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Showing posts from 2012

Monday, October 22nd: Athens, That Lovely Debris

(Written by Steve) I awoke early this morning as we were slowly pulling next to Cruise Terminal B in the port city of Piraeus, Greece. (There’s a song from the terrible musical “Ilya Darling” titled, “Piraeus, My Love”, but there’s not much to love here.). The skies were threatening, and seemed to be a reminder of the gray clouds hanging over Greece during this time of fiscal crisis. Being one of the major ports on the Mediterranean (not to mention one of the oldest), it’s huge. As the Equinox was being secured, two other ships came floating past us to make their way into the crowded harbor. We were at the furthest end of the port, and it would be shuttle buses again to get to the main gate. I have to admit that Athens was the port we were least enthusiastic about. Not only had I visited here for a week in 1972, but Allan and I had been here on the last Mediterranean cruise. We had already seen the Acropolis and staggered through the Plaka. Today was going to

Sunday: Ephesus and Kusadai, Turkey (Part One)

Sunday, October 21 st 2012: Ephesus and Kusadasi, Turkey (and Tales of the Dragon’s Hoard) (Written by Allan) We awoke today to find ourselves docked in the beautiful but arid resort port city of Kusadasi, Turkey. The sun was very bright here and it looked to be another beautiful sunny day. We breakfasted quickly in the buffet and met Michael and Shaun in our usual spot near the guest services desk and made our way down to level two to head out to meet our guide for the day. Steve had found a local tour company that had several positive recommendations on Trip Advisor, and we were to meet Oskgur (a very handsome thirty-something Turkish man, with a soft spoken silky voice and a bitter chip on his shoulder for Istanbul) outside the little shopping area at the entrance to the port terminal. We found Oskgur waiting for us as promised and only had to wait a very brief period for our driver to show up. He drove up in a minivan fit for eight or so people (handicapped accessible, no

Saturday: The Baths and the Bazaar

Saturday, October 20th, 2012: The Baths and the Bazaar   (Steve writing) One of the appealing things about this itinerary was the fact that it included an overnight in Istanbul plus another half-day in port. After breakfast in “the trough”, we met up with Michael and Shaun at 8:00. We headed toward the tram and took the T1 line to the Çemberlitaş (pronounced “chem-behr-lee-tahsh”) stop in the Old Town. The stop was across the street from one of the oldest hamams (Turkish Bath) in Istanbul, the Çemberlitaş Hamimı, built in the late 16 th century for the Sultan’s mother, designed by famous architect Sinan. At 8:30 in the morning, the hamam was fairly quiet. Very little English was spoken, but through a series of mono-syllabic instructions (e.g. “change”, “down”, “wash”, “sit”, etc.) and much pointing, we managed to make it through just fine. While this hamam was available for both sexes (separated), we didn’t see any women come in until we were leaving. We each got a key

Friday: Istanbul - a Turkish Delight

No entry for Thursday October 18th. This was an at sea day and we just bummed about the ship and rested up for the upcoming main event of this trip - Istanbul! - afk. Friday, October 19th, 2012: Istanbul, a Turkish Delight   (Steve writing) I was jostled awake at 6:30AM as the ship shuddered as it pulled near the dock in Istanbul. Outside our balcony we could see the lights of nearby apartments on the hill overlooking the passenger ship terminal in the “New District” of the city. Since it was going to be an “early start” day, we ordered a small room service breakfast (which Celebrity does quite well, I might add): coffee, orange juice, and some croissants. We met up with Michael and Shaun at 7:45 and were able to get off the ship just before 8AM. We had a little trouble finding our guide, but he was there outside the gate to the terminal. His name was Caspar, probably late 20s, cute, and very personable. We found out that he was originally from Poland, spent a year in th

Wednesday: The Santorini-land Diaries

Wednesday, October 17 th 2012: The Santorini-land Diaries (Written by Steve) It was definitely warmer and more humid this morning as we were sailing in the Aegean Sea. We had breakfast in Blu, the dining room reserved exclusively for Aqua Class guests (which we are). The décor is understated and tasteful, with the motif of an opening rose bud used throughout (even down to the pats of butter on the table). Large floor-to-ceiling windows provided ample views of the blue waters. The service level was noticeably higher in this restaurant, although the food quality was about the same as on the rest of the ship (good). Blueberry pancakes were the order of the day for me, while Allan enjoyed an omelette (and vanilla buttermilk pancakes - afk). After breakfast, Allan scampered about the ship taking photos and videos, while I sat on our private balcony and worked on this blog. What a nice place to write! Amazingly, we were feeling peckish by noon, so we went up to “the trough” to enjoy

Tuesday: Aboard the Celebrity Equinox, at sea

Tuesday, October 16 th 2012: Aboard the Celebrity Equinox – At Sea (Written by Steve) Our first full day aboard the ship was an “at sea” day. For some bizarre reason, Allan woke bolt upright at 6AM and headed out to take photos. I woke up around 8:30, just in time for our entrance into the Strait of Messina, that narrow body of water separating the Italian mainland from the island of Sicily (Sicilia – pronounced see-CHEE-lyah). The town of Messina (on the Sicilian side) crowded along the shore. There were many ferry boats making the crossing, as well as a hydrofoil noisily coming from another part of the island (perhaps Palermo?). Allan was hoping to get good shots of Mt. Etna, but like most volcanic mountains, it was shrouded in clouds. Still, it was an interesting passage, and there was more to see than when we came through in the other direction at night in 2006 (at that time, you could only see the glowing red top of Mt. Etna). We had breakfast in the Oceanview Café (a/

Monday: Arrivaderci Roma, ciao Celebrity Equinox!

Monday October 15th, 2012   After a very late night of packing I had a good, if short, night's sleep. I had set my alarm for 8:30AM to have enough time to finish packing and try to get out to find a coffee press to take with us on the boat. As it turned out, this was unnecessary. The coffee on the ship is much better than on past cruises.   Michael and I had no luck looking for that press, but we did have a nice brisk stroll around the Piazza de Spagna's immediate environs and headed back to the flat on Via Francesco Crispi, arriving right at 11:00 just as Alex, our rep from Rentals in Rome was leaving after settling our account and returning our €300 deposit. We finished getting it together and were out the door at 11:25. Our driver for the trip to Civitivecchia (the port city for Rome) was annoyed that we were a bit behind schedule, but we made good time once we got on the Autostrada. It was a beautiful sunny day, but quite humid. (Steve here: our driver was tol

Sunday: Last day in Rome

Sunday, October 14 th 2012: Last Full Day in Rome (Written by Steve) The pace of activity was definitely been on a downward slope as the week progressed. Today we barely got out of the apartment by noon. We walked past the throngs at the Spanish Steps and then along the very charming Via Margutta. This side street, which parallels the Via del Babuino in the Tridente neighborhood, is filled with high-end art dealers, luxury Italian clothiers, exclusive lodgings, and some fine restaurants. On this Sunday, however, most of these were closed, and the atmosphere was quiet and relaxed, even if Michael had to be pulled away from a painting displayed in a gallery window. When we reached the Piazza del Popolo, there were many people out enjoying the beautiful weather. Since we hadn’t really breakfasted (again), we got some paninis and drinks at a store and sat on the steps of the Santa Maria di Miracoli church (surprisingly, the church was closed). The people-watching in the piazza wa

Saturday evening: Dinner at Pipero al Rex

Saturday, October 13th (Part 2): The Dinner at Pipero al Rex Steve found an entry in the "Rome for Foodies" app for this very high end place and we were fortunate enough to get a reservation for 7:30PM. The dining room was very small, only six tables that would seat four apiece. The room was dark but with bright key lights shining down onto the tables (this made taking pictures of the dishes difficult, but we did our best - for the historical documents). The courses were: 1. An amuse-bouchée of prosciutto carpaccio with a dollop of balsamic vinegar. None of us were that fond of this. It was like eating raw bacon (bleh). 2. Appetizer of a milk custard-like bite encrusted with Reggiano Parmesan cheese. Heavenly. 3. Seared chicken breast with skin on, with two sauces on the side: a Dijon mayonnaise, and an oyster sauce. Perfetto! 4. A fabulously diverse mixed green salad with hidden treasures tucked inside: fresh basil,  a blackberry, walnut, other herbs, and top