We flew into Rome for a three night stay before the start of the cruise. We took American Airlines through Dallas and then to Rome. We stayed in hotel within walking distance from the main Rome metro station. First afternoon we walked around the general area and got comfortable with the subway. Stop number one was the Trevi Fountain. During our stay all the popular stops were very crowded but the sites were all beautiful. It was built in 1762 and used as a water collection point for around 400 years.
Next stop was the Colosseum which was completed in 80 AD. It could hold up to 80,000. A lot of the construction materials came from a Jewish temple in Jerusalem and many of the workers were Jewish prisoners brought over to Rome. You cannot visualize how big this is until you go inside.
Next stop was the Vatican. Taking the subway over I learned the hard way that my wallet was not safe in my front pocket and those guys are very good at what they do. It took me a few minutes to notice that they had taken my wallet. We went to the Vatican near the end of the day and the lines were long. It also rained as we were inside so missed out on some stuff but it really has some magical stuff. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the Sistine Chapel and it was hard with the packed room but still was something not to be missed. There is a lot of museum type items here and we really enjoyed our visit.
After one sea day our next stop was Mykonos, Greece - named after the son or grandson of the god Apollo and a local hero. The story is that the rocks around the island are the corpses of giants that Zeus killed after luring them from Mount Olympus. Total population is only around 10,000 with many of the old time residents moving out after tourism took over,
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