Valletta 08/04/2014

Today we docked in the most beautiful place.  We were blown away at the beauty of the place.  Firstly, the port of Valletta was easily the most visually pleasing port we have pulled into so far.  This is a little paradise in the middle of the Mediterranean.  The entire country of Malta is 17 miles at it's longest point and 9 miles across.

So we pretty muck drove the whole country in a few hours.  We took a taxi on the advice of our friends, Chris and Jen who disembarked at Malaga.  They were here a few days ago and put us onto a small business called Platinum Cabs.  I highly recommend their service should you ever visit Malta.
I sent them an email while we were docking and within 30 minutes, Andre was there to pick us up in his Peugot wagon and chauffeured us around all day.  Well what a contrast to our trip in Naples!!!  Super courteous and obliging - dressed in a suit and opening the doors for us every stop.  WiFi on board.  An all round good bloke.
We took in the sights of Valletta (the capital) then drove all the way through another city to a third city called Mdina.  Mdina (not a typo) is known as the 'silent city' as they don't allow any motorised traffic through the gates except for the residents of which there are are not many.  The tradition in Mdina is that you don't seel anything that is inherited.  So the housing here is passed down through the generations.

Pizza delivery van

Typical alley in Mdiena

The entire city is constructed from Sandstone as is most of Malta.  So the architecture is very distinct and consistent all over.
Oh - and they sit on the right side of the car and drive on the correct side of the road here!!  Because Andre got out and opened the door for me, I didn't even notice until we had taken off and Lesley had pointed it out.

Valletta skyline

Malta was a place, for me, that we visited because it happened to be on the itinerary of stops.  The Maltese are very lay back which is refreshing.  We could come back here - very impressed!!!

We departed at about 1900 - 0ur next stop is Athens which is about 520 nautical miles so tomorrow is an 'At Sea' day.  The weather is perfect over here since we got into the Eastern Mediterranean waters.  Water is like a mill pond, light breezes and temperatures between 15 and 23.

PS - I'll post some photos when I get time tomorrow.

Naples 07/04/2014

We docked at 1200 and were ashore not long after.  Caught a taxi to Pompeii.  What a hair raising ride!!  The cabbie just blatantly ignored 60 kph speed limit signs or at least I think that's what they read.  We went past like a picket fence.  He was doing 120 kph most of the way.
Anyway, we survived the trip and arrived at Pompeii long before the tour buses.  There were four ships docked in Naples today so there were 'boat people' everywhere.

Walking the streets of the ruins was a surreal experience for me.  It is a city frozen in time.  There are casts of some of the inhabitants of the town on display unbelievably preserved by the blanket of ash that covered them for 1700 years. The eruption of Mt Vesuvius took place in 79 AD.  You can only imagine the terror they felt at the time.

This visit was a highlight of the trip for me.  It is unbelievable that the city of Naples is in a situation where it could suffer the same fate at any time - It is a city of 1.5 million people perched at the foot of Vesuvius closer than Pompeii is.
After another quick trip back to the ship, we took a leisurely stroll through the shopping district of the city before boarding at around 1700.
We set off at 1945 behind two of the other ships.  MSC Splendida was here today - we formed a convoy all night to arrive together.
Our next destination is Malta (Valletta) - due to arrive at 1300 tomorrow, Tuesday.