Venice

 After a smooth transfer from our Florence country inn to Venice via taxi and train, we arrived in the 'floating city' mid afternoon.  Walking out of the train station we were immediately ushered into the most unique city. During our entire stay in Venice I was mesmerized by the ingenious infrastructure of this ancient trading city.  Canals, bridges and cobblestone walkways create a maze for moving boats and pedestrians.  Everything is brought into the thousands of businesses by boat and handcart. Since our lodging was a considerable distance from a serviced canal, we hired a porter to cart some of our 10 suitcases.  We wasted no time in hopping on a boat to the bustling St. Mark's Plaza, taking in the distinctive architecture of this historical city.  The church and adjoining huge plaza reminded Esther and I of the Santiago de Compestela at the culmination of the Camino.  We ate dinner on the serenaded plaza and took an evening ferry back to our hotel. If the Greek Islands have an abundance of cats, Venice has an abundance of dogs. The next morning I corralled the 'Kitsap cats' and we headed to the Grand Canal and Rialto Bridge, briefly grabbing some breakfast pastries at a bakery.  Near the bridge Esther found a tiny jewelry shop that specialized in African Venetian trading beads.  We have a collection of these historic relics from our Nigeria days. Another walking trip to St Mark's Plaza and a gondola ride through narrow canals topped off a very memorable day.  The eight of us had our final dinner before parting ways.  The rest of the group is heading home, while we head for still more adventures in Portugal.

Florence and Tuscany

 After a sea day and a transit day we arrived in Florence.  We opted for staying in an 'agiturismo', which became quite limiting in transportation options, but we made the best of it.  The guesthouse is in a working vineyard and olive farm; and the dining room serves farm to table cuisine.  We enjoyed trying the variety of offerings over the course of three nights. The first day we stayed at the farm and took a long walk up to a town on a ridge top near by.  It reminded us the camino; walking through Tuscan vineyards, through old towns and stopping in the square for lunch.  The second day we took the a long bus ride to Florence.  We explores the city by foot, taking in the cities unique architectural design.  Because of our limited time and crowded venues, we didn't go into any museums.  Michelangelo's David will just have to wait for us another time; though we saw plenty of replicas throughout the city.  We ended with a walk along the Arno river and catching a bus back to the country guesthouse.

Crete

The first stop on our excursion was the World War II cemetery, where soldiers from all of the allied countries were buried in a very beautiful cemetery by the sea.  Most of the tombstones did not have names, but simply the country they were from.  Our next stop was a beautiful monastery with grounds that demanded a photo at every turn.  Our final stop was the old city of Chania.  The guide zoomed us through the crowded narrow streets, showing us the sites, ending at a beautiful harbor lined with bustling restaurants serving giant plates of gyros.  Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time to indulge but head to rush back to meet our guide for our ride back to the ship for an early departure.  We wished that we could have taken in more of this beautiful island which was not nearly as arid as the other Greek islands. 

Athens

For some unknown reason, Esther and I ended up on a different excursion bus assignment from the others, so we spent the day by ourselves.  The bus wound through the port city of Piraeus on the way to the Athens and the Acropolis.  When we arrived at the Acropolis, an audio tour on an our phone app was included in the tour but we couldn’t seem to access it; so we resorted to reading the posted placards to get a condensed version.  We snaked our way through the thousands of visitors to this iconic historical site.  The prominent Parthenon with its gigantic pillars was amazing, though the restoration cranes detracted some of the effect.  We stumbled our way across the slippery rocks of Areopagus (Mars Hill).  Leaving the historic grounds, we found a street side cafe to fuel us for the rest of the day.  I downloaded a self-guided walking tour of the central city area and we put oil several miles catching the changing of the guard at the parliament building, Hadrian’s wall, the Plaka neighborhood, the ancient agar marketplace and the really interesting housing community of Anafiotika, where tiny homes an only be passed on through the generations.  

Mykonos

After a day at sea we arrived in Mykonos.  It was necessary to ferry over from the new harbor to the old harbor which cut into an already short day in port.  In the morning, we explored the town.  John and I took a long walk and saw a lot of the town while the others spent the time shopping.  The narrow streets, white washed buildings and stone pavement were classic Greek island.  We saw lots of small churches and some windmills by the rocky shoreline.  Next, it was a quick trip back to the ship and off on an afternoon excursion which was pretty lame.  We did get a tour of some of the island which was interesting; but our stops were a couple of beaches and a small Greek Orthodox monastery with an icon that got a lot of explanation from a guide we could hardly hear or understand.  The afternoon would have been much more enjoyable having been spent in town. Our 48th wedding anniversary day was topped off with a concert featuring three men singing a variety of tenor music.

Cypress

The ship ported at the city of Limassol, the second largest city in Cypress.  Our tour took us on an hour bus ride to the ancient city of Paphos.  We got a good feel for this independent country at the crossroads of several civilizations through out its long history. This was our first country with traffic on the opposite side of the road.  The guide gave us a lot of information about the country as we drove.  Our first stop was the Rock of Aphrodites, where the goddess was supposedly formed from the sea.  We next drove to Paphos with its rich history.  We stopped at the Tomb of the Kings and at an archeological site with a lot of discovered mosaics.  Our guide filled our brains with more greek mythology than we could manage.  The eight of us all ate at a seaside cafe where they finally gave us separate bills. The hour long drive back to the ship gave the guide the opportunity to inform us more about the island economy, government and educational system.  Unlike most of the other terminal areas, there was very little shopping for Cypress souvenirs, which disappointed our ladies.

Rhodes

Esther and I chose to take a walking tour of the city of Rhodes rather than the drive to Lindus with the others.  It felt good to do some fast paced walking and I found a self-guided tour of the city to follow.  The efforts of the crusading knights of St. John define the old city.  The moated walls and grand master’s palace dominate the landscape.  Narrow cobble stone streets are filled with shops, restaurants, tourists and cats; lots of cats.  After touring many of the sites, we had a light lunch at a rooftop cafe and then walked to the harbor and the windmills.  We met up with the Gillards and Trostads before returning to the ship for a late afternoon departure. After dinner we watched the Seahawks defeat the Steelers.

Ephesus

Our Ephesus tour started late because of tour bus availability.  Our guide was a retired teacher with an edge of Western resentment.  He wasn’t thrilled that he needed to work to supplement his income.  He was very knowledgeable, and soft-pedaled his Muslim faith to his perceived Christian audience.  We first visited the supposed mountain home of the 'virgin' Mary, who went into hiding after John was exiled from Ephesus.  We joined crowds of people who waited in long lines to walk single file for one minute through a small humble stone structure.  Down the mountain was the ruins of the ancient city of Ephesus which was at one time close to the sea.  The ruins were very impressive, but we were a little frustrated as our guide quickly scurried through the city, explaining very little and giving photographers a fit trying to keep up.  It was enlightening to see the world of the apostle Paul and the early church with its preoccupation with the mythological gods.  The bus took us to a hotel with a great brunch before dragging us through a Turkish carpet store near the ship. Esther and Camie stopped in a jewelry store and after much consideration purchased a couple of necklaces and some ear rings.  Before dinner, we took a ride on the 'North Star' that boomed us far above the ship for a bird’s eye view.