I’m sitting in my cabin having just returned from walking around in Trapani, Italy. We (Amye, Tyler, Steve and myself) decided that today was going to be an eating fest since it was our last day in Italy. Our first search was for lunch – a true Italian lunch. After about 15 cafes later, we found a café with a menu that looked delicious! It was fantastic just to sit outside in the fresh and crisp air and enjoy real Italy. We all ordered the Caprese – which is just as it is served in the states but the Roma tomatoes are out of this world and fresh mozzarella drizzled with a bit of olive oil and oregano. Tyler, Amye and I ended up with homemade egg noodles with mushrooms. Not much of a sauce on it – but it was delicious and had tons of garlic, which I LOVE. Steve ordered fresh tortellini with a cream sauce and ham. After finishing our hearty Italian meal, we knew that our next stop would be gelato.
Well – as you will see throughout this post (I’ll be backtracking through the last two weeks since I haven’t posted in a bit) that I have never like gelato in the states but MAN-OH-MAN is it out of this world in Europe. I love the fruity ones – especially the mango and tropical fruit flavors! Well, there happened to be a gelato place right next door to the café, so we headed in to get some. We all got a cone and continued to walk around the city. Trapani is quite small but it is picturesque Italy. Our next mission was to find a cannoli or 6 to take back to the ship. We searched several bakeries in search of the cannoli that a guest had brought us the week before (that we out of this world). Again, I have never liked any cannoli that I had tried before, but one made in Italy is an entirely different ballgame. They outside shell is so crispy and sweet and then the ricotta cheese on the inside is rich and creamy…to die for!
We finally found a bakery that had some which looked like cannoli perfection, so we ordered 6 to take back with us for later. The girl behind the counter went and got the shells and filled them up before drizzling chocolate over the top and dusting them with confectioners sugar. They were a sight to see…and weighed about 5 pounds! (I think I gained about 10 just looking at them!) Amye and I were determined that we were going to at least bite into them while still on Italian soil. We were SO full already…I couldn’t even do it – she did and we got a cute picture of her eyes googling at the beautiful cannolis. We headed back to the ship and decided to just relax for the rest of the afternoon until we had to work again.
La Goulette, Tunisia – I have two separate times of docking in Tunisia to talk about. Our first time porting in Tunisia was about a week and a half ago and a couple of people talked about going ashore to ride some camels and walk around the port for a bit to explore the city. Amye was dead set on riding a camel as soon as we got off the ship. Oddly enough, there were about 10 men waiting right on the pier with probably 4 camels or so ready for a ride. There is one guy, we will call him “The Camel Pimp” of the camel rides, and Amye asked him “How much to ride?” and he says “For you, free”. In disbelief, Amye says “ok”. I say…”And how much for me?” The Camel Pimp grabbed my wrists, lifted my arms in the air, looked my body up and down, turned me around to look at my ass and then back around just so he could tell me I would be “5 Euro.”
Needless to say, I was a bit upset (ok, really really pissed off) so I told him “no,thanks” with a bit of an attitude. Amye and Katie each got a camel to ride and Tyler and I took photos. The Camel Pimp posed them and had Katie take the lead line to Amye’s camel. Towards the end, the camel pimp made attempts to get me to lead the camel, knowing full well how pissed I was. I just ignored him and definitely ready to go at that point. Unfortunately, I must admit that I did have a small cry when we walked away.
Once they finished their ride, we walked through the port, which was basically a nice little mall/shopping center with lots of little shops in it with souvenirs, spices, lots of soaps, etc. After walking around and saw what little there was to see in the pier, we found a small café with an outside patio and a view of the ship. The weather was beautiful so we sat outside and ordered drinks – everybody ordered beer, with the exception of me because we all know how I feel about beer. I ended up with a Coca Cola Light and the funny thing is – when the bill arrived, my diet coke cost the same thing as their beers! After about an hour of enjoying the fresh air, we headed back to the ship.
BUT – I can’t close this day out without the funniest story of them all! Amye and I were standing next to each other while we all walked back. A gentleman in the native attire walked by us with a large duffle back. Amye leans over and very casually says “Do you think he’s got a camel in that bag?” After laughing hysterically, I said “Yep” and proceeded to inflate/blow up an inflatable came. Well, after typing that – I guess it was a “had to be there” moment.
[Side story – Leah, a girlfriend-on-board of my guitarist friend Brad, was talking to an ex of Meghan while we were at an Engine workshop party. Basically, she told JP (the ex) that he was mentally retarded for ever letting Meghan go. Leah looked JP in the eye and said “In my country, we call someone like Meghan a dime – she’s a 10 and an amazing girl” The story continues, but we were always telling each other that “You’re a dime.” After the Camel Pimp run-in, I now told all my girls that “You girls might be a dime, but I’m a 5 Euro kinda girl.]
Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming….
The second time we docked in Tunisia was just two days ago and I was determined to ride a camel this time, even if I was a “5 Euro” kinda girl and very sick all at the same time. When we arrived outside, we did not initially see the man who told me how much I cost. BUT, within about 30 seconds of us arriving at the camels, the Camel Pimp popped up. He told me it would be five Euros but he would let Amye ride for free. This time the camel pimp didn’t mention my weight or appearance and I just really wanted to ride that damn camel. In Cairo a few months ago, I did sit on one but didn’t get it to stand up or anything. Well, I climbed on the first camel sitting down and before I knew it, the camel pimp threw Amye on the same camel as me and the camel was starting to stand up. HEAVEN HELP ME that was scarier than any roller coaster I’ve ever been on. Amye was sitting much higher on the camel than I was – so I couldn’t see anything in front of her and all I did was wrap my arms around her extremely tight and start to pray. My butt was lopsided on the top of the camel so I was so uncomfortable with every step he took and I just wanted to get off. We got several hilariously funny pictures and an even funnier video of the camel sitting down. Glad I did it but it was CRAZY – scarier than all of the crazy roller coasters that I’ve been on in my 27 (holy cow…27) years of living.
This is the only photo of both of us smiling…the rest of faces of fear!
Civitavecchia, Italy – This port is the main port with access to Rome. Most of our guests take buses and trains into Rome to see all the sights there, so the ship is docked until quite that late in the evening. The first time we were in Civitavecchia (Ch-vi-ta-vek-e-a), Steve, Myself, Amye, Teleya and Colette went out with a mission to eat (anyone surprised?), There are lots of shops and streets that you can wander down while there, so we walked for a bit hoping we would stumble across a restaurant with Wi-Fi (we-fee, as they say in Europe) and good food. We eventually found the latter of the two at a place conveniently named “the Pizzeria”. We wandered in an the food smelled great so we were ready! Teleya and Colette ordered a spinach and ricotta ravioli, Steve ordered a bruschetta and a frankfurter calzone (they put frankfurters in everything here) and the biggest bottle of beer ever and Amye ordered a pizza. I settled on a salad and a calzone. The calzone left a bit to be desired because I love my sauce and it was a bit dry, but all in all an experience, right? The salad was TO DIE FOR…who would have though? I’ve noticed that they serve tuna on pretty much all the salads they serve in Italy, The salad was lettuce, artichoke hearts, mushrooms, tomatoes, tuna and olives (which were quickly removed and set to the side…YUCK!) All full and ready to move on, we headed to a small outdoor café to grab a coffee/beer/wine/water and get some Wi-Fi before heading back to work.
Our most recent time of docking in Civitavecchia was just 3 days ago and again, had the intention of food and Wi-Fi. Well, we really all wanted to go into Rome, but as per usual, the deck officers decided it would be a great day for a VERY LONG DRILL so that nobody had the time to go into Rome, so as I mentioned, we resorted to the only other option – food. This time, we went for gelato first (my new addiction) at a little corner shop. I had a melon/mango with white chocolate. The white chocolate gelato was amazing, as was the melon, but there were real chunks of white chocolate! Amazing as always. Since it was Sunday, there was a flea market set up down the entire street with vendors selling everything from jewelry to electronics to soap. Of course, I saw jewelry and began to shop. I found a really cool long necklace with a heart (with a bell inside…ding ding), a pair of earrings and a beautiful own necklace. My wallet was growing weak, so we returned to the same Wi-Fi café that we hit the previous week and enjoyed the free internet for about an hour or so before we decided we were hungry…hehe. Of all the options, we ended up at McDonalds which was actually a more expensive selection. I believe that my chicken sandwich combo was around $12.00 American dollars. Crazy, hey?
Jess told us that she had gone to a little souvenir shop around the corner the week before and she wanted to go back because they had some fun little trinket type things. She took us around the corner to this little corner shop with a handmade sign outside that indicated it was “Frank’s Place.” After entering, we quickly noticed it was very small with a lot of cheap trinket type things. Behind the counter was a tall gentleman with thick salt and pepper hair, a sky blue sweater and khaki pants and glasses that instantly reminded me of Harry potter. Immediately he said “Hello and welcome to my shop, lots of discounts for you. I asked him if he was Frank and he said yes. Not sure whether or not my causal tone with him made him relax a bit, but before we knew it Frank had us all laughing so hard because of the way he was talking about his shop and how he knew it was full of “cheap made in china shit” but “who cares?” When he found out we were crew, things got even cheaper. There was the wolf statue with the kids nursing from it and I asked him what the story was. He quickly relayed the “Reader’s Digest” version of it and stated “that because of that, you can say that all Roman’s are sons of bitches”. Frank’s casual manner just made the trip memorable and we enjoyed spending a few minutes talking to him about his store and his life. It was a great laugh before heading back to the ship.
Meet Frank:
On these two short 7 day cruises, I have quickly put Italy on my list of top places I’ve visited. Reason number one would have to be the food and reason number two simply because they Italians are very fun and welcoming people. No matter how much we struggle to speak Italian and communicate, they still have a smile on and have a great time with us. A port in Italy that I have a special love for is Santa Margharita Ligure or Livorno. This port is actually the gateway for guests to take a ferry over to Portofino. Due to time constraints and lack of desire to spend money on a ferry ride, several of us decided to get off the ship to walk around and get food (go figure!). Character is the best word I have to describe the city – it is a picturesque little town with local pharmacies, vendors lining the streets and a café every step you take with large umbrellas and small tables cluttering the streets.
Our first day in Santa Margherita Ligure two weeks ago, we decided to do some exploring which led us up an extremely step stairwell to a beautiful church at the peak. We walked in and it was extremely old with ornate décor and beautiful chandeliers dangling over the rickety pews. When we left the church, we walked down a long narrow path with stone arches and walls made of a grey stone with vines oozing down the sides. Turns out, there is a University right next to the church – again, quite old but a place I’d definitely be willing to attend. Since it was a the top of this very steep hill we climbed, the views of the harbor were unbeatable and the best part is that there was a small pond loaded with tons of turtles (which were stacked in such awkward poses that we thought they were fake) and statues of various smart people (I really have no clue what they were of!). We made our way down the hill and ended up at a little gelato store right on the water with a small patio. This particular Gelateria had an amazing Tropical fruit gelato – once I finished mine, I said “I should have gotten the big one.” So delicious! My taste buds were satisfied and was ready to catch the tender and head back to work.
It was less than a week later (four days to be exact) before we were back in the same spot. The only intention we had for the day was to hit that same spot and score some more of the gelato better known as deliciousness. We just had three of us, Steve, myself and Jess and they both suggested we get some lunch at a cafe . It didn’t take long for us to settle on a café about 4 doors down from the Gelateria with the delicious awesomeness in a cone by the name of “de Alfredo”. We sat “outside” – can’t really say it was outside because it had one of those greenhouse-style glass coverings. Steve ordered a massively large calzone, Jess initially ordered the “Pesto lasagna” and I ordered Gnocchi Pesto. Santa Margherita is actually located in the region where Pesto began, so I was dead set on ordering something with Pesto and what better to eat it on than gnocchi? When it all arrived our eyes were HUGE because it all looked incredible – Steve’s calzone was puffed up to perfection with air as it was delivered to the table straight out of the fire burning pizza oven. Jess didn’t get a pesto lasagna – she ended up ordering a pasta dish called “tolfi pesto” (at least that’s what I think it was called.” Her pasta reminded me of Spaitzel covered in a mixture of pesto sauce and maybe a slight bit of alfredo. My gnocchi was homemade and completely different than any gnocchi I’ve ever tasted before. In the states, whenever I had had gnocchi, the dumplings were chewy and dense but here they were light, fluffy and melted in my mouth. Oh, and don’t forget the creamy pesto sauce unlike any of the oily pesto in the US. Oh man…there’s nothing else I can say to describe it other than HEAVEN :)
THE pesto Gnocchi:
Last day to post about in this particular post!!!! PHEW – I know this is long and if you have hung on this long, please comment and let me know you’re still alive :) Monte Carlo, Monaco was never a place I had thought about visiting and truly never realized what it was. Travel Guide Ian ended up hooking me up on an awesome tour called “Jewels of Cote de Azure” which made several stops in Monaco as well as Nice and Eze in France. We started off driving to “The Rock” which is what the old city in Monaco is referred to as.
After several elevators and escalators, we finally made it to the top where our tour guide, Florence, showed us the Museum de Oceanographiqe and one of the schools for the kids that actually live in Monaco. Well – if you don’t know anything about Monaco, money talks. The harbor is loaded with tons and tons of large and expensive yachts. Florence told us about the kids in the school and how lucky they were because their parents had to be extremely wealthy for them to even live in the heart of Monaco. The average cost per square food is 2,000-3,000 EUROS. Holy Cow is that an incredible amount. But anyways, back to the tour. We walked up the rock even more checking out the views and buildings and well as the hundreds of yachts all over the water. Next stop, the Cathedral of Monaco where saw the tombs of Grace Kelly and Price Rainier. Beautiful Cathedral and almost a museum with the way they have it set up with all the different cloaks on display. Then we stopped by Princess Palace, but truly couldn’t see much because of all the construction – but the view of the city as well as the Grand Prix track from the very top was worth the walk in itself.
One hour and one bus ride later, we stopped in Nice and had an hour of free time. Had an ice cream bar there because there was truly nothing there that impressed me or excited me. Cute little town but if I never would have made it there, I would have been content. Drove a bit more and ended up in Eze, which I think was one of my favorite spots! Eze is an incredible medieval city at the top of a mountain growing more and more in character and charm every step of the way. You’ll have to check out the pictures when I eventually get them posted. After an hour of free time walking around Eze, we met at the bottom in Cannes and had dinner at a small restaurant that had the most incredible view of the mountainside at sunset. Our dinner was quite simple – salad with tuna and olive oil, chicken with a light cream sauce, green beans and roasted potatoes followed by a dessert that tasted like Cool Whip with pistachios and almonds. At this point I was EXHAUSTED from the long day already (6 hours of the tour had already passed) but we still had one more stop, Monte Carlo.
We took another hour bus ride back to Monaco so that we could stop in Monte Carlo and see the Grand Casino. It was a bit of a hike from the bus to the Grand Casino as well as the center of the Grand Prix, but what a sight to see. Lining the streets were Bentley’s, a Rolls Royce or three as well as every luxury car you imagine in one spot. People entering the casino were dressed to the nine’s because of the dress code (and cover charge!) to enter the casino. I stood outside and did lots of people watching – one because I love to people watch and observe what’s going on and I was also so tired that I just wanted to get back to the ship and go to bed! When the group started to arrive at the meeting point, I was more than thrilled to head back to the bus. It was truly an awesome day and I saw everything I could ask to see. Don’t really have a desire to go back – but glad that I saw it while I had the opportunity because I know how blessed I truly am:)
Ok – I think I’ve typed a few chapters in a novel at this point and please excuse any typos. Lots of love to everyone out there! XOXO
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