The Colosseum

The Roman Colosseum is likely one of the most photographed and recognized structures in the world.  It's ancient, it's big and it's full of history. Maybe not "great" history. Or "nice" history, but it has history all the same.

I've stumbled onto multiple ways to spell it (much like Majorca in Spain I found out) but I've decided to stick with Colosseum for now. Blogger doesn't like it. Word doesn't like it. But I really don't care much.

The Roman Colosseum - also known by it's lesser name Flavian Amphitheater - was started in 70AD and completed in 80AD.  It's mainly built of concrete and stone and at one time had some impressive marble on it. The Vatican "recycled" that marble and is now housed at the Vatican on some wall some where.

 

Side note: The Vatican, it turns out, "recycled" a lot of marble from multiple locations throughout Rome and other countries.

The Colosseum was, in it's day, a sporting arena. In fact, the word "arena" comes from the days from which the "games" were played there. The floor was essential covered in sand, "arena" in Latin, and thus the modern word arena is created. We learned about a lot of words we use today that basically came from Latin and back from the ancient times. Fascinating stuff, I tell ya. The Colosseum could hold up to 80,000 spectators and like many things during that time, your station in life, or wealth, dictated where you sat.

This cross shows where the emperor would sit. Essentially 50 yard line on the field. Slaves and others with a lesser lot in life would stand on the top floors. The Colosseum had 4 levels and as you got higher, the less wealthy you were. Not a lot has changed in 2000 years.

The floor is now completely gone. Exposed is the two-level subterranean network of tunnels and cages where gladiators and animals were held before the contests began. Eighty vertical shafts provided instant access to the arena for caged animals and the like. They've built a small portion of the floor out to give everyone a better understanding of what it may have looked like back then. I tried to get a photo of the floor with people on it to better show the scale of how large this place was.

The Colosseum is probably most popular for the Christian games they played there.  The tour guide we had didn't go into much detail, but she did recount that it was, at the time, a great spectacle for a Christian to fight either a beast of some sort (usually a lion) or one of the army's best gladiators.  The crowd would often decide if the "contestant" lived or died. Brutal things went on here in the form of entertainment.  Something we really can't comprehend in our time.

They have unearthed several artifacts from the Colosseum and have them on display.  As we walked through the halls (with thousands of our closest friends) I was struck, again, with just how talented and skilled the people in Rome were.  They built masterpieces with their bare hands and had little technology to do so.  It fascinated me to see the beauty in their work.



This piece below had just recently been discovered and put on display.  They aren't quite sure who was riding this horse, or why it was in the Colosseum, but it's another magnificent piece of history.

This photo they had next to it kinda showed the process they went through in digging it out and restoring it.

 The outside of the Colosseum had many statues of important people of the time, Popes, Emperors etc.  These heads were all that were found of those statues.

Misc artifacts that were found throughout the Colosseum during much of the excavation.  At one point the Colosseum was filled with water. One of the emperors wanted a lake and so flooded the area with water and much of the Colosseum and a good part of the forum were under water. In fact, in one of the temples in the forum you can see lines on the columns where chains were put and the conquers (I can't remember who) tried to pull down the temple by toppling the columns. They were unsuccessful.

I don't have any photos of the Colosseum from my trip 28 years ago. I'm really unsure as to why. It seems like even back then a photo of that building would have been important to me. But who knows. I have plenty now.

This little shadow reminded me of Marvin the Martian for some reason. I had to take a shot of it.

Tomorrow I'll regale you with stories and photos of the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. Lot's of ruins and stories (most of which I don't remember) to share.

Trevi Fountain

28 years ago I took a picture of the Trevi Fountain. Just one. And it really wasn't a good photo. It was an overcast day and I had my Dad's old Pentax with no idea how to use it. The photo is dark and grainy, but someone the beauty of the Trevi Fountain still shines through.

When I last left off on our Roma adventure I left you with us climbing up a huge hill only to discover the fountain was a block or so from where we paid 48EU for beer and water.  Had we had our wits about us we might have heard the noise coming from down the alley way.

I wish I would have taken a photo of the HOARDS of people that were at the fountain that day, but I didn't. I was too tired of people by then and too much in the zone of getting in, getting the photos, and getting out. I really wanted to go back in the evening at some point, but frankly we just didn't have it in us. We were tired, and drained by the end of each day that the thought of hopping in a cab and getting to the fountain was just not something I wanted to entertain.

Next time I go to Rome, it'll be JUST to Rome.

The Trevi fountain is magical to me. The story goes that if you toss a coin in the fountain it'll guarantee you'll return to Rome. I tossed a coin 28 years ago, and sure enough I returned to Rome. It was, however, pointed out to me that I should have paid the  Trevi Fountain more and maybe I would have returned to Rome sooner.  This time I took no chances and gave the fountain a big 2EU coin. Plus, the money is removed every night and given to the Italian Red Cross to help feed the hungry. I felt okay giving my donation to the fountain for such a good cause. They estimate that 3,000EU are tossed in the fountain daily.  That's a lot of moola to feed the hungry.



Tossing my coin in the fountain was an adventure to be sure. The actual act of tossing wasn't, but getting to the fountain was like nothing I've experienced before. Did I mention the HOARDS of people there? Yah, and I might add, not all of them really considerate of the others around them.

I stole this photo from the Internet so you can get an idea of how many people were there. And I still don't think this does it justice.

Photo from MyPostageStamp.com

I sharpened my elbows and worked my way rather rudely to the edge of the fountain. The people around me were doing the same, so I figured, "When in Rome...".

Oh and be sure to notice the hot, tired, sweaty hair.  We had not only traveled the entire night to get to Rome (makes for bad airplane hair), but then it was hot and I was sweaty and gross...which gave to the hot, sweaty, airplane hair. Fashionista I ain't.




Mom, Jack and Suzi had to do the same. And sadly once they got down there they tossed their coins almost immediately. I wasn't ready for them and didn't get the actual tossing of the coin. So I made them do it again and "pretend" to toss the coin so I could capture it on film. 

20 minutes later they got through the crowds and back up on the platform.

Now, about the fountain. It is no doubt likely on of the most photographed fountains in the world.  Just searching for it online and you'll find HUNDREDS if not thousands of photos.  

The fountain was designed by Nicola Salvi and then created by Pietro Bracci. I was sure the fountain was a Bernini design, but I was wrong. What? I can be wrong once in a while. But, in my research I found out that a Pope asked Bernini to draw a sketch of it. That project was killed and Bernini never really did more on it. There are touches of Bernini in the fountain, they say.

This Baroque style fountain is 86ft high and 161ft wide. Legend holds that in 19 BC thirsty Roman soldiers were guided by a young girl to a source of pure water thirteen kilometers from the city of Rome. The discovery of the source led Augustus to commission the construction of a twenty-two kilometer aqueduct leading into the city, which was named Aqua Virgo, or Virgin Waters, in honor of the legendary young girl. The aqueduct served the hot Baths of Agrippa, and Rome, for over four hundred years.  The fountain is at the junction of three roads that were once the aqueducts into Rome.

Well that takes care of day one in Rome. Later today, or perhaps tomorrow I'll enlighten you with my stores of the Colisseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. I know you're waiting with baited breath. I mean, who wouldn't be, right?

The Pantheon

The MomUnit and I are "recovering" a little bit more every day from our marathon trip.  We're still not 100% sure where we went or what we did. In order to combat the loss of anything useful in my noggin (as it applies to this trip anyways), I'm going to go back and start posting photos and elaborating a bit more. Some might be bored with all the history that might come out, but if you've been to Europe you know that history walks right up and smacks you in the face. And how is it that history is WAY more interesting as an adult than it ever was as a kid. The Lieutenant on our trip (my younger sister) said it best I think, "I actually want to learn something now."

The Pantheon was another spot where I can recall somewhat vividly being there. I have just one old photo of this massive structure, and frankly it wasn't a very good photo.

The Pantheon, I'm told, is a structure that was designed to be a temple to "all" the gods. It really is quite impressive and massive. Marcus Agrippa commissioned it in 27 AD to be built for a temple to represent all the Roman Gods. Then Hadrian rebuilt it in 126AD.  Does it amaze anyone else that it's still standing?

As I mentioned the building is massive. Just look at the little people standing out front. Those aren't "Honey-I-Shrunk-The-Kids" kind of people. Those are normal size people.

The Pantheon is circular and has these HUGE pure granite columns our front. Each column is ONE piece of granite. Inside you are greeted with an ominous feeling that this building has some significance. 

The ceiling is a - here's that word again - massive concrete ceiling with a central opening (I think they called it an oculus). It's the only source of light inside.  According to Wikipedia, and Rick Steves, "Almost two thousand years after it was built, the Pantheon's dome is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome."

The height to the oculus and the diameter of the interior circle are the same 142 ft.

Once inside there are tombs to ancient Roman's. Since the 7th century, the Pantheon has been used as a Roman Catholic church dedicated to "St. Mary and the Martyrs" but informally known as "Santa Maria Rotonda.".

Outside the Pantheon is a piazza (where in Rome isn't a piazza is a good question.) It's officially called Piazza della Rotonda, though I never refered to it that way. It was always, "where the Pantheon is."

In the center of the piazza is the Fontana del Panthoen - clever name eh? - and has one of many Egyptian obelisks in the center of it. The fountain was built in 1571 and the obelisk was added in 1771. Interesting little tidbit I read in one of the guide books.  Because the piazza is sloped slightly there are two steps on one side of the fountain and five on the other to adjust for this sloping to make the fountain balanced. Those Romans always being smart.

The 20-foot red marble Egyptian obelisk was actually contructed by Pharaoh Ramses II in Eqypt. The Romans stole it - like many others - and brought it back to Rome.

The obelisk was rediscovered in 1375 underneath part of the Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva.

After all the walking around Piazza Navona, then walking to the Pantheon we all needed a break before trekking to the Trevi Fountain.  We found this little café on the corner on one of the many alley like streets and we sat down. Jack, Suzi, the MomUnit and I all ordered a bottle of water and a beer.

As we took our time sipping this ice cold refreshing beer we checked out the map to try to make heads or tails of where the Trevi Fountain was. It is easy to get turned around in Rome in that there are many little alley ways that don't actually show up on the map. So if you're "counting" streets, you're bound to get lost.

We thought we had a plan and were sure we knew where to go. As we sat outside discussing it, Jack went in to pay for the beers. Awfully nice of him, wasn't it?  

He walked back out and he had this very puzzled look on his face, and was a bit pale.  He sat and sighed slightly. Then in a somewhat shocked voice he said, "Those 4 beers and 4 waters cost us 48EU." Let me do the math for you. That's $66.49.  To say we were slightly shocked is putting it mildly.

We finished our expensive beers, and packed our expensive bottle water in our packs and off we went. We were all slightly dumbfounded so just started walking in a straight-ish direction. In front of us was an enormous hill, with about 4 flights of steps at the top. 

We started to climb.

And climb....

And climb....

I reached the top first and noticed that there was no fountain.  I walked back to the steps where the MomUnit, Jack and Suzi were just about to the top. The MomUnit said, "There had BETTER be a fountain at the top of this hill." I didn't have the guts to tell her no at that point.

Once at the top we realized we were by one of the many government buildings in Rome. Not the Trevi Fountain.

I asked the guard in broken Italian, "Dov 'e la Fontana del Trevi?" He pointed BACK down the hill and said in perfect English, "Second right."

BACK down the hill we went. Grumbling and making comments about how stupid the map was, etc.

The second right? Yah, it was the corner our expensive beers lived.  Had we zigged instead of zagged we would have easily found the fountain.

Piazza Navona

Of all my memories of Rome from 28 years ago, Piazza Navona seemed to stand out the most. It's a spacious, oval-esk rectangle-esk square that has three of the most amazing fountains in Rome - in my opinion.  I can remember myself and my school friend wandering the square and marveling at the fountains - well, until we got distracted by gelato. I guess not a lot has changed over the years.

 

 

 

 
 

The piazza was built on the site of the "Stadium of Domitian" in the 1 century AD.  That was a LONG, LONG, LONG time ago and it amazes me it's still standing.  It's said that the Roman's in the 1st century came here to watch the "games" or competitions. I'm assuming this was before the coliseum was built for those purposes. 

 

Piazza Navona is full of Baroque Roman architecture and displays three amazing fountains designed by Bernini.  

 

The center fountain is called Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (The Four Rivers). It features four figures that each represents a river from a different continent: the Nile, Ganges, Danube and Rio de la Plata.  These statues sit at the base of a rock that is supporting a huge Egyptian obelisk in the middle.

 

 

There are two other fountains in the piazza as well. At the southern end is the Fontana del Moro (Moor Fountain) that has 4 tritons and was sculpted in 1575. To the north end of the piazza sits the Fontana del Nettuno (Fountain of Neptune). Both fountains were scuplted by Giacomo della Porta.

A nun sitting in front of the Fontana del Moro

One of the four tritons

Fontana del Nettuno

Mom, Suzi and I in front of the Fontana del Nettuno

The piazza was crowed the day we arrived. It's a local hang out for school kids when they've finished the day of studies. I mean who wouldn't want to hang out in this piazza and eat gelato.

Home Sweet Home

I've said it before and I'll say it again...

It's always nice to go on vacation, and it's even nicer to come home.

We love our homes. Our beds. Our cats. Our toilets. Our food. Everything is familiar and because of that we are drawn to come home.

Though, admittedly in a couple of our stops if a rich, handsome Italian who wanted a voluptuous, well socialized, witty, charming American woman in her mid-40's - who can cook to stay in his expensive villa and be catered too all day had asked me to stay, I might have arranged to have the demons and Sparky shipped over.

This vacation was nothing short of a full on marathon. It was 15 days of nonstop action and adventure.  It went by soo fast - as I thought it might - and now I'm left wondering what the hell happened.

I need a week or so to at least process where we were, what we saw, what we ate, etc. It isn't so much processing the big stuff, right. We know where we went, what we saw etc. But it's about processing the small stuff. The smells, the sounds, the attitudes, the little things that make a city unique. THOSE are the things I want to spend some time thinking about and documenting. THOSE are the things that make the trip more of a reality. I know, at the end of the day, it was a trip of a lifetime and one I'll not soon forget - as long as I write out all that stuff or I will forget.

I took 2038 photos and have processed them down to about a thousand. From those I'll process them down a bit more.  Less than I expected, but I really feel good about the photos I got. I have a blog percolating about taking photos under what I now call "extreme travel conditions". There were so many things I hadn't anticipated and because of that I wasn't on my game as much as I had hoped.

So over the next couple of posts I'll be posting more photos and adding some running commentary on the history or what not. It's helpful to me to post those details with the photos, so you may get some repeat from previous blogs. But you'll deal with it just fine.

Naples, Italy

Wow what a day. We were off the ship the ENTIRE day. In fact, all aboard time was 5:30pm tonight and our bus dropped us off at 5:37.  Long day, but fun.  

We started our day early … well early for vacation… and departed at 8am. Our first order of business was to drive the beautiful Amalfi Coast. Stunning doesn’t even explain just how beautiful this coast line is. Houses barely hanging on the cliff. Lemon orchards clutched to the side of the hills. The turquoise blue of the Mediterranean ocean as it’s back drop. Just beautiful.  

The road was another nail biter. Narrow lanes with a drop off on the right side of the bus. Lucky me was on the right side (best side for photos) and let me tell you, while not catholic I did feel a need a few times to raise a little prayer to every Saint I could think of. Those bus drivers really are worth the weight in gold. To not only send our bus careening over the side, but missing all the on-coming traffic, all the houses and buildings on the road, and somehow maintaining a good spirit. Amazing. Truly amazing.  

The Amalfi Coast is 37 miles long with 1090 curves in it. No lie. I felt every …. Single…. One …  

We spent about an hour in the town of Amalfi and got to walk around. Today it was only Mike, Bev and I on this tour so we had less chickens to herd in a small town full of tourist.  Our first order of business was to get gelato.  I have been successful in my goal of gelato every day. I think I might have missed one day, but made up for it the next day by having it twice. Seems only fair.  

The town had shops of ceramic and misc other touristy stuff. The Amalfi region is known for their lemons – and boy were there lemons everywhere. Some lemons were larger than my head…no lie. I got photos to prove it – which I’ll eventually post when I get to a place where Internet doesn’t cost so much and is fast again.  

After our time in Amalfi, we stopped just outside Salerno and had lunch in this beautiful hotel that was, like so many others, hanging on the cliff. The food was just ok – nothing exciting. I was rather sad that lunch was included because I wanted to get a pizza in Naples. Oh well. Next time.  

With our bellies full (kinda) we were off to Pompeii.  One of our class trips in the spring of 1987 we stopped in Pompeii.  I remember it very different back then. Not as many people, and certainly not the marketing craziness that was outside the sight.  Vendors everywhere selling whatever they can to get your money.   

Our tour guide today, Manuela, was outstanding. She talked the entire time. Funny too. She was constantly making little funny jokes while we were in the bus on the coast. She had a running commentary with regards to the other drivers and some pedestrians on the narrow roads.  My favorite expression from her was how she spoke about going to the bathroom. She told this store about how pee used to be a commodity in ancient times because it was used as a bleach. I, personally, think she was full of something other than pee. Still it was amusing.  Her story went on to explain that pee is essentially ammonia. Which it is. So then every time we had a toilet stop she would tell us it was our opportunity to give our ammonia deposit. It was quite funny, but I guess you had to be there.

Anyhow, Pompeii was destroyed in 79BC by Mount Vesuvius. Its 20,000 inhabitants were all killed and the city was buried in ash.  So many of the ruins are still standing, but you do have to use your imagination to understand what they were.   

My favorite part of the tour was the walk down the “red light” district of Pompeii. They had 26 brothels. One brothel remained quite intact and above the doors to the rooms there are frescos depicting what “flavor” or “position” you’d like. I kid you not. Then just outside the brothel area were symbols in the stone of the male organ pointing the way to the brothels. Why I found this part of the tour so amusing is beyond me.  

We spent about 2 hours in Pompeii walking on VERY uneven stone roads and when we finally got back to the bus, I was done. Tired. Pooped. Ready to sleep.  

Tonight we’re packing. Our cruise is coming to an end and now we have to go back to reality. Secretly, I’m ready to be home.  I always say it’s nice to go on vacation, but it’s nicer to come home. 

Final count of photos will be posted in the next couple of days. I didn’t take nearly as many as I thought I might.

Palermo, Sicily

Greetings from Palermo, Sicily. Home of the mafia and the Godfather. Ok, so I’m not 100% sure about the mafia, but it sounds about right. I found myself saying, "Leave the gun. Take the cannoli." all day.

I heart this city. It’s dirty, and grimy, and graffiti everywhere, but there was something about it that just felt very Italian. Of course the MASSIVE scoop of gelato I had today might have something to do with it.  

We took another excursion today. The bulk of it was driving around Palermo in which our guide spouted of some amazing history. I wish she would have gone more into WWII history, but I get the feeling they aren’t as interested in it as I am.  

Our first stop this morning was at the Cappucini Catacombs. I had done some research on the catacombs prior to leaving so I knew what to expect. It was one of the stops on this cruise I was most excited and interested in – especially photography wise. Turned out we couldn’t take photos. In fact, there was no way I could even sneak a photo because it was so quite down there.  

Anyhow, the Cappucini friars started this back in the 1700’s some time. Where the wealthiest were embalmed – ish and then put out for display for lack of a better way to explain it. Buried in the best clothing, and really well persevered. It was morbidly fascinating.  I’ll tell you more about it when I post the postcards I had to buy instead of photos. It really was quite interesting. Mom wasn’t thrilled to be down there – but Bev and I found it just fascinating. I kept saying to her, “I see dead people.” She just rolled her eyes at me and kept walking on. 

After that we stopped at two Oratorios. I’m not really sure how to explain them other than they aren’t churches and men who were artists, or men of influence during the time gathered to discuss things. I’m dying to get home and look up what it really is all about, but suffice it to say, our tour guide eluded to “families” meeting here…as in you can’t come in unless your father before you was a member. Almost mafia like.  

The first one we visited was the Oratorio of Santa Cita.  I forget the artist’s name, but Oh…My…goodness. He depicted the rosary prayers in these beautiful stucco (yes stucco) carvings. It was all white with a few little accents of gold every now and then. The artist had these little frames, if you will, in which he showed a story of the rosary. For example, one frame showed the crucifixion of Christ and another showed the ascension. There were twelve in total I think. He also included some historical depictions too. There was a battle at one point where the Catholic Church was fighting the Moor’s and the artist had a frame showing the battle. Really fascinating, and beautiful work. 

From there we walked to a second Oratorio – whose name I completely forget. It was more subdued. A bit darker inside, more paintings and less stucco carvings. It was beautiful in its own way, but not, in my opinion, as beautiful as the other. 

We finished our walking tour in a little piazza where we were given some free time to have a cappuccino or something to eat. We planted ourselves at a table at a café and ordered cappuccinos all around. I spotted the gelato stand and decided it was time for a gelato. I asked for one scoop of some flavor that looked good (it had chocolate and amaretto in it I later found out) in a cup/cone thingy they had. The scoop, turned out, was as big as my head.  But man, that gelato was so darn good. I am sure I’m going to dream about it tonight. Either that or the dead people I saw in the catacombs. 

Tomorrow is our last day on the cruise. We hit Naples tomorrow. My excursion will be Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast. I’m sooooo excited to go to Pompeii. Bev, Mike and I are the only three going on this excursion and I think we’re all equally excited about it. 

Cagliari, Sardinia

Today we were in Cagliari, Sardinia. I learned three very important things today.

1.       Cag-Lee-Are-EEE is not how you pronounce it. It’s more like saying the word Calgary.

2.       That the Pope can decide what country you belong to.

3.       You can get too much Nutella.

So on the bus bright and early this morning and the tour guide, who was exceptional, kept saying this weird word. I could tell it was in reference to where we were and what we were seeing, but I couldn’t, for the life of me, figure out what the word was. Then about 30 minutes in I realized she was saying the correct pronunciation for Cagliari. More like Cah-yar-lee, than Cag-Lee-Are-ee, which was how I was pronouncing it.  

They speak two languages here; Italian and Sardinian. And two are VERY different. She gave us examples of words like Yes in Italian is Si. Yes in Sardinian is eeya.  

Cagliari on a whole was rather boring. It’s Easter Sunday so EVERYTHNG was closed. We couldn’t go into the cathedral because of church services, and all the shops and restaurants, well most of them, were closed.  

The history of this island was interesting to me. They were conquered so many times it really isn’t funny. Makes for an interesting history, but man, who knew one place could be “owned” by so many different countries and people in a relatively short time.  

At one point the Sardinians won their independence from Spain, I think, and a year later the Pope decided Sardinia belonged to Italy and Corsica to France.  So Italy sent the Savoy family here to “rule”.  I had no idea the Pope could do that.  

Anyhow, we walked through their old town and like many of the places here most of it was destroyed in WWII.  In fact, the American’s bombed Sardinia as a decoy at one point.  

After walking through old town it started to rain – well sprinkle really. Lots of pansies on this tour. “oh it’s raining.” Haha…that ain’t rain.  Anyhow, after walking through old town we headed down the hill to meet the bus. We had about 30 minutes of free time and oddly enough we found ourselves in a bar that served food, coffee, beer, wine, and gelato. Who knew?  

I first had a cup of Baci candy gelato. OMG it was delicious. And since I didn’t have gelato yesterday, I felt I deserved another cup. So I got a cup of Nutella gelato. Now in the past the Nutella gelato is “flavored” with Nutella. This was, and I’m not kidding, straight frozen Nutella. It was so rich and thick and a bit too much for this girl. I ate about three quarters and had to stop. STRAIGHT Nutella….I will admit I was in heaven, but I had to stop.  

Back on the boat we had a couple of hours before dinner. Mom napped, I worked on cleaning up my photos. We had reservations tonight for Tappinyaki – the Japanese BenniHanah type restaurant. It was delicious and entertaining and well worth the extra money. We’re getting tired of the food. 

On a side note, I had an odd thought this morning. Well, odder than normal.  I was thinking that while on the one and I’m thoroughly enjoying myself, on the other hand I’m ready to be home. This cruise when we signed up for it and it having only one sea day made me happy. Now, having been sprinting since we stepped foot in Rome, I rethinking how happy I was. I could have used another sea day.  

Tomorrow we’re in Palermo Sicily. It should be fun and I’m looking forward to seeing the city.

Palma, Majorca

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the unexpected stop on our itinerary. Originally Tunisia was our port of call, but the Tunisian government decided they wouldn’t allow anyone with an Israeli passport to step foot on their land. So, Norwegian said, well then we’ll go someplace else.  

Enter Majorca. 

I didn’t have much time to do research on this little island in the Mediterranean, so I didn’t know really what to expect.  I think I’m glad it happened that way. Then I had no expectations and was pleasantly surprised at this sleepy little island.  

Majorca doesn’t really have any industry here. They do export olive oil that is supposed to be some of the best in the world. So far every port has had “the best olive oil in the world”, so who knows. The island is covered in almond, olive, orange and lemon trees – well once you’re outside the major city of Palma.  

Our excursion today was a train ride to two little villages in the mountains, Soller (pronounced so-yer) and Valldemossa (pronounced vah-yey-de-mo-sah). The train was an old fashion electric train whose seats were not made for fat American’s. It was a beautiful train ride through the countryside. Groves of trees everywhere you looked. I can only imagine what this looked like when these trees were blooming.  

The train ride did take us through a couple of tunnels through the mountain. The tour guide warned us saying there were about 10 tunnels. There were 13 and she failed to mention the on that took us almost 8 minutes to get through. Me no likey tunnels.  

Once on the other side though, we were greeted with a spectacular view of the town of Soller in the valley below.   

The train stopped in Soller and we were given about 20 minutes to wander the streets, maybe shop, maybe buy some coffee, maybe pee, whatever we wanted.  So mom and I found a little coffee shop and we had a cappuccino. I didn’t, sadly, get to finish my cappuccino. I waited too long to use the restroom and the line for the women’s was too long (funny how they have the same issue we do). The men’s room, however, was vacant, so I figured why not. My first problem was the toilet had not seat. So in order to hover without falling on my face, I grabbed onto the sink that was right in front of me.  As I was doing my business I was plunged into pitch black. The light went out.  

“Oh god,” was all I could think. Luckily I knew where the toilet paper was, but still I waved my hands thinking it was a motion detector.  But alas, it wasn’t just a light switch that after a certain amount of time it turns off. I guess that’ll teach me to use the men’s bathroom.  

By the time I made it out, it was time to meet the tour guide. She then walked us through the very narrow, very quaint, very charming streets of Soller to catch the coach at the top of a hill.  

From Soller we drove on a TEENY TINY, two lane, small car only type mountain road. Cliff on one side, and no room on the other. We met, on a regular basis, other tour buses coming down the mountain. How these drivers do it is beyond me. At one point, I swear to god there was maybe 3 inches between the tour bus coming down the hill and our bus.  The twisty, turny, road might have had some beautiful scenery but I was too busy watching us narrowly miss other cars and busses.  

Arriving in Valldemossa the tour guide offered us two options. We could either go with her to the monastery, or we could shop. I opted to go to the monastery – I mean, I could shop any time.  We started up this very small, and I mean very small hill, and mom opted to stay behind and shop and have lunch. She just didn’t want to do a big hill again. At the time she made that decision we didn’t know it was a small hill that turned to the left and then leveled out. Our past experience had been one small hill turns into a big hill.  Instead mom stayed in town, did some shopping and had lunch. I asked her to bring me a ham and cheese sammy and Fanta for the ride home.  

On to the monastery.  I didn’t get the full story on the history as I was too busy taking photos.  Go figure. The big thing I did get was that Chopin spent time here and wrote much of his music. His original player piano is here as are many of his original scores.  The gardens he worked in were just beautiful, apparently tended to by the monks.  

Once done with the monastery we had about 30 minutes to roam around. I stepped right outside the monastery and as if God himself was pointing the way there was a gelato store. So off I went for a scoop of coffee gelato.  

We met back up at the bus and mom had kept her word and got me a ham and cheese sandwich that was oooohhh soooo good.  And a Fanta. I swear when I get home I’m going to want a Fanta and I’ll be disappointed because it won’t taste nearly as good as they do here.  

Tomorrow is a sea day. Yay! It sounds funny to say that, but when we signed up for this cruise I was excited that we only had one sea day. Now I find I was wishing for more. Six ports in six days is a lot without a break in between. They are all starting to feel like one big port. As mom said today (even thought I don’t agree), the cathedrals are all starting to look the same. 

Espana La Mejor

Today we spent a lovely, and sunshiny day in Valencia Spain. Famous for a few things: oranges, lemons and Ernest Hemmingway…apparently.  

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this stop as it was the one stop I did the least amount of research on. There wasn’t much to discover about Valencia that I could tell. And now after a day here I can understand why. It’s a small-ish city (well third largest in Spain but it feels small) and somewhat unassuming. They have quite a history but nothing overly interesting about their history.  

We took the “Explore Valencia” excursion today. The tour started by driving down their beautiful public beach – the name I forget – it was a wide, sandy beach that looked very inviting to go and sit on the sand. From there we drove through the streets and our guide pointed out some of the more important historic buildings.  

I think the most interesting thing – historically – is that they had a major river running through the city, but it caused problems with flooding so they moved it. How they moved it I have no idea the guide didn’t really say. But now this river bed is a beautiful park that runs the length of the city limits.

Our next stop was an area designed to promote science and culture. The unique and futuristic designs of the buildings I found fascinating and could have easily spent another hour there with my camera.  The City of Arts & Science houses a museum of the sciences, a “hemispheric” dome that is their Imax – it looks like an eye ball sticking out of the water, and lastly their opera house.  He rattled off some famous opera singer who performs there on a regular basis.  

Leaving that stop we took off to the historical center of Valencia. This is where the tour got very interesting to me. The guide dropped us off for some free time in the Central Market. This market dad would have loved. In fact, we never would have gotten him out of there. It had all sorts of meats, cheeses, vegetables, fruits, spices, anything you could imagine. And it was massive.  We had only 30 minutes there and somehow I needed to taste freshly squeezed Valencia orange juice, go pee, buy some olives, and buy some Spanish ham AND take photos in 30 minutes.

I managed. 

But let me tell you about that freshly squeezed Valencia orange juice…oh my goodness. Probably the best orange juice I’ve had in a long time. When the guy came over to ask mom and I if we needed help, I literally, jumped into Spanish speaking mode. Mom looked at me kinda surprised, and me too for that matter. We got our orange juice and walked away and I said to mom, “I’m not sure where that Spanish came from but it just came out.” Turns out all those years of school and something did stick.  

After the orange juice, I asked the guy where the bathrooms were. He pointed and said, let me give you a receipt. Apparently you had to buy something in the market to use their bathrooms. So down stairs we go with our receipt to a gal sitting in front of the bathrooms that have turn styles. No lie. She handed both mom and I a token and pointed. We put our token in, the light turn greened, a little bell rang, I pushed through and I was in the ladies bathroom. Very odd to me, but interesting.  

Back upstairs we found a meat shop selling Spanish ham and salami’s. The owner let us taste some of the ham and I was hooked. We bought two packs of it to bring back to the ship for happy hour.   

Then we found the olives. They were giving samples too. I think mom and I ate one of all of them. Sooo good.  We bought two types and it was all I could do to NOT eat them on the bus on the way home. They, along with the ham, were a big success at happy hour tonight.  

Do you know about happy hour? Have I explained it?  

Happy hour started many cruises ago with Mom, Dad, Jack and Suzi.  They decided that every night they’d bring their drinks and any snacks to one of their rooms and they’d have happy hour before dinner.  It’s a great tradition really. Everyone gets together and talks about what they did all day, eat a little appetizers (or whatever we scavenged from the buffet upstairs), drink a little wine, and just enjoy the moment.  

So after the olives purchase it was time to meet back up with our guide. Jorge was our guide today and he was a charming Spanish man who could whistle but could not play any instruments…or so he told us.  

We walked the historical center and went through the Silk Exchange (La Lonja) building where business was done in Valencia for years until they recently moved to a more modern building. But the gothic style of this building was breathtaking. The ceilings were carved wood and were stunning. One ceiling was carved wood with gold enlay in it…it was beautiful. Jorge did tell us it wasn’t the original ceiling in that part of the building. Apparently the ceiling was in a historic landmark that the government decided to destroy and was going to burn down. Some activists got together and saved the ceiling and moved it to the Silk Exchange building to preserve it. Thank heavens they did. It was beautiful. 

We walked through several squares today and eventually we found ourselves in a “round square”. When Jorge said we had one more square to see (they were all starting to look the same) I was somewhat surprised to see this square was round.  This “square” was for textiles and had several Spanish women sitting around in circles doing needle work with silk. Some were making laces, some doing pictures on material, but all of it was beautiful and the craftsmanship was unbelievable.  

We left the round square for the cathedral in Valencia. This cathedral – from what I could understand – was “owned” by many different religious groups at one time or another. So there were parts of this cathedral that were jewish, part built by the moors and part built by the Christians. The outside certainly looked like it was a combination of cultures. I didn’t venture inside – first because it cost 5EU and second because we were hungry and we had about 30 minutes of free time.  

Mom and I found a little café, plopped ourselves down and ordered ham and cheese sandwiches. I ordered a Fanta and mom ordered Sangria.  My Fanta was a normal size Fanta, but mom’s sangria was huge. She slurped that thing down so quickly I wasn’t sure I wasn’t going to have to carry her to the bus. The ham and cheese sandwiches were made with Spanish ham, thick cut and cured. It was, in my opinion, delicious, but almost like jerky. The cheese and bread though…wow…such a good combination. I wish there was a way to really share the flavors in this blog.

We finished up early today and were back on the ship by 1pm. We both were thankful for some down time. I certainly don’t want to complain about all the places we’re seeing, but it does feel like we’re in a sprint.  We’ve hit 3 countries in 4 days.

I’m sad to report that I did not get my gelato today. We saw some, but I was too full from the ham sandwich to even consider eating it. And they didn’t have Nutella as a flavor. Maybe tomorrow.

Tonight we branched off and had dinner at one of the specialty restaurants on the ship. They cost a little extra, but it’s worth it to me. The food starts to all taste the same by this time of the cruise. So tonight we chose to do the Brazilian steak house. I think I must have had at least 14 oz of meat tonight. I didn’t bother with any of the sides or a salad before. I wanted to save myself for the meat. I think we had 10 different types of meat: Chicken breasts wrapped in bacon, chicken thighs marinated in lime, Spanish chorizo, Linguisa sausage, lamb legs, filet mignon, garlic marinated beef, sirloin, pork ribs, beef ribs, and finally grilled pineapple. And then they asked if we wanted dessert. Ugh. But the meats were so flavorful and delicious if I wasn’t so full I’d still be eating. That Spanish chorizo in particular was my favorite. Not spicy, but full of flavor.

Tomorrow we’re in Majorca Spain. A small island off the coast of Spain.  Dad had wanted to me to go to school in Majorca when we were choosing which boarding school to attend.  I think he wanted me to go there just for the olives, wine and all around Spanish culture. We shall see what Majorca has to offer us tomorrow.

And then we have a blessed day at sea.  A day of rest if you will. All our excursions have left by 8am so far, which means up and to breakfast by 7am.

Hasta Luego!

Me Gusta Mucho Barcelona!

Oh Barcelona! Where have you been all my life? This cosmopolitan metropolis has found itself ranked numero uno in my book. I can’t even begin to explain why, other than the city almost felt like it was alive. Its people the heartbeat, its churches are the soul, and its food…OMG…the food.

Barcelona is Spain’s second largest city (Madrid being the largest) and is the capital of their region Catalunya. I discovered that both Spanish and Catalan are spoken here when I attempted to understand the words on street signs and maps. I was out of my league for sure. But the tour guide pointed out that they are Catalonians first, Spaniard’s second.

Barcelona had a lot more history than I thought. Columbus was from here, the Roman’s were here and the gothic medieval period played a significant role here. Antonio Gaudi and Pablo Picasso walked the streets here and left their mark all over the city.

We started the day, again, super early.  Next time I cruise I’m going to check all the start times for the excursions. I’m tired of getting up at 6:30 on vacation. Our tour today was called the Best of Barcelona, and it was exactly that. We had a fantastic tour guide, Carmen, who not only knew a lot of history, but had a sense of humor and kept track of all us chickens.

Our first stop was the Antonio Gaudi’s masterpiece La Sagrada Familia church. Oh…My…God. I’ve never in all my life seen anything like it. At first glance, you’re kinda taken back. Not sure what to think. I likened it to looking upon the face of the elephant man. At first you’re a little repulsed, then you’re curious, then you realize it’s a face of someone who needs a little love.  The façade of this church is a little like that to me. There is so much going on on the outside of the church that you find yourself a bit overwhelmed.  

 

We entered the church on what’s called the nativity side – the walls show the birth of Jesus…in a way only Gaudi could. There were lizards as gargoyles, turtles holding up enormous columns, and birds everywhere. Without a photo it’s hard to even explain what this church is like. It was stunning on the outside, but once we entered … I had no words.  

The inside was designed by Gaudi to depict a forest.  The stain glass windows throughout the church cast a beautiful, multi-colored glow onto the columns that are the “trees” – its magical inside. I had to sit for a moment and take it all in. I found myself wanting to snap every possible photo I could, but there was just too much to witness. I sat and just felt the church (I’m turning into my middle brother apparently).  Then I slowly walked around and found some magnificent corners of this church to shoot.  

From the church, I was sure there wasn’t anything that could top that, but then we found ourselves in the Gothic Quarter.  This maze of alley ways and very small streets was a throwback to mid-evil times. Our tour guide stopped us first at the Cathedral in the Gothic Quarter – I’m ashamed to say I didn’t even get the name of it. All our group (Mom, Suzi, Jack, Mike & Bev) were hungry and wanted lunch instead of finishing the walking tour of the Gothic Quarter. The Gothic Quarter was one of the MANY reasons I wanted to see Barcelona! I left them and trudged on (BTW I had over 14,000 steps today…my feet are tired).  

Carmen gave us so much history of the quarter that I couldn’t retain any of it. We saw old Roman columns that were preserved in a building, we walked through alley ways that, no lie, were maybe 3 feet across (if I eat any more I won’t fit down these alley ways). She showed us an old church that was bombed ruing the Spanish civil war in which they left the shell marks on the church so they’ll never forget what they fought for. She showed us where the old roman chariots used to come down the alleys and turn the corner too wide and take bits out of buildings. All of it was just amazing. But my favorite were the bridges in the quarter. I didn’t get 100% why, but they ultimately built bridges that would go from building to building. Gothic walk ways if you will.  It had something to do with all the muck and unpleasant things in the street but I don’t remember what exactly.   

I eventually caught up with the rest of the group who were just finishing their lunch. I had a couple of bites of Mom’s paella, and a Fanta (BTW I’m addicted to FANTA here for some reason. That cold orange drink when it’s been so hot has hit the spot. I know I’ll want Fanta back in the states and it won’t taste nearly as good…it never does). Then I left them again, and went about my way trying to do some real photography. 

I stopped in a gift shop and bought myself a gift, a pin for Blueberry, and some post cards. Then on the way out I noticed this little sandwich shop that had ham and cheese on a baguette. Yes! I finally got my ham and cheese sandwich. I was proud of myself for ordering in Spanish only to find out when he responded I had no idea what he was talking about…and he realized I had no idea and switched back to English.

Stepping out of the shop I looked up and spied a Starbucks. Yes, I admit it, I went in. I knew Mike and Bev would be in there, so I had to go check it out. Sure enough, they were there. We spent a few minutes there and then walked back to where we were meeting our bus.

The second half of the tour was to visit this re-created Spanish village. Essentially a tourist trap, but an interesting one. Inside this village they had all the areas of Spain represented. For example, Catalan – which is where we are now – has a different style of houses, different foods, etc than they do in Aragon. So each “section” was a representation of the living environment, and shops of what they are known for. Mom and I bought some balsamic vinegar that is like syrup and some olive oil. Then I broke down and bought some saffron. I couldn’t resist.

Then it was back on the boat. We’re exhausted and if I didn’t have the excursion ticket I wouldn’t be able to tell you exactly what country we’re in. It’s all worth it though, I can sleep when I’m home.

Tomorrow we’re in Valencia. I see more paella in my future.  Oh, and I am still on target with my gelato a day goal.  The Spanish village had some gelato – it wasn’t nearly as good as Italy’s but it was still gelato.