Keeping Up With the Kissingers: Mediterranean

Mediterranean Cruise: Life Aboard the Ship

We were super blessed to be able to take a MSC Cruise around the Mediterranean Sea, making stops in Sicily & Malta, Spain (Montserrat), and France, Monaco & Italy (click on the three links to see pictures from those visits).

It was great being able to visit so many countries over one week and return to the same place to eat and sleep - and have fun - each night!

Here's what life aboard the ship was like...

Our ship docked in Malta

Close-up of our ship and the lifeboats

The top floor of the ship (the outdoor pools were open,
but I never saw anyone using them because it was mainly in the 40s and 50s)

Mandatory evacuation drill before embarking

Our cabin, with balcony and bathroom (pack n play for Francis; sofa bed for Ellie)

The indoor pool and hot tubs

Casual dinner at the restaraunt

Gala Night at the restaraunt

Posing on the 'fancy' stairs in the lobby

Francis is currently obsessed with pockets

Each night we enjoyed an amazing musical or acrobatic performance in the theatre

During the day, there were also some kid performances

starring Shrek

Frozen

Listening to music in the lobby

Huge Christmas tree in the lobby

You could also get food 20/24 hours in the Buffet Room

Food was amazing!

The kids with the MSC Mascot

Brian and I got a "date hour" to ourselves
when we were able to leave the kids in a 1-3 year old room supervised with free babysitters!

It was an amazing, memorable trip :)

You can see our pictures from Sicily & Malta; Spain (Montserrat); and France, Monaco & Italy by clicking on those separate links - enjoy!!

Mediterranean Cruise: France, Monaco & Italy

After our day at Montserrat, we headed to France.

Our stop was supposed to be in Marseille in Provence France. We had reserved a rental car for the day and had planned to visit a St. Joseph and Marian apparition sites about one-and-a-half hours from Marseille.

However, as we left Barcelona, the captain informed us that the weather was not good near Marseille - so we would be stopping further along the coast in Villefranche-sur-Mer. As we watched the sunrise over our cabin's balcony, we had no idea what to expect! Turns out, we in store for a beautiful day!

Villefranche is on the Cote d'Azur, otherwise known as the French Riviera. It is nestled between Nice and Monte Carlo. We had a beautiful view of the coast from our boat - however, instead of docking at a normal port - we were anchored a short-distance from the shore for the day.

This meant we had to be "tendered" by the smaller lifeboats from the ship to shore. We enjoyed the extra "boat ride" along the coast! (And comforting to know those lifeboats they say you'll take in case of an emergency actually work :)

There's not too much to see in Villefranche, other than pure beauty!...

So we walked to the train station and rode 20 minutes to Monte Carlo, Monaco.

Monaco is the second-smallest country after the Vatican.

Monaco is best-known for its casino in Monte Carlo!

We had a lovely lunch at the famous Cafe de Paris outside of the casino.

The kids enjoyed strolling down the ritzy streets in the warm weather (55 F).

So it wasn't exactly like the day we had planned outside of Marseille, but it was a pretty great day and we got to add another country to the list of those we've visited as a family!

Our final stop before returning to Rome was in Genoa, Italy.

We went to Mass at Cattedrale Di San Lorenzo, with it's beautiful black and white striped Gothic marble facade and interior.

We visited the beautiful fountain in Piazza De Ferrari.

And then had lunch at Trattoria Vegia Zena.

Genoa (Genova) is famous for it's pesto alla genovese sauce, which originated there -- so we were sure to try some! And we can agree, it's pretty delicious fresh from Genoa!

Our final stop was the Aquarium of Genoa, one of the largest in Europe! The kids (and Brian) love to visit aquariums, so we've visited a lot of them, but I can definitely say this is the best one we've been to so far!

After our day in Genoa, we headed back to the ship, and that night returned to Civitavecchia outside of Rome - where our trip would come to an end!

Mediterranean Cruise: Spain (Montserrat)

On our fourth day of the cruise, after stopping in Sicily and Malta and a day at sea, we docked in Barcelona.

We were excited to spend this day in Spain on an excursion to Montserrat because we had previously been to Barcelona.

Montserrat is a famous mountain, sanctuary, monastery, ad spiritual community located about one hour from Barcelona. Since the 12th century thousands of pilgrims have journeyed here. Today, nearly a million pilgrims travel to Montserrat each year.

In the 11th century the abbot-bishop Oliba founded a little monastery at the bottom of the mountain. (Principally made of limestone, Montserrat is shaped unlike any other mountain). Because of the many miracles that occurred through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a statue of the Madonna and Christ Child was made. Venerated through the ages, the little 12th-century "Black Madonna' statues earned fame as numerous miracles were attributed to Our Lady of Montserrat's intercession.

We were able to hear one of the oldest and most renowned boys' choirs in Europe, Escolania, sing Salve Regina and Virolai (hymn of Montserrat) in the basilica during their daily performance at 1pm.

And we were able to pray before the Black Madonna.

Numerous saints and popes have visited the sanctuary over the years, including St. Ignatius.

St. Ignatius went through a huge conversion at Montserrat. It is said, he went from "external things" to "internal things" here - and that he wanted to express his desire for conversion in a very concrete way. He visited Montserrat after a stint as soldier and it was here that he left his sword and dagger in the church at the altar of Our Lady, as an ex-votos of his old life. His new weapons would be prayer, the sacraments, meditation, good works, seeking God's will, and the absolute abandonment in the hands of the Father in Heaven.