Days 6-7: A Day at Sea, and Malta

Day 6: At Sea

Today was a day at sea, so I'll introduce you to the boat.  We were on the Viking Sea, one of the first ships of Viking Ocean Cruises, a sister company to Viking River cruises.  They currently have 3 virtually identical ocean ships, which carry about 1,000 passengers each, and are done up in a Scaninavian motif.  The passengers were about 90% older Americans with a few European and Asian people scattered in.  

Viking Sea

We signed up for a "guaranteed Veranda" room, and were upgraded to what they called a "Veranda Penthouse".  I wouldn't actually call it a penthouse, but it was very roomy, and nicely furnished.

The bathroom was one of the nicest I've had on a ship, with a real shower (with glass walls), and 3-ply toilet paper!

Out on the veranda before leaving Rome

As I mentioned, the ship's interior was a modern Scandinavian design, with lots of light.  Because of its size, we never encountered crowds or long lines.

The main pool can be covered with a sliding glass roof, which was good, because daytime highs were in the high 50's and low 60's.  The pool was on the small side, but the water was heated.  There was also a big screen at the end of the pool, where they showed movies at night.

Main pool with the roof open

Indoor deck chairs

 Next to the pool was an area called the Wintergarden, where they served tea every afternoon.

View from the Wintergarden to the pool

Inside the Wintergarden

There were lots of lounges all over the boat, laid out like living rooms.  Instead of a central library, there were books available in all of the lounges.

A lounge

Another lounge

Yet another lounge

The theater was relatively small (about 300 seats) and was used for lectures and demonstrations.

There were only a couple of shops on board (which was fine with me).  Thankfully, there were no art auctions or Colombian Emerald sales.  There was no casino, but there were a couple of what appeared to be video blackjack tables in one of the lounges.

One of the gift shops, selling Scandinavian clothing

The center of the ship was a 3-story atrium, surrounded by lounges.

The Atrium

At the top of the atrium stairway there was a huge video screen, displaying a series of photos.

 There was also a Scandinavian history museum on board.

For eating, there was a buffet restaurant, a main sit-down dining room, and a couple of specialty restaurants.  There was also a Scandinavian deli that served things like steak tartare and smoked salmon (but not lutefisk).

Seating at the buffet

The main dining room

One of the specialty restaurants--an Italian Grill

There was a large spa area on one of the lower decks, featuring a Thalossotherapy pool (basically a pool-sized hot tub) and heated lounge chairs.

The Thalossotherapy pool

Heated lounges

During the day and early evening there was a pianist (whose name was Kalman, the first person I've heard with that name since my great-uncle), and a classical trio.

Kalman, the pianist

During the day at sea, there wasn't much to see, except for passing by the island of Stromboli, which is an active volcano.

Stromboli in the distance

Day 7: Malta

This was our third trip to Malta.  Viking Cruises offers a free shore excursion at each port, as well as several that you can pay for.  The free excursion was a tour of the main island, and since we had visited the principal town, Valletta, on our two previous trips, we opted for the free tour.

View of the cruise dock area in Valletta from the ship

On our way out of Valetta

After leaving Valletta,  we headed up the coast towards the north part of the island, to St. Paul's Bay.

St. Paul's Bay

Just to prove I was there

From there, we went back down the middle of the island to Mdina, an ancient walled city, which dates from the 8th century.

Mdina, from a distance

A local driver outside Mdina

Unfortunately, we only had time for a 5 minute trip inside the walls, but since we had been there on a previous trip, it wasn't a total loss.

Entering Mdina

Inside Mdina

Inside Mdina

Exterior view of the walls of Mdina

From Mdina, we headed towards the west coast and stopped at the Blue Lagoon (not to be confused with the one in Italy).

The Blue Lagoon of Malta

Next, we headed towards the southeast coast and the fishing town of Marsaxlokk, where we wandered around for a while.

Harbor in Marsazlokk

A church in Marsaxlokk

Another view of the harbor

Finally, we returned to the ship, and spent the rest of the afternoon on board.

View of Valletta from the ship

Another view of central Valletta

Lounging by the pool in Valletta

Coming soon: Days 8 and 9 -- Tunisia and Cagliari, Sardinia

Days 1-5: Rome and San Marino

Day 1: Arrival in Rome

We flew direct from RDU to Paris and then on to Rome, arriving in Rome at about 1:00 PM.  Our hotel, the Monti Palace, was in a neighborhood about 3 blocks from the Colosseum.  Although the hotel was built in about 1910 and didn't look like much from the outside, it was very up-to-date (albeit with small rooms) inside.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take any pictures of our room.  The hotel wasn't in the hippest area of Rome, but the neighborhood had some local character.

Monti Palace Hotel

View from a back window of the hotel

After taking a nap, we went to a local bar for a drink.  After a couple of drinks, we decided to have some bar food, which was pretty good.  The highlight was the music that was playing, which was almost entirely from the 60's and 70's, including the legendary "Gimme Dat Ding" by the Pipkins.

Enjoying the Pipkins

Day 2: The Colosseum and Roman Forum

Since our hotel was close to the Colosseum, we decided to make that our first stop.  It remains largely unchanged since we last visited it in 1990.  Actually, it remains largely unchanged since the Middle Ages.

Under normal circumstances, visitors to the Colosseum can only visit the above-ground levels, but you can book a special tour to visit the "underground" where the animals and gladiators stayed until they were brought up for their events. In Roman times, the underground was covered by wood, which in turn was covered by sand to make up the floor of the Colosseum.  Today, the underground areas are mostly exposed.

View of the underground areas from the seating area

View from down below

Where prisoners and animals waited

Elevator used to raise animals to the floor

Next to the Colosseum is the Arch of Constantine, which was built to commemorate Constantine's victory at the Battle of Milvian Bridge in 312.  Across from the Arch is a corner of the Roman Forum.

View of Arch of Constantine (left) and Roman Forum from the top of the Colosseum

Constantine's Arch 

From the Colosseum and Arch of Constantine, we went across the street to the Roman Forum, which was the center of activity in Rome from about the 8th century BC to about 112 AD.    Our first stop in the forum was the Arch of Titus, which was built in 82 AD.

Arch of Titus

Carving in Arch of Titus commemorating the Siege of Jerusalem 

Near the Arch of Titus is the Basilica of Maxentius, which was completed in 312 AD.  The only remaining part is one of the side halls, so in the picture below, the people on the left are basically in what was the center of the building.

Basilica of Maxentius

We continued walking along the Via Sacra, which was the main street of the Roman Forum.

General view of the Roman Forum

American tourist amidst the ruins

Along the Via Sacra

The doors of the Temple of Romulus are original, dating from the 3rd century AD

We then walked up the Palatine Hill, which overlooks the Roman Forum.

View of the Roman Forum from Palatine Hill

Bird's eye view (literally) of the Roman Forum

Colosseum and Arch of Titus as seen from Palatine Hill

That was pretty much it for the day.  We went back to the hotel for a nap and had dinner in the neighborhood.  I don't remember what we ate, but pasta was probably involved.

Day 3: San Marino

Today was a trip to San Marino, so I could collect my 113th country.  San Marino is one of those county-sized countries scattered across Europe (like Monaco, Lichtenstein, and Andorra).  Once upon a time there were lots of little principalities like these, but all of the others have been combined into other countries.

Where San Marino is

Although San Marino looks like a pretty straight shot from Rome, it's actually a pain to get to.  First you have to take a train from Rome to Bologna and then transfer to a train from Bologna to Rimini, which is on the coast.  In Rimini, you catch a bus to San Marino.  All in all, the trip takes about 3 1/2 hours.   So, we first took the metro to the main Rome railroad station (Termini)

In the metro station near our hotel.  The Rome metro is not world class.

Then the fun began.  At the metro station, we bought train tickets to Bologna and then to Rimini.  For the Rome-Bologna train, our seats were reserved.  We then went to the tracks and got on a train.  I immediately noticed that the train had neither car numbers nor seat numbers, which made me a little suspicious.  Then the train began rolling about 5 minutes before its scheduled departure, which convinced me that we were on the wrong train.  When the conductor came by (fortunately about 2 minutes after the train left), I explained the situation and he made a face that said "You idiot, you're on the wrong train!"  He didn't speak much English, but there was another passenger who did, and they explained that we needed to get off at the next stop, go back to Rome and get on the next train to Bologna.  So, we got off, and discovered that none of the trains back to Rome went to the station we came from. However, thanks to my trusty Google Fi phone, I was able to determine that there were trains to Bologna from the station we were going back to.  Once we got to the Rome station, we had to buy new tickets to Bologna, but our tickets from Bologna to Rimini were still good.

After all was said and done, we got to Rimini only an hour later than we were scheduled to arrive. Fortunately the bus to San Marino left from near the train station, so by about 3:00 we were in San Marino.

The Most Serene Republic of San Marino (as they like to call it) is about the size of a U.S. county, and the capital city (also called San Marino) is on a small mountain in the center.  It has the smallest population of any country in Europe (33,000) and one of the highest average incomes in the world.

The bus took us to the center of the city, where we discovered that the city and the country are pretty much closed for the winter.   It appeared that about 20 percent of the stores and museums were open.

View over the Principality of San Marino from the city of San Marino

The main industry in San Marino is the sale of duty-free goods, including lots of guns and what looked like more serious weapons.  I later found out that San Marino has the loosest gun laws in Europe.

Where Homer gets his beer

One of many arms stores in San Marino

Since the city was about 3000 feet higher than the surrounding areas, it was about 20 degrees colder, with snow on the ground.

San Marino Town Hall

We spent about an hour wandering around the town, stopping at whatever shops were opening and having sinful cups of hot chocolate at a cafe.

Note tree growing from wall

View of San Marino City from below

Given the lack of anything open, we only spent about an hour there, so our late arrival didn't have much of an effect.  The trip back to Rome was uneventful and we arrived in time for dinner Fortunately Italians eat dinner after 9:00.

Day 4: Touring Rome

Today we bought tickets for one of those "Hop on-Hop off" tourist buses and took the bus around Rome.   The bus left from Termini Railway Station, the main station in Rome.

Inside Termini Railway Station

A protest gathering outside the station

Exterior of Termini Station

First we drove by the Colosseum (which you don't need to see again) and the Roman Forum.

Circus Maximus

Eventually, we got off at the west end of the Roman Forum, and walked over to Trajan's Forum, which is sort of connected to the Roman Forum.  Trajan's forum dates to 112 AD.

Trajan's Tower and part of Trajan's Forum

More of Trajan's Forum

Panoramic view of Trajan's Forum

Near Trajan's Forum is the Victor Emmanuel Monument, which was built in the late 1800's in honor of the first king of reunified Italy.

Victor Emmanuel Monument

We then took the bus around to other points of interest in the city.  The main tourist sights in the city were very crowded, which makes me wonder what it must be like during the high tourist season.

Castel Sant'Angelo, in Vatican City, dating from about 200 AD

Spanish Steps

Trevi Fountain

Crowd looking at Trevi Fountain

Italian Parliament

Eventually, we made our way to the Pantheon, which was completed in about AD 126.  It's probably the most well-preserved building from Ancient Rome.  Definitely a highlight.

Front of the Pantheon

Panoramic view inside the Pantheon

Inside the Pantheon

Dome of the Pantheon

View of the square in front of the Pantheon

We eventually made our way back to the hotel, rested up and went for dinner (presumably pasta).

Our neighborhood at night

St. Mary of the Dumpsters

Day 5: Vatican and to the Ship

The morning was dedicated to a visit to the Vatican, and in the afternoon we made way to our cruise ship.  We began by going to the very secure Metro station near our hotel and taking the Metro to the Vatican.

Just a bit of security at our Metro station

There was a huge line for the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel, and since we had seen them on our last trip, we decided to concentrate on St. Peters Cathedral instead.

St. Peter's Cathedral

St. Peter's Square

 The interior of the cathedral was modestly decorated, likely at very low cost.

We left the cathedral and wandered around St. Peter's square.  The Pope did not honor us with a visit.

View of St. Peter's Square from the Cathedral steps

A Swiss guard

Panoramic view of St. Peters Square and Cathedral

After St. Peter's, we went back to our hotel, got our luggage and headed to the train station.  There we boarded a train (about 45 minutes) to Civitavecchia, the cruise port for Rome.  From the Civitavecchia train station, we walked to the cruise terminal, and boarded the ship.

Festival in Civitavecchia

View of Civitavecchia from the ship

Next: Days 6 and 7 -- A day at sea, and Malta