Day 17 - Cruise Complete - Back in Barcelona - Flying Home Tomorrow

Our one week cruise of the Mediterranean Sea is over. It was a very nice. We are at the Rennaisance Hotel in Barcelona for a rest between the cruise and our flights home. We have a spectacular room on the 18th floor overlooking the city.

The best part is being back to really fast free Internet. Also our iPhones work on the Spain Vodafone system. You really miss those services on the ship.

So far on our trip we have visited these cities - Atlanta - New York - Barcelona - Palma (Majorca) - Valencia - Barcelona - Marseilles - Savona - Genoa - Naples - Palermo (Italy) - Vattelli (Malta) - and back again to Barcelona. We fly home through - Amsterdam and Atlanta on Delta. We hope for a bump.

It is hard to pick a favorite place. Each one had wonderful highlights. I am guessing we might return to Malta for a longer stay. First - we like its old world charm and history. Second - the British influence and the English Language. Third - the weather. Fourth - a good jumping off to other places with cheap flights.

We traveled with one carry-on suitcase and one backpack. We had more than enough. I could have left maybe 5 clothing items home. Even Lulu - with all her fancy conference clothes - had enough room to buy a pair of Italian shoes.

We did not spend a lot of money. On ship we paid for a few mixed drinks - a little casino work - and a Facebook connection. Off ship - we bought some meals - rental car - taxis - some gifts - trinkets - and Lulu's shoes.

Since we were already in Spain for a conference - it was a cheap way to see several cities and countries - with a nice moving hotel and restaurant. Our next cruise will probably be in Baltic Sea during the middle of the summer season. There are cruises that cover Germany - Norway - Sweden - Finland - Denmark - Russia - Latvia - etc. If we are over to Europe on a mission to England or Germany - it would be a nice side trip.

Lulu's Program Ranked Number One in the Nation

"FSU grad program in school library media remains at No. 1

Several programs rank high on U.S. News list

BYRON DOBSON

DEMOCRAT SENIOR WRITER

Several Florida State University graduate programs had strong showings in U.S. News & World Report's 2018 edition of "Best Graduate Schools" released Tuesday.

For the fifth year in a row, FSU's school library media program ranked No. 1. Its services for children and youth program ranked seventh nationally."

Excerpt From: 03/16/2017. "Tallahassee Democrat." Tallahassee Democrat, 2017-03-16. iBooks.
This material may be protected by copyright.

Day 15 - Malta

We are in the absolute center of the Old World - Malta - in the center of the Med Sea. From here the boat head back to Barcelona - then the plane to Tallahassee.

Lulu and I love the British influence on this old colony. You see school kids in British outfit - full British breakfasts - statues of Churchill.

The town is high up on cliffs. You can see the elevator to get there in the picture. We only have 5 hours here - enough to. Say you were here and think you are an expert.

We are in Velletti. Their parliament is here. They also have a bunch of old ceremonial canons overlooking the harbor.

A McDonald's provide me free wifi.

The Maltese Cross - a favorite of the Nazis is all over here. The Maltese Cross is also the dominate item in Duke Eberhard's coat of arms.

We cruise 2 days to Barcelona and spend a night there. Then we fly home - hoping to get bumped in Amsterdam.

We got a message from home that FSU's school library program was once again picked by US News and World Report as the top program in the country.

Day 13 - Palermo Sicily

We are on a hop on hop off bus in Palermo. We have the front seat on the upper deck. It is wide open. Sunny. Temp 62. 

The bus is 15 euros a day. It has headphones in English. It also has wifi. I am posting as we roll. We just had Sicilian pizza. 

Lots of Vespa and Honda scooters. Gas is $6.40 a gallon here. Diesel is $5.60. 

Lulu just bought a pair of Italian shoes for 30 euros. 

Day 12 - Naples

It is noon Monday - we land in Naples Italy at 2 pm. We only have 6 hours here - our shortest stop. Naples is the home of Mount Vesuvius and Pompeii. 

Vesuvius is considered a ticking time bomb. When it erupts - the energy makes atomic bombs look puny. We were here last year and hiked to the top. It was smoking - you could smell the sulfur from hell. 

Our ship offers social media on the internet for 5 euros a day. You can read and post messages and pictures. So if I can't get you my regular web page- go to Facebook and search for "harry Everhart"

The trip has been great. Our room fantastic. Food great. Ship smooth. Entertainment good. No crowds. 

I took this picture of Vesuvius now but we have 2 hours until embarking. We will have a big lunch on board - grab some fruit - and head out. 

Our captain just did a beautiful parallel parking job. He backed in about a mile spun the wheel - and pulled right up to the dock. Lots of harbor cops were watching. 

It is bright sunny and 60. The hotel we stayed at when here last March is a block or so away. It is on the other side of this castle we did not tour last time. I have a feeling we will get sun burn here. 

The Isle of Capri is just off our balcony. Maybe 5 miles. 

We are downtown Naples now. We just toured Nivea Castle - from 1279 AD. We had the castle to ourselves. 

We are at a cafe with wifi. We leave Naples at 8 pm. 

Day 11 - Savona to Genoa on Train

Our boat landed in Savona Italy. We walked 1 and 1/2 miles to the train station - we want to go Genoa to see the home of Christopher Columbus. We bought two round trip tickets for 9.40 euros each. The train leaves here at 10:10 and takes 30 minutes.

Our boat sailed east from Marseilles along the coast past Cannes - Nice - Monaco. At night you could see the city lights. Sailing has been very gentle on the Med Sea.

We are sitting on a double decker train car waiting to pull out.

Our ship docked in downtown Savona - we could have stayed there the whole day. Weather has been kind. We have seen between 60 and 80 the whole trip.

We sat in the front row last night for an Italian cabaret show. The theatre was maybe 1/3 full so I think the ship has lots of empty cabins. This is the maiden voyage for the season of our ship - Costa Mediterranean.

Lulu tried the slots last night in the casino. They have penny slots where you play 15 to 20 lines. It is too easy - you put you room key in the machine and it charges and deposits you cash right to your account. She started out with 10 euros and ended with 26 euros. No way of lying about your losses!

This morning there were croissants out for breakfast. They were cream filled and tasted just like Wenzel's.

Our ship room is huge with a balcony. I like the big shower very much - lots of water pressure. The ship is a floating RV - it makes its own water and electric. We have about 20 Television channels - 4 in English.

The ship is long. The dining rooms are near our room in the back. The theatre is in the front - about 900 feet away. The casinos are in the middle and you must pass through them a lot.

We just found out that each of us has a 50 euro credit in the stores or casino. How did I miss that?

Italy is great for little cars and scooters. When I see them paying 6 euros per gallon roughly - I thank fracking in the USA. They have very little fuel here.

The Nazis used to turn coal into fuel for their planes. That tech is stored down at Texas A&M. Wish we could do that.

I am typing this out on my iPhone while waiting for the train to depart.

We will be in genoa from 10:40 until about 2. There is an Apple Computer Museum in Savona if we have time on the way back.

Random thoughts - they have some really cool small motor homes here. It would probably cost a fortune to bring one home.

10:10 - the train just pulled out right on time.

Over here Genoa is Genova. Of course I thought they were two separate places.

The train up the coast is very smooth. It goes thru lots of long tunnels in the mountains. It is Sunday morning and there are only a few passengers. We are stopping at a lot of small coastal towns - this one is Verraze.

Just Like Home - McDonalds - KFC

Out hotel wifi this morning was bad. So we went to McDonalds for wifi. The wifi was a little slow there but across the street KFC's wifi was faster. So we sat in Mcdonalds and enjoyed KFC's wifi. Aren't we pirates?  :-)

Our hotel balcony this morning

Looking north

Day 10 - Costa Cruise - Mediterranean Sea - One Week

Our room in the Costa Mediterranean. The bathroom goes over the side :-)

We are on this side toward the stern

Today - Friday at  5 pm - we leave Barcelona on a cruise of the Med Sea. It was a cheap cruise - like $350 a person for a regular room. Lulu spent an extra $150 per person - and got this double size one with a balcony. Room 7315. It is a Costa Cruise - owned by Carnival Cruise - their offices are in Las Vegas - Nevada.

We go from Barcelona - to Marseilles France - Savona Italy - Naples Italy - Palmero Sicily - to Malta - and back to Barcelona.

The wifi on the ship is expensive - like $20 an hour. So we will only be able to send back pictures and reports from the shore when we find free wifi. Since our iPhone data is for Spain - our iPhones will not work in the other ports - except on wifi at places like McDonalds. I am sending this report from a McDonalds in Barcelona near our ship.





Our room 7315 - is on the starboard (right) side
 - toward the stern (rear) - 7th deck

Day 9 - The Train To Barcelona - Cruise Leaves Friday

The train with the big nose brought us to Barcelona 

Supper in Placa Real in the Gothic quarter

It is 11 AM on Friday in Barcelona. We left our hotel of the dependability of a stronger wifi signal at McDonalds. Our hotel signal last night was so sporadic - we could barely watch the FSU/VT game on our sling box. It was 1 AM here as the game started and we both dozed off - but saw the end of the game. 

We had gone to a grocery store and bought cereal - milk - bananas for a light breakfast. 

We can board our Costa Cruise ship anytime between 2 PM and 4 PM - we are about 2 miles from the Terminal D - where we depart. 

The train from Valencia was very nice - it took about 3 hours. It hugged the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. We saw many pretty homes overlooking the sea. In some places there were summer camps of cabins and trailers. We did not see a lot of people along the coast. In some place the beaches were rocky - not many real sandy beaches like Florida. 

The train had 10 cars - we were in the first car. The restaurant was in the last car. We had lunch there. The train had electrical outlets - but no wifi. We used some of our Spain data plan. The train was full - all 10 cars. 

Near our there was a place that rented electric scooters and bikes. There was quite an array of sturdy looking scooters. 

Internet is expensive on the ship - so my posts will be smaller and less frequent. I have used 560 MB of my 1000 MB that I bought on Spanish cell phone. the phone will not work now until we come back to Barcelona in a week. I guess you could say we are roughing it then without data on the ship. Lulu and I will have to talk :-)

Last night we had supper at Place Real - the picture of us was taken there. 

White Prius taxis as far as the eye can see. 

USA Jeep for 54000 euros

Very nice electric scooters

Another nice electric scooter - big battery

This scooter sat one person inside

Nice two wheel electric

Rental scooter web page

Day 8 of 20 - Last Full Day in Valencia - The Holy Grail and Fireworks

This is the Holy Grail in the Valencia Cathedral

Mother Mary breast feeding little baby Jesus

Valencia North Gate - the gold building right behind it is FSU Campus

Today was our last full day in Valencia. It was so filled with action - I am having a hard time picking out the best pictures to show you. The conference included a bus tour of the city so at  9 AM we boarded the bus to see the action.

A big river used to run right through downtown Valencia - but it used to flood. After a tremendous flood in 1957 that killed 100 people - they decided to divert the river to the south and turn the river bed into parks and museums. Many of the things we saw today were in the trough - the dry river bed. 

After a look at the opera - cinema - music house - science museum and aquarium - we went to the central market. Each of  these places could be a story in itself. Next we toured the Valencia Cathedral which is the home of the Holy Grail. Supposedly - the Holy Grail was the cup that Jesus and the Disciples used to drink the wine in the Last Supper. In Arthurian Literature - the Holy Grail had magical powers. Hitler wanted to gain these holy items thinking they would help him rule the world. 

The Cathedral is part Gothic - part Romanesque. The Moslems occupied it for a time. It is in really nice shape and full of art and religious relics. The Holy Grail sits in its own chapel and it is mystifying. 

After that we had lunch at a street cafe. The weather has been wonderful - 70s and sunny. You could not tell it by all the clothes people wear here. 

Next - at 2 PM - we followed the crowd to the town square to see the most fantastic display of fireworks. 

After being blown away by the fireworks - we went to the FSU Valencia Campus. It is only ½ mile north of city hall an easy to find. A 1000 year old gate from the old walled city - the North Gate - sits right in front of the FSU Campus. You go thru the gate and there is FSU!

We had a very nice tour of the FSU campus. It is basically one big building - with student dorm rooms and classrooms in one facility. Many of the walls in the FSU Center are the old walls from the Old Walled City. They have been restored to show details of the historic walls. 

Finally - we walked the old river bed about one mile back toward our hotel . We stopped for lunch at another small cafe - and took the 1.50 euro bus the last mile home. We walked 6 miles today. We got home and took a little nap - now we are wide awake and watching the ACC Basketball Tournament on our Slingbox. 

Tomorrow at 11 AM - we take a train from Valencia to Barcelona. Friday - our Mediterranean Sea Cruise begins. 

Science Museum in dry river bed

Opera house and movie house in dry lake bed

Tourist train in park area

Valencia Garden in dry river bed

I loved this electric Smart car

The City Gardens behind Lulu.

They love American stuff over here - like this IMAX movie

City Gardens

Columbo Market

Fireworks set up in front of city hall

Central Market - the nicest in Europe

Ham ham ham

Beautiful berries - we bought some

Peppers

Crayfish

Our friend Barbara making deals

More ham

Cutting ham

Cayenne pepper shaped like volcanoes

Nothing like a fresh churro in hot chocolate

Lulu in the cathedral

I am not kidding - this depicts the circumcision of Christ

These hymnals were 500 years old. I was standing for the last verse.

Holy Grail strained glass window

Holy Grail Chapel

Cathedral

Something different - beer in McDonalds

Following the crowd to city hall and fireworks

City Hall before fireworks

The crowd for fireworks stretched forever

Touring the FSU Campus in Valencia

This wall in the FSU classroom is part of the 1000 year old city wall

Historic city wall in computer center at FSU

Lulu found the library at FSU. Now we have visited 3 of the 4 FSU overseas campuses. London - Florence - Valencia. One left - Panama.

Giant wooden door on FSU Campus - Valencia