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Sailing east, Istanbul beckons
  • Paul and Nancy. We travel
  • Paul and Nancy. We travel

Sailing east, Istanbul beckons

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    24. august 2023
    Paul and Nancy. We travelSailing east, Istanbul beckonsPaul and Nancy. We travel

    And so it begins. . . .

    24. august 2023, Canada ⋅ 🌬 19 °C

    Cruising the Med from west to east and a bit beyond . . . Barcelona to Istanbul. Many new destinations and some old familiar favourites.

    22 days, 20 ports of call, endless extra calories.

    Looking forward to sailing the Dardanelles and the Sea of Marmara then transiting the Bosphorus. Should shorten our Bucket List a bit ✅✅Læs mere

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    And we’re off . . . Inbound to Toulon

    26. august 2023, Frankrig ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    A rather nice launch to this trip. Flights on time, a spectacular night transit over a late summer Arctic sky with a blood red horizon line resulting with us and our bags arriving into Barcelona at 33C.

    The Jet Lag is as expected and after a nice afternoon and decent sleep, we are approaching Toulon, France. As is my habit as an early morning person, a visit to my favorite “10 Forward” Lounge and the first attempt at resisting the daily delivery of still warm, freshly baked croissants.

    Ya, we all know how that is going to play out👍👍

     I have named the magic Cappuccino coffee maker “Mon ami”

    As a history guy, these trips are an opportunity to step back in time and visit places where pivot points and significant events occurred that altered the way our modern world came to be.

    In 1793, Toulon and the life of a young, until then unknown, French officer named Napoleon Bonaparte intersected and the rest, as the say, is history.

    Time to go wake up Nancy . . . Wish me luck😂😂    Læs mere

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    Toulon . . . Walking off the jetlag

    26. august 2023, Frankrig ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Toulon has two identities. One is a French Riviera destination for beaches and fun. The other is a busy port and home for the French Navy. Some beautiful beaches on both sides of the port full of dull grey navy ships

    As we were docked downtown, our plan for the day was to walk off the jet lag we knew would happen and check out the local cathedral, the Saturday local outdoor market and generally just getting our jet lagged little legs moving.

    Of course, being in Provence, having a Rose Rest Stop was de rigeur

    Quite a warm day, mid 30s so after a few hours we were back on board for a chill late afternoon

    An easy day all in all, I spent some trying to geolocate the hills around the port that played such a pivotal roll in the rise to power of a previously unknown French army officer named Napoleon Bonaparte. You get Big Recognition in France when you play a pivotal role in defeating the British Royal Navy!

    Apologies to Gordon👍

    Next stop, Monaco, for some Riviera train riding    Læs mere

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    Monaco, where the living is Eze

    27. august 2023, Monaco ⋅ 🌧 22 °C

    Docked in Monaco this morning to some refreshing rains and all the mega yachts. Our plan for the day was to take the local train that links up all the Riviera towns and visit the mountain top village of Eze. So walk off the ship into Monte Carlo, train to Eze and then a local bus up to Eze.

    Eze was built for mountain goats. Everything, it seems, is uphill! The town “streets” are narrow walking paths with numerous art galleries and small craft shops. A really interesting cactus garden topped off the site

    All in all a nice little day.

    Off to Italy . . .    Læs mere

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  • Paul and Nancy. We travelSailing east, Istanbul beckonsPaul and Nancy. We travel

    Good lucka to you too!

    28. august 2023, Ligurian Sea ⋅ 🌧 21 °C

    Lucca is a well preserved classic Italian Renaissance city, once one of many independent city states that dotted the area of Italy before the nation unified in the late 1800’s into the modern nation we know.

    4km of massive stone walls ringed the city, with guarded gates at key locations. Over the centuries it was besieged and occupied by various armies, including our nemesis from the Toulon post, Napoleon. Dude really gets around.

    We had a very good guided walking tour with a very knowledgeable, energetic and proud Lucca resident. The first Lucca settlement was as a Roman Army Legion’s fortified camp and there are still visual remnants of the original military structures that have have, over time, been built on and over.

    All in all a very good tourist in Italy Day.    Læs mere

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    If the weather changes, drink Prosecco!

    29. august 2023, Italien ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Europe has had a hot summer and we were expecting lots of very toasty temps. Fortunately, a weather front has come through bringing some, at times very heavy rain squalls & winds, but lovely temps in the mid 20s. The rain hasn’t been a problem, but the winds and sea state that prevented us from docking in Corsica yesterday made using the ship’s tenders at Porto Santo Stefano today into quite a “sporting experience”.

    Rules 1-9 of using tenders when seas are rocking and rolling: Only attempt to board/de-board when the rolling seas push the tenders up as high as they go and then move really, really fast.

    Once ashore, we had a morning tour at a centuries old family run farm and vineyard to sample their wines, cheeses, breads & ridiculously tasty olive oil. They were preparing the vineyards for harvesting in a few weeks by hand trimming all the lower leaves to expose the grapes to the salty winds blowing in from the ocean as a “finishing flavour profile”

    The region is a very, very upscale real estate market with the wealthy from Rome, Milan and Florence having their yachts and summer estates here. Some very beautiful villas around the town of Orbetello.

    And of course it wouldn’t be a day in Italy without a pause to sit in the local piazza, watch the world stroll by and sip some Prosecco . . . and celebrate Nancy’s birthday!

    In keeping with this trip’s Napoleon Bonaparte sub-theme, there is a small archipelago just off the coast and one of the islands is named Elbe, where Napoleon was forced into exile before his “1815, I’m Back Baby Tour! ” to make even more history at some obscure Belgian town called “Waterloo”✅    Læs mere

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    The Bay of Salerno, mountains & castles

    30. august 2023, Italien ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    Another day of weather driven changes. Rather than drop anchor at Positano on the famous Amalfi coastline, we proceeded 25 miles further south to the major port of Salerno, where we could actually dock. The weather system that has made such wonderful mid 20C days has made for some very rough seas, too rough now to conduct Tender operations to ferry passengers to and from shore

    But hey, no worries. When in Salerno . . .

    We walked off the ship and strolled along a very Italianesque seaside boardwalk and then hopped on a city bus to take us to the top of a mountain, 350 metres up, where we toured the city’s old medieval fort. Some minor stair-master efforts resulted in spectacular views of Salerno Bay. A refreshment pit stop then back on the bus and back on board ship for a late lunch.

    All in all and nice, easy “let’s be tourists” kinda day.    Læs mere

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    Birthday thank you from Nancy

    31. august 2023, Italien ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    Paul is our best travel blogger but I just wanted to say thank-you for your lovely birthday wishes! I had a great day!

    A morning exploring a 150 year old farm/winery in Tuscany followed by wine, cheese and olive oil tasting; birthday Prosecco in a village square; afternoon lounging at the pool; before dinner music with the ship’s band in the Horizon lounge; delicious Italian dinner with our new friends Colin and Audrey; birthday cake and songs from the servers and Paul; and finishing a perfect day with an evening of Motown music performed by the excellent entertainment team. There was one more birthday surprise. When we returned to our stateroom there were balloons on the ceiling and rose petals and towel swans on the bed!

    A most excellent day!    Læs mere

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    Parallel parking in downtown Trapani

    31. august 2023, Italien ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    The ship we are on, Oceania’s Nautica is one of 8 identical vessels built about 25 years ago, known as the R Class ships. We have sailed on 3 of them now and they are a very nice design, small enough at 30,000 tons to get into out of the way ports but big enough to handle full on ocean conditions.

    This morning we did a beautiful sunrise docking at Trapani at the western tip of Sicily. A small city with a small port but we are able to squeeze in, pivot 180 degrees and then dock literally across the street from the central piazza & cathedral area.

    The highlight of the region is the mountaintop village of Erice so we had another day of seemingly always walking uphill😂😂😂

    We have been joking the national animal of Italy should be the Mountain Goat!

    The hotter weather we expected has returned, hitting about 31 today and despite a nice cool breeze at the mountain top, we hit a Bingo Beer moment and were forced to make a Safety Stop for an “electrolyte top up” before returning to our ship✅

    But the climbs were worth it and the views were spectacular and Nancy, who isn’t a heights person, managed the gondola ride up and down with barely a whimper!

    Onwards to Malta . . .    Læs mere

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    Malta. History, more history & rabbits

    1. september 2023, Malta ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    We docked in Valletta, Malta this morning, under the guns of Fort Elmo and in the shadow of 30+ centuries of history. Malta’s location is a choke point along the Mediterranean Sea navigational lanes and from ancient Phoenician times, the island has been an attractive location for traders and invaders.

    Even our old friend Napoleon Bonaparte dropped in for a brief stint of causing chaos and endearing Malta to England on his way to Egypt.

    I was aware of Malta’s history as England’s “unsinkable aircraft carrier”, that it was extremely heavily bombed in WW2, the people digging miles of underground tunnels to survive, the story of Faith, Hope & Charity and being almost starved into submission. The convoy story of Operation Pedestal and the SS Ohio is amazing and this morning we stood on the parapets in the same place as thousands of Maltese stood, cheering in joy, when she made Port on August 15th, 1942

    Quite a hot day and after subjecting Nancy to a ++overdose of military history stuff we settled into a nice street side restaurant where we found out the favorite Maltese cuisine involves some form of rabbit! Turns out the Maltese have a real thing for cooking rabbit!

    Malta would certainly be a place I would come back to and spend some time . . . We barely scratched the surface today    Læs mere

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  • Paul and Nancy. We travelSailing east, Istanbul beckonsPaul and Nancy. We travel

    Crotone, Gateway to Calabria

    2. september 2023, Italien ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Docked yesterday morning in Crotone in the agricultural area of Calabria. In the Italian boot, we are just about at the ball of the foot. The area is very rural, with olive orchards and vineyards everywhere. With the hot dry climate and proximity to salty ocean winds they produce some exceptional wines and they claim to produce the best pecorino style cheese in Italy

    Which we had the opportunity to sample both today on a visit to a 400 year old family run winery and farm not to far away from the port. The Ceraudo Winery is a beautiful venue (€4000 facility rental fee for weddings!) and we had a very informative tour and some excellent wine tasting.

    All in all a nice easy day after sweating it out in Malta’s heat yesterday.

    Back on board by early afternoon, a nice lunch at the poolside grill and we called it a day. Need to get ready for a tourist touring extravaganza tomorrow in Durres, Albania.

    Which includes a visit to another winery and another wine tasting event.

    Hmmmmmm, might be a pattern forming here . . .

    😂😂👍👍😂😂    Læs mere

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    Durres Albania. A surprise!

    3. september 2023, Albanien ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Doing some research before we left, I had read about Albania being a slow and somewhat backward state, the North Korea of Europe, a failed, inward looking ex Maoist state, struggling and out of touch with modern Shengen Europe.

    No doubt some of that was historically accurate, but after spending time ashore in Durres, seeing the economic hustle & bustle and hearing about the people adapting their lives, shaking off the shackles of totalitarianism, to modern ways of thinking and living, I must say Albania surprised us, a lot.

    There are still struggles to endure switching from a very hardcore, Maoist inspired version of Communism to a free market, Euro rules based economy but it is happening and quickly. The economic plan is to make Albania a major Mediterranean tourist destination, to construct an extensive railway network linked to building a new mega seaport that will provide ocean access to their landlocked Balkan neighbour states. Large $$$Dubai investments and deals involved

    We had a very interesting day in Durres, from exploring their
    Ancient Greek and Roman archeological sites to visiting another winery (!) and it will be interesting to watch from afar as Albanians seize their opportunity to join the 21st century

    A most interesting day.    Læs mere

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  • Paul and Nancy. We travelSailing east, Istanbul beckonsPaul and Nancy. We travel

    Kotor. The Sea Gods are Angry!

    4. september 2023, Montenegro ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    We had really hoped to make a port call in Kotor, the “Norwegian Fjord” of Montenegro, but the wind and wave conditions this morning made the transit through the tight, twisting access channels exceed the safety limits and we had to cancel.

    Kotor has been one of the places we really wanted to visit, both for the transit and the town itself

    Bit disappointing but when at sea, you do what the sea allows.

    So we are heading north, a sea day transit to Dubrovnik . . .

    We rock
    We roll

    And now the wind is blowing harder, the sea swells are bigger and we are getting sea spray at our cabin . . Six decks up!

    I love it!!!    Læs mere

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  • Paul and Nancy. We travelSailing east, Istanbul beckonsPaul and Nancy. We travel

    Dubrovnik. AKA King’s Landing

    5. september 2023, Kroatien ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    We had a stroke of bad weather good luck today. Let me explain.

    Approaching Dubrovnik, the winds were too strong to dock at their nice new cruise ship terminal a few miles away, so we had “go old fashioned” and drop anchor in the original harbour and use ship Tenders to get ashore.

    The view of the famous Dubrovnik walls from our Deck 9 Aft Terrace Dining location was off the charts memorable!

    Dubrovnik is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a beautiful medieval walled city that despite being besieged and heavily damaged in the Balkan Wars following the break up of Communist Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, has been restored and maintained.

    It is also famous as the shooting location in the HBO Game of Thrones series of “King’s Landing” and many fans come here to take guided tours of famous and popular shooting locations.

    We opted to “Walk the Wall” a 2.5km up and down hike of the city’s old fortifications. The views are terrific and we even spotted one young lady dressed up as Cersei Lannister!

    In addition, anyone who knows Nancy knows she “loves heights” so kudos to her today for navigating some very high walls with very low railings with very large vertical drop offs👍👍

    Being another hot day (33C), after doing our duty patrolling the walls of King’s Landing, protecting the Red Keep and the Iron Throne, we experienced a Bingo Beer event and opted for some enjoyable people watching and thirst quenching in the main square before Tendering back to our ship home for a late lunch and some relax time.

    Have to get ready for some spelunking tomorrow!    Læs mere

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    I am lost for words

    6. september 2023, Italien ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    This morning, we docked in Ancona, Italy. If you drew a line due east from Pisa, to the east coast of Italy, you would just about slice Ancona in half. We took a coach ride abut 45km north and had an experience of a lifetime, a truly mind boggling 2 hours of the most unusual natural scenery we have ever looked at.

    We toured the Frasassi Cave Complex, an extraordinary series of huge caves filled with massive stalactites and stalagmites of all shapes and sizes. If geology and geomorphology are things that interest you, these caves are a large Karst mountain complex.

    In September 1971, group of young people out for a day hike in the area noticed a cool breeze flowing out of some rocks and bushes near their trail. Curious, they dug around a bit and found a small cave opening that exposed a pitch black hole. They came back the next day with ropes and climbing gear and the rest is history

    The caves have been developed into a series of walking paths and viewing points where dramatic use of lights shows off the simply mind boggling subterranean scenery.

    For perspective - and these photos simply can’t convey the majesty of these caves, consider these points as you look at the pictures

    - the main cave is 240m high and almost and 450m wide
    - some of the stalactites, that grow from the top down at a rate of 1mm/year are, 20 metres long
    - some of the stalagmites, that grow from the ground up are 60 metres tall
    - the temperature is a constant 14C and 97% humidity . . . Water drips everywhere!

    We spent 2 hours with a professional guide and loved every minute of it. If you ever get to this part of Italy, do not miss touring these caves.

    Venice is in tomorrow’s agenda . . .    Læs mere

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    Venice. Sunrise over the lagoon

    8. september 2023, Italien ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    A brief interlude . . . starting our day in Venice

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    Venice. No roads but lots of walking

    8. september 2023, Italien ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    We arrived in Venice yesterday, Thursday, and overnighted. We had a looooong 1st day, off the ship by 9, into a boat to tour the lagoon, visit the island of Murano, famous for producing luxury glass art pieces, had a Gondola ride and then all over Venice by foot, ending the day with an excellent Walking Food Tour

    Didn’t get back to the ship until after 10pm and were totally pooped out!

    Venice has no roads or cars or vehicles of any type. Everything moves by boat . . . police on Jet Skis, to hearses & ambulances, construction & restaurant supply “trucks” and taxis. It is sublimely organized chaos that simply works.

    We bought a 24 hour unlimited pass and used Venice’s “bus” service, the famous Vaporettto’s, as a Hop On-Hop Off system, giving our tired tootsies a rest, and travelling up and down the Grand Canal. We visited a local Fish & Veggie Market, stocked up on some Prosecco for the cabin, had a near miss with a pickpocket and in general had a great time.

    Back on board and ready for an overnight sailing to Croatia. Into the home stretch, time winding down on this trip.    Læs mere

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  • Paul and Nancy. We travelSailing east, Istanbul beckonsPaul and Nancy. We travel

    We just arrived, but time to Split

    9. september 2023, Kroatien ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    After a very gentle overnight passage down the Adriatic Sea, we docked this morning in Split, Croatia. We didn’t have any formal excursions on our agenda today so we just walked off the ship and poked around the old town and port area.

    The big thing in Split is the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Roman Emperor Diocletian’s Palace, who had his retirement “home” built here after he left Rome & politics behind him. It comprises the Old Walled Town centre of Split and is an impressive place to wander around for being 2000 years old

    Split has an exceptionally busy port, there are boats and ships of all sizes everywhere. Tons of tourists downtown today and the bars and restaurants were very busy taking advantage of the late summer weekend crowds

    Another “warm” one at 33C so we got ourselves back on board by 2pm to chill out. We have a new entertainment team onboard and their first show is tonight. We met one of the performers of the new team in a lounge yesterday and recognized each other . . . she was on our Amazon River cruise last year so we look forward to seeing her perform again

    Sea day tomorrow, Greece is coming up next.    Læs mere

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    Smash, bang, rock & roll

    11. september 2023, Ionian Sea ⋅ 🌬 24 °C

    Our overnight transit to Santorini was interesting. Woke up in the middle of the night to a Rock’n’Roll ship with lots of hull shudders and waves slamming into us. We ran into a bunch 40+ knot winds and it was a sporting good time.

    Lots of sea spray, our deck is 6 up and it is soaked top to bottom, right up to our doors. I could have a salt spray shower out there!

    Tendering in Santorini in a few hours could be quite entertaining    Læs mere

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    Santorini. You have seen the pictures

    11. september 2023, Grækenland ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Santorini is a Greek island in the middle of the Aegean Sea and is one of the most photographed places on earth. The classic photos of the blue domed, brilliantly white churches have been used by a Greek advertising campaigns for years.

    From a distance, it looks like high hills covered in snow, but up close you see it is brilliantly white painted houses stapled to the top and front of the island

    We anchored there yesterday on a beautiful, breezy 30C late summer day. The island is actually the southern rim of an ancient oval shaped volcanic caldera measuring 12km x 7km . . . That would have one been one staggeringly huge eruption back in the day but all was calm for us. Access to the island topside is by gondola and we spent a nice afternoon wandering around, taking in the stunning views, the nice breeze and of course had a Refreshment Stop before returning to our ship.

    Dined on the outside Deck 9 grill under the setting sun and the lights coming on in the buildings above . . . Quite the spectacular venue!    Læs mere

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    F HarrisToe 👍👍

    12. september 2023, Grækenland ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    If you say out it loud all together it sounds just like you are saying “thank you” in Greek!!! But I digress.

    Docked in Athens this morning and spent the day on a very well organized guided tour around the city, but focused on the Acropolis. Kinda freaky standing on the same rocks where Socrates stood 2500 years ago, where so much of our modern accepted political norms and ideas were birthed, honed and from time to time, beat up.

    The Acropolis has to be seen while you have a knowledgeable guide explain what you are looking at. There is sooooo much symbology and history of various gods and deities on display in multiple temples and venues.

    Greece had been conquered and occupied by the Turkish empire and as conquerors do, they built their mosque on top of the most sacred place of their vanquished, the Parthenon atop the Acropolis. But in 1687 a Venetian army besieged Athens, trying to take the city back as part of Europe and an errant cannonball struck the mosque. Being made of huge stones, little damage would normally have occurred but the Turks were using the mosque as their powder storage and it blew the Parthenon to bits.

    Until recently, that debris lay scattered across the grounds but now it has all been carefully 3D digitally photographed and by using special edge geometry software, the puzzle pieces are being digitally reassembled into their original shapes and positions so that the actual corresponding stone debris pieces can be restored and rebuilt

    A massive job that will take decades of time and patience but a very cool project.

    Leaving Europe tonight . . .    Læs mere

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    Made it! Asia called, we answered.

    13. september 2023, Tyrkiet ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    Docked this morning in the busy resort port town of Kusadasi in the western end of the nation of Turkiye and the continent of Asia Minor. Not what we expected . . . we found a very modern, European like secular nation, very unlike what is portrayed in western media. A 30 minute coach ride through some rolling hills and we arrived at Ephesus.

    Stunning. I can’t begin to describe this site, an Ancient Greek then Roman trading city. It is another UNESCO World Heritage Site and is an active archeological investigation with about 10% of the ancient city revealed. Located in a beautiful valley beside an old river channel that provided access to the Aegean Sea, the valley and city were silted up and buried over the centuries and is only now being dug out and revealed.

    We had a terrific guide today, a PhD candidate in Ancient History who could read, speak and write Green & Latin and she translated a number of inscriptions as we went along. Who new Roman kids were graffiti taggers back on their day!

    One little side note . . . The Greek God of Victory is Nike. She is carved with a flowing gown that has a “swoosh” design carved into the marble . . . See the last photo.

    Apparently no royalties have ever been paid by you know who for logo infringement😂

    Winding down the clock on this trip . . .    Læs mere

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    Pooped out people & barking dogs

    14. september 2023, Tyrkiet ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Our last day of visiting ancient Greek & Roman ruins and we have to admit, we have reached our Data Overload Point . . . just so much information to take in from our guides we need some time to digest everything we have seen this trip. So much of our modern world resolves back to ideas and people who built and lived in what are now ruins but were once incredible feats of engineering and art.

    And we are pretty pooped out from day after day of 30C+ temps and the “dogs are barking” . . . our feet are feeling the strain of waking on hard flat rocks every day. Damn those Romans, why couldn’t they have used softer rocks!

    Early departure yesterday, tendered ashore at 0730 in Dikili, a nondescript port that has one redeeming tourist feature . . . It is 30 minutes away from the Pergamum ruins site.

    We visited two the parts of the ancient city. The lower valley was home to a health centre-hospital-rejuvenation spa complex but the big attraction was the Acropolis of Pergamum, in its day an extremely rich and powerful city located on a hilltop with stunning views of the valleys for miles around. Must have been quite the sight its day. . . Location, location, location!

    We ascended by cable car (Yea Nancy!) and had lots of time to poke around and try and imagine what it would have been like back in the day.

    Back on board our ship for our last transit. We will sail past the Gallipoli Peninsula overnight where so much more recent history was made and I will take a moment to pause and reflect and think of our Australian friends and their nation’s Vimy Ridge.

    They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
    Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
    At the going down of the sun and in the morning
    We will remember them.

    Istanbul . . . just a few hours ahead.    Læs mere

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