LAST PORT AND LAST SUPPER

Dubrovnik, a high walled city of red tiled roofs built on the seaside hills of Croatia.  You will all recall this was a well known "protected" city bombed for about a year or so in the last insane Balkan war.  The roofs with the shiniest tiles are the replaced ones probably hit by missiles from the hills above.  The roofs not destroyed are more like the color of mushrooms with little particles of stone visible, almost like fossils.  I went ashore with Denise and Chari.  We climbed and walked and walked and climbed the entire wall.  Beware when Denise says, "it's only a few more steps up."  Once down on the city Square we had gelato on a little narrow alley and watched the passing tourist parade.  

Back on board we prepared for the last supper in our assigned dining room, Quattro Venti.  Since we had to be out of our cabins by 8:00AM the next morning we were all packed up and had no change of clothes.  I prepared by finding an open bar (it turned out to be the Sports Bar) to try to use up the Cocktail Coupons I bought at the beginning of the voyage naively believing I would save money on a daily Martini.  However, out of 14 coupons bought I had 12 left and even though the Martinis were in that small glass used so frequently in The Thin Man movies I could only make my way through two.  I think one cannot really enjoy a Martini in anyplace other than New York and Portland.  Our waiters were incredible and we will miss them in our daily lives which lie ahead, particularly Antonio and Mariano.  More about this subject in a later publication to be available only to subscribers.

The dis-embarcation of 2000 people was organized smoothly possibly not unlike a bourgeois rendition of the Ellis Island experience.   We were once again faced with the impossibly lengthy hike to the Ali Laguna boat to take us into Venice.  What a sight we were with Chari pushing Penny and Denise a mile high pile of luggage on a cart and us weary travelers dragging behind.

By 1:30 PM we were in our old digs and then out to the Fenice restaurant for food and wine.  And more of food and wine later that night at San Stefano and, can you imagine, even more of the same on Sunday at Vino Vino.  


We did go to Mass first at San Moise church where the Priest scolded us and almost tossed us out for using their private loo on an emergency visit before the Service began.  So much for their spiritual calling.

And now just a word on Airplane Food.  Flying from New York to Venice the food offerings were gaggingly inedible.  Flying from Venice to New York the food had flavor - texture - inventiveness even if it was just chicken.  The red wine came from a blue cardboard box entitled Banditto.  Even this was exquisite with a light touch of cedar and pomegranate slipping smoothly over the tongue into our throats.  The first reader who guesses how there could be such a difference between the flights wins extra photos of our trip.

And so farewell to (in alphabetical order) - Ami, Chari, Denise, Eloise, Kathy, Kimberly, Marla, Martha, Maryann, Penny, Sammie.......and Antonio--may you ever hold that lit candle.  

A Book by a Dear Friend

Vincent Drago, a dear friend of Penny and Jean recently published this stunningly illustrated history/guidebook about Rome. Please order a copy!  This link and I am sure others are sites for ordering: http://www.atlasbooks.com/marktplc/02899.htm

Summary
In "The Sights of Rome" Vincent Drago takes you on a fascinating visit to some of the most interesting sites of the Eternal City. You will learn about some of Rome's famous monuments, such as the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon and the Colosseum. But you will also meet little known places such as two fifteenth-century courtyards tucked away in a modern hospital, and an enormous stairway dedicated to a young drummer boy. Read the behind-the-scenes tale of the building of the Fountain of the Four Rivers and the Dome of St. Peter's Basilica. The book is filled with interesting legends and curiosities. How did Borromini pay tribute to Urban VIII when he built the church of Sant'Ivo? What became of the original doors of the Roman Senate House? What connection is there between Pope Gregory XIII and Julius Caesar? What is the meaning of the Latin inscription on the tomb of Raphael in the Pantheon? All of this and more await you in the pages of Vincent Drago's "The Sights of Rome."





About the Author
Vincent Drago was born in New Iberia, Louisiana where he began his career as a high school Latin teacher. He also taught in schools in New Orleans and Metairie, Louisiana as well as in Jackson, Mississippi. He holds a Master of Arts degree in Latin from Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa. Vincent twice participated in the six-week Summer School of the American Academy in Rome. During his teaching career he traveled to Rome many times, for pleasure and for study, including a fourteen-month stay while on sabbatical leave in 1991-92. When he retired in 2000 he moved to Rome where he lives in the Trastevere neighborhood. Vincent spends most of his time studying and writing about the Eternal City.

THE CRUISE PART II

EPHESUS

1 1/2 hours from Izmir by Taxi (Taksi in Turkish).  Hired English speaking young man with mascara for personal tour (Denise, Chari, Penny and me).  Intense, knowledgeable AND he pushed Penny in her wheel chair on uneven ancient paving blocks, broken stones, crumpled ruins, steep downward walkways and over four centuries of now buried Asia Minor civilizations. 


 It's that old historical story of cities destroyed by earthquakes, slaughter, migration, malaria and the usual human folly.  Among the detritus and fragments looms the facade of a once great library elaborately carved like some fortelling of the Rococo.  

Our guide, Darya, told us about Camel Wrestling, a traditional festive time in cold rainy January during the Camel mating season -  (there are photos of this on google).

We also found out that both Hadrian and Trajan, emperors born in Spain were Gay.  Furthermore the legend goes that Ephesus was founded by the Amazon Queen from Lesbos.

At the end of our tour I believe I paid too much for four cotton blouses I didn't need.  Our Taksi driver was waiting for us with an even bigger auto (Oto) than before.

Before dinner that evening I generously invited the 12 of our party to Ami and Kathy's room to share our tales of adventure and partake of a high class Prosecco that Denise and Chari's father sent to them.  We are always looking for a quiet corner to chat after dinner when we're rushed out of the dining room so they can set up for the second seating.  We once found the card room but were kicked out for having too much fun.

It is a mistaken assumption that a Cruise will be relaxing and leisurely.  With only a few hours in each Port it is a dash to whatever on-shore pleasure one can grasp.  Thank the gods for the good planning and directional expertise of Chari and Denise.

ISTANBUL

Yesterday (I no longer know what day it is).  Early morning entrance into the Istanbul Harbor was probably worth the whole trip.  Minarets, Tokapi, Blue Mosque, Sopphi, all laid out before us in the hazy dawn.  Little orange tugboats guide our gargantuan ship into harbor.  It's the Istanbul of the imagination come real.

Penny stayed on board to rest.  Ami-Kathy-Maryann- Kimberly roamed the city.  Others went on tours.  As for myself, Denise led Chari and me to the public Ferry pier for a trip to the Black Sea!!!! Can you imagine - up through the Bosphorus to the Black sea...From Europe Turkey to Asian Turkey.  

Istanbul and its environs go on forever like Tokyo or Los Angeles multiplied.  We passed the homes of the rich and the richer and the Terra Cotta mansion of the richest.  Actually all the Turkish cities seem to be blends of terra cotta and off white with an occasional splash of hospital green. 

One of the Ferry Boat crew members took a shine to Denise and Chari and gave them a tour of the engine room and the crew's kitchen where tomatoes and garlic were cooking for their lunch.  He brought us strong Tea in a glass with sugar cubes on the saucer.  At one port local yogurt sprinkled with powdered sugar was brought on board - yummy.

The last stop was Anadolu Kavagi.  A small funky fishing and tourist village almost surrounded by military bases which defend their border from Russia.  We ate in a little rundown cafe where men played backgammon.  We had Turkish sandwiches of lamb-chicken and deep fried mussels.  Better than yummy.  We bought anchovy bread at the local bakery then hired the only taksi in town to drive us back to Istanbul before the ship left.  Everyday, just before the ship is about to leave Port there is an announcement with the names of people who have not yet returned.  We never hear if they finally do return....mystery.

Just now as I'm writing this I look off to the left at the Greek coast and see a pastel rainbow shimmering over the top of a hazy low mountain.  When I return home there will be a Coda to the Blog with photos I was unable to send.  Look for the rainbow. 

Tomorrow at noon---Dubrovnik.    

The Cruise; Part I

Somewhere in the Adriatic Sea is a 16 story structure slowly churning its way into the Ionian Sea.  This is not the ship of Astaire and Rogers or Noel Coward or Brideshead Revisited nor probably the one your parents cruised in.  A large white rectangle in three dimensions; fairly featureless from the outside but inside it is a fanfaronade of modern Vegas Art Deco and Liberace.   Following are some initial reactions:

"It is 35 bars surrounded by bedrooms..."

"A Floating Mall"

Those who had the strength  after the ordeal of boarding the Magnifica, wandered through the ships delights and temptations and Bruegel-like throngs.  One of the difficulties in a ship of two or three thousand people is never knowing where anyone is you know aside from your roomate as cell phones don't work on shipboard.  So we blither about in a haze like Last Year at Marienbad.  At this early stage we can't plan to meet at some point because we don't know one point from another.  If we run into one another it's as if we have been parted for years.  You would think 12 grown people would know how to plan ahead but it appears we don't. 

Yesterday we were in Bari under the impression there was nothing to see there.  The Cruise encourages tours (for $$$) to other sites.  However some of us walked the narrow streets of old Bari.  Vespas buzzing around us, groups of people going to Mass; (As you know we never miss church when in Italy) kitchen doorways open to the streets; Music pouring from some; friends calling out to one another with their voices echoing off the stone buildings; and always the wash hanging from the windows.  Everything alive and active.

No Annunciations.

One word about sleep.  Some 12 or more floors beneath us throbs the engine.  Quiet but throbbing none-the-less.  Not unlike the thousand magic fingers of motel vibrator beds.

Today was Katakolon and tomorrow Izmir.  Only a few hours in each port.  

Tonight was semi-formal dinner which meant I wore a necklace.  Later we were given an opportunity to have our picture taken with the Captain but as you see I preferred to update the blog.

Tourist Days

September  28 - October 1

Our digs look down on a teeny narrow canal and at least 3 times a day gondoliers    pole by singing singing singing.  We look out waving as if we are part of the Venetian scene. Mysterious ladies...we wish.

Long boat ride to Burano. Bright bright colored houses with pastel clothes hanging  on line from second story. We had  grilled fish just caught and risotto. 

Torcello, quick trip from Burano... 

All spiffy green grounds  and Tower under restoration. Church too. Byzantine. Ancient mosaics. Way up high barely visible an...ANNUNCIATION.  Link to article on Torcello:

http://travel.nytimes.com/2006/02/19/travel/19dayout.html?pagewanted=1

Penny has been wheeled about.  Walks up the stairs of the many bridges  we encounter while      Chari carries the chair. Lovely lunch outside by Fenice yesterday. Today we hear them vocalizing  for tonight's opera.  

Tonight we go to a big dinner at Quadri overlooking St. Marks Square. Earlier today Penny mastered our washing machine and hung the clothes from elaborate chandelier in her bedroom. 


Tomorrow we sail.

Arrival

First...it's the mystery of knowing you can't be lost because everything eventually ends in water and then you Are lost.  So you wander and wander until you find something familiar.  And so goes our first day and a half. 

But of course first Ami, Kathy and I land in Venice exhausted from trying to sleep in teeny tiny seats  They let us through customs with no body searches.  Our luggage arrives ...... miraculously.  Penny and Chari arrive a couple hours later. With their luggage lost.  Our greeters meet us and drive Penny et. al to the Water Taxi.  Sky is dark and threatening, the water roiling and the taxi bobbing up and down in grayish green waves. Somehow Penny is hoisted onto the taxi on a platform which then lowers her and then we take a long bouncing trip to Venice proper to some little canal stopping point where our Apartment landlord meets us and we are taken through the usual labyrinthian narrow calles to our digs on the backside of the Fenice Opera House.  Twenty long marble steps to the apartment. She makes it.  What a trouper!   

And then later semi-recovered, Chari and I go out to orient ourselves.  Where are we in relation to St. Marks?  We come upon Chiesa di Moise.  And then I feel I'm really back in Baroque Italy.  The altar startling with stone carving of active figures.  At first the lower figures look like they are having a great time at some bacchanalean picnic.  I think, what kind of church picnic is this?  Then Chari points out Moses at the top ready to throw the tablets down on the sinners.  It's all in that nano still second before the action...or in this case before all hell breaks loose.

We do come upon the San Marco Piazza now dry of the flooding earlier in the day and in spite of the crowds and the construction site and the familiarity you find yourself catching your breath as if you never saw it before.

Today (Tuesday), again to San Marco meeting up with Kathy and Ami who are staying in separate hotels near the Academia Bridge.  Kathy's teeny tiny room looks out on the Canal.  Ami's place is a large apartment with sleeping loft.  Both are very happy.  Across from Kathy is the Instituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti where there is an exhibit of Photographs by Stanley Kubrick.  A nineteenth century building, elegant with an interior of molto ceiling decorations.  Gloriano!

Tomorrow .... To Burano eating at al Gatto Nero on the recommendation of our brilliant friend, Eda.  

Then to Torcello on the recommendation of many friends including my new landlord whose father-in-law was one of the last people living there who was born there.  A  Venetian historian.

And so to bed.

VENEZIA AND PORTS OF CALL

Penny and I have never chosen the easy way to travel.  If there is a difficulty to be had we usually run into it.  This trip follows a similar script.  With a sense of the absurd and adventure and with fingers crossed we fly to Italia filled with both excitement and with trepidation as we take on Venice (Serenissima) armed with wheelchair, sometimes weariness but always with amazement. 

First to Venice and then the Cruise

Bari

Katakolon

Izmir

Istanbul

Dubrovnik

Back to Venezia

Music credits:


Vivaldi, Double Trumpet Concerto in C major
Rufus Wainwright, I don't know where it is


Links to previous blogs:
http://gowestjean.blogspot.com/
http://jean-italiaredux.blogspot.com