Santa Cruz de Tenerife

Another port we haven't been to.  In fact we haven't been to the Canary Islands before.

There are 3 ships in port today.  We are docked the furthest away.  Again Princess has a shuttle, this time free from ship to port gate.  But when we get off the line must have 200 in it and many are arguing about who is butting in.  We once again opt to walk.

It is about a mile or 1,5 km. Easy and again only one shuttle passed us ao we were much faster.

We walk into town and stop for coffee and a pastry.

We explore the market.

We find a huge department store where Bernie buys a pillow.  He hates the ones on the ship.  We have gotten new ones from our steward but they too just sink down and don't suit Bernie's needs.  Since we are on for a few more months it makes sense to just buy one.  

We also find a grocery store and stock up on shampoo, conditioner, some other items.  We find the price to be very reasonable. 

We then walk to the cathedral,

Around 2 pm we stop for lunch on this quiet street.

A fabulous meal!  

We do some more exploring on our way back.  Lots of good shopping.  Perfect weather  too.

 

We arrive at the port gate and again the free shuttle has a long queue.  We see our friends in the line and just decide it is faster to walk.  And it is.  We beat our friends by ten minutes,

Gibraltar

One thing that drew us to this itinerary was some new ports.  We have never been to Gibraltar.  Passed it many times, but have never set foot here. 

Today we did.

There was a shuttle from the port gate to the entrance of the main square for 3 E each way.  It isn't far.  Maybe a mile at most.  We like walking so it was an easy walk for us.  Lots of shops along the way.  Plus where the shuttle drops you is a distance still from the cable car and gardens.

We walked.  The weather was ideal, low 20s, which the locals found cool but we really enjoyed.

We walked to Trafalgar cemetery and then the botanical gardens.

We talked about taking the cable car up... 16 E for part way up.  Then more if you want to go to the top.  The queue was about an hour wait.  Also I wasn't crazy about seeing the apes and the mischief they can get into.  I was not interested.  Instead we enjoyed the botanical gardens.

As we started to walk back we spotted an alley way with a nice looking restaurant.

We order sangria and some tapas to share.

Potatoes with tomatoes cheese and herbs.

Baked Provolone cheese.

And we had two empanadas also.  Sorry missed  taking a picture.

We walked back to where the shuttle was but the line was huge, so we walked back.  On our trip back only one shuttle passed us.  

There was a good duty free shop here.  Security didn't have an issue with bringing wine on but the did collect hard liquor.  

Afternoon Out with My Fellow Destination Expert Deborah

When we heard that the Island Princess was going to be in Messina with us I message Deborah Fraioli the Destination Expert on board to see about meeting up.  Note she is on until just before Christmas.

I first met Deborah early 2022 on Enchanted when we were on as guests and she was the DE (Destination Expert).  Our boss was on from head office and he took us all out for dinner on board.

We connected right away.

Now Deborah has being doing this role for a very long time and is very respected in her role.

We met ashore at the port gate and she took us to her favorite Arachino spot.  Note in Messina they call it arachino in Palermo they call it arachini.  Rice balls stuffed with different things, like ham or cheese.  Then breaded and fried.

We order a few types and some wine and chatted and chatted.  Poor Bernie felt a little left out.

Even the owner came by and we posed for a photo with the huge archino.  And maybe our picture will end up on the wall too.

And no he didn't eat that!  

We also stop for some canolis which we enjoyed at sail away.  

Here are the two sisters butts.

We enjoyed a lovely sail away with friends Jim and Janice

Godfather Tour in Messina

When we booked this trip we discussed what to do in ports.  Bernie was interested in the Godfather tour.  He has watched the movies numerous times.  Me, I had never seen them.  But we booked the ship's tour here.

A week before coming we watched both the first and second Godfather movie.... queue the music.  

First let me apologize with references here, I am not an expert on the movie franchise so I am sure I will get something wrong.

Our first stop was Savoca.  Two towns were used in the movie.  Savoca is the home of the bar Vettelli and the church.

We got lemon granita and biscotti.  We went over and had two glasses of wine just to say we have been to the bar Vitelli.  It is definitely a tourist trap.  12.50 E per glass!   

We were guided thru the town to a few spots.  Including the church that Michael and Appolonia got married at.

We even met the woman who played Applonia's mother.  She is still alive and lives in the town.  Out of respect I didn't take a picture as sje was in her window and feeling under the weather.

We then drove to the next town where a few more sites were filmed.  Especially from the 2nd and 3rd movie.

The path where little Michael was hid under the donkey and sent to the US.  

It was a very Good tour.  The guide was very knowledgeable and we learned not only the movie sites but also about Sicily

.