Back to the Med Greece/Turkey in 2013! Complete!

[tinkerbelltwins]

So now I am DVRing everything Rick Steves related on our television! He does have some really good tips, plus you just gotta like the quirky guy and his road trip crew of two.

I loved your tip about pulling out the pertinent pages and making them into your own personal book. Definitely plan on doing that for next year's stuff to save space.

Oh, and also made the amazing discovery that Mindy is on the NY Cruise to Nowhere this June. Yay! Any chance you might join us?

Now I'm wishing that your two families were going in July instead of June of next year. I know... July is hotter than June, but our twins are still in school for awhile next June so it is a non starter for us. Please make sure you give us updates after you get back next June!!!!


Beth

 

[o&smom]

Thanks Mindy for doing Pisa! I haven't seen her pics before, so it's new for me, too. My daughter requested that we do Pisa this time, and I can't really say no to specific requests. That, and while I love my Dad, at this point in time, there's no way I'd take him to walk around Cinque Terre. He'd never make it. He wouldn't go to the top of Pisa, either, but he's appreciate the sight.

The disappointing thing, tho, was pointed out yesterday on our meets thread. We're in La Spezia on a Monday. The Ufizzi (I thinks I just jacked up that spelling), and the Accademia are closed on Mondays. That means no David. So, in light of that, is it worth it to go to Florence? The Duomo would be awesome to see, but the drive....an hour from Pisa then 2 hours back to port? I'm not a shopper, so that's out. If Mindy repeats Pisa with us, she'd appreciate me keeping her DH away from the shops in Florence! (sorry Jim..

So, what else to do?? Lucca? Eh. Maybe. What about Tuscan wineries? Now THAT would be right up my alley! I wonder if that's feasible? Hm....more to research!

Would highly recommend Pisa! It was DS's only request on our cruise and well worth it. I was a little concerned as Passporter's review wasn't that great. We thought it was the most beautiful drive for any of our excursions. Especially the mountains that appear to be covered in snow, but it is actually marble that Michaelangelo used!!! After being on so many tours with the little microphones stuck in our ears we decided to go it alone and meet our group outside the wall at the appointed time. This ended up being one of our favorite and most relaxing days. We wandered around at our leisure, taking the obligatory photos and running into Disney photogs as well. Another little secret is the nice line of shops across from the tower. We got some great inexpensive souvenirs and books as well as a beautiful leather purse for me that was less than $50! I even get compliments on it quite often.

I have heard Lucca is quite lovely and I believe it was Carolyn from Cruise Critic that visited there on the Magic in the Med video blog.

Marni

 

[mindelmouse]

OK, I'm subscribed! Just booked the same cruise and am mega excited.
We just did our first Disney Cruise on the Wonder last month to the Mexican Riviera. Cruised before on different line, but won't go back! DCL is amazing!
MR cruise was with 4 generations, my mom to my grandkids, 7 of us in all. This one is for us, our 34th anniversary, and my daughter and her dear.
Love all the posts!

Welcome - I hope our little pieces of wisdom help....

 

[mindelmouse]

So now I am DVRing everything Rick Steves related on our television! He does have some really good tips, plus you just gotta like the quirky guy and his road trip crew of two.

I loved your tip about pulling out the pertinent pages and making them into your own personal book. Definitely plan on doing that for next year's stuff to save space.

Oh, and also made the amazing discovery that Mindy is on the NY Cruise to Nowhere this June. Yay! Any chance you might join us?

Now I'm wishing that your two families were going in July instead of June of next year. I know... July is hotter than June, but our twins are still in school for awhile next June so it is a non starter for us. Please make sure you give us updates after you get back next June!!!!


Beth

I would love nothing more to have Kim and family join us for my birthday cruise, but it is hardly justifiable for them to fly cross country just for a 2 day cruise. Especially since we get the joy of their company when they actually visit in August. Although, we're holding up the planning of that since we may not actually be living in NJ at that time.

We're actually going to take our kids out early. We called the school district and although they did not have the calendar finalized when we booked, they could tell us when the last day of school was. In my case, it could have been even the week of the 24th...If that were the case I probably would have done the cruise that leaves on the 27th and does Croatia, but school ends on the 20th. My kids will mill 5 days and 3 of those 5 may be 1/2 days. We went in August last time and it was just sooooo hot.

 

[mindelmouse]

Would highly recommend Pisa! It was DS's only request on our cruise and well worth it. I was a little concerned as Passporter's review wasn't that great. We thought it was the most beautiful drive for any of our excursions. Especially the mountains that appear to be covered in snow, but it is actually marble that Michaelangelo used!!! After being on so many tours with the little microphones stuck in our ears we decided to go it alone and meet our group outside the wall at the appointed time. This ended up being one of our favorite and most relaxing days. We wandered around at our leisure, taking the obligatory photos and running into Disney photogs as well. Another little secret is the nice line of shops across from the tower. We got some great inexpensive souvenirs and books as well as a beautiful leather purse for me that was less than $50! I even get compliments on it quite often.

I have heard Lucca is quite lovely and I believe it was Carolyn from Cruise Critic that visited there on the Magic in the Med video blog.

Marni

Marni,

I quite agree...the little shops were nice...it was hot when we went and after climbing the tower and being exhausted, I didn't have much of an inclination to really explore them. Would like to do it this time though. I think you're right about Carolyn from cruise critic going to Lucca, I vaguely remember that.

 

[NanNan]

Welcome - I hope our little pieces of wisdom help....

Thanks, Mindy! Your little bits of wisdom are huge!
Such amazing stories and pictures from all of you!
Looking forward to more.

Marilyn

 

[mindelmouse]

Thanks, Mindy! Your little bits of wisdom are huge!
Such amazing stories and pictures from all of you!
Looking forward to more.

Marilyn

I bow to Kim...her enthusiasm and excitement, made me excited to write about it...she's actually doing most of the planning for the next one...I'm just going along for the ride.

And it's going to be one heck of a ride

 

[MinnieDiva]

OK, I'm subscribed! Just booked the same cruise and am mega excited.

DCL is addicting! Welcome!!

We'd be interested in joining up on tours, when the time comes. Right now just 2 of us, but we might bring my 8 year old nephew, well I guess he'd be 9 by then.

I'll keep y'all in mind...!!

Evidently a nine hour shore excursion was just not enough!!!

Marni

Never enough!

So now I am DVRing everything Rick Steves related on our television! He does have some really good tips, plus you just gotta like the quirky guy and his road trip crew of two.

I loved your tip about pulling out the pertinent pages and making them into your own personal book. Definitely plan on doing that for next year's stuff to save space.

Oh, and also made the amazing discovery that Mindy is on the NY Cruise to Nowhere this June. Yay! Any chance you might join us?

Now I'm wishing that your two families were going in July instead of June of next year. I know... July is hotter than June, but our twins are still in school for awhile next June so it is a non starter for us. Please make sure you give us updates after you get back next June!!!!


Beth

Glad you're getting so much out of his stuff!! And I wish I could do the cruise to nowhere, but we'll be on the east coast in August, as Mindy said.
And I have to take DD out of school for this, but as she'll miss non-essential stuff, I feel no guilt!

Thanks, Mindy! Your little bits of wisdom are huge!
Such amazing stories and pictures from all of you!
Looking forward to more.

Marilyn

Lord only knows I can talk about more!

I bow to Kim...her enthusiasm and excitement, made me excited to write about it...she's actually doing most of the planning for the next one...I'm just going along for the ride.

And it's going to be one heck of a ride

LOL!

Y'all were busy while I was out and about! I'm about to disassemble the computer for its checkup tomorrow, so TTFN!!

 

[MinnieDiva]

Soooooo glad to have the computer up and running! Looks like I managed to fix the problem myself the other night, as no further issues arose today!

So, back to Corsica. After eating lunch on the ship, Sean and I left Ashleigh to play in the kids club, and headed into town to take a look around. This was a really pretty port:

We found our way over to the Napoleon museum:

As I think I mentioned, Sean has a degree in history. Does't relate to his job at all, other than it built a foundation for all the reports he has to write on a daily basis. But I digress...he's got an unnatural fondness for the topic of Napoleon. Not sure why, don't claim to get it. But this was exciting to him. So, into the museum and we paid out way in. I didn't seem to have saved the tickets, but I don't recall it being expensive. I do, however, remember that everything was in French, so we had to dust off the cobwebs and try to get the gist of what was going on.

His tiny little bed:

Anyway, it was over and done soon enough, and after finding some free wifi in a little square, we headed back to the ship. As Mindy said, it was a semiformal night, so a little fixin' needed to happen before dinner!

Our evening greeter:

A very nice island, but as I said, I think better served by a real visit, not just a port stop. At this time, our attention had turned to the following day: Villefrance! We had zero, zilch, nada, zip preconceived notions or any real excitement about this port. We'd let Ashleigh pick the excursion...the Perfumer's apprentice in Eze. We figured that if we were going to give her the reins, this was going to be the day. I was fully expecting to be disappointed.........But you'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out!

 

[MinnieDiva]

I had to share....I'm one step closer to more fabulous vacation memories! Meet my new lens:

It's my 1st piece of "L" glass! I've rented this baby a few time, but now it's MINE!!!!! Mwaaaaahahahahhaha!

Breathe in, breathe out. Repeat. Ok. I'm good. Now I just need a nice sunny day to go play with my new toy. Did I mention I live in Washington? It might be months before that kind of sun happens....

 

[mindelmouse]

A very nice island, but as I said, I think better served by a real visit, not just a port stop. At this time, our attention had turned to the following day: Villefrance! We had zero, zilch, nada, zip preconceived notions or any real excitement about this port. We'd let Ashleigh pick the excursion...the Perfumer's apprentice in Eze. We figured that if we were going to give her the reins, this was going to be the day. I was fully expecting to be disappointed.........But you'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out!

oooh....can't wait...I was there...are we allowed to mention what certain people partook in ...thought we were sworn to secrecy????

 

[MinnieDiva]

oooh....can't wait...I was there...are we allowed to mention what certain people partook in ...thought we were sworn to secrecy????

LOL!

Why are you still up?

 

[mindelmouse]

LOL!

Why are you still up?

Sorry mommy...my keeper was away...I stayed up past 11

 

[MinnieDiva]

Sorry mommy...my keeper was away...I stayed up past 11

11? It was midnight-thirty your time!!

So today ended up being something completely different than what I thought it would be. It's now a quarter to 2 and I'm just now sitting down at the computer. Was I playing with my new lens, you ask? Sadly, no. It's been raining all day; the dog and I started off with a very messy run after dropping DD at school. Nothing better than being completely soaked! Then there was the obligatory dog bath, then a bathroom cleaning, laundry...it goes on and on. But now, I'm done (at least until the dryer is finished), so here we go:

Villefranche is a tendered port. From the ship, we looked in to this view:

The day started off almost foggy, but cleared as the day went on. The bonus was that it was nowhere near as smoking hot because of the cloud cover. The navigator has the forecast at a pleasant 80 degrees! It also says that the 1st tender was estimated to go ashore at 0730, with the last one returning at 7pm. There was a bunch of discussion before the cruise on the boards about how disappointed people were that they weren't going to be able to do an excursion to the casino in Monaco in the evening, as had been done on the 2007 Med cruises. It wasn't repeated in 2011, either, from what I hear, but there was never any gossip/info as to why that had changed. So, if you're a gambler, plan your day accordingly.

Mindy and family were scheduled to do the same afternoon Perfumer's apprentice excursion that we were. She had done something cool beforehand, though! She'd taken her kids to a bath soap shop where they got to make their own soaps, so they kind of had an idea how the perfume would go. **I feel the need to insert here that Mindy pulled off the greatest vacation surprise ever....her kids had no idea that they were going on a DCL cruise until they were at the airport***. But that's her story to tell. I just thought it was a great idea for her to do the bath soaps so as to judge their interest and attention span in the project.

Ok, who when in France, what does my husband want to do? Eat Bouillabaisse. Thank goodness for spellcheck or I'd have never spelled that properly. Mindy's husband was good for that, so we got everyone together and planned to wander Villefranche and eat lunch before meeting out excursion at the port terminal as directed at 1:15. The town had a little market that we wandered thru, with some chotckies (there is no spelling recommended for that word) interspersed with leather and linens, and soaps. So for some background, Ashleigh had been entranced by some LAME handheld fans that were all over the place on Las Ramblas. They were present in Villefranche as well . I had told her that if for some reason, she could find NOTHING else to get as a souvenir, we'd go back and get one in Barcelona. So, after the obligatory hour with the kids driving us nuts, we found a lovely outdoor cafe and sat down to order. Here's some pics of Villefranche:

And the ever-important Bouillabaisse (had to take a pic of it!):

Mindy and I had a crab salad, the girls had pasta Bolognese (in France, not Italy, mind you), and Sam had a very elaborate Mac and Cheese. Not sure how many cheeses there were in it, but he's requested to eat there again (may not happen Sam...).

We wandered back to the port building to meet our group and head to Eze.

More after this commercial break...

 

[gailg3horses]

I just saw an email about American airline's international fare sale from Miami and got so excited but silly, Of course its only good for a short time this year. I hope I can find something even nearly that good next year. We'll even drive to Miami if we have to for $400 round trip pp fares. Wow. I'm really sweating the airfare im sure you can tell. Anyway, sorry to interrupt your trip report. Maybe i shouldn't post it here? Just let me know.

 

[MinnieDiva]

Eze is a hilly little place! Because it literally is built n a hill, there is little of the way of people moving in and out of the town. Having to carry all your stuff up from the road could be a real deterrent. So, I want to say that there are maybe 60 residents year-round?

To get to Eze, we climbed on a bus, then headed west to Nice in order to hop on the middle Corniche highway to head back east. Eze is literally right above Villefranche, but getting there takes a bit of work in a tour bus! If you remember (or here's a tidbit of info), there are 3 different highways in the Rivera. They are called "Corniches" and are low, middle, and high. Low is where the train runs. Middle is up the hill, and high follows what used to be a Roman road (Appian Way?? not sure...). I didn't get a great shot of the 3 roads, unfortunately, but I got views looking down:

In Eze, looking up:

and the town itself:

So the tour group was split in 2, so one half went to look around the town while the other did the perfume excursion. I'm pretty sure we did the perfume first. They took us to Fraggonard, which we were told was one of the big companies in the area. As I don't do much with perfume, I had no clue. We got a tour of the factory; at this point, we were sardine-packed with a ton of tourists. I was a bit dismayed, thinking "how are we going to make perfume like this". Well, in typical DCL style, we got to break off and go to a very quiet classroom, where we were taught about how perfumes are made. This was what was on our desk:

We did our thing and got to take our creation home! I actually like the scents we produced! As most things Disney, our tour ended in a gift shop (no!), and we got some stuff to take home (mostly soaps!!). The kids were given a little box that had a duck soap and tiny perfume bottle in it. I'm pretty sure we were bussed to a main area in Eze, then had some time to wander while the other group did the tour.

Amidst our wanderings, I got a towel set to bring home, but what got me to come to a screeching halt in from of that store was this:

Yes, we finally found a fan for Ashleigh. And...out of hand-tatted lace. Appropriate, I think!

We wandered back to find Jim (who didn't want to hike Eze), and made a gelato stop for the kids (and adults...). Then it was back to the port for a tender back to the ship.

It was a huge surprise to us how much we enjoyed this port. I fully had expected to be bored, but we weren't! Many other Dis'ers did this on their own, and I'm thinking that's how we're going to do this next time around. I think I'd like to take the train over to Monaco (10min ride) to see the palace and the changing of the guard. It would be nice to see the Grand Casino (tho I'm not a gambler), and maybe Jack Cousteau's aquarium. Then, the train to Nice (20 min) to see the market, the beachfront area, and maybe the Matisse and Chagall museums. Then, the 10 min train back to the port. It'll be our 1st stop, so we'll be fresh, time-adjusted, and ready to be curious!! (right?)

Can't forget our evening creature:

 

[MinnieDiva]

I just saw an email about American airline's international fare sale from Miami and got so excited but silly, Of course its only good for a short time this year. I hope I can find something even nearly that good next year. We'll even drive to Miami if we have to for $400 round trip pp fares. Wow. I'm really sweating the airfare im sure you can tell. Anyway, sorry to interrupt your trip report. Maybe i shouldn't post it here? Just let me know.

Don't mind at all. I would recommend wrapping your mind around something a bit higher than that, though. If you're going from the East, you'll likely spend a lot less that I'll get to. Remember that some airlines (Europe-based like British Air and Swiss) charge less for kids. Not a lot less...but at least worth looking into. I really wish there was a non-stop option from here....

FYI, I think I spent $3900 on airfare for the 3 of us?? I may be off a touch, but not by much. That was out of San Francisco, BTW.

 

[mindelmouse]

So the tour group was split in 2, so one half went to look around the town while the other did the perfume excursion. I'm pretty sure we did the perfume first.

Sorry - but went back and checked my trip report...we did the perfumery second..not first...if you'll remember...we had gelato and then walked down to the factory....

 

[mindelmouse]

I think I'd like to take the train over to Monaco (10min ride) to see the palace and the changing of the guard. It would be nice to see the Grand Casino (tho I'm not a gambler), and maybe Jack Cousteau's aquarium. Then, the train to Nice (20 min) to see the market, the beachfront area, and maybe the Matisse and Chagall museums. Then, the 10 min train back to the port. It'll be our 1st stop, so we'll be fresh, time-adjusted, and ready to be curious!! (right?)


Sounds like a plan

 

[o&smom]

It was a huge surprise to us how much we enjoyed this port. I fully had expected to be bored, but we weren't! Many other Dis'ers did this on their own, and I'm thinking that's how we're going to do this next time around. I think I'd like to take the train over to Monaco (10min ride) to see the palace and the changing of the guard. It would be nice to see the Grand Casino (tho I'm not a gambler), and maybe Jack Cousteau's aquarium. Then, the train to Nice (20 min) to see the market, the beachfront area, and maybe the Matisse and Chagall museums. Then, the 10 min train back to the port. It'll be our 1st stop, so we'll be fresh, time-adjusted, and ready to be curious!! (right?)




For our visit to Villefranche, we took the train on our own into Monaco to see the Oceanographic Museum and aquarium. As a kid, I loved Jacques Cousteau and I'm always up for an aquarium. This was the place that I was most excited to see on our last cruise, especially since it was the 100th anniv. of the museum. We were not disappointed! The architecture of the building is incredible and I actually saw some fish that I had never seen before. I was amazed at all the different coral species as well. The aquarium is not huge, but had a nice selection of large and small tanks and I was teased for taking a picture of every kind of fish! The museum upstairs is a gorgeous piece of history! Incredible specimens, old charts and tools used to discover the wonders of the sea are displayed on two different levels with a life-sized whale suspended from the ceiling. I am a little tempted to go back!

Marni