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| San Marco Piazza - Venice - Royal Princess Ship Copyright Andy Richards 2013 |
IN ADDITION to being in Europe, this cruise would be different in another way. We had learned from our recent Caribbean cruise, that booking off ship tours was a much more rewarding experience than just walking around on our own. We aren't big fans of the cruise-line offered "excursions." What we see are 60 plus groups on busses, following a guide who is holding up a placard and broadcasting to them on headsets. To our surprise and delight, we discovered that we could join or organize small group private tours, often at little or no additional cost. Most of our shore tours have been in groups of not more than 12, and usually between 4 and 8 people. There are some (perhaps obvious) distinct advantages to these small, private tours. In a small group, we have much more ability to "influence" how the time is allocated to places, and sometimes even which places we visit. You also have ample opportunity to interact one-on-one with the guide. In almost every case, the guides are licensed and professional, and usually can get you past some of the long waiting lines for certain popular places. And despite the (sometimes dire) warnings that the ship won't wait for these private tours if you are late, we haven't had that problem one time in the several years we have been doing it. In fact, when we get to Istanbul, I will relate a humorous anecdote about that very issue.
Similar to the "roll calls" on Cruise Critic, FB "Pages" are now being set up for specific cruises
BUT HOW best to arrange these private tours? The first order, of course, is to search the internet (for most of us, that means "Google" it). These days Tripadvisor (founded in 2005) and Viator (founded in 1995 and purchased by Tripadvisor in 2014) are the leaders in the online travel business and will usually be the first to pop up. They are great for finding tours, but not necessarily useful on their own for finding ways to collaborate with other passengers. By word-of-mouth, we discovered Cruise Critic, a website for cruisers, about cruises and cruise lines. The pertinent area of Cruise Critic for our purpose is the bulletin-board style pages you can join called "roll calls." There, you can usually find a "roll call" for your ship and cruise, with passengers exchanging information. We have had great success here either joining groups of others who have advertised openings in their tour or setting up our own tour and advertising that we need "x" number of people to fill out the tour. Many of the Tripadvisor tours will be priced at a set $ for "up to" "x" participants. I say: "we have had," because since the pandemic, it hasn't seemed like there are as many of those opportunities on Cruise Critic these days. We will have to wait and see whether that resumes, as things trend back to full occupancy on the cruises. I am working on a future post, by the way, on these "intel" gathering sources for cruise excursions.
ON THIS cruise, we were able to join up with two different groups of passengers, on a couple different occasions. In one case, we would do a full-day tour at our first stop with 6 other passengers from the ship. We arranged for a "meet & greet" at one of the ship bars during our two at-sea days, and so, got to know each other a bit before the actual event. In the other case, it was just another couple, Scott and Pam, and we scheduled two 4-person excursions with them. Since we both spent a couple days in Venice pre-cruise, we actually met them for drinks and dinner while still in Venice. On future cruises, my wife would get better at this, and it would often be her that scheduled the tour, soliciting people to join us on Cruise Critic. One thing that seems to be happening recently is - like almost everything else in the world - Facebook seems to be the place where the greatest involvement is. Similar to the "roll calls" on Cruise Critic, FB "Pages" are now being set up for specific cruises. We are not sure how well we like that, but we did engage with several people from the FB page for our most recent cruise. It may be the wave of the future. In any event, I hope something stays in place for arranging private tours.
THE PILOT boat met us in the early morning, at our first stop: Athens, Greece. Like many cruise destinations, the port was actually in Pireas, several miles (and about a 20 minute drive) from Athens city center. We had scheduled a 4-person tour with the couple we met back in Venice. We all got along well, and it was probably a good thing. Even though it was mid-September, Athens was hot the day we were there. And our tour guide, Konstantinos, was a really nice guy. But he drove a mid-size Mercedes sedan. "Mid-size" is probably being generous. Neither of us are "small" couples. Both Scott and I are six-footers and both ladies are taller than average. The rear seat of a small sedan is not optimal for 3 full-size adults. We took turns riding shotgun, but it was the one mildly unpleasant part of the tour. Cruise "teaching point" here. It is worth the extra money to specify a 6-person or more tour (even if you only have 4 people). This will virtually ensure that the vehicle is at least a small SUV or van.
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| Our Guide; Konstantinos "schooling" Scott on the finer points of Athens Copyright Andy Richards 2013 |
EVERYTHING ELSE about our day was great. Athens is one of those cities that played a huge part in our western civilization, with the ancient Greeks being very near the beginning of the civilized cultures of the world today. As such, many milestones are there, including the Roman Agora (marketplace), Panathenaic Stadium, Temple of Olympian Zeuss, Hadrian's Arch, and of course, The Acropolis. Konstantinos was interesting guy. He was a public-school music teacher (band, I think). His father owned the tour company and his brother worked for his father. His father got sick (sadly with a terminal illness), and so our guide had to quit his teaching job and get into the business in order to help keep it alive. It fed his brother and his mother, as well as now, him. His knowledge and enthusiasm for his country was palpable. The only place he didn't go with us was the Acropolis.
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| Pantheon at The Acropolis Athens, Greece |
ANOTHER UNESCO World Heritage Site, The Acropolis is one of the most historically significant sites in world history. Built under the supervision of "Greece's First Citizen," Pericles beginning around 500 B.C., it was one of the early Greek Citadels (fortification). Acropolis, roughly, means highest point in the city. The Athens Acropolis was one of several acropoli throughout Greece. But its significance has made it "The" Acropolis today. Only certain, licensed guides are allowed to take groups through the Acropolis (you can go through on your own, however). So our guide handed us off to an Acropolis-approved guide. She did a very good job, thoroughly explaining the buildings and their history. It is a pretty impressive including an amazingly intact, outdoor amphitheater (where they still hold concerts and shows on special occasions). We would actually return to the Acropolis on our second Mediterranean Cruise just a couple years hence - and to me, it was just as fascinating the second time around. At night, the Acropolis is lighted and can be seen from most parts of Athens. It is a magnificent sight.
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| Acropolis Theater - Athens Copyright Andy Richards 2013 |
TOWARD THE end of our tour, our guide took us through a couple back streets. The first stop was a locally owned restaurant. He knew the owner and had arranged for the 4 of us to have a table in the back, where we had a wonderful and no-doubt, authentic, Greek lunch. Following that, he took us on a kind of "neighborhood tour." One of the spots we passed was the back side of one of the more popular hotels in Athens. On the back was a wide, stone stairway down from the hotel to the nicely shaded, otherwise residential street. It turns out this is Bruce Springstein's "go-to" hotel, and when he is in town, he often walks out back and sits on the steps to have a smoke. For those who don't know, Bruce is a legend in Athens. The worship him. And he apparently likes Athens too. It also turns out - at least according to the guide - that he is a really nice guy, and if you happen along the street, he will invite you to sit and chat with him. Scott knew about the Springstein connection. He pointed out that he had worn his "Springstein" T-shirt that day purposely. It was a long, but fun and satisfying day. You can see many more of my Athens Photographs here
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| Athens Restaurant Copyright Andy Richards 2014 |
THE NEXT day, our port of call was Kusadasi, Turkey. Kusadasi is kind of a beach resort community, but with a well-developed deep-water port, which offers access to some visited places in Turkey. Most notably, it is close to the ruins of Ephesus, now a national park in Turkey (and a UNESCO World Heritage Site). Founded and built by the Greeks during their classical period of domination (around the 10 century B.C.), Ephesus is one of the original 12 cities of The Ionian League. Likely visited by the Apostle, Paul, it is also speculated that the Gospel of John was written at Ephesus. The Romans overtook the city in 129 B.C., and they added to and improved the city in many ways. In 263, the raiding Goths destroyed the city. Though it was rebuilt, for various reasons, its importance as a commercial and trading center declined steadily after that. In 614, the city was partially destroyed by an earthquake. Ephesus is likely the oldest such ancient, abandoned city of its kind.
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| Ephesus, Turkey Copyright Andy Richards 2013 |
WHAT REMAINS today is nothing less than spectacular. And they are still excavating and uncovering new layers. You can walk down the main street (see image above), where chariot ruts still exist, and see remains of public gathering places, private homes (very elaborate, with facilities for sewers, running water, and artful decorations of living areas). You can also see the remains of the famous Library of Celsus.
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| Library of Celsus - Ephesus, Turkey Copyright Andy Richards 2013 |
ALONG WITH the water conduit facilities, was a public bathroom, most likely primarily used by the men in the community. As you can see, it was a bit of a "communal experience" (not my personal "cup of tea" 😔). Not for the last time on tours over the years, we were entertained by our guide's story that these men would come here to get the news and conduct business - begetting the oft used phrase: "doing their business." Personally, it makes me ever so thankful for today's more "private" facilities.
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| Ephesus Public Bathroom Facility Copyright Andy Richards 2013 |
EXCAVATION WAS ongoing at that time (it would not surprise me to find that it is still ongoing, nearly 10 years later). They continued to carefully sift through these ruins and discover even more of the obviously advance civilization that inhabited Ephesus. We were able to walk through one of the homes - apparently owned by someone of stature and wealth. It is amazing to see the "touches" in the interior, including elaborate and (for the times) colorful mosaics where we might today see rugs or carpet, furniture, separate rooms, and multiple levels.
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| Ancient Residence - Ephesus, Turkey Copyright Andy Richards 2013 |
I THINK the thing that impressed me most was the ancient Greek and Romans' facility with running water and waste-handling. As a young boy, I spent many summers at a reasonably modern cottage on a lake in Michigan, where there was water from a hand pump, but our "bathroom" was an old, wooden, "two-holer" outhouse out on the back of the property. Thousands of years before that, these ingenious builders and architects had indoor plumbing!
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| Ephesus, Turkey Copyright Andy Richards 2013 |
TODAY WAS the first of 2 days with the group of 8 we had joined through the Cruise Critic Roll Call. It was really a perfect tour size; large enough to spread our costs out a bit, but small enough to seem pretty private. Our guide was excellent and approachable, and we learned a lot about the ancient city. We also made a stop at The House of The Virgin Mary. While at some point in the future, I would comment that I had seen enough ruins, on this trip it was my first visit to anything like it.
Recently, in October-November of 2022, we cruised in the Mediterraneum. Our final stop before returning to Rome to disembark was Naples. Naples is a very popular cruise port (for Celebrity ships at least), as it is an easy staging area for many great destinations. We have been on the spectacular Amalfi Coast two time and the gorgeous Isle of Capri once. This time, we wanted to (and did) visit Pompeii and Herculaneum. Built by the ancient Greeks sometime in the 8th or 9th century B.C., Pompeii had many parallels to Ephesus. But unlike Ephesus and Herculaneum, Pompeii was not originally built by the ancient Greeks, but by the Oscans (a precursor of Italians and Romans). Herculaneum is the newest of the 3, built sometime in the 6th or 7th century, B.C. I will spend more time with those places when I get to them in chronologically in the blog. But it struck me how amazing all 3 of these these mostly preserved places are and what a wonderful opportunity we had to have visited them all.
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| House of The Virgin Mary Copyright Andy Richards 2013 |
ANOTHER LONG, but good day completed, we headed back to the port, to re-board the Royal Princess. But not before we ran into our friends, Scott and Pam, resting and waiting for their own tour to return to the ship.
I MADE many more photos on this day - particularly of the ruins in Ephesus, including some details as well as wider perspectives. The rest of my Ephesus pictures can be seen here, on my LightCentric Photography photo site.
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| Port of Kusadasi - Turkey Copyright Andy Richards 2013 |
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| Istanbul Cruise Port Copyright Andy Richards |
THE OTHER "precursor" to this trip was the recommendation by someone (I don't recall who, but thanks anyway) to read the book, Inferno, by author Dan Brown, before the trip. I took that recommendation to heart and it was great advice. Author of the popular novel-turned-movie, The Davinci Code (and several other great novels in a series), protagonist professor Robert Langon chases all over the Mediterranean, with important parts playing out in Florence and Istanbul, among other spots we were to visit. It was fun to see some of the spots talked about in the novel. This would particularly play out in Istanbul.
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| The Blue Mosque - Istanbul, Turkey Copyright Andy Richards 2013 |
AS MOST history buffs know, it wasn't originally Istanbul. Byzantium was originally founded by the Greeks in around 700 B.C. Around 330, the Romans took power, under the Roman Emperor, Constantine, who made it the capitol of the Roman Empire. For a very short time, Nova Roma, he shortly changed its name to Constantinople (after himself, of course - these guys didn't lack in self-importance). Situated along the Silk Route, Constantinople because one of the most important cities in Europe, as well as one of the largest cities (at time the largest) in the world. Today, Istanbul remains the 15th largest city in the world.
IN 1453, after a period of decline, the city was overtaken by the Ottoman Turks, who in turn made it the capital of the Turkish Empire. The sultan at the time immediately began to revitalize the city. People from all over Europe came to the city and it became a cosmopolitan society (somewhat uncharacteristic of Muslim Turkish society) and once again took its place as one of the most important cities in Eastern Europe. But the Ottoman takeover did not result in the immediate change of name from Constantinople to Istanbul. That actually happened many years later, after the end of World War I. Following its defeat in World War I, the sultanate of the Ottoman Empire was abolished in 1922, and the Republic of Turkey was created in 1923. The city was being referred to as Istanbul by some Turkish citizens already and sometime after the establishment of the Republic, the Turkish postal service decided to make Istanbul the city's official name. Other institutions soon followed suit. That same year, the U.S. State Department and other governments around the world began using Istanbul in their official communications.
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| The Blue Mosque - Istanbul, Turkey Copyright Andy Richards 2013 |
SHORTLY AFTER the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks, the sultan began the construction of the "New Palace" (later named Topkapi Palace). It was designed to be bigger and grander than the existing palace and was expanded a few times over the ensuing years. The complex includes 4 main courtyards, a harem, and was the site of the imperial treasury, mint, and library. Today it is a museum. The vast grounds are impressive, and we spent at least 1 1/2 hours there. The image below is just a small detail, which I made to illustrate the copious use of gold to guild and trim the palace. I think it is real gold.
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| Topkapi Palace Detail Copyright Andy Richards 2013 |
ANOTHER REALLY cool thing about our visit to Istanbul was the fact that we would be in 2 different continents on the same day. Istanbul straddles the Bosphur Strait on the north and south, with the north being part of Europe and the south, in Asia. Our cruise ship was docked in Asia. When we left the port, we almost immediately crossed the bridge to Europe, where we spent most of our tour. Joined again by the other 6 of our group of 8, this was to be the most ambitious day I can ever remember on any tour we have ever been on.
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| The famous Underground Cistern Plays a Huge Part in Dan Brown's "Inferno" Copyright Andy Richards 2013 |
OUR GUIDE today was Gulay, a cute, earnest, petite young Turkish woman. She was very well versed in her country's history, though she seemed a bit timid, and we think was fairly new at the job. Our group was a friendly one, and all went well, but we did have some excitement later in the afternoon. This is the anecdote about private tours and getting back to the ship that I promise last post. More on that in a moment.
We started our day with two of the most famous churces in the world, The Hagia Sophia and The Blue Mosque. The Hagia was built by the Romans during their reign, as a Roman Catholic Orthodox Church. When the Turks conquered the city, they converted it to a Mosque, which it has since remained. The Blue Mosque appears to be a kind of "one-up" new addition. Built by one of the Sultans following a crushing defeat of the Ottoman Turks by the Persians, it dominates the Hagia Sophia and the formerly Byzantine landscape. As can be seen from the image, the interior is massive, and is built for prayer for 100's of participants. The interior is adorned with blue tiles and the windows are arresting stained glass. The exterior is bathed in blue light during the night hours. It is a pretty humbling site (all I could think of when I stood inside both the Hagia and the Blue Mosque was how they were built hundreds or thousands of years ago, with hand labor, and yet you could stick one of our large structures - like the U.S. Capitol Building - inside one of these with room to spare). We then made a stop at the Hippodrome, and the famous Underground Cistern. A Hippodrome is a Greek horse and chariot racing stadium. There are several of them over the world, but the Constantinople Hippodrome is perhaps one of the most famous, ancient such places that is still preserved. The cistern, in addition to being featured in the (Dan Brown) Inferno book and movie, was also featured in the 1963 James Bond film, To Russia With Love.
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| The Grand Bazaar - Istanbul, Turkey Copyright Andy Richards 2013 |
OUR DAY was split up by a short, on your own, lunch break and then a visit to the Grand Bazaar, one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world. Built shortly after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople, the bazaar is considered to be the first shopping mall in the world. It is huge, and there are all sorts of wares, from food, to pottery, to clothing and cloth, to Persian rugs. It is one of the most visited tourist attractions in the world.
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| Turkish Pottery - Istanbul, Turkey Copyright Andy Richards 2013 |
AT THE end of our day, Gulay took us to a neighborhood shop for one of our group members to buy some gifts for family and friends. We wandered around the shop, a Turkish pottery shop, and the shiny, bright colors grabbed my attention. Again, you can see more of my Istanbul pictures here. We piled into our extended van and headed back to the cruise port, which was some distance from our last spot (Topkapi Palace and then the pottery shop), and back across the Bosphur Strait bridge. It was late afternoon, and the traffic was horrific, sometimes at a complete standstill. We were due back to the ship - as always - at a specific time and as we crept along, that time started to sneak up on us. We could see Gulay becoming progressively more nervous. Finally, at one point, she announced to us that she didn't think we could make it back in time in the traffic. She wanted to take us all off and onto the metro. She would personally walk us to the Metro and accompany us back to the port. A couple of had been talking and had noticed something, however. Princess runs many shore excursions, and in major ports, contracts their own bus fleet. They are distinctive as they are often white and sport a large, blue and white princess logo sticker. We saw at least a dozen of them. Some of them right along side of us. Others well behind us. We told the driver: "you don't have to get us back on time. You just have to get us back before the last one of those buses!" He laughed and said he thought he could do that. Poor Gulay. She sweated all the way back to the port, where we arrived in front of at least 6 busses. 😅 That is the only time we have ever even been close to being late while on a private tour. It's all good.
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| Mykonos, Greece Copyright Andy Richards 2017 |
THE NEXT day would be the Greek Isle of Mykonos. It was a pretty good hike from Istanbul, and we would only be in port for 1/2 day, arriving around noon and departing around 5. Knowing it was only a short day, we did not try to schedule any tours. It appears that Mykonos is really a touristy, beach town, where a lot of Mediterranean citizens go for vacations. There are the traditional Greek whitewashed houses with colorful trim everywhere. In the harbor, there are always picturesque fishing boats.
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| Mykonos, Greece Copyright Andy Richards 2013 |
THE ISLAND of Mykonos slopes gently uphill and along the main town, there are a myriad of small, walking streets, lined with shops, churches, and residential apartments, and a few restaurants, all with the same whitewashed stucco exterior, but all also decorated in bright colors (mostly blue, greens and aquas, and a deep shade of maroon). Purple flowers (in season) can be seen in planters on many of the upper balconies. The streets/sidewalks are all done in a flat cobblestone, embedded in smooth cement. It is very unique and add a lot of visual interest to pictures of the place.
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| Mykonos, Greece Copyright Andy Richards 2013 |
IN KEEPING with our planned (no) itinerary, we just wandered the streets and browsed the shops. I took many photos - particularly of the colorfully trimmed architecture, and colorful wares displayed outside of many of the shops. There were many more restaurants down the beach, and we eventually found a spot and had some lunch, and dialed into their wifi to check e-mail, etc. Yep - by then we all already had our noses in our "smartphones."😏
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| Mykonos, Greece Copyright Andy Richards 2013 |
BEFORE WE headed back to the ship, there was one sight I had seen from the ship and read about, briefly: the traditional windmills. So, we walked up to that spot on the island and I got my photo of the "icons." I wasn't completely satisfied with my shots, and when we returned in 2017, I made the shot below, which I like better. As noted with the other stops above, you can see many more colorful photos of Mykonos on my website, here.
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| Windmills - Mykonos, Greece Copyright Andy Richards 2017 |
THIS STOP was our first experience with being tendered (brought from the deepwater-anchored ship to shore by smaller boat, for those who don't know what that means). The water was relatively calm, so the experience was good. We did have some slight concern though, about the "tender" age of our driver. 😅
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| Tender Boat - Mykonos Copyright Andy Richards 2013 |
MYKONOS MARKED the half-way point of our cruise. It had been a superb first half, surprising to me how much really cool stuff we saw and how much I enjoyed it. We still had - in my mind - the best yet to come, with Rome, Naples (for the Amalfi Coast) and Barcelona. And then things went south. Stay tuned for the third installment - "Expanding our Travel Horizons - 'Murphy's Law'".
Since I posted this, I have been on another cruise (this time on a brand new cruise line for us: Oceania). Partly for planning and information, I have spent a fair amount of time on the Facebook pages dedicated to cruise lines, as well as particular cruises. In the original post, I noted that you have to read with a "filter." These pages drove that point home to me in recent weeks. We all know that FB is full of trolls, whiners, know-it-alls, and overall - just "bad" information. This is as true of the Cruise pages as anywhere else. Disappointingly, I would say 60-75 percent of what I read there suffers from one of: just wrong information (people answer questions, often unequivocally, without any factual basis and often 180 degrees opposite from the facts - even though they are easily available from other, objective sources); whining and complaining about what I like to characterize as "first world" problems; or astoundingly, a sense of arrogant entitlement (on person even complained that on one cruise line, unlike he was accustomed to, the staff would not deferentially step back away and let him pass, or get on the elevator first! OMG. What have we come to as a society?). Not infrequently, I hear people complain about other passengers' rudeness. A favorite is that "on such and such ship line, people don't wait to let people exit the elevators and push in in front of them even if they have been waiting. I have been on multiple cruises over the past 10 years and I have to say, I have NEVER noticed this happening. Most people are polite and happy. Look folks, there are rude people everywhere, and fortunately, they are in the minority (and are not, of course, confined to any particular cruise line). I also find that many have unrealistic expectations. Food in a buffet, for example, is not going to match what you might find in a 5-star, gourmet restaurant. It is unlikely to be piping hot. There are variations among cruise ship classes. But on the whole, I have been pretty surprised at how good it is. On our recent cruise on the Oceania Nautica, the food at the buffet was very good. But the buffet was small (600 capacity passengers). While the variety was slightly less, I am guessing that plus the size makes it easier to maintain higher quality than on a ship which must be prepared for 4,000 plus passengers. There is no doubt, based upon my limited experience, that some lines (e.g., Celebrity in my view) have "better" food. But even then, they are not 100% perfect. It is going to vary from cruise to cruise and ship to ship. And we each have different expectations. I guess what I am saying here is, read these pages with a sense of sorting out the reality from the complainers and know-it-alls.
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