Ginger: Mediterranean Cruise with my sisters and brother-in-law

Mediterranean Cruise Day 1 September 17, 2015

Oh gee, I still have to go to work this morning! Of course every student is there, Elizabeth wants all the little details of my Goalview caseload exactly right , corrected and returned to her today! I do get stuff done and am able to leave by noon. Run home, finish packing, eat a left overs lunch. Lee comes to take us to the airport for our 5:30 fight. As one would want it, the drive is uneventful and we get to the airport with plenty of time.

A nice jazz pianist is playing in the food court where we enjoy a refreshing drink. Myra and I walk the length of the concourse before we board to at least get a little movement in before sitting for 8 hours. Paula and Jorge have seats in the front row in the middle. Myra and I are further back where the middle seats go from 4 down to 3. Myra has the aisle and I take the middle. A nice woman makes it 3. Her travel mate is sitting right behind her.

I enjoy the movie Far From the Maddening Crowd. Dinner is a choice of barbequed chicken or cheese pasta. Myra gets the pasta, I get the chicken and we are both happy. Am able to snooze a bit. Breakfast comes about an 1 ½ before we’re scheduled for landing. It is yogurt, roll, juice. I think that’s it.

Now it is still Day 1 but it is Sept 18! And we are in Barcelona!

No problem getting our luggage, going through customs. It is a little after 9 AM local time. (6 hours ahead of Atlanta) We meet the NCL representative who directs us to where a group will gather at 10:00 for a bus to the ship. Since we can’t drop our bags or start registering for the ship until noon, there are several hours to kill. The cruise planners have it all figured out and drive us around Barcelona for a 2 hour tour.

Our first stop is at a park overlooking the city. Several Olympic venues are in the area. The Sagrada Familia church stands out from the rest of the city and is easy to identify. The heart of the city is bustling and beautiful. Many of the buildings have wrought iron balconies and shutters. Lots of tree lined streets. An area of town has many Gaudi designed houses and buildings. So distinctive! We drive past the Sagrada Familia where we have reservations to enter at 2:00.

To the boat! We drop our bags, wait in line to register, have our picture taken and get our all-important ship ID card.

Now, we are free to go and explore on our own. We get a taxi to take us to the Sagrada Familia. If we hadn’t pre0ordered tickets, we wouldn’t have gotten in! The church was started in1896 and Gaudi knew he would not live to see it completed but started it anyway. I guess it is like planting a tree. He started on the nativity façade which is a modified gothic style.

Then inside. WOW! The columns branch like trees, the stained glass lets in streams of light that change how things look by the minute. One side looks like draped fabric with the light on it but it is stone.

We had planned to take the elevator up into one of the spires but then we found out that the elevator takes you up but you have to walk down 400 steps!!!! We weren’t up to that! We caught a taxi to take us back to the ship. We were talking with the driver about the bus tour and some of the things we saw and how cool the little narrow streets are in the oldest section. He asked if we wanted him to drive through those on the way back to the ship. YES!!!!!

We are exhausted when we get to the ship. Everyone is out on the deck all lined up! Are they there to welcome us on board? No, it is the mandatory emergency drill. Our timing was actually pretty good. We only had to stand there for about a minute while they demonstrated how to put on the life jacket.

We find our stateroom, collapse and then quickly unpack. We want to be up on deck for castoff. We decide that we will go up to the top deck. Myra and I go to the front of the boat, get a couple of celebratory drinks and have seats right at the bow of the boat. Someone is playing piano and singing. Oh, life is good. Paula and Jorge join us for castoff, a beautiful sunset and then it’s off to diner.

Day 2 Saturday Toulon France

Breakfast is at 8:00 in the Windows dinning room. Just as the name implies, there are windows all around the edges. We are seated so we can watch as we come into dock. The rocky cliffs, houses, sailboats. Looks like the paintings we’ve seen! We order the express breakfast – melon, scrambled eggs, hash browns, sausage and bacon. They come around with a tray of croissants, muffins, Danishes and more. Our shore excursion is supposed to leave at 9:00 so we end up feeling a bit rushed. But, we all make it to the theater where they organize us into groups. Somehow, when our group is called and told to go to the door with our ID card and ticket, Paula can’t find her ID card. Panic ensues. Myra and Paula go back to her cabin to look, Jorge and I stay to hold down the fort. They find it near where we were sitting but Paula and Myra are now on their way back to the cabin. I try to call but, alas, no answer. I go ahead and get on the bus and tell them 3 more are coming. Well, long story sort of short. Paula got a replacement card and they made it on a bus but it was a different one than I was on. I saw them get on, so knew they had made it but they didn’t know I knew. We’re off adventuring.

The scenery is beautiful with glimpses of the blue, blue Mediterranean and a blue, blue sky. Small farms with rows of vineyards. Gee, you would think we are in Southern France or something!

Our first destination is Aix-en-Provence. What a charming town! Narrow streets with pastry shops, perfume, Then it opens into a small plaza with a market going on. Flowers, bread, fish, vegetables.

And Paula, Jorge and Myra are there! We decide that they will change buses to mine since mine leaves 20 minutes later than theirs. Myra, Paula and Jorge have ditched their group but I want to still stay with mine so we split back up to meet again at 1:30. After the tour, we have an hour for lunch, walking, shopping, whatever. I enjoy the peace and quiet of leaving the group and wandering the narrow streets. I aim to get back to the little market square. It is easy to get turned around but find it fairly easily. There is a little eatery with sandwiches made with French baguettes, pastries. Between English cognates and Spanish I’m able to figure out what they are. The de jour sounds like a good choice and I didn’t go wrong. Oh, the bread really is good! I also get a little strawberry tart and remember how I loved getting those when I was in France with the family in 1971. I sit down on the square and people watch. It seems that the market is a morning one as people are packing up their goods and heading out. I do too.

Wander down to our meeting place by the carousel. I don’t see a carousel but there is a juice place that has a carousel design so figure that is it. I am a bit Paula, Jorge and Myra show up. Myra has an almond crepe and we sit to wait for the others. Turns out there is a real carousel around the corner! The guide finds us quickly and we don’t hold the group up.

On to Marseilles. A pretty drive and then we get to the harbor of Marseilles. LOTS of sailboats!!! Charming little eateries all along the road.

The bus winds its way through narrow roads to the church overlooking the bay. The church at the top is a special one for sailors. We are running a bit late so the guide gives a half hour to climb the 140 steps, enjoy the top and get back to the bus. I’m pleased that my knees make it – a real test! The view of the top is breath-taking, as is the interior of the church. The wind is strong at the top and I have a Marilyn Monroe moment. An older Italian woman laughs with me.

We are LATE getting back to the boat but since it is a ship excursion, they hold the

boat for us. They literally take the gangplank up at our heels!

Paula, Myra and I decide to hit the hot tubs when we get back to the boat. Two of the 4 are closed for cleaning. We hesitate a while to join the 6 people already in one of them. They are from Brazil and Argentina so we are at least able to talk with the Argentinians. Ahhhhh! But hard to get out into the cold night air.

We enjoy dinner in the Windows restaurant at the back of the boat. Good but we all agree that the other one is slightly better. Or maybe it’s just what we happened to order……

Now for the evening entertainment. Flamenco dancers! The show started off a little slow but the beat picked up and we all woke up for impressive costumes, good looking male dancer and fancy footwork.

Day 3 Sunday Florence

A quick express breakfast and we get off the boat armed with the Florence section of Rick Steves. The plan is to hire a taxi into Florence and then we will explore on our own. We find 2 other couples to share the taxi with us. Myra and I sort of have 1:45 and 2:15 reservations at the Academia museum where David is. The taxi driver says to make that work, we need to visit Pisa first and then go to Florence.

Pisa! Charming little town that we drive through and then park about a block from the site. WOW!! I was astonished at just how beautiful the leaning tour is! White marble, inlaid quilt designs. We get tickets to the baptistery, which turned out to be quite plain but did have amazing acoustics. A service was taking place in the front of the church so we only looked from the back. A few more pictures and back to the meeting point for a gelato. Myra got turned around and was late getting back. We were relieved when she breathlessly came running up.

Our driver took us to the bridge in Floreance and we are to meet back in 3 hours. Try to see Florence in 3 hours. YIKES! Across from the Uffizi museum – way too big to even consider trying to see. Across the bridge where the silver and gold smiths had little shops. We follow Rick Steves to the Plaza where the Medici lived. A reproduction of David where he originally stood. Also a gaggle of amazing statues.

Made our way down to El Duomo. Can’t really see anything until we round the corner then there it is! Green and white marble, decoration every where! The baptistery is being renovated on the outside. We meet up with Paula and Jorge who are eating in the shadow of El Duomo. Hmmmm. Looks like a great idea. Myra and I decide to join them and skip the Academia museum to see the original David. Sometimes just being in the moment is the best. We get in line to go into the church. It is moving quickly so only about 10 minutes. The inside wasn’t nearly as ornate as the outside. Everyone was looking up but I was looking down at the patterns on the marble floor. Future quilt? Actually probably a little traditional for me unless I make some major changes.

We start back to our meeting point which is 7 or 8 blocks of walking through picturesque streets, shops, statues – Oh, there’s Donatello! And here’s Vespucci…..

Time for a gelato to enjoy as we walk back. We all gather within 5 minutes of each other. Happy, cultured, satisfied.

Discovered Raffles buffet and a whole other deck behind the pool area. Great place to watch the sunset! Probably still other areas of the boat that we haven’t discovered but there is plenty that we do know about and it is still sometimes hard to find each other.

Day 4 Monday – Rome

Paula and Jorge decide to take the tour to the coliseum and St Peter’s church. Myra and I decide on a brief stop at the coliseum and more time at the Vatican so we can see the museum and the Sistine Chapel.

We stop for about 15 minutes at the coliseum – enough time to take pictures and say we were there.

We drove around some other landmarks and ended up at a restaurant for lunch. There was a bottle of white wine on each table. Good start! We shared a table with a couple from Greenville and 2 women – one from Tulsa and the other from Texas. Enjoyable table conversation. After lunch we go to the Vatican! Oh the tourist mobs!!!!!!!! We start with the museum. We have tickets to jump the line but it is still CRAZY! We do have a chance to look at a drawing of the ceiling and have the guide tell us about different parts. Then into the throng. The guide would say it would open up a bit after we got through this little part. Then he would say “Oh, this is the worst part, it will be better when we get through here.” Well it never got better and I spent 85-90% of my energy trying not to get separated from the group. I guess we were going through amazing things but I would never know. I did manage to snap some pictures of the ceilings as I was being pushed along.

Finally, the prize – The Sistine Chapel. No talking allowed. Hmmm, the shushing

echoed, the guard saying “Silencio!” echoed. “No photographs” echoed. Not exactly a spiritual experience. Now we are ready to go into St Peter’s cathedral. I’m hot, pooped. On overload. It was incredible but I really couldn’t appreciate the magnitude of it.

We have a few minutes to go in a little shop, use the restrooms before heading back. Who do we meet? Paula and Jorge!

Back to the ship in plenty of time. Collapse! Recuperate a bit and then even more recuperating with a drink up in the Stars of the Galaxy lounge in the front of the boat. This seems to becoming quite a ritual and a nice one at that. Watch the sunset with a beer in hand, listening to a nice jazz band.

Since we discovered Raffles, we find it a nice, easy place to eat. We took our food out on the back deck and enjoyed the breeze, the food, watching the land disappear. Paula thought we were going by Sicily but later, in the library we saw a map of where we were. Not going past Sicily until 4 in the morning. Too bad, we found that. It was kinda nice thinking it was Sicily.

The evening is still young. It is the Beatles Revival night. We get to the theatre early and get seats in about the third row. The cover band was great! They had the look and moves down as well as the music. It was fun to sing along, get up and dance a little. Ended with “Hey Jude” and NaNaNaNa-ed all the way back to the next musical engagement. Had a drink on deck 8 where a pianist and singer were doing mostly latin music. Fun to see the Latinos dancing.

Now, I think, it’s time to turn in.

Day 5 Tuesday It must be Naples

Start the day with a trip to Pompeii. Quiet Vesuvius. Still time to sleep!

Through the port terminal with little shops. We find the ATM machine but alas, it’s out of order. We do have enough Euros to pay the taxi, get in to the site, and have a little left over. We arrange with a driver and then he passes us off to someone else. Hmmm. This one doesn’t speak English. Oh well, they say really none of them do. All starts out well but we all get a little nervous as he talks with his hands, turns around to see those in the back seat, talks on the phone AND writes down some numbers using the steering well as a writing table! Offers to take a picture for Myra as he sees her shooting out the front window. Does he want to take a picture of the 3 of us in the back seat? Whatever it is, we indicate that he should drive and we’ll worry about the pictures. Somehow, we arrive safely at Pompeii. We have 2 hours before meeting the taxi driver again so we’re off to discover. Oops, a bit of a line at the ticket booth but we’re truly on our way after about 20 min. We walk through the archway that in the day was the gate from the port. The buildings are all made of small bricks about 2” thick. Small shops were right inside the gate. We see the stepping stones to cross the street when it was wet or being washed. See how the rocks are worn from all of the wagon traffic.

We come to an open plaza with a temple to Jupiter at one end. Vesuvius is looming ominously behind it. On one of the long sides of the square are housed many of the objects found – Mostly jugs but also a cement cast of a person sitting with his knees pulled up and protecting his head. We enter the bath house which is a labyrinth of rooms. The first has niches for people to put their clothes. Then comes the dry heat room and finally the steam room with a marble fountain that sprays water on the hot floor to make steam.

Across from the bath house is a fast food joint with a bar to sit at and holes in the counter that held pots of food. Next door is an elegant house with a mosaic entrance of 2 dogs. We go around the corner and are able to enter. It is quiet and cool and no other tourists! The painted murals of the dining room are well persevered as are the mosaic floors. The courtyard is especially pleasant. The cooking area and the toilet are in the same small area so they can share water pipes. Seems a little awkward to me….. As we leave, a group of tourists come in. Paula has a bit of a fall but luckily, is able to pick herself up and brush off. We end our time in Pompeii at the house of the faun. This is a huge house that takes up an entire square! Jorge is thrilled because this is where an intricate mosaic floor depicting Alexander the Great in one of his battles. Jorge has a book that has a picture of it in it. (Half of it was in bright sun and the other half in deep shadow so wasn't able to get a picture of it that shows much of anything.)

More inattentive driving on the way back to Naples. The driver didn’t seem to understand English but he did understand when I said something along the lines of “I would never get it a car with this man again.” When he asked if we thought he was a good driver, I answered “No.” He was crushed. I guess I should try to temper my opinions for the sake of international peace. When we got back, he wanted another 20 Euros for parking or some such nonsense. We just walked away.

Paula and Jorge decided they were ready to relax on the boat but Myra and I wanted a bit more. The old town of Naples is just a five minute walk from the dock. Oh no, that means we have to walk the gauntlet past the taxi driver! He and a “translator” approach us to ask what happened. We explained it to the “translator” and he explained it to the driver. I think the driver was still disappointed but it was over.

Next encounter with one of the natives. A man being very helpful and friendly and wanting us to hire him for the next 2 hours as a guide of Naples. Well, he was friendly until we said we weren’t interested in his service. Oh my! We were told we were wasting his time and get out of his life. Hmmmm. Seemed to me that he came into our lives without asking. Oh well, we’re on our way into the city. We walk up a fairly steep ramp to get us to a castle looking structure. Finally, an ATM that works!

Our destination is Piazza Plebian. Figure there have to be some nice little sidewalk cafes there. Sure enough! We pick the one with a man playing guitar and tables in the shade.

We order a Napolitan pizza, a salad with pesto and goat cheese and a half liter of

house red. This is exactly what I wanted to be doing right then! After the leisurely lunch, we stroll through the area called the Spanish quarter. The streets are narrow and the building are all 5 stories tall which make for shade on the street and nice cool walking, even though it is up hill. This is real Naples life with normal little stores, people hanging their clothes and sheets on the balconies. We have some nice interactions with women pondering the goings-on from their balcony perspective. The street open up onto a small plaza with children playing kickball, men sitting on benches. We take a seat to relax and take it in. The men take notice and there is some friendly banter. We decide to continue on up the hill but are warned by a young Asian man that we don’t belong there and should leave. So we do even though we hadn’t felt any danger.

It is easy to stay oriented as pretty much any street down will take us to the docks and boat. We find a bit bigger one that takes us to a park overlooking the bay. Seems to be a bit of a make-out area. But there are other people walking through too. There is a statue of a man looking out over the bay. Since there is so much graffiti on the base, I figure he is known world-wide. El Senor Graffitti. I didn’t know he was from Naples.

We follow a woman who is wearing such tight pants that you can see EVERYTHING! It was fun to watch the men watching her. Myra takes a video of her that is playfully shared during our cocktail hour in our favorite sunset place.

Dinner at Raffles. We pass on the evening entertainment that is a magician.

Day 6 Wednesday – at Sea

A relaxing day at sea! Thank god! We spend some time on the top deck by the pool relaxing and catching up with whatever we are wanting to catch up on. At 2:00 we go to learn some Greek phrases and dances. The person who taught it was the magician from the show last night. Very charming and funny.

More relaxing

Sunset hour

Dinner - Yummy coconut shrimp with a mild curry sauce. Dark cherries and chocolate mousse.

Entertainment: Around the world with dance and song. Way too Disney-like for me

I’m caught up!!!!

Off to bed so we can go for more adventure tomorrow.

Day 7 Thursday -- Mykonos

Oh dear, we’re on the second have of the cruise at this point. We have done sooooo much but it is also going fast. Seems like ages ago that we were in Barcelona and even longer since we were in Atlanta. Back to the boat…

There is a bit of confusion on the time we will meet for breakfast so Paula and Jorge are all done when Myra and I get there. We have figured out that there are phones all over the ship so it is a bit easier to call each other’s room to meet up. We’re missing the convenience of cell phones and are gradually learning the art of making plans without cell phones.

We get off the boat and find where to get the sea bus that will take us to the ferry to Delos. Seems that we just missed one as we wait for about 15 min for the next one and they go about every 15 minutes. A bit of a theme for the day. (That’s foreshadowing) We then get tickets for the ferry and enjoy the half hour ride to Delos.

A bit of a mob scene at the ticket office. A woman asks if anyone wants a guided tour. I respond quickly and verify that we will be done in time for us to make the 12:00 ferry. (The last ferry that we can get to comfortably make the boat. The ferries only go every 90 minutes.) No problem. She gathers up about another 10 people. She is excellent with a good strong ,clear voice. Delos was a huge trading port for the couple of centuries before Christ. It was a free port so ships came from all over to trade. Often that trade was human. 10,000 slaves were bought and sold daily! At the time, the island was green, grew crops and livestock. Now, there is one lone palm tree, rocks, dust and ruins of a great city. The myth is that Zeus fathered a child through a woman who wasn’t his wife. She was kicked out but Zeus asked for help from Poseidon to find a place for her to live. Delos was pulled from the water for her. She gave birth to twins, Apollo and Artemis. There are temples to both of them. We see the lions which are guide points out are reproductions and the real ones are in the museum. There is something though about seeing them in their setting.

The tour is over and we have about 12 minutes to get to the boat. The guide says that the boat isn’t even there yet so will probably leave more like 12:15. We go to take pictures of the lions and linger slightly before heading to the dock. We think we have plenty of time as it is still a few minutes before 12:00. OMG, I think that is our ferry sitting there. We start to hurry. We are about 100 yards from the ferry when it starts pulling away from the dock!!!!!!! Panic! Our guide asks us some questions and determines that we will have time but it will be close. She makes some phone calls and for a brief moment we think the ferry is turning back around for us. No, it is just turning to go back to Mykanos. After some more calls, the guide tells us that we can get on a different boat that also leaves at 1:30 but is faster and stops right where the shuttle buses leave to go back to the boat. Myra and I go back to the ruins to look at a few more areas but we’re a bit nervous now and don’t want to get too far from the dock. The guide tells us to wait for her to help us on the faster boat. Again, we get nervous and board the slower boat that we know we can get on. After she is done giving her next tour, she finds us and tells us to follow her which we do. The other boat is much faster and gets us back to Mykanos in 20 mintues instead of 35. We get in line for the shuttle bus and know that we are home safe! Whew! We did see some other people from our boat on the slow ferry. They did make it on the boat but they said it was very close.

The ship left at 3:00 so that gave us more afternoon time on the ship that unusual. I decide to go swimming. The water is COLD! But, after a few strokes it is better and I tread water to exercise my knee.

Decide not to go to the ship show of aerial dancing and acrobats. Paula and Jorge go but Myra and I pass.

Good Night.

Day 8 Friday - Istanbul

An early, quick breakfast up at Raffles to fortify us for a day of site seeing. As the boat docks, we can pick out the Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Topekapa Palace and I’m sure a lot more if we knew what they were.

The others are a little worried if our guide will really be there and how that works. I’m confident it will be great after working with Rina the last time we were in Turkey. Sure enough, our guide is standing right outside the exit with a sign saying “White.” Our comfortable van is right there too! Oh this is going to be good!

We start with Topekapa Palace. Our guide knows the tricks of where to go first in order to avoid lines as best as we can. He is extremely knowledgeable and is able to capsulize the history of the Ottomans, political structure with Sultans, Caliphs, Prime minister. Basically, you don’t want to disagree with the Sultan. For archery the target is wherever the Sultan’s arrow lands. I enjoy seeing it again. The tile work is amazing. We understood more of what we were seeing. One section that has important memorabilia that is especially meaningful to the Muslims like the locks to the earlier center of Mecca pilgrimage, hairs and tooth from Muhammad. We also go to a portrait gallery where our guide told us about various Sultans. The first paintings were conjectures as to what the sultans looked like. With European influence, the sultans started sitting for portraits. We take pictures at the corner of one of the balconies with a beautiful view. It is the same balcony that we took a group shot when we were in Turkey in 2010.

At the beginning I told our guide that we would prefer a small restaurant to a large tour place. So, he made reservations for us and preordered a special meal that is baked in a clay pot. After visiting Topekapa palace, we walked down past the park that borders the Golden Horn. Our guide tells us that it is called the Golden Horn as the shape of the bay is a horn and gold merchants used to have their shops along here and washed their hands in the water. Many believe that there are specks of gold that got washed off and are at the bottom of the bay.

The Bospherous is a tricky body of water to navigate -Lots of traffic with barges, ferries, small boats, big boats, cruise ships. To make it even more tricky, especially for larger boats is that the current is going one direction for the top 15 feet but is going the opposite way below that. This accounts for the different salt contents at the opposite ends.

Lunch – Oh, our guide read us right! It is a little place with women making a pastry of some sort in the front. We are led to the back to a reserved table that is low and surrounded by cushions. It takes a little while to settle in, but once we are down we lounge and get into it. They bring a wonderful platter for each of us with a little humus, goat cheese, couscous something, another cheese, babaganoush, and a couple of other savory delicacies. Then comes the real prize. They bring out 2 clay pots on a tray of flaming coals. With knives they strike the pots around a narrow area. Oh, and there is some bread kind of thing at the top that cooks and puffs up from the steam. If coming out with flaming pots wasn’t enough to get the attention of the restaurant, the clanging did. It took about a minute to get the tops off of the clay pots and then the aroma escaped. Mmmmmmmmmmm! Stewed chicken with eggplant and other vegetables served over a bed of buttery mashed potatoes. Juicy, sweet watermelon for dessert.

Fortified with a wonderful meal, we head to Cistern basilica. Our guide already has tickets so we are able to go down and skip the line. This is a major part of one of the Dan Brown books so it was fun to see it and remember the action from the book. It is also part of the James Bond movie, From Russia with Love. Want to go back and watch that movie too. It is dark and the columns are all illuminated and reflect in the water. The whole place is covered with about 2 feet of water with raised wooden trails. There is an air of tranquility that resides here. We go to the back where there are 2 special columns. One of them is of Medusa and placed upside down. The other is placed sideways. This is to ensure that her power is negated.

We sneak in a little shopping before the next stop. We don’t want to spend a lot of time shopping but do want to get a few gifts to take home.

On to the Hagia Sophia. We walk up the hill and there she is. I am anticipating the grandness and openness of our previous visit but half of it is filled with scaffolding. Still beautiful and impressive. I say something to our guide about the scaffolding and he says it has always been on one side or the other. I say that it wasn’t there when we were there about 5 years ago. He remembers that there was a period of a couple of months that it was down. We didn’t realize how lucky we were! I start to go up to the lookout area with Myra and then realize that is crazy with my knees. Myra goes ahead and goes up. We meet back up with our guide and driver. We had hoped to go to another mosque but traffic is bad and by the time we got there, it would be closed for prayers. Instead, we head back to the ship but have a quick stop at a place where Myra can buy some Turkish coffee. I get out and pick up a few Turkish delights.

Inside the port terminal there is a sign saying “Free Wifi”. Lots of people sitting in the area. I ask a man about the password and he says you have to buy something to get the password. Well, that’s worth it! I buy an ice tea, get the password. I’m in! I try to do facetime with Nick but no luck with that. The texts that have been waiting for me, come in. Nick found a place and will be moving in this weekend! Good to hear at least a little something from him. I’m able to text back and forth a little with Melodie and Ann. A taste of home. But then, it’s time to get back on the boat.

Day 9 – Saturday Kusadasi

The boat doesn’t get into the port until 1:00 so we have a leisurely breakfast down in the windows restaurant. I have fresh melon and eggs Benedict. Then a mere couple of hours later, we eat lunch so that we are ready for heavy-duty site seeing.

When we get off the boat, our guide is waiting for us. She leads us past the shops and there our coach is waiting; a beautiful small bus for the 4 of us. Our guide recommends going to the House of the Virgin Mary first, then Ephesus. The scenery is magnificent as we quickly climb and have views of the Adriatic. The countryside is full of olive trees, orange trees, and lemon trees.

A short walk up the path brings us to Mary’s house. We are to be silent in the house/chapel. It actually works here unlike in the Sistine Chapel. A feeling of peace. Outside we each light a candle for our person hopes and desires. There are fountains that are supposed to give you health, wealth and something else if you drink from them. We are a little afraid that it might just give us intestinal discomfort so refrain from partaking. There is also a wall to write your prayers and leave them there to be answered.

Next stop is Ephesus! We are grateful that the weather is cool and there is a breeze. We start at the upper end where the agora is. Even though it is my second visit, I’m still confused as to who the temples were to and what is what. Really wish I had brushed up on my Greek and Roman mythology before I came! The mosaic floors impress me this time too. The marble roads and pedestals for statuary. The gate dividing the town between the noble class and the rest of the population. The library is sooooo beautiful! We test out the acoustics of the amphitheater. Amazing!

We are all getting to the point where physical needs are superseding our interest to know more.

Time for lunch.

Our lunch stop is an absolutely delightful farm/ school for teaching rug making. The grounds are well maintained with fruit trees, flowers. A pomegranate tree! I don’t think I’ve ever seen ones of those before! Oh and here are some free-range chickens that are beautiful! Paul would love it. We eat outside on a little veranda/balcony. First comes the antipasto course with carrots in yogurt, green beans, cucumbers with yogurt and a tomato and eggplant dish. Of course, this came with good bread. Then we had chicken on a stick and meatballs. Watermelon for dessert.

After lunch we learned about Turkish rug making. We watched a demonstration of spinning silk and watched two young women as they worked on rugs. Into the sales room we went with no intention of buying rugs. They spread out many different styles and qualities. Oh dear, there is one that really catches my eye. The price isn’t too outrageous and I decide I want to get one for Nick for his new office or home or our bedroom. The rolling out of more and more rugs, Paula and Myra are now hooked too! We end up all 3 coming out with rugs! What salesmen!

Now time is getting to be a little short. We drive past the one column that is left of the temple to Artemis which was once considered one of the 7 wonders of the world and had something like 126 columns. Many of them were taken away for other structures.

A quick stop at one of the pottery places. Since we had all just spent so much money at the rug, place, we were able to walk by and admire but leave all of the pieces there.

Time to get back to the ship. A beautiful sunset as we drive back.

Bedtime.

Day 10 - Sunday Athens

Early morning roll out with breakfast at Raffles out on the back deck. The plan is to get a taxi into town, visit the Acropolis, the museum on the site and then spend some time in Palanca area. As soon as we exit, there are drivers of an 8 person van who are anxious to sell us a tour for $100 per person. Hmmm. I think we need to look a little further. I talk with a woman who drives a regular taxi. $30 per person for 4 hours and $40 if we go for 5 hours. Will take us to all of the places we wanted to go, plus some more. Her English is wonderful. We don’t want to get passed off to someone else like we did in Naples. She does some finagling since she isn’t first in the queue. Lisa is wonderful! She was originally from London so her English is fantastic and she can tell us a lot about what we are seeing, the economy, etc. There is a marathon race today and the center of town is closed to traffic. She knows the back streets and is able to get around things. First stop is the acropolis so we can beat the crowds and the heat.

Lisa drops us right at the beginning of the steps up. The climb really isn’t bad. I go to the ticket office and ask for 4 tickets. How much? It’s free today! We almost prance on up. We enter the gates and there is the Parthenon behind scaffolding. It is still amazing to be there! We have Rick Steves to guide us and we go around to the Northern side. Ahh, now we are getting the classic views. Beautiful! Rick tells us about architectural tricks to make it appear taller, straighter.

Lisa is waiting for us when we come down and she takes us to a souvenir shop. Since we are with Lisa, we get 50% off of the posted price. We all get a few things and then move on. The many of the streets are still closed for the marathon but Lisa is still able to drive past the stadium that was built for the first of the modern Olympics. We park by the guards of the president’s residence. We just missed the changing but it is still interesting. We are not to wear sunglasses, can’t touch or salute the guard. But, we can take pictures of us standing next to him. His white skirt has 400 pleats to represent the 400 years since some something with Turkey. Whew! Talk about institutionalizing rivalries!

Back to the acropolis area to go to the museum. There is a line that takes about ½ hour to get tickets but once we’re in, it is easy to see the exhibits. Many of the best pieces are in London and the Greek government is working to try to have them returned. The top floor is for the sculptures that were around the top of the Parthenon. They are placed in relation to where they were originally. There are copy place-holders of the pieces that are in London. Beautiful. And now they are slightly above eye level rather than at the top of the Parthenon where it would be too far away to appreciate the detail.

We are now officially hungry and saturated with acropolis info. Lisa is waiting for us and reads us well. “The streets in the center of town are still closed. Would you like to go to a little lunch place on the water where they serve the best grilled fish, shrimp, and octopus?” A resounding sounds great from all of us.

We are soon at a small port area where small boats are docked and a series of restaurants right next to the water. A waiter greets us as we get out of the taxi, stops traffic so we can cross the street to the restaurant. There is a couple there from our ship who we had lunch with in Rome. They give a hearty thumbs up for the place. The cook/owner takes our order. You can tell that he loves what he does and that it is going to be good! Turns out that the restrooms and kitchen are in the part across the street. Every time they cross, often while carrying a platter of food or drinks, they have to negotiate the traffic. When we cross to use the restrooms, they stop the traffic for us.

We start with some ouzo, wine and antipasto with big chunks of octopus. Then comes the shrimp. They are huge and the most succulent that I’ve ever tasted! We have one large grouper for the 4 of us. The chef artfully pulls the spine out at the table. It is grilled to perfection in butter, lemon and olive oil. I am able to eat it! And it is delicious! We pick it clean; the chef is as happy as we are. Finish it all off with baklava. Oh, we’re so in heaven.

By now, it is late afternoon and we must return to the boat and say goodbye to Lisa. She really helped to make it a wonderful, beautiful day with wonderful memories of our day in Greece.

After a short rest, we meet up at the Stars of the Galaxy at the front of the ship to have a beer or glass of wine and watch another spectacular sunset. Then off for a light dinner before the evening show.

Tomorrow is a day at sea. Oh, how welcome those days are to rest up.

Day 11 Monday At sea

We all enjoy relaxing on the boat and running into each other periodically. We’ve started doing the daily trivia games, Sudoku and crossword puzzle that are available in the library. Myra goes to a towel animal folding class, Paula to a beauty/cream demonstration; I go pick up our passports. Oh dear, that must mean that the cruise is almost over! I’m going to have to clear my own dishes, grocery shop, cook, make my bed! No cute little towel critters every night.

The show tonight was called “Elements”. Dancers, magic , aerial acrobats depicting earth, wind, fire and water. Nice show! Then at the end, crew came out to thank us and an opportunity for us to show our appreciation for all of them. Ended with the “washy, washy, happy, happy” crew. The super friendly guy who seemed to always be at the door of the buffet to squirt our hands with sanitizer did a fun little dance. Quite a character!

Day 12 Tuesday Venice

The boat came into the port down the main canal so we had a grand introduction to Venice!

When we got off the big boat, we took a little boat that dropped us off near St. Mark’s square. There are picture opportunities every few feet. Each canal is an invitation into another world.

We came upon a back entrance to the Doge’s palace before we got to St Mark’s square. No line – Let’s go! We really didn’t know what to expect so were wowed at every turn. Incredible paintings covered every inch of the walls. We saw where the senate met, the council of 10 and 7,the large hall where people could come to voice their opinions. The explanation signs talked about how content the population was and how they didn’t need to have walls around the city because it was so well governed. Then, we came to the dungeon part and the bridge of sighs. The dungeon went on and on and was quite a labyrinth. So that’s the secret to keeping a population happy and content……

We entered St. Mark’s square just as the sun was setting to shine on the basilica. Beautiful! Too late to go inside but life on the square was plenty entertaining. People feeding the pigeons, competing small groups playing classical music to the people enjoying a glass of wine and people watching.

Paula and Jorge went back to the boat and Myra and I went back into the maze of little streets. A last Italian pizza while sitting in a little restaurant, watching the people go by. A bit of last minute shopping. Then back to the boat to crash.