With the initial plans for Barcelona complete, time to work on the cruise ports. We are planning to visit Cartagena, Spain; Gibraltar, UK; Marseille, France; Genoa, Italy; Livorno (Florence and Pisa), Italy and Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy. That is a lot of geography in a 7 day cruise.
We have always managed to find interesting shore excursions from the cruise line that we are sailing. However, after doing some reading and thinking about how we wanted to see all of these places and get the most of our days, a bus tour with between 25 and 40 of your new friends did not seem the right solution. TripAdvisor was a great help for information and recommendations.
Once you select some tour companies/people to research and learn about, I find it almost like having pen pals for a while when you are planning a trip in a new country. I have found so far that in general tour companies have the nicest people, and they write back and forth with you until you are sure that you have arranged the perfect excursion.
Looking at our schedule we decided to not plan any tours in Cartagena, Spain. All of the information about the port said there were things to explore within walking distance from the cruise port. Happy with that approach.
For Gibraltar, UK, the real rock of Gibraltar appeared to have a lot to see and do of interest in a small area. The most fascinating to me was the Cable Car from the base of the rock to the top. The views (at least on a clear day) were supposed to be unbelievable. There is also a nature reserve at the top of the Cable Car that houses the famous monkeys. Tickets could be purchased in advance to “cut the line.” OK, 2 tickets please.
On to Italy…….