Tuesday is Civitavecchia

Click on this link for more photos of Civitavecchia and Anguillara


Civitavecchia is the gateway port to Rome.  We skipped Rome because we had visited before and I was hoping to see some surrounding countryside instead of the city.  So Diane and I we spent the morning relaxing aboard ship, taking the time to relax and recuperate and to explore the ship a bit while most folks were our on tour, including Ted and Nancy, who went to Rome for the day. We opted for an afternoon trip to the volcanic crater lake Bracciano with the beautiful lakefront village of Anguillara.

Civitavecchia Harbor with the Mediterranean Sea beyond
the seawall

The hillside town of Anguillara

The wind was blowing.  Can you see the whitecaps on
Lake Bracciano

Anguillara has charm and hills.  Typical old European town

Up at the church, Diane is unhappy with the wind...

...but she grins and bears it.

Quiet Anguillara

I really liked the town. For a change, it was so quiet and small. Quiet because it was a brisk, blustery day on the lake. and most people stayed inside.  We had great espresso and gelato here.
The second part of our trip was to a winery for a tasting. It was fun as we got to meet some great new people including two couples from East Islip! Go figure. Tastings are always fun as people loosen up an have a good time. The bus ride back to the ship was downright rowdy.

The wine tasting ended a beautiful day!

Pompei

Click on this link for more photos of Pompei

Mt Vesuvius

Prior to our Amalfi adventure, we visited the ruined city of Pompeii. The city sits in the shadow of Mt. Vesuvius and when it was buried under volcanic ash during the 1st century it laid dormant for 1600 years before being rediscovered. 

Now 75% excavated, we get to see this well preserved relic. The streets are exactly as they were before the destruction and the bottom halves of all the buildings are still in place. 

Nothing is restored, just cleaned.  This road looks
 like it was built yesterday.  The white marble inlays were
placed to reflect the moon's light so there was increased
nighttime visibility!

Colors, mosaics, statuary all so well preserved it's hard to believe it's 2000 years old. Historic sites in the US don't have this level of preservation!

The weather has been very nice lately with daytime temperatures in the 60's in beautiful sunshine. That'll change a bit as we sail toward Rome as we'll only be in the 50's. Still a lot nicer than NY in November. By contrast, it's been windy and chilly at sea making walking on deck a bit more difficult than I would like. All in all, not bad. 

Overlooking the forum toward Mt Vesuvius

They call this the original pizza oven!

A plaster caste of discovered human remains

Detail of wall covering

Some of the buildings are surprisingly well preserved. The following photos are of a bath house that still has it's roof intact.

 Details of sculpture which surrounds the baths.

 

Okay, this is a fast food joint.  Really.  The marble
bar was heated from below and bowls of food were stored in
the cutaways on the top and served from there

Well, Pompei is certainly an amazing place to visit but time to move on up the Italian coast!

Naples, Pompeii, And The Amalfi Coast

Click on this link for more photos of the Amalfi Coast

Sunday was a day at sea.  A day to relax after going on excursions every day, and a day to reflect on friends and family as Thanksgiving approaches.  Travel is truly awesome and inspiring but we have these holidays for a reason and I'll miss the good folks back home this week.  On sea days they have an English Pub lunch in one of the lounges so fish and chips was the big story of Sunday.  The little things.... amazing.
  


Monday brought us to the port of Naples.  If you are Italian American, your family probably saw this beautiful harbor with Mt Vesuvius reigning over the landscape as their last glimpse of their homeland for this was a point of departure for so many.  Why?  Because just like in our Civil War, the south of Italy got hammered during unification and like so many other places, poverty caused an exodus to America.  

I can't help but start with our afternoon drive along the Amalfi coast. This is Europe's version of the Hana road in Hawaii. There are 900 turns in this road of about 40 miles. That's 20+ turns per mile! And when I say turn I mean the 180 degree hairpin type! Add to that hundreds of feet in elevation and one side of the road, constantly hanging off a cliff and a road so narrow that there are stoplights to control the flow of traffic when it narrows to one lane. The villages are absolutely vertical.

They even have donkeys to help bring large purchases up or down to homes. 

A spectacular and beautiful place. Unfortunately, most of my photos were taken from the bus window.  When traffic passes along this road, there is no place to stop, so one presses on.  We did stop twice, however, including in the village of Amalfi where we bought some of the few items we purchased during the entire trip.  

Amalfi

There is a beautiful cathedral in Amalfi

These are sweets from the candy shop

But prior to our Amalfi adventure, we visited the ruined city of Pompeii and though we did this all in one incredible day, I'm afraid Pompei will have to have it's own post.  So stay tuned! Meanwhile, good night from Almafi.  

Mykonos

Click on this link for more photos of Mykonos.

Saturday, November 23 I was feeling my absence at the Albany football game.  I had already missed a game but this was Albany and Senior day and I was a bit melancholy about it.  It's still an adjustment, even from 6000 miles away.  Enough of that... Mykonos!

The island was quite beautiful in the Greek Island kind of way.  All dry and blue skies with whitewashed houses.

I felt like I stepped onto the set of Mama Mia!  But look closely and the Greek people are hurting.  Things look bad there economically; quite a change from Athens which seems to be recovering somewhat.  The Greek people clearly are suffering with the recession and the austerity they are living with.  They have a long way to go economically.  The fact that we were the last cruise ship of the season didn't help matters for the locals.  Things were already closed up pretty good.  Nevertheless, the town is charming beyond belief and it was beautiful being there at sunset.

Because....cats!

That did present a nice contrast to our visit to Turkey.  The crowds were really so large in Turkey.  Very surprising for November.  I can't even imagine how busy they are in the summer.  Our two stops in Turkey were highlights so far.  Ephesus gets more remarkable the more I research it.  And Istanbul is incredible.

Well, bye bye Greece and Turkey and hello a day at sea as we head toward our next port, Naples.

Istanbul

The Bosphorus Bridge connects Europe to Asia

Click on this link for more photos of Istanbul

There is something really special about traveling up the Dardanelles Strait toward the Bosphorus Strait and Istanbul.  All the while we look to Europe on our left and Asia on our right.  This is where east and west actually do, as legend tell us, meet.

Things that photos can't capture: smells and sounds.  Greece was incredibly fragrant, like springtime, even when we were in the city.  There were orange trees all about, and full of oranges too, but it was more than that.  Very pleasant and fragrant everywhere we went.  Turkey is all about sound; especially the call to prayer.  With all the mosques the call is heard all over the city.  It was quite an awesome experience as we left the pier with the city visually sparkling and the call to prayer clamoring away.  It was certainly unique for me at any rate.

The Blue Mosque from port

The Hagia Sophia is an old Christian cathedral built in the mid 500's AD.  Later, it was converted to a mosque and now is a great museum.

Hagia Sophia interior

This endless ramp kept turning
up toward the second level, where the
women worshipped.  It's over 1000 years old!

There were beautiful, ancient mosaics

Next, we visited the palace that served as home for generations of sultans.

Tile work at Topkapi Palace

Yes, it's really The Harem at Topkapi Palace,
home of the Sultans

More tile at the palace

Istanbul also had the famous bazaar.  It was not as intimidating as I expected but the guys will follow after you to get you to buy something.  Unfortunately, that means that window shopping was out.  There was so much to see and things I may have purchased but if you stop for a moment the invasion begins.  No dawdling!  One is really not allowed to stand and look around.  It's assumed you are there to purchase and they're going to show you “the best” quality/deal now.  Right now.  And there is no escape!  But who am I to question business practices in the oldest shopping district on earth?  This city really bustles.  There are 15 million people!  Remarkable. Almost double the size of New York.

Entrance to the Grand Bazaar.  Incidentally, it's a huge area!  I'd have taken more
photos there but you can't stop for a minute!

A highlight of our Istanbul visit was the magnificent Blue Mosque

It seems that every European city got
themselves a genuine ancient Egyptian obelisk

So much to see in Istanbul, it should be the subject of many posts, but alas, there is only so much time.....

Next, we travel to the beautiful Greek Island of Mykonos!