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Celebrity Equinox Cruise Mediterranean Tour 地中海游记 Ourenglish Correspondent 11/18/2013 这次是稚妹小林给买的游轮票从西班牙巴塞罗那出发,经法国、意大利、黑山和克罗地亚等国,再返回巴塞罗那。大铁和安娜给打的飞机票。他们这是给宝银70岁的礼物。我对这样的旅行并不特别感兴趣,因为呆在船上的时间太多。到各个港口城市和附近城市旅游也是匆匆而过,走马观花。不如自己自由行式的旅游。
我们10月16日从纽约肯尼迪机场出发,来回都坐的芬兰航空公司Finnair. 看到他们的服务比美国各航空公司更人性化,餐饮的质量也比较高。中间在芬兰首都赫尔辛基转机来回停留四个半天10/17-18和11/2-3,大概看了看号称纬度最高的‘大都市“。两天都赶上天气阴冷。感到他们注意环保,有轨电车仍是主要交通工具,骑自行车的人很多,其情景与我国70年代以前的情景非常相似。随处可见成排的自行车停放处,用简单的圆圈形锁,锁住自己的车,而不是像美国大城市那样要把车锁在一个不可移动的铁架或树干上。他们还用自行车头的自行磨电灯,而不是电池灯。早晨有雾,太阳一出来就散了。在赫尔辛基机场候机室见到日本尼桑的全电动轿车在那里展出,说明商家也注意到芬兰注重环保,在此推销他们的环保产品。 节俭成就了他们国家的富足无忧。难怪美国《外交政策》杂志与超党派研究团体“和平基金会”2013年6月27日公布报告称,在对全球178个国家进行的“失败国家指数”评价中, 总分为 18.O的芬兰排行倒数第一; 排在第一位的是得分113.9的索马里,在前十名中有刚果(金)与苏丹、南苏丹、乍得、也门、阿富汗等国。
10月18日中午 我们从赫尔辛基抵达西班牙的海港大都市巴塞罗那。当天下午在酒店休息一会以后我们的附近地区看了看。
10/19 we visited Sagrada Familia Church in Barcelona. Although incomplete, the church is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and in November 2010 Pope Benedict XVI consecrated and proclaimed it. We also saw the Arch of Triumph (Arc de Triomf), and the Fonda area where we had late lunch in a Wenzhou Chinese restaurant. Fonda area is in the northeast corner of Barcelona, there are some scattered Chinese shops, but not many, just like the beginning stage of Flushing Chinese commujnity in NYC.
10/20 (Day 1) In the morning we stayed at the hotel, did some web pages, uploaded 高天明的《经营参考》 and some page on White House and US Interior Department pictures. We checked out at 11:30 am. Taking the L3 subway train to Drassanes and walked to the Columbus Statue Square and took the Blue Bus to Pier C where the Celebrity Equinox cruise ship was docked.
10/21 (Day 2) The ship arrived at the city of Livornox, France. At about 7:30am ferryboats (Tenders as is called by the seamen) took us from the ship Celebrity Equinox to the city of Villefranche where we took the train to Monaco first. We visited La Principaute de Monaco (摩纳哥公国/摩纳哥亲王国)on our own,the Prince Palace where the Prince actually lives now. Then we took the train back to Villefranche and further west to Nice Ville (尼斯市)and strolled along the walking-only street. Bought six bottles of French beer and a shirt.
10/22 (Day 3) Visted Pisa and Florence in Italy. The ship docked in Livorno. This is the first guided tour in our Signature Package of Celebrity Onshore Tours. We left Livorno at 8:30am, the drive to Pisa took about one hour. The escort talked about the the two cities and the points to meet etc. After talking to the whole group she, named Stefania, stepped down to the bus aisle to answer individual questions. Pisa is a small city of 80,000 residents. All things to see are within the wall. The leaning tower is spetacular, all in marble stone. The groundbreaking took place in 1173; it was completed in 1372. The height of the tower is 55.86 metres (183.27 feet) from the ground on the low side and 56.67 metres (185.93 feet) on the high side. The tower has 296 or 294 steps; the seventh floor has two fewer steps on the north-facing staircase. Prior to restoration work performed between 1990 and 2001, the tower leaned at an angle of 5.5 degrees, but the tower now leans at about 3.99 degrees, about 1.5 degrees less than before. The correction project cost 3 million euro.
From there we went to visit Florence (Firenze in Italian). Our first top is Santa Croce in Piazza Santa Croce (Santa Croce square). Santa Croce (圣十字教堂)is the largest Franciscan church in Italy and holds the tombs of several important and famous Florentines including Michelangelo Buonarotti the artist, and Gallileo the physist. At the NE corner of the piazza stands the huge statue of Dante, the famous ancient Italian poet, who wrote Inferno. Then we went along narrow alleys which are lined up with mini shops of real leather and restauant & bars. The famous Florence Leather School is located on one of the such alleys. Finally we arrived at the Piazza della Signoria and Palazzo Vecehio ( Signoria广场和Vecehio宫). The open-air square is a museum of great sculptures. In the Piazza della Signoria we saw the statue of Michelangelo's David and many others. The Piazza has been Florence's political center since the middle ages and Florence's town hall, the medieval Palazzo Vecehio, sits on the Piazza. The Ponte Vecchio (old bridge) on the Arno River built in the 14th century (1345) is close by. It is the only ancient bridge left from Roman Empire times. The other three or four were all destroyed by air strikes during World War II. The bridge is lined along both sides with gold and silver jewelry shops. Three police, two women and one man, were patroling along the narrow and crowded bridge. Baoyin wanted to take a picture with them and was refused. In NYC the police would be pleased to do so. From there going north we visited Piazza del Duomo (大教堂广场); we entered the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore with hats off and shoulders covered. At the entrance everyone was asked to take off hat. Visitors must wear clothes with their shoulders and knees covered. In the square we also saw the Bell Tower, the Campanile. The first storey was designed by Giotto and it is commonly called Giotto's Campanile.
10/23 (Day 4) A taste of Rome. The ship docked at Civitavecchia, ITaly. Left the ship about 8:30 AM. It took us about 1 hour to get in Rome, Roma in Italian. A few minutes after we left the harbor we saw some remains of the ruined walls from the ancient Roman era. We first visited the huge Colosseum (古罗马斗兽场), Coloseo in Italian. The guide stressed the women's low social status in ancient Rome. They had to sit together with slaves on the highest seats when watching games in the Colosseum. From there we visited a church near by where there is Michelangelo's work of Moses with worried and indignant eyes. The guide told us that Michelangelo was a very diligent artist. He belonged to Vatican and was not allowed to study human anatomy. He went out at night to look for dead bodies to learn about human anatomy. The muscils along Moses' arm were exact and vivid. Then we were taken to the Vatican City. Besides TianAnMen Square in China, we have never seen so many visitors gathering in one place. It was Wednesday noon time, the Pope had just finished his mass, large crowds of visitor coming out of the city and lined up against the city wall waiting for their buses. From there we went to the Pantheon (万神殿)by going south along the Via della Conciliazione (Conciliazione street), turning left through narrow streets we saw another crowded small square with beautiful ancient high sculptures and a fountain of lower sculptures. Going further along the narrow streets we at last arrived at the Pantheon Church.
10/24 (Day 5) Naples (Napoli) and Pompeii Ruins, Italy. In the morning we visited the city of Naples on our own. We encountered a Tianjin man of about 60 years old in a garment shop where he is working. He came to Italy over 10 years ago. He does not have green card, has no status of residence. We asked why? He said if in any of the immigration status , you have to pay tax, you would have nothing left in your pocket. As in Roma, we saw many police with big guns who are not as friendly as those in NYC. All banks are guarded by gunmen/gunwomen.
10/24 afternoon we visited Pompeii Ruins, the best preserved remains of the ancient Roman cities. The overall construction layout is still standing. We spent two hours visiting different parts of the ruins. All walls are the original, all roofs are later added. Again, the lady guide (a different local guide) told us that at that time women were treated almost as slaves, their status justg a little bit above slaves. When watching games, they sat on the same highest level of seats with slaves.
10/25 (Day 6) At the Sea (整日航行,没有靠岸). In the morning we first attended a talk on Europe tours cruise sales with complimentary wine and cocktails. Then we listened to the Shore Excursions director's talk on the remaining three places to be visited: Kotor of Montenegro (黑山共和国), Venice of Italy, and Dubrovnik of Croatia (克罗地亚共和国). For lunch I drank coffee and water only. In the past few days I ate too much for I could not resist the temptation of so much good food, about 80 kinds of dishes of different ethnic cuisines including desserts and fruits for each meal in the self-serve Oceanview Cafe on the 14th deck. In the afternoon I processed photos till 4:00 and then we played pingpong for half an hour. Then I worked at the photos again for 40 mins. About 6:00pm we went to a formal dinner at the Silvouque Dining Room which we reserved the day before. Eating at the formal dining rooms, it's like in a restaurant, you order, they serve, but no extra tips necessary because they are included in the package. It's free as in the cafe, you only have to pay special drinks such as wine and coke, juice and coffee free. We had a cup of white wine and a coke for $10.50. On ship they take US dollars; but in the five countries we visited except Croatia euro is the official currency. In Croatia they still keep their own currency kuna. 10/26 (Day 7) Kotor of Montenegro (黑山共和国,2006年独立). Visited the small old city of Kotor, which is walled, three churches in it about 1hour and 30 mins. Then we walked along the seaside and a shopping center, bought three tins of cocacola. Returned to the ship about 11 am. We played pingpong for a while. In the afternoon we watched on the open-air 15th desk the ship sailing out the harbor, going three a narrow straight from 3:30 to 5:00pm.
10/27 (Day 8) In the morning we saw the culinery show of exquisite food and tasted some wine and food. Then played pingpong. I did not eat anything for lunch again, worked on the photos for two hours. At 3:00pm we went up to the 15th deck and watched the ship entering Venice, intoxicaed by spectacular scenes of Venice. Played pingpong from 4:30 to 5:10. After dinner we went off the ship to have a look at the habor and returned without going to Venice city on our own because it was dark in the evening. We went through Italian customs, showing passports. Venice is the only city that checked passports.
10/28 (Day 9) Visited Venice from early morning to 2:30 in the afternoon, the Doge's Palace which is fantastic and fabulous. After visiting this museum, you don't have to see anything similar. It is the best, more impressive than the Versailles in Paris, that we visited in 2002. The glass factory display room is full of rare and beautiful products. The Palace Museum in Beijing is huge in area, it has more works of art, small wonders. But to see big, human-sized works of art you should come here in Venice! The sea water in the harbor area is well preserved, very clean, light blue under the sun, no garbage floating anywhere. But the city street canal water is no good, some smelly, just like the 臭水沟 in China. The Market Square (Pmuiazza San Marco) along the port is like the Bund in Shanghai.
10/29 (Day 10) Visited Dubrovik of Croatia (1991年独立). The guide is very knowledgeable, she is a teacher of English & French. Dubrovnik is an old city on the Adriatic Sea coast in the extreme south of Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist resorts of the Mediterranean, a seaport and the centre of the Dubrovnik-Neretva County. Its population was 42,615 inhabitants according to census from 2011. Dubrovnik is nicknamed "Pearl of the Adriatic" and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979. Tourism is the most important industry in Dubrovnik, there are 45 hotels.
10/30-10/31 At sea. We're now on our way back to Barcelona. The weather has been gorgeous all the time since day 1 on our cruise. For the two days we took part in some onship activities, relaxed and had fun.
11/01 游轮在航行12天之后又回到出发点西班牙巴塞罗那,结束了地中海五国之旅。这次主要看看市容。
各景点单独网页:1. 芬兰赫尔辛基; 2. 西班牙巴塞罗那-1 ; 3. 西班牙巴塞罗那-2 ; 4. 摩纳哥公国 ; 5. 法国Villefranche & Nice; 6.意大利比萨; 7.意大利佛罗伦萨-1; 8.意大利佛罗伦萨-2 ; 9.意大利罗马-1; 10.意大利罗马到梵蒂冈; 11。意大利罗马-2; 12。 意大利威尼斯-1 ; 13. 意大利威尼斯-2; 14. 意大利威尼斯-3; 15. 黑山共和国Kotor; 16. 意大利庞贝古墟; 17. 克罗地亚共和国Dubrovnik ; 18. On Ship (10/25/13) |