After another day at sea after leaving Egypt we came to Malta. We really did not know what to expect as we thought it just an island out in the Mediterranean. It turns out it was very interesting and different than we had expected. Our first view was a harbor surrounded by impressive fortresses. They used the cliffs as part of the walls. In many cases there was a road outside the walls and running along the harbor. Here are views of the Port of Valletta as we entered it.
Once we entered the harbor, we left ship for our jeep safari. There were at least 20 jeeps and we all stuck together in one long line. So it was kind of fun. Unlike the jeep safari in Egypt, these drivers kept "pedal to the metal". The back roads are pretty rough so we had a blast. We went on the roads that the big tour buses can't go on.
Here are some generic views, primarily of Valletta, the main harbor we docked at. But there are some other interesting photos taken from the back of the jeep as we drove around.
The cities seemed to consist mostly of condos and apartments with a few single family homes sprinkled here and there. But the single family homes tended to be attached. The country side was what was really interesting with the many produce farms with stone walls seeming to meander all over the place. The farmers' homes tended to be very "square" and small. Here are views of the country side as we drove around.
As usual on all our ports of call were buildings that appeared interesting to us because we have never seen anything like them. Here are some of the interesting buildings we saw in Malta.
The most interesting site in Malta was the City of Mdina. It is an historic city perhaps dating from the Bronze age, although the cathedral was rebuilt by the Normans in 1090 AD, and is now predominantly a tourist site with little shops. The city is fortified by an extremely thick wall and is characterized by very narrow streets. After wandering down one of these streets we noticed doorbells on the doors. So we asked the proverbial why? The answer? People live here. In fact, approximately 350 people inhabit Mdina. We then asked how someone could buy a home. The answer was that there is no way as the homes are handed down generation to generation. If one did become available it would be very expensive and probably out of reach financially. Legend has it that Apostle Paul stayed in Mdina when he was shipwrecked on the Island of Malta. Here are views of the city of Mdina.
We didn't realize this but when they filmed Popeye starring Robin Williams, they built a special town on Malta as a set for the movie. Today it is just restaurants and shops - what else do you do with a cutesy movie set? Here are views of the set. The last picture captures the size of our jeep caravan.
We then left Malta for a last day at sea on our back to Barcelona. Here are views of the departure and what awaited us in our stateroom.
Next and final blog will be Barcelona but a different tour. Our final Barcelona tour was to Montserrat.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Sixth Shore Excursion - Alexandria
On Monday, 5 April, we took a bus tour of Alexandria. It was mostly a bus tour with a few stops. As usual we were interested in typical scenes throughout the city. Here are some photos of various streets and buildings. As with the other cities that we toured it seems everyone lives in condos or apartments. There definitely is an absence of single family homes. Here are photos of the apartment buildings and condos. As we said in the last blog, we saw a lot of trash along the streets. Clearly one of the buildings seen all over the place are mosques. Here are photos of a couple of mosques, the one is the largest in Alexandria. Here are some photos of other interesting views in Alexandria.
There was one major stop that we made that was very interesting. However, we were not allowed to take pictures. These were the impressive catacombs of Kom el-Shuqafa, an enormous complex of underground burial chambers, was built by the Romans in the second century A.D. They consist of three levels cut in the rock to a depth of 100 ft., connected by staircases. At the highest level is a rotunda entrance with a well in the center covered by a type of kiosk. To get down to the catacombs was a winding staircase consisting of 96 steps surrounding the central shaft. The corpse was lowered to the burial chamber through this shaft and passed through an opening at the appropriate level in the catacombs. The rotunda opens into several rooms with rock-cut niches with false sarcophagi and bas-relief wall decorations in the Pharaonic style, showing ancient Egyptian deities. The heads of statues discovered in the complex are in the Greek style, while their garb is traditional Egyptian. The large room to the left of the entrance is the funereal triclinium, the banqueting hall, where relatives and friends of the deceased assembled for the funerary meal. Poorer family members were buried in corridors leading off the main chamber. Some rooms and corridors were added in later periods. The names and ages of the deceased were marked in red paint on the stone slabs which sealed the niches. The interesting thing is that the catacombs were discovered when someone's donkey stepped in a hole that turned out to be the entrance to the shaft.
An absolutely mind-blowing spot we had some time to see was the Alexandria Library. What amazed us was how modern the library is and the high level of technology available. Here is a link to their home page. It has two million volumes and growing. Everything can be accessed by computer and translated as necessary. There is even a book printing and binding system. Here are photos of this library. We were lucky, this was the day after Easter and a holiday. However, many of the workers chose to spend a few hours of their holiday to let us see the place. After seeing it, we were very grateful.
Montaza (Translated: "The Park") is a neighborhood in Alexandria, Egypt. It is distinguished by its beautiful gardens and royal palaces. It is often visited due to the beautiful sceneries that can be seen there and is considered one of the most beautiful places in Alexandria. Here are photos of the two largest palaces, one now a hotel, in this area. You can also see that the park surrounding the palaces are used by the public for family picnics and the like.
The park was rather full of families because it was Easter Monday and a holiday. So no one was working and everyone was out playing. You could see the many families spending the day around the palaces. Alexandria is right on the Mediterranean so many people were also spending the day at the beach. Here are photos of a resort hotel and then the many people we saw on the beaches. The beaches go the full length of Alexandria and so is very large and, as we saw, very full of people. There aren't any captions because they are just repeated views of the beaches. Note that people sit in plastic chairs under umbrellas, totally different than in the US.
A couple other items of interest were the various head coverings the women wore and the many men that sat outside stores and coffee shops smoking their hookahs, Arabic water pipes. We alluded to the head covering situation in Egypt in our last blog. Here are photos of the wide variety we saw. Notice that in most cases the head covering matches the outfit the lady is wearing - very stylish. As for the hookahs, we observed that there were many tables and chairs outside. Then we saw that this is where the men smoke their hookahs. Trying to take pictures while riding in the bus made it difficult but we managed to capture a few. Here they are in these photos. The hookahs are the large water pipes sitting on the ground and the gentleman is smoking it through a long hose.
Next port of call is Malta.
There was one major stop that we made that was very interesting. However, we were not allowed to take pictures. These were the impressive catacombs of Kom el-Shuqafa, an enormous complex of underground burial chambers, was built by the Romans in the second century A.D. They consist of three levels cut in the rock to a depth of 100 ft., connected by staircases. At the highest level is a rotunda entrance with a well in the center covered by a type of kiosk. To get down to the catacombs was a winding staircase consisting of 96 steps surrounding the central shaft. The corpse was lowered to the burial chamber through this shaft and passed through an opening at the appropriate level in the catacombs. The rotunda opens into several rooms with rock-cut niches with false sarcophagi and bas-relief wall decorations in the Pharaonic style, showing ancient Egyptian deities. The heads of statues discovered in the complex are in the Greek style, while their garb is traditional Egyptian. The large room to the left of the entrance is the funereal triclinium, the banqueting hall, where relatives and friends of the deceased assembled for the funerary meal. Poorer family members were buried in corridors leading off the main chamber. Some rooms and corridors were added in later periods. The names and ages of the deceased were marked in red paint on the stone slabs which sealed the niches. The interesting thing is that the catacombs were discovered when someone's donkey stepped in a hole that turned out to be the entrance to the shaft.
An absolutely mind-blowing spot we had some time to see was the Alexandria Library. What amazed us was how modern the library is and the high level of technology available. Here is a link to their home page. It has two million volumes and growing. Everything can be accessed by computer and translated as necessary. There is even a book printing and binding system. Here are photos of this library. We were lucky, this was the day after Easter and a holiday. However, many of the workers chose to spend a few hours of their holiday to let us see the place. After seeing it, we were very grateful.
Montaza (Translated: "The Park") is a neighborhood in Alexandria, Egypt. It is distinguished by its beautiful gardens and royal palaces. It is often visited due to the beautiful sceneries that can be seen there and is considered one of the most beautiful places in Alexandria. Here are photos of the two largest palaces, one now a hotel, in this area. You can also see that the park surrounding the palaces are used by the public for family picnics and the like.
The park was rather full of families because it was Easter Monday and a holiday. So no one was working and everyone was out playing. You could see the many families spending the day around the palaces. Alexandria is right on the Mediterranean so many people were also spending the day at the beach. Here are photos of a resort hotel and then the many people we saw on the beaches. The beaches go the full length of Alexandria and so is very large and, as we saw, very full of people. There aren't any captions because they are just repeated views of the beaches. Note that people sit in plastic chairs under umbrellas, totally different than in the US.
A couple other items of interest were the various head coverings the women wore and the many men that sat outside stores and coffee shops smoking their hookahs, Arabic water pipes. We alluded to the head covering situation in Egypt in our last blog. Here are photos of the wide variety we saw. Notice that in most cases the head covering matches the outfit the lady is wearing - very stylish. As for the hookahs, we observed that there were many tables and chairs outside. Then we saw that this is where the men smoke their hookahs. Trying to take pictures while riding in the bus made it difficult but we managed to capture a few. Here they are in these photos. The hookahs are the large water pipes sitting on the ground and the gentleman is smoking it through a long hose.
Next port of call is Malta.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Fifth Port of Call - Alexandria and on to Cairo
On Sunday, 4 April, we arrived in Alexandria. Here are some photos of our arrival into Alexandria and some first views of Alexandria itself. However, we didn't tour Alexandria until the next day and will have additional photos of that city on our next blog. On 4 April we took a three hour bus ride to Cairo to see Giza and the wonders of that place. As usual we took photos to give a feel of the country. Here are some photos that we took as we entered Alexandria and then on our drive to and from Cairo. Something we observed in the cities visited so far like Barcelona, Rome, Athens and Izmir, they were all very clean. However, our impression of Egypt was the exact opposite, lots of trash thrown out all over the place.
An interesting feature we saw repeatedly on our drive through the country side were pigeon houses. Apparently the Egyptians build these houses for pigeons so that they can retrieve the droppings as fertilizer. Talk about organic. Here are some photos of a variety that we saw. By the way, they are all over the place.
Another characteristic that our tour guide pointed out was the large disparity between rich and poor. She said that we would really notice it as we travel to Cairo. Sure enough, there would be a large elaborate mansion with a shack right next door. Obviously no zoning laws. But we have seen the lack of those kind of zoning laws in all the countries we have been to. Here are some photos demonstrating the economic disparity.
One final interesting characteristic which we observed in both Alexandria and Cairo, but most noticeably Cairo, since it is more rural, are the head coverings of the women. They varied from no covering whatsoever, as was the case with our tour guide to Cairo, to a scarf with a little bit of hair showing, as our tour guide in Alexandria wore, to a scarf that totally covered the hair and finally covering their face totally with a Niqāb, the traditional face covering with just a slit showing the eyes. The more traditional garb was seen more in Cairo than Alexandria. However, the head coverings in Alexandria tended to be very fancy. We will show more of those in our next blog. But here are the first of the head coverings we saw. There is an interesting story that goes with this. Because of the variations we saw, we asked our Alexandria tour guide, the one with partial hair showing, what the difference was. She said it had nothing to do with how "religious" you were. So the complete covering did not indicate being more devote than no covering. As for herself she said she likes to have a bit of style so wanted some of her hair showing. With regard to the women wearing Niqābs over their faces she said "that is purely a 'man' thing". The husband just wants to show his control over his wife. But it ended on a humorous note. Apparently when they buried the pharaohs they removed all the organs except the heart. They left the heart in the body because once the pharaoh crossed over to the other side, ie the afterlife, one of the Egyptian gods puts the heart on a scale with a feather on the opposite side as the balance. If the heart is lighter than the feather then they go to a good afterlife, designating a kind heart. But if the heart is heavier it goes to a bad afterlife. So I asked her, because she was showing part of her hair, how the balance would go for her. She said, "I hope my heart is lighter" and laughed.
After 3 hours of driving, we got to Cairo and then on to Giza to see the pyramids. Our original desire, when we were looking for a cruise, was to see the pyramids so this really represented the highlight of our cruise. The pictures of the Pyramids of Giza can be seen here. After walking around the pyramids we got on the bus for a short trip to the Great Sphinx. Here are pictures of the Sphinx. All we can say is that pictures do not do these marvels any justice. You have to stand beside them to appreciate where you are, what you are looking at and how old they are and the engineering that had to go into building them. Incredible is the only way you can describe it.
After the Giza attractions we went further South for our jeep and camel safari. We signed up for this shore excursion not only for the pyramids but the camel safari. We have ridden elephants in Thailand now it was time to experience another form of travel. Pictures of these two safaris are shown here. After the camel ride we had lunch and then headed, by bus, to Sakkara where the oldest known pyramid exists. This pyramid is called the "Step Pyramid". There were several interesting temples and other things to see, but again, because of time limitations we didn't spend much time at any one location. Here are photos of the Sakkara pyramids and temples.
Subsequent to this was the three hour bus ride back to the ship. It was dark when we got there but had an excellent dinner on board again.
The next day we toured Alexandria. This will be the subject of our next blog.
An interesting feature we saw repeatedly on our drive through the country side were pigeon houses. Apparently the Egyptians build these houses for pigeons so that they can retrieve the droppings as fertilizer. Talk about organic. Here are some photos of a variety that we saw. By the way, they are all over the place.
Another characteristic that our tour guide pointed out was the large disparity between rich and poor. She said that we would really notice it as we travel to Cairo. Sure enough, there would be a large elaborate mansion with a shack right next door. Obviously no zoning laws. But we have seen the lack of those kind of zoning laws in all the countries we have been to. Here are some photos demonstrating the economic disparity.
One final interesting characteristic which we observed in both Alexandria and Cairo, but most noticeably Cairo, since it is more rural, are the head coverings of the women. They varied from no covering whatsoever, as was the case with our tour guide to Cairo, to a scarf with a little bit of hair showing, as our tour guide in Alexandria wore, to a scarf that totally covered the hair and finally covering their face totally with a Niqāb, the traditional face covering with just a slit showing the eyes. The more traditional garb was seen more in Cairo than Alexandria. However, the head coverings in Alexandria tended to be very fancy. We will show more of those in our next blog. But here are the first of the head coverings we saw. There is an interesting story that goes with this. Because of the variations we saw, we asked our Alexandria tour guide, the one with partial hair showing, what the difference was. She said it had nothing to do with how "religious" you were. So the complete covering did not indicate being more devote than no covering. As for herself she said she likes to have a bit of style so wanted some of her hair showing. With regard to the women wearing Niqābs over their faces she said "that is purely a 'man' thing". The husband just wants to show his control over his wife. But it ended on a humorous note. Apparently when they buried the pharaohs they removed all the organs except the heart. They left the heart in the body because once the pharaoh crossed over to the other side, ie the afterlife, one of the Egyptian gods puts the heart on a scale with a feather on the opposite side as the balance. If the heart is lighter than the feather then they go to a good afterlife, designating a kind heart. But if the heart is heavier it goes to a bad afterlife. So I asked her, because she was showing part of her hair, how the balance would go for her. She said, "I hope my heart is lighter" and laughed.
After 3 hours of driving, we got to Cairo and then on to Giza to see the pyramids. Our original desire, when we were looking for a cruise, was to see the pyramids so this really represented the highlight of our cruise. The pictures of the Pyramids of Giza can be seen here. After walking around the pyramids we got on the bus for a short trip to the Great Sphinx. Here are pictures of the Sphinx. All we can say is that pictures do not do these marvels any justice. You have to stand beside them to appreciate where you are, what you are looking at and how old they are and the engineering that had to go into building them. Incredible is the only way you can describe it.
After the Giza attractions we went further South for our jeep and camel safari. We signed up for this shore excursion not only for the pyramids but the camel safari. We have ridden elephants in Thailand now it was time to experience another form of travel. Pictures of these two safaris are shown here. After the camel ride we had lunch and then headed, by bus, to Sakkara where the oldest known pyramid exists. This pyramid is called the "Step Pyramid". There were several interesting temples and other things to see, but again, because of time limitations we didn't spend much time at any one location. Here are photos of the Sakkara pyramids and temples.
Subsequent to this was the three hour bus ride back to the ship. It was dark when we got there but had an excellent dinner on board again.
The next day we toured Alexandria. This will be the subject of our next blog.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Fourth Port of Call - Izmir & Ephesus
On Friday, 2 April, we arrived at Izmir, Turkey. We didn't need an At Sea day for this. Izmir is the modern name for the city of Smyrna, one of the seven churches listed in the Book of Revelations in the Bible. The first thing that struck us, and continued to impress us, was how clean and modern Turkey is. We expected it to be old, run down and dirty. However, we soon learned that Turkey has been busy rebuilding since the 1950's to recover from WWII. Living where we have, we have not experienced a requirement to rebuild of this nature. So most of what we saw is only a little more than 50 years old at the most. As usual we wanted to find out the price of gas. The service stations did not have gas prices so we asked. Apparently it is $9 per gallon. At one of our lunches we sat with a very proper couple from Norway. At the end of lunch he made a revealing comment. He said, "One thing that really bothers us about Americans is when they complain about their price of gas - they have nothing to whine about". After telling us the price of gas our tour guide went on to say that is why you don't see many cars more than 1.4L and if they are bigger they are only 1.6L. There always is a solution.
Here are some photos as we entered the Port of Izmir. As usual we took photos of typical scenes in the city.
Getting to Ephesus require a 45 minute bus ride but it did get us out into the countryside. Here are some photos of the typical Turkish countryside between Izmir and Ephesus.
At Ephesus we were welcomed by an incredible piece of history. Most of Ephesus has been buried under sediment for many centuries. It was discovered by chance in the late 1800's and excavation begun. It continues to this day. But it was a major Roman City for trade. Apostle Paul visited Ephesus and wrote the Book of Ephesians to the church there. Legend says that Mary, the mother of Jesus died here as well as Luke and John. The Island of Patmos, where John wrote the Book of Revelation is just off the coast. In fact, Ephesus was another of the seven churches that John wrote about in the Book or Revelations. Here are photos of Ephesus and they begin from entering the city on the East side and working down to what used to be the old harbor.
Our tour guide gave us several interesting insights into Turkey. Education, all the way through college is free and health care is free. Tourism is the second most important industry so tour guides have to get a bachelors degree, then three years of tour guide school and then they have to work as interns for six months in the area that they will be operating as tour guides. Since tourism is high and the fact that the government does not want to lose indigenous art skills, they operate Turkish rug making schools and facilities throughout the country. Turkish rugs are made of silk or cotton, both of which they claim are some of the strongest in the world. Silk on silk rugs are obviously the most expensive because they have the most knots per inch. The rugs are not woven but knotted and, with the most expensive, double-knotted. Here are some a few photos of the rug making facility we visited and the rug we purchased. As part of the tour of this facility we saw some of the most amazing and expensive rugs (like $40,000) you could imagine. Some of the designs are incredible.
Finally we had to say goodbye to Turkey. We were pleasantly surprised and pleased with our visit there. Here are a few photos as we left.
Next Port of Call is Egypt where we spent one day in Cairo and another day in Alexandria.
Here are some photos as we entered the Port of Izmir. As usual we took photos of typical scenes in the city.
Getting to Ephesus require a 45 minute bus ride but it did get us out into the countryside. Here are some photos of the typical Turkish countryside between Izmir and Ephesus.
At Ephesus we were welcomed by an incredible piece of history. Most of Ephesus has been buried under sediment for many centuries. It was discovered by chance in the late 1800's and excavation begun. It continues to this day. But it was a major Roman City for trade. Apostle Paul visited Ephesus and wrote the Book of Ephesians to the church there. Legend says that Mary, the mother of Jesus died here as well as Luke and John. The Island of Patmos, where John wrote the Book of Revelation is just off the coast. In fact, Ephesus was another of the seven churches that John wrote about in the Book or Revelations. Here are photos of Ephesus and they begin from entering the city on the East side and working down to what used to be the old harbor.
Our tour guide gave us several interesting insights into Turkey. Education, all the way through college is free and health care is free. Tourism is the second most important industry so tour guides have to get a bachelors degree, then three years of tour guide school and then they have to work as interns for six months in the area that they will be operating as tour guides. Since tourism is high and the fact that the government does not want to lose indigenous art skills, they operate Turkish rug making schools and facilities throughout the country. Turkish rugs are made of silk or cotton, both of which they claim are some of the strongest in the world. Silk on silk rugs are obviously the most expensive because they have the most knots per inch. The rugs are not woven but knotted and, with the most expensive, double-knotted. Here are some a few photos of the rug making facility we visited and the rug we purchased. As part of the tour of this facility we saw some of the most amazing and expensive rugs (like $40,000) you could imagine. Some of the designs are incredible.
Finally we had to say goodbye to Turkey. We were pleasantly surprised and pleased with our visit there. Here are a few photos as we left.
Next Port of Call is Egypt where we spent one day in Cairo and another day in Alexandria.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Third Port of Call - Athens
After another "at Sea Day" we arrived at Piraeus, the port city associated with Athens. During our "at Sea Day" we transited the Messina Straits with Sicily on the right and Italy on the left. The straits are pretty narrow so we had to have a pilot come on board and steer us through them. Also, since there isn't much to do during an at sea day unless you like shopping, gambling or art auctions, Walt went up to the bridge viewing area to take photos of the bridge - kinda looks like the USS Enterprise. Photos of the Strait of Messina are shown here.
We talked to one of the ship's crew about how impressed we were with how they can maneuver these large cruise ships without help from tugs. He told as to watch for Piraeus, the port to Athens. He said it was an extremely busy port but were we in for a surprise. Not only is it very busy but we went deep inside the harbor. The captain then turned us on a dime to fit into a slip. We were sure there was not more than 50 feet between the stern and a dock on the other side of the harbor. But they did have tugs cruising around just in case. Photos really don't do justice to the maneuverability of these ships but here are some photos attempting to capture this.
Piraeus and Athens were pretty close together so we didn't get to see the countryside until after visiting Athens when we drove for about 45 minutes along the Greek Coast to the Temple of Poseidon located on the Cape of Sounion. We were in Athens on 1 April and it was our fourth day of the cruise.
As we did in each port, we took photos of what typical streets in the city looked like as well as some of the other interesting sites as we toured on the bus. Photos of Athens and some other interesting sites are given here. Note that the price of gas is higher than in Italy.
Of course, the main attraction in Athens is the Acropolis. We spent quite a bit of time here as there is so much to see. Some of the many photos we took are shown here. Many of the pieces of the ruins are lying on the ground, as you can see, waiting for proper cataloging and replacement during the restoration process. In some of the photos, if you look closely, you will see that some of the marble is much whiter than others. This is where they have taken new marble and carved it to fit perfectly in place of a missing piece.
After spending a good amount of time at the Acropolis we went out for authentic Greek food for lunch and then off to Cape Sounion that contains the Temple of Poseidon. This gave us an opportunity to see the countryside. Photos of Cape Sounion and some of the countryside are shown here.
Next Port of Call Izmir, the modern city of Smyrna, and Ephesus in Turkey.
We talked to one of the ship's crew about how impressed we were with how they can maneuver these large cruise ships without help from tugs. He told as to watch for Piraeus, the port to Athens. He said it was an extremely busy port but were we in for a surprise. Not only is it very busy but we went deep inside the harbor. The captain then turned us on a dime to fit into a slip. We were sure there was not more than 50 feet between the stern and a dock on the other side of the harbor. But they did have tugs cruising around just in case. Photos really don't do justice to the maneuverability of these ships but here are some photos attempting to capture this.
Piraeus and Athens were pretty close together so we didn't get to see the countryside until after visiting Athens when we drove for about 45 minutes along the Greek Coast to the Temple of Poseidon located on the Cape of Sounion. We were in Athens on 1 April and it was our fourth day of the cruise.
As we did in each port, we took photos of what typical streets in the city looked like as well as some of the other interesting sites as we toured on the bus. Photos of Athens and some other interesting sites are given here. Note that the price of gas is higher than in Italy.
Of course, the main attraction in Athens is the Acropolis. We spent quite a bit of time here as there is so much to see. Some of the many photos we took are shown here. Many of the pieces of the ruins are lying on the ground, as you can see, waiting for proper cataloging and replacement during the restoration process. In some of the photos, if you look closely, you will see that some of the marble is much whiter than others. This is where they have taken new marble and carved it to fit perfectly in place of a missing piece.
After spending a good amount of time at the Acropolis we went out for authentic Greek food for lunch and then off to Cape Sounion that contains the Temple of Poseidon. This gave us an opportunity to see the countryside. Photos of Cape Sounion and some of the countryside are shown here.
Next Port of Call Izmir, the modern city of Smyrna, and Ephesus in Turkey.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Second Port of Call - Rome
After an "at Sea Day" we arrived at Civitavecchia, the port city associated with Rome. So we had a nice ride through the countryside on our way to Rome. This was 30 March and our second day of the cruise. In all our port calls we tried to get a few photos of what the countryside was like and then what the cities themselves looked like by random views up side streets. Here are a few photos of "generic" Rome and vicinity. The other piece of info we liked finding out was the cost of gas in each country. It does vary quite a bit. In Italy it is like 1.28 euros/liter, or $3.65/gal.
First major stop was at the Vatican. One thing we found out was one day just does not do justice to Rome. Because of time constraints and the large number of tourists, even at the beginning of April, most time is spend in the bus or walking quickly around some highlight. For example, in the Vatican apparently 20,000 people pass through on an average each day and given we were coming up on Easter, it made it even worse. We walked through a part of the museum, through the Sistine Chapel, then the Basilica and finally St. Peter's Square. Photos could not be taken inside the Sistine Chapel and so it was a matter of trying to remember the incredible paintings of Michaelangelo, especially the scenes depicting the Creation and then the final judgement. Also, where you could take pictures it is difficult after the fact to recreate what objects were being photographed. One place that we were able to take photos, but not flash because of the sensitivity of the material, was the Gallery of Tapestries. Unfortunately the still photos came out very dark. However, video, without light, yielded excellent results. Here is a video of a tapestry depicting the ascension of Jesus. Here is another video of the ceiling of the Gallery of Tapestries. By the way, the ceiling is a painting and not a three dimensional relief as it appears to be. If you pause the video you can see the detail in the tapestries - totally incredible. By the way, with the sound on you will also get a glimpse of tour guides talking and how noisy it was. Even with all these limitations, it was an amazing experience. The photos we managed of the Vatican are given here. The impression we came away with was, this edifice is so grandiose, which is more important to God, the building and all its trappings and statues or what is in our hearts relative to worshiping Him?
Next was the Coliseum. The first impression was its immense size and the fact that it still survives after 2,000 years. Because of lack of time we couldn't participate in the tour of the interior of the Coliseum. Afterwards we found out that if we walked a little bit further we could have seen more of the Palatine Hill ruins but we didn't know they were there. A suggestion is to do a lot of homework before taking a tour. Our photos of the Coliseum are shown here.
The rest of the Roman ruins we saw were based on trying to snap photos from the tour bus while listening to the tour guide. Turns out to be quite a challenge. But here are the photos of some of the other ruins that we were able to get.
Next Port of Call, Athens, Greece.
First major stop was at the Vatican. One thing we found out was one day just does not do justice to Rome. Because of time constraints and the large number of tourists, even at the beginning of April, most time is spend in the bus or walking quickly around some highlight. For example, in the Vatican apparently 20,000 people pass through on an average each day and given we were coming up on Easter, it made it even worse. We walked through a part of the museum, through the Sistine Chapel, then the Basilica and finally St. Peter's Square. Photos could not be taken inside the Sistine Chapel and so it was a matter of trying to remember the incredible paintings of Michaelangelo, especially the scenes depicting the Creation and then the final judgement. Also, where you could take pictures it is difficult after the fact to recreate what objects were being photographed. One place that we were able to take photos, but not flash because of the sensitivity of the material, was the Gallery of Tapestries. Unfortunately the still photos came out very dark. However, video, without light, yielded excellent results. Here is a video of a tapestry depicting the ascension of Jesus. Here is another video of the ceiling of the Gallery of Tapestries. By the way, the ceiling is a painting and not a three dimensional relief as it appears to be. If you pause the video you can see the detail in the tapestries - totally incredible. By the way, with the sound on you will also get a glimpse of tour guides talking and how noisy it was. Even with all these limitations, it was an amazing experience. The photos we managed of the Vatican are given here. The impression we came away with was, this edifice is so grandiose, which is more important to God, the building and all its trappings and statues or what is in our hearts relative to worshiping Him?
Next was the Coliseum. The first impression was its immense size and the fact that it still survives after 2,000 years. Because of lack of time we couldn't participate in the tour of the interior of the Coliseum. Afterwards we found out that if we walked a little bit further we could have seen more of the Palatine Hill ruins but we didn't know they were there. A suggestion is to do a lot of homework before taking a tour. Our photos of the Coliseum are shown here.
The rest of the Roman ruins we saw were based on trying to snap photos from the tour bus while listening to the tour guide. Turns out to be quite a challenge. But here are the photos of some of the other ruins that we were able to get.
Next Port of Call, Athens, Greece.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Barcelona - Beginning of Cruise
We were in Barcelona for a couple of days prior to the cruise and took a one day tour and also walked around on our own.
As in most of Europe, parts of the city are ancient, with layers of reconstruction after various natural disasters and wars. When we did our homework with Google Earth to see where our hotel was, and so on, we noticed a unique feature of the layout of Barcelona. In the mid-19th Century urban planning they used a strict grid pattern. In the photos you will see that all the blocks are square and the buildings at the intersections are cutoff at an angle. This intrigued us and as we got there not only did we notice the strict grid pattern but that all the buildings are the same height. These photos are shown here with other generic views around Barcelona. Another thing we noticed of Barcelona is its cleanliness. It turns out that prior to the 1992 Olympics all of these buildings, which were black and rusty, were cleaned up and now it looks immaculate. The other noteworthy side issue is the importance of Christopher Columbus to Barcelona. When he returned from his first voyage to America he returned to an island off the Atlantic Coast only to be told the King of Spain was in Barcelona. So Columbus took his boats and all the goods on the boats through the Straights of Gibraltar and into Barcelona where he managed to get funding for his next journey.
A place of particular interest to Nancy was the church Santa Maria del Mar, a church built by the Barcelona Mariners in honor of the Virgin Mary. It was close to our hotel so we walked down to see it. For Nancy it was fascinating because of a book she had read. Unfortunately Walt read the book during the cruise but still, seeing it now made the book very interesting. The book, entitled "Cathedral of the Sea" written by Ildefonso Falcones, gives a snapshot of the history of this area in the 14th Century and is an excellent read. Photos of Santa Maria del Mar can be seen here.
Our formal tour began with a walk through what is known as the Roman City since some of the structures date back to that period, but also includes a lot of Gothic structures of the 14th and 15th Centuries. Of interest here was the main Cathedral of Barcelona, the Jewish Quarters of the 14th and 15th Centuries and the King of Spain's residence where Christopher Columbus came to request additional funds. Photos of this area are shown here.
For the International Exposition of 1929, Barcelona constructed an entire village to show the different architectures throughout all parts of Spain. The village is all facades with empty buildings except for the first floors that have shops and restaurants. The village, Poble Espanyol, is on Montjuic which also is the location of the Stadiums of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Here are a couple of photos of the Poble Espanyol. By the way, our Spanish did little to help us in Barcelona; first of all, we speak Mexican Spanish, not Spain Spanish, and secondly, in Barcelona they speak Catalan. Barcelonians are very proud to point out that they are part of Catalonia. It took us a little while to figure out why we couldn't read the signs....
By far the most interesting aspect of Barcelona was Gaudi's architecture. Without question it is unique. One of his driving factors was to design everything as close to nature as possible, resulting in many interesting architectural features. There are several buildings throughout Barcelona that have his architectural stamp. But of high interest was his Park Güell. Here are various photos of some of Gaudi's work.
Although the buildings we have just shown are very interesting, the one outstanding architectural building associated with Gaudi is El Templo de Sagrada Familia or the Temple of the Sacred Family. Currently it is listed as a temple. Sometime this year the Pope is coming to bless it and it will become cathedral. It is a building dedicated to the Sacred Family, in other words, Jesus, His family and His disciples. Architectural drawings were started sometime prior to 1853. Because of some conflicts with the architect, Gaudi asked to take over the design in 1853. So the building has been under construction for some 125 years. The current architect continues to use some of Guadi's original drawings. It is being built totally through donations. Here are photos of some of the significant features. To show all the intricate details would require significantly more photos. Look on the internet if you are interested in more.
Our last day in Barcelona was Palm Sunday and we didn't need to board the ship until later in the afternoon. So we decided to take a walking tour of La Rambla , a wide avenue with pedestrian traffic in the middle and vehicle traffic in lateral lanes on either side. We didn't know what to expect but needless to say, it was interesting. First of all we witnessed a parade representing Jesus entering into Jerusalem. We were under the impression that this was a joyous occasion. However, here is a video of the parade showing how somber it was. But what was most fascinating in La Rambla were the living statues - people who used makeup and elaborate costume to appear like sculptures. They would sit or stand frozen all the time unless you put money in the buckets they had in front of them Then they would perform in some manner. Here are pictures we took as we strolled along La Rambla.
Finally we had to say goodbye to Barcelona but only for twelve days as we were returning again. Here are a couple of goodbye photos.
Next installment will be Rome.
As in most of Europe, parts of the city are ancient, with layers of reconstruction after various natural disasters and wars. When we did our homework with Google Earth to see where our hotel was, and so on, we noticed a unique feature of the layout of Barcelona. In the mid-19th Century urban planning they used a strict grid pattern. In the photos you will see that all the blocks are square and the buildings at the intersections are cutoff at an angle. This intrigued us and as we got there not only did we notice the strict grid pattern but that all the buildings are the same height. These photos are shown here with other generic views around Barcelona. Another thing we noticed of Barcelona is its cleanliness. It turns out that prior to the 1992 Olympics all of these buildings, which were black and rusty, were cleaned up and now it looks immaculate. The other noteworthy side issue is the importance of Christopher Columbus to Barcelona. When he returned from his first voyage to America he returned to an island off the Atlantic Coast only to be told the King of Spain was in Barcelona. So Columbus took his boats and all the goods on the boats through the Straights of Gibraltar and into Barcelona where he managed to get funding for his next journey.
A place of particular interest to Nancy was the church Santa Maria del Mar, a church built by the Barcelona Mariners in honor of the Virgin Mary. It was close to our hotel so we walked down to see it. For Nancy it was fascinating because of a book she had read. Unfortunately Walt read the book during the cruise but still, seeing it now made the book very interesting. The book, entitled "Cathedral of the Sea" written by Ildefonso Falcones, gives a snapshot of the history of this area in the 14th Century and is an excellent read. Photos of Santa Maria del Mar can be seen here.
Our formal tour began with a walk through what is known as the Roman City since some of the structures date back to that period, but also includes a lot of Gothic structures of the 14th and 15th Centuries. Of interest here was the main Cathedral of Barcelona, the Jewish Quarters of the 14th and 15th Centuries and the King of Spain's residence where Christopher Columbus came to request additional funds. Photos of this area are shown here.
For the International Exposition of 1929, Barcelona constructed an entire village to show the different architectures throughout all parts of Spain. The village is all facades with empty buildings except for the first floors that have shops and restaurants. The village, Poble Espanyol, is on Montjuic which also is the location of the Stadiums of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Here are a couple of photos of the Poble Espanyol. By the way, our Spanish did little to help us in Barcelona; first of all, we speak Mexican Spanish, not Spain Spanish, and secondly, in Barcelona they speak Catalan. Barcelonians are very proud to point out that they are part of Catalonia. It took us a little while to figure out why we couldn't read the signs....
By far the most interesting aspect of Barcelona was Gaudi's architecture. Without question it is unique. One of his driving factors was to design everything as close to nature as possible, resulting in many interesting architectural features. There are several buildings throughout Barcelona that have his architectural stamp. But of high interest was his Park Güell. Here are various photos of some of Gaudi's work.
Although the buildings we have just shown are very interesting, the one outstanding architectural building associated with Gaudi is El Templo de Sagrada Familia or the Temple of the Sacred Family. Currently it is listed as a temple. Sometime this year the Pope is coming to bless it and it will become cathedral. It is a building dedicated to the Sacred Family, in other words, Jesus, His family and His disciples. Architectural drawings were started sometime prior to 1853. Because of some conflicts with the architect, Gaudi asked to take over the design in 1853. So the building has been under construction for some 125 years. The current architect continues to use some of Guadi's original drawings. It is being built totally through donations. Here are photos of some of the significant features. To show all the intricate details would require significantly more photos. Look on the internet if you are interested in more.
Our last day in Barcelona was Palm Sunday and we didn't need to board the ship until later in the afternoon. So we decided to take a walking tour of La Rambla , a wide avenue with pedestrian traffic in the middle and vehicle traffic in lateral lanes on either side. We didn't know what to expect but needless to say, it was interesting. First of all we witnessed a parade representing Jesus entering into Jerusalem. We were under the impression that this was a joyous occasion. However, here is a video of the parade showing how somber it was. But what was most fascinating in La Rambla were the living statues - people who used makeup and elaborate costume to appear like sculptures. They would sit or stand frozen all the time unless you put money in the buckets they had in front of them Then they would perform in some manner. Here are pictures we took as we strolled along La Rambla.
Finally we had to say goodbye to Barcelona but only for twelve days as we were returning again. Here are a couple of goodbye photos.
Next installment will be Rome.
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