Intro: Family Mediterranean Cruise

After our last family trip to Hawaii, we brainstormed on ideas on where to go for our next family vacation and decided on a Mediterranean cruise on the Norwegian Epic. The timing worked out perfectly with the Lebaran holiday in Indonesia for my family.

Here was our itinerary:
Day 1-2: San Francisco-Barcelona
Day 3 AM: Barcelona City Tour - Pre Cruise
Day 3 PM: Norwegian Epic Cruise
Day 4: At Sea
Day 5: Livorno (Cinque Terre excursion)
Day 6: Rome (Rome city tour)
Day 7: Naples (Sorrento, Positano, Pompeii excursion)
Day 8: At Sea
Day 9: Palma de Mallorca
Day 10: Barcelona - Post Cruise
Day 11: Barcelona - San Francisco

This trip report is really large, so we've broken it into multiple sections.

We left for Barcelona on Friday, August 26. We were so thankful we avoided hurricane Irene. Had we left the next day, there would have been a good chance our flight got canceled.

We arrived in Barcelona and met my family in the arrival area. We prepaid for an airport transfer from a company called suntransfer, and saw a man with that sign. We approached him but he did not have our name on his list. There was another lady from the same company, and she also didn't have our name. Their English was horrible but we understood that they told us to wait. Well, we waited for over an hour and to make long story short, our guy had actually been waiting for a long time but we didn't see him. His sign was very unclear. Not a good way to start our vacation, hopefully this was the only hiccup. Anyway, we were just thankful we found our ride.

We got to the hotel around 10:30 am. Our rooms were not ready since it was still early, so we walked around the Las Ramblas area. Our hotel, Hotel Pulitzer, was located very close to Las Ramblas, so we were able to walk conveniently to La Boqueria (the main market) and various shopping areas!

In front of La Boqueria Market

The first thing we saw at the market was the colorful juices that lined the entrance, followed by various candies, spices, and dried/cured meat. The market was pretty good sized and was pretty crowded. We weren't looking for anything in particular so just roamed around.

Hanging Meat 

Colorful fruit juices

Afterwards we went across the street for tapas. We randomly chose this restaurant, and since it was located in major tourist area, the price was pretty steep. We got the croquettas, potatas bravas, and paella. The paella was HUGE. Food was ok, nothing special.

   

Patatas Bravas and Paella

We went back to our hotel to finally shower and rest after the long journey! It felt so good to clean up. Speaking of our hotel, we really liked the modern style of Hotel Pulitzer. The lobby area was beautiful with stylish furnishing. The rooms were a bit small (understandable since we were in Europe), but the bathroom was pretty good sized. The elevator was really unique which we had not seen before; it was an all glass elevator.

Hotel Pulitzer 

Love the clean, modern design 

Bar area

First floor area

The lobby area was very well maintained and looked pretty new. However, some parts of the hotel were a little tired (chipped wood on room floors, hallways could use some fresh carpet). But overall we thought the hotel was still in pretty good condition. The location was wonderful! Very close to Las Ramblas and Playa Catalunya. We enjoyed our stay at this hotel and would recommend it. The rate was pretty decent, too.

Hotel Room & Bathroom

Afterwards, we went out to shop. Zara, which is one of my most favorite clothing store is actually from Spain, so we checked it out. They were having some really good sales, with shirts from around 3 euros. Dan actually got more stuff here than me! Ha ha.

For dinner, we were determined to try one of the places that our friend recommended, so we went to a tapas restaurant called Cerveceria Catalana. The decor was very hip and modern, and the food display looked amazing. Since we went early (6 pm), we didn't have to wait for a table. Yay! Apparently most people in Spain do not eat dinner until 9 pm. We ordered so many things: Avocado salad, cod fish, filet, mini burgers, mini hot dogs, pork sandwich, fried mini squid, and fried Camembert. My most favorite item was the fried Camembert! It was basically a rectangular cut of camembert cheese, rolled in nuts, deep fried an then served with fruit jelly. AMAZING! Price was pretty reasonable and we were all happy with the food.

Cerveceria Catalana

Jamon, Pasta Salad

Fried camembert with jam!

After dinner, my family were all jet lagged and decided to call it a night. We weren't quite sleepy yet, so we hunted for the chocolate covered churros place. It was located in one of the smaller streets off Las Ramblas and was a little tricky to find, but we found it! Unfortunately it was late by the time we got there so we didn't get to try fresh churros (they had been sitting out for a while), but even then they were still pretty good. We figured we'd try and visit this place early next week when we make our return stop to Barcelona. 

Cinque Terre

Day 1-2: San Francisco-Barcelona
Day 3 AM: Barcelona City Tour - Pre Cruise
Day 3 PM: Norwegian Epic Cruise
Day 4: At Sea
Day 5: Livorno (Cinque Terre excursion)
Day 6: Rome (Rome city tour)
Day 7: Naples (Sorrento, Positano, Pompeii excursion)
Day 8: At Sea
Day 9: Palma de Mallorca
Day 10: Barcelona - Post Cruise
Day 11: Barcelona - San Francisco

Cinque Terre is a rugged portion of coast on the Italian Riviera. The literal translation of Cinque Terre is "The Five Lands", and it is composed of five villages: 1. Riomaggiore, 2. Manarola, 3. Corniglia, 4. Vernazza, 5. Monterosso. Our guide explained that these villages used to be poor fishing villages, and life for the people there was very hard. They have just recently become a somewhat major tourist destination. Now their life is supposedly better due to the revenue from tourism. Some fishermen were now selling souvenirs or opened drink/coffee shops. Not sure if this is true or not, but supposedly Cinque Terre's popularity was partly due to Rick Steves, an American travel writer. We found a video of Rick Steves' travel journal to Cinque Terre which we thought was very informative. Click here to view.

Vernazza - Cinque Terre

We pre-booked an all day tour to Cinque Terre with a quick stop in Pisa with Joe Banana Limos, a private tour company in Italy. The shore excursion from our ship was outrageously expensive, and surprisingly it was cheaper to do a private tour than to do the big bus group tour via the cruise. So it was almost a no brainer for us to go with a private tour--it's cheaper, we have our own private van and guide, and we don't have to wait for other people in a huge group!  Our guide was Lorenzo, whose English was surprisingly good. Turns out he lived in Australia and New Zealand for a couple years, so it made sense why his English was good. We didn't realize it at the time, but the drive from Livorno to Cinque Terre was about 1.5 hours one way. 

 Getting ready to walk the "Path of Love"

The reason why we chose Cinque Terre as our excursion was because half of my family had been to Florence and Pisa before (which is the most popular shore excursion out of Livorno), so we wanted to go somewhere that was new for everyone. I heard about Cinque Terre from one of my well-traveled coworkers and after looking into it, was sold immediately. Looking back, we were glad we chose to visit this small jewel!

Via dell Amore trail

The first town we visited was Riomaggore. We followed the Via dell'Amore / Lovers Path. This path connected Riomaggiore with Manarola. The Cinque Terre towns were extremely isolated until the last century. Villagers rarely married anyone from outside their town. After the trail was established, it became lovers’ meeting points for boys and girls from the two towns. The walk was pretty easy for the most part. The view was absolutely beautiful! We noticed a lot of locks on this path, apparently they symbolized couple's love locked forever.

Locks along the trail

Once we got to the second town, Manorola, we were going to take the ferry to Vernazza (town #4). Unfortunately, the ferry service that day was not running because of choppy waters. There is no port whatsoever, and the so called "ferries" are really water taxis--very small boats. So we ended up taking the train, which was easy enough. We went directly to Vernazza, skipping Corniglia.

Us in Vernazza

Vernazza was bigger than the first two towns. We saw a lot more souvenir shops, and there were restaurants alongside the water. We ate at a restaurant called Cucina Aperta Tutto Il Giorno that turned out to be excellent!!! We loved the lasagna pesto and the gnocchi with pesto. Apparently pesto sauce was invented in the region (not in Cinque Terre per se, but in the larger region of Northern Italy). After lunch, we did some souvenir shopping and then our guide picked us up from Vernazza to go to Corniglia.

The MOST delicious Pesto Lasagna Ever!

Corniglia was the only town of Cinque Terre that was not on the water. Instead, it is located on the top of the cliff. The drive there was torturous and definitely not for the faint of heart. We didn't really have much time here, so we walked around the town for 15 minutes or so, and we got a lemon granita which was excellent and so refreshing! Afterwards we went back to Livorno. We were hoping to make a quick stop in Pisa but the guide said we didn't have time. Boo.

 

Corniglia

We all loved Cinque Terre and would love to come back some day and explore the area more. Here are some tips based on our experience:

• We do not recommend driving between towns in Cinque Terre. The drive is very windy and the roads are small on many parts where only one car can pass at a time. Reminds us of the Road to Hana in Maui but worse. Instead, take the train or ferry to travel to Cinque Terre and in between the towns.
• If you are traveling with a big group from a cruise, try to look into private shore excursion. We had 8 people, and our total for a private shore excursion was considerably cheaper than the ship's bus tour.
• The drive from Livorno to Cinque Terre was quite long, but we all thought it was well worth it!
• If you have the time, it would probably be nice to spend 1-2 nights in Cinque Terre to really explore the different villages.
• Definitely try the pesto lasagna and gnocchi in Cinque Terre!
• Lemon is also a specialty from this area, so try the lemon granita. It's so refreshing on a hot day!

Lemon Granita

Rome City Tour

Day 1-2: San Francisco-Barcelona
Day 3 AM: Barcelona City Tour - Pre Cruise
Day 3 PM: Norwegian Epic Cruise
Day 4: At Sea
Day 5: Livorno (Cinque Terre excursion)
Day 6: Rome (Rome city tour)
Day 7: Naples (Sorrento, Positano, Pompeii excursion)
Day 8: At Sea
Day 9: Palma de Mallorca
Day 10: Barcelona - Post Cruise
Day 11: Barcelona - San Francisco

Everyone with the exception of Dan and my older sister had previously visited Rome. However, all the other tour options didn't look very interesting so we decided to go back.

We pre-booked another private tour with Rome Connection (booked via Joe Banana Limos). Our guide this time was Antonio, a middle-aged Italian man. He was very nice, and we knew we would have a great experience with him. He said that August was the month when Italians take their holiday, so Rome was like a ghost town (for the locals) although there would still be hoards of tourists. Traffic this time of the year was also lighter, which was great for us.

St. Paul's Basilica

First stop was St. Paul Basilica where Saint Paul was allegedly burried. Most of the original church was burned in the 1800s and was almost immediately rebuilt. It was a beautiful church and not very crowded at all. Afterwards, we drove by a small pyramid that was built in honor of Cleopatra, who had some famous affairs with Italian men. It was interesting to see a pyramid in Italy!

Random Pyramid in the middle of Rome

 

Next stop was the Colosseum. We didn't have time to actually go inside, so we just walked around and took some pictures. It was amazing to see how intact the Colosseum was. There were 80 arches around the Colosseum with roman numerals at the top. The people in the old days had a ticketing system which told them which archway and seat they had.

Colosseum

We went to visit the Pantheon, with the fountain in front that was featured in the movie, "When in Rome". This area appeared to be very popular with tourists. After the Pantheon, we were dropped off at the Trevi fountain. We had lunch at a restaurant nearby. The pasta was excellent although the service was mediocre. Unfortunately they didn't have pizza, so we actually went to a second restaurant straight after. That's how my family rolls...food after food. :) Oh, and after pizza we had some gelato for dessert, too!

Pantheon

Another famous fountain where they filmed "When in Rome"

We tossed the coin over our left shoulder at the Trevi Fountain, so hopefully we'll be back in Rome some day. :) After lunch, we met our driver and were dropped off at the Spanish steps. We didn't have much time for shopping so after walking around for a little bit, it was time to go to our next stop.

Trevi Fountain

We went for a quick stop to the Vatican. Dan was amazed at the size of the square, which looked much bigger in person, although the country in total is not very big at all.

St. Peter's Square - Vatican

Our last stop was another fountain with views overlooking the city. The guide reviewed all the sites that we visited that day from the lookout point. We did a lot in such a short amount of time!

Rome lookout point

Sorrento, Positano, Pompeii

Day 1-2: San Francisco-Barcelona
Day 3 AM: Barcelona City Tour - Pre Cruise
Day 3 PM: Norwegian Epic Cruise
Day 4: At Sea
Day 5: Livorno (Cinque Terre excursion)
Day 6: Rome (Rome city tour)
Day 7: Naples (Sorrento, Positano, Pompeii excursion)
Day 8: At Sea
Day 9: Palma de Mallorca
Day 10: Barcelona - Post Cruise
Day 11: Barcelona - San Francisco

Our cruise ship docked at Naples port at 7 AM. Naples is actually the 3rd biggest city in Italy (after Rome and Milan). The town of Naples itself wasn't very pretty and looked a bit rundown actually, but was the stop for a lot of famous sites such as Pompeii, the Amalfi coast, and Capri island. We had heard of Amalfi coast before, and it's supposed to be really beautiful. Apparently Kim Kardashian and Reese Witherspoon honeymooned there, so it must be beautiful!

Beautiful Positano

We booked a full day tour to the Amalfi Coast and Pompeii. The Amalfi Coast stretches along the southern coast of the Sorrentine Peninsula, and is made of several villages. Since we had limited time and could only do so much, we decided to visit Positano and Sorrento on the Amalfi coast, with a quick stop at the end to Pompeii. We were picked up promptly at 8 am by Dominic from Joe Banana Limo. He was an Italian middle-aged man, very nice. He always said "you know" after every sentence...which we thought was a little funny!

Positano village perched on the cliff

Our first stop was Positano village. The drive along the coast was so beautiful! Every turn we took showed the amazing view of the coast. We had about one hour to walk around the village. There were small shops on narrow streets, mostly descending until we got to the bottom which was the beach. From the beach, we saw the whole village which was gorgeous! The weather was pretty warm that day. We shared a gelato as well as lemon granita, which was very refreshing and much needed!

With my 2 younger sisters

Our guide told us that souvenirs at Positano were more expensive and suggested that we do our shopping at our next destination, Sorrento. Sorrento was a much bigger town compared to Positano, and the land was mostly flat, which made for an easier walk.

Sorrento Village

We came across a small beach on the bottom of the cliff and it looked so cute! My family loved Sorrento so much we want to come back here someday!

Cute beach area in Sorrento!

We found a good restaurant recommended by our guide. Apparently pizza from the Naples arena is excellent because of the fresh ingredients, and also because of the water. We tried three different kind of pizzas and some pastas and a risotto. The most memorable dish was the black ink pasta!

Black Ink Pasta

After lunch we walked around old town for some souvenir shopping. There were a couple of limoncello factories, and we finally got to try the limoncello lemon liquor. Lemons are supposed to be a specialty of this area and they grow year round. We saw some pretty huge lemons, they looked like yellow grapefruit! We were both not huge fans of the limoncello liquor, but we still got a couple as a souvenir.

HUGE Lemons!

We had two hours in Sorrento, and afterwards made our way to Pompeii. Pompeii is one of the most famous roman ruins in Italy, if not the world. The whole city sat on the base of Mount Vesuvius, and got destroyed and preserved by 2 meter layers of ash throughout the centuries. The ruins were still in pretty good condition. We both thought that the ruins were in much better condition than the ones in Delos (Mykonos). We did not get a tour guide here, but looking back, it's probably worth it for a private guide for Pompeii. We rented the audio guide which was 5 Euros each but the signs were not clearly marked so it was hard to follow. The main purpose of our visit was to see the remains of people and children that were killed during the eruption. It took a little bit of walking and asking people where it was and we finally found it! It was a really hot day but the afternoon breeze was actually really nice. We walked around for one and a half hours and then went to a cafe to rest and wait for our guide.

Cast of the victims in Pompeii

 
We LOVED the Amalfi coast and would definitely want to come back some day. Here are some tips based on our experience:

• If you have the time, try to spend a couple days around this area. There's so much to see. As I mentioned, you can visit the Amalfi Coast, Capri island, and Pompeii. We definitely want to spend a couple days and visit the various villages along the coast someday.
• If you don't have much time like us during our shore excursion, and if it's your first time in the area, we highly recommend our Sorrento, Positano, and Pompeii excursion with Joe Banana limo. We saw a lot in a short time.
• If you decide to drive yourself, beware that the roads along the Amalfi coast are pretty narrow and on some of the villages, the roads are one way.
• If you do visit Pompeii, we would recommend hiring a guide so you really get the picture of what happened and the meaning of the buildings, various ruins, etc.