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.  

Eternal Rome

We took a bus tour “Eternal Rome” which included four of Rome’s most famous landmarks:  Trevi fountain, the Roman Forum, the Colisseum, and St. Peter’s. 

The ship docked in Civitavecchia (Latin for “old city”).  Unlike previous ports where we were by ourselves, this time there were three other cruise ships.  That should have been a clue for what the day would be like.

Traffic was bumper to bumper once we got off the autostrada.   Bus traffic in Rome is limited to certain areas, so we got dropped off and walked to the other sites.   Luckily, this was the best weather we had in Italy, so walking was pleasant – although everyone had to pay “atenzione” to autos, scooters, and trucks going down streets that seemed barely wider than sidewalks.

There was a threat of a march by students opposing the current Italian government, so the police and Caribineri were all over… helicopters overhead, and water canons & armored personnel vehicles at the ready.

We saw the Italian tomb of the unknown soldiers at the base of the Victor Emmanuel Monument – a large white structure referred to by locals as “the wedding cake.”

church inside Roman columns

From street level we went down into the Forum and wandered through remnants of large temples and public buildings.  Since Romans tended to tear down and build on top of existing structures … or to recycle materials to build new ones, much of the area requires you to use a great deal of imagination to “see” what once stood there.

Our tour took us inside the Colisseum – something we were both looking forward to doing.  It is impressive.    Trivia for the day:  the term arena comes from the fact that sand covered the floor of the Colisseum – sand in Latin was arenas.

We lunched in an underground restaurant nearby, then walked back to an area where we could pick up the bus to go to the Vatican.  Due to a Wednesday morning papal audience, all tour groups were in the afternoon.  It gives new meaning to the word crowded… and pushy.  

Alesandro, our guide

Imagine trying to look at beautiful artwork with people stepping in front of you, elbowing you out of the way, and being downright rude.  Not fun!  

And to top it off, the place we were to meet up with our guide was the same sidewalk where Costa Cruises, MSC Cruises and Oceana Cruises told their groups to meet.  Chaos, Italian style.