Month: December 2012

121013 Volga Baltic Waterway

We awake to a dense fog and are informed that we have had to moor most of the night due to dense fog.  Our mooring spot is off Cherepovets.  The ship eases very slowly towards today’s destination.  There is no way we will get to Goritsy by 10:00am so when the fog lifts, we full steam towards Kizhi.  We are north of the 60th parallel.  It is common for the first fall of snow in Russia to be on the 13th of October each year – we hope that it is not going to happen near us or we may never get to St Petersburg.  Today, it is freezing.  To go on the top deck, we must ‘rug-up’ for it is only 4 degrees and with the wind chill factor, it must be around zero.

To fill in the morning, the Matryoshka Painting Class is brought forward.  Lyn paints the little doll as is displayed in the pictures (not bad for the first attempt) while I have a kip in the cabin when not looking at the view ahead.  One guy, we think is an artist, doesn’t like painting clothes so he painted the dolls as nudes – he reckons.  Then follows a ‘bloody mary’ tasting session (We don’t join in on that one.)

Lunch is the normal four-course buffet meal.  I have decided to do my best not to have more than 3 courses in a meal.  I hope that decision pays dividends.  We have free time in the afternoon to enjoy the passing scenery on this great waterway and on into Lake Beloye.  The sunset is another ‘northern stunner’.  Our cabin faces to the forward and left hand side of the ship and so we have time to get the cameras ready for taking photos of the waterway scenes along the way. The Volga Baltic Waterway is a canal from the Volga River to the Baltic Sea.  The Volga River flows into the Caspian Sea to water the farmlands of southern Russia and on into the southern states of the former USSR.

Prior to our ‘what are we doing tomorrow’ session with the cruise director, there is a lecture on how vodka is made, what it can be made of and how to drink it.  One demonstration has the glass placed on the elbow and is drunk for that difficult position.  Another idea is to drink from two glasses at the one time – with a wide-open mouth.

Dinner tonight is with some interesting folk from Coonabarabran NSW.  Dell specializes in golf tours around the word and Colin has the small motors shop next door to Dell’s travel agency.  Dell’s clients come from all over the world – a niche market indeed.

The evening entertainment is performed by the two photographers on board who are also accomplished musicians, one on a button accordion, and the second, a 4 stringed balalaika.  Dressed in national dress with red knee-high boots they pump out their music at a very fast Russian pace.

We retire at 10:30pm but are woken at 12:00 midnight with the ship dropping anchor, as the fog has come on very heavy and we cannot move until it has lifted.

121012 Yaroslavl

We arrive at Yaroslavl at around midnight and anchor just near the port.  At 5:30am, I get up to post the Uglich Day and we commence breakfast at 7:00am before disembarking and joining a bus tour of the city.  It is hard to take nice photos of any city enshrouded with mist but we take a few walks around various monuments and yes, more churches.

Yaroslavl was founded in the beginning of the 11th century by Kiev Prince Yaroslav, the wise, as a fortress on the right bank of the Volga river at its confluence with the Kotorosi River.  There is an old legend about the building of small wooden fortress named after Prince Yaroslav on the place of pagan settlement.  It says that Prince Yaroslav was traveling around his lands with a large retinue and came to Bear Corner.  The inhabitants of the settlement worshiped bear as a sacred animal.  Local people let loose a bear.  But the Prince fought the beast and killed it with his battle-axe.  This legend explains why the coat of arms of Yaroslavl shows a bear and an axe.

The upswing of the Volga Trade Route, which took place after the disintegrations of the Kievan Russ, favoured the development of the town.  In 1218 Yaroslavl became the capital city of the Yaroslavl Principality, and in 1463 the Principality joined the Great Moscow Principality.

By the middle of the 16th century Yaroslavl was transit trade points between Moscow and the countries of the East and the West.  There were about 70 businesses in the city.  Yaroslavl was also famous for its white wash and leather.

The first female Soviet cosmonaut, Tereshkova Valentina, comes from Yaroslavl.

At one of the museums, a brown bear is on display – she is BIG!  We are treated to some bell music played by a guy who was clever but looked totally disinterested.  At the toilets in the museum, we find what you never expect to see at a museum – the walls covered with pictures of toilets from around Russia.  Lyn takes a liking to the picture above of the elephant enjoying a big piece of meditation.  We visit a lacquer museum – the chocolate at 100 rubles is an acceptable price but the lacquer boxes at 300 to 3500 USDs do not make it to the credit card machine.

We are set free to roam the city for 45 minutes and find the local markets in behind a bare looking street frontage.  The food hall is most interesting with colorful displays of food and produce.  The dried fruit stall has some tasty items, which we purchase for nibbling later.  Our ship leaves for tomorrow’s destination a little after mid-day while we are enjoying another Scenic Tours lunch of four courses.

Lyn gets in a little sleep before a session on Scenic Tours Destinations.  I am able to enjoy the passing Russian countryside with sunshine, yes sunshine, streaming into our cabin.  What a good choice Lyn made in upgrading our accommodation before leaving Melbourne.

This afternoon, we are given a demonstration on cooking Instant Russian Blinis.  A Blinis is  a pancake and some of you may be interested to try them out.  Here’s the recipe.  5 tbls. Flour, 2 and ½ cups milk, 1 tbsp. sugar, 1/3 tsp salt, 2 to 3 tbsp. vegetable oil.  Beat eggs, salt and sugar, pour in milk, add flour, and mix.  Add vegetable oil, stir again and begin to bake blinis on a preheated pan.  Grease the pan with butter before baking the first thin pancake.  Wait till air bubbles appear and break and then flip the pancake over.  Serve with jam, honey or cream, or as is suggested (this is for Sharon), serve instant blinis hot with red or black caviar or salmon, with butter, sour cream jam for tea or coffee or as an appetizer for vodka.

After another sumptuous evening meal, our Tour Guide and ambassador, dressed in Russian costume, give us a photo/commentary on the things Russian.   This is followed by some Russian folk dancing.

121011 Uglich

We wake to a new day but not a new sky – it is still cloudy.  Our ship has been travelling all night and after breakfast, we pass through a loch and into the town of Uglich.

Founded in 937, Uglich is one of the most beautiful towns of the Yaroslavl region.  Its foundation is ascribed to a relation of a Kievan Prince Igor whom he had sent to the Upper Volga ‘to levy tribute and to register population’.  Uglich features an ancient kremlin in a very provincial setting.  Up to the 17th century that was all that Uglich had represented – a kremlin surrounded by the trading and the artisans’ quarter fortified with ditches and ramparts and a few, unfortified, settlements beyond.  The trading quarter has 10 monasteries, two trading squares and houses of townsfolk.  Years ago, this small town used to mint its own coins.

In the 16th century, Uglich became the center of the most important events – in 1552 a portable wooden fortress was assembled by Uglich carpenters for Ivan the Terrible to take Tatar capital Kazan to put the end to the Mongol-Tatar yoke that had lasted for over two centuries.  Under Catherine the Great, Uglich became an administrative center and its architecture was changed to become more symmetrical. Despite the economic decline in the 19th century, the town’s old history and its charming beauty lured people of arts who stared its cultural revival.

Following a talk about the handcrafts of Russia, we are taken on a walking tour through the ‘country-style’ kremlin, which includes visiting three churches.  In one of the churches, we are favored with a couple of songs from a male quintet.  Man, did that 2nd Bass get down ‘low’.

Like Moscow, Uglich shops do not have a verandah over the footpath; the entry ways are small and non-inviting.  We try the local supermarket for some toiletries.  It is not self-serve and the customer service person found the products for us on the shelves.  We are reminded of how things used to be done in the old 4 square shop on the corner back in the 50s.  After wandering into many of the shops just to see how they operate, we make our way back to the ship through the vendors’ market place where artifacts and national dress code is available at reasonable prices.

Our ship departs the little town of Uglich at 1:45pm.  Another four-course meal is available for lunch and then we take part in a Russian language course for an hour.  The Russian language is made up of 33 letters and many shapes representing the different other sounds used within the sounding of the word.

We have a short rest followed by a History lesson about the period pre the 1917 revolution.  I enjoy hearing history but as for re-telling it accurately, I am useless.  So I can’t tell you what was mentioned other than names like Ivan the Terrible, Catherine the Great and Elizabeth.  Of course there were other names which ….you best google for the detail.

Tour director, Anna, gives a short talk on tomorrows program and dinner is another, “weight watchers delight” – NOT!

121010 Moscow

Before we depart for the first cruise leg towards St Petersburg, we visit the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics.  The traffic is still, chaotic.  That’s one thing you can be sure about in Moscow.

After another morning coach sleep, I wake up to seeing this enormous and attractive obelisk.  It has to be the best-kept secret of Moscow.  The golden colored mirrored obelisk stands 110 meters tall and is constructed over the underground Museum of Cosmonautics.  We do not have much time to stand in awe as we hurry to the museum, however, the obelisk deserves much recognition as one of the world’s most imposing entry to any museum.

Inside, there are many models, both to scale and to full scale, of the original space probing vehicles.  Stuffed dogs that manned the original missions are on show.  One dog that was to go on her second space journey (male dogs were never used as cosmic destined animals) escaped just as it was to be contained in the space capsule, never to be seen again.  Evidently, it was not in agreement to its destination.

Our guide, who has helped us for the last two days, has immense knowledge on even the space exploration of both the former USSR and the USA.  We are treated to a speech from a cosmonaut who spent 6 months with a fellow cosmonaut in the International Mir Space Station.  He is currently, the deputy director of the museum.  Many questions come from the group through microphones attached to each seat in the theatre.

We arrive back to our ship at 1:45pm, which departs for Uglich just as soon as all are on board.  Lunch is taken – another four-course meal (double dessert, of course).  Then we are requested to take our lifejackets to the lounge to ensure we know how to ‘get into’ them in case there is an emergency.  Our Tour Director, Anna, also gives a preview of tomorrow’s destination.

Between 5pm and 6:15pm, we pass through two locks.  We will go through 16 locks during our cruise to St Petersburg.  The first lock has a drop of 16.25 meters, the second 19.4 meters.  The Ship’s Captain has invited us to a cocktail party and a special treat of having dinner with him, the Hotel Manager and the Tour Director.  There are a few other guests that cant see why they didn’t get the invite; we don’t know why we did either, but we accept the offer ‘graciously’.

Following dinner, the two photographers on board put on a classical concert for us.  One plays a balalaika and the other a full sized button accordion.  Apparently, they are a well-known duet around Russia.

Well, time for bed in our ‘well appointed suite’ with 90 degree sweeping views of the scenery along the way.

121009 Moscow

An early ‘8:30am on the bus” starts our day again.  Our plans for today are to visit the State Armory Museum, walk around the Kremlin Grounds, some free time and then a 7:00pm concert to be given by the Zlatoust Choir at the Ilia Glazunov Picture Gallery.

We find that nothing has changed since yesterday – the traffic is slow and unpredictable.  It takes over 1 hour 10 minutes to go the normal 30-minute drive into the city center again.  Along the main street are literally scores of banks each displaying the current conversion rate from roubles to USD – around the 31 roubles to 1 USD.

Red Square is the ‘center’ of the city with the Kremlin backed up against it.  To enter the Kremlin after paying the entry fee, we are scanned by machine as well as Russian eyes.  Those in ‘authority’ do not know that smiling is a lot easier than frowning.  So you feel these burning sets of eyes going straight through you.  Today, we can only take pictures if we can see sky – in other words it is forbidden inside buildings or be ‘destined to hard labor in the harshest conditions’ of the local ‘salt mines’.  The word kremlin means a fortress or walled town; the one in Moscow is the biggest and most famous of all.  The earliest rampart was of earth and wood, but successive rulers raised and strengthened the defenses after attacks. There are 20 towers along the wall of the kremlin; each one has its own history and architectural quirks.

The State Armory Museum began in the 16th century as weapons workshops.  These palatial buildings developed into a center for Russian arts and crafts, employing the most-talented jewelers, icon-painters, printers, leather-workers and embroiderers. The Armory became a museum in 1851 and its collections were expanded with treasures from churches and private collections after the October Revolution.  The highlight of the gallery is the display of royal regalia and thrones.  In many ways, The Armory reminds us of the Vatican but I think the Armory has much more wealth in the form of precious stones and handcrafted clothing with some beautiful coaches donated from other countries.

In the Kremlin grounds, are many famous buildings; the Bell Tower of Ivan the Great, the Archangel Cathedral, The Cathedral of the Annunciation, The Cathedral of the Assumption, five Palaces, the Armory and the Senate, the Arsenal and the former Supreme building for the Soviet Congress.

We come back to the ship for lunch and a short amount of free time before returning to Red Square for free time.  Lyn and I wander the area visiting the underground 3 level shopping plaza, and witnessing the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier.  The guards march goose-step style with a straight leg coming up to waist height.  We all meet at 6:30pm and are taken to an interesting picture gallery for a one-hour concert performed by a small Russian choir.  I say interesting, because the large paintings contain famous people from mainly the USA, the USSR and the UK.  Even Marilyn Munroe, JFK and Bill Clinton with Boris Yeltsin are there.  Someone suggested the paintings are Russian Porn as there are few nudes amongst the politically famous.  The music is Russian classical and unaccompanied; very well done and impressive.  As the main tourist season to Russia is coming to an end quickly and the weather gets very cold, this classical choir of 5 ladies and 5 males has replaced the regular ‘folk music’ concert for us to enjoy.

Our light buffet dinner begins after 10:00pm following our 1 hour 10 minute trip back to the ship.  We chat until 11:30pm before retiring to our luxurious suite.

121008 Moscow

We are up early this morning for a 7:30 breakfast and a 8:30am departure for a tour of the city and walk aroundRed Square.  We are given our receivers that enable us to hear the commentary from our local guides.  Testing is done in the coach and we get to know

the guides and a little of the Russian language.  The traffic is thick as, and very slow.  We only see the one ‘small’ car; most cars are much larger than Italian cars back on our trip in May.  It is raining with a temperature of about 9 degrees.

Moscow is a city of 17 million residents and 4 million cars.  Road rules seem to be made up while driving.  In some ways, it is slower than any European traffic we have experienced recently.  We see many famous buildings and sites around Moscow, including the Kremlin, the Bolshoi Theatre, the KGB Building, parliament building, and many other buildings with names too difficult to spell, and equally difficult to pronounce.  Just near Gorky Park, there is the Russian version of the Columbia space shuttle that did only two circuits (I cant think of the proper term for that at present) of Earth before being brought back to become a memorial to the Russian space exploration program.  There are many multi-level apartment blocks.  It is interesting to learn that the state heats water to be piped to buildings and used as heating.

There is an extensive Metro rail system of some 300kms and 175 stations.  Some stations are up to 80 metres underground, with escalators of 130 meters. There is one complete loop of railway around the city center that takes around 30 minutes of travel time.  At most times of the day, a train comes through each 75 seconds, so there is not much time waiting for a train.  There are no benches on the stations to sit on either.  Other forms of public transport are trolley buses and the normal bus.  We only see the one pushbiker – he is game and courageous.

After a tour of the Metro, we take lunch in the Hall for Writers.  What a magnificent place for a restaurant.  Prior to the meal, we hand in our warm coats to the cloakroom to be more comfortable.  The meal is delicious – a beef stroganoff in a ‘dug-out’ whole meal bun with garnishing of tasty pickles. The afternoon is taken up with a walk around Red Square and a major up market shopping centre as well as a tour of the Cathedral of the Intercession (Cathedral of St Basil the Blessed).  The Cathedral is made up of 6 unusual spires and many small rooms.  In the central room, we are treated to some accapalla music by a quartet of men.  The acoustics were well worth a listen.  The music was slow to enable the echo not to be too messed up.  After a free-time period, we board the coach for the crawl back to our ship during peak evening traffic.  In the main street, it is legal to do a ‘U’ turn – at one point we witnessed 10 vehicles U-ing, and side-by-side, at the same point in front of us.  All the other traffic just waitied for this ‘procession’ to complete. We arrive back at our ship after the 90-minute trip.

Our evening is taken up with another sumptuous Scenic Tours meal and free time (to do this post).  I am still having trouble getting fast WiFi and so if you see any pictures in the post, unusual circumstances have occurred.

121007 Brisbane to Moscow

Firstly, our WiFi connection is not too good and so I will have to do all our posting on the ships computer – without photos.  They will be included back at home if we cant get satisfactory connectivity speed.
It was fantastic that our niece and sister-in-law were able to find time to take us to Brisbane Airport at 5:00pm for our 8:45pm depature to Dubai and thence to Moscow.  It gave Lyn time to ‘sweet-talk’ the check-in clerk to upgrade us to business class for that long haul of 14:45 hours of flying.  However, it was to no avail – the Boeing 777 was full and there were no spare seats to be upgraded into.  So we stayed with all the lesser ‘shieks’ on the Emirates flight.  We both managed a number of kips and haven’t felt too over-tired.  The Dubai airport was extremely busy at the time of our arrival of 4:05am Sunday Morning.  Thousands were arriving and, it seems, made to wait for their connecting flight onward to Europe, Africa, or Oceana/Asian destinations.  The many shops were very busy.  We were intrigued with the gold shop – everything is sold by weight rather than the value of the created work of art that some jeweller had gone to.

Our flight up to Moscow was about 5 hours in daylight.  It was interesting to see the towns and cities that are built in the desert lands.  We crossed the Caspian Sea and flew over the extensive farming areas of southern Russia.  Moscow Airport is also very busy.  After immigration, our bags were already on the conveyer belt and we followed the ‘green line’ through customs to a very busy hall of taxi drivers and coach operators waiting to transport us to the ship which is to be our home for the next 11 nights.  We were caught in the traffic and instead of a one-hour transfer, we ended up taking an extra 45 minutes.
We boarded at 6:15pm and after the one hour introduction to the ship’s staff, emergency drill and briefing for tomorrow, commenced dinner at 7:30pm.  There was no time for settling in and a shower until after dinner.  We are in one of two panoramic suites, so as we sail downstream to St Petersburgh, we have very good views of the scenery.  Fortunately, the beds are comfortable and warm and we sleep well most of the night through.

120527 Messina

Even though we were out of site of land all day yesterday, we felt we were on land.  The sea has been so calm.  Not even a rolling motion.  We sat in the sun most of the morning and early afternoon and then did 3 mile walk around the deck in support of breast cancer.  Lyn walked for her work friend from before we were married, and I walked for Vicki from Spartans Gym where I work.  The Holland America Line do this each day they are at sea and have collected over $3 million.  Other cruise lines have taken on the charity too and do it on their ships.

The night’s entertainment, put on by the Noordam Dancers, was a summary of Las Vegas.  It was very well performed and all the glitter and glamour of Las Vegas was there.

After the show, the chefs put on a 10:30pm dessert.  The atrium area was decorated with brilliant cakes and other delicious but rich, desserts.  Only a small taste of a few was enough.  There must have been an enormous ‘throw-out’ after that brilliant display of food-art.

Today we are in Messina, just off the toe of Italy.  We arrive early in the morning and because it is Sunday, there are not too many people in the streets until after 10:30am.  Messina is a port city opposite the Italian mainland.  It has industries producing foodstuffs, silks, muslins, linens and chemicals.  The city was founded by the Greeks in the 8th century BC and occupied by the Roman forces in 264 BC.  Messina has been ruled by various powers, which in turn shaped its vastly diverse culture.  The University of Messina, which was established in 1548, was rebuilt extensively along with the rest of Messina after the earthquake in 1908 that destroyed almost the entire city and killed some 84,000 of its people.

Many of the passengers take a 5-hour excursion into the hills and to a volcano that had erupted a while back.  Lyn and I walk the streets a bit but the town is basically closed except for a couple of coffee shops where we upload the last post.  I have a hot chocolate – the STRONG Italian style.

We sail away at 1:00pm on the last leg of a fantastic cruise.  The sun gets warm enough to get a bit of a tan-touch-up ready to show off back home.  At 3:00pm, we decide to ‘start packing’.  This is always the worst part of any holiday.  At least, it is not camping gear.  At 4:00pm we have a session with the cruise director who goes through the disembarkation routine on our return to Civitavechia.

Those of you, who followed our trip through Vietnam, would remember that each post contained a Senior’s Moment of some kind.  I haven’t noticed any Senior’s Moments to include in this trip’s posts that were on somebody else.  Well, I must reveal, I haven’t had time to find or notice any.  As travel agents, we can’t impress our clients enough to take care of their travel documents and NOT to loose their passport – it is an important document.  Should I go on?  Well, I shouldn’t really but my conscience is getting me.  At Dubrovnik, 3 days into the cruise, we passed through boarder inspection, and thought we may need to show our passports.  We held them up to the taxi window and put them away.  I thought I had put mine in my vest pocket as usual, but……………….. I hadn’t.  And it must have slide to the floor and I didn’t notice my predicament until we were getting ready to go ashore in Corfu, the next port of call.  I didn’t say it – I think! But I meant to say sh………eye…….t.  How lousy it has been –oooooooHHHHHHH! You all say.  I reported it to the front desk and the security guy searched the room for 30 minutes.  Then it was to communicate with the NZ Embassy in Rome.  To cut to the shorter version – I now have – oh good grief, where is it?  A New Zealand Emergency Travel Document.  Man, it is nice.  Please, no flowers or Kiwi jokes.  For the longer version, I will need to collect the costs of the ordeal.  200 Euros, 205 Euros accommodation, train and taxi fares, and a delay of 24 hours leaving Rome for Singapore.  So, any takers – the highest bidder hears the long version.

I am in a hotel room at Rome Airport doing this post after collecting my Emergency Passport.  It took 40 minutes to process and so I missed the flight with Lyn and the rest of the group by just 2 hours.  Oh dam.  I am booked to fly direct Rome Singapore tomorrow, Tuesday arriving Singapore Wednesday morning 6:00am.

120525 Santorini

Arriving at Santorini is something rather different.  The island of Santorini, where we anchor, rises straight up out of the ocean.  We ‘park’ 650 meters above the ocean floor – now that’s a lot of chain between the ship and the anchor.  Today is a tender day, where we are ferried to the shore to the base of a big climb.  You can walk up the 650 steps, get the local smelly donkeys to carry you up, or you can catch the cable car.  We choose the cable car and arrive before too many others from the ship.  The streets are not very busy, yet.  Many of the shops have not opened as it is before 9:30am.  We find a café that overlooks a magnificent view of the bay, islands and our cruise boat.  The waiter is the owner’s son, half English and half Greek.  We order hot chocolate as the breeze is still a little cool and then he offers free Wi-Fi for both the computer and Lyn’s iPhone and sets us both up for ‘as long as you want’ use.

It’s the sort of view one could ‘die for’.  Absolutely fabulous!  We admire the view for 90 minutes and sort out a few things with the agency in Yarra Junction – from the top of an island in Greece – wow, nice office to work from.

Santorini survives on tourists.  The waiter tells us the most cruise boats in at the one time is 14.   Our ship captain had swapped Athens and Santorini in our itinerary, due to too many tourist ships coming to Santorini on the same day.  We are glad he has as for the previous 4 days, there has been a cold wind and plenty of rain, so today definitely is the right day to be in Santorini.

The town seems to be built on the edge of the cliff.  Hotels and villas line the edge, many with swimming pools with great views.  If you want to do some serious, serious sun tanning, its best not to do it at any of the hotels here – hahah!  “Off the cliff edge”, are narrow streets of shops, without room for cars.  The shops are all clean and well displayed – clothing, jewelry, swim ware, food, restaurants, more jewelry and more clothing shops – oh there is fish spa too, and some of our group try it out to find it is like little electric shocks as the fish nibble on your callouses and bunions.

We do a lot of walking along the cobbled streets that meander through hotels and villas along the edge of the cliff face, looking for ‘that’ postcard shot of white houses, some with striking blue domes – and we find some, many.

As we have a snack lunch in another café with the world’s greatest view, we hear that someone has had a very bad accident.  The donkey trail that allows many tourists to ride a donkey up the hill becomes littered with donkey poo.  As he was getting off his donkey, he slipped on the path right into a pile of donkey poo.  The donkeys smell enough as it is – we can smell them from the café – but to fall in their manure, would be a bad accident indeed.  (He was NOT a member of our group, so we can still travel home without a smelly donkey poo collector).

After purchasing some clothes and jewelry, and gifts for friends and relatives, we board the cable car at 3:30pm and onto our ship.  After changing, we make our way to the back of the ship for some r&r in the sun and the ‘sail-away’ party as the ship leaves Santorini at 6:00pm

Tonight’s entertainment is a brilliant piano man.  While others chat in the dining area, I thought I check out the entertainment around the ship for the night.  When I front up to the main entertainment lounge, I cannot be drawn away to tell the others and stay through a great concert of Jazz, Show music, Movie themes, and classical, I return to the group after the show and encourage some to come back to the 10:00pm show to enjoy it all again.

Tomorrow is a day at sea as we travel from Santorini to Messina in Italy, so I may not bother with a post for then.

120524 Kusadasi

Kusadasi? You ask.  Where’s that?  It is a port in Turkey, not far from Ephesus.  I can see the lights of Kusadasi from the gym – Lyn can’t, as she is still in bed.  The sky is cloudy with a possibility of rain.

The city of Kusadasi has grown from a tiny fishing village to a sprawling resort center attracting large numbers of tourists every year.  One of the main attractions to this area along the Aegean Sea is the beautiful beaches, although we don’t see any.  The other attraction is the great number of Greek and Roman ruins found in this area.  Among the most famous are the cities of Pergamum, Ephesus, Aphrodisias, and Troy.  Closest to Kusadasi is the glorious reconstructed city of Ephesus.  Long held as one of the showpieces of Aegean archaeology, Ephesus is a beautiful reconstructed ancient site.  It once was a powerful trading port and a center for the worship of the goddess Artemis.

After a quick breakfast, we take to the Vista Lounge to be divided up onto buses for the 4-hour excursion we have chosen to ‘The Virgin Mary’s Home’ and ‘Ephesus’.  We have a good guide that reveals much about Kusadasi and Turkey along the way.  There are 31 five Star hotels in Kusadasi.  Turkey has 75 million inhabitants and ranks very high on the Economic tables of the world.  Last year, Turkey was 2nd behind China’s growth rate at 8.3%.  They have 21 car manufacturing plants – Toyota, BMW, Volvo, etc.  They trade in silk, carpets, agriculture, heavy earth machinery.

As we climb towards the top of the hill where the Virgin Mary’s Home is supposed to be located, we see extensive vistas of the region.  It is not until we arrive at Mary’s Home that we realize it truly is great place to live in the hills.  The house is small and quaint, and the story is even more quainter – not sure if I will believe that one.  Of course, there are the vendors on your way out of the complex – and scores of coaches.

We make it down the hill to Ephesus.  The sun is coming out and it makes for some good pictures.  After an extensive introduction to the history of how Ephesus became famous, we walk down the main street, past recently excavated houses, and into the town.  The library is an imposing building – it reminds me of the Treasury Building at Petra.  There is a large amphitheater with seating for 25,000.  It is still being reconstructed so a large crane hangs over top.  There are thousands of people fortunately walking in the same direction as us.  Of course, the tour is climaxed by a ‘the souvenir’ shops are there, on the way to the bus.

Our coach takes us back to Kusadasi town.  Here, we are ushered across the street to a carpet shop.  A demonstration is given of how silk is produced from the silkworm cocoon and how strong it is, given many threads.  We get ushered into a large room and an exhibition of how a Turkish salesman selling carpets works.  ‘Too much for me; let’s get out of here.”

After uploading yesterday’s post, we get back on the ship for a late lunch and, eventually, Lyn decides, “I saw leather coats back in the township”.  We have 3 hours before boarding so make our way back to the shops on the wharf.  Yes, Lyn gets her leather coat; and it is not bright pink.

The town says goodbye to 4 cruise ships today, two large ones and two smaller ships, and we have dinner in the Lido Lounge (I call it the blue collar meal).

The main show of the evening is a Magic and Humor show – I thought it was a bit weak – but you can’t have it good all the time.