Day 11: Day At Sea

Our next to last day was a day at sea, and we boy, did we need to rest and catch up with our sleep. LOL Terri said she would like to know more about the ship, so here goes. The Reflection is the newest ship in Celebrity’s Solstice series–only a year old. It’s very modern–all the new technology, a really nice theater with 3-tiers of seating instead of trying to seat everyone on 1-2 floors. The bars are spread out so that everyone isn’t on one level competing for space (except during entertainment time in the foyer.)

Our room is very nice with a small balcony, and a lot of space compared to the rooms we usually get when we cruise. Lots of storage space too. The bed is round for something different than the everyday and very comfortable. The bathroom has all modern fixtures and a good shower, fresh flowers are in the room every day, and if we want “savories” at 4:00 p.m., they are delivered to our door. The food was excellent, the best we’ve had on any cruise and we were lucky to get a wait staff in the dining room that we really liked. (One night we were put in another part of the dining room, and the waiter was not very nice–the hostess had given us a seat at a window and he wanted us to move for a more favored client!)

The bars are spread out and overlook the entertainment foyer which is on the 3rd floor. The problem with that is if you want to dance or see any of the entertainment or listen to music, there’s nowhere to sit. You have to stand at the railing that overlooks the entertainment area because in order to get a seat you have to get there more than an hour early. Charlie and I usually enjoy dancing when we have a chance, but the setup didn’t work for us, since we usually have to sit down some of the time between dances. There was quite a bit of entertainment in the pool area with the dancers from the theater shows doing numbers out there. There was also quite a bit of entertainment going on while we were in port, so those of us who were out on the islands didn’t see those acts.

The shows in the theater were really terrific, very professional. I think the caliber of the shows were certainly up there with Broadway productions. Besides the 3 major productions with the singers and dancers, there was a juggler/comedian one night (really funny) and a mentalist another night. Then they had a group called String Fever–a string quartet, but not like you usually hear. They played electric violins, viola and cello and played a variety of music including classical and rock. Two nights there were vocalists, one a female and one a male; and if your preferred to sing it yourself, they had karaoke every night. Charlie and I didn’t participate in that because each one who got up to sing was really, really good.

My biggest complaint was the Sky Lounge–the observation lounge with the floor to ceiling windows in the front of the ship–was closed to people like us most of the day time hours. For the sail aways and cocktail hour, only the Elite passengers could go there (from 5:00 to 7:00). Then one day it was closed for the art auction, then another day for a special get together for VIPs, etc. etc. I had liked the observation lounge on our Alaska trip so was really disappointed in not being able to have cocktails there, or to sit and read on our at sea days.

All in all though, we were well taken care of, and it was good sailing, we thought.

Mykonos, Greece

Our first rainy day–supposedly these islands don’t get a lot of rain, that’s why the hillsides look so brown, but today dawned with gray skies and cool temperatures. Charlie and I stayed on the ship this morning, but after lunch, I decided that I would go ahead and see what I could. I didn’t want to be at Mykonos and not at least get off the ship for a while.

The ship was docked at a pier today, so we didn’t have to tender in, as a couple of the other ships did; but it was far enough from the town that we had to take a shuttle bus to get there. The plan had been to go to Delos, a World Heritage site (more ruins), but the transportation is a boat ride of about 25 minutes and the sea was too rough to go. So we didn’t see the Delos ruins.

The town is relatively small, but it’s a highlight of many young persons’ trip to Greece. It seems to be a favorite for the younger crowd with it’s many, many taverns and restaurants that are situated right on the water. There’s just a small seawall that separates the patrons from the water and in rough seas like today, the water occasionally splashes up and soaks the unwary. There are lots of shops to explore, and I will have to admit that their beautiful jewelry was very tempting. I saw more interesting pieces in Greece than anywhere else I have been. But except for taking some photos and walking around the town, I didn’t find much to do, and so was a little disappointed since I had heard so much about it.

But I found out at dinner, that age has something to do with it too. Two young people sitting at the table next to us told us how much fun they had at Mykonos. Never to let a little rain stop them, they got off the ship mid-morning, rented ATVs, and explored more of the island and came across a beautiful beach. They had a fabulous time!

Since I didn’t come across their beautiful beach, I guess you will have to be happy with my photos of Mykonos. Tomorrow is a day at sea.

Santorini Day 9

Santorini is a few small towns perched on the hillside of a caldera–one that is filled with water from the Aegean Sea. We sailed into the caldera only to find ourselves far below the town of Fira, the island’s capitol, about 1,100 ft. above us. There are several small islands in the caldera which were fragmented during a volcanic eruption in 1600 BC. The mainland is crescent shaped and was relatively isolated due to the problems of getting to the island, although boats have always been able to reach the port. But since the cable cars were installed and the airstrip was built, Santorini has become a tourist haven in the Greek Islands.

In order to Fira, a tourist from a cruise must either walk or take a donkey up a long, steep trail to town or to take the cable cars. The ship staff discourages walking the trail because of the donkey poop and feels it’s dangerous to ride the donkeys. So that leaves the cable car. Our ship happened to get into port first, so we were first tendered in to the port and one of the first in line for the cable cars. However, coming back, the line for the cable cars was quite long, and we waited for two hours for our turn.

Once we got to the top, we walked to the travel agency that arranged our tour, where we met our driver Nikolas. The roads here are quite narrow and with a smaller population, the roads are not at all crowded. The tourist trade at Santorini is relatively recent, so many of their hotels and villas are fairly new and they are building everywhere. Prices are very reasonable and even the best hotels are not terribly expensive considering prices in other places that see a lot of tourists.

The first place Nikolas took us was to Oia (Ee-aah), a small town that is very popular with many of the incoming guests. We saw a lot of younger (30-50) people here, several weddings. I’m not sure what the night life is like, but it seems like a very lovely place to spend a few days if you are on a vacation of the Greek islands. It really is beautiful. There aren’t any beaches in this part of Santorini because the town is way above the water–one would have to go to the southern end to find the beaches. But all of the villas have pools and places to sit in the sun, and there are many taverns and restaurants to sit and watch the world pass by and watch the gorgeous sunsets.

A Blue Domed Church

After leaving Oia, our next stop was the Santos winery. One thing I’ve forgotten to mention is that all of these islands which were formed by volcanos have a profitable agricultural trade. The lava makes for a mineral rich soil, so they can grow lots of different types of crops, including grapes. The funny thing about the grapes is that they almost look like weeds. They don’t grow them upright, but they lie on the ground. In Santorini, the vines are actually formed into a basket, then the grapes are put inside the basket to protect them from the heat and the wind. Santorini gets very little rain, but the grapes make very good wine. (Can’t remember the names of the grapes they plant, but they are not ones we plant in the US.)

They have wine tasting at the winery so Charlie and I bought a flight with a sampling of their wines. They gave us 3 whites and 3 reds, @ 4oz of each; @1/2 lb. of really good cheese; crusty bread and a tomato paste made in Santorini for dipping–all for 11 euros! The first white was too dry for me, but I liked the second one, which I thought was like chenin blanc. Charlie thought the third one was something like a chardonnay. The first red was a smooth, medium bodied one, and the second one reminded me of a port. It was made of late harvest grapes. However, the one Charlie particularly liked was the third one which was made of dried grapes and very, very sweet. I’ll try to find a Greek wine or two at home so I can let people know what I tasted.

A Grape Vine Basket

After our trip to the winery, we headed south to see the black sand beaches. For people who want to swim and sit in the sun, this is where people come. The sand is actually black from the lava, and the sand is grainy, but it is a pretty location.

If I were younger, I would plan to come back to the Greek Islands and go by boat or small plane to 2 or 3 of the islands, and this would be one of them, for sure.

View from the winery

Rhodos, Greece

Our next stop finds us back in Greece at Rhodes (or Rhodos, as it’s called in Greece), the largest island in Greece. Our driver is Statahis who meets us at the exit of the dock of the ship, ready to show us all of the sights he can in a short time. He laments that we don’t have more than 5 hours to see his beautiful home. He says that Rhodes has so much more than tourists from the ships can see. But he wants to show us what he can while stopping for photos along the way.

We make a quick auto tour through the Medieval city, the largest in the world and a World Heritage sight. We have to do this quickly because the city is closed to cars after 9:00 a.m., only open to pedestrians and a few necessary cars. The town is not a place of ruins but is an actual thriving town where some 6000 people live and work in the same buildings that the Knights of St. John lived six centuries ago. The original wall encircles Old Town as it did so many centuries ago. We stopped for a few photos and planned on returning at the end of our private tour.

Statahis drove us through some of the “New Town” where he pointed out the official buildings of today, mostly built by the Italians who were the last rulers of the town but left after the end of WWII. (The Italians came in 1924, liberating it from the Turks, and left in 1948.) We went to the old harbor where the Colossus of Rhodes once stood. There we saw the two traditional columns with deer standing on top. The deer were imported to the island to get rid of the snakes (non-poisonous) so the columns are in tribute to them. I didn’t know deer killed snakes! At the old harbor is the cathedral that started as a Catholic church but when the Italians left became the Greek Orthodox cathedral for the island. The inside is gorgeous with many gothic wall paintings by Fotis Kontoglou and impressive chandeliers. (I should take a class in how to take interior photos. Mine never turn out too well. I only have one or two that were worth keeping.) We also noticed several LARGE yachts going out–didn’t know if they were rentals or if they were merely wealthy people going out for a sail. We next drove up Monte Smith to the acropolis (high point) of the island where the remains of the Temple of Apollo stands as well as the Greek stadium and theater. We also saw some picturesque spots bordering the water–one on the Mediterrean side and one on the Aegean side. Statahis tells us that the Mediterrean side is warmer and nice sand, whereas the Aegean side is windier with a pebbly beach.

Beach view, Aegean side

Temple of Apollo

Leaving the City of Rhodos, we start our drive to Lindos, a popular place to visit when one is here. It’s a village built below the acropolis where the medieval fortifications of the Knights of St. John overlooks two picturesque bays with those famous blue green waters. One of them is St. Paul’s Bay where it is said Paul arrived to preach Christianity to the Rhodians. (All of our drivers have been terrific in stopping at the right spots for beautiful photos. The only problem is we are often facing into the sun and so the pix they think we should be taking are backlit! When I could move around to get the sun in back of me, it was great, but several of the places I was not able to find a location to take advantage of the view.)

We only had an hour to stay in Lindos–so did I want to stay and explore the village or go up to the acropolis to see the views and the fortress? It was a fairly steep walk up or I could take a donkey which would only take me 10 minutes each way, so I opted for the donkey. (Kenny: the donkey is harder on the back than a horse. LOL) The young man who owned the donkeys was very solicitous, carried my camera, took my picture, and waited for me to return. I was glad to do it as the views are outstanding and I could actually take some photos of the surrounding bays. Charlie couldn’t ride the donkey because he can’t get his leg over the back, so he stayed below and explored the village. He liked it a lot and said he was quite impressed with it.

No Caption Needed LOL

Town of Lindos

On the way back from Lindos, we stopped by “Anthony Quinn Bay” where The Guns of Navarone was shot (Anthony Quinn was one of the stars). After Anthony Quinn made Zorba the Greek, evidently Rhodes adopted him as their countryman and actually gave him this bay and the land which reverted back to Rhodes after he died.

Anthony Quinn Bay

When we got back to the port, we were dropped off at the main gate of the Medieval city where we stopped for lunch (their gyros are much better than our gyros.) There are many historical spots to see in the Old Town and Charlie and I have always been great sightseers. We love looking at places that existed so long ago. We started with the 15th century Palace; however, Charlie couldn’t do the stairs, so I spent about 15 minutes going through part of the Palace and came down to meet him. We walked over to the Suleyman mosque which is not open any longer but now Charlie was really getting tired, so after leaving him to get a quick cup of cappuccino while I climbed the clock tower, we headed back to the ship.

Grand Masters Palace

Suleyman Mosque

I liked this port a lot, but I think Charlie wasn’t feeling too well so I’m not sure he liked it as much as I did.

Ephesus, Turkey

Being in Turkey today reminds me of why it’s important that we should travel. Again we had a private tour, and as we got off the ship, this beautiful young woman in Western clothes was standing there with a sign with my name on it. Her name was Melike and she was going to be our guide. (This worried me at first in that this tour was quite inexpensive compared to some of the others. It was $156 with all fees to all the different places included. I assumed a driver/guide as with the other tours so far. But it was the right price for both people!)

Melike guided us to a very nice, plush Mercedes minivan with it’s own driver and away we went for the tour. She spoke English very well and was a very interesting person in her own right. My stereotypical impression of Turkey had been that it was probably much like the other Muslim countries but it seems that’s not necessarily true. While we were driving, we all exchanged personal info as we often do with people we feel affinity with. She has a boyfriend (nice looking guy–met him because he was guiding another group) and they live together. He does the cooking and she does the cleaning (or as she laughingly said, she hired a cleaning woman.) Sounds like us, doesn’t it? The country has a lot of Western attributes as well as traditional ones, which for some reason I had always assumed more like Iran, I guess. Just goes to show we should never assume.

She also commented on Islam, saying that she was embarrassed by the jihadists. She thinks there are good Muslims (the ones who practice their religion with love as called for in the Koran), the bad Muslims (the terrorists). In other words, why can’t we all get along? I really enjoyed her company. Her whole family is now into the guide business now. Her father was an Air Force career person and is retiring from there soon. Her sister is studying “guiding” at the university and will be joining the family in their endeavors. BTW, they have public schools and private schools. The public schools are for those that keep their grades up and attend regularly and the private schools are for those who didn’t make it in the public schools so they have to pay to attend school. Same for universities–free for those who study and make good grades, not open to those who don’t. Sounds like something we should think about.

Anyway, on to the tour. Our port was Kusadasi and from there we would go to some of the world’s most famous ruins–Ephesus. Amazing because they have basically just started excavating them in the 1960s and there are so many which are intact. For instance, sidewalks made of mosaics, intact. Roads along the center, intact. Rooms in villas intact with mosaics and painting on the walls. One whole wall of one of the world’s largest libraries is intact. A Roman bath/latrine mostly intact, showing marble benches around two walls, with about 30 holes cut into them for people to sit on to go to the bathroom. Underneath was a flowing water system to flush away all the excrements, down into their sewer system. In the center was a place for musicians who played music to drown out any unpleasant noises. If the marble was cold, then slaves could sit on it first to warm it up for their masters. The Romans thought hygiene was very important and understood it kept illnesses from spreading.

Great libraries, sewer systems, running water, and many other innovations BC–how did we get back to the Dark Ages???? I was pondering this question and Melike’s opinion is that it was because of religion of that time–in order to keep power, the people have to be subjugated in some way and part of that is by keeping them ignorant. They are more likely to be followers instead of revolutionaries. See–I told you she was interesting.

Well, back to the tour. It just so happened that when we were in Turkey, it was one of their religious holidays so Ephesus was closed until 11:00 a.m. All the bus tours were going to be there at the same time. Melike suggested we see some other sights first and get to Ephesus later in the afternoon. So we headed to the House of the Virgin Mary first (which in itself was quite crowded.) It’s just a tiny house that has been made into a chapel now and after we go through, we can light a candle to have our prayers answered and there is a “wishing wall” where one can pray to have wishes granted. (It is posited that this site might be true because on the cross, Jesus told John to take care of his mother–and to his mother that John would be her son. John had a home in Turkey and it’s thought it was possible he brought her there.)

After our visit to Mary’s house, we went to the Temple of Artemis (only one column left standing), to a 14th century mosque, and to St. John’s basilica (which is surprisingly large and many areas still standing.) John was buried here and so it was decided to build the basilica over the tomb. We next made a stop to a place to see a carpet making demonstration. Melike asked if we would like to see it–we didn’t have to go, but Charlie was interested so we made the stop. The Turks make carpets with double knots and they are really beautiful. I probably would have brought home a Turkish souvenir but the carpets were out of my price range even though they threw in the shipping for free. I probably appreciated the workmanship more than Charlie could because I know how time consuming it is, especially with the petit point kind that are framed. Those kind of carpts take years sometimes to do, with the finest of silk. Because I do counted thread embroidery, I have a sense of the technique of doing the patterns. Charlie was astounded though at the difference turning the carpet to see the nap in a different light caused such a color changes.

Weaving Turkish carpets made by the double knot system–only in Turkey

Finally, we headed towards Ephesus, starting at the uphill end so that we could walk downhill., All the drivers have been very thoughtful of Charlie’s problems with walking and have assisted him a lot. (I think this trip has shown him his limitations because he’s talking about seeing a doctor when he gets back.) It’s amazing what they have managed to excavate in 50+ years and all of it is very exciting. Melike and I took the extra trip up and down steep stairs to see the villas that they have excavated showing whole rooms intact and the work they are doing at putting the “puzzle pieces” together.

St. John’s Basilica

Hadrian’s Arch

Oh, one more story Melike told us–when the guy (forgot his name–will have to look up) wanted to build a new city, he asked the oracle where he should build it. So she told him he should look for the signs of a fish and a boar. He hunted far and wide and couldn’t find the signs together. When he had just about given up, a fish jumped out of the sea and onto the land, and a boar ran up and carried it away. The reason he was told to look for the fish and the boar is because the fish was symbolic of being able to feed themselves with fish and that the water would be important for trade. The boar was symbolic of the plenty of meat to eat as well as it must be a fertile area in order to keep wildlife alive. And, Melike says, oracles were usually women because isn’t it usual that women have always had to give men good advice about where to live? LOL.

Ephesus’s Great Library

I’ve rambled on a lot. Probably used most of my minutes on this one. Hope you enjoyed it.

Athens, Greece

The Parthenon

This is our first day in Greece, spending it in one of its largest cities. For some reason, maybe too much drink (LOL), I didn’t sleep well so I was up at the crack of dawn or maybe before. We were supposed to get an early start (8:00 a.m.) anyway because our driver says we probably want to get to the Acropolis early before the crowds. So off the ship at 8:00 and on to the major sightseeing stop of all Athens–the Acropolis with the Parthenon, the Erechtheion with its famous caryatid maidens, and the Propylaea, all of which I studied my freshman year in school. Since it was important to go early to “miss the crowds,” it was interesting to note that all the sightseeing buses from the ship were leaving at 8:00 also.

Our driver Ilias was great. He’s very proud of his city and told us all about the history of Greece, explained facts of the Acropolis and other sights we would see. All these drivers in Europe are very good at their jobs. They seem to mostly drive Mercedes which evidently can turn on a dime–it’s a different car than we have in the US, very maneuverable. Athens is a large city like Rome with the cars weaving in and out of traffic and our driver makes it look effortless. He can be talking to us over his shoulder and dodge oncoming and merging traffic, as well as pedestrians, easily. He was very friendly, spoke good English, and willing to show us anything we wanted to see. Our only disappointment on this particular tour is that the museums are all closed on Mondays, so didn’t get to see many of the artifacts that lie therein.

I’m only able to show a few photos of what we saw–if you are interested in “ruins”, you can see more of them after I get home and put them on my smugmug page. But some of you may be like my friends that don’t get very excited about the idea of going to Arches, Canyonlands, etc., as they believe if you’ve seen one red rock, you’ve seen them all–the way that Ronald Regan felt about redwood trees. So I’m sure there are some of you who feel the same way about ruins–seen one ruin, seen them all. Ha, ha! My photos are basically what I’m getting from my camera. Hopefully, by the time you see them on smugmug they will look better.

It was very crowded at the Acropolis and hard to get photos but did what I could. We left there to see Hadrian’s Arch and the ruins of the Temple of Zeus. Other ruins included the Roman agora and the Athenian agora, where we stopped for lunch–a gyro and french fries for both of us–a full meal actually.

Temple of Zeus with Acroplis is background

One of the highlights, I thought was the changing of the guard at Syntagma square at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The uniform they wear is very meaningful. The skirt has 400 pleats, symbolic of the 400 years under Ottoman rule. A red cap for the blood shed by the soldiers fighting the war, and pompoms and tap on bottom of shoes to allow the guards to be in sync when they do the routine that portrays the changing of the guard. Need to get this published.

A Day at Sea

Captain’s Club Recepption

Today was a sea day which gives us time to explore the ship and, they hope, to spend money. As usual, I like to try to do as much as I can–games, activities, lectures, shows, and then still find time to sit on my balcony and read, and work on my photos, and publish my blog. In the meantime, I have to entertain Charlie–after all, this is a trip for the two of us. He’s not the type to go off and do things alone; he wants me with him. For instance, he likes to lie by the pool and sleep when I would rather sit on my balcony and read. I did talk him into going to a lecture by the ship’s officers about the way the ship works while I published a post on my blog, but that’s about all he wants to do alone.

The Reflection is beautiful. It’s only one year old and is really up on all the technology. For my Apple friends and family, you will be glad to know they have an iLounge where you can buy all the Apple products you would like, as well as use their computers and wi fi (for a charge, of course.) They have a lot of different bars and meeting places. The “theater” is state of the art. The food is the best we’ve had on any cruise, although their wines are not so great. The staff is friendly and helpful, as they always are on a cruise, and we are enjoying the luxury of it all.

My only little “nitpik” is that they have more “fee” places on board than they have “free” places. Five “other” restaurants, little alcoves on the lawn that can be rented so that you can feel that you are sheltered from the hoi polloi, the aqua spa which only those in the aqua spa rooms can use, and many other amenities for a “fee.” The days of cruising where, except for the room you book, everyone was equal are long gone, I guess. But you know me, I’m bourgeois (is that how you spell it?)

Charlie and I went to the Captain’s Club reception. That’s the only photo I got for today. But I have added a photo just for fun of when we came into port at dark another day. If my pix are too dark, please let me know. I use an old laptop for traveling and the photos are sometimes darker than they look to me.

The Acapella Group

Day 4–Messina, Sicily

Coming into port

Our first day our port was in Messina, Sicily. I got up early to watch us pass by Stromboli and then to watch us turn into the Messina Strait and pull into the port. Photos from each side of the ship, running back and fourth between the two sides. When we’re on the ship, it doesn’t really feel that we are going very fast, but when I was standing in the front of the ship, the wind was like a gale, so much so that it almost knocked me over. I thought it was the weather but when it slowed down to go through the strait, it became quite calm. It turned out the “gale” was from the velocity of the ship “steaming ahead” (do ships still “steam”?)

Lighthouse at entrance of port

Sicily’s saint blesses the ships as they leave port.

Sicily was quite a surprise from the hectic city of Rome. Our driver met us at the port–a really pleasant young man who spoke very good English, who was willing to talk about his homeland with us and kept us entertained by telling us about the places we were seeing. Traffic was what I consider normal, not too crowded, cars in their own lanes, and driving sensibly. We started driving towards Mt. Etna, @2 hours from the city. Mt. Etna is an active volcano with eruptions still happening even into late 20th century. The minerals in the lava makes the land very fertile so they have a lot of agriculture and even wine that they say is affected by the lava. What surprised us most was the mountainous countryside. The small towns outside the bigger cities are built on hillsides, and flow down to the beaches.

We drove 7000 ft up Mt. Etna to one of the dormant craters (the Silvestri crater.) We could have taken the funicular to the top but it was very cold and very, very windy so we didn’t stay too long. One of the problems is that the ash blows into your eyes, and it’s not like fine dust but more like cinders! I couldn’t get a shot of the top of the mountain where there was black smoke belching from the active crater because the spots where we could see it, there was not pull out to take a photo, and when we finally got to some pullover spots, the clouds had already covered it. But I did get some shots of the Silvestri crater and its surrounds so may include one here.

We stopped at a 16th century church (not as ornate as Roman churches but, of course, they didn’t have Michelangelo, Bernini, Caravaggio and the Popes to decorate them.) But considering the small earthquakes they get when the volcano blows, it’s amazing these old churches are still standing. In Taormina, one of the hillside towns, we had lunch and spent @3 hours exploring and window shopping. There is an old “Greek” theater there, but when looking at it, it’s obvious that it was built by Romans because of the Roman arches and vaulted ceilings. The views of the beach from there are quite lovely, but I will have to admit, no where that we’ve seen so far can beat our Florida beaches for great sand and ocean. Even the Caribbean beaches we’ve been to don’t compare as favorably. Terri and Greg are a little more experienced as far as international beaches so they may beg to differ. They’ve been to Ibitza and several in Mexico. I had wanted to walk up to Castel Mola where supposedly they have terrific 360 degree views of the Mediterrean and its surrounds but Charlie wasn’t able to do the walk and I didn’t want to leave him for the time it would take, so I didn’t do that part of our tour. We came back to the ship a little early which was okay since I was beginning to fade.

Tomorrow is a sea day so I hope to look at some of my photos and to post this day on my blog. Charlie pooped out on me the first day at sea going to bed at 10 pm, and then we are headed to bed tonight by 11 pm. It’s different than traveling with my daughter–we were rarely in bed until the ship closed up. Maybe we will take in some of the after hours clubs tonight.

Day 3–On Board the Reflection

Charlie and I woke up after a very restful 11 hours of sleep. It’s amazing how much a person can unpack just to spend one day in a hotel. Ate a great breakfast that was included in the price of the hotel, took a nice hot shower, packed and got ready for the real part of our adventure. Our driver showed up right on time and we were on our way.

It’s a solid hour of driving time to get to the port from Rome, but we had a really good driver who also spoke some English so we could talk with him a little about Italian driving. Charlie was constantly amazed about the driving in Rome. They don’t bother painting lines–everyone makes their own lanes and seem to do just fine that way. People drive mostly small cars and they drive actually bumper to bumper. When they are stopped there is hardly any room to even put a hand between the cars. And the parking is even worse than San Francisco. They park anywhere they can make a space. If they can’t fit into a parallel space, people with “smart cars” will just park them perpendicular to the parallel parked cars. Today we even saw some cars double parked. Charlie wants to know where all the cars that were on the road go to park since it seemed all of the spaces were taken.

I was really sorry that I didn’t get any photos of Rome yesterday. I had mapped out a strategy for what I would like to get that I didn’t get last time but it wasn’t to be. Today, as you can see, I didn’t get any very good shots. I think I should take a course on how to take pix of interiors. I tried several times to try to get shots of the interior of our ship, but none of them turned out very well. And it really is quite beautiful and so different! The port is a working commercial port so the scenery while leaving isn’t very inspiring. But I did take a pic of Charlie on the REAL grass on the ship and on our balcony enjoying the sunset. Also a photo of the appetizers delivered to our room this p.m.

It’s a beautiful ship–only a year old and decorated with very modern touches. The food was delicious, there are plenty of places to sit on deck, not just around the pool, and lots of activities going on about anywhere we go. Charlie was tired so we headed back to our room around 10:00. He’s sleeping which gives me time to do my blog. I got a good deal on internet minutes so I think I might be able to keep up with this generally. Tomorrow we stop at Messina, Sicily, where we are scheduled to see Mt. Etna and Taormina. Hopefully, I will have something beautiful to show you then.

Days 1 & 2

Days 1 and 2:

On a trip to Europe, Days 1 & 2 all run together. We actually leave the USA around 5:00 p.m. and then because of the time difference we get in the next day in Rome at 7:15 a.m. But it’s actually only about 2:00 a.m. at home. So I don’t sleep because I’m not very sleepy but the time zone catches up with me.

The trip isn’t starting off on the best foot, I’m afraid. When we got ready to board our JFK flight that was leaving at 5:10, it was announced that there was a fuel pump problem (do airplanes have fuel pumps?), so we had to wait until it was fixed. Then we boarded, but we had to wait until the lead mechanic to sign off on the repair. Finally got out on the runway, where a plane that was landing was landing on the “taking off” runway so had to wait for that. As we got into the air, the electrical systems in the cabin weren’t working. Once they got the reading lights working, then they could turn them off or on. As time wore on, they finally turned them all off, whether you were ready or not, so that people who wanted to and could, went to sleep. All in all, 1-2/2 hrs. late with some disgruntled passengers. But our driver was waiting for us, so all was well. At the hotel, the Empire Palace Hotel, the room wasn’t ready since the checkout time is 12:00, so we could take a small room or wait until 2:00 to get the room that had been assigned to us. ( Our driver called it the Em-pi-rie Palace Hotel.) Charlie wanted to take the smaller room, so we did that and took a cab into the sightseeing areas.) Then it started pouring rain (only a 10% chance of rain but it rained all afternoon.) So no photos, darn it. But we did see the forum at views from Capitoline Hill, visited one of the museums, and had wine and a sandwich at an outdoor café.

Then to an early dinner near the hotel so we could get to bed early and catch up on some sleep. We ate at La Plenchitero where I did get my favorite meal–bucatini amatriciana. We had a great 4 course meal–a spinach frittata, compliments of the chef, carpaccio beef shared between the two of us, each of us had a soup and then a pasta course. We also shared a bottle of local wine, a Shiraz that was quite good. (Casale del Giglio.) So time to go to bed. Our driver will pick us up tomorrow to board the ship. Photos to come hopefully.