My husband and I returned Sunday from a wonderful two-week
cruise around the Mediterranean. We saw many magical sites I’d like to share. We
began and ended in Barcelona, Spain. The ports were Cannes, France, in Italy,
Florence, Rome, Naples, and Venice, and also a stop in Montenegro and one in
Croatia.
In Cannes, we took a bus north to Grasse to tour the
Fragonard perfume factory and a medieval village--both amazing! I think I
enjoyed the chemical wizardry of Fragonard more than my husband, but he
dutifully took excellent pictures.
The medieval village, St. Paul de Vence, was lovely. We saw
several old villages during our trip, and were always amazed how the historic
structures were actually being used for homes and businesses. The mix of old
and new held a special charm.
At our Florence stop, we traveled by bus two hours south of
the city into Tuscany--such lovely rolling countryside covered with olive trees
and grapevines. It was easy to see why this area inspired so many famous
painters and sculptors.
There we had an hearty lunch at a sheep farm. The food and
wine just kept coming!
Nearby we toured through a medieval village called Volterra
which is still used by a town of 20,000 people in the old buildings. All of
Tuscany was beautiful!
Rome was our next port. We saw the Coliseum, Vatican
museums, and St. Peter's Basilica. The Coliseum overwhelmed us with the
engineering accomplished during that era.
Our Naples port was special for me. We hiked up to the top
of Mt. Vesuvius and then toured Pompeii. My father had visited the volcano when
he was in the army during WWII when it last erupted. He carved out a hardening
bit of lava that flowed past him, and I still have it. It was a good feeling to
walk in his footsteps and bring back a new lava sample to partner with his.
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| Looking from new Vesuvius to the old volcano nearby |
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| Street of Pompeii |
Dubrovnik, Croatia and Kotor, Montenegro were beautiful with
pristine old villages tucked along narrow shorelines with mountains soaring
behind. We climbed to the top of a mountain fortress in Montenegro--serious
exercise and an awesome view!
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| Us with our gondolier! |
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| Riding through the canals |
It was a magical trip, each port so amazing that it’s hard
to pick a favorite. It’s also nice to be home with those memories—certainly a
few will creep into my next few books!
~ ~ ~
Marsha A. Moore is a writer of fantasy romance. The magic of art and nature spark life into her writing. Read her ENCHANTED BOOKSTORE
LEGENDS for adventurous epic fantasy romance: Book One, SEEKING A SCRIBE, Book Two, HERITAGE AVENGED, and Book Three, LOST VOLUMES.
She has also authored the Ciel's Legacy series, with fast action mermaid/pirate storylines: TEARS ON A TRANQUIL LAKE and TORTUGA TREASURE. For a FREE ebook download, read her historic fantasy, LE CIRQUE DE MAGIE, available at Amazon and Smashwords.
