June 10th & 11th-Agropoli & Paestum, Italy and Trapani, Segesta & Erice, Sicily

June 10th- Agropoli, Italy & Paestum

We anchored in Agropoli around 6:30 and departed by bus after breakfast on the aft deck for Paestum. 

Paestum was founded by Greek settlers in the 6th century B.C.  Apparently, this site was rediscovered by road builders in the late 18th century and is now a World Heritage Site. 

Temple of Hera

Temple of Neptune

Other ruins at Paestum

The three temples at the site are in very good condition for their age. First we saw the Temple of Hera and then right next door was the 5th century Temple of Neptune.  Further down the road is the Temple of Ceres, dedicated to Athena. 

Temple of Ceres

Next we enjoyed the great collection of artifacts at the site's museum & afterwards stopped for some cold water at the little cafe near it's entrance.... we headed back to the ship for a late lunch and another architecture lecture.....

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June 11th-Trapani, Italy - ruins of Segesta & medieval town of Erice

We docked early in Trapani, a city on the northwest of Sicily with about 100,000 inhabitants. Got on bus #1 again with our excellent Sicilian guide, Vincenzo. On our drive to Segesta, Vincenzo gave us some history of the area along with a lot of information regarding Sicilian wine. This part of Sicily is known more for their white wines & the east & southeast area is known for their red wines. 

Our coaches await

We walked through the now dead town of Segesta. Some areas have been excavated. The thing Segesta is known for is their incomplete yet beautiful temple which is mostly unrenovated. It was built in 440 BC.

Vincenzo points to area of interest

Gary chats with Elizabeth Bartman

The amphitheater at Segesta

Some of the very many miles of elevated highway in Sicily

Walking down to the temple at Saegesta

   

We then drove to Erice which is high on a mountain behind Trapani. It is on a very narrow winding road with many switchbacks. We certainly appreciated the skill of our bus driver ( especially on the way down!!!!).

Before visiting the medieval town & seeing the castle ruins, we had lunch at the Belvedere San Nicola Restaurant just down the hill. What an amazing view from what feels like the top of the world.

Antipasti

Homemade Pasta

Insalata Mista

We spent some time walking through Erice enjoying the town and the gardens & views around the old castle. On the way up I saw a small shop with gorgeous Sicilian ceramics all in beautiful  reds & we stopped on the way back and bought a couple of small pieces! Nice!

As we left town I had changed into my ChiroHealth tshirt to have my picture taken by the Erice town gate & sign. Dr Cindy Munson's staff in Plymouth, WI had given me a tshirt to wear & get pictures on our trip..it's been fun!

It's so nice to be able to return to the same room each evening after enjoying new towns & sights every day! This is a major advantage to travel by ship, especially small ship!!!

When we return to the ship each day, we are given a wet washcloth to freshen up & a glass of chilled fruit juice. We have been very spoiled on this trip. Yesterday, I found out that this very ship, the Corinthian 2 will be going to the Antarctic later this year again.... 

Limone gelato

We listened to another lecture by Elizabeth Bartman on the Roman Art of Mosaic which was excellent and then it was time to head downstairs to the dining room for another excellent dinner aboard.

June 9th- Lipari & Stromboli (Aeolian Archipelago)

Lipari & the Aeolian Archipelago-(June 9th)

As we were not to arrive in Lipari until after lunch, the water color art class met again mid morning. What a gorgeous setting for an art class! Janet Walsh, our instructor set an empty wine bottle, a filled wine glass & assorted fruit on each table as our painting assignment.  This was quite a challenge to paint but quite fun. Before class started, I had taken a look at her water coloring instruction book...I plan to buy it from Amazon.com when we go home. When I was done with the assignment, I challenged myself to paint a bunch of grapes. It didn't look very good so Janet came by & instructed me in how to make it look like grapes....

There was another lecture. This time it was about Greek Temples and was  given by our architecture expert. 

Three of our favorite guys & their fantastic paella

After lunch,  we boarded the ship's tender again for a short ride to the port at Lipari. Lipari is very picturesque from the water.  From there we boarded a bus and went for an hour & a half on a narrow winding road completely around the island. We stopped three times for beautiful vistas (& photo opportunities.  At one stop we were able to sample some of Lipari's capers. I don't care for capers normally but these are very good. They say that Lipari produces the best capers in the world. 

Gorgeous views!

At one point, we stopped at a spot where you could view five other islands in the Aeolian archipelago. 

Can you see the third island in the distance on left?

After our bus tour, we strolled through town looking for an Internet cafe... unfortunately, it was mid afternoon & stores were all closed for siesta! No luck in uploading my journal so far. We do have some internet on our iPhones but it wouldn't work for how we want to use it. We did buy an internet card to use on the ship but it is basically useless. 

No open internet cafe.. :-(

Several of us then stopped for glass of wine, a liter of water & some complimentary snacks & waited for the ship's tender to return to port. 

The snacks were no charge

Dinner was served outside at the fifth deck aft cafe because the captain said he would do a "drive by" of the island of Stromboli & it's active volcano.

Vivian, Gary, Bonnie, Christine, Jennifer & Darlene enjoy dinner on deck

 As it got darker & the volcano came into view, we were delighted to see several eruptions. This volcano erupts about every ten minutes! Our captain was able to bring our small ship very close to the island for an excellent view....wonderful sight!  Great fireworks!

One of Gary's great shots of Stomboli's volcanic eruptions!

June 8th- Taranto, Italy and Matera

June 8th-Taranto, Italy & the cave city of Matera

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Today is a full day tour which includes a 1 1/2 hour bus ride to Matera,  a UNESCO town of cave habitation. We were told that this was going to be a strenuous walk up & down many steps which are sometimes slippery & have no handrails. I'm sure they were trying to "scare" off those who might not be able to handle it...      http://www.italyheaven.co.uk/basilicata/matera.html

The first cave dwellings here were occupied 15-20,000 years ago. One side of the ravine has been abandoned but the other side (the side we are visiting) is where the town grew also from caves. We visited one of the cave houses that's been furnished as it would have been 1500 years ago (pictures are attached). The donkey always had their spot inside the cave house. We also visited one of the cave churches (there are over 100 here).  This church with ancient frecoes became a wool factory & then a private home. Many of the ancient homes have now been abandoned & are now owned by the Italian government  The houses are built into the ground as caves and there are more houses or a street on top of them. Above the churches nothing is allowed to be built but above the church we visited was a cemetery. 

The kitchen area

The family donkey would have had their own place inside

We did a lot of walking up & down and then finally ended up at Cantine della Bruno Cave Restaurant for a leisurely Italian lunch ( we were reminded ahead of time that the Italians don't rush lunch!) (& yes, it was in a cave!).  We arrived to tables with plenty of water and local red wine! First we were given lovely antipasti plates with fresh burrata mozzarella, then a homemade pasta, then lamb chops pomme frites. We ended with a slice of vanilla/chocolate gelato and an espresso.  Fantastic!!!! We sat next to a very nice Austrian couple from our cruise. Delightful!

Antipasti plate

(... Ok, now on bus riding back to Taranto & the museum. I can report that as far as I'm concerned, yesterday's tall stairs were more strenuous!   If you are ever at the south of Italy, come visit Matera!!!)

Before we went back to the ship, the next stop was the Taranto Archaelogical Museum which was quite interesting but not yet complete. We saw many mosaics that were covered & still crated in preparation to being displayed in the museum.

We pulled out of port at 6:30 and were on our way to Lipari...

Albania- Saranda & the ancient city of Butrint

Albania- June 7th

Woke up early... Had breakfast on the 5th deck aft's outside restaurant. Beautiful! 

Took watercolor painting class mid morning from the guest artist, Janet Walsh. Have always said that I'd love to learn how to paint. Luckily most of us are newbies so I didn't mind when my red ship on the ocean bled into the sea... I'm learning.;-)) there will be a couple more classes on this trip & am now really looking forward to them. 

The adventure begins...

Janet Walsh gives a demonstration

Just before lunch we had a lecture by Elizabeth Bartmam( the President of the Archaeological Institute of America ) http://www.archaeological.org/tours/leaders/elizabethbartman on "Tales of Butrint" in preparation for what we would see later today.....

After lunch aboard the ship, we anchored just off shore at Saranda, the southern most city in Albania. Just across the Ionian Sea's channel is Korfu, the most northern of the Greek Islands. 

Our ship is carrying 51 guests (plus a few leader/tour managers) so we comfortably fit on a couple of buses. Our destination today is the ancient archaeological city of Butrint.

View of Corinthian 2 at anchor

We were told bu our guide that the most jobs in this area of Albania are fishing & construction of new buildings. Very notable on the hillsides around Saranda are many many buildings in a state of construction (but not many workers in sight). Our tour guide said that many building take a long long time to build because they are waiting for more money to continue. They are hoping for much more tourism here.. The main road to Butrint is in a state of construction & disrepair, with several sections of narrow dirt road, quite an adventure (don't look down....lol). 

Unpaved road on way to Butrint

Butrint is located on a peninsula & we saw many areas where mussels were being farmed in the lagoon there.  I had some mussels at lunch today.... I wonder if they were Albanian? BTW, the food has been excellent so far on this trip. 

Butrint was first occupied around 500AD. They are still in the processes of digging & we saw a group of archaeologists ( the leader is from Notre Dam Univ in the US) working on a new area. They believe that they have only uncovered 40% of what is here & right now they are working on the Roman forum.  The lower areas are slowly sinking so there is an issue with water and the preservation of some of the beautiful mosaics. (There are many turtles here!... )  We were greeted on the site and given a short lecture presentation by Raimond Kola, the current director of the Butrint site.

The green is where there is water....

Butrint's current inhabitants

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Unfortunately, the mosaics are covered for protection

After climbing to the top of this peninsula to see the castle, we enjoyed the museum & saw many of the statues & pottery that have been uncovered over the years. 

Looking south, we are very close to Greece

Albanian flag

At entrance to Butrint

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Returning to our ship we hung out for a while at one of the tables on the aft of the ship with a glass of wine (BTW, the wine is all included on this trip...) & waited for the 2nd tender to come in. 

This was the night of the captain's welcome reception & welcome dinner. A couple on this trip ( from Houston- Rice Univ people) lost their luggage on the way here. Gary loaned Don one of his shirts so they could come to the welcome dinner.  We had a lovely evening and met some more of our travel companions, Clark & Vicki. This is one of the very positive reasons to go on small group trips like this.... you get to meet some very interesting and like minded travelers. 

I have slept very well so far on this journey. The slight motion of the ship as we travel from one stop to the next, rocks me gently into a very restful sleep. :-)

Athens/Pireaus & the Corinthian 2

Athens/Pireaus & Corinthian II

Arrived in Athens after 6pm on 6/5 (our 36th anniversary). Darlene & Vivian were waiting for us along with our prearranged driver at the airport. We headed west to the port city of Pireaus, where we were dropped at our hotels. We are staying at the Phidias Pireaus Hotel which we found was #1 traveller rated hotel (on tripadvisor.com)  in Pireaus.  We were very happy with our choice & would recommend. Very clean, friendly staff & very reasonable price. 

Decided to take a stroll down by the port closest to our hotel  (this is just the small part of port that has the personal yachts).  The guy at the hotel desk gave us a couple of restaurant recommendations and we walked until we found one. We had just placed our order when Vivian & Darlene strolled by & saw us & joined us for dinner. 

  We shared a half liter carafe of local red wine, split an order of Drunken Shrimp & then had the Mixed Grill for 2..... Oh, my, very good but couldn't finish.... I want to fit in my clothes at the end of our trip here!

We spent Wednesday morning exploring some of the port and side streets ( read lots of walking! ;-)... and grabbed lunch at Kali Pita (another recommendation) just down the street from the hotel.  Had a wonderful "Bella Salad" & some cool rose.... Perfect for a very warm day! 

Our hotel arranged for a free driver to the port from our hotel ( included with cost of room) & they happily stored our luggage for us while we had lunch. 

After arriving at the cruise terminal, we were stuck in a huge line for a least an hour waiting to go through security. We were the only ones I saw with luggage. Everyone else was returning to one of the several mega ships in port.... Another reason never to go one one of those huge ships... Not my idea of a true vacation!

We located our ship very quickly, the only small ship there and were greeted very very warmly. They rushed to grab our luggage, gave us a welcome glass of champagne, had our photos taken for our ship cards( so they know when we are aboard or not) & were taken to our lovely room (#330). The room has a sitting area and a window and is basically bigger than either of our rooms in London or Pireaus!!!!

Bonnie, Vivian & Darlene to the drill!

We almost immediately met the four people that are on this tour through the Rice University Alumni  and also met the nice man from New Bern, NC. All are very nice & this certainly looks to be a wonderful cruise. Apparently, many of these people have been on the Corinthian 11 numerous times.  One of the mother/daughters we met told us of the trip they took last year on this same ship around the Black Sea...sounds like a very interesting trip.....

We had dinner and almost all at our table ordered the lamb chops which turned out to be very very good. They had two types of mint sauce that you could have with the lamb... I had both!

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Just before we were going to leave the dining room to go up to see the ship entering the Corinthian Canal, we were surprised when several of the waiters brought a cake with a spouting candle to us as they were singing " Let me call you sweetheart"! They did that in honor of our 36th anniversary the night before..what a treat!

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The Corinthian Canal at dusk

London Layover

“Getting there is half the fun”.... at least this flight was very pleasant down to the pajamas that the AA hostess passed out to the passengers in our cabin. That has only happened one other time in our past travels when we were given pink pajamas on Cathay Pacific on a trip back from Asia. The flight from Chicago to London is only a little over six hours so we turned down the “late evening light supper” (except the cheese plate & carrot/cilantro soup) in hopes of getting a bit longer sleep.... (by the way, we were in first class but we had to use many many of our frequent flyer miles to do it...we won’t be able to do this much longer now that Gary is retired...darn...).

  After arriving at Heathrow around 11:30a.m., we caught the Heathrow Express to the London Paddington Underground station. From there we walked about two blocks to our home for the next two nights, Days Inn Hotel in Sussex Gardens near Hyde Park.  We were given a room on the ground floor, a room “that is quiet, just what you requested”. Apparently, Gary asked for an upper floor & quiet room.  I’m glad they picked the quiet part.... our room is actually behind two doors (there is a little vestibule) so though it is just a few steps from the lobby and bar, it is in fact quiet!!!

  Since this is the day of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Celebration’s flotilla of boats on the Thames ( this will be the largest in the past 350 years with over 1000 boats taking part), we hoped to catch some of it in person, after all, the flotilla will parade for 7 1/2 miles from Battersea Park to the Tower Bridge..... and it’s only a couple of underground stops away!  We confidently went to the Paddington station again & using our Oyster cards were quickly on our way to the Embankment station. One thing I started to notice were all the small children that were being brought to take part in the celebration.... and as we started to walk and saw the streets ahead so congested with people, we had an inkling that this was not a good sign for us. That proved to be correct because we were never able to get closer than maybe a block or two away from the water, in fact we never saw the water. Apparently, many thousands of people spent the night camping out along the river for a great viewing spot & the late comers were claiming their spots at 6a.m. this morning. I guess we never had a chance but it was fun walking with the celebratory throngs. 

  

   So we will do as the rest of the world and see repeats of this historic flotilla on the telly.  

   On our way back to our hotel mid-afternoon, we stopped for a quick bite and drink at the Sawyers Arms pub. The mini burgers & onion rings were perfect and we had a nice corner table upstairs from which we could watch the rain without getting wet...

Today is Monday, June 4th & today’s high is hopefully going to reach 50 degrees! I’m so glad I threw a jacket into my carryon!

In honor of the queen’s diamond jubilee, Monday(today) & Tuesday are official bank holidays. There are many families out & about enjoying their holidays. 

We checked out "things to do in London today" on the internet this morning & found a street food fair at Southbank Center Square. We got there before they opened so we used that as an excuse to stop in Caffe Vergnano 1882 for a cappuccino ( & to get inside out of the wind & use their wifi, which turned out to be quite slow. ). Their coffee was wonderful! 

Our next stop was the street food fair closer to opening time. There was an amazing selection from around the world. We split a spiced lamb flatbread from the North African food vendor then went back to the Moroccan booth because the Spinach& Feta flatbread was calling my name.... :-).  Gary had the Moroccan spiced grilled chicken flatbread. Yum!  

We were trying to decide what we really wanted to do today & realized that we really wanted to go see a movie. (really!!!!!) There are several out that we want to see & we decided on "Snow White and the Huntsman" showing at one of theaters on Leicester Square. 

 This is certainly  not Walt Disney's version of Snow White!  It is a combination of Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Joan of Arc, a bit Game of Thrones & even some Team William & Team Huntsman intrigue. The evil queen is very very evil! Really good show as they would say here!   I wouldn't mind seeing it again sometime....also love the theme song at the end. 

We stopped by a discount theater tickets store but really didn't see anything that we would want to see...so we stopped at our third pub, The Brewmaster. Nothing outstanding but an average London pub. 

   Trying  to decide what we want to do with the rest of the afternoon, we decided that we really had no desire to see a museum again or repeat a tourist stop or even shop!!! I must be ill! (LOL). I know Gary really wants to see Prometheus ( & it's not out in the US yet) so we found that its playing at the Empire Theater on Leicester Square....got the tix & decided on the giant 3D screen option so with another hour to wait  we then stopped at pub# 4..... the Imperial.  This now appears to be a pub hopping visit to London....haha!!!

P. S.  Tip: most pubs here also have free wifi so that is a real plus, especially when you are paying big money for data while overseas.

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After the movie, which by the way, was an "Alien" version 5 or 6, we stopped at pub#5..... Slug & Lettuce. Doesn't sound appetizing but the appetizers were! ;-))

   Sad to say bye for now to London but hope to be back soon..... Love this place!!!!!!