Mediterranean Cruising...Wonderfully Exhausting!

The word "vacation" in my book is typically synonymous with images of relaxing somewhere tropical under an umbrella or palm tree after waking up around 10am with the most difficult decision being should we go to the beach first or the pool.

This was not one of those vacations.

In fact, this vacation needed to be followed by a vacation similar to the one I just mentioned. This vacation was a gloriously incredible yet exhausting vacation.

Last October, Richard and I decided that we wanted to go on a Mediterranean cruise so we did some research and chose Norwegian Cruise Line's 11-day Rome and the Vatican Cruisetour. This itinerary allowed us to spend some extra time in Rome first (since Richard had never been to Italy before) followed by a week on the Norwegian Epic (a ship we fell in love with in the Caribbean for our first anniversary trip).

We also stayed two extra nights in Rome (good decision) after the cruise to see more of the city on our own before making the two-hour flight home (yay for not having to cross an ocean and having no jet lag!). This also allowed more time for gelato and pizza! #priorities

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Here was our itinerary & some highlights:

Day One | Arrive in Rome

Dinner in Roma!

 Day Two | Tour Ancient Rome

Colosseum

Roman Forum

Day Three | Vatican Tour

St. Peter's Basilica

 Day Four | Embark Ship

Norwegian Epic

Day Five | Florence/Pisa, Italy 

Florence Duomo

Leaning Tower of Pisa

Day Six | Cannes, France 

Nice, France

Monaco

 Day Seven | Palma de Majorca, Spain

Beach day! Finally!

 Day Eight | Barcelona, Spain

 La Sagrada Familia

 

Day Nine | At Sea

 

 Day Ten | Naples, Italy

Pompeii

Sorrento

 Day Eleven | Disembark in Rome

Castles and gelato. Need I say more?

I can't wait to share more about our experiences in each of these magnificent cities and all the historical icons and awe-inspiring works of art we got to see!

Have you been to any of these destinations? If so, which ones? What was your favorite city?

Tschüss!