Spirit of the Med excursions

[Cappers]

Anybody got any good tips for this itinerary? Am looking at booking trips,,or not? Does anyone know how far Aix en Provence is from the port? I rather fancy Aix after seeing Monty Don there on his gardening programme! Getting excited now,,not long til holidoodles:D

[jenny wren]

Anybody got any good tips for this itinerary? Am looking at booking trips,,or not? Does anyone know how far Aix en Provence is from the port? I rather fancy Aix after seeing Monty Don there on his gardening programme! Getting excited now,,not long til holidoodles:D

 

Hello Cappers...

If you want to do Rome it is easy on the train from Civitavecchia 12 euros return per person which includes Metro and buses....get shuttle to port gate and then walk along seafront (with the sea on your right) for about five mins. to the station. trains run about half hourly remember to validate your ticket in yellow box on the wall of the ticket hall.....the ship will have good maps on reception. ....if you don't fancythat well Civitavecchia is quite a nice place to wander either along the seafront/beach or up the hill to the shops with market down one of the side streets on the left.

Florence - we found best way to do this was a ships trip that dropped you off and then you do it yourself meeting up with the coach for the return journey...or there wil be a shuttle into Livorno which is quite pleasant with a huge market.

Barcelona - is walkable from the cruise terminal takes about 20 mins or there will be a shuttle to the columbus statue at the bottom of Las ramblas...its a lovely walk up here with street performers and stalls all the way up...or get the hOP ON HOP OFF bus there are two circuits for about 20 euros...you can get the northern one from outside the El Corte Ingles department store up at the top of Las Ramblas in Placa Catalunya...this one goes to Sagrada Familia (Gaudis famous church) and also to Camp Nou the football stadium.....haven't been to Toulon or Ajaccio so can't help there :)

[Rebel Rouser]

I'm glad Jenny is on Board now saves me typing at this time of night :p

[MallorcaChap]

Anybody got any good tips for this itinerary? Am looking at booking trips,,or not? Does anyone know how far Aix en Provence is from the port? I rather fancy Aix after seeing Monty Don there on his gardening programme! Getting excited now,,not long til holidoodles:D

 

Cappers,

 

We have been to both Toulon and Ajaccio. We stayed in the port at Toulon last time, so might do a trip this time round - it is quite pretty, but not a lot to look at that we could see.

In Ajaccio we did the taste of Corsica trip which was quite nice - basically it showed us that Corsica is mainly green with not a lot on it - the stops were informative though.

Aix en Provence is 51 miles from Toulon, driving time about 50 - 60 mins.

[Cappers]

Trouble with Rome is that it's Good Friday the day we are there! I reckon we either avoid it like the plague or embrace the historical and cultural nature of the day,,with a possible new Pope and all that malarkey.

 

Going to do Florence transfer only,,last time I was there it was August and hotter than hell, we drove the wrong way down a one way street and got caught on camera,,the Italian police tracked us down through the car rental agency and demanded 300Euros!

 

Done Barcelona a few times, it's one of my favourite cities, probably have a nice ramle up Las Ramblas.

[jenny wren]

Aah might be a good idea to avoid Rome then....best to explore Civitavecchia or there is a seaside place just one stop along on the train (though I've forgotten what it's called - something like santa marina) but have heard good reports.

Nice to do Florence on your own....we found a lovely little (tiny) cafe down a side street where we got the most delicious pizza (huge) for only a few euros and a man played an accordion outside while we ate!! :)

[tummysmummy]

Doing this itinerary next week (9th) and just been looking at excursions from Livorno... There is one in the guide called 'Inside the Tower of Pisa' with a footnote which says not available on Island Escape! Anybody know why and do any of the other tours allow time to go inside?

 

Or maybe the inside isn't worth seeing anyway...?