Please accept my sincerest apologies for the delay in writing and posting this; things have been a bit busy on the ship as of late so I have not had time to write it all. Nevertheless, enjoy.
November 10, 2008
Alexandria, Egypt
We docked on Monday in Alexandria, Egypt for the first time since I signed on board. It was my first trip to Egypt, and my first visit to Africa since I spent three weeks in South Africa in 1997. As usual, I signed up for a tour and after getting off the ship, I realized that this was the best possible decision I could have made. I cannot imagine being able to do anything without the armed guard that came with us on our tour bus.
My tour, despite being only five hours long, had three destinations: the Roman Catacombs, Pompey’s Pillar, and the Alexandria National Museum. An added bonus was the chance to drive through a new place that was like nothing I had ever experienced. Traffic lights are quite scarce, and the streets are just riddled with large amounts of pedestrians and no crosswalks. As we made our way to the Catacombs, we passed countless men sitting alongside the road smoking tobacco through hookahs and others just sitting enjoying cups of tea. We also passed plenty of military personnel all over the city, which I would later find is a mainstay in all of Egypt.
We arrived at the Roman Catacombs, which were an underground three-tier family burial ground. Above the ground were various artifacts recovered, and also a burial chamber that had been moved to the catacombs from another sight. As I descended deeper and deeper into the 100+ foot underground burial chamber, I became more and more mesmerized by what I was walking through. It was like nothing I had ever seen, and that definitely says something since I have seen quite a bit in the last two months. I had the opportunity to walk around the middle of the three tiers (the bottom one had been heavily damaged by water and was not accessible) and I was fascinated by how they dug these catacombs out of rock. I walked through hallways with holes in the wall intended for bodies to be placed in, and there were even rooms to relax and have celebrations in. It was remarkable how the Egyptians were able to construct such an architectural masterpiece underground.
We left the Roman Catacombs and headed for Pompey’s Pillar, which was a single granite pillar over 2,000 years old. I was under the impression that I was going to visit a pillar, but it was in truth a full archaeological sight. It contained the remains of a couple temples, and also a library. I was able to go down and explore the remains of the library and there were beautiful artifacts laid out surrounding the ruins as well. We had some free time to explore before we headed to the Alexandria National Museum.
When we arrived at the museum, we were given plenty of free time to explore the different exhibits inside after a brief explanation from our tour guide. The museum contained some ancient artifacts, including coffins and a mummy, but the highlights for me were the statues of different Egyptian gods and symbols, including Anubis and the ankh symbol. It was a fun experience seeing a mummy in Egypt for the first time after seeing plenty of them stateside at museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. There were also examples of ancient Egyptian pottery and jewelry spread out through the entire museum, and it was an exciting experience to see all of these different artifacts. Everything was so well preserved and it was a taste of something different from what I had been seeing in Italy, Greece, and Turkey. Still, I knew that the real highlights would come on Tuesday, when I would be traveling to Cairo.
November 11, 2008
Cairo, Egypt
The ship docked on Tuesday in Port Said, Egypt, which sits at the very top of the Suez Canal, and in addition to being a large industrial port of Egypt, it serves as a gateway for cruise ships to reach Cairo, so I signed up to do a fantastic (albeit a very long) tour to Cairo. I boarded my tour bus at approximately 7:00am and was soon joined by the bus’s very own armed guard (this would be the first time in my life I would ever travel around sitting across the bus from a man carrying a sub-machine gun hidden under his jacket) and soon thereafter, our bus joined the other nine doing the same tour in our military-escorted convoy and began the nearly four-hour drive to Cairo.
The tour I signed up for packed the most into the amount of time we had: it started at the Pyramids of Giza, then made its way to the nearby Sphinx, and then after lunch we were going to visit the Museum of Antiquities, where one will find a large portion of the contents retrieved from the tomb of King Tutankhamen. This was the one place that I had no idea I was going to get to see before joining the Queen Victoria. In the case of other ports, the listed itinerary would say something along the lines of “Livorno (For Florence/Pisa)” or “Civitavecchia (for Rome)”, but for this port, it just said “Port Said, Egypt”. Needless to say, I was excited to make it to such a different place and see the only remaining ancient wonder of the world.
Driving around Cairo was an experience in itself. Even at large intersections, traffic lights were nowhere to be seen. Pickup trucks were a common sight on the streets but their contents were quite unpredictable. I saw everything from fruit to sheep to people being carried around in these trucks, and many of the other cars on the road were so very run down that it was depressing in itself just to look at them. The traffic probably added another 30-45 minutes to our trip before we finally reached our first stop: the Pyramids of Giza.
As we approached inner-city Cairo, the pyramids began making their presence through the distant fog, and I found myself wishing for clearer skies, but when we reached Giza, and the pyramids came into clear sight, I was overcome by the same feeling I experienced when first seeing the Colosseum or the Acropolis in Athens, except this time it was even more special since the journey to Giza was that much more of a trek.
We got off the bus and were given about thirty minutes to explore the three pyramids at our leisure. I was also given the opportunity to visit the burial chamber of “The Second Pyramid” and I jumped at the chance without hesitation. I walked downhill down a pathway that was probably one meter high and then up one as well, but this took me to a short cave-like passage that brought me to the pharoah’s burial chamber. It only hits me now that I was inside such a remarkable place, but inside, it was not all that exciting. It was just a big room with a stone sarcophagus where the coffins would have been. I turned around after getting there and then headed out to take more pictures of the pyramids before we left to go to a panorama.
From the panorama, we headed downhill and after passing by the pyramids one more time, we arrived at the Sphinx. While we could not get completely close to her, we were able to catch an amazing view with the pyramids providing the perfect background. I took some great photographs before walking around for a few minutes and then headed back to the bus.
We went from the Sphinx to a nearby hotel where we ate lunch, and after lunch, we spent close to an hour in the bus heading across town to Cairo’s Museum of Antiquities. It was here that a large portion of what was recovered from the tomb of Tutankhamen is on display, so I was excited to get to see so many wonderful artifacts. We were going to be at the museum for about an hour and a half, so I elected to spend most of that time exploring the contents of the museum on my own rather than listening to our tour guide. I went up the stairs and followed the signs to the artifacts recovered from Tut’s tomb, and was immediately taken aback by the sheer quantity of items that they could fit into the tomb. There were thrones, games, the ancient equivalent to a folding chair, small statues, even three chariots, but the real gems on display were in a separate room. It was in here that Tut’s gold mask was located, and additionally there were two of his coffins. The sheer beauty and detail exhibited by these artifacts was astounding. There were additional pieces of gold jewelry kept in this room but the mask and coffins were the highlights of the exhibit. I spent a few minutes staring at them and then went off in search for some souvenirs. I was able to walk through a few exhibits in my quest for the exit and enjoyed everything that I saw.
From the museum, we boarded our buses and made the long trek back to Port Said. We were stuck behind some accidents in Cairo and that, coupled with the fact that Cairo traffic is bad enough to begin with, added nearly an hour and a half to our drive time. I arrived back at the gangway at about 8:15pm, over 13 hours after I departed from it, making this the longest amount of time I had spent off of Queen Victoria since the start of my contract.
I was really excited to get a chance to see the pyramids, the Sphinx, and the items from the tomb of Tutankhamen, but I doubt if I will ever return to Cairo. I would only want to visit Luxor and the Valley of the Kings, but beyond that, returning even to Egypt does not interest me too much.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Hillsides and Volcanos
November 8, 2008
Messina, Sicily
The ship docked today in Messina, Sicily, but instead of its usual 7:00am – 1:00pm visit, we were there until 6:00pm. Big surprise here, I decided to do another passenger tour. This one would take me to the hillside village of Taormina in the morning, and then after lunch, to the slopes of Mount Etna, Europe’s tallest and most active volcano.
We boarded the bus at around 8:30am and proceeded to drive to the highway that would take us to Taormina. The great thing about Sicily is that no matter where you are, it is incredibly scenic. You could be driving through a landfill and it would still look good. The highway drive to Taormina was filled with mixed scenery, namely a nice variety of hills and mountains occasionally being exchanged for views of the Ionian Sea since we were still quite close to the coast. The weather also was quite varied as it sometimes would be sunny and ten minutes later the skies were overcast, but it was warm despite being November.
Upon arriving at the car park just outside the city of Taormina, we had to take an elevator up seven stories in order start our city walking tour. Immediately after stepping out of the elevator I was treated to an amazing panoramic view of the Sicilian coastline, complete with sandy beaches and blue water. After allowing a few minutes for people to use restrooms or take photographs of the view, our tour guide led us through one of the original gates of the city walls into Taormina where we had a brief walking tour. I was quite busy bringing up the rear in my tour group, and that coupled with a soft-spoken tour guide meant I was not able to hear much of her explanations about the city we were in. Nonetheless, I enjoyed walking around the city and seeing the wonderful buildings in addition to an old church dating back several centuries. Our walking tour ended at the ancient Greco-Roman amphitheatre, which while rather large and interesting, did not come close to rivaling the amphitheatre at Ephesus. It was different from Ephesus in that the seats did not go down all the way to the stage; instead, they came down until they were about ten feet above it. The views from outside the amphitheatre offered yet a different panorama from that of above the car park, but they were equally as breathtaking.
From Taormina, we headed back to the bus and rode to a delightful restaurant located on the lower slopes of Mount Etna, and then we proceeded to climb the mountain in the bus. After what seemed like well over a half hour of driving, we reached the Crateri Silvestri (Silvestri craters), which are located approximately 6,450 feet above sea level. Being from the northeast, this is the highest land altitude I have ever reached, and it was COLD! Despite the freezing cold, (it was probably around 40 degrees Fahrenheit, while it was closer to 65 degrees at sea level) seeing the craters was like nothing I had ever experienced. While we did not reach the summit, the craters we visited were massive enough in themselves, and they did not have anything flowing in them so we were able to walk inside them and not just around the outsides. The solidified lava was not consistent in color, as some was reddish and other rock was darker, and unlike areas closer to the foot of the mountain, there was no vegetation growing so high. I was standing atop the side of a crater when a cloud literally moved right in front of me and I was able to take a picture of a peak on the mountain before and after the cloud got in the way. Needless to say, the entire trip up the mountain was mesmerizing. We had about a half hour of free time to walk around before we boarded the bus to head down Mt. Etna and back to the ship. We seemed to leave in the nick of time as the fog waited to set in until after we already finished our time at the craters.
All in all, the day was amazing and visiting Mt. Etna was a special experience in itself. It will be followed shortly thereafter by an equally amazing (if not greater experience), as I will be visiting Egypt for the first time on Monday and Tuesday. Monday, I will be exploring Alexandria, and Tuesday, which I am really looking forward to, I will be visiting the Pyramids of Giza, the Sphinx, and the Museum of Antiquities in Cairo. Needless to say, I am enjoying myself!
Messina, Sicily
The ship docked today in Messina, Sicily, but instead of its usual 7:00am – 1:00pm visit, we were there until 6:00pm. Big surprise here, I decided to do another passenger tour. This one would take me to the hillside village of Taormina in the morning, and then after lunch, to the slopes of Mount Etna, Europe’s tallest and most active volcano.
We boarded the bus at around 8:30am and proceeded to drive to the highway that would take us to Taormina. The great thing about Sicily is that no matter where you are, it is incredibly scenic. You could be driving through a landfill and it would still look good. The highway drive to Taormina was filled with mixed scenery, namely a nice variety of hills and mountains occasionally being exchanged for views of the Ionian Sea since we were still quite close to the coast. The weather also was quite varied as it sometimes would be sunny and ten minutes later the skies were overcast, but it was warm despite being November.
Upon arriving at the car park just outside the city of Taormina, we had to take an elevator up seven stories in order start our city walking tour. Immediately after stepping out of the elevator I was treated to an amazing panoramic view of the Sicilian coastline, complete with sandy beaches and blue water. After allowing a few minutes for people to use restrooms or take photographs of the view, our tour guide led us through one of the original gates of the city walls into Taormina where we had a brief walking tour. I was quite busy bringing up the rear in my tour group, and that coupled with a soft-spoken tour guide meant I was not able to hear much of her explanations about the city we were in. Nonetheless, I enjoyed walking around the city and seeing the wonderful buildings in addition to an old church dating back several centuries. Our walking tour ended at the ancient Greco-Roman amphitheatre, which while rather large and interesting, did not come close to rivaling the amphitheatre at Ephesus. It was different from Ephesus in that the seats did not go down all the way to the stage; instead, they came down until they were about ten feet above it. The views from outside the amphitheatre offered yet a different panorama from that of above the car park, but they were equally as breathtaking.
From Taormina, we headed back to the bus and rode to a delightful restaurant located on the lower slopes of Mount Etna, and then we proceeded to climb the mountain in the bus. After what seemed like well over a half hour of driving, we reached the Crateri Silvestri (Silvestri craters), which are located approximately 6,450 feet above sea level. Being from the northeast, this is the highest land altitude I have ever reached, and it was COLD! Despite the freezing cold, (it was probably around 40 degrees Fahrenheit, while it was closer to 65 degrees at sea level) seeing the craters was like nothing I had ever experienced. While we did not reach the summit, the craters we visited were massive enough in themselves, and they did not have anything flowing in them so we were able to walk inside them and not just around the outsides. The solidified lava was not consistent in color, as some was reddish and other rock was darker, and unlike areas closer to the foot of the mountain, there was no vegetation growing so high. I was standing atop the side of a crater when a cloud literally moved right in front of me and I was able to take a picture of a peak on the mountain before and after the cloud got in the way. Needless to say, the entire trip up the mountain was mesmerizing. We had about a half hour of free time to walk around before we boarded the bus to head down Mt. Etna and back to the ship. We seemed to leave in the nick of time as the fog waited to set in until after we already finished our time at the craters.
All in all, the day was amazing and visiting Mt. Etna was a special experience in itself. It will be followed shortly thereafter by an equally amazing (if not greater experience), as I will be visiting Egypt for the first time on Monday and Tuesday. Monday, I will be exploring Alexandria, and Tuesday, which I am really looking forward to, I will be visiting the Pyramids of Giza, the Sphinx, and the Museum of Antiquities in Cairo. Needless to say, I am enjoying myself!
Monday, November 3, 2008
Ancient Corinth
November 2, 2008
Athens, Greece
The ship docked in Pyraeus, Greece on Sunday and I elected to do a tour to the city of Ancient Corinth and to the Corinth Canal. Unlike many of the tours I have been doing, this one was only a half-day tour and I did not have to be up at the crack of dawn, so I was a bit excited to get an extra hour or so of sleep.
The tour left the dock at around 8:30am and we headed to the canal, which was about 45 or so minutes outside of Athens. It was fun to walk across the 25-meter bridge over the canal and look down. Not only was the view from above quite different from anything I’d seen thus far.
We got back on the bus after about 20 minutes at the canal and headed for the ancient city of Corinth. Our guide told us that the ancient city housed roughly 300,000 citizens and over 450,000 slaves, so needless to say it was quite an affluent place to live. It was famous for its pottery and we were able to see examples of these vases in the small museum housed at the archaeological sight. Unfortunately, a great deal of the ruins of the city have not been uncovered, so all there was really to see was part of the ancient agora, and we could see the acropolis of the city from below, but this was located high atop a nearby mountain. Apparently, it was normal for residents of the ancient city to walk from the agora to the acropolis on a regular basis, and that amazed me.
Despite being all “ruined out”, as I have been feeling of late, I enjoyed my trip to the ruins of Corinth. I am beginning to realize that my enjoyment of a tour hinges heavily along the quality of the guide, and I had a phenomenal one here at Corinth. Additionally, Corinth did not seem like so much of a pile of rocks as other sights I have been to appeared to be. The museum was also interesting with all of the different examples of pottery from 2,500 years ago. We had some free time after he explained everything to us and I found my way to a small nearby restaurant where I grabbed a gyro and headed back to the bus. All in all, it was not a bad way to spend a morning in Greece.
Athens, Greece
The ship docked in Pyraeus, Greece on Sunday and I elected to do a tour to the city of Ancient Corinth and to the Corinth Canal. Unlike many of the tours I have been doing, this one was only a half-day tour and I did not have to be up at the crack of dawn, so I was a bit excited to get an extra hour or so of sleep.
The tour left the dock at around 8:30am and we headed to the canal, which was about 45 or so minutes outside of Athens. It was fun to walk across the 25-meter bridge over the canal and look down. Not only was the view from above quite different from anything I’d seen thus far.
We got back on the bus after about 20 minutes at the canal and headed for the ancient city of Corinth. Our guide told us that the ancient city housed roughly 300,000 citizens and over 450,000 slaves, so needless to say it was quite an affluent place to live. It was famous for its pottery and we were able to see examples of these vases in the small museum housed at the archaeological sight. Unfortunately, a great deal of the ruins of the city have not been uncovered, so all there was really to see was part of the ancient agora, and we could see the acropolis of the city from below, but this was located high atop a nearby mountain. Apparently, it was normal for residents of the ancient city to walk from the agora to the acropolis on a regular basis, and that amazed me.
Despite being all “ruined out”, as I have been feeling of late, I enjoyed my trip to the ruins of Corinth. I am beginning to realize that my enjoyment of a tour hinges heavily along the quality of the guide, and I had a phenomenal one here at Corinth. Additionally, Corinth did not seem like so much of a pile of rocks as other sights I have been to appeared to be. The museum was also interesting with all of the different examples of pottery from 2,500 years ago. We had some free time after he explained everything to us and I found my way to a small nearby restaurant where I grabbed a gyro and headed back to the bus. All in all, it was not a bad way to spend a morning in Greece.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Naples, Malta, and Crete
October 28, 2008
Naples, Italy
The ship returned on Tuesday to Naples, Italy and I signed up to do a tour to Pompeii and Sorrento. Sadly, I do not have too much to report about what I saw. Sorrento was described to me as a town situated on top of a cliff, but when I got there, I had to search for the water, and all I saw were name-brand boutique shops like Paul & Shark and Lacoste, and a few souvenir shops as well. To be fair, the ride to and from Sorrento contained beautiful scenery while we drove on a coastal road high above the Bay of Napoli, but the town itself was not anything special. Granted, the weather was not amazing, but Sorrento still seemed like just another Italian city I had visited. At the same time, it was nice to see a new place.
Pompeii was great, but not mind-blowing. This could be driven from the fact that I have seen more ruins in the last month than most people see in a decade, or perhaps it could be driven by the fact that I was at Ephesus ten days ago, and the two archaeological sights are similar. The two things that Pompeii has that Ephesus lacks are plaster casts of the bodies of some of the people that died in the eruption, and a brothel. Aside from that, I was not wowed by Pompeii.
I look forward to returning to Naples so that I can visit the Isle of Capri, go for a drive along the Amalfi Coast, and eat more Pizza!
October 29, 2008
Valletta, Malta
We docked on Wednesday in Valletta, Malta, and while it was not the ship’s first visit here, it was my first visit to the small island. I elected to do another tour that took me to the old and new capitals of the island: Mdina and Valletta.
When I arrived at Mdina, it reminded me a lot of Dubrovnik, Croatia. It was the same type of city in that It was originally surrounded by a moat that has been sodden and is now filled with grass and other greenery. Additionally, like Dubrovnik, Mdina is mainly a pedestrian city (though its residents, numbering approximately 400, are permitted to drive within the city), and walking around reminded me of my trip to Croatia. We walked past this small church, which was locked, but I could hear Gregorian chant coming from within so I stood and listened for a while. Beyond that, I enjoyed walking through the city but doubt I will ever return there.
From Mdina, we boarded the bus and headed to Valletta, the new capital of Malta. Valletta is the first city I have ever visited that was heavily bombed during the second world war, and they have reconstructed all damaged buildings with the exception of the royal opera house. It was interesting walking through a city that once was greatly covered in rubble, and also interesting to walk down a street and have my guide point out which buildings were hit and which ones weren’t. We visited the church of St. John and I enjoyed seeing the beautiful paintings on the ceiling of the church, and also the large Caravaggio painting they had depicting the execution of St. John the Baptist.
After leaving the church, we had some free time and I walked around. We then walked past the office of the Maltese Prime Minister, and visited a garden that overlooked the waterfront of Valletta, which was a beautiful vista. From that point, we headed back to the ship, and I said a temporary goodbye to Malta. We return a few more times here, and I am nearly 100% unsure of what I will do when we make our way back here.
October 31, 2008
Crete, Greece
After a lovely day at sea, the ship dropped anchor today in Aghios Nikolaos on the island of Creete. I decided to do a tour called “Essence of Crete” that would take me to the restored Minoan Palace and then to a traditional Cretan village.
I boarded the tender off the ship at around 7:45am to start the tour, and we boarded the bus for an hour-long bus ride to the area known as Knossos. Unfortunately, my guide never stopped talking long enough for any of us to sleep peacefully, but I was able to squeeze in a short nap before we arrived at the old palace (which dates back to before 1500 BC). Once again, I walked around a pile of ruins, but I still enjoyed walking around and seeing how advanced the buildings were at that point in time (for example, I saw a terra cotta water pipe underground that dates to 1700 BC).
From the Minoan Palace, we boarded the bus for yet another long bus ride in which our guide felt the need to talk from beginning to end. We arrived about forty minutes later in the traditional Cretan village we were visiting and proceeded to walk around. We visited the shop of a man who makes bells for animals (boring), and then visited a traiditional Cretan museum (also boring) and after all this we arrived at a tavern and ate some lunch. The lunch was undoubtedly the highlight of the village visit, but it was still interesting to see an old Cretan village like such. Sadly, it smelled like donkey dung.
We left the village at about 3:00pm and headed back to the ship for yet another long scenic drive in which our guide (big surprise here), decided to stop talking for about five minutes. However, he seemed to be against total silence and asked the driver to put the radio on while we ‘relaxed’. After these five minutes, our not-so-lovely guide decided to keep talking, and spent at least fifteen minutes talking about the weather and how it changed over the last decade. Needless to say, I was relieved when the bus finally arrived back at the ship and I was able to tender back on board and relax for an hour before going to work.
Naples, Italy
The ship returned on Tuesday to Naples, Italy and I signed up to do a tour to Pompeii and Sorrento. Sadly, I do not have too much to report about what I saw. Sorrento was described to me as a town situated on top of a cliff, but when I got there, I had to search for the water, and all I saw were name-brand boutique shops like Paul & Shark and Lacoste, and a few souvenir shops as well. To be fair, the ride to and from Sorrento contained beautiful scenery while we drove on a coastal road high above the Bay of Napoli, but the town itself was not anything special. Granted, the weather was not amazing, but Sorrento still seemed like just another Italian city I had visited. At the same time, it was nice to see a new place.
Pompeii was great, but not mind-blowing. This could be driven from the fact that I have seen more ruins in the last month than most people see in a decade, or perhaps it could be driven by the fact that I was at Ephesus ten days ago, and the two archaeological sights are similar. The two things that Pompeii has that Ephesus lacks are plaster casts of the bodies of some of the people that died in the eruption, and a brothel. Aside from that, I was not wowed by Pompeii.
I look forward to returning to Naples so that I can visit the Isle of Capri, go for a drive along the Amalfi Coast, and eat more Pizza!
October 29, 2008
Valletta, Malta
We docked on Wednesday in Valletta, Malta, and while it was not the ship’s first visit here, it was my first visit to the small island. I elected to do another tour that took me to the old and new capitals of the island: Mdina and Valletta.
When I arrived at Mdina, it reminded me a lot of Dubrovnik, Croatia. It was the same type of city in that It was originally surrounded by a moat that has been sodden and is now filled with grass and other greenery. Additionally, like Dubrovnik, Mdina is mainly a pedestrian city (though its residents, numbering approximately 400, are permitted to drive within the city), and walking around reminded me of my trip to Croatia. We walked past this small church, which was locked, but I could hear Gregorian chant coming from within so I stood and listened for a while. Beyond that, I enjoyed walking through the city but doubt I will ever return there.
From Mdina, we boarded the bus and headed to Valletta, the new capital of Malta. Valletta is the first city I have ever visited that was heavily bombed during the second world war, and they have reconstructed all damaged buildings with the exception of the royal opera house. It was interesting walking through a city that once was greatly covered in rubble, and also interesting to walk down a street and have my guide point out which buildings were hit and which ones weren’t. We visited the church of St. John and I enjoyed seeing the beautiful paintings on the ceiling of the church, and also the large Caravaggio painting they had depicting the execution of St. John the Baptist.
After leaving the church, we had some free time and I walked around. We then walked past the office of the Maltese Prime Minister, and visited a garden that overlooked the waterfront of Valletta, which was a beautiful vista. From that point, we headed back to the ship, and I said a temporary goodbye to Malta. We return a few more times here, and I am nearly 100% unsure of what I will do when we make our way back here.
October 31, 2008
Crete, Greece
After a lovely day at sea, the ship dropped anchor today in Aghios Nikolaos on the island of Creete. I decided to do a tour called “Essence of Crete” that would take me to the restored Minoan Palace and then to a traditional Cretan village.
I boarded the tender off the ship at around 7:45am to start the tour, and we boarded the bus for an hour-long bus ride to the area known as Knossos. Unfortunately, my guide never stopped talking long enough for any of us to sleep peacefully, but I was able to squeeze in a short nap before we arrived at the old palace (which dates back to before 1500 BC). Once again, I walked around a pile of ruins, but I still enjoyed walking around and seeing how advanced the buildings were at that point in time (for example, I saw a terra cotta water pipe underground that dates to 1700 BC).
From the Minoan Palace, we boarded the bus for yet another long bus ride in which our guide felt the need to talk from beginning to end. We arrived about forty minutes later in the traditional Cretan village we were visiting and proceeded to walk around. We visited the shop of a man who makes bells for animals (boring), and then visited a traiditional Cretan museum (also boring) and after all this we arrived at a tavern and ate some lunch. The lunch was undoubtedly the highlight of the village visit, but it was still interesting to see an old Cretan village like such. Sadly, it smelled like donkey dung.
We left the village at about 3:00pm and headed back to the ship for yet another long scenic drive in which our guide (big surprise here), decided to stop talking for about five minutes. However, he seemed to be against total silence and asked the driver to put the radio on while we ‘relaxed’. After these five minutes, our not-so-lovely guide decided to keep talking, and spent at least fifteen minutes talking about the weather and how it changed over the last decade. Needless to say, I was relieved when the bus finally arrived back at the ship and I was able to tender back on board and relax for an hour before going to work.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Cannes, Nice, Barcelona, and Monte Carlo
October 23, 2008
Cannes and Nice, France
Due to horrible weather, the ship made a detour from its planned stop in Marseilles and headed for Cannes for a surprise visit to the locale of the world’s biggest film festival. In light of the change, I decided it would be best to do a tour that would take me by bus to Nice for a guided tour and some free time instead of just staying in one city for the day. Aside from my [not so] lovely experience at Charles de Gaulle airport en route to joining the ship, this was my first real experience in France and it was a bit more enjoyable than the airport.
The drive from Cannes to Nice was filed with beautiful scenery at times, and ugly highway scenery at others. It was during the latter that I was able to fit in a brief nap and before I knew it, I arrived in Nice and exited the bus right along the water.
Shortly after the bus dropped off my group, we boarded a “tram” as they called it, though it was basically a train-looking truck that towed three passenger cars. Our guide sat in the front and gave us a great tour of the old city of Nice before we began ascending a hill from which we were able to take in a panoramic view of the entire city from high up. Before we reached the top, I already thought that the French Riviera was a beautiful place. The view from the summit trumped everything from the ground, as the beautiful blue sea was on the left and the old city was immediately to its right; beyond the city, I was able to see the beginning mountains of the French Alps, though unlike those I flew over when I first came to Europe, these were not snow-capped.
After spending some time at the top of the hill, we boarded the tram again to head back to part of the old city where we had free time to shop or eat along the flower market. Though it is called the flower market, there are street vendors selling everything from African tribal art to candy, fish, fruit, and other assorted crafts. Despite all of this, all I ended up buying was some olives and some Thai food for lunch (since the sushi bar I passed was closed).
At around 12:25pm, we re-boarded the bus and headed back to Cannes, but instead of napping, I elected to eat the food I purchased and decided it might be wise to pay attention to what I might have missed en route. I did see a beautiful hill-top old town of which the name escapes me, but I enjoyed eating Thai food for the first time since mid-September despite the fact that it wasn’t even all that tasty.
Once we arrived back in Cannes, I elected to take a walk around the city rather than getting back onto the ship since I had a few hours before we were sailing. I passed the building where the film festival takes place, and also passed all the luxurious hotels where the celebrities and the wealthy stay throughout the summer when they come to Cannes. It is a beautiful port city and I am glad I got to spend a couple of hours here.
October 24-25, 2008
Barcelona, Spain
Friday marked my first visit to Spain as the ship stayed overnight in Barcelona. I got off the ship and ended up bumping into one of the guest entertainers who I met a couple weeks prior, and we ended up exploring the city together. We ended up grabbing a shuttle bus from the pier to a location closer to Las Ramblas (one of the main streets in Barcelona) and set out to find a place to eat. We found our way to the Plaza Reial, a decently-sized square filled with quite a few eateries and also a place called Jamboree which is a jazz club in the evenings and then turns into a proper nightclub/lounge after midnight. We sat down at one of the restaurants, ordered a pitcher of sangria, and figured out what it was that we wanted to have for lunch. It seemed like the “When in Rome…” philosophy was appropriate, so we decided that we had to order paella, and we accompanied it with a couple appetizers. I can now say that in addition to having pizza in Naples and souvlaki in Santorini, I have enjoyed paella and sangria in Barcelona. The list goes on…
From lunch, we ventured off in search of the Picasso museum but never made it all the way there. We came across a large public park with some large sculptures, lots of pigeons, and the occasional fountain, and we ended up walking around for a while before heading back towards the ship.
After I got off work on Friday night, a bunch of the crewmembers all headed off for various bars and clubs in the city and I decided to do the same. A few friends and I grabbed a taxi from the ship to Las Ramblas, and in the end, I found my way to a club called Fellini’s [by way of Burger King, where I stopped off for a whopper]. I did not stay for too long since by the time I made it out there, it was already after 1:30am, and I had to be up by 7:00. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the club (though alcohol was not cheap inside) and was glad I dragged myself back out after finishing work for the evening.
Saturday morning, I woke up bright and early (6:45am) for a tour that would take me around to see various buildings designed by Antoni Gaudi. Before we went to any of his buildings, we drove to the top of a hill for a panoramic view of the city at sunrise. From there, we headed through the historical part of the city of Barcelona and stopped at a couple of apartment buildings designed by Gaudi and I quickly discovered that I love his architecture. He avoids rectangles almost in their entirety, and one of his buildings contained windows that were all individually unique in shape. The structures also look extremely fluid throughout and are more than just buildings; they are art.
When our short drive from the hilltop ended, we arrived at La Sagrada Familia, Gaudi’s famous masterpiece that has been in construction for over 140 years and will not be finished anytime soon. The exterior of the building will finally be complete in 2009, and the entire structure was beautiful. We arrived on the side facing the nativity façade, which is the only portion of the building that was finished while Gaudi was still alive, and it was beautiful to see the sculpting, the towers, and everything else. La Sagrada Familia makes me speechless when I think about it, so words probably cannot do justice; consequently, I will not try to describe it. What I will say though is that it is a must-see for anyone who happens to be in Barcelona.
We left the church and headed for another masterpiece designed by Gaudi: the Park Güell. It was a park he designed for a count at the turn of the 20th century. It was nice to see more structures designed by Gaudi that were not meant to house people inside four walls, and the benches here (also designed by him) were the most comfortable ones I have ever sat on in a public park. To top off all the beauty I was seeing surrounding me, there was an amazing flamenco guitarist playing in part of the park and I was tempted to stay and listen to him instead of seeing the rest of the park. We left shortly thereafter and headed back to the ship, thereby concluding an exciting two days in an amazing city!
October 26, 2008
Monte Carlo, Monaco
We docked in Monte Carlo next to Lady Moura, the eleventh-largest privately owned yacht in the world, and it was just the first rich person’s toy I walked past while I explored the city. I got off with a few friends in search of the ultimate driving experience: taking a Ferrari for a brief spin around the Formula 1 Grand Prix street course in Monte Carlo. While searching for it, I got to walk all around the marina and ended up in front of the main Casino, where they filmed the James Bond movie Casino Royale. It was amazing to see the outside of this building, and we walked past some of the top-end hotels, including the Metropole where prices range from €600 - €10,000 per night.
Once we reached the area by the casino, we realized that we had to head all the way back to basically where the ship was docked to do the Ferrari drive, so I ended up heading back but stopped for a bit at the little street fair with carnival rides they had going on at the marina. I ran into some friends and we walked around for a little before I headed all the way back and finally did what I wanted to do.
I had to pay €85 to drive, but once I sat down in the red Ferrari 360 Spyder, I knew I had made the right decision. On one hand, I knew it was expensive and probably a rip off, but on the other hand, I figured that it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to not only drive a Ferrari, but also to do it in Monte Carlo. I drove one lap around the Formula 1 Grand Prix circuit (which took about fifteen minutes), and while this might not be the greatest thing I have seen or done thus far, it was easily the most exciting.
Cannes and Nice, France
Due to horrible weather, the ship made a detour from its planned stop in Marseilles and headed for Cannes for a surprise visit to the locale of the world’s biggest film festival. In light of the change, I decided it would be best to do a tour that would take me by bus to Nice for a guided tour and some free time instead of just staying in one city for the day. Aside from my [not so] lovely experience at Charles de Gaulle airport en route to joining the ship, this was my first real experience in France and it was a bit more enjoyable than the airport.
The drive from Cannes to Nice was filed with beautiful scenery at times, and ugly highway scenery at others. It was during the latter that I was able to fit in a brief nap and before I knew it, I arrived in Nice and exited the bus right along the water.
Shortly after the bus dropped off my group, we boarded a “tram” as they called it, though it was basically a train-looking truck that towed three passenger cars. Our guide sat in the front and gave us a great tour of the old city of Nice before we began ascending a hill from which we were able to take in a panoramic view of the entire city from high up. Before we reached the top, I already thought that the French Riviera was a beautiful place. The view from the summit trumped everything from the ground, as the beautiful blue sea was on the left and the old city was immediately to its right; beyond the city, I was able to see the beginning mountains of the French Alps, though unlike those I flew over when I first came to Europe, these were not snow-capped.
After spending some time at the top of the hill, we boarded the tram again to head back to part of the old city where we had free time to shop or eat along the flower market. Though it is called the flower market, there are street vendors selling everything from African tribal art to candy, fish, fruit, and other assorted crafts. Despite all of this, all I ended up buying was some olives and some Thai food for lunch (since the sushi bar I passed was closed).
At around 12:25pm, we re-boarded the bus and headed back to Cannes, but instead of napping, I elected to eat the food I purchased and decided it might be wise to pay attention to what I might have missed en route. I did see a beautiful hill-top old town of which the name escapes me, but I enjoyed eating Thai food for the first time since mid-September despite the fact that it wasn’t even all that tasty.
Once we arrived back in Cannes, I elected to take a walk around the city rather than getting back onto the ship since I had a few hours before we were sailing. I passed the building where the film festival takes place, and also passed all the luxurious hotels where the celebrities and the wealthy stay throughout the summer when they come to Cannes. It is a beautiful port city and I am glad I got to spend a couple of hours here.
October 24-25, 2008
Barcelona, Spain
Friday marked my first visit to Spain as the ship stayed overnight in Barcelona. I got off the ship and ended up bumping into one of the guest entertainers who I met a couple weeks prior, and we ended up exploring the city together. We ended up grabbing a shuttle bus from the pier to a location closer to Las Ramblas (one of the main streets in Barcelona) and set out to find a place to eat. We found our way to the Plaza Reial, a decently-sized square filled with quite a few eateries and also a place called Jamboree which is a jazz club in the evenings and then turns into a proper nightclub/lounge after midnight. We sat down at one of the restaurants, ordered a pitcher of sangria, and figured out what it was that we wanted to have for lunch. It seemed like the “When in Rome…” philosophy was appropriate, so we decided that we had to order paella, and we accompanied it with a couple appetizers. I can now say that in addition to having pizza in Naples and souvlaki in Santorini, I have enjoyed paella and sangria in Barcelona. The list goes on…
From lunch, we ventured off in search of the Picasso museum but never made it all the way there. We came across a large public park with some large sculptures, lots of pigeons, and the occasional fountain, and we ended up walking around for a while before heading back towards the ship.
After I got off work on Friday night, a bunch of the crewmembers all headed off for various bars and clubs in the city and I decided to do the same. A few friends and I grabbed a taxi from the ship to Las Ramblas, and in the end, I found my way to a club called Fellini’s [by way of Burger King, where I stopped off for a whopper]. I did not stay for too long since by the time I made it out there, it was already after 1:30am, and I had to be up by 7:00. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the club (though alcohol was not cheap inside) and was glad I dragged myself back out after finishing work for the evening.
Saturday morning, I woke up bright and early (6:45am) for a tour that would take me around to see various buildings designed by Antoni Gaudi. Before we went to any of his buildings, we drove to the top of a hill for a panoramic view of the city at sunrise. From there, we headed through the historical part of the city of Barcelona and stopped at a couple of apartment buildings designed by Gaudi and I quickly discovered that I love his architecture. He avoids rectangles almost in their entirety, and one of his buildings contained windows that were all individually unique in shape. The structures also look extremely fluid throughout and are more than just buildings; they are art.
When our short drive from the hilltop ended, we arrived at La Sagrada Familia, Gaudi’s famous masterpiece that has been in construction for over 140 years and will not be finished anytime soon. The exterior of the building will finally be complete in 2009, and the entire structure was beautiful. We arrived on the side facing the nativity façade, which is the only portion of the building that was finished while Gaudi was still alive, and it was beautiful to see the sculpting, the towers, and everything else. La Sagrada Familia makes me speechless when I think about it, so words probably cannot do justice; consequently, I will not try to describe it. What I will say though is that it is a must-see for anyone who happens to be in Barcelona.
We left the church and headed for another masterpiece designed by Gaudi: the Park Güell. It was a park he designed for a count at the turn of the 20th century. It was nice to see more structures designed by Gaudi that were not meant to house people inside four walls, and the benches here (also designed by him) were the most comfortable ones I have ever sat on in a public park. To top off all the beauty I was seeing surrounding me, there was an amazing flamenco guitarist playing in part of the park and I was tempted to stay and listen to him instead of seeing the rest of the park. We left shortly thereafter and headed back to the ship, thereby concluding an exciting two days in an amazing city!
October 26, 2008
Monte Carlo, Monaco
We docked in Monte Carlo next to Lady Moura, the eleventh-largest privately owned yacht in the world, and it was just the first rich person’s toy I walked past while I explored the city. I got off with a few friends in search of the ultimate driving experience: taking a Ferrari for a brief spin around the Formula 1 Grand Prix street course in Monte Carlo. While searching for it, I got to walk all around the marina and ended up in front of the main Casino, where they filmed the James Bond movie Casino Royale. It was amazing to see the outside of this building, and we walked past some of the top-end hotels, including the Metropole where prices range from €600 - €10,000 per night.
Once we reached the area by the casino, we realized that we had to head all the way back to basically where the ship was docked to do the Ferrari drive, so I ended up heading back but stopped for a bit at the little street fair with carnival rides they had going on at the marina. I ran into some friends and we walked around for a little before I headed all the way back and finally did what I wanted to do.
I had to pay €85 to drive, but once I sat down in the red Ferrari 360 Spyder, I knew I had made the right decision. On one hand, I knew it was expensive and probably a rip off, but on the other hand, I figured that it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to not only drive a Ferrari, but also to do it in Monte Carlo. I drove one lap around the Formula 1 Grand Prix circuit (which took about fifteen minutes), and while this might not be the greatest thing I have seen or done thus far, it was easily the most exciting.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Oversleeping in Florence
October 22, 2008
Florence, Italy
Today could not have started out any worse. I was scheduled to go on a full day tour that would take me to Florence and to Pisa, but I woke up an hour after I was supposed to be ready. I ran to the room where the tour groups were meeting and the tour office told me that it was not a big deal and that they could stick me on the last bus for the “Florence on Your Own” tour, which is exactly what it says it is. The ship actually docks in Livorno, Italy, which is close to 100 kilometers west of Florence, so guests are able to book this “tour” which provides them with bus rides to and from the city, an English-speaking guide (or at least one who is supposed to speak English; mine was quite hard to understand), and a map of the city to help make your day a little easier. I had never done one of these “city on your own” tours but was excited to explore a new city on my own.
After getting a bit of sleep on the bus, I arrived in Florence at around 10:00am and was walked by the tour guide to the Piazza Santa Croce (Holy Cross Square) where I decided to go into the basilica. The church houses beautiful works of art including Donatello’s Annunciation and Crucifix, (though the latter was surrounded by scaffolding since the building was undergoing restoration), but the highlights for me were seeing the graves of Michelangelo, Galileo, Dante, and Machiavelli. All of their graves did not have tombstones; they had large sculptures, and each one was uniquely beautiful. I explored a bit more of the church and found more beautiful paintings, and ended up in a room outside the main basilica that contained old music books and also part of a robe worn by St. Francis of Assisi.
I stopped at a small café on the Piazza and grabbed a quick espresso before heading to the Duomo, otherwise known as the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore, a 13th to 15th century church that is capped off by Brunelleschi’s cupola, a dome that rises 107 meters above the ground. For some random reason, I it made sense at the time to pay six Euros for the privilege of climbing 463 steps to reach the top of the dome, where one can go outside for a beautiful 360-degree panoramic view of Florence from about 105 meters up. I took some pictures, took it all in, and climbed down before heading to my next stop: the Galleria dell'Accademia.
I headed north of the Duomo to the Galleria with one intention: I was going to see Michelangelo’s most famous sculpture: David. I waited in line for close to twenty minutes before finally gaining entry to the museum and gallery, and was immediately taken aback by Renaissance sculptures and paintings in every direction. I saw a sign for a gallery of old musical instruments and welcomed the pleasant surprise. It is always exciting to stumble upon a few priceless string instruments, including violins and a cello made by Stradavari, among other things. In the gallery was also a copy of one of the first Bartolomeo Cristofori pianos. He is credited with inventing the piano in the early eighteenth century, and they had a few other instruments of his including a harpsichord and spinet, and it was exciting to see these as well.
I left the musical instrument gallery and knew it was time to see what I had come to see in the first place. I went back to the hall I first entered and went the other way from the instruments, looked to my right, and saw five amazing sculptures: sculptures of the four prisoners done by Michelangelo were in the hall I was walking through (with two on each side), and at the end of the hall, there it was. I always imagined that David would be at most five or six feet tall. It had to be close to twice as large as I anticipated, and looked even larger as it was sitting on a five-foot-high block of marble. Once again, despite photography being forbidden, I navigated away from the two ladies whose singular job is to tell you not to take pictures (and be quite nasty about it as well), and snapped a few quick shots of the sculpture, at which point I found myself frozen in amazement. I kept looking up at it from different angles and admiring the amazing detail. The interesting thing is that before today, I had no idea that David was in Florence. I did not know where it was, but it was an amazing surprise to learn I was going to be able to see it while riding from Livorno to Florence and I capitalized on this opportunity without hesitation. I probably spent twenty or thirty minutes just walking around and staring at David before I decided to go off and headed for the Uffizi Gallery.
I arrived in about twenty minutes at the Uffizi Gallery in hopes of seeing some works of art by Da Vinci and other Renaissance masters, but after getting in a long line that moved five feet in ten minutes, I decided that I would have to come back another time to visit this huge gallery. Nonetheless, I feel like I got in my fair share of sightseeing in just a few hours, and left the line in search of a nice place to have lunch.
I wandered across the Ponte Vecchio, an old bridge in Florence that crosses the Arno River, and enjoyed the views while crossing before I found a small riverside restaurant where I sat down, reviewed my morning photos, (I took about 150 today), and had a nice meal. I did not go with anything that was super-Italian, but stuck with a traditional chicken breast with a side of sautéed spinach. It was tasty, and I enjoyed the peace and serenity of being out on an enclosed terrace. The only thing I did not enjoy was the cover charge that every restaurant seems to impose on you for dining in. The one I went to charged me four Euros to sit outside; it would have been two and a half Euros to dine indoors, and I do not agree with this custom. I cannot understand how a restaurant can impose an additional charge just for sitting down. I have heard that casinos in Monaco also charge you just to enter despite the fact that you will most likely be giving them a good amount of money when you lose at their tables and slot machines. Nonetheless, I am getting used to Italy being quite an expensive country and I am appreciating having almost no living expense whatsoever.
After lunch, I took a short walk farther south of the Arno river but did not encounter anything worth mentioning so I headed back to my tour group meeting place in the Piazza Santa Croce which seemed like a place where people go to just hang out. It reminded me a bit of Union Square or Washington Square Park in New York, in that there were street musicians, people just sitting on the pavement, and plenty of people passing through. I had about thirty minutes to kill so I spent them relaxing in the Piazza and listening to some music before heading back to the bus.
All in all, my first experience in Florence was exciting, and I am very thankful I was able to see so much. As I spend more time in all these wonderful Italian cities, I further contemplate planning an extended vacation to Italy so that I can see more sights in more time without having to rush through everything that I see.
Due to inclement weather in the Bay of Lyon and in Marseilles, the captain of the Queen Victoria informed us yesterday evening that we would be headed for Cannes, so instead of seeing Marseilles and Avignon, I will be traveling to Cannes and Nice. Nonetheless, it should be an exciting day tomorrow and this weekend as well as we are overnighting in Barcelona on Friday. Stay Tuned.
Florence, Italy
Today could not have started out any worse. I was scheduled to go on a full day tour that would take me to Florence and to Pisa, but I woke up an hour after I was supposed to be ready. I ran to the room where the tour groups were meeting and the tour office told me that it was not a big deal and that they could stick me on the last bus for the “Florence on Your Own” tour, which is exactly what it says it is. The ship actually docks in Livorno, Italy, which is close to 100 kilometers west of Florence, so guests are able to book this “tour” which provides them with bus rides to and from the city, an English-speaking guide (or at least one who is supposed to speak English; mine was quite hard to understand), and a map of the city to help make your day a little easier. I had never done one of these “city on your own” tours but was excited to explore a new city on my own.
After getting a bit of sleep on the bus, I arrived in Florence at around 10:00am and was walked by the tour guide to the Piazza Santa Croce (Holy Cross Square) where I decided to go into the basilica. The church houses beautiful works of art including Donatello’s Annunciation and Crucifix, (though the latter was surrounded by scaffolding since the building was undergoing restoration), but the highlights for me were seeing the graves of Michelangelo, Galileo, Dante, and Machiavelli. All of their graves did not have tombstones; they had large sculptures, and each one was uniquely beautiful. I explored a bit more of the church and found more beautiful paintings, and ended up in a room outside the main basilica that contained old music books and also part of a robe worn by St. Francis of Assisi.
I stopped at a small café on the Piazza and grabbed a quick espresso before heading to the Duomo, otherwise known as the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore, a 13th to 15th century church that is capped off by Brunelleschi’s cupola, a dome that rises 107 meters above the ground. For some random reason, I it made sense at the time to pay six Euros for the privilege of climbing 463 steps to reach the top of the dome, where one can go outside for a beautiful 360-degree panoramic view of Florence from about 105 meters up. I took some pictures, took it all in, and climbed down before heading to my next stop: the Galleria dell'Accademia.
I headed north of the Duomo to the Galleria with one intention: I was going to see Michelangelo’s most famous sculpture: David. I waited in line for close to twenty minutes before finally gaining entry to the museum and gallery, and was immediately taken aback by Renaissance sculptures and paintings in every direction. I saw a sign for a gallery of old musical instruments and welcomed the pleasant surprise. It is always exciting to stumble upon a few priceless string instruments, including violins and a cello made by Stradavari, among other things. In the gallery was also a copy of one of the first Bartolomeo Cristofori pianos. He is credited with inventing the piano in the early eighteenth century, and they had a few other instruments of his including a harpsichord and spinet, and it was exciting to see these as well.
I left the musical instrument gallery and knew it was time to see what I had come to see in the first place. I went back to the hall I first entered and went the other way from the instruments, looked to my right, and saw five amazing sculptures: sculptures of the four prisoners done by Michelangelo were in the hall I was walking through (with two on each side), and at the end of the hall, there it was. I always imagined that David would be at most five or six feet tall. It had to be close to twice as large as I anticipated, and looked even larger as it was sitting on a five-foot-high block of marble. Once again, despite photography being forbidden, I navigated away from the two ladies whose singular job is to tell you not to take pictures (and be quite nasty about it as well), and snapped a few quick shots of the sculpture, at which point I found myself frozen in amazement. I kept looking up at it from different angles and admiring the amazing detail. The interesting thing is that before today, I had no idea that David was in Florence. I did not know where it was, but it was an amazing surprise to learn I was going to be able to see it while riding from Livorno to Florence and I capitalized on this opportunity without hesitation. I probably spent twenty or thirty minutes just walking around and staring at David before I decided to go off and headed for the Uffizi Gallery.
I arrived in about twenty minutes at the Uffizi Gallery in hopes of seeing some works of art by Da Vinci and other Renaissance masters, but after getting in a long line that moved five feet in ten minutes, I decided that I would have to come back another time to visit this huge gallery. Nonetheless, I feel like I got in my fair share of sightseeing in just a few hours, and left the line in search of a nice place to have lunch.
I wandered across the Ponte Vecchio, an old bridge in Florence that crosses the Arno River, and enjoyed the views while crossing before I found a small riverside restaurant where I sat down, reviewed my morning photos, (I took about 150 today), and had a nice meal. I did not go with anything that was super-Italian, but stuck with a traditional chicken breast with a side of sautéed spinach. It was tasty, and I enjoyed the peace and serenity of being out on an enclosed terrace. The only thing I did not enjoy was the cover charge that every restaurant seems to impose on you for dining in. The one I went to charged me four Euros to sit outside; it would have been two and a half Euros to dine indoors, and I do not agree with this custom. I cannot understand how a restaurant can impose an additional charge just for sitting down. I have heard that casinos in Monaco also charge you just to enter despite the fact that you will most likely be giving them a good amount of money when you lose at their tables and slot machines. Nonetheless, I am getting used to Italy being quite an expensive country and I am appreciating having almost no living expense whatsoever.
After lunch, I took a short walk farther south of the Arno river but did not encounter anything worth mentioning so I headed back to my tour group meeting place in the Piazza Santa Croce which seemed like a place where people go to just hang out. It reminded me a bit of Union Square or Washington Square Park in New York, in that there were street musicians, people just sitting on the pavement, and plenty of people passing through. I had about thirty minutes to kill so I spent them relaxing in the Piazza and listening to some music before heading back to the bus.
All in all, my first experience in Florence was exciting, and I am very thankful I was able to see so much. As I spend more time in all these wonderful Italian cities, I further contemplate planning an extended vacation to Italy so that I can see more sights in more time without having to rush through everything that I see.
Due to inclement weather in the Bay of Lyon and in Marseilles, the captain of the Queen Victoria informed us yesterday evening that we would be headed for Cannes, so instead of seeing Marseilles and Avignon, I will be traveling to Cannes and Nice. Nonetheless, it should be an exciting day tomorrow and this weekend as well as we are overnighting in Barcelona on Friday. Stay Tuned.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Vatican and More
October 21, 2008
Rome, Italy
I spent the day on another full-day tour to Rome, which meant getting up at 6:30am (needless to say, this is NOT a good way to start the day when you are not a morning person. The ship docks in Civitavecchia, which is located north of Rome, so we had to take a bus into the city, and this granted me the opportunity to make up on some lost sleep.
After the bus ride from Civitavecchia to Rome, which lasted, more than an hour, we arrived just outside the entrance to the Vatican Museum. It was from here that we embarked on a walking tour through a small portion of the Vatican Museum, the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter’s Basilica, and St. Peter’s Square that would end up lasting close to three and a half hours.
The Vatican Museum, I am sure, is quite spectacular, but we only walked through enough of it so that we could have quick access to a toilet and then get to the Sistine Chapel, but from what I saw out of its 11,000 rooms, I was greatly impressed. We were able to walk through a gallery that contained many small statues from ancient Rome, and one of the more interesting pieces I saw was actually a pair of urns, one made of onyx and the other made from alabaster. We proceeded through a hall filled with tapestries, and from there we walked through the Gallery of Maps, which was yet another long hall filled with old maps of different parts of Italian territories, both mainland and islands. Some of them even had the names of individual towns and mountains printed out, and all of them displayed the topography of different territories with immense details. I am unsure of when these maps were pained, but my best guess would be that they are at least four centuries old.
The Gallery of Maps was our last stop before we entered the Pope’s private chapel: the Sistine Chapel. Despite the fact that photography is prohibited, I turned the flash off on my camera and snapped away. The walls were beautiful, and obviously, the ceiling was breathtaking. This was the first time in my life seeing Michelangelo’s work first-hand, and it was quite a moment. I knew that the chapel’s ceiling is entirely his work, but I did not know that he painted one of the walls and it was amazing to see this added bonus. At the same time, I did not picture the chapel to be such a dark and creepy place. If I were in there alone and not surrounded by hundreds of other tourists, it would be a little scary despite the fact that I was surrounded by renaissance masterworks.
We walked from the Sistine Chapel to St. Peter’s Basilica, and I had no idea I was entering the world’s largest church. Massive is an understatement, and the sculptures, paintings, and mosaics inside were also amazing. The first sculpture the guide took us to view was Michelangelo’s Pieta, and many different works of art followed it. The highlights were obviously the Pieta, staring up from directly under the massive dome, and seeing the altar from which only the Pope will deliver mass.
We left the basilica and headed down to St. Peter’s Square, where chairs were set up for a public papal audience on Wednesday, and we had some free time for photographs. It was interesting to be standing in the middle of a sovereign nation and be able to see the entire country from there. I was able to see the papal apartment, and the basilica’s middle balcony from which the pope will sometimes address the public.
We left for lunch from the Vatican and went to lunch at a small place near the Tiber River, and after lunch, we headed to the Colosseum. Since I had already been here and been inside, I opted to walk around the area a bit and see what was there. I ventured towards the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill, which houses many ancient Roman buildings, but since they were charging admission and I only had about forty minutes of free time, I decided it would be better to save this for my next trip to the city. I walked down a little further from the Colosseum before heading back, buying a book on Rome, and thought it would be a good time to do some reading about what I had seen and planning for my next visit.
All in all, I was excited that I was able to get to enter the Vatican City, but I feel the need to revisit the Vatican Museum and explore more of its collections. For my next trip, I am hoping to cover the Roman Forum/Palatine Hill, the Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps, and possibly the Pantheon as well. We return to Rome November 5 and 29, and I anticipate having about five or six hours in the city each time, so hopefully I will have the opportunity to see what I can. I will definitely return to Rome for a week or two at some point in the next few years to take it all in at once.
Tomorrow, I will be headed to Florence and also visiting the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and on Thursday, our itinerary got modified due to bad weather. We were supposed to visit Marseilles, but instead, the ship will be going to Cannes, and I will be doing a morning tour to Nice, which I am looking forward to.
Rome, Italy
I spent the day on another full-day tour to Rome, which meant getting up at 6:30am (needless to say, this is NOT a good way to start the day when you are not a morning person. The ship docks in Civitavecchia, which is located north of Rome, so we had to take a bus into the city, and this granted me the opportunity to make up on some lost sleep.
After the bus ride from Civitavecchia to Rome, which lasted, more than an hour, we arrived just outside the entrance to the Vatican Museum. It was from here that we embarked on a walking tour through a small portion of the Vatican Museum, the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter’s Basilica, and St. Peter’s Square that would end up lasting close to three and a half hours.
The Vatican Museum, I am sure, is quite spectacular, but we only walked through enough of it so that we could have quick access to a toilet and then get to the Sistine Chapel, but from what I saw out of its 11,000 rooms, I was greatly impressed. We were able to walk through a gallery that contained many small statues from ancient Rome, and one of the more interesting pieces I saw was actually a pair of urns, one made of onyx and the other made from alabaster. We proceeded through a hall filled with tapestries, and from there we walked through the Gallery of Maps, which was yet another long hall filled with old maps of different parts of Italian territories, both mainland and islands. Some of them even had the names of individual towns and mountains printed out, and all of them displayed the topography of different territories with immense details. I am unsure of when these maps were pained, but my best guess would be that they are at least four centuries old.
The Gallery of Maps was our last stop before we entered the Pope’s private chapel: the Sistine Chapel. Despite the fact that photography is prohibited, I turned the flash off on my camera and snapped away. The walls were beautiful, and obviously, the ceiling was breathtaking. This was the first time in my life seeing Michelangelo’s work first-hand, and it was quite a moment. I knew that the chapel’s ceiling is entirely his work, but I did not know that he painted one of the walls and it was amazing to see this added bonus. At the same time, I did not picture the chapel to be such a dark and creepy place. If I were in there alone and not surrounded by hundreds of other tourists, it would be a little scary despite the fact that I was surrounded by renaissance masterworks.
We walked from the Sistine Chapel to St. Peter’s Basilica, and I had no idea I was entering the world’s largest church. Massive is an understatement, and the sculptures, paintings, and mosaics inside were also amazing. The first sculpture the guide took us to view was Michelangelo’s Pieta, and many different works of art followed it. The highlights were obviously the Pieta, staring up from directly under the massive dome, and seeing the altar from which only the Pope will deliver mass.
We left the basilica and headed down to St. Peter’s Square, where chairs were set up for a public papal audience on Wednesday, and we had some free time for photographs. It was interesting to be standing in the middle of a sovereign nation and be able to see the entire country from there. I was able to see the papal apartment, and the basilica’s middle balcony from which the pope will sometimes address the public.
We left for lunch from the Vatican and went to lunch at a small place near the Tiber River, and after lunch, we headed to the Colosseum. Since I had already been here and been inside, I opted to walk around the area a bit and see what was there. I ventured towards the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill, which houses many ancient Roman buildings, but since they were charging admission and I only had about forty minutes of free time, I decided it would be better to save this for my next trip to the city. I walked down a little further from the Colosseum before heading back, buying a book on Rome, and thought it would be a good time to do some reading about what I had seen and planning for my next visit.
All in all, I was excited that I was able to get to enter the Vatican City, but I feel the need to revisit the Vatican Museum and explore more of its collections. For my next trip, I am hoping to cover the Roman Forum/Palatine Hill, the Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps, and possibly the Pantheon as well. We return to Rome November 5 and 29, and I anticipate having about five or six hours in the city each time, so hopefully I will have the opportunity to see what I can. I will definitely return to Rome for a week or two at some point in the next few years to take it all in at once.
Tomorrow, I will be headed to Florence and also visiting the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and on Thursday, our itinerary got modified due to bad weather. We were supposed to visit Marseilles, but instead, the ship will be going to Cannes, and I will be doing a morning tour to Nice, which I am looking forward to.
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