Author: walkerjanem

April 14 to 16, 2019 Abu Dhabi

Months before our trip, I looked into the Visa requirement for the countries we plan to visit. Besides reading other people’s experiences, I checked the US website, and each country’s website. We will be sailing on Celebrity, and Celebrity uses VisaCentral as their vendor. I checked VisaCentral’s website and sent them an email. All my sources indicated the UAE visa would be obtained on arrival at the airport. Visas for Oman and Jordan would be obtained by the ship. Currently, we don’t need visas for the European Union.

About a month before the trip, I got no less than 5 emails from Celebrity advising me I needed visas. I got the same 5 emails from my travel agent because Celebrity forwarded the same visa letter to my travel agent, who dutifully forwarded it to me as instructed by Celebrity. Each time I dutifully checked VisaCentral and each country’s website to see if something had changed…it hadn’t. In this letter from Celebrity, the letter stated we need to bring 2 copies of the UAE visa when boarding the ship. I was assuming, based on all my research, when we arrive in Abu Dhabi and go thru passport control, that they are going to give me some document which I will copy at the hotel so I can have my 2 copies for Celebrity when we board.

We get to the Ft. Myers airport for our first flight and try to check our luggage with the Delta representative. He tells us we need a visa for Abu Dhabi. I show him my emails from  VisaCentral, and the UAE government website that says we get our visa upon arrival in Abu Dhabi. He says he can’t accept that, and whatever he is looking at on his computer says we need a visa. After going around with him for about 5 minutes, he calls a higher up at Delta who says we don’t need a visa (Delta – please update your documentation for your gate people), apologizes, and checks our bags through to Abu Dhabi.

Finally, we are on our first flight from Ft. Myers to Atlanta…the beginning of about 20 hours flight time. We get close to Atlanta and the pilot tells us the Atlanta airport is closed because of storms. So we circle about an hour and finally land. We had plenty of time between flights on purpose so if there are delays, we are covered. After grabbing lunch at the Atlanta airport, we boarded our flight from Atlanta to Amsterdam. As takeoff time comes and goes, the pilot comes on and says the co-pilot has not arrived at the airport yet as he was delayed by the same storms that closed the airpot earlier. So we got to sit on the plane an extra hour, making our airplane seat time about 22 hours. Again, we had plenty of time in Amsterdam, so the delays did not affect our trip overall.  Just a long day with no refreshing sleep. Finally we get to Abu Dhabi and have to wait in line another hour to clear passport control, which is where the visas should be issued. The guy stamps our passports, and Dave is asking him for our visas, since we’re suppose to have 2 copies for Celebrity. The passport control guy says, “You don’t need a visa”! So….we don’t know what will happen when we go to board our ship. Hopefully someone has told Celebrity that we don’t need visas for UAE. We shall find out tomorrow, but needless to say, we are very confused over this visa issue.

Tuesday, April 16:  This morning we walked to the Sheik Zayed Mosque. It is about 1.5 miles from our hotel and took us about 35 minutes to get there. We had a nice sidewalk, but did not see anybody else walking! The roads are very nice, too, with several lanes for traffic. As we approached the Mosque from what I think was the west, we did not see an entrance. We saw some signs for parking, and walked to the north. We passed one parking entry, but the pedestrian gate was chained and the car entrance did not open for us. So we continued walking around the mosque and finally found an entrance on the north side. A security guard told us we could not enter there, we had to enter at the south parking lot. This mosque is huge and is suppose to be the 3rd largest mosque in the world, holding 40,000 worshippers. So, walking half-way around from the north side to the south side is a very long walk, but we did it. We actually found a slightly open car gate where we slipped in and saved ourselves several steps. The mosque is beautiful, as are the grounds it sits on. There are hoards of tourists visiting, so we had plenty of company. I worried much about what to wear as there is a very strict dress code. I ended up wearing my blue jeans, a short sleeve top with my black jacket to cover my arms. I wore a scarf that my cousin Sandie gave me YEARS ago, babushka style. I was afraid I could not have any hair showing, but I just needed a head covering, so I was dressed fine.

If you don’t have the proper clothing, you can borrow (rent? I heard there was a charge but I don’t know for sure) an outfit that covers you from head to toe with an attached hood to cover your hair. Men in shorts, sleeveless shirts, or otherwise considered inappropriate were issued a white robe, similar to what Arabic men wear that covers their legs and arms. Dave was dressed fine and didn’t get a white robe. We entered the visitor area with the masses, and completed a little form asking for sex, age, citizenship, tourist or resident on a machine that then spits out a ticket which you have to carry with you on your tour as it is scanned at different points along the way. Finally you walk to the mosque underground, utilizing moving sidewalks. We are able to see the outside of the building which is beautifully decorated, and then inside to see the prayer room.

The mosque covers 241,241 sq. ft, and holds the worlds largest carpet at 60,500 sq.ft. and 47 tons. The mosque also has the worlds largest chandelier which is from Germany. The chandelier measures 33feet in diameter and contains 1,000,000 Swarovski crystals.

There are two identical, but smaller chandeliers, with all 3 hanging in the prayer room. The chandeliers are absolutely beautiful and colorful – not clear glass as I was expecting. There are shallow water ponds surrounding the mosque. The clear water ponds have tile bottoms, so they are very pretty, and calming to look at. Our whole visit took no more than an hour as there isn’t much else to see. There was no charge to visit the mosque.

Sheikh Zayed was very important to Abu Dhabi. He was the first president of the UAE and oversaw Abu Dhabi’s transformation from a small desert city to a modern but conservative city. There is lots of construction and building going on in Abu Dhabi. From my perspective, which may not be true, the lower level jobs – maids, wait people, etc, are held by immigrants. The more professional jobs, ie bank teller, are held by Abu Dhabi’s – in full Arabic dress.

We walked back to the hotel, grabbed some lunch, and got ready for our desert barbecue. Our driver picked us up about 3:15. I had arranged the tour, and found another couple to join us from our Cruise Critic message boards to split the cost. Unfortunately, the day before we left  Florida, the other couple sent me an email saying they had to cancel the tour and the cruise due to a medical emergency. At that late time, we couldn’t find another couple to join us, so it ended up being a bit pricy for just the two of us. We headed out of Abu Dhabi to the desert with our driver Faisal (I’m probably butchering his name). It was close to an hour drive and he turned into the sand. He let air out of the tires for more traction. While there were many, many Toyota Land Cruisers, our driver and one other driver stayed together and away from all the other Toyota’s. Driving over the dunes, “dune bashing”, was much more fun than I imagined. It was like being on a roller coaster with the Toyota slipping, sliding and turning to 45 degree angles. There was sand blowing all over the place. Following the other driver gave me some comfort because I could see what was coming next. Dave asked him if he ever tipped one over  and Faisal said no, never! We dune bashed for 30 minutes or so and stopped for a break in the middle of nowhere on top of a dune. We took a few pictures and started talking to the people in the other car…amazingly, it was a lady I met thru the cruise critic message boards, Violet! They are Canadiens but have a condo on Placida Road at Fiddlers Green. She and I met up for lunch one day at Leverocks. It was really amazing that Violet and her group were in the other car. After some pictures and talking to Violet and her group, we got back in our respective Toyota’s and did some more dune bashing. Somewhere in the middle of the desert we stopped at a camel farm and saw a large group of camels. Some were roaming loose, but pregnant females and young camels were behind fences to protect them. Two of the loose camels were very friendly and wandered up to us for some petting and pictures. Camels are raised for their meat, however we haven’t seen camel on any menus. There were several donkeys around, and the donkeys are used to carry in supplies for the camels. The donkeys were wandering, loose, also. I’m assuming it is because this is were they get food and water, so there is no need to wander off. As we finished our camel visit and were walking back to the cars, a whole caravan of Toyota’s pull up for their camel visit. We were very glad we were there alone. Hard to get one on one with a camel when there are 100 other people wanting to get one on one with the camel 😁. More dune bashing, and then we get to the “camp” for some entertainment and our desert barbecue dinner. Again, we are the first Toyotas there, ahead of all the other Toyotas, and our drivers pick out a table for us front and center. We also get to all the different activities first. Violet is traveling with her husband, Charlie, her sister Mary,  and Mary’s friend, Gail. Mary, Gail and Charlie rode camels….it was less than 5 minutes. The just went in a little circle. Then we could have dune boarded, but since this is the very beginning of our vacation, we all passed as we didn’t want to fall and break something. Next we tried on Arabic dress. The ladies put on long black robes as you see Muslim women wearing and black headscarf’s. Our hair is not suppose to show, but my hair did not cooperate. The men put on long white robes, with a red print headscarf and a black rope gizmo that holds the scarf in place. I asked Faisal why some men had the white head scarfs and others had this red print one. If I didn’t get this backwards, men from Saudi Arabia wear the white ones. While in full Arabic dress, we got to hold a falcon! I think he was fairly young as he was not too large.

After the falcon, We ditched the Arabian dress as it was just too hot. Gail, from Violet’s group, got a henna tattoo, which was very pretty. I did not get one. Gail and Mary walked to the top of a dune to watch the sunset….Dave and I chilled. We have seen plenty of beautiful sunsets in Englewood. Soon our buffet dinner was ready. I’m sure I don’t remember all the choices, but the food had a Lebanese slant. We had lavash bread, hummus, tabouli, macaroni, rice, two vegetarian curries, chicken, lamb, bread pudding, apples, and oranges. Sodas, water and coffee were free. Hard liquor was available for about $6 a shot. They had beer for purchase, but I don’t know the price. After dinner we had entertainment by a belly dancer and a man that danced. Both dancers were really good. We were all quite impressed. I can’t remember the name of the dance that the man did, tabouli (?) dance, but it reminded me of the twirling dervish’s of Turkey. He kept spinning the whole time. I’m sure that sounds weird, but both dancers were really amazing. People could hang out and dance on the stage afterwards, to Arabic music, but we elected to leave. Actually no one got up on the stage to dance. I think everyone left, but, again, we got out of there before all the other Toyota’s left. Dave told me that he was glad I wanted to do the desert barbecue because he enjoyed it much more than he thought he would. 

April 17, 2019 Abu Dhabi

Today is our last day in Abu Dhabi. We board our ship and head to Dubai. Abu Dhabi is a very clean, modern city. One thing that amazes me is the speed limits. As we drove to the desert yesterday, the speed limit was 170 km, which is about 100 mph. Today we were driven around “downtown” and the speed limit was 80 km, which is about 50 mph, in the city!

We need to get from our hotel to our ship. Our concierge arranged a half day tour, and the driver would take us to our ship. Dave and I had picked a few things we wanted to see in Abu Dhabi before leaving. The first stop was Capital Gate which is also called the leaning tower of Abu Dhabi. It has an 18 degree lean, which is supposedly 4 times more than the leaning tower of Pisa. There is a Hyatt hotel in this building…but not sure I’d like to stay there! Sorry it isn’t a better picture, but it was a bit hard to capture. 

Our driver took us to a souk, which was not on our itinerary. The stuff in the souk was beautiful…carpets, jewelry, clothing, etc., but we are not in the acquiring years (😁). We looked around with a guide, but did not buy anything. 

The next stop was Emirates Palace. This is actually the old palace which has been converted into an EXPENSIVE hotel. Dave had to have on long pants and, of course, I had to be dressed conservatively also. I did not realize the palace and hotel were the same location. As tourists, we were allowed into the public areas of the hotel, which used to be the palace. The place is huge with guards all over the place to make sure us peons did not get into the hotel guest areas. Beautiful crystal chandeliers were hanging all over. Nowhere as big as the mosque, but  beautiful nonetheless. There is a new palace for the royal family, but our driver said guests of the royal family stay at the Emirates Palace/hotel. This hotel covers such a large area that guests are given bicycles to get around. Picture is of the new palace.

After the Palace/hotel, we went to the Heritage Village. This was an area showing what Abu Dhabi culture used to be. We walked through a recreated desert area with the different types of housing. Of course there were vendors selling all kinds of Arabic goods. There was a museum, which contained costumes, tools and historic pictures. One picture was of Abu Dhabi in 1960. Abu Dhabi in 1960 was a few tents and huts in the sand. There were no roads, buildings, sidewalks….nothing. Today, there are many large buildings, great roads and sidewalks. I enjoyed the museum more than any other sights at the Heritage Village. 

Our last stop was the Qasr Al Hosn, which is the oldest building in Abu Dhabi. It is a fort built in 1793. Unfortunately for us, it is under renovation, so we were only able to drive close by. 

We were disappointed with our driver, as his English was very difficult to understand. While we enjoyed Abu Dhabi, we do not feel like this is someplace we have to come back to. 

We got on the ship, and were disappointed that our stateroom does not have a sofa. Only an oversized chair which also folds out to a single bed. Our balcony is very nice and we have nice furniture. As we look over the side, we see many jelly fish!

April 18, 2019 Dubai

To follow up on the visa issue, we checked in to our Celebrity cruise with no problems. All they wanted was our passports which the ship holds until the end of our cruise. It is very frustrating that Celebrity kept sending emails for no good reason.

We booked a private tour in a Dubai with Dubai Private Tours. Our guides name was “Shah”.

I felt like we saw a lot in our short time in Dubai. We really liked Dubai. We were with our guide about 6 hours. I was a little concerned at first because Shah talked non-stop, and was full of information and details about Dubai and the UAE. However, I got used to his endless information and thought he was a really good guide. 

Since our guide met us at 8:00am, there was not a lot of places open until after 9:00. He walked us through the souk Madina Jumeirah, but most of the stores were closed. This souk is also known as Little Venice. Supposedly it is an authentic recreation of an ancient marketplace with traditional Middle Eastern style and ambience. Somehow, to me, being inside and air conditioned, I don’t get the connection as an authentic recreation of an ancient marketplace. But, because of the hype, it was on the tour. We did not spend much time here.

Next was a photo stop of Burj Al Arab Jumeira, the most expensive hotel in the world. It is a 7 star hotel, with a helipad at the top, which is on the top at the left in the photo. Unless you have a reservation, or a guest, you cannot even get on the grounds of the hotel. The building looks like a large sail. Our stop here was along the  beach and allowed me to dip my feet in the Arabian Gulf, if you are in the UAE, but also known as the Persian Gulf if you’re in Iran. 

Then we drove to Palm Jumeira Island, which is the man made island that looks like a palm tree. The trunk portion of the tree has lots of tall buildings, most of which are hotels. The palm fronds are villas owned by rich people. Our guide said the villas cost $3 to $8 million USD. If villa owners also own boats (yachts), they cannot dock them by their villas, they have to dock them in the marina. The palm tree part of the island is surrounded by another man made island in the shape of a crescent. We accessed the crescent by means of a tunnel, but there is also a monorail that travels the length on the Palm Island and out to the crescent. There are lots of hotels on the crescent including an Atlantis hotel. However, the king of Dubai is building another Atlantis hotel that is twice the size of existing Atlantis.

 

According to our guide, Jumeira and Jumeirah means it is owned by the king.

We drove up to the Kings palace gate, but there is no admittance. There are horse statues on the kings gates because the king loves horses.

Leaving Palm Jumeira Island, we drove to the Burj Khalifa, which is the tallest building in the world. It is 2,722 feet total height. This is another building where access is restricted, so to go up into the building, you have to buy a ticket. The cost of the tickets depend on how high you go, and whether it is during prime or non prime hours. The cheapest ticket is $36.75 per person to go to floors 124 and 125, and the most expensive ticket is $143.00 per person to go to floor 148 during prime hours. We did not go up into the building. Actually our guide took us through Souk Al Bahar, a mall next to the Dubai Mall, and we were able to get pictures of the Burj Khalifa. The Souk Bahar looked like a mall in the USA, except some of the goods had an Arabic flair. But, there are lots of US companies, stores and restaurants in Dubai. We saw Applebee’s, Trader Vic’s, McDonalds, 5 Guys burgers, etc. We did not go into the Dubai Mall which is billed as the largest mall in the world, and is connected to the Burj Khalifa.

We walked through the Bastakiya Quarter which has several museums. We found it had several   artists studios selling their art. We walked into a couple of studios, but did not spend a lot of time here, either.

We rode an Abra which is a water taxi across Dubai creek (man made) to visit the spice and gold souks.

I would say the spice souk is a couple of blocks long, with some stores on side streets. There are no cars, all pedestrian walkways. Our guide stopped at one store and explained all the different spices. It is amazing to me that there are probably 100 vendors, all selling the same spices. We sampled a date with an almond in the center, covered with chocolate which was very good. We also sampled some dried lemon, candied ginger, figs, pistachios (California, salted, saffron flavored and one other flavor I can’t remember), and two types of almonds. We ended up buying some pistachios and the chocolate covered dates with an almond in the center. We probably bought a pound or more of pistachios and 6 chocolate covered dates for $10. We just filled a bag with the pistachios and supposedly our guide bargained the price for us…but who knows. As he walked with us in the souks, he knew many of the vendors and kept telling them we were Australians. Later he said Australians never buy anything, so when he said we were Australians, the vendors would leave us alone.

After the spice souk we went to the gold souk. This is a place where we spent some time! They had beautiful jewelry. We did not buy anything, but I sure enjoyed looking. I saw a pair of diamond earrings I liked, but they were about $4,900, so a little rich for my blood. No wonder I liked them! Our guide did not walk with us here, so we wandered on our own. According to our guide, there are no pick pockets and the gold sellers are very honest. 

We rode the Abra back across Dubai creek and headed back to the ship.

Some of the things that our guide told us:

Only about 15% of Dubais population are Arabs. The rest are immigrants. Immigrants have to report every 2 years to renew their visa. If the immigrants do not have a job, or if they have an infectious disease, they are deported. There are many more men than women in Dubai.

Dubai is very safe because if you do something illegal, you are thrown in jail and if you’re an immigrant, you are deported. He claimed there is literally no crime. He said there are cameras all over which are watching. Phone calls and social media are monitored. 

If 2 Dubai people marry, they are given a house and $40,000. But if its a marriage between a local and an immigrant, they don’t get anything. This is to encourage citizens not to intermarry.

They pay about $2.90 for an equivalent of 1 gallon of gas – similar to what we pay in US.

Alcohol is available in clubs and hotels, but Muslims do not drink alcohol. Also, Muslim men do not wear gold. Gold is only for women.

I mixed up the male headscarves – white represents UAE, and red represents Saudi Arabia. The black rope around the top of the men’s headscarf was originally so they could tie down their camel. These days it is more to hold down the headscarf. It is not Muslims that wear the robes, but Arabs. There are lots of Muslims that are not Arabs. Muslim men are not suppose to show their knees or elbows. 

Stuff about the king that I can remember. He has had at least 6 wives, but can only have 4 at a time. Right now he has 2 wives. He has 24 children. He is a big horse fancier and always strives to have the biggest and best. Supposedly this is because in horse races,  nobody remembers who came in second. His first born son died young of a heart attack, but the British press insinuated it was the result of heavy drug use. The crown prince is 37 years old. The royal family does not release any information about themselves or what is going on in their family, so it is unknown whether or not the crown prince is married. The successor to the king does not need to be the first born son, but it must be a male relative – brother, son, nephew – who ever the king thinks will be a better king.

April 19, 2019 Muscat, Oman

Today we have a ships tour, “Panoramic Muscat”. We had chosen a walking tour, but it was cancelled. In the Arab world, their weekend days are Friday and Saturday, and Sunday is a workday. So I believe our walking tour was cancelled because so much is closed on Fridays. In reality, it is pretty warm today, so a walking tour would have been very hot. Panoramic tours are generally bus rides, and stops for photo opportunities, and that held true today.

Our first photo stop was the Omani opera house. It was a big marble building with expensive shops attached. It was closed today, so we only saw the outside. Apparently the Sultan is a big fan of opera and has his own orchestra.

The next stop was a photo opportunity of the grand mosque. The mosque is closed to visitors on Fridays, so we could not visit the inside. The capacity is 20,000, but only room for 750 females. Women do not have to attend mosque. They can pray from home. This mosque used to have the largest single piece carpet, but now it’s the second largest after the Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi. The chandelier used to be the worlds largest, but now it is second to Abu Dhabi, too. Dave and I thought the landscaping was very nice.

We drove to the Mutrah Souq for some free time to shop. This souq happens to be close to the port. All the souq’s we’ve visited are basically the same: lots of vendors selling pretty much the  same goods. It reminds me of the now defunct Dome, or a flea market with lots of vendors with small booths. They had spices, jewelry, clothing, souvenirs, etc. we wandered around, but did not buy anything.

Our last stop was a photo opportunity of the Al Alam Palace. The sultan does not live here, but meets visitors and does business here…it’s the ceremonial palace. The Sultan is in Muscat today as evidenced by the flag flying above the palace.

Our guide was a 25 year old who was educated in Oregon. He said Oman is 50% Omani’s and 50% ex pats. The average monthly wage is $1500. He indicted the Omani economy is not so good right now. Their main exports are oil, gas and fish. Most of their oil and gas goes to China and Japan. He wore the white robe and a smaller, round cap.

He said his cap was due to the African influence, particularly Zanzibar, and is considered casual wear. More formal headdress for men would be a turban. He said women generally wear colorful clothes.  The women wearing the black abaya are due to Saudi influence. Most of the women we saw were tourists, but I did see a few Muslim women wearing black. Maybe we saw one woman wearing a white scarf on her head and colorful clothes. I’m not sure if she was an Omani or a tourist. Our guide  also pointed out two huge yachts that belong to the Sultan. Apparently the Sultan sailed to Libya on one yacht at onetime, and hasn’t used either yacht since.

Today’s port call was only 5 hours, and we did not think there was much to see in Oman. We were invited to watch the sail away from the helipad on the front of the ship. That is always a neat event, they give free Champaign, and the crew walks around and introduces themselves to the passengers for a one on one conversation. However, Dave wore his Patriots cap and we were cornered by a Canadian passenger who wanted to discuss sports.

We got our pirate letter, and will have a drill tomorrow. 

Today is our 34th anniversary. Dave sent me a beautiful bouquet of flowers and we are going to eat at a specialty restaurant tonight.

April 20 – 25, 2019 Sea Days and Petra

We had 5 sea days traveling from Muscat, Oman to Aqaba, Jordan. We really did not do much – read, attended some presentations, drank a lot of adult beverages and caught colds ☹️. We were just beginning to feel congested, and at dinner when sharing pleasantries with our waiter, he told us he had a cold and had gone to the ships doctor! So, we knew where we caught the cold! Onboard is David Weimers, who worked in Hollywood. He gave some interesting presentations on celebrities and movies. He also worked at a Disney World on some of their animations. We’ve only caught one evening show, due to feeling exhausted from our colds. Did not want to share our disease 😁.

The ship took the pirate issue very seriously. At sunset, lights were dimmed, exits to the outside decks were blocked. During the daylight hours, all open decks had security guards posted watching for pirates. We also traveled in a convoy with two other cruise ships. We could see the other ships as we were traveling. The good news is that there were no issues and we are safe. For Dave and I, this part of the world is fascinating and we are really sad that it is such a hotbed. We are glad we could take this cruise and visit some interesting places. While we are definitely in a Muslim/Arabic world, everyone we have had contact with has been very nice (maybe because they are making money from us?). Anyway, very enjoyable so far.

We did some walking on the ship to try to keep in shape at least a little bit. I had been using the “steps” app on my phone. One day I decided to try the “map my walk” app. Imagine how shocked I was to find out we walked 19+ miles in an hour! Then I realized the app was capturing the ships movement and we had only walked a little over 3 miles. 

We had attended a presentation on Petra, and were warned we would have to walk 3 miles. That scared off some people and they cancelled their tour. Dave and I were ready!

Our ship docked about an hour early. We were taking a ships excursion, and wanted to be on one of the first buses. We went to the meeting location to get our stickers about an hour early, and we were already on bus #2! We could understand most of what the guide said. He was born in Jordan and educated in Russia! He was good in that he really did not get into any politics. After leaving Aqaba on the bus, most of the scenery was of desert, with hills. It was amazing the long views we had of the desert. Our guide said Jordan had many historical, biblical sights. One of those is the tomb of Aaron, Moses brother. The tomb is the white building on top of the hill. This is one of two sites claiming to be Aaron’s tomb.

Our guide, Ceia, also talked about the Bedouin’s. Generally they are a nomadic people and live in tents. We did see tents in the desert, with camels and goats around. Our guide said the black tents were the Bedouin’s and the colored tents are gypsies. The government built housing for the Bedouin’s to encourage them to be more permanent. Some have moved into the housing but some still live in tents.

Many of the women we see are covered. If we had stayed in Aqaba, women were advised to cover their arms and knees. Muslim men are also suppose to cover their arms and knees. But many of the women wear black coverings, and the temperatures in Aqaba were mid nineties, and it is not the hottest time of the year yet.  While walking in Petra, I saw a woman, covered in black, carrying a baby totally wrapped in what looked like a wool blanket. I will say the temperatures in Petra were cooler than Aqaba because it is at a higher elevation …. I would guess upper 70’s. Ceia said Jordan is 94% Muslim and 6% Christian. In defense of the treatment of women, Ceia gave us many statistics on the number of businesses are owned by women, Jordan gave women the right to vote before Switzerland, women have to have a certain percentage of seats in government, if a father/husband dies women still receive his salary for the rest of their lives or until they remarry/marry…etc. I’m sure he mentioned more, but those are the ones I remember. Ceia also said a Muslim man is allowed to marry a Muslim woman, a Christian woman or a Jewish woman because those religions believe in one God. 

After driving about 1.5 hours, we took a bathroom break, which also happened to be a souvenir shop. Dave and I were not tempted…besides, Jordan seems to be very expensive. 1 Jordan Dinar is equivalent to $1.40. 

We drove about 15 minutes more (which tells you the bathroom stop generated some Jordanian dinars to the tour company or Celebrity). Our lunch was at a very nice Marriott, served buffet style. I thought the food was good, but Dave is a little more finicky because we had no clue what we were eating. I think one of the dishes was lamb, but could have been goat or camel….

Finally we get the the entrance of Petra. The altitude goes from about 4400 feet down to 2600 feet. It is all downhill going in. It is not known exactly when Petra was built, but the city prospered as the capital of the Nabataean Empire from the 1st century BC. The Nabataeans grew rich through trade in frankincense, myrrh, and spices. It was a center of trade and caravans passed through Petra making it a large, commercial trading center. Petra was later annexed to the Roman Empire and continued to thrive until a large earthquake in 363AD destroyed much of the city in the 4th Century AD. Also in the 4th Century AD, the Nabataean’s converted to Christianity. The earthquake combined with changes in trade routes, eventually led to the downfall of the city which was ultimately abandoned. By the middle of the 7th century Petra appears to have been largely deserted and it was then lost to all except local Bedouin from the area. At the end of the 12th century, after the conclusion of the Crusades, groups of Bedouin’s camped amongst the ruins of the ancient city, and fearing the arrival of treasure hunters, kept its existence secret for many years.

One version of the “rediscovery” of Petra was that in 1812 a Swiss explorer named Johannes  Burckhardt set out to “rediscover” Petra. He was an expert in the Arabic language and Islamic religion, dressed up as an Arab and convinced his Bedouin guide to take him to the lost city. Another version that we heard was that Burckhardt was looking for another ancient city and stumbled on Petra. Regardless, Petra became increasingly known in the West as a fascinating and beautiful ancient city, and began attracting visitors.

Just after we passed the entrance to Petra there are horses, and carriages. I am not totally sure how this works….Ceia said the carriages were not available, but the horses were included in our tickets…however you are expected to tip the horse’s owner at the end of the ride. But it seemed like the ride was not very long….maybe the equivalent of a block, which is not very far in the scheme of things. 

We started our walk, downhill, and quickly learned that most of the monuments we would be seeing were actually tombs. First we see Djinn blocks which are square, 20 to 30 feet tall, considered by the Bedouins as the seat of spirits guarding the city. The Djinn blocks are generally considered to be tombs either left unfinished or stripped of their original decoration. 

Next we see “The Obelisk” tomb which is actually two stories. The top is the Obelisk Tomb and the bottom is the “Bab al-Siq Triclinium”, which is believed to have been used to serve banquets each year to honor memory of the deceased. The Obelisk tomb has five niches  carved into the walls, presumably to hold 5 bodies.

In ancient times, Petra was a green city with fountains and gardens. The Nabataean’s had built a dike (Wadi Musa river? I think) and water conduits to divert the water to supply the needs of the city. The dike diverts the river water into a 280 foot tunnel and then into the conduits, partly made of terra-cotta pipes. The Nabataeans built a bridge over the dyke to allow access to the Siq.

We walk some more and enter the “Siq”. The Siq is a narrow passageway between tall rock walls which is the only easy way to enter the city. The rock walls of the Siq are 280 – 290 feet tall and in some stretches only 10 feet apart. The walls of the Siq have carvings, voltive niches and even ancient graffiti. There are carvings representing gods, but lack descriptions to designate which gods. 

After about 1.25 miles, we finally get a peak at “The Treasury”. The Siq opens up into a big open area in front of the treasury, who official name is “al-Khazneh al-Faroun”, which means, the Pharaoh’s Treasury. It was a belief among the Bedouin tribes that an unnamed pharaoh had hidden a treasure in the urn crowning the facade. The facade has numerous bullet holes from useless attempts to take possession of the supposed treasure. However, it is probably most famous because of its position at the end of the Siq and its exceptional state of preservation because it is deeply set into the mountainside and protected from erosion and the elements. Indiana Jones has helped its claim to fame, too. It is 92’ wide and 131’ tall, and two levels. We could not go inside, but were told the lower lever has 3 rooms which originally were stuccoed. Some scholars say this was a tomb of a Nabatean king, others say it was a temple. Dating the structure is debated also. The prevailing theory is it was built mid-century BC to hold the remains of Aretas III (85-62BC)  or Obodas II (62-59 BC).

This is not the end of our tour. I thought our guide would leave us at this point, but he continued on with us pointing out more points of interest. Continuing down we go through an area called the outer Siq. We see another group of tombs called the Street of Facades. Some of these tombs have stairways carved into the upper part, believed to be stairways to heaven. 

The next point of interest is a Roman styled theatre which could seat between 6000 and 8000 spectators. The area where the theatre stands is at the edge of the urban area. The tombs would have been built outside the city center, but there are a few rooms dug out of the rock above the theatre. These rooms are distinguished from tombs because they lack carved facades. 

Just past the theater we stop at a vendor selling refreshments and some souvenirs. The road continues to the area of the ancient city, and across the road and up a hill from here are 4 more tombs. Our guide is leaving us at this point and gives us the choice to walk back to the entrance, continue on to the ancient city, or walk up to the tombs. We check with him as to the best option and he recommends walking up to the tombs because it gives you a view of the ancient city. Of our bus of 40, Dave and I are the only ones walking to the top. It is 200 steps (I counted). These tombs are called the Royal Tombs. The first tomb, and the one we could enter, is the Urn Tomb. It is called the Urn tomb because of the large urn carved onto the top. We could only enter the ground floor, but it did have two levels. The inside was a large cavernous room and the ceiling was multicolored rock. Dave thought it had been painted, but I think it was natural. There was some black on the ceiling which I think may have been from fires inside. To the left of the Urn Tomb is the Silk Tomb. It is called the Silk Tomb because of the multicolored veins of sandstone on the facade. The two other tombs in this grouping are the Corinthian Tomb and Palace Tomb. The Corinthian tomb has many columns but is in a poor state of preservation due to erosion. The Palace Tomb resembles homes of the Hellenistic  rulers, consists of three levels, and is believed to be the tomb of the last Nabatean king, Rabbel II (70 – 106 AD), but is not proven. 

While there is still much more to see, we have to get back to our meeting point so we don’t miss our bus! It is about 3 miles to this point, so we have to walk back about 3 miles, uphill. I have to mention the carriages, which our guide said were unavailable. While we are walking, these carriages come racing by us. It is truly a miracle that no one (especially us) gets run over. There isn’t much warning, but you can hear them. The area where you walk is very uneven, with lots of stone, making walking difficult. Apparently the Romans “paved” the walkway in some areas, but that just means they laid down some bigger, flatter stones. I was in shock when we left the treasury area and I saw a man with a walker. He was really struggling with the rocky path. There are plenty of vendors selling everything along the path, but there are restrooms, too. There are many people visiting. I could not believe the number of buses when our bus pulled into the parking lot! It was packed!

One other thing our guide mentioned was that the Bedouins lived in the tombs and rocks until 1985. Then the government built them some homes and evicted them from ancient Petra. Ceia said some people (Bedouins) remember which tomb they were born in!

Petra was phenomenal. I would love to go back because I don’t think we saw even 1/2 of it. Dave and I love historic stuff, especially if it’s not in a museum.

My steps app showed we had walked over 6 miles. We left Petra about 6:00PM and had about a 4 hour visit. It was a 2 hour drive home on the bus with the required stop at a souvenir shop for a bathroom break. One of our previous guides told us these shops pay big dollars for tours to stop, even if no one buys anything. We got back to the ship about 8:30, pretty exhausted. Our bad colds were not helping. 

As we drove to the port, it was night, and we could see lots of lights, which our guide said was Israel. If you look at a map, Aqaba, where the ship docked, is at the very end of Jordan with Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt as very close neighbors.

Tomorrow is a sea day, and then we have the Suez Canal.

April 26 – 27, 2019 Suez Canal

We left Aqaba and headed south around the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula and then north in the Red Sea to the Suez Canal. As we got closer to Suez, we saw oil platforms, which we had not seen previously.  

At the end of the day, Friday, we were approaching the entrance to the Canal. About 11:30PM, the ship dropped anchor to await its morning slot to transit the Canal. 

Approximately 50 ships a day transit the Suez Canal. The Suez Canal cuts through Egypt, so we had Egypt on both sides of the ship. The Canal reduces the journey from the Arabian Sea to Europe by over 5,000 miles. Supposedly the first Canal between the Red Sea and the Nile River was dug about the 13th century BC. Cleopatra may have sailed in a Canal between the Red Sea and the Nile River. Napoleon considered the feasibility of a Canal, but his scouts incorrectly concluded the Red Sea was 30 feet higher than the Mediterranean. The current Canal was begun in 1859 and finished in 1869. There are no locks on the Suez Canal, with seawater flowing freely through it. There are two lakes, the Great Bitter Lake and Little Bitter Lake. In general, the Canal north of the Bitter Lakes flows north in winter and south in summer.

The first ship through the Canal was suppose to be the imperial yacht of French Empress Eugenia, followed by the British ocean liner “Delta”. But a British navy ship navigated to the front of the line under cover of darkness and was the first ship to navigate the canal. The captain was officially reprimanded but secretly lauded by the British government. 

The Canal was owned by the United Kingdom and France, until 1956 when it was nationalized by the Egyptian President, an event that led to the Suez Crisis. This led to the Israelis striking and then the British and French. Nikita Khrushchev and the Soviets supported Egypt. Eisenhower cautioned Khrushchev to refrain from direct intervention and threatened Israel, Britain and France with economic sanctions if they persisted. The threats did their work and the Israelis, Britain and France withdrew. However, the Canal continued to figure prominently in the conflicts between Egypt and Israel during the ‘60’s and ‘70’s. The Canal was closed during the Six-Day War of 1967, when several vessels were sunk in the waterway, blocking the shipping lanes. The Canal was reopened in 1975 after an international task force had cleared it of obstacles. Unrestricted Israeli use of the Canal was secured in the peace treaty with Egypt in 1979.

Ships transit the Canal in convoys. We were the second ship in a convoy of 21 ships, starting about 5:30am. I believe only the first two ships in our convoy were passenger cruise ships and the others were container ships. 

When we reached Great Bitter Lake, there were 11 ships that had entered the Canal before our convoy, but were at anchor in Great Bitter Lake until our convoy of 21 ships passed, then they would continue after our 21 ships. I don’t know why they had to wait and then follow us … it sounded weird, but that’s what we were told. A total of 57 ships transited the Canal today. 

The Canal is a little over 120 miles long, and is a “no wake zone”. We went through at about 9 miles per hour. There were two tug boats on each side of our ship all the way through. Before entering the Canal, 4 technical Egyptian crew boarded our ship and two pilots. About midway, the two pilots were relieved and two more pilots boarded the ship. I have no idea why we needed all these people and two tugs ($$$$ probably or the Egyptian full employment plan). At 9 mph, it took over 11 hours to transit the Canal. 

The west side of the Canal has a lot of development and is very green. This is because of irrigation from the Nile river. The east side of the Canal has little development and is all desert, the Sinai. However, some of the larger cities are expanding and development is starting on the east side. At one point there is a new city with residences for 750,000 people. Supposedly there are tunnels under the Canal so people can move from one side to the other.

We passed under the Al Salam bridge which looks a lot like the I275 bridge over Tampa Bay.  We did not see one car on the bridge. But just past the bridge was a ferry transporting vehicles from one side to the other. Not sure why they could not drive over the bridge.

We exited the Canal at Port Said, which is also a port for cruise ships. We did not stop there as we are on our way to Athens, but have been to Port Said on previous Egyptian cruises.

April 29, 2019 Athens

Our plan it to DIY Athens. Our ship is docked in Terminal B at Piraeus which means we will have to take a port shuttle bus to Terminal A and then walk to the metro. We took the metro from Athens to Piraeus previously, and we remember that it is a long way. Actually there was construction going on then, and we got on the metro going the wrong way and almost missed our ship! Today we had plenty of time. We decided to head out about 9:00 AM, and it is a long walk to the metro, if you can find it! It is about a two mile walk. The first building we saw was actually a train station, not the metro. The ticket agent pointed us to go back across the street. We crossed the street, and again a lot of construction, so not sure where we were going. We were following another couple headed to the metro, and finally found the right building. The Greeks do not make it easy! We got our tickets – actually full day passes for 4.5 euros each, so if we decided to use public transportation in Athens we could, and we would already have our tickets back to Piraeus. We took the green line toward Athens and transferred to the blue line at Monastiraki. Then two stops on the blue line. We were heading to Mount Lycabettus which has a beautiful view of Athens. We left the subway and walked the wrong direction because everything was in Greek (imagine that) but ended up by the Hilton where we stayed a few years ago. We took advantage of the Hilton and took a bathroom break and gathered our bearings.

Dave has a phenomenal sense of direction and once he gets his bearings, he rarely if ever gets lost.

I was also able to use the Hilton WiFi, and pull up directions to Mount Lycabettus from the Hilton. We knew there was a cable car to the top, so our mission was to find the entrance to the cable car. We started walking, and knew we were on the right road. What we didn’t realize was we had to walk up about 500 steps to get to the entrance to the cable car. Usually I count steps, but today I didn’t. All I can say is that there were a lot of steps…I was pooped. We kept looking for the cable car entrance, afraid we missed it. But no, it was just higher up. We were so tired when we finally got to the cable car entrance that we bought round trip tickets for 7.5 euros so we could ride part way down. We got to the top, and of course, there were quite a few people. The views are wonderful. We could see the Acropolis and the ocean.

There is a Greek Orthodox Church at the top, too, and today was Orthodox Easter Monday with a service going on at the church. A priest was walking around sprinkling holy water and soliciting donations. We could not get close to the entrance of the little church. There is also a restaurant which seemed pretty reasonable according to the menu which included an entree, salad and glass of wine for 13 euros. However, we planned to go to our favorite restaurant in the Plaka area, and it was only about 11:20am, so a bit too early for lunch.
We rode the cable car back down, which was only partway down, and started walking towards the Plaka. About 2 minutes before noon, we got to Syntagma Square and happened to catch the changing of the guard. The Greek Soldiers have a very unique ceremonial walk.

We have seen it before, but it was cool to catch it again. After the crowds disbursed, I spotted Violet, the Canadian lady I hooked up with before the cruise and the same lady that we ran into in the Abu Dhabi desert. I walked up to her and asked her if she knew the way to a Englewood
😁 . Her group had a guide, and were headed to the Plaka area, too.
Lots of stores were closed today since it was Greek Orthodox Easter Monday, but we did find a pharmacy that was open so we could stock up on cold medicine…which is in Greek…so I hope it works. Finally got to Plaka. This is a big tourist area with lots of souvenir shops. It covers several blocks, up and down a main drag and side streets, too. We wandered a bit and eventually found “our” restaurant. Unfortunately, ownership has changed ☹ .

The old Greek who gave us ouzo was not there any longer – a much younger ownership. The name of the restaurant is still the same, Thespis. It has a beautiful, long view of mountains, I think to the northeast.

If we didn’t have umbrellas over our tables, there is a view of the Acropolis to the west, too. I had lamb kabobs and Dave had sea bass…plus 1/2 liter of white wine and 1/2 liter of red wine. It was a very nice lunch. After lunch we walked through the Plaka some more, but the merchandise is really junk. So no, we didn’t buy anything, but we looked. I was hoping to find a nice jewelry store, but the nice ones were closed today because of a Greek Orthodox Easter. We found another area that billed itself as a flea market, and wandered through there for awhile…same junky souvenirs, but fun to look at. What is neat about Athens is that you run into ruins that are fenced off and protected as you are wandering around. We saw a little church that was protected but the Plaka area was built up all around it.

When walking around, you can look up and get a glimpse of the acropolis from many locations, this one near Plaka.

I really enjoy the DIY trips that Dave and I do. It is much more enjoyable than being herded around with 40 people. However, those big group tours have their place, but we have been to Athens several times and actually stayed at the Athens Hilton for three or four days in the past, so more fun to pick a sight and strike out on our own.
We headed back to Piraeus on the metro and has no issues getting back to our ship, except for the 2 mile walk. We actually got back about 4:00PM. The Qsine specialty restaurant manager was by the elevators looking for people to come to his restaurant tonight. It is normally $45 per person for the specialty restaurants, so we negotiated with him for a rate of $29 per person! Looking forward to dinner!
Tomorrow we strike out on our own again. The ship docks in Katakolon, Greece which is the port for ancient Olympia. We have rented a car and plan to drive ourselves to ancient Olympia.

April 30, 2019 – Katakolon – Olympia

Happy Birthday, Nicole! I am so lucky to have a great daughter in law and today is her birthday! I hope she enjoys every minute!

Some random thoughts….the metro from Piraeus to Athens was disgusting, making Chicago subway cars look pristine, but the other metros we were on were clean and nice. I found this strange because I had dirty Kleenex and could not find a trash can to dispose of them. 

Wandering around the ship, not only tonight but other days as well, I have found it interesting that people are dressed in Arabic clothing. For dinner, one couple wore the whole she-bang ….man in white robe with headdress and woman in black robe with black head covering. Similar folks out on the deck while transiting the Suez Canal. Walked by a woman with mans headdress in coffee lounge, with shorts and t-shirt. I really should have taken pictures. 

Today we docked in Katakolon, Greece which is the port for Ancient Olympia. This is really a small Greek town. A Greek billionaire, John Latsis, wanted to make the citizens rich, so he built a cruise ship port. It worked! Today there were 2 big ships in port…ours and a Costa ship. We had pre-rented a car from Avis so we could do our own thing. To be honest, I am more the “let’s rent a car that you drive” than Dave is. But he agreed in a moment of weakness, so here we are. He kept asking me about parking at the Ancient Olympia site, but according to trip advisor and cruise critic, there seemed to be two lots for parking.

We rented the car and got instructions. The rental guys told us not to put in more than 15 euros of gas as we’d never use more than that. It was a manual Volkswagen and off we went. The directors were simple enough. Drive 7 km to the first stoplight and turn left, then drive 3 km to the next light and turn right. Drive 27 km more and we’d be there.

At the first stoplight, we turned left and the car died just past the intersection, but blocking traffic. In the midst of the honking and narrow, narrow roadway, we were at a standstill. Could not figure out the problem. Dave was concerned that it was the 192,000 miles on the VW we had just rented. Some guy got tired of honking and came up to the window and stuck his arm in. He did all the things Dave did, but finally the car started. Yeah, but, what does this mean for the rest of our journey?  We make all the required turns and stops and arrive in ancient Olympia. We could not find the entrance or anywhere to park. We found one spot, but a policeman nicely told us to move. He told us we had to drive back into the “town”, so we did. We followed the buses and taxis, but never saw a parking lot. After driving around a bit, we saw a space behind a building and in front of a dumpster and decided to park there. Then we had to figure out where to go to get to the site. We followed some people, and came upon a large Museum building. We used their facilities, still looking for the archeological site. Finally we saw a large bunch of people gathered and figured out they were in line to get tickets! We stood in a long line and finally get our 12euro per person tickets. They do not have maps. We walked and enter the site. What really struck me was how large of an area this site covers, 5000 acres. Very little reconstruction, and lots of ruins. There were several plaques to tell us what we were looking at, because otherwise we would never have known.

The first inhabitation of this site was about 3000 BC. The site became a sanctuary to Zeus, built about 1000 BC. A massive statue of Zeus, ranked as one of the 7 wonders of the world was located here. The olympics were part of the celebration of the festival of Zeus, held every four years from about 776BC to the 4th century AD, when the Roman emperor abolished pagan festivals. Another Roman emperor had the temples destroyed in 426AD, then earthquakes in 522 and 551 further damaged the site. Mudslides and silt from the Cladeus River eventually covered much of the area, helping to preserve the site. 

We saw the ruins of the temple of Hera, where the Olympic torch is lit for each new olympics. 

The temple of Hera held the disk of the Sacred Truce, which all athletes had to swear to, basically saying they would not cheat.

 At the entrance to the stadium there used to be “Zane’s” statues, which is plural for Zeus. These statues had the names of athletes that had offended the Sacred Truce , and their offense. You go under an arch to enter the stadium. A marble (?) line makes the starting point. 

The track is 200 yards long and the stadium would hold 40,000 – 45,000 spectators. 

We saw ruins of statues erected by past winners commemorating their wins at the Olympic Games.  

After the stadium, we saw the ruins of a house built for Nero. 

In what seemed to be the center, we saw the temple of Zeus.

As we walked back towards our starting point, we saw where a  building had covered rooms for the athletes and in the center was an open area that was filled to be used as a swimming pool. The athletes would oil their bodies and apply powder. Another building, ruins but recognizable, had been turned into a church in the 5the century AD. I could imagine this building being a church. 

We finished walking through the ruins and visited a museum. Inside were many artifacts from this site, doing back to 3000BC. Many of the statues from the Olympic era were there. While missing parts, you would make out the intent. Having said that, there were several headless statues that had descriptions of who they were….how would they know if the heads were missing?

Overall, it is interesting, but because of the lack of documentation, maps, whatever, the site was a bit underwhelming. No parking, no organization….the area encompassed is huge. Dave felt the cost of upkeep would be very large. There were many people there visiting, as the lines to get tickets were very long. After leaving the site, and walking back to the car, we stopped to get a gyro. Suddenly it turned very cold, and Dave went back to the car to get our jackets. Still uncomfortably cold while we ate. Otherwise, it had been another beautiful day.

We drove back to Katakolon with no issues and returned our car. We only put 10 euros worth of gas in it. Then we walked the main drag of Katakolon. Lots of souvenirs shops, but a leather purse caught my eye. We let a few moths out of Dave’s wallet and we bought the purse…and more cough drops ☹️. 

This was our last port. Tomorrow will be a sea day and packing day, and then the next very early morning we disembark in Rome. 

Even though we have been fairly inactive, we have enjoyed this cruise. It is hard to not like food anytime, beverages anytime, room cleaned twice a day, etc. I could get use to this! 

I hear people coughing and hacking all over the ship, so it’s not just us. The drugs I bought in Athens seem to be better than the contact I bought on the ship. We’ll keep doing drugs and plugging along. Today we walked almost 6 miles, so we are doing pretty good, considering. 

May 1 – 2, 2019 Sea Day, Disembark, Florence

May 1 is our last sea day, and it is a bit sad as the end of our cruise approaches. About 10:00  am the captain come on the intercom system and announces we are heading into the Messina Straights. He says, “it is not as long as the Suez Canal, thank goodness!”. The Messina Straights is the water between mainland Italy and Sicily. It is narrow and you can see land on both sides of the ship. It only takes about an hour to go through the Messina Straights. In another hour, we approach the Stromboli Volcano. This is an active volcano that erupts, the last one that I am aware of was in January, 2019. However it “burps” every 20 to 30 minutes. It always has white steam coming out, but when it “burps”, the smoke is black. 

We saw two burps as we cruised by. The even more amazing thing is that Stromboli is on a small island, probably built up from lava, and there are bunches of houses! I don’t know why someone would want to live on an island with an active volcano!

May 2 is our disembarkation day. We have rented a car in the port city of Civitavecchia and plan to drive about 3 hours to Florence. Because of our colds and hacking, we were awake early, but planned to leave the ship about 7:30am. We got down to the exit, and Dave realized he forgot his hat in the stateroom and had to go back and retrieve it. There is a shuttle from the ship to the port exit, and a mad rush to get on the shuttle. We ride and ride and ride, and Dave says this doesn’t look right. We had rented a car in Civitavecchia previously, so Dave knew the location of Hertz office. We get off the shuttle and Dave says this is not the same port exit as last time. We have our suitcases and overnight bags, and start hoofing it. I had the location of Hertz on google maps, but not the distance. We are walking…it is not easy for me to pull 55 lbs. of suitcase plus my overnight bag. Dave has about the same. We keep walking, and resting, and walking. Finally we get to Hertz which was over a mile from where the shuttle let us out. Again, walking a mile is no big deal….but pulling the suitcases made it a challenge. We got the car, a diesel, automatic, Opal station wagon. It has navigation, so while Dave is figuring out how to get out of Civitavecchia, I’m entering our destination. Sure enough, we see the port exit from a couple of years ago about 2 blocks away from the Hertz office. Don’t know why they let us out where there did, but it caused us some pain.

So we get out of town and use the cars navigation to drive to Florence. Our hotel is very close to the Duomo, so we know it is probably in a restricted driving zone. It is a little over 3 hours drive – we made a few wrong turns, but the cars navigation system got us back on track. We get into Florence, the traffic is heavy, the streets are narrow, and the cars navigation system says you have arrived at your destination….but, we are not on the right street and definitely don’t see our hotel. We drive around a bit, restart the car navigation, and get a message that basically says, “your location is in a restricted area” and doesn’t take us any further. Fortunately, I had looked at the directions on a Google Maps before we left the ship and lost access to WiFi. Using Google maps, I was able to direct Dave to the hotel. Yes, it was in a restricted area, but we were able to check in and then park the car in a garage. Whew! We did it!

We walked around Florence a bit and got our bearings. My plan is to get a SIM card for my phone. We asked the reception guy where we could buy one and could not figure out where he was sending us. Dave is very apprehensive about my getting a SIM card, but I think it will be helpful as we drive around Italy. We saw an apple store and popped in, and asked where we could buy a SIM card. He sent us about 2 blocks away to a TIM store. Very busy place! I took a number and there were 14 people in front of me. Finally they call my number, a nice lady helps us, and then asks for my passport. What? They need my passport? She told us when we come back we don’t have to wait in line, just come directly to her. So we walked back to the hotel, got our passports, and walked back to the TIM store. The lady took us right away, installed my new SIM card and I have data!

We plan to go into the Duomo, but tonight just walked around it….it is HUGE! There is a great lunch place close to the hotel. 

There are lots and lots of restaurants with lots of great wine. Dave complains a little about watching his carbs as he devours his ravioli for lunch, and pizza for dinner ….. 😁😁😁! Hey, we’re on vacation in Italy! The land of wine and carbs!

May 3, 2019 Florence

It is a rainy day in Florence. It rains and then stops, then rains again, then stops. Sometimes we think the sun is coming out, and then it rains hard!

Dave and I have been to Florence several times, so on this trip we hoped to see a few things we had missed in previous trips.

Our hotel offers breakfast, so of course we eat breakfast at our hotel. We paid extra for a superior room with a balcony, which we cannot use because of the rain ☹️. We are close to the duomo, and actually have a glimpse of the top. The room is good size for being a European hotel room. Our shower is smaller than the one on the ship, but we have a bidet! Dave and I are both still coughing and hacking, and we think maybe we caught a second bug while in our weakened state. 

After breakfast we headed to the duomo, Florence’s Cathedral, as we had never gone inside. Yesterday when we walked past, it had a huge line. Today is no different. We waited in line 1.25 hours to get in. The good news is that entry to the duomo is free. It was begun in 1296 and not finished until 1436. The exterior is marble panels of green and pink, bordered by white. It is huge! 

The floor area is 89,000 sq ft. As we waited in line outside, we felt most of the cathedral needed a good power washing. It appeared the front had been cleaned recently, and the green, pink and white marble was beautiful. After we finally are let in, I think we are surprised by the bareness! It is a huge open space inside.

 If I remember correctly from previous visits to old European churches, people stood during the sermons. When we were in Athens and walked to the top of Mount Lycabettus, the people were standing for the orthodox Easter mass – there were no seats in the church. In the Duomo, they do have seats…some rows of pews, but several rows of plastic chairs. Obviously added over the years. The seats do not fill up the floor space however, so I am sure some people attending mass today have to stand. The floors inside the duomo are beautiful green, pink and white marble, too. There are 44 beautiful stained glass windows by the greatest Florentine artists of their time. The dome was designed by Filippo Brunelleschi. 

We had planned on climbing the bell tower which had 50 less steps than climbing the Duomo’s dome (414 vs 464), but I just did not feel up to the climb.

After visiting the duomo, it is almost noon. We head back to the hotel for a bathroom break, then head out for lunch before our reserved 2:00 Academia visit. As we are eating lunch, Dave checked the documentation from where I purchased the tickets online. It says we need identification. Of course, we did not bring any. When we are out walking about, we only carry what we absolutely need. So after lunch, we make a quick trip back to the hotel to get our passports. Fortunately, it is only about a 10 minute walk from out hotel to the Accademia. We get back to the Accademia and of course they do not ask for identification! We debated and then spent 10 euros for an audio guide. It was useless. We had no map, so we could not tell what number to hit on the recorder. Fortunately I had downloaded a Rick Steves audio tour of the Accademia, which was great. I was surprised the Accademia was not huge. I was thinking it would be like the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, but it was no where near that size. Upon entry, the first room contains a state called “Rape of the Sabine’s” which depicts the legend where ancient romans stole women from a neighboring tribe. This statue shows a Roman warrior trampling a husband as he carries off the wife. This is actually a plaster model of the actual statue. In this room, as well as throughout the Accademia, are several works which describe the artist as opposed to the work. Next we go into the gallery that contains David. It is a long gallery with other works/statues lining the sides. These statues are called the prisoners….they are unfinished works of Michelangelo and are called prisoners because the unfinished works seem to be fighting to free themselves from the stone. There is a bust of Michelangelo created by one of his students. Michelangelo was born to a poor but Nobel family. His family did not support his desire to be an artist, but at the young age of 13, the ruler of Florence nurtured his talent by making Michelangelo a member of his household. The amount of famous works by Michelangelo is incredible, at least to me: the Sistine Chapel, designing the dome of St. Peter, the Pieta, David, plus many others. The actual statue of David is 14 feet tall. This statue seems to capture a David as he is sizing up Goliath. He has a stone in  his right hand and his sling is over his shoulder. His hands look a little too big for the body, but supposedly represents the hand of man powered by a God. It really is phenomenal and you can even see veins on his hands. I am no artist, but viewing this statue is impressive. 

The rest of the museum is not impressive. There is a room of musical instruments, and another room with plaster statues and busts from the Academy art students – not sure how old these are, looked like several were from the 1800’s. We saw the main attraction, which was very impressive, and then left. 

We stopped in a coffee shop for some hot tea (for me & my cold) and a glass of wine. It was still raining off and on, and we considered our options. We decided we’d walk to the Ponte Vecchio bridge. The Ponte Vecchio is a medieval stone bridge over the Arno River lined on both sides with jewelry stores. There are a few very nice jewelry stores, but most are selling costume jewelry or worse. 

Still raining, so we headed back to our hotel for a break before dinner.

May 4, 2019 Florence

We head out after breakfast this morning for Piazzale Michelangelo which is a little park overlooking Florence with wonderful views of the city. We walk about a mile and decide we are overdressed as yesterday was cool, so we wore warmer clothes today. We decide to go back to our hotel and change. When we head out again, Dave decides we should save our legs and take a taxi. It is quite an uphill climb, so that was a good decision. The view from Piazzale Michelangelo is as promised. Actually, we have been to this overlook before on a ships tour, years ago. But today, on our own, we have plenty of time to enjoy the view. There is a replica of Michelangelo ‘s statue of David in the Piazzale. The view looks across the Arno river towards the duomo.

We climb higher to the San Miniato Church, up about 100 steps. According to legend, the martyred St. Minias, for whom the church is named, was beheaded on the banks of the Arno in AD 250. He picked up his head and walked up the hill to the place the church now sits, where he died and was buried in what became the first Christian cemetery in Florence. In 1018, this church was built to house St. Minias’ remains. This church is over 1000 years old! Although the area has built up around the church, it still sits in the middle of the cemetery with crypts and tombstones. Most are centuries old, but we see a few more recent burials. It is still a restful, peaceful place. The church has a green and white marble facade.

Inside, the floor is tombstones from long ago. Downstairs is the crypt holding the remains of St. Minias.  This church seems more decorated with frescos and statues than the duomo. It appears the church is having a video show of some sort, so not the best photo.

The church is much  smaller than the duomo, but with a very interesting legend.

We sat in the courtyard of the church, enjoying the beauty of the view of Florence in the distance and pondered what to do with the rest of our time in Florence. We are not interested in visiting museums of paintings, and we have seen much of Florence on our many visits. We decide we have seen and done those things that we wanted to do here. We decide to walk back to the touristy part of Florence and have lunch. On the way, we stumbled onto a beautiful rose garden.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. A little window shopping and walking around. We got caught in a downpour and had to step into a wine bar for a glass of wine to avoid getting drenched.

For dinner, we went to a restaurant recommended by our Hotel. It is not in the “tourist zone”. We got there about 7:30pm, without reservations. The waiter said he had a table as long as we were done by 9:30pm. 2 hours – no problem! Two “local” ladies sat next to us, and when they heard us speaking English, asked where we were from. So one lady has a place in Florence and Sante Fe, New Mexico. Her friend was native Italian. They were amazed we found this place because generally no tourists eat here. They did have an English menu, though. Anyway, it was neat to talk to them and they were very nice. We did have a hard time finding the restaurant because the addresses did not seem to go in sequence. Maybe that’s how they keep tourists away 😁.

A photo from yesterday, in the Loggia della Signoris, which is a big plaza. There are several statues/replicas in this plaza. The original David was here before it was moved to the Accademia, now there’s a replica here. The original statue of The Rape of the Sabine Women, is here, while the plaster model is in the Accademia. 

May 5, 2019 Florence to Siena

We checked out of our of our Florence hotel. Our car was parked a few minutes away, but because of the restricted zone, it would be a long drive to get it out of the garage and drive back to the hotel to pick up our luggage. We peaked out of the hotel and it wasn’t raining, so we decided to walk to the garage, 5 minutes away. Of course it started pouring before we got to the garage ☹️. We headed to Siena, but since we could not check in until after 3:00pm, we decided to do one of Rick Steves self guided driving tours – Crete Senesi Drive.  It is a back roads loop south of Siena. We drive to Siena and start the drive. The scenery and landscape is just beautiful. This is perfect because it is cold with intermittent rain. This is Tuscany. As we drive we can see the beautiful estates up on hills with trees lining the long driveways. Dave put in an offer on this villa: 

 It is so difficult to capture the beauty of landscapes in photos. There are many little pull-off area where we can stop and admire the landscape. We see a couple of other cars ….but not many….and 2 are stopping and taking pictures just like us. The first big stop is in a little town by the name of Asciano. We park and walk to the tourist information building. There are very few people here. We got a map of the town, basically one main drag. As we get ready to leave the tourist information building, we hear honking and beeping like crazy. It seems to be a road rally for Fiats! There’s probably 50 of them enjoying their ride down the restricted traffic road in the center of town. So of course we watched the parade of Fiats! Gosh they are small cars! Barely enough room for 2 people. One sporty looking one drives by that has a back seat with a lady crunched up in the back seat. Most of the drivers were “mature”, as were the fiats! 

After the parade goes by, we see a restaurant recommended by Rick Steves and stop in for  lunch. Lunch had been pizza for the most part…and wine of course. The pizzas are very thin crust, probably about 12” in diameter, and definitely meant for one person. Dave can eat about 3/4 of his, and I generally eat about 1/2. After lunch, we finish our walk about town, passing the old fascist headquarters which is now the police headquarters.  

While it still looks very rainy, we manage to miss the rain at this stop. It rained as we were parking and then stopped. It rained while we were eating, but then stopped. On our way back to the car it was drizzling, but did not pour until we were in the car. 

Our next stop along this driving tour is the Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore. The Abbey is closed between 12:00 and 3:30, and we arrived about 3:00. It is a bit if a walk, downhill, to the abbey, and although it is just spitting rain a little bit, it is chilly – probably about 50 degrees. We walk downhill through the woods to the abbey, and see they have a wine tasting just under the abbey. Of course this is wine from grapes grown by the monks. We go down and taste a couple of wine and support the monks by buying a bottle of wine. By the time we finish tasting and buying wine, the abbey is open. 

According to Rick Steves….Bernard Tolomei (1272 – 1348) was the son of a wealthy Sienese family. He moved to the hillsides south of Siena to become a monk. One day he had a vision and took it as a sign to build a church., and founded the Olivtan order. Tolomei was made a saint in 2009. His original humble church is now a brick monastery complex. Entering the church, the choir seats are designed with inlaid wood. The artist, who completed the choir chais in just two years is called the “Michelangelo of Wood”. The woodwork is amazing and each chair is different. One panel depicts a skull, a common symbol for Agam, often shown in Italian paintings at the base of Jesus cross, reminding us that Jesus died to atone for the original sin of Adam. Dave and I have wondered why there is usually a skull in Italian pairings which show a Jesus on the cross, and now we know why! It was dark in the choir area, so we could not get a picture of this magnificent work. The Cloister has 35 frescoes, and Rick Steves gives a description of each frescoe, telling what the picture means. From all the European churches we have seen, it was really interesting to look at the frescoe and understand the message of each. 

After looking at the frescoes we head back, uphill, to the car. We get in, and it starts hailing! We decided to shortcut the rest of this driving tour and head to our hotel in Siena. 

Our hotel is inside the city walls, so the hotel has to register our car with the police! We have a very nice room, but we are looking at construction outside our window! The hotel gave us a welcome drink – white wine for a Dave and Prosecco for me.

May 6, 2019 Siena: Montepulciano and Montalcino

The weather Monday is still very cool and possible rain, whereas Tuesday is looking better. So on Monday, we decide to do our wine tour and tour Siena on Tuesday.

We drove from Siena to Montepulciano. We have been here before, but this is one of two of Dave’s favorite wine cities. Driving to Montepulciano gives us more time to admire the beautiful Tuscan landscape. It really is gorgeous to have long views across the landscape with villas and driveways lined with cypress trees. We park in a different parking lot than last visit, and we do Rick Steves walking tour which we didn’t do before. Last time, we just went for the wine! It is a hill town, and we get the opportunity (😩) to walk uphill a lot. I would not say there are any exceptional sights, but there are interesting ones. We see the insides of churches, one of which is elliptical in shape. In the church, the frames around their big art pieces are art, too, drawn to look 3 dimensional. In Montepulciano, Montalcino (visited later today) and Siena, all have marble columns. At one time they all had a she-wolf suckling human twins (Romulus &Remus), but in Montepulciano the column now is topped with a lion holding a Medici shield. The Medici’s were a very rich and influential family in the history of Italy. 

There is a clock tower topped by a popular character in Italian theater, but looks a little like Pinocchio to me. 

Montepulciano is known for Nobile wines, which is not as famous as Brunello,  which comes from Montalcino. The most popular wine tasting showroom is Contucci Cantina, which we visited in the past, and Dave was not really impressed with their wines. This time we opted for De’Ricci Cantine, which Rick Steves calls the most impressive wine cellars in Montepulciano. You enter through a non descript doorway, and then walk down, down, down amongst barrels of wine in a cellar like atmosphere. I was wondering where we were going to end up, as I had visions of having to walk back up all these stairs. Finally we ended up in the wine shop where we were able to sample their wines. The wines were very good, the people very friendly, and we were much happier with this wine cellar. We did not have to walk back up through the wine cave/cellar. There was a back door, and while we had to walk uphill quite a distance, it was an incline instead of stairs. It was getting late and we had not had lunch. There was a wine shop that offered wine tastings with cheese, so we thought we’d do that instead of lunch. Not one of our better ideas. The cheese was good, the service was slow, the wine was expensive and not very good. Time to leave town. 

Leaving Montepulciano, we drove to the other big wine town of Montalcino. Montalcino is not as large as Montepulciano, but is another hilltown which means climbing up and down the streets. Montalcino’s famous wine is Brunello, which can be very pricy. Last time we were here, Dave tasted wine in the fortress and in a shop with machines. You buy a card in advance, insert it into the machine, and get a sample of wine. Depending on the wine, you would be charged accordingly for the sample. It is a smaller town, so no walking tour. We went to the fortress first, and it was pretty packed with people tasting wines….probably because it was inside and they had a heater going (it’s chilly here – which I’ve probably written about daily). There are also (gross) waterclosets here, which is better than nothing. We decided to move on. There are too many choices to wait in lines for wine tastings. We set out to find the shop with the machines. After walking literally up and down several streets, we decide that shop doesn’t exist anymore. But, Dave finds another wine shop that catches his eye. (In every Italian town about every 3rd store is a wine shop). They charge for tastings, which varies in price, depending on the bottle. He samples a couple, and then buys a different Brunello that he has had in the past.

Our mission is accomplished! One wine from Montepulciano and one from Montalcino and a wonderful drive through Tuscany. We drove back to Siena for a brief rest and then find someplace for dinner. 

May 7, 2019: Siena

Our hotel, Pensione Palazzo Ravizza was once the residence of a noble. It has beautiful gardens in the back with irises and lilys in bloom. The room is very nice, and large for European rooms. The shower is great, bigger than the ship and the hotel in Florence! Breakfast is OK…the hotel in Florence offered scrambled eggs. Our Siena hotel offers a more European breakfast with fruit, bread, cheese and sausage.

After breakfast, we do our Rick Steves Siena walking tour. It starts in the big Il Campo, which is basically the city square, except it is not square. It is the seat of government. It is shaped like a clamshell, and people sit all over the bowl like area. The city hall has a 330 foot city tower attached, which was unusual for the time, 1340 AD, as usually only churches had towers. The tower represents the rise of a secular society. 

Every year a horse race is held here, with various neighborhoods competing. The square is filled with 60,000 people on the inside and the horses run around the outside of the clamshell, but inside the buildings lining the square. There are no rules, and the jockeys frequently fall off. The winner is the first horse to cross the finish line, with or without a rider.  There is a large fountain in the square which was an engineering project in the 1350’s to bring fresh water to the city. It is named the Fountain of Joy for bringing fresh water, completely free.

We walk through various Sienese neighborhoods and past nobel palaces of old to visit the Duomo. On the way, we see one of the columns with a she-wolf nursing human babies, Romulus and Remus. According to legend, Siena was founded by two sons of Remus. 

The Duomo has dark green and pink marble, similar to Florence’s duomo. Originally the duomo  was intended to be much bigger, but building was halted due to the bubonic plague, which killed about 1/3 of Siena’s population. The church has some very interesting artwork, including a Michelangelo statue. 

The floor mosaics are detailed, and protected so people don’t walk on them. The mosaic picture we took today is of the she-wolf, the symbol of Siena. But, one of the mosaics, which I remember from our previous visit, was the slaughter of the innocents, when King Herod killed the babies.

There are frescos in one room, the Piccolomini Library, from the 1400’s. These frescoes have never been restored  but are beautiful and vivid as if they were freshly done. These frescos celebrate the life of one of Sienas hometown boys, who later became Pope Pius II.  The pulpit is made of Carrara marble. The panels, from 1268, are the work of Nicola Pisano, carved in the style of an ancient sarcophagus. These panels tell the life of Christ.

As Dave and I walk thru the duomo, seeing Michelangelo’s statue, the frescos, the mosaics….we realize we have toured this duomo on a previous visit to Siena. We still continue our tour of the duomo visiting the crypt, and baptismal. 

Rick Steves walking tour then takes us past some more nobel palaces and overlooks. One of the churches in Siena that we opt out of visiting is the a Church of San Domenico, which contains relics of St. Catherine…a thumb and her skull. St. Catherine, born in Siena, helped convince the pope to move the papacy back to Rome. She is revered, along with St. Benedict, as the patron saint of Europe. Her universal message was that this world is not a gift from our fathers, but a loan from our children. 

May 8, 2019 Siena to Pisa to Cinque Terre: Monterosso Al Mare

Dave has been very disappointed in the TV’s in our hotel rooms. In Florence, the picture was awful…it kept flickering. We did get some English channels in Sienna. We’re in Monterosso al Mare, and there are NO English channels….no matter how long he channel surfs 😁.

We left Sienna this morning and drove to Pisa. For some reason, Dave’s internal compass had him get off the autostrada a few exits too early…but he will probably disagree with me. Fortunately I had my phone, but due to some construction, we did a few circular routes. We ended up in the FREE parking lot we were looking for, and actually got a good space. I have to say the navigational system in the car is a bit weird. When we left Montalcino yesterday, it took us down a gravel road….there were NO other cars, and we ran into a bunch of hikers who were as surprised to see us as we were to see them. We surely thought the navigation system messed us up, but we finally got to a main road and all was well. We went through a long tunnel today, and it said we were “off road”. Then we got traffic alerts suddenly out of nowhere, in Italian, so we had no idea what the alerts were telling us, even though the navigation is in English.

Anyway, we got to Pisa, and I had ordered tickets online to climb the Leaning Tower of Pisa!

The area is also known as The Field of Miracles. We have been here before, but could not do the climb. Back then, the tower had “girdles” holding it up. Of course rain was threatening  when we were at Pisa! Welcome to our vacation! We had to leave my backpack in the cloakroom which they would not accept until 15 minutes before our scheduled climb. We were scheduled for 12:45pm, and arrived in the cloakroom at 12:25pm….so we had to wait. Just past 12:30, they let us put my backpack into a locker, then we walked over to the tower to wait in line for our chance to climb. Dave and I counted a few different steps, but starting outside, I counted about 270 steps to the top. When they first let you in, you go into the center in a large open space/room to wait a bit – I suppose for other people to come down. You can really feel how tilted the tower is, even in this room. I think they let people up every 15 minutes. I’m not sure how many people are in each group…maybe 30. After awhile they tell you that you can start the climb, or wait. We started the climb. As we got closer to the top, the steps were not as steep, and Dave thinks this is to adjust for the tilt. The steps are very worn, so many people have made this climb. We did break a few times, and others did too. There are a few landings where you can look out, so we took breathers there. After about 235 steps, there is a big landing where you have to walk around the outside of the tower before heading up the last 37 steps. At the top is a big area ringed with huge bells.

Outside of the  bells is another walkway around the outside of the tower. Dave did not do the walk around outside the bells because he is somewhat afraid of heights and did not feel safe. It was a really cool view, not only of the Field of Miracles, but also the countryside. After enjoying the views and reveling in the fact we made it up, we headed back down. The whole up and down and walk around took about 35 minutes once the let us into the first room.

I bought the ticket that also let us tour the cathedral. The cathedral was interesting, as Italian Catholic Churches are. The ceiling was unique with many golden squares. Looking towards the front of the church was a big  mosaic of Jesus shining above the alter. 

The marble pulpit is very similar to the duomo in Siena, including the sculptured panels of Jesus’ life. I am amazed at how similar they are. I need to do more research to see which came  first. In the right transept is the whole body (remains) of St. Ranieri, a Christian who lived in poverty in the 12th century. Above his body is a marble sculpture depicting the coronation of Mary, with figures of Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit shown as a white dove. This sculpture is moving. 

We are done with our visit to the church.

The whole field of dreams is surrounded by a stone wall. Up one side is a walkway. On our previous visit, aggressive vendors were all along this walkway. Apparently the vendors have now been banned from inside the wall, because they are all outside the wall, now. Just outside  the main entrance into the Field of Dreams is a ….. McDonalds. The vendors are still aggressive. We walked back to the car and started to make our way to Monterosso Al Mare..in the rain. At one brief moment today, the car’s outside temperature gauge showed 20 degrees Celsius, which is about 68 degrees Fahrenheit. As soon as I pointed this out, the temperature dropped ☹️. And as we got closer to Monterosso al Mare, it got rainier, colder and foggy! 

Part of the road was Autostrada, but when we got within about 25 miles, we turned onto a narrow, windy road that only had a center line occasionally. Dave would pull over when he could to let cars go by us, because we were not familiar with these windy roads and could not go very fast.

Oh, one other point about Italian roads…there are no shoulders, but there are little pull offs every so often. It was rare that we saw a pull off without a car…because men stop to do their business (#1) in all these pull offs. Dave wondered if toilet paper was available! 

The road from the autostrada to Monterosso was very windy, and we were not sure about the parking situation. Rick Steves book told us about a parking lot above the town, so I plugged it into my google maps. At first we found an above ground parking lot at 2.5 euros per hour to park….pretty expensive for our 4 days here. We put in enough money for 1 hour to allow us to find our hotel. The roads in the town are restricted and heavy fines are levied if you drive in a restricted zone. Several other people were wandering around trying to figure out the parking situation, too. Finally we just decided to head to our hotel on foot and see what direction they gave us. As soon as we walked another 100 feet, we saw there was an enclosed parking garage and figured this is where we were suppose to be. But we’d already paid for our 1 hour, so off we went to find our hotel. The hotel was about a 10 minute walk downhill, but then it was up about 20 steps when we got close. We checked in, the receptionist explained how to do the parking and took us to our room. We paid extra for this room…..it is a penthouse with terrace. That means, we have to walk up stairs to get to our room. Yes, it is about 79 more steps up, for a total of 99 steps UP. We do have a great terrace…the room is just OK…but we’d enjoy the huge terrace if it would quit raining and warm up just a little! We go back to move the car into the daily parking lot instead of hourly, and haul our luggage 10 minutes to the hotel and then up 99 steps. Believe me, this was no easy task. 

We found a nice restaurant fairly close to the hotel and had a bottle of wine. We are feeling much better.

May 9, 2019 Monterosso al Mare

Monterosso al Mare is one of the Cinque Terre towns. The five towns are along the sea on one side and mountains on the other. They are connected by hiking trails, a boat in good weather, and a train. You cannot drive from one town to the next, and there are very few cars in the towns as it is a restricted zone. There is a movable planter that blocks the road, and only cars with the proper authority can pass. 

So far we have only visited Monterosso al Mare, which is where our hotel is located. I think it is the biggest of the five towns. We thought we would be doing some hiking, but apparently there have been some landslides and all the trails are closed except one. 

Today we walked all around Monterosso al Mare, and it was market day. On market day you see everything being sold from vendors with trucks. They move from city to city each day. They sell clothing, bathing suits, hats, cheese, meat, flowers, vegetables, etc. Everything you can think of…kinda like a Walmart on wheels. The veggies looked great. One bin had red, yellow and green peppers that were the biggest I’d ever seen. Look at them compared to the carrots! 

We wandered up and down the streets, stepped into a little church, and just people watched. 

Monterosso al Mare has an old city center and a new city center. To go from old to new, you either need to walk through a tunnel which is under a mountain, or walk over the mountain. We decided to go to the new city center and we walked through the tunnel. We had a nice lunch sitting outside….I had gnocchi with lamb ragu and Dave had lasagne. Of course we both had wine. Then we set off to explore and admire the view. The water views are beautiful. It is a little too cold to swim, but a few people were lying on the beach sunbathing as the sun was nice and warm today. This shows all 5 villages, but hard to pick out from photo.

We wandered to the north end of town where the trail to the next city starts. It had barricades, but of course a few people were walking it anyway. This trail goes to Levanto, which is not considered a Cinque Terre village. However, the trail splits and goes up to a statue. We started up, and saw some neat views and some unusual homes. The trail is mostly steps upward, but there are some sections that are just inclined. Unfortunately we did not have any water, and we had just had lunch with wine….so after about 150 steps upwards, we ran into another couple coming down. They indicated it was still quite a distance, heading up. We decided seeing a statue wasn’t worth it, so we went back down and strolled through the new town looking for someplace to buy water. Got some water and decided to head up to the church of the Capuchin Friars and hilltop cemetery. On the way up there is a viewpoint looking over the sea with a statue of St. Francis and a wolf, looking out at the sea. It is a nice place to break from all the steps upward. We continue on and finally get to the church. It is a former monastery now manned by a single caretaker friar, who we see out and about on the grounds. On the right side of the church is what we would consider a Christmas scene with lots of little houses with Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus in the stable. On the right side of the church is a painting of the Crucifixion, attributed to Anthony van Dyke, a 17th century Flemish master who lived and worked for years in nearby Genoa. Art historians suspect that at best it was painted by someone in the artists workshop. I believe this church is from the early 1600’s according to a plaque at the entrance.

Another 100 yards up is the cemetery. The cemetery is inside the ruins of a castle. In the 13th century, the villagers would have huddled within this castle, hidden from view of the sea and pirates. This castle is the oldest part of Monterosso al Mare. It is interesting how graves have been built into the walls and crevices of the former castle. There are many levels, many graves, and not in neat rows. Rich families have their own little tomb buildings. At the very top, the castles keep or last refuge is where the priests are buried in simple graves. 

After wandering around the cemetery a while, we head down. Rick Steves says all the paths down lead into the old town, so we go down a different way than we went up. I counted the stairs down, but must admit I sometimes got distracted by the views. It was about 400 steps, and that did not include the steps up and down the many levels in the cemetery in the castle ruins. At the bottom, in the car restricted area of the village is a hearse. I am thinking someone did not think we would make it….

We are definitely getting a workout. Each time we walk up to our room, it’s 99 stairs! We go up and down at least 5 times a day. Needless to say, I’m feeling it in my legs. Especially after climbing the Leaning Tower yesterday…that was a walk in the park compared to Monterosso al Mare, which may be the most level of the Cinque Terre villages. I am using the “step” app on my phone, and “map my walk” app occasionally. We are easily doing 7 or 8 miles a day, which isn’t much until you add in all the steps up and down, and climbing. 

 Tree on our way up to our hotel, walking through one of the “streets”.

This is a cute, enchanting village, probably with too many tourists. We are heading into the weekend, and my guess is that there will be plenty more tourists.

May 10, 2019 Riomaggiore and Manarola

Today was another up and down day 😁. These little villages are build as terraces up the mountain sides … nothing is level. I don’t think we will miss hiking the paths between the villages because hiking in the villages is challenging. As you walk in these villages you can hear and sometimes see, water rushing beneath your feet. Walkways were built over the streams, replacing old arched bridges.

We opted to buy a 2 day Cinque Terre card that allows unlimited use of the trains that run between the villages (2 to 4 per hour), as well as free use of public bathrooms (otherwise 1 euro  per visit), and many other accesses that we won’t take advantage of like access to the walking trails (most of which are currently closed)…well, maybe…we have 2 more villages to visit, and the Cinque Terre card also covers little shuttle buses that run from the train station to the main square. So far we’ve always walked, but you never know.

The WC (toilets) that cost 1 euro or the Cinque Terre card are very clean, always have toilet paper, soap, running water to wash your hands, and towels. Frequently an attendant checks the bathroom after each use so it always stays clean. Good job Cinque Terre!

Our 2 day Cinque Terre card was 29 euros per person, which seems a little pricey, but it’s giving us what we wanted.

We got a bit of a late start today, but walked to Monterosso’s new town, bought our tickets, and boarded the train to the southernmost village, Riomaggiore.

Rick Steves is our tour guide as usual, and we follow his suggested walk. For these little villages, the high points are the fantastic views – of the Mediterranean Sea, of the houses terraced on the sides of mountains, the street scenes,  and the villages’ Catholic Church. The church in Riomaggiore was  established in 1340, but the current building was rebuilt in 1870. This church is dedicated to St. John the Baptist, the patron saint of Genoa, the maritime republic that once dominated the region. Rick Steves recommends a little shop for a snack, so we check it out. The husband is a fisherman and the wife serves up his fresh catch. There were a few options, but we felt safe with the calamari…but the sign said they had fresh anchovies from Monterosso al Mare today, so I asked her to throw in a couple of anchovies so I could try them. This fried snack is served in a paper cone with a couple of long wooden picks and a lemon slice. No sauce, but perfectly salted. I tried the anchovies and they were delicious! These were nothing like the oil and salt preserved ones we get in a restaurant. They were so good I convinced Dave to try one and he liked them, too. We walked down to the towns marina, and there were fishing boats along both sides of the walkway. This is because the water is quite rough and they can’t fish. When the boats need to come out of the water, it is a team effort. An alarm is sounded and anyone with a boat helps move the whole fleet. 

We continue our walk on a bluff above the water, to get a peak at Riomaggiore’s rocky beach. The waves were splashing up on the narrow walkway making it slippery, so we only got a peak at the beach. A few tourists were sitting on the rocks, but no swimmers. This is not a sandy beach, but good sized rocks. Rick Steves says they are football sized! Yet, Europeans lounge on them.

We walk (up and down) back to the train station and catch the train to the next village south, Manarola. Even though we had a little snack, we’re hungry for a light lunch. Getting off the train you walk through a long tunnel, used in WWII during air raids. At the end of the tunnel is a little cafe where we got what they called panini’s, and some wine, of course. The panini’s were on a large round, fresh, but a little chewy, roll. A young couple sat down next to us, saw our Rick Steves book and said they were following him, too. They were told that Rick Steves is in the area now, too. This couple is from LaGrange, Illinois, which is very near to where I grew up. After lunch, we do our Rick Steves walking tour. First he takes us down to the picturesque harbor. Again, boats are lining the walkway. Dave is wondering how they get the boats out of the water and up on this walkway. I saw a big crane and wondered if that’s what they used. Sure enough, Rick Steves mentions in his book to look for  the I-beam crane used for lifting the boats in and out of the water! Manarola does not have a sandy beach either but offers deep water swimming. One of its “beaches” has a ladder, shower and rocks to sit on. Walking away from the water is a town square built over the railroad tracks. In the middle is a large circular mosaic depicting the varieties of local fish. We continue, heading up, towards the church. We pass a little waterfall, and the water continues down the Main Street, now covered with pavement. There is a waterwheel along the walkway, reminiscent of how mills were powered in the past. I don’t think this one was a working model. Finally we get to the church, which is in a square with a church, bell tower and a community meeting building. This is the Parish Church of St. Lawrence, dating from 1338. St. Lawrence is the patron saint of the Cinque Terre. There are two paintings in the Gothic style, but they are from the late 15th century. After visiting the church, we head for the Manarola Vineyard Walk. The walk is along one of the mountains and gives you the opportunity to look back down on the village. Again, fabulous views. 

You can see large rocks on the roofs to help hold the roofs down during windstorms.  Continuing our walk, we end up at the cemetery. This cemetery is located on a little peninsula above the Sea. It is in a wonderful location, very peaceful. You are not allowed to walk into this cemetery, which is ok with me as I think it is respectful NOT to be a tourist in a cemetery even though I frequently am. All I can say is, I think it was a wonderful, final resting place. 

Walking down from the cemetery is a little park, again with wonderful views of the water. We continued down the stairs to get back to the train station, as we have finished our visit to this little town.

We took the train back to Monterosso al Mare, new town, and walked back to the old town. There are fewer tourists here. We found a gelato place, splurged on a gelato and sat on a bench in the plaza with the local old folks. We fit right in.

For dinner we are in Monterosso al Mare, the village we are using as our home base. We find a restaurant not too far from our hotel, and on the menu they have…fried anchovies! Of course I had to have them. I liked them with a little lemon and salt. Notice I have already eaten a few….but I didn’t eat the tails!

May 11, 2019 Corniglia and Vernazza

When we got up this morning it was totally overcast. This was a bummer because rain was not forecast until this evening. “Weatherbug” indicated no rain today but “Accuweather” forecasted a 70% chance….Accuweather was most accurate ☹️. 

It had not started raining this morning, so we took the train to Corniglia, which is the village in the center. We plan to visit Vernazza today, too, which is the most popular of the villages. We know Corniglia will be a short visit, so that leaves us plenty of time for Vernazza.  Corniglia is the smallest of the five villages. It is also the highest elevation wise, and the only one without a harbor. Per Rick Steves, according to legend, the town was settled by a Roman farmer who named it for his mother, Cornelia, which is how Corniglia is pronounced. He also says that the ancient residents produced a wine so widely exported that vases with Corniglia stamped on them were found at Pompei, which is over 400 miles away. 

Corniglia is 385 steps up from the train station. Today our Cinque Terre card paid off, because we took the little shuttle bus, which is free with the Cinque Terre Card, up to the village and we did not have to walk up those 385 steps! It really is a tiny village with one main passageway through town, little walkways up to residences and with absolutely no cars!

The bus drops you  off at the town square. The main walkway is Via Fieschi, and we head up this walkway. There are many little shops, all selling the same things: food & wine (remember this little village was known for their wine), gelato, and souvenirs. We stop for a honey gelato at one of Rick Steves recommended shops, and it is tasty. We reach another little square that has a WWI memorial sitting in front of what looks like a church. It is actually the Oratory of Santa Caterina. I learned this today – an oratory is used by a service group doing social work in the name of the a Catholic Church.  

Up the stairs in back of the oratory is a viewpoint, again with great views. Today we see boats on the water. The little fishing boats are not out – the boats we see look more like boat tours. The water is not as rough as it has been, but the fisherman did not go out. These villages all have viewpoints with stunning views. Continuing on, we reach the end of town viewpoint,

 named Santa Maria Belvedere for a church that once stood here. Not sure what happened to the church. 

At this point we had seen everything we wanted to see in Corniglia, so we backtracked the walkway to our starting point, which was the bus stop. We had always planned to walk down, but were surprised how many people were waiting to take the bus down! Our walk down was fine, and we discovered the steps were “short steps”, so probably 4 or 5 inches compared to the normal rise of steps. However, it was still a long way up or down. 

At the train station, we caught the train to Vernazza. Rick Steves calls it the jewel of Cinque Terre. There are bigger crowds in this village. Lining the streets are the usual shops – food & wine, gelato, souvenirs. On October 25, 2011, this village was buried under 13 feet of mud. All these villages are built in ravines with walks built over the rushing waters. On October 25, 2011, heavy rains directed flash floods through the middle of town. Every building on the main drag had to be rewired, replumbed and reequipped.

It has all been cleaned up and back to doing business as usual. As we walk down the Main Street, we pass a small stone chapel where Mass is celebrated on special Sundays. 

At the end of the walking street, we reach the harbor which has a large square. Vernazza is Cinque Terre’s only natural harbor. The fishing boats have been pulled up into the square and they are not in the water today – apparently only the larger tour boats are out there in the sea. From the harbor, we see the main sights of this village. There is a church with an unusual entry – you enter from the east side next to the alter instead of in back of the church. This is because the church was expanded in the 16th century and the piazza on the west was overtaken with the expansion. In the harbor, we see the red storm flag which indicates bad seas. You can see the castle which is in ruins now but was the towns watchtower during the pirate days, and a Nazi lookout in WWII. The British bombed it to chase out the Germans. 

It started to rain when we were in a Vernazza, and we were looking for a place for a late lunch. Everyone else was looking for a place out of the rain, too. The few places we saw, even though outside and covered with umbrellas, had people smoking cigarettes which we did not want to deal with. So, we decided to go back to Monterosso al Mare. The train dropped us off in the newer town and as we were walking back to the old part of town, we saw a spot with a view and tables inside. Dave had some great looking bruschetta, and I have ravioli in walnut sauce (which was great!).

We explored old town Monterosso al Mare some more, and checked out all the little shops. Actually bought a Christmas ornament, as well as more wine to take to Bellagio with us. Then we went back to our hotel to chill until dinner and organize our luggage as we are checking out in the morning.

This afternoon on our walk about, we were checking out the menus from different restaurants. Dave saw a pasta at one restaurant, Via Venti, he wanted to try – it was a pasta stuffed with sea bass. So that’s where we went for dinner. I had a pasta with a pesto citrus sauce and prawns. As it turned out, my pesto citrus sauce was delicious, but Dave was not totally happy with his. 

We liked Corniglia, but it is very small. We were disappointed with Vernazza….for all the hype, there wasn’t much there. Overall, we enjoyed our visit to Cinque Terre. This is definitely not a place for people with mobility issues. There are lots of stairs, and the walkways are not always smooth. The villages are all just so cute with the painted houses built on terraces on the sides of the mountains. What gorgeous views! We are really happy we chose a Monterosso al Mare as our home base. Because it is the largest of the villages, there was just more to do. 

This is actually a picture taken in Corniglia…because it is overcast, the picture does not reflect how beautiful the views were.  

May 12, 2019 Monterosso to Bellagio

Happy Mothers Day!

Driving from Monterosso al Mare, we see our first glimpse of the alps. 

It is about a 4 hour drive, and then once we get to a Bellagio, we have to get situated. Our hotel is in a “ZTL” zone, which means you need special permission to drive here. Fortunately, the hotel registers us with the police, so we are good. But we still have to find a parking space and get our luggage to our room. We opt to pay 18 euros a day for parking, and we have a spot very close to the hotel. Our car has a primo view of Lake Como 😁.

Our room is very nice with a huge terrace facing the lake. 

It is a corner room, so we have views in two directions.

Now, if the weather would only cooperate. It is very windy today, and it feels chilly with the temperature in upper 50’s. After checking in, it was late afternoon. We wandered up one of the little streets and had a panini and glass of wine to hold us over to dinner. We wandered through the streets and the shops in  Bellagio have more upscale goods. Since I am partial to glass and Dave is partial to wine, we checked out all the glass, ceramic and wine shops. Then we headed back to our room to unpack a little and chill. 

Our plan was to relax and enjoy our terrace over the next 3 days, but the weather may not cooperate. 

Tonight we walked around Bellagio, checking all the menus for dinner. We chose one, and despite our intentions, we sat outside. However, our table was right under a heat lamp, so it was very cozy. We both ordered menu items with fish from the lake. I had a regional specialty which was fried fish with risotto. Dave had grilled lake fish with side dish (potatoes and spinach) and he won the prize tonight. The waiter expertly prepared his cooked fish table side, removing almost all the bones. Dave’s fish was delicious. My dish was very good, but Daves was better.

Other random thoughts:

Much nicer cars as we drive near Milan…Porsche’s (😁), Ferrari’s, and Aston Martins.  Dave  thought he saw snowflakes, but the temperature is a little warmer, mid 60’s, so I think it was flower pedals or seeds or something similar. 

We filled up the car with diesel the other day, and gas cost about $7 a gallon. You can check my math…it was about 1.62 euros per liter. Many of the gas stations are manned, and they fill the tank for you, like in the old days, but they don’t clean the windshield or check the oil. There are a lot of self service gas stations, and the price is a little less…maybe 1.52 euros per liter. The self service stations have no one around. Not even in the building, or anywhere. Also, no toilets! 

I am surprised how integrated Siena, Pisa and Cinque Terre are. The salesperson at our favorite wine store in Cinque Terre was Asian, and very nice and friendly! She remembered Dave every time he entered her store…probably because he was her best customer! In Siena, one of our our waiters was from Antigua. At Pisa, all the aggressive vendors on the walk from the parking lot to the “Field of Dreams” were black (The last time we were in Pisa, all the aggressive vendors were Italian). At our hotel in Cinque Terre, most of the workers were Asian and Black. So far in Bellagio, everyone seems to be Italian. Just interesting because I think I expected everyone to be Italian.

May 13 – 14, 2019 Bellagio

Dave had to get up early (7:45am) and feed the meter for our car. The parking is charged from 8:00am until 8:00pm. Interestingly, the same cars are parked next to us today as yesterday. 

Our hotel room includes breakfast. It’s nice that they offer eggs! 

Lake Como is very large. We have a resident mama duck who rests just outside our terrace. We have seen lots of ducks and even a couple of swans. Dave took a bathroom break at one point, and the bathroom attendant was feeding some baby ducks. I knew with all the mamas and  papas around, there had to be some babies.

The lake looks very clear, but locals say it is too dirty to swim in it. We saw a hotel that literally built a swimming pool out in the lake! 

At one point, I got a chance to stick my toes in the water and it was cold! Lake Como is of glacial origin and one of the deepest lakes in Europe at 1300 feet deep. Supposedly the  residents say it is shaped like a man and Bellagio is the crotch 😁.

On Monday, we wanted to take a ride on the lake, so we took a ferry to visit Villa Carlotta. 

Because of lake taxes and high maintenance costs, owners of once elite villas have been forced to turn them into hotels or open the doors to the paying public. Villa Carlotta is supposedly one of the finest properties on the lake and has lush gardens. It is especially pretty this time of year as the gardens are in full bloom in the spring. The villas first floor is filled with sculptures, the second floor has special exhibitions which currently are photographs mostly from around Lake Como, from the early 20th century. The third floor has rooms with early 19th century French furniture. My favorite part are the rooms with the furniture. To me, it takes you back in time and you imagine how people lived in the early 1800’s. The villa has had several owners. Originally built at the end of the 17th century, in 1801 it was bought by Gian Batista Sommariva. From what I gather, he was a big supporter of Napoleon. There are busts and pictures of Napoleon in the villa. But Sommariva was passed over by Napoleon, and Sommariva lost favor resulting in his decline. Sommariva was a collector of art, and it was under his ownership that the villa became a showplace. Sommariva also began transforming the surrounding park into a garden. He died in 1826, and his heirs sold the villa in 1843 to Princess Marianne of Nassau who gave it to her daughter Carlotta (thus the name) as a wedding present upon her marriage to Georg II of Saxon-Meiningen. It was Georg who enriched the gardens. The gardens are really lovely and it is unbelievable to think of people wealthy enough to have magnificent gardens such as these, on this beautiful lake. Not sure how big the villa is, but the whole property is 17 acres. It had a fabulous ceiling in one room….Dave caught it in this selfie! 

After touring the villa and gardens, we were hungry, and rode the ferry back to Bellagio for a very late lunch. I tried the Aperol Spritz which everyone seems to be drinking and found it very good! I have a new beverage! It was such a beautiful day that we spent the late afternoon lounging on our terrace, after I got another Aperol Spritz to enjoy on the terrace. Then we walked around Bellagio shops some more, before having a late dinner at our hotel. 

It is so beautiful at night to see the twinkling lights across the lake. 

On Tuesday, we took the ferry to Varenna, which is smaller than Bellagio, and Rick Steves choice of a base around Lake Como. We’re happy with our base in Bellagio. 

Rick Steves has a suggested walking tour, which we did. One of his tidbits is that natives claim this is as far north as olives grow. He comments that many of the villas were owned by the regions “improverished nobility who were born and bred not to work. Eventually they were unable to pay for the upkeep of their sprawling houses and some of the villas have been bought by the regions nouveau riche (ie George Clooney). The most interesting site in Varenna for me was the Chiesa di San Giorgio Church (13th century) baptistery which dates from the ninth century. It is rarely open for visitors, but was open today.  It is a small “church” and on the  walls were paintings of the stations of the cross.

We wandered around Varenna some more and decided most of its shops were eateries of some type. There are many neat little walkways, similar to the ones in Bellagio and also in the Cinque Terre villages. Note the stairs…. 

We decided to head back to Bellagio. For some reason our ferry tickets were for the car ferry…maybe because it was the next ferry back to Bellagio. But it was cool because we got to see some unusual cars ….. a lotus, an older Austin Healy and an old Datsun! Also, it made an extra stop before Bellagio, so we had a longer ride on the lake. 

Rick Steves says the Lakes region is where you go to take a vacation from your vacation. This was our plan. A couple of days to chill before heading home. Although windy, the weather has been sunny and warmer yesterday and today, so we have been able to enjoy our terrace – watching the lake, ferries, people, etc., and enjoying a few adult beverages.

Tonight we are doing something we rarely do…eat at the same restaurant. We went to a  restaurant, Bilacus, Sunday night, and the food was so good, we decided to go back tonight, our last night. Last night we ate at the restaurant in our hotel, and we were disappointed. I had fish from Lake Como, and I don’t think it was fresh. 

Tomorrow we drive to Milan, spend one night, and fly home Thursday.

May 14 – 15, 2019 Bellagio to Milan

May 14:  On Monday night, we had dinner in our hotel because Dave was not feeling 100%. Our hotel is supposed to be “primo”, but we were very disappointed with our dinner. Dave had a lakefish dinner on Sunday night that was excellent at Bilacus , so I ordered the same dish at our hotel restaurant. I don’t think they used fresh fish. So this afternoon when we were out and about, we went past Bilacus planning to make a reservation, but it was closed for the afternoon…open for lunch and dinner, closed in the afternoon. We stood there a moment pondering, and one of the workers came by….we asked if we could make a reservation and he said yes, and took our information. This evening when we went back, our previous waiter recognized us and welcomed us. They sat us outside as close to a heat lamp as possible, but also had blankets at each seat. The waitstaff were wonderful. For our first course, we shared a pasta and king prawn dish which was delicious. Then we had the lake fish dish. The chef came out and deboned it for us. I was not up for a sweet desert, so we had a cheese course. OMG, it was great! I had Gorgonzola and Dave had pecorino. Their sommelier recommended a couple of ports and we had one of each. The cheese was served with walnuts, crackers and honey. It was the perfect meal! Then they brought us a lemoncello shooter to finish our meal, gratis! What a great end to our vacation, and what a great celebration for my birthday. We have been following Rick Steves all over Italy, and the chef told us he was at the restaurant just one hour before us and showed us his picture with Rick, on his phone. 

May 15: we drove from Bellagio to Milan. The road along Lake Como driving to and from  Bellagio is treacherous. Sort of two lane, maybe, with no center line in most places and idiots driving down the middle of the road whether there’s a center line or not! I’m not sure I remember how far it is, but I will guess about 25 miles that took us 1.5 hours! We drove through Como, which is a bigger city than I expected. We got to the airport with no issues, but had a very difficult time finding gas to fill the rental car. All the stations we found were unmanned and you pay in advance. They do take Italian credit cards, but rejected Daves. So how many euros do you feed the pump if you have no clue how much gas it will take to fill it up….trial and error. Then returning the car was fun because the GPS was taking us to the wrong destination. We finally just followed the airport signs, but once we got in the Hertz lot there was no signage, so unclear as to where to go. Bottom line, it took us much more time to get settled in Milan than we thought. We purposefully did not get tickets to see the last supper, which was a good thing. Our concern was not knowing what time to choose for the reservation. We stayed at the Sheridan at the airport, and the train to downtown was just below the hotel. 20 euros per person, round trip to go into Milan. 

We found the duomo and got tickets for visiting the Duomo, the Duomo rooftop terraces and the archeological area for 17 euros per person. Our ticket also included the duomo museum, which we knew we would not have time to visit, but could not be excluded from what we wanted to see. The Duomo is huge. It is the 4th largest church in the world. It was built to hold 40,000 people, the population of Milan at the time. Construction began in 1386 and continued to 1810 with final touches added as late as 1965.  The detail is unbelievable, with over 2000 statues inside and over 1000 outside, plus tons of adornments. It was built from top to bottom with marble. 

We visited the rooftop first, which is all marble. I am wondering how all this weight is supported. We paid a little extra for our ticket to take the elevator to the top instead of walking the stairs. We still had to walk up some stairs, but not from the ground. There are views of Milan, and the Piazza del Duomo 20 stories below, but the duomo’s spires, topped with statues, and all the embellishments kept my attention. To illustrate the detail, at one point, there was a little dove carved from marble, on the floor hiding behind a post. The central spire is a 15 foot golden statue of the Virgin Mary, 330 feet in the air. The church has 135 spires, all different, with a statue on top of each one. How did they get them up there? And, how did they get Mary up above everything else? Amazing! 

After the rooftop, we walked down the stairs into the duomo. There are 52 pillars, 100 feet tall, which support the ceiling. The ceiling looks like it is carved, but Rick Steves says it is actually painted. High above the altar on a cross, there is a little red light. This is where a nail from the cross of Jesus is kept. Napoleon crowned himself king of Italy at this alter and supposedly had the nail in his crown. 

There are stained glass windows all around the church, which tell the biblical stories. One of the windows dates back to 1470, and some are more modern with one from the 1980’s. Some  are stained glass but some were replaced with painted glass because of being destroyed by wars.

We visited the crypt of St. Charles Borromeo (1538-1584), the 16th century bishop who inherited a half finished cathedral and re-energized the project.  His body is inside a glass coffin. 

We visited the archeological area which is always interesting to me…I love looking at ancient ruins! The spot where the duomo sits has been a spiritual place for over 2000 years. In 2014, archeologists discovered the remains of what might have been a temple to the goddess Minerva. What we can see today are the ruins of a baptistery, the 8 sided paleo-Christian Baptistry of San Giovanni, along with the remains of a little church, dating back at least to the 4th century. At that time, you could not enter the church until you were baptized, and you did not get baptized until you were 18. So the little church would have served those that were not baptized.  There were also tombs unearthed in this area, probably for important people because they wanted to be close to the church to help them get to heaven. 

We finished our tour of the duomo and walked through the Galleria, which is a high end shopping mall next to the Duomo. Needless to say, Dave walked me through there pretty quickly 😁. While all the stores have the names of high end designers, we didn’t see a jewelry store on the main level!  It is an open air, four story glass domed arcade. I took a few pictures to send to Erin to get her thoughts…I don’t think she was impressed.

Thanks to my cousin Sandie alerting me to the bull. In the center of the arcade are several mosaics. One of them is Milan’s city symbol, a bull. For good luck, you are suppose to spin clockwise two times, while standing on the bull’s testicles. Of course I did! 

With so much spinning, the mosaic has to be replaced every couple of years. I must say, that  particular area of the bull was well worn when I did my spin. 

Walking out of the Galleria you enter a little Piazzale with a statue of Leonardo da Vinci, unfortunately, surrounded by barricades so you could not get close. He spent 20 years in Milan and one of his accomplishments was re-engineering Milan’s canal system. 

Leonardo’s statue looks at the famous LaScala Opera House. We were there too late to get a tour of the opera house, which opened in 1778. Tickets go on sale two months prior, so no, we did not go to the opera. 

Dave thought the electric trolleys still running through Milan were interesting. Some of the cars seem to be quite old, but we also saw some new ones.

We took the train back to our hotel, had a late dinner, and mentally prepared for our trip home (finished our last bottle of wine).