Long long travels ahead for us in the weee hours of the morning. Our flight from KL to Doha got delayed due to technical issues (YEY MAS!) so hopped on another plane arriving from Australia at 4am and arrived Doha after 7hrs, but 1st flight flew by quickly as i watched Barbie then dozed off and woke up with just 2hrs left into the flight and continued with Grand Turismo but slept XP
2nd flight was a transit at Doha, the airport was huge and the transit trains caught my eye! With just an hour’s gap we made it thru and hopped on Qatar airways onwards to Rome, Italy…Leonardo da Vinci Airport. Took us another 6hrs, continues Grand turismo then stopped then watched Frozen 2 n dozed off, ate, then we have arrived! it was chilly when we got off…HELLO ROME
Hopping off the plane, we grabbed our luggages and stepped into the arrival hall. Everybody added another layer and we had some time to grab snacks or drinks. We grabbed a pizza of course and also HELLO CAPPUCCINO!
Took an hour plus long bus ride to the port and passed by the Italian country side, it was beautiful
Upon arrival, we were greeted by our first ruins, I was just WOWED! Cause this was what visiting Rome was about
At the port, we registered ourselves at the lobby, dropped our suitcases, and embarked on our moving hotel for the trip. One of the biggest cruise ship to set sail on the Mediterranean Sea, the MSC WORLD EUROPA. She was 22 floors high and our rooms were located on level 11.
1st day was all about travelling and exploring the ship, to our surprise it was smaller than what I imagined it to be, most of the spaces were allocated for rooms and restaurants.
We had dinner at Bubbles Restaurant on Level 6 and then explored the place a bit and headed off to bed cause call time the next day was at 7am
8am arrival meant we had to get up by 6am, it was still dark outside, but when we sat down for breakfast and the ship slowly was making her way to the dock, we were all greeted by the beautiful and breathtaking sight of Parlemo
Out of all the harbour and arrivals, this has o be one of my favourite scenic arrival. Hello Sicily~~~
My very first arrival to one of the many olden rich historical cities got me excited. I couldnt wait to get out and explore with the group.
Thus we filled our stomach, grabbed our bags n coats, hopped off the ship, walked and hopped onto a 30 seater bus (there was only 13 of us in the group)
My first impression of the city was, y so a bit d modern one this place?
Not many ancient historical buildings as there were sights of modern buildings scattered here and there.
But onwards to our very first stop up on a hill, our first Church visit out of many in Europe (the land of neck pain cause all of the beautiful things are on the ceiling and high above you)
One thing unique about this church that the local tour guide mentioned was that it was decorated using Mosiac technique.
We did some small uphill climb after a toilet visit (EUR 1 per entry, that’s Rm 5 to use the toilet ><) and arrived st the church, the local guide told some stories about the place while it was empty and another fact that caught my eye was that the walls were a combination of Christian and Islamic decorations, which was super fascinating for a me to see such complimentary and mixture.
This was it, my first sight and indulgence on European historical sites, ancient buildings surrounding us, walking on the old streets and seeing ancient artform still being practiced at a shop nearby, where I managed to snag back a momento, a small mosiac magnet
After all that walking and picture taking out in the cold, we all hopped on the bus once again and headed for lunchies XP
Our local tour guide took us to try some local Sicily cuisine, which were super yummy
We noticed their meals are smaller in size and very ‘cheng’, not so heavy and complex like our Malaysian cuisine, and they had like 3 course, Appetiser, Main, and Desert (even for lunch).
Our lunch consists of:
Appetiser: Brinjal, Fried Cheese, and 1 more I cant remember
Main Course: Porkchop (i think)
Desert: Sicilian Cassatelle with Ricotta (This was super duper good that my tour member had 2 pieces pulak, and they were calling it KARIPAP)
After our lunch, our tour guide brought us to visit another Church and we mostly got there on foot. Think we all needed the walk after lunch to burn em food ^^
Had some free time to explore the area, so we went inside to take a peak, it was more impressive outside compared to the inside so we went out and visited the shops surrounding the area
Went into a pharmacy to grab some meds and toothpaste (once ya hit EUR10 ho boi you feel it, that’s RM 50!)
then of course we cant forget the famous CANNOLO! So we searched for one, despite being full, and had a bite, the pastry was awesome and crunchy, but the filling was a bit too sweet!
After that it was goodbye Palermo and we headed back to the port to board the ship for the day.
Onwards to MALTA~!