Category: 2013 – Costa Pacifica, Western Med, 12 – 19 Apr

The sun is up and so are we for our arrival at Civitavecchia. The cases went in the night and all that is left to do is to get dressed and go for breakfast. Our meeting point for disembarking is at 9:15 in the Grand Bar on deck 5. Fingers crossed our transfer will be where they should be.

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We have left Palermo and are heading back to Civitavecchia where we will disembark the Costa Pacifica. It will be an early start as we need to vacate our cabin by 8:00am.

Well all I can say is the English speaking Costa hostess did warn us there wasn’t a great deal in Palermo.
Shortly before 9:00am we left the ship and proceeded to the security gates of the port. The first bottleneck was the local taxi tour firms and HoHo bus agents all urging you to take one of their tours. There must have been about 30 of them all waving their little brochures in you face. Once you had circumnavigated that obstacle there were the horse and cart tours all doing the same thing. Why is it that one will see you saying “No thank you” to the person in front and then still ask you and expect you to say “Yes” to them?
Anyway, once out of the gates came the turn of the motor scooter taxi brigade, again in large numbers. This continued for about a quarter of a mile and to be honest we were really getting fed up with it by now. When we eventually reached the Opera House and sat and took a few photos before deciding to head back to the ship but thought that by going a different route would minimise the agro. It did but what a sad run down and dirty place it is behind the main streets. We experienced piles of stinking rubbish piled high and could only determine there must be some sort of industrial action going on. Dirty and shabby would be the words I would use to describe the area of Palermo we witnessed. Even the Opera house was grubby on the outside. In all we spent just short of 2 hours off the ship and would conclude that if we ever stop here again we will stay on board.

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This our last port of call before returning to Civitavecchia tomorrow morning and disembarking for trip back home. This stop is another short one and because of this it will again mean for us that it will probably be just a case of getting off and having a stroll and taking a few photos.

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After getting the free shuttle service into town we made our way up the Largo Carlo Felice to the top of the hill where we had planned to visit the remains of a roman amphitheatre. When we got there the site was all closed off and looked like it hadn’t been open for years. So we walked back down the hill and explored the many narrow streets before stopping to have a very enjoyable lunch at the Ristorante La Gobbetta.
Before heading back to the ship we took another walk along the main frontage to the port area which was called the Via Roma.
Our after thoughts were it was somewhere else we could tick off the list. One final observation was that I do not think I have ever known anywhere with so many street peddlers. They were absolutely everywhere that we went and all over town, we wondered why here?

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We are just coming into Caligari and the sun has come out.

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Another day and a new port for us. Today we will be arriving a Cagliari, Sardinia at 1:00pm and will have 5 hours to spend there. I always wonder about these short stops and wonder if they are geared to making you book the tours?
Anyway, as you will see from the daily programme we will need to use a free shuttle bus while in the port so that is what we will do.
Tonight is Italian night and the dress code is green, white or red.

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The afternoon started as overcast but it eventually cleared to give us some lovely weather. There is still a slight nip in the breeze and it is a bit deceiving when in the direct sunlight. If you could find a nice secluded area out of the sun then it was rather nice to sit out in. We did a bit of improvisation and used some spare sun beds to provide a wind break.
Its a Gala night tonight, I wonder how many will make the effort?

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We are on our way again to our next stop. Half a sea day which is a bit of a novelty on this cruise.

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Here’s one for all fans of Costa funnels. Some of you maybe in denial but I know you are out there!

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