Messina on Foot

Our last port before returning to Rome was Messina, Sicily.  We were there only a few hours and most of the day trips available just went to Mt. Etna, so we passed on another bus ride and spent our time wandering around the seaport.  As in Athens, we were there at midday when the light was almost blinding and our cameras couldn't capture much detail.  With all the pastel buildings, wrought iron balconies, palm trees and fountains, it felt almost like a Caribbean island.

After leaving Sicily we passed the volcanic island of Stromboli.  That white "cloud" is an emission from the live volcano and the white dots at the lower right side of the picture are the homes of the people who live there - yikes!!

Melting (Down) on the Acropolis

Our next-to-the-last port of call on the cruise was Athens.  Again we sprang for an all-day excursion so that we could see as much as possible in the time available; the transportation was via a bus with aqua-tinted windows.  This was one of the most challenging days for photos on the entire trip.  Everything I shot from the bus came out too blue; the Acropolis Museum has entire floors where no photography - even without flash - is allowed; and by the time we got to the Acropolis itself, the sun was so directly overhead and so fierce that nothing I did in the way of camera adjustments could keep it from washing out the details in the things I snapped.

At any rate, we had lunch - mostly mixed appetizers plus fabulous lamb - at a small local restaurant, walked through a charming older part of town, watched a video on how lasers are used to clean stained ancient statuary, and witnessed an Ugly Australian tourist berate an Acropolis guard for not allowing her to take her baby's stroller to the top of the hill.  We were amused half an hour later to see that he'd finally allowed the shrieking mother to take her stroller in, only to find (as the guard had tried to tell her) that the uneven, slippery rocks paving the area prevented her from using it anyway.  We were pleased that for once the most obnoxious tourist to be seen (and heard) wasn't an American.

This was one day we were extremely grateful for our hats, and for the bottles of water and wet washrags the crew had waiting for us when we returned to the ship.

Ephesus etal

Our next stop on the cruise was Kusadasi in Turkey - my first chance to see anything in Asia. We took a grueling all-day bus excursion that started with a trip Ephesus to see the House of the Virgin Mary and the remains of the city itself.  That part of the expedition was clouded by the plight of the fellow tourist who collapsed in the heat and by the Turkish Delight vendor who circled my sister like a giant wasp, but we enjoyed the ancient library and the plethora of feral cats inhabiting the ruins.  (Apparently it used to be dogs, but when the authorities rounded those up the cats moved in to fill the void.)  We also saw a museum and the Church of St. John, had a fabulous multi-course lunch on the veranda of a luxury hotel where we were entertained by a troupe of traditional local dancers (dressed, despite the heat, in what looked like wool felt, poor dears), and ended at a rug shop in Kusudasi.  Actually, to call the place a rug "shop" is a bit of a misnomer.  The family-owned business occupies a building several stories high and also sells jewelry and other luxury items.  They served us refreshments, let us watch demonstrations by a carpet weaver and one of the last people alive who spins silk thread by hand, and showed us an incredible number of beautiful carpets.  Sue and I both weakened and each of us bought a rug - but, hey, the Turkish government (supporting the local handicrafts) paid the sales tax and duty and shipped them for free, so how could we resist?

House of the Virgin Mary

Church of St. John

Turkish dancer

Spinning silk

Not Just for Athletes

After Santorini we stopped at Katakalon on the mainland of Greece.  Sue and I took a shore excursion slightly inland to Olympia, the site of the ancient Olympic competitions, and the Olympia museum.  Olympia has still not been entirely excavated, but what has been is huge, and the museum was another amazing "this-was-the-first-time-in-the-history-of-art" experience.  The torch is still lit here for the modern Olympic games.

Statue base (only the statue's footprints remain)

Where the torch is lit

Workmen's cups with their names scratched on the bottoms

The famous Hermes by Praxiteles

Beautiful in Blue

The island of Santorini (or what remains of it) has won awards from tourist organizations as the most beautiful place on earth.  The center of the island was destroyed in a volcanic eruption somewhere around 1600-1500 BC; what remains are soaring cliffs surrounding a deep blue caldera.  The white-and-blue town of Oia sits at the summit; lower areas of the island grow cherry tomatoes and grapes.  We visited Oia, had a wine-tasting at a vineyard, and bought some of those flowing white cotton Greek shirts that keep you cool while shielding you from the sun.