The fourth day of our cruise was a relatively quiet one. By eight o’clock that Thursday morning, the Silver Spirit had docked in Bari, Italy in what appeared to be a rather unattractive industrial area. Since the group had not booked any excursions for that day, after breakfast my wife and I familiarized ourselves with the Zagara Beauty Spa. It features sweeping sea views from the floor-to-ceiling windows and no less than nine treatment rooms for a variety of therapies, facials and body wraps. Afterwards, we took the shuttle bus into town for some further exploration. This port city on the Adriatic Sea is the capital of southern Italy’s Puglia Region and the third largest city in the southern portion of the nation. While it may have been inhabited since 1500 BC, modern Bari consists of the old city on the peninsula which divides the old harbor from the new, and the newer city along the coast on either side; as well as the industrial area inland. We spent some time walking about before returning to the ship and visiting the Observation Library for several quiet hours.
The clocks moved one hour ahead on the next day in anticipation of our morning arrival on the Island of Corfu in Greece. After breakfast, we all departed for an excursion, which first took us to the Mon Repos Palace. It’s located on top of a hill, near the Kanoni area, in the middle of a park. The palace was built in 1826 by British Commissioner Frederic Adams as a gift to his wife who was from Corfu. This small colonial palace became the summer residence of all British Governors and was later gifted to King George I of Greece. It’s also the house where Price Phillip, the late Duke of Edinburgh and husband of the late Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, was born in June of 1921. The palace has since been restored under the auspices of the municipal government and also hosts a museum. We next visited the Lazarus Distillery & Artisan Sweets. They produce several liqueurs here, including lemoncello, kumquat (the island favorite) and ouzo, as well as a wide variety of nougat bites, jam and honey products. Upon our return to the Silver Spirit we had pre-dinner drinks in the Observation Library, which is transformed each evening into what I would describe as a very cozy bar. The shades were drawn, the mood lighting was soft and the tunes emanating from the piano were smooth. We had dinner in Indochine on Deck 4. The atmosphere there was very contemporary with an Asian flair that was also reflected in the cuisine.
Saturday was a much-anticipated sea day as we made our way across the Ionian Sea. The gentlemen met in the Connoisseur's Corner in the morning while the ladies played mahjong in the Card Room. The ship had an outstanding selection of premium cigars there and also served some good cognac in that rather dignified and quiet space. The room had an excellent filtration system and, with its red leather armchairs and several dark wood-paneled walls, evoked a feeling similar to that of a private club. A blackjack tournament took place in the afternoon in the Casino on Deck 7 and several lectures were offered as well. Sea days are among my favorites as being on board is so peaceful and relaxing with none of the hustle and bustle associated with excursions. That evening was the second of two formal nights aboard ship and we ended the day with a nice dinner in the Atlantide Restaurant.
“Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose” is the expression that came to mind after our morning excursion in Valletta, Malta. While the entire city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and boasts stunning architecture and centuries of history, our guide Tatiana rushed us from one spot to another while droning incessantly about obscure historical facts of little interest. Things started to look up when we found ourselves at the Grand Harbor. We were going for a ride in a brightly-colored water taxi called a dghajsa. These small boats are the Maltese version of a gondola, powered by a boatman who uses two oars not one. Once on board, we toured the harbor while our friendly boatman Joseph pointed out all the highlights. Then it was time for lunch, which was a huge disappointment. We were directed to a local café called d Centre and climbed the stairs to the third floor where we were presented with dishes of whitebait (small and plentiful immature fish that looked like sardines) along with what I termed ketchup bread and fried rabbit chunks. Yuck! Needless to say, none of it touched my lips. As if it couldn’t get worse, we were then bused for a half hour to spend another thirty minutes in a run down, tchotchke-laden flea market by the seaside. We couldn’t wait to get back to the ship. After lunch at the Grill, the gentlemen walked over to nearby Fort Rinella, a Victorian fort which houses the world’s largest cannon and then took the lift up to the top and explored the beautiful Upper Barraka Gardens which offered panoramic views of the Grand Harbor. It was a day of high highs and low lows.
We docked in Siracusa, on the Ionian coast of Sicily the next morning and our walking tour took us first to the Duomo, built on the skeleton of a Fifth Century BC Greek temple. It has a statue of the Virgin Mary crowning its rooftop in the same spot where a golden statue of Athena once served as a beacon to returning Greek sailors. The nearby Piazza Del Duomo is the city’s showpiece square and a masterpiece of Baroque town planning. This long, rectangular piazza is flanked by the Palazzo Vermexio, the Seventeenth Century palace now serving as a museum. The evening was crowned by our visit to Seishin, the Japanese specialty restaurant aboard the Silver Spirit. Seishin is a small restaurant with seating around a chef’s hotplate as well as a few intimate tables for two. Luckily, they were able to accommodate our party of eight (with an advance reservation). The chefs at Seishin take inspiration from Nikkei cuisine, which is a gastronomic sensation that fuses Japanese and Peruvian culinary techniques. Indeed, they combined the finest ingredients from the ocean and the land in imaginative and delicious dishes.
En route to anchoring off Sorrento, the ship traversed the Strait of Messina, a channel in the Mediterranean Sea separating Sicily to the west and Italy to the east which links the Tyrrhenian and Ionian Seas. Touring ancient Pompeii was on the agenda for that Tuesday afternoon and we first boarded a tender for the 15-minute ride to the pier and then took a shuttle bus where we met our guide Alexandra and driver Nicola. The coach traveled along some of the most narrow and winding roads I’d seen in a long time and Alexandra repeatedly exclaimed, “Bravo Nicola for your excellent driving.” Pompeii is a preserved Roman city about 14 miles southeast of Naples. Around noon on August 24, 79 AD, a huge eruption from nearby Mount Vesuvius showered volcanic debris over the city, followed the next day by clouds of blisteringly hot gases. Buildings were destroyed, the population was either crushed or asphyxiated, and the city was buried beneath a blanket of ash and pumice. For many centuries Pompeii slept beneath its pall of ash, which perfectly preserved its remains. When these were finally unearthed, in the late 1600s, the world was astonished at the discovery of a sophisticated Greco-Roman city frozen in time. Our guide Alexandra pointed out grand public buildings, including an impressive forum and amphitheater as well as lavish villas and all kinds of houses - even the brothels! The buildings and their contents revealed to us what day-to-day life was like in the ancient world.
Our final day of the cruise was also spent in Sorrento and we elected to enjoy an excursion called “The Amalfi Coast by Land and Sea.” Driving along the Amalfi Coast was not for the faint at heart. The roads were extremely curvy and narrow with vertical rock faces on one side and sheer drop-offs on the other. To complicate it more, we shared them with crazy drivers and full-size buses, passing most vehicles by mere inches! But, it was worth it. With little villages snuggled into coves along the Mediterranean shore and mountains in the background towering over them, the Amalfi Coast felt like it came from a dream. It was one of the most spectacular places I’ve ever visited and among our favorites in all of Italy. The town was crowded on that day. Narrow streets jammed with pedestrians whose progress would be periodically interrupted by passing cars, mopeds and motorcycles. We walked a short distance down a side street and up a series of steps to enter the Casa del Lemon Garden, where we enjoyed a lunch of salad and pizza, Back on the main thoroughfare, we later stopped for a very special lemon sorbet. At this storefront, customers picked their own oversized lemon (the size of a grapefruit), then watched as the clerk sliced off the top, scooped out the fruit and filled the inside with two scoops of sorbet before inserting a straw inside and placing the top back. The tour concluded with a 30-minute hydrofoil ferry ride to nearby Salerno, which we enjoyed from the open-air top deck before returning to Sorrento by coach.
The Silver Spirit docked in Rome the next morning, which brought our cruise to a close. I’ll tell you all about our time there and our return home in a future post.
Until next time..safe travels.
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