Day 3 of our cruise! This morning, the ship would dock in the Italian Port of Palermo. Where is Palermo? Good question. Palermo is a city in southern Italy, and capital of the autonomous region of Sicily. The city has a long history (more than 2,700 years). More on wikipedia. Turns out that Palermo is a common port of call for cruise ships. We were first here 2 years ago on the Preziosa. Now we are here again on the Meraviglia.
Here is a video of our ship sailing into port. Thank God that it was a beautiful day and that the seas were calm.
Breakfast - Top Sail and Yacht Club Restaurant
This morning, we headed to the Top Sail lounge for some coffee and pastries first, before going to the Yacht Club restaurant for the mains. It was very quiet in the Top Sail lounge, and we got our drinks very quickly. The seas were very calm, what a relief! Here is a video. You will find me playing with a piece of tart on a small bowl that looks like a ship. Ok, I like goofing around.
Breakfast - Yacht Club Pool Area
After breakfast, we headed up to the Yacht Club pool area, and discovered that they were serving a breakfast buffet there too! Awesome.
Reserved Cabanas for Royal Suite
While walking around the Yacht Club Pool area, we saw the reserved Cabanas for the Royal Suite passengers. Pretty cool! It is a nice perk, but unfortunately the weather wasn't very warm during our cruise, so we didn't use it. Video below gives you a glimpse of the cabana seats.
The plan today was to take an MSC Shore Excursion - Santa Rosalia Grotto & Modello. All aboard time for Palermo was 1630hrs.
We Set Off!
We received our excursion tickets the night before (after booking through the YC Concierge). We were informed by the Yacht Club concierge to wait at the Concierge in the morning at a certain time, and then the butler escorted us off the ship. We didn't need to assemble at the area for non Yacht-Club passengers. What was very cool was that we were the first to arrive at the bus, and hence I could snag front row seats (with the best views). We had to wait on an empty bus for about 10 minutes before the rest of the tour group arrived.
And so, we set off. The bus was full. The local guide was a middle-aged lady called Joanna, who conducted the tour in English and German. Here is the video of the bus leaving the port and heading towards Mt Pellegrino.
Our first stop was to go up Mt Pelligrino. The views going up were fantastic. We had a great view from the front row seats on the bus. Fortunately, the roads were still relatively straight, and we didn't have to go through many bends that would have made us bus-sick. I noticed many cyclists going up and coming down. There was a good cycling community here!
St Rosalia Grotto
It didn't take us very long to reach the St Rosalia Grotto, I think max 30 minutes from the cruise ship. Once we got there, all the passengers got off the bus, and followed our tour guide up to the mountain cave where the shrine was built. Take note, there is a fairly long flight of stairs, with no lifts. So if you can't climb stairs, then this excursion may not be suitable.
We didn't spent too long at the St Rosalia Grotto. The tour group was punctual and all of us were back on the coach on time. So as the coach headed down, we went to the next stop. The streets of Palermo was quite crowded as you can see in the video below. Our 40 seater coach navigating very tight streets. Well, Palermo does have a rustic feel, though the place does look a bit impoverished. Some call it the 'Old World'. Sorry if this comment sounded rude, but I can't help get that feeling that this place hasn't been progressing as fast as some other places in the world. China is one such example of super fast progress. Congested Streets - Palermo, Italy
Our next stop was a Chinese Palace (Palazzina Cinese). Didn't do much there, just took some photos. It did strike me, however, that Chinese influence had spread very far and wide indeed.
Mondello
We also visited Mondello, which is a small borough of the city of Palermo in the autonomous region of Sicily in Southern Italy. It had a nice beach. In summer, you could rent a house here for a few weeks, just to chill. The problem with our tour, however, was that the coach dropped us off very far from the main center. It took a good 15 minutes just to walk in. Not sure why the coach couldn't bring us right into the center. Because we were short of time, we couldn't see the center much. Oh well. Here is the video.
Last Stop - San Lorenzo Mercato
Our last stop was at some marketplace - San Lorenzo Mercato. Later on, I checked up its website.
We were given a bit more time to roam around this place. Some of the tour participants grabbed a quick bite here. The food looked to be reasonably priced. Here is the video.
Back to ship
So, it was time to head back to the ship. I have two more videos of the journey back. The first one shows the bus taking a ride through the central commercial street of Palermo. This front of bus footage will give you a good idea of what the city of Palermo looks like.
And, we are turning into port. See how big the MSC Meraviglia was!
Today was Day 3 of our 7N cruise. The ship MSC Preziosa was due to dock at Palermo, Italy. Check out the MSC Daily. Arrival was 10am and all aboard at 1630. The day in port wasn't too long, but we'll make do.
Palermo is the capital city of Sicily, and I am sure it had a glorious past.
We had some time in the morning and we certainly did not have to wake up early. So we woke up and had a leisurely breakfast in the suite restaurant. I took this photo with the little bottles of jam.
This video shows you some snippets of the breakfast we had. And thereafter we went to check out the One Pool and Top Sail lounge to see what else there was to eat! I know, greedy. But hey, we are on a cruise.
At the aft of Deck 15, you will find the Garden Pool
In this video I show you the Garden Pool, which is at the aft of the ship. Nobody was swimming this morning. This being winter, it was a bit cold.
Plenty of deck chairs for you to choose from!
The MSC logo on the MSC Preziosa.
A view of the Vertigo waterslide. MSC claims that the Vertigo waterslide is the longest single body water slide at sea - 394 feet! I rode the slide once and screamed a lot. That video follows this picture.
Watch me take the Vertigo waterslide and scream my lungs out.
A picture of the main pool. I count a grant total of one person swimming.
This was taken in the One Pool area. You can see the ash trays on the tables. This section of the One Pool allows smoking.
Snapshot of what was available for breakfast at the One Pool.
Thereafter, we went back to our cabin to rest, and watch the sail in to Palermo!
We were getting close. I could see the port from our balcony. There was a ferry leaving port.
As we were docking, another ship came in. It was a Costa ship and here is a video.
Like our ship, the Costa ship came into port, did a turn, before backing in. This was to facilitate easy departure later this evening.
The Costa ship came right by us. They were so near, we could throw something over, I think. Anyway, I didn't try. Plenty of people on the sun deck, watching the sail in. If you watched my video, you could hear me yelling. Yeah, I get crazy sometimes.
Alright, it was time to disembark. It was a bright, sunny and rather warm day. We have never been to Palermo before. The plan was to take a long walk into the historic city center (yes, you read correctly, walk) and then find our way to the Palatine Chapel. Thereafter, maybe even walk back to the ship. Sounds very strenous? I guess it was somewhat energetic, but we decided that we needed more exercise. Anyway, the distances didn't look too far. Just walk at a leisurely pace.
This video shows you snippets of the walk. As we head out of the ship, there were many private tour vendors and tuk-tuk drivers canvassing for business. So, plenty of private tour options, and there was no real need to book a ship's tour. This is the video of the walk.
In case you are wondering how I navigated the walk, I was using the GPS on my phone and an app called CityMaps2Go. The cost of this app is marginal (less than $5 i think) and I have used it very successful for many trips now. The app does not need data, so no hefty roaming charges. However, you must remember to download the map for the city that you are visiting before your trip, otherwise there is no map on your phone for the GPS signal to map against.
From the historic city center, I think we did turn and kept walking along a straight road that would bring us to the Chapel Palatine.
A photo of the junction at the historic center.
In this video, some snippets of the walk and I observe some of the architecture along the way.
More pictures of the scenery along the way. We are headed towards the chapel.
We made it! Cost to enter was 15 Euros. Today we could see many things.
There was a group from MSC too, at least I think so. I say some of the with tour stickers from MSC, and this chap carrying an MSC bagpack.
I was pretty sure this group in front of us was from the MSC Preziosa, I think a ship's tour. Ah, I remember now, I was holding my tickets and as my family approached the gate, the tour guide for the MSC group looked at me and then told the gate attendant that I was not part of her group. Haha. Yeah, I just waved my tickets at her.
We were behind the large group from the ship, and behind us there were no more visitors. That is the good thing about travelling in winter. Not too many people. We were told that during summer, this place could get really packed. Looking behind us, there isn't that much space to stand in line either.
Getting in took a bit of time because they did security checks like airport. We had to put our bags through an X-ray. We got through that quite quickly, and went through some restoration exhibit before heading up the stairs towards the chapel.
The entrance to the Palatine Chapel is on the left.
This is the video I made while inside the chapel. It is quite a gorgeous chapel with a small an intimate feel. Dating from the 12th Century, this was a chapel for the Norman Kings. Quite a sight. Glad we made the trip, as this chapel is quite different from what we have seen in all our travels so far.
Here are some still pictures from within the Chapel. It has an intimate yet awesome feel. You can see the MSC group here. The guide was giving them a very thorough brief of the mosiacs and the history.
Given that this place was build in the 12th Century, I guess there must be many stories over the years. This is a picture of the ceiling. Look at the detail! Amazing.
Glad that this chapel has been preserved through the centuries.
We didn't stay for too long. The kids were getting restless, can't blame them.
I caught this sign on the way out. Made me pause. Who was King Ruggero II? Year 1130 AD? Wow. Back home, I googled the name. From wiki, I learnt that this King was Roger II of Sicily. He lived from 1095 to 1154. He became the King of Sicily in 1130. He went on to become one of the greatest European Kings of those times. It appeared that this King was very open to learning, and capable men of diverse nationalities served under him. I am sure books have been written about this era of history. But what struck me most was Kings come, and Kings go. Here I am, in 21st Century, looking back at a chapel commissioned by a King way back in 1130. We are alive for a season, but Christ is eternal. This is not our world, this is our Father's world.
Oh well, I guess the more cynical among us would say, if you want to leave a legacy for the future generations to remember you, just built a nice chapel. Haha That is another way to look at the issue. For some reason, I took a picture of the tickets. Useful? Perhaps. A 21st Century ticket to visit a 12th Century icon. I can almost write a song. (Side note - there were 4 of us, 2 adults and 2 kids, but I got a bunch of tickets like these and I didn't know how to read Italian so I didn't know which ticket is for which attraction. So I ended up handing the whole pile at the entrances to the various exhibits within this tourist attraction.)
Alright, we didn't spend too long in the Chapel. After the chapel, we could also visit some residence/meeting rooms of the government (or was the President), I can't remember already but those rooms weren't memorable and since they didn't allow me to take photos of that place, I have long forgotten what they were all about.
This picture was taken just outside the tourist attraction. We are on our way back to the ship now and I spotted this cactus (?). I think it was a cactus but I paused for a moment because I hadn't expected to see a cactus here.
As we were walking, this mini train came right past us. Pretty cool. Not sure where to board the train from though. I didn't see this at the port gates earlier. Maybe next time.
Back at the historic city center, just around the corner, there was this fountain structure which apparently was rather famous. Officially, this was a Renaissance fountain in the Piazza Pretoria in Palermo by Francesco Camilliani. However, this fountain is also known as the 'Fountain of Shame'. Why? Plenty of nude figures, in lewd poses, with lewd stares etc.
Another picture of the fountain before we move on.
Now we begin to walk back to the ship. By this time, we were a bit tired. Still, there was plenty of time. So we could take a leisurely walk back.
From here, you can see the ship in a distance. From the historic center, we took about 30-40 minutes to walk back. Weather was very nice for walking. Kudos to wife and kids for keeping up with the walk. Plenty of exercise chalked up, but that was the plan anyway.
Almost there. We can see the ship. MSC Preziosa.
The two ships in port. MSC Preziosa and the Costa Mediterranea. Both MSC and Costa are Italian cruise lines.
A closer view of the aft of the MSC Preziosa. You can see the aft cabin balconies.
Spotted some passengers embarking at this port. Check out the luggage. Not sure where the cruise terminal to embark/disembark is. Didn't go through the cruise terminal on the way out. Looked like these passengers came here via some Port Terminal bus.
When I first saw these staircase up the ship, I was like... whoa... that looks rather steep doesn't it? I don't recall having to climb down such a steep staircase when we got off the ship earlier, and in fact we did not! If you check out my earlier video on walking to the Chapel, you will see the video start from when we scanned our sea pass cards to get off the ship and the most gentle ramp slope to get off the ship. So what was this all about? Turns out that these staircase was for embarking passengers! Ok. Good luck. We re-entered the ship by the way we exited earlier, a nice gentle ramp.
We got back on board very easily because the lines were very short, as it was still early. It was definitely before 2pm as we headed to the suite restaurant for lunch. After the lunch, we stepped outside and saw the long lines of passengers waiting to get back on board. Check out this video. The all aboard time was 4:30pm and this video was taken at around 3pm. Unfortunately, this is one feature of cruising MSC. The lines to get off and get back onboard can be very long, especially during peak times. Fact of the matter is that this ship is big and packs in many, many passengers.
Back on board, it was lunch time! This was a short video I made of the lunch experience.
Seafood pasta.
Grilled beef, very nice!
Back in our balcony. Watching the Costa ship as we sail out of port.
Soon, it was time for dinner. Yeah, eat again. I know. Hence the long walk this morning. Even with all the additional walking, I would still gain weight after this cruise.
It was Gala Night tonight. We would have two gala nights this cruise. This was the menu.
We had read about this Italian pizzeria in Naples on TripAdvisor. Apparently, it was very famous and quite highly recommended. Therefore, while we were in Naples, we asked a cab driver to take us to the famous pizzeria which had 5 Euro pizzas. In fact, for 5 Euros, you get a pizza AND a drink.
For the drink, you could choose from Italian beer, Coke, Coke Zero, Still Water, Sparkling Water, Fanta, Sprite and even Red or White wine. Very good value.
The pizzas were freshly prepared. There were only two choices, Margarita or Marinara. Essentially, one was with cheese and one was without cheese. The pizzas were rather large thin crusted pizzas. Two of such pizzas were enough for my family.
The place was near the cruise terminal, which allowed us to walk back rather easily. In my opinion, this place is definitely worth a visit to try out the pizza, if you are in the vicinity.
Check out the restaurant website - http://www.pizzerianapoliinbocca.it/
Take note, we paid for the pizzas. Not an advertisement here. Check out the video.
Rome, Italy - Colosseum
The next day, after breakfast, we headed out. The first stop was the Colosseum. To get there, we took the Metro. The Quod Libet B&B was very near the Ottaviano station.
Be wary that there are many pickpockets, especially on the underground. We were advised to move to the first or last carriage, and watch our belongings very carefully. As we were in Rome during the off-season, the trains weren't too crowded. However, there were still pickpocketing attempts on my wife, in the Colosseum!
The Metro system in Rome is simple. They do not have many lines.
We got the Colosseum quite easily. There was a line for the tickets, but it moved rather quickly.
This was probably what the Colosseum looked like, 2,000 years ago. I read that the Colosseum could seat 50,000 spectators. That time, only men attended, I think.
A lot to read, if you wanted to.
We head outside.
A mixture of ancient and modern.
The stone look original. Not sure about the red bricks on the left. Those were probably put in place to support the stone structures?
It was a grand place, 2,000 years ago. Most of the top parts have fallen down.
Colosseum, or the ruins of.
You could see the basements too. Wonder what they kept there. Fierce lions?
The amount of work that must have been put to restore and keep this place standing over the centuries must have been quite crazy.
Walking around the 'upper deck' of the Colosseum.
A big place. Look down from the 'upper deck'.
We were told that pickpockets did not operate within paid attractions. We were wrong. So please be careful.
Hear the roar of the crowds, egging the gladiators on.
There was a big cross. We would go there a short while later.
An archway.
Many tourists taking photographs. Beware, you are very vulnerable when taking photographs to pickpockets. Attempted pick-pocket on my wife by a group of men who dressed and looked like bona fide tourists. I think they target ladies with bags that are strapped over the shoulder. This is what happened.
One of these men approached by wife, put his camera in her face and asked her to help him take a photo. It was done in such a way that it seemed almost rude to refuse him. Then, as she tried to take his photo, another chap would walk past right in front of her pretending to block the way. I think this same chap or yet another chap would then perform the sleight of hand, to try to take her wallet from her bag. Fortunately, he didn't manage to take anything. Beware!
Later on, we were to meet the same group at the Trevi Fountain. Beware of anybody asking you to help them take a photo, especially if you have a bag or if your wallet is located in a vulnerable place, like your back pocket.
Alright, we were done with the Colosseum. This was outside. A bright day, though it wasn't too warm. Still, better than raining!
A lot of work has been done to keep this standing.
Now, we head over to Palatine Hill, from the Colosseum. Rome has its origins on the Palatine.
This looks like an old church.
Columns, still standing.
A view of the Colosseum, from opposite.
See the restoration work on the left side.
Thankful that we went early. Look at the crowds building up at the entrance on the left side. So, remember to go early.
This was the Temple of Venus and Roma.
Here is a map of the Palatine Area. The Colosseum is on the right.
This looked rather grand.
Yet another temple - Temple of Antoninus and Faustina.
You can see a Church inside the pillars.
Fascinating view.
The famous and iconic 3 pillars.
A closer look. You can see the modern fortifications at the base. Without those, the pillars would have collapsed years ago. This must have been a very grand place 2,000 years ago!
Wonder what the inscriptions say.
Other random pillars?
A lot of tourist traffic. Again, beware of pickpockets!
A useful description to give a perspective of what happened over time.
Some pictures of the surroundings.
Nice.
This was believed to be the symbolic center of the city.
Alright, we have left the place and we plod on.
These buildings, of course, were not built 2,000 years ago.
Wonder who the chap on the horse was.
It was time for lunch. We stopped at a cafe and got some food.
My set meal came with a drink. I chose Heineken.
This was the Brushchetta - very Italian.
Some meat with salad and also a pizza.
These were the set menus. Nothing fanciful. Just some food to fill the stomach.
A closer look at the menu outside.
We kept walking and now we arrive at another attraction - Pantheon. This is one of the best preserved of all Roman building and has been in continuous use since 2,000 years ago. Amazing stuff.
And the light comes in.
Again, beware of pickpockets.
This was the Tomb of Raphael.
After the Pantheon, we walked on and we reached Piazza Navona.
This was the Fountain of the four Rivers with Egyptian obelisk, in the middle of Piazza Navona.
The same fountain with an Egyptian column.
Our next stop was the Trevi Fountain. On our way there, we passed by this gorgeous departmental store.
It looked very upmarket. We didn't stop to shop.
And we have arrived at the Trevi Fountain. It was very, very crowded. Be very careful! Pickpockets all over the place.
Many tourists taking photographs.
From the Trevi fountain, we walked to the Spanish Steps. A curious place. People just sat down. Wonder why.
Sitting on steps. Everybody's pastime.
Short video of the Spanish Steps
Alright, we managed to find some time to do shopping. This was my wife's favourite shop in Italy.
After a long day of walking, it was time for some dinner. We went to an Italian restaurant that was recommended by the chaps at the B&B.
Some spaghetti with mussels.
Some Lasagne.
Grilled small lobster like stuff? Tasted ok.
This was after the meal.
After dinner, time to sleep and then make our way to the cruise ship the next day.
