Italy to Turkey via the Mediterannean!

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We left Venice at 2:00 pm on Tuesday, September 27th. It was a beautiful and very warm day. Passengers lined the upper railings to say goodbye. The slow cruise to the sea took a serpentine route almost through the middle of the city. It wound through fairly narrow waterways giving us a close and final view of Venice, perhaps the most beautiful city in the world made by man. After an hour we were free of the narrow channels and on our way into the open sea.

That evening we had our first formal dinner at the nine o'clock sitting. We sit at a table for ten with three other couples... all very nice folks. There was lots of conversation back and forth. The dinner was fantastic! Dinner finished around 11:30 pm and we took a short, warm evening stroll along the deck and down to our cabin.

The next day, we brunched while cruising into Kotor, Montenegro. It took several hours to wind our way into the bay which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We anchored off Kotor and tendered in to the town.

Kotor has three miles of stone walls around it. The streets are cobblestone, worn smooth by centuries of foot travel. We walked the entire town, and saw churches, ramparts, ancient stone buildings and very narrow streets. We stopped at an outdoor bar/ cafe to have drink and use their free internet (WIFI on the iPad). We caught up on email, and continued our walk through this lovely historic site.

We returned to the ship, showered, changed and went to the early evening show which featured an Argentinean drum and bolero show.

We spent Thursday, the 29th at sea traveling to Athens. Lots to do on the ship, and we ended with a formal dinner that night.

On Friday, in Athens, Jill and I decided to strike out on our own. We bought local bus tickets, then went to find the bus stop. We couldn't find the stop for our bus, so Jill called out asking if anyone spoke English! A charming Japanese woman answered. She explained where we needed to go, and then offered to guide us. We took the inter-urban train and several different subway cars to the main square. She showed us the "Happy Train" (HT) which is an inexpensive little train that travels through the streets.

The HT took us through old Athens where we saw many classic Athenian sights such as the ancient agora, Hadrian's Arch, Panathinion Stadium (built in 1896 for the first modern Olympiad), the Plaka (an older trendy area above the slopes of the Acropolis) and ending up at the Acropolis.

The Acropolis is one of the great wonders of the world. It was built more than 2,500 years ago! Throughout history it has been used as a military fortress and a religious centre. This place is very old. The marble cobblestones that we walked on were worn so smoothly that we lost our footing several times as the rock slippery smooth. The Acropolis is currently being restored. We spent an hour at the Acropolis.
We returned to the start of the HT, caught the bus for the ship in Piraeus, which is Athens' port city. The trip took more almost twice as long as the subway/urban rail trip, but it was much simpler for us as our kind Japanese guide in the morning didn't think we could remember all the subway changes we would have to make to get back. We got back just before the cafeteria on the ship closed at 3:00.

On Saturday, we arrived at Kusadasi, Turkey at 8:00 am. This time all four of us bargained for a taxi. We finally agreed on a price and Murat, a 24 year-old student, took us about 15-20 km to the ancient city of Ephesus. It is one of the best examples of Roman architecture, and quite well preserved. Ephesus is one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites, and stunning to see!

It took us about an hour and a half to wind through the entire site. Just one of the many parts of this site is the Temple of Atremis, which was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Another part of the site was an ancient, crumbling stadium which could hold 25,000 people! It was huge.

When we finished, Murat dropped us a carpet factory where we learned about the different materials (wool, cotton, silk, etc.) and the different colours--each of which has a special meaning. We watched a woman weave a carpet and saw how the silk cocoons are pulled apart to form one continuous thread which a about 1.6 km long! Very cool. Of course, there were salesmen who tried (very hard) to sell us carpets, but we resisted. Murat then took us back to the ship for another late lunch.

Sunday, October first found us in Bodrum, Turkey. This smaller, quieter coastal town is southeast of Kusadasi. We had a later breakfast and went out on the dock to find a shuttle boat ready to take us from the cruise ship dock to the center of town.

Bodrum is a beautiful, clean harbour town. There is lots of shopping and restaurants. As well, there is a small castle, and a Maritime Museum which is one of the best in the world. We shopped and strolled for several hours then went back to the ship for lunch.

P.S. Apologies for not posting any photos, we are having problems trying to upload them here from the iPad.

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