Post Script to Our Cruise

Athens airport

Heathrow airport

Seattle airport

Good ol' PDX

(Don here) The cruise was a wonderful, sort of once in a lifetime, experience. We had deliberately sought out a ‘see stuff’ cruise as opposed to a leisurely lounging, relaxing cruise. For our chosen cruise, there was the ‘on board,’ experience and the ‘shore excursions’ part of it.

The shipboard part would have been hard to improve on. Viking Cruises hit all the right buttons, at least for me. They took care of us in a seamless, not in your face way. Our stateroom was roomy and comfortable, as well as the other accommodations on the ship. The food and beverages were consistently excellent, with a range of choices. It didn’t feel like our goal was to see how much we could eat. The cruise ship did not feel crowded. The on-board activities catered to ‘thinking’ passengers (lot of presentations about where we would be visiting, history, etc.).

The shore excursions were generally very good. What we learned is that, in the guided tour mode you give up the ability to dwell on specifics. You have to stay with the tour group. The general tone seemed to be to see a lot in the available time. I ended up referring to our excursions as ‘samplers’. They were worth the time and effort, but if we were left to our own devices, we would have seen less, but at a more leisurely and detailed pace. Our two days in Rome on our own fell in that category. Again, the way Viking did it wasn’t bad, just not our native mode. One thing we liked was Viking’s use of

‘Silent Vox’ head sets, where we could hear our tour guide easily. Tour groups occasionally would get spread out, and hearing the tour guide directly would have been impossible.

I look back at our three weeks away, and in some ways it’s a blur. We did so much during that time. Writing the blog was really helpful in getting the experiences sorted out. In hind sight, even though I did a reasonable amount of research and planning before we left, more such work would have helped me get more out of the excursions.

The worst part of it all?...the long plane flights, cramped air planes, and all the security. Flying used to be sort of fun, but it’s hard work now.

Some additional thoughts...

Almost everything historic that we saw was surprisingly accessible (not behind protective barriers). That made the experiences more intimate and personal.

I had hoped that I would learn more about religions, as I am not very knowledgeable in that area. I came away feeling that it’s all more complex and convoluted than I had thought. One step forward...two steps back?

I see more vividly that civilizations have ALWAYS fought to be on top and to have the most, and that no civilization lasts forever. Perhaps this is a survival instinct. It is a bit depressing that ‘man’ is not able to inherently live a peaceful coexistence with others.

On this day (the day after Trump declared Jerusalem will be recognized as the capital of Israel), it is interesting to see places in the news we visited a couple of short weeks ago, and what it might be like if we were there now. Timing is everything.

All in all, the total experience will live in our memories forever. A pretty decent way to celebrate being married for fifty years!

Delos Kitty

A white kitty in the sun

A Rhodes calico

Mykonos Beauty

(Sami here) How lucky we are is so many, many ways. To have each other, relative health, and the means to take such a trip. I enjoyed it all thoroughly. And, I enjoyed putting together this blog. It increased my understanding and appreciation of everything. Plus I love the photos we took and enjoy sharing them.

Don said much of what I feel about the trip. But to add a bit, I will mention that the trip seemed focused of the Jewish/Christian history and culture of where we visited, and very much from that perspective. We learned about the beautiful medieval monuments created during the crusades, but little about the destruction of the religions and cultures they demolished. I would like to have had options to learn more about all the cultures that exist side by side in Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Israel. The trip made me wish even more that we need to stop fighting about religion. We destroy ourselves as we fight.

Finally, the trip let me nourish my “photo journalist” nature. I had so much fun taking pictures, especially of all of the places we walked, and of course – the cats!

This apricot-colored boy sat with us as we had a glass of wine in a Mykonos cafe. It was the end of the tourist season and he seemed to know that the island's livelyhood depended upon people like us.

Athens, Greece (Our Last Day!)

Athens is full of marble

We arrived in Athens (the Port of Piraeus) early in the morning. We did two visits from our ship to Athens on this day. Our first visit was a ‘panoramic’ tour of Athens by bus, and then a stop at the National Archeological Museum.

 

Athens is a modern looking city.

With the occasional surprise of ancient history popping up (the Acropolis).

We saw the Changing of the Guard at the Monument for the Unknown Soldier, in Syntagma Square.

We passed the Panathenaic stadium used in the 2004 Olympic games. It dates back to the 4^th century B.C., and was last rebuilt in 1896. It is solid marble.

On to the Archaeological Museum.

This burial mask was one of the oldest things in the museum. It dates from the Mycenaean culture, 1600-1100 BC, listed as the gold mask of Agamemnon.

This stone sculpture is from the Archaic period, around 575 BC. The facial expression is known as the “archaic smile.” It is a very stylized depiction of the human body.

We saw this beautiful bronze statue of Poseidon (or Zeus - it’s debated), 460 BC. He is bigger than life sized, and full of energy, ready to hurl a thunder bolt at his enemy. It is an example of Early Classical Greek art, still somewhat idealized, but very life-like. It was found at the bottom of the sea off cape Artemision, in north Euboea,  because some conquerer had pilfered it to bring home, and the boat sunk on the journey. A number of the statues in the museum owe their existence to that ship wreck.

 

This marble Aphrodite was made about 300 BC and is an example of the Classical Style, completely life-like.

This bronze statue of a young jockey on his horse date about 140 BC. There is nothing idealized about him, just an ordinary person doing his job. (Sami here - my year of studying art history made me need to put everything in the order of date and style.)

There was much, much more, and we saw it at a fast pace.  We re-boarded the bus for a little more exploring of down town Athens.

Hadrian's Gate, 130 A.D.

 

Here’s the Acropolis topped by the Parthanon (not the best viewpoint, and we didn’t have time to go to the top)...

We returned to our ship for a rest, and then came back in to Athens for our evening activity, the final tour for our cruise. First we went to the seventh floor of the Royal Olympic Hotel for a night-time vista of Athens, and a glass of champagne. Then we went on a walk in the old-town Plaka district, and had dinner, complete with traditional dancing and music at the Geleneksel Yunam Tevernas restaurant.

 

This was one of a long series of "CHEERS!" for our trip.

Temple of Olympian Zeus.

We passed this shop along the way. They must have seen us coming.

In Greece we learned the word "Opa!" - a Greek expression of enthusiasm.

Good night Athens...

Mykonos and the Sacred Isle of Delos

(Don here) Mykonos is the name of both the Island and its main town. We arrived in port around 8:00 am. Mykonos, the town, has a population about the size of Ashland. It is surprising that such a small place can directly dock a cruise ship.

 

Mykonos is known for its white buildings with turquoise blue shutters.

Our floating hotel

Following breakfast, we disembarked and directly boarded the Delos Express, a smaller boat that took us to Delos Island, about a 40-minute trip. We explored the town of Mykonos when we returned.

 

This was the coldest day on the trip, in the 50s, but beautifully bright and sunny.

Delos Island is a Greek Island in the Aegean sea. It is covered with ruins dating back several millennium before the birth of Christ.

Here we saw some of the oldest artifacts of our entire trip.

A little history will help put what we saw in perspective. The Island of Delos is important in Greek mythology, as it is the birth place of Apollo, the god of light, and of his sister, Artemis, and had temples honoring many Greek gods and some from other countries as well. It has a long history. It was a spiritual center and one of learning as well as a center of commerce. It was most prosperous in late Hellenistic and Roman times, when it was declared a free port and became the financial and trading center of the Mediterranean. By 100 B.C. the island had a population of 30,000. But in 88 B.C., Mithridates, the king of Pontus, attacked the island as part of a revolt against Roman rule. The entire population was killed or sold into slavery.  The Romans partially rebuilt the city, but revival was prevented by continuous pirate raids. Delos was gradually abandoned, leaving extensive, although pirated, remains.

Formal excavation work began in 1872 by the French School of Archaeology, which still continues today. Seeing Delos was like being in a time machine set back thousands of years. Some of the entire town remains complete with the remnants of homes, temples, and places of business, as well as a water and sewage system.
 

This was a temple honoring Dionysus, the god of wine and good times. From Rome to Athens we saw temples honoring him.

House of Dionysus floor mosaic.

Delos is very hot and dry. This is part of an ancient water storage system. It had a roof when the town was alive.

This out door Theater was used for oration and learning. We are sitting in the donor's seats. The trough in front of us would have held water that evaporated and kept us cool. (Sami here, I think the kitty got as much attention as our guide.)

The down spout of a rain gutter.

The Terrace of Lions is almost 3,000 years old

We saw no cats in Italy but everywhere else there were always cats hanging out. This pretty gray boy followed us all around Delos and was super sweet and friendly.

We returned to the town of Mykonos and explored it before we returned to the ship.

Mykonos is known for its white-washed buildings with blue trim. It was quiet when we were there... definitely off-season. During tourist season, it is a vacation hot spot, known for clubs, music, and being gay-friendly.

We were a little too cold to put our feet in, but we had to get a photo of the Aegean Sea.

The sun was setting as we re-boarded the Viking Star. Good bye Mykonos and Delos, we had a wonderful time!