Our ship stopped in Italy twice, once on the way into the eastern Mediterranean in Sicily and once on the way back to Rome at Naples. The Sicily port was at Messina, which in itself is nothing too special, so we worked our way to the bus station and rode up and around to the town of Taormina. The main attraction there is a remarkably well-preserved ancient Greek theater (the design plan and arrangement are considered Greek) located in an...

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We just got back from a ten night cruise through the eastern Mediterranean. Traveling on the Celebrity Equinox is a completely different mindset than the way we’ve been seeing the world the past year. I would call it “postcard tourism” because the itinerary only gave us enough time to take pictures at signature views before moving on in the evening to the next port of call. Being on this behemoth ship definitely inoculated...

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From St. Paul’s to St. Peter’s, did you know it’s possible to climb the dome on top of Saint Peter’s Cathedral? Saint Peter’s is the heart of Catholicism and Vatican City and considered as the greatest church in all Christendom. We found out about the cupola climb (as it’s called here) and put it on our to-do list for this trip to Rome. Although it costs money, the views are absolutely worth the euros and...

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We’re in Europe right now on an Eastern Mediterranean cruise with Celebrity, a sale we found following Arthur Frommer’s blog. We had three days in Rome before the cruise set off, so we tried to visit some of the sites we missed the last time we visited, almost five years ago. One stunning sight is the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls. With only a fraction of the crowds at Saint Peter’s in Vatican City, this cathedral...

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