Sorrento, Italy April 25, 2017

For our last cruise port we visited Sorrento, Italy.  Sorrento overlooks the bay of Naples and you can usually see Mt Vesuvius quite clearly.  We had been here before so instead of taking an organized tour we rode the shuttle bus into the main part of the town.  The town is located high above the port with a winding steep rode that is quite narrow which makes for an exciting ride!  The shuttle bus drops you in front of a very large shop with all sorts of merchandise from huge ceramic animals to expensive jewelry.  Two of the things the area is known for is inlaid wood pictures and ceramics.  Being that it was a national holiday in Italy many of the regular shops were closed, but the tourist stores and cafes and restaurants were all open.  It did appear that they were getting ready for a parade or celebration as they started to block off the main square and street just before we left to ride the bus back down to the pier to catch a tender back to the ship.
We had a nice lunch back on the ship and then spent some time packing our bags as we leave the ship tomorrow in Civitavecchia which is the port for Rome.
We have enjoyed our cruise very much on the new Seven Seas Explorer but are looking forward to getting home.

Clear view of Vesuvius across the Bay of Naples

Dock area with town above on the top of hill

Nice old building around the main square

Main square

Narrow tree lined street next to the gift shop

Tenders going back and forth to the ship

Taormina, Sicily, Italy April 24, 2017

The port for Taormina is Naxos and this was our first port where we anchored and used tenders to get ashore.  This process always takes longer as they call you to the tenders by your tour number and it takes a bit of time to get everyone on board the tenders.  Our tour was by bus to Taormina, an ancient hilltop city.  The weather was bight and warm so the city was packed with people, both tourists and locals. We noticed that there was a lot of painting , cleaning, repairs, etc going on and were informed by our tour guide that the up coming G7 meeting was being held in Taormina.  We also saw many official looking men is suits walking around with clip boards and gesturing a lot!  One can only imagine what a security nightmare it will be with all the narrow streets and alley ways.  There are many high end shops in addition to the usual tourist shops, lots of cafes and small restaurants.  We walked with our guide through the main part of the wider street that goes all the way to the Greco-Roman theater.  It was quite a climb up the uneven stone steps to the top of the theater, but the view was very nice.  We passed on walking down to the stage area and left the tour to walk back through the town to find a cafe.  We ended up eating gelato!  We met up with the tour and went back to our bus for the ride back down to Naxos so we could go back on the ship before afternoon tea and trivia. I can't even describe how difficult it was for our driver to get the (full size) bus out of the parking garage.  Wish I had pictures.  The opening to exit was barely wider than the bus and the driver had to negotiate between support poles to even get to the exit, it was amazing that he never hit anything.

Mt Etna was smoking a bit

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Our ship from top of hill at Taormina

Greco Roman theater is still used for performances

Corfu, Greece April 23, 2017

Another nice sail into port with clear, cool weather.  Rather than taking a tour we rode the shuttle bus into town.  Being a Sunday many of the shops were closed but the sidewalk cafes and restaurants were very busy with many families enjoying the nice day.  We walked around a bit and then had a crepe and coffee at one of the cafes before going back to the ship.

The main plaza with residences and shops around the perimeter

There were nicely landscaped areas with lots of flowers in bloom

There were lots of restaurants along the plaza

Back in Kotor, Montenegro April 22, 2017

We were just in this port 6 days ago but the weather is bright and sunny today as compared to the rain and cold we had on the previous visit.  Instead of taking one of the tours we decided to just walk around the old city.  Being Saturday the local open market was very busy, everyone seemed to be buying flowers, both bedding type plants and hanging baskets.  Many of the vendors were selling olives and oils as well as fruits and vegetables.  We went into the walled city and walked around for about an hour.  Kotor is known for being the "cat" city and the cats are everywhere.  We saw cats of every color and many of them just lay in the shops and on the benches and chairs.  We looked in some of the shops but did not buy anything.  We were back on the ship in time for a light lunch as we have a reservation in the Prime 7 restaurant tonight.

Many vendors were selling different types of olives

The outdoor market had many flower sellers

One of the squares inside the city

One of the gates to enter the walled city

Our ship was docked so close that it looked like it was parked on the street!

Dubrovnik, Croatia April 21, 2017

It was a beautiful day to sail into a new port.  The day was sunny but a bit cool with a fairly strong wind.  We had a 9:15 am tour that began with a trip by bus to the quaint seaside resort city of Cavtat.  Our guide showed us a few things and then we had free time to walk around and take some photos before getting back on the bus.  We drove through the agricultural area and had a stop at a historic restaurant next to a river where we sampled some local cheese and wine.  Nearby were some very old water mills and we were shown how they "fulled" wool fabric at one location and ground grain at another.  Our final stop was in the old walled city which is used for many scenes in the tv show "Game of Thrones".Much of the old city was destroyed in the 1992 war but has been nicely restored.  We were every impressed with this entire area as it was very clean and most of the signs are in English.  We saw very little graffiti which was a change from many of the places we have been lately. 

In the evening we attended the cocktail party for the Seven Seas Society and since we did not sail until midnight they were able to bring on board a local group of musicians and singers.  It was really very nice.

Great view of walled city from top of hill on our way to Cavtat

Pretty seaside village of Cavtat

Historic restaurant was right on a river

Part of walled city as viewed from bus

The main square inside the walled city

Ancona, Italy april 20, 2017

It was a cool, breezy day in Ancona and since none of the offered tours appealed to us we decided to just stay on the ship.  We had a nice leisurely breakfast in Compass Rose restaurant and then spent the rest of the day reading and relaxing until time for trivia.  Since this short seven day segment has a lot of younger people there are very few trivia players so they have moved it back to the observation lounge during tea time.  With less competition we were able to win!!

View of Ancona from the ship

Pretty church on the hill

Venice, Italy April 18 & 19, 2017

We were in Venice overnight and on the second day was the change over to a new cruise segment.  

Our first day we had a tour to Murano Island and Burano Island.  It was about a one hour boat ride to our first stop.  We boarded the "water bus" directly from our ship which was nice.  The weather was cold, windy and rainy so not a good day for pictures as the boat windows got very dirty.  We visited one of the more famous glass factories and had a glass blowing demonstration as well as time to browse in their showroom (of course!).  We then boarded our boat to go to Burano Island which is know for its lace making.  We toured a small lace museum and had a lace making demonstration.  We then had ninety minutes of free time so we decided to have lunch as it was too cold to spend much time outdoors.  We ate pizza of course!  We arrived back at our ship about 2:30 with plenty of time to get ready for afternoon trivia.  We finished second again. 

The second day was the start of a new segment with a turnover of about 700 passengers.  It seems to be a much younger crowd than we normally have on Regent ships.  We had to change rooms as we booked this segment separately from the first two, so we had to pack up most of our stuff so our stewardess could move our things.  The ship arranged a half day tour for the passengers that were continuing on as they like to get us out of the way!  We started with a ride in a small water taxi, it was very difficult for some people as you had to go down a couple of steps onto a bouncing  boat and then duck down into a small cabin. We made it just fine but a couple of people really struggled.  We went through some small canals and then arrived at the Guggenheim Art Museum.  One of our tour guides had worked at the museum so she gave us a wonderful short tour and was able to explain some of the paintings extremely well.  The museum was quite crowded, especially with school groups so we could not see all of it.  After the museum we took  a "traghetto" (sort of a large gondola) to cross the canal so we could walk to St Marks Square.  We only had about ten minutes there as we had water taxis booked to take us back to the ship.  We arrived back at the cruise terminal about 1:30 and had to wait in a long line for security as the new passengers were checking in.  We waited in line about a half hour and when we got to where they look at your passport and ship card we had a very stern lady who did not want to let us on board as our ship cards ended on that date.  We tried to explain that we were changing rooms and could not get our new cards until we were back on the ship.  She did not want to hear our explanation or look at our documents and kept calling other officers over and showing them our cards and passports.  One of them told us to go sit down on a bench and Tom said we were not going to sit down and asked them to get someone from Regent to come over (they were in the terminal checking in the new passengers).  By this time we were holding up the whole line!  They finally let us on after about 15 minutes.  The funny thing was that at least four other people on our tour were also changing rooms and had "old cards", all of them went right through. 

We had planned a nice dinner in the specialty restaurant "Chartreuse" with our trivia team, but Bob was not feeling well with a chest cold so it was just five of us.  We were tired so we did not go to the show and were in bed by 10. 

Buildings along Grand Canal

Main sales area in the Murano glass factory we visited

It was, cold, rainy and windy in Burano

Inside the lace museum in Burano

Of course we had pizza for lunch!

Grand Canal

Our tour guide explains some of the paintings at Guggenheim

St Marks Basilica

Doges Palace