Rome and Silversea in 2026

Exploring Rome, Livorno, València, Cartagena, Portimão, and Lisbon

Posted by brian on May 16, 2026 · 89 mins read

Contents

Rome and Silversea Day 1

Travels to Europe

  • Start of day: Home in North Carolina
  • End of day: Somewhere over the Atlantic

Let’s start with some of my preparation. I had a severe travel itch and knew I wanted to get away to somewhere interesting in May. That worked best with schedules and weather. Initially I thought I might visit Croatia and Slovenia for the first time and had started doing research on that. Learning more about both countries, I decided I’d keep that in mind as a future family trip, for several reasons I won’t go into now.

Instead, I found a 7-night Mediterranean cruise on Silversea through my host travel agency, and it checked several boxes for me. 1) It was an opportunity to experience a cruise line I haven’t sailed with before. 2) The duration was long enough for me to get a sense of the Silversea offering but not so long it started to get cost-prohibitive. 3) Flights were straightforward and decently priced.1 4) The cruise started near Rome, a city I’ve wanted to visit for decades.

And so, it was a tight turnaround: I learned about the cruise on April 17, booked it on April 20, booked my flights on April 21, and flew on May 4. The cruise departed on May 8, so I left home today (May 4, arriving May 5) to give myself 3 nights in Rome before the cruise.

Oh, and since this would be my first luxury cruise, I definitely felt I needed to upgrade my wardrobe from my usual haphazard collection of jeans, polos, and outdated long-sleeve button-ups. Two trips to Nordstrom and a Turtleson order later, I felt ready.

I scheduled a Lyft to pick me up at 10:15am. I received this notification, prompting me to cancel my Lyft and schedule an Uber instead, because that’s not really a “tip” – it just means Lyft doesn’t know how to adequately compensate its drivers: Apple Watch on wrist showing a Lyft notification reading 'Add a tip before your ride - Make your driver's day - they'll see your tip before they accept your ride' at 7:57 AM

The Uber ride was fine. Given that the day was May the 4th, there was an Imperial presence at the RDU airport. Star Wars cosplayers — Boba Fett, a red Imperial guard, Darth Vader, and two Imperial officers — standing in front of Gate C3 and Gate C7 signage at Raleigh-Durham International Airport on May the Fourth

Today’s route was RDU to ATL then ATL to FCO (Rome). The first flight was fine, nice and short. Once I hit Atlanta, I only had around 45 minutes to kill. I went to lay eyes on my gate to confirm it actually existed (it did!), which left me about 20 minutes before boarding. The Amex Centurion Lounge was across from my gate so I went to have a quick look at that2. It seemed nice enough, and even had an outdoor terrace area that was comfortable and quiet.

Interior of the Amex Centurion Lounge in Atlanta showing the signature hanging disc light fixtures suspended from the ceiling, leather booth seating, and travelers working at tables

Bar area of the Atlanta Centurion Lounge featuring a large sculpted indoor tree centerpiece surrounded by planters, lounge seating, and guests

Outdoor terrace walkway at the Atlanta Centurion Lounge lined with lush green plants and a black metal screen wall, open to blue sky overhead

On the plane, I settled into my Premium Select seat on the inside aisle. About a minute later a woman asked if I’d be willing to trade for her bulkhead window seat so she could be with her husband. Yes. Yes, I would.

View from a Delta Premium Select bulkhead seat on the ATL to FCO flight, looking down at two bulkhead-mounted seatback screens displaying the ATL-FCO route map, two Delta amenity kits resting on the bulkhead shelf, and the passenger's sneakers in the open foot well

I won’t do a whole Delta Premium Select review here – there are articles like this one from The Points Guy. For me, it met my expectations and was decent value for the money, especially considering I booked it on short notice. Dinner was Airplane Fine.

Inflight premium select meal tray with herb-and-lemon salmon over potatoes and peppers with green beans, a side salad with cherry tomatoes and radishes, a brioche roll with salted butter, olive oil, and a berry-topped cheesecake dessert

Against incredible odds, I think I managed to get 3 hours of sleep on this flight?! That was with my head on a pillow leaning against the window. Turns out that would set me up well for a full day in Rome!

Footnotes:

  1. This was one of the primary aggravators when trying to book a Croatia and Slovenia trip. I could find okay flights over, but every flight back I could find had either two stops or an extended layover or both. Any way I sliced it returning home was going to be a slog. It was demotivating. ↩

  2. After virtually queueing for about 10 minutes, which ended up being about 7 minutes longer than necessary as their “It’s your turn” SMS went to spam. ↩

Rome and Silversea Day 2

The day of many steps

  • Start of day: Somewhere over the Atlantic
  • End of day: Rome, Italy

I’ve visited Italy three times, arriving one time by train from Switzerland, and twice by air. Both times I’ve flown in, the pre-arranged driver was not present to meet me. I’d arranged a car through my hotel, as they were advertising €65 transfers from the airport, and my research showed it’d be €55 if I went outside and grabbed a taxi from the line. For the extra €10, it’d be nice to have someone standing there with a sign, who has been (presumably) vetted by the hotel.

That didn’t work. Oh well. I contacted the hotel on WhatsApp (which seems to be a thing over here), they contacted the driver, and he appeared about 10 minutes later. Off we go. His name is Sergio. He’s doing a lot of speed up/slow down driving and we spend a lot of time straddling the lane line. It’s an hour of this. On the highway just next to us a car had its hood fly up and block most of the driver’s view. We heard a loud thunk and, to his credit, the other driver didn’t overreact and managed to pull over safely. It could’ve gone badly, though. How it didn’t rip off at 50mph I have no idea.

We had to stop for gas. It’s around $8.32 a gallon.

Italian Q8 gas station signs on a concrete forecourt showing regional average prices — diesel at 2,040 euro per litre and senza piombo (unleaded) at 1,891 euro per litre — next to a Q8 Radio Musica in Movimento banner

I tried to get coffee from the caged machine at the gas station but I didn’t have coins yet. In hindsight maybe it’s better that didn’t work out.

Italian roadside coffee vending machine behind a wire cage with selection buttons for caffè corto, caffè lungo, caffè macchiato, cappuccino, cappiccolo, latte, cioccolata, tè limone, and acqua calda

I made it to my hotel – Hotel Campo de’ Fiori – around 10:30am. I left my bags with the friendly lady at the front desk, Valentina, and headed out to walk. She thought my room would be ready around 12 or 12:30 and said she’d send me a message on WhatsApp.

Now I walk. I walk to explore and I walk to stay awake. I set out to the east, passing the memorial to Victor Emmanuel II, the Roman Forum, stopping into a random church, and finally loitering outside the Colosseum.

The white marble Altare della Patria — Vittoriano monument to Victor Emmanuel II — in Piazza Venezia, Rome, with its Corinthian colonnade and Italian tricolor flag against an overcast sky

Interior of an early-Christian basilica in Rome with rows of Ionic columns flanking the long nave, a semicircular apse fresco of figures in flowing robes, marble floors, and arched clerestory windows

Of the 20+ selfies I took at the Colosseum, this was the best one, which should give you an idea of how tired I was.

Selfie outside the Colosseum in Rome, with the ancient amphitheater's tiered stone arches and crowds of tourists visible behind the photographer

I walked back to the hotel and inquired about a lunch spot. There are numerous restaurants ringing Campo de’ Fiori but the hotel recommended Romoletto specifically. I had perfect meatballs and the first of too many tiramisus on the trip.

(this video fueled by caffeine and adrenaline and little else)

A glass jar of tiramisu layered with mascarpone cream, espresso-soaked ladyfingers, and dusted cocoa, served with a spoon on a napkin atop a Romoletto-branded ceramic plate at a Rome trattoria

I went back to the hotel around 2:30 and my room was ready; never got a WhatsApp but it wasn’t a problem as my energy levels seemed good.

My room is on the 6th floor, #603. The elevator goes as high as 5 and then it’s a walk-up. This really wasn’t a big deal.

Cozy Rome hotel room on the sixth floor with a double bed, twin arched alcoves over a marble headboard, damask wallpaper, hardwood floors, and a roller suitcase by the door

I ended up loving my room location as it was right next to the door to go up to the rooftop patio. I’d end up spending a few hours up there over the course of the trip.

For the cruise part of this trip, the missing piece of my wardrobe was some nice shoes to wear to dinner, so this was my next quest. My research turned up a department store called Rinascente about a 20-minute walk away. Along the way I happened across Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon, as you do. This blew my mind, as you’d just be casually walking through the streets, turn a corner, then BAM: major cultural artifact.

The Trevi Fountain in Rome at midday with its Baroque sculptures of Oceanus on a shell chariot drawn by sea horses cascading into turquoise water, surrounded by dense crowds of tourists and a Roma Di Trevi guide visible in a blue vest in the foreground

Shopping successful, I made the trek back to my hotel, dropped my new purchase off, then set out on my next mission to the far side of St. Peter’s Square to the Bronze Doors, around a 25-minute walk. I’d requested tickets the previous week for the Wednesday General Audience with the Pope. Tickets need to be picked up at specific times.

Selfie at the Vatican entrance arches with a stone inscription reading PIVS IIII MEDICES and a row of arched openings opening onto St. Peter's Square in the background

Selfie under Bernini's colonnade at St. Peter's Square, with the massive Doric columns receding into the distance, a hanging lantern, and a queue of tourists along the curve

Interior of a small Vatican chapel with an arched alcove framed by twin marble columns, a religious icon above the altar, and a small group of visitors gathered on the marble steps

This went mostly smoothly. I was with a lot of other people who were also picking up their tickets.

Dinner was at Ristorante Verso Sera in the small square directly opposite my hotel. In this photo it’s the second restaurant on the left. By the way, this is the view from the lounging area at the front doors of my hotel. Not bad!

Night view of a Roman piazza near Campo de' Fiori with Biscione 1965 restaurant signs reading 'Breakfast All Day' and 'Pizza Pasta Vino,' diners under string-lit umbrellas, and a cobblestone street

The restaurant was pretty good, though this was the first place I encountered loud Americans at the next table. I was more embarrassed for them than annoyed. After dinner I bought two scoops of gelato at MYO on the corner, a practice I would repeat the following two nights.

Even at 10pm I wasn’t sleepy enough to fall asleep so I went up to the hotel rooftop and took in the sweeping view of Rome while updating this journal.

Hotel rooftop terrace at night, with the photographer seated at a bistro table working on a laptop under a lit pergola, flowering planters along the railing, and the Rome skyline glowing in the distance

I left the hotel one more time, visiting Taba Cafe on Campo de’ Fiori for some kind of half white/half brown cake that was too dry plus some people-watching, after which I finally tried ending this long day.

A slice of marbled chocolate and vanilla pound cake dusted with cocoa, served on a rose-patterned china plate on a cafe table in Rome

Night street scene on Campo de' Fiori with a small table in the foreground, cobblestones glistening under streetlights, and warmly lit pastel buildings lining the piazza

Rome and Silversea Day 3

It’s Rome, so more walking and eating

  • Start of day: Rome, Italy
  • End of day: Rome, Italy

Every Wednesday the Pope is in residence at the Vatican, he holds a General Audience. Anyone is invited to attend, and there is no charge. If you write to the Prefecture of the Papal Household in advance, you may be able to get tickets that provide closer access. They ask that you submit your request at least two weeks in advance. If they respond that they have a ticket for you, you can pick it up during limited hours the day before, or on the morning of the Audience.

I did not attend the General Audience, despite having a ticket. The event itself starts at 10am, with doors opening at 7:30am, but I’ve read it’s a good idea to arrive earlier than that.

As I lay in bed at 2am the night before, my body still believing it to be 8pm, I decided the math wasn’t mathing on sleeping for maybe 3 hours, and then standing in a dense crowd or possibly sitting on a hard plastic seat for 3+ hours. I’m of an age where my body doesn’t operate well with less than 6 hours of sleep. I was not optimistic it would be a good time.

Instead, I set out to walk and tour. Notable stops that day were the Spanish Steps: The Spanish Steps in Rome rising up to the twin-towered Trinità dei Monti church, flanked by ochre and cream palazzi and lined with pink azaleas in bloom, with dense crowds of tourists on the steps and in Piazza di Spagna below

Bernini’s Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi in Piazza Navona: Detail of Bernini's Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi in Piazza Navona, showing the bearded Ganges river god reclining on travertine rocks with a carved palm tree behind him, water cascading into the basin, and ochre Roman buildings and restoration scaffolding in the background

The Pantheon: Interior view of the Pantheon dome in Rome, with sunlight streaming through the central oculus down onto its coffered concrete ceiling, columns and altars ringing the rotunda, and visitors gathered on the marble floor below

View looking out from inside the Pantheon through its massive bronze entry doors at the columned portico beyond, with a turnstile queue of visitors and roped stanchions in the foreground

Pantheon entrance dress-code sign in Italian and English (Attenzione Prego Abbigliamento Consono al Luogo Sacro / Attention Please Appropriate Dress for the Church) showing YES and NO pictograms next to a fluted granite column inside the portico

The Largo di Torre Argentina archaeological site (where Julius Caesar was assassinated in the Curia of Pompey, in the area beneath that umbrella pine in the photo): Largo di Torre Argentina archaeological site in Rome, with sunken brick-and-tufa ruins of the Republican-era temples and Curia of Pompey, two tall umbrella pines rising through the foreground, and ochre Roman apartment buildings ringing the square

A few other sites caught my eye as I was walking around:

Two-tier travertine arcaded courtyard at Palazzo della Cancelleria in Rome, with Bramante-designed arches receding around an empty cobblestone court under an overcast sky

Long marble-and-travertine archway passage through a Roman palazzo with wrought-iron gates on either side, vaulted ceiling, and a red car parked just beyond the far arch on the street

Close-up of the Renaissance facade of Basilica di Sant'Agostino in Rome, showing the 1483 dedicatory inscription to Cardinal Guillaume d'Estouteville (OSTIEN CARD ROTHOMAGEN, M·CCC·LXXX·IIII) flanking a recessed fresco lunette of seated robed figures

Full Renaissance travertine facade of Basilica di Sant'Agostino in Rome, with its triangular pediment, rose window, central fresco lunette over the bronze doors, broad outdoor steps, and crowds passing in the small piazza in front

Dinner was a return visit to Romoletto (this time for carbonara), followed by my obligatory gelato from MYO, then a sit-and-watch in the chairs in front of the hotel. I turned in at 11pm and fell asleep straight away.

Bowl of rigatoni alla carbonara dusted with black pepper and guanciale on a yellow Romoletto-branded ceramic plate, set on a yellow Romoletto placemat at the Campo de' Fiori trattoria

A mint-green Italian city bicycle parked at night outside Al Biscione cafe near Campo de' Fiori, with a basket overflowing with pink-flower garlands, the restaurant's PIZZA PASTA VINO signage glowing behind, and a cobblestone street stretching into the dark

Cast-iron Roman nasone drinking fountain running in a small cobblestone piazza at night, with Ristorante Verso Sera lit up behind under a clear plastic enclosure with string lights, diners inside, and a server standing by a chalkboard menu

BTW, here’s the door to the rooftop patio I was mentioning yesterday. That’s my room, #603. Loved the rooftop patio.

Hallway at Hotel Campo de' Fiori showing the door to room 603 on the right and a sunlit glass door at the end of the hall opening onto a small balcony with ochre Roman buildings visible outside

Rome and Silversea Day 4

The Vatican, Colosseum, Forum, Trevi, and Pantheon

  • Start of day: Rome, Italy
  • End of day: Rome, Italy

At 7:30am I bought a ticket to visit St. Peter’s Basilica “Dome via Stairs” ticket (€17) for a 9:30am entrance. I received the emailed ticket straight away and then discovered that a 9:30am dome entrance included an 8:30am Basilica entrance. Now running late, I dressed in jeans, skipped breakfast, then scurried across the river to the same queue I’d been in two days before to enter St. Peter’s from the north side. For some reason police had the main pedestrian avenue leading to St. Peter’s Square (called Via della Conciliazione) blocked off and heavily secured, but people seemed to flow over to the side streets just fine. I was in line by 8:38am and made it into the Basilica at 9:01.1

Dense crowd of tourists streaming through the travertine columns of Bernini's colonnade at St. Peter's Square, with security barriers and the basilica facade rising in the morning light beyond

Unsurprisingly, it was very busy inside the Basilica. I won’t try to describe the space; I truly wouldn’t know where to begin.

Access to the roof is either by elevator or stairs, depending on the ticket purchased. I started up the stairs/ramp at 9:30. The climb isn’t terrible. Up there you have a panoramic view of the city, plus access to a cafe and souvenir shop.

Selfie on the roof of St. Peter's Basilica with the great dome of Michelangelo's cupola rising in the background under a clear blue sky

From here I continued up. There are two levels up from here. You climb a series of stairways, sometimes tilting, sometimes metal, up to the inner gallery.

Narrow tilted stairway inside the wall of St. Peter's dome, with curving plaster walls pressing in on either side and a handrail running up the cramped passage

There’s a walkway on the inside of the dome. I did a slow loop, admiring the mosaics and the view down into the basilica.

Selfie from the inner gallery walkway inside St. Peter's dome, with the gilded mosaic figures of the dome's interior curving overhead and the basilica floor far below

Then it gets really interesting. You climb a very narrow circular stairway up and up and up until finally reaching the lantern, the outdoor viewing platform at the very top. This outdoor viewing platform is not large, so it’s (uncomfortably, for me) dense with people all shuffling around each other to get their selfies. I more or less beelined over to the stairs back down, stopping only briefly for my own St. Peter’s Square selfie – which didn’t even turn out, though I captured this:

Aerial view from the lantern atop St. Peter's dome looking down on St. Peter's Square, with Bernini's elliptical colonnade embracing the obelisk at center and Via della Conciliazione stretching toward the Tiber

I made my way all the way back down the multiple levels and out into a now very busy St. Peter’s Square at 10:30am.

Close-up of the Latin inscription carved into the base of the Vatican obelisk in St. Peter's Square, with weathered travertine blocks and a bronze cross at the top of the granite shaft above

The Vatican obelisk standing at the center of St. Peter's Square under a bright sky, with Bernini's colonnade curving around behind and crowds gathered at its base

I had an early caprese salad and coffee on the walk back toward my hotel.

Plate of caprese salad with sliced tomato and fresh mozzarella, drizzled with olive oil and basil, alongside an espresso on a Roman cafe table

Mid-afternoon I sunscreened up and read my Kindle on the roof of my hotel. Around 3:30 I started to wander my way over to the Colosseum for my pre-arranged 4:30pm self-guided tour. My €24 “Intero Full Experience” ticket included Colosseum first level/second level/arena, plus the Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, and Imperial Fora. Note for future travelers: keep your ticket QR code handy, and be prepared to show it a LOT.

I wandered the Colosseum fairly quickly, stopping every so often to read a placard. Mostly I wanted to be intentionally present, though.

Selfie in a vaulted brick-and-travertine corridor inside the Colosseum, with the late afternoon sun slanting through the arched openings behind

Interior view of the Colosseum from the second tier, showing the tiered stone seating, the exposed hypogeum chambers beneath the arena floor, and the reconstructed wooden arena platform on the far side

View from the Colosseum's reconstructed arena floor looking up at the ringed tiers of ancient stone seating, with shafts of late afternoon sunlight cutting across the structure

After 45 minutes or so, I left the Colosseum and crossed over to the Forum park. I did lots of walking here and tried to take in as much as I could, but felt rushed to see everything before closing. For next time, I think it’s worth making this park its own trip and possibly going first thing in the morning. I was able to get some great photos and videos in the late afternoon sun, though.

The elongated sunken garden ruins of the Stadium of Domitian on Palatine Hill, framed by remnants of imperial palace walls and umbrella pines under late afternoon light

Selfie in the Roman Forum at golden hour, with crumbling columns and brick ruins of the ancient civic center rising behind under a warm late-afternoon sky

Wide panoramic view across the Roman Forum, showing the surviving columns of the Temple of Saturn and Temple of Vespasian, the Arch of Septimius Severus, and the brick remains of the Curia Julia, with Palatine Hill rising behind

I again dined in the small square across from my hotel, this time at Ristorante Pancrazio. The food, service, and outdoor atmosphere were all great. They do encourage you to tip when they bring the card machine, however, which is a bit tacky. Around 10:30pm I got it in mind to see how busy Trevi Fountain was at this hour. Maybe the crowds had died down some vs the middle of the day? Well, reader, they had not.

The Trevi Fountain illuminated at night, with Oceanus and the Tritons emerging from the travertine rockwork and water cascading into the turquoise pool below, dense crowds packed onto the surrounding steps

The Pantheon is between my hotel and Trevi so I stopped at Ristorante M. Agrippa, requested and received an outdoor table right on the square, had a tiramisu, and people-watched for a bit. This was the view from my table:

Late-night view of The Pantheon from low angle

One last selfie on my last night in Rome: Late-night selfie in the small piazza in front of the Pantheon, with the floodlit columned portico and ancient pediment glowing behind under a dark sky

BTW, here’s what the indoor sitting area of my hotel looks like: Hotel Campo de' Fiori sitting room with a gilt mirror over a carved marble mantel, framed prints on Venetian-plaster walls, red-velvet Louis XVI armchairs, and a floral Aubusson-style rug on a terracotta tile floor

Wider view of the Hotel Campo de' Fiori lounge with a crystal chandelier hanging from the vaulted plaster ceiling, a patterned damask sofa beside a landscape painting, gilt mirrors and sconces flanking the marble fireplace, and red-velvet Louis XVI chairs grouped around a floral Aubusson rug

Footnotes:

  1. Seeing the long lines in St. Peter’s Square once I was done touring St. Peter’s Basilica at 10:30am has me convinced that first thing in the morning is the absolute best way to do this tour. ↩

Rome and Silversea Day 5

Embark day on the Silversea Silver Spirit

  • Start of day: Rome, Italy
  • End of day: Tyrrhenian Sea, between Rome and Livorno

Embark day! Today I’m boarding a 7 night Mediterranean cruise aboard the Silversea Silver Spirit. It’s my first time on Silversea, an ultra-luxury, all-inclusive cruise line known for its small, intimate ships, butler service in every suite, and destination-focused itineraries. It’s also my first time cruising solo.

The itinerary:

Date Place About
Friday, May 8 Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy Cruise port serving Rome
Saturday, May 9 Florence / Pisa (Livorno), Italy Tuscan port, gateway to Florence and Pisa
Sunday, May 10 At Sea  
Monday, May 11 Valencia, Spain Mediterranean coastal city, home of paella
Tuesday, May 12 Cartagena, Spain Ancient port city in the Murcia region
Wednesday, May 13 At Sea  
Thursday, May 14 Portimao, Portugal Beach town on Portugal’s Algarve coast
Friday, May 15 Lisbon, Portugal Portugal’s capital; disembark and fly home

I’m sad to bid farewell to the Hotel Campo de’ Fiori, but excited to start the next phase of my adventure.

I was initially planning to leave the hotel around 11am and take the ~11:30am train to Civitavecchia. That would put me in Civitavecchia around 12:30pm. However, I saw a mention of a possible train strike that day starting at 11am, so I accelerated my plans and set my transfer in motion.

I paid my hotel bill and had them call for a taxi, which arrived within a few minutes. Stazione San Pietro was the closer of the two train stations I was considering (with the main Termini station being the other). We made it over there in about 10 minutes. Oh, and I tried to give the taxi driver a €20 bill to cover the €12 fare, only for him to be confused, flipping it back and forth inspecting it until we both realized I’d accidentally given him a 20 Swiss Francs note. I paid with a €50 instead, and swore I wasn’t trying to trick him. He thought it was funny.

I was already scoping out train tickets in the Trenitalia app prior to arriving:

Trenitalia mobile app showing the regional train schedule from Roma San Pietro to Civitavecchia for Friday 8 May

While I could’ve used the app to buy my ticket, I wanted to see how the ticket machine worked. Icons on a sign next to the machine and on the screen itself indicated that it only accepted cash or coins. No problem, as I had a €5 note in my pocket for the €4.60 ticket.

The train was pretty busy. I had to stand with my luggage in the entrance area for the whole ride to the port (about an hour), next to a Dutch guy with the largest bicycle I’ve ever seen. Still, it was more tolerable than leaving Wengen for Zermatt last year.

Once in Civitavecchia, the weather was nice and luggage manageable, so I decided to walk to Largo della Pace, the bus stop plaza for boarding cruise ships – about a 25-minute walk.

Selfie on the palm-lined seafront promenade in Civitavecchia with a decorative pavement mosaic and the sea behind

For future travelers, the walk to the cruise port bus area from the Civitavecchia train station isn’t too bad (if the weather’s nice), even with a rolling bag, but don’t put Largo della Pace as your destination. You’ll end up a block away and it won’t be obvious where to go. Instead, set your destination to Statua di Poseidone and that will get you much closer to the mark. Plus, you get to see a statue. Or more, actually.

Statue of Japanese samurai ambassador Hasekura Tsunenaga beside a monument map in Civitavecchia

Once you get to Largo della Pace, you’ll see signs directing you to the bus that takes you to your particular cruise ship. The bus drivers seem to be aiming for 110% full.

Funny enough, our ship was docked at a pier pretty close to downtown. We bussed all the way back to near that Ferris wheel, then hooked right toward a pier for smaller ships like ours. Eyeballing things, I expect I could’ve walked directly to the ship from the Civitavecchia train station in about the same amount of time as walking to Largo della Pace and skipped the bus entirely. It didn’t look like it was in a port-secured area, either. Possible tip for next time.

The cruise terminal itself was nice enough. You start by checking your bag, then going to the next room over to go through security. Once past that, you fill out a paper health form, and then proceed to the actual check-in. It’s not quite as streamlined as other cruise lines, with manual typing of passport info by the agent, and signing a credit card authorization slip, but it didn’t take long. Compare these scenes to what you find when boarding a ship with 3500-7000 of your closest friends:

Check-in was fairly painless, and check out my nifty card holder:

Boarding was super casual. Up until I hit the terminal, the entire trip felt very much like my usual cruise experience. The more relaxed pace of check-in was nice, and then this is how you casually board the ship:

Once onboard, you’re greeted with cold towels, champagne, canapés, and caviar, if you wish to partake. I skipped all that and headed up to La Terrazza on deck 7 for lunch. It’s really going to take some time to get used to the one-on-one service they have on board.

After lunch I explored the ship a bit. This was the Silver Spirit’s first voyage after emerging from 61 days in dry dock. One of the major areas renovated was the theater: Empty show lounge theater aboard the Silver Spirit with tiered seats facing the stage

This interesting staircase was steps from my door: The curved grand staircase and atrium aboard the Silversea Silver Spirit

The coffee bar would become a favorite over the span of the cruise: Lounge aboard the Silver Spirit with red and blue armchairs, a bar, and bookshelves

After lunch and exploring, I spent time on the top deck getting some sun. At 2pm the staterooms were ready so I headed there. I’m in suite 757, which is a Deluxe Veranda with ~311 square feet of interior and a 64 square foot veranda (for ~375sf total). It feels a bit wider than our typical Celebrity rooms, and it’s definitely longer. Upon walking in, the bathroom is on the immediate right, and is a nice size. Past that is a full walk-in closet, with ample hanger space and a 6 or 7 drawer dresser. I’ll do a proper room tour in a future post.

Around 3:30p I met my butler and housekeeper in the hall when I was heading out for coffee. They asked if this was a good time to give me a tour of my room and its features. I said that it was, and they invited me to sit on the couch while they went over the room and available services like morning breakfast, laundry, and such. The preferred method of reaching the butlers is via WhatsApp using a QR code (which is wild to me) but the phone also works. There is a laundry room down the hall from my room where I can iron my shirt or pants.

For the safety drill, I need to watch a video on my TV, then visit my muster station on deck 5 in the show lounge between 4pm and 6pm. Life vest not required.

Stateroom television displaying a Welcome on board Silver Spirit safety briefing menu

Sailaway was at 6:30pm. On other lines I’ve sailed on, like Disney Cruise Line, Celebrity, or Royal Caribbean, sailaway is treated as an event, with a dance party, pool activities, and the works. That doesn’t seem to be a thing on Silversea, or at least this ship or itinerary. I say this because we had a cocktail hour for our group right at the sailaway time; it’s also when the solo cruisers meet up for their cocktail hour. I didn’t miss it, per se, but found the contrast interesting.

As mentioned, I met up with the other members of our group (and their partners) at 6:30. They are all accomplished travel advisors. Besides being the only person in the group traveling solo, I am also the newest to travel advising, leaving me feeling a bit out of place heading into the cruise. As usual, my anxieties and doubts were completely unfounded, as they couldn’t have been nicer, more gracious, more welcoming, and more helpful.

Our first cocktail hour in La Dolce Vita:

Group of guests gathered for cocktails in a lounge aboard the Silver Spirit near the bar

Guests seated together in a Silver Spirit lounge with a grand piano in the background

Our group dinner was at S.A.L.T. Kitchen. S.A.L.T., short for Sea And Land Taste, connects you more closely to the cuisines of the places you’ll visit during the voyage. It was a lovely meal. Food, service, and company were all top notch.

Guests dining and being served by a waiter in a restaurant aboard the Silver Spirit

Rome and Silversea Day 6

A deliberately low-key day in Livorno

  • Start of day: Heading to Livorno, Italy
  • End of day: Heading to València, Spain

Today the ship docked in Livorno, Italy, the Tuscan port that serves as the gateway to Florence and Pisa. On paper it’s one of the key stops of the whole itinerary. In practice, I’d just spent three full days walking Rome and dealing with jet lag, and I couldn’t muster much enthusiasm for a two-hour-each-way coach to Florence to speed-walk past the highlights1. Everything I’ve read suggests Florence deserves better than that, and I’d rather save it for a proper family visit somewhere down the road. Using this logic, I scaled back my ambitions for Livorno itself and decided to keep it simple.

The ship ran a complimentary shuttle from the pier into the center of town. I hopped on with no itinerary and no agenda beyond walking the downtown a bit.

The white hull of the Silversea Silver Spirit moored at the Livorno cruise pier, with a white pop-up tent reading SILVERSEA SILVER SPIRIT set up dockside beside a small arrangement of café tables and potted shrubs, and a roped walkway leading to the ship's open hull doorway

Livorno’s center is pleasant and refreshingly unhurried after Rome.

A long covered portico walkway in central Livorno with a vaulted ceiling, hanging lantern-style lamps, shop fronts including a TIM store along the left, potted plants and green café chairs in the foreground, and pedestrians strolling down the sunlit colonnade

The one thing I did go out of my way to see was the Mercato Centrale, Livorno’s grand 19th-century covered market. It’s a soaring iron-and-glass hall packed wall to wall with stalls: butchers, bakers, cheesemongers, produce, and a few little eateries tucked in among them. Plus every type of seafood that exists, I think! I did a slow, aimless loop and just enjoyed the bustle. I’d love to live somewhere where we had a market like this available within walking distance. Oh the meals I’d cook!

Interior of Livorno's Mercato Centrale, a grand covered market with a high arched glass-and-iron roof, tall round-arched windows, stone flooring, and rows of vendor stalls including an 'Italian Restaurant' kiosk and a 'la spiga d'oro' bakery, with an 'INCANTO' hair salon to the left

That was about the extent of my exertion. I made a meandering path back to the shuttle stop after an hour or so.

Back on the ship, lunch was up on deck at La Terrazza, with a view back over the port:

An alfresco lunch table on the ship's deck set with a green salad topped with smoked salmon and shaved parmesan, a slice of bread with butter, two water glasses, and a folded napkin, with the deck railing, an orange life ring, and the Livorno waterfront and hills visible beyond

The rest of the afternoon I spent doing a whole lot of nothing. I parked at the coffee bar for a bit and worked on this journal, then retreated to my balcony with my Kindle.

A white illy-branded espresso cup and saucer beside a small plate holding a chocolate cookie and a glass dish of succulents, on a dark table by a window with the calm sea and pale evening sky visible through the railing behind

For dinner I ate solo in Atlantide, the main restaurant, at a window table right as we sailed away from Livorno. The menu, for the curious:

A Silversea Atlantide dinner menu page headed 'This Evening's Recommendations,' listing starters (Heirloom Tomato Salad, Crispy Fried Squid), mains (Grilled Filet of Cod, Crisp Pork Belly Roast, Pistachio Risotto), a Tropical Fruit Cocada dessert, and Connoisseurs' wine pairings

An Atlantide dinner menu page listing à la carte starters — Beef & Artichoke Carpaccio, Beef Tartare, Marinated Gravadlax of Salmon, Seared Scallops, Goat Cheese Floral, Honey Glazed Cauliflower Bon Bon, Seafood Chowder, Roast Beetroot and Arugula Salad — followed by vegetarian main courses

An Atlantide dinner menu page listing fish and seafood (King Prawns, Greenland Cod, Mediterranean Sea Bream) and meat (New York Strip Steak, Filet de Boeuf, Italian Veal Chop) with accompanying sauces

A 'Silversea Classic Light Bites' menu page listing always-available dishes such as vegetable consommé, roast tomato soup, Caesar salad, mixed leaf salad, chilled shrimp cocktail, homemade penne pasta, grilled chicken breast, and herb-oil marinated salmon filet

During dinner I leaned my phone against the window and grabbed this time-lapse of our sailaway:

After dinner, I had a great view from my veranda:

Later, after sunset, the pool deck started to come alive:

I also snapped a pic of the menu for Spaccanapoli, the ship’s Neapolitan pizza restaurant, for later reference:

A Neapolitan pizza menu under a glass tabletop, divided into 'Da Napoli' classics (Marinara, Margherita, Bufalina, Bianca al Fior di Latte, Calzone Ripieno) and 'Tradizione' specialty pizzas, each listing San Marzano tomato and fior di latte-based toppings

The relaxed pace of the day helped me recharge my “travel batteries” after keeping a hectic pace since leaving home.

Footnotes:

  1. Sort of like what my wife and I did in Paris on our honeymoon European cruise on Celebrity. Sure, it checks things off the list, but you don’t really see them, do you. ↩

Rome and Silversea Day 7

A full day at sea between Italy and Spain

  • Start of day: At sea, heading to València, Spain
  • End of day: At sea, approaching València, Spain

I awoke to my sliding balcony door wide open and a lot of ship movement. Evidently I hadn’t locked it the night before and it worked its way all the way open during the night. There’s a first!

It’s a lazy sea day, so I made the most of it.

First-person view from a shaded deck lounger aboard the Silver Spirit, with a person's legs and a Kindle e-reader in the foreground, the teak deck and empty loungers to the right, and the deep blue open sea beyond the glass-panelled railing under a clear sky

Also, I changed my flights today to head back on Friday after embark instead of Sunday after two days in Lisbon. The flight numbers and times are the same, just two days earlier. The difference in fare was +$34. I’ll save more than €500 by skipping Lisbon hotels, transfers, meals, and all that. It wasn’t about the money. I do miss my family, even if they’re getting along fine without me.

Just before dinner, I stopped at the shore excursions desk and signed up for jaunts in Cartagena and Portimão. Actually, I signed up for two shore excursions for Portimão, as it was described as a more ‘scenic’-oriented port vs ‘cultural’ (museums, wine tours) of the other ports. That sounded good to me.

Dinner was at Atlantide with the other agents, which was fun now that we’re all more comfortable around each other.

Mirror selfie in a Silver Spirit veranda suite — a man in a light blue short-sleeved shirt and cream trousers holding up a phone, reflected in a large tile-framed mirror, with the suite's sofa, framed floral print, pink orchid, and reading lamps behind him and a folded daily newspaper on the vanity below

A Silversea Atlantide dinner menu page headed 'This Evening's Recommendations,' listing starters (Compressed Watermelon, Tuna Tartare), mains (Whole Roast Duck, Grilled Filet of Halibut, Paprika Dusted Roast Cauliflower Steak), a Caramel Coconut Tart dessert, and Connoisseurs' white and red wine pairings

After dinner some members of our group went up to the Panorama Lounge before calling it a night.1

Evening gathering in a ship lounge with guests mingling and seated among low armchairs, two red and white wine glasses and a water glass on a marble cocktail table in the foreground, and warm recessed lighting across the curved ceiling

Footnotes:

  1. Yes, he’s Dutch. ↩

Rome and Silversea Day 8

A day in València, Spain

  • Start of day: València, Spain
  • End of day: Heading to Cartagena, Spain

Welcome to València, Spain! We came into València under sunny skies and 72 degrees, close to perfect walking weather. Truthfully, it made me miss living in the SF Bay Area. 🙂

Silversea runs a shuttle… A framed printed notice on a stand reading 'Silversea Shuttle Bus, Valencia, Spain, Monday, May 11, 2026,' with a paragraph of service details above two columns of departure times for buses from the pier to town and from Santa Rita street back to the ship

… but I needed to catch up on my steps, so I kicked off in the general direction of downtown. The pedestrian path out of the cruise port was well-marked, and from the terminal it was about a two-mile walk to the City of Arts & Sciences (Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias) complex.

The city made an easy first impression. Wide boulevards run everywhere, each with a dedicated bike lane, and the city center was noticeably clean — not much random, blowing trash, and a sense that people here are genuinely mindful about not littering. (I imagine the wide boulevards part might be different in the Old Town but I didn’t make it over there this visit.)

From a media perspective, I wanted to try something new. I did a walk-and-talk that covers some of my surface-level impressions:

During the walk from the ship to the museum, what struck me most was how calm it felt. It was mid-day on a work day, in an area of higher-rise buildings, and yet there were far fewer people out and about than I’d have expected. The sidewalks never felt crowded, and when I crossed a street, only a few other people were doing the same. The exception was the area around the museums, which was busy with tourists and local schoolkids on field trips.

I didn’t go inside the museums themselves, deciding to save that for a future visit.

The Príncipe Felipe Science Museum in València, a long white building of repeating skeletal ribs and angled supports resembling a whale's skeleton, beside a turquoise reflecting pool, with visitors walking along its base and the domed Hemisfèric visible at right under a blue sky with scattered clouds

The eye-shaped, glass-and-steel Hemisfèric building mirrored in a turquoise pool at the City of Arts and Sciences, with the white curved Palau de les Arts opera house to the right, dark palm-tree sculptures rising from the water at left, and apartment blocks behind

I grabbed lunch outside the museum: a long hot dog topped with “crunchies” — fried onions. It was fine. A long hot dog in a cardboard tray topped with fried-onion crunchies, ketchup, and mustard, resting on a white table beside a clear plastic bottle of water with a red label lying on its side

The woman working the lunch stand was the only local I really spoke with all day. Her English was enough to handle the transaction, but when I tried to ask whether fried onions on hot dogs (“crunchies”) were a common thing in Spain, the question didn’t land. I can’t really gauge how much English is spoken here, given I only spoke to her.

Maybe it’s the sunshine and comfortable temperature stoking my optimism, but I like the idea of this kind of life: good weather much of the year, a real commitment to quality of life, effective mass transit, clean and walkable streets. I want to walk to a market, to a gym, to a library, to a cafe, to a park; for exercise, for mental well-being, for socializing. I strongly feel we’ll live overseas at some point after the kids are grown. It’s more a question of where than if. That said, you can’t truly learn a place on a day trip. I could see us doing multi-week stays in short-term rentals in several different cities to get a feel for what clicks and what doesn’t. Anyway, that’s in the future. But even a few hours in València really got me thinking.

A large black-and-white mural on the brick side wall of a building depicting a woman scientist seated and writing among hand-drawn equations and diagrams, with a sidewalk below and a blue sky with clouds above

Once back on the ship after the two-mile walk, I had a late lunch at the new open-air Riviera restaurant.

A shallow bowl of ceviche — white fish with red onion, cilantro, corn, and cubes of sweet potato — on a wooden table beside two condiment bottles, a Coca-Cola can, and a glass of cola, with the València container port, its cranes and stacked shipping containers, visible through the window behind

A skin-on fish fillet plated over wilted greens with a pale purée and a diced-vegetable garnish on a speckled plate, on a wooden table beside a Coca-Cola can and a glass of cola, with the port waterfront visible through the window

As afternoon turned into evening, I took advantage of the clear skies to capture some sunset photos.

The teak-floored veranda of a Silversea suite with two folding chairs and a small table behind a metal railing, looking out over deep blue open sea under a clear sky

A canopied aft deck of the ship with woven armchairs arranged around a curved bench, looking out past the railing to the sun setting low over a calm sea in warm golden light

Open sea at sunset with an orange glow along the horizon, a faint distant coastline, and the ship's foaming wake trailing across the rippled water toward the right under a clear graduated sky

Rome and Silversea Day 9

A day in Cartagena, Spain

  • Start of day: Cartagena, Spain
  • End of day: At sea, heading toward Portimão, Portugal

The day started mostly cloudy. Today I attended the Secrets of Cartagena with Paella tour, which wasn’t quite what I thought it would be (it was 80% walking history, 20% eating paella) but still fine.

We started with the historical walking tour: Selfie in front of the ornate Palacio Consistorial (Cartagena city hall), a domed Belle Époque building, with tourists crossing the plaza under a cloudy sky

A street newsstand kiosk in Cartagena displaying racks of magazines and newspapers, with two people browsing in front

Pedestrians strolling down Cartagena's Calle Mayor, lined with elegant historic buildings and a modernist white cube canopy installation overhead

After an hour or so, we stopped here for lunch, of which paella was the featured dish.

A restaurant entrance set beneath weathered stone archways, with a potted tree and wooden wine barrels out front

A traditional Spanish rice dish served in a black metal pan on a white tablecloth, with a glass of water and wine glasses alongside

The tour was fine and the lunch was fine. Probably I could’ve done an audio tour on my own, but at least this way I met a few interesting fellow passengers – one benefit to booking shore excursions through the cruise line that I’ll need to remember for next time.

After the tour I wandered Cartagena on my own. I walked through a mercado with lots of fresh fish, meat, vegetables, and more.

A leafy tree-lined Cartagena street with cars parked along the curb, apartment buildings, and wooden benches in dappled shade

Fresh fish and seafood displayed on ice at a Cartagena market stall, with vendors and shoppers behind the counter

A bit later I sat outside a restaurant just off the main strip and had caprese that also included some of the best olives I’ve ever tasted.

An outdoor café terrace on a Cartagena pedestrian street, with red tables, Estrella-branded parasols, and historic buildings under a bright blue sky

A caprese-style salad of sliced tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil, and green olives on a white plate at an outdoor café table, with olive oil and balsamic bottles

I wandered my way back to the ship.

A rustic chalkboard sign in a restaurant window reading 'We speak really little English but we cook the best paella'

A bronze statue of a sailor on Cartagena's waterfront promenade, with palm trees and a Spanish flag in the background under a clear blue sky

Once onboard, I soaked up the sun and read.

The teak-decked pool and lounge area aboard the Silversea ship, with grey sun loungers, railings, and the ship's funnel and radar domes against a deep blue sky

Around 7 I posted on our WhatsApp group to see if anyone was open to accepting a +1 for dinner. One of our group members, Jennifer, responded quickly and said she and her husband had just sat down at Riviera and I was welcome to join them. I did, and had an excellent meal and conversation in the open-air restaurant.

An open Silversea dinner menu on a wooden table listing starters, mains, wines, and cocktails, with a wine glass and cutlery beside it

Around the time we were getting our desserts, the restaurant turned into a dance party. I people-watched for a bit, and the DJ was good, but I called it a night and returned to the room.

An evening deck party aboard the Silversea ship, with guests in summer attire mingling and dancing under colorful purple and blue lighting

Rome and Silversea Day 10

A sea day and the passage past Gibraltar

  • Start of day: At sea, leaving the western Mediterranean
  • End of day: At sea (Atlantic), heading toward Portimão, Portugal

A lazy day at sea, with the highlight being our passage through the Strait of Gibraltar.

The strait is the narrow gateway between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic — barely eight miles across at its tightest, with Europe on one shore and Africa on the other. The ancient Greeks called the headlands that flank it the Pillars of Hercules and treated them as the edge of the known world, the point past which ships weren’t meant to sail. We spent the afternoon threading right down the middle of it.

Off the port side you can see the mountainous Rif shoreline of northern Morocco, anchored by the blunt headland of Jebel Musa. Note the cargo ship. This thin sliver of water is one of the busiest shipping lanes on Earth, funneling nearly everything bound between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean through the same narrow neck.

Then, to starboard, the Rock of Gibraltar.

It’s a single great slab of limestone shouldering some 1,400 feet straight up out of the sea at the southern tip of Spain. We don’t have a stop here on this voyage, but we passed this way during our European honeymoon cruise on the Celebrity Millennium in 2007 when we were mere babes. On that trip we toured some of the caverns and tunnels of Gibraltar, and even conferred with the Barbary macaques.

Photo from April 2007 atop the Rock of Gibraltar — a younger version of the author in a dark polo shirt leaning toward a Barbary macaque perched on a metal railing, with the Bay of Gibraltar, distant hills, and a partly cloudy blue sky behind

Photo from April 2007 looking down from the Rock of Gibraltar over the town and harbor, the wooded limestone slope falling away on the left, cargo ships anchored in the bay, and the hazy mountains of the North African coast across the Strait of Gibraltar

Photo from April 2007 of a Barbary macaque sitting on a black metal railing high on the Rock of Gibraltar, overlooking the marina, cruise ships, and densely built waterfront below, with the Spanish mainland coast in the distance

Around 6pm I had a casual solo dinner at the Atlantide: A plated fish dinner aboard the Silver Spirit — a fillet of white fish topped with capers and cherry tomatoes, served over greens with broccoli, cucumber, carrot, mashed potato, and a lemon half on a white textured plate, with a water glass and butter dish on the white tablecloth

A plated dessert aboard the Silver Spirit on a round black slate — a powdered-sugar-dusted millefeuille square beside a quenelle of pale ice cream, set on a brushed streak of sauce with slivers of candied citrus peel and herb garnish, flanked by a fork and spoon and a water glass on a cream tablecloth

Strolled through La Dolce Vita:

And had a decaf Americano and worked on this journal in the coffee bar for a bit. Tomorrow we are in Portimão, Portugal, where I have two shore excursions planned, so I’m calling it an early evening.

Rome and Silversea Day 11

A day in Portimão and Silves, Portugal

  • Start of day: Portimão, Portugal
  • End of day: Heading to Lisbon (final night aboard)

Portimão, today’s stop, is a sun-washed port city on Portugal’s Algarve coast, set where the Arade River meets the Atlantic.

A Silversea shuttle-bus schedule sign on the cruise pier in Portimão, Portugal, dated Thursday, May 14, 2026, listing departure times between the pier and the city center, with a uniformed crew member at a podium behind it

A short way upriver sits Silves, once the splendid capital of the Moorish Algarve – a topic we’d spend the morning learning about on our first of two shore excursions.

Silves

The side of a tour coach at the Portimão pier, with a Silversea excursion placard in the window reading '1 POA-B The Moorish City of Silves'

A bed of bright yellow lantana flowers in the foreground of a parking area in Silves, with a parked car, tour coaches, and tree-covered hills beyond under a clear blue sky

A round wooden stool top branded with the logo of the Silves Junta de Freguesia (parish council), featuring a stylized horseshoe-arch motif

We made our way into town through the Mercado Municipal de Silves, the covered municipal market. It’s a bright, airy hall under a pitched glass-and-timber roof, ringed with whitewashed arches and lined with stalls of fish, fruit, and local goods.

The arched stone entrance to the Mercado Municipal de Silves, with a straw scarecrow figure dressed in plaid standing out front and shoppers passing through the glass doors behind it

The bright, skylit interior of a hall in Silves with exposed wooden roof trusses and white arched alcoves along the walls, filled with a tour group of visitors

We also visited the town’s archaeology museum, which is built around a striking centerpiece: a deep, stone-lined Moorish well-cistern some 800 years old and nearly 18 meters deep.1 The galleries arranged around it trace Silves through its many layers – Phoenician2, Roman, and Moorish – back to the days when this quiet hill town was a thriving Islamic capital.

Inside the Silves municipal archaeology museum, visitors look down from an upper balcony at excavated stone ruins surrounding a large medieval well capped with a circular glass cover, with lit display cases of artifacts along the walls

A red-painted slatted bench against a deep-red wall in Silves, beneath a blue-and-white azulejo tile mural depicting the town, flanked by yucca plants and terracotta pots on a cobbled courtyard

From the museum we walked up through town to the cathedral, stopping briefly, and then on to the castle. The Castelo de Silves is the best-preserved Moorish castle in Portugal and the largest in the Algarve. It’s built from the local red sandstone, which gives the walls their reddish color, and goes back to the centuries of Moorish rule, when Silves was the regional capital.

An elevated view over a formal garden in Silves with a long green reflecting pool, tall cypress trees, brick-paved paths, a low modern building on the left, and a Portuguese flag with rolling green hills beyond

View this reel on Instagram

Algarve caves

In the afternoon I did a RIB tour of the sea caves along the Algarve coast. The whole stretch is golden limestone that the ocean has carved into arches, sea stacks, caves, and little beaches you can only reach by water. The boat took us right inside several of them, including the famous Benagil cave east of Portimão, where part of the roof has collapsed into a big round skylight (people call it the “eye to heaven”), letting sunlight down onto the beach inside.

Looking up from inside a sea cave on the Algarve coast at a circular skylight opening in the cave's collapsed roof, the golden-orange rock framing a patch of bright blue sky

View from a boat of towering golden-ochre sea cliffs along the Algarve coast, with a small hidden sandy beach tucked at their base and the boat's inflatable tube visible in the foreground

The last night

Somehow I made it through the day without getting sunburned!

As this was our last evening onboard, we again dined as a group at the S.A.L.T. restaurant, the same place we started the voyage.

A farewell group dinner aboard the Silver Spirit — guests seated along a marble table set with white wine and water glasses, in a restaurant decorated with framed blue-and-white porcelain artwork

Guests at the farewell group dinner aboard the Silver Spirit, including a man in a cream linen suit, seated along a marble table beneath a large framed blue-and-white porcelain plate print

Four women smiling at the camera at the farewell group dinner aboard the Silver Spirit, seated at a marble table set with wine glasses in the ship's restaurant

Footnotes:

  1. The stairs in the foreground wrap around the outside of the well. Visitors can descend a few meters and peer through one of the windows into the well. There are several other windows around the well at varying depths, so that water remains accessible. ↩

  2. Thank the Phoenicians! ↩

Rome and Silversea Day 12

Disembarkation in Lisbon and the flight home

  • Start of day: Lisbon, Portugal (disembarkation)
  • End of day: Home

The cruise ended in Lisbon this morning. I opted to carry my luggage off the ship on my own, so disembarkation was a breeze. As I walked through the cruise terminal by myself with my bag, multiple staff members were concerned, in a “no no no, you can’t be here!” way, that I was expecting to pick up a bag and that they weren’t ready yet.

I grabbed a taxi from the taxi stand and am pretty sure I was overcharged a bit, but I wasn’t concerned enough to haggle. I arrived at the Lisbon airport around 8:15am.

A blue hardshell suitcase and a black backpack resting at the open-air curbside of Lisbon airport beneath a large steel lattice canopy, with a paper coffee cup and a croissant on a small table in the foreground and a green Heineken sign in the distance

The earliest Delta would let me check my bag was 9am according to the sign: (note the Boston flight at 12:45pm)

A large overhead departures board in Terminal 2 of Lisbon's Humberto Delgado Airport, listing morning flights with green 'Check-in Open' status to destinations including Boston, Brussels, Newark, Paris, San Francisco, Washington Dulles, Madrid, Madeira, Chicago O'Hare, Ponta Delgada, Frankfurt, Manchester, Milan Malpensa, Oslo, Rome Fiumicino, Geneva, and Stuttgart, with Portuguese baggage instructions printed down the right side

Reflecting on it now, I’m pretty sure they would’ve let me check my bag earlier given the chaos that came next. For future Delta travelers in Lisbon, you’re probably looking for the “D” area:

The nearly empty check-in hall at Lisbon Airport with rows of counters numbered 65 to 70 beneath a blue wall reading 'Cuidamos, para que tudo corra bem,' a green pillar marked with the letter D, and a red Delta Sky Priority banner, a few travelers scattered across the polished floor

The Delta agent was very direct with me, making eye contact and saying she strongly suggested I head directly to security and onward to passport control without stopping. You also pass this sign right after checking in with Delta:

A Delta 'IMPORTANT NOTICE' sign mounted on a stanchion reading 'PLEASE After Security, GO STRAIGHT to PASSPORT CONTROL — LONG QUEUES DURING PEAK TIMES — DON'T MISS YOUR FLIGHT,' beside a red Delta Sky Priority banner and metal queue railings, with travelers walking through the bright glass-roofed terminal behind it

Security itself only took about 12 minutes1. After security they funnel you through a big duty-free store; do not dally here. I joined the passport control line at 9:15am. From there it was 55 minutes to the “All Passports” gate, then another 25 minutes to reach the EES2 enrollment kiosk. Enrollment worked3 and the machine told me to head for the e-gates, except that those appeared to have stopped working just a few minutes earlier. So instead it was another 17 minutes to reach a human officer.

A long line of travelers waiting along a glass-walled corridor at Lisbon airport, seen looking forward from within the queue, with overhead lighting and daylight coming through the windows

A busy airport shopping concourse at Lisbon airport crowded with travelers, an fnac store and duty-free shops lining the walkway, a tall dark decorative column under a curved white ceiling, and departure boards visible in the distance

Total border-control time with my USA passport: 1 hour, 37 minutes. Worth noting: this whole ordeal is for leaving the Schengen zone, not entering it. The USA doesn’t do passport controls when leaving the country, so newer travelers might not know to budget time for this when traveling elsewhere.

The long lines leave little to no time for shopping.

The brightly lit storefront of 'The Fantastic World of the Portuguese Sardine' at Lisbon airport, with a colorful carnival-style mural of a ferris wheel and a stylized sardine, shelves of decorative canned-sardine tins, and a shopper walking past on the red carpet out front

My flight to Boston started boarding around 20 minutes after I made it to the gate area. We pushed back a few minutes late, waiting on a few passengers. The flight felt long. It was uneventful.

Boston was gray and cold-ish (53℉).

The view from an airplane window of a blue-and-silver Delta jet engine on a wet runway at Boston Logan, looking out over a gray, rainy harbor toward a low coastal residential shoreline in the distance

Customs and immigration in Boston were a breeze thanks to Global Entry, though if I recall correctly it was almost a mile (!!) of walking to get there. The connection in Boston was tighter than I would’ve preferred. Had my Boston-to-RDU flight not been delayed some, it would’ve started boarding just as I walked up. That flight was also uneventful, as was collecting my luggage, grabbing an Uber, and making it home.

– End of trip –

Footnotes:

  1. My theory is that people make it through security pretty quickly, think to themselves, “all that fear-mongering about Lisbon airport, and I made it through in 12 minutes,” hit the lounge, and then realize (too late?) they’re still on the wrong side of passport control. ↩

  2. The EU’s new Entry/Exit System (EES) records non-EU travelers’ biometrics each time they cross an external Schengen border, on both entry and exit. ↩

  3. Recall that it failed immediately when I tried in Rome 12 days earlier. So at least I’m in the system now, though it’s unclear whether that will make future Schengen travel any faster for me. ↩

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