CRUISE ITINERARY : WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN
MY FIRST CRUISE ITINERARY
ISLAND ESCAPE
As I mentioned in my last blog post “5 Things I wish I knew on my first cruise” it is 15 years ago this week since I went on that first cruise.
I had no idea what to expect from a cruise and as the years have gone by I have picked up lots of good tips along the way.
One thing I got right straight away though was picking a good cruise itinerary.
For me where you visit is almost the most important thing. You can put up with a lot if you are exploring places around the World that you really want to see.
Fifteen years ago I was only just beginning the fabulous list of places I have visited so far.
This is the story of the places I saw as a wide eyed newbie on that first 7 day voyage aboard the cruise ship Island Escape. A cruise itinerary around the Western Mediterranean.
PORTS OF CALL
Now you can’t sail on the Island Escape any longer. It went to the great scrap yard in the sky in 2018.
You can however still visit the ports of call it sailed to on a Western Mediterranean cruise itinerary. Many of these you are visiting to see sights that have been there for hundreds, thousands, even occasionally millions of years.
If you cruise enough you will find you visit some of these places again and again.
The reason these ports are such regulars on a cruise itinerary is that there are so many things to do in them.
Many deserve a destination post in their own right. (Don’t worry I’ll get round to it eventually!)
For now though these are just the tales of the things I did in each port on that first trip.
This was the cruise I went on full day shore excursions almost every day. It taught me that first tip. “Relax”. With hindsight I know you can always go back!
PALMA DE MALLORCA, SPAIN
This was a fly cruise and I was on familiar territory flying into Palma airport. Mallorca had been the place I came to on my first foreign holiday, my first solo foreign holiday and now my first cruise holiday.
Palma is the capital of Mallorca, one of the Balearic Islands off the east coast of Spain.
The city is overlooked by the huge Gothic Cathedral, built between 1229 and 1601, that immediately tells you where you are as it dominates the skyline overlooking the Med.
Fast forward to the 21st Century and the harbour front is filled with the masts of yachts of all sizes, which themselves are dwarfed by the visiting cruise ships in this popular port.
I’ve been back to walk the sea front and explore this beautiful city many a time since.
On this first cruise though it was viewed from the coach on the airport transfer and the top deck of the ship once I finally boarded.
Exploring the cruise ship usually always wins over the port on day one.
As I’ve said before its why I always try to travel at least a day before my cruise, then you don’t miss seeing that first port.
SEA DAY, WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN
For all I like visiting new places I also want some time to find my way around the ship and to relax. Like most people I had finished work the day before and spent a day travelling to the ship.
You need time to catch your breath once you arrive.
Almost every cruise I’ve been on has a sea day on day one to let you do this. My first cruise itinerary was no exception as we sailed in the Western Mediterranean Sea.
To be honest I don’t have really detailed memories of that first sea day. I think they have merged with the many others since.
I do remember the excitement of actually sailing away from Palma. The thought that I was on a ship, at sea, actually on a cruise. I still get that wonderful feeling now too.
It was a bit of a grey day. But Mediterranean grey, the sort that doesn’t stop the Brits hitting a sun bed.
I know I was relieved to find I wasn’t sea sick. To date I’ve only ever been caught by that once, also sailing out of Palma funnily enough. It was me and the rest of the ship feeling green, as the Captain put his foot down to get us through stormy seas. A bit of me wonders if I got a bit over excited with the all inclusive drinks package on the first night, but I’m still blaming the sea!
But I was now a cruiser, with my first night at sea under my belt.
MESSINA, SICILY, ITALY
My first ever port of call. Messina, on the Italian island of Sicily.
One of my cruising traditions, ever since that first day, is to go up on my way to breakfast, and look out at the port we have arrived in from the top deck of the ship.
Some ports are very industrial. Messina was quite pretty. I had a great view of the town from my vantage point on top of the Island Escape.
However that, and passing through on a coach, was all I actually saw of Messina itself. I have wanted to go back for a proper look ever since. I’ve sailed into other Sicilian ports since, but not Messina.
I had my first shore excursion booked to explore other parts of Sicily that day. It was time for a travel adventure.
Mount Etna
Sicily has many tourist attractions, but the number one highlight I wanted to see was Mount Etna.
Mount Etna is one of the World’s most active volcanoes. You can see it poking through the clouds whilst flying over Sicily.
The option to get up close and see a real volcano was too good to miss.
Unfortunately I got the version with steam coming out, rather than plumes of red hot lava. That’s still on my list of things to see somewhere in the World, despite passing several more volcanoes on my travels.
Even so, our shore excursion took us up roads cut through historic lava flows, where we had wonderful views of the volcano looming ahead of us.
Then we went part way up to the Silvestri Crater. Here the ground was filled with rusty red and dark black pumice. These stones lined a huge dormant crater we had time to walk around and explore.
Just fantastic This was only day two!
Taormina
The shore excursion description said we would also visit the town of Taormina as part of our day trip to Mount Etna.
It meant nothing to me, but that was okay. I would be seeing somewhere new.
Well I now know why ever since I have heard of lots of people visiting Taormina.
Its and old town with narrow streets, perched on a hillside overlooking the sea. It would fit quite nicely as a Game of Thrones city location.
For me though the most memorable part was visiting the Greek amphitheatre, built in the 3rd century BC.
It is also built overlooking the sea. What more of a backdrop would you need for a play than the greenery of the hillside and blue waters of the sea that are framed by the stage.
I can only imagine what it would be like to watch a play here, surrounded by nature, open to the sky. You can go and see plays and concerts here. I had to make do with just looking down at that view.
NAPLES, ITALY
The itinerary for a Western Mediterranean cruise is bounded by the West coast of Italy to the East.
So from Sicily we sailed up the Italian coast to Naples.
The ship docked in port in sight of the Castel Nuovo, or the New Castle. It was only built in the 13th Century! The castle was distinguished as “New” because of the even older Castel dell’Ovo, or egg castle, that already existed.
Both are open to visitors these days.
Naples is one of those ports that repeats a lot, again because there is so much to see.
However the entire reason I chose the Western Mediterranean cruise itinerary for my first cruise was due to something even more impressive that overshadows the city.
Mount Vesuvius!
Pompeii
“Caecilius est pater, Metella est mater, Quintus est filius…”
As a first year at secondary school I began learning Latin with an introduction to a family. Caecilius is the father, Metella is the mother and Quintus is the son… along with Grumio the cook and Cerberus the dog and the rest of their household.
It is still in my head forty years later because these people, whose ancient Roman life we learned about, albeit via school level Latin, really existed, sort of. And I was fascinated by them.
They lived in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, in the town of Pompeii.
And they were somewhat oblivious that Mount Vesuvius was a volcano and it would erupt and bury Pompeii and nearby towns like Herculaneum under Volcanic ash and lava, creating the time capsule of Roman life we were learning about.
This was my shore excursion of the day.
Vesuvius was believed to have erupted on 24th August 79 AD. By sheer coincidence I was visiting on 24th August 2007 AD. 1,928 years later to the day!
It was amazing to see for real.
The colonnades The ruts made by wheels in the cobbled streets. Shops and fast food stalls. Wall paintings and mosaics in the preserved villas.
When the archaeologists found hollows in the ash during the excavations they filled them with plaster of paris. They revealed the forms of people and animals who had died, buried by the volcanic eruption, and in decomposing left a mould of their death throes. Very poignant to see.
Caecilius, a banker in real life, probably died well before Vesuvius erupted. But his house and documents were preserved in Pompeii and so his story, like those of his fellow citizens survived to our present.
Awesome. I left well satisfied with my visit.
LIVORNO, ITALY
Industrial Livorno is not one of the most interesting towns I have explored. Like Naples and Civitavecchia (the port for Rome) it appears on the cruise itinerary for many trips around the Western Mediterranean because its also a gateway to more notable places. In this case the region of Tuscany.
This was another long day shore excursion, because there were two famous places to be visited in one day.
Florence
A shore excursion to Florence is just about enough to give you a flavour of the place and make you realise you can’t possibly see it all in a day.
I doubt a weekend would be enough to scratch the surface.
Despite several return visits to Livorno I haven’t been back here. I think a land based tour of Tuscany would be more appropriate.
We walked past the Ufizzi Gallery, with no time to visit. Michaelangelo’s famous statue of David emblazons souvenir shops everywhere. A copy is outside, as we didn’t have chance to see the real thing.
Although I didn’t see David, I did see Michaelangelo’s tomb in the Basilica of Santa Croce. He’s buried here alongside Machiavelli and Galileo Galilei among others.
We crossed the Arno River on the medieval Ponte Vecchia, or Old Bridge. This was the only bridge across the Arno not destroyed by the Germans in their retreat from Florence during World War II. Why they chose not to destroy this historic bridge is still open to question, though it is believed it was too beautiful to destroy.
The part of Florence that stands out in my mind though is the Duomo, or cathedral, along with the nearby Baptistry and Bell Tower. These are made from red, white and green marble. The colours are amazing. Absolutely beautiful to see up close.
Sadly no time for proper interior tours again. The glimpse I saw was enough.
Pisa
Another town with a lovely cathedral and baptistry is Pisa. Of course it is it’s bell tower that we all know about.
A thousand tourists surrounded it, many with cameras held at a clever angle to capture that photo… holding up the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
The downside of solo travel is that every photo you take of yourself is either a selfie (I have many with my left bicep in shot) or you have to hope for the photographic skills of a friendly passerby.
I wasn’t going to flag down a stranger to attempt a fake shot of me pushing the Tower back up, but I did get a photo with it.
It turned out Pisa was really a quick visit on this tour. Half an hour was enough to see the star attraction.
If I ever go for that land tour to Florence I would call in here for another look. I might yet get that Instaworthy photo.
TOULON, FRANCE
And relax!
This is where I learned that three solid days of full on history was just too much.
We arrived in Toulon, in the South of France, on a Sunday.
It was quiet, and peaceful. For once I hadn’t booked a tour. I’m sure there were shore excursions to be had. Toulon is one of the gateways to Provence. But I was about to learn I could do things myself too.
I got off the ship and went for a walk.
There was a little tourist train for a ride along the sea front.
Most of the town was closed on a Sunday, but there was a market too.
As well as schoolboy Latin I had schoolboy French in my arsenal too. I got to speak French, in France. I’m still pleased with myself about that today!
I even got the souvenir jars of jam I was trying to buy, so it couldn’t have been all that bad.
There’s not really a lot I remember about the place of Toulon itself. It’s that adventure of visiting France, speaking French, enjoying a Sunday morning like the locals. That’s what stays with me to this day.
Not everywhere you visit has to be about sightseeing. Sometimes its just the experience which makes the day.
BARCELONA, SPAIN
Our cruise itinerary continued its loop around the Western Mediterranean, bounded at the top by the South of France and the West by the coast of Spain.
Once more it was time for an iconic city. Barcelona.
This was my second visit to Barcelona, the capital of the region of Catalunya or Catalonia, in Spain.
It was 10 years since my last visit, when I had toured the highlights of the city on a day trip from the nearby resort of Salou.
So I had an idea I could do this myself. We were also docked in the centre of the city which helped.
This was a DIY tour day on a hop on hop off bus.
These follow the colour coded routes around the city to the main attractions, where you can hop off to explore, then hop back on another bus after your visit. Many cities have them and they are a cost effective way to see a lot in a short time.
For sports fans there is a route to the Nou Camp stadium, home of Barcelona FC. An alternative route lets you see the former site of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
I’ve visited both in my time. Well worth a look.
La Sagrada Familia
The iconic landmark of Barcelona though is Antoni Gaudi’s La Sagrada Familia. So I took the route that visited here.
Building of this Roman Catholic cathedral began in 1882, so was in its 125th year at the time of this, my second visit. It still isn’t complete today, although the cathedral was finally consecrated in 2010.
It is a mad monument of art nouveau, gothic revival architecture. Its towers look like they have grown rather than been built. Spectacular and wonderful.
The site is a UNESCO World Heritage site, as incidentally are Pompeii, Pisa, Florence and even Mount Etna.
I know I have photos from several visits over time. One day I might compare them for a game of cathedral building spot the difference.
Whether you see it once or a hundred times, it is definitely a monument worth a visit.
BACK TO PALMA, SPAIN
A tiring, but eventful seven days was over all too quickly. We returned to the port of Palma ready to fly home.
The ports on this Western Mediterranean cruise itinerary offer so much to see you are spoilt for choice.
Nowadays they mix them up a bit too, but some classics always remain. Travelling for two weeks covers even more interesting ports in this part of the Med.
The Italian ports especially offer an amazing opportunity to explore ancient Roman history, as well as the art and culture of Medieval and Renaissance Europe.
If you only have one visit to this part of Europe at least you can tick off some big places.
You’re in the Med too, so there are always sun beds and beaches to lounge on.
Of course at the time I had no idea I would be back for more. Again and again! In fact writing this is making me think it might be worth another look at this wonderful part of the World.
Barcelona, Spain
Toulon, Var, France
Livorno, Italy
Naples, Italy
Messina, Italy
Palma, Balearic Islands, Spain
