Disney Mediterranean Cruise - Part 2

If you missed Part 1 on my Mediterranean Cruise click here.

Day 5 - Naples, Italy

Naples was the first port where we needed to take a tender from the ship rather than be docked in a port. This was also the first day that we had a scheduled tour set up.  We booked the tour through Disney and it would take us to Capri, Sorrento and Pompeii.  It was spectacular.  We started by taking the boat you see in the photo to a smaller boat that would circle the isle of Capri.  It was a little windy that day.  It was approximately a 45 minute boat ride to Capri.  My son Alex felt a little sea sick during this ride.  Luckily I had dramamine with me and gave him a half a pill.  Enough to get rid of the yucky feeling but not enough to completely knock him out.  I'm happy to say that it took effect pretty quickly and he was feeling much better before we had to get on an even smaller boat to circle Capri.

Capri is absolutely gorgeous.  How cool is the "face" you can see in the rocks?

Look at the natural caves.

We had the same tour guide for the entire day.  From Capri we took another boat ride to Sorrento.

There we indulged in a six course lunch.  Yes...six courses.  There was more food in this one lunch than I usually eat in an entire day.  It was part of the tour and the menu was pre-set.  Food just kept arriving at our table.

The french fries confused me a little bit...but the rest of the meal was completely authentic Italian...and so YUMMY!
After lunch we boarded a bus and headed to "lost city" of Pompeii.

My kids thought Pompeii was so cool (as did my husband and me).  

It's an entire city that was destroyed after a volcano long, long ago.

Yep...that's what you think it is...it's the bodies of the inhabitants of the city on the day of the volcano.  There bodies were carbonized and basically frozen in time at the time of their deaths.  Very dramatic and powerful.  It was a long but amazing day.  Got back to the ship late...but because we were on a Disney tour they actually held dinner for us.  Nothing better than to walk into the dining room after a super long day and have all of your favorite things waiting for you.

Day 6 - Civitavecchia (Rome)


Now this was the day my kids were waiting for.  My son especially has been wanting to go to Rome for years.  However Rome is a 1 1/2 hour bus ride from the port of Civitavecchia where the ship was docked.  We signed up for the tour Rome on your Own through Disney.  This provided us with transportation from the ship and a tour guide on the bus who gave us information about the city and some tips.  Once in Rome we were on our own.  My husband and I have been to Rome before so we felt confident that we could do the actual tour of Rome on our own.  We did pre-purchase tickets for the Vatican on the internet before we left.  Best decision ever!  The line for tickets was at least a two hour wait otherwise.  Literally we got off the bus and were in the Vatican in less than twenty minutes.

Vatican City is really something special.  St Peter's Basilica is incredible.  We did the Vatican tour and then on the bus our tour guide had given us a tip that if you leave via the right most door at the end of the Sistine Chapel you end up directly in St Peter's Basilica without having to get on another line.

Inside St Peter's Basilica are the tombs of all of the past Popes.  

After we were done touring the Vatican we walked to Trevi Fountain.  Of course we all threw a coin in the fountain...hopefully insuring a return visit to Rome.

After the Trevi Fountain we walked to the Spanish Steps.  My kids had a race up all 138 steps.

From the Spanish Steps we walked to the Colosseum.

Incredible!

From the Colosseum we walked to the Roman Forum.  When we were done walking through, it was time to head back to catch the bus back to the port.  At this point we were all exhausted so it was time to hail a taxi.  We jumped into the first taxi and luckily we asked how much...he wanted a flat fee of 25 euros.  We knew that was ridiculous so we all jumped out.  We went to another taxi that had a meter.  The fare turned out to be less than 10 euros.  

Again we were late for dinner, but again since we were with a Disney tour (even if it was just the transportation) they held dinner for us.  

Hope to see you Monday for Part 3 of my Mediterranean adventure.  Have a great weekend.

-Judy