Month: December 2012

I overlookied telling you in yesterday’s post about the Fish Spa we visited.  In Corfu, while doing the touristy thing, we saw a sign that said “Fish Spa”.  Well, you gotta go try it some day.  You go in and all these people are sitting around with their feet in fish tanks; and yes, there are little fish in them gobbling away at your cracked and smelly feet, cleaning up the skin that doesn’t need to be carted around the streets.  What an experience that would be!  No one decided to give it a go but Lorraine was intent on getting a close up photo of the ordeal.

In bleak weather, and after I had been to the gym, we arrive at the little town of Katakolon.  This is the port that serves the well-known town of Olympia – made famous each four years for the lighting of the flame that is used for the Olympic games.

The original Olympics began in the eleventh century as a small regional festival, dedicated to the god Zeus.  The origins of the town itself are the Mycenaeans who worshipped the goddess Rhea, sister of Cronus and mother of Zeus – I know them both very well.  Zeus went on to becoming the top god and founder of the Olympic games.  The first Olympic games were held in 776 BC and reached their height of popularity in 576 BC.  The events included foot races, wrestling, discus, javelin, long jump, horse and chariot racing, and a type of boxing called pancratium.  The games were banned in 426 by the emperor Theodosius II because they were pagan, and the temples were destroyed.  The Olympic games resumed once again in 1896 in Athens.

As we disembark, there is a pretty young Greek girl, dressed as if she is one of the goddesses from the flame lighting, ready to have her photo taken with us or, should it be us with her?  It is great having two nice ladies, one on either side of me.  And the then I hear, “next please”.  All my joy is gone – I am not important after all.

We find a van that takes 8 persons to the ruins of Olympia and the price is only 150 Eros total instead of USD75 each.  The driver takes us through narrow streets along the way.  The travel time is about 50 minutes and I get in some pa-nap for 20 minutes or so.  At least I see the scenery on our return.  We arrive at Olympia, only to be greeted by 40 other large coaches.

The ruins site is a walk through the Olympic Botanical Gardens – crowds of people.  There is barely room to take any photos without have some tourist in the way.  We wander around the ruins and just prior to leaving the sun comes out and improves the look of the ruins immensely.  We find the arena where the Olympics were first held.  Not too far away, is the significant site where the goddesses light the Olympic flame to be carried to the London Olympic Games Opening Ceremony.  We miss the ceremony by 10 days.

A quick ride back to the ship and we are back at ‘searching’ through touristy shops – well the ladies are, while I upload yesterdays post from a bar – oh, I do buy a coke to have.

After a small lunch, Lyn and I change and get a spot on the top deck next to the pool for the afternoon of vitamin D enhancement.  The ship departs at 2:30pm with a bunch of loud bursts from its horn, while other cruise ships in the area respond.  The ships band entertains us for a couple of hours.

Food is laid on and available at most times of the day.  After a smallish lunch, I think it only appropriate that I get into some nachos from the food bar over the way – delicious indeed.

At 5pm, Lyn and I depart for our sun balcony for the rest of the afternoon, while we cruise towards tomorrow’s destination, Athens.  Our entertainment tonight is Dimitris Dekavallas, an Award Winning & Internationally Acclaimed Flemenco & Spanish Guitarist.  He is very good and then we turn up at the Queen’s Lounge for another hour of Vivienne & The HALCat.  On our way to our stateroom for the night, we check the Picture Gallery and find that wonderful picture that has our Greek goddess in it – we look as great as she does – and we’re more than twice her age!

I didn’t do a post for yesterday as nothing much happened.  We have been at sea since cruising down the western coast of Italy, along the foot of the boot and up the west coast and across to Croatia.

We arrive at the wharf of Dubrovnik at 8:00am and are allowed to disembark at 8:15.  We had booked a cycling tour out in the country, but it has been cancelled due to ‘lack of interest’.  That could mean that there weren’t enough cycles available to our ship.

Anyway, we disembark at 8:25 and make for the taxi stand nearby.  A guy ushers us into his cab “to the old city wall” – 15 Euros.  After getting through customs, a flash of our passports, literally, showing them through the window, our driver has a good idea.  “I see you have good cameras and want to take photos.  I can take you around the area for an hour.  I can show you where there is damage from the war.  I can take you up where the cable car goes, from which, your photos will have the lines from the cable car in each and every photo.  I can even give you the history of the war and what happened.  For just 50 Euros, I can stop wherever you want to take photos which you will be proud of.”  We agree and are glad we did.  He gives us great treatment and takes photos of us from the mountaintops, looking down into the town with a blue ocean beyond.

Today is another brilliant day for photographs and video.  After our taxicab tour, we are delivered to the entrance to the old city of Dubrovnik.  The city began as a Roman settlement.  From the Middle Ages on, it was a prize sought by Venice, Hungary, Turkey and others who coveted the city’s logistical value as a maritime port.  Known as the “Pearl of the Adriatic”, this city is a lustrous as it was 5 centuries ago when Dubrovnik was a major sea power bustling with prosperous merchants and dripping with Renaissance grandeur.  This UNESCO World Heritage Site remains well preserved as the “city made of stone and light” even as its inhabitants remember the recent sieges of the early ‘90s.  Many attractions can be found inside the protective walls of the pedestrian-only Old Town.

We climb many steps today as we walk around the wall of the city.  Great vistas of the area are available from many advantage points around the wall.  We see those who have chosen to do the sea kayaking tour.  There are thousands of other tourists as 3 large cruise ships are in town today.  Apparently, this happens almost every day of the summer months.

After using the internet at a café to upload the last post, we return to the ship for lunch and a few hours of sunbaking on the top deck of the ship.  Dinner is at 5:45 and we never miss out on this; there’s always a good meal available – and we don’t have to arrange to do the dishes.  An hour of comedy is on at 8:00pm with another hour in the Queen’s Lounge with Vivienne & The HALCats, “A Little Bit Country, A Little Bit Rock ‘n Roll”

Everyone is thankful that today we get to sleep in an hour.  Our walking tour to the Duomo starts at 9:00am.  The Duomo is the city’s religious hub for tourists.  Officially called Santa Maria del Fiore (St Mary of the Flower), the green, cream and pink marble-clad confection was intended by proud Florentines as a cathedral to end all cathedrals – to hold 20,000.  The dome is 42 m in diameter, surpassing both the Pantheon and St Peter’s in Rome.

Florence has 64 museums but we are to visit but one, the Galleria dell’ Accademia.  This is just a short walk from the Duomo and is the ‘home’ of David.

David is one of the most well known sculptures of Michelangelo.  He sculptured this when he was only 25.  The sculpture depicts the “David”, of David & Goliath fame, with sling across his shoulder ready to let fly to kill Goliath.  Interestingly, it is carved from a slab of marble, which had been set aside as weak and insecure.  Michelangelo found it and ‘boarded’ it up for 2 and half years while he went to work to create a lifelike image of David.

After a rushed sandwich for lunch, we walk to our bus and drive to Pisa 90 minutes away.  Allow me to quote the history of Pisa.  “Fame came to Pisa because of an engineering error.  For centuries, visitors have flocked to Pisa to see its architectural oddity, the Leaning Tower. When Bonnano and Tedischo designed the cylindrical campanile in 1172, they planned a ground floor, six storys of open loggia and the bell chamber.  But by the time they got to the third cornice, it became obvious that the foundations would be inadequate, and the work was abandoned.  A century later, Goovanni di Simone, who lightened the weight on the leaning side and modified the inclination, resumed the project.  By 1350 the bell chamber and seven bells had been added, though they are never tolled.  About 250 years later, Galileo is supposed to have used the tower to demonstrate the principle of gravity.  Approximately 60 m high, the white marble tower is now leaning nearly 5m from the perpendicular.”

Around the Pisa perimeter are many traders selling souvenirs of Italy and Pisa.  Of course, there are also the ‘mobile’ traders who seem to know when the authorities are around, collect there wares in quick time and rush off.  We saw this happen outside the museum where we saw David. I set the video camera for this episode.

After our 90 minutes return to Florence, we shower and get ready to have dinner at a famous restaurant run by the Giovanni family.  The food was again delicious even though we had ravioli.  The chocolate cake and ice cream made up for it.

Today is the last early start for the Tour of Italy.  We take a short trip to the town of Assisi of St Clare and St Francis of Assisi fame.  Another quaint village with narrow cobbled streets; where the Giro d’Italia (Cycling) had a stage finish just a few days ago.

Because the sun is shining brightly, today is a very good day for photography.  There are some interesting angles on some of the buildings that give some great pictures looking upwards.  The white and pinkish stone of the buildings against the blue sky look terrific.  By ‘looking back’, you can often see a scene that just stops you and you have to take a photo from that angle too.  This can either extend your photography experience or cause you to have to speed up when you are doing a walking tour through a village.  This happened to me; speeding up can be frustrating when you have some great shots that need including in your portfolio, so I missed hearing the commentary from the walking tour guide.

The village is just ‘opening for business’ and delivery vehicles hamper our progress through the 3 km of cobbled streets.  Even though I didn’t hear all the guide had to say, she was an excellent commentator and as we went through St Clare’s Cathedral and St Francis’s Cathedral.  It was interesting to me that the crowds at St Peter’s in Rome had trouble keeping quiet in the Sistine Chapel and yet at Assisi the crowds were ‘obeying’ the call of the “silence” requests very effectively.  And so the reverence feeling was here.

The St Francis’s Cathedral seemed to have 3 cathedrals on top of each other:  the lowest one where St Francis’s body lies, the middle one is a larger meeting place, and the main cathedral on the top.  All cathedrals seem to include a nave.  It makes it even more amazing that these buildings were built in the 12^th century and before.

We board the coach for our last leg of the tour of Italy and so there are procedures that need to be attended to:  making sure everyone is ready to board the Noordam, the collection of walking tour hearing devices, the announcement of the ‘most photos taken’ (would you believe 4500 is the winner).  I worked out that I took 367,000 frames in 1140 shots (a ‘shot’ is the period from the start to stop of a video clip) over 3 hours 40 minutes of video.  Earlier, our tour guide had run a quiz on aspects of the tour of Italy and we decide to have an Australian Quiz that she should answer the questions to.  However, Rosemary became too busy so we just ‘played the game’ amongst ourselves.  Each person had to write out a question about Australia and that became the quiz.  One group of four, who had become known as the ‘Mafia up the back’, attained 100% – very well done!

We arrive at Civitavecchia, which is the port for Rome.  Without extra cost, we manage to take a free tour of the docks – the gatekeeper gave our driver incorrect instructions how to get to shipside of the ‘Noordam’.  So for 15 minutes we are on a ‘goose chase’ to find the way to the ship which we could all see clearly.  There is two other larger ships docked close by.

Quickly ‘goodbyes’ are said to the coach driver and tour guide and we are through security and into our rooms for the restful part of our 4-week tour.

We may not have internet connection on the ship so don’t expect a ‘daily post’ from now.  The price for WiFi on the ship is $100 for 250 minutes so just may not sign up with them and try on shore each day.

Today has started with brilliant sunshine.  Why didn’t it happen yesterday when we had so much more time?  Those interested in photography become busy taking photos in the sunshine before breakfast and our departure from Venice at 7:30am.  The quality of breakfast in Venice has been exceptional.

A water taxi transfers us to our coach and after all our baggage is loaded, we are off heading south towards where we are to have a demonstration of Balsamic vinegar and Lambrusco wine.  We learn how these specialties are made and some of us enjoy a sample of each product before moving to a restaurant for lunch.  Balsamic vinegar on cheese is interesting.  Balsamic vinegar is interesting.  And Balsamic vinegar on ice cream is even more interesting.  We are all vinegared out. By the time we need to board the coach, many of us are ready for pa-naps and nana naps – again!

We head towards Perugia.  There must be another 70 tunnels, which we travel through on our way.  Perugia is in the Umbrio Region and many of the building date back to days prior to Roman rule.  Our accommodation is near the main town square and is set on the top of a hill that gives us nearly 360-degree views.  Some of us find the swimming pool – well done it is too.  There are relics kept at the bottom of the pool that can be viewed while swimming – goggles required.

We had taken a group photo back at the Balsamic vinegar place and so I get some prints done to hand out at our final Italian dinner that is held tonight.  We have some great food for this dinner and some speeches are made and souvenirs are handed out.

One of our group has made up a verse of her impressions of our Tour of Italy.  Here goes. To San Gimignano we all would love to go. After racing around Sienna’s Campo, it’s a peaceful place to know. No need to stress in Stresa, with peacocks on the grass. The lovers in Verona are sure to make us laugh. We will float along canals in Venice and hope the tides not high, So we can stand in St Mark’s Square, and keep our both fee dry. In Assisi we can say a prayer that Enzo (the driver) knows the way, So we can reach the Roman Port to sail away. It’s tough to be in Tuscany and now we all know why, The time just flies and before we know it, we must say goodbye.

Other comments made about the trip around Italy:”Capri”.  What a little treasure in the Isle of Capri is my number one site?Sorrento, Sorrento on the sea, where mama made fresh pasta for me.  The bay of Naples kept calling “come back, come back to the Mediterranean Sea.  On the Isle of Capri Make love to me.” Stresa – the lake is so beautiful and relaxing.  Stresa takes the stress out of life. My Favorite – Tuscany.  Very Beautiful.  I could live there. No particular favorite – Have enjoyed them all. We are having a ball and will remember it all for evermore. San Gimignano to me was terrific.  I liked the visual sights of farmlands and the tranquility of the town square and the medieval historic nature of the area.

Today is not such an early start, as we are not moving out of Venice.  Today’s breakfast has been the best so, although we expect to be treated like royalty while on the cruise which starts in two days time.

Our walking tour around St Mark’s Square is somewhat adjusted due to the constant rain this morning.  However, we are shown around the castle and into the church.  You could say that ABC is a common thing each day:  Another B Castle, Another B Church (ooops!).  We have free time during lunch so we walk ‘the other direction’ to see other parts of Venice.  One must be careful which lane you take because there just could be no bridge at the end of it and you have to U back and into another lane to cross the canal that just baulked you.  We find a nice little café that looks like it is serving sandwiches.  Would you believe, two other couples from our group have found the same café ahead of us?

At 2:30pm, we catch a boat across to two of the islands and also do a ‘Cook’s Tour’ of the outer parts of Venice.

The first island we visit is Muramo.  We are shown into a room where they make glass ornaments.  A demonstration is presented and everything turns out just fine; the little bird looks great.  Then we are ushered into the shop where is displayed many of these ‘glass blobs’ that resemble animals or people or whatever.  The price?  Well beyond us.  A clarinet was going for 28,000 Euro – it is still there.   Some of the group purchase and have the goods sent direct from Venice.

In the distance, we see snow capped mountains and are told that just over the peaks is Austria.  There is a very cold wind blowing and the snow is the reason.

The second island we visit is Burano.  This is an island know for the production of good quality lace.  We watch a young lady, doing some work on a butterfly and then, yes you guessed it, into the shop we go.  Although the prices are much lower than the glass factory, not a lot of purchases are made here.  The village has many canals through it and the houses are painted brilliant colors as you can see from the photos.  Lyn purchases some small pieces of ‘glass’ while I ‘stick’ with some almond toffee.

We arrive back at the hotel around 6:30pm, drop off the purchases and find a Hard Rock Café, (they have plenty of non-pasta meals), as we wander the streets some more. Our table looks out over a ‘parking lot’ for gondolas.  The boatmen are preparing the gondolas for the night.

Venice is made up of 36 islands and there are over 27 million visitors each year.  There are people from all parts of the world experiencing the city where ‘everyone should go to at least once in their lifetime’.

I must say that I have rarely seen many ‘senior moments’ from among the group.  However, today it is on me.  While browsing shops, I was venturing in to a photographic shop and walked straight into the glass door.  The shop assistants thought it was funny as did Val and Lyn.  Then on the boat, I had two:  one while the ship’s captain was hitching up the boat to the wharf, the end of the rope got me right on my front tooth.  If I wasn’t doing my usual ‘smile’ I would have ended up with a cut lip.  The second on the boat was I bumped my head on the roof of the boat while going for a seat; would you believe that all the group went ‘ooooooo’?

We plan for an early night as Thursday we start off the day before 6:00am bound for Perugia.

We have another early start as we need to travel from the west at the top of Italy to the east on the coast.  However, the highway is very good with 3 lanes all the way.  There are more trucks and lorries than cars on the highway transporting Italian produce around the country.

We are arrive at Verona around 11:30 am and our guide meets us at the bus parking area.  The main destination where all tourists go to in Verona is Juliet’s House of Romeo and Juliet fame.  The streets are crowded with tourists, so deep, it is hard to find a spot to set up the tripod to do the videoing.  The ‘balcony’ is in a small piece of street in a busy arcade.  We are given a short amount of time to take pictures standing beside Juliet, the statue.  Her breast is smooth from all the tourists, both male and female, fondling her.  Oh well, Romeo is not around any more so someone has to do it.

We visit Romeos house, very plain.  This town thrives because Shakespeare wrote a play about an ‘in love’ couple years and years ago, from England.  The souvenir shop is teaming with tourists buying trinkets, padlocks, key rings, magnets, pins, aprons and whatever you can imagine.  Just up the street, a young girl has a sewing machine on the sidewalk, sewing your name on a heart or piece of cloth so you can attach it to something of your own – 5 Euros.

We visit the city square.  This is non-other than a place to sell souvenirs to tourists.  Along the small narrow roads leading to the Roman arena, there are expensive looking clothes shops with well-decorated windows.  The colors are not drab dark shades but vibrant clean looking, and exciting blends.  Our favorite is the ‘Colors of Beneton’ shops.  They are the most colorful in Italy.  However, the shops are not for those who are happy with Target and even Myer prices, for they are for the rich.  Fortunately, Lyn is not feeling rich today.

At the Roman Arena, we find a well-kept relic.  The locals compare it to the Colosseum of Roma as being in tact and useable.  There is to be a concert and the stage is being set for the 20,000 who will be entertained here.  Seat prices are around 2-300 Euros each.  The best seats are up the back but not high up.  From here you can look at all the big-ticket people straining their necks past the person in front of them just so the people in the higher seats can ‘see they are in the expensive seats’.  Often, there are Rock Concerts with Madonna performing in September and Lady Gaga currently being negotiated with for a concert in 2013.

We have lunch at the Piazza Bra before boarding our bus for a 2-3 hour trip to Venice.  Each popular city has a checkpoint for buses to be approved to enter the region.  They want from the driver to provide details of all his passengers: where they have come from, what is their nationality, how long they will be in the area, all to be approved by fax.  All this holds us up around Italy a number of times during our tour.

Eventually, we have reached Venice proper, and we start out like the locals; on our feet and in boats.  From our bus, we gather our ‘cabin luggage’ and walk to the water taxi for transporting to our hotel, 30 minutes away.  Our main luggage goes in another water taxi.

Our accommodation is Hotel Danieli, overlooking the main area where gondolas leave from, just along from St Marks Square.  Quickly, we check-in and board a gondola for a 30 minute experience around the canals.  One of the gondolas has our entertainment and his voice sounds great with the walls of buildings being the acoustic device.  We expect that our suitcases would be at our rooms on our return but some of us have to help the porter to distribute them to the rooms before going out to a delightful meal in a ‘restoranti’ down the narrow alleyway from St Marks Square.  We retire around 10:00pm.

This blog has had around 700 hits per day for the last week and yesterday it got to 904, so I assume you are enjoying the daily posts.  I get up at 4:30am each day to put them together and fix the photos up before publishing the work.  Lyn has taken 1200 stills and I have over 800 shots of video – I don’t know how long the total video is but it is probably up around 4 hours by now – much editing to do on our return.

It is a later start for most today, but Lyn and I get up at 5:15 to take photos around Lake Maggiore.  This is a beautiful lake that brings celebrities from around the world for their holidays.  It zigzags for 63 km into the mountains, its northern end jutting well into Switzerland.  The lake is dotted with charming villages and resorts; terraced gardens blooming with azaleas, camellias and rhododendrons drop down to the blue waters.  Stresa is set amid luxuriant vegetation, with a fine lakeside promenade overlooking the Borromean Islands.

After breakfast and hearing complaints about the powdered scrambled egg that was dished up for breakfast, we catch a boat from outside of our hotel to transfer to the island of Isola Bella.  We tour through the castle that has so many interesting paintings and tapestries.  There are about 5 ‘grotto’ rooms that are lined with both white and black coral.  There is a room of marionettes that would have been used to entertain children BTV (Before TV).  We are not allowed to take photographs in this building.

After the tour, we are free to roam the island where there is a botanical garden with fine displays of camellias and azaleas, and is patrolled by white peacocks.  Some manage to see a peacock display their tail feathers.  There are a few magnificent blooms to photograph.  Of course, there are traders to sell you souvenirs.

At 12:00pm, we transfer to the island of Isola Pescatori to lunch at a great little waterside café.  The vegetarian dish we had was delicious.  Lyn enjoyed her favorite, lemon cake, for dessert.  We have been very good until today, we haven’t purchased any souvenirs, but we relent and purchase two little magnets and a cap today.

After our transfer back to the mainland, we are free to wander through the many shops in Stresa.  I get a few games of Sudoku completed while Lyn tries on clothes and shoes – yes she ended up making a purchase.  Many of the larger group we are travelling with are doing the same as us, looking around and ending up with cones of sumptuous Italian ice cream.