Malta to Rome

Final photos posted - still readjusting to being home. I am happy that we went ahead with the trip in spite of the known (and always lurking unknown) obstacles that we encountered.  As long as COVID is still a public health concern, travel outside of the US will be more complex and risky. Of course the kind of places that we want to travel to are desperate for the tourists to come back, so we were welcomed everywhere we went. But being on a large, luxurious cruise ship built to host 980 passengers with only 480 on board posed a real challenge for the staff. The captain said that the ratio of crew to passenger was 1:1. Other than constantly cleaning this and that, it seemed that many were really looking for something to do. We received so many ‘good days and thank yous,’ I really wanted to sit them down and hear their stories of life while the cruise ships were idle. During the cruise portion of the trip, I learned a great deal about the tumultuous history of Malta and of the Balkan...

Our Tour Guides Favorite Restaurant  A Parting Shot

At the Coliseum  Vatican Museum Out and About

The taxi driver who took me to meet Isaia on Tuesday spoke serviceable english and asked if we were going to need a ride to the airport. He seemed like the kind of guy you could trust, so we agreed that he would meet us at the hotel Thursday morning at 7 AM. We checked out, and he was there! The first leg of our return trip was a stop in Frankfort (flying Lufthansa). We had 1 hour and 10 minutes between flights.  The Frankfort airport is enormous and laid out like a long freight train (most airports seem configured like octopi, with smaller octopi branching off from larger ones), and for reasons that have no doubt to do with traffic and spacing, our plane was parked near the caboose, and we were bussed to the main terminal. The plane was late in arriving. The bus was late in arriving. The bus ride was at least 10 minutes, so our flight was already boarding when we were directed by signs through long areas of duty free shopping to the Z gates (we arrived at an A gate). And of course...

After reading more information about what US Customs was going to require for proof of a negative COVID test, I was concerned that the document that we had been given by the pharmacy where we had the rapid test on Tuesday was not sufficient. So we went back and asked for clarification. They said the document we had was sufficient, but they emailed each of us a more official looking version of the test results. We celebrated with a light lunch (pizza) at a nearby restaurant. Anne found a nearby street that was known to have many stores selling good Italian leather goods. She was able to find some excellent gifts for family. I rested and read. Anne enjoyed another bath (great bath tub), and then we set out for drinks at the Up Sunset Bar where we had watched the sun set on Monday night. We arrived to find it closed due to the threat of a thunder storm. Indeed the sky was full of dark clouds and a light rain started falling. So we headed back toward the hotel hoping to find a place with a...

This day did not go so well. It did start out ok - at 9 AM we got our rapid COVID tests required for reentry to the US ($50), and the results were negative. We got  GREEN PASSes! I'll keep it short. Isaia picked Anne up at 11 AM while I hung back in the hotel room. We planned to meet at 1:30 and go to lunch. I took a cab to the designated meeting place and waited... Eventually Isaia arrived and told me that he was having trouble communicating with Anne who was waiting for him outside a museum where he had left her to tour on her own. He asked me to see if I could connect with her. I tried, but the texts and phone calls were not going through. We waited. Eventually, after 45 minutes, I got a message from Anne - she had walked back to the hotel. So Isaia drove to the hotel and picked Anne up - she had waited outside the museum for him for an hour and was understandably annoyed. He had run into traffic problems. At our request he drove us to a restaurant that he recommended so we coul...

Model of Vatican City Vatican Museum  Sunset Bar

With the assistance of a friend of a friend in Shady Side, who is from Naples and manages tours and cooking classes in Italy, we were connected with a young man, Isaia, with extensive knowledge of Rome who would be our tour guide on Monday and Tuesday. Our first stop was the Vatican. He met us at the hotel and guided us to through the Metro to Vatican City. We purchased tickets at no small cost in advance for a private tour of the Vatican  Museum and the Sistine Chapel.  My image of the Vatican City based on movies and stories in the media was way out of scale. While we did not see St. Peter’s Square, we did spend several hours in a labyrinth of spaces starting with the enormous visitor’s center. We passed through more long galleries of statues, tapestries, paintings, artifacts, frescoes, and special rooms that various Popes had created in their names than I could count. And while we had our own tour guide, an energetic young woman who teaches archeology and Roman history...

Happy to be surprised again by the ease with which we were able to transition from one place to another in these crazy times. We were able to leave Naples and arrive at our comfortable hotel in Rome with no problem. Our Airbnb host arrived as agreed at 9:30 am and helped us get our luggage down the stairs and into a cab. We arrived at the train station in plenty of time and were able to find and board our train without issue (we had reserved business class sits at reasonable cost). The short ride was smooth and even included a beverage and peanuts! Cab ride to the hotel was as expected. We enjoyed a classic Italian lunch in a nearby restaurant with caprese, pasta dishes, and a bottle of rose. Back to the hotel and long naps. And then a quiet evening with a little raid on the mini bar and early to bed.

After a very long climb! The second and last photos are the stairs.

Tour guide and her boss Tour highlights The second to the last photo is of a man who hand paints signs. Anne got Carpe Diem in Italian.

Back in March 2020, we were scheduled to go on a river cruise in Portugal, and we had booked a food tour with Culinary Backstreets. When everything shut down, they gave us a credit for a future tour, and it so happened that they offered one in Naples, Italy. We scheduled a five-hour backstreet tour for yesterday which started at 10 am and ended at 3 pm. Anne went - I did not. A couple of times on this trip I have woken up feeling like an old man (not hungover which would be better). My stamina abandons me. Anne has been very understanding and has remarkable stamina reserves, so she goes on without me. This turned out to be a most unusual day! Anne was the only one on the tour, and she and the tour guide were simpatico. At some point in late morning, Anne texted me the location of their lunch stop and suggested that I join them. I kicked myself in the ass and got a cab. A cab ride in Naples is not a good way to emerge from a funk. I arrived at the specified pizzeria, one of the most pop...

We spent a leisurely morning in our apartment and headed out through the crowded streets of our neighborhood on the 2 mile walk to the National Archeological Museum of Naples. Having experienced the challenges of foot and vehicle navigation in Lima, Saigon, Bangkok,  Sihanouk Ville, Paris, and other major cities aside from New York City, I would rank Naples at the top of the list as the hardest as a pedestrian. The sidewalks are overflowing with couples, families, groups of teens, and the random lost soul - where there are sidewalks. Motorbikes, motorized bikes, and motorcycles dart in and out everywhere including on sidewalks, and the tiny cars (like taxis) play a dangerous game of chicken with each other and pedestrians. There are very few stop lights. Crossing a street takes focus and nerves of steel. Many of the streets we travelled on were so congested and noisy that I felt overwhelmed and homesick for quiet Shady Side. The city is also awash in trash, with the few trash bins ...

 Our Cabin Crew - Danica and Alfred - Both From the Philippines They took very good care of us!

View of the street leading up to our apartment  Steps up to our apartment  This is the sequence front first photo to last

After our experience with Air France on our way to Malta, I was pretty anxious about our flight from Valletta to Naples on Easyjet. Things could not have gone more smoothly. As soon as we walked off the ship, our luggage was loaded for us in a very clean late model black Mercedes, and our cheerful young driver whisked us off to the airport with an interesting commentary on life in Valletta in perfect English (he was half English). We were prepared to have to show a raft of documents at the check in, but all we had to show was our boarding passes, which I gotten easily online, and our passports. Our bags were checked, and we made it through security in no time. Of course there was a lot of waiting before check in and boarding, but we are getting better at killing time. The flight was only one hour, and our bags were waiting for us when we arrived at baggage claim. We walked out of the airport with no customs passport check and had a cab in 5 minutes! Our Airbnb host was waiting for us t...

Coming in to Anchorage  Bus Tour

Gozo is an island a short ferry ride from the main island (Malta) where we disembark in Valletta tomorrow, where we started the cruise what seems like forever ago. We enjoyed a 90-minute bus tour of the island this morning, allowing us to see many of the island’s features and attractions, while marveling with clenched fists at the bus driver’s agility in navigating many very narrow streets and impossible turns. He earned his tips. The tour guide was a grandmotherly (literally) life-long resident of Malta who spent many days on Gozo growing up and who LOVES the island. Our ship is anchored a short way out from the main port, so we were shuttled back and forth on “tenders” which also serve as life boats. Our cabin is in the bow on the port side just underneath the large bridge where the captain and crew drive this giant vessel. Our position on the boat allowed us to hear the huge anchors dropping at 7 am this morning. For some reason having to do with the boat’s construction, our statero...