Travels and Exploits of the Lamb and the Wolf

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, 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 ...

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 i...

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, 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 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 to...

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, 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...

Saturday, October 13 th 2012: The Borghese Gallery and a dinner to remember (Part One) (Written by Allan) Today I made breakfast for the group: a simple egg scramble with prosciutto and Reggiano parmesan from our local market down the block. There was fruit yogurt, toast, and juice as well. A little comic moment when I was hunting for any spices that might be lying around – only to find black peppercorns and no pepper mill or grinder… Hmmm, what to do? Necessity is the mother of invention, yes? I used our stainless creamer to crunch the peppercorns into a usable coarse grind and found a little salt. Alas, no garlic, onions, or bell peppers this morning for the eggs. We hadn’t thought/planned ahead quite that well. After breakfast we cleaned up and Steve left to pick up our tickets for our 11AM entrance into the Museo Galleria Borghese . This was the day I’d been waiting all week for. The Borghese is my favorite museum in Rome, and possibly my favorite of any I’ve seen. I do ...

Friday October 12 th After yesterday’s marathon, today had to be taken at a slower pace. Michael and Shaun went off to Pompeii for the day, courtesy of the new high-speed train (200Kmh) between Rome and Naples. Allan and I didn’t get out of the apartment until noon. We strolled along the Via del Corso with its myriad shops. As you can imagine, with Allan the inveterate shopper, this turned into a crawl rather than a stroll. One stored featured jewelry that had him transfixed for nearly ten minutes (photos AND video available upon request). (Allan) Truly… the triad of emerald rings was exquisite and the one ring with what must have been a 2 carat triangular aquamarine or blue topaz… I did probably linger there for photos and video for about 10 minutes. We stopped in at the galleria across from the Piazza Colonna , sat and enjoyed coffee and sandwiches. (As you might be able to tell, this part of the trip has been devoid of breakfasts – except for coffee, we eat almost ev...

Thursday October 11 th Today was dedicated to seeing the wonders of Vatican City . After a leisurely morning in the apartment, we strolled down the Spanish Steps to the Spagna metro station to catch a train to the Ottaviano stop. Maybe because it was later in the day, or maybe the metro cars had been updated, but the ride seemed better (and pickpocket free) as compared to our 2004 adventure on the same line. We stopped for a mid-day schnekken before entering the belly of the beast known as the Vatican Museums . Michael had already ordered our tickets online, so it was a quick trip through security (bags are checked as at the airport) and then up the long escalator to the beginning of the museum area. We followed the Rick Steves tour (using Michael’s iPad) and first saw the Pinacoteca, which housed art from the medieval to the Baroque. The medieval art was so-so (we rarely care for the creepy Byzantine figures), but the one stand-out piece was “ The Transfiguration ” by Rap...