The Last Post, May 19

No, it's not Rememrance Day, although I used to play "The Last Post" on my bugle every November 11 at the Cenotaph in Burlington.  Today is our last blog.  Tomorrow we go home: boo hoo! and yea yea!

Today we docked at Sorento, Italy.  Sorento is a lovely resort town on the east coast of Italy in a section known as the Amalfi Coast.  This is a beautiful section of coastline that has been a vacation area for Italians and particularly Romans for thousands of years. 

Here is a shot of Sorento with its coastline of high cliffs looking over the beautiful blue water of the Mediterranean, and our ship anchored in the harbour in the distance.

 

From our veranda on the ship we could see Mount Vesuvius some miles up the coast to the north.

 

About 600 BC (2,600 years ago) the Romans built a beautiful resort town near here called Pompeii.  For 600 years it was a high-end resort and living community for wealthy Romans, politicians, nobles and notables.  After 600 years of development it covered 67 acres, the main street was one mile long, and it had every convenience imaginable, including beautiful homes, running water, sewage disposal, daily garbage pick-up, all types of stores, churches, stadiums, theatres, exclusive clubs, restaurants, etc. 

Then, one day, in an instant, it all came to an end.  Mount Vesuvius, about 10 kilometres away, erupted in a gigantic volcano.  Althouth the lava did not flow as far as Pompeii, volcanic matter from the eruption rained down on the city and literally buried it 15-20 feet deep in ashes mixed with water, extinquishing all life.  No one had time to escape.  People died right where they were. 

No one wanted to rebuild in the same location as they considered it jinxed, so Pompeii was forgotten for 1700 years.  It was totally covered with earth and forest.  Then one day in 1700 people were digging in the area and discovered some ruins.  Since, then 70% of the city has been uncovered, cleaned up, and put on display.  It is now a huge tourist attraction.  When we arrived this morning about 10am our guide could tell by the ticket numbers we were given that there was already 5,500 visitors there ahead of us, just today.  Fortunately, with 67 acres of space, it didn't seem that bad.

Here is the entrance to the city.  The road is the famous Appian Way.  The small entrance was for the citizens; i.e., the nobles, the owners, etc.  The large entrance was for the carts, and the slaves, who did all the work.  The nobles and owners did not work; they just lived a life of luxury.

In the centre of the city was the main square, where all the action happened. It is large.

Peggy, the retailer, is standing in front of a row of boutiques in the market square.

We think we may have invented the sliding doors for shops.  No way!  See the groove in the doorstep to the shop.  They had sliding doors back then.

A typical home of a wealthy family had a courtyard,

with beautifully painted walls,

a kitchen,

and a number of tiny bedrooms,

again beautifully painted.

The Romans were big on public baths.  However, in Pompeii they were not for the public.  They were more like a modern country club.  The men went to the bath to spend 2 or 3 hours with their friends, talking business and politics while going through a three-stage bath process: hot bath, steam room and cold shower.  The women had their own bath house.  Here is a hot bath tub from the men's section.

When the volcano erupted, the people of Pompeii were killed right where they stood or laid.  Their bodies were buried in the muddy ash which then hardened to rock.  When the bodies decomposed, they left a hollow space in the rock that was an exact mold of the body that had been there.  So, when the archeologists discovered this in the 1700's they pumped plaster into the hollow spaces, chipped away the rock, and had an exact replica of the victim at the time of death.  Here are a few, including a thinker.  Actually, they speculate that he was covering his mouth because of the ash.

 

 

 

 

 

On a happier note, we think we invented Lego.  Then what is this?

 

 

Well that's it. It's arrivederci as we leave for the Rome airport early tomorrow and arrive home in the afternoon.

We would lke to thank you for your interest, e-mails, and especially those 8 of you who figured out how to post a comment.  Our blog had 1740 page views from Canada, 481 from the US, and 300 others, whatever a page view is.

Wevhave enjoyed putting together these blogs each day, and hope that you have enjoyed looking them over. 

 

P&G

To Ski or Not to Ski, May 18

Today we docked at Messina, Sicily, which was a last minute change in plans because the water was too rough for tendering in the small port of Taormina where we were supposed to dock.  Messina is a large deep port where we could tie up right at the dock.  Messina, with 300,000 inhabitants, is the third largest city in Sicily.  It is right on the narrow, 3 km wide, Strait of Messina that separates the island of Sicily from the mainland of Italy. 

Here are a couple of shots of Messina taken from the ship.

Our adventure today was a trip by bus, gondola, then a 4 wheel drive bus, to the top of the ski mountain in Sicily.  Who knew they skied in Sicily?  Surprisingly, they still have lots of snow up there, even now, probably 20 feet deep or so.  But we couldn't ski for two reasons.  First, we had not brought our ski equipment.  Second, all the snow is covered with fine, black, crumbled lava.  The lava acts as an insulator, so the deep snow stays all summer. 

What you may have guessed by now, is that the ski mountain is Mount Etna, a still active volcano. 

First we took a regular ski gondola to the top of the ski area.  Here is a poor quality photo from the gondola as went up.

From there on you travel to the top of Mount Etna in special four-wheel drive buses with large wheels and plenty of ground clearance.  You can see the depth of the snow in these pictures taken from the bus.  You can also see how dirty it is from the crumbled and powdery lava rocks.

Here are the two intrepid travellers as close to the top of Etna as allowed.  Etna actually has three peaks, which you can see in the background.

The three peaks of Etna are constantly venting, which reduces the pressure build-up below and, accordingly, reduces the chance of eruptions.  But, obviously it does not reduce the chance to zero.  The latest eruption was in 2002 and happened some distance away from the three main peaks.  They insist an eruption can not strike twice in the same place because the underground vents to that place collapse after the eruption, so they have opened this area  for tourists.  We hoped they were right.

Here is the crater from the 2002 eruption.  It is still steaming from the heat below.

We completely circumnavigated the 2002 crater, which involved a nasty climb up a narrow ridge in a howling gale (read 5-club wind),  The long slow line of people inching their way up the trail reminds me of every picture I have seen recently of Mount Everest.  I'm not saying it is quite the same; I am just saying it reminds me.

Our hike involved a close-up look at a couple of lava bombs.  These are round chunks of lava that were hurled out of the crater during the eruption. 




It also gave us a good birds-eye view of the switchback road to the top.  It doesn't look very steep in the picture, but trust us, it was.

A latte and a gooey chocolate croissant half way down the mountain was the perfect way to recover from the mountain climbing.

And a rendition of an aria from Cavalliria Rusticana by our very Sicilian guide was the perfect way to end the trip.

Obviously nothing grows at the top of Mount Etna because of the altitude; 11,000 feet at the top, 9,000 feet where we were.  However, lower down the lava provides a lush environment in which to grow all kinds of produce.  Most residents are fishermen or farmers and use or share with friends much of what they grow.

 

 

 

 

As you can see in the picture above, a lot of the fields are terraced with rock walls because they are on the side of a mountain.  Our guide claims that if all the rock walls in Sicily were put end to end, they wquld be longer than the Great Wall of China.  Do you think?

 

Cheers till tomorrow, P&G.

Egypt Revisited, May 17

The Aussies came through with the pictures after Peggy threatened to report them to the Egyptian authorities.  She was just kidding.

If you recall, we were not allowed to take cameras into the Valley of the Kings where the Pharoahs are buried, but the Aussies who were with us took these secretly on their phone.  Enjoy!

Yes, that's Peggy's back.  The Aussies were right behind us at that point.

 

 

As you can see the tombs are huge, with walls and ceilings elaborately decorated with carvings and paintings.  Imagine how good they must have looked 5,000 years ago.





 

Santorini, Greece, Fun in the Sun, May 16

Here we are on the beautiful island of Santorini, one of the most beautiful islands in the world.  It is a remnant of a volcanic crater that was engulfed by the sea.  The cliffs range from 492 feet to 984 feet in height with the villages perched atop.

Fira is the capital and you reach it by climbing the 550 steps (see the zig-zag path in the 2nd picture), riding a donkey, or taking the funicular (next to the zig-zag path).  We chose the latter for our browsing day in Fira.  Having been to Santorini before we chose not to visit  the neighbouring village of Oia.  Oia is the stunningly beautiful village of blue and white buildings you see in all the travel pictures for Santorini.  The view from Fira is equally amazing.  And we had to have a piece of baklava as well.  It was the best we have ever had.

The view of Fira from the ship.

The view of Fira from Fira.

Peggy shopping.

 

 

Peggy looking down at our ship, with smaller Greek Islands in the background..

 



 

 

 

The world's best baklava.

 



Unfortunately,  between the baklava ashore and the fabulous food every day on the ship, we are both putting on some weight.  That seems to be standard practice with cruises.  So, as soon as we are home, it will be back to home cooking and careful portion control.

Now, off to Mount Etna, an active volcano.  That should be fun.


 

Holy Land Day 2, May 14

May 14 is Independence Day and the start of a holiday weekend in Israel (also George's 80th birthday), so in the morning we headed off to the Sea of Galilee to beat the crowds.  By the way, they seem to have no end of holidays in Israel.  Tabgha, on the Sea of Galilee, is the place where Jesus performed the miracle of the loaves and the fishes.  Here are two pilgrims near the spot. 

 

 

Near Tabgha we visited the Church of the Beatitudes on top of the hill where Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount. 

 

 

 

The next stop was a German built church where we saw an ancient olive oil press made out of large stones.  The part with the wheel crushed the olives including the pits.  The other part strained out the oil from the pulp.  This must be what they mean by first cold press.  BTW, the pit of the olive produces the most oil.  Go figure!

 

Then on to Capharnaum and the ruins of an ancient synagogue,

remnants of Simon Peter's house,

and a cute little gecko.

This Galilee area is considered the centre of Jesus' ministry.  Driving completely around the Sea of Galilee gave us a good view of the Golan Heights that separate Israel from Syria. 

Then on to the River Jordan, where we only went in part way.  Those in the white robes (over swimwear) were having a full baptismal.

The east side of the Sea of Galilee is primarily desert, but the west side is  beaches, resort hotels, fast food, everything you would find at Wasaga Beach.  A small shopping centre was under construction when Whoe! ruins were spotted, so now it's an archaeological site.  This happens frequently in the Holy Land.

We stopped for lunch at a Kibbutz, where we stepped into the Sea of Galilee.

Then off to Nazareth, passing through Cana on the way .... remember the water to wine.

 There was quite a traffic jam as a wedding was taking place in the town centre.  It was not a very dressy affair, and we understand they had to buy their wine.

Nazareth is the town where Jesus spent his early years.  We passed Mary's well where Jesus and his mother came to draw water.  Then the Church of Joseph built over the place where Joseph had his carpentry shop.  Next the Basilica of the Annunciation, one of Christendom's most revered shrines and the largest church in the Middle East.  The Basilica is built on the same site where the Angel Gabriel revealed to Mary that she would be the mother of the Messiah.

A portion of the grotto where Mary lived is incorporated into the alter.

The Basilica is also know as the Church of All Nations.  In the Church and surrounding courtyard artists from many nations have depicted the Madonna and child.  Each is a very unique piece of art.
Here is the one from Canada,

the United States,

and Japan.

Back in Haifa our guide took us to the most beautiful part of the city, German Town, built by German Jews who fled Nazi Germany before WWII. 

The lookout above German Town provides a great overview of Haifa, including our ship if you look closely.

 

 

OK here is the big picture.

OK, off to the Greek Islands (Santorini).

Cheers, P&G.