We left off with Rome…
The cruise ship docked in Naples the next day: it’s a port city, so no shuttle buses to worry about. We had no agenda in Naples, other than to eat pizza.
We walked around the city a bit, but mostly killed time until our lunch at Pizzeria Brandi. They are the creator of Pizza Margharita, and that’s exactly what we had. We had planned a second lunch before leaving the city, but all the restaurants closed for the afternoon and we were foiled.
Then, an at-sea day and the next day at Palma de Mallorca.
I had been thinking of Palma as kind of just a place for them to stop the ship for the day, so I wasn’t expecting much. It ended up being one of the prettiest places we went the whole trip. The guide books said that it was a late-night party city and things didn’t really get started until late morning. We got off the boat at around 10:00, but everything except the occasional coffee shop was closed until noon or even a little later. Two notable finds: a cathedral with palm trees (which was both beautiful and novel), and café bombon (espresso and sweetened condensed milk in equal parts; look for it at your local Cafe Artigiano soon).
Then we took an extra day in Barcelona before we made our way back.
On the way back, we spent a few days at my parents’ place in Ontario. That was fairly uneventful, as a family gathering should be.
All told, we were gone 25 days. That’s just about my limit for travelling: I’m glad to get back to my own bed. However, our bathroom is dirty, and I don’t think the maid is coming.
September 26th, 2010 at 11:10 pm
Wow, what a trip! I can’t say I’m not jealous.
Mallorca is a popular destination for Belgian adolescents and elderly who don’t have anything else to do with their time and are looking for cheap, convenient vacation.
I too was there once.