Venice to Sicily with Seven Coastal Cities, Malta then Rome and Florence

Ravenna, San Marino, Pesaro, Ortono, Tremiti Islands, Monopoli, Marera, Ortrano, Siracusa

August 28 – September 20, 2025,

 

Mid afternoon departure from LAX and a noon next day plane change in Rome brings me to Venice at mid -afternoon. Friday 8/29.  Lost my nearly new left VA supplied hearing aid behind somewhere!  I suspected that sleepily interchanging with Bose QC over-the-ear would mean the airline ATA would find it on the seat.  Our OAT guide, Davide’s  (David de) accommodating call to ATA yielded nothing, so will have to endure this 3 weeks with one ear!  Get a perspective of the cruise on this map.

(Photos: A link near the end of a section will take you to the photo album related to the section, while interspersed links take you to photos related to the narrative context. - use Cntl or Shift click to show in new tab or window respectively – otherwise click the back arrow to return to this text)

Saturday, August 30; While scouting around Venice with a local guide visited Piazza San Marco and various other sites and got acquainted with the water bus, water taxi, shuttling folks around the Grand Canal and Gondolas, popular tourist transportation on the smaller water ways.  Pausing in San Marco we learned that rubber boots are more common here than with the Fly Fishermen of Redford’s “A River  Runs Through It.” Often the Piazza floods knee deep in canal water coming up through the pavement drains.  Shops are two or three stairs up or have barriers to prevent water from entering. Gondolas are very elaborate, costing $30 - $80 thousand, and the license to operate one even more. After lunch we took an hour out to hear a discussion of the MOSE dam, an under water system of folding gates to reduce the high tide flooding on the Venetian waters.   On the water taxi our guide pointed out Scuola Grande della Misericordia, where Bezos wedding was to be, but subsequently moved – due to tourist congestion concerns?  Venice to Malta Album

Sunday, August 31;  Boarded a boat to visit and explore a couple islands, Burano and Murano with their unique tourist shops and products.  On Murano, a large glass blowing art shop with many expensive and beautiful objects.  The smaller canals, somewhat spaced in parallels like city streets with sidewalks beside have picturesque arches for pedestrians to cross, typically 6 – 8 steps up, a flat top of 10 – 20 ft. and 6 – 8 steps down.  While having some of the good Venice draught beer and a lasagna at dinner I happened to be at a window near one of these arches.   A different perspective, with dozens of tourists approach with their convenient roll-away luggage that they somehow must pick up to carry up the steps, roll the 10 – 20 ft. then pick up to get down the 6 – 8 steps on the far side.  More extreme, couples approach with the baby in the stroller, then one had to pick up the baby while the other, the stroller to carry up the steps, cross, and reversing the process down the opposite side.  I guess when the picturesque arches were built there were no roll-aways or strollers, and further, they must be high enough for the gondolier with the long single oar to pass under.

Monday, Sept. 1;  Today a gondola ride winding through some quaint back water ways and a used gondola repair and sales shop.   Later, embarking on our small ship Athena.  On this small ship there are about 50 guests, two groups of 25 each with a guide.  I on my 22nd OAT travel excursion, near, if not more than any other travelers on this trip was seated at the Captain’s Table.  After dinner the ship got underway to Ravenna.  Tuesday in Ravenna a city tour, lunch in a restaurant and a visit to Dante’s tomb.  If I understood, Dante seems to be in a Basilica submerged under a pool of water.  Dante, a poet, was born in Florence but exiled for his political views in middle age and died in Ravenna.  Ravenna has lots of famous mosaic art which art students come to study.

Wednesday, Sept. 3; Overnight Tuesday from Ravenna to Pesaro.  Today the main event is a bus ride up a coastal mountain to San Marino.  San Marino is an independent country, though surrounded by, but not part of Italy.  Maybe the 2nd or 3rd smallest country in the world perched on a mountain top with about 35,000 population.  The Vatican is smallest?  Very difficult and costly to be a citizen of San Marino if not born there.  On the day of our visit was some special annual celebration including marching bands and a crossbow archery contest.  The highlight was a long steep climb to the top of the tower at the top of the mountain.

On return to the ship late afternoon I had my 1st opportunity to take an e-bike and cruise 6 – 8 miles south along the coast from Pesaro. The Adriatic seems quite shallow with swimmers perhaps 1,000 ft. off the beach standing on the bottom.  This boat in the Pesaro harbor presumably picks up clams from the bottom with the front scoop. And seeming thousands of colorful umbrellas with recliner beach chairs beneath, all for rent.   A phenomena I’ve never seen on beaches of US or Australia, with slight exception at expensive hotel in Florida.

Pesaro is also birthplace of the famous Italian musician Rossini, so many landmarks, Rossini Boulevard, Rossini Hall are scattered about.

One traveler on this OAT trip was a retired veterinarian.  As a country farm boy in my early years I had lots of encounters with our traveling Doc Snyder and his treatment of our large animals, and a lot in common conversation with the upper mid-west vet.  In those days dogs and cats were plentiful and didn’t rate a vet.

Thursday, Sept. 4; Docking this am at Ortona.  Today’s excursion is to a family farm.   A short city tour included the guide orientation of the 1943 WWII Battle of Ortona.  An interesting description at the link of the “Italian Stalingrad,” mainly fought between German and Canadian troops.  On the farm visit there were primarily goats where they demonstrated the making of goat cheese, and homemade pasta – a lot of work.   A large herd of goats, maybe 50, were turned loose to the pasture, then on command rounded up and returned to the barn by one of two Border Collies (otherwise Australian Sheep Dog, usually black & white).[1]  Afterward we watched homemade Italian pasta of several shapes being made – lots of work for little product.  Then a great lunch with fresh garden vegetables, BBQ lamb, and pasta.

Back on the ship, every evening we have cocktails and “Port Talk” where we hear about the evening and next day activities.  Several evenings local musicians would come aboard and entertain, sometimes with local instruments, costumes and language.

This is my fourth multi-day (> 7) cruise with OAT.  Previously European river cruises, on the Rhine and the Danube, and on the Nile.  This small-ship ocean cruise was enjoyable, but river cruises are much better. On the river boats there seemed to be more crew, many more choices in the dining room, breakfast omelet stations, etc.  Frequently the boats crew entertaining evenings.  On the ocean cruise travel is mostly at night, nothing to see in any case.  This in contrast to daytime river cruising with often spectacular scenery on shore, vineyards, castles, etc.

Also note that the small ship cruise was in a sense departing a country each evening and reentering next day.  Usually quite minimal, but debarking and embarking the ship was like entering and leaving the country so some minimal immigration personnel, showing ID, etc. is involved on each transit on or off the ship.  Whereas on the river cruise one just walks off onto the city street- even though it often is a different country!

Friday, Sept. 5; Today we visit the Tremiti Islands with St. Mary by the Sea abbey atop a high hill on the main island, with shallow turquois Adriatic warm waters creating spectacular scenery.  After a long hard uphill hike we had lunch at the top of pizza …. It’s Italy. 

Leaving the Tremitis early afternoon we landed at Monopoli in the Puglia region.  Next morning we go inland to the village Alberobello with a plethora of residential ‘huts’, called trulli, with  conical roofs of overlaid limestone rocks held together by gravity alone with no mortar.  These were meant to be temporary and maybe even disassembled when the tax collector came through, then subsequently reassembled.

We remark that, though we did not stop or see it, between the Tremitis and Monopoli is a harbor and village called Bari.  During WWII the Allies anchored a ship here loaded with mustard gas, with the intent not to use it except in retaliation in the event the Axis Powers used this weapon.  Bari had no air defense and on Dec. 2, 1943 the Germans bombed the ships in the harbor, releasing the gas in the water and many Allied soldiers became contaminated.  Ironically, this event and the aftermath led to the discovery of the chemotherapy treatment of cancer[2].

On Sunday Sept. 7 we had an optional extra cost tour to Matera.  This was hands down the most remarkable and interesting part of the trip.  The Sassi (stones) of Matera is elaborate labyrinth of caves carved out of a limestone mountain, visible in the upper right of this photo on the far hillside.  The more modern city Basilicata of Matera, last several millennia, comprises structures of many stories that might have been built story on story are actually carved out of the mountain rock one below another.  Cathedrals and many story building are all of one rock, carved out of the limestone mountain.  Plumbing courses down through many stories carved as drains and tubes through the rock. “Matera is the only place in the world where people can boast to be still living in the same houses of their ancestors of 9,000 years ago.”  Further research on my part is required to tie down the time and circumstances of the building of “modern” Matera pictured here.  With one guide, 25 travelers, and a complex history it’s difficult to grasp the details.

Monday, Sept. 8; Last stop in Italy on the very heel of the boot, Ortranto.   A city tour and a visit to a weaving shop dedicated to helping marginalized women.  Then back on the ship for lunch, and departure for Siracusa, Sicily.  Maybe 18 hour sail to Siracusa arriving around breakfast the following day.   We had a guest discussion about the Sicilian mafia about which I remember zero.  Later a walking tour of Ortigia. “Of all the Greek cities of antiquity that flourished outside of Greece, Siracusa was the Mediterranean’s most important. In the heyday of its power, it dared to take on both Carthage and Rome, and its wealth and size were unmatched by any other city in the ancient world. It is said that Siracusa is the birthplace of comedy in Greek theater, and was the only school of classical drama outside of Athens.”  Visit to the Roman Amphitheater of Siracusa has semicircular seating with the stage (entertainment) to the front, unlike the Roman Coliseum which entertained in the lower center with surrounding seating more like a sports arena than a theater.  Also in Siracusa we visited the Church of St. Lucia with Caravaggio “Burial of St. Lucy” painting and we took time to pass the Italian War Cemetery were many Allied soldiers lie who gave their lives in the taking of Sicily.

 

Thursday, Sept. 11; Malta   Valletta, a fortress high on a hill above our boat wharf.  The Barrakka Lift takes one up 200 ft. to the Barrakka Gardens, or a steep hike, or a long gradual climb from the west end on my e-bike.   The e-bike was quite handy to explore this beautiful city of hills.  Stopped to cool off and try a Campari Spritz, so popular in east Italy, and soak up some shade.

Friday morning we disembark the Athena and spend much of the day visiting Rabat and Mdina.  The latter known as the Silent City, a natural fort that has not expanded outside the walls of 8th century BC.  On the return trip we stopped at Rotunda of Mosta, a Bascilica modeled after the Pantheon (Rome) with much smaller hole in the dome, but of interest, a Nazi bomb pierced the building without exploding and is on display!

 

Midafternoon we check in to Grand Hotel Excelsior Valletta.  This was OAT’s 5 star for this trip and my 9th floor room had great views of the harbor far below with Bezos & Zuckerberg’s yachts and on the other side the 500 guest wedding on the landing in from the harbor side pool that shares swimming area with the pristine harbor water.  I took advantage of the harbor swim more than once during the two night stay.

Saturday we visited an archeological site, Hagar Qim, a human assembled stone structure with mysteries in common with Stonehenge in England, but dating to 3200 BC is more than 1000 years older.

 

St. John’s Co-Cathedral, in Valletta, with endless spectacular art and the painting “The Beheading of St. John the Baptist” by Caravaggio in 1608.    I’ve lost the details of location and time, but earlier on this trip in one of the ports north we went by bus, seeming to a modest church in the slums, no place to park the bus so we were rushed, but here we filed in briefly to what appeared nearly the same painting[3].  Here the church was rather plain and the painting was dark.  A coin box on the wall accepted coin euros that would light up the painting for 60 seconds.

 

On return to Valletta we walked around the “three cites” Birgu, Bormla, and L’Isla. (Cospicua, Senglea, and Vittoriosa) situated across the harbor south of Valletta on adjacent peninsulas.  Afterward took a harbor cruise, getting a close up of Fort St. Angelo, also some huge yachts.  Venice to Malta Album

 

Sunday, Sept. 14; Fly to Rome.  This is my 2nd visit to Rome, the first in 2001.  So different!  Fortunately on the 1st trip I was on a spacecraft consulting assignment with an ample expense account and a lot of free time.  I saw the Sistine Chapel, the Vatican, Vatican Museum, and even climbed to Vatican dome as the stairway narrows and forces to lean to the inside the dome, nearing the outside landing at the top of the dome, from which a spectacular view of Rome.

Excepting the Colosseum and the Forum, fortunately I saw everything on the 24 years ago visit.  My favorite place is Piazza Navona, “Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi” (Four Rivers) where Jim Migas and I visited for late afternoon beer frequently.

 

Today Rome, and Florence below, are so over touristed that one might want to skip the hassle.  Monday morning we had a city tour leading from our River Palace Hotel through Piazza del Popolo to many sights with best local guide I can remember. Loaded with interesting information and with a sometimes humorous delivery we might forget the crowds.  My 2001 recollection of the Pantheon was that I was virtually in it alone for some time moving around the inner perimeter reading all the plaques.  On today’s visit there may have been 500 tourists and great difficulty seeing anything but close-up, except of course the sun beam circling the wall through the 28 ft. roof opening. 

 

On this OAT Post-Trip to Rome & Florence there were only 5 travelers.   All the major sites require reservations, sometimes days ahead, especially at the Vatican … one even needs a ticket to stand by and toss a coin into the Trevi.  Our guide must have taken care of this.  Fortunately two travelers from the Bay Area, Ca. Katy & Drew, were kind enough looking out to get a reservation to the Colosseum for me.   Reservations give you only a 15 minute window to enter or you’re out!  We also for tickets to the Roman Forum adjacent to the Colosseum.  In the Forum there are so many columns, falling buildings, statues, etc. that is hard to identify what is the Forum, The “Surviving Structures” in wikipedia at the link helps.

 

Out of curiosity, I sought out my 2001 Hotel Albergo  d’Inghilterra  (Hilton) mid-morning finding two doormen in front with white top hat n’ tails.  Actually as I remember the room on the 3rd floor was huge and not very pleasant?  Rome Album

 

Wednesday, Sept. 17; Transfer to Florence by motor van.  Along the way we have a lunch and tour stop at the village of Arezzo, home of artists and revolutionaries.  It looked like mostly a tourist town to me. In particular we visited the home of Giorgio Vasari, a 16th century Renaissance artist.  In the home, not too different from something in suburbia, except many original paintings to include painted ceilings.  He was also an important historian, having coined the term Renaissance, and architect to the Medici.

In Florence the main attraction seems  to be the doumo[4], Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore.  As this cathedral was built between 1300 and 1436 the main church was so large that no one knew how to build and support  a dome large enough to cover it.  Ultimately, Filippo Brunelleschi engineered construction of the dome.  In Rome we were told that Brunelleschi studied, along with many structures in Europe, the dome of the Pantheon, some way supported with no ”keystone” at the top.  The Pantheon dome uses lighter material and is tapered thinner as it rises.

 

Next day in free time, as almost all our time in Florence was, had hoped climb to the top of the dome of the Duomo.  There was a huge line of tourists going all the other components of the church, cathedral, baptistery, bell tower, etc. and just a single file line going to the dome.   I assumed this line was so thin because not many tourists want to make the long hard climb to the dome exposed landing at the top.  I found the ticket office and bought a ticket for a convenient time the following morning.  But next in the confusion of language and whatever, I found my ticket was not for the dome, but for huge crowed lines. Disappointed, not being able to repeat the Vatican dome experience, I did visit the main cathedral, the baptistery, and the bell tower.  I did climb 414 steps to the top of the bell tower, but looking out, the top of the dome of the Duomo still seemed far above, though the brochure said it was only about 50 steps more at 463.  Florence Album

 

Saturday, Sept. 20; Return to Redondo, Beach.

 

 

 

 

 

 


[1] Maybe I have remarked elsewhere that we imported a Border Collie to the farm in Pennsylvania, I bought a dog training book and tried to train him, without a lot of success.

 

[2] The Great Secret: The Classified World War II Disaster that Launched the War on Cancer, by Jennet Conant is the primary book detailing the 1943 Bari harbor bombing, the catastrophic mustard gas leak, and how it led to the discovery of chemotherapy by Dr. Stewart Alexander.

 

[3] There is a rather similar painting by the same artist, Caravaggio, titled “The Burial of St. Lucy” and the writer, myself, still trying to sort out where each was seen on the trip.

[4] Some clarification: The Duomo is a general term in Italy for the city’s main church, a cathedral is a bishop’s seat, and a basilica is a special honorific title given by the Pope.  A church can be both a basilica and a duomo as is the one in Florence.  A baptistery is an adjacent or close by building used specifically for baptism.