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| colorful fruit stand, Livorno market |
What a perfect way to end the summer: with a cruise aboard the luxurious Azamara Quest from Nice to Athens. It was a working holiday for I was aboard to give a series of enrichment lectures about the ancient civilizations that once thrived in the Mediterranean.
At the first
port, Livorno, most passengers travel to Pisa and Florence since it is their first time in Italy. We enjoyed staying in Livorno for a canal boat tour and a visit to the Art Decò market, one of Italy's largest . Write "Livorno" in the search box at the top of the page to find the many articles about Livorno and what to visit there.
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| sculptures adorn Livorno market |
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| art dèco architecture of Livorno market |
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| sign in Livorno market |
Rain kept
us aboard the ship in Civitavecchia but
many passengers went off
to Rome and some spent the day cooking at Fontana del Papa,
atop the nearby hill at Tolfa.
The
situation at Civitavecchia has become ugly with local police being called in to stop harassing of visitors at the cage like “visitors’ center”. Cruisers
and crews are fed up with the exploitation and paying for the unnecessary bussing in order to take the train to Rome.
No wonder
the port has such a bad reputation and is considered
one of the most "tourist unfriendly" in the
Mediterranean. For more articles about the problems at Civitavecchia, use the search bar. If you have experiences and comments please leave them at the bottom of the page and use the icons to share on social media .
Our classic
Mediterranean itinerary continued
on to a sunny Sorrento and then to Messina where we visited a lovely ceramics shop near the port and munched freshly made cannoli at the pasticceria near the Duomo.
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| I Particolari, ceramics shop, Messina |
The Azamazing Evening went as scheduled but instead of transferring everyone to Taormina, the singers and orchestra braved the weather and drove from Catania to perform aboard for the passengers .
Late departures and overnights in ports makes it possible to see how people live in the different countries after the sun goes down.
On Santorini the cable car brought us up the cliff to visit the town of Fira and its Prehistory Museum where frescoes and pottery date from before the volcanic explosion that created the caldera where our ship was anchored.
Don't forget to visit my award winning website award winning website
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| arriving in Chania port, Crete |
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| tourist carriage, Chania port |
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| selling honey at the Saturday market,Chania |
Late departures and overnights in ports makes it possible to see how people live in the different countries after the sun goes down.
On Santorini the cable car brought us up the cliff to visit the town of Fira and its Prehistory Museum where frescoes and pottery date from before the volcanic explosion that created the caldera where our ship was anchored.
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| Arriving at Santorini and the zig zag trail up to Fira town |
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| the cable car wheel |
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| plaster casts of 3000 BC furniture |
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| blue monkey frescoes (3000 BC) at Thera Prehistoric Museum |
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| buskers at the Orthodox Cathedral, Santorini |
Don't forget to visit my award winning website award winning website
