Adding Africa to Our List: January Cruise Through the Mediterranean

Bryan and I are gonna team-write this one! When it's me (Katie), my writing will be in italics! When it's me (Bryan), the writing will be normal.

Here we go!

With the start of the new year, it's time to get back to traveling! With the elementary school closed and Bryan having a few days off because of the MLK federal holiday, I thought this was the perfect time for a cruise! Winter on the water: here we come!

I was happy to find a cruise that left from Barcelona and visited France, Italy, and Tunisia in Northern Africa! With this cruise, we added another continent to our list!

Friday, January 17: Back to Barcelona

Since school had a teacher workday, I spent the morning finishing our packing while Bryan worked all day Friday. At 4:30 pm he met me at home and we rushed off to the Sevilla Airport to catch our evening flight!

Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport

Upon landing in Barcelona, we taxied to our hotel for the night to catch some zzz.

Saturday, January 18: Boarding the Cruise Ship

Hostal Benidorm

So yes, I booked us in a hostel...again! I will admit, this one was better than the one in Paris for the Olympics, and having a private room and bathroom did make this one better than our one night in a Singapore capsule inn! It actually reminded me more of our Iceland hostel situation. When hotels are shockingly high priced, I spend extra time researching the area to find decent sleeping arrangements!

This hostel did have a shocking surprise when I opened the blinds that morning: right next door was another (lesser-known) Gaudi house! After exploring all of Gaudi's works in Barcelona back in December with the entire Kimble gang, I would recognize those mosaic chimneys anywhere. It's crazy how much influence Antoni Gaudí had on Barcelona's architecture. Spotting his work from our hostel was a great sunrise start to our day!

Cruise Terminal C: Terminal de creuers C

At 11 am it was time to board MSC's Fantasia: our home-away-from-home for the next seven days! Aidan and RJ joined us shortly after we boarded, so we spent the rest of the day exploring the ship, dining on some good food, and drinking our way through all the bars aboard! You may remember RJ is one of our fellow NCSU friends, while his wife, Aidan, is the optometrist at the hospital!

Sunday, January 19: Marseille, France

After a night of rest, our first port of call brought us to Marseille, France. Katie and I had never visited the French Riviera, so we were excited to see what this ancient city had to offer.

Port Antique

Since none of the port excursions caught our eye, Katie decided to book us a tried-and-true free walking tour. We disembarked at 10:00 am and made our way to the Old Port for our 11:00 am meet-up.

Tag Place des Pistoles

Marseille was founded in 600 BC, making it the oldest city in France and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe.

We started our tour by seeing the ancient port; apparently, the foundations for this port were found when the city was digging to build an underground parking structure. As we continued walking around, where I, respectfully, tuned out for most of the tour, we found ourselves in Tag Place des Pistoles, which is the fun art district of the city. Unfortunately, Katie and I did not find a watercolor painting for our collection, but we did enjoy checking out all of the cool graffiti.

Cathédrale La Major

The Marseille Cathedral was completed in 1896, with the first stone being placed by Emperor Napoleon III (nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte) in 1852. With a capacity of over 3,000 people, this church is one of the largest cathedrals in France.

Fort Saint-Jean

Our final stop of the walking tour was Fort Saint-Jean, which lies at the mouth of the city's Old Port. Constructed in 1660 under the authority of King Louis XIV, this fort was used to protect the shipping port and guarantee all ships were properly taxed. Nowadays, the fort provides great views of the city, harbor, and Meditteranean Sea. After exploring the fort, the four of us headed back to the ship!

For the remainder of the evening, we enjoyed drinks at the bar, some quiet time reading, a good dinner, and a little bit of blackjack in the ship's casino!

Monday, January 20: Genoa, Italy

Unfortunately, our boat tour to Portofino was canceled due to the rainy weather, so at the last minute, we booked a bus tour through MSC to give us something to do in Genoa, Italy.

Belvedere Castelletto

While not the most exciting tour, we did get to visit a few beautiful lookout points of the city.

Bryan and I enjoyed learning that Genoa took a note from Lisbon and added "public elevators" to their city's public transit system. Due to the hilliness of these cities, the local government installed elevators that make commutes around the city bearable. For those who live in Genoa, these public elevators are free, for tourists, it costs €2 to use all public transit for a 2-hour window.

Boccadasse vista Panoramic

And there's the stunning view of Portofino! While a boat tour around the coastal town would have been better than a bus tour, at least the weather cleared up enough for us to see Portofino from our final viewpoint of the day! Just imagine it without the clouds and one and those brightly-painted houses popping against the bright blue sky...you can see why we were a little bummed with our canceled excursion and the day's weather!

Storico Lounge Cafe: Foocaccia Food and Drink

We ended our tour with a little bit of free time in Genoa's city center. Since the town is famous for its foccacia and local basil production, Aidan, Bryan, and I shared an amazing pesto foccacia.

GROM

No visit to Italy is complete without a scoop of gelato, so we stopped in GROM for a tasty treat!

Cattedrale di San Lorenzo

With a little time remaining before we had to return to the ship, we stayed dry by going into the Saint Lorenzo Cathedral in the heart of Genoa. Much like the cathedral from yesterday in Marseille, the striped marble exterior was a unique facade.

Back on board Aidan, RJ, Bryan and I enjoyed dinner and the night's show before ending our night competing in a game show! We didn't win Majority Rules, but Aidan and I were by far the better guessers!

Tuesday, January 21: Pompeii in Naples, Italy

Despite forecasts for poor weather again today in Naples, our scheduled excursion to Pompeii continued as scheduled! This was a visit that Katie and I had been looking forward to for the last few months and one of the sole reasons we wanted to visit Naples!

Donadio Corals and Cameos: Palazzo del Corallo

After boarding our tour bus, our first stop of the trip was Donadio Corals and Cameos where we got to see a short demonstration of how jewelry is made from coral and sea shells. Although the jewelry wasn't really Katie's style, we could still appreciate the craftsmanship!

Archaeological Park of Pompeii: Parco Archeologico di Pompei

Now, for the big ticket item of the day: a visit to the Archaeological Park of Pompeii! Pompeii was a wealthy Roman city of approximately 20,000 citizens, famously known for its demise during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

During the eruption, Mount Vesuvius blasted super-heated rock and gases at a rate of 1.5 million tons per second into the air. This hot lava and rock was shot over 21 miles into the sky, and the explosion released 100,000 times the thermal energy as the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki...(and you know we visited both those places during our time in Japan; I can't imagine the devastation of those nuclear bombings on that much larger of a scale...)

Thousands of people were immediately vaporized, with the remaining victims of Pompeii being buried under 75 feet of rock and ash. The city's remains lay quiet under the earth for nearly 1700 years, until construction workers discovered some of the remains. Over the next 250 years, careful excavation of the city took place!

The scariest part of this tour though, is knowing that Mount Vesuvius is still an active volcano and is considered one of the most dangerous in the world due to nearly 3,000,000 people living near enough to be affected by an eruption!

Although these ancient streets were wet, everything seemed very well-preserved, largely due to it being safe from the elements for nearly two millennia! Katie and I were reminded of our summer exploration of Ancient Ephesus' ruins in Türkiye; both ancient cities have been carefully preserved and studied!

We visited a home that still had many of its wall paintings preserved. Katie and I were amazed at how colorful these paintings still were! I guess when everything is covered in ash, it protects the art from other elements.

In this room, we also saw numerous casts of people and a dog who had perished in the city. Remember, most people were vaporized by the explosive heat, but some bodies were covered in hot ash and rock that fell from the sky. Once this ash settled and cooled, the bodies decayed, leaving behind an empty "cast" of their remains. During the excavations, when the archeologists would come across a large void, they would fill it with plaster to create a cast of the victim's body.

Lupanare di Pompeii

One of the popular spots that has been excavated is the old brothel! Pompeii was an old seaport, so sailors were guided to the brothel with genital-shaped markings in the stone street (see bottom left photo below). I mean, why use arrows when you can use crude drawings of male genitalia?

Our tour took us through the brothel and we were stunned by the illustrated "menu" that has lasted 2000 years. While in the brothel, Katie and I were treated to some impressively detailed-explicit paintings. It's also ironic that this was one of the few intact buildings; of course the people of Pompeii made sure THAT building was constructed to withstand a natural disaster!

After an eventful tour of Pompeii, we made our way back to the cruise port and snapped some good photos of Mount Vesuvius from the Bay of Naples! After another evening spent reading/studying, it was time for some sleep before our last Italian port of call!

Wednesday, January 22: Palmero, Sicily, Italy

Our final day in Italy brought us to Palmero in Sicily! Not seeing any excursions through the ship that interested us, Bryan and I opted for a Sicilian cooking class! We have loved our cooking classes in Rome and Albania, so we figured this would be another wonderful experience to learn some new recipes to add to our cookbook!

Mercato del Capo

We started our tour in the Capo Market, where we met our guide for the day, Michael, an Irish chef who has lived in Palmero for the last 15 years with his Sicilian wife. Michael gave us a tour of the market while purchasing all the fresh, seasonal produce we needed for our cooking class. We even visited a local butcher shop to purchase the sausage needed for our pasta sauce before making our way to the kitchen!

The Sicilian Pantry

Michael was fantastic! After donning our aprons and washing our hands, Michael guided us through the day's menu! We started our class by prepping biancomangiare, a local dessert made from milk, sugar, and cornstarch then topped with candied orange peel, local pistachios, and cinnamon!

Then we moved on to polpette di broccolo, another classic appetizer made from steamed cauliflower (yea broccolo in Italian means cauliflower), pine nuts, currants, onion, and parmigiano reggiano. Bryan earned himself the role of dirtying his hands and forming our veggie-dough, while I helped roll the dough into balls! These bite-sized "meat-less balls" sound basic and bland but were packed with so much flavor! Michael explained that the Sicilian cauliflower is in season right now, so the punch of taste comes from the veggie!

While prepping our main dish, we learned that if you cut open a garlic clove and remove the "plant" from the center, you are less likely to "re-taste" your garlic flavor after meals. Italians are known for their focus on how one's diet influences their digestive system. Many Sicilians don't like to cook with garlic because of its powerful flavor and its less appealing burped-up taste after a meal. Michael taught us that by removing the center sprout, you avoid that "second-taste" of garlic after your meal- leading to a better overall digestive experience! Bryan and I love to cook with garlic at home, so this new information for preparing it comes in very handy! The more you know!

Neither of us had ever cooked with artichokes, so this was new for us! After removing the outside petals, cutting out the "hairs" (AKA the part that can choke you), and slicing into quarters, our artichoke hearts were battered and fried for a tasty bite!

Bryan said this was his favorite side dish of the day! They were really tasty!

Our main dish was, of course, pasta! We started by learning how to make Sicilian pasta with just flour and water. Unlike our Rome cooking class, this dough doesn't use egg...just a whole lot of hand kneading and muscle work!

While our dough rested, we cooked the sausage and Michael explained the traditional process of making pasta sauce. Michael had already prepped the jarred sauce a few months back when the tomatoes were at their freshest. The long process of canning your own pasta sauce is normally a family affair and a day-long process. (While we didn't get to make our pasta sauce, I did get Michael's recipe so we may have to try that out back home!)

After prepping our dough, we used a chitarra to cut our dough into perfectly formed pasta noodles. The chitarra is a small machine that resembles a guitar that is popular in Southern Italy and Sicily. It's a classic pasta-forming machine that makes life a little easier!

Here's a short little clip of Bryan using the chitarra to make his pasta:

Then it was time for the best part: to eat all our hard work! Alongside Michael, his assistant, and our fellow cooking partner from Germany, we enjoyed the fruits of our labor and devoured our fried artichokes, cauliflower bites, homemade pasta, and dairy dessert!

This was by far our favorite day of the entire cruise! Cooking with Michael and the Sicilian Pantry was a highlight of the trip and an experience I would do again in Palmero!

Palermo Cathedral: Cattedrale di Palermo

Stuffed to the brim, Bryan and I started the long walk back to the ship! We made a few pit stops along the way at the Palermo cathedral and the massive Statua di Santa Rosalia float out front! The Statua di Santa Rosalia is the patron saint of the city, credited with saving the city from the plague in the 17th century.

We learned during our cooking class that this massive float is paraded through town from the Cathedral to the beach to commemorate the saint's legacy over the city. Due to the large crowds that come to celebrate and the massive, slow-moving float, the 15-minute walking path actually takes over 4 hours on the actual parade day!

Ceramiche artistiche pacon di Alessandro Consiglio

As we continued our journey back to the ship, we passed a cute pottery shop. You know I had to look! Inside, I met the owner of the shop whose grandfather was an artisan potter. After learning the trade from his grandfather and father, the family ceramic business is a thriving spot in Palmero.

Bryan and I picked out a small platter decorated with lemons to take home as our souvenir. Sicily is famous for its citrus and it will match our Spanish kitchen tiles!

Back on the boat, we passed the afternoon reading some, studying a bit, playing cards with RJ and Aidan, and then enjoying another evening of a fancy dinner and theater performance!

Thursday, January 23: Tunis, Tunisia

Today is a big day for Katie and I; Tunisia is our 41st country visited and it marks our first time visiting Africa (our fourth continent visited together). At 9 am we boarded our bus and made our way into the city of Tunis.

National Museum of Bardo: المتحف الوطني باردو

Our first stop of the tour was the National Museum of Bardo, home to one of the most expansive Roman mosaic collections in the world. Katie and I were reminded of the mosaics we visited during our trip to Cyprus in August.

While marveling at the tiles, we were told by our tour guide that this museum was the setting for a terrorist attack nearly 10 years ago. On March 18, 2015, 20 European tourists and one museum worker were murdered by two armed jihadists. Fortunately, the security for the museum has beefed up since then, but that little tidbit of information would have been better suited once we left the museum.

Kasbah Square

Our next stop was Kasbah Square, where the Tunis City Hall, Ministry of National Defense, and National Monument are located.

Souk el Bey: سوق الباي

We eventually made our way into Souk el Bey, a large market that reminded Katie and I of the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. This market was brimming with life; carpets, coffee, spices, and guys trying to sell knock-off sunglasses, this market had it all. We even had an opportunity to take great rooftop photos of the market!

Katie was most impressed with the colorful Arabic doors; she's decided that we will have one of these doors in our future home. Clearly, she loved them; she took plenty of photos along our day's journey!

Les 3 Marins

After the market, it was time for lunch! We drove nearly 30 minutes back towards the coast where we had a traditional Tunisian lunch of couscous and chicken!

Punic Ports of Carthage: الميناء البونيقي بقرطاج

Following lunch, we made our way to the Punic Ports of Carthage. Carthage was the biggest competitor of the Roman Empire, and that culminated in the Punic Wars in the 1st and 2nd centuries BC.

Hannibal, a Carthaginian general, invaded Italy with approximately 40 African elephants in 218 BC, departing from this ancient port we're visiting today! Carthage would later fall in 149 BC and the city was destroyed, just to be rebuilt by the Romans!

Baths of Antoninus: حمامات أنطونيوس بقرطاج

The next stop was the Baths of Antoninus, the largest baths built by the Romans outside of Italy. Although not as well-preserved as the Roman public Baths in Bath, England, this archeological park was very expansive!

By this point in the day, we were about over the tour. Our guide even got a little flustered when people in our group (us included) whispered while he droned on about the Carthaginians. We get it, old rocks- used to be public bath- ancient city- number two to the Ancient Romans.

Sidi Bou Said: سيدي بوسعيد

The final stop of the tour was Sidi Bou Said. As I said, our tour guide for the day wasn't the best, so we honestly weren't paying much attention to him. RJ was about ready to walk back to the ship instead of pausing at every street in this blue-and-white town!

We took lots of pictures of this beautiful white village. Katie, again, was fascinated by the blue doors and window shutters! During our free time, Katie and I ran around trying to find a bookstore to purchase Harry Potter in Arabic, but unfortunately, no luck! We knew it was a lost cause when we asked our guide about the book, and he replied "Are you sure it's published in Arabic?" Yes. We have done our research! We'll just have to try again when we visit Morocco in the coming months!

After a long 10-hour tour, we made it back to the cruise just as the ship was preparing to leave port! We spent the evening playing hearts with Aidan and RJ, ready for a day at sea to recover from five consecutive days of port calls! I also have to give a little shout-out to the cruise's performers. Katie and I love the theater and, while not at Disney's talent level, these nightly shows were the one highlight of our time on board with MSC.

Friday, January 24: Day at Sea

After an exhausting day in Tunisia, it was time for a day of relaxing at sea before returning to the real world! Bryan and I started the day with a lovely breakfast in the formal dining room before finding a spot to sit and read/study for the afternoon. With Bryan's big test less than two weeks out, this day at sea was the perfect study break he needed!

Clearly, that exciting day of studying (and me reading) in various cruise bars didn't amount to any photos, but that's okay. I'm sure, come two weeks, Bryan will be happy to forget all the time he spent learning dental and medical knowledge while on vacation!

Saturday, January 25: Back Home

We had to be out of the room by 8 am, so we opted for one final formal breakfast in the dining room! With time to kill, we found a spot to sit and read/study some more before meeting up with RJ and Aidan to disembark and head to the airport!

Aeroport Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat

I booked us a flight that left Barcelona at 5:40 pm because I was worried about our timing getting from the ship to the airport...and I had MORE than enough time! We were at the airport by 10:30 am...so wanna guess what we did for the rest of the day?

That's right: study/read!

We did discuss the cruise during study breaks and decided that MSC is not our favorite cruise line...their food was subpar and the buffet was a nightmare to navigate and felt overly crowded every time we visited. We weren't overly impressed with the excursion guides provided by the ship and the lack of activities on board was a little disappointing. When compared to Holland America, Norwegian, and (obviously) Disney Cruise Lines, MSC was lacking in several departments.

On a more positive note, we do think it was a great way to visit Tunisia; without this cruise, we would never have visited that country. It was also nice visiting Pompeii during the off-season when the crowds were thin and we could see the place more fully. So while the ship was lackluster in some areas, the ports of call were the sole reason for our booking anyway! I mean, we already have another cruise booked with MSC to the Baltic countries in September, so at least we will go into that cruise with more knowledge about the MSC Cruise Line- we are only there for the awesome ports of call!

Eventually, we did make it home to these lovely babies! Our dogsitter, Jessi, did a wonderful job sending us pictures throughout the trip showing us that Hugo and Reynolds were happy and loved while we were gone!

Overall Bryan and I had a great cruise! We know how blessed we are to cruise the Mediterranean during a random week in January. This trip was a memorable first trip with Aidan and RJ alongside us, and we can't wait to run this back in eight months on our next cruise together!

Thanks for reading,

--Katie and Bryan