Two years has passed since we embarked on our very first Mediterranean Cruise, which visited Croatia, Corfu and Southern Italy. We loved that cruise so much, it was always on the cards we would do another one in the Med, this time cruising from Barcelona to Mallorca, Corsica, Sicily and Naples.
Unfortunately Cunard has limited flight options (vs P&O), so we had to make the 3-hour drive from Dorset to London Gatwick, opting to stay overnight the night prior.
The outbound flight didn't get off to a good start, with a 2-hour delay meaning the arrival into Barcelona (embarkment port) was early afternoon instead of late morning, so Day 1 ended up being mostly travel, checking in, and settling in on Cunard's Queen Victoria.
Day 2: Palma, Mallorca
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| Catedral-Basilica Santa Maria de Mallorca |
Palma is the capital of Mallorca, and the biggest city in the Balearic islands, Spain. The magnificent Cathedral in Palma de Mallorca was constructed between the 13th Century to the 17th Century, and is quite a building. The Old town of Palma surrounds the Cathedral, and is a maze of small cobbled streets.
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| Typical Palma Old Town Streets |
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| Side view of Palma Cathedral |
Day 3: Sea Day
The highlight of this Sea day was spotting some Whales off in the distance, a real treat and surprise!.
Day 4: Ajaccio, Corsica
Our second port stop on this 7-day cruise was Corsica, a French Island to the north of Sardinia. We knew that the town of Ajaccio was the birth place of Napoleon Bonaparte, but I do not think we were expecting (or realized) just how beautiful Corsica is, an absolute gem!. The early morning sail in passing white sandy beaches with snow capped peaks behind really takes your breath away.
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| Approaching Ajaccio |
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| Stunning Iles Sanguinaires, Corsica |
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| Stunning Iles Sanguinaires, Corsica |
The town of Ajaccio is the capital of Corsica, and as mentioned the birth place of Napoleon, you can visit the house he was born in, and several monuments around town. The town itself is very quaint, with small winding streets and alleys, colourful houses and flowers, markets; it has a flavour of both France and Italy rolled into one.
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| Classic colours of Corsica surrounding the church |
Day 5: Sea day
Day 6: Sicily
Sicily, Italy has been one of our bucket list destinations for a while, the port of call was Messina in the far east of the island, not far from mainland Italy in fact. We had opted for a shore excursion to the famous town of Taormina (45-mins southwest of Messina) which lies in the shadow of Mount Etna, and has Greek origins. The drive to town was spectacular in itself, the coach drops you off on the outskirts, so from there you make your own way in on foot. Taormina is a very busy place, and understandably so given how beautiful it is.
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| The view to Mount Etna from the Coach dropoff |
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| View from the Greek theatre |
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| The view over Taormina from the Greek theatre |
Since we opted to visit Taormina we did not get time to explore Messina, but it looked worthy of exploration too.
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| Messina as seen from the deck of Queen Victoria |
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| Harbour entrance to Messina with mainland Italy in the distance |
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| Cruising through the Strait of Messina |
Day 7: Salerno, Amalfi Coast
Having left Messina on day 6 we sailed past the island of Stromboli overnight, and were treated to a sight of glowing magma spewing from the active Volcano. The morning of day 7 we arrived in mainland Italy, at the port of Salerno (south of Naples, at the start of the Amalfi coast). We had opted for a half day tour of Pompei, unfortunately it was a bit of an anti-climax. The tour guide was excellent, but the ruins of Pompei were so so busy, it was very hard to properly appreciate it with a short tour and crowds. Lesson learned, visit in off season!. The sail away from Salerno was spectacular, hugging the Amalfi coast and passing the Island of Capri.
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| Pompei, took very few photos due to crowds |
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| Amalfi coast, Italy |
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| Amalfi coast, Italy |
Day 8: Civitavecchia, Italy
Embarkment day, flight back to UK from Rome.
Conclusion
This was our second cruise with Cunard, and we can not fault the standard of the ship or the Itinerary. The stand out ports though by a mile were Corsica and Sicily, absolute gems worthy of more exploration.
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