Category: London, France, Italy, Greece & Malta ’22

Today is our last cruise excursion day! I don’t know why I’m excited about that, because I have truly loved every single place I’ve gotten to experience. I guess it’s just the exhaustion speaking.

We woke up sometime around 8:30, got beach ready and went to breakfast. We met at the meeting spot at 9:45, and it was complete chaos. The lady I’ve seen every morning on this cruise wasnt here. Hmmm. Weird. And apparently we were docked outside of Zakynthos, Greece, but not cleared by customs yet-so we were all still waiting to be able to take a tender boat shore.

When the announcement was made that we had cleared customs-there was also an announcement saying that we did have several guests and crew positive for covid and that they were taking strict precautions for our safety. Uh oh, I wondered if the excursion lady was out with covid, then? And then, what does strict precautions mean? Were they going to test everyone today before we got off the ship? Before we get back on?

Around 10:30 we finally got to leave the ship, and even that was a bit chaotic, but no covid testing, so we weren’t complaining. Once we were on our bus with our tour guide, Catherine, it was mostly smooth going. We had an almost hour drive from where we got on our bus to where we got on the boat to take us to the shipwreck beach of Zakynthos.. a famous beach only accessible by boat because of its huge sandstone cliffs surrounding it. Along the way, we saw gorgeous views of the island and Catherine told us information about the shipwreck and her home island.

The shipwreck happened in 1980. The famous story is that some bandits had stolen a bunch of cigarettes, alcohol, and money on this ship and were trying to navigate home with their loot.. but a storm came and they got blown off course, ultimately hitting shallow waters getting their ship stuck. The bandits took what they could carry and abandoned the ship.. which then washed ashore to where it still sits today.

She also told us that the island of Zakynthos is only 26 miles from top to bottom and that it only has 33,000 permanent residents on the island-known mostly for tourism and agriculture. The people more inland farm olives, grape vines for raisins and wine, and have sheep, goats, horses and cows. During the summer, there is an influx of over 100 Thousand tourists at any given time on the island.

In 1953, the island suffered a major earthquake. Every single building on the entire island collapsed-except three-one of which was a church that’s still standing today. Whatever buildings didn’t immediately collapse during the 4 hour continuous earthquake, ended up collapsing within the next 10 days due to either aftershocks or fires that broke out. It was devastating to the population and took years to rebuild, and even now there are very strict building codes to follow, like nothing is allowed to be over 3 stories tall.

Catherine was full of information like this, which kept me entertained the entire hour drive to the bay we were going out from. She told us about their population of sea turtles, the largest in the Mediterranean Sea, and the environmental groups that work to preserve the turtle eggs on certain beaches. When we finally got to the drop off location, it was almost noon already!

We were able to use a restroom and buy a gyro to eat on the boat.. I was pretty excited about the gyro. We all got on a charter boat with good views from every spot. We then had an almost hour boat ride to get to shipwreck beach! It sure was a lot of riding around today. At least on this boat we had the wind in our hair and could be mesmerized by the sandstone jutting up out of the Crystal blue shimmery waters. It truly was gorgeous!

Once we docked at shipwreck beach and got off the boat, we were met with a huge white pebble beach-not sand-pebble.. hahaha, I can still hear mom now as I write this. Those pebbles HURT, and sandals wouldn’t stay on your feet because of the water causing your feet to immediately sink deep into the rocks with every step. We painstakingly eased our way up onto the beach, found a spot for our towels, and went back to get into the water.

I swam, mom stood there in pain because her feet hurt but the water was too cold to get in and relieve her feet. Then, right where she was standing, a boat decided to pull to up dock there.. so she had to move down the beach to get out of their way. This happened several times and before we knew it, we were a long way from our towels. She had left her sandals on our towels, so, I tried letting her wear my flip flops, that didn’t go well and I had to swim after them when a wave snatched them from her feet.

She got frustrated and told me to leave her be, so I walked back to our towels and grabbed her sandals and came back to where she was to help her in them. That wasn’t really very smooth either, since she kept sinking into the beach with every step.. eventually she managed to get onto the more compact pebbles and we got over to our towels. We weren’t laying out for maybe 20 minutes when our boat reappeared and our captain was yelling for us to come get on board.. time to go back! I thought mom was going to pop a blood vessel.

We got back on the boat and started the trek back to the bay. Our captain did stop in some of the blue caves, which was really neat. Overall though, I think mom and I would have enjoyed it more if we could have stayed on the beach for an hour or two at the least, to make up for all the riding and sitting and painful walking. We just wanted a little longer to actually enjoy the beauty of this place without being corralled away again. It was probably one of the prettiest places we’ve seen so far! Now I know what works if and when I ever get to come back.

So, after our boat ride back to the bay, we used the bathrooms again, mom got a pastry and I got another gyro, even though I wasn’t hungry. This is our last hour in Greece! I had to have just one more! As I’m carrying it to the bus, the driver stops me and says I can’t take it onboard, that I have to eat the whole thing now.. “we leave in 2 minutes.” Umm, excuse me? Couldn’t they have mentioned this before just about everyone getting on this bus purchased food? So as I’m making a shocked face, Catherine walks up behind me and whispers, “if you can’t eat it all, just wrap it up and stick it in your bag, he never mentioned this no food before, I’m sorry.” So that’s what I did..

Our hour long bus ride back to the ship was more fun this go around, since Catherine had already told us everything and now we were all awake and more lively. The couple sitting behind us are on their honeymoon and were so funny. We all chatted and laughed the whole way back to the ship. Once we were back, we realized again that the port was really far from the city, so we didn’t venture out to explore, even though we did have 2 hours to do so if we so pleased.

Instead, we went straight to the pool. Mom got us drinks, I ate my old gyro, life was good! We swam in the pool and laid in the sun until close to 6:30, then went to our favorite spot on the back deck. Wine and pasta and sunsets. Seriously, there’s nothing better. Around 10pm, I changed and went for my run on the upper deck. There were way more people out and about tonight, all commenting on how proud they were of me running while on “holiday.” To some I explained my run streak, to others I just said thanks.. either way I got 2.6 miles done before I called it quits and went to the room to shower.

When I got to the room, mom surprised me with room service desserts (and more wine for me)! I showered quickly so I could enjoy the goodies she got us: cheesecake and crème brûlée. So so good. We watched tv and talked until almost 1am. Sure, we could have gotten dressed again and gone to the “party” but from all the things I’ve seen so far, this isn’t really the crowd I want to drink and dance with.. plus-I’m tired! Lol party pooper? Maybe.. but I’m ok with that-as I lay in bed in my robe eating cheesecake.

Tomorrow is just a sea day and our last full day onboard. I think we’ll take it easy, lay at the pool, and get ready for our travel day to Rome! Thanks for following along y’all. Goodnight!

Yay for ending the cruise on an “at sea” day! I slept in until 11 something, and it was every bit of amazing as I needed it to be! We got our bathing suits on and headed to the pool deck to get a burger and fries since we slept in so late. At the counter we were informed that the burger place wasn’t open yet, because the time changed at sea and we went back an hour.. it was only 11:05! Talk about exciting 🙂 sleeping in AND getting an extra hour, too! I accept!

So, we hung around until 11:30 to get our burgers and fries.. ate, and then went to find lounge chairs to claim for the day. Clearly mom and I were late to the game, because all of the spots near the pool were taken. We went up to the upper deck (the one I run around) and got chairs up there. Mom wasn’t a fan, because we had to go up and down the stairs every time we wanted to go to the pool.. but I loved it-direct sun with no shadows, our “own” less crowded bar.. I was more than content.

We laid out, I read.. I had to pause on my “Get out of your head” book.. I feel like I need to pay better attention when reading it, to really get it, and there’s too much distraction on a cruise ship to let my mind wander away from the words I was trying to read.. unintentionally. So, when I started “The Paper Palace” I was sucked in immediately and quickly flew through several chapters. Hmmm, can we say brain self sabotage here? Lolol

We really didn’t do anything but lay, hop in the pool, swim around a bit, get a drink on the way back up to the lounge chairs, read, and repeat until close to 5pm. It was glorious! Nothing required to do, no where to be, no tour guides and small talk. A pretty good example of a perfect day to me!

Sometime after 5, we moseyed back to our sunset deck for a while. The sun wasn’t even close to setting yet, but the breeze was nice and we enjoyed it. At some point it started to rain, so we retreated to our room to shower and get ready for dinner. We knew that if we came to our room any earlier than necessary, we’d nap away this beautiful day.

Once clean and dressed, we went back to our sunset bar to find out that while it wasn’t raining, it was chilly now.. so we ate pasta (it’s like a build your own pasta bar that you pick the noodles, the sauce, the ingredients like mushrooms, chicken, spinach, zucchini, squash, bacon, ham.. and so much more, and they make it to order for you) and I drank wine at the little dinning room inside by the deck bar. We watched the cloudy sunset from there, then decided to go to the formal dining room for dessert.

Our friend sat us at a nice table again, and then seemed mortified that we just wanted dessert. Even when we left the hostess was concerned that we were leaving because we weren’t satisfied. We had to explain we only came for dessert after eating the pasta upstairs at the back deck lol
I will say, the staff and crew of this ship have all been incredible. They are kind and remember faces (or at least are really good at pretending). One of the wine bar guys, Ramesh, would call to me every time I passed him and would chat about the day as he poured my wine and pulled out a water or a Coke Zero for mom without even asking her.. I realize that their job includes making our stay a great one for reviews and whatnot, but they really do go above and beyond.

After dessert we went to the last show of the cruise, the variety show. It had 3 of the previous acts perform a 20 minute “mini show.” Mom lasted through 1 1/2 performances before saying she was going back to the room.. I lasted through the whole thing, and then went back. We had to pack everything and sit it outside of our room to be collected for departure tomorrow. So, once that was done, I made my way to the upper deck to run. I tried to go for 2 miles, but after all the food and wine today, I just couldn’t.. I got to 1.6 and called it quits. I’m also sad to announce this is the only day so far I haven’t gotten 10k steps because I forgot to look at it before I fell asleep. Sad story.

Anyway, my run streak is still solid, so the garmin points will just have to suffer lol. “Tomorrow” we get off the ship, take a shuttle bus to the Ravenna train station, take one train to bologna and then another on to Rome! (I’m writing this from one of those many trains). We’ll have an Airbnb in the heart of Rome, between the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain for 5 whole days! I am sooo ready for that!

We had to get up early today to get breakfast and get off the ship. The regular dining room was closed so we were a little concerned that the upper deck buffet would be closed too. Thankfully, it wasn’t. We ate and waited for our luggage number to be called. I miss breakfasts at home.. even if this is such a wonderful journey, I think it’s ok to miss home a bit too.

At 8:30 almost to the second, they called our number and we made our way down the stairs to get off the ship. We had to pick up our covid testing kits (the ship sold ones that are guaranteed to be accepted by the US on arrival back into the country, so to not have to deal with figuring that out at last second, we bought them to carry with us until the day before we arrive back in the US), grab our luggage, go through customs.. and finally get to the line waiting to board the shuttle bus to the Ravenna train station.

It all went very smoothly. We boarded our first train of the day to Bologna. It was just over an hour and while waiting for it, we met a couple from Nashville and we helped explain how these trains work. They’re going to Rome, too, so they asked if they could just follow us to make sure they don’t miss the next train. They were entertaining to talk to and made the sitting and waiting go much faster. Apparently, they were even on our cruise ship, but we never saw them..They said they found out the night before that the cruise went out of Ravenna and not Venice, and ended up paying close to €400 to get a taxi to the terminal and were some of the very last to get on the cruise ship! I thought we had it bad!

We made the connecting train from Bologna to Rome without difficulty, but the couple said they were so grateful for us because they wouldn’t have known where to go. That made me happy! Lol we arrived in Rome, found the metro subway, went two stops, and walked out into the heart of the city. We had already parted ways with our new friends back at the train station, they were hiring a private transfer to their hotel. Our little metro ride was less than 15 minutes and it spit us out within 400 feet of our Airbnb for the week. I’d call it a win 🙂

We used the passcodes to get in the main door, right out front by a busy restaurant. Then another to get in the gate inside the hallway. We took the elevator to the 4th floor and used yet another code to get into the lockbox with our set of three keys-to both the front door and the gate door, then the apartment door, too. The apartment is a two bedroom/one bath home, with a nice living room open to a tiny kitchen. There’s a long hallway connecting the bedrooms and the bathroom and two big balcony doors that open up to a courtyard. It really is beautiful. It didn’t feel that beautiful though so our first mission was to turn on every air conditioner in the place.

We decided to take our dirty clothes to the laundromat and to grab a late lunch (it was almost 4pm). The man at the mat said he’d do our laundry for us for a fee and to just come back in an hour. Honestly, I was so hot and hungry, I wasn’t going to question him. I just said a quick, “ok! Grazie!” And left. Ha, now if anything fits later, that’ll be a different story. We walked up the road to the pharmacy, grabbed a few necessities, and then found a restaurant.

We opted to eat inside since it felt like it was 8 thousand degrees in the sun. The waiter was so nice and helped us pick things to eat-we shared bruschetta and a small pizza, both of which were delicious, even if they still do this weird thing of putting each ingredient on its own slice of the pizza.. so you never get a single bite with all the things, weird. We stayed long enough to take up the exact amount of time to get our laundry.. and then we waited there a little longer because moms clothes weren’t all the way dry yet.

We took everything back to the room and cooled off in our now cooler apartment. Those little units work great! We rested long enough to start feeling guilty about being in a new city and laying on a couch instead of exploring-and then went for a walk around town. From our apartment, we can see the top of the spear like monument in front of the Spanish steps! So, naturally we ventured to that first. We took it all in, and slowly made our way down the steps, happy we unknowingly came in at the top and not the bottom of them.

We then ventured through the crowds to the Trevi Fountain, stopping to snap pictures of this incredible city every 5-10 seconds. We didn’t care if it took hours to walk a half mile.. we were soaking it all in! It was gorgeous, old, rich with details and character. It seemed like no two buildings were the same. The fountain was stunning too, although at 6pm it was so dang crowded there we vowed to come back at a better time of day to get decent pictures.

We made our way back to the room, red faced and sweaty, and laid on our new couch for the week. The TV has Netflix capabilities, so I turned it on and navigated the profile on the screen, which was Dutch.. so, that was tricky. I literally couldn’t figure out how to log that person out, so we just picked an English movie from their profile.. “Senior Year” with Rebel Wilson, cheesy, but funny.

After the movie, I changed and went for my run. I walked up to an area where my phone said there were gardens, to find out the gardens are on the other side of a huge brick wall that had locked gates.. so, I just did what I could in the park connecting to it, down a ways.. as I was running I made sure to stay near street lights and where I saw couples walking, strolling hand in hand.. but then I got this creepy feeling that I was about to be on an episode of Rome: SVU.. so I ran back towards the apartment and called it quits just under 2 miles.

We watched another movie before I showered and getting ready for bed. I’d say today has been the perfect first day in Rome. I’m excited to see what the rest of this week brings!