Vatican, Beaches, Blue Grotto

[Justcruzinaround]

Hi everyone,

 

Can I purchase tickets for the Vatican, Leaning Pisa on our own ahead of time? Also, has anyone been to any beaches. My 16 yr old wants to go, but we are from Miami and how are the beaches over in Europe. Nice, pretty? And has anyone done the Blue Grotto? It's suppose to be beautifful but I haven't seen any tours there.

 

Sailing of Splendour June 12, anyone sailing with teens then?

 

fran

[Hlitner]

I am not aware of any way to pre-purchase tickets for the Vatican. The best organized tours will have access to a "back door" where they can avoid the, often, long lines at the regular entrance. As to beaches, since you don't say your itinerary its hard to give you specific advice. But as a rule, the beaches in most of Europe "truly suck" (putting this in the appropriate language for your teens) compared to Florida. There are some decent beaches on certain Greek Islands (such as Rhodes and Mykonos) but most of the Riviera has rocky places they call beaches. Cannes actually has a decent public beach, which is rarity on the coast. Most of my European friends fly to Florida or the Caribbean when they want a good beach vacation.

 

As to the Blue Grotto, you can easily do this on your own. I assume you are docking in Naples. You just walk from the ship, out of the immediate port area, turn left, and you will see the ferry terminal. Just buy tickets on the next hydrofoil to Capri (they run once or twice an hour and it takes 40 min) and you are off to Capri. When you arrive on Capri you will see signs for the Blue Grotto boats off to your left as you exit the pier. They use a motor-type boat to take you to the grotto where you will transfer into a small boat for the journey through the Grotto. Sometimes, when the water is too high, this will be closed. Is it worth it? Well, some like it and others think its a total waste of time. One other thing. On Capri you will go up the hill (they have a funicular) to the town of Capri. You can also take a bus or taxi up to the next town called Anacapri. If its now to windy, there is a chair lift (single chairs) that goes from Anacapri all the way to the top of the island. The kids would probably enjoy this (not good if you have a problem with heights) but you need to allow at least 1 1/2 hours to get to Anacapri and up the lift.

 

Hank

[ClaudiaF]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by franoakwood:

Hi everyone,

 

Can I purchase tickets for the Vatican, Leaning Pisa on our own ahead of time? Also, has anyone been to any beaches. My 16 yr old wants to go, but we are from Miami and how are the beaches over in Europe. Nice, pretty? And has anyone done the Blue Grotto? It's suppose to be beautifful but I haven't seen any tours there.

 

Sailing of Splendour June 12, anyone sailing with teens then?

 

fran <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

Yes you can order online..there are a few places.. here are two I found ( have not used them- our tour guide actually took care of pre purchase for us)but..check them out!

 

http://www.goporta.com/tickets/Purchase_Tickets.htm

 

http://selectitaly.com/museums.php?parent_nav=2

 

Barcelona to Venice on Oceania - "Insignia"

Buenos Aires to Rio Oceania - "Insignia"

 

 

 

[Andym]

Frank,

I have to disagree with Hank on this. OK most of the good beaches on the Med are private, and the public beaches aren't that special, but you can find a decent public beach at Villefranche, Corsica, Malta. If you want to pay alittle you can use some of the private hotel beaches, after all I believe this is what the cruise lines do for their beach excursions.

[MSBYRDY]

Most of the beaches are gravel not sand, so if you're from Florida, you will be dissappointed in that.

Marilyn