Last Days in Athens

Athens, Greece November 12-13,2011 Our last two days in Athens have been very laid back and relaxing. As we mentioned in a previous blog, our hotel is located across from the Central Market. We started our day walking through the market. First we passed stalls with delicious looking fruit and vegetables, followed by stalls with fresh fish. Next came the endless stalls of butcher shops. They all had whole or partial carcasses that they were butchering right there. There were some incredible looking cuts of meat on display. From the market we wandered through the wonderful little streets of Athens toward the Parliament Building. We went there to see the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier. We have video that hopefully we can get posted. While not nearly as impressive as the changing of the guard at Arlington Cemetery in D.C. it was interesting none the less. If you see the video you will see that the soldiers are wearing interesting uniforms. They have tunics worn with tights. On their feet are clogs with huge black pom poms on the toes of the clogs. You will also note a very goose step like step. It was fun to watch but it is hard to take a ceremony seriously when Lynda is straining to see up the tunics of the soldiers. While we have been walking about we have noticed many little Greek Orthodox Churches everywhere. After leaving the Parliament building we came across one that was open so we popped in. It was a beautiful little church. When we say little we mean 10 people filled it up. Tim would have liked to have taken pictures but he did not want to disturb the people who were praying. We were again exploring the little streets of Plaka. Along the way we passed several shops that specialized in religious garments. Incongruously, across from one of these shops was a store selling fur coats. We eventually found are way back to an art gallery we had visited on Friday and purchased a small statue for our bookshelves in the living room. We also were recommended a restaurant in the area that we went back to in the evening. To get to this restaurant we had to walk up the slope towards the Acropolis. It was after dark when we went so the view of the Acropolis bathed in light was breathtaking and distracted us from the exertion of climbing the hill. The restaurant was gorgeous and the food delicious. About 30 minutes after we arrived a trio of guitar/players/singers started entertaining. We think we heard most of the score from the musical, “Zorba” but again it was in Greek so who knows. The guitar playing was very impressive. Unfortunately, Lynda had to limit her flirting to Tim. Today we took the Metro, Athens’ subway, to the New Acropolis Museum. This museum was full of artifacts, statues, etc. that had been excavated during the archeological dig on the Acropolis. There was also an interesting movie about the history of the Parthenon. After a quick bite to eat, Tim had vine leaves stuffed with rice and ground beef with a lemon sauce on top (Yum! Really), we took a bus, chosen at random, and rode it to the end of the line which happened to be the abandon former international airport for Athens. We then rode the same bus back into town. The bus route took us along the coast of the Mediterranean. It is a cold, blustery day so the views were not as spectacular as they could have been but still it was a fun way to spend the afternoon and we saw parts of Athens we would not have seen otherwise. Not sure what we are doing for dinner tonight. There is a sign in our room offering free delivery to our room of pizza from Dominos Pizza. We assume it is not coming from Ann Arbor. Tomorrow is a very long day. Our flight from Athens leaves at 7:00 a.m. We have a cab scheduled to be here at the hotel at 4:30 a.m. We have a four hour layover in Paris and then fly non-stop from Paris to Detroit, arriving in Detroit at 4:30 p.m. or 11:30 p.m. Athens time. It’s dirty work but somebody’s got to do it. This has been another great trip for us with lots of fantastic memories. We hope you have enjoyed traveling with us.

An Athens Adventure

Athens, Greece November 11, 2011

We left the Silver Wind with a bit of sadness this morning, went into the port terminal, collected our luggage and headed for the taxi stand to find a cab to take us to our hotel in Athens. Lynda negotiated a fare of 15 Euros and we were on our way. Our cab driver, Eunysis, almost immediately started to make a deal with us to show us the sites of Athens this afternoon. Our plan had been to find our hotel, reconnoiter the area and then tomorrow take a get on-get off bus to all of the major sites. Eunysis told us the weather was suppose to be cold and rainy tomorrow and that he would show us the sites today for 20 euros an hour. After much discussion between Tim and Lynda it was decided we would take Eunysis up on his deal. So after dropping our luggage at the hotel we got back in the cab and headed for the Acropolis.

On the way he explained that we could buy one ticket for each of us that would get us into all the major sites. When we arrived at the parking lot below the Acropolis Eunysis pointed out the direction we should go to get to the ticket office but first there was something he needed for us to do. He asked Tim to take a package to his cousin who was waiting about 50 meters up a path by the parking lot offering to knock 10 Euros off the price of our tour. His cousin, Arestes, would be waiting in a small opening wearing a brown leather jacket. We agreed to deliver the package. Little did we know that Arestes name would be so prophetic. Tim found the opening in the trees and Arestes without a problem. However, as he handed the package to Arestes, a small but sinewy built man jumped out from behind a tree and grabbed at the package. Tim saw the flash of a long stiletto the intruder was holding and, with speed that he did not know he possessed, kicked at the attacker’s arm, sending the attacker to the ground and the knife skittering across the ground. Before Tim could react any further, Arestes grabbed the knife and slit the throat of the attacker. Tim fled back down the path towards the cab. He was met about half way down by police. With an immense sense of relief he stopped to explain the situation but before he could two police officers grabbed him and roughly carried him the rest of the way down the hill to the waiting taxi that was now surrounded by police cars and officers. We were loaded in one police car, Eunysis, now hand cuffed, was put in another. We were all taken to a police station where we were told to wait and Eunysis was led away, never to be seen again. The police separated us and began questioning us, ignoring our pleas for the right to call the U.S. Embassy. After several hours we were brought back together, released and taken back to our hotel with no explanation as to what had happened. Needless, to say we needed a drink so we headed to the nearest taverna and were shocked when we entered and saw Arestes sitting on a stool at the bar, smoking a cigarette and nursing a bottle of beer.

The above paragraph was for our beloved son, Jeff, who was convinced that our description of the ride through the old town of Alexandria with our driver, Mustafa, sounded straight out of a Robert Ludlum novel. Here is what really happened. We did, in fact, catch a cab at the port driven by a driver named Eunysis and he did offer to show us the sites in Athens, an offer we accepted. We spent a wonderful, albeit, tiring four hours visiting some amazing places. The first stop was the Acropolis. The Acropolis sits on top of the highest hill in Athens and was the seat of the Greek government when it was built in 430 B.C. The surviving buildings are immense and we were in awe of the views looking out over Athens from the Acropolis. As with the Pyramids in Egypt, one cannot begin to comprehend how these structures could possibly be built over 2000 years ago. It took us over 45 minutes to walk to the top of the Acropolis, wander among the various buildings and climb back down to our cab. From the Acropolis we went to the Temple of Zeus, which is also the site of Hadrian’s gate. When built, the Temple of Zeus contained 104 columns of which 16 are still standing. Hadrian’s gate separated the old, original part of Athens from the newer city. We’re talking thousands of years ago. Fortunately the Temple was on fairly flat terrain and easy to walk about. Eunysis next took us to the stadium that hosted the first of the Modern Olympic games in 1896. The stadium has a seating capacity of 60,000 people and by present day standards is not very impressive. 116 years ago we are sure the Olympic athletes of the world thought it to be quite something. From the stadium Eunysis took us to the Roman Agora and the Tower of the Winds. The Agora was the first major market built by the Romans in Athens. The Tower of the Winds was a combination clock and weather station. There was once a bronze weather vane atop the Tower that showed the direction of the wind and the tower itself acted as a sundial. There was some sort of water device inside the Tower that showed the time of day on cloudy days and after dark. At this point Eunysis pointed out a nearby square where we would find some shops and cafes and told us to take an hour to browse about. We took advantage of this time for a welcome beer and glass of wine and a light lunch. After lunch we did drive by’s of the University of Athens (the original Spartans? J), and the Parliament building and then drove through Plaka, a wonderful neighborhood of small streets filled with many restaurants and shops. We plan to head back there tonight for dinner. Our last stop was the Ancient Agora, the Temple of Hephaestus and the Stoa of Attalos. These were all on one site and very impressive ruins. In one of the displays here we saw examples of devices for timing speeches, a system for selecting jurors and an explanation of the system of ostracism where the citizens of Athens voted for the person they did NOT want to hold an office. These people were sent away from Athens for 10 years. Maybe we should use this system in the States then all of the politicians would be sent away for 10 years. Couldn’t hurt.

Our hotel, while attractive and comfortable inside, is not particularly well located. We are right in the middle of the Central Market area which during the day is abuzz with activity but after dark may not be quite so exciting. We will use a cab to get to where we want to go tonight. Who knows? Maybe we will have another adventure!

Good Evening. It is 8:30 and we are back in our room after a lovely evening out. We walked to the Plaka area and found a little pedestrian street with lots of enticing little shops. After a bit of window shopping and buying we went to dinner at a restaurant recommended by one of the shopkeepers. After the extravagant four course meals we have had on board our ship, a simple dinner of moussaka, Greek salad and wine was wonderful. While at dinner a guitar player came in and started playing and singing near our table. Lynda, as she is want to do, started flirting with him and, of course, he ended up at our table. We assume he was playing and singing Greek folk or popular songs. We couldn’t tell. It was all Greek to us! (Insert groan here.) The guitar playing was very good and it was understated. Unfortunately, he blew it because he started singing Elvis’ “Can’t Help Falling In Love With You” as he left our table. After dinner we did a bit more shopping and walked back to our hotel in a brisk wind. Probably mid to low 50’s. When we got back to our room we were treated to a spectacular view of the Acropolis, lit at night, from the window of our 8th floor hotel room. How spectacular is it? Tim thinks it is even better than watching Keith Nichol catch a “Hail Mary” pass from Kirk Cousins as time expires in the 4th quarter against Wisconsin. We will see what tomorrow brings. We would like to see the changing of the guard at the Parliament Building, but it depends on the weather.
The next post has more pictures of Athens.

Pictures of the Acropolis

From top to bottom:

The Theatre of Dioysus
The Parthenon
The Pandrosieon
Us in front of the Acropolis
The Acropolis from our hotel room

Nauplia, Greece

Nauplia, Greece, November 10, 2011

Short blog today. We are currently anchored off the coast of the Greek island, Nauphia. There is probably some historical significance to Nauplia but we are not sure what it is. Tim went into town on the tender from the ship on his own this morning. He spent about 45 minutes at a café with WIFI and another 30 walking about town. It is a lovely town situated on a pretty little harbor. There is an imposing fort on a large hill overlooking Nauplia. Nauplia is very much like Heraklion, Crete in that there are many interesting shops both locally and chained owned. Tim did not see a market/bazaar as we saw yesterday in Heraklion. It was once again a beautiful day for a stroll about town which Tim enjoyed thoroughly. We arrive in Athens at 7:00 tomorrow morning when we will disembark the ship, so the rest of today will be spent packing. We will spend three nights in Athens, flying home on Monday, the 14th. We will undoubtedly post one more blog about the sites we see in Athens.

Someplace Familiar?

Heraklion, Crete, Greece, November 9, 2011

Today we left the exotic east and returned to the comforts and familiarity of the west. We will not miss the filth, particularly in Egypt, nor will we miss the overly aggressive hawkers on the street selling their cheap souvenirs, but we will definitely miss the atmosphere that speaks of foreign lands. Maybe we have spent so much time in Europe that it has become so comfortable that it does not feel like we have left home. We hope not.

We did not take any of the ship’s tour offerings but opted to walk on our own into Heraklion. We were joined by our friends, Gerry and Sue from Tampa by way of Brighton, Michigan. It was a beautiful day, temperatures in the upper 60’s and we strolled along enjoying the shops, and chatting like old friends. Heraklion is very clean and was filled with stores with names we recognized: Mark and Spencer’s, Zara, Ben and Jerry’s, Starbucks (Ugh!). We stopped at one or two tourist sites, nothing special, but mostly window shopped and bought some gifts for family! Is the family excited? Even the small shops were hosted by very quiet, friendly shop owners. After an hour or so of strolling, we found a café with WiFi and each of us caught up on e-mail, etc. After more meandering we discovered that Tim had gotten us semi-lost. This became abundantly clear when we came upon a lovely little square we had already been through when Tim thought we were several blocks to the east. Fortunately, there was a restaurant in the square where we could get a beer and a snack and reassess our position and further route. As we were at a restaurant it is time for a culinary aside.

We have been to several restaurants in Detroit’s Greek Town where we have had saginacki, a deep fried cheese that is brought to your table where the waiter pours booze, probably ouzo, over the cheese, sets it on fire while everyone yells “Opa”. According to Jerry and Sue this is also done in “authentic “ Greek restaurants in the Tampa area. We thought it would be very Greek of us to actually do this in Greece. We are sorry to report that this is a “Greek” tradition that must only be done in the States. We will continue to conduct further research in Athens. It is the least we can do for our faithful readers. After a delightful repast of fried cheese, minus the “Opa”, and beer, we continued our leisurely trek that eventually returned us to the ship. The afternoon was spent reading and napping in no particular order.

Tonight was the Captain’s farewell cocktail party. We have learned that crew members generally sign 6 month contracts with Silversea with little or no time off during that time. As the cruise season is ending in the Mediterranean, this is the final cruise for many of the crew which made for an interesting party tonight. This has been the nicest cruise on which we have ever been. The level of service has been incredibly high. Every time we encounter a crew member we are greeted with a smile and a “how are you today”, many times by name. Within the first couple of days all of the maitre d’s in the restaurants knew our name as well as most of the waiters and bartenders. Of course it helps that there are only about 235 passengers on board the ship, but still. The food has been excellent. Our last cruise a summer ago was 14 days long and by the end of the cruise we were a bit bored with the food. Not so on this cruise. We are already making tentative plans for another cruise with Silversea. After dinner we took in a show which featured singing and dancing from different countries around the world. As shipboard entertainment goes, it was quite good. We then went out on deck and observed the beauty of the full moon and returned to the Panorama Bar and danced the night away. Ok, it was one dance, but it was a long one.

2 Days in Egypt

Port Said, Egypt, November 6, 2011

We woke up this morning docked at the entrance to the Suez Canal. The city of Port Said (pronounced “sigh EED) was founded in 1859 at the time of the construction of the Suez Canal. In 150 years Port Said has become one of the largest cities in Egypt. Our arrival in Port Said coincided with the beginning of the second most important Muslim holiday. This Festival occurs a month and 10 days after Ramadan and lasts for four days. The first day is when the wealthy share with the poor. We were warned as we left the ship that we might see animals being slaughtered on the street. The rich people bring their animals, slaughter them and then give the meat to the poor. Fortunately, we did not witness this however are dinner companions, Jerry and Sue saw carcasses hanging in the street as they were taking a tour bus to the Pyramids. We did, however, see cars with blood on them and animals in pickups being taken for slaughter.

We opted for a two hour tour of Port Said in a horse and buggy. Our tour actually consisted of eight horse drawn carriages with a tour guide. We noticed as we left the terminal area and headed for the carriages that policemen were loading rifles in the back of a couple of jeeps. Turns out they followed us on our entire two hour tour. There were lots of cars on the street filled with young people, honking their horns, creating a festive atmosphere. The tour was a bit disconcerting because our guide seemed to be re-writing history, in particular in regards to Egypt’s wars with Israel. We planned to stay on the ship the rest of the day, however, Tim was having problems with the computer and the posting of our blog. In frustration, he called reception to find out if there would be an internet café open in Port Said. When assured that there would be he set off. Fortunately, he did not feel the least bit threatened while on the street and the man in the internet café was very friendly. Unfortunately, there was no WiFi in the café so the blog still did not get posted.

In the evening we had dinner at the pool grill. At night the pool grill becomes what the ship calls a hot rocks grill. You order your meal from a selection of meats and then a lava rock which has been heated to 900 degrees Celsius for 24 hours is brought to your table and you cook your dinner. In actual practice, your meal is partially cooked and then it is finished at the table. We both had filet mignon which melted in our mouths. It was a beautiful evening and we had interesting dinner companions which made for an enchanting night.

Alexandria, Egypt November 7, 2011

Alexandria is a major shipping port so we once again docked in a commercial area with lots of freighter traffic about. We had arranged a private tour of Alexandria before we left home and upon leaving the boat our guide, Mustafa, was there to greet us. Our first stop was the Royal Gardens, also the location of the Royal Palace. The Gardens encompass an area of 450 acres. While Mustafa called the gardens “beautiful” we thought them less than. We both commented to each other that the British would have them looking pristine. The Palace is a large building of over 50 rooms that was the vacation home for the Kings of Egypt up through King Farauk. Since the revolution in the 1950’s when Nasser became the President, the Palace has been used to host visiting dignitaries. There is a staff that maintains the Palace even though it is seldom used. Mustafa thought it would make sense to open it as a museum. When we first greeted Mustafa this morning we told him that one of the things we needed to do was find a place with WiFi so we could get our blog posted. On the grounds of the Royal Gardens there was a luxury hotel built by King Farauk where we posted our blog in royal opulence. For lunch we were taken to a restaurant that was very famous and had been open for over 100 years. It turned out to be a Greek restaurant with a nice view of the Mediterranean Sea. We could not decide if it had once been an opulent restaurant that had turned a bit seedy or if Alexandrians still considered it to be the ultimate in fine dining. Lynda had chicken which she thinks was actually chicken and Tim had fried calamari. We were also served soup, each of us getting a different kind, neither of which we could identify but were actually quite tasty. One thing we have neglected to tell you is that at all of the off ship restaurants we have been taken to we have had hummus and pita bread that is out of this world, including our restaurant in Alexandria.

The highlight of the day occurred after lunch. We were going to visit the catacombs and our route took us through the old town of Alexandria. The streets were narrow and not well paved with little sign of anyone observing traffic laws. We ended up in a monumental traffic jam with three lanes of traffic, on a street built for two lanes, all headed in the same direction with a trolley car coming towards us. There was much yelling and gesturing with passerby’s trying to help direct traffic. In the middle of all of this we heard a siren behind us. At first we thought is was an ambulance but Mustafa told us it was a funeral procession. The “ambulance” was followed by 8 or 9 men who were friends of the deceased and who also were trying to direct traffic. Women are not allowed in the funeral procession. They meet the procession at the cemetery. We followed the procession to the entrance of the cemetery where we watched the friends remove a stretcher with the body wrapped in sheets. We were told that there is no coffin. The body is placed in a vault in the ground and than a cover is put on the vault. Lynda asked if we could visit the cemetery but Mustafa said we could not because we were not Muslim. Of course Lynda tried to tell Mustafa that her Uncle Ahmed lived in Cairo and was certainly a Muslim but to no avail.

The catacombs were over 1800 years old. We climbed down 99 steps to see rooms with square openings where mummies in sarcophagi had been placed. Really quite fascinating. From the catacombs we visited the Pillar of Pompeii. According to Mustafa this pillar is the tallest in Egypt and the two sphinx guarding the pillar are the third largest in the country. During our discussion with Mustafa about Egyptian antiquities, the name Zakari Hawas came up. He was the former head of the Egyptian Department of Antiquities whom we had heard talk on our Around the World Expedition a couple of years ago. Mustafa became a bit agitated, calling Hawas a tomb robber and if it had been a choice of removing Hawas or Mubarak, Hawas would be the one to go. We don’t know if this is a widely held belief in Egypt or just Mustafa’s but we were certainly surprised.

Our route back to the ship again took us through old town and it was an exhilarating ride. There were lots of people out on the streets in a celebratory mood. Shops and grocery stores were open with their goods on display and we passed many cafes with men sitting at tables smoking hookah pipes.

The one thing we noticed both days in Egypt and which our friends on board the ship also commented on was the filth throughout the city and countryside. Everywhere you look there is litter and trash which the locals seem oblivious to. This is most unfortunate because Egypt has a very exotic feel to it and the people we have met have been very friendly.

Tonight the ship hosted a barbecue on the pool deck. We mistakenly thought it would be an American style barbecue with ribs, chicken, potato salad, etc. How wrong we were. It was a lavish buffet with many wonderful appetizers, salads, grilled meat and shrimp, as well as a carving station with beef and fish. There was also a fresh pasta station. It was another gorgeous evening. We may never get use to having to cook for ourselves again.

Tomorrow we spend the whole day at sea on our way to Crete so we probably won’t post a blog. See you in a couple of days.

Pictures

The top picture is the Sea of Galilee looking across at the Golan Heights. The bottom picture is the mosaic from Japan of the Mother Mary and the Baby Jesus. Note the oriental faces on each.

The pictures in the Nazareth blog featured the Synagogue in Capernaum where Jesus preached and the Gardens of B'iatha in Haifa.

Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee

Haifa, Nazareth, and the Sea of Galilee November 5, 2011

Today was another long but enlightening day. We left very early and took our bus to the top of the high hill the surrounds the port city of Haifa. Here we saw the top part of the Gardens of B’iatha. B’iatha is a sect of the religion of Islam that was formed in the mid 1800’s. They are a liberal group that give women considerably more rights than traditional Islam. For some reason our tour guide was unable to give us, the leader of B’iatha built a golden domed building about half way up the hill and then a series of gardens stretching in both directions up and down the hill from the domed building. They are large, very formal and beautiful gardens that we could see from our ship At night they are illuminated and as we left the harbor this evening they were very striking.

We left the Gardens of B’iatha and drove to Nazareth to visit the Church of the Annunciation. It was in Nazareth where the angel came to Mary and told her that she would be with child and she should call the child Jesus. Before 1964 there was a Mosque near the site that dwarfed the Christian church. In 1964 Pope Paul VI visited the site and announced that the Vatican would see to the building of a much larger church. The resulting structure is larger than any of the other buildings in the area and is very contemporary in design. Countries from around the world were invited to send a mosaic honoring Mother Mary and baby Jesus, resulting in a series of mosaic panels both inside and outside the church that are beautiful indeed. Of particular interest were the mosaics from several Asian countries that portrayed Mother Mary looking like an oriental woman. Again, we thought of Nazareth as a small town but, in fact, it is a bustling city of 45,000 people today.

From Nazareth it was on to the Sea of Galilee where we ended up a kibbutz located where the River Jordon leaves the Sea of Galilee. It was somewhere near this site that Jesus was baptized. One can arrange to be baptized at this center. While we did not see any baptisms, we did see many people take their shoes off and step into the river. After seeing all the catfish and muskrats swimming about, we chose not to! On our way to this site we had passed the church where Jesus performed his first miracle; turning the water into wine. At the gift shop at the River Jordan, in addition to stocking small bottles of Holy Water from the River, we could have bought “First Miracle Wedding Wine”.

After lunch our bus took us to the site of Jesus’s miracle of feeding 5000 people with two loaves of bread and five fish. There was a lovely little church marking this spot. Nearby we visited the town of Capernaum. Jesus left Nazareth shortly after turning 30 and spent 19 months preaching in and around Capernaum. Unlike Jerusalem and Nazareth, in Jesuss’s time Capernaum was a large city. Now it is just a tourist site featuring archeological digs. Parts of the synagogue where Jesus preached are still standing although recently it has been determined this particular structure was built in the 5th century, probably above the original. It was also in Capernaum that Jesus met many of his disciples for the first time.

Our last stop was at the Church of the Beatitudes, where Jesus gave his Sermon on the Mount outlining the 8 beatitudes. This site also had a pretty little church that was built in the 1930’s. We also saw vestments worn by Pope Paul and Pope Benedict when they visited here and they left as gifts to the church.

At each stop mentioned in the Bible, both yesterday and today, one of our shipmates read the appropriate passage from the Bible. This certainly added to our understanding of the significance of each of the places we visited. Lynda kept pinching herself as she knew how much her mother would have liked the idea of our visiting these sacred places.

Yesterday, on our drive to Jerusalem, we passed mostly desert land. Today, on our way to the Sea of Galilee and back, we drove through a large, broad valley where much farming is being done. Agriculture is big business in Israel. They grow much fruit and produce that is sold throughout Europe year round.

While it is hard not to be a bit skeptical about the exact locations of these historical events, research shows that we were close enough to take it all very seriously. Both days in Israel there were crowds of people at all of these sites and we could tell that for many of them it was a pilgrimage of a lifetime. We are both also very thankful that we had the chance to visit the Holy Lands.

Blogging Problem

We are having computer problems. Two of the blogs we wanted to post were in fact posted but in the wrong order. We have one more post plus more pictures. Unfortunately, we don't know when we will be able to get them posted. Be patient.

Tim and Lynda

Pictures

The top picture is the upper room. The bottom picture is the altar over the site of the cross where Jesus was crucified.

In the Jerusalem blog both pictures are of the Wailing Wall. You will see Lynda in one of them.

PIctures

The top picture is the upper room. The bottom picture is the alter over the place where the crucifix stood.

In the Jerusalem blog the pictures were both of the Wailing Wall. Look closely and you will see Lynda in one of them.

Limassol, Cyprus

Limassol, Cyprus, November 3, 2011

Limassol will not be very high on our list of favorite ports of call. We were in port for only five and half hours. The ship docked in the middle of the industrial port so, unlike the past two days, we did not get a chamber of commerce view of Limassol from our ship. After lunch, we took the shuttle bus from our port to the city center. We found a small café that had free WiFi and order a beer and took care of computer business. Computer time on board is very expensive so if we can find free computer time on shore we use it to post our blog and check e-mail. After we finished our computer work we took a short walk about the city. Limassol is famous for lace and we saw many shops featuring quite detailed lace work. We also visited several small art galleries that featured locally produced art work. There were excellent examples of glass, copper and other metal works of art. Limassol was not any prettier in the city center than in the dock area. We were only off the ship for about two hours.

This morning Tim did laundry while Lynda slept in. He had an interesting encounter with another passenger who was folding his freshly washed and dried Michigan Football t-shirt. Tim quietly enjoyed hearing the Michigan fan admit that we had kicked wolverine ass again this year.

The high point of the day clearly was our private tour, with the ship’s executive chef, of the ship’s galley including a demonstration of how the fresh pasta is made. The machine used to make the pasta is quite involved. Lynda teased the chef as to whether he was a chef or a machinist. The machine the kitchen uses can make all of the pasta for the evening meals in less than an hour. It was fascinating to watch the chef switch the different bits on the machine to make the different shapes of pasta. For tubular pasta such as penne the machine is fitted with a special device that automatically cuts the pasta to the desired length. For longer, flat pastas like spaghetti the pasta is cut by hand. The chef also demonstrated the machine that makes the stuffed pasta, ravioli for example. The machine can make 60 servings of ravioli in 15 minutes. After the pasta demonstration we were shown the rest of the galley. There are 42 chefs in the galley who work in different shifts because our ship has 24 hour room service. The executive chef explained how the orders are brought to the kitchen and organized so that the executive chef can monitor how many orders of each entrée are being placed. We learned that the chef must keep track of the many regulations for each country that is visited. These regulations apply not only to the food served, but also to the bin in which each type of garbage is disposed. We were rather surprised to discover that the “soft” trash, peelings from vegatables, lettuce and the like, is crushed and put into the sea once we are over 15 miles from land. Tim asked about the meals for the crew and found out that there is a separate galley, with its own budget, that prepares the food for the crew. They are not allowed to eat any left overs from the dining rooms for the guests. While we are sure they are well fed, we are also sure the crew does not get the dining options that we choose from each evening. We felt quite special because we saw another group of about 6 passengers come in for a tour that was not as extensive as the private tour we received. It was certainly another example of the outstanding service we have been receiving.

Jerusalem

Jerusalem, Israel November 4, 2011

Today was a long, exhausting but exciting day. Our tour left port at 7:50 a.m. for Jerusalem. Lynda was not happy. It was a bit more than a two hour drive to Jerusalem with Lynda enjoying the scenery and Tim napping. About 15 miles outside of Jerusalem we stopped for a potty and coffee break. Of interest at this break was the fact that the café was across the street from the Monastery of Amasses, the first of three places that Jesus was seen after his resurrection. We than drove on into Jerusalem. There were several things that surprised us about Jerusalem. First, Jerusalem is a major city, around 800,000 inhabitants. We had always thought of it as small. Second, the terrain that the city is built on is quite severe, with major hills and valleys. Third, we did not know that Jerusalem was the capitol of Israel. We assumed Tel Aviv was the capitol. On our way to our first stop we drove by the Knesset, the parliament of Israel. We also drove by the Foreign Office where our guide pointed out that Condolesa Rice had spent much time in negotiations in this building. No mention of Hillary. We also passed the Prime Minister’s home Our first stop was Mount Scopus where we looked out towards the Judean Desert and the start of the West Bank. The West Bank that you all have heard about on the news is the area west of the River Jordan that separates Jordan and Israel, actually on the east side of Israel. From Mount Scopus we drove to the Mount of Olives. The Mount of Olives gave us a panoramic view of the Old City of Jerusalem and also the Garden of Gethsemane located just outside the Old City walls. Next we visited the Upper Room, the site of the last supper. Over the years the room has been expanded but we were shown the approximate size of the original room. The Upper Room is very near the Tomb of King David that we next saw. Of interest here was the fact that women and men entered from different sides of the tomb and both men and women must have their heads covered. Lynda has a picture of Tim in a paper yarmulke that he had to wear. After lunch we walked into the Old City, our first stop being the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. This church contains the sites where Jesus was nailed to the cross, where the cross stood when Jesus was crucified and the location of the tomb where he was buried. At the site of the crucifixion there is an altar underneath which is a golden plate marking the location where the cross stood. We watched many people crawl under the altar to kiss the golden marker. On each side of the altar there was glass through which you could see the actual stone from Calvary. It was very chaotic and crowded around this spot where a Greek Orthodox priest struggled to keep some semblance of order. Don’t ask why a Greek Orthodox priest. It would take too long to explain and we still probably would not be able to make it clear. The church itself that was built around and over these sites is quite beautiful. We left the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and walked down the Via Dolorosa where the original stations of the cross are located. The Via Dolorosa is filled with little shops much like the bazaars in Turkey and Rhodes. We left the Via Dolorosa and followed a rather serpentine route to the Western Wall, better know as the Wailing Wall. To Jews this is the most holy of all sites. The Western Wall is actually about an 84 yard section of the original wall from the 2nd Jewish temple, over 2000 years old and the temple that Jesus visited. Given the conflicts between Jews and Muslims it won’t surprise you to learn that this wall continues on underneath a Mosque. Today people go to the wall to pray. Many write their prayer requests on a small piece of paper and than fit it into a crack or crevice in the wall. Once a month these requests are removed and buried on the Mount of Olives. Like the Tomb of David, there is a separate section for men and women and all must have their heads covered. After spending time at the Western Wall we rode in our bus to a hill overlooking Bethlehem, located just outside of Jerusalem, what we would consider a suburb. We didn’t go into Bethlehem but it is now part of the West Bank controlled by the Muslims. The Israeli’s have built a security wall around Bethlehem and it is very difficult for tour buses to go there. Again, we think of Bethlehem as a little town but it actually is a town of 85,000 people. Our guide spent a lot of time during the day lamenting the constant fighting between the Jews and the Muslims. The problem is that both religions can show proof that they should be the ones controlling the area. Sadly this has been going on for hundreds of years and will probably continue for hundreds more. We returned to our ship about 7:30 exhausted but moved by what we had seen. Fortunately, our thoughtful ship’s crew greeted us with glasses of champagne and a Welcome Back Home receiving line. Have we mentioned how much we are enjoying Silversea Cruise Line?


Tomorrow we travel to the north of Israel, visiting Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee. It will be another very early start and a long day. Hopefully it will be as rewarding as today.

An Enchanting Island

Rhodes, Greece, November2 ,2011

This past summer our friends Mike and Sue asked us to meet them for dinner to discuss their making their first sojourn overseas. During the course of the dinner, Mike asked Tim if we had ever had any travel disasters. After much thought Tim responded that we had not had any. Any problems that we had encountered were cultural problems that were our fault. Tim told Mike that the joy we get from traveling is encountering new cultures. Just as there is no bad day of golf there is no bad day of travel. We mention this because we are sure that some of you are a bit tired of us talking about another wonderful day of travel. Unfortunately for you, it was another excellent day. We had not signed up for any cruise sponsored shore excursions, planning on exploring on our own. We were at the shore excursion concierge desk discussing our options when one of the couples we had dinner with our first night on board asked if we would be interested in renting a cab with them to go up to Lindos. Duh! Did the sun come up this morning? We talked with the concierge to get guidelines on renting a cab and set off. After brief negotiations with the cab driver we were on our way. It was about an 18 mile trip to Lindos. Once out of Rhodes City the landscape became quite barren and hilly. We saw many goats along the road that our cab driver assured us were domestic and just foraging about.

Just outside of Lindos our driver pulled off the side of the road to give us an opportunity for pictures. We had a breathtaking view of Lindos below us. Lindos is a small town located at the northern tip of the Island of Rhodes. All of the buildings were white washed just like you see on the Greekce travel posters. An acropolis sits on a high hill above Lindos. When we arrived in Lindos we were immediately confronted with a stall full of donkeys available for us to rent to take us up the hill to the acropolis. Neither our new friends, Greg and Sue, nor we were interested. We agreed to meet back at the taxi stand at a certain time and explored Lindos. What a lovely, quiet little town. There were the usual tourist trap type shops selling t-shirts, etc. but none of the overbearing hawkers we had put up with in Turkey. These souvenir shops were mixed in with jewelry stores, little art galleries and the like. We also came upon a drop dead gorgeous little Greek Orthodox Church. Unfortunately we were unable to take pictures. As we sat and had a small pizza and a beer for lunch we were struck with how simple a life the residents of Lindos lead. We may have been a bit envious.

We explored Rhodes City upon our return from Lindos. It is much larger than Lindos and, as you would expect, more bustling. Because Rhodes City is where the cruise ships dock there were considerably more of the tourist oriented shops, but it was still not as frenetic as the bazaars in Turkey. We returned to the ship in the late afternoon so the rest of the day was spent lounging, having another wonderful meal and seeing another good show. Tomorrow we arrive in Cyprus. Again, we do not have any excursions planned. We only have about five hours in port so we will probably just take a shuttle bus into Limassol and explore a bit.

We did get some bad news this morning. It was announced over the intercom by our captain that because of shelling in the area of Ashdod in southern Israel we would not be docking there. Instead, we will go directly to Haifa and spend two nights in port there. The good news is this will not affect our planned excursions to Jerusalem and the Sea of Galilee. Unfortunately, the trip into Jerusalem will be considerably longer due to a longer drive. For us that simply means we’ll see more of the Israeli countryside - another bonus!

A Grand Bazaar

Kusadasi, Turkey, November 1, 2011

We have often found in our travels that the places we have enjoyed the most were the least thought of destinations; places where we have little knowledge of the destination going in and absolutely no preconceived ideas of what to expect. Riga, Latvia and Tallinn, Estonia immediately come to mind. Our visit today to Kusadasi, Turkey falls into that category. Our ship docked at the pier directly in front of the town center at 7:00 this morning. The sun was just rising over the hills that surround Kusadasi. It was a stunning view. We spent the morning at Ephesus but more on that later. After our tour we walked about the city. We were constantly passing by small groups of men surrounding a backgammon board. Two of the men were playing, the others either kibitzing or possibly waiting to see if they had bet on the correct player. As several shopkeepers pointed out to us, the middle of November is the end of the cruise season in the Eastern Mediterranean and many of the shops will close until the beginning of next year’s cruise season in the spring. So it was a slow pace. Some of the merchants just nodded as you passed by, others half-heartedly tried to lure you into their store and others showed almost desperation in their attempt to sell you something. Such was the case at a leather goods store that we stopped in front of. Tim pointed out an attractive leather ladies coat to Lynda and immediately regretted it. The owner was all over us in flash, and before you could say “Kusadasi, Turkey” had us on the second floor with Lynda trying on the coat. As proof of his need to sell the coat, the price started at $1080 and the sale was completed at $260. We imagine that the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul was like this. If you can learn to ignore the hawkers than it is great fun walking through the Bazaar.

Two thousand years ago Ephesus, along with Rome and Alexandria were the three most important cities in the world. At that time Ephesus was located on a river on the coast of the Aegean Sea. Two thousand years later it is located about three and a half miles from the sea. By the 5th and 6th centuries A.D. its glory days were long gone. About 20% of Ephesus has been reconstructed by archeologists. Probably the most interesting and impressive building was the façade of the library. At its zenith, the library contained over 12,000 scrolls and was the third largest library in the world. Tim is convinced that Stevium Jobacus’ invention of an application that allowed one to download a scroll to one’s kindlium spelled the end of the library. Actually, of more interest to the reader of this blog is the fact that the library contained a secret tunnel that led to the brothel across the street from the library. Only men were allowed in the library and you are left to your imagination regarding husbands telling their wives they would be spending the evening reading a real page turner of a scroll down at the library and to not wait up! The Grand Theatre has also been reconstructed. It seats 24,000 people and in its day hosted plays and town meetings. It has been used more recently to host concerts by musicians as varied as Elton John and Luciano Pavoratti. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your point of view, after a concert by Sting it was discovered that there was a noticeable shifting of the stones so now only classical concerts are allowed. Of interest to those of you with an off-beat sense of what is important, we also toured the public toilets. These public toilets consisted of long slabs of marble with 42 holes cut in them to allow men to take care of their business. As there were only 16 of us in our tour group we suggested a group picture with us sitting on the toilets would be fun. Our tour leader did not concur.

From the Ephesus site we went to the Ephesus Archeological Museum. It was a small museum but had an impressive array of items that had been found at the Ephesus dig. Unfortunately, the tour ended at a rug shop back in Kusadasi. The five minute demonstration of how silk is obtained from a silk worm cocoon was fascinating but the rest was just a sales pitch. Poor guy had to move 4000 rugs in the next two weeks before he closed for the season so there were deep discounts available. We felt like we were watching an American commercial live. The rest of the day was spent relaxing on the ship.

After a lovely meal in the Italian Restaurant on board we took in our first floor show. The show featured a male singer from London who had starred in many West End productions. He was backed by a live quartet, grandiosely called “The Silver Wind Orchestra”. It was actually a pretty entertaining evening although it is hard to get use to an English singer, backed by four Philipino's singing and playing great American standards.

Tomorrow we will be on the Island of Rhodes, Greece. See you then.

On the High Seas

On the High Seas

Sunday morning we set off for the Haghia Sophia again in search of a couple of geocaches. Unfortunately, the geocache application on Lynda’s smart phone was not working properly. (Editorial comment from Tim: Evidently it is not such a smart phone after all!) The good news is that we happened into an area of the Sophia we had not seen the day before and discovered five small mausoleums of five of the Sultans and their families. The sarcophagi were disappointing. They were plain felt covered boxes as opposed to the ornate sarcophagi of the Egyptian pharaohs. Some of the sarcophagi had what looked like turbans setting on top of them. We have no idea what that was all about. The small buildings in which the sarcophagi were located were another matter. Each was different with ornate tiles and calligraphy on the walls and ceilings. Very impressive. We were required to take off our shoes upon entering each of the mausoleums.

We had been told on Saturday that the Spice Bazaar would not be open on Sunday, but we decided to go to that area anyway just to see a different part of Istanbul. Near the Spice Bazaar we came upon “The New Mosque”. It is call the New Mosque because it is only 350 years old. In our travels all over Europe we have enjoyed going into the different churches and cathedrals that we encounter and that was not going to change in Istanbul. While not as large or as ornate as the Blue Mosque, the New Mosque was still impressive. Had we gone to the New Mosque first, we would have called it “breathtaking”. Because of seeing it after the Blue Mosque it was merely “beautiful”. Much to our surprise and joy the Spice Bazaar was open. We wish that there was some way to provide you with video that included sound and smell. That would be the only way for you to understand how exciting an environment the Spice Bazaar was. It was terribly crowded and the noise from all of the shop owners hawking their wares was deafening. Lynda was in her element bartering with the shopkeepers over prices on pistachios, saffron and parched corn. Besides all of the spice stalls, there were shops for jewelry, ceramic ware, cheese, fish and meat, and candy. We spent well over an hour in the Bazaar and had a great time.

After leaving the Spice Bazaar, we collected our luggage and took a cab to the port and boarded our ship. We are on the Silversea Cruise Line ship, “Silver Wind”. It is the smallest cruise ship we have been on having only a little over 200 passengers on board. We were greeted with a glass of champagne as we boarded, were whisked through the boarding procedures and shown to our cabin. It is probably the largest cabin we have been in with a nice sitting area complete with a sofa and two occasional chairs. A particular luxury is the walk in closet. Lynda made the comment that our closet on board ship is larger than the closet in our bedroom at home before we remodeled. Did we mention the bottle of champagne on ice that was waiting for us when we entered? As our luggage had not arrived yet we went to lunch. On our way to the dining room every crew member we met greeted us with a warm smile and a “Welcome Aboard”. After lunch we walked about the ship acquainting ourselves with the location of all the different public rooms; the different dining rooms, the theatre, the different bars, the casino, the different bars, the shops, the library, the spa, and the different bars. While we were unpacking, the young woman who is the butler for our room stopped by to appraise us of all the services she would provide. She was particularly interested in being sure our mini bar was stocked to our satisfaction. The ship did not actually disembark until 11:00 p.m. so we spent the rest of the afternoon finishing our unpacking, reading and napping. Our ship has an open seating plan at dinner allowing guests to dine when and with whom they want. Upon entering the main dinning room we were asked if we wanted sit by ourselves or with other passengers. We opted for sitting with other passengers and ended up having a wonderful time. There were three other couples. The first couple was from Tampa, Florida having moved there a few years ago from Brighton, Michigan. The second couple was from the island of Guernsey off the coast of England having recently moved there from a village located between Winchester and Andover, west of London. The third couple was from Houston. The wife had spent the first 26 years of her life growing up in London. She was rather loud, profane and opinionated but was the catalyst for very lively dinner conversation. After dinner we went to the Panorama Bar, by ourselves(!) and enjoyed an after dinner drink watching the ever changing lights on the bridge over the Bosphorus River. Lynda then retired to our cabin while Tim went to the top deck to watch the ship leave port. The skyline of Istanbul was spectacular. It is dominated by mosques. Tim counted at least ten mosques on the European side of the river. It was a beautiful sight to behold. Tim’s brother had told us that Istanbul was one of his favorite cities in the world. We can see why. Istanbul is an exotic city, filled with a diversity of sites and friendly people. We would come back to Istanbul in a heart beat.
Monday-

Today we spent the whole day at sea. When we left Istanbul we cruised through the Marmara Sea. About 10:00 this morning we entered the Dardanelle Straits. It was a scenic cruise with several interesting villages. One in particular had a very large fort on the straits. About 1:00 we sailed into the Aegean Sea. It was a very relaxing day for us. In the afternoon we went to a dance class offered by a Ukrainian couple who are dance competition champions. Later, Lynda went to a lecture about our port tomorrow, Ephesus. Tim took a tour of the navigation bridge. Unfortunately, he was unable to actually steer the boat. In the evening there was a champagne reception hosted by our ship captain. The highlight of the day was dinner. There is a small restaurant on board called Le Champagne. There are only seven tables, it is by reservation only. They offer a five course fixed menu. You can opt for a special wine pairing with each course but it is very expensive so we just ordered a nice bottle of chardonnay to have with our meal.. Tonight’s menu featured lobster. All of the courses except dessert contained lobster. The first course featured four small appetizers, each containing lobster. The second course was a lobster terrine. It was a small piece of lobster tail wrapped in thinly sliced carrot and spinach leaves. The plate also featured two small dollops of cream, one with a small piece of citrus and the other with a tiny bit of caviar. The third course was a Lobster Nage. This is basically a broth with a small bit of lobster tail cooked in its own juices. The fourth course was surf and turf, a small piece of lobster tail paired with a filet mignon. The filet literally melted in your mouth and the lobster was excellent. The final course was a dessert. It was a orange bit covered with meringue and a bit of macaroon. Lynda thoroughly enjoyed dessert. Tim, of course, wanted chocolate. We felt like we were judges at America’s Iron Chef and the secret ingredient was lobster. Our dinner lasted almost three hours but did not seem that long. The service was impeccable and the food delicious. We have been impressed so far on the cruise with the food. Not only the quality but the quantities are small so you don’t feel stuffed when you leave a meal. Tomorrow we have our first shore excursion at Ephesus. Film at eleven.

Lynda and Tim

Istanbul

Istanbul October 28, 2011

After a long day and a half of travel we have arrived in Istanbul. Walking out the gangway from the plane Ataturk Airport looked like any other airport in the world. But after about a hundred yard walk down the concourse we knew we weren’t in Kansas anymore. We came upon about 100 people kneeling on the concourse floor, facing Mecca and praying. Most of these people were in long robes, all had taken their shoes off. They were kneeling in neat rows with the men in the front rows and the women in the back. There was silent prayer and then group prayers said aloud. It was all very fascinating.

U.S. Homeland Security would be appalled and the Treasury Department envious of the manner in which visa’s are obtained. Our experience in the past is that one must apply for a visa in advance of entering a country. Presumably, the country one is getting a visa from does a security check, albeit a perfunctory one in most cases, before issuing the visa. Entering Turkey you get in line at the window with a sign indicating “Visas”, present your passport and $20.00 and the person behind the window peels a stamp off of a sheet and places it in your passport and you are on your way. What an easy way to make money. Of course, you spend your whole time looking over your shoulder. Just kidding.

A car from our hotel met us at the airport and we had about a 30 minute ride into Istanbul. It was dark by the time we arrived so we could not see what the landscape looked like. The drive into town took us along the seacoast so the lights were pretty. Our hotel is located in the old town section of Istanbul. Once we turned off the main highway in from the airport we went through a series of narrow, cobblestone streets going up hill and down and curving all around. There were several blocks that had nothing in the way of shops where you would not want to be after dark followed immediately by several blocks of hotels, restaurants and stores, all brightly lit with lots of people about. It was an exhilarating ride to say the least. We are in a nice hotel and we are thrilled with the view from our room. We look directly at the Haghia Sophia, a Byzantine church, and one of the major tourist sites in Istanbul. Dinner was on the roof top terrace of our hotel with views of the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace and the colorfully lit Bosphorus Bridge. Needless to say, our trip has started on a high note.

Saturday-

Before flying to Turkey we had booked an all day tour of Istanbul on line. We assumed we would be in a small tour bus with other tourists. Turns out we had a guide to ourselves for the whole day. The first three sites on our tour were all within walking distance of the hotel. Our first stop was the Blue Mosque. The Blue Mosque was built in the 17th century by the reigning sultan. It is called the Blue Mosque because all of the tile work in the Mosque is done in blue. It is incredibly beautiful. We had to take off our shoes before entering; we were given plastic bags to put our shoes in and carry with us. The Mosque has no pews or chairs in it. There is a wooden railing that separates this large open area into ¼ for the tourists to stand and take pictures and the other ¾’s is for people who come in to pray. Five times during the day there is a call to prayer, which we have yet to hear, that brings a large number of people to the Mosque to pray. There were only a very few individuals praying while we were there. Because this Mosque was built by the sultan there was a special area in a balcony where he would pray. We also saw the section at the back of the Mosque reserved for “women only.”

From the Blue Mosque we literally walked across the street to the Haghia Sophia which means “Holy Wisdom“. This Mosque has quite a convoluted history. It was built in the 2nd century B.C. as a Christian Church. During the 4th and 5th centuries is was destroyed twice by fire and rioting. (As an aside, as I am writing this we are hearing our first call to prayer broadcast over large speakers that we saw this morning suspended on the minarets. - Tim) The third reincarnation of the Church occurred in the 5th century. Sometime during this time it became an Orthodox Church. During the Christian Crusades it reverted back to a Christian Church and than in the 14th century it became a Mosque. Interestingly, when it was converted to a Mosque, the Christian icons were not destroyed but merely plastered over. In 1931 it was closed for renovations and when it reopened in 1935 it reopened as a museum rather than a Mosque. What is particularly bizarre is the fact that a mosaic of Mary holding the baby Jesus hangs over the alter area while all around the museum are symbols of Islam. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, the Haghia Sophia is not as well preserved as the Blue Mosque. Of course it is over a thousand years older.

Leaving the Haghia Sophia we walked around the corner to the Topkapi Palace. The Topkapi Palace was the home of the Sultans who ruled Turkey from the time of the Ottoman Empire until 1918 when Ataturk lead a revolt that forced the Sultan and his family to flee the country. There were several different buildings around the Palace grounds that we toured. There was a large collection on display of very valuable bejeweled gifts given to the Sultans. Of particular interest was a dagger that had three humungous emeralds displayed on it. This was actually a gift the Sultan had made to give to a neighboring ruler. While traveling to this ruler’s home to present the gift, word reached the Sultan that the ruler had died, so the Sultan turned around and came home, keeping the dagger for himself. This dagger was featured in a 1960’s movie called “Topkapi”. Also on display was a 86 carat diamond. This stone was discovered by a peasant who sold it to another peasant for three silver spoons. It was resold for 100 spoons. When the second peasant discovered that he had possession of a huge diamond, not just some shiny stone, he gave it to the Sultan as a gift. The diamond is now called the gift of the silver spoon.

Unfortunately today is a National Holiday in Turkey which means that both the Grand Bazaar and Spice Market were closed. We are very disappointed because they are both also closed on Sunday so we will not get to see them tomorrow. Guess we will have to come back to Istanbul sometime. The good news is that our guide had a great plan B. First he took us to a carpet shop. Carpet making, think Persian rugs, is big business in Turkey. We were in a beautiful store where we were invited into a show room and given tea and coffee while a salesman told us about the process of making the rugs. He even brought in a weaver who demonstrated how hand made rugs are made, taking particular pride in the fact that all of their rugs are woven using a double knot technique that results in a more durable, longer lasting rug than the single knot technique. Than he started showing us rugs. The first rug he showed us cost $3900. When we declined because it was not our style he suddenly displayed the only contemporary Persian rugs you will probably ever see. He even offered us a 40% discount on a rug because it was last year’s model! We kid you not. From the carpet store we went by van to the new section of Istanbul where our guide walked us down Liberty Street, the main shopping street in Istanbul. The street was wall to wall people, all locals, with the only vehicles being police cars and trolleys. We went into a couple of shops of our choosing but otherwise just enjoyed the festive atmosphere in the street. We met back up with our van and returned to our hotel. Our guide, Sinan, was very friendly, had a wonderful sense of humor, and was well versed in the history of the sites we visited. It was a thoroughly enjoyable day. We are now resting in preparation for going out to dinner which should be and adventure. More later.

After perusing menus at maybe 10 different restaurants we found one we thought looked promising. It was a wonderful choice. We started with hummus served with freshly baked pita bread. Lynda ordered chicken hiarmosa, pieces of chicken with tomato, peppers and pine nuts in a cream sauce served with rice. Tim ordered a kebab with pistachio, grilled chunks of minced beef and lamb marinated in a pistachio sauce served with rice and grilled tomatoes and peppers. Both were excellent although Lynda liked Tim’s more than her own. We both drank house wine, presumably made in Turkey and were pleasantly surprised at the good quality of the wine. Our table was right next to a couple from Long Island, NY whose son has been accepted at the University of Michigan Law School. Tim was good and never once mentioned MSU’s four game winning streak with Michigan. We both agreed that our dining in Istanbul had been everything that we had hoped for.

Tomorrow we will geocached in the morning. Lynda has found a couple near Haghia Sophia and the Topkapi Palace. We will also go over by the Spice Market and hope that it is open. If not, our guide today told us that there are shops in the area of the Spice Market that offer the same products at a bit cheaper price. In the afternoon we board our cruise ship. Our next blog will probably be after our first port of call on Tuesday. See you then.

Lynda and Tim

Good bye London, Hello Mason

May 31, 2011
This is our final blog of this trip. We are now in London after spending a couple of wonderful days with Clive and Angie Morris. We visited Hever Castle, which was the home of Anne Boleyn and later owned by Astors. We only visited the gardens which were very nice indeed. After the castle we took Clive and Angie to The Castle Inn, the historic pub we told you about in the previous blog. Tim asked our server why The Castle Inn was historic. The only reason she could give was that Ann Boleyn ran away from Henry VIII one night and hid in a bedroom fireplace in the pub. We all agreed that that was a pretty good reason for the pub to be historical. The other highlight was the dinner party Clive and Angie hosted last night. Their neighbors, Robin and Pam, joined the four us for a delightful evening of conversation, good wine, and an excellent meal of roast leg of spring lamb, new potatoes, and peas and broad beans. We had met Robin and Pam before and have always enjoyed their company. It was a great way to end our trip.

Here are some random observations and comments that you may be interested in.
The term "pub" is short for Public House. The person who runs the pub is called a publican. Pubs were originally a place for neighbors to get together for a beer, a bag of crisps (potatoe chips) and a good chat. We often hear them referred to as "boozers". They were never meant to be restaurants. But as with all things culinary, the pub has evolved and now there are many pubs that are very nice restaurants. In England these are called "gastro pubs". When we first came to England some 25 years ago pubs opened at noon and closed at 3:00 p.m. and re-opened at 5 and were usually closed by midnight if not before. Now pubs can be open all hours. Most still open at noon but we have noticed in the large cities that pubs open at 7:00 a.m. and serve breakfast. Unfortunately, we also saw a lot of pubs that had closed altogether, particularly in the north. Pubs are really wonderful places as we have found many publicans who take time to visit with us and from time to time provide helpful information.

A few words about beer. Beer is by far the drink of choice in pubs even though pubs do offer a small selection of wines and spirits. Lynda has been drinking lager beer, Foster's or Stella Artois, for example, which are served chilled and use CO2 to draw the beer out of the keg. Lager is the style of beer that we predominantly drink in the States. Tim has been drinking ale's and a style of ale called bitter. In England these are served at the tempature of the keg where it sits in the pub. The ale is "hand drawn" meaning that the publican is actually pumping the beer out of the keg. He/she uses a lot of effort to draw back the handle for the particular ale that you have ordered. While these ales are more "full bodied" than a lager and may seem "heavier" they are actually less filling because of the lack of CO2. You really don't notice the temperature of the beer and in fact, these ales would not taste as good if they were chilled. Every region of England has its local breweries of which the locals are justifiably proud and you can certainly taste a difference from one area to another. Tim has had many excellent beers while in England and promises to continue his research until the moment he flies home.

All of the B & B's that we have stayed in offered a "full English breakfast." You will find the menu for a full English breakfast to be quite interesting. When you enter the dining room there is a table set up with a selection of fresh fruits, cereals, yogurts, and several different fruit juices. You are invited to partake of these offerings and then the host or hostess will take your order for "hot breakfast". This includes eggs, granary toast, bacon, sausage, grilled tomatoes, grilled mushrooms and baked beans. Notice there is no potato offered. The bacon is similar to what we would call canadian bacon. Our style of bacon is known as "streaky bacon" in England. One B & B hostess was a bit offended when Lynda asked if she served streaky bacon. Her comment was that she would not stoop to serving streaky bacon to her guests. While we were in London we had a bowl of cereal and coffee in our apartment. We actually looked forward to having a full English breakfast once we got on the road. After several mornings of full english breakfast, Tim, in particular was having just toast and some cereal for breakfast.

A Ploughman's Lunch use to be on every pub menu we would see. This year we did not see it so much. A ploughman is a farmer. We would spell it plow man and a Ploughman's Lunch is what he would take to the field with him to eat. It consists of a large piece of bread, a piece of meat, usually ham, and a large piece of cheese. In pubs it is usually also served with a small salad to garnish the plate and some chutney to put on the bread, meat or cheese. As you can probably surmise, it is a hearty lunch that would certainly get the farmer through his day to dinner. It is a bit sad that it is losing its place on pub menu's.
On this trip Lynda has become a fan of banofee pie. It is a biscuit crust filled with sliced bananas and toffee sometimes with a whip cream topping that has toffee syrup drizzled on it. Another food item that Tim likes and is occasionally served with a ploughman's is a scotch egg. A scotch egg is a hard boiled egg with sausage wrapped around it and coated with bread crumbs and deepfried. We see them in all the supermarkets so we are sure that they are served for more than just an accompanment to a ploughmans.
Well, that about wraps it up. Thanks again for joining us. We hope you have enjoyed your vicarious journey.

Canterbury Tale's

May 29, 2011

The Pilgrim's Tale

Our Pilgrim's journey took us first to Chiddingstone, a tiny village outside of Tonbridge, southeast of London. Chiddingstone is the location of The Castle Inn, the first of the historic pubs outside of London on Tim's list that we have visited. It is a lovely pub, as you can see from the pictures, and we had a wonderful pub lunch and Tim had an excellent local Bitter Ale. We have no idea how we finally found this pub but we are glad we did. From Chiddingstone our Pilgrimage continued on to Canterbury where we visited the Canterbury Cathedral. Actually Tim went in while Lynda shopped and had a glass of wine and read. The beauty of the Cathedral was enhanced by the choir that was rehearsing in the quire. We had visited this cathedral many years ago but did not remember some of the details. For example, there is a candle perpetually burning behind the present day alter to mark the spot where The Saint Paul of Canterbury Chapel stood until it was destroyed by King Henry VIII during the reformation. There is also a Chapel of the Martyrs marking the spot where Thomas Beckett was martyred in 1100 something. Now there is a very modern cross over a small, simple alter where Pope John Paul II and the Archbishop of Canterbury prayed together for Thomas Beckett. This was a major event in ecumenical unity. Our Pilgrim's journey ended in Sandwich, a lovely town on the coast just south of the Thames estuary. Famously and truthfully, the Earl of Sandwich placed a piece of meat between two slices of bread to create, are you ready, the sandwich. There is no truth to the story that this first sandwich was served to Sir Loin of Kent.

The Golfer's Tale

Sandwich is the home of the Royal St. George's Golf Club. Sunday morning, in bright sunshine and a cool breeze, Tim walked out to the course, about a mile's walk. There is a public footpath that passes through the course so Tim was able to walk out by the 18th green, even though a member greeted Tim at the entrance to the club and explained that it was members' only on the weekend and they could not have a lot of people wandering around. Well!! Royal St. George's is hosting the British Open in July and grandstands already surround the 18th green. Tim could see other grandstands in place around the course and many television towers already erected. It was exciting to be that close to the 18th hole where the world's greatest golfers will be playing in a month's time.

The Traveller's Tale

We left Sandwich this morning, after a successful geocache, and drove along the coast through wonderful little towns with great views of the English Channel. We drove through the town center of Dover because our previous times in Dover had been on trains passing through on the way to the continent. It turns out we saw everything Dover has to offer from the train. Just south of Dover we came by the Memorial to the Battle of Britain, so we stopped. The Battle of Britain lasted for about 8 months during 1940 when the Germans started their bomb raids on London. The British Air Force was able to hold the Germans at bay, preventing a wholesale invasion by the Germans. As we got out of the car a WW II era "Spitfire" airplane was flying over head but disappeared before we were able to get a picture. Our journey continued along the coast through Folkstone, into Rye where we stopped in nearby Peasmarsh for our Sunday Roast. We'll continue on to East Dean near Eastbourne where we will spend the next three nights with our friends, Clive & Angie Morris.