Ah, the white ship, the azure wave... part two
Ah, the white ship, the azure wave...part two
MSC Splendida - self cruise - Barcelona
The cruise was booked on the website: http://www. msc-seereisen. de/ at the beginning of December. I tried to order on the MSC website itself, but I didn’t succeed, the site didn’t even show the price. Then I found suitable prices on the above site, made an application, emailed me. the mail was sent a letter stating that yes, you can book this cruise at this price, 2 days for you to think. I made a list of questions, called this tour. Bureau, found out everything, gave written consent, and the next day received the documents. It was necessary to make a WEB CHECK-IN and transfer the money: the first part immediately, and the rest until December 25.2013. We booked a cabin with a balcony Fantastica, 858.00 euros per cabin, i. e. for two. At the same time as booking the cruise, the drink package Allegrissimo 23.00/person was ordered. /day X 2 X 7 = 322.00 euros for the whole cruise for two.
https://www. msc-kreuzfahrten. de/de_de/Angebote/Unsere-getraenkepakete. aspx
This drink package, like any other, can also be ordered on the ship itself, but then a +15% service charge will be added. In addition to drinks, it also includes several varieties of ice cream, so they didn’t bother to try it, somehow it wasn’t hot and there was no craving for it. If possible, I tried to keep all the checks in order to eventually calculate whether the package paid off or not. Result: paid off, drinks consumed for 412.00 euros. This is not counting the fact that they hardly tried strong drinks, and it was not a summer season.
Bordguthaben amounted to 20.00 euros per cabin, this amount was immediately deducted from the cost of the cruise. 7-10 days before the start of the voyage, all other documents also arrived by email. email in PDF format. The documents have repeatedly indicated that the cruise will be in the Schengen countries, except for Tunisia. Passengers with German citizenship do not need a visa, and everyone else is advised to contact the Tunisian consulate and consult on this issue.
But I already knew that Russian citizens do not need a visa either.
We did not buy any special additional insurance, for the safety of luggage or something else. We have honey. insurance for all European countries, and special insurance for African countries. We concluded it a long time ago, when we flew to Egypt for the first time, and now every year we pay in addition to the total honey. insurance, and the head about Africa no longer hurts.
Ah here is seems organizational moments and all. I ordered a cruise for the first time, but there was nothing difficult, everything worked out. Oh yes, tips, they will be credited to the account, every day, at 7.00 / person. And also all purchases, services and other things that are done on board, everything will be recorded on the account. For the ship's bill, we gave our credit card, it was so convenient for us. We did not have big expenses on board, the bill was about 600.00 euros. By the way, only 2 days ago this money was deducted from the credit account.
So, cities and countries along the route.
1. La Goulette (Tunisia)
We have not been to Tunisia, and this country is not yet considered by us for any type of vacation. But since it will be along the route of the liner, then, of course, we will not stay on it during the parking lot, we will go to see what you can see.
In the evening, a form of two types was brought to the cabin, which must be filled out.
1 part if you will be in the country with a tour
Part 2 if you visit the country on your own.
The questionnaire is simple to fill out, nothing complicated. We fill out part 2, because we will go on our own, and put it in our passport.
From the MSC company, an additional excursion was offered to Kazbakh to some kind of bazaar for 10.90 / person. The duration of this tour is 09:00 - 12:30. I don't know what this place is, we didn't go there.
In the morning we left Splendy and went towards the covered rows, when you pass them all, there will be a border guard before entering the city.
And all this in a mixture of English and German. Fearing that we did not understand this clearly enough, he repeated this to us all the way, with not long breaks. Apparently, tourists often deceive them and leave with other taxi drivers.
He brought us to Habib Bourguiba Avenue, a fairly wide street in the middle with a footpath, and many, many police at every step with weapons. We walked along it, looking left and right. This is the Cathedral of St. Vincent de Paul, such a beautiful imposing Catholic church in a Muslim country, did not go inside.
Of course, they did not pass by the French Gate or Bab el - Bar, which separate the Medina from the modern part of the city. But they look so scary, all shabby, dilapidated, at first I thought that these were the remains of some broken building. On postcards, of course, everything looks much more beautiful and decent than in reality. Then we went to the market / bazaar.
A narrow passage, they sell all sorts of things, how many different junk ...Having walked 10-15 meters, I asked my husband: what are we looking for here, what should we buy here? Nothing, just for the sake of interest, turned around and went back. No one particularly pestered us, they didn’t grab our hands. There are many cafes on the street, they invite you to drink coffee, but everything is decent, in other countries they are also invited, in the same Nice, for example. We didn’t go anywhere ...we went to the taxi driver. He saw us first, waved his hands from afar, apparently did not hope that we would return. The husband said, I will pay you another 5 euros, ride us along other streets of Tunisia. He was delighted and took us for another 30 minutes to different areas, but we didn’t go out anywhere else.
Then we went to the blue and white village of Sidi Bou Said.
Many artists and writers visited this place, and everyone wanted to capture it either on paper or on canvas.
According to one of the legends, in the 13th century, a saint with a very long name appeared here, known to the common people as Sidi-Bou-Said, who miraculously cured seriously ill patients, as well as those bitten by poisonous scorpions. According to another legend, the name of the city was given by Caliph Abu Said.
"Once there was a stronghold of Arab pirates, and access to Christians here was closed until 1820, although in the 16th century a Spanish garrison was stationed in Sidi Bou Said. " (from the Internet)
Gradually, the village grew more and more, and the locals, according to the established tradition (and still) painted the houses white, and the windows and doors blue, making it more attractive and unique. In the 20th century, the rich from Europe flocked here and mass construction of elegant villas began. When we drove past such houses, immersed in greenery, the taxi driver always said: capitalist.
You can also get from the capital Tunis to Sidi Bou Said by train, but we didn’t risk it, a taxi is still more comfortable.
Arriving at the taxi stand, we went up the hill, looking around people, houses, shops. Not only we walked here, this is the "main tourist path", along which tourists cheerfully walk up and down. Tangerine trees grow ...I so wanted to pick and try these tangerines, what do they taste like? Maybe they are wild and not suitable for food?
Here, already at the disembarkation and generally on the way here, the taxi driver no longer told us that we should return only to him, apparently he had already become confident in us. This is where the flower seller on the tray clung to us. He reminded me of the seller of sweets from the series "Institute for Noble Maidens", when I was in Russia, I watched a little. And you won’t turn away from him in any way, I said no 10 times, shook my head negatively 20 times ...other tourists drove up to my happiness, and he went towards them.
And this process looks like this: the seller says that today is some kind of holiday of flowers, and these flowers are from his sister, and he gives them for free. From those who took these yellow flowers, he then asks for money, shows dissatisfaction if they gave little. And some easily insert these flowers into breast pockets, behind the ears ...wherever they have to.
We go further up and turn a little to the side, there are almost no people here at all.
We pass by the famous cafe "De Nutt", because it was visited by the most eminent people. It became famous thanks to the German artist August Macke. Well, then views of the port, the Gulf of Tunis, Carthage and the surroundings of the capital.
Returning to the taxi driver, then went to Carthage. On the way we stopped briefly at Moschee. Opposite it is a children's park, but there were no walkers there.
Carthage is a large historical city that has preserved the remains of ancient culture to this day in the form of ruins, of course.
Once it was a powerful Phoenician state, and later an African colony of the Roman Empire. Ruins, remains of ancient buildings...we are not special fans of such open-air museums, but we walked there with pleasure.
On the way to the port of the Tunisian capital La Goulette, where our liner is parked, the driver stopped at the so-called observation deck. I did not appreciate the special charm of this place: on the edge of either a cliff, or a ravine in which rubbish is lying, underfoot there are puddles with branches, fragments of trees ...and such views of the houses are "capitalist", as the taxi driver puts it, and on piece of the sea. By the way, we were the first there, but not alone, a second taxi drove up next, then a third, apparently this place is considered attractive for tourists ...from the point of view of taxi drivers.
Then he drove us along very beautiful, clean, practically without people, except for the police, the streets, while pointing left and right, commented: presidential.
It's understandable why everything is so beautiful here.
And now we are on Splendid. We liked this first acquaintance with Tunisia. The day was warm and sunny, new spring grass was already breaking through, and some parts of the road were all in bloom. Some plant of not high growth was blooming with a bright yellow color, quite pleasing to the eye: everything around was green and yellow.
The sun had already hidden, either behind the horizon, or behind dark clouds, or behind the edge of the Atlas Mountains that separate the Mediterranean African coast from the vast deserts, at the time when our liner began to maneuver to leave the port.
"MSC Splendida" leaves the Tunisian port and heads for Europe. A small boat - a pilot will accompany us until the full exit from the port. At 5:00 pm we left Tunisia and headed for the beautiful southern Italian island of Sicily. Palermo is ahead of us.
2. Palermo (Sicily)
Palermo, as everyone knows, is the capital of Sicily, this mysterious island that we have long wanted to visit. The city seemed to us very lively, beautiful, with beautiful squares, royal palaces, ancient temples, colorful with its own specific atmosphere and hundreds of mopeds.
There were no big plans, because parking is only until 15:00. The plan was to take the City Sightseeing Palermo bus, aka Hop On - Hop Off, and get off where you like. In advance on the Internet, I looked at the route, stops and prices. The ticket costs 20.00 euros/person.
Leaving the ship, representatives / ticket sellers of this company and another one immediately attack. Their ticket also costs 20.00 euros, as if we had bought it on the bus. So having bought tickets here, we went to the first stop to the Politeama Theatre.
It was very cloudy in Palermo, but not rainy.
Buses start running at about 10:00 in the morning, so we waited another 15 minutes.
The first stop we got off at was Quattro Canti Square - Four Corners. Such a peculiar small area, which I could not photograph in any way, so that all 4 corners were at the same time.
"The project was based on the Quattro Fontane (Four Fountains) intersection created in Rome by the urban planners of Pope Sixtus V. The corners of the four Quattro Canti buildings are cut and made in the Sicilian Baroque style. Agates, Christinas, Ninfas and Olivas. The decoration of each corner is completed by a marble coat of arms belonging to one of the viceroys. " (from the Internet)
At all four corners there were wagons drawn by horses, the carters invited to ride. And there were those who wished, not to say that there were many, but one could constantly see here and there a horse carrying tourists.
And we go a little further, to one of the most ancient squares of the city, to Piazza Pretoria.
Here are the churches of Santa Catarina and San Giuseppe dei Teatini, the city hall, as well as the "Fountain of Shame", which is a cascade of pools of different sizes, decorated with statues. It turns out that the Fountain was brought here from Tuscany, having previously been dismantled and then reassembled. The inhabitants of Palermo were shocked by the naked statues, for which they called it the "Fountain of Shame", but then they got used to it. And the mayors too, because the city hall is also located here.
Yes, winter is not summer, and not even spring, the fountain did not work and was generally covered with an iron grate. Although now I have looked at the photographs, some small streams of water are visible. I rummaged through the Internet, and also did not find photos with "raging" water in this fountain, maybe it has always been like this ...
Then we take the next bus again and go to the Palazzo dei Normanni or Palazzo Reale stop, the main attraction of which is the Cappella Palatina.
"The Palace of the Normans or the Royal Palace in Palermo is located in the place where in the era of antiquity there were ancient fortifications. In the 9th century, on the old ruins, the Arabs erected a fortress known as the Palace of the Emirs. In the 11th century it was rebuilt and turned into a luxurious residence of the Sicilian kings and viceroys. " (from the internet)
It was not clear whether it was possible to see the palace itself, because tickets were only sold to us for the Palatine Chapel. 7.00 euro/person When we asked about the palace itself, they explained something to us in Italian, to understand more - what?
But when we went further, we could neither go up nor go down, everything was blocked. It can be seen that some construction work was going on, builders flashed here and there. And then we went to the Palatine Chapel.
The interior decoration, of course, is striking in its richness, here there is marble, mosaics, and a wooden carved ceiling ...
Guy de Maupassant called her "the most beautiful religious gem that the human mind could ever dream of. " Well, there is simply nothing to add to this, the beauty there is indescribable.
When we left the Palace, the bus just came to a stop, sat down, drove to Cattedrale di Vergine Assunta. It turned out that it was only 1 stop to go, not far at all, it would be possible to go on foot. After getting off the bus, we walked a little back, to this place New Gate - Porta Nuova. They are located next to the Norman Royal Palace, attracted attention with their unusualness. It is a pity that part of the gate was covered with scaffolding. These gates were built back in the 15th century and were originally wooden, later they were rebuilt to modern ones and made in the form of the Arc de Triomphe. Apparently upstairs, no one goes up to the loggia, there is no observation deck for tourists there, everyone looks at them only from below.
Nearby there is not a big, cozy square with many palm trees and other green plants, it was pleasant to walk there. And the next number of our program was, of course, the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Located in one of the oldest squares, in Piazza Palermo. They say that back in the 4th century there was a Temple on the site of this Cathedral, which was later destroyed ...then the church ...then the mosque ...
"And only in the twelfth century, thanks to the Normans, who liberated the city of Palermo, they returned the building of the cathedral to the clergy. After that, the cathedral was re-consecrated and became known as the Cathedral of the Most Holy Theotokos. " (from the Internet)
A grandiose, majestic building, impressive.
We go inside, the interior decoration is beautiful, but we didn’t see anything outstanding. The relics of Saint Rosalia, the patroness of Palermo, are buried here.
In all the temples we visited during our trip, there were electric candles everywhere.
A coin is dropped into the slot, no matter how much, at least 20 cents, and a candle / light bulb immediately lights up.
We get back on our Hop On - Hop Off bus and drive to Massimo Teatro Massimo Vittorio Emanuele. This is our last stop, and there is not much time left. It is still very cloudy and the wind is very strong. Even from the photographs you can see how the flags are inflated. The first photo is the beginning of the trip, the second photo is the end of the trip.
"Its architectural complex is the largest among the buildings of opera houses in Italy and one of the largest in Europe, famous for its excellent acoustics. " (from the Internet)
Now we have only one thing left, to move slowly towards the port. On the way we went to some cafe, well, why not drink coffee and enjoy my favorite croissants. For me at the moment the most delicious croissants are in Italy.
By the way, on the liner in the buffet, they are also excellent: not large, without fillers inside, but very, very tasty. And jams are always nearby, for every taste.
Having dressed warmly and sitting on our balcony, we prepared to watch the ship leaving the port. We sit, we sit, we wait by the sea for the weather, but it does not change, the wind only intensified. It's already 4:00 pm, the ship is still in port... something strange is happening. Almost froze, returned to the cabin. And here the first delay announcement was made in many languages. Because of the strong wind, we cannot leave the port for the sea. At sea, this wind would not be terrible, but there is no way to get out there. We are waiting for the weather to improve ...Announcements were repeated at some intervals, and in Russian too. Those who bought a cruise along with a flight were asked to come to the reception to resolve organizational issues.
Well, for those who purchased a separate cruise, a separate flight - it was not very pleasant. In the evening, this problem was discussed in many places, people were late for their planes, and some in Moscow had a connection, then flew further to the Urals and Siberia, maybe to other regions. Lost tickets, lost money.
I argue to myself, if we had to fly so far, I would definitely have arrived the day before the cruise, and after the cruise I would have had a day or two to spare. Hotels will still cost less than the cost of lost flights. Maybe later someone will write more reviews, how did they get out of the situation? The situation is still not common, it would be useful to learn more about it.
We left Palermo late at night. It was already obvious that we would not arrive at the port of Civitavecchia (Rome) at 08:00 in the morning, so we could not set the alarm, but sleep as much as we liked, like on a real vacation.
The next day, getting up around 11:00 am, we went to a buffet restaurant for breakfast. It turned out that a normal breakfast had already passed, and from 10:30 to 12:00 - a continental breakfast. I don’t understand very well what exactly a continental breakfast is, it is different everywhere. Here we found fruits, whole and sliced, well, of course, drinks, pastries were ...everything, it seems. And this was enough, because since we were forced to be at sea that day, we decided to go for lunch at our evening restaurant La Reggia on deck 6. Usually we only went there for dinner, but now we had the opportunity to have dinner there. And lunch is there from 12:00 to 14:00, so we are almost there from breakfast and immediately to lunch.
Many people write that in these restaurants, La Reggia and Villa Verde, meals are tastier for lunch than in Bora Bora & Pago Pago.
We arrived, the waiter led us to a table, not the waiter who always serves in the evening, but a completely different one, and he took us to the table not for our evening one, but in a completely different part of the hall. But the table was comfortable, for four, with a soft sofa, of course, that we were placed on it. Well, then, everything is exactly the same as in the evening, menu-order-wait. To the left and to the right of us were very large tables, for 10-12 people, the Chinese were seated at them. In general, there were a lot of them on our cruise, maybe because the cruise fell on their New Year. We sit, have a meal, watch our Chinese neighbors, by the way, during lunch they did not talk to "unfamiliar" Chinese. By the way, what would be easier, the language for understanding is one.
And somewhere in the middle of dinner, a Spanish couple is seated at our table. Here is the number! We have something with English "good", but they can be seen in general "excellent". Somehow they explained that they are from Barcelona, and we are from Germany, and then what?
The conversation is not something that does not stick, it does not exist at all. If you meet eyes - you smile, but what remains to be done? If before that my husband and I were talking quietly, now we were completely silent, they will think that we are talking about them, somehow it was not dexterous, and they ate in silence. Why are they seated like that, because there were a lot of free tables. It was easier if the Germans were planted, otherwise the Spaniards ...
It was our first and only lunch there. I wouldn’t say that the dishes are very tasty, they didn’t even remember what they ate, which means there was nothing so special on the menu, but they went once, so to speak, noted.
And only at 15:00 we arrived at the port of Civitavecchia instead of 08:00 in the morning. Something I paint everything in such detail, maybe due to the fact that I myself lacked information about some such moments before the cruise ...
To be continued. . .
