Poesia W. Mediterranean plus Barcelona Oct/Nov '19 photo journal

[mimmy52]

Gosh, it's time to eat again.  We certainly did a lot of eating on this cruise.  A starter on the menu tonight was fried olives stuffed with mixed meat.  I love olives and I love fried olives so I don't know why they had to ruin it by stuffing them with meat (which I don't eat).  But Rose ordered the olives.  There were only three on the plate and they're small.  Yet the starter I had at lunch, the potato mozzarella croquettes, could have been a meal in itself.

 

I had the Mahi-Mahi.  Usually I enjoy Mahi-Mahi.  It was only okay, and not nearly as good as the perch I had at lunch.

 

Rose had a pork chop.  She said it was very good.

 

One of the desserts was coconut rice pudding.

 

The white chocolate mousse cake was more my style.

 

After our nightly stop in the Zebra Bar, we took our seats in the theater.  There was often some comedy for pre-show entertainment.

 

Tonight's show was "The Mystery of China in Tao."  It was very good and the costumes were great.  There were acrobats and aerial acrobats and contortionists.  Other than the theme, it seemed much like the first show I saw.

 

 

 

We met a couple from Texas who said this was their fifth MSC cruise.  They think the food is hit and miss but they come for the shows because they think they're the best around.

 

Mari and I finished off the night in the Pigalle Lounge.  It was almost empty.

 

She wanted to hear Duo Hot Pepper because she liked the saxophone.  They played two songs, only one with the sax, then took a break, so we left to get ready for tomorrow.

 

[mimmy52]

19 minutes ago, cmdchiefthom said:

Mimmy52,

Your comments about the Baked Alaska brought back memories from when I began cruising aboard ships of the Holland America Line in the late 1990's.  The dish was served only one night during a 7 day cruise, but the presentation was like a military parade. 😉The  Baked Alaska was brought as the lights were dimmed in by the waiters with sparklers lit up on large silver trays held up above the tables with the waiters parading through and around all the dining in all the dining rooms!  Quite an image!😃

Sparklers would have been cool.  The parade always seemed something of a hurried event and they never came down the aisle by our table.  I once was at a dinner as part of a conference where the waiters came in on skates carrying baked Alaska on trays and they were actually flaming.  It was in a restaurant though, not a cruise ship, so guess they could do that.

[cmdchiefthom]

I hate to rank cruise lines by food, but here goes my top to bottom of the lines I've sailed aboard:

 

HAL: ALWAYS TASTY

NCL: UP UNTIL JACK DEL RIO TOOK OVER, THE FOOD WAS PRETTY GOOD! NO WAY NOW!

PRINCESS: I WAS PRETTY HAPPY WITH THE FARE ABOARD PRINCESS' SHIPS

MSC:  ONLY ONE CRUISE ABOARD THE SEASIDE, IN THE YC AND THE FOOD THERE WAS SATISFACTORY.  I HAVE 25 DAYS COMING UP IN A COUPLE OF MONTHS ABOARD THE DIVINA FOLLOWED BY THE SEASIDE.  WE'LL SEE HOW THAT GOES😉

 

 

[Oakman58]

I'm sitting here with bated breath waiting for your next installment.

[mimmy52]

On 11/24/2019 at 1:14 PM, cmdchiefthom said:

I hate to rank cruise lines by food, but here goes my top to bottom of the lines I've sailed aboard:

 

HAL: ALWAYS TASTY

NCL: UP UNTIL JACK DEL RIO TOOK OVER, THE FOOD WAS PRETTY GOOD! NO WAY NOW!

PRINCESS: I WAS PRETTY HAPPY WITH THE FARE ABOARD PRINCESS' SHIPS

MSC:  ONLY ONE CRUISE ABOARD THE SEASIDE, IN THE YC AND THE FOOD THERE WAS SATISFACTORY.  I HAVE 25 DAYS COMING UP IN A COUPLE OF MONTHS ABOARD THE DIVINA FOLLOWED BY THE SEASIDE.  WE'LL SEE HOW THAT GOES😉

 

 

Cmdchiefthom, you're so fortunate to have cruised often enough that you can make comparisons.  25 days is a long time to be cruising so I hope it not only lives up to, but also exceeds, your expectations.

 

[mimmy52]

3 hours ago, Oakman58 said:

I'm sitting here with bated breath waiting for your next installment.

Hope you're not out of breath yet, Oakman.  I take a lot of photos and it always takes me a while to decide which ones to include.  This trip I took a lot of them with my phone too so I've been going back and forth deciding.

[mimmy52]

Saturday, November 2 - Civitavecchia, port of Rome, Italy

 

The weather looks a little gloomy as we pull into port this morning, and the forecast calls for rain.  It's cooler too with a high forecast in the 60s.

 

Some interesting ships in port.  I think the Batman one is a ferry.

 

 

Some passengers are disembarking today which means there will be other embarking.  Goodbye!

 

There's one lonely sailboat in the harbor.

 

All in our group have been to Rome before, so four of us decided we would do the "Tuscania and Tarquinia" excursion.  Nan decided she would walk into Civitavecchia since the Daily Program said you can easily visit the city center on foot, and the youngster is going on a walking tour of Rome.  We met for our excursion in the Zebra Bar at 9:45 and were on the bus and on our way by 10:00.  We are on a bilingual English/Italian bus.

 

As we are leaving the port, we pass Forte Michelangelo built at the order of Pope Julius II.

 

We also pass the old city walls which were built at the direction of Pope Urban VIII (if you believe the Daily Program) or Pope Urban VII (if you believe Wikipedia). (Now I'm trying not to get bogged down thinking about the name Urban and a city being an urban area.  Which came first?)  The bus had started speeding up so I got not only reflections but also blur.  It's still the best one I had.

 

We are going to Tarquinia first and on the way we pass an ancient aqueduct.

 

We also pass what Tarquinia is most noted for--its Etruscan painted tombs.

 

I thought we would pull into a parking lot and visit, but the tombs weren't part of the excursion.  I had to read the excursion description again later to know that it was never said we would visit them.  But now we pull into Tarquinia.  This city was a power as early as the 8th century BC.

 

 

The national museum.

 

 

[mimmy52]

We entered the courtyard of a museum devoted to Etruscan times.  Our guide talked about the Etruscans and their burials and how little is really known about them.

 

 

We started walking through the very picturesque city.

 

Me, less picturesque than the city, but what a beautiful spot.

 

 

We didn't need to ponder--our guide knew the way.

 

 

 

 

Once we went through the archway, we saw this.  Either they'd had a big Halloween bash or they're planning one for tonight.

 

We were able to go up the stairs and walk along the wall.  The steps were uneven, so not everyone did.  Fortunately, there were railings.

 

Nice view from above.

 

 

 

[mimmy52]

The view from another angle.

 

Continuing--carefully--along the wall.

 

 

I went inside the room that seemed to be the end, but it was set up for a Halloween scare and not so interesting.  Another view.

 

Looking down at the folks who stayed below and a dog walker.

 

The dog was sweet and popular with everyone and when I was down I had to pet her a few times too.

 

Looking back as we move on.

 

The morning glories were glorious.

 

As we walked along, we were told more about the city, but I don't take notes and I can seldom remember much of what was said.  So we passed these places.

 

 

We spot a produce shop and we all stop as if we've never seen fruit and vegetables before.

 

[mimmy52]

We turned a corner and everyone was immediately interested in what was under the canopies.  This marked the start of free time. Turned out to be craft sellers and they had interesting items for sale, especially jewelry.  A lot of purchases were made, even by our tour guide.

 

There were other views of interest too.

 

 

The city must be planning (or has already had) a big blast for Halloween if even the plants are covered with webbing.

 

We met up with our guide again at the designated time in a plaza near the parking lot.

 

Back on the bus, we were on our way to Tuscania.  It was about a 30 minute ride.

 

We viewed the city walls from the parking lot.

 

Then entered Tuscania through a portal.

 

We walked past shops and restaurants.

 

And we stopped at a 17th century Baroque fountain.  A couple on this tour have a habit of being the first in front of every place of interest so he could take photos of his companion (I was going to say wife but I don't know if she was).  It wouldn't bother me if it was just one snapshot, but he takes multiples while the rest of us wait our turn. And it wouldn't have bothered me if it was just this one place, but it's everywhere.  The grayer skies must be making me grumpy.

 

We continued walking.

 

[mimmy52]

There's a lower level to Tuscania.

 

We passed under another archway.

 

 

It opened into a wide vista.

 

We all scattered out along the wall, but the guide stayed on the hill and perhaps was describing what we were able to see, but I wasn't able to hear her.  I really wish the tour companies used listening devices.

 

 

 

We were left at the overlook spot for free time.  Mari and I walked back the way we'd come.

 

There was an interesting shop.  Etruscan musical instruments? No, I guess not.

 

The church of San Giacomo was behind the fountain we saw earlier.

 

We went inside.

 

[mimmy52]

An altar in a side chapel.

 

In the coffin underneath are bones.  And a scroll.  I didn't see any indication of who the occupant was.

 

Some of the kneeler pads were lifted so if you wished you could punish yourself when kneeling.  Or maybe kneeling on the wood was a penance given.

 

When we left the church, I spotted a gelato shop and Mari decided to go shopping.  The gelato really hit the spot.

 

I sat on a bench outside to eat it and had the view of flowers and an old building which was pleasant.

 

Time to head to the meeting spot, this time at the bus in the parking lot.

 

A memorial of some kind in the parking lot.

 

The three in our group who had planned on shopping were disappointed.  They said all the shops had closed, maybe for lunch, but it made them disappointed in Tuscania.  We thought a better tour would have been to stay in Tarquinia and see the Etruscan painted tombs rather than going to Tuscania.  Driving back to Civitavecchia, we passed this.

 

We're getting to the port.  The Batman ship and our ship are visible.

 

We pass Forte Michelangelo again.

 

One couple wanted to be left off the bus before we reached the terminal, and that was okay with the driver and guide.  Other people got off because they thought that's where the bus was stopping, then got back on again when they realized it was still a little walk to the terminal.

 

Inside the terminal.

 

Some people are clever enough in their trip reports to take a picture of the ship and pinpoint their cabin.  I know our deck was above the inflatable rafts, but I couldn't tell exactly which cabin we had.

[mimmy52]

It was about 2:30 when we got back and we went right to the buffet.  Their pizza is great.  Jo and Rose like it so much they've taken to getting some and bringing it back to the room about 10:00 each night.

 

Mari had what they called charcoal pizza and thought it was good.

 

I just have plain old cheese pizza (along with the really good fries).

 

And dessert.  Always dessert.

 

Sunset was really early tonight at 5:06, not that we could see it because of the clouds.  I watched the terminal while the tours that had spent the day in Rome were arriving back.  It was dark and rain was pouring down.  Most everyone was back on the ship when I took this picture.

 

We pulled away from the dock while we were at dinner.  I had sauteed mussels marinara for a starter.  Mmmm, good.

 

And risotto pescatora with seafood and tomato for the main course.  It was okay but the risotto has never matched the excellence of the asparagus risotto I had the first night on the ship.

 

My dessert was called chocolate duo cake.

 

And someone else had tarte tatin--confit apple, buttered caramel cream, and mascarpone fleurette.

 

No show in the theater tonight!  We were surprised.  Instead we first visited Bar dei Poeti and heard a duo and then a piano player.

 

I had a glass of Cava.

 

The duo, NJ

 

Then we went to the Zebra Bar and listened to Duo Sol and Fe (my favorite) and after that the Lucky Band.  Another wonderful day!

 

 

 

[2013cruiser2013]

Thanks again for your great posts! We're considering the same tour you just described when we're on Seaview in this spring. How long did it take to drive from the port to your destinations (Tarquinia and Tuscania)? 

[mimmy52]

2013cruiser, the excursion description mentioned a 50 minute drive from the port to Tuscania but we went to Tarquinia first and it seemed shorter.  It took about 30 minutes to go from Tarquinia to Tuscania and then it probably did take 50 minutes to get back to the port.  It never seemed overly long.

[mimmy52]

Sunday, November 3 - Genoa, Italy

 

It was raining as we pulled into the dock in Genoa and the high today will only be about 59 degrees Fahrenheit.  I had to put on shoes and a sweater for the balcony so I could take pictures of our ship's entry into the port.  We passed some interesting sights.

 

 

 

 

Some mornings Mari orders room service so she can relax with coffee before she eats.  It's a shame there isn't a coffee maker in the room.  

 

The excursion Mari and I are taking today is called "Historical Centre," and we're meeting at 9:15 in the Pigalle Lounge.  The others have a different excursion, but they were in Pigalle Lounge too.  Carolyn said she had a sore throat and had gone to the medical center.  She had to pay 100 euros for the visit and was given antibiotics and a nasal spray and she doesn't yet know what that cost is.

 

When we checked in for our excursion, there were blue plastic ponchos available to take for the rain.  At 9:30, four of the tour groups were called and we walked to the terminal together.  Another ship is in port too (can't remember which one) and they have tour groups walking to the terminal. 

The line just to enter the terminal.

 

Both ships have passengers disembarking so we had to wade through luggage to get out the terminal door.  It was hard to keep our MSC person with a paddle in sight.  It was a madhouse!  Outside we had to avoid those pulling suitcases and also vehicles.  I just followed the crowd because by this time I couldn't see our MSC lead person any longer.

 

One of the things that attracted Mari and me to this excursion was that it started with a ferry ride.  We walked to the ferry and discovered that many of the excursions are using it.  I guess we should have expected that.

 

We're enjoying the ferry ride even though it's raining so hard we can't see out the windows.

 

Our ferry, photo taken after we got off.

 

The ferry took us to Piazza Caricamento where we met our tour guide although it was hard to find her in the crowd because she was clutching the paddle to her chest unlike the other guides who had their paddles raised.  Our tour will be conducted in French and English.  She was the worst tour guide of our trip.  There were even times we had to remind her that we hadn't heard the English version of her description yet.  She was fiddling with something in her hand which I took at first to be her phone but turned out to be a microphone.  She couldn't get it to work.  We could hear the other tour guides setting out and talking on their microphones, but our guide (I can't remember her name) blamed the non-working microphone on the fact that she'd been waiting here for us for an hour.  As if we'd had any control over our arrival time.

 

At least we'd found a canopy to stand under so I could take pictures.

 

Our group all huddled in blue ponchos while our guide begins her spiel.

 

Directly across from us is the Palace of St. George built in 1260 for the Doge--aka ruler--of the Republic of Genoa as it was at that time.  Not great photos since I stayed under the canopy to keep my camera dry.

 

 

 

 

[mimmy52]

Buildings in Piazza Caricamento. I like the one that looks as if it has a bit of a castle on top.

 

We started walking.

 

 

Facade of the Palace of Domenico Grillo that is in another piazza with the church of Santa Maria delle Vigne on the left.

 

 

Our guide said we could enter the church for a brief visit.

 

It dates from the 10 century.

 

 

 

 

I like how a palm tree figures into the statues.

 

Time to hit the road again.

 

 

[mimmy52]

We pass such interesting side streets, if that could even be called a street.

 

We are marching along, uphill now, on a slippery street.

 

Looking back, it's easier to see the street although it doesn't look as steep as it felt when I was walking it.

 

We entered the Palazzo Bianco, the White Palace.  It is now a city art gallery.

 

We are told to put our umbrellas in the corner.

 

But we don't go any further.  We look at the staircase while our guide talks about famous paintings that are housed here.  Maybe we just needed a few minutes out of the rain.

 

We were packed together so tightly, I stepped outside to get some air and took a couple of pictures.

 

 

We started moving again and were passing some interesting places but our guide didn't give us any time for taking photos.

 

 

Some of our group entered this courtyard to take a few pictures.  I took this one, then noticed the rest of the group was getting away from me and I hurried after them.

 

I managed to snap this interesting building though.

[mimmy52]

I managed to catch up with the group when we turned the corner onto Piazza De Ferrari.  This tour guide never checked to see if everyone was with her.  Not at any of the stops we made and not ever before taking off again.  I'd thought Mari was ahead of me since she has a longer stride, but I didn't see her.

 

While we were admiring Piazza De Ferrari, a small group of blue-clad folks joined us.  It was the rest of our tour people, the ones who'd stopped to take photos of the inner courtyard.  Fortunately Mari was with them.

 

 

Piazza De Ferrari is the main square between the historical section of Genoa and the modern center.  A lot of the buildings around it are financial businesses.  Even in the rain it was interesting.

 

Our next stop was Ducal Palace.  I caught a corner of it in the photo below on the right hand side.  The colorful building.

 

Inside and up a flight of stairs.

 

And then we stopped on the landing.  To the right was another flight of stairs with the symbol of Genoa displayed at the top.

 

The flight of stairs to the left led to an art museum, but we weren't going there.

 

We went back downstairs and turned into an open area that had some kind of exhibition.

 

When we walked through another doorway, there were stairs to the left and an elevator in front.  The elevator was full so our tour guide said we'd take the stairs.  This staircase went up and up and up.  It was half stairs, half ramp.

 

 

Our guide had said we would have a surprise at the top.  I thought she meant we'd have a close-up view of this tower.

[mimmy52]

The surprise was actually that we were stopping for snacks.

 

It was nice to get out of the rain for a while.  Plus there was food.  There were tastings of bruschetta and focaccia 

 

We could also have white wine and still or sparkling water.  Some among us, not saying who, may have helped themselves to two glasses of wine since there wasn't much more than a taste in them.

 

At another table were various dippings and products that were for sale.

 

But there was more of Genoa to see.  We left the Ducal Palace by a different entrance, a more elegant one.

 

On one side was a church, Chiesa del Gesu.

 

Is it still raining?

 

Yep.

 

About this time a couple approached and said they'd finally found us!  They'd been lost for over an hour after they'd taken some pictures.  There are so many blue-poncho'd people walking around, they'd even thought another group was ours, but it was a group from MSC Bellisima. Also about this time the rain started coming down in buckets.

 

If you don't have an umbrella, no problem.  There are plenty of umbrella sellers out.  Their umbrellas are actually pretty, with scenes on the inside when the umbrella is opened, but those who were interested wanted small umbrellas.

 

I included this picture because our guide actually has her paddle in the air where it can be seen.

 

We turned another corner to see the Cathedral of San Lorenzo.  Beautiful!  The couple who had just joined us groaned.  This is where they'd been the last hour.

 

[mimmy52]

Details of the Cathedral facade.

 

 

 

This lion decorating the Cathedral stairs looks distinctly disturbed.  It's so annoying when a hair gets in your mouth.

 

We were allowed ten minutes inside.  It was beautiful inside too, but very dark and you could only stay in the back, the aisles were roped off.

 

 

 

Rainy days are always good for naps.

 

In 1941, due to a crew error, a British battleship fired an armor piercing shell into the Cathedral.  It broke through the wall but didn't detonate.  It's still there along with a plaque describing the incident.  My photo wasn't good so this is from the internet.

 

After that we were given free time.  Our guide handed us maps, told us what time to meet at the port, and said to walk downhill from wherever we were and we'd find the port.  Mari and I walked around a little, afraid to get too far away.

 

 

[mimmy52]

We had been walking downhill so it didn't take long and we were back at the port.  Fortunately the rain had let up a little when we were at the Cathedral, just dripping cups now instead of pouring buckets.

 

We came to the Palace of St. George from a different direction and saw this lovely detail.

 

We walked through a covered area that housed small cafes and souvenir shops.

 

Mari suggested we stop for Cokes so we stopped at this ice cream place.

 

Couldn't drink them outside but there were a couple of chairs we could relax in.  There were still Halloween specialties available.

 

There were some vendors set up outside the covered walkway.

 

Time to head to the meeting place.

 

The aquarium is right on the waterfront.

 

I don't know what the dome is.

 

There's an amusement park type ride.

 

We looked around for our guide but didn't see her.  We ran into Nan and Carol who said their guide had told them he wouldn't be there, so I guess ours hadn't intended to either.  Nan had been waiting about half an hour for the ferry, but ours was a special ferry for cruise passengers so it wasn't making regular trips.  We had about a 15 minute wait in a big jumble of folks.  We could see a little more out the windows on the way back, although they were still rain spotted.  There was this ferry.  

 

And a Costa ship in port.

[mimmy52]

We passed the MSC Bellissimi on our walk from the ferry to the terminal building.

 

We had to separate Poesia passengers from Bellissimi passengers, then entered the terminal and stood in a long line for xray.  Our line stalled.  Someone in front of us had something that was a problem.  Carol said it looked like a butter knife, but surely he hadn't been carrying a butter knife around with him.

 

We finally made it back on board and after dropping stuff in our room, headed to the buffet.  They had a welcome aboard cake for the passengers who embarked this morning.

 

Since it was so late, I just had some French fries and a small dessert so I didn't spoil my appetite for dinner.  It was too chilly to sit on our balcony, but we had the door open.  There is really a lot of trash that is collected in the port.

 

I forgot to add this photo this morning.  We had seen a small boat sailing toward our ship and towing something.  It dropped off the "something" which turned out to be a container for trash.  Goodbye to our Halloween decorations.

 

With sunset shortly after 5:00, we were leaving the port of Genoa in the dark.

  

People were standing at railings watching us leave.  The wheel looked pretty at night.

 

 

 

So time for dinner.  Our waiter's assistant took our picture.  The next time I'm going to ask for a booster seat.

 

One of the items for starters was "Petals of tomato and mozzarella fiordilatte."  Doesn't that sound pretty?  I ordered it just so I could see what petals of tomato look like.  The next time I serve sliced tomatoes, I am going to change the name and tell everyone I'm serving petals of tomato.

 

I also had the Gardener's minestrone soup.

 

And for the main course, fillet of cod Ligurian style.  Delicious.

 

[mimmy52]

We had a good lineup for dessert.  I'm sure you'd never guess I love sweets.  Rose had the prettily named Coconut pistachio dacquoise.

 

Mari had the warm apple crumble.

 

Hardly worth a picture but I'll put my dessert here too--vanilla ice cream.

 

After dinner, we went to our favorite bar, the Zebra Bar.

 

Then after a drink, onto the show which tonight is called "Space Odyssey."  As he does before every show, cruise director Nicholas makes the introduction which we always fail to understand.

 

Part of the show is just about costumes.

 

Playing with hoops.

 

A clever laser light show.

 

These acrobats were exceptional.

 

A final look at the costumes.

 

Tonight as we left the theater, some of the performers--acrobats, contortionists, etc--were lined up along the side.  I didn't know if this meant they were leaving after tonight or if some of them had just arrived.  I wish now I'd gotten some pictures.  But it's time for bed.  Tomorrow we'll be in Marseilles and it's the last full day we'll have on the ship.

 

[mimmy52]

Monday, November 4 - Marseille, France

 

It looked pretty gloomy when we pulled into the port of Marseille.  Fingers crossed we won't have another rainy day.

 

The Daily Program said a shuttle bus service is available today for a cost of 16 euros per adult, 10 euros per child, and tickets would be in the cabin.  Again, I presume that is for passengers who have not signed up for an excursion.  It was about 20 minutes to the city center and the first shuttle bus left at 8:15, the last bus to city center left at 3:00 but the last bus from city center to the ship was at 4:45.

 

Five of us are doing a shore excursion called "Avignon and Panoramic of Marseille," leaving the Zebra Bar at 8:15.  On the bus, our guide Roger said Provence enjoys sun 360 days of the year, and unfortunately we happen to be there on one of the five cloudy days.  Since today is cloudy, the kids will not be in school in case they get sick.  I guess if you don't have snow days, you have to come up with something.

 

We start out with a tour of Marseille from the bus.  I got a glimpse of Fort Saint-Jean and a bit of blue sky.

 

On the highest hill sits the Basilica of Notre Dame de la Garde.

 

Marseille has a wheel too.

 

I'm sitting on the right side of the bus with a view of the coast as we continue.

 

This shelter was built to reflect for those who want to take pictures of themselves.

 

Another view of Fort Saint-Jean.

 

Out on that island is Chateau d'if, familiar to those who have read "The Count of Monte Cristo."

 

Some views as we rode along.