Mini Cruise Croatia,Italy,Corsica

1st stop Dubrovnik

Med Cruise 2022

I was apprehensive about using Tui, due to a recent history of last-minute holiday and flight cancellations. However, this trip has been very smooth so far. We were able to bag drop the night before, saving time in queues. We had to stay overnight in an airport hotel due to a ridiculously early flight. The flight to pick up the ship in Dubrovnik was delayed for about 45 minutes, but time was made up in the air. Transfer to the ship went off without a hitch. My only criticism so far is that we had to collect our own bags at the airport. If Tui had done this, then an hour would have been saved for exploring Dubrovnik. It turned out that we had a bit of time there anyway. Once we had checked in and freshened up, we headed straight out.

Dubrovnik

The taxis at the port charge a flat fee to go into the old city, all we had time for really. It’s very impressive and full of tourists. Within the walls it’s a car-free zone, and the streets are paved with shiny slabs that look like they are permanently wet. The old city is walled and there is a charge to walk around it. It’s around 250Croatian Kunos/£28. We were told Croatia is moving to Euros within the next few weeks. There is plenty to do apart from walking the wall. The harbour is very pretty and in the Piazzas, al fresco dining is abundant. The shops in this part of Dubrovnik are pricey for obvious reasons and are full of souvenirs. A part of Game of Thrones was filmed here, so many of the souvenirs are from that series.

All along the main drag are steep little alleyways leading up to residential areas. It was halfway up one of these that we found Barba. A family-run restaurant that had jumped out at me whilst watching the new season of Somebody Feed Phil on Netflix (If you like new foods whilst travelling there is more about this on our Bring Back Vinyl page.) Many of the alleyways are steep and lead to great views of the whole area.

Leaving Dubrovnik for a day and night at sea. Definitely on The Return List. Next stop Sicily.

Sicily: Messina and Taormina

When we woke up to a glorious sunny morning we were in Messina, Sicily. We had booked a tour to the hilltop town of Taormina, so we were ready early to board our coach. The trip took around 45 minutes, the last 10 of which was climbing up a steep narrow hair pinned road. The guide on our coach was informative but never stopped talking. Eventually, we reached the top and parked on the lower level of a 7-storey car park built into the mountainside. Taking a lift to the top we came out onto a large viewing area, and immediately realised how high we were. The sheer drops reminded me of Rhona in Spain (obviously without the sea views)

The Ampitheatre

The Greek/Roman Ampitheatre which dates back to the 3rd century BC, is probably the main reason people visit Taormina. Getting there is through an ancient gate onto shop-lined streets and narrow passageways. It is very busy and quite expensive and because of the town’s popularity, it is extremely crowded. So the walk can take up to 1 hr. It is worth it though as the Ampitheatre, the second largest in Sicily is something to behold. It is best to buy tickets in advance to avoid the queues.

On the way back down from the theatre we sampled the local cuisine, Canoli stuffed with cream cheese and candied peel and Arancini, exploring some more of Taormina’s charm as we went.

On route back to Messina, the guide was silent for about 10 minutes and then started talking nonstop for the last 35minutes, I was glad to get off. We arrived back in time to explore a little bit of the city, before heading to a bar for liquid refreshments. It was here that a found the best lager I have had in a very long time. See below.

After numerous bottles of this glorious brew, we headed back to the ship for our onward voyage to Naples. As we were leaving The Straits of Messina, Stromboli erupted!!! Amazing.

Naples

The home of Pizza, but is it the best we’ve ever had? We set out to prove/disprove this on our day in Naples. It was a Sunday so it should have been quiet. There was very little traffic, but every resident and their dogs were out to play. Naples’s narrow streets were worse than Wembley Park station on cup final day.

There was an option to go to Pompei and Amalfi, but we decided to explore Naples. We set off early on a route we planned using Google Maps. Out of the port and left towards Piazza del Plebiscita. To get there we had to head into a tunnel and up in a lift, no problem, except the lift wasn’t working, 5 flights of stairs and we were there. The square was massive and impressive. The large stones on the surface of the piazza took some getting used to and needed concentration at first to walk across. We didn’t know at the time but these huge stones are made from volcanic rock from Vesuvius.

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Naples Architecture

We headed into an impressive building that turned out to be an upmarket shopping mall called Galleria Umberto 1. Very upmarket in an old mall. It was built in 1890 and was part of the renaissance revival architecture as part of the rebuilding of Naples.

The route we had decided upon would take us to the old city. The streets became busier and busier as we went. We found street food vendors, very clean and reasonably priced. We also came across a mini street market consisting of 3 stalls, cheese, olive oil, and vegetables.

Onward we went, streets narrowing to more and more of Naples finest! We stopped for coffee and watched the world go by. When we set off again there were just too many people in the Via del Tribunali. We realised that we were actually in the “Old City” now, the place we had set out to find. It was time to find a Trattoria and sample the Pizza. No chance, everywhere was full or overpriced. We needed a quieter but still traditional restaurant where Italian families go for a Sunday outing. Eventually away from the crowds, we found Trattoria Pizzeria Lazzaro. It was down a small street called Piazza Francese. The clientele was varied and the menu very authentic. I wanted to try everything on the menu, but we settled for a broth with a mixture of clams and mussels followed by a Marghrita Pizza. Superb. More about this on the Bring Back Vinyl Newsletter.

Back to the ship for a laydown and prepare for our next stop. Civitavecchia.

Civitavecchia

This cute little town was built by Emperor Trajan in 106BC due to its proximity to Rome, just over an hour away. It serves as a port for Rome not only for cruise liners but cargo also. The most obvious and largest monument here is Fort Michelangelo, and you can’t miss it as it is at the entrance to the docks. A few other monuments/ sites to see are Port St Peter and Santa Fermina Grotto