Day 10: Homeward bound

Never in all my years of traveling have I counted down when it's time to go home. 

Sherrie and I both were just done. We were ready to leave it all behind us. 

Saturday we got up and had a late disembarkation time (9:15) so we just lounged around coughing and hacking and sneezing and blowing our drippy noses. 

We weren't headed to the airport to leave, but rather to the airport to get to a hotel to stay for a night before heading home. I couldn't get a flight out of Rome in time for us to get there so we had to stay an extra night. Not something we really wanted to do at this point, but so be it. We had a hotel and by God we'd survive this nightmare of a cold.

We took the Norwegian shuttle to the airport and promptly found a taxi to take us to our hotel Fuimincino that was supposed to be "close" to the airport. A 15 minute taxi ride around winding streets that made no sense and at least a dozen round-a-bouts. 

Side note: Rome drivers are scary. I thought we were going to die at least a dozen times in that 15 minute trip. 

The taxi driver eventually found Suite Fuimincino hotel and dropped us off. The hotel was a B&B and was locked up tight by a gate. We had no idea how to get in. I ultimately had to call the woman I was chatting with in WhatsApp to find out how we get in. She buzzed us in a gate just down from where we were dropped off. 

After all the paper work, she walked us to our room and showed us how to use the fancy key. She opened the door to what I can only describe as the most basic room I've ever seen. 

Have you ever seen a nunnery in a movie and it shows their rooms? There's a bed and maybe a side table and maybe a lamp on that side table. That. That's what this room was like.

Frankly, I didn't care. I just needed a clean bed to sleep in. 

We dropped our bags and went out in search of lunch. Neither of us overly hungry, but we knew we had to eat. 

We found the beach and a little seafood restaurant that appeared to be opened. Sherrie got her salad and I got gnocci that was absolutely disgusting. But the best part...we got our Fantas.

On our way back from lunch we both agreed we weren't going out for dinner, but we'd need something. We found a small grocery store and bought some items for dinner. I bought a premade sandwich, what looked like BBQ chips and some cough drops. I had a feeling it was going to be a terrible dinner, but I'd survive. 

I was right. I wish I had taken a photo of the sandwich because it really was pathetic. 

The next morning we were up bright and early to get to the airport by 6am. We got our bags checked and headed through security. 

We found the duty free and bought some more chocolate to bring home with us and then found some breakfast and coffee. 

I'd say the flight home was uneventful, but I was having some tummy problems and TWICE almost didn't make the bathroom. 

Alas, we made it home. I walked in the door about 8pm. Hugged the cat. Drug my suitcase upstairs and then took a shower to get all the travel gunk off me. I fell into bed by 9am and woke bright and early at 3:30 am. 

It feels good to be home. Linus is happy and clearly missed all the attention he's used to. He hasn't left my side. 

Day 8 & 9 Greece Trip: Pompeii and Florence/Pisa - or should I say..."the ship cabin"

 So....we spent a couple of days in the cabin. Not the most fun that's for sure. 

Sherrie came back from Messina a lot in pain and sporting a helluva cold all of a sudden. Her head was stuffed and full of sinus pressure. All I could think was "Crap, now I'm gonna get sick too." 

And sure enough, Thursday morning I woke with a sore throat. I could have suffered through Pompeii if Sherrie wanted to go. She was having none of it. By the time she woke up on Thursday it was full on sinus pressure. She was one unhappy cruiser.

Our port today was Salerno. Our plan was to go to Pompeii. It was one of the stops Sherrie was really looking forward to. She's not seen Pompeii and really wanted to. I choose to not go alone. I've seen Pompeii and I knew I was getting the cold Sherrie brought home from Messina. 

We sat in the room most the day. Leaving only to get dinner or, in my case, Starbucks. 

The next day we were scheduled to go to Florence. I had already cancelled my excursion because they added a 45 minute walk back to the bus at the end of the day and I knew I wouldn't be able to do that after a 10 hour excursion. Sherrie decided on Thursday that there was no way she'd make it easy. We went to the excursion desk and, thankfully, we were able to get her money back for it. Cuz it was an expensive one. 

Friday we did much of the same we did on Thursday. We sat in the room, stuffy and coughy. We watched some movies. We left only for food and spent a good part of the day sleeping.

Those two days were both boring as hell and a complete blur. I remember sitting in the room thinking I was going to die of boredom, but the next thing I know it's time to pack our bags and put them out for us to disembark on Saturday. 

This should be a fun trip home. Nothing like traveling when you feel like crap. 

Day 7 Greece Trip: Messina, Sicily

Sooo….I stayed on the boat again today. It wasn’t originally planned, but after yesterdays walk about my back started acting up.

It kept cramping yesterday during our walk, then again several times that night. Slept like crap and had to keep getting up to stretch the back. Plus the right shin started cramping about 2am. I felt like I was one big ball of cramps.

When I got up, the back didn’t feel much better. I knew then I wasn’t going to go. I debated back and forth but since tomorrow is Pompeii I really wanted to be ready for that. So I stayed behind. I’ve been to Messina, in fact, the excursion we had today was the one we did last year, so I figured I wasn’t missing much. Sherrie went though.

I definitely made the right call. I stayed and iced and stretched and iced and stretched. It feels immensely better tonight.

Sherrie went and had a good time, but came back pretty sore. Her neck has been outta whack for several days and today put her over the edge. When she got back she ate lunch and then we went straight to the spa to see if she could get a massage. They took her right away. She feels way better now, so it was worth it. She also decided to cancel the Florence and Pisa excursion on Friday. It’s a 10 hour excursion and she just didn’t think she could with her neck being like it is. So we’ll both spend the day on the boat doing nothing. It sounds glorious!

My day was rather boring really. I shuffled up to breakfast and then stopped at Starbucks on the way back to the room. Then I just lazed around the room. I turned on the TV in time to watch The Nickel Boys. What a terrible movie. The book was fantastic, the movie was terrible.

  

Tomorrow, as I said, is Pompeii. I’m a bit anxious about getting there on time to make our tour, but I’m sure it’ll be fine. It’s just me being paranoid again.

Day 6 Greece Trip: Malta (Valletta and Mdina)

Oh my goodness! Malta is BY FAR my most favorite port yet. Coming into the port you see the walled city immediately. It’s beautiful. The water is beautiful. It’s just…well…beautiful.

Our excursion today was a walking tour of Valletta and Mdina. We started at Valletta and saw some pretty cool things. The tour guide was a funny little man. He was a slow stroller and stopped every now and then and would tell us some history. I, personally, loved this over using the whispers because I hate having those damn things in my ear.

Anyhow, there’s a bunch of history around Valletta but none can I remember to tell you. If you want to know you can go look it up.

We strolled up to the Barrakka Gardens. It overlooks the harbor and has these amazing arches up there.

From there we walked over to St. John’s church. We were given a whole 15 minutes of free time before we had to meet back up at a spot that was about a 15 minute walk away.

After hiking back to the bus we headed to the walled city of Mdina.

You might recognize the gate into Mdina if you’re a Game of Thrones fan.

Inside had these narrow alleyways that were a ton of fun to photograph.

And of course we had to do our crab picture as we got back on the boat, but before that, we ran through a gift shop and I bought a Christmas tree ornament. 

Day 5 Greece Trip: Olympia

Today started out wet…very wet. We had a thunderstorm as we came into port and the clouds just opened up and dumped. We wondered for a bit if they’d cancel the excursions for thunderstorms. They did not.

I can’t say we were looking forward to walking around the Olympic archeological site in a downpour, but we would because we were here. Turns out the clouds parted and it was decent. Not overly sunny but overcast and not raining.

We drove 30 minutes to get to the archeological site and were promptly greeted by a cat.

The Olympic archeological site is where the Olympics were born in 2 AD. We saw the ruins of the training facility, the baths, the stadium itself, and so many temples. Zeus of course had the biggest, though it’s no longer standing. It still has the altar where the first Olympic flame was lit. To this day, every time there's an Olympics, they light it from this altar. There's a big ceremony and all. 

The entrance into the Olympic stadium

The Olympic Stadium

The altar the olympic flame is ignited from

Interesting fact, the Olympics were held naked. All the athletes were naked, the spectators were naked too. Who knew?

After the archeological site we went to a local, family-owned winery. Their family have been making wine for 150 years. We were greeted by their family dogs. All three were adorable, two followed us on the tour.

I can’t say their wine was good. It wasn’t to my taste. The snacks they gave us though were delicious. They also make olive oil so we had bread with some spreads on it and some with olive oil along with salami and cheese. It was delicious.

After we headed out and the two “guard dogs” were sleeping right in front of the door. Not a soul disturbed them, we all walked around them. Then to my enjoyment another cat showed up. I’ve lost count of how many photos I’ve taken by now.

We’re back on the boat for lunch and a nap. I took this picture of the port and then two minutes later turned around, and it was socked in with fog, rain pouring as if it hasn’t rained in decades. Wind howling, rain sideways kinda thing. Weird.

Now as we pull out of port, it’s just overcast.

Tomorrow we’re in Malta. Can’t wait to see how many cats they have.

Day 4 Greece Trip: Mykonos

Back in 1987 when I graduated, Mom, Dad, Sherrie and Denise all came over and after graduation we headed out on a European Adventure (some day I’ll post mom’s account of that adventure because it was hilarious). On that trip we stopped in Genoa. I was obsessed with photographing waves. The 4 of them joked, “and there’s a wave…and there’s a wave…and there’s a wave” when we got the photos back.

Today in Mykonos I think the same can be said about cats. There were a set of them that followed us – siblings I’m sure and then we saw several through out the island. I kept taking photos of them. Sherrie and I joked, “and there’s a cat…and there’s a cat…and there’s a cat.

Mykonos is an interesting island. Aside from the THOUSANDS of people there, the labyrinth of alley ways was fascinating to me. If our tour guide would have left me I’d still be there finding my way out.

Did I mention the throngs of people?

They have some old windmills that used to grind their flour, but technology in 1950 shut it down. Their windmills have crabs too.

They have a “little Venice” which is where boat captains and their families used to live back in the day. Now it’s all restaurants.

Mykonos is a relatively small island with 20,000 year round inhabitants. In the summer months I guess it grows to 35,000 + with people traveling for holiday. They don’t even count the number of tourists that come to town. Today there were 6 ships in port over the day that added another 12,000 people to their little island.

Mom had purchase this protector eye when she was in Mykonos. It hangs from my car rearview mirror. I bought a bigger one this trip to hang in my house. They supposed to bring protection and good luck. We shall see. 

Best part of Mykonos…say it with me…cats.