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Mare Nostrum
  • Chuck Cook
  • Glenda Cook
November 2013

Mare Nostrum

We will cruise the sea that the Romans called "Mare Nostrum," our ocean. We are expecting to sample the history, the art, and the cuisine of the sea that for 2000 years was the center of the world. Read more
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  • Mare Nostrum

    Hagia Eirene

    November 22, 2013 in Turkey ⋅ ⛅ 64 °F

    Unlike the Haiga Sofia, the Hagia Eirene next door has never been a mosque. It is still used as a concert hall, but all of its old Christian iconography is still intact. An ancient ecumenical council was held here, though not as important as that of Nicea a few miles away. Still, one can sense the age of the faith that founded this church.Read more

  • Mare Nostrum

    A Day in the Harem, Topkapi

    November 22, 2013 in Turkey ⋅ ⛅ 66 °F

    It is hard to imagine that by the nineteenth century the Ottoman Emperors needed a new palace, but they built one nevertheless. The old palace, called Topkapi (the Cannons) is still magnificent. We visited the Tower of Justice, then went into the Harem, the private quarters for the royal family. The ornamentation and the architecture constantly bring surprises with innovation and daring color combinations. Blue and gold stained glass harmonize exquisitely with the gold and the wood on the walls and floors, for example. Our guide, Kenan, was a wealth of information about why the harem, multiple wives and one single successor to the Caliph were essential to the Ottoman royalty. In Topkapi Palace one's historical imagination runs wild.Read more

  • Mare Nostrum

    The Grand Bazaar of Istanbul

    November 22, 2013 in Turkey ⋅ ⛅ 63 °F

    The Grand Bazaar of Istanbul is a cross between a middle eastern suq and a modern shopping mall. In business since 1461 there are still to be found little stalls selling spices, flowers and leather, but one can also find shops selling Armani, Prada, and Mont Blanc. The sounds, colors and smells are intoxicating, and the place is so large that tourists occasionally do become lost. Guides must call the police to search for such wayward sheep. Any product or commodity is available here, and bargaining is expected.Read more

  • Mare Nostrum

    The Blue Mosque

    November 22, 2013 in Turkey ⋅ ⛅ 63 °F

    The Sultanahmet Mosque is also known as the Blue Mosque because of the lovely blue light that comes through the stained glass windows. There was a place reserved for prayer but the vast majority of people we saw were sightseers. We were impressed that there were women at the doors enforcing a dress code and assisting visitors who did not meet it. Some of the marble cladding the exterior of this building was scavenged from the Hagia Sofia, whose exterior is now made of brick that has begun to crumble.Read more

  • Mare Nostrum
    Monument Traceable to the Battle of Thermopylae, 480 B. C.
    Roman Base of Egyptian Obelisk

    The Hippodrome

    November 22, 2013 in Turkey ⋅ ⛅ 59 °F

    Visiting the Hippodrome amazed me! It sits just between the Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque. It was adjacent to the palace of the Caesars who followed Constantine in the Eastern Roman Empire. Of course it was important. Chariot races were to the ancient Romans what television is to us--entertainment. However, it was significant historically because of the Nika Riots in 532 A. D. and the iconoclastic controversies in the early church. Yet all of this history occurred in a space about the size of a city block. It is truly amazing how much history occurred in such a small place. There is a helical bronze monument, which was trucated only recently. It can be traced back to the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B. C. There is an obelisk that came from Egypt. If Constantinople was the capital of the world for a thousand years, then this city block was its heart.Read more

  • Mare Nostrum
    Harbor at Mikonos

    Pneumonia in Mikonos

    November 23, 2013 in Greece ⋅ ⛅ 66 °F

    My fever spiked again last night at 103.8, so obviously I’m not out of the woods yet. I went to the ship’s medical center, where Dr. Dylan Belton from Bermuda and PA Rohen from South Africa were both very friendly and helpful. They started intravenous injections for pneumonia and told me to check back by the medical center at 4:30 P. M. By then nothing had changed. It was a difficult afternoon. They gave me another bag of the same IV, started me on a Z-pack, and told me to return in the morning.Read more

  • Mare Nostrum
    Chocolate Day Onboard the Ship
    At the Doctor's Office OnboardTwo Muslim Women Wearing the Hijab

    Recovery

    November 24, 2013, Ionian Sea ⋅ ⛅ 64 °F

    Enormous relief! When I woke at 5:00 A. M. my temperature was normal, and I felt like myself again. I had other IV’s at 8:00 A. M., 2:00 P. M. and at 10:00 P. M. At 2:00 my attendant was nurse Margie. Rohen administered the IV at night. All other times today I was in bed. I had a good conversation at dinner with Pat, the nurse, about bioethics. We continued to pass through rough seas and thundershowers on the way back to Naples, and entered the Strait of Messina as we went to bed for the night. While I was still running a fever, I dreamed there were two Muslim women, all dressed in black at the foot of my bed. As it turned out, I was looking at my own knees in my black jeans.Read more

  • Mare Nostrum
    Streets of Herculaneum
    Vesuvius at SunrisePalace of SavoySkeletons at HerculaneumRoman FrescoesRoman BedroomRoman CourtyardRoman Wall Decoration

    Herculaneum, Last Refuge from Vesuvius

    November 25, 2013 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 57 °F

    I awoke to a beautiful sunrise over Mt. Vesuvius. An 8 A. M. visit to Dr. Dylan Belton had him removing my IV port, and giving me two more boxes of different antibiotics. At breakfast we had a wonderful conversation with a group of women who are co-workers at the Princess Lodges in Alaska. The doctor said I could go into Herculaneum. Our guide, Giaconda, led us on a wonderful tour, during which the weather turned very cold and windy. At the end of the day quite a few of the excursion groups returned to the ship late. Many of the passengers who left the ship in the morning were unprepared for the cold. At supper I tried to make conversation with John, the horse trainer from England, about horse racing and odds making. Tomorrow, according to Glenda, we begin the “Rome Death March,” an all-day excursion to the Eternal City.Read more

  • Mare Nostrum
    Michaelangelo's Pietàinside the Vatican MuseumEven the Ceilings are Works of ArtBronze Doors of St. Peter's BasilicaBernini's BaldachinThe Chair of St. Peter

    Treasures of the Vatican

    November 26, 2013 in Vatican City ⋅ ⛅ 41 °F

    We started with a 90 minute bus ride from Civitavecchia to Rome. Guide Monica showed us the old fort at Civitavecchia, built by Michaelangelo. We came into Rome via the old Aurelian road to see first the Vatican Museum. Some of the exhibits are exactly as I remember them in 1971. Others, including a new visitors’ reception center, were changed for the Holy Year celebration of 2000. The weather was very cold and windy. The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel has been cleaned since I saw it some forty years ago. It is utterly magnificent. Perhaps it was the weather keeping crowds away, but our guide said that in twenty-eight years she has seen the Sistine Chapel as empty as it was for our visit only once before. Next we went into St. Peter’s Basilica. As always, it is so opulently, overwhelmingly beautiful that words fail to describe it. A quick visit through St. Peter’s Square still reveals the obelisk which the Romans stole from the Egyptians. The Vatican keeps it because it stood in the Hippodrome, and was a witness to the martyrdom of St. Peter.Read more

  • Mare Nostrum

    Lunch at Hotel Bernini

    November 26, 2013 in Vatican City ⋅ ⛅ 45 °F

    Our drive to the Hotel Bernini for lunch revealed more information about Roman imperial history, as we drove down the street where Julius Caesar’s birthplace once stood. The hotel was modern, clean, sophisticated and trendy. The meal was superb. A delightful little girl named Sophia was there with her parents, with whom Glenda struck up a relationship. The rooftop garden made an excellent place for photographs of Rome. We walked to the Trevi Fountain and discovered Yum-Yum Style Pizza, a place we must visit again.Read more

  • Mare Nostrum
    The Colosseum
    Unhappy Spirits are HereNow THAT'S a Doughnut

    The Flavian Amphitheater

    November 26, 2013 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 46 °F

    In the afternoon we visited the Colosseum (properly called the Flavian Amphitheater). Glenda was troubled by the many tragic deaths that occurred there. The drive back to Civitavecchia took us through the south gate to the city, which is still standing, along with a portion of the old city wall. Just outside the wall, we saw the appropriately named Church of St. Paul Outside the Walls. This church, according to an old tradition, covers the grave of the Apostle Paul. We returned to the ship around 6:00 P. M. in time for a late supper with our messmates.Read more

  • Mare Nostrum
    Bella Fiorenze
    Il Ponte VecchioThe Old PalaceWaitingBaptistery Doorsit Was ColdIl DuomoLeather Market on the Site of the Old Hog MarketCourtyard of the Plazzio Vecchio

    Frigid Morning in Florence

    November 27, 2013 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 39 °F

    Florence is unspeakably beautiful. A lovely bus ride from Livorno to Florence took us through a most beautiful part of Tuscany. I was surprised that the ancestral villages of Vinci, and that of the Bonaparte family are less than five miles apart. From a point overlooking Florence we saw the old city square, the Church of Santa Maria della Fiore, and the Church of Santa Croce all in one view. I was particularly impressed that this last church contains the graves of both Michaelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci.Read more

  • Mare Nostrum

    The Art of Florence

    November 27, 2013 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 39 °F

    Our guide Elizabetha was an art major as well as a guide, and she explained that the genius of Michaelangelo's statue of David lies in his face. Unlike its predecessors, which show a bloody head of Goliath, this statue shows David's face at the moment of decision: "Let's do this thing."Read more

  • Mare Nostrum

    Pisa: Quiet Grandeur

    November 27, 2013 in Italy ⋅ 🌙 41 °F

    We drove west from Florence to arrive in Pisa just as the sun set. We passed the quarries where the Carara marble was mined for the greatest statues in history. We saw the famous Leaning Tower, the Campanille of the Cathedral, and we saw a glorious sun set over crimson marble. It was a breathtaking end to a day of monumental discoveries.Read more

  • Mare Nostrum

    Aix en Provence: Capstone of the Tour

    November 28, 2013 in France ⋅ ☀️ 37 °F

    We took a bus tour from the port at Toulon, France up to the town of Aix-en-Provence with our guide Olivier. We had a leisurely walk through the old town, and enjoyed its Roman and medieval structures. Afterwards we had several hours to ourselves. At Olivier’s suggestion we went to a stand-and-snack cafe and ordered a ham, cheese and mushroom crepe. It was delicious, even though we had to eat it seated at an empty sidewalk cafe in the cold and wind. We bought candy at an upscale candy shop that specialized in a local delicacy, callisons, that a nobleman once had made for his unhappy wife. We tried it. It wasn’t bad. Then I got a cream horn and some serious coffee, which warmed me up for an afternoon of people watching. The high temperature only got up to about 40 degrees Fahrenheit. As we returned to the ship, Olivier showed us a mountain range where Christian forces once stalled a Muslim invasion in the eighth century, Mont St. Victoire. The high, white cliffs of this marble range, also provided subjects for Cezanne’s paintings. In fact, he so enjoyed the light in this location that he bought a home that allowed him to see the daily changes in the mountain’s illumination. We returned to the ship in time for supper, where we said good-bye to our messmates and packed so that we could be ready to board the airplane in Barcelona the next morning for the flight back to the United States.Read more

  • Trip end
    November 29, 2013
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