Returning to Civitavecchia, Italy

            We say our good-byes to Brian, Angela, Becky, and Justin who disembark for a day in Rome before returning to the States. Later we learn in a text from Becky that they had a marvelous day – Justin took 139 pictures in the Coliseum alone. In the evening, like us on the ship, they were in search of a television that may carry the undefeated NFL Kansas City Chiefs play Buffalo. We failed at this end; we hope they were more successful.

            Ray and Monica meet a slew of interesting people, one from Columbia, Missouri who had attended a couple of my seminars; fortunately she had nothing but good memories to share. They took advantage of the special lunch prepared in the dining room for passengers on consecutive cruises, that is, “in transit.” Ray said there were only 30 people as the other 170 must have been on excursions like Debbie and me. Those present felt special indeed as there were arriving passengers who wished to crash the affair but were turned away at the door. A number of people commented on Monica’s current crochet project. She is very good, an expert for sure.

            As for Debbie and me, we boarded an excursion to the north that took us into Italy’s countryside. We traveled down narrow roads (I have no idea how other vehicles passed as our large bus took up most of the asphalt) through a number of small villages and a couple of rural towns. At one point we were expecting to see a castle and its walled fortifications on every hilltop. In Tarquinia, the largest of these had 20 entrances with accompanying towers. We were told that there were 28 tombs beneath the city that had been discovered. Further north we stop at Tuscana and walk through the walled city there. It was Sunday morning so families were strolling about the cobblestone streets along with the tourists (we were a small group of 16). Debbie and I enjoyed a coffee and juice in a local coffee bar and experienced the locals.

            The countryside of rolling hills and deep valleys with mountains as a backdrop made for a romantic setting peppered with a diversity of crops. I could easily imagine ghosts of past inhabitants working in the fields and providing produce for those in the walled city above. The most significant crop was the harvesting of olive trees. We stopped at one farmhouse that claimed to be the hunting lodge of Napoleon’s brother.  There we tasted olives that came from a few of the 60,000 trees on what I would call a plantation rather than an orchard. We were shown how the trees would be shaken (sometimes mechanically, other times manually) to harvest the olives. A process of squeezing out the juice to make olive oil was interesting; the remnants are used for lantern and other fuels.

            We were invited to taste the olive oil on a number of breads and those who drank were permitted to sample wines also produced on the grounds. The best jam that Debbie and I ever tasted was included as well; we bought a small jar for 8 euros ($14), expensive and a big risk since we weren’t sure the ship would allow an agricultural product aboard (and we knew the USA would never let us enter with such produce). Fortunately we were not frisked and we plan to take it to breakfast and eat with each of our morning meals while sailing the Mediterranean.

            We returned to the ship to join Ray and Monica for dinner. Our cabin is about half as large as last week (we were unable to upgrade); we were careful to create as much room as possible, and I must admit it is nice and cozy. Ironically it is the same cabin that Justin and Becky lived in on the first cruise – that leaves me with an odd kind of feeling as I go to bed. Nevertheless, we all agree that dinner is simply outstanding. We miss the others, but our table of four this time around is located on the edge of the balcony overlooking the atrium created by three decks of dining tables. Moreover, the live piano player is just above and behind us creating a lovely atmosphere.

            We share good conversation about our past lives and then retreat to the sports bar on the 14^th deck to see if he Chiefs game is the one and only game being broadcast; it is not, but we follow scores on the small ticker-like tape on the lower part of the screen. Exhausted after a full day we give it up at halftime and head for our cabins.

            Tomorrow we dock in Naples, Italy. If the weather is good, Debbie and I have invited Ray and Monica to join us in boarding a Hydro boat from the mainland over to the Isle of Capri. We have been there previously with my oldest son Mike and family and find it to be one of the beautiful islands in the Mediterranean.