Where in the World are Craig and Amy?: October 2009

On October 11th, after hours traveling by tram, train, plane and bus, we made it to Venice, Italy. We spent one night outside of Venice before leaving on our cruise. We did it on the cheap by staying at a small cabin in a campground. We were upgraded from a fancy platform tent with a shared bathroom to a small cabin with our very own bathroom. Considering how we would be pampered for a week we decided that staying one night in less than luxury was ok. We got up early Sunday morning and caught a shuttle into Venice.

Venezia (Venice)

We took the shuttle to Piazzale Roma which is the "bus station" in Venice. Venice is actually a city made up of over 100 islands. No cars are allowed past Piazzale Roma, the main form of transportation in the city is by boat through the many canals. Instead of buses the city uses boats for public transporation.

When in Venice we first dropped our luggage off at the marina and then walked around the city.

Unfortunately pictures from this part of our vacation may be lost due to memory card problems. However, we have pictures taken from the cruise ship during our return to the city. Here they are:

Public transportation

As you can see from our pictures, Venice is a beautiful city full of canals and narrow cobble stone streets. Lining these streets are restaraunts, shops and beautiful cathedrals. After wandering the city for a few hours we returned to the marina and boarded the Costa Serena.

Costa Serena - Our Italian Cruise Ship

We were immediately impressed by the huge ship, starting with the buffet that had been set up for lunch. We would eat at this buffet everyday filling ourselves with delicious food. Along with the wonderful food we ate throughout the week, we also enjoyed the lounges, the shows, the interesting decor and the number of languages spoken by the staff. The cruise director was able to speak six languages which we heard him speak everyday. Hearing so many languages was nice, however it took a very long time for any announcement to be made.

Craig and our wonderful waiter Irvin who was also a really good dancer. The waiters performed a dance for us which was awesome.

This was a big thing at dinner to wave your napkin in the air. Must be an Italian thing?

We really wanted to have a picture of the two of us with the lovely background. We spent some time trying to figure out how to ask someone to take our picture knowing that there were more than six different languages being spoken on the boat. We learned that when asking for a picture you don't always need words and holding out your camera and smiling is universal. We even returned the favor for the couple that took our picture and they used the same hand gestures to ask us if we could take one of them.

We had some wonderful views.

Bari, Italy

Bari was our first stop after Venice and honestly there really wasn't a whole lot to see. We spent around 3 hours ashore wandering throughout the town. We saw a castle, a few churches and a bunch of old Italian women sitting outside of their homes watching people. We also almost got ran over by motor scooters multiple times. Beneath one of the churches we visited a crypt where we may or may not have seen a mummified body.

Katakolon, Greece

Katakolon was our next stop. This town consisted of a main street and some tourist shops. The real attraction was about a half hour away by bus -- Olympia. We decided to take a shore excursion to this ancient city where a guide led us through the ruins. Our pictures of Olympia are lost, however you aren't missing out on a whole lot. In reality, Olympia is mainly a field of rubble. Our tour guide pointed out ancient buildings such as the government house, the library, the baths and a church, all of which required vast amounts of imagination to picture. The only thing that was whole was the stadium field. This wasn't difficult because it's only a flat dirt area with a few starting stones and grass seating.

We learned some very interesting things about Olympia. At one point this city was completely buried. Since 1875 Germans have been excavating the site and it is estimated they have only uncovered about 15 % of the ruins. Also, we learned that the athletes were held in much higher regard in Ancient Greece. There was only one winner and all they got was a crown of leaves to wear on their head. This person was highly respected for the rest of their lives. Our tour guide told us a story of one town who didn't build a wall to protect themselves from intruders. They claimed that one of the winners lived in their town which therefore protected them from intrusions. This shows the pride and honor held toward the athletes.

The Ancient City of Olympia was not home to very many people. Instead it was only used for government, athletic and worship purposes. One of the stories we were told was that the god Zeus was less than faithful to his wife Hera. Because of this, for every statue or temple for Zeus in Olympia there had to be one for Hera. Gotta keep the women happy!

After visiting some tourist shops we returned to the boat.

Izmir, Turkey

Although Izmir is the 3rd largest city in Turkey, there isn't much to see in terms of attractions. There was an excursion available for nearby Ephesus but we decided not to go.

By staying in the city of Izmir, we were able to get a good taste for what the city has to offer. We walked along the waterfront which was beautiful and then made our way more towards the locals area where we were once again almost run over multiple times. The only notable piece of history we saw in Izmir was the Roman Agora, the ruins of an ancient marketplace.

Our most surprising discovery in Izmir nearly put us into shock.... they had a Dunkin' Donuts.

Istanbul, Turkey

(Our favorite port)

Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey and the only city in the world that lies across the borders of two continents - Europe and Asia. We were immediately impressed by the number of beautiful mosques all of which had high domes and beautiful ceilings.

View of Istanbul.

The first mosque we journeyed into.

Another mosque.

Dozens and dozens of men used very big rods to catch very small fish and it seemed like they stayed there all day.

Another beautiful mosque.

Inside the mosque.

Shoes are not allowed to be worn inside the mosque so we ventured inside in our socks.

Feeding the pigeons seemed like a full time job for some of the residents of Istanbul. They set out water bowls and layed out tarps with bird food.

Amy in front of the famous Blue Mosque.

Inside the Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmed Mosque)

As you can see, in a mosque there are no pews or chairs. This is because prayers are done on the floor. Devout Muslims pray 5 times a day facing Mecca.

The Call to Prayer is an actual call that echoes out from the minarets. As we said this is done five times everyday. The times are not set but rather have to do with the position of the sun. For example, the noon prayer is not at 12:00, it is when the sun reaches the highest point in the sky. Therefore there is always someone praying at every moment, throughout the day, around the world.

Craig in front of Hagia Sophia.
Once a mosque and is now a museum.

Craig enjoying his Turkish lunch consisting of Turkish Beer, a doner kebab sandwich and 8 french fries.

This was Amy's favorite part of Istanbul-the Grand Bazaar. Inside were hundreds of stands and shops selling everything from swords to scarves to carpets. The best part about the Grand Bazaar was haggling. This activity is as much a part of the Bazaar as the building itself and it's fun.

Inside the Bazaar.

Amy was in heaven--look at all those scarves!

Amy showing off her purchase from the Bazaar which her and Craig managed to haggle down to a really nice price.

This is a university in Istanbul just outside the Bazaar. In the Bazaar there was a whole alley devoted to school textbooks.

Bridge connecting Europe and Asia.

While in Turkey we learned about a very interesting program. Throughout the country there are organizations that round up the stray dogs, neuter them, give them their vaccinations, and return them. These dogs are tagged. As opposed to other countries we have visited there were few stray dogs here and those we saw seemed healthy and friendly. The reason there are not a large number of stray dogs is because of this program.

While in the Bazaar we discovered that some of the sellers are creative when it comes to parting words with potential customers who are not ineterested in their product and are walking away. Here are a few examples of what we heard:

1) "Let me help you spend your money"

2) "Let me sell you things you don't need"

3) "Buy this for your mother" "Don't you love your mother!"

4) "Hey cowboy!" referring to Craig's very non-cowboy type hat.

A Day at Sea

We spent one day just traveling at sea. Both of us finished a book and got a sunburn while laying out.

Dubrovnik, Croatia

View of Dubrovnik from the Cruise Ship.

The ship could not go into the small port so we had to take tender boats to the dock.

Old Town Dubrovnik is very beautiful, but is geared entirely for tourists. We read in our travel book not to wander around in the hills above the city. There may still be unexploded land mines leftover from their war in the '90s.

This is the inside of one of the churches. Surprisingly people were still allowed to come visit even though it looks like a wedding was soon to take place.