Category Archives: World Heritage Sites Visited

The Parthenon and the British

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I’ve just been going over our photos and moving some of them to our photo gallery. I am struck by the number of slides from the Athens Archeological museum that are plaster reproductions of stone pieces in the London Museum. Fully 60% of the Parthenon was torn from the building, packaged up, and shipped to London where they were sold to the British Government.

What a rip-off. If Greece could get Britain to pay a fair market value for the stolen pieces, they would not have a monetary crisis with the European Union today! Fat chance of that happening.

I’ve added photos we took while visiting Patmos, Rhodes, Santorini, and Athens in that order. Left to be added are Monemvasia (fantastic), Katakolon with a trip to Olympia the home of the Olympic Games, and Corfu.

We stop in Dubrovnic, Triluke Bay, and Venice in the next few days. We are meeting Marcus and Alexandra in Venice. They are flying down from their home in Germany to spend a short weekend with us before we move on to Florence.

Tonight we have a John Stackhouse lecture about Venice, a meet the captain reception, dinner, a piano recital featuring one of the guests, and dancing late into the evening

As I”ve probably said earlier, we have met some truly fascinating people aboard. People with whom we will stay in contact. Some may visit us in San Francisco. We may visit others in Boston, Melbourne, England, and New Zealand.

We need to have “retirement” cards printed up with our info on them. “Elder Gypsies” Ron and Ellen blah blah…. One couple beat us to it by giving us their retirement card. We had a hilarious conversation over dinner with a proctologist and his wife and friends last night. We nearly closed down the restaurant, but remembered that Paul Adams, the comedian, was playing in the Salon and we boogied on over. Adams was hilarious; too. We called it a night without dancing. This morning Roz said that she got Rob to dance last night, “That never happens”.

Another thing that often goes unconsidered. On a cruise, the itinerary is entirely in the hands of Seabourn (in this case). All we had to do was make it to the ship on 6/6. All has been taken care of for us since then. On 6/20 we’re on our own again. Seabourn will be a hard act to follow. I only hope there are no significant hiccups in our remaining itinerary!

Sailing Away to Dubrovnic,

Ron & Ellen

Seabourn Day 12, Corfu morning

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We will not join a tour today, choosing to walk the city instead. Steaming into the harbor at sunrise was stunning, though there are two quite large cruise ships ahead of us. It will be busy ashore with at least 4500 newly arrived guests. The good news is Seabourn is usually an hour ahead arriving and the large ships depart an hour or two earlier.

I ran and did some weight training this morning before bringing cappuccinos down to our suite. We spend an hour at the bow as the Odyssey docked with the pilot driving the ship. Expecting some quiet time taking in the view, I was pleasantly surprised that we spent the whole time talking to a couple from Melbourne then a couple from Boston. Two weeks is long enough to go beyond recognizing fellow guests to getting to know them. We avoided “red sox” again this morning and hope to continue doing so. Apparently that couple was at the captain’s table for dinner after the reception and he talked through the entire meal At the end of the meal he said, “Boy you Aussies don’t talk very much, do you?” To which one of the guests at table responded,” We do, but we couldn’t get a word in edgewise.”

We’re off for breakfast just now. The buffet is glorious in the variety of fruit, grains, meet, cheese, and cooked delicacies.

Bon Chance

Ron

We’re back from a walk around the old fort and Corfu. It was very hot today starting around noon. The fort is a fortification with a moat and a causeway inside. On display are a few canon and mortars from the 1700’s. One French, one British, and one Venetian with two Venetian mortars. The Venetian canon was obvious in its workmanship. Where the other two canon were strictly functional, the Venetian canon was beautiful to behold. The two mortars shot 20 inch rounds around 600 meters. The French canon shot 3.6 inch rounds 1.9 miles. The British canon shot 5.5 inch balls 2.6 miles, but the Venetian canon shot 6 inch balls 2.7 miles. The views from the castle walls was very impressive. Corfu is a sailing destination with many marinas and a surrounding sea dotted with white sales against the deep blue sea. Corfu is also a tourist destination. On the busy main street the tourists and locals were evenly numbered, but that was with “only” three cruise ships in port. It can get much busier.

I recommend visiting the old fort and stopping at the cafe for a draught beer and some moussaka. Both are very good. The terrace is shaded with a wonderful view of the bay.

Corfu has a number of up-scale shops if you wander past the street facing the park across from the fort. You can find practically anything you want from a cheap bracelet to a Versache design. We walked the shopping district and found our way back to the cruise ship without taking a shuttle. It was hot. I recommend taking a shuttle as the walk back to port is not shaded.

We had a good day in Corfu, but without any ancient ruins or museums and without snorkel and mask.

Ron

Seabourn Day 11 evening

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Tonight we are meeting with Rob, Roz, Tim, Tina, and Tony and his wife. We’ll meet in the Observation Lounge on deck 10 in the bow. The plan was to head to dinner, but Paul Adams is performing the the Grand Salon at 6:30. He is a very very funny comedian whom we will not miss. I expect we’ll go directly from the Observation Lounge to the Salon.

I’ve been considering tips lately since we’ll be going ashore “permanently” soon. Seabourn states that tips are not required in a number of places in their literature. They do not discourage tipping; rather suggesting that if service was extraordinary, a tip would be appreciated. I have already given a small token of my appreciation to Olivia, the gal who makes our cappuccino each morning. Maria runs through our suite at least twice a day making the suite look just like we stepped into it for the first time. She has done an amazing job. Jovan is our morning breakfast guy. Each morning we sit in his service area, talk about the port we will be visiting or about family and friends. Breakfast is buffet style; we get most of our breakfast foods ourselves, but Jovan gets my eggs each morning. Then there’s JP. JP knows everyone’s name, all 450 guests on the ship. We banter with JP about the food and enjoy his warm bubbly sense of humor. All the staff are outstanding in the way they make each guest feel at home, and provide personal attention for all. Olivia, Maria, Jovan, and JP stand out among a sea of outstanding people. We will reward them for their attention to us.

Seabourn is a one of a kind cruise line.

Ron

Seabourn day 10, Katakolon port and Olypmia

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Last night’s dinner after the Captain’s reception was fabulous. I had foie gras Ellen had a beet salad and we both had veal tenderloin served over a square of potato with a wonderful wine reduction. The deserts were amazing.

This morning we awoke in the port of Katakolon in the Peleponnese. We spent the early morning working out, me running and lifting weights in the gym, Ellen stretching in our suite. I brought cappuccinos down to the suite, Ellen went to the Colonnade for breakfast and we headed out to the tour of Olympus at 8:15. The day was warm and growing hot already.

Our tour guide was well versed in Greek mythology and explained the lineage of many of the Greek gods and some of the Roman along the way. The entrance to Olympus opens into the palaestra, part of the gymnasium used for training wrestlers. It, like most of the site, lies in ruins. The temple of Zeus, the baths, and the temple of Hera are all in ruins. One column of the Temple of Zeus was rebuilt at a cost of $500,000 euro. The plan to rebuild the front six columns was abandoned. It was great fun walking from one ruin to another listening to our guide describe both the history and the mythology of the site. Women and children were not allowed in the Stadium during the month of training or the five days of the games under pain of death. One family won repeatedly, a woman’s farther won, her husband won 3 times, and she wanted to train her son. She dressed as a man and entered the Stadium as her son’s trainer and helped him train. Her son won his competition and in tears his mother ran to him, but her disguise dropped away and she was revealed as a woman.

She begged the judges for her life asking how they could condem a woman to death when she was following her own law and helping her son win. She was not put to death, but thereafter the trainers, and judges had to enter the Stadium naked. Nakedness was required of the athletes already.

This is historical fact.

We enjoyed our tour of the ruins, but the tour of the archeological museum was more fascinating. Unlike the Parthenon’s museum, each piece in the Olympic museum was original. Greece is seismicly active. The Temple of Hera was destroyed by an earthquake in the 4th century Ad. It is thought that earthquakes are responsible for most of the destruction of Olympia. The statue of Hermes with the baby Dionysyus which was damaged in an earthquake in 1983 which broke the baby’s left arm. This statue is thought to be the inspiration for Michelangelo’s David two thousand years later. There is an uncanny resemblance between the two statues.

We returned to the small town of Katakolon had a very Greek lunch of salad, tzaziki, bread, and Alpha beer. We met a newly wed couple who flew from Ft. Lauderdale to Oia, spent a few days in Oia before catching the Odyssey to Venice and a Boston attorney and his wife who embarked in Athens for the trip to Venice. The newlyweds were bubbly and very happy with Seabourn service. The attorney and his wife were fun. We discussed Boston, travel, nuclear energy, and electric cars though not in that order. After hardly eating a bite, we had to cut the conversation short to actually eat.

Later we returned to the cafe for fee wi-fi, but spend most of our time sorting photos and not actually uploading anything. After returning to the bad, some of the off-loading of photos is underway (but at a price!).

Seabourn Day 7, Piraeus and Athens

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This morning we arrived at the port of Piraeus. Piraeus (Peray Us) is the commercial port of Athens where the Odyssey docked this morning. I was up a bit early and took two cappuccinos to our suite. The cappuccinos are really good aboard ship.

At dinner on restaurant #2 we were told to book a signature evening in the restaurant. There are two dinner “types”; one is a pre-arranged menu, the other is a “signature” menu. The pre-arranged dinner limits the chef’s creativity. We experienced this in that the first “cocktail” which was actually a fruit dish was excellent. The first course was even better, with very well combined flavors in unexpected ways. By comparison, the main course fell flat. It was good, but nowhere up to the quality of the earlier courses. Our waitress suggested that we book a signature dinner next week. Making longish story short, this morning we booked a signature meal at 7:30 mid-week.

Then it was off to a hurried breakfast (the fruit selection is amazing and varies day to day) and we shuffled aboard a bus for the ride to the Acropolis and the Parthenon. Athens has been over run so many times that little remains of the Greek ruins today. For the Parthenon, the worst transgression was perpetrated by a British gentleman, Elgin Marbles, who carted off 60% of the Parthenon to England. He hoped to become wealthy selling the massive stones he transported back over an eleven year period. England paid him thirty two thousand British pounds. A goodly sum, but not the wealth he expected. Worse, the stone carvings are priceless and now in the London Museum.

The tour of Athens was good. On the down side, very few of the original ruins or artifacts exist today. Much of what we viewed were reconstructions. Even the Parthenon is a reconstruction of the original that the Persians destroyed sometime in the first century AD. Granted, the reconstruction was an ancient one. The Parthenon was shelled by the Turks much later and one side of the Parthenon was destroyed.

The Odyssey left port and we are headed to Monemvasia. As we are continuing on to Venice, we are “in transit”. About half of the guests departed at Athens. There was a mandatory safety drill at 3:15, a spa raffle at 4:15, an “in transit” cocktail party at 5:00, a lecture on “what be a pirate” at 5:30, and a rundown of all the tours available on this leg of the cruise at 6:30. It has been a busy afternoon and evening. We’re off to a semi-formal dinner in the restaurant now. It’s 7:50 pm. Tomorrow we’ll be walking the streets of Monemvasia!

Dinner was fabulous this evening. I started with a beef carpaccio, which had a myriad of flavored sauces drizzled at the plate edges. Ellen had a duck breast appetizer that also had a wonderful sampling of flavors on the plate. My veal piccata Milanease was very good, but Ellen’s beat goat cheese ravioli was superb. Then there were the deserts. Sugar-free vanilla and chocolate mousse with sugar caramelized raspberries, mint, and sugar glassee.

This mornings excursion to the Acropolis was fun, though two couples stood out as trouble. One woman pigeon holed me as we headed to the bus and complained that she should not have booked the second week, she was bored, was I on my second week, she had not seen me last week, did I like her new red hat she purchased in Santorini, isn’t it just the perfect hat, oh and can I help her with her smart phone. Geez, complaining about what is for us a wonderful cruise visiting some very amazing places. I assume she was hanging out by the pool the entire time.

Later when we arrived at the Acropolis, we had to climb a series of stairs. Somehow she and Ellen wound up together ahead of our group. Ellen found her way back, to the group. We didn’t think anything about it until two hours later we exited the Acropolis and a head count showed that she was missing. Funny, her husband didn’t seem to know or care that she was gone! WTF? We waited for her to show up for a while, then we headed off the the Archeological Museum without her. I heard later that she turned up on the Odyssey. All of the guests we’ve met thus far are really wonderful and well traveled people. This gal is one to be avoided. There is another couple that loves to complain. As one fellow said to me, “I’d rather be happy than wealthy” I agree.

At dinner this evening just as the main course was placed on the table, the red-hated woman showed up at our table to apologize for holding up the bus and continued to regale us with tales, including statement that she was a beautiful woman. Like where did that come from. Geez, just let me enjoy our dinner together. Luckily this is unusual behavior. I’m hoping we can avoid her and her argyl socked husband in the future. Let them glom onto some other couple.

To night’s show was a comedian, Paul Adams, a British comedian. He was very funny and entertaining. The show was over far to quickly. Tomorrow we don’t have an excursion planned. We can have an unhurried breakfast and wander the streets of Monemvasia.

Seabourn Day 6, Rhodes evening

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I woke early today and made my way to the bow on our deck level to the small Jacuzzi. I had the sunrise and the Jacuzzi to myself as the ship steamed into Rhodes. I let Ellen sleep, tough I did take a cappuccino down to her from the “snack bar”.

Today we had a late start after a leisurely breakfast and headed inside the walled ancient city of Rhodes. The city wall is 12 meters thick. Inside there are two mosques, the Palace of the Grand Master (the city father), the temple to Aphrodite, the Museum of Antiquities, the seven homes of the knights, and more shoos and restaurants than we’ve seen on other islands.

The Knights were divided into seven sections or ‘tongues’ – England, France, Germany, Italy, Aragon, Auvergne, and Provence – and each group was responsible for defending a part of the city. They were all interconnected by the outer wall.

The Museum of Antiquities was fascinating, though so extensive that we had to stop after a few hours. On a wall to the left as you exit the first building headed to the gardens, there is an enclosure that houses very ancient mosaics. The earliest is made of river stone collected by color and size and fitted into the mosaic. It is one of three oldest mosaics in Europe. Other mosaics were made from tiles, flat manufactured pieces mass produced for these slightly less ancient mosaics.

Everywhere we looked there were fascinating articles from ancient Greece. Many of the pieces on display have not had photos published. For that reason, photography was not allowed in some of the buildings. In time that will change. Also most guide books say that a 3 euro ticket to one museum is good for all three. That is no longer the case. Each museum charges 6 euro for admission. Not something to complain about, you are supporting the archeological history of Greece. It is something to be aware of.

We docked at the port and could walk ashore. Just before we set out, a massive ship, the aida.de with 2050 passengers docked beside us and disgorged a swarm of tourists. In Patmos there were two small ships in port and we had the city of Ephesus nearly to ourselves. This was quite different. We found that by getting away from the few large shopping streets, the crowds dwindled and we could take in the beauty of Rhodes at our own pace.

Tonight there is an epicurean feast pool side. We have reservations for Restaurant #2 at 8pm. Ellen just popped a slice of peach in my mouth. Each day a “fruit of the day” is left in the cabin. Today was peach and it is perfectly ripe. We had a variety of lychee nut for breakfast that I have never seen before and it too was great.

Lunch at a restaurant on one of the busy streets was a bit disappointing. The stuffed peppers were fantastic, but the main dish of seasoned beef meat balls was just OK. I’m still looking for spanakopita.

Off to shower and join the epicurean event.

R

Seabourn Day 6, Rhodes morning

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We just docked at Rhodes and the medieval old city wall and Knights of St. John Castle are visible from our veranda. Today we will walk the old city and visit its museums. Each day is surprisingly different. The islands have a personality all their own. Off to a quick breakfast and a jaunt ashore.

At some point I will break up our Europe2015 photo gallery into individual islands.

R

Seabourn Day 5, Patmos Greece

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We are off to Rhodes now. This morning we awoke a bit late and had a hurried breakfast at the colonnade restaurant after a tipple monadic and cappuccino. We then headed to the Grand Salon to meet our tour of Patmos and St. John’s cave/monastery.

There were about 40 of us on this tour, when left by bus and climbed the hill to the monastery. There are 25 Orthodox Christian Monks who live there.

Historically, under the reign of Emperor Demetrius of Rome, the upstart Christian religion was persecuted. Some were killed, others exiled. So. John was exiled from Ephesus to Patmos. Pagan gods were worshiped on Patmos and John was further persecuted on Patmos. He lived in a cave high atop the hill, where God revealed himself in a voice likened to a waterfall or trumpets. At a lecture we attended, the professor pointed out that the loudest noise known to the ancients was the sound of rushing water or trumpets. It is said that the power of God’s voice split the ceiling of the cave into three fissures, symbolic of the trinity. John is the patron saint of Patmos. He lived in exile for about two years, baptizing a growing following on the island. Demetrius was murdered and the next Emperor of Rome was tolerant of Christianity. Those exiled were allowed to return and John returned to Ephesus, where he eventually converted the island to Christianity.

Now I am not a believer in all the god stuff, but history is fascinating. To know that John the Baptist (or Theologian as he is known on Patmos) lived in exile in a cave on Patmos for two years is amazing. We visited the cave, saw and spoke with monks, and toured the monastery and its museum. The monastery cataloged about three thousand books and manuscripts that it housed, though only about one thousand remain today. The manuscripts were written by scribes on animal skin then on papyrus. The oldest manuscript is on display in the museum, though it is nearly impossible to make out the writing. That manuscript was broken into parts with pages on display in Rome, in So Petersburg Russia, and here in Patmos. The illuminated manuscripts on display are fascinating. Each page contains a passage from the bible centered on the page, a painting at the bottom of the page, and commentary explaining the passage taking up most of the page.

It was fascinating touring the monastery.

We next went to a mansion dating to the 17th century. The wealthy on the island at that time were merchants who build their houses on the hillside. This house/mansion war reminiscent of Spanish homes with high wooden beamed ceilings. The great room, was once an open courtyard that was enclosed sometime later. We met the owner, an 87 year old woman who’s ancestors build the house.

Next we went to a family owned taverna for a bit to eat and a demonstration of Greek folk dance. Three gentlemen dressed in traditional Patmos garb danced three exemplary dances, then the fun began. One fellow, who looks quite a bit like my father, started picking people from the tour to come up stage to learn some dance steps. The young couple to my right politely refused, and I was selected along with about 11 others. Only later did I learn that Ellen had extended her arm over my head with one finger pointing down as if to say, “take him”. She thought since only males were dancing, she was safe. Nope, the fellow took her by the arm too.

This was embarrassing at first, but became great fun. The dance steps were not that difficult and everyone was a good sport about it.

The bus took us back to port a short time later. Ellen and I wandered the town for a while, eventually stopping at a gelato shop. Every flavor looked good. Ellen ordered and headed off to the bathroom. I had fun bantering with the young woman behind the counter, ordered gelato for Ellen and I, and explained that Ellen had the money (which she did). When Ellen came out we paid, took our gelato and the woman handed us a napkin. Ellen asked for another one, and she handed us about 10. I said, ” the gelato is free, but the napkins are extra…”. The gal, then grabbed another 10 and handed them to us with a smile. “That’ll be extra”, she said and we all laughed. She then seriously asked if we wanted the second 10, which we didn’t. We sat in the shade outside eating and after a while the gal came out to clean the tables and we got to know her a bit. She was from Rhodes, the island we are headed to now. She said Patmos was empty now, there were only two small cruise ships in port, but when one of the big ones arrives, it gets crazy busy. It’s the difference between an extra 500 people versus an extra 3000 to 5000 people. The town is small, only two or three streets.

After our gelato, Ellen searched for a pair of plain black pants to no avail. I was fading fast, a combination of lack of sleep, fatigue, and the building mid-day heat. There was no breeze to cool things down. We took the local tender back to the boat. Changed into more comfortable clothing (for the monastery we had to cover knees, shoulders, and midriff), we headed to the pool-side restaurant for a bit of lunch, then back to our suite for siesta. We almost missed dinner we were so relaxed as the sun began to set. Luckily Ellen checked the time and we arrived for dinner 30 minutes before they closed. Ellen had a prawn appetizer and sock-eye salmon, I had steak Tarik (seared steak trimmed with pepper corns, fruit, and balsamic reduction) and Filet. The ship misplaced our half bottle of wine which didn’t show up until dinner was almost over. Not a problem in the great scheme of things. I had a small glass and saved the rest for tomorrow’s dinner in restaurant #2, the chef’s choice sampler of food combinations. I’ve read this is not to be missed and requires a reservation 24 hours ahead.

After dinner we sashayed down to the Grand Salon to hear the Seabourn Singers perform old and contemporary selections. They were really good, ending with “rule the world”. We almost continued the evening with dancing at “the club”, but thought better of it. We’re worn out, but tomorrow is another day.

For tomorrow, on the island of Rhodes, we will not take a tour opting instead to wander the old city.

We could get used to this lifestyle. The destinations are stunning; the food wonderful bordering on extravagant; and the company; both guests and crew, are both informative and lots of fun. Aside from my half bottle of wine going missing, everything has been stellar and what’s a bottle of wine in the great scheme of things? From controlling debarkation and embarkation, to remembering our names and providing very personalized service, Seabourn has been in a class by itself.

Tomorrow, the ancient walled city of Rhodes.

Ron

Rome 2015, day 2

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We researched the best way to see the Colesseum on-line the evening before. We saw the throng of people queued up to get into the ruins and both agreed “no way, we’re not waiting an hour or two in line”.

You can buy tickets in advance that bypass the ticket line entirely here:http://www.coopculture.it/en/colosseo-e-shop.cfm

You buy your ticket, print your ticket, walk through the “express gate” to the left of the ticket line entry gate, and present your ticket to a window for validation. The whole operation took maybe 5 minutes. From Trastevere we took the #8 tram to the last stop (Piazza Venezia) and walked around the enormous marble monument Vittorio Emanuele II also nicknamed by some as the”wedding cake.” Next, the Colosseum. The walk to the colosseum is stunning, but the sheer magnitude of the colisseum dwarfs all other ruins. It is immense. Estimates put its capacity at between forty and seventy thousand spectators.

We arrived early, before the crowds became a human sea, around 10AM and left around 11:30 as the crowds swelled. Even in late May, the sun can be quite hot. We found it best to take siesta between 2 and 4 (sometimes 1 and 3 or so). We took the #8 back home and stopped at a so-so pizzeria. The pizza was served on an extremely thin crust that was cooked on an oak fire. The spinach side dish was the best I’ve had at a restaurant in decades. Go figure. The beer was wet and cold. Two out of three = success.

After our siesta we headed out to find the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps.

That took some doing… to be continued.

Syracuse and Agrigento Italy

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On our last trip to Italy nearly 15 years we toured Sicily in an automobile.  We visited two world heritage sites on this trip: Syracuse and Agrigento.

We loved staying at a few days at Villa Igea, Palermo when we first arrived.  I rented a bright red Alfa Romero sedan and we toured the island, stopping at Agrigento to visit the Greek Ruins and continuing along the cost to Syracuse.  We were able to walk the ruins alone in the evening.  The night manager of the nearby hotel let us right in even though we were not staying at that hotel!

I particularly liked the old town of Syracuse.  It is an art and artisan community centered around the 8 century BC town center.  The more recent city battlements are in fantastic condition.