I Am A Celebrity!

Friday, April 10, 2026

2017 - The Isle of Rhodes

Rhodes, Greece
Copyright Andy Richards 2017 - All Rights Reserved

RHODES IS another of the approximately 6,000 Greek islands in the parts of the Mediterranean known Agean and Ionian Seas. This time, a part of a chain known as the Dodecanese Islands, Rhodes once served as its historical capital. A somewhat more dusty and certainly more undeveloped island, it was nonetheless another of the beautiful vistas that are provided by these island archipelagos all over the Mediterranean. The city is mostly a medieval town, highlighted by the majestic old castle that nestles up close to the port.

Our "Bumpy Rhodes" Excursion Vehicle - Rhodes, Greece
Copyright Andy Richards 2017 - All Rights Reserved

WE DID walk through the castle grounds on our return the the town, but we first embarked on an excursion called "Bumpy Rhodes." The proprietor used a couple old, repurposed military transport vehicles to take us on an excursion up to the summit of the island, and along some pretty - well - bumpy backroads. They definitely called for an off road type vehicle. Our ride included some spectacular views, as well as a stop at a food processing type center up in the mountains, where we tasted honey. It was an interesting experience. As we drove around, our guide pointed out numerous areas where beekeepers had set up small clusters of hives. Each of them were in a different plan habitat, and created different honey flavors. In 2017, honey was a fairly large export product for Rhodes.

Viewpoint from one of the highest points in Rhodes
Copyright Andy Richards 2017 - All Rights Reserved

RHODES IS another Greek island that we are scheduled to revisit in 2027. I hope to do some research to see if there are other things, but my current thought is there are only a couple different things to do there. You can walk the medieval city and the castle/fort the sits right on the harbor. Not shockingly, as you exit the fort along the old main entrance way, there are about 100 tourist shops lining the road out. So there is always (always) shopping. You can do a nature type tour, as we did. I do hear that there are some good food opportunities, and Rhodes is known for it food. We stopped during our tour, and our guide had prepared sandwiches, water and soft drinks for us. That worked.

One of many beaches on Rhodes
Copyright Andy Richards 2017 - All Rights Reserved

AND THERE are beaches. The beaches, here, though are a bit different than the white, sandy beaches of the Caribbean (and Florida). The water is clear and pure, but the beaches are often more like little micro-pebbles. That doesn't deter beach goers however. Nor does it seem to stop the influx of pleasure yachts that visit these islands from all around the Mediterranean.

Rhodes, Greece
Copyright Andy Richards 2017 - All Rights Reserved

OVER OUR years of cruising, we have had one or two close calls making the all-aboard time. This was our first time. Paul and I were "people watching" near the entrance of the castle (about a half a block from the ship), waiting for our wives who were doing some souvenier and gift shopping for friends and family back home. They lost track of the time and we ultimately had to go drag them out of the shop with only minutes left to the time. When we got back to the port, the gate we had come out of was closed, and though we could see the ship, we had no idea how we were going to get to it. Ultimately, we followed the fence down the block to a gatehouse and got access to the ship from there. I am certain we were one of the last groups to board, and I will readily admit that it had my hear racing. Since then we have had a couple others and looking back this one wasn't even close to a "close" call. 😓

Sunday, April 5, 2026

2017 - A Return to Mykonos

Celebrity Reflection anchored off Mykonos in front of "Little Italy"
Mykonos, Greece
Copyright Andy Richards 2017 - All Rights Reserved

MYKONOS, OUR next stop, is a very small, Greek Island Paradise. Mykonos will always have a fixed spot in our memories, as it was the last "normal" stop we made on our aborted Royal Princess Cruise back in 2013.

Mykonos, Greece
Copyright Andy Richards 2017 - All Rights Reserved

PART OF the chain of Greek Islands known as the Cyclades, consisting of some 200 plus "islands," only about 40 of which are inhabited, Mykonos has a resident population of something over 10,000. Not the largest of the archipelago, Mykonos is nonetheless one of the most popular. Along with Santorini, it is one of the two most popular tourist destinations, with result that there can be large crowds in season. The Cyclades are known for their temperate, often warm, Mediterranean climate, beautiful beaches, blue ocean surroundings, and often, their iconic, blue and red trimmed whitewashed buildings.

One of the many shops on Mykonos, Greece
Copyright Andy Richards 2017 - All Rights Reserved

I GREW up in northern lower Michigan and one of our top tourist destinations is a spot called "Mackinac Island" (pronounced "mackinaw), an Island in the Straits of Mackinac (between the lower and upper peninsulas of Michigan). In any given year, Mackinac was Michigan's number 1 tourist attraction. While much smaller than the already small Island of Mykonos, (Mackinac is less than 4 square miles in area and its population is only about 600 permanent residents - to Mykonos' approximately 40 square miles), there are many parallels, and it very much reminds me of Mackinac. It seems mostly designed for vacation visitors and particularly, for tourism. It seems to be not only a favorite destination for far-off tourists (like Europeans and Americans on a cruise ship 😁) many of the more "local" tourists like vacationers from Italy, Greece and nearby countries.

Mykonos, Greece
Copyright Andy Richards 2017 - All Rights Reserved

BOTH TIMES we have stopped there, we have anchored out in front of the town of Mykonos, at the Old Port. In fact, I didn't even know there was a permanent cruise port on Mykonos until recently. But there has been a "hard" port with what appears to be mooring space for two small/medium sized cruise ships at the "New" Port, about 1 1/2 miles from the heart of the town for some time. We have never been to that port and I have read that it is modern, clean, and lacks the "over-the-top" tourist shops that are found in many of the Caribbean cruise ports. There is both a bus and water taxi service from the cruise port to the Old Port. We are booked on a cruise that is scheduled to stop there in 2027, aboard the Celebrity Infinity, one of their oldest and smallest class ships. I wouldn't be surprised to find we will be docked at the cruise port.

Windmills; Mykonos, Greece
Copyright Andy Richards 2017 - All Rights Reserved

TENDERING INTO the old port is kind of a cool experience. It is a very small port with mostly small fishing boats, painted in the colorful Greek style of white hulls and primary color trim. When you step off the tender, you are on the pier of the Old Port, directly in front of the town's waterfront. The entire island is populated with the inconic whitewashed buildings, and much of the village is paved with a whitewashed cobblestone pavement. It makes for a very picturesque scene.

Mykonos, Greece
Copyright Andy Richards 2017 - All Rights Reserved

ON THE south side of the harbor there is an area known as "Little Venice." It gets its name due to the homes and establishments built right out over the water. Interestingly, although the island was at one time under the control of the Venetians, in my mind any true resemblance ends there. Behind Little Italy, there is a line of rustic old windmills.

The Old Port in Mykonos, Greece, displaying traditional, colorful greek fishing boats
(this one was made during our 2013 visit to Mykonos, but remains one of my favorites)
Copyright Andy Richards 2013 - All Rights Reserved

WE WALKED around the island a bit, window shopping and seeing some of the sights, and then had lunch right down on the shore, before re-boarding the Reflection, ending yet another warm, beautiful Mediterranean day. We will return to Mykonos for a third time in 2027.

Sunday, March 29, 2026

2017 - Malta

THIS IS probably really unfair, but I rate Malta as one of the least engaging European destinations we have visited. Circumstances, of course, temper the experience and perception. It is one place we didn't book any kind of tour.

INSTEAD, WE opted for the Hop on - Hop off bus around the city. We sometimes do that early in order to get a feel for a place. However, we have found the Hop on - Hop off systems to be quite inconsistent from one place to another. Our first experience was in Dublin, Ireland in 2014. We spent a day there and an overnight before joining a group of O'Brien Estate Vineyard patrons for a week-long, land-based trek over The Republic of Ireland. We thought it was terrific. Conveniently for us, one of the stops was very close to our Hotel. The narrative was good, and we really did get a kind of "birds-eye" view of the city and its high points. We would spend another couple days in Dublin at the end of that trip, and the bus system really gave us a "leg up," we thought. You purchase tickets (either all-day, or several day) and as the name implies, you can get on and off as many times as you want, as often as you want. At least, that is the idea. In reality, it doesn't always work as smoothly.

VALLETTA WAS, I am pretty sure, our second time using the Hop on - Hop off system. This time it was not so good. They were so crowded that if you weren't in line where the route begins, your chances of getting on one of them at any other stop were virtually nill. To us, it appeared as if this was true during the entire day we were there. So even though there was a stop or two that we might have gotten off and explored, we didn't dare get off, for fear we would not get back on and make it back to the ship (we didn't really think about it, but we probably could have done a taxi - but that's not the point). When the weather is decent, the open upper deck of these buses afford the best "open air" view. When the weather is inclement, though, the experience isn't as pleasant. Temperatures were well in to the 80's the day we were there, and the sky was clear. By the time we got on the bus, the upper deck was the only place there were seats. We roasted. Given the route, and the traffic, the full circuit on the bus was nearly 3 hours. And in the middle of the circuit, without explanation or communication of any nature, the driver parked and shut the bus down. He walked into a cafe for a break. Nobody on the bus had any idea what was going on (for at least 10 - 15 minutes).

I SUPPOSE I shouldn't let a pretty bad experience on the Hop on - Hop off bus color our entire experience in Malta. NOr should I let the Malta experience completely color my view of the Hop on Hop off system (though we had a similar sketchy experience in Helsinki, Finland, a few years later). On the trip around the coast, we could see that the "stay and play" aspects of Valletta could probably be very fun. Lots and lots of bars and restaurants, and many marinas, filled with pleasure boats, dotted the entire coast. I also know there are several forts around Malta and near and around Valletta. There is also the huge and visually impressive Grand Masters Palace (our bus did a circle around it, but as noted, we didn't dare get off to explore it if we ever wanted to get back on and complete the circuit). The city is architecturally pretty impressive, also.

Valletta is the Flag location for all of Celebrity's Cruise ships

MOST OF my photography that day consisted of things around the port and near our ship's berth. I have noted here before that it is usually pretty challenging to make photos from a moving platform like a bus. I did catch a couple. At one time the administrative center for the Catholic Military Order: The Knights of St. John (a/k/a The Nights Hospitallier), the island was ruled by them for many years, until the eventual capture of Malta by Napoleon (after which the order more or less dispersed from all of its bases around the world). Though originally inhabited by the Phoenicians, and later Romans, most of the significant architecture occurred during re-building under the Knights of St. John's control. It was primarily "Renaissance" architechture; followed later by Baroque, Neo-Gothic, and Neo-Classical. Later yet, after WWII, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, and modern styles emerged.

I SUSPECT the majority of my readership here are from the U.S. and it is perhaps appropriate to acknowledge the significance of Malta to our nation. Our relationship dates back to the U.S. Revolutionary war when the Knights were a significant ally to our fledgling nation, particularly in helping to persuade the French Navy to assist us. During WWII, it was a critical staging point for Allied (British and U.S.) military planes.

THERE IS one other point of importance to me (and maybe other cruisers). With the exception of three of its ("Explorer Class") fleet, Valleta is the Flag location for all of Celebrity's Cruise ships! One thing I do know is that if Valletta is ever a stop again on one of our cruises, we will certainly try to book an excursion/guided tour.