IN Turkey, but by no means WAS it a Turkey ... or ... Please pull the rug out from under me...

Today's excursion/adventure started out pretty darn early ... our wake up alarm was set for 5:30AM to make a 6AM breakfast and hit the gangway at 7AM to meet up with our guide for a 4 hour tour to be back on ship by noon for a 1PM sail away.  Now in my mind getting up at 5:30AM on vacation just seems wrong ... oh well.

Today we docked in the Turkish port city of Kusadasi.  This part of Turkey is in Asia Minor ... Istanbul where we will be tomorrow is in Europe ... I can't even believe I just typed that!

For today's tour I had done some internet research way back in September and booked through an agency recommended by several travelers.  Our tour's objective was to see as much as reasonably possible in around 4 hours.  Sounds simple enough until you find out what you are actually going to see and the distances involved.  I had a bit of trepidation going into this part of the odyssey simply because we had booked this and the Istanbul tour on the internet and already paid in advance for the tours.  What if no one was at the gate wagging a "Mr Millsap" sign ... however; all was well our guide (Nelay) and driver were pretty much johnny on the spot and led us to a very nice Volkswagon "tour bus" outfitted for 10 or so passengers ... we had the bus solely to ourselves (6 of us) as well as the guide that spoke very fluent and easy to understand English.  This lady has been guiding tours essentially since the ruins were  opened to the public (just over 25 years) and was very personable and easily answered all of our questions about the local politics, economy, costs of living and so on.  It turns out that until 25 years ago the city was a small fishing village of a few thousand people but when the ruins at Ephesus were discovered the population ballooned as did the service and tourist industry.  We are in the final two weeks of the busy tourist season and in two weeks basically the whole area goes on holiday because the cruise ships stop coming.  The city is very clean and well kept and essentially "new" since much of it was built up in just the last 25 years.

So we are on board our private tour bus and our guide suggests that we boogie on to the "house of the Virgin Mary" to beat the hordes of tourists that have booked through the ship and will be coming in BIG buses shortly.  We motored several (20+) miles through the country side much like the Texas hill country and then started a very steep and windy climb up a VERY narrow road along a very perilous cliff ... I'm thinking about all those big buses behind us and am glad I'm not in one of them!

The "House of the Virgin Mary" was discovered after much futile searching by various archaeological teams when a nun that had never been to the area described a very detailed vision she had of the exact location.  Following her vision the searchers were able to locate the small house without difficulty.  This is the "house" where the Virgin Mother spent her last days on earth.  In 1961 Pope John Paul XXII proclaimed the house to be sacred and is now not only a "tourist attraction" but a shrine visited by thousands of faithful every year.

Leaving Mary's house we motored a short way back down the mountain road to the location of Ephesus.  I hadn't realized that the people living here at the time were in fact the "Ephesians" to whom St. Paul wrote his letters while in captivity. 

This was at the time actually a port city with the Agean sea right up next to the city.  The city had approximately 500,000 citizens at its peak.  While Pompeii was an amazing place,  to me Ephesus is even more breathtaking.  When you see pictures you will understand ... these people knew the earth was a sphere, that there were other planets, had a sophisticated underground sewage system and the streets were literally paved with marble.  The temples and even business buildings were beautifully decorated with friezes and frescoes and it was clearly a center of culture and sophistication.   One picture I will post early into the gallery is of the library ... it was at the time second only to the great library of Alexandria.

After walking for an hour or so through these ancient and proud ruins we hopped back on the bus for a quick picture stop at the Temple of Artemis.  This was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

Back on the bus and back to the city of Kusadasi for some what else but SHOPPING ...

Our first stop was at an amazing store that sells upscale jewelery and carpets ... we watched a demonstration of how the carpets are made (truly amazing to see a woman continuing to work on a rug she started in January and still has about 3 months before it is finished) and then were taken downstairs to see what was for sale .... uh oh ...all I can say is "Oh my God ..." ..this store (underground) had several fairly large "rooms" with beautiful wood floors completely devoid of furniture except for the "couches" that spanned two of the four walls ... the owner had 3 or 4 "helpers" start taking carpets of all sizes and colors (and knot counts and fabrics...) and started scattering them about the room while we were served hot apple tea in tiny individual flasks ... uh oh ... all the while describing the quality of the various carpets and basically providing an education while making a very smooth sales pitch ... uh oh ...
Now remember that beautiful silk handmade rug Carolyn REALLY wanted but didn't buy because clearer heads prevailed ?... well not so much this time ... in 6-8 weeks we will receive an actual genuine hand made Turkish rug ... what can I say ... maybe it will be a "magic carpet" and I can sell rides around the neighborhood to try and recoup some of the "end of the season sale" price .....

We visited the shop that is actually owned by our guide Nelay and the ladies in our troop made additional purchases there.


Back to the ship and away we sailed ... next stop ... Istanbul ... uh oh ...

Bade

It's all Greek to me ... or "Please pass the Ouzo" ...

*ATHENS!! *... a city of 5.5 million friendly, bustling people that are
anxious to show tourists their beautiful city and the truly amazing
ancient artifacts.

When we disembarked this morning in the port city of Piraeus we
essentially had a very sketchy plan of "somehow" getting into Athens and
then on to the Acropolis, walk around the Acropolis for a while, then
find some way to get to the Palaka (the old shopping area of Athens -
picture a really BIG flea market with hundreds and hundreds of stalls
and shops - pictures will eventually find their way to the gallery I
promise) and then try to get back to the ship before it sails.

For people that know me well this sort of nebulous plan doesn't really
work for me ... as in it drives me quite insane. So ... as we exited
the terminal building and were thinking about the 30 minute to the train
that would take us "somewhere in Athens" we were accosted by several men
offering "taxi tours". Now usually I would be leery of hopping in a
"taxi" agreeing to pay 30 euro per person and hoping we weren't being
kidnapped by an ax murderer ... but my fear of not really having a plan
that offered surety of getting back to the ship before it sailed won out
and we agreed to at least take the taxi to the Acropolis (which was
basically a hell of a long way from the port) for the fee of $25 euro .
At this point we were "turned over" to "Visillas" a big burly man of
about 60 years old (visions of ax murder still popping in my mind) and
he led us over to his "taxi" ... a brand spanking new screaming canary
yellow Mercedes Benz ... a big one ... pretty nice ride for an ax
murderer in my mind. As it turns out the car costs 50,000 euro and the
taxi medallion cost 220,000 euro ...

As we motor to the Acropolis "Visillas" begins to describe the service
we would get for 30 euro per person (vs the one way trip) ... basically
for 120 euro we have hired him and his very nice taxi for the day ... he
will take us wherever we want to go, wait for us while we see the sites
or shop and deliver us back to the ship whenever we want. *SOLD!! *This
same "tour" purchased from Princess as an excursion is $799 ... if it's
for real we have scored big time.

As it turned out it was exactly as he promised, we went to the
Acropolis, the President's palace, the Olympic stadium built in the
1800's for the first modern olympic games, Jupiter's temple and then
shopping in the Palaka and finally to a wonderful restaurant on the
waterfront ... then back to the ship. The "tour" was perfect and the
weather was clear and comfortable.

If you've ever seen pictures of Athens you have seen the Parthenon on
Acropolis ... it is a *HUGE *columned structure way up on a hill top
overlooking the city. The construction of this temple of the Goddess
Athena is incredible ... the views of Athens from this vantage point are
breathtaking ... you see the massive size of the city and can just
imagine the goddess overlooking her "people" down below, From every
vantage point you can see some other ancient columned temple to another
Greek god or goddess. The fact that these structures were built by mere
mortals without benefit of powered tools and machines is mind boggling
and the artistry of these structures made mostly of chiseled and carved
marble is simply more than I can comprehend.

After we made our way down from the Acropolis we were all relieved to
actually find Visillas patiently waiting to take us to our next point of
interest. (it was at this point in time that I mentally "unclinched" and
decided we were very possibly going to survive the day after all)

Next we made quick photo stops at the Olympic Stadium and the
President's palace.

Next we visited the Temple of Jupiter, another columned structure (most
of these things are around here) but its sheer size is astounding (pics
in gallery) only a few columns are still standing but it is easy to
imagine what it must have looked like. At this stop we also reviewed the
Roman Baths.

Visillas then drove us down several impossibly narrow, crooked streets
that were overflowing with parked cars and people (did I mention the
"taxi" was a *large* vehicle? We "missed" lottsa cars and people by
well less than two inches on both sides) ... once again I'm pretty sure
I owe someone a new car seat. We were released to visit the "Agora" and
the "Palaka".

We walked around the "Agora" (sort of a Greek forum) where we saw an
amazing temple where a young kitten had taken up residence and basically
claimed the temple as her own ... she had several tourists (including
us) taking her picture as she posed for us.

Next we entered the "Palaka" ... the old shopping area ... basically
this place is a huge flea market ... purchases were made, money was
spent ... and after walking around the Agora and the Palaka for a little
over two hours we miraculously found our way back to our drop off point
to find Visillas patiently waiting ,,, *I love this man like a brother!
I am very likely going to see the ship again after all ... *

Carolyn ALMOST put us in the poor house when she discovered a stunning
handmade silk rug (about 4' x 6') for a mere $1800 ,,, she *REALLY
*wanted that rug ... it was beautiful ... but common sense, and the
realization that Igit, Belle, and Balam would also LOVE this rug,
prevailed and the shop still has it. Linda did purchase a lovely table
cloth from a very aged (and persistent) lady just as we were approaching
the taxi ... to Linda's credit she did haggle down to a good price.

At about 2PM now Visillas (once again through impossibly narrow and
crowded streets) took us to a waterside restaurant where besides a
lovely traditional Greek meal we ordered and drank Ouzo ... a licorice
flavored liquid fire ... it leaves a "glow" (ok a searing burn) in one's
throat and stomach and a smile on your face!

After a "late lunch" Visillas drove us directly to the ship ...
bypassing the lengthy shuttle ride from the terminal we had endured in
the morning.

All in all ... a picture perfect day in Athens ... guided by a wonderful
man in a beautiful taxi ... nary an ax in site

Bade

It was a hot time in old Pompeii in 79 A.D. ... or "I don't think we are in Kansas anymore Toto,,,"

I'll post some (of many many) pictures in the gallery ... they can
better describe what we saw today than my words.

We started the adventure with 5 of our troop walking through downtown
Naples looking for the "commuter train" station ... think Subway or "El"
in Chicago ... our group leader Woodie knew where it was back in the
1970's but surprisingly things have changed in 30 years so to say we
walked a "bit" out our way ... is like saying the Italians are a "bit"
crazy when they get behind the wheel of a car ... we did eventually find
the station and Woodie purchased 5 tickets that I was convinced were NOT
what going to get us where we going (Pompeii/Sorrento) but we bravely
boarded the train anyway and off we went.

This train run can justly be called a "milk run" ... between our
starting point and our end point (Sorrento) there were 34 stops to let
people on and off ... and we traveled about 50 miles round trip.

Our first departure from the train was Pompeii ... about half the way to
Sorrento. Pompeii is about 12 or 13 miles South of Naples.

What can I say to describe the experience of walking around Pompeii that
can possibly do justice? Simple answer is nothing ... I'll try but do
go to the weblog gallery and you'll get a better idea of what this
place is all about. (I'll post pics as soon as I can never fear -
probably tomorrow as it is a "sea day").

What you learned in school about Pompeii is that it was destroyed by a
volcano (Mt Vesuvius)... what you don't learn is how BIG the resort city
actually was. We started the walking tour about 9:30AM and walked until
we couldn't walk any more ... about noon ... and seriously didn't really
look at half of the site ... I was expecting something the size of
downtown Bulverde ... try about the size of Eden ... the population was
easily in the many thousands. The excavated sites revealed incredible
mosaic floors, beautiful and colorful frescoes painted on plaster walls
depicting a very grand and exotic lifestyle. There were hundreds of
"storefronts" that indicate a bustling economy with several very grand
houses with large gardens, fountains and columned vestibules. Pompeii
could I suppose be compared to Palm Springs ... wealthy families,
gladiators with a full coliseum and training area, a huge outdoor
amphitheater, several large and ornately decorated temples and an
incredible sewage system with sidewalks on both sides to help keep the
citizens from wading through sewage water.

Most school age children see pictures of the "people covered in lava"
... and that did indeed happen ... but the "lava people" in pictures
are actually plaster casts of the voids of ash the excavators discovered
and filled with plaster ... kinda a "lost wax" technique.

It's hard to imagine what it was like that day in 79A.D. ... Vesuvius is
an imposing mountain towering above the citizens of Pompeii ... to see
that mountain start belching molten lava and ash completely without
warning is mind bending ... there were apparently people very much like
modern day hurricane victims ... many of the Pompeii citizens did escape
with their lives ... but sadly just like today there were many people
that didn't believe they needed to leave until it was too late ... in
one form or another those people are still there today.

We boarded the train going further South at about 12:30pm ... 30 minutes
and about 16 stops later we came to the end of the line in Sorrento. We
went there with two primary objectives ... eat ... and to shop a bit.
Sorrento is an upscale artisan community with an emphasis on inlayed
wood items ... Carolyn bought several beautiful and unique items...
chaching!!!

We returned to Naples via the train (about one hour and fifteen minutes)
and hoofed it back to the ship. We figure all tolled the 5 of us walked
over 6 miles today ... a good workout and we are all glad for the
upcoming "sea day" to recoup before we invade Athens day after tomorrow.

Bade

Just a short flight from Rome and we are aboard ship ... or like the Israelites leaving Egypt...

I'm not really sure how to describe the trip from Rome to the port city of Civitevecchia ... we arranged for a minivan to "drive" the 6 of us from the hotel in Rome the 80 km to the port.  This in and of itself turned out to be a very good plan since the trains and public transportation buses had scheduled a "political action" meaning union strike for today and nothing of public transportation was moving in Rome. 

Rome we have learned is a city of between 5 and 6 million (not the 3 million I had previously been told) and like New York or Chicago in the states ... the populous of Rome depends heavily on public transportation ... subways, buses and trains.  As a result of the strike (which by the way was scheduled well in advance so every one has time to prepare) ... is simply that traffic in Rome is one huge (and I do mean huge parking lot.

It's really hard to describe the scene ... our driver and his minibus arrived on time (early in fact) and since there is never any available parking in downtown (and our hotel was very "downtown") anyway (picture George Costanza trying to park in midtown Manhattan and you have a fair idea of the normal day to day parking problem (and as far as I could tell no such thing as a high rise parking garage anywhere)) ... so our driver "Alessio" basically parked on the corner of the street blocking a couple of lanes and turned his blinkers on ... this while we loaded way more bags than his van was designed to carry and 6 full grown adults ... no problem! 

And off we go ... "oh my God"! ... picture a street absolutely filled on both sides with parked cars two deep ... now add to that picture two lanes of opposing traffic ... lottsa traffic ... and then add several hundreds of frustrated Italians honking horns, waving arms, yelling and making many excited gestures ... now enter Alession and our overstuffed minivan.  He's what I would call a "fearless" driver ... crossing 4 lanes of snarled, dead stopped traffic making a left turn through a totally blocked intersection in front of other large buses, trucks, many "Smart Cars" and so on ... no problemo! To his credit Alessio got us out of downtown and onto  "autostrada #1" ... kinda a IH35 toll road. 

OK ... we're juning down the highway through the beautiful countryside with well manicured fields, trimmed trees and very picturesque houses ... sweet!!  on our way ... hmmm ... just how fast are we going??? ... uh ... speedo shows 160 km/hr ... people passing us on
 occasion ... that's about 96mph ... in a minibus fully loaded ... I'm pretty sure between the traffic in Rome and the speed on the highway ... I owe the shuttle company a new front seat!

We did make it to the port in one piece ... the port city is very pretty and clearly a tourist hot spot.  Onboard the ship with no hassle ... one couple in our small group was visited by the upgrade fairy and scored a minisuite upgrade ... very cool! Way to go Jeanne and Paul!

It's good to be on the ship ... tomorrow is Napels/Pompeii/Sorrento ... probably a self guided walking tour since Woodie has been here before ...

Bade

"Rome Rome it is strange ..."

... to the tune of "Home Home on the range" ... everybody sing ...

Rome is actually pretty strange ... there is "modern Rome" which is very much like you might expect any city of 3 million people to be ... busy, bustling, loud, full of traffic and people in a hurry.

And then there is "Ancient Rome" which is in fact surrounded by "modern Rome". Literally next to a temple or "house" or whatever constructed hundreds of years before Christ walked the earth will be a city street with stores selling everything from souvineres to wireless computer equipment. It's really very odd.

We left for the tour bus about 9:30AM ... hopped the bus to the Coliseum got off and started our marathon day of site seeing. To get as much as possible out of the day we decided to spend the euros and hook up with one of the "private" guided tours ,,, our private group of about 30 souls each paid 20 euros for an English speaking guide ... in this case "Roberto" who really did an excellent job of marching us through the Coliseum, explaining the finer points and some funny stories ... we finished that tour at noon where we were handed off to "Elayne" ... a young Canadian girl with a masters in art history ... she led the 26 or so of us that wanted to get our euro's worth up the Palentine Hill which was where Rome was founded a long damn time ago and guided us through the "palace" on the top of the Palantine. Really a very good tour and well worth the 20 euros.

From Eastern Mediterranean 2008

From Eastern Mediterranean 2008

One thing we learned was that these "private tours" are basically a cottage industry started a few years ago ... these folks contract with the executors of the big attractions like the Vatican, the Coliseum and so on for the right to lead tours with "special privileges" which really means you get to line jump ahead of the people paying somewhat less and you get a "guide" vs reading the signage or renting headphones to listen to recorded descriptions. I love capitalism!!

After the Palentine we walked through the Roman Forum (skipping lunch) and then on to the Pantheon. We covered lottsa ground and just barely caught the 4:30pm bus back to our starting point to crash before a splendid dinner at a small "mom and pop" restaurant Mom was about 75 and Pop was around 80 ... a fun dining experience. We topped off the day with gellato on the street ...



Tomorrow we head to the port and board the Grand Princess for 12 more days of adventure.

I posted several(but only a few relative to the numbers we took) photos in the gallery ... just click on the blog link and the gallery is a link on the left ... or click here Link to gallery

Rome wasn't seen in a day ... but we will do our best!!!

Hello from the Eternal City! First I gotta say it's a long travel day
from Bulverde, Texas to Rome Italy ... but we knew it would be.
Second the Rome security and customs is WAY faster than Vancouver ...
but how can it be slower?

Other than long and a bit cramped for the 8+ hour flight from Newark the
travel went very smooth We arrived at our hotel about 9:45am Saturday
and our travel companions showed up about 10:45am all went as planned.

We hopped on a bus and rode down to the Vatican

From Eastern Mediterranean 2008

sadly learning we were too late to get into the Sistine Chapel
(well unless we wanted to pay $50 each for a "semi-private group of 25
tour...) we decided to see the Basilica on our own ... WOW!!!

From Eastern Mediterranean 2008

The whole thing is breathtaking and I can't begin to describe the sheer
SIZE of the place ...

We will fill in more details later ... kinda late Saturday night and
still no sleep ... we did go to the Trevi Fountain ...

From Eastern Mediterranean 2008

Words fail me at this late hour ... had a nice dinner in a small
bistro ...

Full blown site seeing tomorrow after much needed SLEEP ,,,,

"All my bags are packed I'm ready to go ..." ... well MOSTLY packed anyway ...

It is almost time for our odyssey to begin!  Carolyn and I have both packed our main bags (she has 2 to make the 50 pound limit I managed to make it in 1 with a few pounds to spare).  We will leave our final carry on packing until tomorrow .

Our plane leaves Friday morning at 6:45AM -- YIKES!! -- that means we will need to be at the airport around 4:30AM which puts our departure from casa de Millsap at 4AMish ... you can then figure what time we need to set the alarm for ... YIKES again!!

The flight to  Newark will take about 3.5 hours putting us in Newark around 11:30AM Eastern.  The good news is we should have PLENTY of time to catch the flight to Rome ... it departs Newark at 5:30PM and a mere 8 hours and 20 minutes later we will be in Rome Italy at 7:50AM Saturday morning. -- YIKES --

Once we get thru customs in Rome (and we can only HOPE we don't have a repeat of the "fighting old farts" Vancouver incident!) we will seek out our shuttle transfer to the hotel where we will hopefully meet up with our friends Woodie, Linda, Paul and Jeanne.  They should have gotten to Rome from Germany today ... hope they made it!!

Once we hook up in Rome and get settled in the hotel we have a full day of site seeing planned Saturday.  Top of that agenda is the Vatican and associated spots like the Sistine Chapel -- DOUBLE YIKES!! never figured I'd actually get to see something like that in person! -- 

After a full day of site seeing stacked on top of basically 24 hours of travel ... we hope to get some much needed sleep and then Sunday see the sites around our hotel that will include the famous Roman Coliseum, the Trevi Fountain at night, and several other famous Roman hot spots.

Monday morning we will take a shuttle from the hotel to the pier in Civitavecchia a port city about 80km from Rome.  We will board the Grand Princess for 12 days of what we fully expect to be astounding adventure and wonder.  The weather so far is projected to be very tolerable and we have our collective fingers crossed.

Oh ... and of course Thursday night (tomorrow) we have to attend the Ranger football game ... they are playing for the district championship!  That will get us home about 10PM ... gotta get up around 3:30AM --- YIKES!!!!! ---