Cagliari, Ajaccio, Tunis, Valletta

[bjm1068]

I can find very little info on these ports. If you have been there, would you please post a bit of a review for enlightenment? Looking for any suggestions or opinions. Thanks.

[Hlitner]

I can help with 3 of the 4 (have never been to Cagliara although we were on the other side of Sardinia. Adjaccia is the main city on Corsica. You will tender into a small pier just below the city..and its about a 3 min walk into the center of town. Adjaccia is pretty small, and you can easily explore it on foot. There is a small central area with a few cafes and restaurants. To your left (when you walk to the square) you can walk over to a pretty nice beach.. where. if you like. you could just spend a good part of your day with the sea and sand. As to tours.. we once took a half day trip to the so-called Calanches. These are interesting rock formations...but the best part of this tour was that we rode through a lot of the countryside and got a good look at parts of the island (its actually a large island).

 

Tunis - When we were in this port,, it was still the headquarters of the PLO and had an open border with Libya. There will be several tour options to see the city...and this would be your best bet. We took a full morning tour of town (went to some markets..rug merchants. etc. In the afternoon my wife and I walked about 1/2 mile from the ship over to a beach. We were the only non-Arabs on the beach and my wife attracted a lot of attention because she was blonde and wearing a swim suit. The Arab women were all covered in their Kafkas///even when they swam. The children were all over us (they were charming) and spoke French. We managed to explain that we were Americans...and this caused excitement because they had never seen Americans. For all but the most adventuress (us) stick with tours in this port.

 

Valletta . Malta is a very friendly island that you can do on your own. Valletta is the capital city and you will dock below the city walls. You can either walk up the steps into town., or they might have some kind of shuttle for those that can't or won't use their legs. The city is medium size...but can be explored on foot if you like to walk. The Mdna (old town) is a taxi or bus ride from the center...and worth the journey. There is at least once cafe (we had coffee at this place) that sits atop the old wall in the Mdna with a wonderful view of the valley. Other than the city and Mdna...there is not much to see (there are some beaches). We were met on this island by friends (we had met them on a cruise) who took us all over the island. Honestly, your day would best be spent in town and at the Mdna and you can do it on your own. There is a modern tourist center within walking distance of the pier (near the center of the city) where they show a move about "The Maltese Experience." (I might not have the movie name exactly right).... a 20 min film about the history of the island and was quite interesting.

 

Hank

[bjm1068]

Hank, thank you so much for this information. Sure makes planning a lot easier. With the current political situation, we are strongly considering just staying on the ship in La Goulette. This is a port intensive cruise and a day of rest will probably be nice.

[Morgans]

To echo what Hank has already said, Ajaccio is a lovely, easy town to do on your own. It's very close to the ship and there are many lovely, small shops in which to browse and cafes & restaurants in which to try the local wine etc. There is a good beach , a little tourist train that will take you around the town and also the house of Napoleon Bonaparte to visit if you enjoy history. It's a good place just to wander around and has a very central post office if you wish to post cards or phone home.

 

Valletta is also extremely interesting but it is a bit of a climb up steps. The approach into the port is something not to miss. Once at the top it is worth it - mostly everyone speaks English and the old city is very interesting. Again, if you just want a gentle amble through the old Mediterranean streets, popping into churches, cafes, market stalls etc on the way, then this is for you.

 

Regarding Cagliari - we didn't find a great deal there for us when we were there a few years ago and we resorted to one of the ship's tours to Pula to see Roman mosaics and remains - very hot and very dusty but fairly interesting.

 

La Goulette - I would suggest that you do one of the tours here as you are a long way from the town as I recall. My husband had a little wander ashore on his own and said there wasn't much to see. He was also approached by some official or other wondering what he was doing....needless to say he scooted back to the ship after this. You would be advised to do the tours if you wish to go ashore.

 

Whatever you decide to do, no doubt you will have a marvellous time

 

Marge M.

[patticake1448]

Hlitner and Morgans have done an excellent job in describing these four ports. I just returned from a cruise including all four last week, and loved them all. traveling so far from hawaii, i figured i had to make the most of this trip and visit every port. although not everyone agrees, i thoroughly enjoy the tours offered by the ship (Noordam, HAL). They were all very well done. the guides were great, and all offered a wealth of information. i found Sardinia and Ajaccio both beautiful, and Malta was absolutely fascinating! i wasn't too thrilled about Tunis, but i would definitely recommend it. I figured it would probably be my only chance to say i visited africa, and safe way to visit an Islamic country. the ship did advise against women traveling alone there, and we felt perfectly safe in our cruise group. Carthage was very interesting, and it was good to get a look at a totally different culture. Perhaps you could just do a half day tour to get a taste of the area and still have some down time. Enjoy!

[Leejnd4]

Regarding Ajaccio, if you have the opportunity to take a tour that will get you deeper into the island, I'd recommend you do so. Corsica is truly a beautiful island, with a surprisingly varied landscape, everything from desert to mountains to resort-worthy beaches. The mountains are particularly lovely -- needle-like spires rising from the center of the island. There's this amazing area called Vallee de la Restonica, which takes you deep into the mountains along this amazing curvy road clinging to the cliff side above a winding river. Along the river there are beautiful pools in which you can swim. Legend says they have rejuvenating and restorative qualities.

 

If there are any tours you can take to Corte, it's an interesting city as well, with a good museum. The island has a very interesting history, having been sacked by pretty much every nation around it! It currently has a somewhat precarious relationship with France, it's current occupier, evidence of which you can see all over, in the grafitti, and the language conflict of its residents.

 

Enjoy!

 

LeeAnne