TURKEY adventure

Izmir Turkey…Nov 26th (long but read the whole thing funny)


I am updating this on the day after our visit to Turkey as we sail toward Egypt. We are getting some warm and sunny weather. Turkey was a pretty fascinating place. So far, it is the most different place I have ever been.

We started our day by being greeted by our private driver and guide. Just Chris and I on this tour. As we travel to our first stop, about an hour we were educated on the customs, history and economy of Turkey. Our first stop was at the House of the Virgin Mary. This is where she lived out her final years high on a mountain top. It was very moving. We were advised not to drink from the natural holy water spring. I did soak my rosary that I have had since my first communion.

Next we went down the mountain to the ancient city of Ephusus. We spent 2.5 hours exploring the ruins have ever detail explained to us. Our guide was very good. After we left he asked to at least stop and look in a leather shop as a favor to him. It was very expensive. We were out in 3 min. We skipped a visit to another site because I wanted to see the city. So instead of returning to the ship we were dropped at the heart of Izmir….Konic Square.

We wondered the Kermeralti Bazaar. It was and experience for all the senses. NO BAD SMELLS other than the fresh fish. Chris almost shit his pants when the call to prayer came over the loud speakers. It was deafening.

So next it was time to find something to eat. We found this “restaurant” in the heat of the bazaar. No menu. In the his limited English the owner “took care of us” and I know we were going to be ripped off.

1. We started with all this just a taste free stuff

What we later found out was fermented HOT carrot juice.

A yogurt drink that was ok but I was afraid was not pasteurized.

A very fresh salad.

A taste of the meat that was skewer in the window.

2. I pointed to some pictures of what I wanted but no luck. I make plate for you. AND did he ever.

-The soulvaki like meat.

-Pita pizza which is the real way pita is served with meat and cheese and spices.

-Turkish meatballs with a special spice one the side delivered and spooned on our plates by a very attractive women.

-some bread

-fresh tomatoes, onions sweat cabbage.



3. Desert some soft cake with honey and a coffee caramel sauce over it very light.

4. Pepsi zero.

We did not even come close to finishing all the food. Finally it came time for the bill. No itemized list just number 42 TL. I checked my credit card today 29 American dollars. We ate like kings. I only had 20 Turkish lera left. I made the mistake of asking if he know how much a Takis would be to the port. Suddenly his English not so good. He did not understand asked for address. Chris took our his Turkish landing card(temp visa) and the 20 TL fell on the table he grabbed it and said oh for me thanks…..What the heel do you do? He did get us a body guard to walk us to the main square takis stand. So I guess the going rate for body gauds in Turkey in 11 American Dollars plus an ATM charge for another 20 TL. Always an adventure!!!!!!

Will be in Cairo Sun until Monday night out of touch until Tuesday.

Crete...... Yummy ooompah

Crete Greece……Nov 25


As I write this we are sailing by Santorini.

Well this was great detour. It was a great day. Sunshine and warm temps. We rented a cab for 5 hours with some new friends. We had a tour of the Island. We then went to the ruins of Knossos, the archiological museum of Herakeion and the Greece orthodox cathedral. We then asked the driver to take us to a good local restaurant. He took us 15 min out of town down the coast to a fish tavern. We had unbelievable seafood lunch. We started out with ouzo, calamari, grilled octopus, shrimp, taziki, fresh sardines fried potatoes.

octupus

For desert we had a yummy orange cake, fresh fruit and multiple shots of raki.

All this was on the beach overlooking the Mediterranean sea

Along the way he took us to this small church that was located with a small cave. This cave and restaurant were not on the basic tourist route.

Happy Thanks Giving everyone!!

 While you eat your turkey Dinner              



We will be searching the streets of crete for Ouzo ans soulvaki



Rome and sea day

Rome Nov 23 and sea day Nov 24


Rome was great! We did all we wanted and A bit more. We arrived a bit late due to the train being late because of severe weather. But once off the ship we had sunny warm day.

We arrived in termini station and headed to S Maria Della Vitoria to see the Ecstasy of St Theresa statue by Bernini. We then proceeded to the coliseum for an inside visit followed by an exploration of the Roman forum.

We then walked to the Piazza Navonna to see the fountain of the 4 rivers by Bernini. It was OPEN. Then last 2 visits to Rome the fountain was under construction. We had an awesome lunch just off the square and walked and walked to the Spanish steps to catch the metro back to the train station. We arrived back at the ship where they collected our passports to obtain our visas for the Egypt stop.

Today which is a day at sea we woke up to great views of the coast of Sicily with mount Etna covered in snow. We missed Mt Stromboli……. With its active lava flows.

We did get bad news today….Due to a strike tomorrow and civil unrest we will not be going to Athens.  The ship has been diverted to Crete. What the hell do we do on Crete. I will let you know.

Barcelona Spain

Barcelona Spain Nov 21.


We said good bye to Lynn this am. This was our transition day from the western med to the 12 day eastern med cruise. We got off the ship around 830 and headed out to the plaza de espanya to catch a train

To Montserrat. It is about an hour train ride through the Spanish country side to this spectacular mountain Monastery. Once you get off the train you connect with the mountain funicular that will take you up to the top of this mountain. It is a truly awesome site.

We arrived just in time to hear most of the high Spanish mass at the basilica . this included singing by the Montserrat boys choir which is one of the oldest in Europe. After the mass they do a 2 song concert as well.

We then got in line to see the Black Madonna, carved by the apostle St John. I don’t know a lot on the history of this, so I will need to do some research when I get home. We returned to Barcelona and took the metro to Las Rambles. It was packed. It was good to see that all the street “performers” are our and about in the late fall. So we should see lots of weirdoes on our return to Barcelona. Chris was starving so we splint a late lunch and got back to the ship about 530.

We have a spa package this cruise…….so off we went.

Palma de Mallorca Spain.

Saturday, Nov 20 Palma de Mallorca Spain.


This was a very nice day on this Spanish Island in the med. The weather cooperated nicely. It was cool, but sunny. We visited an awesome cathedral with some very cool stained glass windows and an alter that was redesigned by Antonio Gudi. We also saw some very old Arabian baths. We kind of just explored. Found a nice piazza to have a sangria and paella in and watch the world go by.

It's my Birthday and I want to be your next President!!!!

VOTE FOR ME, ELLEN
BECAUSE ITS MY BIRTHDAY DAMIT!

Napoli Italy

Naples Italy…….Nov 18


City of my maternal ancestors, city of filth and garbage. I don’t have much good to say about Naples. The surrounding mountains and bay are spectacular. It makes NYC look immaculate. After getting off the ship we were attacked by taxi drivers wanting to take up on expensive tours. 90 euro to Pompeii the train 4,20. Any how one very old man came up to me and started talking in Italian. When I responded in English he yelled at that I did not speak Italian. I knew enough to yell back and make him laugh. Another guy wanted to take me to the fish market the boats were just in. What did he think I was going to do with the fresh fish?

We walked 35 min to the circumversuvensia train station and headed to Pompeii. This is said to be the most dangerous train in Italy? We spent 4 hours exploring Pompeii and only saw a very small part of it. Again a spectacular site that everyone should see. They have dogs that roam the streets there. Dogs have always been welcome in Pompeii. It was sad at first but they do not look to be mal nourished, in fact they look well feed. All were very friendly. The even have a website where you can adopt a dog from Pompeii. One order for an English bulldog placed. Of course it will speak Italian.

Only the pictures can describe this site.

On return to Naples we tried to find a place for pizza among the garbage piles. Once place the owner chased a man out throwing cheese at him…..Pass. Next place….Maffia city…..Pass. Finally a nice place Ah rest our aching feet. Waitress took forever….thank god because I looked and wallet only 10 Euro. No don’t take credit cards. NO Pizza!!!! Kicked to the garbage pile in the street. There was a down pour…… TAXI>>>>>>>>SHIP LUNCH>>>

!!!!!!!!!!!!! ALMOST MARTINI TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Don’t get me wrong It was a really Fun day

Rome part 2

Rome continued…..After the Vatican we hoped on a train and headed to the Capuchin Crypt located at the church of Immacolata Concezione. This place is pretty cool. It is lined with the bones of dean monks. The bones are artistically placed to make things like clocks ETC. There are also some dressed mummified remains. We walked though the piazza barbarini to the Trevi fountain. There were hardly any crowds present which made for a very enjoyable experience, unlike our first visit there were Chris was accosted.


Next we were off to the piazza de spangna and the Spanish steps. We could actually see them!!! A beautiful square, again so much nicer than our first visit.

From there were ambled down the road to the piazza del Popolo with it twin churches, ancient obelisk and northern gates to the city. Finally about 2 pm we found a nice trattoria to have lunch in. The food was out of this world and the service excellent. This was the first time we had sat down since getting off the train about 915 am.

Then It was back to the Vatican for the scheduled tour of the Necropolis under St Peters Basilica. 30 feet under the current church we visited the ancient city of the dead dating back to 67 AD. We traced the development of the different levels of the alters which all were placed over the tomb of St Peter who was crucified on this spot. He is the rock on which the Catholic church is built. We also discovered the what happened to his bones that were in the tomb and were able to view the remaining bones. Over all very cool.

We made it to the ship on time only after a further exhausting hour train ride were we had to stand in a packed train.. It was so full at first that the conductor was pushing people in to get the doors to close, it was like a sauna……… Ah Italia.

ROMA

Rome, Nov 17, 2010

I Just wanted to get a quick update in tonight as I am exhausted after a long day in Rome. It turned out to be a better than expected day. We had no real plans to visit the Vatican this trip except for the visit to the Necropolis under St Peters Basilica at the end of the day…AWESOME By the way. We got off the train at the Vatican just so we would be able to find the train station on the way home. Well it turns out that that the Pope was going to make an appearance. I Figured since we are here let’s wait the 45 minutes behind this barricade and catch glimpse of the pontiff. Little did I know that we were on the POPE MOBILE SUPER HYWAY!!! He passed within 3 feet of us blessing us along the way……How cool was that added bonus to the trip.

I will update more later….Naples tomorrow. Then a well needed relaxing day at sea. PS Cell phone service ship not working as expected. I think it is because we are staying in Italian waters and not hitting international ones.

Siena Italy

Siena Italy, Nov 16 2010. Well we broke down today and actually did a shore excursion through the ship to Siena. With the threat of more rain I did not want to be caught out in the rain seeing things in Florence or Pisa that we have seen before. If I am going to be wet I want to at least see new things. Lynn had been to Siena in the past so she took a tour to The Cinque Terra.


Siena exceeded all our expectations. What a beautiful medieval period town. We spent 10 hours exploring it and the Tuscan country side. Of course no visit to Tuscany is complete without some Chianti vine. We saw vineyards and olive tree groves and learned all about Olive oil and Chianti vine. This trip was worth every penny spent. AND guess what?? NO rain!!!!!! Just a few sprinkles as we boarded the bus back to the ship

Tomorrow we face the craziness that is Rome.

Monte Carlo Monaco

Sunday Nov 14….. Pretty uneventful day. Up early pulling our luggage though the rainy streets of Paris at 6 Am. Every one we encountered in Paris was as friendly as can be. Were this reputation of nasty Parisians came from I don’t know. People went out of their way to help us.


We arrived to Sunshine and warmth in Barcelona. Hola Espana. We boarded the ship quickly and found out that the star bar has 2 for one Martinis every night……..!!



Monday Nov 15. …… Monte Carlo Monaco. Well The clouds and later the rain followed us to this beautiful city. We took the open air hop on hop off bus. Worth getting a little wet. I would love to see this place on a sunny spring day since it was so awesome even today. We followed the grand prix circuit hit most of the high light like the palace and grand casino. One the way back I had a difficult decision of whether to put my order in at the BENTLY or Lamborghini dealer ship. I guess you will know when you see it parked in the drive. The entire country is half the size of central park.

Tonight will be dinner at Le bistro French restaurant followed by martinis.

PARIS FRANCE

Off to Paris…… If you are flying to Paris on Delta/ Air France make sure that you get on a flight that is operated by Air France. Nice seats foot rests, free booze, headset ear plugs and masks. They even come around with a menu and you pick your starter, main course desserts drinks including wine and after dinner drinks. Very nice way to start a Paris adventure.


For some reason the wired internet in the apartment would not work with my computer. It did the last time that we stayed there so I am definitely behind in by blogging. With all the running we did, I did not have the time to do much, so I figure while we are waiting for our flight to Barcelona I will play catch up.

We arrived to rain in Paris. Really who cares it is PARIS. We took the Roissey bus from the airport to the opera which is a 10 min walk of so from out apartment. It was shift change so the ride took a bit longer than usual. The good thing was the we got a free tour of the Martement district. After arriving the apartment in the afternoon. Chris and I tried to take a tour of the opera house but they were in rehearsals so you really could not see much. We bought lunch from a bakery and headed back to rest a while. Later that eve we walked and enjoyed some of the lights of Paris, explored Rue Cleur.

Friday we awoke to more rain. We hoped a train and headed to the country side estate of Versailles We toured the main estates some of the grounds and the home of Marie Antoinette. We returned to Paris for a short rest. We then headed to the Louvre for a late evening visit. We were able to hit most of the main highlight as well as some of the less popular areas as we were lost for about an hour.

Saturday we started out a Notre Dame including the underground archeological crypt. We then we to Saint Chappell and the concierge. For some reason this area of Paris was filled with pet shops. We had to make stops into quite a few of them I seems that Jack Russell are very popular as well as chocolate labs. (1500-1800 us dollars.) Even a few English bull dogs. We then strolled up the Champ de Elyse ro the arch de Triumph. Then It was time to rest out barking dogs.

Later that night we went to the Eiffel tower and watch the light show as well as just enjoying the view. We strolled the streets of Paris, for a long while Rue Cleur ,etc.

What a wonderful Three days.

Another picture of the lap dog.

Just me and Grace

Enough already get off me



At 70 lbs I dont know why Grace insists on being a lap dog