europe – Lois and Clark Explorers

We did not go to Amalfi, we stayed in Vietri sul Mare which is where the port is. Anyone who has seen a picture of the Amalfi Coast knows the towns are built on the sides of the mountains so it is very steep. We took a taxi to the top and then walked down. The town was really cute and there were lots of shops.

After some shopping we headed down to eat and go to the beach. This beach had sand which was so much better than the rocks. We had to rent 2 umbrellas and 4 chairs–no option on that. I did not wear a bathing suit so I just relaxed on the chair under an umbrella. Then we went across the street and got some pizza. And that was our day in Vietri sul Mare. We took a cab back to port and had dinner in the dining room again. I was exhausted and went to bed really early,

A day at sea means sleeping in and lounging around. We didn’t get up until 8:30. Went to the buffet for breakfast and then I went to our room for a bit and John went to the gym. Then we hung out by the pool for a while. John and I went to the theatre to see Karen Grainger. She has such an incredible voice. We had lunch at the buffet–all the shrimp you can eat. Christy and I did a scavenger hunt with the kids. That was a lot of fun. We came in second out of 2 teams.

After the scavenger hunt we went to dinner in the main dining room. They had lobster and beef wellington, roasted duck l’orange. Tonight was a special night as the guests cheered on their wait staff. They paraded throughout the restaurant as we waved our napkins. Our main waitress grabbed Sefina to parade with her. Amalia and Minki joined in. It was a lot of fun. We also played Deal No Deal and John won $5. in the casino. After dinner we played one spin and lost it all. Oh well. Leeman also bought us all a round at roulette and again we lost. Enough gambling for me and John we don’t like playing with money that way. We ended the night in the theatre watching a violinist. He was quite amazing.

And that’s a wrap for today.

After leaving Montenegro we had a day at sea before arriving to our next destination. It was great to sleep in and not have to worry about time. John of course got up early and went to the gym. I slept in. We really spent the day lounging around and hanging in different parts of the ship. We watched the boys play ping pong. Shelley and I played a game of Bingo in the afternoon. We had dinner in the main dining room instead of the buffet. After dinner we headed for the theatre for “Sirens of Soul” It was a great show and at the end of the show Christy and Carisa went on stage and danced. After the show we (me and John) went to the Reflection Lounge to watch a “couples” game. Meanwhile, Christy sang karaoke on a stage in one of the lounges. We missed it. Heard she was pretty good.

In the morning we woke up in Messina, Sicily. The kids were going to take a train to Taormino and go to the beach. John and I opted to stay in Messina since we had been to Taormino–even though it was 20 years ago.

Messina is built on hills so everywhere we went we had to climb a ton of stairs or walk up hill. We had 3 cathedrals we wanted to see and we made it to all of them. As torturess as it was, I made it. I had to stop so many times. But the cathedrals were beautiful and I was able to light candles in 2 of them for my friends who need extra prayers.

After seeing all we set out to see we sat at a restaurant and just had a coke while I rested and prepared for the walk back to the ship. We came back and I took a nap for about 1 1/2 hours. Then we got lunch and waited for the kids to get back. Later we had dinner in the buffet and then went to one of the bars to get a drink and finally went to the show.

Karen Grainger was amazing. She is a female impressionist who sang in so many voices: Cher, Shania Twain, Reba, Dolly. . . She even did a duet but I forget which two singers voices she used. It was an amazing show.

5:00 am we came out to see our ship pull into port.

We had an early morning–not just because we got up early to witness the ship pulling into port. I went back to bed for an hour and a half. We had to meet our boat captain at 10:00am and because we could not pull up to a dock we had to drop anchor out in the bay and take a tender (small boat) in to the port. That took almost 20 minutes. We will catch another tender later to get back.

Today was our best day yet. Well, mine and I think John’s. We rented a boat with captain and crew to take us to a beach Radovici Montenegro. The ride out was awesome and it was so wonderful to have all the kids sitting up front laughing and giggling as we hit the waves. Watching them enjoy the ride was truly a highlight for me. It took almost an hour to get to the beach. I want to say it was so worth it and as far as views and the blue water, it was. However, their beach is all rocks. It is very hard to walk on and obviously you need to keep your shoes on because the rocks get very hot and they are super uncomfortable. I was going to go into the water because it was so freaking beautiful and crystal clear but I could not handle the rocks. So I just splashed myself to cool off and then went back to the umbrella and chaise.

There are so many beautiful views going out of the port so I will probably have a photo dump at the end. We left the beach after about an hour and headed to the Blue Cave. I honestly had no idea what that was about but, once we got there I sure knew. OMG! More magnificent blue waters all inside a cave. After leaving the cave we went around the bend and the kids jumped in and swam for awhile before we headed back to the port with a stop in Perast and had a snack and drinks along the water. John bought his magnet and found an ornament for me. It was a long and wonderful day. Shelley and I were ready to go back to the ship and the kids wanted to go with us so we took them while the other adults stayed in Kotor for a bit.

After John got back we headed to the buffet for dinner and then headed to the front of the boat for the sunset. Not much of one tonight but, not going to complain because we have had some amazing sunsets on this cruise. After dinner we met up with the rest of the crew to see a Rock performance. And we waited for 10:00 for the Abba sing along but when we got there there was standing room only. First time we went to the Reflection lounge that it was packed. I know John really wanted to dance but I was too tired to stand around waiting and then standing between songs. I did tell him he could stay out with the kids and I would go back myself but he refused.