We were warned ahead of time, our visit to the Sistine Chapel would be very crowded and very noisy, but I don’t think any of us could wrap our arms around just how crowded and how noisy. We had an excellent tour guide, who loved her opportunity to share her wealth of knowledge about Michaelangelo, one of the world’s greatest, most revered and multi-talented artists. The magnificent ceiling of the Sistine Chapel – which he completed in an unbelievable 4 years without help and while lying on his back - defies all description but our experience was anything but enjoyable. We were pushed and shoved into the hundreds, if not thousands of people ahead of us by the hundreds, if not thousands, of people behind us. The amount of time we spent in the Sistine Chapel amounted to less than 10 minutes! In addition, it was a 90+ degree day with probably 90% humidity making people around us irritable, as well! Still, to be in the same room with one of the world’s most important works of art, was a surreal experience.
Our time in St. Peter’s Basilica was much more pleasant. The crowds had dissipated so the volume of noise had dropped dramatically as everyone around us was taking in the grandeur of this “mother church.” We were absolutely overwhelmed with the magnificence of the building and its incredible art, created hundreds of years ago by some of the world’s most famous artisans. (We saw at least 250 images of the Madonna and Child, and probably 100 images of Christ on the cross, but only a handful of images of the risen Christ).
Savona, Italy was the first stop of our cruise on Costa Cruise Lines, Europe’s largest cruise company about to introduce their 16th– Costa Esmerelda, a monster ship capable of providing amazing vacation experiences for 6000 passengers at a time. Ours – the Costa Diadema - was somewhat smaller with only 4500 passengers. I had pretty much decided I would skip Savona and just hunker down in our cabin, take a nap, work on my blog posts and relax for the day, but at the very last minute I decided to “jump ship” and explore with Ed and some of our new best friends. So glad I did!
The information provided by our cruise line indicated Savona had 5 “must sees” … we saw 4 of them. The first was a stroll through the city centre (wish we had been able to spend more time), a visit to yet another cathedral. This one was obviously being renovated and was not even close to some we have seen, but it had some beautiful religious objects and art work. Next, we walked a block or two to find the Museo della Ceramica. It was wonderful, and filled to overflowing with amazing ceramics – some more than 500 years old, as well as some modern designs. Loved it and definitely worth the 3 euros we paid for admission (plus, the architect did an amazing job on the design work for the museum … not to mention, it had a nice, clean – and FREE – bathroom)!
We finished our Savona adventure with a tour of the 16th century Priamar fortress, with a breathtaking view of the harbor and the city. Without question our time in Savona was one of my favorite days in Italy – and we ended up spending only 14 euros for the whole adventure.
We got short-changed in our time in Marseille, France. We boarded the “hop on, hop off” bus at the invitation of the driver, but then at the next stop we had to get off to buy tickets. The bus left before we finished the transaction. By the time we got our tickets and got back on, we’d missed about an hour of touring time and were expected back at the ship for Sacrament meeting at 3 p.m. Oh, well, we probably only missed another cathedral, historic ruin and the chance to take another 50 pictures.
Barcelona is a clean, beautiful, and bustling city of about 3 million people. In our few hours there, we met up with Rex and Mary Ann Franson who were there for a month. They were so gracious to show us around their adopted city. We met them at the base of the Christopher Columbus monument, then spent an hour or so trying to take in the amazing architecture of the world famous Sangria Familia Cathedral (another Google search), which has been under construction for more than 130 years (and, only recently got their building permit from the City of Barcelona) and is not yet finished. There really is no way to describe it … one must see it to believe it. We only saw the exterior because there were no tickets available the day we were there … but we were told the interior is an architectural – and artistic - marvel!
Palma de Mallorca is a beautiful city with spectacular scenery, including crystal clear water and beaches filled with lots and lots of young and not-so-young vacationers (think Europe’s version of Fort Lauderdale). We also found a delightful taxi driver who took us to the village of Valldemossa where we visited a monastery high above the sea and walked charming village streets … oh, and where we had our daily dose of gelato.
Palma de Mallorca is a beautiful city with spectacular scenery, including crystal clear water and beaches filled with lots and lots of young and not-so-young vacationers (think Europe’s version of Fort Lauderdale). We also found a delightful taxi driver who took us to the village of Valldemossa where we visited a monastery high above the sea and walked charming village streets … oh, and where we had our daily dose of gelato.
Cagliari (the “g” is silent … aka known as Sardinia, off the coast of France) is a lovely destination but it pales as the poor little stepsister to the rest of the ports we visited. Originally established in 200 A. D. to watch for enemy ships making their way into their beautiful bay, it has long since seen its glory days. Still there are some beautiful sites to see, but for the overall impression is that it looks 1800 years old. Of course, we only had a few hours to explore so probably missed some of the amazing wonders we could have visited with more time!
Now back to Rome ... and the best part of our trip!
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