Cruisin' the Meditterranean

Curious where we went?

Here's the summary - it was BUSY and we barely had any time to enjoy the boat. We went to Port in the morning and cruised through the night...every night.


September 19 -21

Barcelona, Spain - We shopped, shopped and shopped some more. Las Ramblas the downtown shopping district was amazing and full of wonderful alleys and delicious shops. (pictures are on my parents camera - so they will have to wait!)


September 22

Transfer to the Voyager of the Seas - this was suprisingly and amazingly quick and easy. YAY Mom for pre-registering on line at home!





September 23

Arrived at the Port in Villefranche and explored Nice and Eze. This was the only port where we had to take a tender (a little boat) into the harbour.







September 24

Arrived in the Port of Livorno, visited the leaning tower of Pisa and the beachtown of Viareggio.









September 25

Arrived in Port of Civitavecchia and had a bus tour of Rome. We had an awful tour "leader" and only 35minutes to explore St.Peter's (25 of which, I spent in the washroom linup), but at least we got to see a lot of amazing stuff through the bus windows!!


September 26

Arrived in the Port of Naples and explored the oceanside town of Sorrento and the remains from the Excavation of Pompeii. The absolute best excusion of our trip.








September 27

Arrived in the Port of Palermo (Siciley) and had a bus tower around town. Another flop in the excusion deaprtment, although we did get to see this amazing church imbedded in the side of the mountain. The church was cool, but our tour guide was awful.






September 28

Our one day at sea. It was a little bit cold and rocky - not much of a day for sitting on the deck. J played in a poker tourney and came in 4/29 and I wasted the day away just toodling around, hanging out in the casino, visiting with people etc.

September 29

The begining of what would be a very long day...We would spend 17 hours on a plane, to make our way home.

Gluten-Free in the Mediterranean

I survived 10 days in Europe, without eating a single pastry. No flaky croissant, no baguette sandwich from the bakery on the corner, no delicious cookies or biscotti with my coffee. I did however, enjoy numerous cappuccinos and gelatos from various street corners. And although they don't quite equate with pastries, they were delicious and my stomach didn't suffer, so my diligence didn't go unrewarded.

I was hard though, to watch my Dad devour chocolate covered croissants, fresh from a bakery window. It was even harder to keep my hunger to myself when I hadn't packed myself a snack and everyone stopped to grab a sandwich. I refused to pay anywhere from $5-10 (CAD) for a few pieces of deli meat and a piece of cheese, as the sandwiches are definitely what we would consider stingy at home. Although from what I hear, they were delicious.

Our hotel in Barcelona had rice bread, so after the first day, I learned to make a salami sandwich at the buffet and smuggle it out so I could have some sustenance during our excursions (i.e. shopping). Once we started cruising on the Voyager of the Seas however, it took my another 3-4 days to realize that starving and getting cranky during 6+ hour port excursions really should not be considered an option. The next day I smuggled and apple off the boat. The day after that, an apple and a box of corn flakes.

In a small beach town, Viareggio, there was a fast food restaurant attached to the bakery where we were purchasing beer (for everyone else of course) and sandwiches and I was amazed with the girl working there. Somehow we managed to communicate and she made me a 100% beef burger with cheese, on lettuce. Hallelujah a hot lunch!!

Eating Gluten-Free was a struggle. And in truth, I was disappointed with the boat, I had expected a better selection of foods that I could eat and possibly even some sort of labelling - but I was likely being ambitious. There was enough food, meats, cheeses, vegetables, salad, all without gluten. With respect to desserts, I was very disappointed, it was ice cream pretty much all the way for me. I had a few treats, not eating crusts (eg. a panacotta).

And don't even get my started on the plane food...maybe next post.