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Posts tagged ‘europe’

Venice to Turkey 10

Day 10, Santorini, May 13

The ship is anchored in Santorini harbor. We Tender to shore at the bottom of the cliffs and take a bus to the top. We walk up to the top of Pyrgos and get our first views of the island. The island is amazingly sparse of growing things. It is almost desert like.

Walking around Pyrgos is quite interesting. One thing for certain is you are always walking up or down. Donkeys are used here to get yourself and your goods around. One must develop great leg muscles living here! On the way up, there are small entrepreneurs everywhere! Want a deck of playing cards? We see the first blue dome of Santorini, but not the blue domes of postcard fame! And the entrance of Mary?

Different views from the top reveal a fairly stark landscape. We have been given limited time at this stop, so visiting the shops is not really possible. Our guides, in the last photo of this set, give us a lot of historical information but I choose to spend a lot of time looking for photographic vistas. Notice a couple of vineyards here. In Greece, it is very common to grow grapes on short vines low to the ground. Very little rainfall here so the grape leaves grow in tight clumps and collect the morning dew!

The lady guide is there to tell us about our next stop, an ongoing excavation of Akrotiri, Thera, that is so important they have built a building over it to protect it from the elements! It is common all around the world to have different guides that have different areas of expertise. Also, different places require their own guides to make an income.

The bus travels on along the island. Notice the vineyards all along the way. No grapevines grow taller than a foot or so as they are self watered by the morning dew! Unfortunately, Greece is no different than most of the world where ‘street artists’ and graffiti taggers leave their mark wherever they possibly can! And donkeys hold a specific place in the culture here!

Then the bus takes us to the top of the island, or in other words, to the north end where lies the city of Oia (pronounced Eee-ah). This is the place where the iconic postcards of Santorini are found. We are excited to take our own iconic photos of the famous blue domes and white buildings. Alas, it seems that Santorini is quite overrated. There are a few blue domes but only a few. The scenic vistas are interesting, but quite different from what we expected.

Santorini has desalination plants for it has no fresh water. The processed water can be drank but is not preferred. Therefore they import bottled water. We never hear stories of what they drank in ancient times, perhaps wine? Oh well, we take our pictures and find a rooftop restaurant where we try some local wines and moussaka. Even though the views were not what we expected, a good time is had by all!

Back on the bus, we travel back to the port where we take the local ferry to the ship. All in all, Santorini leaves us a bit disappointed. This is not an attractive island, but an interesting populated desert island. On the Tender back to the ship, we even spot an interesting landslide formation on shore that resembles a bird!

Back on the ship, we go to the Primrose Bar near our stateroom and get glasses of wine and participate in random trivia sessions. We go to Hudson’s for dinner, which happens to be the main dining room. Food is pretty good tonight. We spend the evening watching the Motown show in the theater and game shows in Penrose. Then to bed it is!

See you all tomorrow!

Venice to Turkey 07

Day 07, Bar, Montenegro, Mother’s Day

So today, being the romantic that I am, I took Elee to the City Bar for Mother’s Day!

Today we sleep in and have a leisurely breakfast. We get off the ship at 9:30 AM. We take the mandatory shuttle out of the industrial port to the Promenade where we get a taxi. Our driver, Marco, speaks very good English. He takes us to the Old Town and we agree on a pick up time. We don’t have to pay him until the end so we feel comfortable that he will be back. On the way to Old Town, we have him take us to the oldest olive tree in Europe. Marco comments that he doesn’t understand why tourists are willing to pay €2 to see an old tree!

We walk into the quaint cobblestone streets of Old Town and it’s lined with small boutique shops. As we walk further, boutique shops turn into restaurants. We walk through and come across the entrance to the old ruins.

A slow climb up through the ruined streets reveals an ancient life of different buildings. Amazingly old structures mostly built of stone show a civilization from days of yore. Many vistas for our cameras entertainment present themselves.

We find rooms that were used as public baths and on of them even has natural lighting window in the ceilings!

Eventually we reach the top and it’s time to come down. We make it back to Old Town and stop for refreshment in the form of Pomegranate Beer!

Feeling a bit refreshed, we walk down further and find a restaurant for lunch. Here we have Cevapi, a rolled meat sausage, Dolmas and an eggplant dish. Top it off with Pomegranate Wine and life is good.

We then meander back through Old Town and stop for a t-shirt purchase and walk back to our taxi. Marco takes us back to the Promenade and we ride the shuttle bus to the ship.

In the afternoon we take walks around the ship, take part in trivia games and generally have fun on the ship. We even found the original “Rock, Paper, Scissors”! Off to dinner and then to a magic show before bed. When the ship departs, locals gather on the docks and piers and wave goodbye to us!

See you all tomorrow!

Venice to Turkey 06

Day 06, May 09, Zadar, Croatia

This morning we wake up in Zadar, Croatia with clear skies. We feared rain for during the night we went through a fairly wet storm.

It’s going to be a short day in port as we hear the All Aboard will be 1:30 PM.

Breakfast at 7 AM, then to our room to gear up to get off the ship. Another couple that speculated traveling with us didn’t respond so we go off the ship around 8:30. It costs us €20 to get to Old Town via taxi and off we go.

Old Town is an interesting walk among buildings several thousand years old and streets, some in amazingly good condition.

We come across a tower, that for €5, you can climb! So up we go. Very interesting views from the top after 203 steps up one way steps. We take several breaks, primarily to let other tourists go the opposite direction.

Once back down, we head to the end of Old Town where we find Pozdrav Suncu, or the “Greeting to the Sun”, a modern circle of solar panels where we find young people doing cartwheels and headstands, for what purpose is not clear.

Then, next to that, we visit another modern structure, “Morske Ordulje”, the “Sea Organ”. These simple looking concrete steps at the sea’s edge are built such that when the waves crash against them, they produce deep notes that reverberate into tunes. Quite the unique place where we sit for a while and enjoy the different melodies as ships go by and create different rhythms.

After a while here, we stroll back into Old Town and meander back through the ancient streets. There are festive parties preparing for a marathon type street race to occur tomorrow. We stop at an outdoor cafe and enjoy some cold water and a couple glasses of local wines that we have never tasted before.

As we stroll again towards the gathering of taxis, we indulge our cameras a few more random photos. For some that have asked, we are traveling with cell phones only this trip after our successes a few months ago! Elee is using the Samsung Galaxy S23 Pro and I am using the newest iPhone 17 Pro. My images are better than hers but they are all good! We step inside a small church for a moment but don’t choose to pay the tithing to go all the way in. As I arrive at the taxi spot, I pull out the card our taxi driver, Tomaslav Toric, gave us, he is there and spots us just as I spot his car! So with no waiting, Tomas takes us back to the ship. He earns himself a tip for that!

We walk the final half mile to get on the ship and go to our stateroom. A bit of rest and we head out to find a bite to eat. We go to the “Local Bar” and have chili and salad. Then it’s off to explore more of the ship. Watching the cart racing, taking a stroll around the decks, the “Galaxy Pavilion”, a glowing arcade, the “Observation Deck”, and many other things on the ship. I even spot a set of umbrellas that you only get to use by paying approximately €400 Euros per day!

Then to kick back and relax in the “Penrose Atrium”, watching trivia shows. Before we know it, it’s time for dinner. Tonight we dine in the “Commodore Room”, another main restaurant. The food was just okay.

After dinner we secure seats for some music and a silly game show that Elee enters. She doesn’t win but everyone has fun!

Time to call it a night.

Venice to Turkey 01

Day 01, 02 & 03, Travel Days!

Our good friend Tony takes us to the airport for an overnight flight. We’re starting out here at LAX, on the largest airliner I’ve ever been in my life! There are two full tiers of people. Two sets of staircases to access the upper tier, one in the front of the plane and one in back! There are also two jetways attached to the plane! It is also our first time on Lufthansa Airlines. A lot of firsts already.

We get settled in our seats and await takeoff which is one of the smoothest ever! Then we are handed menus on the plane! When the food comes, it has metal utensils and acrylic drinking glasses! Well, you can’t have everything!

10.5 hours in the air for the first leg to Munchen (Munich), Germany. I take a sleeping pill and manage several hours sleep. When I awake, breakfast of eggs and spinach are served. Landing in Munich to change from Lufthansa to Dolomiti Air is uneventful. We first have to go through immigration control and convince the guards that we will promise to leave and go home in a month! We ride a bus and load the plane on the tarmac.

It is now Day 02. The one hour flight goes by fast and we land in Turin, Italy. We retrieve our luggage and our friend Scott is there to pick us up. He is driving a tiny rental car and it’s cramped but not uncomfortable. Less than an hour later we are stopping at a local winery where Scott knows the proprietor and our wine tasting has begun. We get to Scott and Manuela’s house at the base of a church and we see why they drive such a tiny car. The roads are tight and the corners are many! We have arrived in Chiaverano, Italy, about an hour north of Turin!

Scott and Manuela take us to a favorite restaurant where we indulge in seafood and pasta. Back at their house, we taste grappa and other aperitifs before turning in for the night. They have allotted an entire apartment on the downstairs level to us!

Northern Lights Tour Day 18

Day 18, Feb 15, 2025, The Trip Home

We arise at 6:30 AM for the trip home. One last breakfast in the hotel. I’ll miss the breakfast buffets! We take our bags to the train station, which happens to be right outside the hotel. A 25 minute train ride takes us right into the airport. We check our bags and walk to the gate. Soon we are on the first plane to Kopenhagn (Copenhagen) and it’s an uneventful flight. We have aisle and window seats. Our monkey in the middle friend is from Kopenhagn and heading home after cross country skiing for a week.

It’s snowing in Copenhagen. We have about an hour until boarding. By the time we board, it’s snowing harder. The top of the plane and the windows are covered in snow! We board and are delayed an hour at the gate. Suddenly there is something happening, something is pouring on the plane. Rusty red fluids run down over the windows. It turns out we are being de-iced. I guess that means we will be taking off soon. It’s a strange situation though.

Sure enough, we taxi and take off within minutes after the deicing. The 11 hours ticks away and I try to sleep, in vain. I chat with my seat mate who lives in Greenland. She is on her way to Santa Barbara to do some kind of Marine Research. I have paid extra for extra leg room. That leg room turns out to be a little bit of space in a high traffic area. I have to be constantly aware of all the Passengers AND Flight Attendants to avoid being stepped on! Be aware of paying for extra leg room, especially on SAS Airlines!

Several movies later and we arrive in Los Angeles. A shuttle ride home and we have a bite to eat before going to bed. Now it’s time for a new adventure! Stay tuned!