Two Days in Greece

Well sort of anyway!


Monday, yet another sunny and warm day, and another early morning, this time in Piraeus, the port city for Athens. As we had been to Athens last March and done all the “touristy” things then, we and the Ortofskys decided on different tours. They were off to Athens and the Acropolis, while we were off to Ancient Corinth (as in Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians - and you thought the church just made up those titles!) and the Corinth Canal.

Our tour included a sail down the canal and a visit to the ancient city of Corinth. It sounded interesting and maybe one day we will actually get to see it. You may have read about the political troubles here in Greece? Well, after they trooped us all out to the bus and got us loaded, we sat. And we sat. And we sat. Finally, the Shorex Manager himself came on the bus to tell us the local truckers unions had picked Monday to have a general strike. The backup on the highway we had to use was 15 kilometers long and growing. Since the local tour operator couldn’t promise we could get TO Corinth, never mind back, before the ship sailed, the tour had been cancelled. They did offer a couple of options, but they all included the Acropolis, so we decided to have a “sea-day-in-port”. We spent a leisurely day finally getting the laptop connected, updating the blog, having a lunch and lazing about the pool. With three big, long touring days coming up later this week in Ephesus, Cairo and Alexandria, it was kind of a nice way to spend the day. The tour Norm, Barb and Mitch were on went without a hitch and they too had a very nice day.

If it’s Tuesday, this must be Rhodes. This is one of the largest of the Greek Islands and today’s tour was a walking tour of the Old City. Our guide, Eva, may have looked like a stereotypical “Greek Mama”, but she knew her stuff. She also knew her politics and wasn’t afraid to share her views. Turns out we had just missed the trucker protest at the dock earlier that morning. They are protesting a new law passed today that opens up the trucking industry to more competition and the union doesn’t like it.

The “Old City” was established in its current form by the Knights of St John the Baptist, successors to the Knights Templar of the Crusades. The city itself is completely surrounded by 30 foot high walls with only six gates into the city. Our tour included The Knight’s Palace, The Knight’s Hospital (currently the Archeological Museum) and lots and lots of cobbled streets and stairs. LOTS of stairs!

One of the gates in the City Wall

This town is a photographer’s paradise! Every time you turn around there’s another medieval building, flower-covered alleyway, or Taverna worth taking a picture of.

One of the boat vendors in the harbour selling shells and sea sponge loofahs

Down one of the side alleyways

See what I mean?

Following our tour we set off to explore the Old Town in search of lunch and the Jewish Synagogue, the only one in Greece. Our map wasn’t the greatest, but we somehow managed to find ourselves in the square of the Jewish Quarter (quite by accident, much like in Rome), a fact confirmed by the owner of one of the many restaurants on the square.

Eros, the restaurant where we had lunch

After he helped get us oriented, the least we could do was have lunch at his restaurant. A wise decision as it turned out! After we had placed our orders, the owner suggested we sample some “authentic Greek appetizers”. We’re still not entirely sure what a couple of them were, though we did enjoy the “authentic” Greek Salad. Actually, it was an excellent lunch and, as you can see from these pictures, a good time was had by all.

Mmm, mmm, good!  Mitch and his half-litre of beer

You want me to DRINK this???
(check out our lunch)

The only trouble is, that now whenever we think of ordering anything Greek at home - Dolomedes, Tzatziki, Souvlaki and Gyros - it won’t taste anything like what we just ate!

We did eventually find the synagogue, a tiny door down a long alley, but it was closed for the day. Sound familiar? Mitch wasn’t sure why it was that we needed to find the synagogue at all, but Norm insisted that it was part of his history. To which Larry added: ‘You never know if there might be an Ortofskodopolous branch in your family tree.’ Which had everyone in paroxysms of laughter - much to the confusion of those sitting nearby. We’ll have to look the name up when we get back…

And finally, a picture of the ship behind a medieval Greek windmill

We sail from Rhodes at 6:00 this evening on our way to Kusadasi, Turkey tomorrow morning. There we have a private tour booked to the ruins of Ephesus (Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians - see a pattern developing here?) with a local tour operator Larry found through his office. But before that we first have to survive tonight’s “70’s Disco Extravaganza” in the Royal Promenade!



Next update, Thursday at Sea. See you then.

Sunday - A Day at Sea

Or finally we get a “day off”!!


We turned the clocks ahead an hour before going to bed Saturday evening meaning one less hour of sleep. After being “on the go” almost non-stop for a week, Sunday was the first sea day, an opportunity to unwind just a little bit. So of course that meant Monica booked a 9:00 AM manicure appointment. So much for sleeping in! Actually we did sleep in - the room has no alarm clock - so no breakfast this morning or Monica would have been late! While Monica was off being pampered Larry wandered the ship, got caught up on e-mail and had coffee while people-watching in the Royal Promenade. Basically, doing his best impression of a deck-potato!

One of the problems with a 138,000 tonne ship is finding your traveling companions! While the Ortofsky’s cabin is directly below our cabin, if we don’t arrange to meet somewhere then we all might as well be on the back-side of the moon because finding each other among 3800 of your “closest friends” just isn’t going to happen! Such was today. We knew they were here, we just didn’t know where, so after Monica had finished at the salon, we went off and had lunch in the Dining Room. We did eventually find them, out on their balcony (actually “terrace” would be a better description), with Norm smoking a cigar and enjoying the sun with a glass of wine. It’s a tough life……..

Our stateroom

Overlooking the Pool Deck from the Viking Crown Lounge

Looking down the Royal Promenade

After a day of such strenuous relaxing, a good meal was in order, and tonight we had dinner in the Italian specialty restaurant, Portofino. This is a beautifully laid out room one deck up from us on Deck 11 and it would not be out of place on either of Crystal’s ships. The menu is regional Italian and both the food and presentation were excellent. It was also the first “formal” night, which is why we are all (well at least the guys, the ladies always look great!) relatively dressed up in the picture. After a wonderful dinner and the first production show, a great Broadway medley (Mamma Mia anyone?) it was off to bed. For us anyway. Norm and Barb were last seen heading in the direction of the Casino and Lord only knows where Mitchell went.

Athens tomorrow!

Giorno Napolitano!

Naples day - although we spent most of it about an hour’s drive away on the Amalfi coast.


There were only about 40-some people on our tour, and we boarded small but very comfortable mini-buses that held about 16 people each. Our guide (‘Mamma’ Concetta) explained on the way that large highway coaches are no longer allowed to drive into Positano - you’ll see why when you look at the photos below - so these were the largest vehicles that could be used for any ship’s tours into the town.

We set out, passing Mount Vesuvius on the way and getting some historical and gastronomic information from Connie as we drove. Not only is she an archaeological guide, but she loves to cook and to grow things - including peanuts, bananas, tomatoes, spinach, etc, etc., so she also shared some recipes as we drove out - prompting Norm at one point to call out ‘Okay, I’m ready to order now!’

The Amalfi coast drive was everything that we expected from the photos we’ve seen, and more. The craggy cliffs that run straight down into the sea, the blue water and white foam from the surf and the winding coast road (so who is it that looked at this coastline and said, ‘I think this would be a great place to build a road!’??) are just as amazing first hand as they are described in books and magazine articles about the area.

Once we arrived in Positano, we had about an hour and a half to wander around town on our own. It isn’t very big, but built from the beach right up the hillside inside a little bay. It might just be easier to post a few photos than to try to describe it:

After Positano, it was on to Sorrento where we had lunch in a four-star hotel restaurant. Sorrento itself was just like another relatively large city after the small-town atmosphere of Positano, but the area where we were dropped off had some nice tiny side-streets, so we went for a wander on our own while everyone else was deciding what they wanted to buy from the local woodworking and ceramics shop. We had just seen a brief demonstration of marquetry, or intarsia, where the artist cuts a (quite often very intricate) design out of a stack of thin sheets of wood veneer. The artist then takes pieces from the various layers of veneer (all in different shades of wood, or even painted woods) and creates a finished picture that includes different shades and colours to give it more depth. We saw some amazing creations, including the Last Supper and some Amalfi Coast panoramas, that would have taken 3 months of work to complete. But the most interesting piece was one we saw after the demonstration - a cigar humidor with internal humidity controls and a beautiful varnished outer marquetry box. Norm looked at it a few times, trying to decide if it was worth the first year of Mitchell’s university tuition to buy it… cigars…Mitchell…cigars…Mitchell. It was a close-run thing, but we guess Mitch will be going to school next year after all!

Lunch was at the Terrazza Bosquet Restaurant in a gorgeous small hotel overlooking the harbour. Just walking in from the road was a treat for a gardener or tropical plant lover, and the location of the dining room didn’t disappoint either. We had a four-course meal that included wine (white, red and rosé) and a little Prosecco to start. Just a lovely way to prepare us for our afternoon tour of Pompeii. Here are a couple of photos from the hotel:

The hotel lobby area

The view from the restaurant balcony

Connie led us in our tour through a small part of the whole Pompeii excavation for about an hour and a half or so. It was pretty much the same route we took in our tour the last time we visited, but it never hurts to get fresh information and see the results of the recent restorations. Again, photos will probably tell a lot more than we could, so here are a few:



The main square with Temple of Zeus and Mt. Vesuvius in the background



One of the homes withe the original mosaic tile floor in the entrance

The Temple of Apollo and Diana

Once we got back to the ship, we decided a little down-time at the whirlpool was in order, so we took an hour to relax before getting ready for dinner. Tomorrow is a sea day, so there’s no rush to get up (except for Monica who has a spa appointment at 9:00). We’ll report again tomorrow. Buona Notte!

If It’s Friday….

…we must be going to the ship!


This morning, we all decided to finish repacking what we had taken out of our suitcases for Rome before we went for breakfast - a mistake, as it turned out. Norm and Barb told us about a group of 35 German tourists who had ‘invaded’ the Rooftop Patio last night after we left. Of course, we didn’t think that they would ALL be in the breakfast room at 9:00 in the morning, but sure enough, there they were, so breakfast was delayed slightly while we tried to find a table (or tables) to eat at.

Once that was done, Larry went to check out and was given a fax from the transfer company who was sending the van and driver to take us to Civitavecchia to pick up the ship, telling us that the transfer was scheduled a half-hour later than we had confirmed it for. The Reception staff helped us out here, and in the end the driver was only about 10 minutes late. You know, you can stuff quite a bit into the back of a Merecedes 6-passenger van! With luggage to the rafters and some carry-ons taking up the front seat, we set off. The trip is highway almost all the way, so he had us to the port in about an hour and a quarter.

Norm, Barb and Mitch left their luggage with the porters and had our driver drop them off at a local hotel where they were meeting Norm’s niece Katy and her (now) fiancé, Joel. They had just been on the previous cruise on the same ship, and had become engaged while on board. The only one who didn’t know about it in advance was Katy! Since Joel is with the Canadian Forces and is heading back to Afghanistan to finish his tour at the end of this holiday, Norm wanted to make sure he saw them if he had the chance. It all worked out well in the end - they had their visit and boarded the ship in plenty of time before sailing at 5:00.

As for us, we checked in, dropped our carry-ons in our stateroom and did our refamiliarization wander around the ship. We’re not used to anything quite this large, so it took a little time. We did, however, find all the important places, including the cigar lounge for Norm, and changed our dinner seating from 6:00 (we were expecting 6:45 but the time had been moved up) to 8:30 (much more civilized given the length of some of our tours) and got back to our stateroom to unpack with time to spare before lifeboat drill.

Other than the fact that there are more announcements being made here than we are used to, the bothersome thing is that they are all made in at least three languages other than English and therefore take one heck of a long time to finish!

Our tablemates in the dining room are a couple from Ottawa who are doing some more extensive touring around Italy after the cruise is over. Bernice reminds us of Patricia Dorst (and that is a compliment, though she talks almost as much as Patricia!) and we spent a nice extended time over dinner…as much as anything else, that was to give Mitch enough time to eat his first AND second main courses! You can’t complain when someone enjoys their food as much as he does, though.

Well, it’s off to bed a little early since we have to meet for our tour at 7:30 in the morning. We are going to the Amalfi coast - Positano and Sorrento - and visiting Pompeii on the way back. We’re expecting a long day with quite a bit of walking - not that we shouldn’t be used to that by now!

Another Day, Another Temple

Today we continued exercising off the pizza and pasta from the last few meals and saw a bit more of Rome along the way. After breakfast in the hotel we set out with our walking shoes and maps and headed toward the Colosseum and Ancient Rome. Since a city block in Rome can be anywhere from 20 feet to 200 feet long, the map really doesn’t show you just how close together things are. As a result, it only took us about 20 minutes to reach the Colosseum - and the sidewalk vendors, and the (fake) Roman centurians who would pose for photos with you (for a fee) in front of the building, and the various companies offering tours.

Much as we don’t usually use this kind of tour, we hadn’t arranged one for this area ahead of time. Once Larry found out what the entrance fee for the Colosseum and Forum areas was, it turned out that the extra cost for the tour wasn’t all that much, so we picked one and bought our tickets. For 8 Euros each we had a 45 minute guided tour of the inside of the Colosseum as well as over an hour on Palatine Hill, taking a look at the temple ruins and getting an overview of the Forum. We had two very good guides who knew their stuff (comparing their explanations to what we learned last time from our Rome Walks guide), and the second one had a dry sense of humour that added a lot to her commentary. Mitchell in particular was very impressed with this part of Rome - even if they didn’t serve pizza there.

Leaving the Forum area we headed off in the direction of the Jewish Ghetto and the Rome Synagogue. Deciphering the map as best we could - there a lot of small streets and some are not on the map - we found ourselves on a small side street with no name that we could find. Of course, the signs over the restaurants, Nonna Betta’s Kosher Restaurant and Roman Jewish Restaurant, told us we were probably in the right area, so we stopped for lunch. Norm still doesn’t understand how, even in Rome, a kosher restaurant could NOT serve matzoh ball soup! After lunch we set off in search of dessert at the oldest Jewish bakery in Rome - which is also the most well-hidden as we never did find it - and then went to check out the Synagogue. While this is apparently a must-see for Jewish tourists visiting Rome, one apparently must see it during hours of worship, because it was closed. Probably the only place of worship in all of Rome that is not open to the public.

Once we finished there, we needed to get back to the hotel to change so we could come ALL the way back to practically the same corner for dinner, as Norm had been told that we could not miss a visit to the Trastevere district. So, after looking fruitlessly for a cab for a few minutes, we decided to retrace our steps and headed backwards from the Jewish Ghetto, past the Theatre of Marcellus, up to the National Museum and along the Via Nazionale towards the hotel. Except that the road bends around a couple of large buildings part way back and we took the wrong route around it. But every cloud has a silver lining, and although all roads may lead to Rome, all roads in Rome seem to lead to the Trevi Fountain. We found ourselves back at the fountain just when Mitch was getting a little peckish so he and Barb picked up some gelatos to get them through the rest of the trip back. From there it was pretty easy to reach the hotel (even if it was uphill all the way) and we had enough time to shower and change before setting out for dinner.

So we called a cab to take us to a restaurant called Sora Lella in Trastevere - no address because the bar waiter at the Rooftop Patio at the hotel said every cab driver would know where it was - and we, of course, must have got the ONLY cabbie in Rome who had never been there. But no fear, we had a backup plan of three other restaurants we found in our tour book and the local magazine for visitors that is provided in our hotel rooms. So the cab dropped us off at another restaurant just across the river from the Synagogue area and we set out to look over a few options.

We finally decided on a restaurant with a large and busy outdoor patio, and had yet another enjoyable meal. Norm, Barb and Mitch all got their fix of steamed mussels and Monica finally had a plate of pasta - she’d been too busy with Osso Bucco, Calamari and Eggplant Parmagiana up to now. We headed back soon after dinner, since the day’s touring had tired everyone out.

Now we’re all looking forward to boarding the ship tomorrow.

Buongiorno, Roma!

Of course, there’s nothing ‘uneventful’ about this trip! It is Mitchell’s first trip off the North American continent and he’s determined to experience everything he can, including Fish ‘n Chips and Guiness at almost  0:Darkhundred in the morning during our stopover in London.

Both flights were calm and smooth and all of our luggage managed to arrive at the same time we did. Our transfer representative met us at the Rome airport and soon after we were on our way. We are staying at the Hotel Nord Nuova, a small boutique-type hotel near the train station. Although our room is rather small, it is quite comfy for our needs, and the rest of the hotel is quite nice. There’s a rooftop patio with a bar and some nice views. It’s a bonus that there is practically no building in downtown Rome over 7 storeys high…

Tuesday afternoon was spent near the hotel since we all took a little time to acclimatize to the time change. Norm and Barb took a short walk around and found some restaurants only a couple of blocks away - not that there is ANY shortage of restaurants - every second storefront is a Trattoria, Osteria, or Gelateria, or so it seems. We found a nice looking place with a large patio area, and settled in for our first real Italian meal, and Mitch’s first Roman pizza!

On Wednesday our first stop was the Vatican Tour. The only disappointment here was that Pope Benedict wasn’t in residence, so there was no Wednesday blessing - something Norm had been looking forward to seeing. Oh, well; apparently the Pope’s time on the balcony is so short that you might miss it if you blinked anyway. Here are some of our photos.

A tabletop model of Vatican City.  Total area:  110 acres, plus the Pope's summer residence at Castelgondolfo outside of Rome.

This last image is from a corner of one of the 'Rafael Rooms'.  Rafael was painting frescoes on the walls in some of the rooms at the same time Michelangelo was painting the Sistine Chapel.  It is more than amazing that you can look carefully at these paintings and literally see the original brushstrokes!

I hope Mitch will be gracious enough to share some of the surreptitious photos he took on his phone camera in the Sistine Chapel. The guards are rather strict about not taking pictures (apparently Nikon has the exclusive rights to any images), but since most of the interesting stuff is on the ceiling anyway, as long as the camera is out of sight, you can take a chance or two that you’ll get something good.

'The Boys' inside St. Peter's Basilica.  Surprisingly, no lightning strikes were reported - Thanks, Mom!!

In the afternoon, we walked the ‘north side’ of downtown. From our hotel, we went to the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon and Piazza Navona, where we stayed for dinner. Taking all of the advice we had received about not eating in the piazzas to heart, and going by last night’s great experience, we wandered a block or two off Navona and found a nice little place with tables on the sidewalk. It was yet another excellent meal.

This is the little sidestreet where we had dinner, just off Piazza Navona, just as the moon was rising.

All in all, a great, full day. And tomorrow promises to be just as interesting - Ancient Rome and Trastevere.

Ready, Set…

And as Barb would say, “One more sleep!”

…which is something Thomas obviously decided to take literally. He didn’t have quite as much time as usual to spend in the suitcases, since they only came out the day before our departure, but he did crawl on top of them at the first opportunity. By the time we were ready to leave, though, he’d decided that since we were leaving anyway, he’d just ignore us and take his nap in the living room. But that’s okay; while we’re gone, he and Jane will spoil each other rotten.

This trip will be a lot of fun, since we will be able to share it, not only with you, but with Norm, Barb and Mitchell. We hope you’ll enjoy coming along via the blog. Our itinerary will take us to a few exotic places we haven’t been to before, and will give us a chance to show our friends first-hand some of the things we have experienced, which is just as much fun as seeing them the first time ourselves.


Next stop - Rome!!