ugly city. Too bad really, because there's a nice beach and views that could make the city a nice place.

Sorrento was beautiful, and we visited a working farm on a hillside. It was 4 acres and had lemon trees, olive trees, orange trees, grapevines, cows and pigs and rows of veggies planted wherever there was room. It has stone steps and walls to contain certain areas (it's not flat and organized -- everything was haphazard with flowers growing and little buildings tucked into it). The people who ran the farm made their own olive oil, wine, limoncello, mozzarella and bread -- and we got to sample it all!

After that we visited the town centre and had lunch and wandered around until we went to Pompeii in the afternoon. Pompeii was really interesting, and we walked the streets and learned all about the earthquake and volcano eruption that covered the city.

Ohhhhh gelato...you are my favorite...

Lemons growing on the farm in Sorrento.

Making the mozzarella.

The farm dog.  She had someone scratch her belly and she just stayed like that.  lol!

A plaster cast of a young boy who died in Pompeii.

The main square in Pompeii.

More Pompeii.  It was big!

A bar in Pompeii.  Quite cool that they had those in 79 AD!

Day 21 - At sea

A day of semi-rest after yesterday's safari!  There's always so much to do on the ship on at sea days: contests, games, activities...sometimes we just like to lounge in our cabin and watch a movie. :)

Day 20 - Split, Croatia

Today isn't going to be a day filled with culture and educational activities...we're going 4x4-ing!  Our excursion is in a 4-seat Jeep that takes us through the Split countryside, which should be loads of fun!