2022 Trips – Spain/Italy

Well, we have come a full circle now and we are back at Civitavecchia, the port for Rome, Italy! As we have already been and done Rome, we decided to take a different Excursion today – to Ostia Antica which is south of Rome and Civitavecchia and like other villages we have visited such as Pompei, Olympia and the Roman Ruins, is a large archeological site. It is close to the town of Ostia, and it was the harbour city of Ancient Rome. “Ostia” (plur. of “ostium”) is a derivation of “os”, the Latin word for “mouth” . At the mouth of the Tiber River, Ostia was Rome’s seaport, but due to silting, it now lies 3 kilometres from the sea. The site is noted for the excellent preservation of its ancient buildings, frescoes and mosaics. So, after visiting the 3 ruins listed above, when we went to the bus to transport us to the site, the tour guide told me that my walker was inappropriate to take into the grounds. Not surprising me after some of the things I have already gone through on this trip, I was luckily the HAL Excursions Manager heard what was said to me, and after I said to the guide that it is required for me to walk and please put it under the bus, the HAL manager followed up with the guide that it was okay, I will not slow the tour down (which was the REAL issue) and things like that cannot be said to guests of HAL. So off we went! I had a nap on the bus, so this begins when we got to Ostia Antica. Again, it was a HOT day, hovering around 29 degrees with no wind or breeze or puffs of air to speak of. In some ways, this site was not as impressive as Pompei, which showed more housing and historical items of where people worked, cooked, gathered etc. or Olympia with the huge structures – columns etc. but this site was very well laid out and well preserved. Overall, each site brings memories to mind as to how people lived. At the start it was more of how people were buried and then we progressed to where people stayed, the baths and finally to the theatre, which is used to this day for small events. The thing to remember about Ostia Antica is it was a meeting point – people would travel there to stay and trade with the merchants that came by sea. It was not really a “town” with a lot of permeant residents like other places we have been – other than those to support the infrastructure of the town. As this was only a 4.5 hour tour and we left early, we were back by 2pm! For me, spending 2 hours in the direct sun is enough! I enjoyed the bus ride back and took some pictures of that area of Italy. Andrew funny enough fell asleep! Then I had the brilliant idea of taking the shuttle into Civiavecchia to get a shirt – I still wanted to get a shirt from Italy. Well, we did it and walked A LOT as the shuttle service was a bit strange. It took you out of the secure zone, which is good however where you could enter the city (at least for me) was about 2/3’s of the way along the shuttle route! So one had to walk back and then up some long wide stairs to get into the city. Once there it was not really the “tourist” section other than McDonalds down and around the block – where we did not go! Happily it was fairly accessible – parking spots and ramps at the streets however just restaurants and regular stores – nothing selling t-shirts or fridge magnets – my other quest! We sat ina square where kids played pick up soccer while I had a drink and we then walked back to the shuttle area and came back to the ship and enjoyed the sail away from the balcony of our room!

I had been looking forward to this stop since coming through on the Nieuw Statendam. This port just had TOO MANY options! We wanted to see Pompeii so we did that on the last time we were here. This time we decided to go to Capri – an island off the coast of Naples. I also wanted to see Herculeum which like Pompeii was buried during the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, however a girl has to have their priorities and it was my backup plan. We did not need a back up plan in the end. Just a side note, the difference between Herculeaum and Pompeii is that Pompeii was showed with pumice and ash on the 1st eruption of Mr. Vesuvius and that caused the 2nd floor of buildings to fall, only leaving the 1st floors as you saw in my pictures. Also Pompeii did not receive as much ash as Herculeum – so the destruction in Pompeii was greater as the couple of feet of ask in Herculeum (which was 5x the amount that Pompeii received) protected the buildings, people, frescos and PAPER so today they are better preserved. Pompeii is also a whole city where Herculeum is a smaller area. Now, lets go to Capri!
To get to Capri, similar to our ride to Corfu, one takes a hydrofoil type boat, however this was a tame hydrofoil boat compared the the rocket type we used to Corfu and back! It also seated about 200 people who all had to wear masks (good)! The journey was about 45 minutes and we had arrived. Instead of taking the ship tour, we had taken a trip through Viator which we have used previously. Much less money and we figured that saying the HAL tour was on the same boat as us coming back, the ship would not leave without us! There was the option to see the blue grotto or take a boat tour around the island however as we had earlier tickets back than the rest of the group (we were at 3:35pm where the rest of the tour was at 5:30 – when the Oosterdam was to depart) we just stuck with the Island tour. What an interesting experience – reminded me a bit of being on Okinawa, Japan with the narrow cars/busses that they used. In fact I saw a car very similar to the one I drove when in Japan. As the roads on Capri were built in the early days (1800’s) they are NARROW. Regular cars do not do well on the island at all. There is a lot of pulling out and letting people by that happens. So the first thing we did after landing on Capri and in the town of Capri which is by the water is travel by tourist bus to Ana Capri which is at the top of the island, on a steep switch backing road! I am glad we had a professional bus driver as that trip was nasty swaying one direction and then the other as we went around corners and avoided cars and did traffic circles. Nearing the top – we stopped for about 2 seconds for what the tour guide called the “Mama Mia” moment was a look back down from where we came. I noted it in the pictures. Then we passed some very posh hotels and we were at the almost top of the island in Ana Capri. We went for a walk past a lot of vendors selling very expensive goods to a lookout and then we were on our own. This was another HOT day! I got some nice souvenirs and after sitting in the shade with Andrew for a little bit and people watching, met the group for our lunch. Oh mama mia! The restaurant was up about 30 steps! But I was hungry! What was I to do? I went up the steps! I had left my walker on the ship and taken my crutches today but my arms were already getting sore! So options were pizza, spaghetti or ravioli – this is a group lunch. Great! So I said to the tour guide that I am gluten free and it was “no problemo!” about 10 minutes later I had a lovely bowl of pasta and tomatoes that were fresh off the vine! Oh, to walk into a pasta restaurant and say “senza glutine” in Canada and to get treatment like that is my dream some day. Then for desert they brought me both gelato AND an orange in case I could not have dairy. You can guess what I ate – when in Italy you have to have gelato! Now we took the tourist bus down to almost the bottom of the island where the village/town of Capri is. At this time, they were going to walk for 20 minutes to a church and graveyard and back and I was getting too hot so Andrew and I took a break and met the group when they got back. We sat under an umbrella on a patio and people watched again – right next to the funicular that brings people from the shore to this part of the town. No shopping was done by me here – the streets were lined with stores like Prada… My lemon slushie, despite costing 5 euros was just perfect for me! The one thing that I did want to get was a t-shirt saying Capri but we could not find any tshirt stores, that we not designer, anywhere we looked. Then it was time for our ferry ride so down to the docks we went and onto the vessel. We were lucky it was not as busy as the 1st boat of the day and I was able to obtain a “sleeping berth” which really was a table with four seats facing it so I could lie down for the crossing and give my arms and back a rest. Onto the ship we went (without shopping on the way – Naples has a great cruise ship terminal with stores in it that caught me last time but did not capture me this time) and had a lovely evening at dinner out at sea!

Oh what a day to SLEEP IN! There is a downside to our lovely suite at the front of the ship – it is at the FRONT OF THE SHIP! That is where the anchor is dropped and pulled up and it seems where they like to use the bow thrusters endlessly to get us into port! However TODAY is a day at sea and none of that will happen so we will get to sleep in! Wahoo! So what happens on a day at sea? Well, as I was not woken up by ship operations, I got to see the sunrise! Then back to bed! Just in time we showed up for breakfast in the dining room (closed at 9am and we got there at 8:50am) and as we had a full breakfast I figured the next time to eat would be trying out the English Tea service at 3pm. So I let them know that I would be participating so I could get some gluten free goodies… on the Nieuw Statendam I forgot to let them know and just got a sandwich and cookies – nothing new. So to work off breakfast and to keep my step count going we walked the decks and I took some pictures of the happenings there. All of a sudden it was Tea Time! (there might have been a nap in there somewhere too). Off we went and was I surprised! WOW! So much on offer to me! They asked if we wanted to share our table and I hesitantly said OK – I just did not want anyone taking my GF goodies! Then we checked out the shops on board – nothing that we needed (we are still trying to figure out how to spend our cruise credit as the Excursions we bought on the ship have both been cancelled now) and then the captain came on the PA system indicating we were about to go through the Messina Strait and we had taken on a pilot to assist us. Basically it is a narrow strip of water (but deep) between the island of Sicily and mainland Italy where the strong currents can be detrimental to craft passing through. Sounds like Active Pass in the Gulf Islands if you are a sail boat however does not bother BC Ferries. It did not have a turn like Active Pass does – it was just pretty narrow! The interesting thing was we were in our stateroom when this “announcement” happened and we have a window that is forwardish facing. I was lying on the bed working on my laptop and all of a sudden this man (not an employee) and his camera stood in front of the window taking pictures off the side of the ship! So I went out our cabin door and sure enough – they were letting guests onto the “balcony” in front of our cabin that normally the ships crew only go. So I went out too and explored and took some pictures! Then we went to dinner. This is going somewhere… eating dinner the captain came on the PA system AGAIN (this was the 3rd time today including his noon announcement) and said that we were passing the Stromboli volcano and it is currently erupting lava down the side of it. WELL, that is not something I am going to miss! So while Andrew waited for our dinner I wheeled up a deck and took some pictures and came back down all before dinner was served! Wow – what a day and a day at sea is supposed to be relaxing!

Well, this stop, Olympia is Deja Vue for us – been here before however this time I enjoyed it WAY more! After a very agressive bus drive to Olympia we arrived! There is something about going somewhere for the 2nd time that allows you to absorb more information as you already have the basic knowledge. So today’s Excursion is Olympia and the BEACH! Wahoo! It is hot, damn hot, REAL hot over here! So we made it to Olympia and we toured, Lynda went from shady tree to shady tree this time! Interesting development in the 3 years since we have been here – they have almost completed the “practice” area which they were just starting back in 2019. I am going to let the pictures speak for themselves. Then Andrew and I parted ways as I remembered from last time the nasty amount of stairs to go down to the village so I walked back up to the bus and let the group walk to the village via the over priced “tourist stop”. I should not have asked Andrew to get me a beverage and a fridge magnet (which I have been collecting) – 5 euros each! Normally we pay about 3 euros for a magnet and 3 for a drink. Nasty markup! So he was a bit frustrated when he got back to the bus where I was HOT as the bus driver sat for 30 minutes without the AC on in the sweltering bus arguing with his boss about his hours and not being paid enough money! Did you know I learned Greek overnight and now I am fluent? NOPE! The lovely power of Google Translate! Ha, ha! You might say I was a tiny bit frustrated with the situation. Anyways, lets go to the beach! Now, Andrew and I were sitting behind the bus driver on this trip. It was NOT a good place for me to sit. I could see the bus driver play with his cell phone apps while driving, talk on the phone without a headset, passing when there were double lines and in the 60km/h hour zones do around 100km/h. For those who know me will understand why this was a problem. I was doing okay until the lady sitting behind us started to get nervous too with the passing activity! I had not said anything about his driving at that point. However when the driver picked up his cell phone and at 100km/h and the bus was wavering on the road a bit while he tried to open an app I told the tour leader that was enough and pointed to the NO CELL PHONES sign above the driver. Needless to say the driver was upset not being able to use it. Not sure what made him more upset though – not being able to yell at his boss or his now lack of cell phone! Finally we arrived at the beach – oh so beautiful! It is just before beach time in Greece so not much was open but we had beach chairs, an umbrella and a drink (non alcoholic) to enjoy for the next 3 hours! YES, I tried to get into the ocean – almost burnt the bottoms of my feet getting there and back and it was just too cold for my overheated body! So we relaxed in the sun – me with my eyes closed of course and dreamt of a warm ocean! Our bus ride back to the ship was uneventful and we arrived safely. However as we drove through the port town of Katakolon, some things “jumped” out at me so as we had time before getting on the ship, I HAD to go shopping to release my stress! Andrew tagged along so I was good… Two new dresses later I am cured!

*NOTE* I posted May 23rd before May 22nd….*

Oh what a day! We signed up for an Excursion to Corfu, Greece which is just off shore – to have a tour of the island and to take a small boat and check out the colourful water and caves! I was really excited about this excursion as 1. Corfu is a Greek Island and so far these islands have been beautiful! 2. I love being on a small boat on the water and 3. We get to ride in a hydrofoil to Corfu which is a first time experience for us! Allons-y! So as this was a tender location, we were tendered oh so carefully to the shore – the Oosterdam has an elevator and I was pleased to be able to use it! Then we walked a ways to the hydrofoil boat location which was just arriving from Corfu – you could hear it coming – it sounded like a rocket on the ocean! All these people got off with luggage and the tour guide explained that for the residents of Sarande it is far simpler to fly into Corfu and take the hydrofoil than to fly into the main city in Albania as it is a 3-4 hour drive away, as long as there are no accidents on the highway. Ugh. The other thing she said was to prepare for the Albanians to want to get on the boat first and she was right – we were all ready to board and they all pushed their way through with their luggage to the front of the queue. No issues – there was room for everyone! So now, in the “rocket” (and it felt like it too” we were off and shortly out of the port we “lifted off” and flew across the water to Corfu. Just as we were getting ready to get (climb) out of the boat the tour guide casually said “You do all have your passports with you correct?”. Ah NOPE said about a dozen people including Andrew. I had mine as I could not find my drivers licence. All HAL had told us was that we needed government ID and our Ship Card. Not true as we were actually coming from a Non-EU country (right now – soon to be EU) to an EU Country – Greece so we needed passports! So they separated us and those with passports could enter Corfu. After some discussion and the fact that people had their passports in their in-room safes and did not want anyone going into them so the passports could be brought to them, we returned on the “rocket” to Sarande. I chose to stay with Andrew as it would have been difficult for me to go on a tour without his help. The Oosterdam was prepared for us to arrive back and offered the afternoon bus tour into the mountains if we wanted to go on it. We passed and just relaxed on our balcony. Then we made a very quick trip into Sarande just to get my fridge magnet and back! So that was our day – lots of tendering around however no Excursion! As we departed at 4:30pm, we spent a nice late afternoon on the balcony watching the world go by… or knitting!

*NOTE* I posted May 23rd before May 22nd….*

Our first excursion from the Oosterdam! Andrew and I have been to Dubrovnik previously in 2019. At that time we decided just to take Royal Caribbean’s shuttle to the old town and walk around ourselves. That being in November, the Old Town was all dressed up in Christmas decorations at the time and it was COLD, with the wind blowing! We did not stay long. This time it is 28 degrees C and we are going to take an Excursion that includes the Cable Car up Mt. Srd (really a tall hill) and down again, a walk around Old Town and then a visit within its walls. The interesting thing about going up the Cable Car was the view of the mountains (real ones) of neighbouring countries) that attacked Croatia in 1971. As you will see there also is Fort Imperial built at the top of the Cable Car – which Fort Imperial was built in the 1800’s by the French and Austrians to help protect the Croatians. Little did they know how important the fort would become in the first in 1971 when the Serbian-Montenegrin army launched a large attack against the fortress trying to capture Croatia. However the fortress withstood the punishment and now, Fort Imperial is home to a museum, which shows the defense of Dubrovnik during the Homeland War. Then we went down the Cable Car and walked around the outside of the Old Town and entered where most people tend to enter it – not at the hole in the wall that was later created but over the moat and drawbridge. We walked around the town, I purchased some goodies and then we took the HAL bus back to the ship late in the afternoon. Great day in Dubrovnik!

Breakfast in bed. Warm ocean breeze from balcony. Enough said.

Okay, perhaps I will say and show a LITTLE more! Went for a walk around the ship – dead calm sea. Worked on blog and a couple of other things and went for lunch and then to dinner. Beautiful sunset! Very relaxing day at sea. We needed the break!

I am going to keep this day light as it was probably our (my) worst travel day that I have ever had. Going from the St. Regis in a wheelchair accessible water taxi was cool and we got to see parts of Venice due to his route that I had never seen before but Andrew might have when out on our previous visit getting food. We got to the train station and boarded the train going to Trieste when we found out a whole lot of us were on the wrong train so we had to move trains. After that fiasco we were on our way. Very nice taxi driver in Trieste took us to the cruise ship terminal where we checked in for the Oosterdam and found out that we had to take yet another bus ride to the ship. At that point I could not get onto another tall bus so they brought an accessible van to transfer Andrew and I plus a security guard as we were now in transit (gone through customs) to the ship. Got to the ship and felt a sense of relief. Once in our stateroom, realized this was not the kind of room that we had booked so went for dinner and discussed it with a front desk person who disagreed with me that we originally had booked the room that I was talking about. There was one room left on the ship that was accessible and it was a suite one floor below the room that we had originally booked which HAL booted us from as they said they had to work on it but in reality it was put into the COVID ward on that floor. Went back to our room to get proof we had booked the original accessible room and there was a knock at the door and we were moved to the suite! No idea what happened. Blows my mind that a cruise ship with 500 passengers on it that can house 2000 would be that nit picky about moving people. On our hallway there are people in inside rooms – why not move them across the hall as a courtesy into balcony or even window cabins? Just blows my mind when a customer service opportunity is lost.

Today is an adventure day! I loved the islands of Murano and Burano when we were here last so that is where we are off to! YES that does mean I have to climb the bridge however first thing in the morning it will be easier than after travelling all day! So off we go! First let’s have breakfast! Holy cow! Look at that price of breakfast! Forty nine euros PLUS eighteen for a GF basket of goodies? Yikes! Good thing that I get a complimentary breakfast with my Marriott program! But oh the view – almost worth every euro this morning! Now, walking back through the hotel, I took some pictures so you can see how beautiful the lobby really is before we get a map and off to the bridge we go to catch the vaporetto! Surprisingly, we catch the Number 1 vaporetto two stops with the intention of changing to another one (5.1 or 5.2) to take us to another stop which will connect us with the number 12 boat that will take us to Murano and Burano and we found number 7, which runs once an hour ready to board – direct link to Murano! Wow! Such luck! So we hopped on and were in Murano in 45 minutes. In Murano we went down an alley away from all the tourist traffic into a lovely shop and purchased a couple of item and took some pictures. Then we walked along the canal and had a spot of tea (did that for Julie!) which really was a Coke zero and beer and pondered our next steps to Burano! After finding a vaporetto to Burano, we arrived. Burano is my favourite of the islands as it has FLAT bridges! I can get from one side of Burano to the other with no issues! So after spending some time there and Andrew trying an Italian alcoholic drink called Aperol (it is orange) we got on another vaporetto and went to Torcello which is another island like Murano and Burano but only a few people live there as it is now primarily a nature reserve. Founded in the 5th century, Torcello is even older than Venice and was a very important island in ancient times, once having a population around 20,000. However, malaria hit the island and much of the population either died or left. As the buildings were dismantled for their materials, little remains of the palaces, churches, and monasteries. When we got there and I realized that the vaporetto will not return for another 30 minutes and we were still an hour away from Venice, we took some pictures and got right back on the boat to return to Murano in order to catch the once an hour boat back to Venice. An hour later (and two bridge climbs) we were back at the St. Regis! Unfortunately we got some bad news at that point. Holland America who was to transport us to Trieste, where our next cruise was departing from, was not able to confirm our transportation, despite already confirming it 2 weeks ago! So we then had to make alternate arrangements and take the train with our luggage. Oh joy. As we were tired, we ordered Room Service for dinner and got to packing up our stuff as compactly as possible for the journey!

Today we are scheduled to take the train to Venice from Firenze! To start off this train trip is free, due to a mix up in the booking process when I booked our tickets on May 8th in Rome. I find it is important when something goes incorrectly AND you receive a feedback e-mail to provide factual advice on how a business could improve. Andrew and I have taken trains in Italy previously and the type of train we were taking is very hard for me to get onto as the steps are very high. In Italy they have a service called Sala Blue which is for people with mobility challenges and they assist them getting on and off trains. So I booked our tickets in Business Class, confirmed our seats and then wrote a note asking for the contact information for the Firenze and Venice Santa Lucia Sala Blue services. The response I got back was that the train service does not deal with the Sala Blue. End stop. No other information. I just happened to get the customer service feedback at the same time as I received the response so I responded to the Customer Service e-mail and indicated that I was surprised that for Italia Rail to sell tickets and not provide at least the phone number or e-mail address to their customers was strange. I then went to bed. Got up in the morning and there was a response from the CEO apologizing, complimentary tickets and contact information for the Sala Blu offices that I had requested. I was shocked! I was only providing feedback that it would be nice and I was fully intending to look up the information myself! Oh well, one thing off my plate to do! Now, fast forward, we are in Firenze and the Sala Blu people found us and are waiting with us and the lift to get me onto the train. Very happy with the service! It was a 2 hour and 20 minute ride and things went very well! Got to Venice, bought our Vaporetto tickets and got onto the correct boat and off to the hotel. Now, another short story. We were staying at the Sr. Regis Venice – yes pretty nice hotel – all on points remember! The Butler had e-mailed me 3 days prior asking if I needed them to do anything for me so I asked for 3 things – 1. Reminded I needed an accessible room. 2. I eat gluten free (as breakfast is provided) and 3. What is the best way to get to the hotel using a wheeled mobility device (wheelchair) from the Vaporetto stop for boat 1? I knew we had to take Boat 1 from when we were there with Karen, as Boat 2 has stairs at San Marco square. I received a response for Items 1 and 2 and then told me the Vaporetto stop at the train station for Item 3. So I wrote back and thanked them for confirming the train station stop but it was how to get to the hotel from the Boat 1 stop at San Marco Square that I needed. I received no response. This was the day before we travelled. On May 18th, while on the train, I still did not hear back I translated my needs into Italian and sent them another e-mail indicating I needed to know how to get to the hotel without going over a bridge that has stairs thinking that might be a better approach. Three hours later I still had not heard from anyone and we found ourselves at the bottom of a bridge, very nice bridge with 20 steps up and 20 steps down and I was exhausted and unable to do the climb. So we called the hotel. They sent the concierge over and they just did not seem to understand what the problem was. Oh dear. You have a FULLY ACCESSIBLE HOTEL but no way of getting there? Does that note make sense to you? Nope. So Andrew took the luggage over the bridge to the hotel while they called a water taxi for me and that water taxi (which yes I had to go down 3 stairs to get onto) took me down the canal about 200 feet and around the corner to how most people arrive at the hotel – by water taxi! Do you THINK they could have told us that in an e-mail? Perhaps. When I talked to the Front Desk Manager (I was really mad at this point) as he also did not see the logic of accessible hotel but no way to access it – he said “why did you not take an accessible water taxi”? I almost lost it on the very nice French man. As I said to him as calmly as I could, “if someone had responded to my e-mails with that information, especially considering my e-mail lead off with I needed a wheelchair accessible room, then this whole discussion would not have been necessary”. So the compromise? They would pay for our trip back to the train station on Friday in an accessible water taxi. So now we are at the beautiful St. Regis! Wow – is all I can say. We sat out on the patio and watch the traffic go by while waiting for our room – which we were upgraded to an accessible suite which was nice. For dinner, we walked to the only restaurant on the island (remember Venice is a bunch of interconnected islands) where I did not have to cross a bridge and had dinner – which again was scrumptious! Tomorrow we are off to “accessible” Venice which are the Islands of Murano and Burano!