Yesterday we arrived into Civitavecchia, a port closest to la city of Roma! After starting off the day with a small cappucinno, we hopped on the hour long train ride to Rome, enjoying the scenery of Italian countryside in the morning. Our day consisted of heat, sweat, crowds, pushiness and sun. Get the picture? We visited St. Peter's Basilica which is in Vatican City. Artists like Michaelangelo, Raphael and Bernini decorated the adorned walls with their paintings and sculptures. Michaelangelo's sculpture of Mary holding Jesus' limp body was incredible moving. It is amazing, how an image can evoke so much feeling. I felt the same kind of pull that I experienced at the La Sagradia in Barcelona looking at the chiseled face of Peter after he had denyed Jesus three times. They have a way of connecting with the onlooker. The sculptors have a vivid perception of how to take a chunk of marble or stone and create a story from it. Although the tossing and weaving through masses of tourists had a way of lessening the grandeur experience, the church was still fantastic.
Trevi Fountain was our next destination, so we wandered through streets until we found ourselves before the Spanish Steps which lead us down towards the Trevi Fountain. Rumor has it that those who throw a coin into the fountain are sure to return to Rome. I closed my eyes and made a wish, which I cannot reveal, and can also hope I will return someday. We feasted our eyes on the Colosseum for a total of five minutes tops before practically collapsing back onto the train. We were fed up with crowds and heat, and worried about our all aboard at 6:45 pm. I did not hate Rome but I did not love it either. I am willing to give it another chance though, even if only for the gelato!
Today we are headed to Pisa to gaze upon the leaning tower. Our bus leaves in 10 minutes so Ciao for now!
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Monday, July 5, 2010
the amalfi coast.
Yesterday was our last day at sea. We have four more days at ports including today and then our cruise will come to an end. Although I knew it would be shortlived, 12 days has given me just enough time to get used to the routine of cruise ship living. I will be sad to go. The family we eat dinner with have become our cruise family, and they are our constant entertainment. All of the music groups on the ship, ranging from the Stingrays to the Acappella Group to Carl, the guitar soloist, constantly fill my time with their tunes. I have befriended one of the photographers, and have loved getting to know him and learn about the life of a cruise ship photographer. It definitely intrigues me, life on a cruise ship.
Although we have no luck in the jewelry raffles, more importantly, we have been lucky/blessed by the opportunities we encounter when we disembark at ports. When we arrived in Athens we were wary, after the many warnings we received about the dangers involving the government, theft or worse. So we were suspicious of the taxi driver with his plump tummy popping out under his shirt who bustled over to us trying to coax us into a trip to the acropolis over the half hour walk to the train station en route to the acropolis or a taxi tour for the day. The three of us would look at each other, discuss until we reached a price that appeased us all. We agreed on the ride to the Acropolis only, but not the tour for the day.
As we entered into small talk on the ride over he would point out parts of the city and share pieces of history. He told us about his family and his two girls about our age, and how he was thinking as he approached us, how can I get these girls to trust me like Im their father, because they look clueless and I want to help them. He was a chattery man with a sarcastic sense of humor and a genuinely caring persona; we started to like him. For an incredible price (about a quarter of what an excursion would have costed) we decided to have him serve as our escort for the day. He was incredible! George would tell us how to carry our purses and cameras, the type of people to avoid. He bought us water bottles for when we arrived back from our sightseeing to keep us hydrated. He gave us options to fit our time and interests, and lots of freedom. What was priceless though was how he gave us so many experiences we would have never known about on our own. George took us to the Greek palace to see the changing of the guards, arriving exactly on time for when it started, and after, he made sure we got a picture with the soldiers. For lunch he told us we could go to a restaurant in Plaka, the shopping tourist area, or he could take us to his uncles restaurant in a more local area. We chose the family restaurant where (for a huge discount) they practically fed us a buffet of greek food at our table with gyro meats, pitas, fries, kebabs, cucumber salad, etc! George let us by tickets for the acropolis and then took us to several other places where the tickets served for multiple admissions, like Zeus temple and the Bath houses in the middle of the city. The acropolis was unbelievable, as we circled the Pantheum and saw more ancient ruins. Since we did not have a tour guide and George waited at the taxi, we would shuffle up to other tour groups to catch pieces of information from their guides! George even took us to the stadium where the 1890 Olympics took place! Thank God for George! He kept saying how he was our father for the day, and he really did treat us like his princesses, or fittingly, like Greek goddesses!
Today, once again, we had no plans because the excursions with the cruise ship are very expensive. Our port was in Salerno, Italy which is Italian looking, but nothing extraordinary. However Jamie has been to the Amalfi Coast once before, and claimed it was her favorite spot in the world. We wanted to get there. Unfortunately, after taking the shuttle which was a half hour farther than the cruise director told us, we discovered the ferry to the Amalfi Coast was sold out. We were stuck, with very few options and another language barrier.
Fortunately there were other people in the same boat, or in other words, also in search of a boat so we collaborated efforts. The father of a family of five searched for a private boat to take us to the coast. He was determined. And just when we were losing hope, he approached us and said he had found a speed boat. The most unlikely crew, including us three, two honeymooners, a couple who was traveling the world not even from our ship, and the family of five decided to take the risk and go for the speedboat. It was the trip of a lifetime!!! We flew across the blue mediterranean waters, hair blowing everywhere, and the odd crew all glancing at each other occasionally with a knowing look, a bright sparkle in our eyes and a smile of unbelief. We all knew innately that the situation we had found and this place we were in was unexplainably special and magical. The cliffs and mountains edged with fog were majestic. Our boat driver took several stops, the first to Fiordo di Furope, a high bridge that we went under, leading us to a hidden alcove. It felt like another land, another world. We all stared around us in awe, snapping pictures and smiling. Our next exploration was a water cave. It was brilliant!! When we arrived to Positano, our destination, it was literally like reaching paradise. Our speedboat ride that took us to paradise. Thats what it felt like! We agreed that it is probably the most beautiful place in the whole world, and possibly one of the best moments of our life. A bold statement. I know.
Although we have no luck in the jewelry raffles, more importantly, we have been lucky/blessed by the opportunities we encounter when we disembark at ports. When we arrived in Athens we were wary, after the many warnings we received about the dangers involving the government, theft or worse. So we were suspicious of the taxi driver with his plump tummy popping out under his shirt who bustled over to us trying to coax us into a trip to the acropolis over the half hour walk to the train station en route to the acropolis or a taxi tour for the day. The three of us would look at each other, discuss until we reached a price that appeased us all. We agreed on the ride to the Acropolis only, but not the tour for the day.
As we entered into small talk on the ride over he would point out parts of the city and share pieces of history. He told us about his family and his two girls about our age, and how he was thinking as he approached us, how can I get these girls to trust me like Im their father, because they look clueless and I want to help them. He was a chattery man with a sarcastic sense of humor and a genuinely caring persona; we started to like him. For an incredible price (about a quarter of what an excursion would have costed) we decided to have him serve as our escort for the day. He was incredible! George would tell us how to carry our purses and cameras, the type of people to avoid. He bought us water bottles for when we arrived back from our sightseeing to keep us hydrated. He gave us options to fit our time and interests, and lots of freedom. What was priceless though was how he gave us so many experiences we would have never known about on our own. George took us to the Greek palace to see the changing of the guards, arriving exactly on time for when it started, and after, he made sure we got a picture with the soldiers. For lunch he told us we could go to a restaurant in Plaka, the shopping tourist area, or he could take us to his uncles restaurant in a more local area. We chose the family restaurant where (for a huge discount) they practically fed us a buffet of greek food at our table with gyro meats, pitas, fries, kebabs, cucumber salad, etc! George let us by tickets for the acropolis and then took us to several other places where the tickets served for multiple admissions, like Zeus temple and the Bath houses in the middle of the city. The acropolis was unbelievable, as we circled the Pantheum and saw more ancient ruins. Since we did not have a tour guide and George waited at the taxi, we would shuffle up to other tour groups to catch pieces of information from their guides! George even took us to the stadium where the 1890 Olympics took place! Thank God for George! He kept saying how he was our father for the day, and he really did treat us like his princesses, or fittingly, like Greek goddesses!
Today, once again, we had no plans because the excursions with the cruise ship are very expensive. Our port was in Salerno, Italy which is Italian looking, but nothing extraordinary. However Jamie has been to the Amalfi Coast once before, and claimed it was her favorite spot in the world. We wanted to get there. Unfortunately, after taking the shuttle which was a half hour farther than the cruise director told us, we discovered the ferry to the Amalfi Coast was sold out. We were stuck, with very few options and another language barrier.
Fortunately there were other people in the same boat, or in other words, also in search of a boat so we collaborated efforts. The father of a family of five searched for a private boat to take us to the coast. He was determined. And just when we were losing hope, he approached us and said he had found a speed boat. The most unlikely crew, including us three, two honeymooners, a couple who was traveling the world not even from our ship, and the family of five decided to take the risk and go for the speedboat. It was the trip of a lifetime!!! We flew across the blue mediterranean waters, hair blowing everywhere, and the odd crew all glancing at each other occasionally with a knowing look, a bright sparkle in our eyes and a smile of unbelief. We all knew innately that the situation we had found and this place we were in was unexplainably special and magical. The cliffs and mountains edged with fog were majestic. Our boat driver took several stops, the first to Fiordo di Furope, a high bridge that we went under, leading us to a hidden alcove. It felt like another land, another world. We all stared around us in awe, snapping pictures and smiling. Our next exploration was a water cave. It was brilliant!! When we arrived to Positano, our destination, it was literally like reaching paradise. Our speedboat ride that took us to paradise. Thats what it felt like! We agreed that it is probably the most beautiful place in the whole world, and possibly one of the best moments of our life. A bold statement. I know.
Friday, July 2, 2010
greetings from turkey.
I'm sitting at a little internet cafe in Turkey before boarding back on the cruise and cannot possibly email and blog in the 20 minute allotment given to me. I haven't written since Barcelona! Since then we have visited Mykonos, a small island in Greece and Sicily, Italy, with a couple days at sea situated in between, and then today, Turkey. For a quick summary which will not even adequately broadly touch on our journeys, the cruise has been extraordinary! The food has allowed us to eat our way through every food group imaginable, such as the barbequed frog legs or the escargot appetizers followed by course after course of exquisite delicacies. I am truly spoiled by the delicious and ample amount of food, and the beautiful people I have met on the ship. The workers on the ship, in total, come from a range of 52 nations, and their service is kind, prompt, and sociable. Our waiter's name is Joey, and he always takes our order asking enthusiastically, "My lady?" and then Ayhan, our busboy, is from Turkey and finally gets to see his wife and son this afternoon! I'm so happy for him. Today, we spent the hot morning strolling through the ruins of Ephesus. We stood in the theatre where lions executed prisoners and Christians as onlookers cheered, at the same place where gladiators fought. We walked through the excavated houses of councils and governments, learning about the history of the people and the gems that architects have uncovered. Also we visited the Virgin Mary's House which was such a unique experience; it was even difficult to grasp where we were. It is hard to soak in so much history and begin to fathom the events and the people that walked where I walked this morning.
I'm out of time at my internet cafe so this is all I have time for!!
I'm out of time at my internet cafe so this is all I have time for!!
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