Italy, Greece 4th Report

4th Report, Italy, Greece Friday, June 2. 8th day of cruise. Watched the cruise ship slowly move into port, Catania, Italy. While coming into port, saw Mount Etna. Really large mountain and is active. We were to take a tour of it and then they changed the time of the tour to the afternoon so we cancelled. Too much for Linda in the afternoon. On trip into port got to watch a container ship being loaded with train cars. Our ship is a monstrous size and make all movements into port at a snails pace. We watched this while drinking coffee and sipping water on our little balcony. After the ship docked we did an hour walk down town. Saw a nice looking theatre that had many statues and figurines. We also saw the front of a small museum that was not open. We then returned to the ship for our lunch time snack. We get a free expensive style dinner with our cruise package and we have chosen an Italian restaurant for this evening. On this ship there are six places to eat with no additional charge. Up to eight speciality restraints require an additional charge. On our deck, our limited wifi stops working. Wifi is a money maker for the ship. We are paying it. We have resisted paying for the streaming service which is separate and significantly higher in price. The bait us initially with 150 minutes free which disappears rapidly. We some times forgot to log off and it continues to use minutes while you have gone on with your life doing other activities. June 3, Salerno, Italy It is a particularly beautiful morning. We pulled into Port in the dawn of the morning. The harbor safety lights were twinkling at us and the ship is so quiet, we creep into wide channel. Very peaceful and picturesque. Today is our last formal tour with guide and bus load of other cruisers. It is to the Villa Rufolo and Wine Apicella. It should be very nice. On board there is a class system on this ship. People in the “Haven” cruise category have their own area of the ship to eat, sun bathe, swimming pool (top floors). We lose the top floor area that we have had on previous ships for viewing and activity. They are segregated from us. Today’s excursion was one of the most trying regarding switch backs while driving. It is also one of the most vertical climbs I have ever experienced. One trip to the Philippines was very steep and vertical and dangerous also. The roads here had more experienced drivers and the roads were safer and yet it was very dangerous. The Philippine roads were the most dangerous. Our guide today, Ernesto was nice enough and kept us going with little stories and thoughts. He rambled about compasses coming from China, Lemons from South Africa, 200 years of Islamic rule here and Islamic traditions, chestnut trees. We experienced very narrow streets (11 centuries old), one way tunnels requiring the blowing of horns to pass safely. He also described Mount Vesuvius last blowing in 1944. It was covered in clouds and we could not see it. Ernesto said it blows every 100 years. We walked a long distance up hill to the Villa Rufolo to see many Ancient architecture features, flowers. Many events had been held there in the past and the view was very nice. Hey day was in the 13th century. Restored many times. 1851 a Scottish person did a major restoration. We did a lot of walking. 7905 steps today. We also visited a winery and had a complete briefing again of how to make wine. Wing a ding, ding. We sampled a lot of wine. They gave us some nice cheese, bread, olives to go with it. Salami for Linda. We were glad to get back to the ship. Linda proceeded to go to the bar and get another alcoholic beverage. A real party animal. Our big entertainment this afternoon was watching late guests run for the gangway which had already been pulled up. Police in uniform escorted them back. The entire balcony on our side was screaming for them to make it to the ship. What a show. Who knows if they are allowed to come aboard.