Civitavecchia, Italy – We stayed on from the previous cruise. During the turnaround day we took a tour to Tuscania. It was supposed to be an old town and olive oil plantation tour. We travelled by bus to the town and our guide took us into town, dropped us, and disappeared. We had coffee and croissants and wandered a bit. Nothing spectacular. We made it to the bus and our friends we were traveling with didn’t show. Turns our one of them fell and took a large chunk out of their arm and went to a farmacia to get cleaned up and the arm dressed. Fortunately, they were able to rejoin the tour. We went to the farm and were greeted with a presentation of how olives are harvested and that both black and green olives come from the same tree – just different ripeness. We then went into the hall and had bruschetta’s and wine. Food was good but the wine so-so. Back on the bus to the port. Since the guide didn’t tell us that the town was the only place to get wine, we knew we could take on 2 bottles each cruise. We found a Meta Market in Civi and got some decent Montepulciano wine. Back on the ship.

Marseille, France – Caught the shuttle into town (18 Euros each – this was robbery at it’s finest). Then, the hop-on Hop-off bus was another 19 Euros each. Appx 80 Euros just to get in and ride around. Of course, the bus was packed. We were fortunate to get the first one and got an inside seat. Once we got to the church at the top of a hill, most passengers got off and we were able to get on top. We took this back to the center and had coffee and pastries – 4 times the price as in the Canary Islands. Ugh. We then went back and took the HOHO bus on the remainder of the route. Bus was packed but we had tickets and were allowed on. Passengers who did not have tickets were not allowed on and could not buy them. We waited at least an hour for the bus and others twice that but didn’t get on. Personally, I wouldn’t get off in this port again. Too expensive for the value received.

Barcelona, Spain – Wonderful city. Shuttle was 5 Euros each return. Fair amount. We had prepaid for two days of HOHO and were meeting my wife’s brother, who flew in from Scotland. We jumped on the HOHO and took about 1 ½ hours to ring the city and see the major tourist attractions. We wanted a feel for the city because we had tickets for Sagrada Familia the next day. We got off at Plaza Catalunya, which is the main hub for the HOHOs. We wandered into the Gothic Quarter which has neat eateries. Had some nice street food empanadas. Found another place to have Sangrias and met Danilo and Angie, our concierge bartenders. They were out for a good time. We wanted a good dinner in Barcelona and went to a restaurant, Los Caracolos (the snails). We ordered a nice Rioja and my wife and I had Gazpacho and Entrocote steaks. Brother David had chicken. Our steaks were so raw we sent them back. Still really bad, we ate them anyway. Restaurant is nice but the food isn’t. Despite having pictures of presidents and famous people on the walls I would never go back. It cost us 140 Euros and the street food empanadas were better. Never again. The second day we decided to take the metro to Sagrada Familia. Good choice! Easiest way to get around. Never again for the HOHO. SF was awesome. We hired an English guide and were filled with all kinds of info on Gaudi and the church. We had the remote wireless receivers and headphones, which proved great when in throngs of people. We took no wallets because of pickpockets and got bumped a lot but nothing missing. We dressed down to look like locals which proved to be the best way to avoid them. We went to Chef’s table that night. They moved Chef’s table to the main dining room. Noisier than Chops. Please move it back to the card room! Read more