Well, Cruise 2009 is officially over (insert sighs of resignation here). Yesterday was our 24-hour travel day, where we woke up around 7 o’clock Venice time (midnight Austin time), made it through the Venice airport check-in (which, incidentally, was about a hundred times easier than checking in at the Rome airport when we were there four years ago), and took an 11-hour plane ride to Atlanta. Now the Atlanta airport, on the other hand, was insane… when you fly internationally, you HAVE to collect your checked bags wherever you first arrive in the U.S. – even if that airport is not your final destination in the country. So even though we were flying to Austin, we had to get our bags in Atlanta, cart them all over to customs, hand in our customs declaration forms, RE-check the bags about ten seconds later, and then go through security AGAIN, even though we’d all gone through security in Italy. By the time we’d taken the underground tram to terminal B and ridden the escalator to our gate area, the Seattle’s Best in the food court (which happened to be the very first thing we saw at the top of the escalator) looked like a glowing beacon of coffee salvation… that was one of the best iced caramel lattes I’d ever tasted…
So without further ado, here is the recap of our trip – the best, the worst and the weirdest of Cruise 2009:
Best Overall Stop: This is a difficult choice, because every port was amazing in its own way and had its own pros and cons – in Istanbul, we fought loud, overcrowded streets and pushy shop vendors… but we were awed by the beauty of the Blue Mosque and drank great cappuccinos made by friendly baristas in the Grand Bazaar. Santorini had some of the most amazing views I’ve ever seen and charming little cobblestone pedestrian streets lined with shops… but there were so MANY pedestrians that it was hard to leisurely browse the avenues… not to mention Santorini’s location at the top of a cliff meant either a long, hot, dusty walk along a path shared with donkeys, or a long wait in a line to ride the cable car (we chose the latter). But I think I have to choose Piraeus, Greece as the best stop – it was only a short drive to Athens, and the ten of us in our group were able to find three awesome taxi drivers who were willing to take us on a tour of just about everything you’d ever want to see in Athens. They were even considerate enough to be sensitive to the accessibility needs of some members of our party – they were actually able to drive them up hills that the rest of us had to climb, and even showed them a lift up to the Acropolis (who knew you could take an elevator to the Acropolis??). So ALL of us were able to enjoy the sights – this wasn’t the case at every stop. So our Athens experience was probably better than any tour we could’ve booked through the ship…
Worst Overall Stop: Not that any of our stops were “bad,” really, but I’d have to go with Katakolon, Greece. The town itself was quite small, so after an hour-long stroll down the main street, we’d pretty much seen everything there was to see. Some of the others in our party took taxis to the ruins in Olympia, but only after haggling prices with the drivers (who were wanting to charge 40 Euros PER PERSON for the short ride). This was the last stop of our cruise, and to be honest, by that point I’d stood out in the hot sun to take pictures of so many dusty ruins that I wasn’t sure I wanted to see any more… :)
Best Ice Cream Ever: This honor must indubitably go to the gelato of Italy, which is probably the yummiest frozen dairy product on the face of the planet. Granted, I haven’t tasted all the ice cream on the planet yet, so I can’t say for sure. But we were definitely not disappointed in the quality of the “real” Italian gelatos we happened upon – and we not only found it in Italy, but Croatia and Greece, as well. Turkey, however, was a different story. Which brings me to:
Worst Ice Cream Ever: The horrible, strange, frozen, ice-cream-like substance we had in Kusadasi, Turkey, which we bought in a little kiosk in the middle of a shopping center. It had a bizarre, gummy texture and absolutely no taste whatsoever – it was like a scoop of cold, rubbery goo on a cone. I actually threw most of mine away – and I do NOT take ice cream disposal lightly…
Most Interesting Bathroom Experience: Using the public toilets at the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. We had to pay about 30 cents each to use the restroom (which seems to be quite a common practice around much of the world – America, Home of the Free Restrooms!), and after paying, we were each given about three squares of toilet paper. We then descended a staircase into a not-so-pleasant-smelling bathroom lined with stalls, each of which basically contained nothing more than a porcelain hole in the ground. I’d actually heard about these toilets from other travelers, so I wasn’t really shocked… but I did manage to lose my grip on my measly three squares of toilet tissue and dropped them on the floor. Fortunately, my mom took one look inside the stalls and decided she wasn’t even going to attempt doing whatever needed to be done in there, and handed me her 30 cents’ worth of paper. I, however, decided to tackle this bathroom adventure head-on… or… well, whatever. I made sure to hold tight to my precious few squares of paper, and locked myself into a stall. After a few seconds of working out the logistics (am I supposed to face the door or the wall?? I guess I’ll face the door since that’s what I’d usually be doing in a situation like this… okay, don’t let my bag rest on the floor… that would be icky. How do people DO this?? Why isn’t there a picture somewhere in here to demonstrate the choreography???) I emerged victorious, even managing to figure out how to flush the strange hole in the ground. With a sense of accomplishment, I walked toward the sinks to wash my hands… and it was then that I realized there was an entire row of stalls near the door with regular old toilets. (Good thing my mom hadn’t seen those, otherwise I wouldn’t have had any toilet paper…)
Worst Use of Subtlety: “Club Ramrod” on the gay-friendly island of Mykonos. (Really, Mykonos? Really?? You didn’t think we could get the hint from the innumerable number of rainbows lining the streets???)
Best Thing About Sailing in the Adriatic: Because of its protected location, the sea stays remarkably calm. This cruise was probably the least choppy of any cruise I’ve been on – in fact, most of the time we couldn’t feel the ship move at ALL, which was rather unusual. We only had one day where the ocean was a little bit choppy, and even then the waves were only about three or four feet high. I think some of the people I was with were wishing for bigger waves, but I was quite content with the calm seas…
Most Disturbing Show of Cleavage: This guy, in Croatia:
Eeeeeewwwwwww…
Strangest Place to Find Amazing Coffee: The Venice airport, where Rick and I got a last minute cappuccino before boarding our plane home. And it may have been the BEST coffee we had during our entire vacation. Cafes and coffee shops were in abundance at every port of call (including a plethora of Starbucks in Istanbul – in fact, Istanbul seemed to have just as many Starbucks as we have here…) but the best coffee we had was in the airport. Go figure…
Best Competition: Trying to out-walk the number of steps my dad had on his pedometer every day. I think dad won most days, although Rick and I suspected that he was sneaking out of his cabin after dinner every night to walk around the deck and accrue more steps. Regardless, it was a great motivator for staying active on a ship full of unlimited food. And how else could we have dessert twice a day and not gain weight?? (Thanks, dad! :))
Second Worst Movie to Show on a Cruise Ship Television: The Perfect Storm, which was playing on our cabin TV one day. (In case you haven’t seen it, it’s about a fishing boat that is caught in the middle of a gigantic hurricane, and is finally overpowered by a fifty-foot wave… happy stuff to watch when you’re sailing on an ocean…) The third worst movie to show would be Titanic… at first, I thought maybe this would be the worst movie to show on a cruise ship, since it’s about a ship that actually sinks. But then I realized that while it IS about a ship that sinks, it’s about a ship that sinks because it hits an iceberg (no icebergs in the Mediterranean) and is not equipped with enough lifeboats for everyone (modern cruise ships have more than enough lifeboats for everyone on board). So while a sinking ship is not an ideal situation, it’s unlikely we’d ever see a Titanic-like disaster again. But the absolute WORST movie to show on a cruise ship would be The Poseidon Adventure – that’s the movie where a cruise ship is hit by a rouge wave and completely capsized. The ship is turned upside down. The people inside have to climb UP to the BOTTOM of the ship to try and get out. What kind of horrible scenario is that??? Definitely NOT something I ever want to be watching when I’m on a cruise…
Best Place to Window Shop for a New Kitchen Counter: The ancient ruins in the Adriatic/Ionian area – I’ve never seen so much marble in one place in my life. In fact, even the MODERN walkways and steps were made of marble. And while it sounds nice (how many times have you seen an expensive house listing that boasts “marble floors throughout”?), marble is EXTREMELY slippery to walk on. So every step we took had to be carefully measured and deliberate, otherwise we risked sprained ankles and broken wrists and bruised tailbones. Fortunately, everyone emerged unscathed. And it was totally worth it to see the Acropolis and the ancient city of Ephesus (do you suppose everyone in ancient times stayed indoors when it rained?).
Most Melodramatic Exaggeration: When we overheard a shopkeeper in Kusadasi, Turkey, exclaim to a passerby, “madam, this is your moment!!” in an attempt to lure her into his store. Sir, in case you haven’t noticed, there are about a hundred other shops nearby selling the exact same stuff you’re selling… if she misses this “moment” there will be another moment ten seconds down the street… (Runner-up in this category: When I broke away from our group in Istanbul to check out a café down the block, and a shopkeeper called out to me, “young lady! This is the store you want to be in!” Um, no, that was most definitely NOT the store I wanted to be in. But I appreciated the fact that he called me “young lady”…)
Biggest Disappointment: That the residents of the Greek islands did NOT actually sing and dance to the music of ABBA, a la Mamma Mia… (Hey, I expect Hollywood to give me realistic representations of life… just like I’m certain Bollywood is not lying to me about the fact that people in India spontaneously break into song and dance for absolutely no reason…)
Biggest REAL Disappointment: I wish we could’ve spent more than a day and a half in Istanbul. That city was huge and crazy and loud and confusing, and the area where our ship was docked had nothing of interest (except for a Starbucks… which isn’t really all that interesting, seeing as I can throw a rock off my front porch at home and hit about five of them…). But on the bus during our city shore excursion, we passed neighborhood after neighborhood full of shops and cafes and colorful awnings and cobblestoned walkways and places I would’ve loved to stop and explore. I think Istanbul is one of those cities you’d have to visit for weeks (or months… or years) to really start appreciating. No doubt it would take me more than a day and a half to allow the confusion of the nonstop city activity to fade into the background, until I was able to slow down, look around, and realize, “hey, I’m in Istanbul!” (I was also disappointed that I wasn’t able to buy the beautiful Turkish rug I saw in a shop where our tour stopped… but I was just a liiiiiittle bit short of the six thousand dollars I would’ve needed to purchase it… just a little. :))
Well, I think that about sums it up – the good, the bad, the yummy yummy gelato… you know, the really important stuff. Rick and I both agreed that we’d love to return to a few of the places we visited on this cruise, especially Istanbul (so I can have more time to decide if I really like it or not) and the Greek island of Santorini (which was absolutely gorgeous, but also overrun with tourists – if there’s an “off” season, that’s when I’d like to go…).
More pictures soon to follow!
Rick's parents in Piraeus...
The view as we climbed the myriad steps at the Acropolis...
The sprawling city of Athens...
Getting closer to the Parthenon...
Another view of the city behind ruins...
This is the Propylaea, which I believe was sort of a gateway to the rest of the Acropolis (it was also replete with hazardous, slippery marble steps)...
The crowd on the slippery marble steps of the Propylaea...
Best to sit down when taking a picture, lest I lose my footing on the crazy steps...
Dad, ever the adventurer, was willing to risk the perilous marble (well, of COURSE he was -- it meant more steps on his pedometer :))...
The Parthenon -- our one disappointment was that most of the building was covered in scaffolding. But I suppose that's a necessity when an ancient structure is being restored...
A closeup of some of the columns (sans scaffolding)...
The Erechtheum -- notice the columns on the right are actually robed statues...
This was the Temple of Olympian Zeus, which is about 15 minutes from the Acropolis... the tiny person at the bottom is me...
Detail of some of the columns...
Olympic stadium, which was built thousands (yes, THOUSANDS) of years ago, and originally had wooden seats. It was then redone entirely in marble. It was renovated again in the 1800s, and refurbished for the 2004 Summer Olympics...
When we were there, our taxi driver ran over to an olive tree and fashioned a wreath from the branches, which was the sole reward for winners of the ancient Olympic games. For some reason, everyone told him to put it on MY head... So here I am as the winner of some ancient Olympic game, with Cindy, Aunt Carol (shaking my hand in congratulations), Mom and Nick...
This poor guy was the Greek equivalent of a guard at Buckingham Palace -- the ones who can't move, no matter what. I actually watched him for a while to make sure he was blinking, because I wasn't sure he was real...
Okay, this wasn't in Athens -- it was on our ship. But I had to take a picture after I read it... :)
