Mary spent her final years near Ephesus

Three and a half million of Turkey's Seventy three million citizens live in the area surrounding Izmir...pretty dense building patterns! Izmir is a MAJOR shipping port, stacks of containers heading somewhere! However, as we drove the hour and a half south to Ephesus you could have been driving California's Central Valley ...they grow corn, peaches, apricots, walnuts, figs watermelons, all manner of vegetables, grapes for raisins and wine ( yes, they have a "baby" wine industry). In 1922 the governments of Greece and Turkey "exchanged citizens" so Greeks are Greek and Turks are Turkish...(I, wonder if they asked the exchangees if they wanted that?), our guide explained that it is a secular country and as such people are expected to be good within themselves, but can drink alcohol and still go to prayer...we passed a significant brewery, and were served wine at lunch.



On to Mary...
Three Popes have visited the church built near where The Blessed Mother probably lived out her life. It is a lovely place and felt rather special to be there...it is, of course, overwhelmed with cruise ship visitors these days, but still a special place...hard to explain


Ephesus itself is larger than Pompeii ( seems important to the locals) and was once populated with 100,000 citizens and slaves. There was a good sewage system (into the Aegean ) plenty of water, homes built into the hillside, a library containing 12,000 "books", a lively downtown , a theater to seat 20 thousand, a very large shopping area or Agora as it was called
and baths in several strategic places in town. Of note is the men's bath where there were many places to sit...and they sent their slaves in the early morning to "warm the seats" which were cold marble. We're told there was a roof and a lovely mosaic to look at while they pondered....


The Library:



Look comfy??r

The city moved four times...the rivers silted up and the waterfront kept moving away...we visited the third site...now 5 miles from the sea.


The theater...until two years ago they had concerts here...more excavation and repair now on the right.


This is the last entry street from the seaport...before it moved again.
It is good to know how many people lived here because it was probably as crowded as we were with our fellow cruise travelers...this is a rare opportunity to be just one in a place.

There is something to be learned from that.

Location:Izmir, Turkey

Little thoughts...

Cruising for two weeks now, you cannot help but notice:

...Preparing green salad for two thousand is less than effective...

...Two thousand pounds of chicken per week...tends not to work so well, either...probably why they have 8 thousand of beef and two thousand of pork. You have to be strong to like the chicken..

...you can choose to share your dinner table, a nice idea. We happened to be seated with a woman who overwhelmed us and her sister and brother in law...She was quite nice, but you could only sit and watch her talk...she had lived in Denver 28 years and we knew people in common...

You can also feel isolated on a ship like this...doesn't lend itself to personal conversations and exchange of emails...

Half an hour at the pool is an education in variety of styles and sizes of swim suits and the courageous choices women and men make (speedos...really?)

"old" moments are ever lurking out there (remember the suitcase Helpers?): I thought I had done pretty well at a spin class...and the young, buff teacher told me I had been great, because I " didn't give up".

You can go into tour overload..

European women don't wear hats...not sun, not baseball/golf...NO HATS
I am tired of my hat ...

Do not let anyone take a picture of you on tour from the back...better you don't know how unkempt you look...


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Location:Sailing day on the Jade

Athens: very old,very new

Docked before dawn! The ship's imperative seems to be " get these folks to a meeting place and OUT to the bus in 15 minutes. This doesn't actually feel like you are rushed, except for the fact that I am just not used to having breakfast when my feet hit the floor and it has taken a while for me to figure out what to get and eat...timing of the next meal is rather uncertain and I do like to have some fuel onboard...
Interestingly...the ship is parked exactly at the bus parking lot.



Practically speaking, the unrest in Greece caused the light rail and buses to be on strike today,so I think virtually all from the ship took a tour (perhaps that is always true). Our bus crept through morning traffic to the all marble, 60 thousand capacity Olympic Stadium before creeping through modern Athens to the Acropolis to see the Parthenon.




Tom and I were here many years ago...and have no memory of the crowds we joined at the Acropolis. Maybe that is a blessing...












None of this was in need of excavation, it has all been open to the elements, and people, over the centuries. Again, it is a huge piece of real estate honoring Athena and the New Museum of the Acropolis holds the saved originals that have been found here...except for the Elgin Marble pieces ...that are still in London

A lot of restoration...a lot of wind...a lot of people...

But worth the trip.

Athens spreads around the monument in endless waves, in every direction. Most of the population of Greece is here.






After lunch in the Plaka (old city) we walked to the Tomb of the unknown and crossed places where demonstrators were blocking a major street (with all manor of motorcycles) and we saw a heavy presence of police, riot gear, flak jackets and all...However, it was energetic, but not dangerous.


Back on the ship...a little tired

Location:Athens

Nine small cities parked at the Grand Canal today...

...and that was before 8 AM. I didn't see the ships that landed the rest of the day.



Tom and I unashamedly sprinted to arrive at Piazza San Marco ahead of their inhabitants. We bought our tickets to the Doge's Palace and spent two hours luxuriating in the opulence (and skulduggery) that was once Venice. The Palace Filled rapidly with eager learners and their tour guides. We wandered room to fabulous room with our audio guides explaining every inch of the rooms, because every inch is covered in art...Tintoretto , Bassano...on and on...the wallpaper of the centuries was done by artists renown...when the palace burned...there were new artists to rebuild, renovate, whatever. It is overwhelming. We saw much of this, dare I say, 40 years ago, and I now appreciate it.
An unexpected collection was near the end of the tour . These men were armed to the teeth and the weapons were not only vicious, they were, of course, beautifully decorated. I wished they would allow photos there were several rooms of them.



Happily we were blessed with a short line into San Marco itself. Many people stood in front of the no photo signs and snapped away, but I couldn't do it. There are not enough words to describe a beautifully preserved an 11th century basilica where every inch is old and beautiful. The bronze horses are THIRD century. There is no charge to enter the Church, but there is to see the Pala d'Oro and to climb to the Loggia to see the square from on high...and the horses.



We are gently sliding out of port...barely detectable motion.

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Location:Venice, Italy

Santorini is a very unique Island

This was a long treck from Corfu...we arrived at 1pm

Immediately you have to wonder how the first inhabitants decided to live there?.and then how they made it happen...all you see is CLIFFS. We were deposited WAYYYY to the right of this photo for buses to take us up incredibly narrow hairpin turns to reach the highest point on the island: a Monastery, of course. They were prayerful and not open to the public so we moved on



-
We drove on and found that there are two million visitors per year ( maybe they were with us today...?). And 14,000 year round inhabitants. They have no rain, the fog waters their grapes, which they grow on the ground with the vine making a rough basket for the fruit. They make a delicious group of wines, tasty pistachio/sesame treats, fabulous foods...but mostly show tourists around.

We concluded our day with a Greek dinner and dancing, with Tom's favorite: smashing plates on the ground where a dancer is being very brave ( I honestly do NOT remember that scene in Zorba the Greek!)
somehow we barely made it back to the cable car down the the beach where the LAST tender was waiting to take us back to our ship...OPA!

We are at sea again ( Ionian into the Agean)


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Location:Santorini, Greece

Mykonos...now...and then

The island of Mykonos claims 7 thousand inhabitants in the summer...4 thousand in winter. In it's pre-Roman heyday 30 thousand lived on Delos, a nearby island, with maybe ten thousand slaves lugging all manner of stones uphill to build a very complex and compact little enclave. They were good builders as there are a lot of walls still standing...they even prepared for the minor earthquakes that occur here. The second and third floors have crumbled. Vegetation is sparse at best and they had all the correct cisterns ready to collect any drop of water that fell.



Delos is the island where Zeus's lover, Leto, gave birth to their twins, Apollo and Artemis ( I think we know her as Diana). His current wife had not exactly been thrilled with the situation and forbid Mother Earth to give Leto refuge. Fortunately an island appeared among the waves for her...and ultimately became quite the destination to worship them all





The lions behind Tom are a part of the Lion's Terrace...meticulously carved...even though no one there had ever seen the animal ( they had seen vases and trinkets with the images.

Back to Mykonos ...it was constructed as a labyrinth so that invading pirates and such might get in...but would have a heck of a time getting out and the locals could attack in return..

This seems to have been a Venetian ruse....after they HAD occupied...and the Romans took over later...So much for good planning





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Location:Mykonos and Delos

Milan and Verona ...we need to come back

We had a great tour of the Duomo and the old city, culminating in seeing the beautiful Last Supper of Leonardo da Vinci and learning about how it was commissioned, experimental oils used by Leonardo, they importance on the play of light in spotlighting people, why John was painted as soft and feminine... I hadn't known it was a fresco, thought it was a painting. The small church was bombed in WW II but they had the foresight to sandbag the fresco wall...the opposite wall was rubble but only paint chips fell from the Supper. It is now light and temperature controlled...no end to possible troublemakers. It WAS awesome

We left for the one and a half hour train to Verona where we met the Hughes, Slaughters and Rumlers at our outstanding Hotel Firenza! They had scoped out a fabulous restaurant ( this IS Gourmet Group) filled with locals and very reasonably priced.

There is so much to see in Verona that we took the hop on-hop off bus and circled the city. We had wanted to be in Venice for a time before the cruise, so we will want to return to Verona. Clearly there is more to know about it than it is where a Romea and Julliette played out...( AND whether or not they are mythical....depends on who you are talking to...). We got a Taxi to the train station.

After wandering the the station and environs for a while trying to connect with wifi...I gave up. SURELY there will be an expert on the ship...
Met a nice young couple from Vancouver traveling after completing the Swiss Marathon...we must have had an unusual aura about us because we were set upon by a verifiably Ill woman ( think Hamlet and witches..)who paced in front of us hissing an wishing us all manner of ill, I'm sure. But it was in Italian so we just waited her out...took a good ten minutes. We came across the couple several times more...but never the "lady". Never know just who you will meet on a trip...

Nice couple on the train from Canberra. They had been to lake Como and heading to Venice and the Amalfi Coast for the last of their 5 weeks

We navigated the train to Vaporetto transfer and exited at Accademia with specific instructions , a verbal map, if you will, to Ca' San Vio, our Pension in the "hood", albeit the artsy hood. Pulling suitcases on cobblestones is fine, but after the second bridge we allowed as how we might tell our travel agent that we MIGHT be OK with a little less adventure...and THEN a little larger room: this shower was even smaller than the one in the RV. To acess our breakfast table in the morning, we needed to pack our bags and move them to the front desk...nice croissants.

Back to evening...Wandered again, and found a great restaurant to share oso buco and spaghetti in oil and chiles ( actually red pepper flakes--good we were sharing). A small flute of ice cream, lemon and vodka was called dessert. I liked the Pinot Grigio better.

After a fitfull sleep we walked the back canals to San Marco, absolutely over run with the wise tourists that arrived there at 9 AM. We will return another day. On the way there we had seen a Church that was built to Mother Mary after the people of Venice felt she had saved them from the plague: Santa Maria de Salute and then a lovely little Opera House, Firence, to which we returned to watch a little of the rehearsal for Don Giovani. And quite the bawdy rehearsal it was...don't think we will see that scene presented exactly that way at Opera Colorado...it was quite fun.

Returned to retreive our luggage and re-trace our bridge and Vaporetto workout. Headed for the ship




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We are on our way

Really tired even after sleeping a lot! Time for MANY movies on this flight, they just kept that screen buzzing.
Nice Italian guy next to me, returning to his Lake Como home. He works for a company that drills tunnels..for underground trains. Metro in New York and Vancouver, currently in Panama, near the Costa Rican border. His favorite city in the US is (drum roll) Las Vegas.

Wandered around the airport looking for a sim card and an ATM machine, finally went to find a train toward the Duomo. Told the very crisp Italian woman where I wanted to go and she collected my 11 Euros ...gazed at me a bit and the said "two minutes" ...I motored to the escalator...made the train.

The kind gentleman on the train told me ( in Italian) a lot about the nice ride, going underground for a "small time" , then only three stops to the DUOMO...easy
At the stop after the underground, it took me about three minutes...alone on the train...with the cleaning people ... to figure out that I had done THIS before and I grabbed my bags and went to find the linking train to get me those last three stops. Understanding a "little bit" of Italian can mess you up.
Found the Red line Metro, noticed I was the only passenger bothering folks with my suitcases...and soon found my self at the foot of the Duomo...only to be reminded of my age by having not one, but two, young guys offer to carry my bags up the 15 stairs to what I hoped to be a taxi stand.


I then walked completely around the church only to find the cabs all in a row...in front of the square. The friendly driver took my bags OUT of his trunk when I showed him my destination- a block away.

After trying in vain to pull the hotel door open an old lady sitting on a bench inside yelled "PUSH "it...and I did.

Sixth floor, as Spartan as you have seen, perfectly within walking distance of the sights and our tour. I walked. Spotted restaurants for Tom and I to choose from when he arrived and bought the phone sim card, having stood in line a half hour (these I Italians are pretty patient).

I must admit, I don't always enjoy walking around alone,and it is more fun when Tom and I arrive closer in time and we head out together. I had to have a little more sleep after only four hour on the plane.

None of my helpful emails left the iPad so Tom arrived, "unaided", to the room while I was out walking and admiring the DUOMO in the evening shadows...lovely.

We had a delicious meal on Via Dante then slept fitfully

Ciao


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Location:Aitalia to Milan