MSC Opera

We made our way around the Mediterranean Sea, then into the Aegean and Adriatic Sea, a swing through the sea of Crete and then after Kotor the ship headed back north retracing its southern passage including the Messina Strait the passage between the Italian mainland and Sicily, again past Mount Stromboli probably the coolest name for a volcano ever, and into our last Porto stop Naples

 

 

 

Naples was a full day that started with a bus ride, with Marco at the wheel. First stop was at the obligatory bus company’s patron saints cameo shop. Then it was a narrow switch back road up and down the side of the Vesuvius Volcano, and a hike to the crater to look inside and see rock not unlike the rock at the bottom of the Volcano but much higher in elevation.

Our next stop was at Pompeii to walk where the Romans walked. The city is sophisticated and very much worth the visit and would be a place to return to.

Pompeii Construction

 

The next morning, we docked in Civitavecchia, where we departed our ship the Crown, and unlike other stops where there was much delay moving from the ship the operation went smoothly we even got off early.The bags were staged where they should be. One Italian customs agent stood proudly at the door eyeing everyone but no opportunity gain a passport stamp was offered.

Our hotel the Relais Rione Ponte had made arraignments  for a driver to meet us at the pier. The fellow was right on time and loaded our bags into his late model Mercedes sedan, and we were off on a sometimes-high speed sometimes heavy traffic ride to our hotel. It was no issue to get an early check in and it wasn’t long before we were off roaming in Roma with a map and advice from the exceptional woman at the hotel reception.

We walked almost by accident right to saint peters square and it wasn’t long until we got to observe high level men dressed as medieval oddities strutting out of the Vatican.

Medieval High Fashion

We decided to take a tour of the place and before long we signed up for a minimal line guided tour of the Vatican museum, the Sistine chapel and Saint Peters basilica.

Inside The Vatican

The artwork is stunning. The crowds huge, but our guide did his best to get us through the worst of it. It was worth the visit, but I don’t think I will return as the superstition that the place represents is obnoxious, and the dead popes lying around is high foolishness. At least the current boss has some empathy for ordinary humans.

It was an early night as I was tired, and it was quite a surprise to be awakened around 11:00 by a full-fledged soprano singing on the street below the hotel window, but I guess if you are superstitious seeing the ship the MSC Opera in port the other day should have been taken as an omen of things to come.