Wednesday, September 29
At sea headed for Cyprus. Our next to last sea day for the first half of the voyage. Gotta rest up for a whole series of strenuous sightseeing days coming up. First item on today’s agenda was a “big girl breakfast” down in the dining room. It’s so nice to be waited on for breakfast. That’s what really lets me know I am on a cruise. Then a quiet sit-down on our veranda with view of passing Greek islands. At this juncture my father would have repeated his cruise mantra of “I wonder what the poor people are doing now.” Tacky, but true.
And speaking of food...my friends will be astounded to learn that I finally tried eating (well, at least tasting) lobster. The other evening the main entree was lobster with a side order of filet mignon. So I tried the lobster. It tasted mostly like melted butter. I was not impressed, but now I’ve checked that one off my life list and reconfirmed my general preference for protein sources that are somewhat farther up the evolutionary scale (at least a backbone and preferably fur).
On my travels in the rest of the world, I’ve always seen plenty of birds...in several ports even too many of them. So far on this trip I haven’t seen any at all. It feels rather odd to be in a port with no gulls or other birds around. I must remember to ask someone about that. Yesterday in Katákolon there were plenty of flying things, but they were all military jets screaming past at medium altitude...no telling whose air force they belonged to.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Tuesday, September 28
Katákolon, Greece. This is the port for Olympia. There were four other cruise ships in besides ours: the Costa Serena, the Louis Majesty, the MSC Musica which was anchored out behind the Majesty until it left when the Musica pulled into the dock, and a little one from Kristina Cruises which was also anchored off past the Majesty just far enough away that we couldn’t get her name.
The vast majority of these tourists probably headed off to tour Olympia and the remains of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia and the original location of the Olympic Games in ancient times. Instead of taking a long tour to Olympia, I had planned to take a short tour of a local vineyard and winery, but not enough people signed up for that one, so it was canceled. Instead Jill and I had a leisurely breakfast and wandered in to have a look at the village of Katákolon which is about 2 or 3 blocks long and about 1.5 blocks wide. Virtually all of it is souvenir, leather and jewelry shops...wall to wall in all directions. I would guess it closes up like a clam when there are no cruise ships in port.
The weather was coolish in .the morning, but warmed up quickly...especially with walking around. Fortunately it was cloudy for much of the day, so we didn’t get too baked. Anyway, we wandered along the main street with the very international horde of tourists. We each purchased our first trip souvenir for 3 euros, and then sat in one of the cafes which line the waterfront (see photo: yes, that’s Jill), had a soft drink and did some tourist watching before strolling back to the ship. Interestingly, every single café that I saw had a big sign posted touting “Free Wi-Fi.” Luckily, I don’t need to worry about that as I have Wi-Fi access in our cabin with no need to even tote the laptop around the ship.
Katákolon, Greece. This is the port for Olympia. There were four other cruise ships in besides ours: the Costa Serena, the Louis Majesty, the MSC Musica which was anchored out behind the Majesty until it left when the Musica pulled into the dock, and a little one from Kristina Cruises which was also anchored off past the Majesty just far enough away that we couldn’t get her name.
The vast majority of these tourists probably headed off to tour Olympia and the remains of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia and the original location of the Olympic Games in ancient times. Instead of taking a long tour to Olympia, I had planned to take a short tour of a local vineyard and winery, but not enough people signed up for that one, so it was canceled. Instead Jill and I had a leisurely breakfast and wandered in to have a look at the village of Katákolon which is about 2 or 3 blocks long and about 1.5 blocks wide. Virtually all of it is souvenir, leather and jewelry shops...wall to wall in all directions. I would guess it closes up like a clam when there are no cruise ships in port.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Sunday, September 26
Given that an 8 hour flight is never fun no matter what class you are flying, mine was okay...except for the fact that Jill wasn’t on it with me. Her original flight from Denver was cancelled, and the flight she got on arrived in D.C. five minutes after mine left. She got rerouted via Frankfurt, Germany and arrived in Rome about 10 or 11 hours after I did. So we missed the tour of the Vatican Museum that we had arranged for yesterday afternoon.
My seatmate on the flight was a gentleman who very much reminded me of my and Jill’s friend, John, and we had some lovely conversations.
Our hotel in Rome was the Visconti Palace right in the middle of the city. The decor was thoroughly “Mid-cnetury Modern” or maybe “Italian Sleek.” There was a lovely little patio off the lobby with a large ball-shaped fountain. The rooms were smallish, but very adequate with a nice marble bathroom. The beds were rather hard, but we slept like logs anyway.
We left Rome about 11:30 a.m. by bus to Civitavecchia where the ship was docked. A nice ride through the countryside with lots of those fascinating Italian trees that look like someone made very tall lollipops out of pine trees. I will try to get some photos of them when we return.
The Prinsendam is wonderful, as always, although updated in some areas with a much bigger Library/Internet Café than before. We got upgraded to a Veranda suite and were instantly quite spoiled by all the extra space in the room, on the veranda and in the closet and bathroom area. It’s all about twice the size of any cabin I’ve ever had before. Two desk areas, a large couch and sitting area, two sinks in the bathroom, a walk-in closet, etc. As always on board, the first go at the plumbing was a learning experience...especially the shower controls, but once figured, all was fine.
Monday, September 27
Things were a little bit rock and roll leaving Civitavecchia yesterday, but by the end of dinner the sea had calmed down considerably. That amount of motion isn’t a patch on what we’ve been through on previous trips so didn’t slow us down a bit.
We passed Stromboli with its steam plume this morning, and, around lunchtime sailed through the Straits of Messina. Both were “narrated” by our Travel Guide Frank Buckingham. He’s been on previous trips we’ve taken, and mostly we’ve learned to tune out his British accent. He has the amazing capacity to natter on for up to an hour without appearing to breathe. The photo is looking back at the narrowest part of the Straits which is about three quarters of a mile from Italy to Sicily.
Given that an 8 hour flight is never fun no matter what class you are flying, mine was okay...except for the fact that Jill wasn’t on it with me. Her original flight from Denver was cancelled, and the flight she got on arrived in D.C. five minutes after mine left. She got rerouted via Frankfurt, Germany and arrived in Rome about 10 or 11 hours after I did. So we missed the tour of the Vatican Museum that we had arranged for yesterday afternoon.
My seatmate on the flight was a gentleman who very much reminded me of my and Jill’s friend, John, and we had some lovely conversations.
Our hotel in Rome was the Visconti Palace right in the middle of the city. The decor was thoroughly “Mid-cnetury Modern” or maybe “Italian Sleek.” There was a lovely little patio off the lobby with a large ball-shaped fountain. The rooms were smallish, but very adequate with a nice marble bathroom. The beds were rather hard, but we slept like logs anyway.
We left Rome about 11:30 a.m. by bus to Civitavecchia where the ship was docked. A nice ride through the countryside with lots of those fascinating Italian trees that look like someone made very tall lollipops out of pine trees. I will try to get some photos of them when we return.
The Prinsendam is wonderful, as always, although updated in some areas with a much bigger Library/Internet Café than before. We got upgraded to a Veranda suite and were instantly quite spoiled by all the extra space in the room, on the veranda and in the closet and bathroom area. It’s all about twice the size of any cabin I’ve ever had before. Two desk areas, a large couch and sitting area, two sinks in the bathroom, a walk-in closet, etc. As always on board, the first go at the plumbing was a learning experience...especially the shower controls, but once figured, all was fine.
Monday, September 27
We passed Stromboli with its steam plume this morning, and, around lunchtime sailed through the Straits of Messina. Both were “narrated” by our Travel Guide Frank Buckingham. He’s been on previous trips we’ve taken, and mostly we’ve learned to tune out his British accent. He has the amazing capacity to natter on for up to an hour without appearing to breathe. The photo is looking back at the narrowest part of the Straits which is about three quarters of a mile from Italy to Sicily.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Eastern Med and Black Sea
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Two weeks from tomorrow I’ll leave to board Holland America’s ms Prinsendam setting sail for 28 days in the Eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea. On this trip I expect to check a whole bunch of sights off my (always long) list of places I want to see. Meanwhile, the cat will be staying with my friends in Richmond and learning that she’s not the only animal in the universe/house (thanks, y’all).
Here is the itinerary for the trip, along with a little map with the spiderweb of our route on it. (I cribbed this map from the Holland America website...thanks, HAL).
Fri., 24 Sept. Fly to Rome
Sat., 25 Sept. Rome, Italy
Sun., 26 Sept. Board ms Prinsendam
Mon. 27 Sept. Sea Day
Tues., 28 Sept. Katakolon, Greece
Wed., 29 Sept. Sea Day
Thurs., 30 Sept. Larnaca, Cyprus
Fri., 01 Oct. Alexandria (Cairo), Egypt
Sat., 02 Oct. Port Said, Egypt
Sun., 03 Oct. Ashdod (Jerusalem), Israel
Mon. 04 Oct. Haifa, Israel
Tues., 05 Oct. Sea Day
Wed., 06 Oct. Bodrum, Turkey
Thurs., 07 Oct. Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey
Fri., 08 Oct. Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey
Sat., 09 Oct. Thira (Santorini), Greece
Sun., 10 Oct. Piraeus (Athens), Greece
Mon. 11 Oct. Istanbul, Turkey
Tues., 12 Oct. Istanbul, Turkey
Wed., 13 Oct. Sea Day
Thurs., 14 Oct. Sochi, Russia
Fri., 15 Oct. Batumi, Georgia
Sat., 16 Oct. Trabzon, Turkey
Sun., 17 Oct. Sinop, Turkey
Mon. 18 Oct. Sevastopol, Ukraine
Tues., 19 Oct. Sea Day
Wed., 20 Oct. Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey
Thurs., 21 Oct. Mykonos, Greece
Fri., 22 Oct. Monemvasia, Greece
Sat., 23 Oct. Sea Day
Sun., 24 Oct. Debark Ship Rome, Italy
Mon.. 25 Oct. Fly to Washington, DC
Tues., 26 Oct. Fly to Houston, TX
Mon., 01 Nov. 1 Fly home
That jaunt to Houston at the end is to attend my 50th high school reunion as well as to visit other friends there. I haven’t done the reunion “thing” before, and I figure that if I’m ever going to do it, the 50th is probably a good one.
As on the previous trips on this blog, I probably won’t get a new post up every day, but should be able to do so every couple of days. I also won’t subject you to tons of photos...at least not here, and probably not anywhere until I get home and get them edited down to a reasonable number.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)