4 ports in Italy

Messina, Sicily

Our first port in Italy was an afternoon visit to Messina, just a few kilometres from the mainland of Italy across a straight with strong and changeable currents. On the way into port, we passed the Celebrity Beyond moving in the opposite direction as we both sailed past the outline of Mount Etna partially obscured by the heat haze.

We arrived in port around 3 pm. Having looked up the opening times of shops and bars in town we waited a few hours while many of the other passengers walked around town. We then walked off the ship into a town with cannolo and images from the Godfather films as the main tourist draws. We stopped at a bakery which sold cocktails and beer and then at a bar which sold gourmet bar snacks. We skipped past the patisserie which sold sexy pastries.

I have included a link to avoid you from having to do a potentially embarrassing search for Doctor Dick.

https://www.facebook.com/doctordickmessina/

Now a brief word about the weather we encountered:-

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66183069

Capri

Our next stop was Salerno, just south of Naples. As we had already visited Pompei and the Amalfi coast we opted for an excursion to the Isle of Capri this time around. About an hour and twenty minutes by ferry took us along the Amalfi Coast, past the town like Amalfi and Positano, clinging to the cliffs and superyachts parked everywhere.

Capri itself was over the top. On a Sunday in the middle of the Italian summer holidays it was beyond packed, the harbour was a nightmare of boats going in all directions and seeming to jostle for their turn at the dock. Large ferries from Naples and beyond, medium-sized and smaller boats taking tourists around the island to the blue grotto and more Superyachts anchored offshore with their helipads occupied by craft which indicated the billionaires were in residence. On the dock, the chaos multiplied with tour guides each trying to make sure their group could board the next minibus to head up the hill. Somehow it all worked. There is a fleet of 15 seater mini-busses for tour groups and busses of different colours for locals and independent travellers. As each bus arrives a tour guide waves their flag and leads their group onto the bus. Our group was 12 people so we had plenty of room in the bus. Groups of what looked like 30 people somehow crammed into a single bus.

Then up a series of clifftop hairpin bends and too-narrow roads took us up to the village at the top of the hill with spectacular views, high-end tourist shops and perfumeries. A tour of a museum and gardens at the top were followed by a rest and an alcoholic lemonade in the shade. Then back onto a bus to travel down to the middle station where there is a larger village. More high-end shops, crowds of holidaymakers and a surprising number of crochet dresses over microscopic swimwear. We sat at 'Bar Tiberious' and watched minuscule electric trucks wind their way through the crowds while drinking more Aperol Spritz.

The bar is (conveniently?) located next to a church which turned out to be fully functional. While we sat there a coffin was carried in for a service. This was accomplished by means of the most stylish Mercedez herse that I have ever seen.

Carpi was hot, crowded, chaotic and a tourist trap. I loved it. It had just enough of the colour and glamour combined with the spectacular views to indicate why it has the reputation it has.

The excursion took a different turn when we had to return. An afternoon in the sun, day drinking turned out to be a poor choice when we joined several hundred other tourists to play sardines on the return ferry. A slight swell had developed and we were downstairs without fresh air in seats facing the wrong way. I had to venture on deck and stand on deck for most of the way back to the ship. On our return to the ship we arrived after the official all-abord time and the gangway had been withdrawn. Around 60 hot and bothered retirees gathered on the dock until the gangway was sent back out to let us onboard.

Rome

The heatwave was in full swing as we headed into Rome the next day. As we had visited Rome before and seen the sights during a segway tour we opted for a private walking tour with a local guide to see another side of Rome. This turned out to be a big mistake, not because of the tour or the guide but because of the heat and our continuing issues with gastro and dehydration. We travelled to Rome on an express train which was fine until our escort on the train then death marched our group a kilometre from the station to the Vatican before indicating we could disperse and do our own thing. As we had already walked half of the way to our rendevous point we then continued on foot to meet our guide.

Our guide was knowledgeable and keen to show us another side of Rome. We were tired and overheating and keen to sit down. We did some walking through backstreets not frequented by tourists and received our lecture on the history of the city and some of the good deeds of Benito Mussolini. We sat down for some time outside Castel Sant'Angelo until my colour could no longer be described as "You don't look so good"

To be fair our guide did try and reduce the amount of walking we had to do and this is where the police became involved.

We took a local bus for the next section of the tour. I did ask how much the fare was so I had the correct change. The guide explained that to purchase a ticket we would have to walk to another shop and as we would only be on the bus for a few minutes it would be OK. We rode the bus for two stops and the guide before it was boarded by the transport police.

Italy has a number of different police forces, differentiated by the tightness of uniform and amount of gold braid. The Roma Transit Police were stylish by Australian standards but probably received a lot of ribbing from all the other police forces. They didn't even have machine guns. There was a discussion between our guide and the two dressed-down cops. Then he sheepishly stepped back while we paid for all-day bus tickets plus a fine via the convenience of a tap-and-go credit card.

By this time we travelled well past our stop so we had to catch another bus back to where we needed to be. No problem now as we had gold-plated tickets. We did walk past the Trevi Fountain which was well barricaded to prevent the hordes from jumping in. On to a restaurant where we had a delicious light lunch and three litres of water in air-conditioned comfort.

What turned out to be our last stop also turned out to be super interesting. We visited a high-end shopping centre in search of plus size European high fashion (no luck but great air conditioning)

https://www.rinascente.it/en/store-roma-via-del-tritone

There had earlier been discussion of the difficulty of extending the metro to address some of Rome's transport issues when digging anywhere unearthed archaeological treasure. In the basement of this centre (homeware and electronics), there were the well-preserved remains of a Roman aqueduct which was now displayed and protected behind perspex. It was an interesting and unexpected sight.

An uneventful taxi back to the train station where we sat for an hour waiting for the train. As soon as we sat down we were approached by two members of a different police force. Rome City police. More stylish uniforms and a better brand of sunglasses for a random identity check. Our well-worn passport colour photocopies were produced which resulted in a brief conversation with the female officer about her mother's brother who had emigrated to Sydney. They moved on their way to inspect more travelers' papers and we drank our Gatorade.

The return train was fast and comfortable and this time the gangway was still in place when we reached the ship. Another eventful day in Italy.

Elba

This will be a short entry. We were in port for around seven hours and it looked to be a beautiful small port town. However, we were still feeling the effects of the previous day's exertions and did not feel up to the hassle of boarding and waiting for ship tenders (lifeboats used to ferry passengers to shore when the ship is too big to dock and anchors offshore) So we stayed onboard and will have to return another time.

So arivederchi Italy... on to France