Worldwide Wanderers

A walk around and bell tower performance - November 8, 2024 We stayed in Messina, walking around, and then watched the noon moving clock tower show at the Messina Cathedral in the Piazza Duomo. I was not too impressed with Messina, but really did want to come to see Sicily. It was very littered. We did not go to Taormina since we do not watch The White Lotus show. We talked to some people that went to Mt. Etna, which sounded cool, though they said that they found a lot of rain on the other side of the mountain. If you have wanted to see Sicily, be sure to well research what city you want to go to and if there is time to go on a cruise stop.   The town hall, churches, and city pictures from the ship.     There was a U.S. Navy ship in port docked right in front of us, which was interesting.  Walking, we found these cool bird art painted in different colors.  View from the church grounds. I liked these umbrella trees, as someone called them.   I...

NCL Pearl - November 1-11, 2024 We booked this 10-night cruise a year before with our 20% off future cruise credit from missed ports in Iceland/Greenland for its awesome itinerary. All the ports were new to both of us, and we had two nights before and after the cruise planned to see Florence and Rome. I had been to Florence and Rome 25 years ago, and they were new to Travis. We had a port everyday, which we worried about being tiring, but we could always stay onboard or not stay on shore long.    Embarkation We boarded in Trieste, Italy and disembarked in Civitavecchia, Italy. Our embarkation was quick and easy since we had a late boarding time -- 3pm, after the rush. The Italian police were at the entrance to the terminal. We do not normally see that. They very carefully (aka slowly and suspiciously) inspected our passports and pre-check-in cruise line boarding passes and then let us continue. Next, a NCL rep confirmed our boarding passes and let us to go followed by ano...

Katakolo (Olympia), Greece - November 7, 2024 Our original plan was to go to Olympia to see Ancient Olympia; however, since Travis was still recovering, we stayed in Katakolo, also spelled Katakolon in some documentation. The options looked like a tour coach purchase at the port, public bus, or public train.  We had found an Ancient Greek Technology Museum that we planned if we got back in time, so we did this as the main stop. We also stopped at the ATM in this port to get Euros for our tour in Naples.  Arriving in port.  The museum was a short walk from the port. It was a 5 EUR cash donation each (why not just a 5 EUR entrance cost, I don't know because the lady working there said to do it/required). She was able to make change for us, which was helpful. Another lady did a tour and demonstration of some exhibits after several visitor groups arrived; this was good. The technology was from 1st-5th BC, very impressive. The main technology to me seemed to be siphons; howeve...