Athens and the Greek Islands

Ahh Athens. What a peaceful way to end a trip. Our hotel was lovely and located right in the heart of Plaka which is such a quaint part of Athens. There are wonderful restaurants, cute shops, the Parthenon Museum, and gelatto all located nearby on cobbled streets that are just for pedestrians. You can wander down to Zeus' Temple or up to the museum without worrying about getting hit in Athen's very heavy traffic. The Acropolis was my favorite. We climbed the large marble rock and wandered around the Parthenon first. There is also a temple to Poseidon and one to Nike. It was a warm, balmy day and the views were wonderful. Later, we walked around Zeus' temple and then went to dinner. The next day, we took a cruise around the Greek Islands. Porros was my favorite. I loved the blue doors on the houses dotting the hillside and the clear blue water. Hydra was Warner's favorite. Hydra is more hilly with a circular bay full of sailing boats. At Aegina I wadded in the Aegean Sea. The beach by the boat dock wasn't very sandy, but I think there are other beaches that are beautiful. It was a good day but very long. On our last day in Athens we shopped, saw the changing of the guard, and found a wonderful restaurant for lunch. We ate Greek food and watched two men climb the wall of the Acropolis. What a view. We liked it so much that we went back for dinner. We also went to the Parthenon Museum. That is such a neat place. They found some ancient ruins while they were digging the foundations of the museum so they built the museum over the top of the ruins and put in glass floors so that you can watch them work on the ruins while you are looking at the museum. I loved Athens - especially the simple things like wandering through the streets of Athens eating gelatto, lounging on the deck of the ship while cruising around the islands, and sitting in that little restaurant drinking a coke and watching the climbers climb the wall.

Malta

We woke up early in the morning and stepped out onto the balcony and there was Malta shining in the middle of the blue, blue ocean. Malta is incredibly beautiful and old. It sits in the middle of the Mediterranean and was fought over and owned by just about everyone. In 1530 the Spanish King gave Malta to the Knights of St. John for their home and they are the ones that built most of the beautiful things. Most of these Knights were the second sons of the rich families of Europe so a lot of money was poured into Malta. Their mission was to protect Christian pilgrims traveling to and from the Holy Land. The island was fortified by a very deep moat and a huge wall which is mostly still there and makes the island glorious.
After the shipped docked, we took a tour of Valletta which took us to the Palace of the Grand Masters and the Cathedral of St. John. The palace was full of tapestries, paintings, armor, and beautiful gardens. The cathedral was one of the prettiest I have ever seen. It also had the painting "The Beheading of John" by Michael Angelo Caravaggio which was beautiful. The streets of Valletta were cobbled marble, polished smooth from all of the travelers over the years and the buildings almost glittered in the sun. It is truly a beautiful city.
After our tour of Valletta, we boarded buses which took us to Mdina which is the ancient city of Malta. It sits on a hill in the middle of the island and has gorgeous views. This walled city was the center of Malta's culture for 3000 years. It has narrow cobbled streets that twist and turn leading you to the center which has the cathedral. The cathedral wasn't as plush as the one in Valletta, but it was certainly beautiful.

Tunis

Tunis, for me, was just like walking into a movie. We were greeted by Arabian music and camels as we walked off the ship and then taken to Medina which I found out was a shopping area. The cobbled streets were very narrow and covered with a domed ceiling. Tiny shops glittering with gold lined the streets with shopkeepers vying for your attention. We were taken to a rug shop where the shop owner gave us mint tea and elaborately rolled out his rugs for us to inspect. From the towers you could hear someone calling the Muslims to morning prayer. About that time a little Tunisian woman finished washing her dishes and emptied her dish water in the ditch that rolled down the middle of the street. It was like walking into another world or another time. I loved it. Next, we went to the ancient city of Carthage. The water system was amazing and the Roman baths were really big. They had two entrances which connected in a center room used for socializing. A camel ride came next. When the trainer gave the command the camel started to stand up front legs first. Suddenly, I was slipping off the back end of the camel. There isn't anything to hold you on. You just hang there for a minute. It is a funny feeling. The camel ride is very bumpy and lots of fun.

Spain

LaCaruna, Spain
Somewhere along the way, something triggered a bronchial spasm in Warner's lungs and what was a small cough at Normandy turned into wheezing by the time we were supposed to go to Santiago. Instead, we went to the Medical Department on the ship and the doctor pumped antibiotics into him for five hours. It worked and he was feeling pretty good when she got through. We only had about two hours left in port so we just walked around the little town of La Caruna. It is a pretty little city with a nice square in the middle and a prominade along the waterfront.

Malaga, Spain
At 2 AM we went past the Rock of Gibralter so we set the alarm and got up to see the lights. We were surprised that the African side had more lights than the Gibralter side. The wind was really blowing so the decks were closed but we went out anyway and took pictures. We think we saw the Rock but it was pretty dark. The most impressive thing was the wind. There is quite a gale between those two points.
In the morning we went into the city of Malaga. We hopped onto the on and off tour bus and took a town tour. The Gibralfaro Castle had pretty gardens but there isn't a castle to go into and the walkway down to Alcazaba Fortress was closed so we got back on the bus and took the rest of the tour through town. What was amazing was the street with the shops on it. The street was made of marble and very pretty. There were mimes standing in places dressed as different characters. It was fun to walk the street. We stopped at a sidewalk cafe and had a coke and gelatto (ice cream) and then headed back to the ship. On the way back, we bought Fleminco dresses and fans for Natalie and Haley for their dress-up boxes. This was the start of shopping for everyone.
When we got back we checked the email and found out that Kelsey had finally had her baby and Anna was having a girl. It made a happy ending to a happy day.

Coleville Cemetery and Omaha Beach

I was completely caught off guard by this experience. I was mostly going to Coleville and Omaha Beach because Warner wanted to go, but it was probably the highlight of the trip. Coleville is one of those things you need to experience. You can't capture it in a picture or convey it in words. It is something you have to feel. We first walked into the garden at Coleville that has a wall around it with all of the names of soldiers whose bodies haven't been found. You felt a little of the spirit there, but then you walked up the stairs and there were the white crosses and you were hit with the spirit hard. I started to cry and felt foolish, but then I looked around and realized everyone was trying not to cry. At that moment, the bells started to ring and there wasn't a dry eye anywhere. It is truly a sacred place. Next, our guide took us down to Omaha Beach. She told us to look back at the cliffs, imagine young 19 year old boys being let off in the water weighed down with gear and told to cross that beach and climb the cliffs. It was raining and Germans were shooting at them from the tops of the cliffs. The beach was litered with mines. And then, she said, remember that they did this for us. It was to free the French and not their own homeland. I will never forget this experience. Unless you see it, you cannot imagine how far that must have looked and how impossible it must have seemed to those boys. It is amazing that any of them made it.

Amsterdam, Brugges, and Bayeux

AMSTERDAM
We went on a canal tour of Amsterdam and then a bus tour. Right off the bat, Warner didn't like the guide because she said Al Gore was the hero of Europe. Amsterdam is a city of canals - a lot like Venice but where Venice is all on the water, they have filled in some of the canals and made roads. Getting into and out of the harbor is a maze of canals because it is all below sea level. I thought the canals were really pretty, but it wasn't our favorite place.

BRUGGES, BELGIUM
Brugges is like walking back in time. In the quiet of the morning you could almost hear the clop clop of the Knights horses on the cobbled streets. It is serenely beautiful. Brugges was spared destruction in both WW I and WW II so some of the building date back to the 1300's. It is dominated by a large cathedral in the middle of town where you can find Michael Angelo's statue "Mother and Child". Beautiful canals run everywhere with quaint bridges arching overhead. Brugges has to be one of our favorite spots on the trip. We just didn't want to leave. We found two wonderful shops and bought Belgium chocolate and Belgium lace.

BAYEUX, FRANCE
Can you imagine a piece of linen actually lasting a thousand years through all of the wars and without any special protection? Without it, we wouldn't know what it was like in 1066. It tells the tale of William the Conqueror taking the throne of England. Edward the Confessor gave the throne to William but Harold didn't acknowledge it. This led to the Battle of Hastings which is the subject of this very long tapestry. Historians gleaned information from it such as what they wore in 1066, their weapons, what animals they had, and what they ate. It was mostly kept in the cathedral in Bayeux all of these years but there have been a few times when people have used it for wagon covers and other things. I was totally impressed at how bright the colors still were and that the cloth was in such great shape. After visiting the tapestry, we walked up to the cathedral and then had a very French lunch and a really good restaurant.