Ladee's Travels

May 2012 - This is volume one of the food review. This is what we ate, in addition to the buffet food. And in addition to the little cafe with coffee and pastries.  I neglected to take the piles of food that we enjoyed when we went to the buffet.  Most of these meals we had at the any time dining at the Michelangelo Restaurant. These little delights went along with the wine tasting that was a special event.

We had stopped at many ports prior to coming to Venice, but nothing compares to the beauty of the sail-in here.  Passengers were lining every outside rail for a chance to see Venice from a unique and high perspective.  I was on the 15th deck at the front of the ship.  Italian opera was playing on the loud speakers and it was beautiful. This map should give you a good idea on our path as we made our way to our berth. (google maps)

5/22/2012 - Day at sea.  Finally a chance to sleep in, rest, and chat about all that we had seen.

We pulled in to Athens on an overcast day with mild temperatures. Perfect for touring!   The port of Piraeus is a very short distance from Athens. The port not only holds the cruise ships but the smaller fishing boats as well. This is my first view of the Acropolis after we entered Athens.    The Athens temple. The marble Olympic Stadium was built in 1895.   Totally made from local marble, a relatively inexpensive building material! Syntagma or Constitution Square is an elegant space in front of the Parliament.   This is the gathering place of protesters.   It was originally built as a home for the Greek kings, and also hosts the monument to the Uknown Soldier. We stopped for a coffee break at a palace-now-hotel.   We liked the coffee and snacks, especially the pistachio cookies. A typical street in Athens.   You used to be able to see the Acropolis from every where in the city until the housing boom set i...

In honor of the Olympics, I am posting my photos from the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens. The remains of the ancient Greek stadium, it was refurbished in time for the 1896 Olympics and hosted the first of the modern day Olympic games.

Kusadasi (coo sha daa see) is now the port city for this area of Turkey.  They have improved the port to encourage tourism and cruise ships to visit Ephesus.  The tour guide was very friendly, said that he was a Roman History teacher for high school aged students, and had three daughters.  The country is about 98% Muslim, and he said that he was in the minority as a Christian.  He carried “worry beads” that are supposed to relieve stress and calm you down. They were always in his hand. The ruins at Ephesus are at about a 15% renovations, so this site will improve with time as more and more buildings are uncovered.  It used to be the port, but the entrance has been filled with silt over the decades and it is now 5 miles from the sea.  The gold statue is of Mary, and a gift from the people of Lima, Ohio. The round domes are the ruins of a Turkish bath. The holes in the ceiling let in light. Two well preserved and interesting statues found at...

5/19/2012 Istanbul was decorated and very clean in preparation of "Commemoration of Ataturk".  This was a very big point of pride for our tour guide.  The full name is "Commemoration of Ataturk, Youth and Sports Day". Read more about the celebration here.   May 19 is regarded as the beginning of the Turkish War of Independence. Mustafa Kemal Amaturk was the first President of Turkey and established modern Turkey.  Turkey's flag was on display throughout the city.

I’ll write in greater detail on each of the things that I saw in a later post but I wanted to give you a sampling of what we saw as we toured Istanbul. First off, I don’t know what I expected but I was certainly more than pleased with what I saw.  The city is very clean and offers a lot of modern transportation options.  Today was a national holiday and the national flag was shown on a lot of buildings and hanging as banners.  The flags are the red banners with a star and a moon.  The guide explained the story of the flag, but I need to do some independent research to report the details.  All in all, it was a holiday for the country and the flag was proudly displayed everywhere. We started off on the European side, and then crossed the bridge to the Asian side. I was thrilled to add a new continent to my list of visited ones.  The Asian side is mostly residential, looks clean and well kept.  The second photo shows the hotels and restaurants a...

Delos is a full island archeology site.  The ship docked at Mykonos and we took a half hour ferry to the island of Delos.  The island is inhabited now by those working the site and supporting the facilities.  The walk was easy and the guide provided a lot of information about the many groups who took over the island. The photos show the stormy sky as rain approached the area. The shot off the back of the ship (with the blue flag) is looking back at Mykonos.  The rocky mountain is the mountain of Zeus, and the stairs led to the top. The four columns are a temple of Isis.   The four jugs are wine bottles.  Sanitation was always available on the island and the covered trench is an ancient sewer.  Several photos show the ruins over the area, a piece of a tiled floor that has been found.  The yellow house with the red windows is an example of the archeologist residence.  The houses on Delos were all painted this color.  We stoppe...

5/16/2012 By this time we had spent two days in Egypt and were becoming accustomed to the sights and activity.  The return trip to Alexandria did not disappoint.

5/15/2012 We are on the last third of the three hour drive from Alexandria to Cairo. This is another roadside cafe.  Three people were sitting inside the cafe to keep out of the sun.

5/15/2012 The three hour drive from Alexandria to Cairo continues through suburbs, farmland, and new road construction.

5/16/2012 There was plenty of action at the Mycerinus Pyramid.  It is one of the three pyramids that remain in the area of the Sphinx in Giza.

Breathtaking to view these great wonders of the world. It was hot and dusty. The street vendors were very persistent.  “No, thank you.” appeared to be encouraging words.