Amsterdam

Waiting for our bags at the airport.

Ibiza: Our Last Port of Call

Sunday night the ship docked in Ibiza. Monday morning Jim went on a dive, while Dan and our shipboard new friend Ed (see pic) took a boat into the town to see ‘Alt Villa’ or the high town. The walk up to the top was very steep, and Ibiza was the hottest port we’ve visited. But the views were great, and after, back in the old town Andrew M (from Washington) joined us for a relaxing lunch at the restaurant La Formentera. We ordered a bottle of Rioja wine, and I had an avocado salad and the parpardelle with lobster. Then Ed and I took the boat back to the marina and walked the five minutes to the ship. It was a fun ending to the cruise, and Tuesday we fly on to Amsterdam for a few days.-Dan (Photos by Dan)

Atlantis Fun On Board the Celebrity Equinox

Sunday was a day at sea as we sailed from Monaco to Ibiza. In the afternoon there was the "Soaked" tea dance at the pool. By this time in the cruise everyone is in a pretty good mood and high spirits prevailed at the party!

Our Celebrity Equinox Cabin

We have a balcony cabin on deck 8 for this cruise. The photos were taken when the ship was anchored in Monaco.

Monaco and Southern France

Saturday the ship arrived at Monaco. We took an extensive tour, first to Nice. There we decided to visit the Museum of Contemporary Art, which had exceptional exhibits of Calder and the French sculptor Niki de Sainte Phalle. Then we rejoined our group on the bus which drove to Eze village, high up in the mountains. We had a wonderful lunch at a restaurant, Le Pinocchio. They first served a true salade Nicoise, followed by a fricassee chicken in a white cream sauce with roasted potatoes and veggies. Jim had a pasta dish, since as a Vegetarian he did not want to eat chicken. All of this was washed down with a bottle of rose and a bottle of red wine, both from Provence. We chatted at lunch with a therapist from Fort Lauderdale. Best of all at lunch was the dessert, our favorite: the chocolat au fondant, a small chocolate cake with a molten, warm chocolate interior. Then the bus drove back to Monte Carlo, again in Monaco. We saw the church where Princess Grace was married and is now buried. We also visited the Royal Palace where she lived with Prince Ranier. Then we took a tender back to the ship for some relaxation in the afternoon, before dinner. Tonight we are looking forward to a fireworks competition the harbor.-Dan

Tuscany!

In Voltera and San Gimignano today!

Travels in Tuscany

We took a full day’s excursion into the Tuscan countryside, after the ship docked in Livorno. Our tour bus drove through wheat fields, now brown and sere, but still beautiful and decorated with umbrella pines, cypresses, olive trees and bright golden sunflowers. Mountains rose up around us, the lower portions covered with Chianti vineyards. Our first stop was Volterra, a wonderful old Medieval town full of fortress-like buildings, chapels and churches in the Romanesque style, and slanting, hilly streets. At one site, outside the Medieval walls, one could see the remains of an ancient Roman theater, designed according to the principals of Vitruvius. But the town is even more ancient, and was first settled even before the Etruscans took over. There are also legends of witches and our handsome young, openly proud gay guide Nicolo told us that a movie about vampires was recently filmed in Volterra! I was also delighted to see an exhibit at the art gallery about the great Florentine Mannerist artist Rosso Fiorentino. With his neon-like colors and distorted anatomical proportions, he looks very modern, and his style was eccentric from the start. After our guided tour of Volterra, the bus took us up more basic, unpaved roads to a farmhouse for lunch. The farm made sheep’s cheese which is sold in Whole Foods in the US, but also offers tourists lodging and food. The authentic lunch started with platters of different types of cheese, fresh tomatoes and basil leaves. Then there was a homemade lasagna (the best I’ve ever had) or for vegetarians like Jim, a flavorful plate of fresh spaghetti. The side-dishes (contorni) included slivers of eggplant and zucchini, or a plate of barley in the fragrant olive oil, pure Italian and delicious. Everything served was organic, and accompanied by bottle of the best Chianti we ever drank. The views from the farm were magnificent, but eventually we headed to the town of San Gimignano, with its famed tall, Medieval towers. There the cathedral (not very large) is covered with frescoes from the 14th century, but also a chapel painted by the Florentine master, Ghirlandaio. After free time in San Gimignano we drove back to the ship. The entertainer for the evening’s show was Cheyenne Jackson, who has appeared on Broadway and was very confessional for a celebrity, telling the audience all about his divorce from his last husband, and his struggle with alcohol. But of course one supposes that you could read the same stuff online, supplied by the news media.—Dan

Adventures in Rome

Thursday we took a “see Rome on your own” bus into the capital city of Italy. From the Vatican we took a taxi to the Palazzo Venezia, which was once the embassy of the Venetian Republic, and later, in the 1930s the place where Mussolini made his most famed speeches from the central balcony. Today part of the huge Renaissance palace partly contains government offices, but there’s also an art and history museum. We saw examples of decorative art, a fine painting by Giorgione, and many other art works, all in the immense rooms of this old palace. There was also a historical exhibit about the liberation of Rome at the end of World War II, which even included reproductions of front pages from the Philadelphia Bulletin, the NY Times, Daily News, etc and incredible photos and memorabilia from the late 1940s. From the Palace we walked to the Piazza Navona, and our nearby favorite Roman restaurant, La Scaletta degli Artisti. It was packed, and we had a delicious lunch. Jim ordered an arugula salad and a plate of large pasta in a homemade cream sauce with ‘frutti di mare’ such as mussels and small clams. Dan had a salad with fennel, greens, olives, tomatoes and more, and then a ricotta and spinach stuffed ravioli in a light tomato sauce. We bought delicious Roman gellato at a shop nearby, after lunch and then walked to the Palazzo Spada. It has a small art gallery with Baroque paintings and ancient sculpture. But more unusual was its ‘perspective’ by the great 17th century architect Borromini; this a garden arcade with a column-decorated tunnel and a statue at the end which appeared to be quite long but was only 8 meters in length. Later we took the bus back to the ship and enjoyed dinner on board.—Dan

Triple Threat Day

On Wednesday our exhausting but totally rewarding tour took us to three major sites near Naples, the port the ship Equinox docked at in the early morning. Our tour lasted 10 hours and 45 minutes (!) and first we went by hydrofoil boat from Naples to Capri, the famed island beloved by such ancient Roman Emperors as Tiberius. Today it’s still a jet set spot, but its natural beauties and lush vegetation make it a popular tourist attraction. We saw the Giardini Augusto, a garden with wonderful views of the rocky island and spectacular flowers. Jim bought a new shirt there and then we took another boat to Sorrento. There we had a pleasant lunch with several of our fellow Atlantis cruise passengers, before heading off to Pompeii. In that ancient Roman city, we broke away from the tour group to re-visit the fabled Villa of the Mysteries, which has the finest of all ancient Roman frescoes. We had last seen them 30 years ago. The hike to that villa, which lies outside the city’s walls, is long and arduous, over cobblestone streets and twisting stairs. But Jim is an excellent map reader, who navigated us to the villa in the light summer rain. The expressions on the faces in the villa, of people assembled for ancient rituals, still un-deciphered by modern archaeologists, are remarkable. They are the most realistic depictions of human emotions until the Italian Renaissance. The backgrounds behind the figures is a startling vermilion. One time many years ago I painted a portrait with a figure from the villa, as a background. So it was delightful to see these great masterpieces again, probably the highlight of the day. After we returned to Naples and the ship, we had a fun dinner with fellow passengers who hailed from Florida, Seattle, and Manchester England; they were delightful company. There’s a great sense of camaraderie aboard our cruise. -Dan

Adventures in Catania

Catania is one city we’d never been to before in Sicily. It’s the largest city on the island with half a million people in population. Our tour bus visited the nearby town of Acireale, where there’s a Norman castle and the rocks where Polyphemus the Cyclops threw stones at a departing Ulysees, according to Homer. Back in Catania itself we visited the Duomo, or Cathedral, an 18th century structure where the most famous native son, the great composer Vincenzo Bellini, is buried. We also walked to the nearby church of Sant’Agata, a Baroque gem, and the Teatro Bellini, an ornate opera house that was built in 1890. Catania is mostly an 18th century (and later) city since the nearby volcano Mt.Etna destroyed the city so many times.-Dan