October 18, 2014 we leave Montreal and head to Fort Lauderdale. This cruise is a 13 day on the Maasdam but will be after a driving trip around southern Ontario and following the cruise another driving trip around Florida before we fly home. Whether we take a laptop to post as we go is unknown but I will cover our trip upon arrival home if there is no laptop. Stay tuned!
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Last of a 4 1/2 month world adventure
May 12, 2013 - On May 8 we docked at Ponta Delgada on the island of San Miguel which is one of 9 islands making up the Azores. The Azores sit on an active mid Atlantic volcanic range, the most recent eruption in 1957-1958. This eruption was caused by Mt. Capelinhos and expanded Faial Island. San Miguel rests 900 nautical miles off the west coast of Portugal and is the largest island of the Azores. All nine islands have a total population of 230,000 and the islands are a territory of Portugal but have their own government agencies. The Azores were discovered by Diogo de Silves in 1427. The Iberians saw many birds. Mistaking the great birds for hawks the Iberians named the islands Acores meaning hawks. Settlements appeared about mid 1400s. The islands played a part in the world and European history. By the end of the 15th century all nine islands were inhabited and trade was expanding with Portugal. From 1580 to 1640 all Portugal and the Azores were ruled by Spain. The Azores became a rendezvous point for Spanish treasure ships returning to Spain from the new world. They have continued to play a part in the world and European affairs as air bases and communication center during WW11. A 1951 agreement gave the US rights to use defense facilities in the Azores. Evidence of the Azores volcanic activity can be see in the Furnas Valley where steam vents, hot springs and boiling mud pools exist. As in most of our ports there is the Sao Bras Fort (built in 1552) which was just outside the port. Pineapples, tea, sugar beets, and tobacco with hand-made cigars are exported from this island. Pineapples were brought to the island in 1820 but they are grown in greenhouses in a temperature range of 78 to 100 degrees F. It take from 18 to 24 months for a pineapple to mature. No chemicals are used. Oranges were also imported and grow well on the island. San Miguel has an international airport and flights from Montreal and Toronto come from May to October. There are a lot of dairy cows and on our trip around the island we saw the dairy. Japanese Cedar trees have been imported from Canada and are planted to hold the water in the soil and the soil in place. The trees are used in building but it takes about 30 years to mature so the wood can be used. The National Parks Board stocks lakes with fish as many of the lakes are not fed by streams. The islands get about 90 days of rain a year but fresh water is in abundance from under ground. Our tour took us to Sete Cidades which is a small village that is nestled between two crater lakes, the blue lake and the emerald green lake.There are small lakes all over the island that have been formed by centuries of geo-thermal activity or relentless winter surf. Mez visited a tea plantation that had production equipment dating back to before the Civil War from England manufactured by Marshall and Sons of Gainsborough, England. Five o`clock tea is not British in origin but comes from a Portuguese princess who lived in England and enjoyed her tea on Portuguese porcelain. The Dutch also had this custom as formal tea drinkers before the British. In fact, Orange Pekoe Tea is named after the Dutch Royal House of Orange. The famous 12 acre Terra Nostra Gardens of Sao Miguel were constructed by a US Consulate General, Thomas Hickling, and a British gardener. It is more than 200 years old with Sequoias and some Norfolk pines 13 feet in circumferance. In the 1970s school children studied at night using sperm whale oil lanterns. Curiously it was Nantucket whalers who hired and taught Azore fisherman how to hunt whales in the mid 1800s. There are close to 1 million people with Azorian heritage who live in the US.
May 9th we were suppose to stop for a day at Faial Island another island of the Azores and see the town of Horta. The swells for tendering were, as has been mentioned before, too big for the tendering to be done safely so we sailed slowly passed and took pictures of the island. As now we were going to be ahead of schedule the captain made arrangements for us to dock early in Bermuda. We arrived and were cleared in the port of Hamilton by late afternoon allowing many of those wishing to spend the evening having dinner on land. Mez and I had booked a dinner at the Pinnacle Grill on the ship and we enjoyed the view of the town as we ate. Bermuda is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean which is the oldest remaining British overseas territory and is located 1100 miles northeast of Miami.The following day I purchased a day pass and headed for the town of St. George's on the northeast end of the island. Public transit includes both ferries and buses running between the Royal Navy Dockyard and both Hamilton and St. George's. The natives call the buses the "Pink and Blue" as that is the color of the buses. Blue poles designate stops for buses leaving Hamilton and pink designate stops to Hamilton for all of us who are use to cars going on the right side of the road. Bermuda follows the UK in driving habits. Bermuda has history with ties to the Civil War. I walked into an old building in St. George's, a hotel with a museum on the first floor. That building had been an outpost for goods being supplied to the Confederate Army. Bermuda is 20.6 square miles with a population of 64,700 making it the 9th largest population density in the world. Tucker's town is where the wealthy reside. There is a lot to see on this island and as we moved along I was in awe of the local flowers and trees that were growing. A day pass was 15 dollars which also includes the ferries. Getting around was very simple and there are express buses and more scenic routes you can travel. I didn't have a lot of time but we were back from the upper end of the island in about 25 minutes.
Tomorrow morning we dock in Fort Lauderdale and then fly home on Saturday. Cruising is many different concepts to people. Some want to meet others, some want to relax and read, some want to learn and see the world around them and learn about other cultures. This was probably my reason with a little of the others thrown in. No matter what we have picked up from the media, or what our early learning institutions taught us there will always be 2 sides to a story. For those who grew up with the vision of Sir Francis Drake and his explorations around North America and his various discoveries he was not a nice man to many Spanish and Portuguese villages as he looted and killed many people. One of our passengers gave a very interesting talk about the 1967-1968 seizure of the USS Pueblo by the North Koreans and what really happened. He was the navigator on that ship and also was imprisoned by them along with the rest of the crew. For those who have never cruised build up to it by taking a short cruise. Cruises are excellent value and some can be purchased for under 100 dollars a day. Considering room, food, travel, entertainment, hot tubs and pools for that price I would suggest that one should try it.
Anyone wishing more information I can be reached at thowe@shaw.ca . In the subject box please state blog content as I do not open mail from those I do not know. Meanwhile get out and travel and see what a glorious world we share with one another, the animals, the flora, and the starry skies. HAPPY CRUISING!
May 9th we were suppose to stop for a day at Faial Island another island of the Azores and see the town of Horta. The swells for tendering were, as has been mentioned before, too big for the tendering to be done safely so we sailed slowly passed and took pictures of the island. As now we were going to be ahead of schedule the captain made arrangements for us to dock early in Bermuda. We arrived and were cleared in the port of Hamilton by late afternoon allowing many of those wishing to spend the evening having dinner on land. Mez and I had booked a dinner at the Pinnacle Grill on the ship and we enjoyed the view of the town as we ate. Bermuda is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean which is the oldest remaining British overseas territory and is located 1100 miles northeast of Miami.The following day I purchased a day pass and headed for the town of St. George's on the northeast end of the island. Public transit includes both ferries and buses running between the Royal Navy Dockyard and both Hamilton and St. George's. The natives call the buses the "Pink and Blue" as that is the color of the buses. Blue poles designate stops for buses leaving Hamilton and pink designate stops to Hamilton for all of us who are use to cars going on the right side of the road. Bermuda follows the UK in driving habits. Bermuda has history with ties to the Civil War. I walked into an old building in St. George's, a hotel with a museum on the first floor. That building had been an outpost for goods being supplied to the Confederate Army. Bermuda is 20.6 square miles with a population of 64,700 making it the 9th largest population density in the world. Tucker's town is where the wealthy reside. There is a lot to see on this island and as we moved along I was in awe of the local flowers and trees that were growing. A day pass was 15 dollars which also includes the ferries. Getting around was very simple and there are express buses and more scenic routes you can travel. I didn't have a lot of time but we were back from the upper end of the island in about 25 minutes.
Tomorrow morning we dock in Fort Lauderdale and then fly home on Saturday. Cruising is many different concepts to people. Some want to meet others, some want to relax and read, some want to learn and see the world around them and learn about other cultures. This was probably my reason with a little of the others thrown in. No matter what we have picked up from the media, or what our early learning institutions taught us there will always be 2 sides to a story. For those who grew up with the vision of Sir Francis Drake and his explorations around North America and his various discoveries he was not a nice man to many Spanish and Portuguese villages as he looted and killed many people. One of our passengers gave a very interesting talk about the 1967-1968 seizure of the USS Pueblo by the North Koreans and what really happened. He was the navigator on that ship and also was imprisoned by them along with the rest of the crew. For those who have never cruised build up to it by taking a short cruise. Cruises are excellent value and some can be purchased for under 100 dollars a day. Considering room, food, travel, entertainment, hot tubs and pools for that price I would suggest that one should try it.
Anyone wishing more information I can be reached at thowe@shaw.ca . In the subject box please state blog content as I do not open mail from those I do not know. Meanwhile get out and travel and see what a glorious world we share with one another, the animals, the flora, and the starry skies. HAPPY CRUISING!
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Atlantic Ocean heading WEST
May 5, 2013 - Today I want to focus on our two days in Barcelona, Spain though Prinsendam is docked in Cadiz. The monetary concerns are barely seen in Barcelona as construction carries on and stores are full of people. Visitors continue to pour into this city and buy beautiful leather and porcelain items. Lots of work is being done on restoring many old churches and museums. The first day there I needed to take a tour of the city. The tour started by taking us to Vilana Hill which held many venues for the 1992 Olympics. A funicular runs up the hill to the Collserola Tower which was designed by an English architect named Norman Foster. The tower is the tallest in the city at 1,000 feet and allows a view on a clear day of the Pyrennees Mountains which make a natural boundary between Spain and France. There are 70 museums, 3 universities and 16 parks serving 3 million people who call Barcelona and the surrounding area their home. Interestingly Barcelona has an el bicing network which is seen along main streets. It maintains 100 bicycle stations throughout the metropolitan area. Rental is free for the first 30 minutes and then a few euros per hour after that with a small registration fee. We saw many Hop On and Hop Off buses around the town and one route stopped right outside the port terminal. Barcelona is probably the most avant garde city in the world. The vibrant, colorful districts draw all kinds of artisans to it. Some famous artists are Picasso, Milo, Dali, and Casals but the favorite of the residents is Antonio Gaudi. Not knowing a lot about hiI found many of his projects almost overdone. Casa Mila was Gaudi's home but his obsession was the Holy Family Cathedral. Gaudi did not plan for it to be a church when it started construction in 1882. He designed it and knew all the intricacies of the plan while no one else knew exactly what it was to look like in the end. Well in 1926 he was hit by a bus and died so construction came to a halt. It wasn't until the 1980s that the plans were found among his posessions. Today the inside of the church is finished with stone, iron and ceramics allowing the natural light from above to reflect. The entrance fee is 14.8 euros and up to 25,000 people per day have passed through it. Outside it has 12 spires representing the 12 apostles and then there are 4 smaller ones representing the 4 gospels. The fee is used on the construction and the maintanence of the church. Two years ago bull fighting was outlawed by Barcelona so the arena is now used as a large shopping area with restaurants and coffee bars. Another famous store in Barcelona is Stella McCartney clothing store whose highend stores are found all over Europe. Navarios Flower Shop opened in 1937 and has never been closed. It is open 24 hours 365/366 days a year and is in the old section of town. Barcelona is a vibrant and colorful town with great restaurants and the Catalunyan culture. You can almost see the people as they dance down the street. Barcelonian women seem to be very classy dressers when leaving home. Barcelona gets about 3.8 million visitors a year. Barcelona has its nature that is beautiful with sub tropical plants. We saw dolphins and a brides whale and migrating birds that hitch rides on cruise and cargo ships across the Mediterranean. No rain and what nice temperature we had.
Cadiz is located on the southwest coast of Spain on the Atlantic Ocean. It is so much smaller than Barcelona but very beautiful. The area was first known to be inhabited in 1100 BC. It was a trade and commercial port for north south ships. In 1596 Francis Drake totally destroyed the city and those that escaped wondered if they should return or not. They did and built a wall around the new city in 1598. The city stayed within the walls until the 1960s when development came in the form of new hotel complexes. Today one can see the colonial influence on the city. Cadiz has 40% unemployment compared to the federal amount of 26-27%. There are 180,000 residents and another 20,000 in the surrounding area. Our guide spoke a lot about how the EU has affected their lives. Her husband was laid off from a metal working job and got hired as a bus driver and today was to be his last day doing that. I felt for her and her husband. The city has a number of unfinished projects due to the downturn in the economy. There are buildings left unfinished and a bridge is partway erected. One happy thing she said was that the mayor is a very strong, opinionated woman who has no problem with telling it like it is. You graffiti a building and you are up at 6 am on a weekend cleaning. There are no graffitti pictures on any building. The beaches are cleaned daily in winter and twice daily in the summer. The streets are cleaned nightly with a wash. It is Sunday today and I saon herbs and combinations and what they do for you..w no less than a dozen people sweeping sidewalks and gutters and picking up litter on the beach. We took a tour of Cadiz and continued to Jerez where we visited a sherry making establishment. Years ago the property had been a religious establishment and some of the rooms are still intact but additions have been added to create the sherry plant. I have been impressed with the Spanish and their concern for the environment and the pride they take in looking after their city and making visitors welcome. Mez spent the day in Seville and saw Our Lady of the Holy See. He spoke of the elaborate angels and an old robe of some king which hung in the entrance of the church. The brocade design on this 1000 year old robe was impressive. Many of the buildings here in Spain have structures that mix Gothic, Moorish and Baroque art and for those who are well-versed in architectural design one can almost see the eras that they were built. Jerez is home to the Andalusian horse fair which is due to open tomorrow and so we drove by the area where the fair takes place.
May 6 and 7 have been days at sea and though they give us some relaxing time there is always activities to keep you busy. We have just started a program Dancing With the Stars at Sea and today was a foxtrot competition. It was fun to watch. We have also had very interesting speakers. Danny Catt from BCIT has been on board teaching us about photography and how to use our cameras and take interesting pictures. He also gave a lecture on whales and dolphins. Peter Watson is a retired professor from Carlton University and was in the Department of Physics. He continues to teach and do research and is giving us a group of lectures on astronomy. He is doing a historical synopsis of astronomy through the ages. There are health seminars that I have attended- one on herbs and their affect on the body. Jane A Gorden is on board teaching pearl stringing and I have been having fun watching fellow passengers design necklaces with pearls and beads. One couple had bought a necklace for 6 dollars in Morroco and decided to restring it by adding pearls making it astoundingly gorgeous. It was fun to watch them redo it and make it their own. Then there was the night of karaoke and I actually have a fan base here on ship, not a lot but what fun we all had. The casino is a big item for some but I just walk through and watch. One movie is shown 3 times per day in the theater and then the following day on the TV. Then I decided to see what Skydrive can do as there is no compatability issue with it. It was given in the Microsoft workshop. Tomorrow we will be in Ponta Delgada in the Azores. Currently we have plans to dock at 8 AM and we will leave tomorrow night at just before midnight. Cruising is an adventure and we have a ship mechanical problem that hopefully will be fixed by tomorrow night but our midnight departure will allow us to see more of Sao Migual which is the largest of the nine islands of the Azores. I will be heading up to see Sete Cidades Crater Lake in the morning and if time allows I will head off on my own in the afternoon. After Ponta Delgada our plans carry us to Horta, Portugal and after a few days to Bermuda. I will probably send my last post of the last three ports when I arrive in Fort Lauderdale on May 17.
Cadiz is located on the southwest coast of Spain on the Atlantic Ocean. It is so much smaller than Barcelona but very beautiful. The area was first known to be inhabited in 1100 BC. It was a trade and commercial port for north south ships. In 1596 Francis Drake totally destroyed the city and those that escaped wondered if they should return or not. They did and built a wall around the new city in 1598. The city stayed within the walls until the 1960s when development came in the form of new hotel complexes. Today one can see the colonial influence on the city. Cadiz has 40% unemployment compared to the federal amount of 26-27%. There are 180,000 residents and another 20,000 in the surrounding area. Our guide spoke a lot about how the EU has affected their lives. Her husband was laid off from a metal working job and got hired as a bus driver and today was to be his last day doing that. I felt for her and her husband. The city has a number of unfinished projects due to the downturn in the economy. There are buildings left unfinished and a bridge is partway erected. One happy thing she said was that the mayor is a very strong, opinionated woman who has no problem with telling it like it is. You graffiti a building and you are up at 6 am on a weekend cleaning. There are no graffitti pictures on any building. The beaches are cleaned daily in winter and twice daily in the summer. The streets are cleaned nightly with a wash. It is Sunday today and I saon herbs and combinations and what they do for you..w no less than a dozen people sweeping sidewalks and gutters and picking up litter on the beach. We took a tour of Cadiz and continued to Jerez where we visited a sherry making establishment. Years ago the property had been a religious establishment and some of the rooms are still intact but additions have been added to create the sherry plant. I have been impressed with the Spanish and their concern for the environment and the pride they take in looking after their city and making visitors welcome. Mez spent the day in Seville and saw Our Lady of the Holy See. He spoke of the elaborate angels and an old robe of some king which hung in the entrance of the church. The brocade design on this 1000 year old robe was impressive. Many of the buildings here in Spain have structures that mix Gothic, Moorish and Baroque art and for those who are well-versed in architectural design one can almost see the eras that they were built. Jerez is home to the Andalusian horse fair which is due to open tomorrow and so we drove by the area where the fair takes place.
May 6 and 7 have been days at sea and though they give us some relaxing time there is always activities to keep you busy. We have just started a program Dancing With the Stars at Sea and today was a foxtrot competition. It was fun to watch. We have also had very interesting speakers. Danny Catt from BCIT has been on board teaching us about photography and how to use our cameras and take interesting pictures. He also gave a lecture on whales and dolphins. Peter Watson is a retired professor from Carlton University and was in the Department of Physics. He continues to teach and do research and is giving us a group of lectures on astronomy. He is doing a historical synopsis of astronomy through the ages. There are health seminars that I have attended- one on herbs and their affect on the body. Jane A Gorden is on board teaching pearl stringing and I have been having fun watching fellow passengers design necklaces with pearls and beads. One couple had bought a necklace for 6 dollars in Morroco and decided to restring it by adding pearls making it astoundingly gorgeous. It was fun to watch them redo it and make it their own. Then there was the night of karaoke and I actually have a fan base here on ship, not a lot but what fun we all had. The casino is a big item for some but I just walk through and watch. One movie is shown 3 times per day in the theater and then the following day on the TV. Then I decided to see what Skydrive can do as there is no compatability issue with it. It was given in the Microsoft workshop. Tomorrow we will be in Ponta Delgada in the Azores. Currently we have plans to dock at 8 AM and we will leave tomorrow night at just before midnight. Cruising is an adventure and we have a ship mechanical problem that hopefully will be fixed by tomorrow night but our midnight departure will allow us to see more of Sao Migual which is the largest of the nine islands of the Azores. I will be heading up to see Sete Cidades Crater Lake in the morning and if time allows I will head off on my own in the afternoon. After Ponta Delgada our plans carry us to Horta, Portugal and after a few days to Bermuda. I will probably send my last post of the last three ports when I arrive in Fort Lauderdale on May 17.
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Heading West - toward home
April 29, 2013- It is late afternoon and I have returned from a day in Rome. Our ship is docked in Civitavecchia at the Port of Michaelangelo. Civitavecchia has about 500,000 people. (The port is a powerful maritime engine that fuels Rome's Lazio region.*) Today there are 5 cruise ships in the port and there are also commercial freighters that are loading and unloading. The train station is about a 20 minute walk along the seaside promenade. The ride into Rome took about 60 minutes and the traffic did not seem congested. Once there I was blown away by the buildings and the areas that are preserved from milleniums ago. The Vatican was very busy but our tour did not include a walk through it. I did take some pictures of it and we had a nice lunch across the street from it. The Colosseum was the most impressive building to me but at just about every turn a different structure appeared. Our tour was a leisurely drive around Rome except for our lunch and some shopping time. We saw the Roman Forum , various temples to Kings, and an inauguration of the new Italian President on the front stairs of the government building with all the guards dressed in their regal clothing and holding flags. The Circus Maximus sits below the Palatiine Hill and is 664 meters by 123 meters. Efforts to landscape the area have been fruitless as they have not been maintained. The structure was established under the Etruscan kings who transformed the village of Rome into a monumental city. As time passed the Circus Maximus slowly had additions made to it as a new conquering king came into power. It grew from seating 50,000 spectators to almost 250,000 who watched the chariot races. We saw king Hadrian's Mausoleum, the Roman Forum, the window Mussolini used to speak from and St. Peter's Square. We saw where the Baths of Caracalla were and so many other interesting buildings : some have been fixed and maintained while others are still in a destroyed condition. We did not see Trevi Fountain or the Pantheon. We crossed the Tiber River as we entered the historic center of Rome. Rome is the largest city in Italy with 3.5 million people while Italy has about 55 million. I found Rome to be a facinating city with its history easily seen. The Vatican sits on 108 acres west of the Tiber River where about 1000 residents live in an independent nation under the terms of the Laterna Treaty which was signed in 1929 between the Vatican and Mussolini.
* taken from Holland America Brochure
April 30, 2013 is a day in the history of the Netherlands as the queen stepped down and her son took over. We can keep up with all the news here on ship if we choose. Today was a relaxing day as the captain made a decision not to tender into Sardinia. I had a tour of the island and was disappointed to not have seen it. There is no dock for large cruise ships so it meant that tenders would be used. A tender is a small boat used also as a lifeboat if necessary. The swells around Sardinia were about 5 meters or 18 feet which would cause a tender boat to rise and fall some distance making transfers from the ship to the tender quite difficult as people step onto it and since 90% of our current passenger load is over 60 years old the captain decided to not take chances with the safety of the crew or the passengers. Usually on tour days little happens on board so the staff hurried and put together some of the sea day activities so the guests could keep busy. I decided to take a nap and to read a book on Rome that I had purchased yesterday at the Vatican store which sits across the street from the Vatican. Mez had a tour that had taken him to the Sistine Chapel and he saw Michaelangelo's paintings. That chapel was completed in 1484. As with all of the Mediterranean history, conquests, and groups of people come and go and those remaining asimilate into the conquering culture. We have found that English is spoken by many in the tourism industry so I always ask " Do you speak English? ". Some say "no" others say "a little". So you know where you stand. Every annoucement is in English on the ship. Tomorrow we are due to dock in Mahon or Mao on the island of Minorca (or Menorca).
May 1, 2013 we awoke docked in the Port of Mao. Menorca or Minorca is governed under Spain. It is the 2nd largest island of the Balearic Islands located off the southeastern coast of Spain. The island has a permanent population but the summer brings in tourists and visitors. Our day there was wonderful making getting around interesting and it has an esthically pleasing design to the town. Prinsendam was right across the street from a main square where kiosks sat and sellers sold. A set of white stairs went up the hill to the upper part of the town but the road coming down curved around crossing the crosswalks for the stairs. I had not booked a tour but had a great experience riding the train express around the town. I picked it up on the curving street at the bottom of the hill. The train drove on the road but had a clanging bell and a toot-toot horn. For 6 Euros the train went along the beach and then climbed to the older section of town where it stopped to allow us to take pictures. A great female tour host collected the fares and made announcements about Mahon and the various old buildings as we drove by. Many streets are one-way crushed between high walls and old buildings making picture taking a challenge as there was a great deal of shadowing along the narrow streets. Mahon was under British control for most of the 1700s so Georgian architecture still lingers here. Menorca came under Spain in 1802 when the Treat of Ameins was signed between England and Spain. People are most responsive as the train goes by. Some yell "Hola" ( we say "Hi"), others wave and some just watch this train with two coaches drive by. Ferries service the Mediterranean between mainland and the islands. We saw Grimaldi ships at many of the ports. Private yaucts and sailboats are seen here from Norway as the jet setters make their home here in the winter. Menorca is part of the UNESCO World Biosphere Preserve. No fertilizers, contaminents, or pollutants are allowed on the island. They have a large amount of fresh water and they look after the surrounding sea habitat. The ecological system is very delicate that both the land and the sea needs protection. The people are easy going, there seems to be no one in any hurry. I found traffic around the island very peaceful as people stopped and talked to each other as they drove opposite directions. Along the harbour road were many restaurants, stores and places to visit. I enjoyed seeing my traveling companions out and about as I rode the train express. An overnight sailing will take us to Barcelona, Spain where we will be able to spend two days.
* taken from Holland America Brochure
April 30, 2013 is a day in the history of the Netherlands as the queen stepped down and her son took over. We can keep up with all the news here on ship if we choose. Today was a relaxing day as the captain made a decision not to tender into Sardinia. I had a tour of the island and was disappointed to not have seen it. There is no dock for large cruise ships so it meant that tenders would be used. A tender is a small boat used also as a lifeboat if necessary. The swells around Sardinia were about 5 meters or 18 feet which would cause a tender boat to rise and fall some distance making transfers from the ship to the tender quite difficult as people step onto it and since 90% of our current passenger load is over 60 years old the captain decided to not take chances with the safety of the crew or the passengers. Usually on tour days little happens on board so the staff hurried and put together some of the sea day activities so the guests could keep busy. I decided to take a nap and to read a book on Rome that I had purchased yesterday at the Vatican store which sits across the street from the Vatican. Mez had a tour that had taken him to the Sistine Chapel and he saw Michaelangelo's paintings. That chapel was completed in 1484. As with all of the Mediterranean history, conquests, and groups of people come and go and those remaining asimilate into the conquering culture. We have found that English is spoken by many in the tourism industry so I always ask " Do you speak English? ". Some say "no" others say "a little". So you know where you stand. Every annoucement is in English on the ship. Tomorrow we are due to dock in Mahon or Mao on the island of Minorca (or Menorca).
May 1, 2013 we awoke docked in the Port of Mao. Menorca or Minorca is governed under Spain. It is the 2nd largest island of the Balearic Islands located off the southeastern coast of Spain. The island has a permanent population but the summer brings in tourists and visitors. Our day there was wonderful making getting around interesting and it has an esthically pleasing design to the town. Prinsendam was right across the street from a main square where kiosks sat and sellers sold. A set of white stairs went up the hill to the upper part of the town but the road coming down curved around crossing the crosswalks for the stairs. I had not booked a tour but had a great experience riding the train express around the town. I picked it up on the curving street at the bottom of the hill. The train drove on the road but had a clanging bell and a toot-toot horn. For 6 Euros the train went along the beach and then climbed to the older section of town where it stopped to allow us to take pictures. A great female tour host collected the fares and made announcements about Mahon and the various old buildings as we drove by. Many streets are one-way crushed between high walls and old buildings making picture taking a challenge as there was a great deal of shadowing along the narrow streets. Mahon was under British control for most of the 1700s so Georgian architecture still lingers here. Menorca came under Spain in 1802 when the Treat of Ameins was signed between England and Spain. People are most responsive as the train goes by. Some yell "Hola" ( we say "Hi"), others wave and some just watch this train with two coaches drive by. Ferries service the Mediterranean between mainland and the islands. We saw Grimaldi ships at many of the ports. Private yaucts and sailboats are seen here from Norway as the jet setters make their home here in the winter. Menorca is part of the UNESCO World Biosphere Preserve. No fertilizers, contaminents, or pollutants are allowed on the island. They have a large amount of fresh water and they look after the surrounding sea habitat. The ecological system is very delicate that both the land and the sea needs protection. The people are easy going, there seems to be no one in any hurry. I found traffic around the island very peaceful as people stopped and talked to each other as they drove opposite directions. Along the harbour road were many restaurants, stores and places to visit. I enjoyed seeing my traveling companions out and about as I rode the train express. An overnight sailing will take us to Barcelona, Spain where we will be able to spend two days.
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Visiting Italy
April 28, 2013
On April 24 I headed to the Lido for breakfast hoping to find another adventurer to ride the Grand Canal. Lo and Behold, Michael and Claire from Australia were sitting trying to decide what to do. We hooked up for an expedition around Venice. We took the shuttle bus that Prinsendam provided from the ship to the People Mover which runs between a very huge parking lot and the downtown. For 1 Euro each it got us to within about 2 walking blocks of the Grand Canal. Once there we needed to buy tickets for a round trip on the #1 vaporetto. We found a PT ticket seller but he only sold tickets for the #2 vaporetto that terminates at St. Mark`s Square. As the cue was building quickly we thought we should just get on and was told to pay on the vaporetto. Well we had a lovely scenic ride along the Grand Canal and to Lido Island and then we came back again. The day was sunny and I spent the whole time thinking about what might happen if checkers came on and I got arrested. We never did pay. Venice has about 15,000 residents but there are about 60,000 that service all the shops and tourist attractions. These folk live outside Venice and commute by vehicle or the train crossing the lagoon from the mainland on the 3 mile expressway. Everyone transfers to the People Mover. AM and PM commute along the Grand Canal is a sight to see. There are stops along the canal for the vaporettos, but there are private boats, taxi boats, delivery boats, boats tied up along both sides of the canal and also police boats. One vaporetto has to wait for another to leave the stop going the opposite direction and then the second can pull into the same place but going another direction. Boat congestion was a sight to see. We saw the Doges Palace, St. Mark`s Square, Rialto Bridge, and the Bridge of Sighs as well as many other older buildings. Allow for a three hour round trip just staying on the vaporetto.
On April 26 we were anchored off the coast of Sicily at Taormina at the Port of Naxos after we had sailed for one day. We took a ride around to see Taormina along with a stop at the Gival Jewelry Factory where we watched jewelry being made from the lava of Mt. Etna. Mt Etna had spewed ashes into the air the previous Saturday leaving black ash 5 centimeters thick on the highways and the fine ash was still on the street and layered on cars when we got to the factory. As we drove along we watched the mountain as it blew smoke into the sky. Mt. Etna is the highest mountain in Europe. It has destroyed the town of Cantania 9 times and has erupted more than 140 times. Currently it stands at 3,330 meters high but the height varies as liquid magma is deposited on the rim. Sometimes it gets smaller as the rim is torn down by the next blow. Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean with 26,000 square kms. It is said that ice cream came from Sicily about 1860. Taormina has about 12,000 residents. There is an unemployment rate of 15% among young people as many of them graduate with degrees but can`t seem to find work. Technical training is needed as construction workers, plumbers, electricians are in short supply. I enjoyed the area with its great views and the lovely people. Later in the evening we passed the island of Stromboli with its mountain spitting fire and lava. Passing it at night was beautiful and as we reached the north side we could see the constant orange glow.
Our next port of call was to be Sorrento for two days but there were going to be 3 other cruise ships anchored in the bay so our captain made some changes so we spent one day in Naples. I took off on a tour of Pompei but the rain and the slippery marble caused me some concern so I did not get up to the old city. There was a very nice hotel that a group of us sat in and visited while others went trinket shopping at the outdoor booths which surrounded the walls of the old city. Traveling passed Mount Vesuvius was almost bewildering after seeing both Mt. Etna and Stromboli as active. The ride was a nice one to see the surrounding countryside but I did miss seeing Pompei. Upon returning to the ship we had a very nice dinner and watched the traffic near the port. A tram station is right near the port and we saw trolley buses. There was a great deal of construction outside the terminal. A Hop On Hop Off bus stopped just across the street outside the terminal. Naples seems to be an easy city to get around in. Naples has a population of 1.6 million and is the 3rd largest city in Italy. Pompei and Herculaneum were both destroyed in 79 AD when Mt. Vesuvius erupted. Pompei had been an important crossroad for commerce. The last time Vesuvius erupted was in 1944. The area around Vesuvius has about 900,000 residents.
Today April 28 we arrived in Sorrento. Sorrento is a wonderful small town with huge walls that come almost right down to the harbor. Like many of these old walled cities the roads are narrow and they have hairpin turns with high walls on both sides. The view from the upper city looking down on the port and our ship was clear and beautiful. The day seems to go by so fast once we'd returned from our tour that I did not have enough time to get the whole perspective of the town. A trip down the Amalfi Coast was winding and quite spectacular. There were many houses built way up on almost verticle cliffs with swimming pools and hot tubs. Interspersed with modern highend real estate were old watchtowers that sat sedately on points. Summer here is April through October and this was a 4-day weekend so there were lots of tourists out with most of them on motorcycles.I have been introduced to a new liquor made with lemons. It is quite popular here and is known as limoncello. It is sweet and has a thickness like port. The port area in Sorrento is lovely and has a nice walkway along the port.There were a number of small stores but as it was Sunday many of them were closed. It is now around 7 pm and we have left Sorrento and are heading to Civitavecchia which is a port for access to Rome. I have planned to see Rome tomorrow though how much walking I do will be decided as the day goes by.
On April 24 I headed to the Lido for breakfast hoping to find another adventurer to ride the Grand Canal. Lo and Behold, Michael and Claire from Australia were sitting trying to decide what to do. We hooked up for an expedition around Venice. We took the shuttle bus that Prinsendam provided from the ship to the People Mover which runs between a very huge parking lot and the downtown. For 1 Euro each it got us to within about 2 walking blocks of the Grand Canal. Once there we needed to buy tickets for a round trip on the #1 vaporetto. We found a PT ticket seller but he only sold tickets for the #2 vaporetto that terminates at St. Mark`s Square. As the cue was building quickly we thought we should just get on and was told to pay on the vaporetto. Well we had a lovely scenic ride along the Grand Canal and to Lido Island and then we came back again. The day was sunny and I spent the whole time thinking about what might happen if checkers came on and I got arrested. We never did pay. Venice has about 15,000 residents but there are about 60,000 that service all the shops and tourist attractions. These folk live outside Venice and commute by vehicle or the train crossing the lagoon from the mainland on the 3 mile expressway. Everyone transfers to the People Mover. AM and PM commute along the Grand Canal is a sight to see. There are stops along the canal for the vaporettos, but there are private boats, taxi boats, delivery boats, boats tied up along both sides of the canal and also police boats. One vaporetto has to wait for another to leave the stop going the opposite direction and then the second can pull into the same place but going another direction. Boat congestion was a sight to see. We saw the Doges Palace, St. Mark`s Square, Rialto Bridge, and the Bridge of Sighs as well as many other older buildings. Allow for a three hour round trip just staying on the vaporetto.
On April 26 we were anchored off the coast of Sicily at Taormina at the Port of Naxos after we had sailed for one day. We took a ride around to see Taormina along with a stop at the Gival Jewelry Factory where we watched jewelry being made from the lava of Mt. Etna. Mt Etna had spewed ashes into the air the previous Saturday leaving black ash 5 centimeters thick on the highways and the fine ash was still on the street and layered on cars when we got to the factory. As we drove along we watched the mountain as it blew smoke into the sky. Mt. Etna is the highest mountain in Europe. It has destroyed the town of Cantania 9 times and has erupted more than 140 times. Currently it stands at 3,330 meters high but the height varies as liquid magma is deposited on the rim. Sometimes it gets smaller as the rim is torn down by the next blow. Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean with 26,000 square kms. It is said that ice cream came from Sicily about 1860. Taormina has about 12,000 residents. There is an unemployment rate of 15% among young people as many of them graduate with degrees but can`t seem to find work. Technical training is needed as construction workers, plumbers, electricians are in short supply. I enjoyed the area with its great views and the lovely people. Later in the evening we passed the island of Stromboli with its mountain spitting fire and lava. Passing it at night was beautiful and as we reached the north side we could see the constant orange glow.
Our next port of call was to be Sorrento for two days but there were going to be 3 other cruise ships anchored in the bay so our captain made some changes so we spent one day in Naples. I took off on a tour of Pompei but the rain and the slippery marble caused me some concern so I did not get up to the old city. There was a very nice hotel that a group of us sat in and visited while others went trinket shopping at the outdoor booths which surrounded the walls of the old city. Traveling passed Mount Vesuvius was almost bewildering after seeing both Mt. Etna and Stromboli as active. The ride was a nice one to see the surrounding countryside but I did miss seeing Pompei. Upon returning to the ship we had a very nice dinner and watched the traffic near the port. A tram station is right near the port and we saw trolley buses. There was a great deal of construction outside the terminal. A Hop On Hop Off bus stopped just across the street outside the terminal. Naples seems to be an easy city to get around in. Naples has a population of 1.6 million and is the 3rd largest city in Italy. Pompei and Herculaneum were both destroyed in 79 AD when Mt. Vesuvius erupted. Pompei had been an important crossroad for commerce. The last time Vesuvius erupted was in 1944. The area around Vesuvius has about 900,000 residents.
Today April 28 we arrived in Sorrento. Sorrento is a wonderful small town with huge walls that come almost right down to the harbor. Like many of these old walled cities the roads are narrow and they have hairpin turns with high walls on both sides. The view from the upper city looking down on the port and our ship was clear and beautiful. The day seems to go by so fast once we'd returned from our tour that I did not have enough time to get the whole perspective of the town. A trip down the Amalfi Coast was winding and quite spectacular. There were many houses built way up on almost verticle cliffs with swimming pools and hot tubs. Interspersed with modern highend real estate were old watchtowers that sat sedately on points. Summer here is April through October and this was a 4-day weekend so there were lots of tourists out with most of them on motorcycles.I have been introduced to a new liquor made with lemons. It is quite popular here and is known as limoncello. It is sweet and has a thickness like port. The port area in Sorrento is lovely and has a nice walkway along the port.There were a number of small stores but as it was Sunday many of them were closed. It is now around 7 pm and we have left Sorrento and are heading to Civitavecchia which is a port for access to Rome. I have planned to see Rome tomorrow though how much walking I do will be decided as the day goes by.
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
The Adriatic Sea
April 20, 2013
Yesterday was a day at sea and with two lectures and the cocktails and Captain's dinner along with the 140ith birthday of Holland America Line. It turned out to be quite a busy day. The travel guide talks about our upcoming ports and where the ship will be docked and whether there will be a shuttle bus to take us to town and the layout of the area as well as the tours that HAL offers. The dinner was great and we sat with the doctor and his wife along with a retired teacher and a lovely lady whose native tongue was Spanish and knew little English. So upon returning to our already cramped cabin we find that HAL has given us a lovely almost 800 page book on the Mediterranean titled THE GREAT SEA which is in the ship`s library. Glancing through it the author traces the history from 22,000 BC right up to 2010. Great book even if it does weigh 5 pounds!
Today at 7AM we docked at the beautiful port of Dubrovnik, Croatia and we will leave at 4 AM tomorrow as we only need a few hours to reach Kotor, Montenegro. I toured north along the coast to the town of Ston which has the 2nd longest wall in the world after the Great Wall of China. The old town of Dubrovnik is circled by a wall which a number of passengers said they had walked on. The wall of Ston is over 6 kilometers and I did get some pictures of it. We continued on to two different family wineries one which does export to Canada and the US so I decided that I would purchase a bottle when I get home. The Adriatic Sea looked like a lake today, no waves, but the day was sunny. Dubrovnik is on the UNESCO world heritage list and since the 1990 war many buildings have been fixed or rebuilt. They have a new bridge over a channel built in about 2005 cutting 18 miles off a trip north as they used to have to travel to the end of the channel to get to the other side. During the war Serbian ships blocked the channel putting a seige on the city from October 1991 until the summer of 1992. The residents had no water, electricity and the roofs of houses were shelled for 24 hours straight. Food could not be shipped in and many people died of starvation. Croatia has 4.5 million people with about 15,000 living in Dubrovnik which is in the southern part of the country on the east side of the Adriatic Sea. The capital is Zagreb which is in the north. Croatia has 1000 islands which they manage. Dubrovnik existed as an independant city republic for 500 years with the Venetian empire on one side and the Ottoman Empire on the other. Napoleon conquered it during his reign. More history than I am able to relate. Lunch was at a family run winery. The family home was over 500 years old and the area we ate in had been the wine cellar until the new one was built. Back in Dubrovnik`s heyday during the 15th and 16th century it had the second largest merchant fleet after Venice. We also stopped at a small quiet fishing village that had been totally burned during the war with Serbia. At some point Serbian military was needed in Bosnia so they left and Dubrovnik started the clean up. Currently, the country is planning to join the EU in July and Slovania plans to join later. Croatia has a very winding coastline and there are plans to build a highway, but the route needs to go through about a 5 mile section of Bosnia. There are legal and political ramifications with the plans. Find a map and you will see that Bosnia almost comes right down to the Adriatic sea. International help came from many countries to rebuild and in 1998 the tourists started coming back. The Dalmation Coast was and now is a very beautiful area once again attracting people from northern Europe. Many big name hotels have been built and the rocky mountainsides are being terraced to grow grapes. Oyster and mussel farms and salt production are smaller exports than wine but the area is doing well with its tourism and shipping businesses.
Since Montenegro was only a 3 hour trip from Dubrovnik we left there at 4 AM and docked in Kotor about 8 AM. Montenegro means black mountain which is what the Venetian sailors saw as they approached the harbor. The mountains are still quite forrested making them look dark. Montenegro was part of Yugoslavia until May of 2006 when it voted to become a republic. As with all the Balkin countries history overlaps, boundaries change, wars and seiges occur so I will leave it to the reader to do research if interested. Venice did have control over Montenegro and it shows in their Venetian and Baroque architecture. Boka Kotorska is one of the most picturesque natural inlet on the Adriatic coast. The population of the country is 680,000 and Kotor has 40,000. The capital is Podgorica and has 220,000 people. As we travel throughout these long established regions many old walls are still standing which were used to protect the city from pirates, invaders, and conquerors. The old city walls are 3 miles long, 60 feet high and 45 feet thick. Montenegro's 53 mile Tara River Canyon is the world's second largest and deepest gap behind the Grand Canyon in the US. Our tour was a taste of Montenegro and took us high up into the mountains. We traveled a one lane road with switchbacks that had a few passengers wondering if they would make it back alive. I sat near a window and I knew there was only one duel tire on the road as the other was over the edge. The scenery was spectacular if you could get past the narrow winding road. There were 37 switchbacks and as we approached buses coming at us I wondered what their policy was . Who backed up? But we made it to a high valley for wine tasting and snacks. I bought a brandy that is used for medicinal purposes. It is made with white wine, a carob pod and a number of herbs. One puts everything in a glass jar and leaves it in the sun for 45 days then strain and bottle. Take one tablespoon in the morning. It goes down with a very warm almost hot feeling and is used by locals for almost every common ailment. After our snack we continued on again on the winding road with stops for photo opportunities along the way. It was an exciting day as we were all returned to the ship safely.
April 22 - We anchored in the bay off the coast of Korcula which is one of 1,000 islands of Croatia. The island of Korcula belongs to the Dalmatian archipelago. It is the 6th largest Adriatic island with an indented coast. It has two mountains: Klupca at 1,864 feet and Kom at 1,670 feet. The economy is tourism, grape vines, olives, fruit, fishing, and fish processing. It lies just off the mainland of the Dalmatian Coast and ferries operate to the mainland 18 times per day. Korcula has an school and students from the penninsula on the mainland get ferried across to school daily. We were told stories about life on the island. There is a hospital but it has no obstetrics department. There is one midwife but quite often babies are born in cars while trying to get to Dubrovnik for delivery. As the young people age they leave the island as the opportunities for work are greater in the larger cities. This quiet quaint island is concerned about its future. It has a history dating back to the Mesolithic and Neolithic eras. Korcula is also the name of the only town on the island as the rest are villages. Korcula island has about 17,000 people whereas the town has 3,600 people. Our guide said that the residents know one another and though there is a police department most problems occur with drunken visitors. Korcula island is 47 kilometers in length and 4 to 5 kilometers wide. The island has an average of 41 days of rain per year making great weather for grape growing. The island has many vineyards and there are places as we drive along that are brand new fields. With some questions we learned that no new vineries can be started once Croatia becomes part of the EU. Croatia has a 20% unemployment which is better than Greece's at 27%. Our tour took us to the far end of the island to Vela Luka where we enjoyed coffee or a walk along the seaside promanade. A cultural difference I noticed was that coffee is not taken out. People sit for hours and read the paper and chat with one another in sidewalk cafes. The cafes have no paper cups and you are served your drink at a table outside. No one is in a hurry to leave and no one walks off with their coffee cup. Coffee is a very social time. Vela Luka has more residents than Korcula town at 5,000 plus but is still a village. One interesting thing I learned was that a variety of grape ( I hope I spell this right ) known as Plavac Mau has similiar DNA to Zinfandel. Researchers are trying to decide which came first or whether they might be the same grape originally but because of soil , sun, water etc the DNA slowly changed. I have certainly taken the opportunity to do a lot of wine tasting. There is an island in the archipelago that is known for its stone which has been used torebuild many of the areas damaged historical buildings and also the stone was used in the building of the White House.
April 23- The mist or fog made the entrance to Venice less than desirable but has the bad weather became more sunny the view was delightful. Venice has piles of history and much of Venetian arts, culture and history affected many of the countries we have visited. I viewed building after building from the cabin window as we came up the Giudecca Canal. I hurried to the top deck to take some arrival pictures of the small canals as we passed. I saw the Renaissance and Byzantine styles of buildings.The center and the most famous part of the city is Piazza San Marco, known by North Americans as St. Mark's Square. St. Mark's Cathedral and the Doges Place are two of the most important and imposing structures in Venice. Both of them have been rebuilt due to fires over the centuries. Both of these buildings have histories back to the 800s. The Bridge of Sighs connects the prison to the palace and was the route that prisoners were taken to and from the judgement hall. There are 117 islands that make up the city of Venice. Lido is a long island that has been very important to Venice. It is known as an island that tempers the tides, but as global warming occurs engineers scramble to find a way to protect the 550 plus square kms of the lagoon that Venice sits in. Two well known islands are Murano and Burano. Venice is well-known for its glass "candies" which were traded in the time of Marco Polo. The glassworks were moved to Murano by a decree in the 13th century because of fire hazard. Burano is known for the fine lace work which is done with precision. The city is laced with 150 canals and more than 400 bridges linking them. Some islands are linked by ferries and there is only one road, 3 miles long, to the mainland. Venice began as a place of refuge for those fleeing the Barbarian invasions in the 5th century but today it is a vibrant, interesting city filled with nightlife, magic and mystery. Was Marco Polo born here? Some say yes but others say he was born on Korcula. What we do know is that he traveled the waters that are being traveled today. The ship is in port all day tomorrow so I hope to get out and ride the water buses tomorrow if time allows, but today I had a wonderful tour around Venice sightseeing. The boat I was on did not go down the Grand Canal, but I hope to find the closest Vaporetto station and take a ride tomorrow.
Yesterday was a day at sea and with two lectures and the cocktails and Captain's dinner along with the 140ith birthday of Holland America Line. It turned out to be quite a busy day. The travel guide talks about our upcoming ports and where the ship will be docked and whether there will be a shuttle bus to take us to town and the layout of the area as well as the tours that HAL offers. The dinner was great and we sat with the doctor and his wife along with a retired teacher and a lovely lady whose native tongue was Spanish and knew little English. So upon returning to our already cramped cabin we find that HAL has given us a lovely almost 800 page book on the Mediterranean titled THE GREAT SEA which is in the ship`s library. Glancing through it the author traces the history from 22,000 BC right up to 2010. Great book even if it does weigh 5 pounds!
Today at 7AM we docked at the beautiful port of Dubrovnik, Croatia and we will leave at 4 AM tomorrow as we only need a few hours to reach Kotor, Montenegro. I toured north along the coast to the town of Ston which has the 2nd longest wall in the world after the Great Wall of China. The old town of Dubrovnik is circled by a wall which a number of passengers said they had walked on. The wall of Ston is over 6 kilometers and I did get some pictures of it. We continued on to two different family wineries one which does export to Canada and the US so I decided that I would purchase a bottle when I get home. The Adriatic Sea looked like a lake today, no waves, but the day was sunny. Dubrovnik is on the UNESCO world heritage list and since the 1990 war many buildings have been fixed or rebuilt. They have a new bridge over a channel built in about 2005 cutting 18 miles off a trip north as they used to have to travel to the end of the channel to get to the other side. During the war Serbian ships blocked the channel putting a seige on the city from October 1991 until the summer of 1992. The residents had no water, electricity and the roofs of houses were shelled for 24 hours straight. Food could not be shipped in and many people died of starvation. Croatia has 4.5 million people with about 15,000 living in Dubrovnik which is in the southern part of the country on the east side of the Adriatic Sea. The capital is Zagreb which is in the north. Croatia has 1000 islands which they manage. Dubrovnik existed as an independant city republic for 500 years with the Venetian empire on one side and the Ottoman Empire on the other. Napoleon conquered it during his reign. More history than I am able to relate. Lunch was at a family run winery. The family home was over 500 years old and the area we ate in had been the wine cellar until the new one was built. Back in Dubrovnik`s heyday during the 15th and 16th century it had the second largest merchant fleet after Venice. We also stopped at a small quiet fishing village that had been totally burned during the war with Serbia. At some point Serbian military was needed in Bosnia so they left and Dubrovnik started the clean up. Currently, the country is planning to join the EU in July and Slovania plans to join later. Croatia has a very winding coastline and there are plans to build a highway, but the route needs to go through about a 5 mile section of Bosnia. There are legal and political ramifications with the plans. Find a map and you will see that Bosnia almost comes right down to the Adriatic sea. International help came from many countries to rebuild and in 1998 the tourists started coming back. The Dalmation Coast was and now is a very beautiful area once again attracting people from northern Europe. Many big name hotels have been built and the rocky mountainsides are being terraced to grow grapes. Oyster and mussel farms and salt production are smaller exports than wine but the area is doing well with its tourism and shipping businesses.
Since Montenegro was only a 3 hour trip from Dubrovnik we left there at 4 AM and docked in Kotor about 8 AM. Montenegro means black mountain which is what the Venetian sailors saw as they approached the harbor. The mountains are still quite forrested making them look dark. Montenegro was part of Yugoslavia until May of 2006 when it voted to become a republic. As with all the Balkin countries history overlaps, boundaries change, wars and seiges occur so I will leave it to the reader to do research if interested. Venice did have control over Montenegro and it shows in their Venetian and Baroque architecture. Boka Kotorska is one of the most picturesque natural inlet on the Adriatic coast. The population of the country is 680,000 and Kotor has 40,000. The capital is Podgorica and has 220,000 people. As we travel throughout these long established regions many old walls are still standing which were used to protect the city from pirates, invaders, and conquerors. The old city walls are 3 miles long, 60 feet high and 45 feet thick. Montenegro's 53 mile Tara River Canyon is the world's second largest and deepest gap behind the Grand Canyon in the US. Our tour was a taste of Montenegro and took us high up into the mountains. We traveled a one lane road with switchbacks that had a few passengers wondering if they would make it back alive. I sat near a window and I knew there was only one duel tire on the road as the other was over the edge. The scenery was spectacular if you could get past the narrow winding road. There were 37 switchbacks and as we approached buses coming at us I wondered what their policy was . Who backed up? But we made it to a high valley for wine tasting and snacks. I bought a brandy that is used for medicinal purposes. It is made with white wine, a carob pod and a number of herbs. One puts everything in a glass jar and leaves it in the sun for 45 days then strain and bottle. Take one tablespoon in the morning. It goes down with a very warm almost hot feeling and is used by locals for almost every common ailment. After our snack we continued on again on the winding road with stops for photo opportunities along the way. It was an exciting day as we were all returned to the ship safely.
April 22 - We anchored in the bay off the coast of Korcula which is one of 1,000 islands of Croatia. The island of Korcula belongs to the Dalmatian archipelago. It is the 6th largest Adriatic island with an indented coast. It has two mountains: Klupca at 1,864 feet and Kom at 1,670 feet. The economy is tourism, grape vines, olives, fruit, fishing, and fish processing. It lies just off the mainland of the Dalmatian Coast and ferries operate to the mainland 18 times per day. Korcula has an school and students from the penninsula on the mainland get ferried across to school daily. We were told stories about life on the island. There is a hospital but it has no obstetrics department. There is one midwife but quite often babies are born in cars while trying to get to Dubrovnik for delivery. As the young people age they leave the island as the opportunities for work are greater in the larger cities. This quiet quaint island is concerned about its future. It has a history dating back to the Mesolithic and Neolithic eras. Korcula is also the name of the only town on the island as the rest are villages. Korcula island has about 17,000 people whereas the town has 3,600 people. Our guide said that the residents know one another and though there is a police department most problems occur with drunken visitors. Korcula island is 47 kilometers in length and 4 to 5 kilometers wide. The island has an average of 41 days of rain per year making great weather for grape growing. The island has many vineyards and there are places as we drive along that are brand new fields. With some questions we learned that no new vineries can be started once Croatia becomes part of the EU. Croatia has a 20% unemployment which is better than Greece's at 27%. Our tour took us to the far end of the island to Vela Luka where we enjoyed coffee or a walk along the seaside promanade. A cultural difference I noticed was that coffee is not taken out. People sit for hours and read the paper and chat with one another in sidewalk cafes. The cafes have no paper cups and you are served your drink at a table outside. No one is in a hurry to leave and no one walks off with their coffee cup. Coffee is a very social time. Vela Luka has more residents than Korcula town at 5,000 plus but is still a village. One interesting thing I learned was that a variety of grape ( I hope I spell this right ) known as Plavac Mau has similiar DNA to Zinfandel. Researchers are trying to decide which came first or whether they might be the same grape originally but because of soil , sun, water etc the DNA slowly changed. I have certainly taken the opportunity to do a lot of wine tasting. There is an island in the archipelago that is known for its stone which has been used torebuild many of the areas damaged historical buildings and also the stone was used in the building of the White House.
April 23- The mist or fog made the entrance to Venice less than desirable but has the bad weather became more sunny the view was delightful. Venice has piles of history and much of Venetian arts, culture and history affected many of the countries we have visited. I viewed building after building from the cabin window as we came up the Giudecca Canal. I hurried to the top deck to take some arrival pictures of the small canals as we passed. I saw the Renaissance and Byzantine styles of buildings.The center and the most famous part of the city is Piazza San Marco, known by North Americans as St. Mark's Square. St. Mark's Cathedral and the Doges Place are two of the most important and imposing structures in Venice. Both of them have been rebuilt due to fires over the centuries. Both of these buildings have histories back to the 800s. The Bridge of Sighs connects the prison to the palace and was the route that prisoners were taken to and from the judgement hall. There are 117 islands that make up the city of Venice. Lido is a long island that has been very important to Venice. It is known as an island that tempers the tides, but as global warming occurs engineers scramble to find a way to protect the 550 plus square kms of the lagoon that Venice sits in. Two well known islands are Murano and Burano. Venice is well-known for its glass "candies" which were traded in the time of Marco Polo. The glassworks were moved to Murano by a decree in the 13th century because of fire hazard. Burano is known for the fine lace work which is done with precision. The city is laced with 150 canals and more than 400 bridges linking them. Some islands are linked by ferries and there is only one road, 3 miles long, to the mainland. Venice began as a place of refuge for those fleeing the Barbarian invasions in the 5th century but today it is a vibrant, interesting city filled with nightlife, magic and mystery. Was Marco Polo born here? Some say yes but others say he was born on Korcula. What we do know is that he traveled the waters that are being traveled today. The ship is in port all day tomorrow so I hope to get out and ride the water buses tomorrow if time allows, but today I had a wonderful tour around Venice sightseeing. The boat I was on did not go down the Grand Canal, but I hope to find the closest Vaporetto station and take a ride tomorrow.
Thursday, April 18, 2013
On the Aegean Sea heading north to Croatia
April 18 - in the afternoon
We had four stops in Turkey: one was Antalya, Marmaris, Kusadasi, and Istanbul. I touched on Antalya and Marmaris in the previous posting so today I will chat about Kusadasi and Istanbul. Turkey is a very westernized country. They have McDonalds, Starbucks, and many highend clothing and accessory stores. I saw no tents with camels, but I saw many young folks practicing their English on us. I have been on the lookout for electric buses and trams carrying folks about these big urban areas as I go out on tours. Antalya had a tram that ran in a circle around the town.
April 14 was a tour of Kusadasi with wine and cheese and lunch in a mountainous village. Sirince is a quaint village town where wine is made the old way and rebottled for use by the villagers. We tried some red and white and when I went to read the label the guide said the bottles are recycled so what is written on the bottle label will not necessarily be the type of wine in the bottle at the time of pouring. I learned about Turkish coffee. Apparently Turkey does not grow coffee so Turkish coffee is known by how it is brewed not the growing of it. Grind coffee as you would grind for expresso. One tablespoon to 3/4 cup cold water. Put coffee into small pan then add cold water. Heat to just under boiling. Pour into cup grounds and all. Let sit for a minute or two. DRINK. Some like to add sugar. From this town I got two bottles of wine: mulberry and pommegranate and both will make great spritzers. We wandered around the town whose streets were very narrow, left over from centuries ago. We had a delightful tasting lunch in a home that was built over 1000 years ago. Turkish cuisine is not highly spiced but the spices used in cooking a green bean and mushroom compote were especially good. We had homebaked bread, meatballs with eggplant and potatoes, a rice-like dish that reminded me of couscous or quinoa, and home grown fruit. Noelle, one of the librarians, hung with me as we scoured the small family-run stalls along the streets. Handicrafts and homegrown bottled jams and jellies could be found. The tour also showed us the upper part of Ephesus which I would love to do the walk down the hill past the bathes and library of the old city. In order to get to Ephesus we needed to drive through the city of Selcuk, which lost 40,000 people in 1999 when an earthquake hit the area. Ephesus had once been a coastal town but today the sea is far away as earthquakes have changed the topography of the land. Kusadasi is Turkish for Bird Island and it lived up to its name. There were lots of birds though I know little about them.
April 15 we docked at Istanbul about 4 pm. An overnight stay would allow us to see this big city in the night as well as the day. I took a tour and saw the Blue Mosque, the Topkapi Palace, St. Sophia Church, the Hippodrome and traffic beyond belief. The Bosphorus tour had been cancelled but I saw a lot of the city. Istanbul is the only city that sits on the borders of both Asia Minor and Europe. The Bosphorus is a narrow strait that links the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara and separates the European and Asian sections of the city. It was founded by the Byzantines in the 7th century BC but by the 4th century AD the name was changed to Constantinople by the Roman emperor. The city served as the capital of the Byzantine Empire until it was conquered by the Ottomans in the 15th century. The Ottoman Empire fell in 1923. Istanbul has about 16 million people, while Turkey has about 75 million. History is long and arduous to remember and when it goes back many milliniums it makes it even worse. Turkey has that kind of history with rulers, sultans, and others managing the people. The Bosphous is 22 miles in length, and has a small bay called the Golden Horn that separates the new European section of the city from the old European section. Many cultures have made themselves visible by the architecture: Venician, Neo-Classical, Roman and many others. Then there were the Dardanelles. This is a wide strait that runs between the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Marmara and over the years has been fought for control. There are over 70,000 ships that use this passage yearly- Aegean Sea, the Dardanelles, Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus then to the Black Sea. As we sailed out of Istanbul I was sorry to have left Turkey. It was clean, neat and though there may be problems a tourist would never know. The people were helpful and kind. Although Istanbul is the largest city the capital is located in Ankara in the north of Turkey. GOOD BY TURKEY! I will miss you.
April 18 is a day spent in Athens. We are docked at the Port of Piraeus and are due to leave very shortly. We arrived yesterday afternoon and I just sat on the 7th deck and took in some sun. It had been rainy and misty/cloudy in Istanbul. The sun is warm, day is clear which helps with taking great pictures. The Piraeus port is the largest in Greece and it is basically the port for Athens. Piraeus sits next to Athens and is served by a train that runs between the two. I saw artic diesel buses, trolley buses, and an electric tram which runs down tracks when we were exploring the city. Information from the last census shows there are 9,987 islands of Greece with 16,000+ kilometers of coastline. We took in many old buildings all having their names with a story attached but for me my day was the joy of sitting with a cup of Greek coffee and staring at the Acropolis. There is major work being done on it but it sits in such a predominate position on a hill that one can hardly miss it. Greece has about 11 million people with 5+ million residing in the Piraeus/Athens area. Shipping and tourism are the two main money makers for Greece. Many shipping magnets come from or are stationed here. There were many ferries coming and going from our harbour ferrying people among the islands.
April 19, tomorrow, is a sea day and I have been indulging in some acupuncture treatments on my knee. Sea days are days for lectures about our upcoming ports. Tomorrow night we have been asked to the captain's suite for wine and then down for a dinner with him. There is usually about 40 guests that go, so we will not be alone. We just got a new captain as the other got to go home so it will be nice to meet him, though I miss Captain Roberts already. There are also games that I sometimes play on sea days along with the movie, if it is any good. There are groups who have gatherings to knit and crochet and those that play bridge and mah jongg and for those that love to exercise there are lots of morning classes to greet you. Then there is Annette and her culinary chef who whips up tastey delights from main courses to fancy deserts. Then there are some mixology afternoons where you can go and learn how to mix drinks and indulge. For me when I get some quiet time I do a sudoku and enjoy the sun.
We had four stops in Turkey: one was Antalya, Marmaris, Kusadasi, and Istanbul. I touched on Antalya and Marmaris in the previous posting so today I will chat about Kusadasi and Istanbul. Turkey is a very westernized country. They have McDonalds, Starbucks, and many highend clothing and accessory stores. I saw no tents with camels, but I saw many young folks practicing their English on us. I have been on the lookout for electric buses and trams carrying folks about these big urban areas as I go out on tours. Antalya had a tram that ran in a circle around the town.
April 14 was a tour of Kusadasi with wine and cheese and lunch in a mountainous village. Sirince is a quaint village town where wine is made the old way and rebottled for use by the villagers. We tried some red and white and when I went to read the label the guide said the bottles are recycled so what is written on the bottle label will not necessarily be the type of wine in the bottle at the time of pouring. I learned about Turkish coffee. Apparently Turkey does not grow coffee so Turkish coffee is known by how it is brewed not the growing of it. Grind coffee as you would grind for expresso. One tablespoon to 3/4 cup cold water. Put coffee into small pan then add cold water. Heat to just under boiling. Pour into cup grounds and all. Let sit for a minute or two. DRINK. Some like to add sugar. From this town I got two bottles of wine: mulberry and pommegranate and both will make great spritzers. We wandered around the town whose streets were very narrow, left over from centuries ago. We had a delightful tasting lunch in a home that was built over 1000 years ago. Turkish cuisine is not highly spiced but the spices used in cooking a green bean and mushroom compote were especially good. We had homebaked bread, meatballs with eggplant and potatoes, a rice-like dish that reminded me of couscous or quinoa, and home grown fruit. Noelle, one of the librarians, hung with me as we scoured the small family-run stalls along the streets. Handicrafts and homegrown bottled jams and jellies could be found. The tour also showed us the upper part of Ephesus which I would love to do the walk down the hill past the bathes and library of the old city. In order to get to Ephesus we needed to drive through the city of Selcuk, which lost 40,000 people in 1999 when an earthquake hit the area. Ephesus had once been a coastal town but today the sea is far away as earthquakes have changed the topography of the land. Kusadasi is Turkish for Bird Island and it lived up to its name. There were lots of birds though I know little about them.
April 15 we docked at Istanbul about 4 pm. An overnight stay would allow us to see this big city in the night as well as the day. I took a tour and saw the Blue Mosque, the Topkapi Palace, St. Sophia Church, the Hippodrome and traffic beyond belief. The Bosphorus tour had been cancelled but I saw a lot of the city. Istanbul is the only city that sits on the borders of both Asia Minor and Europe. The Bosphorus is a narrow strait that links the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara and separates the European and Asian sections of the city. It was founded by the Byzantines in the 7th century BC but by the 4th century AD the name was changed to Constantinople by the Roman emperor. The city served as the capital of the Byzantine Empire until it was conquered by the Ottomans in the 15th century. The Ottoman Empire fell in 1923. Istanbul has about 16 million people, while Turkey has about 75 million. History is long and arduous to remember and when it goes back many milliniums it makes it even worse. Turkey has that kind of history with rulers, sultans, and others managing the people. The Bosphous is 22 miles in length, and has a small bay called the Golden Horn that separates the new European section of the city from the old European section. Many cultures have made themselves visible by the architecture: Venician, Neo-Classical, Roman and many others. Then there were the Dardanelles. This is a wide strait that runs between the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Marmara and over the years has been fought for control. There are over 70,000 ships that use this passage yearly- Aegean Sea, the Dardanelles, Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus then to the Black Sea. As we sailed out of Istanbul I was sorry to have left Turkey. It was clean, neat and though there may be problems a tourist would never know. The people were helpful and kind. Although Istanbul is the largest city the capital is located in Ankara in the north of Turkey. GOOD BY TURKEY! I will miss you.
April 18 is a day spent in Athens. We are docked at the Port of Piraeus and are due to leave very shortly. We arrived yesterday afternoon and I just sat on the 7th deck and took in some sun. It had been rainy and misty/cloudy in Istanbul. The sun is warm, day is clear which helps with taking great pictures. The Piraeus port is the largest in Greece and it is basically the port for Athens. Piraeus sits next to Athens and is served by a train that runs between the two. I saw artic diesel buses, trolley buses, and an electric tram which runs down tracks when we were exploring the city. Information from the last census shows there are 9,987 islands of Greece with 16,000+ kilometers of coastline. We took in many old buildings all having their names with a story attached but for me my day was the joy of sitting with a cup of Greek coffee and staring at the Acropolis. There is major work being done on it but it sits in such a predominate position on a hill that one can hardly miss it. Greece has about 11 million people with 5+ million residing in the Piraeus/Athens area. Shipping and tourism are the two main money makers for Greece. Many shipping magnets come from or are stationed here. There were many ferries coming and going from our harbour ferrying people among the islands.
April 19, tomorrow, is a sea day and I have been indulging in some acupuncture treatments on my knee. Sea days are days for lectures about our upcoming ports. Tomorrow night we have been asked to the captain's suite for wine and then down for a dinner with him. There is usually about 40 guests that go, so we will not be alone. We just got a new captain as the other got to go home so it will be nice to meet him, though I miss Captain Roberts already. There are also games that I sometimes play on sea days along with the movie, if it is any good. There are groups who have gatherings to knit and crochet and those that play bridge and mah jongg and for those that love to exercise there are lots of morning classes to greet you. Then there is Annette and her culinary chef who whips up tastey delights from main courses to fancy deserts. Then there are some mixology afternoons where you can go and learn how to mix drinks and indulge. For me when I get some quiet time I do a sudoku and enjoy the sun.
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