Ports of Call Continued-Part 3
Day 4-Rome--Onboard
After three straight days of ten hour tours we were exhausted. Plus we had been to Rome just last year plus we had been there for an entire week in 2002 so we decided to stay on the ship. Plus the ship docks in Civitavecchia which is almost a 90 minute drive from downtown Rome. So Kathleen and I slept late, I worked out and Kathleen went to the AquaSpa for a facial. Then we just lazed around the ship. It was a very nice day to just relax. Others in our Cruise Critic group went into Rome on the “Rome on Your Own” tour or rented a car and drove to Orvieto. I took a few pics of the port and you can find them by clicking here.
Day 5-Ajaccio, Corsica
See our photos of Ajaccio, Corsica by clicking here.
After our relaxing day in Rome we awoke the next morning in Ajaccio, Corsica, the birthplace of 
Napoleon Bonaparte. The ship docked right in downtown and after a nice breakfast we were off to tour the town. And we hate to report that there wasn’t much to tour. We saw the cathedral (which is pretty much just a church), Napoleon’s birthplace and then walked most of the rest of the town finishing up with a stroll through the marketplace before returning to the ship. We were onshore a total of about three hours and even those who took shore excursions were back in no time. It was almost like having two sea days in a row.
I wish I could recommend something great to do in Ajaccio but I can’t. It is a quaint village that is very nice to walk around in for a short time. Probably better if you are a Napoleon buff.
Day 7-At Sea
Spent the day at sea. Very relaxing. I worked out, worked on this website and since this was the real first sea day, we had our Cruise Critic Connections party. This was probably the strangest CC party we have ever had. First because this was our first sea day, it was seven days into the cruise. Normally these are held on the first or second day of the cruise. Second, because there were so many groups on board it was scheduled at 5:00 pm on formal night. 5:00 pm on formal night?
I also want to mention that in all our cruises on Celebrity, this was the first Connections meeting where no one from the ship (except the events director who arranged the room) showed up. We have always had the Cruise Director and sometimes his boss, the hotel director as well.
Day 8-Gibraltar
See our pictures of Gibraltar by clicking here
Originally this cruise was scheduled to go from Corsica to Tangier and then Casablanca in
Morocco. But due to some very nasty activity at the docks when the ships came in and the reactions of the passengers on those previous cruises they moved us to Gibraltar and Malaga, Spain. Some passengers on our cruise were very upset by this but to be honest we were only mildly disappointed. I would rather stay in Spain than to have people spitting at the shuttle busses as they left the ships.
Gibraltar was cool to sail into. Approaching the Rock of Gibraltar that we have seen in hundreds of books was amazing. And seeing the hundreds of ships that sit around the harbor waiting for orders on where to sail is also a really great sight. There was even a half sunk ship just off the rock that you should check out my pictures to see.
But once we docked it was an entirely different story. The ship (the only one in port that day) completely swamped the town. We had planned to walk to the cable car which would taken us to where we could see the famed Gibraltar apes and the caves built into the rock itself but it took us more than two hours to just walk to the cable car (and we are still pretty quick walkers) and once we got there we found that the wait was almost two hours. We gave up. With Kathleen’s hip and my foot we knew that standing in line for two hours after a two hour walk and knowing that we had a two hour walk ahead of us back to the ship it would not be fun. We even saw a Celebrity shore excursion give up on the cable car line and head back to the ship--very sad.
Back on board many of our friends said the same thing. A long walk for no payoff. And the town we walked through sadly looked exactly like almost any Caribbean port of call. The same shops and businesses we saw all over the Bahamas and Puerto Rico on a previous cruise.
We did have a lot of fun after we got back to the ship watching British paratroops do practice jumps into sea with these tiny little boats racing to pick them up. It was quite a sight. Gibraltar is not a port we would want to visit again but from what we heard about what had been happening in Tangier, it was better than going there.
Day 9-Malaga, Spain
See our pictures of Malaga by clicking here.
As I mentioned before, this was a port we were not originally supposed to stop in. And after our experience in Gibraltar we did not have a lot of high hopes for Malaga. Thankfully we were very wrong. It was wonderful! It had the most drop dead gorgeous cathedral we saw on the entire trip. We took the best Hop-on, Hop-off bus trip of the entire cruise and we had a super lunch at an outdoor cafe where the food was so-so but the company was great as we met up with Cruise Critic buddies Mary and Alan.
If you cruise into Malaga the first thing you will need to know is where is the ship docked. Originally we were told we would need to take a shuttle into the city but we arrived before the only other cruise ship in port that day and were moored in close. That meant you could walk into the heart of Malaga (right near the bull ring) in about 20 minutes of level walking (no hills) along a very pretty beach. The shuttle bus was still available for $10.
We decided on taking the walk. It was a strikingly beautiful day weather-wise. Our plan was to take the HoHo bus for one full circuit of its route and then to ride it around a second time getting off when we reached the points we wanted to look at in depth. This worked quite well and we got an overview of the city (which was outstanding--great architecture and great views) and then stopped at the city-topping citadel, Gilbralfaro. The views from up there were superb and we even 
found that you could (with some great effort) walk down the city wall all the way to the lower part of the old city. We later found that Andrew, Ed, Joel and Marj had climbed up from the bottom in what would later become known as their “Malaga Death March.”
After a quick 30 minutes at the top of the hill we boarded the bus for the ride back down to the Old Town has we wanted to see---what else? The cathedral? As soon as we were off the bus, we were hit by luncheon hunger pangs and started looking for someplace to eat. Our experience in Spain has been that if you don’t know where you are going, you are in trouble and will probably not get the greatest meal of your life. This time we got lucky, if not food-wise, at least company-wise when we turned the corner to find two of our Cruise Critic buddies, Alan and Mary sitting at a sidewalk cafe. We noticed they were coming apart (ha ha ha) so we decided to join them. (Are you laughing yet?)
After a quick lunch of fish for me and meatballs and fries for Kathleen we wished them well and went to see the cathedral. And we almost passed on it. I mean on this trip we have seen so many cathedrals. But we are REALLY glad we didn’t.
We both agree that the cathedral in Malaga is by far the most beautiful of the gothic cathedrals in Spain. Maybe it was because we didn’t expect much but when we walked in the door (you have to really look for the entrance--it is in the gift shop and they charge 3 euro but it is truly worth it) we were blown away.
I am always a good traveler and if they tell me no pictures inside a building, I don’t take pictures. In this case, I can honestly say I did not see the sign and everyone else inside was taking picture after picture so I shot a bunch. The beauty was awe-inspiring. Hopefully my pictures (that I shouldn’t have taken) will do it justice. I think the building alone is worth a visit to the city.
After the cathedral, we jumped back on the HoHo bus and were off to the ship after a great day in beautiful Malaga.
To finish reading about the ports of call, click here.
