Tahitian Princess World Cruise 2009

Finished going through the back mail!

2009-05-17T21:43:00.003-06:00

I'm happy to report that I am finished going through the extra large plastic bin containing 3.5 months worth of mail!

Thanks for following!

2009-05-08T09:27:00.003-06:00

Thanks to everyone for following along on my trip of a lifetime!

Gluten free dining on Princess

2009-05-05T15:24:00.003-06:00

I have a special dining restriction which is no wheat, oats, barley or rye. I'm including this special post for those looking for information on gluten free dining on Princess.

Early in the cruise I was pleased with the efforts that Princess was making to accommodate the gluten free dining requirement. However, I have to conclude that it is not safe for a gluten free or celiac person to go on a Princess cruise. I stopped blogging about the gluten free dining experience as if I had included the number of times I got sick from the food I would have no readers of the blog since everyone would have gotten bored with it.

If I could have pinpointed all the problems and solved them then I would have a different conclusion. From my perspective the problems included:

The staff change over during the cruise guaranteed that every time there were new kitchen staff (which was frequent as the crew continually changed out throughout the cruise) I got glutened for a few weeks while they learned how to prepare a safe meal.
Princess does not have the methods or proceedures in place that can assure a gluten free experience. Their methodology includes assigning an assistant head waiter to take all your orders. This person is supposed to insure that the meal is gluten free. Unfortunately it appeared that this person just turns around and places the order with a server who would then get it executed. For a multitude of reasons this just didn't work.
Convincing the staff I really could not eat any food off the buffet and that items must be freshly prepared in the kitchen was a challenge. I had this problem with both the room service staff and the kitchen staff.

I'm not sure if these were the real problems. As I said if I could have figured out a way to safely order food I would have done it. I did switch to ordering the same room service breakfast every day. I also ate all lunches and dinners in the dining room (or asked the dining room staff to have it brought to my room) so as to have the same waiter. I also took Gluten-Ease, a special digestive enzyme that will help smooth the bumps of accidental cross contamination. Despite this I was frequently glutened.

There were a few items I could get from the buffet. The fruit area was nicely isolated from gluten items so I could get both the whole fruit and the fresh cut fruit. In the afternoon I could get the ice cream if none of the flavors contained gluten as they used the same scoop for all the flavors. I could also get the tortilla corn chips and salsa in the afternoon. However the very last day I did there were no tongs available for the chips so I asked the buffet attendent to get some. He went to the desert bar, grabbed a pair that had been used by people to serve themselves cake and tried to hand them to me. This illustrates why buffets are unsafe. The tongs would have transfered the wheat flour containing cake crumbs to the tortilla chips. If he had done this for the person before me and I did not see it happen, then I came along after I would have been confused as to how I got sick.

For shore excursions I took along my own prepackaged snack bars, cookies and nuts. This worked for all single day excursions. I had more difficulty on the multi-day overlands. Breakfasts were OK as I could get hard boiled eggs, deli meat slices, cheese and fruit from the hotels. If it was a rice based cuisine I did OK with rice and grilled meat for lunch and dinner. If it was a wheat based cuisine then I was in trouble and had to fall back on prepackaged nuts and fruit for my other meals.

My favorite ports per segment

2009-05-04T09:09:00.002-06:00

Although I enjoyed all the ports I have been keeping track of my favorite ones on each of the four segments.

I loved all the ports on segment one but Easter Island was the standout for me. I was in awe of the giant Moai and the culture that created them.

For segment two Rabaul in Papa New Guinea was the most amazing experience. Standing at the foot of a gurgling volcano with the water boiling at my feet and hearing the grumbling of the volcano took my breath away.

Angkor Wat and Cambodia were the best experience of the entire cruise. I almost missed it as I did not realize how special these places were and had not planned my own overland. However I was saved by Susie from cruise critic who did all the research and shared her results. The end result was it being ranked the number one experience on the world cruise.

Segment four had a three way tie for best experiences. Oman was fabulous. The Middle East is so different from the US that I didn't know what to expect. Oman intrigued me. Second in the three way tie was Italy. I love Italy and have always enjoyed exploring more of it. Third was Ireland. Blarney castle was an unexpected treasure.

An excellent experience!

2009-05-03T11:30:00.011-06:00

I'm happy to say I got back home safe and sound. It is good to be home. It is time to close out the blog so I will list my summary thoughts here and then answer questions from time to time if any come up.

Overall the experience was excellent! I went on the cruise because I wanted to sail around the world. Mission accomplished. I made the ports my focus and have a golden bag of memories that I can open any time and relive the moments. The blog will help immensely with being able to remember everything.

107 days is a long time to be away from home. The stack of mail to be processed is enormous. There are many things to be done around the house that have built up.

I am tired, have gained some weight, and am in worse shape than when I began the cruise. Out of the 107 days we had something like 40 port days and 67 sea days. Staying fit on the ship was not easy and something I was ultimately unsuccessful at. The gym was excellent. However it was in the front of the ship. Our first captain seemed not to believe in using the stabilizers so there was alot of motion which made it hard to walk around the ship and use the gym. Our second captain used them continuously and it made a huge difference.

There was always something going around. When I first got on the ship many people quickly became sick with colds and norovirus. The air was constantly filled with the chemicals for combating the norovirus. I could feel the assaults on my immune system but managed to stay healthy. However, I felt like I was walking a fine line being around sick people all the time (at meals, on the elevator etc.) and dealing with the not very fresh air in my room.

Midway through the cruise, while in Beijing on an overland, my immune system gave up and I came down with the respiratory infection that was going around the ship. I had felt it attacking me before getting off the ship and then when I was subjected to the pollution in Beijing I came down with it fully. This took 30 days to go away. I took Dr. prescribed antibiotics to help combat it when I started gurgling with each breath.

I think for future cruises 60 days will be my limit. I kept track of what I was feeling about the cruise at different times. After 60 days I was ready to go home. However if your dream is to sail around the world then you have to do the longer cruise or do it in segments with alot of flying. I'm glad I did it but will now have a new focus for my adventures.

I have a secret, that maybe wasn't too secret. I was anxious to get off the ship. I couldn't sleep for the last two days of the cruise as I was so excited to be getting off the ship permanently. When I was approaching the overland shore excursions I was also very excited to be getting off the ship. In a smaller way I was excited to be getting off at each port. This does not reflect poorly on the Tahitian Princess, but rather my relationship with the Tahitian Princess. The ship was simply too small for my tastes and my needs. I knew that going in but wanted a ship with the largest number of ports for the best price and Princess was the cruise line that offered the best combination in 2009.

I had a room with a window. This likely also affected how I felt about the ship as I spent quite a bit of time there. I may have felt differently if I had a balcony and the fresh air and light that would come with it.

I'm sure my back problem greatly impacted my ability to enjoy the cruise portion of the experience vs. the port portion. I think the ports were excellent and I could not have been happier with my set of experiences. However I was able to cater to my back which means staying on my feet and walking alot.

My tips for future world cruisers:

Bring your own medicine cabinet and pharmacy from home. The drugs on the ship are very expensive. Have your own antibiotics.
Buy lightweight ExOfficio Buzz-Off clothing. It is useful in all warm weather ports and will protect you from the bugs and sun. Bring bug spray and use it in all warm weather ports.
Invest in a good travel wardrobe that is lightweight, provides good sun protection and is made of fabrics designed to keep you cool. Cotton t-shirts and shorts will have you roasting in the warm weather ports.
Bring waterproof walking shoes in addition to your regular walking shoes. Super comfortable sandals such as Tevas are a great investment also.
Use an umbrella in the hot weather ports. I really does make a difference in being able to tolerate the sun.
Buy a new camera, preferably water proof. I loved my Pentax W60. It went snorkeling with me and I didn't need to worry about it in the rain or the desert.
Set up your computer with off-line email creation capability. I used Zimbra and found it worked well.
Blog so you remember your cruise. The on-line tutorial for blogspot is easy to take and it is free to set one up. Learn how to e-mail in your posts so you don't blow your Internet budget. You can keep your blog private (only visible to a few family and friends) or go public with it like I did to share the experience.
Dress like the locals. Be respectful of the local culture and cover up. If you find yourself asking 'can I wear shorts?'. Don't ask, just wear long pants and a higher coverage shirt. Besides it really is cooler to be covered if you have the right fabrics.
Forget the jewelry in 3rd and 4th world country ports. Not only are you making yourself a target but you are endangering the people traveling with you. Also it is distasteful to show off your wealth to people who have so little.
Do not buy trinkets from children. Buy from adults and people with stalls. Buying from children forces their parents to put them to work at young ages (think 3 and 4 yrs old) if they can pull in a higher income than an adult selling the same trinkets. It isn't fair to the kids.
Don't take too much. Leave at least half a suitcase empty for all the souvenirs you will pick up.
Bring your antiviral masks. I couldn't find them to buy while on the cruise and they would have been useful.

A world cruise truly is a trip of a lifetime. Try to go as early in life as you can so that you can see as much as possible in the fabulous ports.

Would I go again? Probably not but I'm happy I did go.

Please sign my guest book

2009-05-02T10:57:00.000-06:00

I would love to hear from those who have read my blog so am creating this guest book post. Please sign it by sending me a comment.

About a week ago I put Google Analytics code into the blog so can see that for the last week there are about 80 people following each day. I can also see the countries and states everyone is from. I would love to hear your comments on the blog, where you are from and anything else you would like to say about yourself. I'm also happy to answer any questions.

I have the comments on 'moderate' mode which means I have to view them before they are published. As a result there will be a delay before they appear.

Cheers!
Michelle

Dover

2009-05-02T09:37:00.000-06:00

We landed in Dover to the most spectacular spring weather.

Here are some pics of the famous white cliffs of Dover.

I had hoped to tour the Dover Castle (visible on the hill of the last picture) but lucked out and got a direct flight back to Denver. I was arriving 8 hours earlier than my original flight so had to forgo any sight seeing in England. One day I will get to see the sights but so far I have only transited through Heathrow and the cruise ports with no sight seeing.

Le Havre France

2009-05-01T09:58:00.001-06:00

Many cruise ships dock in Le Havre as it is the port for Paris, Normandy, Mont St. Michel, Honfleur, Rouen, Giverny (Monet's home and gardens) etc. All popular destinations. I've been to them all except Normandy so decided to stay and tour Le Havre.

Pic. 1 is of our cruise ship.

Pic. 2 is of the tour options available from the pier. I'm hoping that those interested will be able to download it to see the tour options and prices.

Saint Joseph Church

2009-05-01T09:57:00.003-06:00

St. Joseph Church is very impressive and unique. I don't think it comes across in pictures very well but it is well worth a look in town to see this church. It wasn't on our tour agenda (I'm not sure why not) but we stopped there first. I think this is the most impressive church that I've seen on this trip. The proportions, scale, color and shapes are similar in level of excellence to the design expertise that comes across at the Sydney Opera House.

1950s show flat

2009-05-01T09:57:00.001-06:00

This was an interesting stop, not because I was impressed with the flat but because my tour mates were all amazed by it. It was a classic 1950s flat. We have many homes in Denver with this type of design style which I saw when I was looking to buy a house. In addition the furniture and decorations were standard 1950s garage sale fare. However everyone seemed to be curious about it and loved seeing it. So if you've never seen 1950s decor go for it.

The history behind these flats is that they were built for the town after WWII to house the homeless. They were very upscale because they had indoor plumbing and a large percentage (did the guide say 80%?) of the population did not have an indoor bathroom prior to the war.

Beautiful gardens!

2009-05-01T09:56:00.001-06:00

We crossed a square to our next stop, a town tower to view the city. It contained beautiful gardens with lovely flowers and wonderful fountains.

There was some sort of protest going on. The guide indicated it was people demonstrating against the government in the handling of the economy.

Tower with views

2009-05-01T09:54:00.001-06:00

We went up in a tower to view the city. Pic. 1 is of the entrance way. Pic. 2 is of the square where the gardens and fountains were. Pic. 3 is of the church we viewed first.

Ship owner's mansion

2009-05-01T09:53:00.002-06:00

Our next stop was a reconstructed ship owners mansion (pic. 1). It was small for a mansion as it had a large interior atrium and thus very small rooms and hallways. Pic. 2 and 3 were of the two stairways in the mansion on the main floor.

Interior rooms

2009-05-01T09:53:00.001-06:00

Pic. 1 is of the kitchen. It was made of stone so that it wouldn't catch fire and burn the house down. Pic. 2 is of a bedroom. Pic. 3 is of one of the living areas, I believe the dining room.

Back to the ship

2009-05-01T09:52:00.001-06:00

On the way back to the ship we passed this old church (pic. 1). It was one of the few older buildings in the city which was mostly destroyed by bombing in WWII. The city was widely rebuilt in a 1950s style.

Pic. 2 is of boats at low tide.

The tour was only a half day and I intended to go back out after wards but it was cold and windy so I decided to take a nap in the afternoon instead.

Tomorrow I will be flying home. I will post a few times after I get back with some summary thoughts on the trip.

Last day at sea

2009-04-30T12:57:00.001-06:00

Today I packed in the morning and enjoyed my last ice cream, lecture, room service sandwich etc. The weather was excellent and I spent the afternoon reading on the back deck. For some reason no one else was out there.

My luggage, which weighed slightly less than 50 lbs per bag (2 bags), now weighs 65 lbs and 63 lbs respectively. I still have a few items to go in that I am using but I think I will still be under the 70 lb weight restriction for first class.

The picture is of my last dinner on the deck (unless tomorrow is wonderful weather also).

I spent part of my day thinking about the great memories I will have of having sailed around the world and visited areas that I wasn't sure I would ever have a chance to visit. I'm amazed by how much I enjoyed the Middle East. I also thought the South Pacific was absolutely beautiful. I want to spend alot more time exploring South America so will likely do a circle South America cruise. I'm planning to come back to Italy next Nov. and now have a plan of where I'd like to stay and what I would like to do.

Tomorrow we have one last port, Le Havre.

Ireland - Lovely!

2009-04-29T13:48:00.001-06:00

Ireland was absolutely beautiful! It started out hinting at sunshine but quickly turned overcast and rainy.

Pic. 1 is of Cobh Ireland where we pulled into port. I was on a Princess tour to Blarney Castle. The walking path to the castle was absolutely beautiful (pics. 2 and 3).

Blarney Castle

2009-04-29T13:47:00.002-06:00

Blarney Castle was on a huge estate but you can't tell it from the pictures. It wasn't raining when I went in but was when I came out so I didn't get that many pictures of the grounds.

Interior of Blarney Castle

2009-04-29T13:46:00.001-06:00

Blarney Castle is mostly ruins but you can walk up narrow wandering stairs to the top. On the way you can see interior rooms and interesting passages.

Blarney Castle great hall

2009-04-29T13:44:00.001-06:00

The great hall (pics. 1 and 2) is open to the top where you can lean backwards, lower yourself down and kiss the Blarney stone. With my bad back I did not do it. Pic. 3 is of the top area where the stone is located.

Blarney House

2009-04-29T13:43:00.002-06:00

After visiting the castle I followed along some beautiful paths to get to the Blarney House (pic. 1) where I took a tour. The house was breath taking inside but no pictures were allowed. Pic. 2 is the view of the back yard and the lake.

The walk back

2009-04-29T13:43:00.001-06:00

I followed some more paths back to the bus. On the way I visited some cows relaxing in the field (pic. 1). Pic 2 is of Badger Cave next to the castle. Without a flashlight I couldn't go too far inside.

I could have continued exploring but it was time to get back to the bus. I'll just have to come back sometime.

Cobh Ireland

2009-04-29T13:42:00.003-06:00

After getting back to the ship I struck out to explore Cobh. Cobh has a heritage center (pic. 1) right next to where we were docked. The display was an interesting summary of the local history.

I then went to town where I saw the memorial to the Lusitania (pic. 2) who's victims were housed in the town because the ship went down nearby. Somewhere there was a memorial to the Titanic but I couldn't find it.

I then climbed up to the Cathedral pictured in the first picture for Ireland. There was an interesting row of houses (pic. 3) across from the beautiful cathedral (pic. 4).

My last stop for the day was the town museum in an old church (pic. 5).

It was then back to the ship for the folkloric show where we were treated to Irish dancing.

The scenery on the drive to the castle was lush, green and breathtaking. It had been a wonderful day despite the rain and cold.

Back in my room I requested my suitcases be delivered so I can pack tomorrow. I also confirmed I had switched to the direct flight back to Denver. I will get in 8 hours earlier than I had anticipated!

Transfer secured and pic. of rough sea

2009-04-28T06:10:00.001-06:00

I'm happy to say the assistant purser secured the transfer to the airport in less than a minute. I'm going to try and go standby on an earlier flight.

Were still rocking and rolling. Pic. 1 is of the view from my window. Every now and then a big wave slams into the window. There were reports from those in the front and back of the ship of chairs turning over, things falling off tables and desks etc last night.

I've started to sort things for packing. Tomorrow we are in Ireland and then there will be a sea day where I'll get everything packed up.

Rocking and rolling

2009-04-28T01:31:00.000-06:00

We've been rocking and rolling. I'm pleased to say I have my sea legs and am not the least bit motion sick. However I've also benefited from being low and mid-ship so I can sleep well without being tossed out of my bed. Check out the bridge cam today.

Transfer trauma

2009-04-27T12:26:00.002-06:00

Today was a day at sea. For reasons I won't go into my private transfer from Dover cruise terminal to Heathrow got canceled. I went to Princess to get their $69 transfer. I also checked on-line and earlier flights out of Heathrow than my 4:20 p.m. one were available so I decided to try and stand-by for an earlier flight. But Princess says it is too late to book their transfer. Sounds like an arbitrary rule as it is unlikely they really couldn't add me, they just don't want to since they have already communicated with their ground operator. I've been thinking about whether to escalate it with someone higher up who could likely help me out vs. booking another transfer with a tour of London. Both have pros and cons. I'm not sure which is the preferred route right now. I have another day at sea tomorrow so will continue to work on it then.

Sailing into Lisbon

2009-04-26T12:49:00.003-06:00

Our dock time in Lisbon was 10 a.m. so there was plenty of time to watch the sail-in (pics. 1 and 2). Since the Tahitian Princess had not been to Lisbon before we got the fire boat with the squirting hose to welcome us (pic. 3). It was bright, beautiful, windy and cold.

Lisbon wanderings

2009-04-26T12:49:00.001-06:00

I didn't have a firm plan for Lisbon. I had a list of items from Trip Advisor but was unable to find any of them on the tourist map so quickly abandoned my plan.

Upon arriving at the terminal building I boarded the shuttle bus to town for $5. I noticed on the map that the shuttle drop off point wasn't really very far from the ship. In addition there were plenty of public transport options right near the ship. When I got to town I boarded a funicular (pic. 1) to see where it went. I noticed some other passengers had a day pass so set out to find one for my future rides. I first encountered a really pretty public park with a great view (pic. 2).

I then kept wandering to another park before running across the Natural History Museum. It wasn't a great Natural History Museum but did have a very nice display on antique science instruments. Behind the museum was the Botanical Garden. I spent some time wandering through these beautiful gardens (pics. 3 and 4).

Museum of Sao Roque

2009-04-26T12:48:00.001-06:00

I still hadn't found a day pass so bypassed the funicular on the way back and ran across the Church of Saint Rock (pic. 1). It was a beautiful church on the inside but very plain on the outside. Next door was the Museum of Sao Roque (pics. 2 and 3).

From the museum I wandered down hill to get back to the main square. There were some great restaurants on the steps on the way down.

Great building and a fountain

2009-04-26T12:47:00.001-06:00

Back in the main square there were some beautiful buildings, statues and a fountain.

My next goal was to go up to a castle that I spotted from the first park.

Castelo De Sao Jorge

2009-04-26T12:46:00.001-06:00

With a little investigative work, and the discovery of where to buy the transportation day pass, I found out that a mini-bus would get me to the castle.

It was a classic castle, but unfortunately mostly just ruins (pics. 1-3). One building had some displays in it (pic. 4).

Eiffel tower elevator

2009-04-26T12:45:00.001-06:00

I rode the mini-bus back to the main square and stumbled across the elevator designed by someone who studied with the person who designed the Eiffel tower (pics. 1 - 4). Fortunately this was covered on my public transport pass so up I went.

Hidden treasure - 98th Anniv. of National Rep. Guard

2009-04-26T12:43:00.001-06:00

At the top of the elevator I stumbled across a hidden treasure. The National Republican Guard was holding their 98th anniversary festivals and the entrance was free. The festival is April 24th to May 3rd 2009.

Pics. 1 and 2 are of military vehicles. Pics. 3 is of today's military outfits and Pic. 4 is of some tiles showing historical military outfits. This is just a sample of the displays. They were quite extensive and all had descriptions in English as well as Portuguese. I wondered why the displays were so good and read later that there will be a Museum here in the near future so they are using the future museum displays for the festival.

Interesting items in Republican National Guard

2009-04-26T12:42:00.002-06:00

Here are a few other interesting shots from the Republican National Guard building.

Pic. 1 is of the water cisterns in the basement.

Pic. 2 is from the negotiation rooms.

Pic. 3 is of some ruins next door and visible out an upper window.

Pic. 4 is of the tile work that lines some of the hallways.

Back to the ship

2009-04-26T12:42:00.001-06:00

Then it was back on the elevator to the main square. I passed through the arch and found the tram to take me back to the ship. There was a tram stop with a foot bridge right across from the ship so I had no trouble getting back on my day pass. I was glad to not pay the return $5 shuttle bus fee.

Overall it was a nice day. Lisbon doesn't really have any first tier tourist sights but does have many mid-level ones. I've been in Lisbon several times so had seen most of what is offered by the ship's tours before.

After sailing away the captain announced that we were in for rough weather. He expects us to encounter 15.5 meter waves so advised everyone to hang on and that many of the open decks would be closed.

Gibraltar - I loved it!

2009-04-25T09:57:00.001-06:00

Today we stopped at Gibraltar. It was a fabulous addition to our itinerary! We had a short day, docking at 7 a.m. and leaving just after noon. I could have easily spent a whole day here.

I picked a ship's tour "Walking Tour of the Rock". We were to start with a cable car ride to the top and then walk to the next stop down. Unfortunately the wind was blowing too hard for the cable car to run so we drove up.

Pic. 1 is the view of the rock from the ship. Pic. 2 is of the ship from up on the rock. Pic. 3 is another view down. It was a beautiful sunny day despite the wind and an excellent day to be out walking.

St. Michael's Cave

2009-04-25T09:55:00.001-06:00

The first stop was St. Michael's Cave. There were wonderful stalactites (pics. 1-3). Our guide said the green color was from our breath but it appeared the other colors were from colored lights. They were stunning anyways.

We also saw a large cavern that had been used as a hospital but was now a theater (pic. 4). Although the stalactites drip constantly so you have to be careful which seat you select.

There was also a stalactite cross section (pic. 5) that showed how they were formed over time.

Apes Den

2009-04-25T09:53:00.002-06:00

A colony of tailless monkeys known as Barbary apes live in a sanctuary on the rock. They do bite so you have to be careful and there are warning signs but apparently they are all inoculated so you aren't likely to get anything serious. There were many young ones playing and adults observing and eating. They are fed and were eating while we were there. Apparently if they think you have food they can get pretty aggressive.

More ape pictures

2009-04-25T09:53:00.001-06:00

I couldn't resist getting as many pictures as possible but I didn't want to get too close since they are known for jumping on people. I also took a movie to see them moving about freely in their protected environment.

Observations

2009-04-25T09:51:00.001-06:00

The ape and I are enjoying taking in the scenery in pic. 1. Pic. 2 is of the airport which essentially marks the end of English Gibraltar and the beginning of Spain. The demarcation line is at the buildings just after the runway. To drive to Spain you have to cross the runway. When planes land they have to block the road off.

Pic. 3 is of two guns protecting the rock. They are the two blue rectangular boxes in concrete circles, just above the green trees at the bottom of the photo. I could see three from where I took the photo but wanted to zoom in so the guns would show up.

The Great Siege Tunnels

2009-04-25T09:50:00.001-06:00

Next we toured the Great Siege Tunnels (pic. 1). They were very interesting. Pic. 2 is of a traditional canon in the tunnel. They originally were dug in the late 1700s to try to get a cannon up on top of the hill. As they were digging they decided to open a hole in the side for ventilation. They realized that it was an excellent place to put a canon. They also used the openings to get rid of debris from the digging. A new canon type was invented to be able to point down (pic. 3). Pic 5 shows the interior of the tunnels.

Gibraltar sail away

2009-04-25T09:48:00.001-06:00

We then drove back to the cable car to see if it was running but it was not. As a consolation our guide stopped at a military ceremony with band and soldiers (pic. 1). We saw a bit of marching and heard some playing before heading back to the ship.

Pic. 2 is of some brave windsurfers. Pic. 3 is of a tug helping pull us away from the dock as the wind was trying to blow us back into it.

Pic. 4 is of the ship and rock at sail away.

We have had a number of port days with very few days at sea since entering the Mediterranean. It has been a welcome change of pace. We have also had some interesting lectures. It is nice to feel a bit busy.

Obama and me

2009-04-25T09:47:00.000-06:00

At our sail away party I had a chance to get my picture with Obama!

Day of good lectures

2009-04-24T13:36:00.001-06:00

Today we had an abundance of good lectures. 1st was the port lecture on Lisbon. I've been there a number of times so didn't see much new to see. As a result, I'm still uncertain of my plans. For first time visitors I recommend Sintra with a visit to the Moorish Castle and the Royal Palace.

The second lecture was our celebrity talk by Angela Cartwright. She was in The Sound of Music as one of the children. In addition she was Penny on Lost in Space. I didn't realize it but she started working as a child actress at 3 and pretty much seems to have worked steadily until she was a Sr. in high school. Her talk was great!

The third lecture was on the Hubble Telescope. It was excellent! I wish we had an astronomer on board in the South Pacific. At night I would go to the top deck to look at the stars but they never turned off the top deck lights so it was hard to see much. The astronomer said we may have a star gazing night if there are clear skies between here and Dover. I sure hope so!

Barcelona

2009-04-24T10:14:00.002-06:00

We had a rather unusual time slot for our Barcelona visit. We arrived at noon and departed at 10:30 p.m. The timing allowed me to get on the Internet in the morning and find some sights I had not seen. My back-up plan was the hop-on/hop-off bus which is an excellent choice for the first time visitor. It provides a good overview of the city but Barcelona is so large that it is difficult to do the bus and see the sights in any detail.

Pic. 1 is of the modern cruise ship terminal. Barcelona has a racket going where they charge 3 Euros round trip to go to the city and back. This route is about a 5 min. ride through the port. There are empty docks close to the city where you can walk on/walk off the ship but then they wouldn't get to charge the fee so they had us dock further out. Every port we have been in has provided a shuttle bus service for free if it was required.

Pic. 2 is of the port building where the shuttle bus takes passengers. Pic. 3 is of the statue of Christopher Columbus. The hop-on/hop-off bus can be seen in the lower left corner. I was still toying with the idea of taking it but then saw how crowded it was and the long line to get on so decided to take the metro.

Casa Batllo

2009-04-24T10:13:00.001-06:00

I had a delay getting off the ship and didn't get off until about 12:30. Between catching the shuttle bus, getting the metro schedule from the information desk, studying my options and taking the metro, it was 1:40 before I got to my first stop, Casa Batllo (pic. 1). There was a sign indicating it closed at 2 (just for the one day) so I jumped in line and quickly got my ticket.

Casa Batllo was a house designed by Gaudi. Many of the design elements can be seen in his works through the city. However the audio guide provides a good explanation so it is well worth touring one of his buildings and getting the audio guide. I had seen his several of his buildings on previous visits so chose this one simply because I had not seen it yet.

Pic. 2 is of a mushroom shaped fireplace sitting area. There is space for a couple to sit on one side and a chaperon to sit on another. It is a somewhat odd design element in the house as the rest of it appears to be designed to look as if it is underwater. Somewhere I read that he designed another house with a mushroom theme so maybe he simply borrowed the idea from there.

Pic. 3 is of the ceiling in the front room. Pic. 4 is of one of the doors to this room. I thought one of the more clever design elements were the door handles that seemed to be very ergonomic.

Casa Batllo courtyard

2009-04-24T10:09:00.002-06:00

After touring the main living area of the house I went into the courtyard. It is not a particularly appealing area but is typical Gaudi. Pic. 1 is of the back wall. Pic. 2 is of the fence on the side. I saw several examples of these sharp imposing Gaudi fences throughout the day. No one would be scaling this fence!

Casa Batllo atrium

2009-04-24T10:05:00.001-06:00

The main floor was occupied by the house's owners. The other floors appear to be apartments. There is an elevator in the inner atrium to access the other floors. The elevator is surrounded by an appealing water glass (pic. 1). Pic. 2 shows the doorway into one of the apartments. Pic. 3 shows the view up through the atrium. The blue tiles get darker as you go further up. The windows also get smaller the further up they are.

The atrium was one of the most appealing areas of the building.

Casa Batllo attic

2009-04-24T10:04:00.001-06:00

Strangely enough I really liked the attic area. It was a series of white arches. Pics. 1 is if a hallway and pic. 2 is of a room. It had air circulation vents open to the atrium. Although the atrium was covered by a skylight it was not sealed so also had access to fresh air. Pic. 3 is of the stairs up to the roof.

Casa Batllo roof

2009-04-24T10:03:00.001-06:00

The roof was typical Gaudi with his trademark chimneys (pic. 1). There was also a front facade with the Gaudi undulating facade, this one looking like a dragon's spine (pic. 2).

Park Guell

2009-04-24T10:01:00.001-06:00

My next stop was Park Guell. To get there I needed to get back on the metro. After alighting from the metro it was a short walk to a large hill (pic. 1). Luckily there were escalators for some of it. Unfortunately it lead to a closed entrance to the park so I then needed to skirt around the park, losing much of the altitude I had gained to another entrance.

Pic. 2 shows the main entrance to the park. Pics. 3 and 4 show two of the works of art in the park.

Park Guell columns

2009-04-24T10:00:00.002-06:00

Park Guell contains 2 very different types of columns. Pics. 1 and 2 have a more natural form. Pic. 3's column was made to look like a washer woman.

Pic. 4 shows an area with more traditional columns. The ceiling in this area was interesting with broken tile mosaics having a water or fishing theme. It was very cool in this area and therefore popular for picnicking. The area above was an open area that may have been intended as a market place.

Misc. Park Guell

2009-04-24T09:59:00.001-06:00

Although most of my pictures are of the Gaudi design elements in the park there were many open paths to just wander. On one of these paths I found this parrot munching on a piece of bread (pic. 1). Pic. 2 is of another imposing Gaudi fence. I found it interesting how his fences were so menacing. Pic. 3 is of the wall surrounding the open area over the columns.

House museum at the park

2009-04-24T09:58:00.001-06:00

I visited the Gaudi house museum at the park (pic. 1). It had some interesting furniture designed by Gaudi (pics. 2 and 3).

I then left the park and struck off to find the metro to my next destination. On the way I saw the fountain in pic. 4. It crossed over the street. As a work of art I liked it very much. I guess I'm not a Gaudi person.

National d'Art de Catalunya

2009-04-24T09:56:00.001-06:00

My last stop for the day was the national museum of art. I kept it for last because I had read about the Magic Fountain Show which is supposed to be fantastic. Unfortunately it was only on Fri. and Sat. in April and doesn't go to Thurs. until May. We were there on a Thurs. Because it was a holiday, the feast of St. Jordi (the patron saint of Catalonia), I was hopeful that maybe it would run anyways but did not see any signs of that while there.

Pic. 1 is of the museum. The building was beautiful and enormous. It was also quite a hike from the metro station. There were escalators to help with getting part way up. While there I visited the temporary exhibit which was free. Pic. 2 is one of the murals from the exhibit which was sponsored by the Hispanic Society of America and depicted Spanish life as it was.

Pic. 3 is of a giant hall at the back of the museum. After touring the building and free exhibit I sat out front with many others enjoying an outdoor concert from a street performer. I stayed long enough to see that the fountain show was really not going to go and then headed back to the Metro.

Back on the main blvd I realized I didn't have any street performer pictures so snapped the one in pic. 4.

Barcelona is a beautiful city with many impressive buildings and many cultural activities. I picked up one of their Cultural Agenda guides for April and May. The number of possible activities is mind boggling. However, not being a city person, it isn't one of my top choices but will be for many others.

Cannes - Follow the French

2009-04-22T13:21:00.000-06:00

We pulled into the Cannes harbor and anchored for our tender operation. Pic. 1 is of the shoreline. Pic. 2 is one of our tender boats in operation.

After coming ashore I visited the tourist information booth as I had no set plans for the day. While perusing through the maps and transportation options I observed that the French were lining up to go someplace on a ferry. I popped over to the ticket area and picked up a brochure. They were headed to the Island of Sainte-Marguerite. It looked to be as good an option as any so I bought my ticket and boarded. The brochure promised a fort, museum and nature walks.

Pic. 3 is of the Tahitian Princess from the ferry.

Island of Sainte-Marguerite

2009-04-22T13:20:00.000-06:00

My day was one of beautiful and interesting small sights. Pic. 1 is of the area near where we docked on the Island. The water was crystal clear. While looking at the fish I saw what appeared to be a jelly fish (pic. 2). Pic. 3 is of a diver preparing to go out.

Scenic walk

2009-04-22T13:17:00.001-06:00

I decided to start with touring the fort. I made my way through some older buildings (pic. 1). There were many flowers in bloom (pic. 2). The walk up to the castle was very pretty (pics. 3 & 4).

Fort Royal

2009-04-22T13:16:00.001-06:00

Pic. 1 is of the entrance to Fort Royal. Pic. 2 is of a terrace and tower protected by a canon. A sign indicated the walls were filled with sand to help absorb the impact from incoming cannon balls. Pic. 3 is from the terrace, straight down to the water. The water was amazingly clear and therefore very pretty.

Fort Royal buildings

2009-04-22T13:15:00.001-06:00

Pic. 1 is of some of the fort buildings. Pic. 2 is of the barracks. Pic. 3 is of the chapel.

More Fort Royal

2009-04-22T13:14:00.001-06:00

The island has no fresh water. The fort was built to catch as much rain water as possible and store it in underground cisterns for the residents to use. They needed to have enough to withstand sieges and put out fires as well as meet their drinking needs. As a result the roof gutter system and channels cut into the streets feed into the underground cisterns. Pic. 1 is of one of the many wells that draw from this system.

Pic. 2 is of one of the many paths I wandered while taking in the scenery.

I toured the museum, which didn't allow pictures, but contained prison cells, the remains of shipwrecks and the archeological finds from ancient civilizations that existed on the island before the fort was built.

After touring the fort I headed out to the walking paths. First I followed a path around the outside of the fort (pic. 3). I then attempted to find the botanical path (pic. 4) but am not sure I ever found it. I basically wandered down paths, following the French until it got close to the time I wanted to leave and I made my way back to the ferry landing. None of the sights were major but I had been to Cannes 2 or 3 times before so have seen the major sights. This was a nice change of pace and a nature walk but it would not be my recommendation for someone visiting the area for the first time.

The beach!

2009-04-22T13:13:00.002-06:00

Another sign that France may have had a holiday was the number of people at the beach (pic. 1). The day turned out to be warm and sunny. I thought about going back to the ship for my swim suit as the water was fairly warm when I put my hand in. However, I decided against it and set off on the walking tour described in a map handed out at the tourist information booth.

Musee de La Castre

2009-04-22T13:12:00.004-06:00

First stop on my walking tour was Musee de La Castre (pic. 1). It contained interesting items (pic. 2) collected primarily by two individuals on their travels. Many of the areas collected from were areas we had visited on our world cruise. I thought the collectors had chosen well and the pieces featured to be the ones I would have picked up should I have been so fortunate to make the trip at that time.

Pic. 3 is the view from the museum area.

Other Cannes sights

2009-04-22T13:11:00.001-06:00

I loosely followed the walking tour down to the shopping area (pic. 1). I stopped for lunch and also managed to find an almond meringue that was gluten free for a snack. I should have taken a photo of one of the pastry or chocolate shops. They were magnificent!

I then continued on until it looked to be time to come back. As a result I didn't get to finish the tour but cut off a small portion on the end to cross back to the main street where I got to see boats racing in a fountain (pic. 2). I thought this was a clever use of the fountain and would have enjoyed racing a boat there.

Pic. 3 is of a carousel where I saw a little girl spinning in a tea cup. I had never seen that on a carousel before and thought it was an excellent addition.

Pic. 4 is the typical scene as you walk along this street near the Cannes Film Festival building.

Boats

2009-04-22T13:08:00.000-06:00

As I approached the area where the tenders left, I passed many, many boats (pic. 1).

While waiting for the tender I snapped this one last picture of the beautiful scenery as the day started to draw to a close (pic. 2).

Dogs in France

2009-04-22T13:05:00.000-06:00

I was disappointed to not have gotten a good picture of any of the many dogs I saw throughout the day. The pampered French pooches accompanied their owners everywhere. I saw them on the ferry and in stores. However they were an aloof bunch and paid no attention to anyone. Many seemed elderly. It was nice to see their owners still taking them about. I spotted one energetic young black lab who looked like he had star possibilities but didn't get a picture. However the day was saved by the skipper in pic. 1. He was clearly master of his ship.

Unfortunately I don't think France is for me. It has too many smokers on the street and in the restaurants to be one of my favorite places.

Civitavecchia Italy

2009-04-21T23:57:00.001-06:00

Civitavecchia is the port for Rome. Rome is where most of the ship's passengers went. I decided to explore Civitavecchia and see what I might find.

I didn't find much. Pic. 1 is of the old fort where the shuttle bus drops you off. There were no tours of the fort. When facing the town from this fort, if you went left there were some old Roman ruins of the port. I didn't see this until later when I was on a bus so didn't get a close look at them.

First I visited a church. There is a museum behind the McDonalds but only the lower floor was open in the morning and there wasn't much on the lower floor. It was a very small display and all the signs were in Italian so I couldn't tell what I was looking at. I then wandered until I found the vegetable market (pic. 1), fish and meat market and sort of a clothes open market. These were interesting but I had 8 hours to fill and this wasn't going to do it.

I made my way back to the center of town and checked out the taxi fares for a tour of nearby towns. The suggested route was Tarquinia and Tuscania and the fare was 120 Euros. I set out to find some passengers to share. The taxi driver lowered the fare to 100 Euros and I still couldn't find anyone. I inquired at a shop (the information kiosk was closed) about alternatives and found out the train went there. I headed to the train station to catch the next train. It didn't leave for over an hour. I asked the taxi drivers there how much and they said 200 Euros. Clearly progress had not been made. I checked the bus schedule and couldn't figure out where I was so couldn't figure out which schedule to look at to get there.

At this point I decided to bail and head back to the ship to catch the ship's tour called "Medieval Hills and Olive Oil". It was an excellent choice and a fun tour. However I can't figure out how they can get away with listing things that you don't see. One part of the description says "Tour a 12th century church". We toured no church. However as I said before, it was a fun tour.

Also I would note that based on a tourist map I later acquired the train doesn't seem to get you very close to the actual town so a taxi or the bus would be a better option.

Tarquina

2009-04-21T23:55:00.003-06:00

I boarded the bus and was off. Our guide gave a wonderful narration during the drive. She is the one who pointed out the roman ruins in the port area. Otherwise I would have missed them.

The drive was absolutely stunning. Think of every beautiful picture you have ever seen of Tuscany and we saw it. Sheep, olive groves, flowers, grape vines, pastures, artichoke fields, produce fields, rolling hills, picturesque trees, ancient ruins etc.

Pic. 1 is of Tarquina. We didn't stop here but it looked like a marvelous stop. Our guide did a wonderful job describing the medieval city. I believe the taxi driver said there was a museum and medieval buildings to tour so it would be a good place to visit.

Tuscania

2009-04-21T23:55:00.001-06:00

Tuscania is a wonderful picturesque medieval town. Pic. 1 is of the entrance gate we used. Pic. 2 is of the outer wall of the walled area of the town along with a tower. Pic. 3 is of one of the narrow streets. Pic. 4 is another street scene.

Tuscania details

2009-04-21T23:54:00.001-06:00

We meandered through the town admiring the details along the street and the many doorways and balconies decorated with plants. Every which way you looked there were interesting details.

Tuscania views

2009-04-21T23:53:00.001-06:00

Soon we were at the other end of town. We passed through the arch in pic. 1. Pic. 2 shows the older sections of the wall along with a basilica which can be toured. Apparently the wall was moved over time to be closer in. The views of the surrounding countryside (pic. 3) were stunning.

After the tour we had about a half hour to wander on our own. Mysteriously the tour is scheduled for the afternoon when all the shops are shut down. However if you pick a different route back than you took getting to the edge of town you see some great details.

Agriturismo and Villa Hotel

2009-04-21T23:52:00.001-06:00

After our fabulous tour of Tuscania we headed to the Agriturismo and Villa Hotel for bread, olive oil, olives, sun dried tomatoes, jam, honey and wine. This was a beautiful place! Just like you would imagine a villa in Tuscany. Pic. 1 is of the grape vines visible from the parking lot. You then go into a tunnel which has a display on olive oil and its production. On the other side you see an original olive oil press (pic. 2) which is near the restaurant where the food is served. Afterward we were able to wander the grounds. The hotel had a wonderful endless pool (pic. 3). The buildings and grounds were low key but very nice. The rooms were single story bungalows all facing a beautiful field. I stopped to smell the wisteria while wandering the grounds.

After an hour at the hotel feasting on the products and wandering the beautiful grounds it was back to the ship and sailing toward our next stop, Cannes.

Lovely Italy

2009-04-20T14:14:00.001-06:00

Italy is just as magnificent as I remember it. The weather didn't cooperate to show off the beauty but even with some rain and overcast skies it was enchanting.

Pic. 1 is the area we tendered into at the port of Sorrento. Pic. 2 is of some switchback stairs up from the water to the level of the city.

Herculaneum

2009-04-20T14:06:00.000-06:00

I has prearranged for a van to go to Herculaneum. I had heard it was more fantastic than Pompeii. Although I enjoyed it I would definitely consider Pompeii to be far superior. Pic. 1 is of the Herculaneum former shoreline. The arched areas at the bottom of the pic. were the water's edge cavities that contained most of the bodies. Apparently the residents went down to the water's edge to try and escape.

Pic. 2 is an inner courtyard with red walls. Red was a popular decorating color as it appeared often.

Pic. 3 is an outer yard that faced the sea in a very large house. It contains reproductions of the statues found it it. The originals are in a museum.

Details of Herculaneum

2009-04-20T14:05:00.001-06:00

Pic. 1 is a house number. All the houses had them starting with #1. I'm assuming they are original to the town with the white marble as they were uniform throughout. Pic. 2 is of what I think is a fountain. Pic. 3 is of a fast food counter in one of the many restaurants/pubs. They generally had nice marble counters.

More details of Herculaneum

2009-04-20T14:04:00.003-06:00

Pic. 1 is of a carved panel for a wall.

Pic. 2 is of an interesting room that contained food storage jugs. The audio guide indicated they contained chickpeas and beans. The original wood storage racks survived also.

Pic. 3 is of the same house but shows the wood storage loft. Above that was a second level. There was a brass leg of a bed visible on this level. You can also see that the second level was decorated with red.

Fabulous tile murals

2009-04-20T14:04:00.001-06:00

Pics. 1 and 2 show tile murals in a salon in one of the houses. Pic. 3 is a close-up of the mural in pic. 2. The open courtyards in the houses had marble catch basins for rain water which was funneled to an underground cistern. In the streets you could see exposed lead piping. They must have had a problem with lead poisoning. The audio guide mentioned that their muscle tone and teeth were in good shape which indicated a good diet.

Painted walls

2009-04-20T14:03:00.001-06:00

Painting the walls with murals was a popular decorating technique. Pic. 1 is of a room in a home. Pics. 2 and 3 depict scenes in a working person's trade hall. I believe the audio guide said it was the professional association for the freed slaves but my impression may be wrong as the language used was different. In any case it was a public building.

The baths

2009-04-20T14:02:00.002-06:00

There were separate baths for males and females. The men's was larger and had more rooms. The woman's was better preserved. Pic. 1 is of one of the hot rooms for the mens's bath. The audio guide indicated there was space under the floor to pass hot air. The vaulted ceiling has ridges on it to prevent condensed water from dripping on the customers. Pic. 2 is of the mural on the floor.

Women's bath

2009-04-20T14:02:00.001-06:00

Pic. 1 is of a similar room in the women's bath. Notice the shelf with the dividers to put your things. There is a bench below to sit on while changing. Pic. 2 is of the mural of sea creatures on the floor.

Pic. 3 is of another floor mural in the bath. Pic. 4 is of the hot bath area complete with original marble bench.

Interesting architectural details

2009-04-20T14:01:00.002-06:00

Pic. 1 is of the entrance way to a particularly fancy house. It had crown molding and tiles lining it. You can see the water collection basin in the background. All the homes had these. Unfortunately this house was closed for conservation so I didn't get to see the rest of it.

Pic. 2 is of the ceiling in another fancy house. In the foreground is a wood screen that has been enclosed in glass for it's protection. It was used to separate the rooms. You can see the red color of the upper story.

Pic. 3 is of columns with the fluting on. Many of the columns were finished with what must have been plaster molded to look like sculptured marble.

Interesting pictures

2009-04-20T14:00:00.003-06:00

Pic. 1 shows the location of some interesting half people, half sea creature pictures. Pic. 2 shows the details. These are reproductions as the original are in the museum. These were located in a house.

Street scenes

2009-04-20T14:00:00.001-06:00

Many of the buildings appear to have been two stores. Pics. 1 and 2 are of the streets. Pic. 3 is of a walkway from the port area up to the town level. It is very narrow.

In hind sight a guide may have been useful with only 2 hours. The audio guide provided a wealth of information but I probably needed 2-3 more hours to hear everything. Maybe more.

Herculaneum is only partially excavated. The current town sits over much of it. In addition preservation of the ruins becomes a problem once they are unburied. It seemed that many areas were closed while we were there. It may have been because more work is done on it during the off-season. Entrance was free today due to it being a holiday and there were many school groups. I don't know if a regular paid admission would have had access to more.

Scenic driving and Positano

2009-04-20T13:59:00.001-06:00

Pic. 1 is of the bay from one of the photo stops we made while driving. We also stopped at an inlay furniture factory.

Pic. 2 is of Positano where we stopped to brows at one of the many fruit stands (pic. 3). I got some olive oil and prepacked spices. The lady indicated that they all came from her farm.

Sorrento

2009-04-20T13:58:00.003-06:00

Then it was back to the town of Sorrento for some shopping and wandering.

Pic. 1 is of gelato which was featured in many ice cream shops.

Pic. 2 is of dried fruits and vegetables on someone's upper balcony.

Pic. 3 is of a large cactus in a public park/garden.

Sorrento cont.

2009-04-20T13:57:00.000-06:00

Pics. 1 and 2 are of murals on walls that were in an entrance to what appeared to be a trade hall. Pic. 3 is of a courtyard that appeared to have an art exhibit going on in it. I also wandered into a lavish church but it was too dark to take pictures. And of course I wandered into a wide assortment of shops. It was a fun relaxing day.

Back to the ship

2009-04-20T13:56:00.000-06:00

Pic. 1 is of the ship anchored in the bay. Sorrento was a tender port for us which means we take the ship's small boats into the port and are not docked.

Then it was back to the ship to prepare for Chivitavecchia. This is the port for Rome. I will be going into the port city to explore since I have already spent considerable time in Rome.

Less than 2 weeks to go

2009-04-20T11:14:00.001-06:00

It's getting close to the end of the world cruise. Less than 2 weeks to go. I've had a great time but am ready to be done. Egypt was my last highly anticipated destination. I've been to most of the Mediterranean ports before so will generally not be doing the more popular tourist sites since I have done them on previous trips.

Athens for the sleepy

2009-04-19T06:30:00.001-06:00

We pulled into the port for Athens to a bright sunny pleasant day (pic. 1).

I took a ship's tour in Athens because I didn't know what sort of shape I would be in after Egypt (you have to lock into your ship's tour several days in advance). It turns out I was pretty well rested after the trip to Egypt but couldn't get my Egypt post done in a reasonable amount of time so ended up tired the day of the Athens trip. As a result, I was happy to have the ship's tour to fall back on.

My tour "The Best of Athens" was a very good tour. We had headset microphones which make all the difference in being able to see the sights and hear the guide.

Our first stop was at the rebuilt ancient Olympic stadium (pic. 2).

National Archaeological Museum

2009-04-19T06:29:00.001-06:00

The next stop was the National Archaeological Museum (pic. 1). We had a wonderful guided tour. Pic. 2 is of a statue of a woman holding her dress to the side. Pic. 3 is a recreation of the original coloring of the dress.

Funerary ornamentation

2009-04-19T06:25:00.000-06:00

The museum contains a large amount of funerary ornamentation. Pic. 1 is a base for a statue that would have been for an athletes grave.

Pic. 2 is of parents and their daughter. It is unknown who is the deceased in the picture but it is thought to be the seated figure.

Pic. 3 is of a lion that would have protected a grave.

The rest of the museum

2009-04-19T06:24:00.001-06:00

Pic. 1 is of a horse and rider that were discovered in a ship wreck and reconstructed. Many of the other items from the ship wreck were on display in the outdoor courtyard near the snack bar. They were well worth a look.

Pic. 2 is of the rain gutters that would have been atop a building. We saw some of these on the Parthenon later.

The museum also contained potter, gold jewelry and many more statues. Well worth a visit.

Acropolis & the Parthenon

2009-04-19T06:21:00.001-06:00

Next up was the Acropolis. We walked through the entrance shown in pic. 1 to see the Parthenon (pic. 2). Pic. 3 is of the detail on one of the upper corners of the Parthenon.

Building with statue columns

2009-04-19T06:19:00.001-06:00

For some reason I didn't get a pic. of this building's name. It has the famous statues for columns. Pics. 1, 2 and 3 are of three sides of the building.

Sights from the top of the Acropolis

2009-04-19T06:17:00.001-06:00

Pic. 1 is of the view from the top of the Acropolis. Pic. 2 is of one of the sites visible from the Acropolis. Pic. 3 is of the Theater of Dionysos. Pic. 4 is of another theater visible from the Acropolis.

Athens lunch and shopping

2009-04-19T06:14:00.001-06:00

The tour in Athens was completed by lunch (pic. 1) and shopping (pic. 2). My baked fish meal was not the standard but a special gluten free one. Everyone at the table was impressed by the size of the teeth on the fish. It looked like a piranha. The shopping was very touristy and hindered by many of the shop keepers smoking in their shops which made them too smelly to shop in.

Although I was happy with my tour this is not the way to see Athens. I have been to Athens before and hired a taxi at the pier for a full day tour. When I did this I saw many archeological sites. I wish I had a list of them with me but I was really impressed with what I saw. On the ship's tour we were pretty much limited to the Acropolis.

Day at sea after Egypt

2009-04-19T00:39:00.001-06:00

The day at sea after Egypt I spent the entire day sorting though 600+ pictures and writing up the blog post. By the time it was ready to send it was 11:30 p.m. and then it took an hour for the system to post it. Needless to say it was a late night before Athens.

Journey through Egypt

2009-04-17T16:32:00.000-06:00

My independent overland through Egypt was a fabulous adventure! We docked in Port Safaga with its desert landscape (pic. 1). The tour agency was right on the dock with a van. We hopped in and headed overland, independent of a convoy. The drive to Luxor was expected to be at least 3.5 hours so mid-way we stopped for a refreshment break and shopping. Across the street were Egyptians with camels (pics. 2 & 3). I didn't realize it at the time but some of the best stuff with the best prices was available from this little road side shopping stand. While there, the ship's convoy passed us. We quickly caught up to them but with their 9 buses we were not able to hop our way through to get ahead again so we then moved at their slower pace.

Upon arrival in Egypt our tour agent took us to our hotel. But wait! It wasn't the hotel I booked. I showed the paperwork to the agent and a flurry of phone calls commenced. They insisted this was a better hotel. I knew that was not the case from my research on TripAdvisor. So off we went to the hotel we booked to see if there were rooms to which we could be switched. Unfortunately there was only a suite and two Nile view rooms. One was a balcony Nile view which was a higher grade than we booked and the suite was much higher than we booked. We decided to have lunch while the tour agent sorted things out and tried to move us. Lunch was at the Italian restaurant in the Steigenberger Nile Palace. It was good but not air conditioned. 109 degree heat can really get to a person.

Our guide was a very nice person who really helped us bargain and get good prices while shopping. However there was one big problem. Although I could understand his English very well he didn't understand anything that we said to him. One of my group mentioned the problem to me and I had noticed it also. We had a quick conference and decided to have him replaced. The tour agency was great and produced a new guide after lunch that was excellent!

Another small issue was the van was not a luxury vehicle but a cargo van with seats bolted in it. As a result the ride was rough. I asked to have it swapped out but the agency only had that type of van so we just got another of the same model. I tried again in Cairo but again just the same model. I saw many tour agencies with passenger vans so next time will be sure to have them specify the vehicle type. In thinking back to the booking process I think I may have skipped this step with this agency because I had such a hard time finding a tour operator in Egypt that took credit cards (I only found one) so didn't run around all the bases with them.

Valley of the Kings

2009-04-17T15:42:00.001-06:00

After lunch we were anxious to get started seeing the sights as we had wasted a bit of time sorting out the hotel issue. Our first stop was the Valley of the Kings. There was an interesting model in the entrance building that showed the valley surface on one side (pic. 1) and on the underside showed how the tombs went into the earth (pic. 2).

There were electric trams (pic. 3) to take us into the valley where we could select which 3 tombs to enter with our ticket.

Tombs in Valley of the Kings

2009-04-17T15:41:00.001-06:00

Tickets to King Tut's tomb (pic. 1) were extra and we did not get those on the advice of our guide. I haven't done any research to determine whether that was a good decision or not. Pics. 2 shows the area where we went into one tomb. Pic. 3 shows an area that we did not explore.

The tombs were interesting. The colors were vibrant because they were ground up colored stone that was painted on and then covered with bees wax. Apparently the heat causes them to fuse with the rock. However the carvings were a bit more primitive than I expected. This stop was excellent and I think it would be well worth buying two tickets to see more tombs. We skipped one of the ones our guide recommended as we had a tour member that was approaching heat stroke in the 109 degree heat so we saw one fairly far in and then two closer to the entrance so she could get some water.