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Published: April 25th 2012
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Our first port in Italy was Livorno. This is the gateway to Florence, Pisa and Lucca. All of the tours to Florence were of the 8-10 hour variety so we opted for a ride to Lucca instead. This lovely Tuscan town, birthplace of the famous composer Puccini, is just the right size to be able to cover in a day. Lucca is surrounded by a wall which is as wide as a road. Visitors can walk the wall or ride bikes on it. We opted to walk so that we could go up and down into the town. We really lucked out since it was market day in Lucca. The market is set up along the city wall and runs for blocks and blocks. We circled the whole city and then went back to the market to pick up a freshly roasted chicken and potatoes. We found a park bench on top of the wall and had one of the best meals of our trip. In tourist season it might not be quite the same ambiance with hundreds of bicyclists careening around the ancient walls, but for us it was a lovely day for a picnic. I have been reading one
of Frances Mayes’ books on Tuscany. She really puts you in the mood for
la dolce vita.
On our way back to the ship we could see the Leaning Tower and we also passed over the Navacelli Canal that runs from Livorno to Pisa and on to Florence. This 500 year old waterway has fallen into disuse, but it would be great to take a boat up that canal if it ever becomes navigable again.
Civitavecchia is the port city for Rome. This being Holy Week we figured that Rome would be jammed wall to wall with visitors. Some of our friends who went in to Rome confirmed this to be very true. We like Civitavecchia and it has a great deal of history of its own as an ancient Etruscan site and early port city.
There is no place more beautiful on a sunny spring day that an Italian town, especially along the Almalfi coast. We got such a day in Sorrento and were welcomed by crystal clear skies, sparkling water, flowering lemon trees, draping wisteria and friendly shopkeepers. As they say in Italy: “When you get lemons, make limoncello.” We visited the church dedicated to
mariners to pay our respects as we wandered along the cliff-side. We could see Vesuvius off in the distance and the lovely island of Capri. It was time for an Italian pizza and that’s what we did for lunch.
One of the nicest things about cruising on Regent is that they offer free shuttles in almost every port of call. It is a great perk especially if you would prefer to do some exploring on your own rather than taking one of the free organized tours. In Sorrento the shuttle took us from the pier up the cliff to the center of town and dropped us at a central point where there were restroom facilities and a local tourist person to answer any questions. This happens all over the world and it is especially appreciated in ports where taxis are super expensive or very difficult to get. In many ports it would be impossible to get off the pier as often pedestrians are forbidden from walking within the secured port area. So we are always thankful to Regent for providing this valuable service.
We spent our 39th wedding anniversary in one of our very favorite ports. Taormina sits
in the shadow of Mt Etna on the island of Sicily. Mt Etna had a full-fledged eruption earlier in the week and it was still smoking when we arrived. This lovely hillside town is simply intriguing. It was gaily decorated with Easter baskets and other homages to spring. I love the blue and gold colored pottery and tiles and the vibrant textiles which are representative of Sicily. We took a walk up to the Greek Theater and then found a small restaurant overlooking the bay to have a quiet anniversary lunch
Taormina is a tender port. The whole day was picture perfect weather until about 5pm when the last tenders were coming back to the ship. Then all a sudden this ferocious wind whipped up. We watched from our balcony as the crew tried for half an hour to bring the tenders back aboard. When the last tender finally was hoisted up the side of the ship, hundreds of passengers gave the crew a rousing cheer for their expert skill and proficiency at this challenging job.
We had a wonderful anniversary dinner with our good friends Jamie and Dana—the Cruise Director and Assistant Cruise Director. We have taken
11 world cruises with them and thus have spent a total of four years getting to know them and enjoying their company. We have shared so many experiences and known so many of the same people that we could spend hours just reminiscing about all of these past adventures. We had a toast to our favorite friend and role model, Dr. Lloyd Tinkle, who recently passed away at 101 years of age. We called it a “Clink to Tink.”
Our next port of call was to be Santorini but we were thwarted by the same high winds that we encountered in Taormina. The Greek authorities closed the port so we were unable to drop anchor in the beautiful volcanic caldera. Fortunately for us, we will be back here in about two weeks, so we will have another chance to explore this fabled island.
Now we are off to Turkey and will spend almost two weeks exploring this crossroads of the world with our California friends before embarking on the Regent Voyager for a cruise along the Dalmatian Coast to Venice.
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Masa Inoue
non-member comment
Many congratulations for your 39th Wedding Anniversary
Miyoko and I enjoy your blong every time. It was great that you enjoyed your 39th wedding anniversary in Italy. Pisa, Florence,Lucca are so famous places in Italy and we have also visited there twice when we were in Europe. Masa has visited there many times on business. Taormina , Sicily is also nice place. It means , your cruising trip must be so exciting. Turkey, next country should also be exciting places. Please enjoy your cruising trip! Masa and Miyoko