In the early hours we passed through the Straits of Messina on our unscheduled second day at sea to Civitavecchia, the port for Rome. Whilst enjoying breakfast, the volcanic island of Stromboli came into view, and the next thing we knew the Captain took us cruising all the way round the island. In the evening we passed by 'beautiful Napoli', I did wave and tell people on the tables next to ours that it was my Mother's home town, so that they did not think I was completely mad.

We were woken the next day with the deputy Captain announcing our arrival in Civitavecchia and with doors banging as passengers were leaving to catch their coaches for Rome.

We decided to spend the day in Civitavecchia, as I have been to Rome quite a few times as a girl and Chris and I spent our honeymoon in Rome. We thought a separate long weekend there at a later date would be preferable. The day was not wasted however, Civitavecchia is a modern elegant city on Italy's beautiful Tyrrhenian coast. We enjoyed walking around the little streets, eating ice cream, drinking delicious coffee and cakes, and I was able to practice my Italian, in the shops and restaurants. The sun was shining and we ended the day walking along the beach promenade, soaking up the atmosphere and at the same time realising that with just one more port of call, Lisbon, our fantastic journey would soon be coming to an end.