Days 32,33,34,35,36: Sorrento...Capri...Taormina....Monemvasia...and day at Sea....

Sorrento is a wonderful port that brings you close to Pompeii, Herculaneum and the Amalfi Coast.  We had been to Pompeii, we weren't interested in Herculaneum, and we only partially wanted to go to the Amalfi Coast...the drive was too long and windy...and the 1st bus was broken down.  This meant the line for the next bus was long enough to potentially not get on after an hour wait...so we did the next best thing...we went to a postcard shop and took a few photos of Positano and Amalfi.  What could be better...we now feel as though we've been there, done that!  (no hate mail....from those of you who have been there...folks that went said it was amazing!!!!)

Our walk back to the port was beautiful...275 steps, so they say, and a nice cliffed town was conquered

Peggy's always my favorite way to make a picture of the ocean, our yacht and the vista even more beautiful:)

Jim and Linda Luke were fast friends from Visalia...this, of course, is the Linda half...

Okay, so how many lobster tails is enough?  What if they were somewhat small...and amazingly delicious?  And what if they were barbecued and had that perfectly loved shell, with a flavor that reflected that love?  And what if they had so many for us that quantity was no issue?  How many would be ok???  Obviously your guess is too low...since this is just my first plate...I think the final tally was 11.  A few ribs were thrown in for good measure...they were also delish...

The port of the Island of Capri was lovely...

Finally it was time to meet Rick Moonen, up close and personal....this was during his first of two cooking demmonstrations...

His first of two Celebrity Dinners was Monday night, and as you can see, all the stops were pulled out.  You might also notice that Lobster Tails were on the menu...so I could have had a few more the night before:)

A close up, to remember the date and event and the inclusion of lobster...in case I forgot.......these guys did a great job of providing quality materials to communicate menus, daily activities, etc...

The Yacht server team were amazing at the table setup...with enough glasses for each wine pairing...

a second shot may help give some perspective...

Here's the Lobster Tail....a beautiful flavor...but personally, if you can imagine, I thought the barbecued cousins I had the day before were even better...shhhhh....

A Bass like fish with perfectly executed crispy skin

Duck breast that was so tender, you could cut it with only a fork...

Our server...for many of the great meals, was Adit!  He reminded us so much of a grown up Francis Reyes, our 8th grade student.  This guy was great, and received a nice tip at the end of the cruise....

Dessert was tasty...although most of you know I would rather have had a few more lobster tails....

The next morning we woke up to find a simmering Mt. Etna.  This volcano on Sicily had a bit of action a few weeks ago, and sent sufficient ash to require a cancellation of some of the excursions.  We chose not to participate in them in any case...and rather hiked to the top of a different hill that you'll see in a few of the upcoming photos...

The mountain to the right was our destination....

We made it to the top, even higher than where the cross was, and had a spectacular view of our yacht and all around the bay...

We were able to look down into the Roman Amphitheater that Dan, Kevin and Spencer walked around just 7 years ago...

Couldn't miss at least one shot from our porthole

One of the specialty restaurants on board was Le Marche...purely seafood...

A nice take on 4 seafood appetizers...thankfully, we noticed that portion control was handled by the kitchen team...and we never had too little, but we also never were served too much...except for when we ordered a few more lobster tails:)))

These special restaurants were serving dinner on the back of the yacht, in the open air, just around sunset...a beautiful location...

Everyone was taking pictures of everyone else...a nice group of folks were on board...

The shrimp, mussel, clam, calamari course...I ate the shrimp:)))

Another photo of the award winning couple...at least in my book....and no Ben, I'm not standing on tip toes...

Given that the number of cruisers was only around 250, everyone pretty much got to know everyone else....It was up close and personal with the celebrities as well...

Here's the menu for Celebrity Dinner #2 on Wednesday night.  Escabeche is like a double acid Ceviche, and Gribiche is something else also, I think it means "incredibly tasty stuff"....hmmm..these are words I could use in Scrabble...

Another set of places prepared for the full action about to hit...

The pasta with yep....more lobster....and a spicy sauce...no sucking up this pasta...as it was like a straw, with a hole through the middle....how do they do that???

Then the perfect salmon...gribiche...

Lovely steak....Rick had to get very creative to pair his menu to the very fruit forward, heavy reds being served...as this was "Blue Moon Night"...Zin, Syrah and Cab Sauvignon...all Blue Moons and all bottomless....

Dessert was lovely...could only have been improved with....I'm getting like a broken record....more lobster...

Needed another picture of Adit...

Arriving the next morning at Monemvasia....you'll see why they call this little port town the "Gibraltar of the East"...  we chilled this day, and went into the little village for our first Gyro....yummmm

Tomorrow is the cliff island of Santorini, and then on to Athens...bless you all....