Homeward Bound

As the Norwegian Gem silently slips through the deep blue Mediterranean Sea just a couple of hundred miles from the home port of Venice, Italy, I realize that this wonderful two week cruise is about to end. The Lord blessed us with beautiful weather, smooth seas, and the ability to visit places we have never been. We came to realize that every part of the world has a unique beauty and specialness that makes those who live there love their land and take pride in their country. We found that people all over the world are basically the same…everyone wants to live in peace, enjoy life and live in freedom. We heard the word “freedom” and “liberty” more in the five days we spent in Greece than most of the years we have lived in and loved the good old USA. We have made new friends, seen new place and captured memories that will last a lifetime. As we near the end of this journey I realize that today will soon be yesterday, but we have enough memories to be enjoyed for many, many tomorrows.

Iraklion, Crete

Iraklion, Crete is the fourth largest city in Greece. However, unlike Athens, and even Izmir, Turkey, Iraklion did not seem nearly as hectic and congested. We enjoyed a very pleasant stroll down the waterfront to the old fort built by the Venetians hundreds of years ago to protect the city from invasion. This area is also a major shopping and historic district where we visited the old Venetian arsenal which is not the Town Hall, the Church of the Apostle Titus and the Basilica of St. Mark as well as a major plaza and very lovely and peaceful park. The pace was quite slow and the people very warm and friendly. When we first arrived and we looked over the rail from the ship we were trying to decide why we had stopped in what could as well have been Buffalo, NY from the looks of things. However, once we began to explore the little streets and byways we soon discovered what a lovely and charming place this really is. Once again…I’m not sure what we expected…but, this wasn’t it. We had a marvelous visit in this ancient city.

Mykonos, Greece

Today we visited the playground of the rich and famous, the island of Mykonos, Greece. It seems that the vacation and second home “hula hoop” of the Jet Setters is now Mykonos. I can certainly see why. Mykonos is an absolutely beautiful island with lots of beaches, which Corfu and Santorini did not have. We have noticed that each one of the three islands that we have visited is so different from the others. Each has its own distinct personality, architecture, flavor and atmosphere. Mykonos is much like Santorini in that there is very little vegetation and very limited height to the trees that are growing. There are more threes here than on Santorni, but not nearly the lush areas of Corfu. The climate is very hot and arid, not nearly as humid as Santorini or Corfu. With so many differences, it would be impossible for anyone to visit one and say that they had “seen” the Greek Islands.
We covered a lot of the island on our tour…saw some very nice homes (one of which is pictured) and observed their gorgeous beaches, again, which Corfu and Santorini did not have, which I am sure is one of the reasons this place is so popular. The shopping area was also delightful with streets that were narrow, but not too narrow, and fortunately, not very crowded at all. The streets wind around in all directions and were purposely laid out that way many centuries ago to confuse the invading pirates. At times today I felt like one of those pirates…confused. However, in the end we had a delightful time and so far, I think I enjoyed Mykonos the best of the three we have visited.

Santorini...Part 2

Last week we had to reschedule our visit to Athens due to the labor strike and disruption and visited the island of Santorini on Athens day. Well…needless to say there were more cruise ships in the harbor that day than the residents had possibly every seen….and the congestion on the island was horrible. We were OK in Oia, but when we hit Fira it was wall to wall people…not very conducive for shopping or sightseeing.
Well, today was our regular stop and boy am I glad we came back. We were docked from 4 PM to 11 PM and were the only ship in port. The streets of Fira were pleasantly light of traffic and the restaurants were open with plenty of seating. We had a delightful time looking and shopping as we found the perfect piece for the Family Room shelves. In addition we had a delicious authentic Greek salad at a nice little café overlooking the Caldera. The pictures show the view from the café as well as Delinda enjoying the salad. They also say that Santorini has some of the most spectacular sunsets anywhere in the world and the photo I have included does not do justice to the beauty and serenity of the occasion.
We had a delightful time and now understand even better why so many people just love this little island that seems lost in time.

Corfu, Greece

The Greek island of Corfu is totally different from Santorini. First of all, the island is larger in size and population, with about 200,000 residents. Secondly, the main city of Corfu is much more modern and congested with traffic, more like Athens. And, thirdly, the architecture is distinctly Italian. This is the result of the 400 years that the Venetians occupied Corfu and left not only their taste in architecture, but many other aspects of daily life as well.
The island has large mountains that make for some fantastic views of the city, the port, as well as various resort areas. The first picture included here is of the two old fortresses built over a thousand years apart to defend the island. I am beginning to understand why the Greek islands are so popular for vacations. You feel like you are a million miles from nowhere, but surrounded by crystal clear water, tall mountains, gorgeous sunsets, an easy going lifestyle and great food. My kind of place!

Split & Trogir, Croatia

I’m not quite sure why anyone would name a city, Split…but, the Croatians did and today we visited said, Split and a delightful little walled, coastal village know as, Trogir. It was another beautiful day and the 30 minute bus ride from the docks to Trogir was delightful as we got to see some of the lovely countryside. One thing I have noticed that adds a common thread to the otherwise totally diverse look of the places we have visited in Croatia, is that about 90% of all of the roofs in the country are orange tile. At first I thought this was just an identifying mark of Dobrovnik, but come to find out, everyone in Croatia has this thing for orange tile roofs.
Anyway…this little, ancient village of Trogir had so much charm. Very narrow streets and walkways with shops popping up in the oddest places and living quarters just about anyplace you could fit in a door. The town centered around the main plaza with a lovely Cathedral. About 90% of Croatia is Roman Catholic and their churches are usually the major focus of each town and village. The only thing I found a little strange is that it cost me a dollar to use the Toilette.
In Split we toured, what is the heart of the city and was the original city. It is a gigantic palace built by the Roman emperor Diocletian as his retirement home. Following his death and the overthrow of the Roman Empire, the people moved in and set up residence. It is fascinating to see how they built this structure and all that they incorporated into making it very livable seeing as how it was built 1700 years ago in 293 AD.
All in all it was a most enlightening day and one to be remembered.

Venice...Part 2

This morning we sailed back into Venice to complete the first week of our two week cruise. Most of those on board only cruised for this first week so as 2,800 people from all over the world were heading home another 2,800 were boarding for the first time. Those of us who were continuing for a second week, had four hours to enjoy the lovely and unique walkways and canals of beautiful Venice. We used this time to see a part of Venice that we had never experienced. We took a shuttle boat over to St. Marks Square and headed east toward the beautiful park and garden located at the far east end of the island.
As we took our time in the cool of the early morning we enjoyed the fact that this early on a Saturday morning there were not a lot of tourists and the residents were slowing coming to life. We discovered a wonderful local neighborhood with fruit markets, grocery store, a pharmacy and, as Delinda discovered, a Venice ladies dress shop! The park was lovely and had several benches along the water that looked back toward St. Marks Square and the lovely Venice skyline…and waterline. We just sat for a while and drank it all in.
Back on board we are now anxiously awaiting another week of exciting new ports of call and more of the wonderful food…and…yes, boys…lots of ice cream!

Athens and the Acropolis

Like almost all very large metropolitan cities, Athens is a crowded, bustling place with impossible traffic. With a population of over five million, Athens never seems to slow down. It’s like the whole town OD’d on Red Bull. Things seemed so much more hectic than we found them in Izmir, but everyone involved just seems to accept the inevitable and rolls with the flow.
Our tour included stops at the Olympic Stadium used for the 2004 Games, Parliament with the tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the two ever present Greek Soldiers in old traditional dress, the Academia and Athens University.
The main stop, of course, was the world famous Acropolis with the Parthenon, the ancient temple of the goddess Athena. As I had seen so often in history books, the Acropolis is without question one of those places that everyone should visit. Just thinking back of the grandeur and how beautiful the place must have been during the glory days of Greece with all of the marble steps and walkway, the Parthenon, the other temples and gates…and the Agora where Socrates held class and taught the greatest minds of the day. Also, right below the Acropolis is a very large rock which is Mars Hill. This was the location where the Apostle Paul addressed the Athenian scholars and first presented the concept of a true, loving God. To say that the visit was overwhelming would be an understatement. The Acropolis is a place that can be revisited and studied over and over without ever growing stale. It was an experience never to be forgotten.