the streets of erice, while a really old roman hilltop fortress, is still a living town, reached either by cable car, which is how most residents commute to the valley floor, or a real twisting hairpin turn of a road ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
that second one is a room with a navigators veranda, that's what we had on our first 2 cruises, it's not a bad way to get a veranda for a little cheaper, but we've since decided to go up to cat 5 and get the regular balconies. i really like having either a morning coffee on the balcony, or a late evening drink. although i don't know how much of that i'll be doing on an alaskan cruise that's in the very first week of the cruise season up there
Garry is right that's a Nav verandah. We really enjoyed it. It was nice to have a little shelter when it was really windy. One for today....
dockside in naples, italy, that's a church up on that hill, about to get into the private car for the 9 hr amalfi coast in full tour, i can't recommend this car service highly enough, anyone ever taking a cruise with a stop in naples, get in touch with me for info ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
5/30/07, pulling in to olbia, on the island of sardinia, those rows of floats are mussel beds, similar to our oyster farming. the second photo is one of the local folk dance troupes that performed on the dock for our arrival. they had a tent with wine and cheese samples on dockside all day long. they are really trying to attract more cruise business to sardinia, it's a beautiful under visited island. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
our shore excursion on sardinia was a train ride through some pretty remote countryside up to an old hilltop town called tiempo pausania. here are 3 from that ride, first the engine, much like the little industrial plant switchers in this country, second is the control stand, we had a picnic lunch stop in the middle of the ride at a regular picnic area,this train ride is a regular tourist ride for cruise ships calling on sardinia, last is the rusting hulk of a steam engine sitting at the end of the line, apparently this used to use steam regularly until repairs became too difficult. the train crew was friendly, but there was a real language barrier to getting information on the train equipment. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;