Livorno: Italy's Gateway

Livorno Italy is a popular port on a Mediterranean cruise. It's no wonder. Livorno provides easy access to so many popular, historic, and famous sites in Italy. Among these are Florence, Pisa, and Tuscany.

For our recent wine cruise with Pearmund Cellars, we chose -- what else -- Tuscany and specifically the Chianti Wine Road. This excursion was perhaps the best excursion I have ever taken in my life. Many of our fellow cruises shared that assessment.

Although the bus ride from the port into Tuscany and the wine region was long -- about 2 1/2 hours -- it was well worth it. Our first stop was Castello Di Verrazzano, a famous winery that sits high atop a hillside. The setting is absolutely picture perfect, with vistas of the rolling hills of Tuscany below, dotted with Cypress trees, wild flowers, and all the colors you associate with Tuscany. The day of our visit was a Sunday, and the winery, normally closed, openned especiallly for us. Filipo, one of the winery's employees, served as our humorous and knowledgeable guide. After a tour of the winery, complete with a look at its 800+ year old cellar, enormous collection of wines, and production facilities, we came to the highlight of our visit -- the lunch.

Oh the lunch! Castello Di Verrazzano has a full restaurant onsite with stunning panoramic views from the windows that line all three sides. What awaited was nothing short of a veritable feast. From 10 courses that consisted of proscetta, brusetta, cheeses, pastas, salads, and desserts, to 5 varities of wine with unlimited supply, it was truly delicious and delightfully unexpected. After lingering over the views and the good company, we reluctantly left more than an hour behind schedule to visit our next winery, Castello Vicchiomaggio.

Regretably, we only had a short time to enjoy our second visit. Nevertheless, we made the most of it. From a quick tour of the stunning grounds, to being served yet more food, to a marvelous tasting of premium wines, our group left full, satisfied, and regretting we had to leave.

Collectively, I believe we all agreed a return visit to Tuscany is high on our agenda.

Day 2 of Pearmund Cellars Cruise: Amalfi, Itay

On Day 2 of the Pearmund Cellars Wine Cruise we spent the day in what may be my favorite port of any Mediterranean Cruise: Amalfi, Italy. Most likely it is many people's favorite port, with its picturesque setting of steep seaside cliffs overlooking the Gulf of Salerno dotted with historic and colorful Italian homes, lemon trees, and a plethora of colorful flowers.

Amalfi is a UNESCO World Heritage site. As such, you won't find any new or modern-looking buildings here as new construction is prohibited. This adds to the charm of Amalfi, and restricts its growth. It is within easy driving distance from the major city of Naples, situated approximately 22 miles southeast of the city.

Amalfi is one of the few ports where we had not planned an organized wine-themed shore excursion for the wine cruise, leaving us on our own to explore. I chose an Oceania shore excursion of Ravello. [Hint: if you decide to visit Ravello, skip the shore excursion and take the open-air bus. It costs roughly 3 Euros, saving you perhaps as much as $80 off a cruise-shiop offered excursion]. Ravello is a small town located nearly directly above Amalfi, on a cork-screw type road that goes high above the sea. The views from here are stunning. The center of the town is the Duomo, a church built in 1272. Branching from the Duomo are a couple of side streets in either direction. I recommend walking the town from end-to-end; you'll find amazing views, beautful flowers, orchards of lemon trees, and shops galore.

One of the products for which Ravello is famous is pottery. Although I hand't planned to buy any, I ended up with a 4-piece placesetting -- 4 dinner plates, 4 salad plates, 4 bowls, and a serving dish. Here is pays to shop a bit. I received free shipping with insurance, and the entire placesetting cost 250 Euros (about $360). Given my purchase, I do recommend the shop -- it is Ceramiche De' Arte.

Ravello also is famous for its Chamber Music. Yearly, the town offers Chamber Music performances at the Villa Rufulo. The stage here is amazing: set out over the cliffs, the views are infinite. Guests watching the stage have a clear view beyond to the open sea. A schedule of performance is located here.

After lingering in Ravello, we traveled back down the mountain to explore Amalfi. Here, many cafes and restaurants line the streets. The town is bustling, with shops and activity, with a Duome anchoring the town square. While European prices can be steep, Amalfi is more reasonable than many other ports we visited (especially Portofino), and lunch consisting of pizza and a Caprese Salad ran us about $25. Walking back to the ship, we stopped a while at the beach. The beach was lined with bright orange umbrellas and wall-to-wall people, a pretty festive site.

Amalfi is one of the ports of call that, for me, a day was just not long enough. I know that this is a place where I will return in the future.

Day 1 of Pearmund Cellars Wine Cruise

On the first day of the 2009 Pearmund Cellars Mediterranean Wine Cruise, we visited Sorrento and enjoyed an organized shore excursion to Mastroberardino Winery and Pompeii.

Sorrento is small, stunningly beautiful city in southern Italy. The city itself is just 16,500 inhabitants, but draws thousands of tourists each year attracted by Sorrento's rough terraine. Its steep cliffs ending at waters edge of the Gulf of Naples makes the views impressive, and its close proximity to Pompeii, Naples, and the island of Capri make it a great launching point for exploring southern Italy.

From Sorrento, our private excursion first took us to the Mastroberardino Winery located in Altripalda, Italy. If you visit here, don't expect to find yourself among lush picturesque vineyards. This winery is quite industrial, and vineyards are nowhere to be found. Mastroberardino, however, has a long, distinguished history of producing fine wines. The oldest records found at the winery date to 1170, and it has been producing wines for more than 300 continuous years. It is in fact one of the oldest wineries in Europe, and yet is one of the most advanced wineries in Europe in terms of production techniques. One other interest fact about Mastroberardino is that it is the only winery to grow vines within the city walls of ancient Pompeii, following ancient growing techniques. Among its better wines, its Radica Riserva recently won best red wine in Italy.

The winery offers tours that cater to the layman, not knowledgeable wine enthusiasts. It includes a short videotape covering the basics of wine production, and a guided tour of the barrel rooms. It will prove interesting if you are not especially knowledgeable about wine production, but perhaps too basic for wine experts. Following the tour, we had arranged for a private lunch and wine tasting for our group at the winery. The lunch was typically European, consisting of a selection of hams, cheeses, an interesting but tasty cold bean soup, and a sampling of several wines, both white and red.

From the winery, our next stop was ancient Pompeii. Visiting Pompeii in the afternoon proved beneficial because the crowds (which can be enormous here during peak season) were small. Our licensed guides, who also were historians, offered tremendous insights in this ancient civilization destroyed in 79 A.D. with the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. I had visited here in 2006, but because the ruins are so facinating at more than 2,000 years old, this is a place I could return again and again and not get enough. From the houses of nobility, to the remnants of beautiful mosaics, the numerous bordellas, the baths, the roads designed for chariot passage, and the many storefronts, you can almost image the bustle of this busy city during its hayday.

Following our Pompeii visit, we returned to Sorrento. One of the many benefits of sailing on a line like Oceania Cruises is the long port stays. The ship remained in port until 11 p.m., leaving us plenty of time to explore Sorrento's many narrow streets and shops, and sample one of its many fine restaurants. It also gave us time to sample what Sorrento is famous for -- limoncello, a delicious drink made from lemon rinds, alcohol, water and sugar.

In all, it was a great day, and only a taste of what was to come.