A friend of mine (Janie) and her husband (Bill) live in Seattle. They enjoyed a 3-week vacation in Italy and Greece and agreed to share their adventure. This is Part 2 of that journey with their next stop on their cruise from Greece to Turkey.
Our next stop was in Turkey. The port was Kusadasi, the prettiest harbor we visited, with rainbow-colored houses on shore and a large statue of Ataturk at the top of the hill. From Kusadasi, we traveled by bus to Ephesus which is the most impressive collection of ruins I have ever seen, with the whole facade of the Celsus Library still standing and the impressive Great Theater where St. Paul was judged and sent to prison. A new section of excavations had been opened since our last visit. It’s called the Terrace Houses and is the Ephesian version of a Street of Dreams. The ruins of the houses were amazing, filled with mosaic floors, frescoed walls, and entryways with marble pillars. The largest house belonged to a politician (of course), and there were also the remnants of a Christian church. The colors of the mosaics and frescoes were incredibly bright due to having been covered with soil for the last few centuries. The site now is domed and climate-controlled to preserve the colors.
Kusadasi is also a good place to shop. Turkish carpets are all around. They are beautiful but expensive. We were advised to check with the concierge on the ship to find a good place to buy. In Turkey, shopping is a social event and something of an art. We were kindly provided with tea or Turkish coffee (STRONG!!) and a snack, and our hosts were happy to show us their entire inventory if we desired and to answer any questions we had.
Our next port was Rhodes, where we took a private tour so we could visit the old neighborhood and synagogue where my friend’s mother had lived before emigrating to the US. We also visited the Jewish Cemetery, a heartbreaking place since most of the Jewish community of Rhodes were transported to, and murdered at Auschwitz during the German occupation of World War II. Many of the headstones are memorials to those who left and never returned.
Like so much of Greece, Rhodes has layers of history. In Old Town, the library was once a church of the Knights Templar in the Middle Ages. The town square was graced with big trees, where we spotted cockatoos in the branches. At the adjacent fountain, a small cat sat on the edge of the bowl and lapped happily from the cascading water. We had lunch at Alexis’ Four Seasons Garden restaurant, a typical and lovely blend of indoors and out, old and new.
We were scheduled to tour Santorini the next day, but due to weather problems, we had to bypass Santorini and docked at Crete. We decided to take a day of sitting on our balcony and looking at the scenery, reading and dozing. It was a nice break after so many active days. My favorite memory of Crete was sitting in the Crow’s Nest on the ship late in the day, watching the sunset as the captain slowly maneuvered the big ship around to depart.
The last stop on our cruise was back in Italy, at Naples, where we had scheduled a long and busy day. First, we took a bus to Positano, to see the rugged Amalfi Coast. The road seemed halfway between sky and sea, and the views were glorious. After a stop to stroll the narrow, twisting streets of Positano, filled with shops and cafes, we drove back to Sorrento where we had lunch at a hotel which had been a residence in the 16th century. The Italian poet Tasso was born there, and many writers have visited over the years, to include Byron, Shelly, Keats, Longfellow, and James Fenimore Cooper. Ibsen wrote Ghosts while staying there. The public rooms were sumptuous and we had a very formal lunch overlooking the Bay of Naples. Very inspiring. I wrote extra lines in my journal that night!
After lunch we toured Pompeii. As had been the case on all our excursions of ancient ruins on the trip, our guide was an archaeologist who made the history of the city come alive for us. We walked the streets the Romans had built, peered in the remnants of their houses, shops and restaurants. We walked by temples to Jupiter and Venus. Outside the temple of Venus, the street was studded by marble insets between the stones, put there to reflect the moon at night. Very romantic and quite appropriate for the goddess of love and beauty.
We returned to Rome and promptly set off in a rental car for Tuscany. We stayed in a large, rustic villa there, the Il Rosolaccio, surrounded by vineyards. Bill and I had a little stone cottage, the Studio, all to ourselves. We ate breakfast each morning and dinner each night in the villa’s small restaurant. The acacia trees were blooming, along with some very fragrant roses, and the sky was a special shade of blue. All that, and Tuscan wine!
We toured a couple of towns, built originally by the Etruscans who predated the Romans. In Volterra, we saw the oldest existing Etruscan arch. There were Roman ruins, too, and Volterra was a crossroads during the Crusades where pilgrims stopped. When we were totally saturated with history, we found a tiny restaurant that smelled grand and had pappardelle with wild boar sauce. Delicious! One of the nicest things about Volterra was the absence of big tour groups. This little gem seems to be off the beaten path, but it is well worth visiting.
One afternoon took us to the Corbucci winery, recommended by the owner of our villa. There was nothing impressive about the location, but the wine was a delight. We ordered a case of mixed bottles to be sent home, probably my favorite souvenir of the entire trip. We also made a day trip to Montalcino, known for its wine shops. My favorite discovery there was in a wine shop – a machine that dispenses wine! You put in a euro and got a taste of a Brunello, the only Tuscan wine made from one grape. There were several dispensers, giving us a chance to sample and compare some very good wines. I thought the machine was the best invention since the cappuccino maker.
Thus ended our wonderful trip. As with life in general, there was some rain on the parade. I came down with a sinus infection on the cruise and was worried that it would ruin the rest of my vacation. Holland America had a wonderful clinic onboard, with two doctors and several nurses. I was diagnosed, given a prescription and sent on my way promptly and sympathetically. Problem solved.
The weather on our trip varied. We had some rain and gray skies in Italy, mostly sunshine in Greece. We’re from Seattle, so rain doesn’t particularly faze us. And we had lots of sunscreen for those Greek days.
I would totally recommend the trip for anyone who has seen the big cities in Europe and would like to see some of the countryside. All the walking helps work off the wonderful food (a little). If you go, have a glass of Brunello for me!
