MickeyandKimWorldAdventures

  Naples, Italy We have been to Naples a few times, and have done Pompeii, and Isle of Capri on earlier trips, so we opted to head to the Royal Palace of Caserta, about an hour away from our ship.  It was constructed by the Royal House of Bourbon as the main residences of the kings of Italy.  It is the largest palace constructed in Europe and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997.  It is 138,000 square meters and covers 47,000 square miles.  It is much larger than the Palace of Versailles.  It is truly amazing and one day is not enough time to cover the palace and the gardens.  We barely touched on the gardens.  Hard to imagine what it took to build this palace.  Walking into the palace was a bit disappointing as the grounds have not been kept up, with weeds and dead patches of grass everywhere, so we were a little concerned of what the inside would be like, but the pictures speak for themselves. We started out at the gardens as...

Siricusa, Sicily Mickey did this city on his own, I was beat after Malta yesterday and stayed on the ship.  He did almost 20,000 steps today and saw quite a bit. Any city that has a market draws Mickey to it like a magnet! A nice picture of out ship, top left-hand corner. The Syracuse Cathedral...can't go to Italy without visiting a church. I'm sorry I missed this - it looked pretty cool. It is the Grotto of Cordari and is near the Roman Amphitheater which is as a sculpture garden. Not a lot of commentary from me on this one, but Mickey had a great day. On to Naples, Italy tomorrow.  

  Valletta, Malta Valletta, Malta was a WOW from the moment we entered the bay! We have been before, but entering is still magical and was a real trat as we sailed in.   Valletta has been built on a peninsula in the central eastern part of Malta and has a population of just over 6000 people. Valletta is named after the French Grandmaster Jean Parisot De La Valette who headed the defense of Malta from the Ottoman invasion in 1565. The entire city of   Valletta has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Valletta boasts many buildings from the 16th century, mostly baroque architecture that was built by the Knights of St. John.   The Knights came to Malta in 1530 after they were evicted from their earlier home on Rhodes by the Turks in 1522 and  were noblemen from the most important families of Europe, with their mission to protect the Catholic faith against the Muslim forces.  Using Malta as their new base, the Knights continued to fight against...

Kotor, Montenegro  Kotor, Montenegro was a beautiful mountainous bay area, and our excursion was to a place called Boka Bay. Heading to the town of Perast, which is about 1 mile long, and has 17 churches in this small Adriatic jewel. In the bay you can see the twin islands of St George and Our Lady of the Rocks. Both are religious pilgrimage sites, but Our Lady of the Rocks is a man-made island founded over 600 years ago. Our Lady of the Rocks, according to legend, was made over centuries by local seaman who kept an ancient oath after two brothers found the icon of Madonna and Child on the rock in the sea on July 22, 1452.  One of the brothers was injured but was healed the next day and vowed to build a church.  Upon returning from each successful voyage, the seaman laid a rock in the bay.  Over time, the islet gradually emerged from the sea.  The custom of throwing rocks is alive today, and every July 22, local residents take their boats and throw rocks into th...