So you’re thinking, La Spezia?  Where is that?

La Spezia, my adventurous friends, is in northern Italy – and this port is the gateway to (longer) day trips to Florence, Pisa and for the Smith family, Cinque Terre.

Ah, this was one of our favorite days!  The night before we went online and found a place to rent scooters for the next day in La Spezia.  We got off the boat and started walking.  We found the scooter rental place just as it opened, signed our life away, and rode off into the sunrise….pretty framatic, but let me tell you…..the non-Itlaian speaking Smiths taking directions from the friendly scooter guy was comical.  We got out helmets (Char rode with Kelly and Kelton rode with me), got some sort of directions towards Cinque Terre, and off we went.

Have I told you how much we love adventure?  Adventure brings us closer.  It challenges us.  It makes us think “outside the box” and forces us to rely on eachother.  Because of all these things, we grow personally and grow closer together.

Cinque Terre will forever be one of my favorite days ever!  We are always very aware of our land time while cruising – while I would love more time to explore, being left behind isn’t a great option!  This trip, we only explored two of the five villages; Manarola and Riomaggiore.  I guess we will have to go back!  Check it out!

ROME!

For any amature (or mature) historian, Rome is the place of dreams!

Our gorgeous ship docked in the nearby seaside port of Civitavecchia.  This port is a good hour or more outside of Rome, and since we work on a budget, we didn’t take an excursion to Rome; rather, we got to the train station and figured out how to get round trip tickets to Rome and off we went.

To spend only a partial day in Rome is kinda crazy, but we did it and it was amazing!

And HOT!  Wowzers, was it hot!

We decided to do the Hop On Hop Off buses that traverse the city and they were, for the most part, useful (not so much in Barcelona).  We visted the Colosseum (got tickets ahead of time – a MUST) and Roman Forum/Palatine Hill and also went to Vatican City – but NOT for a tour – we didn’t know if we would have enough time.  We DID, however, have pizza near the Vatican – isn’t that a must?

Here are some pictures from our day!

Villafranche-sur-Mer was our thrid stop on our fabulous trip!  Here, we had to sit in the bay and be “ferried” into the port.  Once on land, we could hang out in Villafranche-sur-Mer (famous for their parfumeries) or head east to Monaco or west for Nice.  We figured out how to catch a bus andhead headed to Nice.

This was the first time we left the kids on the ship.  They wanted a break from “all the old stuff” and we didn’t think there would be a TON of things the kids would like in Nice, so they stayed aboard in the kids club and enjoyed some kid time.

Kelly and I enjoyed some adult time and when we arrived in Nice after a short bus ride, we decided to rent scooters for the day!  What an adventure that was!  Here are some of our photos!

Here are our picutres from Villafranche-sur-Mer

Nice!

Next stop, ROME!!!!!

Barcelona was our first port in Spain – and again, I had no expectations of what we might see!  We do not book excursions through our cruise ship or other venues – we tend to wing it!

We got off the ship and started exploring!!!

Next stop…Villafranche sur Mer, France.

After two days at sea (I think) – on May 9th we arrived in Gibraltar.

I didn’t have many expectations for Gibraltar – so I was pleasantly surprised with everything!

We did the touristy stuff – got a taxi to take up into the hills, had monkeys sit on our shoulders, explored British defense tunnels and spied AFRICA from the mountain tops!  AFRICA!!!! To someone who spent the first 38 years of her life mainly on the North American continent (with a few trips to the Caribbean and South America), seeing Africa blew my mind!!!  Now to actually GET there!!!

Here’s what did and saw in Gibraltar!

Our next stop…Barcelona!

May 5, 2015 – Our last full day in the UK – and we had it packed!!!

I have been (and still am) a fan of Downton Abbey.  In 2015, Highclere Castle (fictional Downton Abbey) was only open to the public a total of fewer than 30 days to visitors.  We were there during one of those days, and tickets were limited and first come first serve.  I was not going to miss this!!!

It was everything I had hoped it would be – but surprisingly smaller in person than on TV – strange, right?

After visiting Downton Abbey (and meeting the Countess of Carnarvon herself), we headed to Windsor to visit the quaint town and Windsor Castle.  Oh my goodness!!!!  I could have stayed for hours but it closed at 4pm and we got there around 2:30 – so we hustled!!!

Windsor was amazing to explore and I can’t wait to go back!!!

Also – today is Charlotte’s birthday!!!  Fourteen years old!!!  I can’t even believe it!!  And my “boy” is officailly a senior!!!