A shuttle picked us up at the B&B around 8:30am to take us to the airport. First we flew to Doha in Qatar and then to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Our flight arrived around 11pm and then it took about 1.5 hours to work our way through the extremely slow immigration line at Dubai airport. (Dubai airport seriously needs to improve the queueing system for the passport control area.)

We took a taxi to our hotel, but we mistakenly took an executive taxi instead of a normal taxi, which cost us an additional $10 for the ride. For other travelers to Dubai, take special care to read the giant sign at the front of the taxi queue before boarding a taxi; it can save you money.

Valerie and I had seen the major sights in the center of Rome during our last visit, so this time we just strolled from our B&B to Trastevere, stopping at interesting churches along the way. The first church we visited was actually built on top of another church, which itself was built on top of another church. Outside this church, we got swindled by a guy accepting “donations for the church.” (We only ever get swindled in Italy. I wonder why…)

After walking past the coliseum, we tried to visit a church with a statue of Moses by Michelangelo, but it was unfortunately closed, so we continued our stroll. Once we reached Trastevere, we stopped for lunch at a place recommended by TripAdvisor.

Our last church of the day was the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano. It was surprisingly grand for a church that I hadn’t heard of before this visit. It is the oldest church in Rome, which is impressive for a city with so many historic churches.

Finally, we headed back to the B&B, picking up some pizza for dinner.

In the morning, Karen and Lorraine drove us to town for a quick lunch before dropping us off at the train station. We boarded a train back to Rome and then walked to our B&B near Manzoni station. I wasn’t feeling very well at this point, so I took a nap. We eventually ate dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant.

We woke up early this morning to be among the first people disembarking the ship. Costa doesn’t offer express walk off (where travelers with only carry-on luggage can disembark as soon as immigration clears the ship), so after collecting our passports, we had to wait in the terminal area for all the luggage to be unloaded. Valerie was concerned that we would miss our train, so she got a port employee to escort us to customs early.

After several hours in the train, we arrived at beautiful Castiglione del Lago. Our friends Karen, Cathy, and Patti whom we met during a previous cruise invited us to visit them at their villa. Karen, John, and Lorraine kindly met us at the train station, where we enjoyed a sorbetto, before driving us to the villa about 3 miles away. The villa was large and spacious (quite different from our usual small hotel room) with great views of the Tuscan hills and lake.

Before dinner, we met the other guests in the villa and played several games of semi-competitive bocce ball while drinking 3-euro bottles of wine from the vineyard next door. For dinner, the owner of the villa organized for a pair of local women to come over and cook everyone an enormous Italian feast. The pasta was the best that we’ve had in Italy (or really anywhere). Karen opened a super-sized bottle of excellent wine from the winery of the Bulgari family (yes, those Bulgaris).

It was very kind of our friends to invite us to the villa. We had a great time and I’m glad that the timing worked out so we were all in Italy at the same time.

All the weight I lost in Spain I have gained back on this ship. To counteract this, Valerie and I have been limiting our meals 3 courses instead of 4 and ignoring the bread rolls. I’m confident that this approach is working because now I feel hungry between meals (an odd feeling on a cruise ship).

Tomorrow, we are disembarking the ship. We already bought a train ticket to Castiglione del Lago for 11:10am, so we need to get off the ship by about 10:00am to make it to the train station on time.

The Costa Deliziosa spent only 6 hours in the Piraeus (port of Athens), so there was no time for dallying. We woke up at 6:20am to prepare for today’s journey to Athens. Our ship started letting people off the ship at 8:15am and we were among the first in line. Unfortunately, we missed the 8:05 X80 bus to the acropolis, but so we caught the full-to-the-brim 8:40 bus. We quickly walked to the acropolis to try to beat the crowds.

Rick Steves calls the acropolis the greatest site of the ancient western world. It’s pretty neat and the ruins are well maintained, but it was much smaller than we expected. It is possible to walk from one end to the other in just a couple minutes (if you aren’t blocked by a tour group).

After touring the acropolis, we walked to the ancient agora (included in the acropolis ticket). As we were walking through, it started raining, so we cut our tour short and headed to the nearby metro station to return to the port. In the port area, we picked up a couple of Greek savory puff pastries to eat on our journey back to the ship. We made it back with about half an hour to spare before all-aboard time.

Today was a relaxing day at sea. For the first time, we decided to eat lunch in the dining room rather than the buffet. One annoyance about Costa is that the menus aren’t posted before the meal, so one cannot make an educated decision about whether to eat at the buffet or the dining room. After lunch, we watched other passengers play super bingo while drinking some refreshing fruity beverages.