1 More Day Until Morocco

Tomorrow is Morocco! The only bad part is that Marrakech (where I am going for 4 days) has a weather forecast of 117 degrees Fahrenheit. 117 DEGREES!!! I can’t say I am totally looking forward to such toasty weather. :/ One other bummer about today is that all of the waiters I know on the ship are getting off in Morocco and a new group is coming on. They are all really happy though because they get to go back to the Philippines to see their families J There are these two guys who always wait on my friend Dawn and I (pretty young guys, probably about 23ish- their names are Don and John) and they were so excited today to be finally going home after 9 months aboard the ship. I have to admit, I am craving home a little bit (especially since the floor doesn’t always move when I try to walk on it.) I can’t believe there are less than 3 weeks left on this ship! It all has gone by so fast but every moment has been absolutely wonderful J

 

Bridge Tour (7/29/2012)

Today I got a tour of the bridge (the place where the ship is steered.) It was very anticlimactic to see where the captain steers the ship from because it was this tiny little steering wheel about the size of a golf cart steering wheel. I think in my imaginations I had wished for a giant steering wheel like that seen in pirates of the Caribbean J There were so many cool instruments to look at in the bridge and interestingly enough the crew also tracks everything by hand just in case something were to happen to the electrical equipment. The guy showing us around was about my age and he was a cadet in training which was interesting to see. Overall, today has been a very productive day and I am avidly counting down the days until Morocco. This evening I am sitting out on the back of the boat observing the general splendor that is the ocean at night and listening peacefully to the waves.

 

7/27/2012 - 7/28/2012- more days on the boat...

Today was.. rough… I used the sea sickness patch for the first time and it helped quite a bit so I didn’t throw up. But, having wind that was 30 knots and a boat that is moving 11 knots creates severe rolling and pitching. Today was the first time this entire trip that I used a sea sickness patch (which helps SO much!) In fact, two out of my three classes got canceled because there was only about 50% attendance due to people being sick in their rooms. I think the most challenging part about classes is trying to take them on a moving vessel, and the whole seasickness thing is just not very pleasant. But, the next day (7/28) was much nicer and I got yet another midterm out of the way! Only 2 more midterms and 1 paper to go until Morocco!! J

 

When I Fell in Love with Turkey

Today I actually went into the Hagia Sophia. The other day I didn’t have time to go in, I just walked around, but today I actually got to go in (for the steep price of 25 TL.) All I can say is I am SO glad that I did! It was absolutely gorgeous! The most interesting part was that there were definite influences of both the Catholic and Islamic faiths. Built in the 6^th century A.D. by Jusiniaus I it was originally a Catholic church. This is because the empire at the time was Catholic, but during the Ottoman takeover (an Islamic empire) the building was converted into a mosque. Interestingly enough, 2 centuries later the Blue Mosque was made in the effort to create a “perfect” Hagia Sophia. This was because when the Hagia Sophia was first created, the dome in the top was the biggest of the time in addition to being a perfect circle. As the building aged, the circle morphed into an oval shape, thus creating an “imperfect dome” and the Ottoman emperor felt the need for a perfect mosque.

In 1935 the Hagia Sophia was turned from an active mosque into a museum. This made it more of a tourist attraction and created greater revenue for the government. For instance: the Blue Mosque does not charge an entrance fee because it is an active mosque and people go there to pray. Since the Hagia Sophia is not active anymore, there is no need to keep it readily accessible for believers and therefore they can charge an entrance fee.

The architecture in the Hagia Sophia was absolutely gorgeous. There is Arabic calligraphy all over the walls along with some ancient mosaics from the 6^th century when it was first created. I think what amazed me the most was the excessive use of gold in the church. There was literally gold everywhere- on the ceiling, walls, in the dome, and even in the arches. The balcony of the church offered an incredible view over the bay.

After the Hagia Sophia, I waited for my friends while sitting in a local park and people watching. When my friends got there we went to a café to get something to drink. The guy standing outside the café told us he would give us a discount and we were both sweating profusely so we decided to go in. the café offered a great view of the street and there were tons of little kitty cats everywhere that were amusing to watch. I ordered a lemonade and out came a huge glass of freshly made lemonade with some small green apples on the side with mint and lime to flavor it. It was absolutely delicious and when it came time for the check he charged us about 30% of the actual price and gave us his business card. I can honestly say that has never happened to me before.

Then it was time to meander through the streets of Istanbul for awhile. We ran into a couple nice shop keepers including one that gave us yummy apple cider with lemon. He was trying to sell me a scarf and when he started to wrap it around my head he accidentally punched me in the eye (owie!) I think it might give me a bruise tomorrow. One of the other shop keepers that we ran into had the most adorable cat in the world. It had two different colored eyes (considered good luck in Turkey) and was pure white. In addition it was about 3 months old which meant it was in that absolutely adorable stage (and very fluffy too- Margaret- I thought of you J )

After some more walking we stopped back in at the Spice Bazaar for a last minute pick up of some dried fruit (to use as snacks for the next 6 days on the ship) and to say by to the spice shop worker that I had made friends with. He gave us some good pomegranate tea (so of course I had to get some to have on the ship also. J )  He was a really nice guy- meaning he had a very good balance between charming, good businessman, and not too pushy. A lot of the other shop owners are very much in your face and it gets tiring after awhile. But, he made us promise that if (when) I come back to Istanbul I would stop by his shop and he can show me around the city. So, that is something to look forward to in the future J

So, overall a recap of Turkey: I will come back to Istanbul someday. Out of all the wonderful places that I have been on this voyage so far, Istanbul is hands down my favorite. There is no comparison. The people are wonderfully nice, the city is remarkably clean, there is a ton of history, and the beauty surrounds the entire city. In general, I fell in love with Turkey and will be saving up to come back someday J

 

Terrace Dinner

This morning contained a smattering of mosques. I went again to the blue mosque (totally better the second time,) this time with a tour group, so I learned a lot of interesting things about the architecture. For instance, the majority of the fine detailing is actually paint directly on the wall- all the way around the walls and the ceiling. It is crazy to think that, like Michelangelo, the artist had to lay on his back in the 17^th century painting with the paint dripping onto his face.

The second mosque that I visited was one on the tip of the golden horn. In the back there was a cemetery that had gorgeous tombstones with Arabic writing. My favorite part of all the mosques I have seen is the gorgeous calligraphy that wraps around all of the columns in the mosques. Normally it is gold Arabic calligraphy detailing Muhammad, his sons and grandsons, and the four caliphs. To me though, not being able to read Arabic, it just looks like a gorgeous, shiny, picture J

After that, the friends I was with went to the Turkish bath and I amused myself with the English newspaper I found while sipping tea at the café outside of the Turkish bath. It was ridiculously relaxing and kind of weird to hear about what is going on back home knowing that I am half a world away.

Then, it was back to the Grand Bazaar for the last time to do a bit more of browsing and dickering. Even though I have been to the Grand and Spice Bazaar multiple times, I still didn’t retrace any of my steps. The overload of colors, beautiful shiny objects, beautiful tea sets, scarves, and the excess of leather was still overly stimulating to my senses.

After the Grand Bazaar it was definitely time for dinner. Well, we came across this restaurant that had decent prices and when the guy showed us to our table we went up 4 stories to the rooftop terrace for dinner. The view was wonderful! To one side there was the bay with all of the cargo ships and fishing boats floating in the water. On the other side was a gorgeous panoramic view of the Blue Mosque. It was incredibly beautiful especially since the sun was setting at that time and the light created the most picturesque views of the mosque. In addition, it is Ramadan right now which means that Muslims do not eat or drink from sun up to sundown. This means that from about 4 am to 8:30 pm they cannot consume any food or drink at all. But, once sundown hits the streets become alive- especially at the Hippodrome.

The hippodrome was the ancient site of chariot racing but today is just a long street that during Ramadan hosts a bazaar. Shops everywhere, cotton candy, popcorn, curros, and pretty much any other type of Turkish food you can imagine. Once the sun went down the streets were crazy! Everyone was eating (I literally don’t think I saw anyone who did not have some sort of food or drink in their hand) and everyone was so happy (and lots of little kids running around.) My friends and I walked around for a bit just taking in the general splendor, letting all of the happiness around me rub off on me and putting me in an excellent mood.

On the way walking back to the ship (around 10:30 pm) this shoe polisher who was walking in front of me dropped one of his brushes. I picked it up and ran up to him and told him he dropped it. He thanked us profusely and then literally pulled my friend Ian to the side and started polishing his shoes saying something to the effect of “for free”. He then cleaned each of our shoes, which was weird because I had sandals on, so it was like cleaning my feet. Then, as we went to leave he started asking us for money. Since he had said it was for free we were all under the impression that we didn’t have to pay and I only had a 50 TL and I wasn’t about to give him that. He then got pretty frustrated, picked up his things and walked away. It was kind of an odd encounter in general.

 

Synagogues of Turkey

This morning started out with a tour detailing the various Jewish Synagogues in Istanbul. There are three synagogues total and they have the highest security of any religious building I have ever seen. Firstly, I needed my passport to get in and the tour guide had to send in a list of all the people who were going and everyone had a background check run on them. Once we got to the first synagogue all bags were checked and everyone had to show their passport and be cleared. This tight security was set up in 2004 after Al-Qaida bombed the synagogue and killed 23 people. The synagogue itself was pretty cool to look at. It was much smaller and less elaborate than any of the big Catholic or Islamic religious places I had seen.

Today I saw two different synagogues with very different styles. The first one was a very orthodox synagogue meaning that it was very traditional. For instance, when the men say their prayers (twice a day) they wrap prayer bands around their right arm, have prayer boxes on their left hands, and wearing traditional headdresses (a constant reminder to pray.) There is also gender segregation in this synagogue. The women have a specific spot they have to sit (on the second balcony) whereas the men get to sit on the ground floor. The second synagogue that I saw had a bit of gender separation too but was slightly less orthodox. The women sat in the back of the synagogue whereas the men got to sit in the front closest to the Torah and the Rabbi who is reading the prayers. Overall, it was very interesting to learn about the Jewish culture, especially since they have managed to keep their culture alive even though they had been persecuted for so long. 

Then it was time for some lunch. By lunch I mean delicious Turkish Pizza. It was incredible pizza because there was no sauce on it and the bread was more a pita bread then dough. The young man that was waiting on the table I was at couldn’t have been more than 16 years old which was pretty interesting to see.

Topkapi Palace was the next place I went to see today. It was… breathtaking! I don’t really have many pictures because in all of the rooms there were security men to make sure that no one took pictures. Some of the pies of art that were on display were insane. For instance, there was this diamond necklace (a very large diamond necklace) that was 86 carrots! There was also old coaches, many swords (including Sulliman the Magnificent and Selim the Grim,) and gorgeous clothing from the ancient eras. Quite frankly, the amount of wealth that was contained in this palace was quite breath taking.

One of the other most breath taking thing about the Palace was the views. There were multiple balconies that had wonderful views across the bay and to the Asia side of Turkey. There were many boats in the bay and the entire setting was so picturesque that I sat and stared out at the water for awhile just taking in the beauty.

I stopped by the Grand Bazaar on the way home to get a bag. (I need a bag because I have gotten so many souvenirs that I don’t have enough room in my suitcase to bring it all home J ) I got this really pretty bag, made in Turkey, and is a small overnight bag. Also, the man who sold it to me was very nice and he had both of his teenage boys working in his shop; family businesses are always fun to see.

I was looking at this one guy’s shop and saw a pair of pretty cool hippy-like pants and when I asked him how much they were he said 65 TL. I told him that was way too much but thank you and went to leave. As I was leading he kept knocking the price down and asked me what my maximum price was. I told him 25 TL (I thought that it was so low he would never take it) and it took him about 1 minute of following me before he said “fine 25 TL.” So, now I have these really odd looking pants (I swear mom, they are the only non neutral clothing items I have gotten on this trip J )

Then, it was back to the ship for an early evening because I am absolutely exhausted.

 

Soaking and Spices :)

This morning as an early start (about 7 am) to get to the Turkish bath for an early soak. I had heard so many good things about the Turkish bath and so with eager anticipation, we took the tram to the local one and started the adventure. Here is how the Turkish bath adventure went:

1.       Undress and put on these bikini bottoms (half a swimsuit maybe?) and cover up with a towel

2.       Then into the bath. There are two baths to choose from. One is a larger marble bath about 5 feet deep and filled with moderately warm water. The second one is a much warmer Jacuzzi that is about 4 feet deep. it was so relaxing with the warm air all around (the entire bath is basically a giant sauna) and the warm water soaking all the dirt and stress away.

3.       Time for the body scrub and body wash by the attendants. The people I had talked to who had attended Turkish baths said that a body scrub was a must. The lady who was doing my scrub took off so much dead skin that I didn’t even know I had (it sounds disgusting, but after I felt the cleanest that I had ever felt.) It was then a body wash and she washed my house in some really yummy smelling apple shampoo.

4.       After the scrub it was back into the bath for another soak. I got super sleepy and so relaxed when I was sitting there.

5.       When it became too hot to stay in the water we went and laid on this warm marble slab for awhile. The marble slab was in a circular shape with small nooks all around the walls with basins to wash your hair in if you should so please.

6.       After laying for awhile I went out and lay in a much cooler room. Then it was back to normal clothing and out into the fresh air to try and wake up a bit.

7.       Overall, this was one of the most relaxing experiences I have ever had AND if I ever go back to Turkey I am definitely going back to this wonderful Turkish bath J

Waking up from the relaxing Turkish bath was much harder than I expected. So, the whole day was kind of a slow moving day (also because it was ridiculously hot- well not compared to Croatia, but 90 is still pretty toasty.) But, the first stop on the itinerary still had to be met and so we proceeded onto the Blue Mosque. It is actually called the Sultan Ahmed Mosque (the Sultan who ordered it built) but is called the Blue Mosque because of the unique blue tiles that line the walls. The ceilings are super high and there are 4 giant pillars that hold up the entire mosque. It is quite the site to behold and has a very calming presence on the inside. Like all mosques, shoes have to be taken off when entering the mosque and this means that the mosque tends to kind of smell like feet.

One thing that takes a little bit to get used to is the call to prayer five times a day for the Muslim population. When the call to prayer happens, Muslims turn towards Mecca and the prayer lasts from 30-45 minutes. In addition to the call to prayer, Ramadan started on the 20^th and so the Muslim population is fasting during the day. Surprisingly, no one is really grumpy- Turkish people are the nicest people I have met thus far.

Today I also saw the Hagia Sophia. It was originally created by Justinianus I in the Byzantine Empire as a massive Catholic church. In, it was the building of this church that caused a lot of the bankruptcy in the Byzantine Empire at the time. Then, awhile later, when the Islamic people invaded, the church was turned into a mosque. After that, it was turned solely into a museum and a pretty cool site to see.

The coolest place that I saw today (other than the entire Turkish Bath experience) is called the Basilica Cistern. It is an underground water storage system that was created in the 6^th century (and required the use of 7,000 slaves to create the structure) during the Byzantine Empire ruling period. There are massive columns that hold up this giant underground well that were harvested from all over the empire from cities that had been conquered. In addition, there are two very large Medusa heads on a couple of the columns that are incredibly intricately carved. For a period of time, the cistern fell into a state of disorder and it became very unclean the water non-potable. But, it was quickly repaired and has been functioning and providing water to the Topkapi Palace since the fall of the Ottomans in 1453. One of the cool things is that there are tons of coy fish in the cistern that swim happily around cleaning the water.

After we got out of the cistern we went to this weird local restaurant nearby. I had this super weird egg and feta cheese dish fried up- basically a feta omelet. The best part of the meal, however, was fresh squeezed orange juice. For some reason, around Istanbul, there is a ton of fresh squeezed orange juice. You can actually see them squeeze the orange juice freshly on the counter right next to your table (pretty cool, and super delicious.)

Another stop on the itinerary for today was the Islamic Art Museum. The museum consisted mostly of carpets and elaborately decorated dinnerware. The reason that Islamic art consists mostly of patterns and there is a noticeable lack of humans is due to the traditional culture in the Ottoman empire. Painting people was like “creating people” which the Ottoman’s believed was a job that belong only to Allah. This means that it was disrespectful and improper to paint people and therefore the artists turned to carpet making and patterned painting.

The museum had an art exhibition in one of the side rooms that was absolutely gorgeous. The exhibit was called “The Five Senses.” It played on people’s 5 senses meaning that there was perfume in the air for smell, chocolate treats for taste, beautiful paintings for sight, and all of the paintings were able to be touched. In fact, there was a lot of brail on the paintings and all of the writing on the walls describing the paintings was in brail. I talked to the gentleman from the art gallery after who was displaying the paintings and he said that it was supposed to be an exhibit that allows everyone to enjoy it, even those who cannot see the paintings. It was pretty cool to see and the paintings themselves were absolutely beautiful. Then, since it was super toasty, my friend and I headed to a local coffee shop. We got some yummy, traditional Turkish tea and sat for a bit resting our legs.

We ended up getting into a conversation with the owner of the shop and he pulled out a map to show us a couple cool places to go. Then, it turned out that the lady who had drawn all of the illustrations on the map was in the café and so we got her to sign each of our copies. After chatting with her for a bit, we headed off to wander to the Spice Bazaar. On the way we walked through the hippodrome and came across this mosque in a residential area. We stepped inside and it was like stepping into a Zen forest. It was absolutely beautiful to look around and just take in the wonderful beauty that was contained in the trees.

After wandering around in the mosques and the backstreets, I headed to the Spice Bazaar to pick up tea and a few other spices. My friend and I met this really nice guy running one of the spice shops and we had apple tea with him while we tasted all of the dried fruits that he had in his shop. My favorite was definitely the strawberries and kiwis. Also, he let us try some of the honeycomb- so so wonderful! I had never had anything that sweet and delicious. After purchasing the goods (and some others that seemed to be particularly intriguing) we headed off to find the place we were meeting a group for dinner.

The interesting thing about dinner this evening was that at this restaurant I didn’t order anything because they only offered one item. The item on the menu was a mix of traditional Turkish food. This meant that for the vegetarians there was macaroni salad with a yogurt base instead of a mayonnaise one, spinach in lemon juice, yummy rice with lots of spices, and a couple other vegetable dishes that I couldn’t really distinguish.

Dessert for the evening involved going to this dessert shop about 20 minutes up the road. In the spirit of traditional Turkish food I had some rice pudding with bananas, dried dates, and chopped up peanuts on top. It was pretty good, but overall I am not a huge fan of the texture of rice pudding. For rice pudding though, it was exquisite J

After dessert at the local café it was time to head back to the ship. On the way back my two friends and I noticed that there were two slightly creepy men walking an identical pace with us on the right side. I was a bit nervous so I sped up without saying anything. They sped up too. Then I tried slowing down, whispering to my friends to just be on the lookout. Well, one of the girls with us started laughing (I wish it was funny, I just thought it was scary) and that made the men’s heads turn anymore. Getting to the point where I was actually worried, we stopped off in a ice cream shop to “look at the flavors.” We milled around in there for a good 5-7 minutes and then stepped back outside. The men were still there. Waiting in the middle of the street. The only thing left to do was just continue to walk back (obviously in the most lighted area possible with the most people around.) I set off with a very fast pace and after about 10 minutes they couldn’t keep up with us anymore or didn’t want to and we finally shook them. Needless to say, the end of the evening was way too eventful. Now bed.

 

Istanbul- Only the Beginning

Istanbul is wonderful. There are the friendliest people I have ever met, some of the best and tastiest food, (dad get ready for some of the spices I am going to bring samples of home J ) and overall a very pleasant town to roam around in. Today after the diplomatic briefing on the ship in the morning I headed out to see what Istanbul is all about. The Grand Bazaar was the first place that I stopped into. By “stop into” I mean wander through the over 4,000 shops. It is literally the biggest mall in the world and is very overwhelming for the shopper.  There were scarves of every color, more carpets and rugs then I have ever seen, antiques, silver, purses, bags, apparel, and so many random things that I would wasn’t expecting to see.

One of the best parts about the shopping atmosphere in Istanbul is the shop keepers. Many of them are all about getting to know the customers before they start to sell things. For instance- we entered this one guy’s carpet shop and he invited us in, gave us all traditional Turkish apple tea, and we chatted for about 30 minutes. Then, we moseyed around his shop, I figured out just how expensive carpets really are, and then we left. It was a fun experience and I have begun collecting business cards because that is the big thing for shop keepers to give out to talkative customers.

The Turkish men are (if it is possible) even more blatantly flirtatious in public then Italian men. Often times, many of the Turkish shop owners will say lines like “hi beautiful, come look at my shop,” or “hey darling want to have a look,” or the one I seemed to get a lot today (about 7 times) “hi baby face come look in my shop.” I still have yet to fully figure out what they all meant by “baby face.”

Anyway, the highlights of today were numerous. I think Turkey is my favorite country I have been to thus far and so I have to gush for awhile. Firstly, the Grand Bazaar (as I have mentioned above) is overwhelming. One of the shops that I stopped into was full of scarves and the guy there taught me 3 different ways to tie the scarves. There were the most colorful, shiny, and intricate scarves I have ever seen there. I am pretty sure I could have just looked at them for days and been content.

It was amazingly fun and I think to fully look through the entire Bazaar I would need about a month. But, after a couple hours, it was time to find lunch. We ventured out of the Grand Bazaar and met this very nice old Turkish man who made it his business to find us a restaurant to eat at. He walked us down this sketchy alleyway to this local restaurant where we sat down and decided to give it a try. Turkish food has incredible flavor. All of my taste buds were very stimulated during the meal. Interestingly, when one orders meals at a traditional Turkish restaurant it comes with free bread, salad, cabbage and onion mix, and tea at the end. (yummy yummy Turkish tea!!) Overall, my favorite part of the meal was the use of yogurt. There was literally yogurt with everything- on kabobs, vegetables, and bread.

The kabob that I got was this eggplant kabob with grilled tomatoes on the side. I don’t know what spices were used or how it was grilled, but I have never had eggplant that I enjoyed eating this much. Oh! And the tomatoes were to die for! I was so unbelievably full after that meal!

 

Then, once lunch was over, the nice old man who brought us to the restaurant came back and insisted that we look at his leather shop. He had a beautiful shop but none of us were really interested in spending 1000 Lira on a jacket (about $500.) So, we had some Turkish tea, chatted about his sons, his business, and the shape of Turkey’s government. After that he took us to his cousin’s carpet shop where we got an exciting display of all the gorgeous carpets (and yes, they run about 5000Lira for the smallish ones. – AHH) But, the owner was really nice, gave me his business card, and asked me to go out with him that night (Dad you will be happy to know I declined going out with the random Turkish fellow) and then we left the shop.

Next stop: Spice Bazaar. Overall, the Grand Bazaar was visually stimulating and the Spice Bazaar was stimulating to my nose. There were so many smells of spices, Turkish delight, tea, figs, apricots, and so many more things I can’t even remember to list. It was a wonderful time wandering around, tasting all of the samples of the various goodies and buying some spices to take back home (Kevin- cumin.)

After a quick stop back at the ship it was time to hit the town for dinner. There were 6 of us in the group and therefore there were too many of us to fit in a single cab. My friend Caitlyn and I volunteered to walk to the hotel we were meeting my friend’s mom at (I know right, I have serious mommy jealousy!) and we proceeded up the busy street full of shops and people. It was supposed to be about a 25 minute walk and 40 minutes later we end up at the hotel that we think is where Dawn’s mom is staying at. Well, it turns out there are three hotels with the same name in different locations and we happened to be at the wrong one. The next 40 minutes was a series of disasters. Pretty much everyone we asked for directions pointed us in a different direction and some of them didn’t even think that the hotel existed. I was getting to the point of being slightly nervous about being lost when we ended up in this series of alleyways with no cars, lots of sketchy people, a ton of cats, and no English being spoken anywhere. On the verge of desperation I stopped to ask these 4 elderly gentlemen all sitting a circle and chatting. Only it turns out that they speak no English at all and I tried to communicate in my flustered English and 2 words of Turkish that I don’t speak their language and just need directions. One of the men stands up and motions for Caitlyn and I to follow him and so we gingerly follow him. For 20 minutes he leads us up and down alleyways and finally we get to the hotel. This man literally made my day. It was so nice of him to go 20 minutes out of his way (each way) to help two tourists find their way.

So, finally at the hotel (about an hour and a half after we were supposed to be there) we ventured out for dinner. Dinner was exquisite. I had potato ravioli with hummus and yogurt (again with the delicious yogurt.) after that I had some Turkish tea and a little baklava to top off the evening. Then, (since I understand the city so well now) I walked back, looking in all of the little shops (the shops stay open until about 11:30 pm) and finally got back to the ship. Shower. Blog. Bed. Tomorrow= more Turkish fun! Thanks for reading J

 

Kerameikos and Olympian Zeus

Today was the last day in Greece. Yet again I ventured off to Athens (it is about a 20 minute metro ride and let me tell you, I am becoming awesome at navigating the metro system J ) The first stop today was Kerameikos. Kerameikos is divided into two parts. The inner part is known as the potter’s quarter which is essentially the main part of the city where the public buildings, temples, and bath houses were. But, what Kerameikos is most famously known for is the outer part that encompasses the ancient cemetery and the public graves. There is still excavation going on in this site and I got to see the people working with those cool archeological tools, chiseling out some of the stone. J It was amazing to see how old the ruins were and that I could walk down the streets of inner Kerameikos and imagine that I was back in the ancient town. In fact, the road that visitors now walk on today used to be a little river that ran through the town and acted as a sewage drainage system (it must have smelled pretty darn icky!)

Then, after grabbing a coffee at a local café it was onto historical site two of the day: Olympian Temple of Zeus. This ancient temple is in downtown Athens and has columns that seem to tower above everything. It was quite the incredible view from the exit of the metro. A lot of the temple has been destroyed during the Christian takeover (the same time when Delphi was destroyed) but about a dozen of the towering columns still stand.

After Zeus’ temple it was lunch time. Lunch today was not the best, I got a Greek salad and it was good, just not super wonderfully excellent like every other meal I have had in this country. But after we stopped for a croissant (with chocolate inside,) so that made the experience much better.

Back to the metro, 20 minutes back to Piraeus, and a walk through the graffiti ridden walls back to the ship. Tomorrow there are classes and the next day it’s Turkey!!

 

Delphi

If I were going to build a temple for my god I would definitely build it at Delphi. About 190 km away from Piraeus, it is the most picturesque place with the best views and an incredibly peaceful presence. An ancient spiritual site built into the side of Mount Parnassus is where the ancient Greeks had their most famous oracle- The Oracle of Delphi.

On the way to Delphi I passed by the city of Thebes. (Margaret- think Hercules.) Thebes gets all its recognition from the ancient mythology that takes place in its walls. The stories of Oedipus revolve around the city of Thebes where he answers the riddle of the sphinx and thus frees the Thebans from the terrible monster. He then becomes king and eventually fulfills the prophecy told by the oracle at Delphi that he would murder his dad and marry his mother. It is an awfully tragic story and does not have a happy ending (he goes into exile) but is what gives Thebes its recognition.

Once I got to the Oracle at Delphi I was amazed by the beauty of the natural topography. It is literally built into the side of Mount Parnassus. The legend goes that Zeus threw a rock and it landed at Delphi which meant that that was the perfect spot to build a temple. Another legend says that Apollo, who originally came in the shape of a dolphin, carried the Cretan priests all the way to Delphi on his back and instructed them to make a temple. Regardless of which legend is more accurate, a temple for Apollo was constructed at Delphi and people from all over came to make sacrifices and ask advice from the Oracle. Often times the priestess at the Oracle were young women (symbolic because Apollo is the caretaker of youth) known as Pythia. She would sit on a tripod and relay the people’s questions to Apollo who would then, in turn, relay the answers back through Pythia to the awaiting worshiper. This all changed when one of the young priestesses ran away with a one of the priests and then, old women became the acting oracles, but dressed up as youthful girls to keep the symbolism alive.

Along with the temple, the ancient people of Delphi had constructed a theater. Originally built in the 4^th century B.C. it can seat about 5,000 people. The theater is still in use currently, although there is talk of shutting it down for two reasons. 1. The rocks, over the years, have become very slippery and women in high heels have been known to fall and hurt themselves in the slippery rocks. 2. The cleaners of the theater get about 24 kg of gum every year from people sticking their gum under the seats and it is very hard to remove.

Overall, there is not much left from the ancient oracle site because when the Christian regime took over Greece the emperor ordered the site to be destroyed. It was pretty cool to look at the ancient ruins still there and compare them to pictures depicting the glories of the past.

After wandering around the ancient site of Delphi, I headed to the museum of Delphi. This is where all of the remains that were removed during the excavation are held. It was pretty cool to see the statues, pottery, gold head dresses, and jewelry that were all dedicated to Apollo in the glory of the temple. Then it was onto lunch time (which was really good because it was already 2 o’clock pm.)

Lunch was held at a traditional Greek restaurant. There were 6 courses, so get ready to be really hungry after reading this. J

Dish 1: Spanikopita. I should classify, really good spanikopita. Not like the icky stuff you buy frozen in the grocery store and throw into the oven. The really good homemade stuff that the Greeks make and taste super yummy.

Dish 2: cheese ball- fried. It sounds pretty gross, but it was a combo of cheese and spinach deep fat friend into a ball. It is all with tizikie sauce (super super yummy!!)

Dish 3: Mozzarella cheese stick- like the deep fat fried ones with deliciously fresh mozzarella cheese in the inside.

Dish 4: Salad- of course it was a Greek salad. This means tomatoes, green peppers, olives, olive oil dressing, and a big hunk of feta cheese on the top.

Dish 5: Spaghetti- with some really good homemade tomato sauce

Dish 6: Baklava- enough said.

It was delicious.

Then it was onto the last stop of the day- an ancient Orthodox monastery (11^th century.) Since I wasn’t told I would be going one I wasn’t dressed appropriately (I had shorts on that did not cover my knees) and so I had to borrow a skirt from the monastery. It basically was a gross olive green bag, but a small price to pay to be able to see the incredible mosaics that were in this monastery. There was so much gold that the entire monastery seemed to be alit with a glow from the walls. It was absolutely gorgeous.

After that, I headed home and then went out to skype with the family (so much fun!! Thanks mom, dad, and Kevin!!) Then it was to bed and tomorrow I think I will go back to Athens for a bit.

 

Heavy Metal, Water, and Coughing All in the Same "Dance"

I am excited to report that today it was only about 98 degrees! In addition to the significantly cooler weather, there was a very nice wind that blew the entire day. With this refreshingly cool wind blowing, I set out walking through the city of Piraeus to the metro station. On the way, I stopped in at a fish market to view all of the local fish (and octopus, shrimp, mussels, clams, and so much more.) It was kind of disgusting when I saw the skinned lamb hanging upside down with its head still on and blood dripping. Then, when the butcher came over and asked if I wanted a picture with him (I had my camera out because I was taking pictures of the fish for my marine biology class) I think I cringed visibly. Anyway, I made it through the smelly fish/meat market unscathed and ended up at the metro. Then it was onto Athens!

The first stop in Athens today was the Acropolis. Just a little history on the Acropolis: Acropolis literally means “city on the extremity.” The Acropolis in Athens contains many buildings including they very historic Parthenon. In my history classes back in the states I have learned about how the Parthenon was dedicated to the goddess Athena (who the city Athens was named after), how it was created in 447 B.C., and is regarded as the enduring symbol of Ancient Greece.  In addition, I have seen many pictures of the Parthenon and they looked incredible. But, in real life, the Parthenon is immense and breathtaking to behold. Its sheer size is just incredible and the columns seem to tower over everything and appear to reach all the way to the size.
(I will have to put pictures up the next time I have internet!)

One of the best parts about the Parthenon was that even though the sun was bearing down upon all those viewing this historic site, the winds were so strong that it was quite a pleasant temperature on the top. I stayed up there for awhile, looking out over all of Greece and simply observing the wonders of the Parthenon.

 

After the Parthenon I ventured to Ancient Agora. Agora was an ancient city that had private housing until the 6^th century B.C. until the emperor at the time reorganized everything. From Ancient Agora I could see the temples of Zeus and Hephaestus. All of the temples are huge and very incredible to look at. After wandering through Agora, my friend and I ventured into downtown Athens into the shops and flea market and then to a very yummy restaurant where we had some excellent Greek salad. The next stop was the metro station which happened to be by Parliament so we got to see that too J Once we got into the metro we realized that one of the lines (conveniently the one that we needed to take back to Piraeus) was closed until 4 pm because they were on strike. It’s hard to get used to the fact that anything could be closed because of strikes and riots, but that is how Athens is right now.

Back to the ship and time for a shower and to do laundry in my sink!!

The night was… interesting to say the least. I went on a Semester at Sea sponsored field trip called the “Athens Theater Festival.” When I signed up for the field trip, I was under the impression that it was going to be a Grecian play at an outdoor theater. Well, needless to say, plans chanced apparently when I found myself in an old warehouse with a modern dance show going on in front of me.

I love trying new things and experiencing new experiences and sometimes there are experiences that I don’t really get and this was one of them. Here are a couple of highlights of the experience:

1.       The first 15 minutes of the 45 minute play involved the 3 dancers (that was all there was in the entire dance) standing and walking forward, backwards, and sideways in complete and total silence.

2.       The next 15 minutes involved each dancer taking the “spot light” to different “music.” Music is in quotations because the first dancer danced to this punk metal music that someone would listen to if they were in a terrible mood and needed a really hard work out to cheer themselves up. The man who was dancing to this music carried a box out the entire time (it reminded me so much of Scrooge’s Christmas Carol when Marley comes in caring a box of chains.) The second dancer danced to this “music” that had very odd trickling water sounds happening the entire time. She was holding a giant wooden spoon. The third dancer held a large oval and danced to the sound of coughing. I kid you not there was a good 5 full minutes of different men/women/children all coughing and she had this dance routine (most of it walking) that she preformed.

3.       The third segment of this piece was quite possibly the most ridiculous. The two female artists ran in place (like when you’re at soccer camp and you coach makes you do “happy feet” and then hit the ground, except without the hitting the ground part) while the male who was in the show laid on the ground kicking his feet.  I think that he was poorly pretending to swim (his mouth was in an “O” shape the entire time and his arms were slowly moving.) 15 minutes of fake swimming and running in place.

4.       The end.

After the “dance” I went home. I think overall I found it vastly amusing because of how ridiculous it was. This is not a critique on the artist’ dancing abilities, just on how much I was not expecting what the night led to offer. But, overall, the day was quite fun and I had a great time writing this blog. J

 

Heat Advisory, West Nile, and Food Coma All in the Same Day!

Today was hot. Just plain and simply scorching hot. By “hot” I mean roughly 107.66 degrees Fahrenheit was the estimated high for today in Athens Greece. So, by my rainy Oregon standards it was unbelievable. But, regardless of the incredible heat, I ventured out into downtown Athens regardless. Athens is a city wrought with graffiti and political unrest (one of the give aways were the policemen with crowd control shields on numerous street corners.) The first stop on the Athens itinerary was to slowly saunter (due to the extreme heat) to a local restaurant to get some hearty home cooked traditional Athenian food. The restaurant had all of the choices of food laid out in the display case to point and grunt at in the very few Greek words I know. (Interestingly enough in Greek “ni” means yes and “ohi” means no. It gets very confusing because it is directly opposite then how it works in the states.) But, regardless of my poor Greek the owner gave me exceptional food. I had the most delicious artichokes cooked with shelling peas and golden potatoes. They were the biggest artichoke hearts ever J

After the yummy lunch we ventured onto the National Archeological Museum. Because it is Monday, many of the main attractions in Athens are closed. In fact, due to the high temperatures, the Acropolis closed around 10 am when the heat began to get so extreme. But, the National Archeological Museum opened at 1:30 for those tourists seeking minimal air conditioning. I ended up spending about four and a half hours at this museum due to its vast size and the amount of history that it contained. Essentially, all of the Greek mythology and literature that I have learned about and studied in school came alive in these original painting, vases, and sculptures from 600 B.C. I don’t really know how to fully express the wonders and the amount of aw I was in as I wandered the halls of the museum. Statues of Zues, Athena, Poseidon, and Hades all lined the walls: made out of marble, bronze and even some with plated gold. I could not get over the splendor that was contained in the museum. Eventually, when I get internet I will put some pictures up although I have to admit, I was too awestruck in most of it to even take pictures. J

After such an expansive time at the museum, it was time to find dinner. We took the metro to another part of the city in search of this legendarily supreme restaurant we had heard rumored. After asking many locals for directions (the streets are labeled really oddly and are on the side of the buildings, not to mention they are all in the Greecian alphabet which I can not read very well) we ended up at this cute little pastry shop on the side of the road. All these homemade pastries and ice cream dishes were modeled in lighted display cases. So, of course I had to indulge in an ice cream bar just to see how it was and let me tell you. It was incredible. J Then it was on to the real restaurant. Outside of the restaurant there was a cute little park with lots of dogs running around (apparently in Greece the government provides food and water for the stray dogs which means there are numerous amounts of strays in the streets.) We wandered in the park for a bit until the mosquitoes started to get really bad. Today the Greece government issued a warning for West Nile Virus. There have been quite a few outbreaks in Athens and they are expecting more to pop up soon. So, even with the immense amount of DEET that I put on I didn’t want to be out when the mosquitoes were getting particularly summer. Then, it was dinner.

Dinner was… awesome. I feel like a theme of my blog is “this food was awesome” “this food was incredible” “this food was the best I’ve ever had” … but seriously. It was. I had a Greek salad that consisted of sweet onions, a huge chunk of feta cheese, fresh tomatoes, fresh cucumbers, delicious olives, and a light dusting of olive oil vinegar. That along with a local beer and the free desserts (some yummy desert bread with a dusting of powdered sugar on top) pretty much sent me into a food coma and I was ready for the hour trek home. All in all, it was a really pleasant and relaxed day! Tomorrow (barring any more heat advisories) is the Acropolis!

 

Anticipation for Greece

The past two days have been spent trying to get back into the swing of taking classes. There are two days in between Dubrovnik, Croatia and Piraeus, Greece and those two days have been chalked full of class responsibilities. I have to say, I am ready to be in port again! The boat has been going about 9 knots per hour (when we are in the Atlantic it goes about 23 knots) which is very slow and therefore not much rocking, which is nice. But, for now I am content to slowly travel on to Greece. That is about all I have to say for now, happy reading and I will be gushing about Greece soon! J

 

Siege, Gelato, and Tea

Today is the last day in the beautiful city of Dubrovnik. The first destination on my itinerary is the old city walls.  The wall around Dubrovnik was mostly constructed between 1100 and 1600 A.D., and runs around most of the old city stretching almost 2000 meters.  For almost a thousand years the walls stood as a defense against invaders and were not breached until 1806 when Napoleon's armies were invited in. Today the wall is a tourist attraction that offers a gorgeous view of the city surrounding it.

Part of the reason that Dubrovnik is such a picturesque city is due to the fact that all of the house’s roofs look the same. They are all orange clay tiles that are pristinely clean. The effect of the similar looking roof is quite beautiful from the top of the walls. It makes the city very colorful and more like a fairy tale than ever.  Walking around the walls was incredibly hot. By hot I mean insanely sweltering. I literally had sweat dripping in beads down my face. It looked like I took a shower.  All in all, by the time I arrived down from the walls I was very much ready for the well deserved gelato that awaited me (Margaret- it was mint chocolate chip, I took a picture just for you ;) )

After sitting in the shade and eating my gelato quickly before it completely melted I ventured off to walk around the city for the last time. I encountered some very nice people selling hand made goods and the local markets are all about letting you try samples of the food so I didn’t really need lunch after that. Then I headed to the grocery store where I got some very yummy blood orange tea (all they have on the ship is Lipton, which gets old pretty quickly.) I hit up an internet café for a bit after that to do some updating on my blog and get some early dinner before it was back to the ship for the evening and on to Greece in just a couple of days!!

Montenegro- the Highlights

Disclaimer: this post is not for the faint of heart due to the length. But, it is only because of the super amazing time that I had on my two day trip to Montenegro.

The day started out with a beautiful drive through the mountains of Croatia to pass through customs (of which I got a stamp in my passport!!) and into the small country of Montenegro. The most amazing thing about Montenegro was the wonderful views. There was literally no bad view from anywhere in the cities or in the mountains. I can honestly say I have never in my life seen anything as beautiful as this country.

The first stop on the itinerary was the city of Kotor. It was the old capital of Montenegro and some pretty cool old palaces. The places actually look like slightly large houses because they were not that wealthy of a country. But, the best part of Kotor was the view (this is going to be a common theme.) From the main square of the city, in every direction there are gorgeous mountains. It is like the country is in the middle of a giant valley with a small bay on one side. When I have internet next I will put up pictures because, as the old adage says, “a picture is worth a thousand words,” and in this case, it is very, very true!

In the center of the town there is a gorgeous Catholic cathedral. Through the history of Montenegro it went from Catholic to Orthodox, to Catholic and back to Orthodox. Then it was settled on to have both Catholic and Orthodox be the main religions of Montenegro. So, about one block from the Catholic cathedral, there is an Orthodox church. Both of these buildings have gorgeous architecture and, like lots of churches, are really beautiful to look at.

The next stop on the itinerary was the Maritime museum in Kotor. It is a museum recounting some of Kotor’s main historical figures and momentous events. There was a room that was dedicated entirely to rifles and knives. I have never seen such elaborate weapons! (I am not sure how practical they were or how much they were used actually for warfare.)

After a gelato stop as we were leaving Kotor, we took a bus trip up one of the mountains nearby. The road that we were driving up was basically a super-duper squished two lane road that had 30 “S” turns. Needless to say, I was fairly motion sick by the time we reached the top of the mountain. The view from the top is beyond words. The entire bay was in view along with parts of the Adriatic, numerous mountains, and the sun was playing on the water making the most gorgeous backlight for pictures. I stood there speechless for about five minutes just taking in the view. It truly was my happy place. I can see myself going back there many times in my head and remember the beauty very fondly.

We finished the drive up the mountain and had a snack at the top. By “snack” I mean that we stopped at the only restaurant on the mountain for some cheese, bread, and this really yummy native fermented honey drink. There was a biker who was biking up the mountain that reached the restaurant just as we did. It was pretty funny because he biked this crazy long road (it took about 35 minutes in the bus) and then when he got to the restaurant ordered a tiny espresso, took off his shoes, and sat there for awhile. It looked like quite the intense workout!

The drive down included many more excellent views that were just as breath taking. Then, we stopped in a small medieval town close to Kosovo and looked around at the monastery there.  The best part of the town was the immense number of small kids running around. There was this one little blond boy who kept chasing pigeons around and making little squeaking sounds. (I really love little kids J )

Then we proceeded onto the city of Budva. This is the major hotspot of nightlife in Montenegro. The hotel that we were staying in was in downtown Budva and was absolutely adorable. It was a tiny room that had air conditioning and a gorgeous view of downtown Budva. Dinner was at the hotel and consisted of a three course meal. The vegetarian meal was a bunch of vegetables (peppers, zucchini, corn, carrots) all stir fried in this sauce that I had never tasted before with a sweet taste but left a sour after taste. It was very interesting, but was a yummy new experience.  After dinner some friends and I went out for the evening. In downtown on the main road by the ocean there was a carnival with open air pubs, street musicians everywhere, and so many people of all ages and ethnicities. It was quite the interesting night and I met some very nice natives and ended up sitting down by the water watching the disco lights off in the distance for awhile. It was absolutely beautiful, and a night I will never forget.

Once the evening ended, I headed back to the hotel for a glorious night’s sleep!

The morning came way to quickly, but by 8 I was out of bed and down having a coffee for breakfast. I had until 12:30 pm to explore so I hit the town once my coffee was finished. The first stop was a pastry shop that had the most delicious pastries. The one I got was a croissant but it had chocolate melted in the middle. (Europe really understands how wonderful pastries are for breakfast.) After breakfast I meandered around the shops for a long while, chatting with shop owners, looking at stray cats and dogs, and looking at the beautiful views that were everywhere around the city. The walls around part of the city had a very narrow part on the top that was just barely wide enough for one person to walk. But (like the rest of the country) had wonderful bay views from pretty much everywhere along the walls.

Then I went to the beach for about an hour. When I say beach I actually mean a shore line with a lot of rocks. The water was magnificent though. It was about 80 degrees, wonderfully clear and just seemed to go on forever and ever. In addition, it was very salty (because it comes from the Adriatic Sea) and that meant that it was very easy to float and absorb the beauty that surrounded everything. The beach was very crowded with family: small babies running naked around splashing in the water and moms and dads with their family. It was pretty cool to see so many families just enjoying a day at the beach.

At 12:30 I headed to the restaurant where everyone was meeting for lunch. It was a lunch full of fresh veggies and potatoes (it tasted like the tomatoes were freshly picked.) Then gelato and back on the bus. The bus ride was pretty much a straight ride back to the ship past the Croatian border (yet another passport stamp!- I am excited about the stamps because I haven’t gotten any other stamps in my passport because we don’t have to go through customs to go into the ports.) The one stop that we made was at a gas station that had a full bar and good coffee. It was pretty much deserted because there are not many people (compared to the United States) who buy gas in Europe because it is so expensive (about 10 dollars a gallon.)

Once I arrived back at the ship a shower was my first priority! It was definitely time to get all of the salt out of my hair that had encrusted on and was flaking off. The shower was glorious! After that I was ready for dinner, (mmmm pizza) a little skyping with the family back home, (it was so great to see you all!!) and then back to the ship because I am absolutely exhausted. Tomorrow I want to have one last full day in Dubrovnik so I have to get my beauty sleep J Thanks for reading!

 

Snorkeling, Sea Kayaking, and Opera

Today was the most picturesque day I have had yet on this incredible voyage. The day started out standing on the observation deck at 7 am watching as the ship pulled into port. Dubrovnik, Croatia kind of reminds me of a fairy tale land. The hills have houses all with the same roofs and there are mountains very close to all of the coastlines. After breakfast, I went on my Marine Biology field lab (it’s the equivalent of having a lab in college just not nearly as cool.) This field lab involved sea kayaking and snorkeling.

I kayaked over to the beautiful island of Lokrum (Croatia has a ton of islands off its coast with only about 6% of them inhabited.) The water was perfectly warm and refreshing to jump in and the scenery was so beautiful. As I was kayaking to the island in front of me I could see Lokrum, to the left were huge cliffs that seemed to jut out of the mountainside, with a town seated perfectly in their nooks, and to the right was the open waters of the Adriatic Sea. The whole time I just kept looking around and telling myself that it isn’t a dream and I really am in Croatia. Croatia!

After awhile, the kayak tour pulled up to the beaches of Lokrum (not beaches of sand, but of rock.) We got out and had lunch at the only restaurant on the island. They served water (mmm… they came in 330 mL glass bottles interestingly enough,) sandwiches (tomatoes, mozzarella, spinach, and homemade bread,) and for dessert brownies with this sour-ish strawberry sauce and ice cream. It really hit the spot.

After eating it was on to snorkeling. For about 90 minutes I cruised around the rocky outcrops of Lokrum. Here are a few of the many highlights.

1.       Huge starfish with little black spots on it’s back. (I got to pet it because unlike the Medes Islands, Lokrum is not a Marine Protected Reserve which means you can pretty much pick up anything you like.

2.       I got to hold a sea cucumber that one of the guides pulled up. It squirted water and felt bumpy and slimy.

3.       I saw numerous fish, tons of little hermit crabs, a lot of sea urchins (interestingly enough on the CDC one of the things to watch out for in Croatia is stepping on sea urchins) and even a random bucket on the bottom of the ocean floor.

4.       One of the guides cut open a sea urchin (apparently it is a delicacy in Croatia) and let everyone try it. Pretty much everyone who tried it grimaced and said it was slimy and salty. 

Snorkeling was really excellent. I didn’t get cold and apart from the fact that the water was super salty, it was perfect. I was bummed when we had to leave, but kayaking back was yet again breathtakingly beautiful (I think this is becoming a theme for my entire Semester at Sea trip.) We (Caitlyn and I who were sharing a sea kayak) got into a water fight with one of the guides and when we got backed we’re completely soaked. Swimming was the perfect way to end it all and then I ventured back to the ship to get a glorious shower!

Once I was all squeaky clean, I headed off to Old Town Dubrovnik with a couple friends. The first stop was food. The place that we ate at was this quaint restaurant that had good food (small portions) and I could see all of the food being made at the counter (fresh fruits and veggies being chopped up.) After that we wandered around the streets for awhile. I came across these two guys who were playing music in the street. One was a cellist and the other a guitarist. They were taking commonly known classical songs and turning them into a duet with a folk twist. I was fascinated and could have easily amused myself for hours watching them. In fact, at one point, the cellist got up and walked around while still playing his cello! (Margaret- you would have loved it.)

Speaking of outdoor music, July 10^th was the opening of the Dubrovnik Summer Music Festival. This meant that the city blocked off a huge square in town and set up an orchestra and choir that was playing during the evening. It was really fun to watch a choir of about 100 and a full orchestra play in the middle of Dubrovnik’s main square. In addition, there were police everywhere because due to the enormity of the Summer Music Festival, the Croatian president was coming for the opening ceremony and fireworks. Sadly, I did not get to see him, the crowds were crazy and you had to have tickets to go in where he was speaking. But, nonetheless it was pretty incredible to hear all of the music and experience the thousands of people (an estimate of 15,000 people for the opening ceremony was given by the chief of police.)

Once I had contentedly wandered around to my heart’s content, I stopped in for some gelato (coffee flavored, obviously) and then I walked on home. I stopped in a nightclub with my friends for a bit, but the music was crazy loud and terrible American rap that I don’t even listen to when I’m in America. So, that was fairly short lived and then I went back to the ship for sleep!

2 Days of Books, 4 Days of Fun to Come

The past two days (7/8 and 7/9) I have been on the boat again. Yesterday I had a midterm (I am very glad it is over now) and today I had normal classes. I have to say, it is tough trying to get back into the routine of school knowing that I just left Italy and tomorrow I get into Dubrovnik, Croatia. But, I have completed my classes today, only taken one nap, managed to fit in a work out, and just about on my way to dinner and then pre-port (the time when the staff informs all of the voyagers about the dangers of the upcoming country and what to be aware of.) It has been a good two days and I think I am just barely recuperated and have almost enough sleep to conquer the shores of Dubrovnik tomorrow. I have my first field lab tomorrow (labs that are required for the classes I am taking) and it involves snorkeling and kayaking off the coast of Dubrovnik (tough lab right? ;) ) It will all be quite the adventure!!

 

Naples- The Last Day

Today was kind of a nice relaxing last day in Naples. I walked around with some friends, had awesome pizza, some delicious coffee, and did a little bit of shopping (Peanut- just wait ;)) We ran into some pretty charming Italian men who all called us “Bella” (beautiful- Italians seem to be much more ok with public flattery than Americans.)

One of the shops that we went into was a pasteria (a place where they make pasta.) There were so many different shapes, colors, and flavors that it was an overwhelming sight to look at. Overall, the day was not very eventful and I got back to the ship pretty early because I have a very big midterm on the 8^th and I needed to do some studying (history is not my strong suit.)

I will try and get more photos from Naples up soon!!

Sorrento & Pompeii & The Best Dinner Ever

Today I woke up early and adventured to two different Italian cities: Sorrento and Pompeii. The first stop was Sorrento. It is a small town in southern Italy that has 16,500 inhabitants and during the summer about 56,000. (Due to all the people who have vacation homes on this small coastal town.) There are two things that Sorrento is famous for: Firstly, lemons- they have the biggest lemon/lemon trees ever! Mom you will find this interesting: their lemon trees ripen three times a year, which is what allows them to make so many things containing lemons. They are famous for lemon soap, lemon candies, lemon chocolate, lemonceillo, lemonade and so many more lemony things. The second thing that Sorrento is famous for is inlaid wood work. There are countless shops around town that hand make these beautiful tables, music boxes, pictures, clocks and basically anything else you can think of that could be made out of wood. I ended up talking to one of the wood working shop owners who operated the shop with his dad and he showed me around the equipment explaining how everything works. It is quite the art and the pieces they make are ridiculously pretty (and expensive!)

Sorrento was home to the friendliest Italians that I have met. All of the small shop owners in downtown Sorrento loved to talk about their individual crafts and how they make their specialty. For instance I got into a conversation with this Italian lady who owned a tie making shop in Naples with her two sons and husband. All the ties she made were 100% silk but her business was known for introducing “new” colors (essentially ones what could be very fashionable in a few months but lots of people are bold enough to try yet.) The last shop owner I talked to was this nice old man asking me where I was from, how long I was in Italy, and if I had a boyfriend. When he asked the last question I made a quick escape from the shop. J

After a delicious and VERY filling meal at a local restaurant in Sorrento, it was on to Pompeii! In 79 A.D. Mount Vesuvius (at the time about an 8,000 ft high volcano) erupted and covered the town of Pompeii with burning ash and rock. Due to the fact that there was no molten lava, the entire city was perfectly preserved under about 20 feet of ash. In 1748, the Emperor of Naples began it’s excavation. It is still be excavated to this day.

For me, seeing Pompeii was kind of surreal. Ever since I was little, I absolutely loved reading the Magic Treehouse book series’ rendition of the explosion of Mount Vesuvius. Being able to see this city, walk the streets, and look in the houses was absolutely incredible. It is such incredible insight to what life was like so many years ago. There were bath houses (one for the men and one for the women) that were the places for people to take daily baths. The men’s had four rooms: a changing room, a washing room, a sauna, and a fredo room (for cold baths.) The women’s was basically the same except there was no fredo room because apparently women didn’t like cold baths.

After Pompeii, a shower was in order and then it was time for dinner. I would just like to say that I had the best dinner I have ever had in my life this night. It was a 4 course meal (for a very good price) and was recommended by a couple of my friend’s taxi driver. No one at the restaurant spoke a lick of English, but they were so understanding in trying to understand our hand motions and terrible Italian. The quality of this dinner was incredible and I feel like I need to touch on a little about what I had.

First Course: Pasta with fresh tomato sauce. When I say fresh I mean absolutely fresh. Not semi-a day old, but a completely 100% fresh and so delishishly sweet.

Second Course: Vegetables. I went with a group of 6 people and we all ordered a different vegetable for the second course. Included in the smattering were eggplant, carrots, spinach, zucchini, and something that tasted a bit like grilled papaya but was super incredibly good.

Third Course: Mozzarella, tomato, fresh basil, olives. The mozzarella was so fresh. Not the “buy at a grocery store kind of fresh” but more of an “I just milked the cow and make the cheese two minutes ago sort of fresh. It in itself was an absolutely exquisite experience for my taste buds.

Fourth Course: Watermelon. In Italy the traditional dessert at the local restaurants is to have a slice of whatever type of fruit is in season. Now, it is watermelon. Super sweet, super fresh, super awesome watermelon.

But, the best part of this meal was not the food. (Don’t get me wrong, it was amazing) The best part was the staff and the atmosphere. The group of friends I was with was the only non-local people eating there and so we were kind of a staring point. The entire time the boss was yelling, (very happily) greeting friends, and yelling “amore” to every lady he saw. Overall, it was exactly like in the movies: the crazy, slightly overweight Italian restaurant owner who just absolutely loves his job. When we tipped them at the end of the meal, there was a gaint tip bucket that they lowered on a string that was attached  to the ceiling. When we put the money into the bucket everyone in the restaurant (and I literally mean everyone- customers and all) yelled “gratzi!!”

It was the greatest atmosphere and is something that I will never forget. I got a picture with all of my friends, the boss of the restaurant, and some random customer and waiter who sneaked into the picture as we were taking it. Having an experience like this really made me appreciated the importance of community and family and what a blessing it is J

Naples Day 1

Today I arrived in Naples, Italy. The first thing I noticed is that it was significantly less dirty of a city then Rome. The first place on the itinerary for today was called Bar Mexico. The guide book said it had the best coffee in Naples and it was absolutely right. This coffee was exquisite! One of the locals that I talked to while at the bar said he goes there every morning before work and that it is possibly the best coffee in the world.

After the coffee stop, we trudged on to Naples’ National Archeological Museum. This museum was awesome because it had so many of the artifacts from Pompeii. I am going to Pompeii tomorrow and so it was very exciting to see many of the artifacts that had been removed from the excavation sights at Pompeii. My favorite room in the museum was this gigantic ballroom covered in pictures. The room itself was awesome to look at because it was so large that its enormity was just breath taking. I could just imagine how in days of old what wonderful balls were held. (Margaret- think Pride and Prejudice J )

After the museum I went to L’Antiqua Pizzaria (supposedly the best pizza place in Naples.) When we got there there was a line of at least 30 people outside. So, we went inside and got take away instead of waiting the hour and a half for a table! The pizza was awesome! It is not like American pizza- there are no toppings, but the marinara sauce tastes like fresh tomatoes and the crust is perfectly thin. As we were leaving one of the cooks gave me his card with his number on the back. (FYI Dad- I did not call him J

The rest of the day involved wandering around Naples and looking at the shops. There was this one street close to the middle of town that was packed with shops selling all different sorts of musical instruments. I really wish I knew more Italian because it would have been really exciting to figure out if the instruments were locally made. In addition to seeing musical instruments, I got some very comfy walking shoes (mom- more practical then fashionable, but kind of cute J ) It is definitely apparent that Italy is the country of shoes.

I ended the evening with pizza and a beer with some friends at a local pub. As I was approaching the ship at the end of the night, I came across a traditional drum circle. All of the members had different drums and were beating together in complicated but succinct rhythms. It was pretty fascinating to watch so I amused myself for awhile and then headed back to the ship and to bed. It was a very fun day and I can’t wait for Pompeii and Sorrento tomorrow!!

 

The final episode of ROME

I have to say “thank you” once more to my wonderful big brother Kevin for the amazing hotel that he found me to stay in Rome. This morning sunlight peaked through the shades this morning as I rose from bed and sleepily walked out to the kitchen. The owner of St. Peter’s Guest House when I was staying greeted me with a delicious cup of cappuccino and a pastry. It was a great morning as I viewed the hustle and bustle of Rome through the open window. After breakfast, packing up, and checking out from the hotel my friends and I adventured out into downtown Rome for the day.

Our wanderings took us to the Villa Borghese which is home to the Galoppatoio Gardens. It was odd to see such expansive green gardens in the heart of downtown Rome. While looking at various fountains and walking down paths I stopped for a break on an obliging bench in the shade. As I was sitting there, this nice Italian man came up and gave me three red roses. I am really not sure why, but he insisted I take them and didn’t ask for any money so I am assuming it was just a friendly gesture. Well, it certainly made my day J (I later passed them on to these two young girls who were walking around with their parents.)

Today I also went to the Trevi Fountain. This fountain is one of the most famous fountains in the world (as was very apparent by the massive amounts of crowds that were present.) It is rumored that if you throw a coin into the fountain you are ensured another trip to Rome (Mom- it’s time we start saving because I threw a coin in so now you and I have to go together sometimeJ.) Although the crowds were massive, it was still a very nice spot to sit, eat a sandwich from a local pub and stare into Oceanus’ face. (Oceanus is a god depicted in the fountains sculptures.)

After the Trevi fountain I wandered through Rome looking at the random shops and observing the culture until I reached the Roma Termini- central train station. The train took me back to Civitavecchia and onto the MV Explorer. There was a BBQ going on on board because of it being the 4^th of July (it wasn’t a very major event in the city. Most likely due to the fact that the Italians don’t care much about the United States independence day.) So, I sat outside on the top deck, watched giant cruisers leaving the port, and munched on huge grapes and potato salad. The night concluded with me doing some laundry in the sink (because laundry is 6$ a load here and the washing machines are super small,) doing some postcard writing, and finishing with some studying and sorting through photos.

All in all, Rome was amazing. The history that is prevalent throughout the entire city is amazing. I hope to go back some day!  

A couple fun facts I have left out while blogging about my Rome adventures:

1.       I had the best pizza I have ever had while here in Rome. It contained a very thin but moderately crunch crust with a very small bit of marinara sauce, fresh mozzarella slices, very fresh tomatoes, and basil all stacked on top of one another.

2.       Nutella is a very common food in Rome.

3.       It is about double the price at most restaurants to sit at a table as oppose to standing at the bar.

4.       The Italian people are so nice. (the men are also constantly flattering.)

5.       I don’t think that I have ever been this sticky and hot from walking outside all day and the shower I had today was the most glorious thing ever J

Sistine Chapel pictures

The Sistine Chapel- more pictures to come!