Ephesus, Turkey, Day 9, June 27, 2009

Ephesus was once the eastern capital city of the Roman Empire. Unlike Rome, many of the ruins are in better condition due to its remoteness. The city was originally a seaport town; but over time slit closed the harbor and killed the economy. The mosquitoes from the developing marsh chased all remaining stragglers.

Much of this structure was reconstructed by archaeologists.

Since Home Depot or Lowes were not in business at the time, many of these ancient cities became sources of building materials. All of the fine marble and statuary have been removed by others over time. I guess they didn't care about our touring pleasure. Earthquakes have done their damage as well. Nevertheless, the splendor of the city can be envisioned through the remnants. The amphitheater sat 25,000 people which was about 10% of the population. Plays and public meetings were held here. St. John spoke here around 50 AD. Imagine, they did this without any construction equipment. Even here the marble for the seats have been quarried and carried off to other cities.

Early Christians were underground in the first century. The stone above shows ancient Christian graffiti. The Greek letters Iota-Chi-Theta-Psi-Sigma spells the Greek word for "fish". The pie circle is a composite of the five letters. OK, Why Fish? It's an acronym for Jesus Christ Son (of) God - Savior. Cool, eh? So the next time you see one of those bumper stickers, you know why its a fish.

Romans were pros at plumbing. Many of their storm water systems are still in use today. The above multi-seat toilet is built directly over a trough with running water. This public "sit" station was part of a transit station for travelers.

Cruising-Santorini, Greece, Day 7,8, June 25,26,2009

Today was the day off that we welcomed. It's nice to have nothing to do except for pool side drinks and an evening of dining and dancing. Today, I also consumed about two hours just walking the decks and taking photographs of this incredible ship. 4 large swimming pools and about 5 hot tubs decorated the upper decks. Food of various cuisines available everywhere. The pizza near the pool was a good as home.

Notice the perfect weather. Everyday was like this. Bring your sun block.
Our favorite pool on the eighteen deck looking down from the 19th deck

Santorini is a Greek Island that just littered with splendid elevated views. The cliffs fall into a harbor that is so deep that the ships can't anchor. Instead they use their thrusters to hold a GPS position.

To the top of the island, we rode cable car to the top of the island where 98% of the buildings are. We did brave walking down the switchback to the dock. The primary hazard is the Donkey poop.

Many of the buildings are stucco painted in beautiful pastels. Santorini, beautiful for one day, time to move on to more ancient ruins.

Naples, Italy, DAY 6, June 24, 2009

On this day we made three stops, Isle of Capri, Sorrento, and Pompeii. Even though we were at the port of Naples, we didn't tour there. Naples is a working man' s town much like Detroit. It has a higher unemployment rate than many other cities in Italy and more social problems than most.

We started with a boat ride. It was a high speed catamaran that slowly rode up and down with the waves. The cabin was like sitting in a theater. The lack of windows amplified the motion's effect on the brain and stomach. For a least a half an hour, the crew passed out plastic catch bags for the lesser heeled sailors amongst the passengers. Many were glad to place their feet on solid land again.

At Capri, the show was the scenery. You must take an inclined plane car to the top of the island. This is a very upscale place. Gucchi, Rolex, and other notables were represented on store fronts.
Perfumes, jewelry, high end fashion were available. We bought three postcards.
On to Sorrento, an excellent lunch which was included in the tour, window shopping, and back on the bus to Pompeii.

Pompeii is the legendary city that was covered with volcanic ash from Mount Vesuvius around 95 AD. It was rediscovered in the 1800's. (If I recall correctly.) Frozen in time it is a very interesting place. Unlike Rome, the ruins have not been abused by centuries of pillaging and weathering. In one ancient residence, the murals on the walls and tile work on the floors were nearly perfect. You really got a feel for the daily life of these people. This was the highlight of the trip so far.

Leave it to me to have an uncharged battery in my camera. Fortunately, Linda brought her camera. I'll post some photos later.

Florence, Pisa, DAY 6, June 23, 2009

Florence & Pisa were on the schedule today. Lots of Renaissance history to absorb. Bus #A3 was ready to hurry us to Florence. We walked and saw some beautiful buildings, statuary, and tombs of the contributors of the city's golden age. David is the big draw. Michelangelo touch is everywhere throughout Italy. Unfortunately, we only had time to see the copy of "David" on the Piazza. The original was moved from the Piazza to protect it from damage due to pollution and general weathering. Quite frankly, if I was told that what we saw was the original, how would I have known the difference?

This is the Basilica of something or the other.

From there, more beautiful churches, more sculptures, and more more.

Back on the bus, then to Pisa.

Yes, the leaning tower really does lean. It's then that you realize that if it wasn't for bad engineering, nobody would come to Pisa. That tells you something about human nature. Screw-up and it's a story. Do it right and everybody walks by without taking notice.

Pisa was more to an a American's expectation of a landmark site. plenty of mown grass around the building and everything was steamed cleaned. more like a park than an ancient church.

After seeing these buildings, you realize that the people in the 15th century just had nothing better to do than show-off by building magnificent structures.

Monaco, DAY 5, June 22, 2009

Monaco: Scenic Overkill. Country of millionaires.


This place is no more than a playground for the idle rich. All of the "real" people commute to work from France or from Italy. Even our tour guide was from Italy. It simply cost too much to live in Monaco. Since the rich don't sweep there own floors, the real people have to come from somewhere. We appreciate their tolerance of folks like us.

A view of the Mediterranean.

Diane checks out the royal family villas.

We took a short tour of the castle. A more modest place than you would expect. Beautiful furnishing, antiques, and grand portraits of Grace Kelly and the royal family.

Prince Albert reviews the changing of the guard. The prince had a guest for lunch on the day that we were there, consequently, the ceremony was delayed until noon. The band played and the small platoon of soldiers marched. I'd give it 3 of 5 stars. Buckingham Palace on a budget.

Prince Albert (out of the can.) He's the one on the right side. Wow! He waved at us. OK, It was pretty cool.

The marching band played three tunes while the guards marched by. The whole ceremony lasted about 15 minutes.

Pick your yacht. You can't believe how big these things are. It was nice to see some 20 foot boats in the marina next to the mega-yachts. I feel grounded by the experience.

Ok, back to the boat, we hear that they're giving Cha-cha lessons in "Club Fusion". Party on....

Civitavecchia, DAY 4, Sunday, June 21, 2009

Arrivederci Roma.

This was boarding day for the cruise. Rome is about 50 miles or 80 kilometers from the port of Civitavecchia. I have no idea how to say Civitavecchia correctly.

There are two basic choices to get there form Rome: Private limo or public train. Since we are loaded with money, we choose the limo at 140 Euro or $210. It' s much like going to Atlantic City from Philadelphia. Going by train required schleping luggage to the local train station and twenty minute walk from the train station to the ship at the other end. At 6 euro per person, a great bargain. This is another reason to bring just one piece of luggage.

The Mercedes was fast and comfortatble so probabaly worth it, I guess?

At the hotel in Rome, we met several couples that were cruising with us. These folks proved to be good company during the entire trip. There they were waiting in line with 3000 other passengers eager to board the ship on the dock.

The ship is beautiful. As the Ruby Princess is only eight months old, everything is sharp in appearance. No nicks or scratches that develop over time were evident. With of 3150 passengers and a crew of 1200, it is one of the biggest out there. On the cabin TV, they were continually playing episodes of “Love Boat”. They made a reference that the LoveBoat served 600 passengers. That was in the 1980’s. (I think.) Things change.


Six thirty, 1830, we pushed off. With one tug boat on the port bow line and bow thrusters surging, we were underway. Once the Ship was away from the dock, the tug dropped off and Ruby was under way. Next port Monte Carlo, Monaco. Prince Albert is waiting.
Tonight, we sail to Monte Carlo, Monaco. Prince Edward is expecing us.
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Lessons learned:

1. Carry a wardrobe for 6 days. you can always get things washed. The ship had multiple laundryomats. One medium-large(>50 lb.) roller suit case per person will do.
   
2. Don't be afraid to use the trains. It may be wise to avoid the city subway (Metropolitano); but, the train will get you between cities at low cost and quickly. We met several people that enjoyed their train ride from Venice to Rome and other points.


3. Everything in Italy is expensive for tourists. Water bottles can be as much as $3-5 Euro or as little as 50 cents. We ate several meals by filling up on snacks and free drinks at the Hotel's Hilton Honors Courtesy Lounge. The room fee included breakfast which was excellent. A dinner at Harry's Bar on Via Veneto rang-up at $128 Euro.


4. No matter how much you want to absorb from the tours, you will get saturated. Be sure to see the big tourists spots and maybe you will get to the secondary places.

Rome, DAY 3, Saturday, June 21, 2009

We took a guided tour to Ancient Rome. After a short bus ride, we walked the coliseum. The coliseum was built some time around 200 B.C. and was in service for 600 years. It seated about 80,000. Not unlike Philadelphia's’s Veterans Stadium except that it was in service 20 times longer. It had a complete system to house animals and mechanisms to lift the animals and gladiators to the arena floor. Once again, many of the adornments of marble were removed for other architectural projects. The cathedral builders found it much cheaper than quarrying new marble.

The Roman Forum was the next stop. Caesar walked the same streets as us.

The Arch of Triumph through which the Romans marched their conquered victims was still in nearly perfect condition. There were several illustrations of their newly captured slaves with chains & shackles on the Arch.
One of the structures columns had deep scars where a pope attempted to destroy the pagan artifacts by pulling them down. The Romans just built things too well.

Rome, DAY 2, Friday, June 20, 2009

This was the day to visit the Vatican. The advice to take the guided tour was graet advice. There is quite a crowd waiting to enter. The guided tours get preference. Our guide was amazingly knowledgeable. The museum is full of Greek art and other fine items. The Sistine Chapel was everything that was promised. Michelangelo does noce work. The chapel was wall to wall people. Guard shush the crowd trying to maintain some reverence to the sacred space. There re signs and all tourists are told no pictures allowed. Flash is forbidden through the museum. Despite the rules, people were snapping multiple shots some with flash in the Sistine Chapel. The tour continued to Saint Peters Basilica. Endless art, history, and relics fill the space.
In the evening we decided to walk through Rome starting at The Spanish Steps. The historic significance is minimal. The steps were built just to connect two churches. From there it’s a short walk to the Trevi fountain. (Three coins in the fountain.) This place attracts a crowd. Everyone fights their way up to the rail to get their photograph with the fountain as a backdrop.
Our last stop was the Pantheon. Now this place is something. It’s over two thousand years old and is still one of the largest dome structures in the world. We caught a free tour. The guide was an American around thirty years old. He told the story of the structure from the Romans to the Catholic Church to the Italian Monarchy. The Romans built this without anything but manual labor and concrete.
The top of the dome is about 300 ft to the top. The designer used decrease the all thickness and density of materials from the bottom from the top. So after 2000 years there are no visible cracks in the sphere.
The Romans and later the Italians stole from the ancients. The columns the support the portico in the front came from Egypt making them 3000-4000 years old. They are made from on solid piece of granite. How did they make these columns? Each is 40-50 tall, one piece, perfectly round and smooth. Amazing! Just cutting the rock from the quarry is a feat. The front was once decorated with bronze until a pope needed it to decorate the Vatican. Later to protect the Pantheon, another pope converted in to a church. This was the practice which also halted the stripping of the coliseum. The lions and Christians story was created to rationalize the founding of the coliseum as a holy site.

Rome, DAY 1, Thursday, June 19, 2009

Our flight departed Philadelphia at 6 PM and arrived at Rome at 8:30 AM. Immediately, I set my watch to Roman time in attempt to convince myself to sleep during the seven hour flight. Any sleep would help to synchronize our mental clocks. A seven hour difference is hard to overcome. Diane had some over the counter sleeping pills that did nothing. We both were wide awake for the duration. The non-rest gave us time to read rick Steve’s guide to Rome and help us set some priorities.

Arrival at Rome was a non-event. All signs were in Italian and sub-titled in English. I don’t know why but an Italian speaking couple kept asking me which way to go for baggage, etc. Despite my “no compisco Italiano”, they continued like I could read their minds and had some floor plan of the airport in my head. I was more lost then they were. We followed the herd to Immigration. Since we sat on the last row of the airplane, we were at the end of the line; however, we were at the front in 5 minutes. A quick glance at our passports and we were on to baggage claim. Not even a souvenir stamp in the passport.

The good part of waiting in lines before arriving at the bagagli carousel is that your bags are usually waiting for you. All those other passengers that managed to get there early do their waiting at baggage, whereas we had completed our duty to line-waiting. Well, that is all good theory.

Rome’s baggage claim has all of the glamour of Detroit’s baggage claim when I was there in 1990. It must have the efficiency that makes Philadelphia look like a leader. We waited at least an hour. We amused ourselves by watching the same four bags do the circuit 50 times, then suddenly, one of our bags appeared. Another ten minutes elapsed before the next three appeared. On to customs.

Follow the Red or Green signs, so we did. The Red line was fro declaring at customs. The Green line was if you had nothing to declare. We chose the Green. The door opened and we were in open space. Where are the custom inspectors? Who cares? The people in the Red line must honest beyond belief.

The sign said use only the white taxis. I guess that they pay for an access license. So we followed the taxi signs to the door where a man with an ID tag around his neck says, “do you need a taxi?”. I say. “Yes.” He starts by grabbing my bags. I pulled back, then he said no I take them. I grabbed my computer bag and let him lead me to the cab stand. He stated down the corridor, walking faster and faster. He kept passing the doors to the curb. This was not what I expected. At the end of the terminal he exited with me on his heals well past the last “white” taxi. We followed him into a side parking lot where a gray car was parked. When I saw the car, I said, “NO”. He pointed to his ID and a metal tag affixed to his license plate. I grabbed our bags an walked back to the airport taxi stand. He was just gypsy taxi trying to steal a fare. Of course the chase through the airport almost killed me. ,,,,Boungiorno, Roma.

Off to the Hotel Cavalieri. This place is on a hill on the northwest side of Rome. Taxi fare: 50 Euros or 75 Dollars. This is a really nice five star Hilton-Waldolf Hotel. Our room has a super view of the city. We can see the Pantheon and Parliament.
By noon, we crashed. Jet lag had claimed its victims.

In the evening, we took the hotel shuttle to Via Vento at Barberini Plaza. Dinner at Harry’s Bar left us 140 Euros ($210) lighter.

European Vacation

This Wednesday, Diane and I will be traveling to Rome. Rome is the first stop on our cruising adventure. No sailboats this time. We will be cruising on the Ruby Princess, a new ship in the Princess Cruise Line fleet.

We will start our trip with three days in Rome at the Hilton Cavalieri Hotel. Those Hilton Honors points came in handy.

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Our friends, Joe and Linda, will be joining us on Saturday.
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On Sunday, we board the Ruby Princess for 12 days. The ports of call include: Monaco-Nice, Florence, Naples, Athens, Ephesus, Mykonos, Olympia, Santorini, Corfu, and finally Venice.

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We will be staying three days in Venice at the Hitlon Molino Stucky. Our return flight will be on July 6.

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I fear the overdose of culture and history.

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I don't know what access that I will have to the Internet. If I can, I will post some quick updates.

Arrivederla, Sono en vancanza!

George & Diane