Day 25/Cruise Day 12 -- At Sea

We passed between Italy mainland and Sicily and could see both. Bo had her hair done in the ship’s salon (a pretty good experience and the result also pretty good) and then had a very lively lunch with two couples from Texas who have a lot of land and raise cattle and horses. They told us about a desperate drought they were experiencing that forced them to sell almost all cattle and drive long distances to buy feed for their horses. We compared notes about this cruise (they are very experienced cruisers who started cruising in the 1970s) and came to the same conclusion that we have not seen that many obese people gathered in one place before. Then Bo went to a seminar entitled “How to eat more and lose weight”. Surprisingly, it was very sparsely attended, but it wasn’t very good either.
Tomorrow morning we get to Civitavecchia at about 7 am and get off the ship at about 9 am. Our first cruising experience is almost over. Would we do it again. Maybe.

Day 24/Cruise day 11 -- Chanie, Crete

The port of Chania on the island of Crete is our last port of call. The ship was docked about 8 km from the town so we had to take buses to get there. The old port area is very charming with a Venetian lighthouse and fortifications and a row of colorful houses (mostly hotels and restaurants), but it is totally geared toward the tourists forced onto the island by the cruise ship. We walked the port then inland to get a feel of the city. Nothing noteworthy. On the way back to the ship, it got quite unruly as everybody was trying to squeeze into the bus to make it back before the 1:30 pm deadline.
At dinnertime we were all together again and everybody got quite chatty, even the Irish lads who are normally quiet. One of the told us about the leather waistcoat he bought on Crete. But the biggest bombshell came from Dorothy, one of the Lancashire ladies. When we started talking about the tonight’s show whose theme was the Beatles songs, she told us that she knew John Lennon very well as a boy and young man because her late husband was related to John’s mother. She saw him grow up and remembers his first music pursuits and his first performances. She even got some drawings and writings that John did as a boy, but her husband threw them out because he didn’t like them. She knew Lennon’s first wife Cynthia (who apparently was a “very lovely girl”) and their son Julian. This was quite amazing. Then we went to the Beatles show, which was a lot less amazing as the group who pretended to be the Beatles was definitely much less talented.

Day 23/Cruise Day 10 -- At Sea

We decided to try breakfast in the dining room. All other days we did buffet, where you can help yourself to all kinds of things then find a table and enjoy it. In the dinning room they sat us at a table for 10. It was a very unpleasant experience having to listen to a bunch of self absorbed Jewish Americans. The daily list of activities included a table tennis tournament. Al signed up and after several games emerged victorious and received a gold medal.
The day was sunny, but very windy so we mostly spent it inside -- reading and … yes, eating.
For dinner, we were all together again -- the two English ladies and two Irish lads. We even took pictures together. The Irish guys befriended an American couple from Miami currently living in Berlin who joined us for a brief chat.
After dinner, we went to the jacuzzi in deck 11 and had a nice long chat with a young American couple from Missouri. Then we went a 9:30 show, which wasn’t very good.

Day 22/Cruise Day 9 -- Haifa

We decided to not take a tour and do it ourselves. We set out walking the city. It is a pretty city built on and around many hills. It is called the San Francisco of the east. We walked a main street Ben Gurion Ave in the area called the German Colony because it was started by the German crusaders. Many street cafes, all with wifi. We took a bus to the top of Mt. Carmel with a spectacular view of the city and the gardens of the Bahai temple below. Getting around is difficult since most signs are written in Hebrew and busses have no routes posted. We asked directions from several people but they did not speak English. But many spoke Russian (there must be a huge population of Russian Jews in Haifa) so Bo’s Russian came in handy. On the way from the bus stop to the top of Mt. Carmel, we met a young woman and asked her for directions. She answered in perfect English and told us that she was from Ohio and moved to Haifa two years ago when she married an Israeli. She walked with us to the top and told us about her experiences and observations. After viewing the Bahai Temple gardens which were beautiful, we needed to take another bus to an area called Stella Maris. We found the bus stop, but didn’t know which bus to take so we asked. Again English was useless, but the elderly lady answered to Russian and told us to take bus 32. However when bus 115 came, she ushered us to get in with her. As we got in, she consulted half of the bus in Hebrew where we should get off. We didn’t understand anything, but half the bus was saying Stella Maris so we figured they were trying to help us. Finally, another lady told us when it was time to get off. She walked with us a bit and showed us where to go (in Russian again). From there we took a scary aerial cable car down to the sea. We picked up another bus and got back to the German Colony. Lunch was at a sidewalk café. The waiters supplied a hookah (eastern water pipe) to many of the patrons (men and women). Food is good and plentiful (also expensive). We ordered just one fixed priced lunch package, which consisted of an appetizer, main course, beer and desert for the price of the main course. What we got could feed at least 3 people. We had a big plate of fabulous hummus (hummus is a specialty here and every restaurant has its own and they can be quite different) and a special kebab, which turned out to be pieces of ground lamb with herbs + 6-8 little bowls with fried cauliflower, squash, marinated peppers, stewed tomatoes and a salad with lettuce, tomatoes, olives, cucumbers and pickles. It was all delicious.
After lunch we went to the train station and took a train to Akko (ancient Acre), about 20 miles north of Haifa. It is the oldest port in the eastern Mediterranean. It has a totally different character from Haifa. We went to the old city which is a walled city dating back 1000s of years. It also has a high percentage of Arabs. The crusades came here and established churches. Napoleon brought his army here but was not successful in conquering it. We walked steep steps to the top of a fortification and when we got to the top there was a group of about 12 Muslim women (in traditional clothing) sitting on the ground having a picnic. They offered us food and insisted. We each took a stuffed grape leaf (dolma) and thanked them but they offered us more food (chicken) but we politely declined as we were still full from lunch. We visited the Citadel which was also built by the crusaders. We walked in the maze of narrow streets, through the local souk, peeked into mosques and other buildings. We also went to the port, which is still a working fishing port. It was a hot day so we got pretty tired. Around 6 pm we took the train back and ended on the ship by 7 pm. Again, we watched the lights of Haifa from the 14 deck bar as the ship was leaving. We shared a table with a nice young German couple, Mathias and Sabine. Mathias was a computer programmer so he and Al had a lot of things to talk about.
Impressions of Israel. Security is more than anywhere else. Metal detectors everywhere- shopping mall, train station, etc. Military service is compulsory. It is common to see young girls in uniform carrying M16 rifle.

Day 21/Cruise Day 8 -- Jerusalem and Tel Aviv

After breakfast we joined our tour to old city Jerusalem. The 20 minute ride through the Israeli country was very informative. There is a plethora of agriculture in what was previously desert. Water is precious, so there is no overhead irrigation. Instead it is computer controlled drip irrigation. We arrived at Jerusalem along with thousands of other tourists. It is very interesting with 5000 years of history. In 1917 the Brits passed a law that all buildings must be of stone. They have never repealed it so all buildings have no other sidings., We visited Mt. Olive with a great view of the area. We then went to the old city (us and 10s of thousands of Jews, Christians, Moslems, and others.) We first visited the wailing wall. The entry was through metal detectors so it was pretty slow. It was a bar mitzvah day too so here were groups of families going through singing and rejoicing. To get to the wall itself, men had to go to the left and women to the right. There were thousands of people by the wall praying, putting their wishes in and just touching the wall in reverence. Then we walked along Via Dolorosa. (the path Christ took carrying the cross). Narrow tiny streets every inch covered with tourists and vendors. One endless flea market. At the end we got to the church of the Holy Sepulcher, which was even more crowded than other sites. We made our way through the final stations of via Dolorosa which are inside the church and then visited the most important parts of the church, including the Armenian chapel.
The whole tours was going through 3000 years of history in 5 hours. Over whelming. Then we drove towards Bethlehem to the border with the Palestinian Authority. We saw the huge wall and the checkpoints. We drove back for some time on a shared road with the fence on one side and the guide pointed out the Palestinian villages.
Right after we got back to the harbor we got into a taxi and went to Tel Aviv, which is only 40 km away. Our Jerusalem guide, Eli, suggested we get off at an old clock tower in Jaffa and then walk along the Esplanade to Tel Aviv and that’s what we did. The old port of Jaffa is a complete contrast to the very modern city of Tel Aviv. The view of the city from the coastline and the beaches is breath taking. We walked through the center and some very cool small neighborhoods such as the Yemenite quarter and the upscale Neve Tzedek (suggested by a tourist information person.) We had lunch of delicious hummus and a huge salad in a beach café. Israel is relatively expensive compared to US prices, but their veggies and fruits are amazing. It’s said to be vegetarian’s paradise. Then we walked back to old Jaffa and picked up a cab back. This time the cab driver was very talkative. He was a Yemenite and told us about Tel Aviv, Israeli life and drove us along the coast for as long as possible so we could see other coastal towns. Back on the ship, we went to the nicest bar on deck 14 and celebrated Al’s birthday with a few drinks as the ship was leaving the harbor for Haifa.

Day 20/Cruise Day 7 -- At sea

At sea all day. Spent easy day eating, sunning, and reading. At 9 am we went to a lecture about the history of Jerusalem, which was quite interesting. The main event of the day was a mandatory face-to-face with Israeli immigration to get a stamp allowing us to enter Israel. All 3000+ passengers had to go through it. They divided us into groups by deck, but at our appointed time, the line was half a mile long and it took us almost an hour in line to get to the table with three immigration officials (young ladies) to get the card stamped.

Dinner was formal and our two elderly English ladies are delightful. We met the two Irish guys on deck together during the day. They are alive and well, but they didn’t show up for dinner. This gave us a chance to compare notes with the English ladies who told us that the younger one, Patrick, talked to them quite a bit after last night’s dinner. They found out that he worked on a farm (our suspicions confirmed again!) and that the two of them were friends, not relatives. They also thought that the younger one was on a lookout for a new girlfriend. He had told them that he had two girlfriends before, but things didn’t work out. We’ll see if anything develops here.

Day 19/Cruise Day 6 -- Rhodes

At dinner last night the head waiter came over and asked about the dinner. Al stated that the touted Black Angus steak was mediocre. Tonight at dinner Al ordered roast chicken and Bo ordered fried Tofu. We both got our ordered meal PLUS each an entire steak dinner. What a waste.
Today we toured Rhodes. We spent 7 hours walking, shopping, and eating. We confined ourselves to the walled old city, When we started walking at about 8:30 in the morning, the town was almost completely empty and only some of the store we just starting to open up. Two hours later we couldn’t recognize the place. It was mobbed with tourists, every store, restaurant, café and sidewalk stall was open and tried to lure you inside. In spite of the crowd, it is a charming little town with very narrow streets, stone houses, a huge castle built by the crusaders Knights of St. John in the 15th century, some churches and mosques from the time that the island was occupied by the Ottoman Turks. The city of Rhodes itself dates back to the 7th century BC and the 30 meter high statue of the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, was supposed to be erected by the Greeks in the town’s harbor. Unfortunately it was destroyed in 227 BC and there is no trace of it now. The streets are paved with small rocks (like our river rocks) set on their side - not flat. Very pretty but bumpy. The proliferation of cats is incredible, all colors and sizes. They are everywhere. They are calm and friendly and look happy, and well fed. Bo has taken tons of cat pictures for her “Cats of the World” album.