Wine Tasting. The beautiful countryside of Tuscany. The gorgeous hills of the Catalan wine vineyards. Our experiences in in Florence, Corsica, Toulon and Palamos.
Tuscany ~ Pisa and Florence, Italy
The port of Livorno is the gateway to Pisa and Florence in the wonderful area of Italy called Tuscany. We had a private driver with 2 other people and set out for an adventure. First stop was Pisa. I will say I was impressed and glad we made the stop. Lots of people taking fun photos of ‘holding up’ the tower.
Next was a drive through the wine country and into Florence. What a historic city! Churches from the 1100s and older. We went up to a hillside overlook with a statue of David with a tremendous view of the city below. Absolutely breathtaking!
We ventured down into the city and saw the amazing sites up close. After walking around for a while, we had a wonderful lunch at a street side restaurant. A wonderful day!
Corsica
Corsica is a small island famous for the birth of Napoleon Bonaparte. The beach on the Riviera side of the city was phenomenal! Beautiful turquoise waters. Quite stunning! On our walk along the Citadel to the beach we found some of Myazz’s relatives, he was so excited! There are several solar powered pay phones in Corsica as well, we got a big kick out of those!
Toulon, France
In Toulon, we did a shore excursion with others from our cruise ship to Le Castelle. A quaint medieval village in the heart of the French vineyards. So adorable!! It was raining when we first got to Le Castelle, but the sun came out and the views were awesome!
Our second stop of the tour was at the Domaine Souviou winery for wine and olive oil tasting. The grape harvest had already happened in August, but the olive harvest was set to begin the next day. We were fortunate enough to taste 3 wines of the estate – a white, rose and red and 2 kinds of olive oil. Delicious! I bought a can of olive oil – much better than worrying about a bottle breaking in my luggage. Yum!
Palamos, Spain
In Palamos we went on our exclusive Virtuoso Voyages hosted excursion to the Spanish Wine Country in Catalan. With a small group of 13 guests and myself and Pam, we headed off into the most beautiful landscape I have ever experienced! About 30 minutes outside of the port and up into the hillside, we were treated to a fantastic view of the rolling hills of vineyards with the Mediterranean Sea as the backdrop. I could have spent the day just looking and dreaming.
The Finca Bell-Lloc wine region is world renown for the amazing wines and olive oils. We visited the Brugarol estate, built in 2007 by Swiss Architects. The structure is so unique and environmentally sustainable they have won prestigious awards for the design. We toured the winery and tasted again white, rose and red wine. Magnificent wines! Their olive oil was also most superb! So far this excursion was absolutely marvelous, and our guests were just as thrilled as we were!
After the tastings, we headed to the main house for lunch. The fresh farm-to-table small bites and house red and white wines we were served were FANTASTIC! So fresh and SO good! We could not say enough good things to our hosts! I think everyone of us was pleased and so full when it was time to leave. There is a small hotel within the main house, as well as a wedding chapel. This would be an amazing place to come and stay for 3 days. I have information, if you are interested, contact me!
With a stop at the beautiful beach we could see from the winery on our way back to the ship, our tour came to an end. I think we were all a little sad and very satisfied that this was a fantastic experience with amazing people. A good time was had by all!
Spain On Our Own….
Palma de Mallorca
After Palamos, Palma de Mallorca was a much-needed relaxation day for us. We slept in late, had a late breakfast and did not get off the ship until almost noon. Seabourn had arranged a shuttle bus into town, so we got on and walked around a bit. The main Cathedral was the gateway to Old Town. Really cute little shops and cafes lined the streets. And the yachts moored in the marina were spectacular! We had fun dreaming about how we would love to be on one. Palma is a big playground for the rich and famous. We heard there is a 10-year waiting period for a boat slip, so that told me it is quite popular.
Valencia, Spain
Our last stop before Barcelona was Valencia. We had thought we might try a hop-on/hop-off tour of Old Town, but that kind of turned out to be a bust. We saw several historical buildings before we even came close to finding the beginning point for the hop-on/hop-off. There was a blue and red line – which we discovered AFTER we got on the red line. We would have preferred to have taken the blue line and long story short, we got off the bus close to where our shuttle would take us back to the ship and gave up. I highly recommend taking an organized tour in both Palma de Mallorca and Valencia to see the best sights.
Sadly, our cruise has come to an end. We are in Barcelona for 3 days now, amidst some unrest, unfortunately. Our cruise was a lot of fun, and I have thoroughly enjoyed my first Virtuoso Voyages hosting job. Our group was amazing, and we met some really nice folks. Seabourn is a fantastic cruise line that I highly recommend. Everything is included but WiFi. It is a small ship with 458 total passengers. They have a very amazing and wonderful staff, I think everything was perfect! We will be hosting again in 2019 on Crystal Symphony over the Holidays and in 2020 on Regent Seven Seas Navigator in June. Come along, we will have a great time!
I also must apologize for saying I would be blogging every night. LOL…. that was a bit ambitious and obviously did not happen. It is more realistic to do our recap as one blog. I had good intentions, but you know what they say about those…. Please call Infinity Travelaz for all your future travel needs. A wonderful cruise, an amazing land vacation or just some well deserved time on a beach at an all-inclusive resort. We know how to make your vacation an exceptional experience.