Mary Ellen, thanks for the great pictures...enjoy the rest of the cruise.

Nancy

Mary Ellen some of those pictures make me yearn for the Greek Islands. Next year B to B. It has been sometime since I have been there and those pictures of Mykonos make me want to return. You really captured some great shots. I think with the photographic skills in evidence on the boards we should rename it LCT - Loads of Camera Talent

Ngaire, too funny. Speaking for myself, not all of us are talented in the photo department.

At Sea – En Route to Dubrovnik

The Internet continues to be unbearably slow. I’m glad we have “free” access – I wish they would find a way to get more bandwidth for the ships. The only time you have a fighting chance is when there are very few people on line – early in the morning, late at night or when people are off the ship for excursions. I think having wifi in the suites has made the issue worse. I will post in a few segments in hope of getting things uploaded.

Fall has come to the Aegean. The temperatures are 20 degrees cooler this week – in the high 60s and low 70s. I can’t imagine wandering about in the summer when the temps stay well over 100 for weeks on end and it’s high tourist season with thousands and thousands of tourists everywhere – I don’t do very well in really hot weather. We are having a great cruise. Ngaire’s back to back cruise next spring should be a wonderful way to see some of the islands.

Ngaire: Engelbert says hello and so does Elda. We had dinner with them last night.

Maria: The Greek Islands are truly spectacular and well worth a visit. Here’s a little eye candy for you. These are from Santorini – all from the village of Oia. We will definitely come back here just to visit Santorini –about an hour into our visit I started wandering in and out of hotel lobbies collecting cards and brochures for future reference


The view from the terrace where we stopped for lunch




She quite enjoyed sharing my grilled chicken. Liked feta cheese too.






cute dogs too

Mary Ellen

More reporting - if you have not been to Ephesus you really should go - it's amazing.

We made a second trip out to Ephesus on Sunday so we could spend more time at the Terrace Houses. It was much less crowded than last week and as mentioned above, much cooler. The terrace houses are a group of houses that are probably 2000 years old – maybe a little older. They are in between the upper and lower cities and were apparently the houses of the aristocrats and officials of the city. One of the big groups on board had a dinner in Ephesus at night and many people went to the concert so the Voyager was all but deserted – a little spooky to move about at 8PM and see no other people until you arrived in the restaurant..


Cats of Ephesus – the little kitten was having great fun attacking the other cats tails.


You walk right through the ruins – they have done a nice job of putting together pieces of the ruins so you can picture what it must have looked like.


Inside the Terrace Houses – just to give you some idea of the scale of the excavation


A view to one of the wall paintings – two thousand year old paint job!


The library of Celsus – they’ve restored the façade so you have an idea for the grandeur of the building and the city

Tuesday we were back in Rhodes – what a difference being the only cruise ship in port makes. We wandered about on our own mostly in the old town – I was fascinated by the Street of the Knights – which still follows the plan of the old medieval town. Some restoration was done by the Italians in the 1930s but these buildings are more original than most of the other buildings in Rhodes (which were destroyed by explosions and earthquakes and completely rebuilt when the Italians occupied the island). Jim and I found a nice neighborhood away from the tacky souvenir bazaar and had grilled sea bream for lunch on a shady terrace. This time we tried a bottle of white wine from Rhodes – the local wine is good.

Wednesday we had two ports: Kos in Greece in the morning and Bodrum in Turkey in the afternoon. Both were delightful. We easily could have spent more time in both. Kos is actually green unlike many of the other islands and apparently is known for its gardens and lettuce. They had a devastating earthquake in 1934 which flattened all the villages but also uncovered extensive Roman and pre-Roman ruins. The ancient agora is two blocks up from the port and you can just wander through. There is also a Roman house with frescos and mosaic floors similar to what we saw in Ephesus, but not as extensive or as elaborate. They also have Greek ruins from the 2nd century BC – they’ve unearthed a temple, a stadium, a fairly large theatre and some baths. Again, you can just wander through all of this. Kos is also known as the place where Hippocrates did much of his teaching and there are ruins of the Aesclepion where people came from all over the ancient world both to study healing and also to take various cures. There are cats all over the town – including tons of kittens. They did not seem at all frightened of people and they would come right up to be pet (knowing cats I’m pretty sure they were looking to mooch some food). They didn’t seem to be pets, but they weren’t starving and afraid either.

There was a big TexMex lunch on the pool deck while we sailed from Kos to Bodrum. Bodrum is a yachting town and a big resort for the Turkish upper classes. There is an excellent castle build by the Knights of Saint John in the 1300s and still standing – there is a museum of underwater archeology there. You have to go through the museum to get to the castle and it is fascinating – they have recovered ships from the second century BC and have interesting exhibits on life in the Aegean for the past two millennia. Bodrum was known in ancient times as Halicarnassus - there's nothing left of the famous Mausoleum as the Knights used the ruins to build their castle! If you like boats, the harbor is worth walking around – there is a whole fleet of gullets – some for tourist day trips but most seem to be privately owned and a separate marina for the modern ocean going yachts. There were a lot of dive boats so I’m guessing this is also an excellent place for diving – the water is crystal clear.

We are having a much needed sea day today - tomorrow we are in Dubrovnik and then onto Venice and then home.

I have taken over a thousand pictures so I'll have lots of editing to occupy my time on the long flight home.

Cheers for now,
Mary Ellen

Fascinating reports and pics - thanks much M'Ellen! :)

Mary Ellen, just loved your report and such great pictures. I feel like I'm there with you!! Keep having a great time. Wish we were there with you.

Please tell Engelbert and Elda "Hi from the Matassa's"

Hi Mary Ellen,

Thank you so much for your reporting and the "eye candy". Certainly provides motivation for a trip to that area.

Keep enjoying your cruise!

Enjoying your reports M'Ellen. Thanks so much for sharing with those of us at home.

Hope you enjoy the rest of your trip. By any chance have you met a couple, Fred and Barbara Brogger? They are my clients, and really nice delightful couple.

Enjoy the rest of your trip.

Time flies on a cruise. It’s our last day today – we are in Venice and the weather is beautiful if a little on the cool side. The internet has been tediously slow so I have not put in much time on the computer.

Our sea day was very relaxing – calm water and sunny skies and a full agenda of activities if you wanted to be busy. We managed to attend Tobias’ cooking demo and the lecture on Venice. We joined Jan and Fred for dinner in Signatures and had a lovely time – those of you on CROSS are in for a special treat meeting these two lovely folks.

We wandered about on our own in Dubrovnik – walked all the way around on the wall and then through the old town. They have done a truly remarkable job restoring the devastation from the war. Last night was the SSS party followed by the Dover Sole/Rack of Lamb/Chocolate Soufflé menu in Compass Rose.

Today they had the gold/platinum event – they let us out on the bow on deck 6 for the sail in and provided freshly made bellinis and lots of tasty snacks (as if we needed any more food). We are docked right by San Basilio and they have a water shuttle running to Piazza San Marco. We tagged along with Jan and Fred and took the vaporetto down the Grand Canal and then just meandered from the Piazza.

Just finished up final packing and now we are heading back into Venice for dinner. All in all a wonderful cruise. I will post pictures when I arrive home.

PS JoAnn: I did not meet your clients. Maybe next time!

Mary Ellen

M'ellen,
Thank you for taking the time to post your terrific reports and photos. I have enjoyed them so much, I hate to see your cruise end!
Enjoy the last moments and have a safe journey home!

Mary Ellen, Have a safe trip home. We will sure miss your wonderful seamail! Looking forward to seeing you pictures.

I echo Betty's thoughts .. great reporting, Mary Ellen! The eye candy definitely adds to the virtual cruise experience.

Have a safe flight home. When's our next virtual cruise with you two?

Cheers, Anne

Thanks for the wonderful tours, Mary Ellen

Hi Everyone,

Well, we are safely home. Venice was lovely – just not enough time. It was sad saying goodbye to Jan and Fred and some of the other folks who were staying on the ship for the voyage to Rome. We had a wonderful time on this cruise - the Voyager is in excellent shape and ready for all of you on CROSS. My only wish is that we were going with you.

The Regent transfer to the airport went very smoothly. Our flight from Venice to Frankfurt was delayed by almost an hour. We had to make a run for the flight home to Boston – change of terminal in Frankfurt, then through passport control, then the enhanced security screen for US bound flights, then a second check of our tickets and documents. We arrived at the gate about half way through the boarding process! Flight was uneventful – 7.5 hours Frankfurt to Boston. We attempted to stay awake the whole way so we can get back on US time – Lufthansa has lots of entertainment options in business class so it was easy to pass the time. The new business class is ok – I found the seats to be a little weird as they will not go completely flat and they don’t go parallel to the floor – you are at some strange angle where you keep slipping down in the seat. I didn’t notice on the way over since I slept the whole way.

We live really close to Fenway Park (10 minute stroll from our house) and generally come through Kenmore Square on the way back from the airport, so it was a complete zoo last night. Good news for the Sox though!

Today was the unpacking (helped by the cats) mixed in with sporting events. Jim had the brilliant idea of sending most of our laundry to be done on the ship before we left. All we had to wash today was socks, underwear, the last day’s outfits and yesterday’s traveling clothes – two loads total. Everything else went from the suitcase to the closet. This is something I plan to do on future cruises as the dry cleaning is about the same price as we pay at home. We were unpacked and everything put away in an hour so we could enjoy the day.

It’s Head of the Charles Regatta weekend (rowing) and my sister-in-law’s brother is an Olympic class rower so we went to watch his race(s) this morning. His girlfriend coaches the MIT Women so we stayed to watch some of her team too. The Patriots continued their winning ways against Miami this afternoon and then we have Game 7 of the ALCS tonight. Even though the game did not start until after 8PM tonight, the Red Sox Nation started invading the area around 2 this afternoon – the police started patrolling the streets in my neighborhood at around 5 (there are 15 motorcycle cops stationed one block from here - I could here their radios sqauwking so I went out to see what was going on) and the helicopters and planes are circling overhead and driving the cats nuts as I write this! Normally, I love living in the city and I am a Red Sox fan but it would be so much easier if they would have just won this while we were away!

I will write up a review during the week and upload the edited pictures too, but here are a few shots of Dubrovnik and Venice just to keep the virtual cruise afloat.


The Voyager from the old city wall in Dubrovnik


Dubrovnik – we “walked the wall” all the way around the old town

Moving on to Venice

Piazza San Marco and the Doge’s Palace from the Voyager as we sailed into Venice


The view from the Vaporetto Route 1 on the Grand Canal – Jan had the excellent idea to take the long way round to Piazza San Marco so we could enjoy the views of this wonderful city


Fred, Gabrielle, and Jan - lucky folks are staying on right through to Florida. Fred's a Rockies fan...


And finally, the two furry child substitutes seem glad we are home.


Zorro – sitting behind my laptop as I was catching up on e-mail this morning


Katu – practicing kitty yoga before settling down for his mid-morning nap

Red Sox up 3-0 in the top of the fourth. I hope I can stay awake long enough to watch the game!



Mary Ellen

MANY thanks for your wonderful reports and photos! Just beautiful, and looking forward to more!

Great pictures Mary Ellen looked like picture perfect weather. Glad you had a great time you sure deserved a break.

Thanks again for the pictures and the reports, Mary Ellen! Our best to Jim.

Masaki

Welcome home and thanks for such great sea mail. Kudos to the Red Sox. Should be a red-hot World Series with the Rockies.

Cheers, Anne

Thanks Mary Ellen, great pictures and now we really can see what Jan and Fred look like.

Guess you are happy Red Socks won!!! Our son in law is too, actually our daughter is as well, they are Red Socks fans. They lived in Boston for about three years, one year right in the city, cute little apartment walkable to everything, West end? South end? Can't remember but Glenn worked for E&Y in the Hancock building I think or maybe it was the Prudential bldg, one of those tall ones :D and could walk. Then they had a cute house out in Wrentham. Lots of fun memories visiting them.

Welcome Home Mary Ellen, I've loved reading all your seamail and the great pictures! Your trip sounds like it was just wonderful. Your cats are so adorable.

Like you, we are now in the habit of having everything laundered before we get off the ship. They do a much better job than I ever could and it makes it so easy to unpack.