Quote:
Originally Posted by ssn
There is an itinerary with stops in Italy and France. Here it is:
10 and 11 night Mediterrean Cruises
11 Nights: 4/24, 5/15, 8/7, 8/28 Departing Barcelona Spain and stopping at Valletta Malta, Tunis Tunisia, Naples Italy, Civitavecchia (Rome) Italy, La Spezia (Florence/Pisa) Italy, Ajaccio Corsica, Villefranche France and Barcelona Spain.
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Sounds fantastic! If you plan to take it here are a few tips:
Barcelona is an amazing city and the port is only about 10 minutes from the centre of the city. We took a walking tour and it was wonderful. Don't miss the Cathedral - awe-inspiring.
Now Rome and Florence are a little trickier - because the ports are 2 hours from both cities. You'll be warned to take a tour and they are EXPENSIVE - but we ignored that and took the train into both Florence and Rome and used the tour buses (in Florence they're right outside the train station) to tour. DO NOT MISS "DAVID". You can buy your tickets for him, on line, and then it's basically like a "fastpass". I neglected to buy them, but our wait time was only about 1/2 a hour. So - if you're up for some adventure - don't take the ship's tours to Florence or Rome. They board last (before everyone else has gone) it's a 2 hour bus drive into the city and you only have about 4 hours - if you take the FIRST train from the ports (they run about every 1/2 hour, you'll be in Florence and Rome by 10:am. You'll have to catch the 4 p.m. train back - but that still gives you a MUCH fuller day and the double-decker buses are great for touring. As for Pisa - you can actually get off in Pisa on your way to Florence if you like, and then re-board the next train to Florence. But other than the Tower - there's not much to see in Pisa. We skipped it to have more time in Florence - an amazing city!
Villefrance is right smack in the middle of Monaco and Nice - the fastest way to get to either one is taxi (a bit more expensive than the train but waaaay cheaper than the ship tours). We chose Nice and met Towncar T and his wife there for a wonderful day - Nice is just as you'd dream it is - blue, blue sea, little markets - I loved it. We talked to people who went to Monaco and they didn't seem to enjoy it as much - too expensive for most people.