Europe 2009 - the Mediterranean

We found the deal of a lifetime, a month long cruise through the Mediterranean with a perfect list of port stops and a tran-Atlantic crossing on our way home. Our friends, Gary & Sallie, proved to be ideal traveling companions and we couldn't have had a more action packed trip.

Venice, Italy - Our cruise began in Venice and we arrived a few days early so we could have sufficient time to explore this fabulous destination. Our friends had booked the hotel and it proved to be a gem. Navigating our way through town, we wheeled our bags for several blocks then turned into a narrow alleyway that we would never think of entering in any other city on earth. A red door opened from the alley into a small vestibule with an even smaller (one-person) elevator. Despite the questionable entryway our rooms proved to be very nice, on the third floor overlooking a canal. We spent the first night walking the narrow streets and riding the crowded water buses. We had purchased two essential items before leaving home: a water bus pass and a toilet pass, not all of which got fully used. Venice is our favorite city in the world. Too bad its sinking into the sea! Click to view Venice photo slideshow.

Dubrovnik, Croatia - The next port we visited was Dubrovnik on the beautiful Dalmatian coast. The main attraction here is an old walled city constructed between the 8th to 16th century. The city walls are touted as the finest example in all of Europe.. We paid 50 kunas (not very much in "real" money) to walk the top of the walls which vary in height from 15 to 75 feet. There are in excess of 550 steps in the 2 kilometer loop. All buildings within the walls have bright orange tile roofs (making a really striking picture). Many had obviously been rebuilt as a result of damage inflicted during the 1991 war with Serbia. The old city is still inhabited and it seemed strange to see satellite dishes and people's wash hanging from those ancient buildings. Click to view Dubrovnik photo slideshow.

Athens, Greece - Our next stop was Athens and a tour of the classic ruins of the Acropolis. We found Athens to be a big and crowded city. Getting around was doubly hard because the signs were not only in a different language, they were in a different alphabet! We even saw Greek alphabet graffiti (and it was just as illegible as the Mexican counterpart in the US). After fighting the crowds to see the Parthenon and other structures, we gravitated to the local museum which has sculptures and elaborately painted vases from that period on display. The quality of the artwork was truly astounding! The ruins and the statuary here are spectacular, mostly in the sense that they predate any others that we saw on this trip by 500 to 1,000 years. A common feature to all Greek and Roman settlements appears to be an elaborate theater complex. The "owner's box" was obviously set aside for the emperor. In the "cheap seats" we found a few spots that had holes bored in the stone seats. Were these cup holders? Click to view Athens photo slideshow.

Kusadasi, Turkey - We next crossed the Aegean Sea to Kusadasi, Turkey. It is one of the more popular seaside resorts in this part of the world. Turkey is a "secular" Muslim country and hearing the call to prayer emanating from the numerous mosques was an eerie experience. Our preconceived notions were dashed by the obvious honesty of the tradespeople. Our main interest in this port was its proximity to the well preserved ruins of the ancient city of Ephesus. From my "altar boy" days, I remember "a reading from a letter by St Paul to the Ephesians"; that's the place. One particularly interesting part of these ruins was the (comparatively) modern sanitation system that they employed. There were similar ruins located all over the countryside and our tour took us through the rural areas to visit two in addition to Ephesus. Included in the tour was lunch in a little village. They provided an excellent buffet of local dishes, but the main course was a scary looking fish with the head still attached. There were dozens of cats under foot knowing full well that the tourists were NOT going to eat that thing! Click to view Kusadasi photo slideshow.

Naples, Italy - Turning west and crossing around the boot of Italy, our next stop was Naples. The last thing we wanted to do was tour a big city. So instead we signed up for a boat ride along the beautiful Amalfi coast. At the end of the ride was a charming medieval town with typically narrow streets and a beautiful cathedral. The sport of choice here appears to be "kayak soccer". Now this is the "Europe" that we were looking for!

Our primary objective at this port was to visit the ruins of Pompeii. You all know the story about the volcanic eruption in 79AD that buried the city for the next 2 millennia. Excavation began in the relatively recent past and what they uncovered was the best preserved specimen of an ancient Roman town in existence. What we see is the remains of a complete city and not just some isolated ruins. We walked the streets and explored block after block of interesting sights. Many of the buildings had elaborately painted walls that had dulled little over the centuries. The walls in the brothel had particularly interesting murals painted on them. The streets were paved with stone blocks and recessed for water runoff. Large stone blocks were situated a chariot wheel's width apart to provide stepping stones for the pedestrians. You could still see the deep wheel ruts left by the chariots so long ago. Click to view Pompeii photo slideshow.

Rome, Italy - For our next stop we spent 2 days in Rome. We toured the city and hiked all around the excavated Roman Forum. The mood was spoiled, though, when we spotted a man dressed as a Roman Centurion wearing hiking boots and talking on a cellphone! We explored the spectacular Coliseum from stem to stern - happy to be consuming electrons instead of film. Crossing the Tiber River we also toured the Vatican and St Peter's. The next day we came back to visit the Vatican Museum with its elaborately decorated rooms and art treasures (looted) from all over the world. We were surprised to see that there were at least a dozen painted rooms and ceilings that rivaled the Sistine Chapel in elegance. Click to view Rome and Vatican photo slideshow.

We had been warned about Italy's notoriously unpredictable train system. Those rumors were not exaggerated. On the second day, heading back to the ship with little time to spare before it sailed, our train pulled into a station and just never moved again. After a reasonable time we saw a few locals getting off. A while later there was a mass exodus with lots of people running - in different directions! We tried to ask what was going on but nobody could/would speak English. We eventually followed a group onto another train and just hoped that it would be going in the right direction. It was, and we made it home with a good story to tell.

Florence, Italy - Continuing up the western coast of Italy, our next stop was the medieval city of Florence. The old part of the city has the typical narrow streets, and their vehicles of choice certainly reflected that attribute. Florence is a city of the Renaissance with beautiful cathedrals and breathtaking sculptures everywhere you look. The "quality" of the statues here far surpassed anything we had seen to date, due no doubt to their having been carved 500 to 1,000 years after those of the Greeks and Romans. An interesting observation for me was that nearly all of the statues were of (anatomically correct) naked men. Apparently the graceful curves of the female body didn't much impress folks during that era.

A few miles down river from Florence is the town of Pisa with its spectacular cathedral and its famous (leaning) bell tower. Patty had climbed to the top of the tower 25 years ago (when it was actually leaning farther than it now does). She has held that over my head since we met and I was anxious to duplicate her feat. Unfortunately, they now restrict the number of people that can climb it during each half hour increment and my assigned time would have been after our ride home had left. Oh well, it'll have to keep until next trip! Click to view Florence and Pisa photo slideshow.

Barcelona, Spain - Continuing west, our next stop was Barcelona, Spain. We took one of those "hop-on/hop-off" buses to explore the city and hopped-off at several stops to go in search of old cathedrals. After the narrow streets in the other cities, we were surprised to see that Barcelona was a very modern city with extra wide thoroughfares. Art is everywhere and the locals appear to be misinterpreting Oscar Wilde as they demonstrate that "art imitates life". One of the more interesting things that we stumbled across in Barcelona was a colorful open air market with every manner of dead animal for sale. The ladies had a great time using their artistic talents to capture the shapes and colors of the marketplace. Click to view slideshow of Patty's artistic photography.

Gibraltar, UK - Our next stop was the Rock of Gibraltar (aka the Pillars of Hercules). At the base of the "Rock" there is a traditional British town complete with city gates that probably date from medieval times. The roads climbing "The Rock" were unbelievably narrow with switchback turns that were too tight for even the small European vehicles to make without backing up. Perhaps the most interesting thing on The Rock are the famous Barbary Apes that run wild all over it. The babies are really cute, but the adults like to jump up on your shoulder and stick their butt in your face while looking for a handout.

Madeira, Portugal - Heading out into the Atlantic, our next stop was the Portuguese island of Madeira. The city is located on a steep cliff that climbs right out of the water. There is a sport there where people slide about a mile down very steep streets in a wicker basket. The baskets are like sleds with wooden runners but with no steering mechanism. Two native guys with recycled tire tread on the bottom of their shoes ride the runners like a dogsled musher. When the unit needs to stop, turn, or just get straightened out, one of the guys drags his feet while the other jumps off and pulls the front around with a rope (while probably going 20 miles an hour). Patty kept yelling "FASTER!" so the guys stopped and ran the runners over a waxed rag; that really got us moving. Click to view Madeira basket ride video

Other stops along the way

French Riviera - Next on our itinerary was the French Riviera and Monaco. We were somewhat disappointed that this time of year (late November) was too cold to bring out the "beautiful people". In Nice, at least, the beach itself is stones instead of sand. That could make sunbathing pretty uncomfortable unless you have a thick pad to lie on. The tiny Principality of Monaco has no beach at all; its ocean front is a big pleasure boat harbor.

We had heard that the French trains were far superior to those Italian ones. However, a quality maintenance program can't foresee a suicide on the tracks. We waited at the station for over an hour while a maintenance worker kept telling us "10 more minutes" (probably the only English words he knew). We finally gave up and caught the next train going in the opposite direction. Then, after exploring Nice for a few hours, we out-waited the messy cleanup operation and made it through to the ultra-modern train station for a hike around Monaco.

Cartagena, Spain - Another Spanish port on the agenda was Cartagena. This one was a real dichotomy, with an old Roman amphitheater surrounded by modern buildings that were interspersed with dingy tenement houses. Every hill was topped by an old fortification of some sort. The main shopping area was a series of pedestrian-only streets paved with marble. Our British table mates told us that this area is a prime "holiday" destination for Brits looking for fun in the sun.

Canary Islands, Spain - Our final stops were in the Canary Islands at Tenerife and La Palma. We had heard about some ancient pyramids on Tenerife that resembled the ones on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. We visited these pyramids in a park that was kind of dedicated to Thor Heyerdahl who was their "discoverer" (or at least their "publicist"). My take on it was "nice but no cigar".

Transatlantic-westbound - The final week of our cruise was spent crossing the Atlantic to Miami. We had very calm seas and the ship provided interesting speakers and plenty of entertainment. The best thing about the crossing were the fabulous sunrises and sunsets. One of the more interesting things about the crossing was the five 25 hour days that we experienced with the nightly time zone changes. What a wonderful cruise; the ship was beautiful, the scenery was outstanding, the ports were just perfect, and we had a truly great time.

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