Turkey

Our ship pulled into Izmir, Turkey’s second largest port and third largest city.  We had a private car and guide, so we headed out before all the buses from the ship could get organized.  After an hour drive through agricultural areas, we arrived at Meryemana – the house believed to be where the Virgin Mary spent most of her last years after Jesus asked John to care for her.  It is hidden high in the hills near Selkuk and the ancient port of Ephesus.

Many, many pilgrims come here, so we were delighted to get there early… we had the house to ourselves for a few quiet moments.  Three popes have come to the site and consecrated it… validating the belief that it is her house.  The sick come to get water from three wells and to leave paper prayer requests on the courtyard wall.  The hillside was nearly destroyed in a forest fire a few years ago, but the fire stopped within sight of the house… adding to the local beliefs in the miracles of the place.

Virgin Mary's House

the spring

From there we went down the hill to the upper entrance of Ephesus – a Greek and Roman port that once was on the Aegean but is now about 3 miles inland.  Unlike Pompei and Ostia, the streets were marble slabs, and Greek statuary was everywhere.  One of the interesting elements was that early Christians came here because as a crossroads it was more tolerant than other areas.  To identify themselves they used a rosette that spells out I X E Y S… or Jesus. 

Terrace Houses

piping

As a port it was very wealthy, and eight Terrace Houses have been preserved under a protective roof.  This enables archeologists to work on what could be called the world’s largest jigsaw puzzle… they are trying to restore some of the areas, but there are many intact walls, frescoes and mosaics, and the piping that heats the floors of the houses and thermal baths.  

Terrace House mosaic

It was all built into a hillside and is now protected by ramps and viewing platforms.  Unbelievable! 

Also in the city was the Celsus Library, second only in size to the Library of Alexandria.  It had room for 16,000 papyri (paper scrolls).  When Alexandria banned the export of papyrus, Ephesus came up with other ways to make paper.  This area of Turkey is still making paper.

Aphrodite

Celsus Library

Roman Amphitheater

Last, but not least, there was a Roman amphitheater that could seat more than 24,000.  Even today the acoustics are amazing.  As we stepped inside, a group was square dancing on the stage… something our guide had never seen.  This was supposedly one of the places that St Paul preached because he could not use the churches.  And nearby is the St John Basilica where he is believed to be buried.  A lot of history in one place.

We finished up with a brief stop at a carpet weaving school where local girls spin silk into thread and tie intricate carpets with more than 1,000 knots per inch.  We managed to avoid the hard sell, sampling the strong Turkish coffee that was offered as a sign of hospitality.

The thing that really surprised us was how lush and green the area was… in many ways it looked like the Napa Valley – grapes, dates, oranges, artichokes, hazelnuts and peaches.  I think we expected arid, but the Aegean coast was beautiful.

Crete

Crete is very mountainous.  

We came in from the west, following along the cliffs.

We arrived in Heraklion, the capital of Crete, about 8 am… and watched as the captain pulled off some great ship handling, turning a 960+ foot ship in a 1000 foot turning basin without tugs.  We stood on the observation deck (deck 14) and there were moments that we could not see the pier or the breakwater.  Scott’s only comment, “I’m impressed!”   It is amazing what you can do with azipods and thrusters.  We tied up behind one container ship (with stevedores yelling in Greek) and at a pier next to two Minoan ferries.

We chose not to take one of the ship’s tours, instead we walked along the port and into the city, enjoying the boats and views of the Venetian fort.

Most of the impressive structures we saw were left by the Venetians… a loggia, nice fountains, banks, and walls around the city.

It was nice and peaceful until we got to one of the main streets near the market and ran into a student protest.  It was a small, but vocal group.  We just wandered away from them, but they circled around and finished their demonstration in front of the restaurant where we had lunch. 

Tourism, fishing and sponge diving seem to be the main industries…

All too soon it was time to get back to the ship.    

Scott watched sunset from the balcony with a gin and tonic in hand.

Three Seas

On Wednesday, we went from the Tirenian Sea to the Mediterranean… and later into the Aegean.

 

We sailed by Stromboli volcano about sunrise.

About noon we got to the Straits of Messina, separating Sicily and mainland Italy. When Scott was on the USS Detroit he remembered going through here often.  While the small boys went into Naples, Detroit would go to Augsta Bay and refuel, then meet up with the ships and refuel them as they headed back into the Med.  He remembered Messina as a small fishing village, and was surprised to see how much the area had changed… high rise buildings, ferries going back and forth, big wide freeways winding up the hills. 

We saw Mount Etna… at least the lower third of it.  Then we turned left and headed for Greece.

Unfortunately, the threats of strikes in Athens caused NCL to cancel our port visit there.  (All the historical sites would have been closed and the transportation systems compromised.)  Instead, the captain announced we would be visiting Crete.   More to come...

Ostia Antica

We arrived in Civitavecchia on Tuesday, in the middle of a major thunderstorm… it was not looking promising for sightseeing.  But, by the time we boarded our bus, the sun was peeking through.  We met up with new friends from Novato (a retired chief and VA nurse) and headed south towards Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci airport, crossed the Tiber River and entered the archeological district of Ostia Antica… the ancient port of Rome.

You first walk through the necropolis, because Roman law would not allow people to be buried inside the city walls.  Amid the graves we saw partial mosaics… they turned out to be only a hint of what was to come.  Our first stop was at the Neptune Baths.  The site has some observation platforms that allow you to get up and look down into some of the buildings.  The views were amazing.

Neptune

Ostia has an amphitheater that is used by locals for concerts and plays during the summer.

Ron & I check the B&B

One building was billed as a Roman B&B… 

so of course we had to check that out.  Their kitchen was particularly nice...

The commercial forum showed the remains of shops… 

all of which had mosaic “signs” out in front.

Out in front of the center’s workshops they had piles of marble… since this was a major seaport they imported colored marbles from throughout the Med.  As we are walking by, Scott remarked, “Hey, this is the Roman version of Home Depot!” 

More animals

Three more animals for you:

That's elephant, rabbit and swan.

Now meet the guy responsible... our room steward Richard.

He's been taking very good care of us.  

We're off to Turkey.  Tomorrow we visit Ephesus... some Christian and Ionian Greek history.  Then on Sunday we'll be in Egypt.    More to come...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our trip to Athens was pre-empted by strikes which threatened to shut the whole city down.  NCL chose to divert us to Crete instead.  No Acropolis for us... but we had a great day exploring Heraklion.

I'm getting a bit behind... I still have photos to process from our second trip to Civitavecchia (port of Rome) and sailing through the Straits of Messina.  I'll try to get caught up on everything on our next sea day.

Today we just want to wish everyone Happy Thanksgiving.  They prepared a special turkey dinner on board, and it was very festive.  We hope you all are enjoying the holiday.

Menagerie

Our steward has been surprising us each day with a different towel animal.
See how many you can identify.

OK... that's dog, frog, gator, monkey, seal and turtle.  We also had a manta ray, but white towel on white sheet doesn't show well.

We arrived in the port of Rome to a massive thunderstorm.  It's clearing now so we are off on a tour.  Ciao!

Sunset sail from Barcelona

We sailed from Barcelona on the second cruise just after sunset.  We got a great reflection of sunset on the all-glass W Hotel as the full moon was rising over the port.

Palma de Mallorca

After sailing through the Bonaparte Straits (between Corsica and Sardinia) we headed for the Balearic Islands, specifically Palma de Mallorca.  We walked from the ship dock at the west end of the city to the cathedral on the east end.  For Scott it was a stroll down memory lane, as we found the Hotel Costa Azul where he had stood shore patrol duty while visiting aboard USS Detroit.

The waterfront was lined with a wide sidewalk, with bike paths and marinas, so we had constant entertainment.  At one point there was a marina on the land side… all the boats had to come out under a six-lane boulevard to reach the sea.  At another point the bike path dipped into the water in a shallow ford that had concrete stepping stones next to it.  We saw a guy walking his dog approach… the dog just hopped from stone to stone.  There also were many kayakers and canoes out.

The cathedral is the dominant feature of the city… a tall gothic structure with impressive stained glass windows.  Historic structures were interspersed with sculptures and modern art (e.g., a Calder mobile sat in the Moorish courtyard in front of the cathedral). 

As we sailed from Palma, we were standing on our balcony on the stern of the ship.  We had just passed the end of the pier and Scott got a puzzled look on his face… I asked what he was looking at, and he said “we’re going backwards.”  Sure enough, about two minutes later the captain came on the loudspeaker and announced that we were returning to the pier due to a medical emergency on board.  It took about a half hour to get the woman off the ship and off to the local hospital in an ambulance.

Naples

We arrived to heavy clouds and threats of rain.  We managed to avoid most of it, touring Pompeii in the morning and Sorrento in the afternoon.

 

chariot tracks in the stones

one of the victims

The guide took us through only a small part of the Pompeii ruins, but enough to get a good sense of what had been covered by ash in the 74 AD eruption of Vesuvius.  We got to see some of the plaster casts of bodies found near one of the large squares.  (They used injected plaster to fill in the gap created as the bodies decayed… this enabled them to get a cast of the actual faces and to preserve the skeletons.)  Of the 20,000 killed in the eruption, there were about 150 of these intact remains found.

We ventured down the coast to Sorrento, stopping at a farmhouse above town that produces limoncello and mozzarella.  We got a demo of the braided cheese that the area is famous for, and a chance to sample the liquor after a farmhouse lunch.  Maria, the cheesemaker, we were told spoke no English, but when she finished the braid she turned it towards us, smiled and said, “Cheese!”

We got some time to explore Sorrento, but our visit matched the time when the shops were closed, so not much to do.  We stopped in at The English Bar and ordered a pint of Guinness.  While waiting for it, Scott noticed a framed picture of an aircraft carrier on the wall.  It turned out to be the Enterprise, but what was really fun was that the letter next to it was signed by its then CO, Captain Mike Malone – one of our old buddies from Alameda.  Small world!

The ship was delayed leaving Naples.  The Italian inspectors showed up late and stayed later… from the Master’s description “they like to talk and talk and talk!”  Instead of 7 p.m., the ship left at 2 a.m.  Our suite is above one of the capstans for line handling, so we heard it.