Travel – Page 9 – A Traveling Fool

May 17, 2020May 24, 2020

Edinburgh: St Giles Cathedral & The Real Mary King’s Close

All of my previous times in Edinburgh had been as part of a tour. So I only had a day or two in Scotland’s capitol on those past trips. This time I was traveling entirely on my own and had seven days planned in Edinburgh and on day trips from Edinburgh.

I love Edinburgh. It is a unique city with some of the nicest people you’ll ever want to meet. Central Edinburgh consists of the Old Town and the New Town. The New Town is Georgian (1700s) with some Victorian as it expanded its boundaries. The Old Town is Medieval and perched on an extinct volcano. Edinburgh Castle is at the top with the main road (called the Royal Mile) running down the lava flow. Buildings, other roads, and bridges spanning the area between the Old Town and New Town fill in the rest.

I arrived in Edinburgh about a quarter to eight in the morning. After collecting my luggage and getting through customs, I took a taxi to the hotel. The airport is not far from Central Edinburgh, so it was only a £10 (about $12.80 USD) ride.

I usually don’t get too much into specific hotels on these posts unless the hotel and/or the deal I managed to get was special. This hotel was special in every way. It was the Balmoral – a five star Victorian Scottish Baronial on Princes Street in the New Town. Normally I wouldn’t even begin to be able to afford a room at the Balmoral. But, for some reason, when I did the hotel search, they had a room for only slightly more (about $10 per night USD) than I normally pay. Maybe it was the time of year, or the number of nights, or just a fluke. I figured that was possibly my one and only chance to ever stay in one of the premier hotels of Edinburgh, so I nabbed it.

The location was amazing too. A small shopping mall, which included a grocers, was next door along Princes Street. I only had to go over the North Bridge to get to the Royal Mile. Most of the day trips picked up and dropped off just across the street. And getting the train to London wouldn’t be too difficult since the Waverly Train Station was next door behind the shopping mall.

When my taxi pulled up, the driver got my luggage out and handed the two bags to the kilted doorman who, in turn, swept me and my luggage up the stairs and into the hotel. There, he handed my luggage off to a bellman and me to the fella behind the desk, who was the assistant manager of the hotel. Then he gave me a small bow and headed back to his post.

The assistant manager checked me in, gave me all pertinent information (including that the breakfast buffet – which came with the room – would be open for another hour). He slipped the bellman the info as to where my room was and then escorted me to a special lift that would get me closer to where my room was than the main elevator. The Balmoral is known for its service and they were already giving me a demonstration of what staying there was all about.

Now, this is not a small hotel, however the assistant manager and the lady who seated me at breakfast every morning both remembered my name and referred to me as “Ms Lichty” each time they encountered me. The breakfast lady also remembered my preference in newspapers and where I liked to sit in the restaurant. I found that very impressive.

The breakfast was an enormous buffet. You could have anything you wanted from just some toast and butter to a full Scottish breakfast and everything in between. As anxious as I was to go exploring, it was raining and I was hungry, so I took my time with a modified version of the full Scottish. I don’t like blood pudding, but I do like haggis. Eggs, sausage, mushrooms, pork’n’beans, toast and jelly, orange juice and tea rounded out my meal.

By the time I was done and had grabbed my jacket, cap, camera and camera bag from my room, it was raining more lightly and I set off up and over the North Bridge. As I reached the Royal Mile, I also reached a souvenir shop. I knew there were several along the road and decided to walk a ways down the road to see what else there might be. I had a few people to get things for (especially golf items from St Andrews) and wanted to get some quality items without paying premium prices.

Down the road a ways I could get a good shot of St Giles Cathedral showing its very unique crown spire. The shops I chose to buy most of my gifts from were back down the road near that first shop I encountered upon reaching the Royal Mile. After buying what I needed and stashing most of it inside my camera bag, I headed back again towards St Giles. Before entering the cathedral, I decided to take a closer look at the Mercat Cross.

A Mercat Cross is essentially the Scottish version of a Market Cross. This was a central location in a city, town or village where people could find out the latest news, and where punishments, including executions, were often meted out. The current Mercat Cross in Edinburgh is a Victorian version of the original, located a short distance (a few feet) from where the original (14^th century) was located. The Mercat Cross is still a meeting point. Several of the walking tours that were offered in Edinburgh departed from the Mercat Cross.

From the Mercat Cross, I walked to the entrance to St Giles at the other end of the cathedral. There was somebody playing the bagpipes near there, so I sat down on a now dry bench by the entrance and listened before going inside.

The oldest part of St Giles Cathedral was originally built in the 12^th century and rebuilt in the 14^th century after it was burned by King Richard II of England during the First Scottish Wars of Independence. Inside it looked like several different churches were sort of knitted together with a few mismatches here and there. It was a fascinating church because of all of the different aspects to it.

There were memorials to such people as author Robert Louis Stevenson and Mary Queen of Scots’ half-brother, James Stewart, Earl of Moray. As the High Kirk (church) of Edinburgh, the cathedral contains one of the original copies of the National Covenant, which was signed in 1638 and adopted by the Church of Scotland. A chapel for the Knights of the Thistle, which is a special Scottish knighthood with St Andrew as its patron saint, was added onto the cathedral in 1909.

The tombs of James Graham, Marquess of Montrose and Archibald Campbell, Marquess of Argyll are on opposite sides of the church. It was Argyll who had Montrose executed during King Charles II’s exile. Charles had Argyll executed when he returned. He also had Montrose interred. Since Montrose had been hanged, drawn and quartered, he needed to collect all of his parts first. Argyll was merely beheaded.

While I was there, a prayer service was held. I sat down and participated. Most of the people in the cathedral at that time did the same.

Not far from Argyll’s tomb and the last thing I checked out before I left the building was a statue of John Knox. He was the minister at St Giles from 1559 to 1572, one of the leaders of the Scottish Reformation, and founder of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland.

After my long visit to St Giles, I went across the street to The Real Mary King’s Close. This was a series of closes (narrow streets, more like alleys) that were underneath the buildings of the Royal Exchange and City Chambers. The streets were bricked up during the plague in 1645 because of the overly large number of victims in that area (it is rumored that some of those victims were bricked up with the streets).

In the 18^th century, the streets and buildings were partially demolished and buried when the Royal Exchange was being built. The area was forgotten about until about 1970, when it was rediscovered. The area was opened to the public in 2003 for guided tours. The tour concentrated on the history of the area which included people who lived there, the professions of the people who lived there (as the remains of the buildings are toured), and the time of the plague. There was also discussion of the reported hauntings.

This leads me to an anecdote. Just after the photo of me looking happy and rather ghostly on the actual Mary King’s Close was taken, I walked slowly down to the bottom of the close at the request of the guide. I had been first to get my photo taken, so I was alone on that part of the darkened close. When I reached the bottom, there was a small amount of light. I turned around and looked back up at a group of people who were being photographed after me when one of the women screamed. She thought that I was a ghost. I thought it was quite funny. I do have a very pale complexion and very light blonde hair.

Since I had such a large breakfast, I hadn’t been too hungry until about 3pm at the end of the tour. The Real Mary King’s Close had a gift shop and café so I took a look at what they had on offer. I really like Cullen Skink, which is a creamy soup with haddock, turnips, potatoes, carrots and onions – usually blended until smooth. I got some of that and some Irn Bru, which is a Scottish soft drink that tastes somewhat like a cross between an orange soda and a cream soda.

As I left the close, a young man who had heard me speak to a couple who had been on the tour, asked where I was from. When I responded, “Minneapolis”, he told me about what a big fan of Prince he was. This ended up being just three days before Prince died.

Instead of returning to the hotel via the North Bridge, I swung down Cockburn Street to the Waverly Bridge. There I took a photo of the monument to Sir Walter Scott at the junction of Princes Street and the Waverly Bridge. It looks rather medieval, but it is Victorian. There is a statue of Scott seated inside.

Next time – a day trip to Alnwick Castle and the Scottish Borders

May 10, 2020

Upper Manhattan

My second day of the Hop On Hop Off bus tour, I boarded the Upper Manhattan route at Times Square, which then set off for Columbus Circle. From there we went to Lincoln Center (which houses the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the Metropolitan Opera, the New York City Ballet, and the Juilliard School of Music) and into my former neighborhood. When I had lived in NYC, I spent part of my time in Queens (in Elmhurst, then later in Jackson Heights) and part in Manhattan (on West 73^rd between Central Park West and Columbus).

Three of my favorite residential buildings – the Ansonia, the Dakota, and the San Remo – are also in the vicinity. The Ansonia was built in the 1890s as a luxury residential hotel. Now it has apartments and condos – still luxury. The Dakota was built in the 1880s and supposedly called the Dakota because that part of the city was so sparsely populated when it was built. It was even more luxurious than the Ansonia. The San Remo was the newest of the three, having been built in the 1930s. It has also become the most expensive and deluxe of the three buildings.

The building I lived in (right around the corner from the Dakota) was built in the 1870s, so was already there when the other three buildings were built. It was originally a private house later turned into apartments, two per floor over five floors. I cannot imagine what the rental price would be now for my tiny apartment at the back of the fifth floor (formerly servant’s quarters). Most likely three times as much in monthly rent as the mortgage payment for my whole house.

In 1892, construction began on the Cathedral of St John the Divine in the Morningside Heights area of Manhattan. It is still only about 2/3 completed. Even unfinished, it is the world’s sixth largest church. There are several reasons for the building taking so long to complete. One is that ancient, manual stone cutting methods are being used throughout the building. Then there have been a few wars, the Great Depression, changes in what the style of the church should be, ups and downs in funding, etc. What is completed is stunning. I got off the tour bus there and spent quite some time walking around, looking at everything and taking photos. Then I wanted to pop over to Columbia University briefly.

Founded as King’s College in 1754, Columbia University changed its name in 1784, outgrew its Lower Manhattan location and moved farther up the island to midtown (around Madison Avenue) in 1857. In 1889, it moved to its current site in Morningside Heights, a short distance from the Cathedral of St John the Divine. I had attended some music classes at Columbia when I lived in Manhattan, so I was fairly familiar with the school. Hamilton Hall was the building where I wanted to take a quick photo.

When I got back on a tour bus, we rode to Grant’s Tomb. The old joke is “who is buried in Grant’s tomb?” That would be President (and General) Ulysses S Grant and his wife, Julia. It is in quite a nice location with great views of the Hudson River and New Jersey beyond. It is a rather impressive monument besides.

Next, we crossed into the Manhattan neighborhood known as Harlem. This is a part of the city with some really nice brownstones. Originally founded as a Dutch village in 1658, Harlem (then Haarlem) evolved into a mainly Jewish and Italian settlement in the 19^th century, becoming predominantly black and Puerto Rican in the 20^th century.

The area which is now Harlem was occupied by the Manhattan tribe of Native Americans before the Dutch settled there. During the American Revolution, the British burned Harlem to the ground. The village rebuilt slowly, but then began an economic boom after the Civil War. Prosperity ended with the Great Depression when roughly 25% of the population was hit by unemployment. Once again, it was a long recovery.

Harlem is also home to the Apollo Theatre, which opened in 1934 in a former burlesque house. This venue gave a start to the careers of numerous musicians and singers throughout the next several decades, especially through its Amateur Night contests. Jimi Hendrix won first place in one of those contests in 1964.

On our way back down the island towards Fifth Avenue, we passed a group of beautiful townhouses that were built in the 19^th century and are on the National Register of Historic Landmarks. We also passed the Masjid Malcolm Shabazz, a Sunni Islam Mosque which, when a Nation of Islam Mosque (named Mosque No. 7) was where Malcolm X was an Imam before leaving in 1964 for Sunni Islam. We were turning a corner as I was taking a photo from the rear of the upper deck of the tour bus, so the photo looks a bit tipsy.

Along Fifth Avenue, we passed several museums such as the Museum of the City of New York, the Cooper Hewitt Museum, the Guggenheim, the Neue Gallery, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Frick Collection. Then we passed Temple Emanu-El, where I used to attend services.

The Plaza Hotel was someplace that I went to a few times when I lived in NYC – to attend various recording industry events (the industry in which I was working at the time) and to take my mom to lunch in the Palm Court one of the times when she came to visit me.

When we reached Carnegie Hall, I left the tour bus to get some lunch and switch to the downtown loop so I could complete it. By this point, I was getting tired, so I stayed on until after we left the South Street Sea Port. Then we visited Chinatown, Little Italy, Delancey Street, the United Nations, the Chrysler Building, St Patrick’s Cathedral, Rockefeller Center, and Radio City Music Hall.

When we returned to Carnegie Hall, I found that, instead of ending at Times Square, the tour was ending there. Times Square was a bit of a jaunt from Carnegie Hall. I stopped off for some refreshment (ice cream) and set off down Seventh Avenue.

When I got to 45^th Street, I took a detour to Shubert Alley to visit the theatre shop at One Shubert Alley. Then I turned on 44^th to head back to Seventh (my hotel was at 41^st at about the middle of the block between Seventh and Eighth). I ended up going right by the theatre where David Tennant and Matt Smith were doing a “Meet the Doctors” event – they had been the 10^th and 11^th Doctors in the BBC series Doctor Who.

Next time – A very special time among the Scots in and near Edinburgh with a lot of time spent at Hadrian’s Wall

May 3, 2020

Lower Manhattan & Harbor Cruise

The morning after seeing the play, I started my first day of my two day Hop On Hop Off tour of Manhattan. They had two loops – Lower Manhattan and Upper Manhattan. I started with Lower Manhattan.

Taking photos along the way, I waited until the tour bus reached the vicinity of St Paul’s Chapel way down in lower Manhattan before hopping off for any length of time. The church’s nickname is “The Little Church That Stood”. This is because of its close proximity to the World Trade Center and all of the debris that rained down on it. The church was spared any heavy damage – mostly because of a very large tree that protected it (and gave its life to shelter it).

I used to visit both Trinity Church and St Paul’s Chapel often when I lived in NYC. Sometimes I took friends or family who came to visit (we would visit the Trade Center and then the churches) and sometimes I just went on my own.

Back in 1764, when the St Paul’s Chapel was built, it was the tallest building in the city. A militia group at King’s College (which later moved farther north and was renamed Columbia University) used to drill in the churchyard. Alexander Hamilton was one of the officers of this unit.

In 1776, when the British captured New York City after the Battle of Long Island, there was a huge fire which destroyed about a quarter of the city, including Trinity Church. St Paul’s Chapel survived.

Starting with his inauguration in 1789 and lasting for the two years that New York City was the new nation’s capital, George Washington worshiped at St Paul’s Chapel. His pew has been preserved as it was.

Just outside of the church, in its graveyard, is the Bell of Hope. It was given by the Lord Mayor of London and the Archbishop of Canterbury (St Paul’s Chapel is Episcopal, which is what the Church of England is called outside of the UK) on the first anniversary of 9/11. Created by the same Whitechapel foundry that made the Liberty Bell and Big Ben, the bell is rung every September 11^th.

Since 2016 was my first time in NYC since 9/11, I was very interested in visiting the memorial and museum. I started with the reflecting pools, which I thought were beautiful, and then got in line for the museum. Although it was a long line, it moved fairly quickly.

The bent tridents were the first things I saw while riding the escalator down to the main part of the museum. The last column standing was very prominent as was the slurry wall (which can be seen on the left of the photo of the column). This was the original wall that held back the Hudson River.

I photographed the survivor staircase from both the top and the bottom. That was where hundreds of people were able to successfully evacuate down from the plaza on which the Twin Towers stood.

There was one room where, as I approached, I could hear the sounds of recordings of the final phone messages of some of the victims and could see parts of some photos. I began to tear up and shake and knew I could not go in that room, so I skirted it as best as I could. I was now not following the path that we were being led through and needed to do some maneuvering to find my way back to where I would have come out of that room.

After leaving the museum, I found a nearby place to sit quietly and have some lunch before continuing on to Trinity Church.

Trinity Church, at the corner of Wall Street and Broadway in Manhattan, has long been one of my favorite churches – along with Westminster Abbey and Temple Church in London, York Minster, St Giles in Edinburgh, Notre Dame de Paris, the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, and King’s Chapel in Boston. I have loved these churches not just for their historical importance and beauty, but for their unique personalities as well. That is difficult to put into words, but what I mean is that each of these churches has an atmosphere all their own that draws me inside and which I find welcoming and comforting.

Then there is Alexander Hamilton. When I lived in NYC I had very little money –certainly none to go traveling. So Hamilton, being the only founding father whose grave I could visit, became my own personal founding father. I happily showed him off to everyone who visited me, sometimes having to explain who he was.

The Trinity Church currently standing is the third on the site. The first one, built in 1698, benefited from the use of the runner and tackle from Captain Kidd’s ship to hoist its stones. That version was destroyed in the Great New York City Fire of 1776 which took place after the British troops conquered the city and the Colonial troops had fled.

The second version was completed in 1790 and was pulled down after being weakened by severe snow storms in the winter of 1838-39. That was the version of the church where John Jay and Alexander Hamilton were active parishioners. That would have also been the version of the church that was standing when Hamilton was buried there.

The current version of the church was completed in 1846. During the September 11^th attacks, a large number of people took refuge inside of Trinity Church.

In addition to Alexander Hamilton and his wife, Eliza, their son, Phillip is also buried at Trinity, but nobody knows where. Eliza’s sister, Angelica Schuyler, is buried in the Livingston family vault. Where Hamilton’s friend, Hercules Mulligan, was buried is now underneath this larger third version of the church, but there is a Mulligan family vault in the churchyard.

After leaving Trinity Church, my next stop was at Federal Hall (the building with Washington’s statue out front). The original building on the site was completed in 1703 and was New York City’s first city hall. After the American Revolution, it served as the first congressional meeting place and was also where George Washington was sworn in as president. That building was torn down in 1812. The current building was constructed in 1846 and, after serving as a custom house and then a sub-treasury building, became a memorial to the events that once took place where it stands.

In 1671 a private home was built on the site where Fraunces Tavern now sits. The original owner’s son-in-law then built a new, larger home on the site in 1719. In 1762 this home was sold to Samuel Fraunces, who established a tavern in the building. The Sons of Liberty used to meet there prior to the American Revolution.

During the Revolution, a student militia, of which Hamilton was a member, commandeered some cannons and fired upon a British ship. This was met by the British lobbing cannon balls at the city, one of them hitting the roof of Fraunces Tavern.

In 1783, one week after the British had finally left the city, George Washington and his officers had dinner in what was known as the Long Room upstairs in the tavern. This was when he gave his farewell address to his troops. Once Washington was sworn in as President, the newly founded departments of Foreign Affairs, Finance (Treasury), and War were housed in the building.

The bus had a pickup point at The Battery (a park at the tip of Manhattan). Not far from the pickup point was the James Watson House. The house was built in 1793 and extended in 1806. Though now across the street from The Battery (which had been built up and enlarged over the centuries), it was originally right at the water’s edge. It is also one of the last surviving mansions of that era in lower Manhattan.

I stayed on the tour bus until we reached the South Street Seaport. This has been a seaport since 1625 when the Dutch West India Company set up an outpost in what became New York City. From 1815 to 1860, it was called the Port of New York. This was where my maternal great-great-grandparents (who are buried just steps from my mom) would have entered the US in 1843.

Eventually the waters were deemed too shallow for newer ships and the seaport became derelict. In the 1960s the South Street Seaport Museum was created. Then, in 1982, refurbishment of the port itself, as well as the surrounding area, began.

As part of my two day hop on hop off tour, I also had a ticket for a free harbor cruise. So, since I was starting to get a little tired, I decided to hop off the bus and hop on a boat. It was a very pleasant little cruise around the southern end of Manhattan, which finished by the Intrepid in midtown near. They then had a bus to take everyone into Times Square, which was where my hotel was located.

Next time – Upper Manhattan and finishing the Lower Manhattan leg from South Street Seaport on.

April 26, 2020

The Met & Richard II

When I found out that the Royal Shakespeare Company was bringing Shakespeare’s King Cycle to New York with David Tennant playing Richard II, I started planning. David Tennant is my favorite actor and this was my chance to see him onstage. I quickly joined the Brooklyn Academy of Music (where the King Cycle would be playing) so I could hopefully get a ticket immediately after they went on sale.

The season tickets went on sale first. Since I don’t currently live in NYC, that wasn’t an option. I needed to wait about a month before the single tickets went on sale. BAM members still had an advantage over the general public, however. As soon as I was able to purchase a ticket, I also booked my airfare, hotel, and the rest of what I had come up with while planning.

Since I had lived in New York City for several years back after university graduation, I planned four nights in NYC followed by six nights in Edinburgh and six nights in London. Being able to investigate and book everything online is an enormous plus. I got all of the air travel, train travel, and airport transfers, all three hotels, and several day trips booked as planned.

This was April of 2016 and several of the presidential hopefuls were in NYC, which tied up traffic considerably. It took two hours to get from LaGuardia to the hotel at Times Square. I was so glad that I had booked a shuttle transfer instead of a cab. I was also glad that I didn’t have anything important planned for that first day.

As I was checking in, I asked about a car service for the following night when I would be going to the Brooklyn Academy of Music Harvey Theatre to see Richard II. They said they would get something arranged and let me know. When I got to my room, I called and confirmed my Super Shuttle to get me to the Newark Airport in four days. Although the plane wasn’t leaving until 8pm, they said they would be there at 2:35pm.

Then I spent some time walking around the neighborhood and getting re-acclimated. I hadn’t been back to NYC for several years and a lot had changed.

Breakfast was included at the hotel. So the following day after breakfast, I took the subway to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Before entering the museum, I went around to the park and found the statue of Alexander Hamilton that one of his sons had placed there. I had also tried to get a ticket to Hamilton, but had been unsuccessful.

After grabbing a map of the museum, I set off to see the Egyptian Art. I am a huge fan of ancient Egyptian art. The Met also has a temple that they moved in pieces to the museum and reassembled it. I spent a lot of time in the Egyptian section.

Then came Byzantine Art, European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, Arms & Armor, and Medieval Art. The Arms & Armor included Middle Eastern and Asian as well as European. The dagger second from the bottom in the photo was similar to one that I bought while in Jordan, though mine was without the gold and jewels.

After lunch (which was in the museum cafeteria), I had enough energy to tackle Greek and Roman Art. There was a bust of Alexander the Great, which I thought resembled Brad Pitt. They had a very intact statue of Perseus with the head of Medusa that I really liked and some cool Roman armor. Then I took the subway back to the hotel. I never did get to any of the paintings.

The driver who was taking me to the Brooklyn Academy of Music had felt that we needed to allow for quite a bit of time to get there. So he picked me up at 6pm for a play that began at 8pm. He was right. It was a little after 7:30pm when we arrived at the theatre. The play went for three hours. He would be back to get me when it finished, but we exchanged phone numbers just in case. Good thing. He had some traffic to deal with to get back to the theatre and I needed to wait a bit.

The seat that I had managed to get was on the end of the second row and essentially on the stage. I was often very close to several of the actors in the play, including David Tennant. I was absolutely mesmerized by the entire production. The acting by all was superb.

The photo I have included here from the play was not one that I took myself. In NYC, it is illegal to take any photos inside the theatre itself, even when nobody is on the stage. I just include it to give an idea of the play. It was said at the time that this was the other production, besides Hamilton, that was completely sold out.

Next time – a Hop-On/Hop-Off tour of Lower Manhattan and a harbor cruise

April 19, 2020

Return to Athens

After spending the morning in Chios, we returned to the ship for cocktails and lunch. We were supposed to go to Mykonos in the afternoon. But when we arrived, we encountered a storm which wouldn’t allow us to take the tender from the ship to the port. Like Santorini, the harbor couldn’t handle large ships and the sea was too choppy for the tenders. I took a photo of Mykonos as we went by.

This was the start of a big storm, so the ship’s captain decided to just head back to Lavrion. Our little group had signed up for a tour of Mykonos plus dinner for our last night on the cruise. Instead, the ship changed both the dinner and the show to two seatings each. They advised women not to wear high heels and everyone to stay away from the open decks. It soon began to rain heavily, so nobody wanted to be out on the open decks anyway.

Although the ship was a little rocky, I didn’t think it was as bad as the storm when on that overnight ferry from Helsinki to Stockholm a few years earlier. I just stayed near the walls where I could grab a railing when needed. Fortunately the rocking was not too violent and I wasn’t tossed around during the night like I had been on the ferry. So I slept well.

We arrived in Lavrion earlier than planned. Lavrion is itself an interesting location. It was the site of the oldest silver mine in the world, dating back to prehistoric times. The silver from that mine financed the Athenian fleet that was victorious over the Persians in 480 BC. It also financed the buildings on the Acropolis in Athens.

We headed for our hotel in Athens (the same one as when we arrived), but they weren’t ready for us. They also didn’t have any place to lock up anyone’s luggage. So we were stuck with sitting in the lobby and waiting as one by one our rooms were made ready. Yep. You guessed it. Mine was one of the last.

By the time I got into my room, everyone else had already departed for whatever they had planned for our last day in Greece. I had a list of options, but only really had time for the Acropolis Museum. I have included here a photo of the museum that I took from the Acropolis when we were there at the beginning of the tour.

This museum was built to house the artifacts found on the Acropolis and on the slopes. It replaced a much smaller museum that had been built on the Acropolis itself back in the 19^th century. Because it was being built over some Roman and Byzantine ruins, it was perched on top of pillars with glass floors and some open areas through which the ancient ruins can be seen.

Once inside, the first space has a sloping glass floor through which parts of the excavation below can be seen. Displayed on both sides are artifacts found on the slopes of the Acropolis. This leads to a staircase representing the ascent to the Acropolis. There were a couple of Athena Nike statues along the route as they would have been at the Acropolis itself.

Once up the hill and stairs comes a very large hallway of statues from the Archaic period. This would have been from the 7^th century BC through the end of the Persian Wars (roughly 480/79 BC). The statues were scattered around on pedestals so they could be viewed from all angles.

From there you are supposed to go up an escalator to the Parthenon Gallery and see the other items on this floor on the way down. But I was very anxious to see the Caryatids from the Erectheion, so I sort of jumped the gun, moved out of the prescribed order of things and visited the ladies next. These are the originals. The statues on the Acropolis are copies.

I rejoined the plan from where I left off and went up to see the statues and friezes from the Parthenon itself. The level on which these pieces were housed, had floor to ceiling glass walls. Views of the Acropolis and the Parthenon from there were amazing. I kept taking photos of those views as well as of the beautiful art.

On the way down, the last grouping was from the 5^th century BC to the 5^th century AD. There were some great statues and pottery from that era as well. There was one bust that I thought had a very pleasant, gentle-looking face. They actually knew who he was — Tiberius Julius Sauromates II. He was a Roman Client King of the Bosphorus Kingdom (which was just north of the Black Sea) from 174 to 210 AD. Not much else is known about him other than that.

I had a good view of the entrance from up there when I went over to the windows to sit down for a bit. Somewhere along the way my left foot had begun to hurt. I reconnoitered with my museum map, deciding to have some lunch at the cafeteria one floor down and then check out the shop before heading back to the hotel.

On my way back to the hotel, I encountered Barbara, Roberta and Chris. Chris wasn’t feeling well and wanted to return to the hotel, so I escorted her back. The four of us planned to meet up in the hotel lobby later to go to dinner together. In the meantime back at the hotel, I pulled out an ace bandage and my folding cane. My foot was really hurting.

We had a delicious Greek dinner at a café near the Acropolis Museum. We toasted our time in Greece and headed back to the hotel to get everything ready for our departure the next day.

When I returned home, I found that I had a stress fracture in my foot and ended up in a big, black boot for the next couple of months. It matched the sling I got in another week from planned surgery on my left shoulder.

I didn’t take another trip for a couple of years until I flew to NYC to see the Royal Shakespeare Company perform Richard II. From there I flew to Edinburgh and then took the train down to London. That trip begins next time.

April 13, 2020

The Greek Islands of Symi & Chios

We left Rhodes at about 3pm, arriving at the island of Symi around 5pm. Symi is a mountainous island known for shipbuilding, sponges and a very tiny shrimp that is pan fried and eaten whole, shell and all. During the Trojan War, Symi fought on the side of Greece. It’s king, Nireus, was considered to have been the most handsome man in the Greek forces other than Achilles.

An optional dinner had been offered on Symi, but Chris, Barbara, Roberta, Maureen, Mark and I had all opted to dine on the ship instead. So, from arrival in the port of Symi to our dinner time of 7pm, we wandered around taking photos. It was such a beautiful town with colorful houses perched on the mountainsides. We each had a favorite or two picked out.

The next day we arrived at the island of Chios. Our first encounter with anything on Chios was with Mastik trees (I have a somewhat fuzzy photo of one here, taken while on a moving tour bus). Chios is famous for Mastik (or Mastic), which is used as a gum and as a sweetener in many foods, including Turkish Delight. It is also used to make a rather tasty liqueur.

Other than Mastik, Chios’ main claim to fame was as the birthplace of Homer. He was the author of both the Iliad and the Odyssey. Both of these works were long considered to be fictional, but in more recent years, archaeological discoveries have proven that some parts of them (such as the Trojan War) were based in fact.

Chios had a very big problem with pirates. They were raided regularly during both Byzantine and medieval times. Several towers were erected around the island to alert the inhabitants if pirates were spotted. It that happened, a fire was lit at the nearest tower. As the people manning other towers saw the fire, they lit one at their tower until all of the towers were lit and all of the inhabitants of Chios knew they were about to be raided.

Many of its villages were built and fortified specifically for protection against pirates. We visited two of those villages.

The first one was Mesta, which was built in the 12^th century during the Byzantine era. It was built as a maze with only one way in and one way out. The houses were built up against one another. Animals were housed on the bottom floor while the actual house was one flight up and accessible via a retractable ladder. Many of the streets were vaulted over with roof gardens at the top of the houses. People could travel from house to house over the roofs without ever going down into the street.

The village had a small Byzantine church called the Church of Palois Taxiarchis. Taxiarches are archangels (such as Gabriel and Michael). The photo I have included here is a wee bit fuzzy since I was taking it in a somewhat dark indoor space without a flash and didn’t hold the camera still enough. A lot of these old places will allow flashless photography, which my camera allows nicely. But sometimes I just need to take more time on getting the photo.

Mesta also had a newer church they call the New Taxiarchis (or Big Taxiarchis), which was built in the 1800s and is quite ornate. It is also very well lit. No shaky photos there. This church was just off of the Village Square in the center of town. It had been built where the central tower of the town once stood. I thought that Mesta was really a cool town – very cosy. I am definitely not the only one as it is still quite inhabited and vibrant. Mastik and tourism are its main sources of revenue.

We next drove along the West Coast of the island and could see several of the pirate alarm towers along the way. We also passed or drove through many medieval villages. We were heading for Anavatos.

Anavatos was built high on the top of a rocky precipice and blended in so well with its surroundings that it was difficult to see it. It was also built in the Byzantine era.

Chios is very close to Turkey, which made it very susceptible to raids from Turkey as well as from pirates. When the Ottomans took over in Turkey, it was only a matter of time before they would take a look at nearby Chios and decide they needed to conquer it as well.

After the Ottomans took over, they allowed Chios a certain amount of autonomy due to the importance of Mastik. This was up until the Greek War of Independence in 1822. Chios’ close proximity to Turkey made it the perfect target for the Ottomans to make an example of what happens when you mess with them. Over several months, roughly 40,000 Turkish troops arrived in Chios. They were ordered to kill all males over twelve, all women over forty, and all babies under three. All others were enslaved.

In Anavatos, the decision was made by much of the population to take their own lives rather than be brutally massacred or enslaved. Those who didn’t commit suicide were slaughtered. Here and there someone has moved in (at least for the tourist season – there was a café and a little shop) but, for the most part, it is quite literally a ghost town.

Next time – Return to Athens

April 5, 2020

The Island of Rhodes

I have been fortunate to visit the sites of five out of the original Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Only one, the Great Pyramid of Giza, still exists. It was so cool to be able to touch it and even climb on part of it. Also in Egypt, I have been shown where the Lighthouse of Alexandria once stood. There is a fort there now built with some of the stone blocks from the lighthouse.

At Ephesus in Turkey, I saw the few remains of the Temple of Artemis in 2011. During this 2014 tour of Greece and the Greek Islands, I saw where the Statue of Zeus used to be at the Temple of Zeus in Olympia.

At Rhodes, we were shown the entrance to the harbor where it was believed the Colossus of Rhodes once stood. It was a statue of the Greek sun god Helios that was erected in 280 BC and stood about 108 feet high. But nobody knows for certain if it stood on the side of the harbor, or straddled the entrance. It collapsed during a 228 BC earthquake. However it was standing, it wasn’t standing long.

It was said that it snapped at the knees and fell over onto the ground. The Oracle at Delphi told the Rhodesians something that made them feel they had offended Helios by building it, so they decided not to rebuild. It is said that the remains of the statue lay on the ground for over 800 years.

Since the remains fell over onto the ground, and since building it straddling the harbor would not have been too likely (since the harbor would have had to have been closed while building), and since it was made of bronze which would most likely have collapsed under its own weight if built with its legs spread apart, most of the experts don’t think it straddled the harbor. Although its location is still being debated, a fairly prominent possibly is where the Fortress of St Nicholas currently sits. The very large, circular platform on which it sits is much older than the fortress (which is 14^th century). Also this site would have allowed the statue to lie on the ground without blocking the harbor.

We passed the harbor entrance on our way out of town. Instead of touring the medieval old city, we set off for Philerimos . We would tour the old, walled city of Rhodes later.

Philerimos (or Filerimos) was once the ancient city of Ialysos, which dates back to the 3^rd millennium BC and was one of the Rhodesian cities that participated in the Trojan War. Ruins of ancient temples to Zeus and Athena lie just outside of a church of the Order of the Knights of Saint John Hospitaller (14^th century). A monastery belonging to the same order stands on the other side of the church. We toured the church and the monastery.

One of my favorite parts of the visit, involved the peacocks. There were a very large number of them. It was mating season, so they had a lot to say. The males were especially noisy and aggressive. We had to keep our eyes open as to where they were the entire time. They were large and could be fallen over or bump into you, especially when they flew by.

I have a photo of a gorgeous male who posed for me (I did not zoom in; he was that close), followed by another who was spreading his tail feathers. As I was taking that photo, another flew right past me, brushing me with his tail feathers as he did so. I took a photo of him sitting up in a tree.

On our way back to the city of Rhodes (both the city and island have the same name), we passed a Hellenistic (5^th – 3^rd centuries BC) Temple of Apollo on the Acropolis of Rhodes. It was on the other side of the tour bus, so I couldn’t get a decent photo. But I have included a fuzzy one that shows it still had three columns standing.

In 1306 – 1310, as the Byzantine period ended, the Order of St John Hospitaller took over the island. They went on a building spree, most of which still stands, including the Fortress of the Order of St John and the Palace of the Grand Master.

They withstood attacks by the Sultan of Egypt and an Ottoman siege, but finally fell to the 100,000 strong (to 7,000 knights) of Suleiman the Magnificent during a six month siege. The Ottomans retained control for roughly 400 years. They didn’t destroy what the knights had built. They just moved in. The Order of St John made their new headquarters in Malta.

We entered the largest medieval town in Europe (population of about 6,000) through the Gate d’Amboise. We viewed a number of fortifications on our way to the Palace of the Grand Master, also known as the Kastello (the castle).

The building was originally built by the Byzantines in the 7^th century AD and greatly enlarged by the Hospitallers. In 1856, there was a large ammunition explosion in part of the Palace that destroyed a portion of the first floor. Once the Italians took over, the Palace was renovated and used as a holiday residence first by the King of Italy and later by Benito Mussolini.

The Palace was very large. Several mosaic floors had been taken from their origins on the Greek island of Kos (which was also under the control of the Hospitallers) and re-laid in the Palace. There is one from the 2^nd century BC of Medusa. I took a photo and have included it here.

After we left the Palace, we headed back towards the harbor down the Street of the Knights. This was where the knights themselves lived. There were seven inns – one for each of the seven countries from which the knights originated. They are all still in great shape. The most spectacular of them all is the one built for the French knights, to which the majority of the group belonged. This inn was built in 1492 and was being used at a French Consulate as of 2014.

Once we reached the main square, we had a little free time before heading back to the ship. I chose to get ice cream (no surprise there) and sit and do some people watching.

Next time – the Islands of Symi & Chios

March 29, 2020

Crete, the Minoans, the Labyrinth and the Minotaur

As mentioned in my last post, in addition to Akrotiri, another potential candidate for Atlantis has been Knossos on Crete. They were hit by an enormous tsunami when Thera erupted in roughly 1600 BC. There are numerous myths and legends associated with Knossos as well.

Our ship docked at Aghios Nikolaos on Crete. We were then driven to Knossos. Although the site had people living there as early as 7000 BC, it was when the Minoans built Knossos at about 2000 BC that it really began to flourish. By 1700 BC, it was a major city with a population of around 100,000.

There is evidence that Knossos still existed after the volcanic eruption and tsunami, but was not repopulated by the Minoans. The Mycenaeans moved in and took it over. The city ended up being totally destroyed in roughly 1300 BC. It isn’t clear as to why or by whom it was destroyed. But it does appear to have been set on fire by somebody.

The Palace is the main part that has been excavated and where we concentrated our exploration. We also concentrated on the Minoan period of habitation. This was where most of the myths and legends came into play.

King Minos, in Greek mythology, had Daedalus (the father of Icarus) construct a labyrinth in his palace to contain the Minotaur. The Minotaur was a man with the head of a bull which had been created when his mother (Minos’ queen, Pasiphae, as part of a curse placed upon her by Poseidon) mated with a magical white bull.

Because he was ticked off with Athens (King Minos didn’t seem to get along well with too many mortals or immortals) he had seven young men and seven young women from Athens sacrificed to the Minotaur every year. On one of those occasions, his daughter, Ariadne, assisted Theseus (one of the young men sent by Athens to be eaten by the Minotaur) in his quest to kill the Minotaur. She provided him with a ball of string so he could find his way back through the labyrinth. Theseus was successful in his quest and he and Ariadne ran off together (though some stories say he abandoned her once they escaped).

No actual labyrinth has ever been found. But some people speculate that the entire palace was Homer’s labyrinth. It is enormous and sprawling with hundreds of rooms, stairways, corridors and numerous levels.

In the far right of the first photo I have included with this post, you can see a double-bladed axe incised in one of the blocks of stone. This is called a labrys and is considered to be a symbol of a labyrinth. This symbol is carved on many blocks of stone all over the Palace at Knossos.

As for the Minotaur, the Minoans worshiped the bull. There are frescoes involving bulls in the Palace, including a large, charging bull near the North Entrance. A very famous fresco is in the room above the throne room of a man flipping over a bull while two women assist. Photos of both are included here.

Minoan columns were created from Cyprus trees, which were inverted to keep them from sprouting. This made the columns wider at the top than at the bottom – the opposite of Greek stone columns. Minoan columns were mostly painted red and mounted on round bases with round pillow-like capitals.

The throne room contained the original alabaster throne. Nobody is certain whether the throne was for a king or a priest or a priestess. Many think that the seat of the throne was clearly made for a female backside, so the priestess idea has become the leader.

I couldn’t get terribly close to it, but I personally didn’t see how the seat was made for a female instead of a male. It frankly looked uncomfortable for either gender. The flowing artwork on the walls featuring griffins has also been considered to be feminine.

When you look at the way humans were depicted in all of the frescoes, they all had the same hairdos and were dressed in just a little something around their waists, covering their buttocks and genitals. The only distinction between genders being that women were portrayed as milky white while men were portrayed as more of a dark red. All of the frescoes, whatever the subject, were colorful with undulating, curved lines. In short – feminine.

Across from the throne room was what appeared to be a ritual bath to the original archaeologists. But later archaeologists had determined that, since there isn’t any kind of a drain, it was more likely an aquarium. I photographed it from a floor above, so the opening you see to the right in the photo is into the throne room.

To the south of the throne room was where several snake goddesses were found. Most were broken into pieces, but two were in good enough shape to be repaired and put on exhibit in the Heraklion Museum.

One of my favorite parts of the Palace was the Queen’s Hall with its dolphin frescoes and the nearby Hall of the Double Axes. This was a double indoor/outdoor chamber that also contained a throne. This throne was not original, however, but a replica. It looks very similar to the throne in the throne room despite the idea that this room was supposed to have been the king’s.

We headed out by the North Entrance, taking a good look at the drainage system as we went. I know. Exciting stuff, right? But a drainage system dating back roughly 4,000 years to a time when hardly any other civilization had one is actually pretty interesting.

In nearby Heraklion, I spent some time in Plateia Venizelou Square with a Venetian fountain and an old Venetian church. The archaeological museum was by the Venetian wall and a bit of a walk from the square. But it was back towards where the bus would be picking us up.

We went back to the ship to have lunch. Mark and I had gyros by the pool and then went back to shore for the afternoon. It was a beautiful day to be on the island of Crete.

Next time – the Island of Rhodes

March 22, 2020

Thera (Santorini) and Atlantis

Santorini is the fairy tale island that you always see in the posters for Greece – white washed buildings with bright blue roofs clinging to the cliffs. Santorini is actually a volcano and the cliffs are the rim of the caldera.

Originally (and still officially) called Thera (or Thira), the island erupted in about 1600 – 1500 BC at the height of the Minoan civilization. It was one of the greatest volcanic explosions known in history. Its massive eruption was thought to have likely been a direct cause of the end of the Minoan civilization and is considered to possibly be what was behind Plato’s story of Atlantis.

Although currently classified as a dormant volcano, Thera has had a certain amount of activity happening under water. It has also pushed up a volcanic island in the middle of the caldera (which broke the surface in the 1700s). This island, Nea Kameni, has erupted three times in the 20^th century – the last time in 1950 – and Santorini experienced a nasty earthquake in 1956. The current active crater on Nea Kameni gives off steam and carbon dioxide. In 2012, Nea Kameni pushed itself up even further, giving off a few tremors as it did so.

As for Atlantis, there has long been two main candidates – Knossos on Crete and Akrotiri on Santorini. Both were Minoan. While Crete experienced an enormous tsunami, Akrotiri was buried under volcanic ash, much like Pompeii.

Akrotiri can be traced as far back as the fifth millennium BC. By the third millennium BC, it had grown enormously into an important trade route. The streets were paved and included an extensive drainage system. They had hot and cold running water, high quality pottery and jewelry. Other arts and crafts also flourished. They were considered to be quite sophisticated. All of this ended with the eruption of Thera.

Many scientific studies of Akrotiri’s seismological, volcanic and archaeological evidence has led more and more people to believe that it could match Plato’s description. Since I am fascinated by ancient civilizations, I was very interested in seeing Akrotiri. An excursion was offered, but not enough people wanted to go. So it was canceled and those of us that were interested were left with seeing some of the items from the excavation in a museum in the town of Fira.

The port at Santorini was much too small for even a smaller cruise ship like ours. So our ship parked itself next to Nea Kameni and we went down to the 2^nd deck to climb onboard a tender to take to the harbor at Ormos Anthinios. There we met a bus that zig-zagged its way up the side of the caldera and drove past Fira on its way to Oia.

Oia is the town on all of the posters and postcards. It is quite beautiful as well as somewhat disturbing for someone who is not a fan of heights. You can see what I mean when you look at the photos.

Although it was in existence prior to Venetian rule (starting in 1207), there doesn’t seem to be much known about Oia prior to that date. It has always clung to the cliffs of the rim of the caldera. For a time, it was a fishing village. The 1956 earthquake heavily damaged several of the buildings and the population fell to slightly over 300 people. But, with the rise in tourism, it has since risen to roughly 1,500.

After taking a look at the lovely Church of Panagia on the town square, we walked all the way to the end of the island to the remains of the fort. Then we sauntered back at our own pace, taking tons of photos along the way. It was a very hot day, so I stopped for ice cream part of the way back, sitting in the air conditioning by a window inside of the café and watching other tourists go by.

There really isn’t much there other than the village itself and how photogenic it is. It truly is a photographer’s paradise. It is tough to take a bad picture. There is also just the one main pedestrian only street, so if you don’t venture too far from it, it is also difficult to get lost.

From Oia, we traveled back to Fira where he had free time to do what we wanted and get back to the ship on our own, making sure that we knew when the last tender was leaving. I started my time at the museum that contained some of the items excavated from Akrotiri – the Museum of Prehistoric Thera. They had some frescoes transported along with their walls, plus pottery, and such items as incense burners.

Once I had finished with the museum, I climbed back up to the town square and sat down, looking out at the beautiful water, to contemplate what I wanted to do next. Did I want to try to join some of the others from our group for a large and leisurely lunch there, or return to the ship and have a free (already included in the price of the cruise) and equally leisurely lunch there.

Some of the other members of group came by and asked me what I planned to do. Some of them were feeling cheap (or should I say “frugal”) too, so we climbed to the top of Fira to get the cable car down to the old harbor at Skala Fira. Then we took the tender back to the ship and had lunch on the outside terrace on Deck #5. After lunch, we continued to sit in the shade on that terrace and stare at Santorini while the other folks from our ship sat on a terrace at Fira, staring down at our ship.

Next time – Crete, the Minoans, the Labyrinth and the Minotaur.

March 15, 2020

Istanbul, Ephesus and an Earthquake

Our first two days on the cruise consisted of stops at Istanbul and Kasudasi (Ephesus) in Turkey. Although I had been on a two week tour of Turkey which included time in both cities just a few years earlier, I was looking forward to returning. I had really enjoyed Turkey when I was there before. It was a great country with friendly people, an amazing history, and some fascinating things to see and do that were quite unique.

I had the option of signing up for tours of my choice or just hanging out in each place on my own. We had set sail for Istanbul as soon as we left Lavion and arrived shortly after breakfast. I had signed up for a tour that included Topkapi Palace, the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia.

When I had been in Istanbul (formerly Constantinople and, even earlier, Byzantium) the last time, I had been quite ill by the time we were touring those locations. They had also been experiencing a monsoon-like rain while we were at Topkapi Palace which greatly limited my getting around that particular location. This time, the tour began at the Palace.

On my previous visit, I had spent the majority of my time in the harem. I had never seen a harem before and doubted strongly that I would ever get the opportunity to tour one again. This one was famous, enormous, and had been in use from the 15^th century to the early 20^th century. So, armed with a map showing roughly 90 rooms (out of what is believed to be about 400 rooms total) open to the public, I had explored every inch of it that I could. As wonderful as it was to see, I didn’t have much time left to see much else other than the area with the Sacred Relics.

This time, I headed straight for the Imperial Treasury. One of the prize pieces in the treasury was the Topkapi Dagger. This dagger had been made in 1747 by the Sultan Mahmud I for the Shah of Persia. But the Shah was murdered before he could receive his present, so the dagger stayed at the Palace. It was featured in the film Topkapi during which a heist of the dagger took place.

There is also an enormous diamond called the Spoonmaker’s Diamond. Nobody knows the origins of the diamond, but there have been several legends put forth regarding who may have owned and why they parted with it.

The collection holds several more pieces of jewelry, solid gold candlesticks encrusted with diamonds, the throne of Mahmud I (layered with emeralds and pearls), various weapons decorated with jewels, and the right hand and forearm of John the Baptist encased in gold.

With all of the pieces of him that seem to be on display around the world, I wonder how much of John the Baptist could be left in the tomb that was supposedly his in Egypt. This is one of three alleged right hand and forearms of John in existence and the number of heads claimed by different places as his is staggering.

On my previous visit, I had gone into the part of the Palace containing the Sacred Relics. Most of them had to do with Muhammad, but there was also a room that contained what were reported to be Abraham’s Pot, Joseph’s Turban, Moses’ Staff, and David’s Sword.

This time I didn’t have nearly as much time at Topkapi as during the previous visit, so I wandered around the different courtyards and spent a little time sitting out on the terrace that overlooked the Bosphorus before I needed to rejoin the rest of the group for lunch.

After lunch, we sort of waved at the Hippodrome as we went by on our way to the Blue Mosque. We didn’t stay there long either. But the interior with its tiles and domes is the main thing to see.

Onwards to Hagia Sophia with which I had fallen madly in love when I was last in Istanbul. Built in 532-537 AD over an earlier 4^th century church, the building survived many earthquakes over the centuries and the Ottomans as well. Instead of destroying the church, the Ottomans simply covered up the mosaics and turned it into a mosque. Now that the building is a museum, the mosaics have been uncovered and they are glorious.

This trip, we didn’t have any free time in Hagia Sophia to be able to go exploring on our own, so I didn’t get to go up the ramp to the gallery. Instead of stairs, the building still has its original 1500 year old ramps to enable movement from floor to floor. I had really felt like I was traveling back in time with those ancient ramps and felt sad that I didn’t have the time to revisit them or the wonderful mosaics in the gallery.

One of my dream trips would be to return to Istanbul, spend a lot of time at the Hagia Sophia and maybe tour the harem again. Then take the Orient Express from Istanbul to Venice, spending some time in Venice before heading home.

From Hagia Sophia, we continued to the Grand Bazaar. I would have preferred to stay at Hagia Sophia, but…. It was not nearly as crowded or higgledy-piggledy as the one in Cairo had been. It was more shops than stalls. I had really loaded myself up with Turkish tchotchkes on my prior trip. So, other than a small package of pistachio Turkish Delight, I refrained.

Our little group of seven sat together at dinner again. Then we went to the show. It was a rock’n’roll show which might have been why we missed the earthquake. Honestly, there was a 6.9 magnitude (severe) earthquake in the Aegean between Greece and Turkey at roughly 9:30pm. Canakkale (where ancient Troy was located) suffered quite a bit of damage and a couple hundred injuries. There were buildings destroyed and people injured all over Greece and Turkey (and even some in Bulgaria).

We were heading to the Dardanelles from the Sea of Marmara when it struck. Maybe it was the fact that we were on a ship and/or that we were not yet out in the Aegean itself that lessened the impact of the initial earthquake and its several aftershocks (one of which was 5.3 and struck around midnight).

I think it was just a matter of timing. Had it hit right as we came out of the Dardanelles into the Aegean at Canakkale, it could have been very unpleasant, especially if there had been a Tsunami associated with it.

We weren’t docking at Kasudasi until around 3pm, so we could sleep late and do shipboard activities until then. Not wanting to disturb anybody, I didn’t knock on any doors for breakfast. But Mark caught up with me at the stairs (we were only one deck away from where they did the breakfast and lunch buffets), so we had breakfast together. He ran off to the casino and I headed for a Greek cooking demonstration. We were able to sample the foods they cooked and they gave us recipes so we could make the dishes at home.

At lunch time, out by the pool, they made a seafood dish with mussels, shrimp, crab, rice, various vegetables and some spices in a giant wok. It was delicious. Although I watched them make it, I haven’t been able to completely duplicate it (likely because I didn’t necessarily recognize what all the vegetables and spices were).

We arrived in Kasudasi at 3:30pm. I had signed up for the tour of Ephesus and the Virgin Mary’s house. This was where the Apostle John had brought Mary to live after Jesus entrusted her to his care. She had a tiny stone house way up on a mountain near Ephesus. We visited there first. I really liked the atmosphere of the place. It was very serene and peaceful.

Then it was Ephesus. I had been there before too and thought it was one of the coolest ancient Greek/Roman cities I had ever seen (originally built in the 10^th century BC). When I had been there before, Trajan’s Fountain had been in scaffolding for some restoration. It was done this time and I could see it in all its glory.

For about three years, the Apostle Paul had lived in a dwelling that had been just behind the Library of Celsus — an exquisitely beautiful building down at the end of the steeply sloping street we took down into the town from the Agora and past the Odeon from the entrance. It was in Ephesus where we began to hear about the earthquake of the night before. It had been felt quite strongly there.

On my prior trip I had begun to run out of time by the time I got to the theatre. This time I made it a priority. It had an estimated seating capacity of 25,000 and is thought to have been the largest theatre in the classical world. It certainly seemed to me to be the largest I had ever seen. Paul preached at the theatre. He got around quite a bit before he got arrested, hauled off to Rome and ultimately beheaded.

On our way back to the ship, we stopped off at a carpet place. We were given a delicious tea and shown loads and loads of carpets. Did I resist? Not 100%. I ended up buying a very intricately woven small wall hanging. I figured that it went well with the curved Turkish dagger I purchased on my earlier trip to Turkey.

We didn’t arrive back at the ship until shortly after 9pm and went to a dinner buffet that was open until 10pm. Slept very well for another night. The gentle rocking that sometimes happens on a ship was working its magic on me.

Next time – Thera (Santorini) and Atlantis