Amerigo Vespucci: "The Most Beautiful Ship"' Docks in Manila!

- September 17, 2024, Wednesday.

- My friends know that I am neither not fond of the sea nor cruises, but one thing that fascinates me is historical ships. There is just an unusual feeling of stepping on to a ship that has braved the waves and the wind for years. One such ship, a true beauty, is the Amerigo Vespucci. It went on a world tour recently, and it had a three-day visit to Manila. Part of the visit was opening its gates to curious Filipinos who could secure a visit through a registration link. I almost did not get my slot because of my schedule, but I finally got to register anyway. It docked in Manila's harbor.

HERE I AM.

It really....is a beauty.

I know it's not practical given that they were docked, but I would have loved to see all the sails wide open!! (I saw photos online and boy did they make the ship look like the ships from centuries ago!!)

Front of the ship.

That golden figurehead is Amerigo Vespucci himself!

- The Amerigo Vespucci is an Italian navy training ship, and was named after the 17th-century Italian explorer, Amerigo Vespucci (and yes, "America" was named after him.) As for the ship, it was built in 1931, and made in the style of 18th-century ships. It was dubbed by the USS Independence (a US navy ship) as "the most beautiful ship in the world" because the Amerigo Vespucci's physical appearance.

- I don't know why I was surprised to see a big group of visitors, when I also knew that all slots (around 600+ per day) were filled up. But I was also happy to see that many people were interested to check out this historical ship. We were all welcomed by navy trainees (is that what you call them), who were Italian. They entertained questions from people about their lives on board, and places that they visited or will visit as part of the ship's world tour. I know it visited countries like Spain, France, the USA, Ecuador, Argentina,  Brazil, Japan, Australia; it will visit more countries in Southeast Asia and West Asia before going back to Italy.

So many stirring wheels!! (And I was told they were operated manually.)

All that exploring-the-new-world feels.

Just to prove that I'm on board.

With some nice navy trainees who welcomed us. Grazie mille!

Again I'm not very good with ship terminology but I sure do like looking at ships.

"It is not who begins, but the one who perseveres."

Buongiorno!

I would like to thank the random kind people who took my photos for me since it was hard to set up my tripod on board.

Of course I had to were my (made-in-China haha) Versace on board.

Thank you random photographer for making me look like the ship's poster boy.

Everrryyyy nightttt in my dreamsssss, I see youuuuu, I feeeel youuuuu....

- I didn't stay long in the ship because we could only go through the more open parts of the ship. Still I saw quite a bit. It would have been nicer to get to talk to more navy trainees but everyone just wanted to talk to all of them! I did try a bit of my Italian on them which of course them off guard. (But yay for me because it is a language I don't use often). I'm really glad I got to have a last minute visit to the Amerigo Vespucci, and it is surprise events like that that keep me going in my everyday life.