After our Tauck tour had ended, we spent an extra day in Malta and arranged for a private tour through Amy at guidedtoursmalta.com. Although Amy was unavailable on the extra day we had in Malta, she arranged for us to tour with one of her colleagues. We chose a full day tour of Gozo, but we were able to customize it since it was a private tour. Our guide picked us up at our hotel with a driver and we…
When I booked our Rome, Amalfi Coast, Sicily and Malta tour, I thought of Malta as a nice add-on, but wasn’t expecting anything much. Malta ended up to be a nice surprise. For such a small country, it has quite a history, some of which I will share here. Farmers initially settled Malta, as early as 5000 BC. Over the years, Malta has been controlled by many different leaders, some (but not all) of which, include Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Arabs,…
Our last port of call in Sicily was Siracusa or Syracuse. It has a 2,700 year history and was once a powerful city-state, one of the largest cities in the ancient world. It was founded by Greeks but was also ruled by the Romans. Because my husband is a retired physics teacher, I must mention that Syracuse was the birthplace of Archimedes. He is famous for Archimedes’ Principle, which says that the buoyant force of an object placed in water…
Our next port of call was Taormina, Sicily. Taormina was founded by the Greeks in 358 BC but 300 years later it was under Roman rule. It is on the eastern coast of Sicily on the Ionian Sea and close to Mt. Etna. Part of our trip to Taormina took us through the Strait of Messina, lying between Sicily and mainland Italy. This was the first night where we experienced some “rocking and rolling” aboard the ship – but it…
Our next port of call was Palermo, Sicily. We drove to Monreale to see the Cathedral of Monreale, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. As we looked at the exterior as seen in the first two pictures below, we would not have guessed the cathedral made the UNESCO list. There are two bell towers on either side of the porch which seems plain with the exception of the inlaid marble. The porch was added in the 18th Century. When you enter…
After leaving Stromboni, we made our way to Sicily where our first port of call was Trapani. From there we drove to Segesta where we saw the remains of a Greek Temple. Segesta was located on Mt. Barbaro which provided it with a defensible position and was also near the coast which was ideal for trading. Segesta was founded by the Elymain people who inhabited western Sicily. They were influenced by the Greeks, probably because Segesta was an important trading…
Back on board the Le Ponant, the sails were raised for the first time on our cruise. We had been at Tall Ships in Chicago and saw sails raised with ropes. On the Le Ponant, this process was mechanical – but still a beautiful site! When attending the briefing given by our tour directors, we learned that we would be passing the island of Stromboli overnight. Stromboli is home to a “constantly active volcano” and I decided to set my…
After we left Herculaneum we drove to Naples where we boarded the Le Ponant. It is a French ship and has three masts which can be used with the engine when there is wind. We were two of the 53 passengers on board. The cabins were small but efficient. The pictures below were taken as we left Naples and of the sunset our first night on board. The next morning we were anchored off the Amalfi coast and went ashore…
This post will include some other sites in Rome from our Rome, Amalfi Coast, Sicily and Malta tour. The places in this section were not stops on our tour, but they are ones we saw while traveling around Rome. The first picture depicts the ruins of the Stadium of Emperor Domitian. The stadium included a running track. It is not known if the public was ever allowed on the grounds of the Stadium. The Circus Maximus would have been in…
The Pantheon was originally built as a temple to pagan gods but became a Christian church in 609AD. It is considered the best preserved ancient building of its time. The best estimate of when it was originally built is 27BC, but this is not a certain date. It suffered two fires – the present structure was built in 120AD. Looking at the building from the front, you might assume it is a rectangular building, but behind the portico, the interior…