Mediterranean Cruise- MSC World Europa October 6, 2025 Sailing

MSC World Europa in the background while in Messina, Italy.

We had been to Naples Italy before and spent approximately 4 days there to explore in 2010 on our world tour.  We had visited Pompeii for the second time in 2013 at that point and it never failed to cause wonder.  Pompeii is an amazing archaeological site that is still an active dig site and will be for the next hundred or so years.  It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  We arrived early into Naples and we had time to visit the National Museum which we had missed last visit.  This museum is extremely worthwhile because it contains most of the artifacts dug up from Pompeii and Herculaneum.
Massive marble statue taken from the Grand Palace site.  Its the first time I have ever looked petite.

Beautiful statues throughout the museum

Wall murals that were saved from Pompeii

Famous painting from Pompeii

Mosaics

Large gorgeous vase that was saved.

Glass artifacts

Sturdy metal chest

Another statue


Solid gold jewelry.

Back in the day you could wonder willy-nilly and walk where you wanted on the Pompeii site. Now the areas are closed off.  There is now even  a couple little exhibits/ museums on the site.  It has changed a lot since the last time that we've been there and this time I actually got into the Coliseum or the Anfiteatro
Inside the Coliseum.  The craftsmanship of the cobblestones in unmatched today.  Roman cement is unmatched today.  Nothing we build today lasts 2000 years.

You can see the seating here which is still in good condition because it has been covered by ash and dirt and is still not fully excavated.

I love this picture.  I stood here for a minute imagining all sorts of atrocities that took place within these Coliseum walls.  If you close your eyes you can almost hear the screams of the victims, the animals and the screams of delight of the bloodthirsty audience.

The Grand Palace site has had all of the gigantic statues removed from the courtyard but they do have the small exhibit museum now.  
Incredible Silverware was on display which were amazing pieces that were hand made 2000 years ago.

Every year, more and more areas are uncovered and I did get the opportunity to see some amazing mural walls that were immortalized and kept so close to their original. 
Mural walls which were not uncovered last time we visited.

 
Pompeii was never covered by lava so the timber roofs only collapsed from the weight of ash, pumice and rocks.  There was actually the odd roof that did not ever collapse. Therefore nothing was burned and everything was just robbed of oxygen which helped to preserve Pompeii.  
It poured for about 30 minutes and turned the streets of Pompeii into a fast moving stream.  The roads of Pompeii are also quite fascinating and built for carts to be able to move up and down the streets but these large stones made it possible for humans to cross on these well placed stepping stones without stepping in the muck of manure, mud and water.


My cousin Shelley and her husband Darren and friends Delphine and Darrell that were travelling with us had never been to Pompeii before.


We had taken the train to get to Pompeii and there is a direct tourist express from the Naples Central train station. Our original plan was to go to Herculaneum first and then to Pompeii.  I have tried three times to get to Herculaneum another UNESCO world heritage site. It is the little sister of Pompeii which does not get as many tourists as it probably should.  Once again I missed my opportunity to see Herculaneum. We actually got on the wrong train which was the one going straight to Pompeii, which was fine. The people that we were with had never seen any of them before and Pompeii has changed so much it was like I'd never seen it before. 

In Naples we stayed at the Renaissance which was a nice hotel under the Marriott umbrella and we had a very nice room that provided a complimentary breakfast for Elite members and it was located in a very good area.  The top floor had an open air terrace that took in views of the Mediterranean and our actual ship that we were about to embark on. 
My cousin Shelley as we tried to find a place to have dinner in Naples.  We ate at two restaurants in Naples and I did not love either of my meals.  We had heard that authentic Italian meals are harder to find.  No longer is Nonna cooking at these little restaurants it is the newcomers to Italy.  When we were last in Italy in 2013, I couldn't find a bad meal and we were there for 3 weeks.  Unfortunately that has changed.


Leaving Naples behind on the MSC World Europa

Our first stop was Messina Sicily in Italy.  Sicily is the biggest Italian island and this was our first time to the island.  Messina, was a fairly typical Port City and we got off and walked up the hill to see two different churches and walked around and took in the sites for about 3 hours.  We stopped at a local outdoor tavern and I had a nice glass of Sicilian Vino Blanco
Messina had a beautiful entryway into the harbor where our cruise ship docked.

Messina was quite pretty.

Darren Buium walking up the copious amounts of stairs to get to the top to see the churches.  We definitely got our steps in that day.

The first church at sea level was quite grand.  It had a unique bell tower which is world renowned.
 
Leaving Naples, I caught some wonderful, firey sunset shots from our balcony.


Malta the Prettiest Mediterranean Island 

We have been to Malta before on a 2-week stay in 2010. We wholeheartedly enjoyed it then and we were excited to return on a cruise ship.  The people that we were traveling with had never been to Malta and I was excited to show them.  My thought was that we would take a taxi cab to M'dina and spend a couple hours walking around the most gorgeous walled city that I've ever seen.  The group wanted to see a little bit more so they hired a tour company for 150 Euro for the five of us for a 3-hour tour.  The tour driver called Steve first took us to M'dina. Things have definitely changed in Malta.  When we were there in 2010, I don't know if cruise ships were coming into the island or not? Or maybe it was late enough in the season that the ships had stopped for the season? There was barely anyone walking around in the old walled town of M'dina in 2010. This time there were hundreds.  However, you could still not ignore  the beauty of the creamy yellow colored stones and blocks of sandstone that built the city walls and the city structures.  
M'dina dates back over 4000 years and the Phoenicians first fortified the walls in 700 BC 

Shelley and Delphine

Delphine and Darrell

The common red door colors are a beautiful contrast to the stone color.

We decided to pay 10 Euro and see the inside of the church which was not overly large but extremely ornate and beautiful. 

It had an interesting floor where very wealthy people could essentially buy their way into heaven, or at least be buried under the floor with one dimensional tombstones.  It was marble intricately inlaid into the floor.  
Cathedral floor.

The Cathedral Museum was a nice little museum to walk through because it was not super big and the amount of money in there for silver items etc, was surprising that there wasn't security. 
With the price of silver today Darrell and I were wondering the cost in this exhibit alone?



We continued on and walked around the town for a little over an hour and just soaked in the beauty and made our way to the outer wall where you can step up and see the surrounding island of Malta. It is a very good place to see amazing views.  The island of Malta is not that big but M'dina is situated quite high up so it has good views that take you right down to the ocean.


We continued to Rabat another town in Malta.

 and saw the church but didn't go in but we did want to visit the catacombs.  My cousin Shelly chose not to go because she is a bit squeamish about places such as this. Darrell, Delphine and I decided to pay the 4.50 Euro to enter the catacombs that date back to over 1000 years.  They had been covered over with dirt and became orchards for the farmers.  These catacombs were just discovered in 2010 so they weren't even a thing when we were here on the island last time. Approximately 1500 people were entombed underground which was dug out of the rock. The catacombs were very interesting to explore. There were 18 different entryways in to see these different catacombs and we visited just three because it's very hard to maneuver underground and the rock walkways were very low and very narrow and it was hot and stuffy. The three that we did was quite enough but it was still well worth the visit.  
Delphine and Darrell in the catacombs.

You can see the carved out spaces for babies and steps up to more spaces for bodies.

We continued on to the Dingly Cliffs which were like a little miniature White Cliffs of Dover from England and it was nice and worth the 5-minute stop for some picture moments.
Darren Buium on the Dingly Cliffs.
Our tour came to an end and we were dropped off in the shopping district in Valletta Malta.  The hordes of people there was a bit of a turn off but we managed to stop for a glass of wine and the girls got in some shopping.
Shelley and Delphine

Back on the ship and preparing to leave.  This is most likely one of the prettiest ports to dock at.

Leaving the port of Valletta Malta is some serious eye candy.


We will definitely return to Malta again but not during cruise season.

Back on the ship with a Gin and Tonic.  The Gin was distilled on the ship and the drinks were fabulous.  Darren finally has a picture moment.  

Barcelona, Spain 
We weren't sure what to do in Barcelona.  I wanted to see the La Sagrada which is a Gaudi designed Cathedral.  Everyone seemed keen on doing the Hop-on Hop off bus.  We had to catch a shuttle from the bus to the center to catch the hop-on hop off and that shuttle from the ship was €9 return per person.   The hop on hop off for seniors was another 28 Euro per person for unlimited stops throughout the day.  We got on and rode the bus through one whole route and that was about 2 and 1/2 hours and at that point everyone was kind of bored and just wanted to go back to the ship.  In retrospect, we should have got off in the La Rambla area and walked around to see all of the Gothic architecture.  Unfortunately nobody was super impressed by the sites from the hop-on hop off bus. It was just a very modern progressive city and from the route we were on, we did get to see La Sagrada.  We could have got off there and walked around and saw all four sides of the Cathedral because they are all different. 
La Sagrada Cathedral

We chose not to get off the bus because there were literally a couple of  thousand people already there.  
Apparently Barcelona is one of the most visited places on the Mediterranean with 10 million visitors a year and it felt like they were all there that day.  I'm sure that Barcelona is a very interesting city, but we didn't really give it the time to to see the great sites. 
Columbus pointing to the New World but he is actually pointing towards Algiers.

Some of the sites to see and the stops of the Hop On Hop Off bus.

Barcelona is a very big city in the background.  All photos were taken from the bus.


When the ship came into Marseille France, we took a 14 Euro return shuttle bus to the church Cathedral and that Cathedral was highly impressive.

We didn't go in but just viewing it from the outside was very pretty. From there we walked into and up towards the area called La Panier, which is an old area characterized by small alleyways and stairs and graffiti murals almost covering the walls in entirety.  
Mascarons, decorative pieces on the corners of French buildings once thought to ward off evil.

The many sets of stairs of La Panier district.

Graffiti is everywhere.



Most of the graffiti is artwork and most is very good.  She is quite often seen on the walls of La Panier.

Shelley found her bag while shopping.

Great artwork.

I loved most of the store fronts in this district.

The old paint is patined beautifully.

Common site to see laundry drying in the sun.

Leaving the La Panier district.

The patina of the old paint on the buildings is just so charming and the old painted signs for the stores is charming.  Everything about La Panier is charming except for the dog poop everywhere.  Apparently most French people are not responsible dog owners. There's lots of shopping and the two ladies we were with really enjoyed that.  We walked around for a couple hours in that area and then all of us were hungry so we decided to stop for a French pastry and coffee which I had an almond biscuit which was really good.  We continued to walk down to the Old Port and the Old Port is quite impressive. 

An old archway into the Old Port.

Laundry day in Marseilles.

Picturesque alleyway as we made our way back down to the ship.

The Old Port is also an old Fort and it is quite kept up and taken care of and we walked around there for a bit to see the sights. You can see all of Marsielles up in the the Old Fort. You could see the church from the Fort and it was a easily recognized structure to give one directions back to catch the shuttle.
Back on the ship, the Europeans were feeding the seagulls.  It was a bit too up close and personal for me.

 Genoa, Italy

Genoa was a pretty port.  We got off of the ship and we could walk up to see the row of 42 Palaces.  I liked it much better when we could walk.  The cruise ships have a racket going on when they can charge to shuttle you from the pier to the center of town.  Sometimes it is worth it to pay the money because the pier and terminal area is ugly and walking could take an hour to get close to see anything.  Genoa we lucked out and we were parked in a great spot.  
Genoa Italy looks like it needs a good power washing of all of the buildings and it appeared to have a lot of new comers too, which no longer screamed Italian.
You are allowed to walk into many palaces on Via Garibaldi which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  The first one we walked into was very grand just to walk up the stairs.
Shelley in one of the Grand Palaces on Via Garibaldi.

Inside Palace Doria-Tursi now City Hall.  It is free to walk around in.  None of the rooms are open for viewing though.

We tried to make our way to a Museum Palace that was in its original state with the furnishings and rugs etc but it opened at 2:00 pm and our ship was leaving at 3:30 that day which did not give us enough time for viewing.  We headed back to the ship for our last night on board.
Via Garibaldi was curved and that must have been difficult for the Palace builders.  This added to the grandness.

One of the ceilings in a Palace that we were allowed to walk through.

One of the quaint alleyways off of a street in Genoa.  Some of the side streets like this reeked of human urine which I believe was due to the migrant issue in this country.

Charming street in Genoa.

Some interesting curves in this street which gave way to Grand views of a church.

The MSC cruise was our first with MSC and possibly our last.  This cruise had a very good itinerary with all new ports for us except for Malta.  World Europa was their newest ship and I like the new ones.  Overall we had a good time seeing all of the ports and the entertainment each night was good from what we could actually get too.  MSC does not seem to time their Dining Room Dinner times to the Theater entertainment, so you either have to eat really late or stay up really late for the late show.  Neither worked for me so we only caught two nights in the Theater  What we did see was very good.  Some of the voices in the shows were the best that I have heard at sea.  
However, I don't believe that we will do an MSC cruise again because they pack too many people onto the ship and the food was not as good.  The menu each night was very eclectic and not to my liking.  This may be the first cruise that I actually lost weight, which is always a bonus.
Shelley and Darren on the Promenade Deck on World Europa.


It was fun to travel with these peeps because they were virgin cruisers and fun to be with!





















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