Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Western Mediterranean Cruise

Hi!
It's Raegan and in July I took a Western Mediterranean cruise aboard the Costa Concordia. We flew on Lufthansa into Barcelona, Spain and sailed from there. We visited a different port every day. This is my favorite type of cruise as I like to be on the go. On the first day we visited Marseille, France. We took a half day excursion to Aix en Provence which is a beautiful little city in the Provence region of France. That afternoon we spent in Marseille. We stopped for a crepe with chocolate and bananas - a "must have" on any trip to France! On day two the ship docked at Savona, Italy. We took a full day tour to Monaco. We visited the Palace of Prince Rainier III and watched the changing of the guards and heard stories about his romance with Princess Grace Kelly. We then traveled to Monte Carlo, known for it's casino and the Formula 1 Grand Prix race. The next day we stopped in Naples, Italy and visited the magnificent ruins at Pompeii. Day four found us in Palermo, Sicily. We did not take an excursion here. We walked miles and toured the city on our own. We enjoyed the side streets and the out of the way neighborhoods where the real people live. The next day we went to Tunis, Tunisia in northern Africa. We visited the archaeological site of Carthage with its ruins and aqueducts and then we toured the Medina (old town) and Souks (markets) for some interesting shopping. Thursday we visited Palma De Mallorca, Spain. This is a beautiful island! We walked miles and visited the Palace and shopping areas. Then on Friday morning we arrived back in Barcelona. We then spent two nights at the Barcelona House hotel which was an oddly modern hotel in a perfect location in the La Rambla area. We took the double-decker hop-on-hop-off bus tour of the city. We saw several examples of the famous architect, Antoni Gaudi's work, including the beautiful Sagrada Familia Cathedral and the Park Guell. Barcelona is one of my favorite cities. If you have the chance, definitely spend a few days here. Overall this was a fantastic trip. I can't decide which port was my favorite, I loved them all!