Reading the Blog for the First Time

If you are reading the blog for the first time, please note that the blog itself is in reverse chronological order.  For better enjoyment, read the oldest posts first.  You can access these via the blog archive list located on the right side of the home page.

Venice

Hoo boy, where do I begin?  I stayed on board yesterday to pack and rest up for our one day in Venice.  I originally wanted to stay a few extra days and travel around Italy, but I think we are both ready to go home (however, Michael would be a stowaway on the ship if he could get away with it).  Besides, being tourists is really hard and exhausting work!

Venice is a very old and ancient city, and according to tradition, was founded in 421 AD by inhabitants from the neighboring mainland seeking refuge from the savage Barbarians who conquered Italy after the fall of the Roman Empire. The city was built over 118 flat islands in the Venice Lagoon, all connected with canals and bridges.  The first government was established by the Doges in 697, but the construction of the Doges’ Palace in what is today St. Mark’s Square did not begin until 814.  The Basilica of St. Mark’s was built in 834, but the first one was burned down; the one standing today was built in the 11^th century.  During the Crusades, Venice became an important trading center for shipping in the Mediterranean and the East.  Much wealth and many works of art were taken to Venice as booty, especially from Constantinople, such as the four bronze horses of St. Mark’s (the original bronzes can now be seen in St. Mark’s museum, while today the four horses on the Basilica’s facade are copies).

There are some memorable characters out of Venice.  The journey of the Venetian merchant Marco Polo from Venice to China is one of the most fascinating true stories of the Middle Ages (1271-95).  His adventures and his meeting with Genghis Khan are recounted in the book, “Il Milione.”  Then there was Casanova, the irresistible lover; his adventures are recounted in the book, “Memorie di Giacomo Casanova.”

There are no cars in the city proper. 

I have been to Italy, but never to Venice.  This was the one stop I was most looking forward to on this entire trip.  So the morning dawns early, but not bright.  There was a heavy overcast hanging over the city as we entered the waterway that would take us by St. Mark’s Square and eventually to our berth in the industrial section of town.  Standing outside on Deck 10 forward in the cool air, we were treated to our first sight of Venice.  I wanted to pinch myself to make sure this was real (I couldn’t help myself with the pinching bit).  It was real alright, and there before us was a maze of waterways, and many different type of watercraft plying the waters around us without any consideration for this big behemoth ship moving among them.  Christine, who has been to Venice many times, pointed out the different buildings and sights.  We were all anxious and ready to abandon ship so we could go explore the city.

Our first view of Venice

Sharing the waterways with many different types of craft

A side street

Nice neighborhood

An old hotel on the Grand Canal

The gondola; they do not sing

 

After much discussion about what to do and where to go, we headed off to the People Mover (an automated elevated train) to get into the city from the port.  A shuttle bus drove us from the port to the People Mover, which was a short distance.  Nevertheless, the still suffering Gimpcateers were grateful to have any motorized conveyance to help eat up the distance that we would otherwise have to walk.  The People Mover dropped us at the Piazzale Roma, where a short walk took us to the public “bus” station to begin our ride down the Grand Canal.  The Vaporetti is Venice’s diesel-powered waterbus.  There are seats inside, but most people stand as they cram as many people on as there is space to stand.  We were lucky to find seats as we began our tour down the center of the city. 

We were headed to the Guggenheim museum store in the Dorsoduro section of town (Christine wanted to buy a gift for a friend).  As we travelled the main street of Venice, we could see beautiful palaces and hotels, houses and museums, some carefully restored while others were shabby and crumbling.  Off the Grand Canal, we could see the side “streets” with foot bridges for crossing and boats parked alongside buildings.  Sharing the waterways were gondolas, water taxis, and “trucks” that are used to deliver all manner of goods and services from flowers and vegetables to construction supplies. 

Flower delivery boat

At the midpoint of the Grand Canal is the Rialto Bridge, which is the busiest shopping district in the city.  This is where we got off and headed to the Museum shop.  Venice is a warren of misaligned streets that vary in width.  You cannot walk a straight line here.  So we wove our way up and over (there are stairs on the bridges), made right hand turns, made left hand turns.  We blindly followed Christine and wondered why anyone in their right mind would think that a 10 minute walk really means 10 minutes.  Dragging our tired bodies and aching knees, we plodded on occasionally looking in store windows.  There was glasswork – Venetian and Murano – of all kinds, elaborate carnival masks, and Burano lace.  We hit shopper’s paradise!  When I get too many choices, I go into sensory overload.  I wanted to buy some glass earrings, but could not make up my mind.  Then I thought, how about a necklace to go with the earrings?  Michael was getting fidgety and was hungry for pizza (although we hadn’t eaten for at least two hours).  We finally found the shop Christine was looking for and she made her purchase.

Now it was on to business!  The business of finding the pizza restaurant that was recommended.  Retracing our steps, we needed to go in the opposite direction from where we got off at the Rialto Bridge.  Our leader had faith and led the way, stopping occasionally to ask for directions.  Just a three minute walk (uh huh, rolling my eyes).  Just go over two bridges and turn left….. We were ready to mutiny!  

But Christine did not give up and we eventually found Al Profeta Pizzeria (calle Lunga San Barnaba, Dorsoduro).  When in Venice do as the Venetians do – eat pizza!  We each ordered an individual pizza, except Barry ordered the lasagna. The guys were happy, they got beer.  We enjoyed our meal sitting outdoors in a backyard courtyard.  Toward the end of the meal, it started to rain.  

Being from the Pacific Northwest, a little rain never stopped us.  With our trusty bumpershoots deployed, we wound our way through the streets to find the closest waterbus station to continue our tour of the Grand Canal and eventual destination of St. Mark’s Square.  The southern loop of the Grand Canal is where we saw most of the historic monuments and churches as well as the big hotels.  The waterway opens into the San Marco (St. Mark) Canal where we disembarked at St. Mark’s Square. 

Waterbus stop

The Venetians call St. Mark’s Square simply the Piazza.  It is lined on three sides by splendid palaces.  St Mark's square was described by Napoleon as the most beautiful dining room in Europe.  It is the only true square of Venice that is deemed worthy of the name.  The Piazza is dominated by the Byzantine Basilica of St. Marks that is a unique architectural masterpiece and that forms one side of St. Marks Square.  Facing St. Marks Basilica with your back to Piazza San Marco, to the right is an opening to sea and the bay of San Marco which in the old days was the main entrance to the city. The Doges Palace sits next to the Basilica.

Since it was raining, the Piazza was almost deserted.  People huddled under the covered walkways in front of the shops.  Yes, there were the requisite pigeons, but even they had the good sense to stay out of the rain.  We wanted to go to the Doges Palace, the original 9^th century residence of the doges, but the line was too long.  The line to get in the Basilica was also too long, but we spied a door that was for tour groups to enter.  Christine and I approached the attendant and asked if we could go in this door instead of standing in the long line because we had a case of bad kneeitis.  Christine lifted her pants leg to show the brace she had on her knee and voila, in we went.  They guys couldn’t believe it! 

St. Mark's Square; the Doges Palace on the right

A nearly deserted Piazza

We toured the Basilica where St. Mark’s body was buried and can you say, WOW!  The first church was built in 830 but burned down in 976.  The Basilica as we know it today was built in the 11^th century; almost everything in it was booty from the countries bordering on the eastern Mediterranean Sea from Turkey to Egypt.  The magical gold mosaic ceiling covers almost an acre.  

Basilica of St. Mark

Gold mosiac

After our tour of St. Mark’s we headed over to see the Bridge of Sighs.  This famous bridge got its name supposedly from the sighs of the inmates as they were led over the bridge to face either torture or death.

Bridge of Sighs

At this point, it was still raining and what is the fun of being outside at St. Mark’s Square if one cannot sit down at the myriad of tables and sip some coffee or wine.  In the movies, you see the square jammed with people.  James Bond would sit at one of the cafes and …. Oh my imagination can run wild with all that intrigue that has taken place here in the movies.  So the decision was to return to the ship.

We boarded a very crowded waterbus back up the Grand Canal and shortly realized that we had gotten on a local instead of an express.  What a looooong trip back to the Piazzale Roma.  We retraced our earlier route and arrived back at the ship in time for cocktail hour.  We were totally pooped.  Michael and I begged off dinner as we had to finish packing.  Our wakeup call was for 3:30 am; there was a car waiting for us at 4:30 am to take us to the airport for our 6:45 am flight home. 

Once again, we had a short time to spend in such a splendid place.  Venice, too, deserves a return trip.

Zadar, Croatia

Hello all.  Its Michael again, reporting to you from beautiful Zadar, Croatia.  OK, I cannot tell a lie.  I am actually writing this from home.  The last couple of days on the ship were frantic between more sightseeing, packing, going-home parties, and so forth that something had to give.  Beverly stayed on board to rest her knees for our final port of call – Venice.  Anyway, I will do my best to report on the wonderful excursion I had in this most surprising country – Croatia.

Prior to this cruise I knew next to nothing about Croatia, other than it was part of the former Yugoslavian Republic.  I am here to tell you that this is one fabulous place and you should visit if you get the chance.  Here are a couple of facts about Zadar and the country before I get into the excursion specifics. 

Zadar (70,000 people) is located between the much larger cities of Rijeka and Split (200,000 people), not far away from Sibenik.  More on Sibenik later as it is famous for a very interesting and unexpected thing.  Can you guess?   First of all, the whole southern area of Croatia is called Dalmatia (a Greek word meaning sheep), and Zadar was its capital for many centuries.  It still has its old city walls, from the sixteenth century; its network of narrow, winding, but charming streets; and the Roman forum, dating back to the first century AD is still here.  Old Zadar was very advanced, and was responsible for Croatia’s first university, first novel and first newspaper.  Also, and as Beverly mentioned before regarding Dubrovnik, Zadar was targeted and heavily damaged during the 1991 Yugoslav war.  Thank you Mr. Milosevic.

Here are some more interesting facts about Croatia.  It has eight national parks, including the one I visited today.  It is famous for its Maraschino cherries, which incidentally were popularized by Napoleon.  It produces a lot of wine, although its Merlot grapes were wiped out during the 1991 war.  One of Croatia’s most famous expatriates (at least among wine drinkers), is Miljenko "Mike" Grgich, owner of Grgich Hills Estate, who is personally working to reestablish Merlot to the country.  The country also produces a lot of olives.  In fact, one if their treasure is a single olive tree that is 1,500 years old, and produces over 600 pounds of olives annually.

The population of the entire country is only 4.1 million, and 900,000 of them are in the largest city – Zagreb.  It is 75% Roman Catholic, has a very long coastline and includes lots of islands.  And now for my most lasting observation of Croatia – its full of rocks.  Everywhere you look are gigantic piles of rocks that had to be cleared from the land, generations ago, so they could grow anything.  The rocks are still here and will be forever.

Now, back to the little town of Sibenik.  Have you figured out what it is famous for?  NBA players!  That’s right; this single town had produced not one or two, but three great NBA stars:  Dino Rada of the Celtics, Toni Kukoc of the Bulls and (of greatest significance to Beverly and me as former Portland Trailblazer season ticket holders) Drazen Petrovic of the Blazers.  Petrovic, who tragically died in a car accident, is a god over here.

Sibenik

Well, now it is time to get to today’s excursion to the Krka (pronounced Kirka) National Park, the smallest, but perhaps most spectacular of the eight.  We toured its waterfalls today which are driven by the Krka River.  Through a brilliantly designed and built set of walkways and bridges, we were able to circumnavigate the entire falls, and view its multi-level cascade over travertine cliffs.  It is called the Skradinski Buk Falls, and this is no small falls, being home to the second hydroelectric plant ever built in the world (behind only Niagara Falls) both of them designed by Nikola Tesla, a Croatian incidentally.

It took about ninety minutes this morning to drive to Krka following the coastline.  We walked the area for almost two hours, covering about a mile and an unknown number (but lots believe me) of steps both up and down.  It was not an easy trek.  And oh, was it crowded.  Turns out today is May 1, which in this part of the word is May Day, a national holiday.  Everybody and their brother were out here today.  Finally, we re-boarded our bus for the somewhat shorter trip back to the boat on Croatia’s newest motorway.  I had a great time, and Croatia is forever imprinted on my mind.

Dubrovnik, Croatia

This is Michael again.  Today, we are in Dubrovnik, Croatia, and is it ever gorgeous!  Croatia is one of the seven republics of the former Yugoslavia.  You may remember they had had the Yugoslav Civil War here between 1991 and 1995 when Croatia was attacked by the Serbians.  It is actually much more complicated than that, but I would rather concentrate on today.  The ship anchored just outside of the old harbor, and once on land in the old walled, medieval city you can see a Rector’s palace, two monasteries and one of the oldest pharmacies (1317) in Europe.   The town was founded in the 7^th century on a site called Ragusium by the Romans.  It was under the protection of the Byzantine Empire between 867 and 1205, under Venetian control until 1358, under Hungarian control until 1526 and under the Ottoman Empire until 1806.

I escorted a brief tour of the old city this morning.  We met at the old harbor and walked up to a modern cable car.  This device was originally constructed in 1969 and ran until 1991 when it was destroyed in the war.  It was rebuilt and opened in 2005.  It took us to the top of Srdj Hill for a spectacular view of both the old and new city, and a good portion of the Adriatic Sea as well.  We briefly visited a museum dedicated to the Yugoslav war and while there, I took a brief walk to an old fortress built by Napoleon.  Around the back of the fortress I came across a gun emplacement used during the Yugoslav war.  It is in great disrepair now, but it was very easy to imagine its original function.

We returned to the old city via the cable car, reentered through the Ploce Gate, and proceeded to tour the main avenue called the Stradum, and its many side streets.  I found the old pharmacy and even the old Jewish Synagogue which is still in use by Dubrovnik’s 45 Jews, all of whom are Sephardic.  Well, now it was time for some pizza (we are close to Italy after all) and beer while I tried to find Beverly and the gang.  We did eventually join up and proceeded on up to Dubrovnik’s largest nightclub (its hold 1,000 people) for a Croatian folkloric show, which we didn’t stay to see, but that’s another story. 

***

Michael gave you the facts.  I’ll give the color commentary.  We tendered to the old pier and were immediately struck by all the stone and brick.  I must say the ancients knew how to build things that would last.  I was not on an excursion, so Barry and Christine and I decided to do our own thing.  And it’s a good thing we did as I don’t think any of us could keep up with a group.  We are simply callings ourselves the Gimp Brigade or No Knees Whining.  It was another glorious day with plenty of sunshine and pleasant temperatures.  We headed up the street outside the city walls to the cable car in order to beat Michael’s group.  It was pathetic watching us climb up the steps to the cable car.  I don’t know how many steps there were, but we finally made it up the hill and the steps, tongue hanging out, drooling just like a hot dog. 

The Harbor

Climbing higher and higher, view of the harbor

We rode up and had a fantastic view of the old and new city and the Adriatic Sea.  All the roofs were red tile, creating uniformity to the town.  Barry wanted coffee and there was a lovely terraced café below.  We went looking for an elevator, found it, and pressed the button to go to the lowest level – but it didn’t work.  Where is OSHA when you need them?  We had more stairs to negotiate.  It was worth it as the view was dynamite.  As we were ready to leave, the hoard of people from Michael’s group descended upon us.   It is so weird to meet up with Michael all day long while he is on tour and I am not.  But at least we were able to get a picture of us together with the city in the background. 

View from the top of the cable car; you can clearly see the old walled in city

The old city

That's the old city below us

 

The old city wall

The old city; notice the red roofs

 

We rode down the cable car and this time, walked down a street that went where we wanted to go.  Yes, there were hairpin turns, but at least there were no stairs.  Until…….

We entered the old city through the Ploce gate and saw the elevation!  The main street was down, waaaay down.  Many stairs, lotsa stairs.  These were steep narrow stairways leading down to the main street.  

A typical steep staircase

What to do?  I knew from experience in other old cities like this that there had to be a gentler way down.  So I went in search of one and found a “street” that wasn’t as steep as some of the others.  It was comical to see the three of us inching our way down these uneven stairs with few handrails to hold on to.  Barry was our cheerleader, and I took point as I slowly and carefully crab walked down the stairs.  It wasn’t pretty, but it was effective.  We got down to the main street.

Main Street

Off the main street

 A very narrow side street

We then went searching for the synagogue and found it up a very narrow side street.  There was a door to the synagogue, but to actually reach the synagogue, one had to climb a whole bunch of stairs, like two floors worth.  This was the time to take a pain pill.  I don’t care how rare, grand, or spectacular it was, I was not going up any more stairs. 

This town had more pizza places than Italy.  In fact, Italy is just a short ferry ride away so they do have a strong Italian influence here.  This little restaurant that I rested at at the foot of the synagogue had some good looking pizza.  It was a bit too early to eat, so off the Three Gimpcateers went in search of other sites to see.  We walked the main street, browsed the shops, found the old pharmacy and then made our way back to the pizza joint.  We had consumed most of the pizza when Michael, Morry and Hanita showed up.  Michael said our pizza was better than the one that they had.  I had a good feeling that this pizza joint was blessed (you know, being right at the foot of the synagogue). 

We moseyed over to the venue where the ship’s special entertainment was to be held.  More stairs, no elevator.  We entered having negotiated the first set of stairs only to find another two sets.  Well, we made it this far, so we continued up at a snail’s pace.  I have a special way of crab walking sideways up or down stairs when I don’t want to bend my knee.  The method is fairly effective, but looks retarded.  We get into this great big cavern, where chairs were set up for a folkloric dance.  Hor’s de oeuvres were nicely displayed.  We got some dessert and something to drink, sat down (ahhh) and waited for the show.  And waited, and waited, and waited.  For one hour we sat listening to native music, which frankly, got pretty boring after the first 50 or so tunes.  There was no announcement so we didn’t know when the show was going to start.  Finally, Michael and I left, with me gimping back down the stairs.  I was really tired and worn out, and the pain pill made me a bit sleepy. 

We tendered back to the ship, where I laid down on my bed and did not move for three hours.  I’m telling you, I am worn out!  And we didn’t even get time to walk on top of the wall around the city.  I really think this beautiful, well-kept and clean city was worth a second go. I guess I will have to save that for a return trip. 

Corfu, Greece

I am losing track of the days of the week.  I cannot remember the date.  And now, I can’t even remember what we did at what port.  Oh my, I think it might be time to go home.  If it’s Tuesday, where the hell am I?

I wasn’t going to, I really wasn’t, but I couldn’t help myself….  We had housekeeping deliver a scale to weigh our bags and I had previously decided I was going to wait until I got home to weight THIS big bag.  Oh my, with trepidation, I disrobed and quickly stepped on the scale.  I shut my eyes and was ready for a big surprise.  And my surprise was --- after four months of eating cookies, rich food, and god knows what else, I only gained 5 pounds!  I can breathe again, but my pants still feel tight.  Memo to self:  this summer, it is time to get back in shape.

I must say, the weather on this trip has been absolutely fantastic.  The water has been fantastic.  I cannot recall a trip where the weather and water have been this great.   I guess the sea gods have decided this was the year to be kind.

So what it is about Corfu, Greece that I can’t remember what we did?  We didn’t have an excursion.  I didn’t take notes.  And we went the long way.

The eastern shore of this northern most Ionian Island faces Albania and mainland Greece.  It is dotted with curved bays and secluded beaches, while the western coast is more dramatic with high cliffs and long stretches of sand.  This is a town where time has stood still, yet the modern world invades.  It is a contrast in the old, traditional ways and values with the intrusion of progress.  About 110,000 people live on this idyllic isle; many of them have never travelled beyond its shores.  Instead, the world has come to them in ever increasing numbers from cruise ships who release large numbers of passengers from all over the world. Our neighboring ship in the port disgorged over 3,800 people!  Despite this, Corfu retains a fresh open simplicity, and their friendliness is legendary. 

The town of Corfu is very old.  Over 500 years of Italian, French and British occupation have left their mark on the city. So like all old cities, the interior streets are little narrow warrens winding this way and that.  We took a shuttle from the ship to the esplanade, and were dumped there with no instructions on where to go.  A passenger, one of our bridge players, said he knew the way to the old city, so we followed.  Up and up we climbed along the sea.  Knees said a prayer, hoping that they would survive the flat but elevated climb up the hill (note to self:  get some serious cardio workouts this summer).  We finally made it to the town, and we found a very friendly bunch of storekeepers, who did not hassle you.  That was so refreshing. 

The Old Fort, Palaio Frourio

You can't get away from stairs in these centuries old cities

We found a lot of flowers growing out of the rooftops

A typical narrow medieval street

Candles outside of the church

Residential houses

Another fort

Walking up the street along the seawall

There was nothing we want to buy so we just wandered around.  Always walking uphill.  We ran into some folks from the ship who told us about a little train that tours around the city.  We got to it just in time for some guy sitting in one of the train’s seats to yell out, we don’t want to wait for you, let’s go.  The driver saw the train was full enough so he took off with us just standing right there.  GRRRRRRRR…… some people are a$$holes.  The next train wasn’t for another hour, so we sat on a bench under a large shady tree in the square to watch life go by.  After waiting around for half an hour, Michael was ready to leave and I begrudgingly went along.  We retraced our steps back down the hill to wait for the shuttle bus back to the ship. 

Only to find out that we took the long way to town!  If we had just done a little more homework, we would have found that if we walked straight ahead from the bus, through a stone gate, we would have been in the old city and would not have had to walk up the hill.  Lesson learned – don’t follow someone else blindly, do your homework.  You will save much time and aggravation. 

Kusadai and Ephesus

I am mentally shifting gears from cruising to thinking about going home.  We have five more days to go and I can’t believe that it is almost over – I have spent four months on a ship, working hard, but being taken care of too.  Who is going to feed us?  I am going to sit down for a meal and I am going to have to get up and get it.  I will have to go to the grocery store.  I am going to have to wash the dishes and make the bed.  No more fresh towels twice a day.  On one hand, one can get very accustomed to this type of life; on the other, this is not reality (well maybe it is for the really rich and famous, neither of which I am).   So, it is time to enjoy what little time we have for the pampered life.

Today, I pampered myself and took the morning off as I had already been to Ephesus …

Michael on the other hand joined with Morry, Hanita, Barry and Christine on a private tour to Ephesus, and so, here is his little report. 

Well, at long last I got to Ephesus.  We had been in Kusadasi before, but I was tasked to escort an excursion elsewhere and missed the premier attraction – Ephesus.  I won’t go into much detail, as this has been reported upon previously.  Kusadasi, which means bird island, is on the Aegean region of Turkey and is known for its turquoise waters, broad sandy beaches, bright sun and marinas.

Ruins of a 14th century fortress protecting the harbor

The harbor

Ephesus was founded some 3,000 years ago at the mouth of the Cayster River, on the sea.  By the third century AD the harbor had silted up and the city went into decline.  Its ruins now lay some ten miles inland.  At its height, it was home to 200,000 people, and what a history it had.  Greek gods came in from the west.  Anthony and Cleopatra rode along the Arcadian Way.  The Virgin Mary died in a house just outside the city.  The tomb of St. John the Divine is here and St. Paul preached in the great theater, which holds 25,000 people. 

Ephesus is a site quite unlike any other.  It has been painstakingly restored to some of its original splendor.  The coliseum, where the Romans really did feed slaves to the lions, is in incredible shape and still holds almost 25,000 people.  They hold a number of events here every week.  The library, which in its day was the third largest library in the world, has been 65% restored.  Across from the library is a gigantic brothel, and believe it or not you can still see advertisements for it carved into the marble walkways approaching it. 

Archway

The "throne" room -- toilets

The library

The coliseum

The main street paved with marble

The high point of the tour for me was the “terrace houses.”  These are six homes of prosperous merchants that have been restored using mostly the original pieces. It is still by far the world’s largest jigsaw puzzle with tens of thousands of additional pieces just waiting for the archaeologists to figure out where they belong.  But what you see in these homes is amazing – the original tile floors, mosaics on the walls, the courtyards, fountains and so forth.

These people even had most of the creature comforts we take for granted today, and remember we are talking thousands of years ago.   We saw their toilets (yes, they had indoor plumbing), their hot and cold water system, their steam heating system, and so forth.  All of these treasures were displayed, in situ, under a cover built by the Austrians, and it itself was an engineering marvel.  Right next door is a hill which is believed to contain at least six more of these dwellings, but is still unexcavated.  In fact, it is estimated that there is some 200 years of work ahead for the archaeologists. 

After the excursion, we all met up with Beverly at the cruise terminal and walked over to the old city for lunch.  Barry had gotten a recommendation for an authentic Greek restaurant called Erzincan (located in the Centrum, Camikebir mah, 7 Eylul Sok #9 behind the Kaleici Mosque), and wow, it was great.  I had the donner kabob (which is really Sharma) and it was excellent.  Before I forget, earlier in the day, I bought a birthday present for Beverly – an authentic replica Channel watch with a white ceramic bezel and bracelet.  It is really quite beautiful.  I was going to give it to her at her birthday party on May 1, but I broke down and gave it to her at lunch.  See Deborah, you are not the only weak one!  After lunch we wandered a bit around the old city before returning to the ship. 

A large piece of pita bread we all shared

***

Beverly back here for my side of the story.  I took the morning to get ready for the day and be kind to my achy knees.  I got bored waiting for everyone to come back so I ventured out to what I thought was the old town.  There were the usual crooked streets, but there were some really high end shops selling carpets, leather goods, watches and lots of gold jewelry.   “Come, lady, take a look…”  I got tired of hearing that and went back to the port to wait for the gang.  Michael was unhappy that I had already “gone to town” when I said I was going to rest.  Oh well….

We all decided to go for lunch, and the restaurant was in the “real” old town.  We wove our way turning left then right then left then right again and finally found the restaurant.  We had an incredible meal, and all of us swore we would never eat again, we were so full.  After recounting the day’s adventures, I asked Michael if he was going to get a watch for me now that he is so experienced in negotiating for real authentic replicas.  There were so many watch stores here, blah blah blah.  He just looked at me, reached into his pocket and said, “Here.”  That’s it – here.  I sorta blinked and opened it up to find a watch and I was speechless.  He said, “that ought to shut you up.  Happy Birthday.  I was going to wait until your birthday party, but I couldn’t stand your whining.”  What a romantic (doing the eye roll).

The guys had enough for the day, and that left us girls to do a little shopping on the way back to the ship.

Happy shoppers