May
13 Barcelona
Having
been here for almost a week only a year ago, and it being a Sunday so
the shops were closed, we did not do much except stroll up the Rambla
to the hotel where the Kesslers had stayed and back down parallel
streets to the ship—about three hours.
As before, we were awed by
the beauty of the city—its amazing buildings and broad
boulevards—but having documented all this so fully last time, Bob
did not take a single photo. Something for which he duly apologizes.
(But if you look at earlier entries on the blog, the photos from a
year ago may still be there!)
May
14. Villefranche
 |
| Villefranche from the ship |
This
little village on the French Riviera is only 3 miles east of Nice,
where we visited the Chagall Museum. I (Stew) was not impressed. By
the time we were through, it was getting cold and we were hungry, so
we skipped the Matisse Museum (next time--next spring!) and headed back to the
ship.
We stopped on the way to the train station to have a small
sandwich from a sidewalk vendor. All three of us chose a Croc
Messieur. A big mistake. Though the sandwich was tasty, the vendor
could only heat one-at-a-time...and even then the insides were still
icy! Gary had to have his heated 3 separate times before the vendor
got the message. Sometimes the simplest things go wrong the most!
May
15. Livorno
We
decided to take it somewhat easy and not try to go to Lucca or Pisa.
Instead, we wandered around Livorno...which we found was more of a
small city than the sleepy seaport we expected. It
was a good half hour's walk from the shuttle bus depot to the Museo
Civico Giovanni Fattori in the Villa Mimbelli and not too easy to
find, but worth the effort. Built in the late 19th
century, it has two floors of heavily decorated rooms where the
Mimbelli family lived and entertained. On these and a third floor are
paintings by a local, late 19th
and early 20th
century artist (Fattori) and some of his contemporaries. They evolve
from realistic scenes to more impressionist ones.
After, we wandered around an open air market, had a
light lunch and a gelato, and made it back to the ship in plenty of
time to pack for the next day's early departure for Sorrento. Weather
was sunny and beautiful. We really lucked out here.
May 16. Sorrento
It was a very hard day. We started from the ship at 7:30 am and took a train to Naples and then a local from there to
Sorrento. The latter was like a NYC subway at rush hour! There
was literally no room for another person in the area near the doors.
I (Stew) ended up standing the entire way (just over an hour)
guarding the luggage. Arriving about 3:00 pm, the total travel time ship to B&B over seven
hours.
The B&B is just outside of town up a steep hill, and quite
basic. Dinner, though, was at a local Italian place ("Da Filippo" recommended by
by the B&B owner) with incredible food and wine. We treated
ourselves, having earned it. Food prices are very much higher than in
the US!
Note: We are back online regularly with the B&B having Wi-Fi service. Starting tomorrow we should update the blog regularly and actually get to answer emails! What a novel idea!
