The Amalfi Coast or the whole of southern Italy? It was the dilemma we faced some time before we went on vacation. And the winner was a dream cruise in the Mediterranean Sea along the coasts of Italy, Sicily and Sardinia. Without realizing it, on a beautiful Sunday in July, after the third wave of the pandemic, we were landing at Fiumicino and heading to Civitavecchia, the small big port near Rome. I say large because tens of thousands of tourists dock there every day on floating cities that walk on the Mediterranean.
Civitavecchia, the finale and Manuel's balcony
The first impact with Civitavecchia, the jewel city, was when we stayed at Manuel's guesthouse . Imagine a room in an old, Roman building, from which you can see a good part of the port of Civitavecchia. And the piece de resistance: the balcony. This was the determining element when we decided which accommodation to choose. I'll tell you why: from the table on the balcony, with a cappuccino in front of me, Andreea, and with a real Italian espresso, I had a dream view, whether we're talking about sunrise, sunset or any other time of day.
But let's go back to the little Italian town. Without planning, we arrived in Civitavecchia on the very day of the European Championship final and all of Italy was literally boiling. We really enjoyed Civitavecchia especially because it was the beginning of an extraordinary vacation.
Cruising in the era of the coronavirus
Our first cruise started out quite strictly considering that Italians have suffered a lot from the new coronavirus and were now breathing in yogurt. This means that, before boarding, we went through temperature measurements and antigen tests. We passed this step and boarded the floating city Costa Firenze. A jewel of a ship in the truest sense of the word. The entire ship was a floating copy of the city of Florence. There you could find Piazza dei Signiori, the famous Florentine square, in the form of a luxurious lounge surrounded by shops with famous brands. Pallazo Vechio and Dei Medici were reconstructed on the ship as fine dining restaurants, with tasty dishes and Tuscan wines. To all this were added dozens of bars, themed restaurants, lounges where you could enjoy a cocktail while sunbathing, clubs with DJs or live music , swimming pools, exhibitions, theaters and a casino . All on a length of 330 meters, 18 decks and almost 2000 passengers out of the 5000 the ship can carry
After taking in the cabin, which could easily rival a four-star (real) hotel room, we went for a ride on the floating mastodon. Until the evening we managed to see a small part of the ship, but in the following days we clearly established our favorite places. Beach at Solarium, deck five at the bow of the ship, dinner at Dei Medici and nightly entertainment at Della Moda Club. I don't want to skip a very important detail: the cocktails prepared by Bayu, the bartender from Indonesia who managed to make our afternoons much more beautiful. If we didn't know what to drink, Bayu knew, who always found the right cocktail for me and Andreea. Besides, the ship's auxiliary staff included many Indonesians, nice and always ready to help and serve you. Like Bayu, there were also his colleagues from Della Moda who, no matter how crowded the club was, managed to find us a table in record time.
Ash rain, limoncello and the gorgeous view of Sicily
We arrived in Naples after a peaceful and uneventful night of sailing. The Costa Firenze is a stable ship and I can say that I never once felt like we were on the move. The city where pizza was invented welcomed us with almost 30 degrees and a relatively friendly sun. I saw him running because our destination for the day was clear: the Amalfi Coast and, in particular, Sorento. One of the symbols of Italy, the small coastal town made us think very seriously about a vacation of at least a week in Amalfi. The narrow and picturesque streets, the chic shops and restaurants that perfectly matched the tourist villas and high class hotels, are just some of the reasons why we would return to Sorento. Unfortunately, we only had one day for one of Italy's tourist gems. We didn't even realize that we arrived at the next port: Catania, the first stop in the Sicilian paradise. I can't say that the city itself impressed me, but 50 kilometers from Catania, we both said Wow. Because we arrived at Taormina, the sanctuary of the gods and the favorite place of Italian celebrities and more.
When you arrive in Taormina, the first thing that comes to mind is: dolce vita or as a poster at the entrance to the city said: Life is beautiful in Taormina. The feeling that a simple walk through Taormina gives you cannot be compared to anything. The picturesque streets, the chic terraces and the limoncello shops are the perfect ingredients for a break from the norm. And while we're on the subject of limoncello, I'll tell you that I tried about six or seven types in a little factory-shop in the celebrity resort. Andreea capitulated after the fourth type but I stubbornly tried them all. And I was right because I left with a big bottle of the best variety. What impressed us the most in Taormina, however, was the ancient Greek theater. The view that unfolds before your eyes when you reach the last row of seats is sensational. A gorgeous Sicily with an unreal blue sea and hundreds of boats plying it are the first things that catch your eye. However, there was also a minus in this whole story, but an interesting minus. A new experience called ash rain. If you haven't experienced something like this, I don't know whether to recommend it or not. Maybe with a hat like Andreea had, in no case with your hair in the wind like me because you need at least an hour in the shower just to get the layers of ash off your scalp.
Cefalu, sailing day and Costa Smeralda
We arrived in the small town on the coast of Sicily, near Palermo, after a quiet night of sailing. We left the ship through a fairly crowded Palermo and in about an hour we reached Cefalu. The bohemian seaside resort of Sicily welcomed us with a high limestone wall called Rocca by the locals and under that wall a swarm of people, narrow streets and a beautiful beach with fine sand. In Cefalu we managed to get the group's guide out of his head because at every step we saw a picturesque place that we immortalized and thus we lost track of the other passengers who were disciplinedly following the directions of the Italian woman who was guiding us. We liked that many terraces and restaurants in Cefalu have a sensational view from the table. The next day, another stop: Cagliari.
The capital of Sardinia left us with the impression of a clean, airy and easy-to-visit city. In addition to Il Castello, the Duomo and the Roman Amphitheater , we really liked Poetto Beach. It is a gorgeous beach that stretches for almost ten kilometers with fine sand and a turquoise Mediterranean. In some places we saw flocks of flamingos resting in the coves protected from waves and wind. We left Sardinia and the Costa Firenze had a whole day of sailing ahead of us, a day at sea that gave us the opportunity to discover more of the wonders of the floating city. Thus, from Cagliari to Savona we sunbathed, enjoyed cocktails prepared by Bayu, our Indonesian friend who knew absolutely nothing about Romania :), and strolled the decks of the ship that we didn't get to on the other days. In the evening, we went to an artistic acrobatics show at Teatro Rossi and then, as usual, to our favorite club, Della Moda. The last destination of our water trip was Savona, the small town on the Costa Smeralda, an Italian extension of the Côte d'Azur. Picturesque and peaceful, Savona was a transit point to Genoa, where we would visit one of the largest aquariums in Europe.
An interesting experience that took us into a very complex underwater world. We learned that Acquatio di Genova extends over 30000 square meters and hosts over 15000 animals from 400 different species of fish, marine mammals, birds, amphibian reptiles and invertebrates. An ideal opportunity for a complete photo shoot in the world of water.
The day spent in the city of Columbus practically concluded our cruise as the next stop was Civitavecchia, the Italian port where we disembarked.
Instead of conclusions...
All in all it was an unforgettable, uneventful cruise that made us much richer as travelers and crossed off our holiday bucket list to destinations we'd seen quickly before like the Amalfi Coast or Sicily.
I can tell you that the ship we sailed on impressed us in every way. Beyond the obvious luxury, we noted the quality of service, attention to detail and good taste. Our first cruise will certainly not be our last but that is another story…
If you're wondering about the costs, I'll tell you that the plane tickets and the cruise tickets were taken separately. Cruise packages are according to everyone's budget. We chose to buy the holiday directly from the website of the company that operates the cruise ship.
