Europe

We slept well on our first night on the ship, and awoke shortly before arriving in Amalfi, Italy.

We skipped breakfast and went straight to the meeting point for our tour to Grotta dello Smeraldo (the Emerald Grotto). We boarded the ship’s tender around 9:00 am and headed to shore, to board a cruiser to take us on the 20-minute trip to the grotto.

With no natural opening above the waterline, the grotto remained hidden until it was discovered in 1932 by a local fisherman. The cave is so named because of the emerald-coloured water, highlighted by an underwater fissure that allows sunlight to filter through.

The grotto is filled with beautiful stalactites and stalagmites, formed over thousands of years by mineral-rich water dripping and evaporating. Most marine caves don’t have these classic stalactites and stalagmites; these are usually found in inland caves. Initially, the grotto was a dry cave above sea level, perfect for these formations to develop. Over time, tectonic shifts lowered the cave and the sea crept in. Some of the columns of stalactites and stalagmites in the grotto are 10 metres tall, with some stalactites and stalagmites almost connecting with each other in the 24-metre-high grotto.

It is a beautiful place, explored on small (and moderately unstable!) boats, operated like gondolas by a few humorous locals who explain the grotto in a mix of English, Italian, facial expressions, and hand waving!

We left the grotto a little before midday, and the boat soon had us back in Amalfi.

With nothing specific planned for the afternoon, we wandered around the bustling town area. Being summer, there were people everywhere!

Not having had any breakfast, we were getting pretty hungry, so we decided to grab a pizza. Not surprisingly, the pizzas were fabulous, probably in part because they were great pizzas and, perhaps just as importantly, we were enjoying them in Amalfi on a beautiful summer’s day.

We ate our pizzas as we walked through the town. We wandered in and out of the shops, making a few purchases along the way. By this stage, the heat was catching up with us, so we decided to stop for a lemon gelato. Despite the somewhat extortionate pricing model (only revealed to us after we’d eaten them!), they were very enjoyable.

We enjoyed walking around the town, which was very lively.

We returned to the ship in the middle of the afternoon. After we got back, Keith realised he had lost his reading glasses, so a second trip was made on the tender back to Amalfi to try to locate them. This proved to be unsuccessful, so the backup magnifiers (bought at a pharmacy in Milan, for just such an occasion!) will have to suffice for a while!

We relaxed on board for the rest of the afternoon, before our 6:30 pm dinner reservation at Pacfic Rim, the ship’s modern Asian restaurant. We had a fantastic meal.

After dinner, we went back to our suite and relaxed, before heading off to bed. Overnight, we’re cruising south along the coast to Palermo, Sicily, which we’re looking forward to exploring tomorrow.