Italy to Turkey via the Mediterranean

We left Venice at 2:00 pm on Tuesday, September 27th. It was a beautiful and very warm day. Passengers lined the upper railings to say goodbye. The slow cruise to the sea took a serpentine route almost through the middle of the city. It wound through fairly narrow waterways giving us a close and final view of Venice, perhaps the most beautiful city in the world made by man. After an hour we were free of the narrow channels and on our way into the open sea.

That night we had our dinner for the first time in session nine. We sat at a table for ten with three other couples … all very nice people. There was a lot of conversation back and forth. The dinner was fantastic! The dinner ended around 11:30 pm and we had a short walk along the hot night of the deck and down to our cabin.

The next day we brunch while cruising in Kotor, Montenegro. It took several hours to wind our way into the bay which is a World Heritage Site. We anchored in Kotor and the bidding of the city.

Kotor has three miles of stone walls surrounding it. The streets are paved, worn by centuries of foot travel. We walked around the city, and saw the churches, walls, ancient buildings of stone and narrow streets. We stopped at an outdoor bar / coffee they drink and use their free Internet access (Wi-Fi in the IPAD). We are in the mail, and continued our stroll through this beautiful historical place.

We returned to the ship, showered, changed and went to the show later that had a drum of Argentina and show bolero.

We spent Thursday, 29 days at sea to Athens. Lots to do on the boat, and ended with a gala dinner that night.

On Friday, in Athens, Jill and I decided to act on our own. We bought tickets for local buses, and then went looking for the bus stop. We could not find our bus stop, so Jill called asking if someone speaks English! A lovely Japanese woman replied. He explained that we had to go, and then offered to guide us. We inter-urban train and several different subway cars on the main square. He showed us the "Happy Train" (HT), which is a cheap little train through the streets.

The HT led us through ancient Athens, where we saw many classical sites in Athens such as the Ancient Agora, the Arch of Hadrian, Panathinion Stadium (built in 1896 for the first modern Olympics), the Plaka (Old area fashion over the slopes of the Acropolis) and ending on the Acropolis.

The Acropolis is one of the great wonders of the world. It was built over 2,500 years! Throughout history it has been used as a military fortress and a religious center. This place is very old. Marble pavers walked along so well is that we have wasted our time as the foot of several smooth slippery rock. The Acropolis is in the process of restoration. We spent an hour on the Acropolis. Return to start of HT, we took the bus from the ship in Piraeus, which is the port city of Athens. The trip took almost twice as long as the metro / urban rail travel, but it was much easier for us as our Japanese-style guide in the morning not think I could remember all the underground changes would have to do to return. We returned just before the cafeteria closed on the ship at 3:00.

On Saturday, we got to Kusadasi, Turkey at 8:00 am. This time the four of us waiting for a taxi. Finally, they agreed a price and Murat, 24-year-old student, took us about 15-20 km from the ancient city of Ephesus. It is one of the best examples of Roman architecture, and retains very well. Ephesus is one of the World Heritage sites, and stunning view!

It took about an hour and a half of wind throughout the site. Only one of the many parts of this site is Atremis Temple, which was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Another part of the site was a former stadium, a breakdown of which could hold 25,000 people! It was huge.

When finished, Murat left a carpet factory where we learned about the different materials (wool, cotton, silk, etc.) and different colors – each of whom has a special meaning. We saw a woman weaving a carpet and saw cocoons are separated to form a continuous thread about 1.6 a mile long! Very cool. Of course, there are vendors who tried (very hard) to sell us carpets, but we resisted. Murat and then took us back to the ship for another lunch.

Sunday, October first we found in Bodrum, Turkey. This small town, quieter coastal southeast of Kusadasi. We had a late breakfast and left the base to find a transport ship ready to take us from the cruise ship dock in the center of the city.

Bodrum is a beautiful city, clean port. There are plenty of shops and restaurants. In addition, a small castle, and a maritime museum, which is one of the best in the world. Went shopping and a walk for several hours after the ship returned for lunch.

PS Apologies for not posting the pictures, we're having trouble trying to get up here from the iPad.

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Submited at Monday, October 3rd, 2011 at 6:00 pm on Middle East by alliana
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