SEABOURN LEGEND Mediterranean Cruise MAY 2011 continued |
May 2nd Our third week started with a day in the wonderful village of Portifino. It seems that for
most of our married life we have lived near a restaurant named Portifino, so we were looking forward to
visiting the real McCoy and we were not disappointed. It is a beautiful and very exclusive port. There are
not many hotels or rooms to rent, so most of the visitors are from ships or yachts Photos
May 3rd The planned activity for Tuesday was a day at anchor off the coast of Elbe for water
sports off the stern of the ship. The sea was a bit too rough and cool for the planned activity so instead
we docked in Portoferraio. We enjoyed exploring the city and climbed up to Fort Stella which overlooked
the villa that Napoleon lived in during his exile. Photos
May 4th Once again we visited the island of Corsica. This time we docked on the opposite end of
the island in Calvi and enjoyed a tour of several villages. Photos (last 10 photos are from this second visit)
May 5th This was our first visit to the island of Sardinia. We anchored in Porto Rotondo and were
shuttled to the dock on the Legend's tenders where we met our guide for a tour of the island. Sardinia is
several times larger than Corsica and is located just to the south of Corsica. While Corsica is French,
Sardinia is Italian. This island was green, but apparently gets very dry in the summer and becomes brown
and dusty. Corsica is very mountainous and has snow at the higher elevations into the summer months,
and thus stays much greener from the rain and run-off. Sardinia is famous for its upscale resorts the most
famous of which is Porto Cervo. Our guide pointed out a home owned by Vladimir Putin, as well as the
place that Princess Diana and her boy friend had stayed in his yacht the evening before the died in Paris.
Photos
May 6th During our previous visits to Italy we toured portions of Tuscany, but never made it to
Florence, so we signed up for an all day tour to the city from the port city of Livorno. Florence is about a
90 minute bus ride from Livorno. Livorno is a busy port, the second largest in Italy. The Italian communist
party was first established in Livorno, but that was not mentioned by our tour director and is a
miscellaneous piece of information I picked up on the Internet. Our visit consisted of a two hour walking
tour and several hours of free time, so our impression of the city was limited and does not include visits to
any of the museums the city is famous for. The old part of the city is small, or at least it seemed so to us
when comparing it to Siena which we visited several years earlier. The Cathedral is very impressive, but
is surrounded closely by other buildings. The monuments are much more impressive viewed from outside
the city as indicated by the photograph at the top of this page. Photos
May 7th We had heard about Cinque Terre for many years but never felt we were up to a hiking
tour of this region of France, so when a tour of these five villages by boat was listed as a tour option we
immediately signed up. The Legend anchored in Porto Venere where we boarded a ferry which would take
us to the five villages comprising this UNESCO World Heritage Site. This was a fabulous trip and we would
highly recommend it. We were even rewarded with a pair of dolphins swimming along with us. It appeared
there were many hikers on the paths between the cities. Photos
May 8th After three weeks we were back in Civiteveccia. We stayed on board as once again
passengers from the previous week disembarked and new passengers arrived. 18 of us continued on for
another week.
May 9th Our port was Sorrento, but it was windy and rainy, so we remained on board the
Legend. This was our 4th time in Sorrento, the bad weather was not a major disappointment for us. Photos
May 10th Tuesday was cool and windy with a few showers, but after getting rained out on our only
previous visit to Taormina, Sicily we were determined to tour this part of the island. We started out by
visiting the village of Castelmola which sits above Taormina and afforded incredible views. Unfortunately
the wind was gale force and we had a few showers, but I still managed to get some great photos, We then
toured the village of visited the old medieval section of Taormina. Luckily the weather was much better at
sea level! Photos
May 11th The weather was perfect for our visit to Malta. It is one of the most densely populated
countries in Europe and has some of the oldest archaeological ruins. The economy here is very strong
with unemployment of 5%. Construction cranes dotted the landscape. The St. Johns Co-Cathedral was
absolutely breath taking. Photos
May 12th On Thursday our port was Trapani on the western shore of Sicily. The weather has
turned sunny and pleasant and we enjoyed walking around the city.
May 13th We were in Lipari two years ago, but the weather was rainy, so today was a real treat.
Photos
May 14th Our last day was at anchor in Gaeta. We had a beautiful view of the city from the
Legend, but decided to spend our last day enjoying the ship and leisurely packing up four weeks of
clothing. We shipped one bag containing our formal attire home to lessen the amount of luggage we took
with us for our time in Rome and Paris.
May 15th Everything went like clockwork on Sunday morning. We had one last breakfast on the
Legend before disembarking. A car and driver arranged by our hotel in Rome was waiting for us, and we
were at the hotel in about an hour. Traffic on Sunday morning was minimal.
most of our married life we have lived near a restaurant named Portifino, so we were looking forward to
visiting the real McCoy and we were not disappointed. It is a beautiful and very exclusive port. There are
not many hotels or rooms to rent, so most of the visitors are from ships or yachts Photos
May 3rd The planned activity for Tuesday was a day at anchor off the coast of Elbe for water
sports off the stern of the ship. The sea was a bit too rough and cool for the planned activity so instead
we docked in Portoferraio. We enjoyed exploring the city and climbed up to Fort Stella which overlooked
the villa that Napoleon lived in during his exile. Photos
May 4th Once again we visited the island of Corsica. This time we docked on the opposite end of
the island in Calvi and enjoyed a tour of several villages. Photos (last 10 photos are from this second visit)
May 5th This was our first visit to the island of Sardinia. We anchored in Porto Rotondo and were
shuttled to the dock on the Legend's tenders where we met our guide for a tour of the island. Sardinia is
several times larger than Corsica and is located just to the south of Corsica. While Corsica is French,
Sardinia is Italian. This island was green, but apparently gets very dry in the summer and becomes brown
and dusty. Corsica is very mountainous and has snow at the higher elevations into the summer months,
and thus stays much greener from the rain and run-off. Sardinia is famous for its upscale resorts the most
famous of which is Porto Cervo. Our guide pointed out a home owned by Vladimir Putin, as well as the
place that Princess Diana and her boy friend had stayed in his yacht the evening before the died in Paris.
Photos
May 6th During our previous visits to Italy we toured portions of Tuscany, but never made it to
Florence, so we signed up for an all day tour to the city from the port city of Livorno. Florence is about a
90 minute bus ride from Livorno. Livorno is a busy port, the second largest in Italy. The Italian communist
party was first established in Livorno, but that was not mentioned by our tour director and is a
miscellaneous piece of information I picked up on the Internet. Our visit consisted of a two hour walking
tour and several hours of free time, so our impression of the city was limited and does not include visits to
any of the museums the city is famous for. The old part of the city is small, or at least it seemed so to us
when comparing it to Siena which we visited several years earlier. The Cathedral is very impressive, but
is surrounded closely by other buildings. The monuments are much more impressive viewed from outside
the city as indicated by the photograph at the top of this page. Photos
May 7th We had heard about Cinque Terre for many years but never felt we were up to a hiking
tour of this region of France, so when a tour of these five villages by boat was listed as a tour option we
immediately signed up. The Legend anchored in Porto Venere where we boarded a ferry which would take
us to the five villages comprising this UNESCO World Heritage Site. This was a fabulous trip and we would
highly recommend it. We were even rewarded with a pair of dolphins swimming along with us. It appeared
there were many hikers on the paths between the cities. Photos
May 8th After three weeks we were back in Civiteveccia. We stayed on board as once again
passengers from the previous week disembarked and new passengers arrived. 18 of us continued on for
another week.
May 9th Our port was Sorrento, but it was windy and rainy, so we remained on board the
Legend. This was our 4th time in Sorrento, the bad weather was not a major disappointment for us. Photos
May 10th Tuesday was cool and windy with a few showers, but after getting rained out on our only
previous visit to Taormina, Sicily we were determined to tour this part of the island. We started out by
visiting the village of Castelmola which sits above Taormina and afforded incredible views. Unfortunately
the wind was gale force and we had a few showers, but I still managed to get some great photos, We then
toured the village of visited the old medieval section of Taormina. Luckily the weather was much better at
sea level! Photos
May 11th The weather was perfect for our visit to Malta. It is one of the most densely populated
countries in Europe and has some of the oldest archaeological ruins. The economy here is very strong
with unemployment of 5%. Construction cranes dotted the landscape. The St. Johns Co-Cathedral was
absolutely breath taking. Photos
May 12th On Thursday our port was Trapani on the western shore of Sicily. The weather has
turned sunny and pleasant and we enjoyed walking around the city.
May 13th We were in Lipari two years ago, but the weather was rainy, so today was a real treat.
Photos
May 14th Our last day was at anchor in Gaeta. We had a beautiful view of the city from the
Legend, but decided to spend our last day enjoying the ship and leisurely packing up four weeks of
clothing. We shipped one bag containing our formal attire home to lessen the amount of luggage we took
with us for our time in Rome and Paris.
May 15th Everything went like clockwork on Sunday morning. We had one last breakfast on the
Legend before disembarking. A car and driver arranged by our hotel in Rome was waiting for us, and we
were at the hotel in about an hour. Traffic on Sunday morning was minimal.
