By Paul Rubio

 

Last month I ventured to the Holy Land on the sophomore voyage of the new Celebrity Silhouette (celebritycruises.com) cruise ship. With an itinerary that includes Italy, Israel, and Greece, the ports for Celebrity’s Holy Land itinerary are a far cry from the cheesy same-old same-old like Nassau and Cozumel.  Two of my favorite ports are highlighted below.

 

Rome

Never one to turn down time in the Eternal City, I often opt for a few nights of pre or post-cruise fun in Rome, the common point of embarkation for European voyages on the high seas. For my Celebrity Silhouette sailing, I arrived in Rome three days early, giving me enough time to adjust for jetlag and tear up one of my favorite cities in the world!

 

Upon arriving I checked into my exclusive hotel, smack in the heart of the city in the shadow of the Spanish Steps – Portrait Suites Rome (lungarnocollection.com).  This exclusive 14 room micro hotel, above Rome’s famed Ferragamo store, bursts with the eclectic personality and refinement of its shoe-making, show-stopping owner, Salvatore Ferragamo.  These fourteen “Portrait Suites” exude understated elegance, but the best part of this hotel isn’t even the superb design-driven rooms. The view from the hotel’s rooftop lounge, exclusive to its discerning guests, is one of Rome’s most inspiring nooks. Absorbing the timeless rapture of Rome’s rooftops and the zenith of the Spanish Steps at sunrise, sunset, and every hour in between, while indulging in Portrait Suite’s fabulous full-scale rooftop honor bar, could easily go down in your personal history as your greatest moments in Rome! I did all the obligatory Rome sight seeing, including the gorgeous Trevi Fountain, camera in hand, snapping away at the hot security guards in action. I wandered for hours on what I like to call a “Piazza crawl” – losing and finding myself in and around Rome’s greatest piazzas (e.g. Navona, Venezia, and Minerva).  I eventually ended up in Vatican City at St. Peter’s Basilica, splendidly quiet on a Sunday in August, giving me that much more time for sinful thoughts over the Vatican guards.

 

Come nightfall, I was practically lip locked with the Coliseum and loving every second of it. How? It’s called AROMA (palazzomanfredi.com) - the rooftop restaurant of the Palazzo Manfredi hotel, situated across from the Coliseum. Flush with the top arches of the historic relic, situated at just the right distance from this postcard-perfect panorama rapture, AROMA delivers a mouth watering multi-course tour de force while you gawk at the Coliseum’s authority and fantasy about its history. This intimate experience with global grandeur never grows old! What’s more? AROMA is adjacent to one of Rome’s most popular gay bars, which fills the streets on weekend and Sunday evenings.

 

Santorini

Unlike neighboring Mykonos, Santorini is more about immersion in the foremost examples of traditional Greek architecture and culture rather than long days on the gay beach and late night parties with European couples looking for hot threesomes.

Santorini is undeniably sleepy compared to Mykonos, but it’s as impressive in person as it is in postcard.  When I arrived in Santorini, I took the first tender off the ship to get a head start up to the cliff tops of Fara, the island’s capital city. I wanted to climb the massive zig-zagged staircase; but after a few dozen donkeys nearly decapitated me and I slipped on an unavoidable mound of donkey doo, I opted for the easier cable car option (an animal rights advocate, I didn’t have the heart to ride the donkey in 100 degree heat)! Once on the touristy hilltop, I rented a car at Hertz for 65 Euros, grabbed a map, and Santorini was my oyster. I traversed most the island in a single day, spending the majority of time in the north, at Oia, the postcard-perfect town you see in every ad for Greece tourism. Blue capped, white washed buildings stacked along the mountainside peering over vibrant aquamarine waters, flanked by bustling tavernas and colorful small fishing boats. This is the Greece of timeless romance and unwavering culture – somehow frozen in time despite the pressures of globalization. I gorged on my best meal of 2011 at Taverna Kristina – a small restaurant on the waterfront, serving the classics better than ever– tzaziki, grilled calamari, eggplant salad, Greek salad – the works! I asked the jolly and stocky owner if she had a website to share for this blog posting, but it was soon clear that nobody on this old school pier had probably ever used the internet!